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Okay, here we go... It's time for the new releases from the Langhe area of Piemonte, Italy. This past January I along with Mike Teer, of Pike and Western Wines located in the Pike Place Market, and Peter Dow, the original owner of Café Juanita and now of Cavatappi, took a quick jaunt through Alba and its environs- Barbaresco and Barolo. Though it was chilly in the dark cellars of this hilly area, it was as usual, spectacularly beautiful and the ‘04's, ‘05's and a few ‘06's we tasted were quite phenomenal. Mike took lots of pictures and plans on sharing some of them and his enthusiasm for this area during our very special event. On Monday, June 9th, from 6-8:30 p.m. we will be hosting a Piemontese Festival at The Palace Ballroom featuring the owners of 8 top Piemontese wineries and the chef of one of the area's best restaurants, Lalibera. This will be a stand up, walk around, affair where you will have the opportunity to taste 15 wines, chat with the winemakers and taste food prepared by Chef Marco Forneris of Lalibera and Eric Tanaka of Tom Douglas Restaurants (Eric cooked for a year in Piemonte). Accompanying Chef Marco will be his partner and the restaurant's floor manager, Flavia Boffa. It's meant to be a casual, fun event with the goal of exposing more of you to the delights of Piemonte wine and food. If you already know of what I speak you can imagine how much fun this will be, but I want to encourage those of you not too familiar to attend as well. Imagine it as a brief trip to Piemonte at a bargain price. When: Monday, June 9th
6-8:30 p.m. Planning for the 2nd annual Tom Douglas' Culinary Summer Camp is well underway!! Last year's camp showed me how much the word “foodie” describes so many of you. We thought five days of food challenges, guest chefs, cookbook authors and field trips might overwhelm your senses, but you came out swinging and ready for more. This year's camp will focus on the cooking of our restaurants with hands on chef-ing at both the Palace Kitchen and Serious Pie. Campers will find out what it's like to work in one of our kitchens - grilling on a full flame apple wood broiler or a 32,000 btu burner while waiters are waiting for their pickup. Planning and designing menus for your very own restaurant might seem easy until there are hungry diners staring and wondering when their vittles might be showing up! And working the 650 degree stone encased pizza oven at Serious Pie is sure to thrill you backyard grillers. All of this in addition to a compliment of new guest chefs, new cuisines, and new culinary challenges. Last year I thoroughly relished getting to know all of our campers, which is a rare treat for me as I'm a back of the house guy. This year I look forward to doing the same. On another note...I'm admittedly computer phobic; however, I must say there are some great food blogs that I find fun to read. One of which is Ed Levine's blog, seriouseats.com . You may have seen Ed as a judge on Iron Chef or know him from the several books he has under his belt. Basically, Ed searches the world for the best "tastes," be they soup dumplings, or pastrami sandwiches. The best part about Ed and his blog is that he's not a food snob, he just believes in his palate. A classic New Yorker, Ed will defend his favorite pizza or bagel joint with vehement verbal jousts until you can make your case to prove him wrong. Let's just say I've only won a single battle with Ed and he wouldn't cry uncle until he got on a plane and tried the place for himself. On the local dining scene, I'm looking forward to trying the “new” Virginia Inn restaurant, delicious meals at Rover's, a ten course extravaganza and a first rate steak at Daniel's Broiler on Lake Union. One last note to toot our own horn: If you don't try the rabbit pasta with English peas, baby carrots and sweet salad onions at the Dahlia Lounge for lunch, you may never know that spring has truly sprung in the chilly and soggy Northwest. Cheers, |
