A Tale of Two Pastas

Most hotel restaurants are not known for having the greatest food in the world, especially those associated with a chain. On a recent trip to Brussels, I had lunch in the hotel on the day I arrived because I was too tired to venture forth to discover the neighborhood. I will refrain from identifying the hotel in particular, but it's origins are connected with Washington DC and has an eponymous founder. I would not normally write about it, but the contrast between the pasta I had at this restaurant and another one I had at a place down-town is instructive.

First, I should have known better than to order a dish in November that features asparagus and morel mushrooms. Asparagus's season by the time November rolls around is a good six months gone in the Northern Hemisphere. Morels are also a spring and early summer harvest. So, I should have known better, but even setting aside the lack of freshness in the ingredient that would indicate less than flavorful results, basic seasoning was missing as well. The slivers of Parmesan cheese were waxy and tasteless, the cream sauce lacked salt, pepper, or anything to liven it up. I made it through about one quarter of the dish before giving up (why waste calories on tasteless food?).

Kwint, on the other hand, had a rich home-made pasta dish with pan-seared foie gras (okay, this makes having lots of flavor kinda easy) and truffle shavings, well-seasoned and served in a perfect portion. Matched with an opening course of smoked Scottish salmon with lemon pearls (that look like caviar) and fresh pepper, the meal was a wonderful way to cap off an afternoon of tramping about down-town Brussels in the rain. The restaurant has the added benefit of sitting atop a small rise overlooking the city center.

Now the comparison of these two pastas may seem a bit unfair, but given that the price of the two was comparable (22 Euro for the asparagus paste, 25 Euro for the foie gras), the difference in flavor, execution and presentation was astounding.

Michter's Straight Rye

This is not a formal tasting of Michter's Straight Rye Whiskey as I partook under less than, ahem, laboratory conditions. That is, I sampled this fine whiskey while sitting with a friend at a bar in DC's West End. But, I felt I had to convey my impressions of the drink. It is a dark, deeply coppery rye and has the expected spicy, sweet, lively notes on the nose. This experience grows as one tastes it, demonstrating a surprisingly smooth and fully round taste on the tongue. It is a long-lasting, satisfying rye; the furthest from rotgut one can get with rye whiskey. Definitely seek this one out!

Virginia Single Malt

Yes, there really is such a thing as Virginia Single Malt whisky. Wasmund's comes from Copper Fox distillery in Sperryville. I have heard a lot over the last year or so about this distillery and was excited to try out their products. I will try the rye whisky at a later date, but I couldn't resist trying the single malt, which comes from a pot still. The whisky is bottled at 48% abv, and my bottle came from batch number 41, a 19 month old whisky that is aged in applewood, cherrywood and oak casks with chips. That probably explains the dark color after less than two years, which is pretty coppery. The main thing was the nose, which is quite powerful. And powerful not in the best way. I found it off-putting, like a piece of hard rubber that just overwhelmed anything else in the whisky. Even after more than 30 minutes in the glass, it was still pretty strong. The taste is all right, but that smell, oh that smell!

The new book about Ferran Adria

There's a pretty caustic review of the new biography of Spanish avant garde chef Ferran Adria in the New York Times today. It's actually quite amusing to read, in fact. The latest issue of Wine Spectator is more charitable, but still finds the descriptions of the dining experience lacklustre -- which they kindly put down to the impossibility of describing "genius", they say. I don't know if the review is fair to the book or not, though I have found the NYT pretty reliable, but it is nice to have a more definitive statement from a reviewer on whether a book is worth my time, money and effort to read.

Saturday night dinner

From Giorgio Locatelli's wonderful (and heafty) cookbook, a great fish dish that goes well with red wine. Cod on a bed of lentils and a parsley sauce to add some extra depth. The lentils are simmered in veggie stock with herbs (garden-grown sage and rosemary, and some store-bought bay leaves), pancetta, onion, carrot, leak and celery. The cod is simply cooked with some light oil in a non-stick skillet and finished with butter. The lentils are supposed to mimic a risotto in a way, providing a nice bed to set the lentils into without being too soupy. That puddle you see around the edge is a bit of the butter sauce from the pan I cooked the fish in. I was a little disappointed with having so much come out, but that may have been from having a tad too much vegetable oil in the skillet to start.

Macallan at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival

It's probably appropriate that one of the more pretentious single malts would end up at one of the more pretentious food and wine expos. Not that I am poo-poohing the two, but there is some logic in the pairing the two of them. It would be an interesting juxtaposition (clash?) if Bruichladdich, for example, showed up at Aspen -- particularly Jim McEwan! You can see a short video about it at the Macallan's US website: <a id="art6" name="art6"></a>Food & Wine Classic in Aspen

Fannie's Last Supper

Chris Kimball of America's Test Kitchen fame has a new project that is really cool -- making a 12 course Victorian era meal with period instruments so to speak. You can see a preview and pre-order the book here.