Food & Wine

S

SFJoe

Joe Dougherty
From Alan Richman's review of Veritas. I think I saw him there that night.

"At one Veritas dinner, Pugin was so dismayed by my wine-and-food pairingfish with a blueberryish 1994 Clarendon Hills Grenache ($105)that he sent out a small portion of meaty, chewy Duck a lOrange to save the day. Its nice to know that a chef is paying close attention to what his guests are eating, and its just as pleasant to realize that a few chefs remain interested in the classic Duck a lOrange. His restrained version, most admirably, did not remind me of fowl in Creamsicle sauce."

Should someone who orders nicely aged Clarendon Hills Grenache to go with his fish be excluded from reviewing restaurants, since his palate is obviously idiosyncratic to the point of being useless for everyone else?
 
No, not at all. But perhaps his reviews should appear in publications within the British Commonwealth where his palate will be middle-mainstream. I like your "nicely aged Clarendon Hills Grenache". Very sporting of you.
 
originally posted by Jeff Connell:
No, not at all. But perhaps his reviews should appear in publications within the British Commonwealth where his palate will be middle-mainstream. I like your "nicely aged Clarendon Hills Grenache". Very sporting of you.
Click to expand...

Actually, the sporting bit was "idiosyncratic."
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Jeff Connell:
No, not at all. But perhaps his reviews should appear in publications within the British Commonwealth where his palate will be middle-mainstream. I like your "nicely aged Clarendon Hills Grenache". Very sporting of you.
Click to expand...

Actually, the sporting bit was "idiosyncratic."
Click to expand...

Actually, I think most sporting of all was sending ou the duck l'orange.

M.
 
Wow! Restaurant critics get close attention paid to them! Who knew?

This is clearly a restaurant to patronize, should one happen to be a restaurant critic.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:

Should someone who orders nicely aged Clarendon Hills Grenache to go with his fish be excluded from reviewing restaurants, since his palate is obviously idiosyncratic to the point of being useless for everyone else?
Click to expand...

Tell me that this guy was just baiting the kitchen staff and not honestly trying to pair his meal. And how is the new chef doing there anyway?

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by SFJoe:

Should someone who orders nicely aged Clarendon Hills Grenache to go with his fish be excluded from reviewing restaurants, since his palate is obviously idiosyncratic to the point of being useless for everyone else?
Click to expand...

Tell me that this guy was just baiting the kitchen staff and not honestly trying to pair his meal. And how is the new chef doing there anyway?

Mark Lipton
Click to expand...
New chef spectacular, esp in comparison to door #2. But fancier new chow comes w/ unwelcome fancier new prices. Of course, the wine is most of the check anyway. But a very high level of execution.
 
I suspect Alan was either trying to enjoy a screaming deal on the Veritas list (of which there are many, if you hunt) or taunting the chef, or just has a thing for Barossa grenache. Or, potentially, the match was with something else he'd ordered.

Plenty of critics are fumbling with origami when dealing with wine lists; Alan knows his Ps and Qs ... which is to say, his Pulignys and Quintarellis.
 
He knows a good deal more than several other major label critics, and he is open to saying things like "this wine is new to me, would you mind telling me more about it?" which admission is rare to non-existent among the race of critics in general.

Seriously. I have been face to face with the man and he is alright in my book.

Maybe he tried a Clarendon Hills bottling. No big deal.
 
originally posted by jbonne:
I suspect Alan was either trying to enjoy a screaming deal on the Veritas list (of which there are many, if you hunt) or...
Click to expand...
Now why didn't I think of that?
 
I like Richman, and I believe he knows his stuff.
I too, was curious why he ordered such a wine with his fish.

But, what kind of fish was it? Was there a sauce? What kind of spicing?
And, are there any possible answers to these questions that would lead one to the conclusion, that, yes, the Grenache was a perfect match?

We may never know.
 
There is the possibility that he didn't order the wine himself. That perhaps someone at the table did and he was just being polite and muddling through and then wamm-o, salvation arrived.

He handed the wine list off to his guest when he last dined in my neck of the woods.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
PerhapsThere is the possibility that he didn't order the wine himself. That perhaps someone at the table did and he was just being polite and muddling through and then wamm-o, salvation arrived.

He handed the wine list off to his guest when he last dined in my neck of the woods.
Click to expand...
The night I saw him at V, he was accompanied by well known wine expert Lettie Teague.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
PerhapsThere is the possibility that he didn't order the wine himself. That perhaps someone at the table did and he was just being polite and muddling through and then wamm-o, salvation arrived.

He handed the wine list off to his guest when he last dined in my neck of the woods.
Click to expand...
The night I saw him at V, he was accompanied by well known wine expert Lettie Teague.
Click to expand...

OK, now that's funny.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
PerhapsThere is the possibility that he didn't order the wine himself. That perhaps someone at the table did and he was just being polite and muddling through and then wamm-o, salvation arrived.

He handed the wine list off to his guest when he last dined in my neck of the woods.
Click to expand...
The night I saw him at V, he was accompanied by well known wine expert Lettie Teague.
Click to expand...

OK, now that's funny.
Click to expand...

But not very sporting.
 
originally posted by Marc D:
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
PerhapsThere is the possibility that he didn't order the wine himself. That perhaps someone at the table did and he was just being polite and muddling through and then wamm-o, salvation arrived.

He handed the wine list off to his guest when he last dined in my neck of the woods.
Click to expand...
The night I saw him at V, he was accompanied by well known wine expert Lettie Teague.
Click to expand...

OK, now that's funny.
Click to expand...

But not very sporting.
Click to expand...

Sporty Spice!!!
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
Hey Jon-

Good to see you posting here. Hope all is well on the left side of things.
Click to expand...

Glad to be here! (Left side of things largely occupied with high extract levels and overbearing oak regimes.) to the topic at hand ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top