The Meat

Florida Jim

Florida Jim

Florida Jim
A brisk San Francisco evening found VLM, Ian, Kraft, Tristan, José and myself sitting down at perhaps my favorite restaurant in the city; La Ciccia. Lorella, Massimo, Phil and staff made us entirely welcome: served us food that is simple, earthy and delicious; and Massimo, selected wines off his list that paired well and held our interest. José also contributed a couple bottles.

The food: baby octopus stew in a spicy tomato sauce, fresh spaghetti with spicy oil and bottarga, fresh linguini with cured tuna heart and pan roasted pork loin served with saffron onions. And a bit of dolce at the end.

The wines: 2010 Pedra Majore, Vermentino Hysony; 2006 Klinec, Pikotno; D’Annunzio, Cannonau Oliena; 2010 Gulmaro, Ribeira Sacra; 2011 7 Fuentes; a sylvaner that I never got the information for and, later that night at Terroir, the 2011 Pur, Morgon Côte du Py.
(I tried to take pictures of each bottle as I was not familiar with them, but almost incoherent labeling and lighting made later deciphering difficult; please forgive the errors.)

On the personal side, I treasure evenings like this. Not so often do I get to drink wines I never heard of with food that I dream about. And the camaraderie amongst those assembled bordered on family. These are the convivial moments that live on with me well past the good byes.

As for the wines; I never ceased to be amazed at how little I know of the wines of Italy and the area. The sylvaner, vermentino and tocai were all so distinctive and filled with light and minerals. The mencia was such a balanced and charming wine; the cannonau a bit too VA tinged for me but still filled with flavor. Only the Morgon was objectionable and maybe even bacterial. I don’t get to drink this producer much but, from what I have read of his wines, this could not have been a representative bottle (or the vintage is worse than expected).

As for the food; simple, rustic and perfect. The octopus melted in your mouth; the bottarga was wonderful counter-point to the freshness of the pasta; and the tuna heart is indeed, the stuff of dreams. I find myself tending to such simpler preparations these days; most of the fancy food I eat makes me wish I hadn’t. At La Ciccia, you only wish you had more room.

Thanks to all for making it another grand night in my favorite city.

Best, Jim
 
You are making me homesick Jim. This is the restaurant we have missed the most having left SF nearly 4 years ago - with Henry's Hunan a far distant second. We lived in Eureka Valley, very convenient to La Ciccia (and Incanto). Alas there is just nothing remotely like it or TerroirSF in Seattle. The octopus and tuna heart dishes were favs and my wife generally went nuts for any tripe dish they might have going.
 
Appreciate the wine tips. Sandi and I are going next Friday (V-Day dinner the day after Valentines Day).

VLM, Kraft, do you recall what the Sylvaner was?
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
originally posted by Rob Lateiner:
I hold the same objections for the pur cote du py 2011. Other 2010s from them were more pure.
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Oooof, that's depressing.
Best, Jim
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Not to pile on and I am hardly qualified to comment but I agree that the 2011 P.U.R. Morgon Cote du Py was a puzzling and disappointing wine.
 
It was a great evening. I didn't pay close attention to the wines. I drank them. It was Massimiliano's gig and I enjoyed them all.
 
I opened '11 PUR Cote du Py last night. I drank 1/2 the bottle over about 2 hours. I found nothing wrong with it. I detected a bit of funkiness at first (not brett), but that blew away. The fruit notes were spot-on Gamay.

I put the other half in the frig and will drink it tonight.
 
Day 2:

The wine has gained some body and tastes darker-fruited than yesterday. Very balanced. Nice length. I like it better today. Absolutely nothing funky or off.
 
As Scott Kraft said, you have to wonder why we eat at other restaurants in SF after eating at La Ciccia. Just like when we last went, the overall experience was perfect. Sandi and I split a salad and pasta, both not-on-the-menu specials.

The salad was frisee with perfectly cooked prawns and smoked trout, with a few pomegranate seeds thrown in. The dressing was a lemon/anchovy mix. When we ordered it, I wondered how the trout and anchovy would get along. Given where we were eating, I shouldn't have wondered. It was a terrific combination of flavors.

Pasta was homemade ricotta ravioli with a prosciutto/veal sugo. I've never had ricotta that good.
Sandi had the lightly breaded pork paillards (what's the Italian word?) with an olive sugo. Wonderful. I had an awesome piece of swordfish with saffron onions. The fish was cooked to perfection (there's that p word again).

We split the gelato trio for dessert. Malaga, Hazelnut Chocolate, and Goat Cheese/Fig. For me, it was a tie between the first and third.

We drank '11 Vermentino di Gallura "I Graniti", Pedra Majore (a Bill Easton recommendation, Oliver McCrum import) and '98 Janasse "Chaupin" CduPape. The Vermentino had great minerality and balance. The Janasse had lost all of the typical Grenache strawberry notes. It was dark-fruited and showed no heat. Very nice texture, complexity and balance.

Corkage is now $35, but they still have the "waive corkage if you buy a bottle off the list" policy.

What a great, great restaurant.
 
Not much for CdP but that Vermentino is lovely.
I have to expand my menu choices the next time; I keep getting the same things - but then, why mess with "perfection."
Best, Jim
 
They had quite a few specials last night: 4 apps, the ravioli, and one main (tripe).

I bring Chateauneuf to La Ciccia because Cannonau = Grenache. I only drink 2-3 btls/year of CduPape a year. However, I have 21 btls of '98s and considering the stage that the Janasse was in, I'm going to have to increase that over the next 2-3 years. I only have 4 additional btls that require aging. There are worse problems.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Two to three bottles a year of CdP? I drink that much a week. What does not kill you makes you stronger.
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and there i was wonderin about all them odd roundhead / cavalier vibes on teh board...

fb.
 
originally posted by richard slicker:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Two to three bottles a year of CdP? I drink that much a week. What does not kill you makes you stronger.
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and there i was wonderin about all them odd roundhead / cavalier vibes on teh board...

fb.
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Roundheads being left wing antimonarchists, I'd like to think I'm being identified with them. On the other hand, they did close the theaters, so maybe I should want to be identified with the cavaliers, royalists though they were. But then since I don't really get the analogy here at all, maybe I should be happy to identify with both sides.
 
Benu is *very* pricey. Also, I'm not sure if a typical 13 year old would appreciate it.

Oswaldo, what kind of cuisine does he (she?) like (or not like) in order to help narrow it down?
 
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