'round the Adriatic

T

Tristan Welles

Tristan Welles
I took a quick look via the Polit-search and didn't see these places.

In Venice: Osteria Anice Stellato. In Cannareggio, Fondamenta de la Sensa. Very disorderly, no qualifications need be made. Excellent food, service and wine list.

Nevodi Venezia. In Castello, via Garibaldi. The food here is very good and the wine service is respectable from a Disorderly point of view. Location is key: if you are attending the Biennale you'll walk a LONG way before finding a better choice. Easy recommendation.

In Trieste: Enoteca Nanut. Very disorderly. Food is very good, but wine is the star. Dozens of bottles open for by-the-glass service. Owner knows his stuff and is pouring as much local wine as he can. Local means Friuli, Sud Tirol, Croatia, Slovenia. I had a glass of Traminer from Slovenia paired with a gorgonzola soufflé -- one of the best pairings I've had on a very long trip. Worth the trip, and then some.

In TheresienStadt, via Genova.

Bonus: all three have pleasant outdoor seating.
 
Adding another recommendation a little further north.

MAST in Vienna. (Polit-search yielded many entries on shoddy chocolate making in Brooklyn.)

Very good food, very friendly people. Clean but elegant setting. Wine list is outstanding. Wine list by the glass could use some improvement. Even so I was able to have a Chidaine demi to go with two excellent courses (a take on Rosti and a fantastic dish of ricotta/fig/sweet pepper/hazel nuts). Excellent main of trout, white asparagus paired with a Riesling from Wagram. Bone dry, full, expressive, a bargain at 4E. Nice pours.

Thoroughly Disorderly.

Not sure if the neighborhood is Rossau or Alsergrund. Either way, a little northwest of Zentrum. Near FJ Banhof. Porzellangasse.
 
We drunk a fairly priced bottle of Valentini Trebbiano at Anice Stellato 2 summers ago. The seafood risotto and fritto misto, their mainstays, were both excellent. While waiting for our table, Vino Vero nearby had possibly even more disorderly wines, including Baudry!
 
originally posted by Ben Hunting:
We drunk a fairly priced bottle of Valentini Trebbiano at Anice Stellato 2 summers ago. The seafood risotto and fritto misto, their mainstays, were both excellent. While waiting for our table, Vino Vero nearby had possibly even more disorderly wines, including Baudry!
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Excellent scouting! So far my experience is that Baudry is rara avis in countries east of France.

And thanks for the bump, I see that I spelled Cannaregio incorrectly.
 
A thoroughly Orderly note: In Chur, in Hotel Stern: Stern. Very proper Swiss. Lovely outdoor setting, indoor dining room looked equally lovely, in a wood-paneled way. Crystal, linen, lamps and flowers on the tables. If dining, definitely look for something fresh and lightly cooked.

So why the recommendation? I can't imagine a more comprehensive list of wines from eastern Switzerland. At least 100 local (Swiss) references, pages and pages. Disorderlies seem to enjoy the comprehensive approach, if only to eliminate options intelligently.

I had a full, expressive glass of Blauburgunder with lightly sautéed veal, mushrooms and asparagus. (Asparagus and strawberries everywhere, every form, every course. Field, forest, sea, white, green, thin, ruby through the pith, sur maturité). Some bio on the card, though that seemed to be more a matter of being complete when representing the area, I wouldn't say natural / bio was an emphasis.

Reichsgasse, Chur, Graubünden, SW
 
Back to thoroughly Disorderly, L'Epicurien in Colmar. Surely this location is well known to the WD. But worth a mention to confirm the list remains very fairly priced and the food is of a high standard. A bottle of Boxler's '14 Gewurz Reserve was @ 40E. Regrettably the '12 Brand was sold through. Very friendly service, exceptionally deep list. Several listings of Freddy Emile, Clos Jebsal, Clos Ste Hune, etc all at reasonable rates.

Rue Wickham, Colmar.

The interesting thing to me remains just how under-developed is the wine culture in many restaurants in Colmar. Very lovely people, setting and excellent food at Bistrot des Lavandières, but a minimal list. Nothing wrong with the rose from Caves de Turckheim with a chèvre salad, but a few more selections would make this an ideal spot to enjoy a long lunch.

Petite Venise, Colmar.

Just across the canal for choucroute at Wistub Brenner. OK, if that is your thing. Increasingly it isn't, for me. Mysterious lack of wine selection here, too. I could walk from here to Turckheim or Kaysersberg in an hour or two, but should I want something more than Emile Beyer, SOO.
 
Continuing the theme of limited wine selection, a few miles north.

L'Oignon in Strasbourg. Wonderful food, highly recommended. The chef cooks and serves. A bit of warm onion soup with veal stock as a starter, flavorful, garlic-y cold tomato and leak, and first rate lamb shoulder to finish. With a basic Riesling and then a glass of Corbières, wishing again that Alsatians were a bit more possessive of their wine culture.

Near Pont du Faisan, Grande Île. Emphatic recommendation for the food.

Throughly Disorderly and an easy recommendation: Vino Strada Stub. Nice menu, excellent wine list, pleasant outdoor seating. First class Riesling Schlossberg by the glass. Domaine Schaetzel. New to me and it doesn't look as if it makes it to the States. Bio (transitioning to bio?). Full, dry, echt-Schlossberg mineral, wonderful tactile quality, that sense of coating the palate.

Also Grande Île, a little further up, near Broglie tram stop. (Before one of the strangest performances of Don Giovanni one is likely to hear.)
 
there's a very disorderly producer in bergheim; sylvie spielmann.

bergheim also home to the master disorderly, marcel deiss.

i visited there summer of '14 on the recommendation of the sommelier at the alas, now gone, wistub de sommelier in bergheim. sylvie is a lovely person and an avid proponent of all things natural and practices biodynamie.

at the time of my visit, sylvie spielmann was not imported to the u.s.

her riesling from grand cru kanzlerberg (by far the tiniest grand cru in alsace) is fantastic and singular. the bedrock that forms the soils of kanzlerberg is full of lovely lilac pink cubic flourite crystals. you can see them at the website.
 
Deiss I avoid because the ripeness/alcohol tends to be high. Also because -- less persuasively because based on only one observation -- someone I know met him at a tasting and says that, because this someone was black, Deiss ignored him and wouldn't pour.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
I see that I spelled Cannaregio incorrectly.
Click to expand...

No doubt because of Reggio Calabria and Reggiano, etc.
Click to expand...

Funny how the brain works. Undoubtedly your explanation is correct.

Every once in a while I will catch myself thinking Antwerp is in the Netherlands. Why? Because it was part of the Duchy of Brabant in the historical epoch I studied, and most of what was Brabant is now in the Netherlands. Once the brain latches on to some aspect of the 'truth' it seems to be content. Or at least mine is.
 
About a 25 min drive south of Colmar is Dirler-Cadé. Definitely would appeal to a Disorderly palate. About another 45 minutes south of them is a great fromagerie, Fromagerie Antony. They serve a lovely cheese plate for lunch and have a nice selection of wines.
 
Disorderly in Bayeux: Le Bouchon, Cave & Bistrot.

Two person operation. one service midi and one service soir. 10 seats and the bar. Tiny menu, on the chalkboard. Elegant, light touch with the food, which can't be other than ultra fresh as there is clearly no room to store it. Le chef's mis-en-place (behind the bar) is fun to see. Perfect touch with a dozen or so vinegars.

As I find with many restaurants in France which are not it in a wine producing area, the wine selection is wildly eclectic. I had non-spoofed white from les Landes (cepage of 5 grapes) one meal and a traditional, tannic Bordeaux from Bourg the next.

E-P-D for 19E. A bottle from the store which costs more than E15.50 is opened without corkage at the table. So effectively the wine list is comprehensive. by the glass you'll find three or four reds and three or four whites open at once. I suspect you can talk them into opening anything for service by the glass.

Dozens of digestifs, including one or two new to me.

Exactly the kind of place wine lovers enjoy. Madame et Monsieur (I'm not sure if they are related) are enthusiastic about discussing what they prepare and sell. Friendly patrons -- leave a chalked in message on the 'livre d'or'. Or at least make sure and read it, tres sympa, très drôle. Un lieu tres détendu.

15 Rue Maréchal Foch. Easy walk to either the Wednesday or Saturday markets, the Tapestry and the Cathedral.

ooops-forgot: if the menu seems small, you can also get boards of charcuterie and cheese of top quality.
 
This one is out of chronological order, so I am being disorderly while attempting to be Disorderly:

In Carcassonne -- Barrière Truffes. It's not often you can claim to meet the leading authority on a subject, Philippe Barrière might just be that for truffles, and this is his atelier. A joyous proliferation.

A small place, monsieur out front, plus his chef. 10 seats? plus the bar. A wonderful gastronomic memory. As for wine: plenty of local, natural and bio selections. Lots of bottles on the wall to choose from. M Barrière will offer you (rather substantial) pours of four or five reds from which to select your wine for the night. Disorderly, to a degree. I wonder how this board feels about -- say-- the wines of Gérard Bertrand. Slick marketing, but is bio certified. Undoubtedly powerful, the cuvée Cigalus was memorable, I'm still trying to decide if it was somewhat spoofy while being enjoyable. Still, plenty of others to choose from.

Rue Trivalle, Carcassonne. This is in neither the old city nor the new. Interstitial.

Bonus: just down the rue is La Petite Cuillère, home of the second best cassoulet in France. here one settles for the Graham Stark wine list: "We have a red 2017, we have a white 2017..."
 
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