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Newsletter for October 2004 Your source for what’s cooking at OBW
25 South Indian Alley Winchester VA, 22601 540-662-1455 |
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Wow! What happened to September? Fall is definitely here and the grape harvest is well in hand, with the white grapes largely in and the late reds such as Cabernet still hanging to get as ripe as they can. What a great time to take a road trip to one of our local vineyards and support Virginia winemaking! We visit Linden Vineyards in this edition.
And when the weather turns crisp, my mind returns to beer. I like ales a lot, but they’re not great hot weather drinking. One of my favorite ales comes from Tröegs brewery in Harrisburg, PA. We visit with Chris and John Trogner this month. And we’re planning a beer dinner with Old Dominion Brewing.
We’re also announcing the launch of our Virginia cheese program in this edition. I am blown away by the quality of our cheeses. Please read on to learn about them.
Happy eating!
Ed Matthews, Chef/Owner
If you are not participating in the One Block West Rewards program, you should be—we have already sent gift certificates out this month. Some customers are looking in vain for a catch. There is no catch. I devised the program to give a little something back to my loyal customers who have been keeping me in business. It’s a simple program: each time you eat with us, you get points. When you get enough points, we mail you a $50 gift certificate. And that’s it: no strings, no catches. (More details…)
Sunday October 10, “Cooking with Herbs” at Blandy Farm
From 2:30 until 4:00, I will be at Blandy Farm (The State Arboretum of Virginia) in Boyce demonstrating cooking with herbs, a small part of ArborFest which runs 10 am to 4:30 pm both Saturday and Sunday.
Wednesday October 20, Beer Dinner Benefit for Wayside Theatre
On Wednesday October 20th at 6:00 pm, we’ll be featuring the beers of Old Dominion Brewing Company with a three-course meal for $40. Charlie Fish of Murphy Beverage and I are picking up the cost of the food and beer and donating your $40 to Wayside Theatre. Seating is limited to 24 guests by reservation only and you must prepay at the time of your reservation. (View the full events calendar…)
Wine dinners are on hiatus right now. This is the silly season for the wine makers.
A restaurant in Virginia that has a very deep Virginia wine list and that prides itself on using the best local produce and foodstuffs darn well ought to feature Virginia cheeses. I am pleased to announce that with the help of Jim Law at Linden Vineyards and Fran Kysela of Kysela Père et Fils, guys who are at least as passionate about food as am I, One Block West now features extraordinary quality Virginia cheeses. Our cheeses will vary depending on what the dairies are producing when we need to reorder.
Right now we have exceptional cow’s milk cheeses from Meadow Creek Dairy in Galax, a wonderful sheep’s milk cheese from Everona Farm in Rapidan, and several cow and goat cheeses from Lady Bug Creamery in Willis. These outstanding raw milk (unpasteurized) cheeses are the perfect complement to our very deep Virginia wine list. Come taste these superior cheeses and help support Virginia’s artisan cheesemakers.
A couple of tips for you. Cheese is not just for after a meal. It also makes a great appetizer or lunch. Feel free to ask for the cheese menu whenever you like. Also, if you do want cheese after your meal, consider ordering it before your dinner so that we can ensure that the cheeses are at room temperature and in peak condition.
With our emphasis on local produce, Virginia wines, and Virginia cheeses, you might think that we would be serving Virginia beers. Yet our flagship beers, Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale, Pale Ale, and Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale, are brewed in Harrisburg, PA. Not that we have anything against local breweries such as Old Dominion Brewing in Ashburn, it’s just that Tröegs beers taste best to us across their product line. October being the perfect beer drinking month, we decided to investigate the “Handcrafted by Two Brothers™” claim on every six pack. (Read more…)
This month, vinegar. When I was growing up, there was just one vinegar for seasoning, White House Apple Cider vinegar, and Mom used white vinegar in canning. Now my pantry is not complete without at least a dozen vinegars. (Read more…)
September saw the addition of four new wines for fall including:
Orsolani Carema 1999, a Nebbiolo from the tiny commune of Carema in the far north of the Piedmont. Carema is an ancient grape center that is little known and so its wines command lower prices than the more well known Barolo. Carema also tends to be more fruit forward and approachable while young.
DeChiel Merlot Virginia 2001. Since we sell so much merlot, we thought we’d try to find a good Virginia one for the list. And so we hooked up with Rockbridge Cellars of Raphine (between Staunton and Lexington, near Vesuvius) who produced the gold medal winning merlot at this year’s State Fair.
Chrysalis Petit Manseng Late Harvest Virginia 2003. Dessert wines are always a treat and this late harvest Petit Manseng is well balanced and quite delicious. We’ve been waiting all summer for this to be released. Now it’s here and in our cooler.
Di Lenardo Verduzzo Late Harvest 2003. A late harvest wine from the Verduzzo grape from Friuli, this wine struck me when I tasted it with the importer. Clearly oxidized with sherry notes, this wine is still fresh and comes off drier than it is because of great acidity. What most struck me is the flavor profile: dripping with caramel, nuts, roasted pears, nutmeg, and cinnamon. (Did you click through to their web site? That’s pretty advanced for an Italian winery!)
Mussels Arrabbiata was a big hit a couple of weeks ago. Like soup recipes, mussels recipes are more ideas than actual recipes. Arrabbiata means angry in Italian, a reference to the generous amount of crushed red pepper in the dish.
Mussels Arrabbiata
24 large mussels ¼ c peeled, seeded, and diced tomatoes 3-4 basil leaves, finely sliced “en chiffonade” ¼ c white wine 1 T chopped garlic 1 t crushed red pepper flakes pinch of salt pinch of black pepper
Clean the mussels and place in a pan with a tightly fitting lid along with all the other ingredients. Place over high flame and steam until the mussels open, five to eight minutes. Serve immediately with plenty of good bread to soak up the juices.
Other ideas: garlic, white wine, and fresh herbs; dill and ouzo; pesto and white wine; coconut milk and green Thai curry
Road Trip: Linden Vineyards
As little time off as we have in this business, we still make time for mixing work and fun. Two Sundays ago, Jim Law was kind enough to devote a considerable portion of his Sunday afternoon to showing the OBW staff the rudiments of the vinification process and then doing a private tasting with us. Not only are the servers more knowledgeable, some might even be able to pronounce pied de cuve! And we reminded ourselves how lucky we are to have Linden Claret on our wine list.
Tasting and talking with Jim is always fascinating. His knowledge of his vines and his wines borders on encyclopedic (after 25 years or so in the business) and his passion for wine and terroir is amazing.
When you go to Linden, I highly recommend that you part with $10 and sign up for the cellar tasting (and by all means, taste upstairs too). The cellar tasting aims to show you the effect of climate and terroir on wine. So you might taste the same wine from two differing years (climate) or the same wine from two different vineyards (terroir) in the same year. Such tastings can really help you understand what you are tasting. You will certainly leave with a better appreciation of wine.
After tasting, do what we did. Buy a bottle or two of wine, all the marvelous cheese, summer sausage, and bread you want, and repair to the deck to look out over the stunning vista. We bought a bottle of Riesling Vidal and, our collective favorite, Claret, all of the cheeses, and some venison summer sausage. Jim was kind enough to kick in a no-label bottle from purging the bottling line that was just gorgeous.
We had a marvelous afternoon (actually morning for us, as I don’t think any of us got up before 11). It didn’t hurt that we visited on one of the most spectacular days that we have ever experienced, visibility to 50 miles, temperature high 60s, solid blue sky, and no humidity. It was the Sunday reward for enduring the Friday hell from Hurricane Ivan (you try running a restaurant on a Friday night with a full dining room, tornado warnings going off every five minutes, and your mother calling to find out if you are alive – love you, Mom!).
Each week I get emails asking me about various cooking techniques and/or using ingredients. Every month in the newsletter, I will publish one or two interesting topics. Feel free to send email if there is some technique or ingredient that you need help with.
This month a customer sent an email asking how to clean and steam mussels. She loves them but is hesitant to try them at home. Nothing could be simpler. First, wash and brush the mussels under running water to remove sand, grit, and mud. Then, debeard the mussels. The beard is a bunch of fibers that the mussel uses to attach to whatever it grows on. Grasp it firmly—use a towel if you need to—and pull the beard off on the hinge side of the mussel, not the side that opens.
As you work with the mussels, discard any that are damaged or dead. Throw out any that are cracked or have damaged shells. A dead mussel stays open. If the mussel is firmly closed, it is alive. If the mussel is open, squeeze it a little. If it is alive, it will close.
A few last words before I go. The word is starting to get out on One Block West—maybe you saw my ugly mug in Virginia Living last month or on WVPT Cooks—and it is high tourist season. I had to turn some regular customers away last weekend and it hurts when I have to do that. Please don’t be one of them. Please call or email us for reservations.
It being beer season, we now have Red Hook ESB in the cooler. Once upon a time, when I was in the software world, I was in Seattle a lot, imagine that! I have great memories of the now defunct Red Hook brewery in Fremont, especially stopping by there after an awesome dinner at Ray’s Boathouse, where they do fish like I like, very, very simply.
Recently, I had an interview with Mike Potashnik of the Virginia Wine Guide about selling Virginia wines for his column in Restaurant Digest. My opinions are just that and they are here.
It’s Christmas party season. Many prime dates are already booked. We’d love to host your party, but you will need to book in the very near future.
The good weather won’t last too much longer, so get out and visit a winery in the next couple of weeks. Hint, Long Branch is host, October 15-17, to a lot of wineries in conjunction with the balloon festival. But feel free to do your own thing—my wife and I grabbed some cheese, sausage, olives, bread, and apples from the restaurant cooler last Sunday and spent a wonderful afternoon with a bottle of Sarah’s Patio Red and a bottle of Petit Manseng at Chrysalis while the kids threw sticks for the Border Collies and played with the Buff and Blue Orpington chickens. Enjoy the spectacular weather that October brings and appreciate the gifts that we have all around us. Celebrate by eating good food, drinking good wine, and being thankful that you live in one of the most beautiful places on earth!
Ed
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Copyright © 2004 Shenandoah Food and Beverage Holdings, LLC |
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