One Block West Newsletter -- May 2008

The Apple Blossom Festival and our annual spring vacation are now behind us and we are looking forward to the growing bounty of local produce as the weather warms. Local asparagus is just in the market and morels are still coming in daily, but they won’t last much longer. Strawberries cannot be too far behind.

I have now set the date for our annual Garlic Dinner on July 24^th. This is always a great event. Our May dinner with Doug Fabbioli of Fabbioli Cellars is coming up fast. If you want to attend, please book soon. To get an idea of what we do, have a look at the the menu and my notes for our April dinner featuring tapas and the wines of Spain.

I am hopeful, but not too, that with the formation of the new Virginia Winery Distribution Corporation that we may be able to rebuild our Virginia list to where it was back in 2005.

Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter: I really appreciate the feedback that I get from you.

All my best,

Ed Matthews, Chef/Owner

Events Calendar back to top

Thursday

May 22, 2008

Fabbioli Cellars

Doug Fabbioli is making some wonderful red wines over in Lucketts, near Leesburg. He’ll be here to talk about not only his wines, but his interesting philosophy of making wine. We’ll be tasting Doug’s Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc, Tre Sorelle (“three sisters”—a classic Bordeaux blend), and Raspberry Merlot (which means we’ll probably be having chocolate for dessert!) We’ll be doing 5 courses @ $70 per person, not including taxes or gratuity. Reserve by credit card at 540-662-1455. We start receiving guests after 6:30; the dinner starts promptly at 7:00pm. more…

Thursday

June 26, 2008

Linden Vineyards

Jim Law of Linden Vineyards will be here for the fourth June in a row to discuss his wines which we will pair with an early summer menu. This dinner will sell out early. $80 per person, does not include taxes or gratuity. Reserve by credit card at 540-662-1455. We start receiving guests after 6:30; the dinner starts promptly at 7:00pm.

Thursday

July 24, 2008

Annual Garlic Dinner

Calling all garlic lovers! If past years are any indication, this is probably our rowdiest wine dinner of the year. While most dinners are focused around the wines, this dinner is focused on garlic in all its manifestations. $65 per person, not including taxes or gratuity. Reserve by credit card at 540-662-1455. We start receiving guests after 6:30; the dinner starts promptly at 7:00pm.

What’s New @ One Blog West back to top

Now that I’m posting articles to One Blog West nearly daily, I’m rethinking the mission of this newsletter. Rather than a newsletter full of articles, here’s a list of food and restaurant topics that I wrote in March:

§ Sushi: The Official Food of One Block West, do you have a sushi monster too?

§ What a Send Off!, on being crushed during dinner service. Thanks, it was fun!

§ OBW Employee Arrested for GWI, a little tongue-in-cheek fun.

§ Fregola Sarda, a fantastic pasta.

§ Red Snapper, is it really?

§ How's Your Day Gone?, are people really this crazy?

§ Do You Have a Food Allergy?, don’t do this to me!

§ Surry Sausage, the best damn sausage ever!

§ Sell, Menu, Sell!, a few words make all the difference.

§ Morels, they’re back!

§ The Meat Cutter, A Dying Breed, it’s sad when I know more than my meat cutters.

§ Mesclun, more than you wanted to know about archaic French.

§ Sweetbreads, the answer to the question you want to ask, but are afraid to.

§ Old Friends, as much as we complain, this business does have its rewards.

§ Different Strokes: The Art of Recipe Design, why one chef does not fit all.

§ Gas Tomatoes, God forbid!

There are also other articles below in Recipes and Something to Wine About.

May Wine Dinner back to top

I have invited Doug Fabbioli of Fabbioli Cellars in Lucketts to come present his wines to us at our monthly wine dinner on Thursday May 22nd. He specializes in red wines, which is unique among all the local vintners that I am fortunate to know. I have heard so many people say that we cannot make good red wine here in Virginia. This dinner should silence the naysayers.

And Doug has a unique philosophy about his role in winemaking, teaching the next generation of winemakers, and making a living doing all this while being a good steward of the land. If you don’t already know him, he’s a very interesting guy.

Doug is a frequent attendee of our wine dinners himself, so he knows what he is getting into. Says he, “Having been to a few of Ed's wine dinners, I am very excited to see his creative efforts work with our wines. I can see his efforts inspiring me to reach out of the box even further this year.” Doug, you want to reach out of the box? Give me a big, high-acid passito style wine—a Virginia interpretation of Amarone.

We will be tasting customer favorites Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc, along with a wine that we do not have on our list: Tre Sorelle—three sisters, a classic Bordeaux blend. For dessert, we’ll have the fabulous Raspberry Merlot: it is everything you chocoholics need to complete your day.

To recap, on Thursday, May 22nd, we start receiving guests any time after 6:30 and as always, we kick off right at 7. We don’t wait for stragglers. I haven’t decided how many courses of food to do or what we’re having. If you have dietary concerns, let me know well before the dinner. The cost is $70 per person and the dinner is strictly by advance reservation. Cost does not include taxes or gratuity.

We need to pack this dinner to show our support for our local wine industry. Please get some friends together and book today at 540-662-1455.

The Virginia Winery Distribution Company back to top

The Commonwealth of Virginia has formed a new wine distribution company, the Virginia Winery Distribution Company, to distribute Virginia wines. To understand the need for the VWDC, we must roll back the clock a few years to when Juanita Swedenburg filed suit in federal court to gain access for her wines in the New York market. This case was consolidated with other similar cases and the Supreme Court ruled in May 2005 that the states had to provide equal access to all comers.

In answer, Virginia allowed out-of-state wineries to establish distributorships in the state or to sell through licensed distributors. But it also let Virginia wineries continue to self-distribute as they had been doing for some years, much to the chagrin of the wholesalers lobby. Spurred in part by the wholesalers lobby, the federal courts ruled in September 2005 that self-distribution by Virginia wineries was unconstitutional because the Commonwealth treated Virginia wineries preferentially—in effect, there was not equal access.

So, Virginia enacted legislation that eliminated self-distribution. When this took effect on July 1, 2006, it immediately killed our ability to get most Virginia wines for the restaurant. Our list went from about 75 Virginia wines down to about 20. In subsequent years, it has regrown to about 45. Many of our wineries chose to sell only at their tasting rooms; most were locked out of the market because they did not produce enough wine to interest a distributor; and a few others decided to sell through distributors, which by and large did not work for economic reasons.

Here’s an illustration of the problem. I used to buy a local Chambourcin at a reasonable price and it was a customer favorite, especially by the glass. We sold many cases a year. Once self-distribution was eliminated, the winery entered into a distribution agreement with a local distributor. The price increased so much (because the distributor also has to make a living) that it far outpriced the other wines in its category and the glass price increased into the $11 range. We eliminated it from the by-the-glass program because not enough customers would buy an obscure wine at that price. The result: it took us twelve full months to sell an entire case of the wine. Not good for us, not good for the distributor, not good for the customers, not good for the winery, and not good for the Virginia wine industry.

Enter the Dragon: the real story behind the VWDC. The Dragon lives in Kirkland, WA and trades as Costco. Costco and others such as Wal-Mart want to circumvent the three-tier distribution system to buy tractor trailer loads of beer directly from the breweries, to better improve their competitive stance in the market—this has the wholesalers scared. Rumor has it that Anheuser-Busch and SAB Miller do not oppose selling directly to the big box retailers and that really has the wholesalers scared.

All of a sudden, the wholesalers need friends and have suddenly decided that it is in their best interest to be friends with the wineries here in Virginia, lest Costco and others put a lot of money behind a legal campaign to bust the distributors. And poof, their bullheaded objections to letting wineries self-distribute small quantities of wine have disappeared. The objections were all smoke anyway and none of the distributors had any interest in stocking or distributing such tiny quantities of wine—there was never any money to be made; they were simply putting up pro forma objections to protect their turf.

So, with the wholesalers on the sidelines, in the 2007 session, Senator Emmett Hanger of Augusta County introduced legislation that created the VWDC. Here is the key compromise: the VWDC is part of the three-tier system—the Commonwealth is formally endorsing the three-tier system. So the VWDC is a formal, albeit publicly funded, distributor which exists to distribute Virginia wines. (Do you still smell legal challenge? I do.) Any Virginia winery may elect to distribute up to 3,000 cases wine per year via the VWDC.

The VWDC was formally rolled out on April 17, 2008 with five wineries serving as beta testers of the system. The wineries and their agents will sell the wine to us restaurants and retailers and will deliver the wines on behalf of the VWDC. The VWDC will handle all the invoices, collection of funds, payment of taxes, payment of the wineries, and filing of government reports. We retailers pay the VWDC just like any other distributor.

The system is slowly getting off the ground. As it is an IT-based solution, wineries have to install software on their end and that software has not been without its kinks. More wineries will be added as these kinks are worked out. I am hopeful that 2008 will let us start to rebuild our Virginia wine list. But, I fully expect more legal challenges before all is said and done.

Recipes back to top

Here are the recipes that I have published this month:

§ Veal Brisket with Vietnamese Spices, inspired by a bowl of rice noodles.

§ Rainy Day Soup, Chicken-Veg, with apologies to those who want exact quantities.

§ Today's Word is....Charmoula, a North African green sauce.

§ Paleron, My Favorite Cut of Beef, revisiting an old friend.

§ Chimichurri, or Cooking by Feel, to cook well, you have to abandon recipes.

Olive Oil Dispensers back to top

image of oil dispenser The first of April, we started putting olive oil dispensers, shown here sitting on a bread plate, on each table. And since then, many customers have asked to buy them.

I will be happy to order them, but must order in cases of 24 dispensers. If you are interested, e-mail me your order. We will call you when they arrive.

Capacity is about 4 ounces; price is $12.75 each which includes freight and taxes.

Other uses: soy sauce, fish sauce and other condiment sauces; maple syrup; use a second one for vinegar.

Something to Wine About back to top

With the two wine articles above in the newsletter, I didn’t post a whole lot to the blog about wine this month, although I have several posts in the works for next month. If you’re looking for some wine and food pairing notes, you’ll find them in Terrific Tapas Dinner.

Last Words back to top

I am really looking forward to shopping more frequently at the farmers market now that they have gone to summer hours and am looking forward to sharing what I find with you. Also, softshells are in this week and keep hoping for wild salmon; it will be in by the end of the month. I made myself a promise last year—softshells were in short supply and I sold all I had to customers—the first one in the door is mine!

I’m also excited that our frost date will be here this week and we can get on with planting our tender annual herbs at the restaurant. In just a few short weeks, we’ll have a lot of what we need just for the cutting at our front door. It doesn’t get fresher or more local than that.

Come on down and let the crew and me cook for you!

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