Bellini (or not)

The other night, I went to SF's Mecca Restaurant for drinks with a few friends. Upon arrival, a martini glass filled with their famed frozen bellini was thrust into my hand. Typically, I would be quite grateful for a free drink in my hand, but with the case of a bellini, I have to admit, I'm a bit of a traditionalist and snob. I absolutely love them, but only in their purest state (meaning a sparkling Italian wine and peach puree). Unfortunately, few bars and restaurants offer them as I suppose the peach puree can be difficult to make or get.

On my first Mecca bellini experience, I was shocked when the waiter brought me a blender drink as opposed to one of my favorite refreshing beverages and immediately sent it back in a huff (how dare they mess with perfection?). But last weekend, I thought it would be a bit rude to send back a drink someone else bought me, so I proceeded to drink it down. And contrary to my expectation, I found myself actually enjoying the chilled beverage. In fact, not only did I not send it back, I actually had a second one!

That's not to say that if I was given the choice I wouldn't choose the sparkling wine version 99% of the time, but perhaps on one of those hot days by the pool, the Mecca version might really hit the spot (and if you do enjoy blender drinks, this one is really yummy).

Here's how to make a traditional bellini:

5 oz sparkling wine (preferrably an dry Italian one, such as a Prosecco)
1 oz peach puree (Drink Boy provides some good instructions on making some or where to buy it online)

"Zuppa" Duppa - Great New SF Restaurant

Last night I went to the opening of Joseph Manzare and Mary Klingbeil's (of San Francisco's delectable Globe Restaurant) newest creation, Zuppa Restaurant.

The 4th & Brannan restaurant takes over the space that once housed Monk, one of my favorite places during the dot-com days. While the pictures of the Dalai Lama are gone, they've preserved much of the other great features of the space, most notably the bar running along the long open kitchen where you can sit and watch the kitchen staff prepare your meal, the 15' long "Sunday" table to house huge parties, and plenty of dining upstairs, including a great "crow's nest" table from which you can check out your fellow diners from above.

If the drinks and appetizers they served last night were any indication of things to come, this place will be a delightful addition to the South of Market area. Their theme is "Italian Cuisine with specialties from southern Italy" (I love it that so much Italian stuff is going on in the wine and food world). We had a great time sipping on some lovely Proseccos, Plymouth Negronis, and wine from Iron Horse (yum) among others, while nibbling on such treats as delicious pizzas, ahi tuna in roasted red pepper, crostinis with octopus, and much more (I need to take better notes at these things). I believe the prices will run around $7 - 10 for appetizers, and $15 - 18 for main courses. Right now it's dinner service only, but I'm told lunches will come soon.

I think this opening is a sign of good things to come for the whole city of San Francisco. After a pretty depressing past few years with restaurant closings being much more frequent than openings, it's great to see some exciting new restaurant openings going on. While this restaurant won't keep the kitchen open until the wee hours as Globe so kindly does, it does still have the super friendly and knowledgeable staff who provide impeccable service (not an easy task for a crowded opening night party).

I'm particularly delighted to see a resurgence of the restaurant scene South of Market, as we're moving our office over there this summer. I'm sure I'll be a regular at Zuppa!

Zuppa Restaurant
564 4th Street (at Brannan), San Francisco, CA
415.777.5900
Opening June 21, 2005

SmartsCo at NY BookExpo

Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates keeping me company at our fun booth at the NY Book Expo.

Slow Food Italian Wine Tasting

When we first started WineSmarts, I would go to all the big tastings down at Fort Mason. At first, these were really fun, but after a while, I got a bit overwhelmed fighting the thousands of people to get a sip and chat with the wine makers. But I have been wanting to further develop my understanding of the Italian wine biz, and was pleased to get a ticket to Slow Food's 2nd Annual Golden Glass Italian Wine Tasting from my friend Dava of Noise 13, who was on the board. Much to my surprise, I found myself having a delightful time with a more manageable number of wineries who all were able to chat about the wines.

The event featured some of my favorite folks in the Italian food & wine biz: Claudio Villani, formerly of Incanto (one of my favorite Noe Valley spots), now the wine director at Bartolotta Restaurant, Wynn Resort Las Vegas who was super helpful to us in developing WinePassport: Italy and Shelly Lindgren of A-16 (despite being in the Marina, one of my favorite restaurants in the City). We were not only able to sample food from those great places, but were also able to taste delightful creations from Chez Panisse and Fresca Italia, an importer of some wonderful cheeses and other speciality food from Italy.

But what was particularly wonderful, were all the wineries who were there -- it was like a brief visit to Italy, but in our own backyard. Many of the winemakers flew out from Italy for the event, and you could tell by their classic fashion (most notably some 1940's style wide, short neckties which must be all the rage in Italy these days, and a guy with some awesome bright orange jeans). Many of these folks didn't speak much English, yet rattled on about their wines entirely in Italian. I only understood a bit, but my friend Eric understood a lot and I had my advance copy WinePassport: Italy, which came in super handy with the great maps and guides to the grapes of and wines of Italy.

All in all, un giorno bello. I can't wait to take my WinePassport and my real passport and travel around Italy tasting wine!

CHOW, part 2 on newsstand Now!!!!

Run, do not walk, to go get the 2nd edition of the fabulous new foodie magazine, CHOW. Or better yet, get a subscription. I know I've been eagerly waiting for the second edition since I got my hands on the first one, back at holiday time. If you haven't seen CHOW yet, you're really missing out. It's sort of Food & Wine meets Maxim, in other words food writing for fun people in their 20s and 30s.

Sound kind of like SmartsCo? Or is SmartsCo so "CHOW"? Well, we can't keep it straight. We met our now good friend Meredith, CHOW's #1 employee (at the time, their "Sous Chief"), at a Book Expo party in LA in 2003 and soon found ourselves dancing to the wee hours at a Ozomatli (awesome band - kind of a hip-hop Gypsy Kings thing going on) concert.

After returning home, Meredith quickly introduced us to Jane Goldman, CHOW's founder and we found we shared a similar vision for our companies: to make food and wine appreciation fun and approachable. Imagine that? You mean make it stylish and remove the snob appeal? But CHOW and SmartsCo not only share the same view of making food and wine cool, but we're also both SF-based women-owned businesses that are bootstrapping it with our own sweat, blood, passion and ever elusive cash (which is why it took 6 months to get the second edition out, but it's well worth the wait!!!)

This month's edition has some great recipes for summer drinks and BBQ, Las Vegas restaurant guide, cool wedding gifts, and much more, including a well-written feature entitled "Yuck! Why do you hate liver? The science of revulsion" (how cool is that?). So intrigued yet?

YELP - Recommendations in the Bay Area and beyond

So these days, I'm now hooked on YELP to find reviews on all the great places in SF. And I'm not just a fan because my friend Nish is their marketing guru! It really is useful. You can read up on people's reviews of various restaurants and things to do, or better yet, send out a Yelp with a question (i.e., "anyone know a great tatoo artist?" or "where's a great place for drinks after work in Po Hill?" or "anyone know of a good hotel in Belize?") and you'll get all sorts of great feedback.

Their tagline is "real people, real review" so people are encouraged to post their photo and a bit of background on themselves too. It's sort of like a friendster meets craigs list meets city search meets match meets daily candy, and then some. Definitely check it out.

Home Cookin'

After a long week in NY, I was finally able to relax in the SF Bay Area and was treated to two home-cooked meals from some gourmet friends. Friday night, my friend Rebecca who works at Broadbent Selections invited us to her georgeous SF loft for a delightful osso bucco over polenta with greens. Yummy. Of course we went though a few great wines from Broadbent, including a dry rose, Chateau Roubaud from Costieres de Nimes, and naturally finished up the evening with a Broadbent Port (Bartholomew is known as one of the top U.S. experts on ports and Madieras), and they have this gals seal of approval.

After recovering from a bit too much wine on Friday night, I was finally able to rally and head over to my friend Wendy's in Alameda for another great meal. Wendy has an awesome personal chef and catering company, Herbs and Spices, so I'm always excited to join her for dinner. We began the evening on the back patio nibbling on some delightful cheesees and a bottle of Pinot Gris from J Wines. I absolutely adore all of J's wine, but the Pinot Gris is particularly special as they only produce small quantities - get 'em while the last!

After cheese hour, we moved inside for the main course, which consisted of Wendy's trademark Ahi tuna (marinated in soy sauce, ginger, cilantro, and I few other things that I forget), roasted rosemary potatoes, and a delightful summer salad filled with asparagus, cucumber, strawberries, zucchini, and lots more yummy goodies, which we washed down with a delightful organic Pinot Noir from Oregon (sadly, I forgot the name - oops).

All-in-all, a yummy and relaxing weekend with great food, great wine, and great friends.

Books & Booze in NYC

While trade shows are generally a horrific experience, BookExpo can be the one exception. The event is filled with all sorts of different characters from all walks of life who share one interest: the written word. We did our first booth there and were the hit of our area, sharing our booth with Charles Chocolates, a delectable new SF chocolatier. People were very excited about our upcoming new wine products WineParty and our WinePassports and they got to check it out while they sipped on delectable Wattle Creek wines from Anderson Valley, California.


After some exhausting days, we did get at little time to play. I went to Artisanal on Park Ave. & 32nd St. Great food, at least 100 wines by the glass, and wide array of cheese - all of which were super yummy. Plus we had great service. I highly recommend it!!!

The next night, we met with our BeerSmarts team for dinner at Hearth. Once again a great meal and wonderful service. Joining us were BeerSmarts author Joseph Cummins, our editor Garrett Oliver, who's the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and the author of the Brewmaster's Table (an excellent book!), and BeerSmarts fan Timothy Hall, the brewmaster at New Jersey's The Ship Inn. Great conversation, great food, great beer (and some wine too). Friday morning came up way too quick!

After the show on Friday, I was invited to a friend's potluck dinner in the Upper East Side, which was great as I was able to swing by one of my favorite wine shops, Best Cellars, that coincidentally was featuring my current favorite wines - roses. I picked up a great Hunter Valley, dry pink Shiraz (Captain Margan) which was delightful. Upon arrival, most of the other guests looked at me like I was a wine novice for bringing the pink (still thinking it's super sweet). But, once I coerced everyone to take a taste, they were sold (and soon they were fighting over the last taste). It was super refreshing in the hot weather and wonderful accompaniment for the food. So the night's mission was accomplished - 8 new rose converts down.

After a long (but delicious and interesting week) I got some downtime with friends at the beach in Rockaway on Sunday, and now off to jet back to SF for more food and wine adventures in the Bay Area.

Cheers!