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Read More Postcards From Jim White.
This was the year of rediscovery as much as it was of discovery.
All too often, we, in the media, are guilty of tracking down the “next new
thing,” only to forget – and forsake – last season’s hot
ticket, or idol-of-the-moment.
Case in point: I had forgotten just how good Mike Grgich’s wines were –
and, in fact, still are. After spending a day with Mike when he turned 80 in June,
I gained a renewed respect for his talents. We tasted through a series of his
exceptional wines and I must say, his non-malo’d Chardonnays are still,
all these many years later, a benchmark for what this valley can produce.
Another familiar valley face came back into focus for me, too, this year -- Cindy
Pawlcyn, owner/operator/chef of Mustards Grill, opened Cindy’s Backstreet
Kitchen, in St. Helena. It is one of my favorite new restaurants. Cindy has been
wowing locals and visitors for 20 years at Mustards Grill (where the food has
never been better, by the way). Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen takes a sort
of “Best of Cindy” approach to the menu. The menu revolves through
items that have become cult classics. Her meatloaf, the incredible oysters Pablo,
the dazzling curried chicken salad, the hanger steak… the list goes on.
Cindy and her team brought me many meals of pleasure in 2003 and for this, I am
gastronomically thankful.
Other old-timers who deserve a nod of recognition: the food has never been better
at Tra Vigne, the old Italian workhorse in St. Helena. Talented, young, and focused
chef Michael Reardon spent time in Italy this year, honing his recipes, and the
homework shows. Dishes are refined, sauces are lightened, reductions are less
intense, and as always, the staff are among the most poised and polished in the
valley.
And who can say anything about Bistro Don Giovanni without completing the sentence
with four exclamation points? The food has never been better thanks to Donna Scala’s
and Scott Warner’s care in the kitchen.
In the ledger column for great New things in 2003, I’d have to put several
downtown Napa experiences. Thursday nights will never be the same as long as Victor
Scargle and his brigade are manning the stoves at Julia’s Kitchen at COPIA.
We have started making Thursday nights a ritual, heading off to COPIA for the
$29 prix fixe dinner (no corkage fee, either). A stunning achievement.
In fact, a demi-tasse cup filled with lobster bisque, sent to our table as an
amuse-bouche on one Thursday visit may have been the single best food “hit”
of the entire year. There was more complexity in this thimbleful of lobster broth
than one finds in many wines. (Secret of the flavor hit: a major reduction of
fennel, possibly a dusting of star anise – not sure – and a reduction
of Oban 14-year-old scotch!).
Friday nights in downtown Napa will never be the same, either, thanks to The Bounty
Hunter Wine Bar (I like to think of it as a Wine Saloon) at the corner of Walk
and Don’t Walk. Er, make that at the corner of First and Main. Between 6
and 8 pm most Friday nights, the place is a pandemonium of pairings – food
with wine, people with people and somewhere on the floor, a local winemaker is
pouring out his heart – and his wines – to the gathered locals.
We also love Yountville on Friday nights. One of the rediscovery highlights of
the year was Sally Gordon’s Friday night dinners at Gordon’s. We used
to attend these regularly, but with all the other venues opening for victuals,
we forgot how down home, how damn good, and how tasty are Sally’s Friday
night dinners. The $45 prix fixe menu is a MUST if you haven’t
tried it. And it’s only served Friday nights; the restaurant is dark all
other nights.
In San Francisco, where we often head for food discoveries, the year was filled
with many flavorful finds. We love Baraka for its complex Moroccan- and Spanish-flavored
tapas plates, we swoon over Limon for its Peruvian perfection, and if there is
a better bistro in the big town than le Petit Robert, or one that could bring
us more gastronomic joy, I want to know what it is, please!
Back in the valley, one of the highlights of the year was the opening of Nickel
& Nickel with its singular focus on just that – singular vineyards.
The Wine Spectator under-appreciated the winery’s newly released Cabs, certainly
to my taste, ascribing many fewer points than each single vineyard wine deserves.
Best Wine of the Year for me was a bottle that Carol and I opened at Postrio,
in San Francisco, on Valentine’s Day. The 1990 Les Cailloux, Cuvee Centenaire,
produced by Andre Brunel, was a perfect, 100-point wine and the single best wine
I tasted this year. (This also proves that we are not Napa-centric to the point
of being closed to wines, foods and travel outside our northern California commune.)
This Chateauneuf-du-Pape presented a cascade of flavors, one after another, that
kept changing as the bottle aired. Roses, rose petals ripe red fruit, leather,
minerals, earth, and tobacco came rolling through in successive waves. The wine,
with great length and a palpable, velvet-like texture, was like a Richebourg on
steroids. Ten months later, I still remember the taste and mouthfeel. To paraphrase
Mr. Rumsfeld – this was a wine that induced Shock & Awe.
As the year comes to a close, I want to thank all those who have contributed to
ilovenapa.com in 2003 and who helped pump air into our tires so that now we have
something to drive. Thanks to my partner in this web endeavor, Jeremy Benson,
and thanks, too, to our talented tech team – John Curnutt, Nick Shoults,
and Nick Topolos – thanks to our talented media team – Carrie Shields
and Sean Carroll – and thanks to our talented writers, Paul Franson and
Claudia Sansone, and to our rolled-into-one, entire sales force, Gail Summars.
Thank you Jenn White for your elegant design work that got us to where we are
today and thank you Carol (White) for your unflagging support and delicious recipes
(if readers haven’t discovered them, go to
http://www.ilovenapa.com/recipes_home.html).
Linus, our CBO (Chief Barking Officer), pictured on the Home Page, joins me in
wishing all friends, and visitors, best wishes for a Happy Holiday and a Healthy
New Year.
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