"Now all we need are sun umbrellas!" said a friend recently at Brasserie Beaumarchais, a very fun restaurant with a lively club-style brunch.

The restaurant scene in St. Tropez is fairly wild and decadent with wealthy patrons spraying expensive champagne at one another and bikini-clad patrons dancing to loud disco music. The scene was more subdued at Beaumarchais, and decidedly more elegant with the gorgeous chandeliers, elegant red velvet curtains, and cool, clean style of the place. One visitor described it this way: imagine the most elegant restaurant your parents would take you to for a graduation lunch, only to see it turn into a club at the strike of three pm." 

If you are in the right mood  (and who wouldn't be?) it's impossible to imagine a more fun experience on a Sunday afternoon in New York. The champagne list is quite extensive, rose wine is served by the magnum, and you will find some excellent choice Bordeaux on the list.

What's most surprising about Beaumarchais, beyond the fine wine and champagne list, is how good the cuisine really is. With throbbing music and people dancing on chairs, excellent cuisine is a surprise. Executive Chef Nicolas Cantrel worked under the famed Alain Ducasse in Paris as well as one of my all-time favorite chefs, Daniel Boulud, here in New York. The space was most recently Bagatelle (reviewed here) which had the same Sunday party theme.

Beyond the great food and wine, you will find your usual club scene, including bikini-clad house dancers, a male dancer dressed as some sort of lizard-like creature, and lots of sparklers and commotion when patrons celebrating birthdays ordered expensive bottles of champagne.Fans of Club 55, one of the longest-lived and most popular of St. Tropez's beach cafes, will enjoy the shared platters, especially the fresh vegetable plate. Fun!

409 West 13th Street, (212) 675-2400.

One of the coolest events events in town are the City Harvest fundraisers that help feed New york's hungry citizens. This year Cynthia Nixon will host City harvest's 17th annual, called "An Evening of Practical Magic."

DATE: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 2011
TIME: (6:30PM COCKTAILS, 7:30PM DINNER AND LIVE AUCTION)

PLACE: CIPRIANI 42ND STREET, 110 EAST 42ND STREET
(BETWEEN PARK AND LEXINGTON AVENUES)

To learn more and get tickets, go to the "Special Events" section of the City Harvest website.
 

With its sleek, dramatic design, STK exemplifies the new female-friendly, NYC steakhouse geared to a younger, hipper crowd.

Under the direction of executive chef Todd Mark Miller, cuisine is playful and creatively presented. Grilled steaks come in three sizes—small, medium and large—and can be paired with six choices of sauces. In keeping with the new steakhouse trend, Miller gives equal focus to innovative non-steak cuisine.

A starter of chunky roasted beets ($11) arrives atop a tangy pool of curry-accented yogurt. Jumbo lump crab ($18) with avocado and kefir lime plates up on discs of green melon. Shrimp cocktail ($16), thick and meaty, and seductively silky raw tuna ($14) are day-boat fresh, both served on ice in an unconventional rectangular platter.

Our order of the “small” T-bone steak (10 oz. for $26) looked so big we asked the waiter if we received the large by mistake. Accompanied by a red wine sauce ($2) the meat was fine, but usurped by the decadent and addictive side order of savory, plump, rectangular shaped parmesan truffle fries ($9) stacked log-cabin style on a round plate. Skate wing, the “it” fish of the moment, is served with ponzu and shitake brown butter. Other alternatives to steak include chicken, Hudson Valley duck breast, roasted lamb, lobster and wild striped bass, ranging in price from $24 (including both the organic chicken breast and the skate) to $46 (the intriguing sounding “surf, turf, & earth”—tuna, black truffle and foie gras.)

STK’s wine list is impressive in both its layout and inventory, many bottles reasonably priced. A short header explains what characteristics to look for in the bottle selections that follow, organized by grape varietals. For example, Syrah/Shiraz is described as “powerfully flavored and full bodied, known for its flavors of spicy blackberry, plum and pepper,” while flavors attributed to Cabernet Sauvignon include black currant, dark berry, cedar and vanilla. Though the servers seemed well versed on the wines, the descriptions make it easy for a beginning oenophile to select wines on his or her own.

As good as the service and cuisine is, the main attraction here is the upbeat scene in the sensual, candlelit lounge as well as the main dining spaces. New York-based Icrave Design Studio created an exaggerated, theatrical look based on the starkly lit set designs of Robert Wilson. Large parties may enjoy the white leather “pods” in the center of the dining room. At these comfortable, elevated tables, diners are illuminated by soft spotlights and reflected by a large mirror in the back of the room, thus becoming players in the restaurant-as-theater motif.

If you’d rather play the role of a voyeur, ask for a table in the garden room near the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, which overlook busy Little West 12th Street. Here, especially late nights on weekends, you’ll be treated to a parade of shiny stretch limousines and “Page Six” quality celebrities heading towards TenJune (located directly below STK) and the other hip clubs lining the street.

What makes STK a “modern steakhouse” instead of simply a stylish restaurant that also serves steak, are the design and theme. Traditional cattle horns of the old-style steakhouse now take form in the fiberglass horn-like sculpture on the wall above the bar. Baked potatoes have been reborn in the parmesan truffle fries. And the option of ordering a small or medium sized steak instead of having to deal with a single-sized, huge chunk of meat is clearly a plus when your post-dinner goal is to party. And at STK, you don’t even have to leave the restaurant to do so. Sweet.

STK
26 Little W. 12th St. (betw. 9th Ave. & Washington St.) 646-624-2444
 

"I hear this place is like a nightclub during Sunday Brunch," a celebrated wine writer told me as we awaited festivities relating to a celebration of Beaujolais Nouveau, taking place just that minute at the Bagatelle restaurant in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District. "People dancing on the tables, and all that."

"A club at lunch …" I repeated, conjuring up fond memories of champagne-soaked lunches at St. Tropez restaurants like Club 55 and La Voille Rouge, where guests dined al fresco in swimsuits to the sound of the world’s top DJs. It’d been a while since I’d been able to enjoy a St. Tropez summer, and the prospect of replicating that fun, easy vibe — even in the midst of Manhattan’s cold winter — proved too tempting to resist. With some clicks of my cell phone I secured a rez for the following Sunday.

Bagatelle Bar

True to expectations, the disco beat was on in full force as we entered this newish restaurant, co-owned by the French Remi Laba and Aymeric Clemente. Several people were having drinks at the bar, and the majority of the tables contained very large groups of friends. Now if you’ve been to Club 55or La Voille Rouge, you will remember there are only two real options for drinks: premier champagne and rose wine. Everyone around us seemed to have a magnum of Veuve Cliquot “Yellow Label,” which was brought to each table in ceremonial fashion, with a sparkler torch crowning the champagne and everyone jumping up, cell phone cameras at the ready, to see who ordered it. Unlike at Club 55 and La Voille Rouge, no one was slicing open the neck and spraying the bottle over friends and colleagues. At least, not yet.

Once settled in, I studied Executive Chef Nicolas Cantrel’s menu. Googling him earlier, I found he had worked under the famed Alain Ducasse in Paris as well as one of my all-time favorite chefs, Daniel Boulud, here in New York. The above are all ultra-fine dining experiences — so you might be asking how he adjusted to what is basically a French neighborhood bistro. From what I can see, he’s adjusted very well, with his stint at the friendly, hip Bobo (another club-type restaurant in Manhattan) perhaps paving the way.

Now the cuisine at Bagatelle is fun — Le Burger de Bagatelle (a juicy sirloin patty with the works), eggs Benedict, grilled salmon (that would be me!), and steak au poivre. You will also find lots of salads, risotto, and other tasty dishes.

Yet as great as the cuisine is, Bagatelle is all about the scene. So much so that I spent serious time coordinating my outfit (hello, Seven skinny jeans and high-heeled designer boots!) The women, mostly under thirty, came in three distinct looks: the faux (or real) Russian heiress, hot supermodel wannabes, and cute NYC coeds among the first to jump on the tables when a particularly memorable song was played. Men, mostly under forty, were considerably well-dressed. One wore a very stylish white designer sweater and sunglasses, achieving the look of a chic trust fund recipient lounging at a Gstaad ski resort.

By five o’clock, the party was going full force, with almost everyone dancing on tables and having a great time. Bagatelle isn’t just about brunch — dinner is very popular and has a menu of its own with specialties such as whole fish to suit parties of two and more. And I’m sure the DJ spins his tunes during dinner service as well. Yet there is something fun and decadent about a nightclub vibe during Sunday brunch that you can really only get in a city like New York, so Bagatelle is very much a welcome venue on the scene.

“I gave up selling to restaurants,” the wine representative tells me, lining up samples of wine on the cool granite counter of the upscale wine shop, Columbus Circle Wines. “Every time I’d walk in, there’s be a new wine director, even younger than the last, thinking he knew everything about wine.”

This is the first in a series of stories looking at the many factors that go into how buyers at your favorite wine store make decisions on which wines to buy for their shop, and how wine sales professionals prepare to make a sale. If you’re like most people, you probably have not given the topic much thought. Perhaps you’ve entered a wine store on a busy Saturday when many offer tastings, liked what you tasted, and bought a few bottles or a case of that wine. Or maybe you were late for a dinner party, dashed into a store, and bought the first bottle that catches your eye. Either way, as I hope we will discover in the course of this series, there is a method to the seeming “madnesss” of how wine is selected, bought, and sold.

Tasting glasses

“I know you!” says the first saleswoman, who remembers me from a tasting of Languedoc wine, as she arranges her six sample wines and pours them for Phill D’Ancona, one of the several sales people who taste and buy wine for the shop. She begins to pour a French champagne, being careful to note its “friendly price.” She pours several more samples, with only one of them capturing my interest. It is a red Gaillac from Southwest France, very famous during the middle-ages. Fer, Duras, and Braucol are the grapes used in the traditional blend. The wine is rough and rustic, interesting and obscure. Wine geeks like myself seek out the unconventional, yet  Phill explains that the store already carries two other wines from this region and a third would be a hard sell. In the end, she takes new orders for wines the store already carries from her company, packs the samples neatly into a carry-all, and leaves the shop.

The next wine salesman walks into the little room in the back of the shop, and Phill’s colleague (aka the wine buyer) takes the next turn as Phill goes to take the register and his colleague comes to taste the wine. Upon seeing that the salesman has brought almost a dozen wines, the wine buyer selects a few that would be of interest to him and begins to taste. The first wine to catch his attention is an Oregon Pinot Gris that tastes as if it has been matured in oak, yet there is no oak at all, just a stirring of the lees. Very rich, delicious, and smoky. It is really a very interesting wine, one, incidentally, that can go great with dishes associated with Thanksgiving dinner. The wine buyer likes the very attractive price offered with a five-case purchase, which comes out to $88 a case down from $136 for a single case. But five cases is too much for the wine buyer to take on, both in terms of storage space and selling a first time wine. The salesman suggests that the buyer and another wine store owner, also interested in both the wine and the discount, split the five cases.

wine bottles

During his presentation, the salesman is careful to name famous reviewers and publications who have written about the wine or given them points. “Here’s the #3 on the WSJ list,” is a typical way he introduces a new wine. Many of the producers he represents, for example, are ‘young guys’ driven by passion working two hectare farms (very small) and doing everything themselves.

wine store1

Before the wine representative leaves, we chat a bit with the wine store buyer about the importance of labels. “Labels sell the wine,” the representative says. “When people rush in to a shop, they grab what appeals to them.” The buyer agrees. “And a black label is the kiss of death. It may look okay on a computer screen, but not on a wine shelf.” And what about the bold new labels to appeal to today’s young millennial generation, I ask. Both men laugh. “The colorful labels do sell the wine, especially more inexpensive wine. But it’s a mistake to put that kind of label on a very expensive wine,” says the representative, saying that many wineries are going through a label redesign to sell more bottles.

wine distributor book1

All in all, it was a very educational afternoon. Look forward to the next installment of this series, and send me an email to let me know if you’d like me to ask questions on your behalf! (story @ a wine story . com)

P.S. If you liked this story you will like this one on Bordeaux!

 Columbus Circle Wines
1802 Broadway 
 New York, NY 20029
 212 247 6020
 

The message to support American cheese makers was brought home by the attractive and enthusiastic Fromoger Tia Keenan, of the saucy (somehow the word "cheesy" does not reflect the coolness of this place) new restaurant Casellula Cheese and Wine Cafe. Tia said that many people think American cheese is more expensive or not as good. Not true. But to become even better and more affordable, Americans must support native cheesemakers

The purpose of the gathering was to celebrate (and taste) the winners of the American Cheese Society Competition which occured recently in Vermont. I had been enticed by the line-up, but Vermont ... well, a little too remote. If you are a regular blog reader you know that I've been tasting and writing about cheese and wine pairings so you know that I'm super up for anything cheese related.

At any rate, tonight we had the best cheeses and also great wines from Wolfer (a rose Merlot from Long Island) and Cartidge & Browne Zinfandel. My fav cheese was the Rogue Creamery Echo Mountain from Oregon, a blue mold cheese with sheeps milk. Others served were Sweet Grass Dairy Hill (serve with Sherry and nuts), Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy Haystack Peak, Roth Kase USA Grand Grueyer Suchoix, Beehive Cheeese Company Barely Buzzed. Also at my table was Michael Trullinger, an importer and one of the judges ...

Here's a clip from a review:  "This is my new favorite in Hell's Kitchen.   It is a cozy spot on the side street between 9th and 10th avenue serving up a nice selection of artisanal cheeses and wines.  Tasting what would seem like a high end product found in much stuffier and expensive restaurants, the team provides a casual, unpretentious environment for you to enjoy.  Don't sleep on this group though; they all have some serious foodie pedigrees from the top restaurants around the city.  They are friendly, and seem happy to share their knowledge with you."

Check out their web site and spread the curd!
Here is a pic of Tia and Michael ...

Of course, Guy Savoy and Per Se are excellent, but the super affordable prix fix menu put together by Chef Humm is really worth it. That night, I had the honor of the wine list, and as it turned out one of the assistant sommeliers was in my WSET class.

The review continues below but if you've been to any of the restaurants above, would love to hear your comments.

A peek at trendy, upscale Eleven Madison Park
By Marisa D’Vari (originally published by the NY Press)

     So you’re trying to impress a hot date with dinner at one of the so-called “celebrity chef” restaurants in town, the kind of place where dinner for two with wine can set you back $300—or more.

    You demand outstanding service, astonishing cuisine and the kind of romantic ambiance that will pave the way for …. well, whatever comes next.

     Eleven Madison Park, an aphrodisiac of a restaurant, scores big points for its elegant Art Deco looks, white-glove service and innovative contemporary French cuisine at the hands of 29-year-old executive chef Daniel Humm—voted one of 2005’s best chefs of the year by Food & Wine magazine.

     Saunter into this light, airy space near Union Square and be dazzled by the 30-foot Alice in Wonderland-style windows overlooking Madison Square Park, alluring scent of exotic flowers from the many arrangements in this vast space and an air of culinary excitement and expectations permeating the room.

     Expectations?

     Yes, because here in Wonderland, under the talented hands of Mr. Humm, nothing is quite what it seems. A fan of reductions, foams and exceedingly slow cooking, Humm’s goal is to showcase the purest and highest quality ingredients in their finest form and artistically arrange them on the plate.

      Dinner service begins with an impressive presentation of amuse bouches, tiny bite-sized morsels designed to tease the palate such as black truffle macaroon with foie gras and apple cider gelée, crisp sweetbread cornet, citrus-marinated hamachi with zucchini and tobiko and goat cheese galette with Meyer lemon comfiture.

     In these tasty bites, Humm foreshadows the culinary alchemy that is to follow. On one visit, alternating discs of diver scallops, Nova Scotia lobster and Satsuma tangerines arrive on a white plate encircled by a frothy, vivid orange tangerine sauce and gentle sprinkling of vanilla sea salt. An entrée of slow roasted Chatham cod appears in the surprising shape of two alabaster white discs, surrounded by saffron fumet and ragout of fruits de mer. Suckling pig confit, a much-acclaimed and flavorful “main course,” looks very much like a candy bar on the platter.

     “An entrée the size of a candy bar?” you might think, reading this and not yet knowing the prix fixe menu begins at $76 for three courses (one is dessert) and can be augmented to include supplements (Alba Truffles is an additional $65), an additional savory course ($88 for four courses), or in lieu of it all, the gourmand tasting menu which begins at $120 for eleven courses ($80 more if you want each course paired with wine).

     Portion size can be an issue. Search the Internet and you will find diners who visually weighed the protein and equated it with the equivalent of a toddler-sized “lunchable” at $1 per calorie. If you really need those extra calories (again, you’re trying to impress that hot date, remember?) you have dessert coming. And coming. And coming, yet again.

     First enjoy your choice of dessert (silky cheesecake accompanied by roasted pineapple, kaffir lime and kili pepper shortbread is divine). Yet save room for the complimentary basket of fresh-from-the-oven madeleines, infamously described by author Marcel Proust as “squat, plump little cakes which look as though they had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell.” And to top it all off, after you’ve settled the hefty check, you’re rewarded with a silver dish of mignardises, tiny bites of chocolate and miniature exotic jellies and other sweets traditionally served with coffee.

read the entire review at the NY Press web ...