Jerome Joseph Gentes interviews leading wine importer Neal Rosenthal on his new memoir, Reflections of a Wine Merchant, for Publishers Weekly:
Your book is as much about relationships as wine and trade.
I became very involved in my business relationships, especially with grape growers. And their families and their children as well. I would never minimize the fact that you find a line of work to earn a living, but doing any kind of business requires that you cultivate relationships that are part of it. Honesty and integrity are essential components. The respect must be mutual, and not simply commercially. It’s necessary to conduct business this way whether it’s a multimillion-dollar corporation or a small-potatoes operation like ours.
How do you view the art of winemaking today?
We’re in the modern age, but doing work people have done for thousands of years. I have this image of someone in my family some centuries ago taking his wooden cart and his produce and going from town to town to conduct trade. Not as an exercise in nostalgia or sentiment, though. Now we’re at this potentially devastating crossroads. It’s very difficult for these small families to maintain these appellations. The interest isn’t there in the younger generations—the modern world calls to them. And the value of land is astronomical, so when an opportunity to sell comes, it’s almost impossible to resist. On the other hand, these family traditions are deeply grounded, so it’s hard for them to give up.
Mix the tapioca into water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full boil. Remove from heat. Add sugar, salt, and orange juice concentrate. Stir to blend. Let cool for 15 minutes, then stir again. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Just before serving, fold in fruit. In winter, you can use orange sections with the membrane cut away, sliced bananas, half grapes (seeded), frozen and thawed peach slices, and the best berries you can find. In summer, choose a mix of sweet and tart summer fruit—plums, peaches, nectarines and especially berries. Don’t forget the banana. Serve in chilled bowls or balloon goblets.
Video: Authors@Google with Clay Gordon, editor and publisher of Chocophile.com and founder of the New World Chocolate Society.
The urban travel blog Gridskipper recently published a feature on New York’s Top Chocolate Shops. From Martine’s on the Upper East Side to imported chocolate from Paris at La Maison Du Chocolat to the chocolate-covered pretzels of Jomart in Brooklyn, there’s something for everyone.
“Food Maven” Arthur Schwartz, longtime food editor and restaurant critic for the New York Daily News and, for 13 years, the host of WOR radio’s Food Talk, has a new book coming out called Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisted. This Sunday at the Y, he’ll be giving a special visual presentation from his personal collection and here’s what he has in store:
Besides showing off some of photographer Ben Fink’s glamour shots—that’s actually what they call them in publishing, “glamour shots”—of beloved Eastern European delicacies, all from “Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking,” I have, from my personal collections, photos of old kosher haunts and new Jewish shopping streets, and menus and postcards from famous, old-time restaurants and delis. Most are special to this lecture, not in the book; you shouldn’t think you’re being charged twice to look at the same pictures. It should go without saying that I have plenty of stories to go with the visuals.
Watch the video above of Today Show correspondent Jenna Wolfe’s segment about Tony Muia and his “A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour” and you might never call Domino’s again. Not only do you sample the best pizza in the city, but you also get treated to an insider’s history of New York’s most beloved borough. One tour-goer left the comment:
If you can only do one tour when you visit NYC, this is THE ONE to do!! We went on this tour last July and we absolutely loved it!! Tony is the best! L&B Spumoni Sicilian Pizza was the most delicious pie we’ve ever tasted! Too bad they don’t ship them out to California.
Watch the Savory New York video profile above of Blue Hill restaurant in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village featuring executive chef/co-owner Dan Barber who discusses the restaurant’s understated and elegant atmosphere, its “intensely” seasonal menu and his focus on sourcing fresh ingredients from farms in New York’s Hudson Valley. Here’s more video of Barber with Michael Pollan and Joan Dye Gussow at the Y food talk “Hedonistic, Healthy And Green.”
New York Times dining critic Frank Bruni has said, “Perhaps no other chef in New York City does as enthusiastic an impersonation of the farmer in the dell as Mr. Barber, and perhaps no other restaurant makes as serious and showy an effort to connect diners to the origins of their food as Blue Hill.”
The Palo Alto resident, in town and staying at the Warwick Hotel recently while teaching sold-out knife skills classes at places like the 92nd Street Y, says he’s fielded every imaginable question from beginning as well as expert cooks.
Modern Indian Cooking with chef Vikas Khanna of Purnima restaurant is next in the series on February 7.
Jewish Weeksurveys the iconic Israeli photojournalist David Rubinger’s exhibit at the Y.
Tucked away in a corner gallery on the first floor of New York’s 92nd Street Y is an exhibition of photographs by photojournalist David Rubinger, curated by Robert Gilson, director of the Y’s School of the Arts. The show spans Rubinger’s long career and begins with his iconic image of Israelis perched on a British tank shortly after the declaration of the State of Israel. Other images show waves of immigrants from as near to Israel as Yemen and from as far away as the Soviet Union living in poverty and squalor, awaiting happiness in the possibility of living in a free nation for the Jews. The misery of war is shown on both the Arab and Jewish sides — a precious Palestinian girl sees her home destroyed; a mother clutches her children at Kibbutz Gadot after it had been bombed in 1967.
Stephen Holden of the New York Times has a great review for conductor, pianist and music-theater scholar Rob Fisher’s recent tribute to Leonard Bernstein.
That Mr. Fisher could create such a rich musical portrait using only seven musicians, including the singers, was a tribute to his understanding of the scores and his skill at paring down full-bodied orchestral arrangements to a skeletal core. The “Mambo,” from “West Side Story,” with which the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the populous Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra recently blew the roof off Carnegie Hall, lost little in Mr. Fisher’s reduction to the percussive essentials.
1. Your books are pretty sophisticated—Shakespeare’s Kitchen, The Opera Lover’s Cookbook. Why do a talk about food and TV?
Food gives you an anchor into any topic—I’ve written books on food and ancient philosophers and food and film. And it’s a such a big part of so many television shows, whether it’s a meal the main characters are sharing or just something for the actors to do with their hands. The talk is divided into different segments—we’ll look at food as setting a time period, like on The Flintstones, and food as humor, like the I Love Lucy bonbon episode. And of course we’ll talk about all the cooking shows that have popped up.
When I headed uptown to the 92nd Street Y last night to hear Michael Pollan, Dan Barber and Joan Dye Gussow speak to Hedonistic, Healthy And Green: Can We Have It All?, I expected to see a few hundred fellow urban hippies and had some vague words of praise in mind for each of them for the post-lecture signing. Silly me.
Instead I encountered a throng of close to one thousand people, elbowing each other, cutting the line for the box office, and jittering with near Beatle-mania pre-show excitement. And I liked it.
The event was pretty much a big love-fest among the participants, moderator, and audience members. (It seems we’d all drunk the Kool-Aid--or, rather, the local, organic, homemade carrot juice--about choosing real food grown and raised by real farmers instead of processed foods with origins on factory farms).
But don’t take their word for it, see for yourself in the video clip above when the panelists talk about the “Western diet” and other eating habits and philosophies.
Upcoming Food Events:
Wine, Cheese and Treats from Around the World: A Tasting Event with Steve Jenkins and Joshua Wesson: Jan 13
TV Dinners: Famous Television Food Scenes and Tasting with Francine Segan: Jan 15
Many more talks and tastings including a trip to Dan Barber’s restaurant and organic farm in Westchester County, Blue Hill at Stone Barns in May.
The 92nd Street Y is a little bit like a desert well, attracting people to what would otherwise be a cultural wasteland at night: restaurants have begun to spring up around it, like date palms. Last Valentine’s Day, a couple from the neighborhood, Silay Ciner, a Turk who grew up in Istanbul, and his wife, Jill, who is from Denver, opened Peri Ela, a block south of the Y. The food is traditional Turkish, but the space, formerly home to a Greek coffee shop, of all things (Molon lave!), is what you might call Manhatto-Turko-NATO chic: exposed brick, pressed tin, semi-nudes on wood-panelled walls, Amy Winehouse on the stereo.
We’ve written about local dining options before and recently went to Peri Ela with a group of co-workers, including one who is from Turkey. Smiling nods all around, our enthusiastic recommendation is authentic and earnest.
Cheese and Wine Experts: Steven Jenkins and Josh Wesson
Looking for some cheese with that wine? Here’s what a commenter on the widely read Chowhound message boards has to say about cheese tastings in New York:
I’ve taken a cheese tasting course at Artisanal and I’ve taken 2 courses through the 92nd Street Y. I must say that I thought the cheese & wine courses at the Y (both were by Steve Jenkins, of Fairway, and Josh Wesson, of Best Cellars) were better by far. The information about the cheeses, cheesemaking, wine, wine tasting, serving, etc. were much more comprehensive. The Y’s classes were longer and a little more freewheeling and there was more of everything: cheese selections, accompaniments and wine. The last one I did they even had one of the farmers (what do you call the cheese maker?) come in and talk about their cheeses and serve samplings. DH and I had a lovely conversation with the farmer and his wife (Jody & Louise from Dancing Ewe farms of Saratoga Springs). It was terrific. And most of all it was fun—the class emphasized the enjoyment of it all. Artisanal’s class was good and interesting, just not nearly as much as the one at the Y.
Learn about how panetone, the holiday bread speckled with dried fruit, was invented by a lovesick Milan man in the 17th century.
Discover the wild desserts served at decadent Carnevale festivals in Venice during Cassanova’s day.
Find out why newlyweds in ancient Rome had their honeymoon bedrooms filled with walnuts and were served walnut desserts at the wedding feast.
I’m definitely including a talk on dessert liquors, like vin santo and a few Italian cordials. I’m also serving a fabulous dessert drink with Prosecco, it’s called “Scroppino”—a sort of grown up smoothie—lemon sorbet whirled in a blender with prosecco, the sparkling Italian wine. I’ll be serving a total of a dozen desserts, plus the vin santo, scroppino, and 2 Italian liquors. One liquor is made with Italian truffles! The other with a special Italian cherry found only in the Veneto region of Italy.
I’ll also be serving:
· Passion Fruit Rum Baba
· Cannoli
· Cantucci & vin santo (biscotti that go specifically with a sweet Italian dessert wine)
· Maccedonia di frutta secca (a fab mix of diced dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, and Italian crushed cookies topped with liquor)
· “Black Rice”—Riso Nero, an Italian chocolate rice pudding created in Sicily
The marzipan sculpting will be hands on, plus a Powerpoint, and I’ll do a quick cooking demo or two.
What You Missed: Uber Chefs, Double-Bass Balalaika and the New New York
Blogger roundup of recent events at the 92nd Street Y…
James Oliver Cury of the Epicurious blog on the Uber Chef talk: “Marco Pierre White--the original bad-boy celebrity chef--stole the show at last night’s food-focused panel discussion inside the 92nd Street Y last night. White, a big brooding character with long hair who rarely cracked a smile, sat slumped in a chair for most of the 90 minutes and delivered hilarious one-liners and succinct overviews of his experiences as Britain’s first-ever Michelin three-starred chef. Thomas Keller, by comparison, seemed buttoned-up and politically correct; former New York Times food critic William Grimes came across as witty and insightful but deferred to the chefs on many questions.”
Peter Matthews of the Feast of Music blog on Russia’s Terem Quartet: “After an intermission of tea served from samovars in fine china, the second half of the program expanded their palate to music by Astor Piazzola, Gershwin and Nina Rota. They even managed a riff on “Happy Birthday”, which would have come off sounding cheesy under most circumstances, but somehow felt appropriate here. The crowd - which spoke far more Russian than English - shouted it’s appreciation and clapped in rhythm, just like they do overseas. And on the way out, we were all treated to some premium Russian vodka: just the right touch of warmth on a cool autumn evening.”
Susan Campriello on New York Times columnist Joe Berger’s discussion of New York’s immigration patterns: “Berger noted that the rich variety of race helps immigrants adjust to the city’s own history has been built upon immigration since the first Dutch and English settlers arrived nearly 400 years ago. He argued that New York City lacks the sense of nationalism and xenophobia known in Paris and offers a more fluid class system than London as two reasons immigrant populations today mesh relatively well with each other today here and not there. He illustrated the idea with an example of Brazilians and Middle Easterners living together in Astoria, Queens.”
One of the recent additions to the 92nd Street Y Cookbook is an entry from Tahl Raz, president and editor in chief of Jewcy.com, an “online magazine and community for New Jews and other riffraff” covering faith, pop culture, politics and public affairs. (Where else are you going to find comic strips on American Jewry?) Tahl, also co-author of the bestseller Never Eat Alone, is pictured above with his girlfriend, photographer Gillian Laub. In August 2007, he was a featured panelist at the Y with some of New York’s biggest names in Jewish-focused online media. In keeping with the long tradition of Jews and food, Jewcy recently launched a food blog called Pickled.
Tahl Raz’s Israeli Salad
“I am an Israeli salad guy—we’re taught to transform cucumbers into 7,000 different meals before the age of 4.”
—Tahl Raz
6 plum tomatoes, diced
2 cucumbers, peeled and diced
2⁄3 small red or yellow bell pepper, diced
1⁄3 cup red onion, diced
1⁄2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1⁄4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2-3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper and red onion. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, parsley and mint leaves and mix thoroughly, making sure to completely coat vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.
The urban travel blog Gridskipper recently published a feature on 
Dan Avery of Time Out New York has 
