Okada: Las Vegas

Like steakhouses, Las Vegas has plenty of options for Japanese cuisine and sushi. Last year, as well as a couple other times, I dined at the famed Nobu located in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. I have always had excellent meals there but I decided this year to try someplace else. Like my steakhouse challenge, I needed to find a top notch Japanese restaurant. Hopefully, I would succeed as well as I did on the steakhouse challenge.

After much consideration, I chose Okada, Chef Masa Ishizawa's restaurant at the Wynn. This is certainly a beautiful restaurant with its lush gardens and waterfalls. It looks quite impressive and you expect that your dining experience will be equally impressive. Unfortunately, that was not my experience.

Maybe my expectations were too high as I was looking for an exceptional meal. I enjoyed my meal, it was very good, but it just did not "wow" me. And I don't think my meal was as good as those I have had at Nobu. And we had a couple minor service issues as well.

The sushi was very good, and fairly priced as you received two pieces rather than just one. The tempura shrimp was also very good, a nice light batter, as was the miso black cod. I was not as keen on their robata skewers, my chicken and fish being a bit dry. Their Sake was very expensive though they had a decent selection.

I find myself somewhat at a loss for words. Just not enough inspiration from this dining experience to ignite my passions.

Taste Camp East: Day 2, Part 2

Time for lunch. We dined at Shinn Estates, the meal being jointly sponsored by Shinn Estates, Macari Vineyards, and Jamesport Vineyards. While we ate, we would taste some wines from all three wineries. Plus, we would learn about their efforts at trying to create organic/biodynamic wines.

When we first arrived, lunch was still being prepared. They were slicing the Crescent Duck Breasts (pictured above) and I was nearly salivating in anticipation. I love duck and this looked so appealing, nice meaty prices with crisp skin and a thin layer of fat below the skin. When I finally got to taste the duck, it fully lived up to my expectations. Moist, flavorful and absolutely delicious. I could have eaten a couple pounds of that duck all by myself.

During lunch, two wines stood out to me. First, was the 2008 Macari Vineyards Rose (probably around $11-$12 though it has not yet been released.) It is a blend of five grapes and is made by the saignée method. This was very much an Old World Rose, dry, minerally and with restrained fruit flavors of strawberry and watermelon. It reminded me of a French Rose and at this price is a good value.

I was stunned though by our barrel tasting of the 2007 Shinn Estates Cabernet Franc. It was an exceptional wine which impressed many of us. Though I am not usually a fan of Cabernet Franc, this wine could make me a convert. It was the single best Cabernet Franc I have ever tasted. There was so much complexity in its taste, lots of spice and dark berry flavors. A very lengthy finish, great balance and structure. For me, it was a "wow" wine. As their 2006 Cabernet Franc was $39, I assume the 2007 will be at a similar price. Even at such a price, I would highly recommend this wine. If more Cabernet Francs were similar to this, I would be a big fan of the grape.

The owners and wine makers of Shinn Estates, Macari Vineyards, and Jamesport Vineyards are very passionate about organic and biodynamic wines. Joseph Macari, Jr. has been a pioneer in this regard. This type of agriculture is difficult on Long Island, especially due to the weather and soils. They do as much as they can but understand the realities and make necessary compromises at times. Yet they also engage in continual research and experimentation, trying to get closer and closer to fully organic/biodynamic. They are sincere in their beliefs and this is definitely not a marketing stunt.

Barbara Shinn also had the funniest line of the weekend, as she passed around a jar of manure. She basically stated that great wine comes from a horse's ass.

After lunch, we went out into the vineyard with David Page (in the center of the photo), Barbara's husband and co-owner of Shinn Estates. (Barbara is in the back of the photo). Though there had been some rain and overcast skies earlier, the sun now came out, making for a much better afternoon. It was bud break in the vineyard, which you can see pictured below.

We then moved to their barrel room to taste wines from about ten different wineries, places we would not be visiting this trip. There were plenty of wines from places such as Borghese Vineyard, Martha Clara Vineyards, Bouke Wines, Croteaux Vineyards, Harbes Family Farm, Lieb Cellars, Old Field Vineyards, Palmer Vineyards, and Sparkling Pointe.

I really liked most of the Roses I tried, usually Old World in style, dry but with good fruit. Croteaux Vineyards makes only Rose, from Merlot, and they have three different styles. I liked all three of them and they would be great for the summer. The 2008 Harbes Red Horse Rose was excellent, with bright strawberry fruit yet still dry and minerally. The 2008 Shinn Estates Rose was very nice: dry, creamy and with nice red fruit tastes.

Some of my other favorite wines included: 2000 Sparkling Pointe Brut Seduction, 2004 Sparkling Pointe Topaz Imperial, 2005 Borghese Pinot Noir, and 2005 Shinn Estates Cabernet Sauvignon.

Taza Chocolate: Mexican Stone-Ground Chocolate

Chocolate originated in Mesoamerica, likely an invention of the ancient Olmecs who inhabited south-central Mexico. Eventually, European explorers brought chocolate back with them and, over time, this led to a European chocolate making tradition. This tradition has now become the most prevalent method used by chocolatiers yet one local company is returning to chocolate's roots.

I recently had the pleasure of touring this innovative company, Taza Chocolate, which is located in Somerville. The company was founded in 2006 by Alex Whitmore and Larry Slotnick yet its origins extend back to 2005. In 2005, Alex visited Oaxaca, Mexico and learned about the ancient Mexican traditions of chocolate making and it really inspired him.

The company was named "Taza" after the phrase "taza de chocolate" or "cup of chocolate." Their objective was to make chocolate using traditional Mexican methods but sustainability was also very important to them. They sold their first chocolate bar in 2007 and have come pretty far since then, their chocolate available in 500-600 stores in the U.S. and about four in Canada. Yet they still remain a small, artisan producer. I was very impressed with Taza and the obvious passion of the owners and employees.

This is a cacoa pod which contains pulp and about forty beans (which are actually seeds).

This is Alex, and he is beginning our tour, explaining the chocolate making process. It all starts with cacao beans and those large bags are full of them. Taza currently obtains their beans from a cooperative in the Dominican Republic which is composed of numerous small farms. Taza engages in Direct Trade, paying the cooperative higher prices than even Fair Trade, and they are also the sole export customer. The farms in the cooperative are certified organic and Taza purchases on their highest quality beans.

The bean sacks have hermetically sealed plastic bags inside of them to protect the beans from moisture and other threats. Currently, the bags are air freighted to Massachusetts though Taza understands the carbon footprint issues involved with such. In time, when their company grows, they will move to ocean freight.

The beans will first be roasted and the large red machine above is the convection roaster, also known as a ball roaster. Generally, one sack of beans, about 154 pounds, is roasted at a time though it could roast up to 220 pounds. They roast twice a week, about six or seven sacks each day. The roaster is also sometimes used to roast almonds, and they may roast other types of nuts in the future.

The beans are roasted for about 38-45 minutes. This process is like coffee bean roasting except cacao beans are roasted longer and at lower temperatures. Taza also roasts their beans at a lower temperature than many other chocolate makers. This is done to protect the more delicte flavors which might be destroyed by hotter roasting. The effect of the roasting is to dry out the beans, reducing them from 7% moisture to only 3%.

After the beans are finished roasting, they are cooled down and readied for the winnowing machine, pictured above. The function of this machine is to separate the shells from the nibs, as well as removing the bitter tasting germ. The machine is quite successful and less than 1% of the shells end up in the bin with the nibs. The shell pieces will later ne used for compost or mybe sold to tea makers who use them to add chocolate flavors to tea.

We next visited the grinding area, which had a powerful smell of chocolate, where the nibs are ground and all the mixing and refining is conducted. Above you can see Kellie Silsby, the quality control manager, grinding some nibs. She is using two molinos, traditional Mexican stone grinding mills. The stones are unique and imperfect, thus giving a distinctive texture to the chocolate. The ground nibs become chocolate liquor, a flowing runny paste which tastes very bitter and a bit gritty. You can see a molino below.

The chocolate liquor is mixed with sugar and then roll refined, using granite rollers, to shatter the sugar. The sugar comes from sustainable sugar cane in Brazil and it has a light brown, cane color to it. Other items, such as vanillas beans or cinnamon sticks may be crushed by the rollers too. Their chocolate making process omits the common "conching" procedure, which is done by most other chocolate makers. Conching is basically a slow melting process that smoothes out the chocolate. The absence of conching is why Taza chocolate has a gritty taste to it.

Once the chocolate has been tempered, it can be dropped in various molds, into bar or circle shapes. Once the chocolate is then cooled and solidified, it will be wrapped and labeled, ready for sale.

Their chocolate certainly has a more unusual taste and texture, very different from what many of us are used to. It has a grittier taste but also a rich chocolate flavor. I think it is great that Taza is helping to protect and promote a traditional chocolate process. I also am very supportive of the Taza philosophy, their desire for "good, clean and fair" foods. They are sensible in this philosophy, understanding the realities of life but doing the best that they can. They are also very passionate, another thing that impresses me.

Check out Taza Chocolate! Maybe take your own tour of their facilities.

Farmstead Lunch

After reading a fascinating profile of Chef Matt Jennings at the Leather District Gourmet and then tasting some of the Prince of Porc's porcine offerings at Cochon 555, I was very intrigued and desirous of visiting Cheff Jennings' restaurant and cheese shop in Providence, Rhode Island.

Matt and Kate, his wife, own the Farmstead, an artisan cheese shop; La Laiterie Bistro, a restaurant; and Farmstead Lunch, a small sandwich shop that also sells meats, cheeses and gourmet foods. Though I have future plans to visit the Farmstead and La Laiterie, I recently had the opportunity to stop for lunch at Farmstead Lunch on my recent trip to Long Island. On route to New London, Connecticut, as it was lunch time, we decided to stop in Providence for a quick bite.

It is a small shop and it even lacks seats, though there is a small elevated table where a few people can stand and eat. The large glass case above contains numerous hams, sausages and other cured meats while there is plenty of cheese atop the case. There are other shelves with gourmet foods, including duck bacon! If I had a cooler with me, I would have bought some of that bacon. But it will have to wait for another time.

The sandwiches, $6-$12 each, are written on a chalkboard, enabling them to easily be revised if needed. Plus, for $2, you can add bacon to any sandwich you want. What sandwich is not made better with bacon? Plenty of the sandwiches appealed to me but we selected two to split: the Cheesemonger's Choice (with bacon) and Jambon Beurre.

The Cheesemonger's Choice ($7) contains plenty of cheeses on country bread and is cooked in a panini press. It was quite tasty, with plenty of gooey cheese and nice fresh bread. The bacon of course added to the pleasure of the sandwich. I am not sure of the exact cheeses used but there were at least two, and possibly three different kinds. One might have been a goat cheese. The exact types are somewhat irrelevant, as I thoroughly enoyed it.

The Jambon Beurre ($8) contains ham, cornichons, sweet cream butter and Dijon (which I got on the side) on Pan Francese. Again, another excellent sandwich with plenty of fillings, good fresh bread and a nice taste. The bread had also been grilled, adding to the enjoyment of the sandwich.

I was very pleased with this little sandwich shop and it gets my recommendation. It made me even more excited to check out the Farmstead and La Laiterie in the near future. Plus I have to return for some of that duck bacon.

Taste Camp East: Day 2, Part 1

Day 2 of Taste Camp East: This was to be a long and very busy day, a real challenge to my palate. We would visit five wineries as well as taste wines from numerous other wineries that we did not visit. Plus, we would have lunch at Shinn Vineyards, dinner at Grand Cru Classes, and literally dozens of wines with dinner, all brought by the Taste Camp attendees. Sounds like training for a Wine Iron Man event.

Our first stop of the day, at 10am, was at Roanoke Vineyards, which I previously visited last fall. Roanoke is owned by Richard Pisacano (picture above in the center) and his wife Soraya. Richard discussed his winery and led us through a tasting of five of his wines (though there were no donuts). He was very personable and eager to answer our questions.

Roanoke only owns seven acres of grapes: three Cabernet Sauvignon, three Cabernet Franc and one Merlot. Thus, they only make about seven barrels of wine a year. They are truly a small, boutique winery. Once harvested, the grapes are brought to Wölffer Estates, where their wine maker, Roman Roth, will make the wine. Their objective is to make Bordeaux style wines and they use French clones in their vineyards.

Of the five wines I tried, the two I most liked were the 2006 Cabernet Franc (big surprise!) and the 2007 Marco Tulio.

The 2006 Cabernet Franc ($32) is a blend of 87.5% Cabernet Franc, 6.25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6.25% Merlot. It has an alcohol content of 13.2% and only 148 cases were made. This wine was a light red in color and I detected no green/vegetal smells on the nose. The nose actually provided some appealing black cherry and spice. On the palate, there was some nice fruit, more black cherry as well as a touch of blueberry, plus nice spicy undertones. The tannins were moderate so the wine would likely be better with food. It had a fairly lengthy finish and overall I enjoyed this wine. Though I am not usually a fan of Cabernet Franc, I did like this wine. And in fact, later in the day, I found a few other Cab Francs that I liked.

The 2007 Marco Tulio (about $22) has not yet been released and was named after the wine maker's father-in-law. It is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Cabernet Franc and 8% Merlot. It was made for early consumption. This light red colored wine had a subtle nose of cherry. On the palate the cherry flavors were more subtle and there was a strong spicy streak with mild tannins. It reminded me a bit of the Cabernet Franc though a more muted version, something more casual. It would probably be a good BBQ wine.
Our next stop was Paumanok Vineyards, which had been my favorite winery on my previous Long Island visit. This time I got to meet the winery owners, Ursula and Charles Massoud, as well as their son Kareem. They all made us feel very welcome and Charles led us through a tasting of a fair number of their wines. They all seemed very down to earth, just genuinely nice people. I enjoyed all of the wines I tasted, a few that I had tasted last year. But I also got to try the new vintage of a few old favorites too.

There is Charles Massoud on the right, explaining the markings on one of their wine barrels. That is also Dale Cruse looking on in the back.

The 2007 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay ($18.99) was delicious, a crisp wine with flavors of apple and butterscotch and the oak was restrained. This is the style of Chardonnay that I really prefer. I also got to try the 2008 Chenin Blanc ($28), the new vintage of this wine. I loved the 2007 vintage and the 2008 impressed me as well. They are the only Long Island winery that makes Chenin Blanc and I think other wineries should start growing this grape. This is an exceptional wine and I bought some of the new vintage. I can't recommend this wine enough.

The 2005 Merlot ($18.99) is a delicious, easy drinking wine, sure to please most people. Nice dark berry flavors with a touch of spice. Plenty of character for the price. The 2005 Assemblage, the new vintage, was excellent, maybe spicier than the previous year, but just as good.
We were fortunate to get to taste a few wines from the barrel. These were all wines from 2007, including the Assemblage, Tuthills Lane Merlot and Petit Verdot. All three were quite good, though I especially liked the Petit Verdot. I loved the 2005 Petit Verdot and the 2007 was equally as good, if not slightly better. I bought more of the 2005 Petit Verdot and can't wait for the 2007 to be released.

Above, you will see Anna, such a nice and helpful person who works at the winery. I met her on my previous visit and it was great to see her again.

If you visit Long Island, you must stop at Paumanok. They make excellent whites and reds, of various price points, and it is simply a very pleasant winery. I know that when I return to Long Island, I will definitely stop here again.