He Who Cuts the Cheese

What's that smell? Everyone is looking around with strange expressions on their faces. Are you feeling embarrassed? Blood is rushing to your cheeks, your face is becoming flushed and you are feeling confused. 

Yes…it's the smell of great cheese. Are you an addict? I fully admit that I am. I had a famous doctor tell me that cheese contains an addictive compound in it. I don't care. I am a cheese junkie and I want my fix now! I won't snatch the purse out of a 90 year old's frail hands to get my money for the cheese, although it is expensive. Not yet anyways…

So, if you have managed to eat your way through the cheese selection at Whole Foods, which is quite excellent, then you need to move on to independently owned cheese shops. Where are they you ask? Well, that depends on where you are. Most major cities have at least one great cheese shop. They are usually tucked away in a small closet of a store in the more transitional geographic locations in the city. Look for the new hip area, they will be there.

Cheese is good.

So here are a few to check out. I won't recommend cheeses in this post, that's way too much to encompass here. Look for that in future posts.

The CheeseBoard Collective in Berkeley, CA. This place is truly stunning. The bread as well as the cheese are fantastic.

Andrew's Cheese Shop in Santa Monica, CA. This one is new and carries some hard to find and unique cheeses.

The Cheese Store of SilverLake in the hip and young SilverLake district of Los Angeles.

The Cheese Store of Beverly Hils in Beverly Hills, CA. This is a popular store.

The Cheese Boutique in gourmet San Francisco, CA. They have two locations. 

If "you are what you eat" is really true, then I am a stinky, gooey, cheese head of a human. No wonder I love people that are wine and baguette addicts. Time to go buy some more exotic cheeses.

Paying Green for Great Green Teas (Review)

If you have not noticed, I love green tea. I enjoy drinking it, enjoy its subtle nuances and its relaxing aura. Green tea has many health benefits and can help you get through the day without the coffee jitters or stomach acidity. Three thousand years of tradition behind it. It's not too late to join in now, here a jump start on some teas you might want to try out.

You can check out my earlier posts on dozens of other green teas to see how they compare to these I have selected for review today. Note: make sure to follow the brewing instructions on the packages. This is very important. Also, on your first sip of the tea, make sure your palate is clean and not hindered by any other flavors or foods. Swish the tea around your mouth like it was wine, gargle it a little, chew it, swallow it and breath out. This will give you the maximum taste of the tea. Silly, maybe…but it works wonders.

I have purchased all ten teas(nine greens and one oolong) listed below from Special Teas. These ratings are from a one star to a ten star rating. Some have special brewing instructions, which I listed below.

Pi Lo Chun Competition Grade (Green Tea): *********

This is a light and sweet tea with nuances of honey, apricots and twig. Long aftertaste. Smell of a fruit orchard. Has little of the vegetal and musty flavors of lower grades of this tea and has more nuances. Brew: 2tsp per 6oz of water, 160º water, steep 2 minutes.

White Monkey King Green (Green Tea): **********

Yes, this is a ten star tea. not many get this rating. 

Strong upfront sweetness with a subtle charcoal smokiness. Nutty and fruity flavors seem to emerge in the aftertaste and during the first sip. Light smokey sweetness. A unique taste. Quite nice. Subtle vegetal notes in aftertaste. A must buy. This tea deserves your first sip in the morning. Brewing: 1tsp per 6oz of water, 180º water, steep 2 minutes.

China Taiping Houkui (Green Tea): *********

Light bodied and sweet green tea with a slight nuttiness. Long sweet aftertaste and a light honey-like flavor. Light charcoal flavor balanced with sweetness and a musty greeness to round out the flavor. Brewing: 2tsp per 6oz of water, 185º water, steep 3 minutes.

Jiuking Lung Ching West Lake (Green Tea): *********

This is not a geographically correct tea for a Dragon Well tea, but it is remarkable nonetheless. There is a strong toasted/roasted chestnut flavor to the tea, much more pronounced than all the other Dragon Wells I have tied. This is fantastic. Medium bodied, Long aftertaste. Slight sweetness.

Zhejian Mao Feng (Green Tea): *******

This is a sweet and light bodied green tea with a light toasted leaf taste. There is a slight greeness to the aftertaste.

Spring Blossom Pekoe (Green Tea): ******

This is a very sweet and medium bodied tea with a light toasted flavor. Melon-like sweetness. Slightly astringent and toasty aftertaste.

Yunnan Green Imperial (Green Tea): *******

Great tea. This has the aroma of sweet honey. Flowery sweet taste with a light vegetal mustiness and a long lingering aftertaste of honeysuckle. Unlike most sweet teas, this one does not leave you with an empty aftertaste. There is a slight astringency.

Gyrokuro Asahina Extra Fine (Green Tea): ********

A light bodied vegetal tea with a subtle toasted flavor. More vegetal than the Sencha Hiki 1st Flush. Smooth and well integrated flavors create a nice body. More of a toasted leaf flavor. Barely detectable astringency at last sip. Great runner up to the Hiki. Brewing: 2tsp per 6oz of water, 140º water, steep 2 minutes.

Sencha Hiki First Flush (Green Tea): *********

First off, this is the best Japanese green tea I have tasted. Fantastic.  This is a light bodied smooth tea with a nutty flavor. This tea's flavors are well integrated. Slightly sweet and subtly vegetal flavors emerge. This tea has a tremendously long and deliciously warm aftertaste. Not too vegetal or astringent of a tea. Slight honey taste. Buy some for your collection. Brewing: 2tsp per 6oz of water, 140º water, steep 2 minutes

Bai Hao Oolong Special Grade (Oolong Tea): ******

This is a deep flavored and sweet oolong tea. Medium bodied with a heavy twig and must fruit flavor. Dark honey, floral (orchid) and perfume-like nuances are at the back of the tea's bouquet.

I hope this helps you find the tea that will make your mornings worth getting out of bed for.

A Mannish Spanish Sherry

Have you been missing out on the Sherry boat? Do you know what a sherry is? Not that drunk girl in the bar you met last night, nor the cheap alcohol you can buy for $2 a bottle at any store. Real Sherry is a special treat indeed. It can accompany any meal and any type of food, for the flavors are just as expansive as that of the wine world. For this is a type of wine. A very strong and potently flavored one. 

You can start off with a bone dry and lightly nutty sherry with a light antipasti or seafood. From there you can move to a more flavorful Amantillado or Oloroso. Now you can complete the spectrum and enter the digestif zone. These are sweet, syrupy and incredibly good. You can easily drink a hole bottle in sitting. These are the Deluxe Creams, Rare Creams, and the infamous Pedro Ximenez type sherry. 

All in all, it's a great find. 

Out of all of them, there is one that works with most food exceptionally well. This special sherry is a mix of the flavors and bouquet of  an Oloroso and an Amatillado. What a discovery. This is fantastic. 

So go get yourself a bottle of Lustau Solera Reserva Palo Cortado Sherry "Peninsula.

It is not too dry, not too fruity, not too nutty, but a perfect combination of all the best attributes of a great sherry. I can't recommend this one enough.

Just remember, these are strong drinks meant to be savored and sipped. Buy one, open it, and share with you loved friends and family (especially if you can get them to make paella to go with it).

Spanish Wine, Travel Whines

So, the dollar got you down? Here in the good old U.S. we can't get much of a deal anymore on anything, let alone a trip to Spain to drink those inexpensive and wonderful wines. So, alas, we have to find some dollar friendly wines here that rank high on the drinkibility scale.

Here are a few I have tried lately:

2005 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha = $7.99

Good wine. This is a solid Spanish table wine.

2005 Senorio de Barahonda Bellum El Principio = $16.95

I read great things about this one, but it did not live up to the tasting notes. It's an average Spanish table wine.

2004 Castell Del Remei Gotim Bru = $10.95

Good, but average table wine. Nothing wrong with it, just average.

2005 Bodegas Arrocal Arrocal = $12.95

This might be the best one under $15. It is a great table wine. Solid fruit and oak with minor acidity. The flavor is long and smooth.

2006 Vina Sastre, Ribera del Duero = $16.99

This is a true stunner. If you can find this, but a case of it. The nose and bouquet on this Spanish red is very developed and is long lingering on the tongue.

So, did you enjoy your flight, albeit a wine-flight, to Spain? Put on some flamenco music, make a few tapas, and enjoy with those you cherish.

What a Loaf!

Who has the ultimate bread experience? Where can you find truly distinguished breads with intense flavor, great crusts, perfect chewy insides and meticulous craftsmanship? Are you sick of the breads at your local supermarket that are baked in-house and of low quality? You need a great bakery to come to the rescue. 

Some breads are good to eat on a regular basis, others are spectacular and require that you get a loaf when you are visiting that city and bakery. The best loaf of sourdough break I have ever had was purchased in Berkeley, CA. The shop I am about to mention is a real gem. Not only is is one of the best bakeries on the West Coast, but it's cheese selection is one of the best, if not the best. Get in your car, on the plane, on your bike, or in your shoes and make a trip to The Cheese Board.  

The City Bread, formerly known as the urban bread, is a malty, thick crusted, bread with a perfect chewy inside. It's so good it's usually sold out by afternoon, so get there early or put one on hold. It will wreck every other loaf of bread you try after it. Nothing will stand up against it's incredible crust texture, deep flavor, and incredible ability to pair well with great cheeses. 

So even if you are one of those freaks on one of those fad diets and are forcing yourself not to eat any bread, stop it and go buy a loaf. Make this the only loaf of bread you allow yourself to taste. After this, you won't need to eat any other.

Three Wines for a Jackson

Andrew Jackson likes wine? I am not sure about that one, but if you have a bill with his face on it, you can purchase any three of these wines and they won't leave you feeling green after your first glass.

So, I just bought and tried out these wines. I have only had the Simi before, but it was such a long time ago, that it doesn't count. 

First wine: Simi Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005. This is a great example of a Healdsburg variety of wine. The wines from this region typically have a minerally and grassy taste to the aftertaste of the bouquet. This makes these wines distinctive and exceptionally aromatic. These are my favorite California wines. This Simi is well priced for the quality of the wine. It has a upfront nose of rich fruit and a good warmth followed by that wonderful field flavor. 

Second wine. Twenty Bench Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005. Out of the three this was my second favorite. It was rich and full of fruit. This wine was very smooth and had little acidity to it. Very easy to drink. It had a long lingering sweet aftertaste.

Third wine. Amber Knolls Vineyard Est. 75 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005. This wine had a bit more acidity and spiciness to it. It was not a delicate wine, but aimed to be a more powerful cabernet full of oak and tannic acidity. I think this wine needs to mellow about another 3-5 years before it settles down and reaches a mature balance in its bouquet. For now, I would drink this with with spicy dishes and heavy meats.

In the end, I recommend buying a case of the Simi. It's a heck of a deal for the quality of the wine. It could be selling for much more, but don't let them know that. Buy it now before it's rated highly and the price skyrockets.

A Singularly Seductive Single Malt Scotch

So, among other refinements, I like single malt scotch. I like it. I drink it. I appreciate it. 

My new favorite, well, for the last year, has been Bowmore Darkest. This is a fantastic single malt scotch that compliments any collection.

I find myself returning to the addictive sweet and dark taste this scotch provides. It has a fully developed character and runs the gamut with its subtle flavors. Not too sweet and not too peaty. It finds a middle-ground without being muddy. 

The price is another nice feature about this one. It is surprisingly cheap for such a well developed scotch. You can find it for around $60 if you really look. This bottle should be $100. 

Remember to pour your Scotch into the correct glass. It really makes a difference. Buy some small Scotch tulip glasses (Riedel makes them) or even some small brandy snifters if you can't get the Scotch glasses. Check Bevmo at the retail location for them. Sometimes online they don't show the picture of the glass, so you don't really know what you are ordering.

The Hamburger of Hamburgers

Where have you been? Have you noticed that the hamburger has slowly been creeping off the low end of the food chain and into the silk menus of high-end restaurants? One by one, the restaurants are slowing taking in this piece of Americana. Even in Paris, where it was abhorred, the burger is now on the menu at not only bistros, but high-end restaurants of world renown chefs. These have become a unique culinary art form.

From meager beginnings, the burger now is available on house-made buns or baguettes, fresh specialty meat mixes and in other styles as in Kobe, domestic kobe or grass-fed bison. Do you want that with Stilton, pepper jack, aged cheddar, French brie or another cheese? Sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions or shallots and a house-made ketchup and sauces? It's all for the taking. Name your price. You can go from $10 to well over $50. Yes, the burger has graduated, my friends. Expect to see even greater things to come of it in the next few years.

So where can you find a great hamburger in your city? Yelp it. Go to yelp.com and citysearch.com and see what others have to say. As for me, I have had many in the Los Angeles region. The best being a toss-up and others being prospective winners.

Father's Office: This is claimed to be the best burger in all of L.A. The Holy Grail of burgers. You order it as they have it on the menu and you receive it one way. No changes. No alterations. No L.A.… I'll have the dressing on the side, oh and yes, can I have this instead of the tomato and… Yeah, you get the picture. The burger…I've had it. It's good. I would get it again. The meat is treated perfectly and it has plenty of goodies packed into it.

Library Ale House: I have had all three of the make your own burger burgers. Whether it's the Kobe, the Angus or the Bison, they are all very good. Now here, you can add several items from an extensive list of gourmet goodies. Stilton cheese, sauteed mushrooms (a favorite), caramelized onions, avocado, bacon, etc… So good. The bun is better than the baguette. So only order the bun. I recommend the bison burger cooked medium-rare. It has a more gamey flavor that compliments the other condiments and strong cheese well.

Houstons: The burgers here are good too. I don't think they stand up to the other two places, but they are decent.

R&D Kitchen: The burger here is an excellent example of an American burger. But it is a little plain for me. The meat is excellent, but not quite the flavor of the Father's office burger. The R&D burger is much better than the Houston's burger.

Anisette Brasserie: I will try this soon. This might be a winner. This comes on a house made bun (fantastic pastry chef here) and with a huge slice of brie. The meat should be fantastic as well. But, I know trusted people that still swear by the Father's Office burger.

Rustic Canyon: There is only one dish I would go here for, the burger. This restaurant has gone downhill since the original chef left. But the burger should be fine. Niman ranch meat (the best) with Vermont cheddar and arugula. Sounds good. I will try this one too.

The Counter: This place is well know for their burger. They are more about options than about a real quality gourmet burger experience. The kids love it here.

Magnolias: (San Francisco) Very good burger. This is a must if you are in SF or visiting. The beers here are the best in the U.S. A bold statement, but they are cask conditioned, which is very rare in the U.S.

I am on the quest for the best burger in Los Angeles. May a better burger best my bewildered brain.

The Pain of "Le Pain au Chocolat"

Why is it so hard to find a great chocolate croissant? Otherwise known as le pain au chocolat. Most I have tried are all bread, not even croissant textured, and have no chocolate in them. 

Occasionally, I will find one that has a fantastic croissant but no chocolate, or great chocolate, but the pastry shell is all bready and not flakey. 

Well, take note, there is one I have had that is addicting. The "pain" is not a pain, but a croissant-like texture and the inside is completely packed with dark chocolate. It is fantastic. It's from a wonderful little bakery called Some Crust Bakery in Claremont, CA. Also, try their Mocha cookie. It's out of this world.

It's worth the drive if your in the Los Angeles area. Plus, after the bakery closes at 5:00pm, you can go to Viva Madrid! for dinner–starting at 5:00pm, see prior postings). Double bonus.