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Mambo Cocina Wine Dinner Part Deux

I've been waiting for the opportunity to do another wine dinner with Mambo Cocina in New Haven (http://www.mambonewhaven.com/) for almost a year.  That time has come!  Call a sitter for the children and join us for what is sure to be an outstanding night of Nuevo Latino American cuisine at one of New Haven's premiere dining establishments!.

TUESDAY, October 28 th 6:30 pm

PASSED HORS D’OEUVRES

2013 Vanidade - Albarino

Corn Shrimp Chowder

Sweet corn, shrimp, Peruvian purple potatoes, cilantro

2013 Maddy Txakoli – Ondarrabi Zuri

Crispy Duck Arepas

Long island duck ropa vieja

2010 Tilenus Roble - Mencia

Filet Mignon

Filet Mignon served with oyster mushroom, tinta de toro reduction and chipotle gratin

2011 Prima – Tinta de Toro

Coconut Flan

Tropical coconut flan, mora sauce

Reymos – Muscat de Alexandria

$60/person all inclusive !

Call the restaurant for reservations!  This event sold out last time.

(203) 562-0660

 I don't know about you, but I am dying to try their Duck Arepas!  The menu looks absoluttely stunning from start to finish along with the accompanying wine pairings. Txakoli, if you're not familiar with it, happens to be one of my favorite Basque whites.  This will be a treat to expose everyone to this unfamiliar wine as well as the rest of the line up of vino.  I'm looking forward to seeing new and old friends as we come together once again for a fantastic night.  And at $60 it's a BARGAIN!  Trust me, you will not walk away hungry.  And i venture to say you'll be making reservations for yourselves to return to Mambo.

CALL NOW! 

CT Food Truck Fest 2014

Putting on any type of event is hard work.  Now imagine planning an event for 15,000 people?!? Yeah, it's not easy.  You fall, hopefully you learn, then you pick yourself back up and improve on what you did the previous years.  The weekend of July 19th & 20th in North Haven, CT was home to the first annual CT Food Truck Fest set on the North Haven Fair grounds.  My family and I planned to go on the Sunday, but after reading the reviews from Saturday's massacre we had our reservations about making the trek.  Long lines to get in, more lines for food, no beverages, food running out and an entire slur of other Murphy's Law scenarios that would scare people away.

  Our plan was to arrive early Sunday morning in order to stay ahead of the hungry crowd and it worked.  We left our house at 9:30AM, arriving just before 10AM.  No signs of the 45 minute backup on the 91 north bound exit nor the 1 hour line to get inside the fairgrounds.  Found ample parking,greeted pleasantly by the two front admission ladies.  $5 donation per person plus canned goods for the food drive is not only feasible but is a great charity effort before you go and stuff your glutinous face. I could do without the flea market rag tag sale, but I'm sure their rents pay the bills for other stuff to keep the festival going. 

Just after 10AM a few trucks open with coffee, breakfast sandwiches and what not.  Orangeside Donuts is our go to with their devilishly good square donuts.  We all share 2 so as not to gorge ourselves early on in the day.  Like vultures in the desert, we circle the trucks planning our attack.

  I heard rave reviews about Lobster Craft so I plant myself in front of that truck waiting patiently as they set up.  Mrs Wino is not a seafood fan, so her and the little guy head off in their own epicurean expedition. 

 Lobstercraft was about 20 minutes behind schedule.  I have no problem waiting in line for 45 minutes as the line quickly grows from 5 to now 100+ people deep.  The crew on board is feverishly hurrying to make sure that today they are indeed ready to handle the onslaught of glutinous lobster junkies such as myself.  Patience is an absolute virtue so are manners, Two things a few lobster zombies behind me forgot about today.  Hey peeps...do you complain to the big Mouse when the Tea Cup ride line is over an hour long?  Smile and be happy.  Lobster is served after a 45 minute wait. It's very tasty, but not as hot & buttery as I envisioned it to be.  Some things are better when not rushed and I'm willing to say that in any other scenario outside of this first annual event that this lobster role would be much better.  I'll seek them out again for another try. 

While waiting in Lobster Line limbo, I noticed someone walking around with this bowl of smoked pig goodness! Must...try...Pig Mac from Big Country! Only a 20 minute wait and well worth it.  Creamy gooey mac&cheese with flecks of bacon and smoked pork.

My wife, a Texan born & raised, is not too happy with her BBQ brisket from one of the other trucks so I decide on doing a little teamwork to create the Big Country Gotta Pig n Brisket Mac&Cheese bowl!! Which hits the spot and is rib sticking good!

My wife ends up in Bounty Food Truck's line for a bourdaleise burger which is absolutely the best damn burger I've had to date! Farm raised beef burger with caramelized onions, arugala, Gruyere cheese, toasty brioche bun! Delicious! 

(Photo courtesy of @DishCrawlFCT, thanks friends)

One more trip around and look who's here late, Vanchetta!!

 This is a paisanos wet dream on wheels. Alas, we're too full to engage the line after the onslaught we just went through. Next time my little porketta, we'll eat again.

One last trip to the bouncy house for the little guy and we are OUT!  The line for entrance into the fest is now 200+ people deep with another 150+ cars waiting on Route 5 to get into the parking lot.  We had timed this foodie excursion perfectly.  Absolutely made sure to thank the two ladies at the front for a truly fun family day.  Planning ahead paid off tremendously! I thoroughly suggest it for other would be fest goers.

When it's your first event, you can plan for 50 people and either 1000 show up or 10 show.  That's the ridk you run.  Unless, and the organizers should think about it for next year, they presell advanced admission tickets to gage it all.  Even with that concept there's no assurance or concrete way of telling what to expect.  With hope, the organizers should review and compare notes to see what worked, what didn't and how they can improve on this event for next year.  I'm sure the hamster wheels are turning and buring already for what will sure to be an even better 2015 #CTFoofTruckFest. 

Thank you to all the event planners, organizers, workers, vendors and food truck operators...we had a blast and a half.  See you on Eats Street!

May 7th WINE 101 Class with Michael David Winery

Hello Wine students!  This month I'm happy to announce that our very good friend Doug Molnar from Michael David Winery will be our guest speaker.

We will sample wines from their extensive portfolio and as usual I will try to pair up each wine with a selection of cheeses.

 

The tasting will begin at 6:30PM at the Grand Vin Fine Wines Learning Center located at 28 E. Grand Ave New Haven.

Class with wine and cheese plate is $20 per person.

Due to class size, we have a 12 person limit so RSVP ASAP and be sure to extend and invite to your family and friends.

Email any and all questions to me at 

wineschool101@gmail.com

Looking forward to seeing you all!

Wine vs Beer vs Cheese

What started off as a typical Saturday night in store sampling of wine and cheese turned into a quick lesson of what doesn't work well.  The wine we sampled tonight was a new Spanish white from the Ribeiro region of Galicia, most notable for the white wine Albariño.

The name of the mystery grape tonight was Treixadura, something unknown to me.  The producer blended this wine with a small percentage Albariño.  To me, it lightened the citrusy/minerally edge of Albariño.  Great on it's own, but I would go out on a limb and say that this would be GREAT with seafood when the weather around these parts get warmer.  The two cheeses we sampled out tonight were #1 both locally produced and #2 made from cow's milk.  If you're looking at the picture above, the cheese in your right is a raw Jersey cow's milk cheese from Beaver Brook Farms in Lyme, CT called Nehantic Abbey. The cheese itself was smooth, creamy but that tang I usually get from raw milk was a little muted.  Still a good noshing cheese, not bad with the vino.  The other cheese is called The Melville produced by the Mystic Cheese Company.  Soft, creamy, decadent, versatile as a noshing cheese and makes for a great melter.  The wine however, not a good match.  The butteriness of the Melville and the steely edge on the vino clashed producing some off flavors.  Nothing horrendous, but nothing memorable or enjoyable.  Maybe I'm being too pompous or anal about this.  It just didn't work for me.  I would go out on a limb to say that going by laws of terrior association that Spanish Garroxta aged goat cheese would've been much better with this wine.

 So with that we decided that experimentation would be the next best thing or as we like to call it "quality control" on Saturday nights.

How about a beer?  Great choice! The beer was the Hop Session IPA from White Birch Brewing of New Hampshire.  The beer itself had that mild citrusy bouquet I usually expect from a domestic IPA, but the hops were rather controlled without being over the top bitter. Onto the cheese...

The Melville...

The slight bitterness of the hops cut through the creaminess of the cheese and blending the flavors into something more like fresh floral notes. 

The Nehantic Abbey from Beaver Brook..

This is a firmer cheese, but still creamy being its made from the fatty Jersey Cow's milk.  Again, once the hops hit the fattiness of the cheese it backs off the bitterness and gets tamed down.  Very harmonious. Perfect pairing.  The Hop Session itself is about at the bitter limit of what and how I like my IPA's to be.  Very drinkable on its own and I get a sense of how this beer would be better with food.  What else can you think of that would pair with THIS beer if you've had it before.  Let me know as I would like to experiment.  Find me on the Twitter Box at Wine1011 or drop me an email to wineschool101@gmail.com.  I look forward and would love to hear from you all!

Monday Blues

I shutter to have to come in on Mondays.  The thought of 20 sales people lined with with samples of the next great wine, the new Siracha flavored vodka, a new macro micro craft artisanal local beer.  It's endless.  Sounds like a tough job right? Who wouldn't want to sip booze all day?  Well if the samplings in question have a repeat track record of sucking donkey balls then you'd understand my disdain.  Today, my sales woman walks in with her new manager.  Manager, that word has literally no meaning anymore.  When I was in big box retail, I was a manager.  The ranking made me feel like a general.  Now it's just a label on a VistaPrint business card that gives you another number to call to get the same bull shit response, "I don't know, but I'll call the office to find out."  Anyway, my sales woman brought in a foursome of vino from the Iberian peninsula.  Well done Miss!  She's been sizing us up and feeling us out as to what we like and sell a lot of.  Even though my store is heavy with selections from Spain, what's one or two more right?

First up (working left to right) is a red blend from Jumilla, Spain.  The blend is Monastrell, Tempranillo and Cabernet.  Smooth, velvety medium bodied with that  raspberry jammy finish.  My cost is $112 for a case of 12 bottles, you do the math.  EXCELLENT value to quality ratio, mass appeal with the fruit, easy sale.

Next up was the Haza from Ribera del Duero, a Tempranillo.  I haven't had this wine in years and forgotten how good it was.  Again smooth medium bodied with a touch of oak that was neither too aggressive or dominant.  You know he's there, but he's got he's using his manners today.  A little over $20 retail, so I'll pass on this one until the phobia of winter/holiday bills and tax season are over.  This should be a good one when grill season fires up.

Last in the line up, Graham's Six Grapes Port.  Do I need to tell you how much this rocked? Alright, it did kick ass for a Monday morning otherwise filled with rejects.

My gal Monday, it was a pleasure doing business with you.  Hopefully you're on to something good and continue with your intuition.  Let's see what crap the rest of the week brings.

This time of year is tough in retail being wedged in between holiday bills coming in and people nervous about paying taxes.  Super Bowl doesn't really generate tremendous wine sales as you can imagine.  In this business, I try to pay closer attention to price as I'm buying for shelf stock.  The marketing geniuses from these distributors don't look at the overall picture that the everyday consumer is tightening the belt.  Why in the fuckity fuck fuck world would you send in new item after new item after new item every week when you damn well know that no one has money including the retailer?  It's never ending and sometimes you have to pass and/or be blunt about not coming into the store with a box of new booze to try.  Again, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.  I'm not complaining today.