Sneakeater

You don't use exciting words like "ethereal" or "racy". You use boring words like "balanced" and "correct". But boy do they drink.

The unheralded Patrick Brunet remains one of my very favorite winemakers. His wines aren't exciting like Anne-Sophie Dubois's. But they're so solidly what they are, in an exemplary way. It's like if you wanted to show someone what a good solid straight-down-the-middle Beaujolais was, you'd put Brunet's bottles in front of them. And they wouldn't stop drinking.

When I made those Chitarrine alla Teremana last week, to my surprise my favorite meat out of the ragu was the pork ribs. So I got some more, to have on their own. Like last week's these were spareribs, cut the Kansas City rather than the St. Louis way (I say that to show off -- although all I'm really showing off is that I was married to a Midwesterner). Contrary to the mode when I was first learning to eat seriously, I find I prefer spareribs to baby backs, mainly for spareribs' higher fat content, leading to greater tenderness (back in the day we were told to prefer baby back ribs for

(Your first favorite had better be Clyde . . . .)

This hurts.

I guess this is a perfect example of, "the French have a word for it."

Did it even occur to you there was a word for it?

They totally don't come with dinner. You totally have to pay $10 for them. (Unless the bartender comps you them.)

This is just showing off, but I even produced those cross-hatched grill marks!

Tuna steak seared on the grill. This tuna steak was marinated in Shio Koji, which produced exactly the charred-on-the-outside-raw-on-the-inside affect I wanted. In terms of flavor, it surprisingly seemed to do less for the tuna than it has done for steak and, especially, scallops. Some Tough Old Lady chili chips sealed the deal. No way this wasn't going to be delicious. And it was. Some by-now-just-about-pickled cabbage on the side. And some Brazilian beans. 2020 Floral Terranes Abracadabra This is a 50%/50% Merlot/Chardonnay blend from Long Island. It is NOT a co-fer

How silly of me not to expect that.

They killed the butter!

The interesting thing, though, is that back in the early days of the post-Lockdown reopening, when just about EVERYPLACE had 90-minute limits so you couldn't avoid them as you can now, I never actually had one enforced on me. When I noted the time limit was approaching and told the staff we had to hurry up, I was always told not to worry about it.

I think the parenthetical kind of swallows the question.

This being L de H's junior cuvée and all, you worry that it has to be drunken up. But I'll tell you: this bottle is the best I've had from this vintage yet. And it tastes like it could last forever. There's a reason L de H is one of the best four or five wine producers in the world.

Meal planning: I had one open slot in my week's meal plan. But then, I pivoted away from a dish I was planning to make this week when I saw that the ingredient I had planned it to use up had already gone bad (yes, even I acknowledge that happens sometimes). As I was left with some squid and some greens I wasn't going to use in the replacement for that other dish, I saw a way through to filling that open dinner slot. Roasted squid with chistorra and potatoes (served on a bed of pea, radish, and sunflower shoots, and nasturtium leaves). I tried to make this once before. It wasn't a

The end of the Chitarrine alla Teramana con Pallottine (and, looking at the Pallottine, just in time, I'd say). Same secondo of the meats used in cooking the ragu, with the same roasted carrots. (Well, not the EXACT same carrots: as Heraclitus would have said, you can't eat the same carrots twice.) For the pairing, Don Giovanni's favorite wine. 2020 Lazzari Marzemino "Berzami" Well, I mean, not the 2020: the Don had long been dragged down to hell by then. (Actually, that's a decent thought question: do fictional characters exist in time? Cuz really, I think the better

(Not for stock or beans or cholent, though. Those will ALWAYS get the slow cooker.)

Now that I'm not out of my apartment while slow cooking, I find I use my slow cooker much less than the oven or stovetop. That's another (much more minor) difference.

And since you can't burn braises or stews, it really doesn't matter when I way underestimate what time I'll be finished with work.

THAT is definitely a difference remote work has made. I sort of enjoy working away knowing a delicious dinner is slowly forming in the next room.

At the bar I of course never have that problem. At table, I definitely have the slow wine problem, and it infuriates me (and I'm not shy about communicating that infuriation, as you can imagine). But since I almost never am asked to put in a food order until I'm well through most of my cocktail, the cocktail/food overlap just doesn't happen very often. Unless I improvidently order a second one when putting in my food order.

I have to say that the pan doesn't like the way I make that dish as much as I do.

Oy.

Now that I think of it, the rushed cocktail problem never really comes up at table, at least in restaurants like G&T with good service. The server invariably takes the pre-dinner drink order, brings the drinks, disappears for a while, and comes back to take the food order when the drinks are nearly finished. This isn't something I have to negotiate. It just happens.