Posts Tagged “somerville”

I’ve been talking about it for a good month. Julia was pushing for it. People thought I wouldn’t do it, or couldn’t do it, even shouldn’t do it. I wasn’t all that sure myself, but this July 4th, with the help and indulgence of some good people and their Independence day backyard party, we lined up five white wines and a sixteen piece family meal of mild Popeye’s fried chicken in a blind tasting for the title of “this wine goes well with fried chicken.”

Where do you even begin to determine what wine goes best with fried chicken? (For the record, we decided by fiat that Popeyes is the best fried chicken commercially available, thus avoiding a much more complex and arduous tasting process.) The guys working in liquor stores had vague answers, sometimes recommending beer instead or subtly suggesting the whole project was insane. The internets, usually a font of complete (and completely unreliable) information, came up on the short side, with just one helpful review from wine review online. The twitterati came through with some ideas, @gracepiper suggesting, “I’d go for a crisp acidic white to cut through the fat,” and @popeyeschicken shilling ,”Cakebread Chardonnay goes great with mild! A South African Shiraz really works well with the spicy. Bon-appe-fide!” @garyvee was silent on the matter, claiming to be on a plane en route to Bordeaux. What-ever. Searching on cork’d was similarly unhelpful. I can’t help thinking the info is in there, but somehow trapped behind a lousy search system

I picked up five wines, some from recommendations, some from guesswork, and bagged them in random order. Here are the notes, in the order tasted with white meat or dark, but remember that nobody knew what they were tasting at the time.

#1: Vernaccia di San Gimignano Tenuta le Calcinaie 2007
We were crushed when the bag came off. We really like Vernaccia. We love Tuscany. And it’s DOCG and biodynamic, too! But this one was just blah. Maybe too young, maybe not quite cold enough, it just wasn’t crisp or bright enough for Popeyes salty crispy gamy greasy goodness. The fact that it had a slight nose of grass was ironic, since that’s where much of it ended up. A bummer at $16.

#2: La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Luberon 2007
Generally acknowledged to be superior to #1, this Rhone white called “the old farm” had a not one but two chickens on the label but still didn’t cut the grease enough to make it a happy match. There was some evidence of oak amongst the generally fruity flavors, but we were wishing for more crispness. Not too shabby for $9 but save it for more delicately prepared chickens.

#3: Casal Garcia Vinho Verde (NV)
One guest identified this one immediately, citing the slight fizz and bright citrusy nature. We agreed at once that the necessary acid was present to put up with popeyes grease and salt. Some even opined that this wine might have applications outside the fried chicken world. Grapefruit, lime, and slight mineral notes made some wonder if this was a Sauvignon Blanc. Halfway through the flight, this Portuguese $5 bottle was in the lead.

#4: Oyster Bay 2007 Sauvignon Blanc
I think if the wines were known in advance, the smart money would have been on this Marlborough NZ white. And maybe if it didn’t have to follow the Portuguese it would have fared better. A typical (which is very good) but unexceptional example of its kind, Oyster Bay delivered a dry and fruity experience that was firmly ok with the chicken, especially the white meat. A solid performer at $12.

#5: Cakebread Cellars 2005 Chardonnay
It was obvious from the first sip that this wine was not like the others. “Napa chardonnay!” some cried. “It’s like licking a barrel” said others. Oak, vanilla, butter and all the hallmarks of a mature California Chardonnay were nicely balanced. Even guests who were disgusted at the very idea of tasting wine with fried chicken grudgingly sampled this one. It was Popeyes own recommendation, but did it match up with the chicken? The majority said no, not so much, the buttery nature didn’t jibe with the fried chicken. A few dissenters preferred it, though. At $46, you’d better be sure.

At least for this round, we declare Casal Garcia Vinho Verde Branco the best wine partner for Popeyes mild fried chicken. There’s plenty of room at our summer table for humble tasty treats.

So, what have we learned here? Well, first and foremost, we learned that further testing will be necessary. Without even expanding our research to spicy chicken or red or rose wines, we notably omitted Champagne, Pinot Grigio, and Gruner Veltliner, three very likely candidates for good fried chicken matches.

We also learned that price and conventional measures of wine quality don’t always mean as much as they’re cracked up to, especially when making non-traditional pairings. In terms of all the various advice we received, I have to hand it to @gracepiper of Fearless Cooking for being most prescient even without recommending a particular wine.

Humble thanks also to the Josephine ave crew for putting up with this affront to their gourmet sensibilities. Several more blog posts could - and should - be written to celebrate the lamb burgers, hummus, smoked chicken salad, trifle and cupcakes and other amazing treats on offer.

Not too long ago, I was craving a good savory scone, and when I couldn’t find any in local shops, a good friend went ahead and made some, which were most excellent. Yesterday, I was at the Wine & Cheese Cask, possibly Somerville’s best wine shop, looking for some crisp whites the fried chicken wine pairing. As it turns out, I purchased the winning wine at the cask. But before I did that, I went across the street to The Biscuit (formerly Toscanini, formerly Panini cafe) for a snack, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a savory scone, three cheese scallion to be precise.

It’s dangerous business to compare a purchased scone, even one from a neighborhood bakery, to one made pretty much on demand by a friend. But since some of you might not be lucky enough to have such a friend, I offer these observations on The Biscuit’s scone.

There’s lots of cheese.  This is a good thing.  You can even see some rivers of molten cheese oozing out of the scone on the right.  On the other hand, there’s no bacon.  A split decision, but vegetarians win.  Take note, A, J and L.

The shape of these scones is blobular, not the more traditional scone wedge.  No real opinion on that, but at $2 a pop, I’m happy to report that they are good-sized without being unpleasantly huge.

They are moist, perhaps moister than I’d expect from a scone.  Perhaps there’s extra egg in the mix, resulting in a shiny exterior and a generally brioche-y demeanor.  Not a bad thing at all, just not quite the same as other scones I’ve seen and sampled.

I’m happy there’s at least one more savory scone out there, and I recommend you check them out.

On Wednesday, as is my habit, I visited the Davis Square farm market at lunchtime, bringing along two of the office interns. After all, we have an obligation to educate them, don’t we? T picked up a potted basil plant and L some banana bread from Breadsong bakery. I grabbed a pint of strawberries from Kimball Fruit Farm, even though I don’t really like strawberries, but they looked so nice and I figured the office would appreciate some healthier snacks. Also at Kimball, I snagged a bundle of asparagus, one of my favorite vegetables.

Some people like to roast or grill asparagus, and some people like to boil or sautée them. I’m a boiler, but a very very particular one. I dread overcooked asparagus and watch mine like a hawk, tongs and colander at the ready, to ensure only the most medium rare of asparagus, al dente if you will. (and yes, I snap the ends off rather than cutting them - it’s easier)

I’m similarly minimal in dressing them. No cheese or creamy sauces for me. A drizzle of olive oil, fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Can’t beat it.

And the next day, the leftover asparagus joined some canned tuna, jicama and snap peas for an impromptu approximation of a Niçoise salad. Very approximate, but still tasty, and Nice is nice.

As I contemplate driving 500 miles or so this weekend - more than I’ve driven in a month so far this year, I believe - my mind meanders back to cartographic matters. A random roundup of mappy clippings:

I. The Globe Corner Bookstore has a Blog.
I’ve been an unrepentant fan of GCB for as long as I’ve known about it. One of my first luxury purchases after a period of difficult cashflow was a globe from Globe Corner. When they closed I mourned, when they reopened, I rejoiced. The Globe Corner Blog delivers book reviews, travel tips, and news on a near-daily basis. It’s not as marvelous and awesome as Strange Maps, but it’s pretty cool.

IIa. WBUR’s Charles River flickr Group
I picked up this item via the ever-alert crew at Universalhub: WBUR’s Boston Radio is doing a show on the Charles River, and set up a flickr group for people to post their river pics and geocode them. That’s my kind of thing, so I dusted off some Charles-y pics from last month and uploaded and tagged them. Listen to the podcast and check out the photo map.

I continue to wonder if there’s a way to handle geotagging for pictures that are of a line rather than a point in space.  For example, my Acela collages.  I wonder if I can rig up a useful way to take similar photos as I drive this weekend without being too much of a traffic hazard.

IIb. On Point Radio: How the States Got Their Shapes
For a double dose of WBUR, I was listening in the background as I often do, and suddenly I was hearing a caller ask about an event in the early ’90s when Connecticut Governor John Rowland made an April fools day joke of annexing the small bit of Massachusetts that pokes down into Connecticut so that Mass might then be free to slide into the sea. I was in college in Connecticut at the time and thought that was pretty funny. On Point was doing an entire show on the origins of the peculiarities of the borders of the states. Good stuff. Here’s a pic from wikipedia showing the Southwick Jog aka Granby Notch.

IV. Liminal Spaces Between Cambridge and Somerville
This weekend I was hanging out with LKB and BEM at their Cambridge lair swilling excellent margaritas, and they asked me if I had ever resolved my Somerville parking ticket. I had in fact, not yet heard from the parking authorities of Somerville, but that didn’t stop us from speculating about various kinds of installation art that might be done if we could locate a strip of land claimed by neither Cambridge nor Somerville. I’ll summarize the discussion with “Smallest. Casino. Ever.”

Lots of half-finished business (but hardly any half-finished food) here in the secret LimeCave. After last week’s cheesy post on local eating, I learned a couple of important things:

1. It’s locavore (219,000 google results), not locovore (4,000 results)
2. Via GrowCookEat, I found a list of Massachusetts farm markets, including one in Davis square

So naturally, when Wednesday rolled around, I resolved - crappy weather notwithstanding - to visit the Davis Sq farm market and buy something local. The weather was biblical, but seven or eight local farmers had set up shop in the parking lot behind Chipotle and Starbucks - a couple of herb farmers, some with radishes and other greens, a baker, a butcher, a soapmaker, Taza chocolates and a dairy farm if memory serves.

Slightly guilty for cheating on When Pigs Fly, I bought a whole wheat loaf from Breadsong Bakery in Auburndale (8.4 food miles to the limecave) and a smoked goat cheese from Crystal Brook Farm in Sterling (45 food miles.)* According to the accompanying literature, “A herd of 70 Alpine and Saanen dairy goats produce all the milk used in the cheese operation… The animals have free access to pasture and seasonal browse. Happy goats yield high quality cheese.”

No argument there. Although my <1 food mile supply of Cambridge mizuna and arugula had run out, I still made a a nice sandwich with pretty low mileage. The bread was firm and on the sweet side (containing molasses, honey and brown sugar!) but a nice complement to the smoky but otherwise super-fresh goat cheese which was a welcome twist on the classic log. If only I had a nice slice of tomato. Maybe in a month or two.