A. Froug

3Twenty Wine Lounge

​
Though owner Edgar Poureshagh brings up that his newly opened 3Twenty Wine Lounge in Hollywood is family-owned and operated, it's easy to forget until you place a call at 1 a.m., expecting to leave a message inquiring about the cheese plate. Unbeknownst to you, the number on 3Twenty's Facebook page calls the cell phone he keeps on at all hours, and before you know it, you've woken up a groggy Poureshagh. He politely answers your questions before heading back to sleep.

And yet, since June 20th, 3Twenty has been operating some of the most advanced and diverse wine pouring systems in town, specializing in offering four or five mini tastes of a variety of small production and rare wines. For customers to pour themselves tastes of one of the 55 wines offered by the glass, they need only an electronic card, a sense of adventure and the inert noble gas argon. Here's how it works.

More >>

Eugene Ahn

Soy and Coca-Cola Marinated Flank Steak at Forage in Silver Lake

​
If you've ever wondered if Korean households have dining tables with built in bbq holes, like the ones at Korean bbq restaurants, the answer is "no". The historical antecedent for modern restaurant tables are traditional Korean kitchens with round stoves (agungi) that were fueled by wood or large cylindrical charcoal briquets. If you clicked on the link, you probably figured out why Korean bbq pans are dome shaped, rather than square or rectangular.

Or, perhaps, you've never wondered about any of this. Humor us anyway, we wrote three articles for Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia and critiqued a scholarly paper on nationalism and Korean airline food. We live for moments like this. However, we completely understand that you're probably more interested in Chef Jason Kim's soy and Coca-Cola flank steak marinade for Forage in Silver Lake. Turn the page for his recipe.

More >>

Susan Park

Foie Gras Fat Fingerling Potato Chips

​
If you imagine that Test Kitchen has a full pantry of ingredients from all over the world, including luxury products like foie gras, you would be correct. We happen to have half a case of IQF frozen foie gras in our freezer. We use them to make pâtés and terrines. However, we realize that most home cooks, or even chefs, don't have extravagantly stocked freezers, so we suggest substituting rendered duck fat or even schmaltz, instead of foie gras for fingerling potato chips. On the other hand, if you happen to have some horse fat...

More >>

K. Robbins

Peter Birmingham with a bottle of MacVin du Jura

​
Dessert wines, the awkward, misunderstood stepsister of their cooler, vastly more popular, dryer brethren, are often overlooked by restaurateurs and sommeliers, who balk at trying to push bottles that in the year 2000 made up less than 2% of all U.S. wine consumption (down from 70% in 1950.)

But Peter Birmingham, a 2011 James Beard semifinalist for his wine service at Hatfield's, is not cowed by the challenge of making the sweet wines seem sweet to his restaurant's well-heeled diners. In fact, Birmingham, the restaurant's general manager and beverage director, estimates that 70% of prix fixe or tasting menu diners go for a quaff of postprandial sweet (or fortified) stuff.

"Peter's really a poet," says Karen Hatfield, the restaurant's pastry chef/proprietor, who works with Birmingham as he develops the after dinner pairings, which unlike those for the restaurant's savory dishes, are listed on the menu. "He's always drawing upon not only classic pairing kind of analogies, but all this life experience and memory and nostalgia and all that goes into these pairings."

When he visits your table, Birmingham offers pairing advice that is strangely poetic, but decidedly apt. He might compare the mouth-feel of your forthcoming glass of vino to licking the back of a slippery, wet dolphin (come on, it kind of sounds nice) or a sweet auslese to a trip down Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. These funny, unexpected metaphors make a menu of otherwise esoteric bottles more accessible and appealing. To read more about how he does it, turn the page.

More >>

Lisa Mattson

Chianti, Italy's Castello de Volpaia is one of 130 wineries pouring at Viva Vino LA

​There's much more to Italian wine than Pinot Grigio. The number one U.S. import is only one of the 3,000 kinds of grape varieties that grow on the Italian peninsula. Learn about the many others this week at a new wine event christened Viva Vino LA. Modeled after New York's Italian Wine Week, there's an opportunity to taste all through Italy and discover native varietals from Sicily's Caleo to Friuli's traditional Refosco. More than 130 wineries are participating in events that range from in-store tastings to industry-orientated seminars. Viva Vino LA's biggest night is Wednesday May 18th at the Skirball Cultural Center, where at a grand tasting, upwards of 200 wines will be poured. (Tickets are $60 per person at the door. Order online and it's $40 per person with the promo code VVLACIAO).

More >>

B. Hansen

the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition

​
What kind of a wine contest requires judges not to pay too much attention to what they are tasting?

It was the 17th annual Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, where wines were rated only for how they played up the briny, creamy, succulent components of freshly shucked oysters.

The judges (I was one; Jonathan Gold was another) were urged to chew each oyster thoughtfully, then quickly taste one of the wines. There were 20 white wines (no sparklers) served in flights of five to make sure that all remained as cold as the oysters.

"A dry, crisp, clean finish is the ideal," instructed competition founder Jon Rowley. "This isn't about the wine, It's about the next oyster. Is this wine going to exalt the next oyster, or it is it going to get in the way?"

More >>

emdot/Flickr

​

Los Angeles sommelier David Haskell (Le Cirque, Bin 8945) -- whose Magnum event with chef Joseph Mahon at Royal/T on April 17th through April 19th will benefit the Japanese sake industry devastated by March's earthquake and tsunami -- usually likes to tell a story when he does a food and wine pairing dinner.

In the past Haskell has been notoriously secretive about his pairings, only releasing his list to the public the day before an event. But here he's shared his wine picks for all 10 Magnum courses as well as a few of his descriptions of how they will work with each dish. Turn the page...

More >>

Caroline on Crack

This $24 Mas du Soleilla Coteaux du Languedoc is perfect with malt balls and Dijon chips. Kid you not.

​
Self-professed "wine pimp" and Magnum pop-up restaurateur David Haskell (Le Cirque, Bin 8945) is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, claiming he's worn black and gold since birth. During football season, he can be found watching the games at his parents' house. And while the family usually goes for Chinois leftovers with a $350 bottle of 1996 Domaine Bertagna Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru NV, Haskell has also paired wines with jelly beans and Buffalo chicken wings. So we asked him to put together affordable wines with popular game time food, just in time for Super Bowl XLV.

Now, Haskell's pairing philosophy goes beyond the usual "this red wine goes well with that steak." Instead the sommelier seeks to alter the drinker's palate sensation. "I think the fun aspect of being a sommelier is that we can play with the food and the wine and then together it's a whole different palate," he said. "By itself this is still going to taste the same way, by itself that will taste the same way. The two together gives you a third taste which is fun."

More >>

Flickr user nevadadan

Thanksgiving With A Vineyard View

​We spend a lot of time figuring out what to serve for Thanksgiving dinner, but how about what to serve with all of those competing homemade flavors? Asking sommeliers their pairing opinion is laudable, but can be like querying star chefs for recipes -- you get a lot of really cerebral answers for things you probably can't afford anyway (truffle-stuffed turkey). And so we asked the Maker(s).

Winemakers are the farmers of the bunch, always happy to share how they like to cook their butternut squash (simply; maybe roasted with a little salt, an herb scattered on top, two at most). And winemakers are always tasting/sharing what their neighbor is growing/making. More in that neighborly, as opposed sommelier/scholarly, way, yet education is still a job requirement. Note: This does not preclude winemakers from being overly verbose. But hey, for true palate love, we're all guilty.

Get our winemaker's homegrown Thanksgiving pairing suggestions after the jump, with our suggestions for their own wines tossed into the pot (we forbade them from suggesting self-created sips). And yes, these are all American winemakers, as it is a Bruce Springsteen sort of holiday.

More >>

Flickr user foodforfel

A glass of wine with your crsipy green tofu ball?

​
The restaurant that began in an apartment keeps finding new ways to bring its food to the people. Husband-wife team Nguyen and Thi Tran of Starry Kitchen are partnering up with Domaine LA and the Mandoline Grill Vietnamese food truck for a unique food truck/wine pairing event.

On Sunday, October 24th, Domaine LA will be partnering with Luis Moya of San Francisco's Vinos Unico, giving a tasting out five wines for $15. The wines will include a rare Vinho Verde, a Basque Txakolina, a Spanish Tempranillo, and some Cavas.

While wine is poured inside, the Starry Kitchen couple will be operating the Mandoline Grill truck. "The truck basically just parks outside," said Nguyen Tran. "[It's] kind of a dual event. The wines are pretty complementary."

More >>