When I’m running errands around town, I’ll occasionally drive by a Jamaican BBQ place called Mi Hungry, but I’ve yet to try their food. One thing for sure is it has made me crave some jerk chicken. To satisfy that craving, my most recent cooking project was, you guessed it, delicious, aromatic, roasted jerk chicken! After removing the backbone and flattening out the chicken, I rubbed jerk seasoning under the skin, then let it air dry, uncovered, in the fridge for 5 hours for a crispier skin. 45 minutes in a 425-degree Fahrenheit oven, and my bird was ready! Served w/ jasmine rice enhanced w/ some lime juice/zest, and a cooling red cabbage slaw … it was heaven on earth!!

One of these days, I’ll travel to Jamaica for the real deal. Until then, this will have to suffice.

Bon Appetit!

Bruno

P.S. – A Cotes du Rhone blanc was a nice pairing for this meal.

In Sonoma, my friends took me to Gloria Ferrer Vineyards the afternoon I arrived. We sampled some of their delicious sparkling wines and snacked on some local cheeses. A wonderful way to start the weekend! The next morning we drove to Petaluma for breakfast at Hallie’s Diner. Delicious omelets! Later that day my friend treated me to a vintage biplane ride to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. What a fantastic, once in a lifetime experience!! For dinner we grabbed a grilled chicken meal at El Brinquito Meat Market. What a great deal – a whole grilled chicken, beans, rice, tortillas and spicy sauce for a mere $20. This was washed down w/ a couple of bottles of local wines. Heavenly!!

Here are a few snapshots of my wonderful trip:

 My view in S. F.

 My view in Sonoma

 Me

 My gracious hosts, Dan and Lorraine

 The view from the tasting terrace

 Biplane ride

 Approaching S.F. and the Golden Gate

 Nice shot!

 The delta

 Sonoma scenery

 Landing…

Bon Voyage!

Bruno

 (Brie)

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Bruno

 Spice roasted chicken w/ charred Brussels sprouts

 Bavette steak w/ hasselback potato

I’ve been wanting to try the roasted chicken at Sardella ever since they opened last November. The chef rubs the chickens w/ rice koji and chills them overnight which makes the skin crispier and the meat more tender. My friend had the bavette steak.

I’ve been saving the wine for a few years to let the tannins mellow out.

The evening was one to remember!!

Cheers and bon appetit…

Bruno

*click photo to enlarge

Made this appetizer w/ some friends and thought I’d share the photo that one of my friends snapped that evening. This dish used to be on the menu at Remy’s back when Ben Davis and Ivy Magruder were the chefs there. It’s a delicious way to start off a great meal! We had red wine braised swordfish w/ roasted fingerling potatoes and sautéed Swiss chard for our main course. Dessert was fresh berries w/ cookies. Wines of evening were a 1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac w/ dinner and a Mount Pleasant port w/ dessert. Thank you Paul and Laurie for bringing these great wines!!

Bon Appetit!

Bruno

Leg of lamb stuffed w/ morels, acorn squash, garlic and rosemary

Swiss chard and leek gratin

The showcase wine of the evening

Strawberry shortcake

Thanks to Bob for photographing the evening while I cooked, and to Mary for bringing dessert so I didn’t have to provide one!

Here’s to being born… here’s to life!!

Bruno

A trio of great wines for a nice price. I usually try to stay within the under $10 range per bottle… more these days given the crappy economic situation we’re in. I decided to splurge a little especially since I found these wines on sale. I’ve tasted each one now and they were definitely worth the few dollars more!  Here’s what Robert Parker had to say about them:

“First and foremost, there are three great value wines I tasted which didn’t make it into the recently released “Parker’s Wine Bargains: The World’s Best Wine Values Under $25.00,” published by Simon and Schuster in November, 2009. They come from the proprietor of Hundred Acre Vineyard in Napa, Jayson Woodbridge. Of course, his Hundred Acres wines sell for well in excess of $200 and get great reviews from me, but the Hundred Acre Cabernets are very limited in its production. Woodbridge’s desire is to produce a $15 wine that tastes like a $50+ wine, and as hard as it might be to believe, he seems to have come very close to succeeding with the following three efforts, all called “Layer Cake.” They are all screw-cap finished, so there will never be a cork issue, and there are about 20,000 cases of each one of them. They all sell at the remarkable price of $15 a bottle. With the glut of high-quality grapes available in California, Woodbridge also produces a Cabernet Sauvignon from the North Coast, and if it is as good as these three wines and priced the same, it will be another fabulous value.” -Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

2007 Layer Cake Primitivo IGT
(Italy, Puglia) 

 “The most rustic of these three wines, with lots of pepper, roasted herbs, meat juices, charcoal, and scorched earth, this spicy wine has an inky ruby/purple color and lots of body. It comes across like a rustic Zinfandel, but with loads of character and personality, displaying an almost savage intensity to its flavors. This is a wild, adventuresome wine that should drink nicely for several years. Bring on the pizza! ” -Rated 89/100 Robert Parker 

2008 Layer Cake Shiraz
(South Australia)

“This was not an easy vintage in Australia, but you would never know it from this wine. As one expects from any South Australian Shiraz, it has oodles of fruit, a big, thick, juicy mouthfeel, velvety tannins, and lots of crème de cassis, blackberry, peppery, and tarlike notes in a deep, full-bodied, lush style that should drink nicely for 3-4 years as well.” -Rated 90/100 Robert Parker

2008 Layer Cake Malbec
(Argentina, Mendoza)

“Dense purple-colored with notes of blackberry, earth, roasted meats, and a hint of barbecue spice, this wine exhibits great fruit, delicious, full-bodied texture, silky tannins, and a long finish. It does taste more like a $30-50 bottle of Malbec than one that can be purchased for $15. It should drink nicely for at least 2-3 years.” -Rated 91/100 Robert Parker

A votre sante’!

Bruno

Here are a few pictures from the day:

 The entry sign

 Beautiful clusters

 Harvesting

 Harvest lunch

 Random beauty

 To the crush room

 Crush room

 The winery

 Tasting patio

 The B & B

 The B & B

 Winery cat

A votre sante’!

Bruno

1 liter jug, screw cap closure (once again socially acceptable). This was a great wine for the price! Typical red zinfandel flavors and aromas. I loved the small jug packaging – it gave me flashbacks to the days when we would chug down cheap red wine that came in a gallon jug. Unfortunately I bought this as a closeout and it is no longer produced according to the website for Three Thieves Winery. If you happen to run across some, I recommend snatching it up!

Cheers…

Bruno

Fish House exterior and interior

more interior shots; the menu

Hama Hama oysters; scallops, scampi style

close-up of scallops; wine of the evening; Sal, our bartender

If you enlarge the picture of the exterior you may notice the police tape on the hand rail in front. I’m assuming someone overdosed on the delicious seafood and wine, then crashed through the railing on their way out (ha, ha)! If I lived in Monterey or in the vicinity, this would soon become one of my restaurant hangouts. Nothing fancy, just damn fine food and wine at a reasonable price; friendly, knowledgeable staff and a laid back atmosphere – definitely my kind of place! They serve some of the biggest oysters I’ve ever seen – Hama Hama oysters from the deep water pacific caught off the shores of Lilliwaup, Washington. For dinner I had the scallops, scampi style which consisted of about a dozen sea scallops perfectly seared then served over fettucini w/ a sauce of fresh garlic, white wine, butter, green onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. Divine!! I broke the rules by having w/ the scallops one of my favorite red grape varietals, Zinfandel. California produces some of the best, so I chose the Boeger 2006 Walker Vineyard Zinfandel from El Dorado, California. Usually I have room for dessert, but not tonight!

 If you happen to find yourself in Monterey, I highly recommend you give Monterey’s Fish House a try!! If Sal’s tending to the bar, tell him Bruno sent you :-)

A votre sante’!

Bruno