Mary's Fish Camp

The lobster roll is a cherished New England delicacy and during some recent trips to New York, I had enjoyed a couple at Ed's Lobster Bar on the Lower East Side. While Ed's roll was good, I had no barometer of what's exceptional. After some internet research I found that New York Magazine had a useful write-up on lobster rolls. It seems Mary's Fish Camp, a small, well worn corner shop in the West Village offers a top rated roll.

Mary's menu is scripted on a large blackboard hung from the ceiling that along with some metal racks and tables separates the kitchen from the crescent shaped stainless steel counter and a smattering of tables. The menu descriptions and preparation are a simple and fresh. When I inquired about an appetizer of lobster knuckles, I was curious whether it was a proprietary name for a cleverly prepared lobster dish. No. It was steamed lobster knuckles.

The market price lobster roll ($30) came on a classic white diner plate. A heap of creamy mayo dressed lobster sprinkled with chives on the proper top-cut, butter toasted hot dog roll. This was outstanding. The lobster was cooked to perfection and the dressing was generous without being sloppy, keeping the the nuggets of meat together, the roll soaking up any excess without allowing any messy dribbles. The plate was garnished with a pile of unusual shoestring fries. Mandolin-cut like a flat noddle. They were decent, though a bit greasy. Though fries are the classic garnish, I'd rather see some green beans.

The lobster roll with glass of gruner veltliner.

Besides the roll, I was really impressed with the wine list. I'm a firm believer that small restaurants are better suited to having a tidy wine list that features quality/value over quantity. This makes even more sense when there is a severe lack of storage space. Mary's has about fourteen wines, mostly white of course and ones that make sense for a fish house. I had a pour of gruner veltliner from Setzer, a stellar producer from Austria, a varietal that I always felt was a good match with lobster.

I could have easily have picked the Corea godello, a frothy Xarmant Txakoli or sparkling Raventos Cava from Spain, Coleman pinot gris from Oregon or a delightful gamay rose from the Cote Roannaise in France. A juice glass substituted for a traditional wine glass. Though not a preferable vessel, I thought this was fitting for such a casual fish joint. Unfortunately, there were no taps for beer, but again, a well thought out selection of mostly craft brews.

While I arrived late in the lunch session when things were quiet, service was attentive and friendly. I now look forward to trying out Mary's other seafood dishes. Mary's is located at 246 W. 4th Street on the corner of Charles Street in New York's West Village. Go with the roll and rock with the wines.
http://www.marysfishcamp.com/2010/marys.html

Ibanez Plevin Offerings @ Their Office

IPO (Ibanez Plevin Offerings) is a relatively new importer/distributor of small estate producers that have put together an exceptional portfolio. One that includes top importers like the established Kermit Lynch and rising star, Jon David Headrick.

This tasting was held at their office on the eighth floor of a vintage office building on 23rd St, close to the Garment District. I realized that a tasting in the office of a small company would likely be small, and it was, but I admire this company's wines and looked forward to sampling anything from them.

Of the ten producers featured and twenty-six wines poured, the highlight was the pair of Paul Bara Champagnes made from Grand Cru fruit from the village of Bouzy. These Kermit Lynch imports had been sold through distributor Winebow in the past, but apparently have been moved to IPO. It has been years since I last sampled these wines and didn't have any positive recollection. Today I did. The Reserve Brut offered a brilliant tang of stony mineral over crisp tree fruit, frothy mousse and balance texture unhindered by any wood influence. The rose had the same mineral snap only with an elegant hint of red fruit and spice.  

The Hispanic Offerings from T. Edwards

Today's host is T. Edwards, one of those specialty importer/distributors that I enjoy doing business with. The focus of their second of three scheduled events this fall is their collection of wines from the countries of Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay and is headlined by one of the top importers of Spanish wines, De Masion Selections.

Andre Tamers (left) of De Maison

Aside from some usual favorites like the Jelu torrontes, a fabulous value white wine from Argentina and the D. Ventura line of reds made from mencia in the Ribiera Sacra denomination in Gallicia was a newcomer to the portfolio. Bodega Edetaria in the Terra Alta D.O. in Catalonia. A pair of excellent garnatxa blancas and garnatxa based reds.

The tasting was held at Locanda Verde, a very attractive and authentically rustic looking restaurant located in the Tribeca section of Manhattan and just a block away from Tribeca Grill, a common venue for wine tastings. Cudos to the kitchen for putting out some satifying bites, especially the sweet, creamy richness of the fresh goat-milk ricotta that was spooned on raspy grilled bread. I will have to put this establishment down in my list of places to dine.

Puro Wine

On the day that the world was focused on the rescue of Chilean miners being brought to the surface of the Earth, I was attending a wine tasting in New York that featured wines from Chile. Afterwards, as if to keep in the theme of the day, I stumbled upon a unique wine store. Puro Wines, located in a trendy area of the Lower East Side at 161 Grand Street at Centre Street.

Big Brands at The Mansion

Every state is dominated by a handful large wine/liquor distributors whose share of national brands has become more dominante due to consolidation. One of the big four in New Jersey is the family run Opici Wine Group and their distribution arm, American BD (beverage distribtibution), the host of this regional product tasting event for South Jersey at The Mansion in the bedroom community of Voorhees.

While I am inherently more interested in the growing availablity of fascinating small producers, I still like to attend these big shows to keep in touch with the popular brands that inevitably reach the mainstream customers at chain restaurants, major grocery stores, big box beverage centers and common liquor stores. Its the only way to legitimaly gauge of worth of products. In addtion, these large distributors also offer the chance to sample popular liquor brands and items new to the market.

David Vincent Selections at Craftbar

After being in NYC the day before for a wine tasting, I return again to check out the unfamiliar portfolio of David Vincent. The rigors of back-to-back travel from Philadelphia and tasting is rather fatiguing, but I hate to miss out on a new supplier and an worthy venue.

David Vincent offers a tidy selection of about seven-five wines, modest by any standard, but one of quality over quantity. Vincent's goal is to find small producers primarily from Italy and France that adhere to a more natural sense of winemaking resulting in wines that are expressive of the terroir or wine people like to say - mineral driven.

Initially, I would have expected to complete this tasting in a couple of hours, but I was so intrigued that I stayed for the duration of four hours tasting and re-tasting. While Vincent's wines are available in the NYC metro area, throughout New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, these are wines that will most likely find a successful place on the wine list of a savvy restaurant or retail shelf. It will, indeed, be a challenge to find these labels elsewhere and that's unfortunate. David Vincent Selections is another example of why it is relevant for consumers to inspect the name of the importer.

Inspecting the color hue and clarity of a sample.

The venue for this event was at Craftbar, part of celebrity chef Tom Colicchio's empire and a place that a friend and classmate from the California Culinary Academy was once the chef before moving on to his own restaurant.    

Osteria Morini Romagnola

After a NYC wine tasting event I strolled about the Lower East Side neighborhood until I came across Morini. Just last week I had walked by this restaurant, but it was still being prepared its grand opening. This time it is open, albeit only their second day of operation.

Morini has an authentic look about it, as if they had dismantled a restaurant in Emilia-Romagna and reassembled it on Lafayette St on the Lower East Side. Morini is another restaurant from the partnership of chef Michael White and restaurateur Chris Cannon that includes the roughly year old and highly acclaimed Marea and others. In a nugget of a feel good story, Morini is named after White's mentor, a chef he worked under in Emilia-Romagna, Gianluigi Morini. Now one would easily assume that if your going to name a restaurant after your Italian mentor, then attention to detail will be found.

Omni Wines - Fall 2010

On a tip from a NYC based friend, I first heard of Omni Wines, an importer of Italian wines, last fall. I attended that show and came away impressed with the overall portfolio. So, when I heard of a fall tasting for this year I made sure to be there. It was an added bonus that the event was being held in the Lower East Side, at the Openhouse Gallery. This gallery is located at the crossroads of an exciting area where Little Italy, SoHo, Chinatown converge.

The main gallery bathed in natural light.

Omni's portfolio is chock full of several interesting value wines, which are of strong interest these days, as well as a treasure of varietals and obcsure locations that make a pleasant diversion from the many palid mainstream pinot grigio's . A good example is the Torre del Falasco garganega, a little seen grape from the Veneto region.

Omni also offered a handful of excellent Italian aperitivo and digestivo products from Distilleria Bianchi. These types of pre-meal and after-meal spirits are becoming evermore common at tastings as their popularity increases.

Items from Distilleria Bianchi