A Gourmand's Glory

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Prologue

My dilemma:

This past weekend, there was something of a scheduling conflict in The Big City: the 36th Annual 9th Avenue International Food Festival (previously chronicled here ) and also on Saturday, my favorite liquor store (You Know Which One ) had scheduled a tasting of a wide variety of spirits. Which one to attend? Given that the weather forecast for this entire weekend wasn’t very favorable, it seemed like the no – brainer would be to skip the Food Festival, which is entirely outdoors, in favor of the spirits tasting (which, of course, is entirely indoors). Then it hit me: why not do both? Technically, I could manage to squeeze this in since the Food Festival starts in late morning and the spirits tasting doesn’t begin until 2PM in the afternoon. I’ll start the day at the Food Festival, fill my stomach, then head downtown to the spirits tasting! That way, I’ll be drinking on a full stomach and won’t fall flat on my face by the end of the tasting. This makes total sense to me. Clearly, at moments like this, it’s comforting to be a genius.

So, following morning errands, my afternoon began with the Food Festival. Since I’ve already provided the link to last year’s review, I won’t post too much about it this year, except to mention some notable differences: first of all, it was smaller by several blocks. Usually, the festival spans around 20 blocks of 9th Avenue – from about 36th or 38th street to 57th street. This year, it ran only 15 blocks, from 42nd street to 57th street. Was this shortened distance due to the fact that there were fewer vendors because of the economy? I have no idea, but this is my guess; either way, it was a little depressing for me to see cross – town traffic on 42nd street being able to make a legitimate left or right turn to go south onto 9th Avenue on the weekend of the Festival. In years prior, this has never been the case. Nevertheless, I tried to put it out of my mind to forge on.

Having attended the Food Festival for many years – and granted, it’s not Cheese Days, but in its own humble way, it aspires for a modicum of respect – I have seen, tasted and experienced very many things. This year, however, I experienced something I’ve never seen before at either the Food Festival or any of the other street fairs I’ve attended this Spring in NYC: Sham-Wow. In the 15 blocks of this year’s Food Fest, I observed no less than three stands selling Sham – Wow. Not only that, but I also saw many people who had purchased the Sham – Wow and proudly carrying them around throughout the Festival. I feared that since the theme of this event was a Food Festival, people would actually try to eat their beloved Sham – Wow; while I can honestly declare that I witnessed no such occurrence, my mind did imagine members of The Great Unwashed trying to bite into the cloth – hopefully, if they did, they found it high in fiber. Onwards …

When annually confronted by the Food Festival, I am painfully reminded that I am not now the man I used to be (there’s a Beatles song in there somewhere). In my youth, I would be able to walk the 20 blocks of the Food Fest and sample so very many vendors’ wares. No more. On Saturday, I got the Alligator Sausage (with spicy mustard, of course) from the Cajun restaurant on 48th street, then bought the immense friggin’ Onion Bloom from the stand on 52nd street. At that point, I was done for the day. Truth to tell, I was not even able to finish the Onion Bloom, that’s how big it was and how much I have fallen in my food consumption ability. It’s embarrassing, because to prepare for this event, I didn’t even eat dinner on Friday night (had a late lunch at 4PM and was able to suffice on that for the remainder of the day). So, for me on this day, there would be no roasted pig on a spit or seafood or Indonesian delicacies or anything else, for that matter. The dreaded Onion Bloom and its horseradish had bested me yet again. On a full stomach, I then waddled down to the subway so I could make my way to the spirits tasting at USQ.

The theme at USQ on this fine day was “Step Into Liquids”. Good choice, given that I’d just stepped into 15 blocks of solids -- and lots of ‘em – at the Food Festival, just a short while ago. The spirits included vodka, genever, caipirinha, tequila, rum, gin, scotch, bourbon, Cognac, absinthe and a couple of liqueurs worth mention. Basically, in the two hours I spent at this tasting, I sampled the equivalent of a Long Island Iced Tea without the Coca – Cola. Hoo – boy …

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Domaine De Canton



If you have never tasted this liqueur, you certainly owe it to yourself to do so, ASAP. I first tried this a couple of years ago at USQ and immediately added to my “Must Have” list of liqueurs because of its unique ginger taste. Granted, we’ve got warm weather coming up and a ginger – flavored liqueur may not exactly be the best choice for the summer season, but do keep it in mind for the autumn and winter, at the very least. Like St. Germain, its bottle design is as beautiful as its taste and it also comes with a small booklet of recipes as well (and if none of those strike your fancy, check out the Web site for a few others). The way it was served to me today was in its signature drink, the Domaine de Canton Cocktail, which consists of 2.5 parts of the liqueur and ½ lemon juice in a shaker of ice, then poured into an ice – filled rocks glass and topped with a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters. According to the official recipe, you can optionally add some mint sprigs, but the one I was served didn’t have this option.

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Karlsson’s Gold Potato Vodka



Like potatoes? Like vodka? Then, dude, have I got a spirit for YOU! Some of the hottest Swedish chicks you’ve ever had the pleasure of setting your eyes upon were here to promote Karlsson’s. As a matter of fact, if you recall my review of The Martini Bowl from this past winter, you may remember my description of this vodka. If you actually like a very strong potato taste to your vodka, then this is most definitely the one to go for – otherwise, you’re strongly advised to run away as fast as you possibly can. Karlsson’s is doing a big promotion for two of its vodkas – one that’s 80 proof and the other that’s only 50 proof.

Those of you who are astute to such matters might be crinkling your brow right about now because if there’s a vodka that’s only 50 proof (i.e., 25% alcohol), then how can it legally be called a vodka when vodka (technically speaking) must be at least around 40% alcohol (or 80 proof)? GOOD QUESTION!!! And one which I posed to its hot little marketing rep, also a Swede. With great embarrassment, she explained to me that even though it was listed as “Vodka” on our tasting menu, technically, it was classified as a “spirit drink” due to its alcohol content. In comparing the two, I would say that the one which was only 50 proof had a much stronger potato taste to it; as a matter of fact, they both had a rather strong potato taste, so if that’s unappealing to you in a vodka, then I’d advise you to avoid this one (even though its low price would be VERY appealing – and understandably so).

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Bols Genever



I have only tasted Genever once before, and that was at USQ’s Martini Bowl earlier this year; since I was mostly concentrating on the gins versus the vodkas, I didn’t pay it too much attention. For this tasting, however, I was more attentive, I think because the theme was to have variety. With that, I was more open to learning about it and understanding its differences. Just like Champagne can only technically come from that region of France and Tequila can only come from Jalisco, Mexico, Genever can only come from Holland – not a particular region of Holland, pretty much anywhere in Holland. It is basically the parent of gin, you might say; because of its similarities, Genever manufacturers like to say that gin was derived from Genever.

Whereas Genever is distilled only three times, it is not uncommon for gin to be distilled as many as 14 times. Both come from juniper and a combination of other botanicals. After its first distillation process, it is basically a whiskey; it is only after further distillation that it develops its own character. When tasting the Genever, it didn’t really taste like gin so much as a mixture of whiskey and gin. I like gin because I find it to have something of a refreshing taste, and Genever lacked that quality. I was told, however, that you could pretty much substitute it for gin in any recipe in which you would normally use gin. That said, though, I don’t think it tastes all that much like gin, to be quite honest, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

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Cabana Cachaca



Do you know of any other cocktail that uses cachaca aside from the Caipirinha? I sure don’t. There are some, but I just can’t think of them. I once bought Leblon Cachaca and it came with a recipe book. I also keep a bottle of 51 cachaca around (the cheap stuff) for when I want to make a Caipirinha – which is usually in the summer since I equate it to that season. Even then, though, I find it way too much work because you have to muddle limes – it builds up your forearms like Popeye but by the time you’re done, you’re too tired to enjoy the drink. I do like them, however, but since they’re such an effort to make, I don’t do it very often.

Cachaca is basically Brazilian rum; it’s made somewhat the same way and has a similar taste, but I find it to be a little sweeter and more aromatic than rum. This was the first time I’d tried Cabana; the company’s marketing rep was a little late to the tasting and didn’t really seem to be able to add too much information about the product – basically, she just handed me a cocktail and said, “Here you go” and gave me some marketing material. This cachaca didn’t really stand out particularly, but neither did it taste all that bad, either. I guess I would say that I would buy it but only if I found it on sale at a substantial discount (it goes for about $30).

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Milagro Silver Tequila



I tried this one during the tequila tasting I posted about recently, so I won’t spend too much time on it here. I didn’t have it in a cocktail, I just tried it straight. Triple distilled, it initially has a sweet taste to the tongue, but also has a very distinct peppery aftertaste that is quite a surprise once it eventually hits you (and it will). Interestingly, the company only markets a silver tequila – they don’t have any aged versions, which I think is a big mistake, but we’ll see …

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St. Germain

Again, I recently posted about this one in another thread, so I won’t spend too much time here – especially because I’m going to revive that St. G thread soon as Part II of their tastings is coming this Friday. Alluding to that thread, it turned out that serving at the St. G station was none other than Philip from The Randolph. He was making everyone a St. G cocktail and it was fun to see people try it for the first time. Truly, a drink I could sip all afternoon long every day of the summer.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Rhum Clement



While not a big fan of rum, I wanted to try this one out because I had sampled it at another tasting previously. I skipped the Premiere Canne Rhum Blanc because I’m not a huge fan of white rums. Instead, I started with the VSOP, aged anywhere from 7 – 10 years. It has a fine, woody taste to it – the oak barrel in which it was aged is immediately apparent. A good sipping rum. Next was something sweeter, the Creole Shrubb Liqueur d’Orange; as you might have guessed from its name, it has a definite orange flavor which somewhat masks the rum. The marketing rep said you could use this in any cocktail as a replacement for triple sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier. The thought of this in a Margarita – mixing the tequila with the rum – should be enough to make you want to experiment. When the marketing representative saw how much I appreciated the VSOP, he pulled out a bottle from his secret stash – something that not only wasn’t on the tasting menu, but something that isn’t even sold at USQ, either: their XO brand – which tastes more like a fine Cognac than a rum … in fact, you probably wouldn’t even guess that it was rum if you tried it. This one spoiled me – at $150 a bottle, I’ll likely never purchase it – but nevertheless, I was certainly glad I had the opportunity to try it.

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Bulldog London Dry Gin



Having written about my adoration of Bulldog in The Martini Bowl review, I won’t babble on quite as excessively here; the original, citrus flavor was brought out best by the simple gin & tonic, but they also served something which they referred to as a London Lemonade – sadly, it was Bulldog Gin & Country Time Lemonade. I’ve had a London Lemonade with a much better recipe: Bulldog Gin, freshly squeezed lemon juice, St. Germain and a sparkling wine. Try *that* one this summer!

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Compass Box Scotch Whisky

Shangri – La.

Yet another repeater which I won’t dwell on too much (although I’d love to – as I did here … ). Starting with Asyla – aged a minimum of a decade – we advanced to the Oak Cross, followed by Hedonism (a grain, not a malt!) and ending with the exceptional Peat Monster. With each modest dram, the marketing rep added a tiny bit of water from a dropper, just enough to enhance the taste of the scotch. By now, my tongue is feeling a bit numb. But I was determined not to let that stop me …

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Wild Turkey



OK, OK, I know … some of you are questioning the inclusion of Wild Turkey on this tasting. Even I have to admit that the last time I had tried Wild Turkey was back in my college days when we used to do shots of it with a beer chaser. It’s been nearly 30 years since I’ve had Wild Turkey and I must admit, this was something of an eye – opener. Trying to improve their corporate image a tad, they introduced the Russell’s Reserve brand a few years ago. For today’s tasting, they served several bourbons: one aged at 6 years, another at 10 and the grand finale aged 20 years. Starting with the youngest, about the only way I could describe it to say that its taste was like having sex in a canoe: IT WAS FUCKING CLOSE TO WATER! Perhaps the less said about that one the better, so I’ll move on to the one that was aged 10 years: this one had more character and was a most definite step up from the one previous; since they are both priced about the same, I would definitely recommend this one. Finally is the Rare Breed Bourbon (20 years); this one is so incredibly tasty, it’s almost unfair to compare it to either of the first two. Without a doubt, this one is my pick of the day so far – even though I’m not quite finished yet …

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Tesseron Cognac

What can I say about Tesseron Cognac? Sad to say, virtually nothing. Their marketing rep, interestingly (and revealingly) actually spent more time at the Compass Box table, tasting their Scotch and chatting up *their* marketing rep (who, I must admit, was extremely well informed and generous in sharing his obviously vast knowledge). All the Tesseron froggie was capable of doing was telling me that the difference between their 90 XO Selection and their 70 XO Tradition was the fact that they were bottled in different years (1990 and 1976). As for the rest of it, go figure it out for yourself – he wasn’t terribly interested in handing out any literature or sharing much information. Onward and upward, boys & girls.

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St. George Absinthe Verte
Video: www.gourmet.com/video?videoID=16760363001

For those of you that haven’t yet Danced With The Green Fairy, all I can say is get over yourself and do it. Now. St. George is actually a brand that I own, although I only use it to make the occasional Death In The Afternoon cocktail (allegedly, Hemingway’s favorite). Surprisingly, it is made near Oakland, CA – specifically, Alameda. While most Absinthes are made in either France or Switzerland, this is one of the few made in the U.S. For an unusual treat – and a rather different Absinthe cocktail – try something appropriately called, “The Root Of All Evil” – it contains equal amounts of root beer & Absinthe in a rocks glass with ice. I was also served the Absinthe in a small glass – first neat, then later, with ice. When served with ice and stirred, that magical effect called The Louche occurred, creating what appeared to be an almost milky elixir. While it usually is served with sugar to sweeten its bitter taste, I found this drinkable even without the sugar (but sweetening it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea)..

Given the 15% discounts on all of these spirits at the tasting, what did I buy? Well, as much as I wanted to pick up one of everything, I could only afford a single bottle, so I took the old stand-by of Compass Box’s Peat Monster (although I’ve made a mental note of the Wild Turkey Russell’s Reserve 10 year old bourbon). Having said that, there are many items here that I wish I could’ve purchased on this day, but simply couldn’t afford – at least, not all in a single day, anyway. Those Rhum Clement brands have me thinking, too …

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Epilogue:

Sunday, I returned to the 9th Avenue International Food Festival for no other reason than because I felt as though I hadn’t quite abused myself enough the day before. Typically, Sunday is my Fish Food Day where I mostly concentrate on seafood. On this day, I ate some fried shrimp and soft shell crab, but there were a couple of stand – out items … First, I returned to the Cajun stand and ordered some boiled crawfish. Now some of you from the south (I’m thinking especially Nola here) have plenty of experience eating these, but this was my first try. I kept repeating to myself to suck the head (so to speak) because that was supposedly the most flavorful part. I was served a rather large bowl with a very spicy powder on top. While I found the crawfish (or do you prefer “crayfish”? ) rather tasty, eating them was so much work that I eventually tired of it and couldn’t even finish the humungous bowl that I was served. Too bad for me, clearly.

Later that afternoon, I enjoyed me some lobster. Yep, I was surprised, too. I strolled along 9th Ave. until I found me another food stand that specialized in seafood. Yet again, I was a little too timid to try the Pulpo (maybe someday), but when I noticed that they had lobster, I immediately inquired as to the price – if for no other reason than simple curiosity. Being told it was only $8, I simply had to try indulge myself – and I was so glad I did. The cook at the station took a sharp knife and split the lobster in half, then tossed it on the grill for a minute or two before serving it up to me on a paper plate with lemon wedges. Finding a relatively remote corner where I could give this little guy the undivided attention he deserved, I ripped him open with my fingers and pulled out the tail, enjoying it even without the melted butter. Cracking apart the body, I opened what I believe was the chest part and poured its inner juiciness (and greenish goo – the infamously tasty roe, I believe?) down my gullet with fiendish glee. Yes, this year’s Food Fest was a success in ways I couldn’t have imagined … yet I was left to wonder what would next year hold? I can hardly wait!

[Ardbeg... innit]

14 consecutive posts, I do believe thats a TNMC record, BUT a vast wealth of info that! Thanks for the reviews Beeb, I am going to spend some time this evening digesting it all. Thanks again!

[Irish Stu]

A very interesting read Beeb. I'd love to coincide a future trip to New York with the Food Festival.

Simon

[Tex]

I hope you made it home OK after all that.

There are a few tricks to eating crawfish which are hard to demonstrate here, but it isn't that difficult once you get the hang of it. The prime season is roughly a few weeks around Easter. I would defer to NOLA on that.

It is good to see you back on the warpath.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Beeb, Im surprised you missed this one

[nolaflacav]

May 20, 2009 6:27:49 GMT -6 Tex said:

I hope you made it home OK after all that.

There are a few tricks to eating crawfish which are hard to demonstrate here, but it isn't that difficult once you get the hang of it. The prime season is roughly a few weeks around Easter. I would defer to NOLA on that.

It is good to see you back on the warpath.

In my mind there are only 3 ways to eat crawfish. I vote for either an Étouffée, Sauce Piquante, or in a nice cream sauce over a piece of grilled redfish. Other than that they are just too damned much trouble for the effort required to peel and eat them.

We just got back from a weekend in Louisiana attending graduation at LSU. We did 2 crawfish boils. There are two distinct methods for eating boiled crawfish. Both start with snapping the head off from the body. From there you either peel the body much like you do a boiled shrimp. Or you place your thumb below the tail and push the meat out. A skilled Cajun using method 2 can eat 10 times faster than someone using the first method.

We will save the discussion on sucking the heads for another time.

[Tex]

I am an Étouffée guy personally but that is a matter of taste.

[Tex]

BTW Beeb, how's the Sham-Wow working out for you?

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Let's just say I'm giving it a stress test and leave it at that.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

May 20, 2009 5:30:08 GMT -6 Ardbeg... innit said:

14 consecutive posts, I do believe thats a TNMC record ...

I wrote this in MS Word prior to posting and it came out to something like 6 or 7 pages so I figured if I tried pasting it in all as one post, I'd probably hit the limit on characters within a post. That's why I decided to break it up. Don't worry, Gordon -- this was definitely not an attempt to catch up to you in post count! Your position is safe (like it or not).

[Tex]

May 21, 2009 17:45:45 GMT -6 ♥ COVID-19♥ said:

Let's just say I'm giving it a stress test and leave it at that.

Those pesky poo stains will be the acid test.

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Actually, I haven't been using it to clean up stains. I've been using it to wipe myself. Perhaps I'll save the details of that for another review. Sham? WOW!

[♥ COVID-19♥]

May 20, 2009 6:27:49 GMT -6 Tex said:

There are a few tricks to eating crawfish which are hard to demonstrate here, but it isn't that difficult once you get the hang of it.

More or less, I mainly tried something like this. A lot.

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May 29, 2009 21:14:42 GMT -6 innit Geezer said:

BB -- Did you ever consider writing as a career?

Only for the past 30 years or so -- but I swear, that's all.

May 29, 2009 21:14:42 GMT -6 innit Geezer said:

I can only imagine how capable an I.T. person you are ...

That's better than my employers can do right now, especially since I'm about to lose my job in a month. Care to call them and give me a recommendation?

May 29, 2009 21:14:42 GMT -6 innit Geezer said:

... maybe should make a freelance attempt.

Really? You mean I might have a chance at being the next Chris Santilli? Oh, be still, my heart!

May 29, 2009 21:14:42 GMT -6 innit Geezer said:

Your posts in this thread would be right at home in the the NY Times.

More like The Village Voice -- at least *that's* a FREE publication!