Troquet

 
My friend Peter is a huge wine enthusiast.

Although he lives in a two-bedroom condo, his two ceiling-high wine "caves" occupy a bulk of his kitchen area. He's on multiple mailing lists from the city's best wine vendors, and he's always seeking out the best wine deals in the city.

Recently, he couldn't stop raving about Troquet. More specifically, the wine selection and, most importantly, the wine prices at Troquet.

It's like a little "best-kept secret" of Boston.

Troquet is a beautiful French-inspired classy restaurant in Boston's theater district. Diners enjoy a relaxing view of Boston Common from the second floor dining room. Troquet's wine prices are unusually low compared to industry standard.

Restaurants typically mark up wine prices about two times what you'd pay in a store. Wines by the glass are marked up even more, with the price of one glass equaling the wholesale price of the bottle. Typically, cheaper wines are marked up more (percentage-wise) than expensive wines.

What's so incredible about Troquet is that, at least for higher-end wines, it's not uncommon to pay below retail price for the wines. Troquet has a fantastic wine collection, and some of these harder-to-get wines go up in price on the open market over time. Suddenly, something at Troquet appears cheaper than what you'd see at a local wine shop.

At the end of the day, however, it really comes down to owner Chris Campbell's philosophy about wine.

"[W]e try to sell high-end wines at just a few dollars over retail. I want to turn over our inventory. I don't like seeing wines on the list too long. . .   I prefer to mark up short, turn it over, and reinvest the money." [source]

According to Chris Campbell, markups go down as the prices of the wines goes up. You'll get best deals on wines that cost over $100, which, as I mentioned before, may sometimes be at or below retail.

If you really want a deal, you can always try stopping by the wine bar (first floor), where they often offer "bin end bottles" (the last few bottles of a case that they can't put on the wine list anymore) for just a few dollars over retail.

OK, but what about the food?

Having a superb wine selection and excellent prices are useless if the food and atmosphere do not match. Thankfully, I'm happy to report that the food and service at Troquet are quite good. It may not fall into my initial list of "best restaurants in Boston." However, it's hard to argue that any other restaurant in Boston comes even close to having this good of a food quality + wine value combination.
 
It was late summer when we came, so tomatoes were heavily featured on the menu. The Yellowtail Kampachi consisted of thick, generous slices of yellowtail over gorgeously sweet heirloom tomatoes and tomato jus. The fish was fresh and good quality, but nowhere near as good as any sushi-level yellowtail I've ever had.  The bright, intense citrus-tomato jus was excellent - slightly tangy and full of that late summer tomato flavor.
New Zealand Langoustines $21
With green papaya, champagne mango, & tamarind glaze

The panko-crusted langoustines were perfectly fried with a lovely, solid "crunch." The langoustines themselves were fresh and very sweet. The slaw underneath had classic Asian flavors of sugar and soy sauce. I personally found the slaw a bit too sweet, but Bryan and Chia Chi thought it was a refreshing balance with the savory, fried langoustine. In fact, Bryan's first words were "it's a good mix of flavors and textures."

Casco Bay Lobster Crepe ($21) with coral emulsion, butter sugar corn, & chanterelles
Ricotta Cavatelli $18/$28
With wild mushrooms, parmesan, & black truffle

This was by far everyone's favorite dish overall. The fresh homemade cavatelli had a nice chewy texture, and the sauce was excellent. It was deeply flavorful and well-seasoned, both from the intense mushrooms and the strong black truffle flavor. We shared one plate between the four of us as a "mid-course" (between our appetizers and entree). It's the type of intense, rich dish that you wouldn't want to eat in large volumes, but works perfectly as a "primo" to your main entree.

Assiette of Vermont Lamb $39
With Moroccan chickpeas, spicy harissa, & anise caponata
The Vermont lamb was cooked three different ways. The seared lamb loin was a perfect medium rare with a nice, intense "lamb" flavor.

"Mmmm that's tasty!" said Bryan.

The shank was a bit fatty and, frankly, a bit  undersalted and flat in flavor. Contrast that with the last piece, the fried lamb belly, which was a tad too salty.

Despite these small mishaps, everyone agreed that the lamb was the best entree of the evening.Rice Crusted Atlantic Halibut $36
With fresh udon noodles, hon shimeji & soy glazed pork belly

Bryan ordered the halibut because he was intrigued by the fresh homemade udon noodles (you know he has such a weakness for homemade noodles). Sadly, the udon was not as chewy as he would have liked, though he did enjoy the rice crust on the halibut. I personally didn't love the hon shimeji broth - I found it a little unbalanced - too sweet and not enough wine or umami to offset it. The fish was slightly overcooked, though the crispy rice on top was quite nice, giving an unexpected nuttiness to the entire dish.
Maine Dayboat Sea Scallops $36
With caper raisin puree, nicoise olives, & hearts of palm barigoule

The scallops were huge, sweet, and executed perfectly with a nice char on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside. Unfortunately, perfect execution of a mediocre recipe just won't get you that far. The sauce that accompanied the scallops was rather monodimensional and a tad oversalted. The scallops were fine, but the sauce did not help. If anything, the saltiness detracted slightly from the sweet juicy scallops.

Wines
Of course, the wines were the stars of the show, and we took full advantage of the excellent wine prices (don't worry, there were four of us enjoying a long, multi-course meal!). Yes, we even bought a bottle of wine from 1989, probably one of the oldest bottles of wine I've ever drunk!

Troquet has an incredible wine list, and their prices are really, really reasonable. They turn over wine quickly, so the selection constantly changes and can be a pleasant surprise.

Their cheese come from Formaggio Kitchen, and they offer a nice assortment of creamy, stinky, and hard cheeses from which to choose. At $18 for a choice of three generous blocks, it's a reasonable price considering the quality.

The cheese plate also comes with your typical accompaniments, such as sliced apples, candied nuts, and a jelly of sorts.

All in all, the staff at Troquet took very good care of us as we enjoyed our self-designed multi-course meal. As we walked out, I declared that the best way to enjoy this restaurant would be to sit at the bar, order the cavatelli to share, and share a bottle of wine, preferably one that's typically hard to find (without paying exorbitant markup fees). Heck, maybe I could even score a great deal on a "bin-end" bottle.

Perhaps I'd finish the meal with a tasting of cheese before rushing off to catch whatever cool show was being performed in the theater district that night.

Troquet
140 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02116

Bridlewood Wines at Harvest

Several weeks ago, I received an invitation to attend a unique dinner called "The Art of Winemaking" hosted by Bridlewood Wines at Harvest in Harvard Square.

It's been years since I'd last visited Harvest, so I was excited to see what Mary Dumont (former contestant on The Next Iron Chef) had to offer. Furthermore, how could I say no to an evening of sampling dishes that Chef Dumont had personally designed to pair with a variety of Santa Barbara wines?

Even with that, the entire evening turned out way above my expectations. Of course the food was great, and Chef Dumont gets a ton of credit for pairing the food so well with the wine.

However, it was the discussion with the winemaker that night that I found the most fascinating and memorable.

Meet Dave Hopkins, the eccentric and colorful winemaker at Bridlewood Wines.

Dave spent the entire evening telling us all sort of things about winemaking - everything from his basic philosophy on how he makes wines to the intricate details behind the chemistry of wine.

Yes, you heard me right - Dave talked about chemistry.

Dave was a chemistry graduate student before becoming a wine student. Throughout the evening, he threw around words like "pyrazine", "pH", and "phenols" in the same breath as "grapes", "wine", and "terroir."

My inner nerd was completely hooked, and I furiously jotted down as much as I could.

Dave's philosophies on wine making are pretty simple and can be easily summed up in a few bullet points.

1. Make wines that pair well with food

2. Use the best grapes

3. Use old world European techniques

1. Make Wines That Pair with Food
Dave designs his wines first and foremost to pair well with food. He thinks about the food with which he wants to pair the wine, and then he designs the wine to fit the pairing.

Seared Scituate Scallop
Richter Farm Rhubarb, Celery, English Peas, Candied Ginger & Celery Salad

Our first course was scallops. These were lusciously sweet, perfectly cooked. The rhubarb added a nice, tart contrast to savory scallops and spring peas.

The scallops were paired with a 2008 Monterey Country Chardonnay. The wine was sweeter and creamier than a typical Chardonnay, with notes of green apple. According to Dave, this wine is made in the European style, which means it has less alcohol and is a bit more acidic. A splash of Viognier (dessert wine) and a mix of stainless and oak barrel aging give this wine its unique character.

On its own, I thought the Chardonnay was only OK, but then I'm not a huge Chardonnay drinker. I do think it tasted better with the food, which makes sense considering Dave's philosophy.

2. Use the Best Grapes
The cool, foggy climate of Monterey County allows for a much later harvest of grapes. These 6-8 additional weeks of "hang time" give the grapes more concentrated flavors.

Dave sources his grapes from a bunch of different growers. His quality control process is pretty straightforward. If your grapes end up at the bottom 15% (in terms of quality) 2 years in a row, Dave drops you as one of his vendors.

Painted Hills Tenderloin Tartare
Caperberries, Crispy Shallots, White Truffle Oil, & Toasted Country Bread
2008 Monterey County Pinot Noir

The next course was a Painted Hills Tenderloin Tartare served alongside a few sauces (resembled Sriracha and Hoisin sauce) and toasted bread. The tartare was fresh, spicy, and quite flavorful, although I did find it to be a bit too salty.

Eating it with the bread helped, although there was not quite enough bread for the ratio that I preferred.

The tartare was served with a 2008 Monterey County Pinot Noir. I found the wine to have a huge nose (i.e. it had a strong aroma). However, neither Bryan or I were fans of this wine. We found it a bit harsh, bitter, not too deep, and sort of "earthy" or "grassy".  Dave said that grassy notes result when the level of a chemical compound called pyrazine is too high in the wine.

Roulade of Giannone Farms Chicken
Wild Mushrooms, Green Garlic, Fava Beans, Vanilla Scented Carrots
Central Coast Blend 175


Dave had an interesting point about wine. If the wine does not pair well with the food, oftentimes customers will attribute the poor dining experience with bad food, not necessarily bad wine. Restaurants do themselves a huge disservice allowing customers to order expensive wines that may not necessarily pair well with the food.

This next course may corroborate that idea.

This course (both food + wine) were Bryan's favorites of the evening. It must have been a fantastic pairing of two great things.

The chicken was perfectly cooked - soft, juicy, and very flavorful. It went well with the sweet butternut squash puree and the spring fiddleheads.

The wine paired with this course, Central Coast Blend 175, was very drinkable, with lots of fruit. It was rich and full of flavors, yet not too tannic at the same time. It's a mixture of Cabernet and Zinfandel grapes, aged in a mix of American and French oak barrels (our thoughts on American vs. French Oak barrels).

Dave calls this the wine that "gets Cab drinkers to drink Syrah" and "gradually introduces the Cab drinker to the 'better' wine."

3. Use old world European techniques

Dave's story about how he learned the old European wine techniques made us laugh. Apparently, whenever he met one of these newer European winemakers, he would tell them,

"your wines are great. What are you doing differently from the way your grandfather used to do it?"

The young winemaker would then proceed to explain how his grandfather used to make wine, and how he's improved upon the process by incorporating all these new, innovative technologies and techniques.

Dave would then write down the grandfather's techniques and ignore the winemaker's newer ways.


Rooibos Tea marinated Pennsylvania Duck Breast
Bing Cherries, Fennel, Soy Beans, Forbidden Black Rice
Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon

At this point I was a bit stuffed with all the meat courses we were having. But alas, the food must pair with the wine, so we soldiered on.

For the next course, we enjoyed a gorgeous rooibos tea-marinated duck breast. I loved the cherry sauce in this dish, which I thought went really well with the duck. The soybean fennel "succotash" was simple but delicious. The black rice was light but nice and creamy, with an excellent al dente texture. Even though I don't love duck, this may have been my favorite course of the evening.

The wine had a wonderful nose and have deep, deep fruit flavors. The small addition of Merlot in this blend gets rid of chalkiness of the wine so it goes better with food.


It's illegal to add refined sugar (sucrose) to wines, although many winemakers get away with adding concentrated grape extract (glucose) instead. Dave increases the sweetness in his wines by mixing in other sweeter wines. In this case, he adds a touch of Viognier to the Cabernet.


Toffee Chestnut cake
Milk Jam, Mead Jelly, Orange, Sheep's Milk Frozen Yogurt
Late Harvest Viognier

We finally ended with a lovely toffee chestnut cake. I loved the brightness of the sheep's milk frozen yogurt, which was nice and tart. The cake was spongy, moist, and full of rich, caramel flavors. It went really well with the tartness of the dessert wine, which was accentuated when paired with the dessert.

Epilogue
Overall, I had a lovely evening learning way more about wine than I ever thought I would - all while enjoying excellent food paired with nice wines. Thank you so much,Bridlewood, Harvest, and Dave for giving me this unique opportunity to learn just a little bit more about the fascinating world behind winemaking.

Disclaimer - I did not pay for this meal

Harvest
44 Brattle St
Cambridge, MA 02138

Etoile (Chandon Winery)

This is part 4 of the Napa Valley Adventures series. Other posts in this series: Ad Hoc, Bottega Ristorante, and Joseph Phelps Winery

There aren't that many places in Napa County where you can sit on the grounds of a winery and dine at a first rate restaurant.

Why is that?

Napa County actually has a law that prohibits restaurants inside of wineries. Although many wineries do offer small bites of food during their wine tastings, full fledged restaurants are not allowed. Etoile, a one-star Michelin restaurant nestled right in the middle of Domain Chandon Winery, was lucky enough to be grandfathered in when this law took effect.

As a result, a meal at Etoile is unique in a lot of ways.

You can visit the winery in the morning, and then walk straight into the restaurant for lunch. The dishes are tightly integrated with the wines at Domain Chandon, and the views of the vineyard from the restaurant are gorgeous.

Domaine Chandon is a super convenient winery to visit if you're staying in Yountville (home of The French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Redd, and Bouchon), because it's right on the other side of St. Helena Highway from the town center of Yountville.

I love, love, love walking, and I came up with the brilliant idea of walking to the winery from our hotel. At first Bryan wasn't thrilled with the idea, but after seeing how close it was on a map, he agreed to try it. It took about 15 minutes and worked out great. The walk was crisp, refreshing, and beautiful. The path isn't necessarily designed for pedestrians (you do walk up this looooong "driveway" to the winery), but it's totally safe and doable. There is a definitely a clear pedestrian and bike route for crossing to the other side of St. Helena Highway.

Domain Chandon was the first French owned winery in Napa Valley to produce sparkling wines. Moet and Chandon (yes, the famous champagne company) came to Napa Valley in 1973 to start Domain Chandon.

Although Domain Chandon is most known for its sparkling wines, the winery also makes pinot noir, pinot meunier, and even cabernet sauvignon! Most of these other wines are made on a smaller scale, and many of them are not available outside of the winery and the wine club.

They also have several types of sparkling wines, including the top of the line étoile Tête de Cuvée, which has spent seven years aging on the lees (yeast).

Bryan and I took a fun little basic tour at 11AM ($12) right before our 12PM lunch reservation at Etoile. We walked through various barrel rooms and learn interesting facts about Chandon. We tried a barrel tasting of a pinot meunier, which tasted young, a bit harsh, and definitely not quite ready.

After the tour ended at 11:30AM, we spent about 30 minutes tasting a few Chandon wines (you can purchase individual "splashes","pours", or you can opt for a flight instead). We even tried a bottled version of the same pinot meunier, which tasted much better! Our favorite was (not surprisingly), the étoile Tête de Cuvée, which was complex, creamy, and had much more character than the other ones we tried. Of course, it also retails for $100 ($80 for club members).

The dining room at Etoile is gorgeous, with large windows facing out into the winery. I especially loved coming at lunch because the entire dining room was bright, basking in the sunlight from the outside.

I began with the Romaine Heart Soup  ($16), a velvety, gorgeously green soup poured over fried tempura oyster, braised bacon, onion jam, and roasted purple artichokes.

The soup was fantastic - it was intensely flavorful (of romaine!) yet light and healthy at the same time. I loved how the strong umami from the oyster, bacon, onion jam, and roasted artichokes complemented the grassy notes from the romaine heart soup. 

Bryan started with the Dungeness Crab ($20), which was also very, very good. The tender crab meat came with salt roasted radish, young fennel, sorrel, and pickled Meyer lemon. I loved the variety of seasonal vegetables represented on the plate. Ah, imagine living in Napa Valley where you could get this produce every day.

Wine pairing: Chandon Brut Classic

For my main entree, I tried the Seared Dayboat Scallops ($33), which were excellent. They were perfectly seared and served with sweetbread, melted endive, treviso, and a deep, rich lobster veal sauce.

Wine pairing: Newton, "Unfiltered," Chardonnay, Napa County, 2007
Finally, Bryan (who loves homemade fettucini and sea urchin) not surprisingly chose to get the Sea Urchin Fetuccini, ($30) which came with an incredibly artful display of heirloom radishes, Meyer lemon, miners lettuce, and fennel all along the side of the dish.

Wine pairing: Poet's Leap Riesling, Columbia Valley, Washington, 2009

Isn't that an impressive display of vegetables? They are so pretty.

Caramelized Pear Mille-Feuille ($11) made with brandied butterscotch , almond toffee, and a candied peach was fantastic and highly recommended by the server.

Wine Pairing: La Spinette Moscato d'Asti Italy 2010

Thoughts
We had a great time at Etoile. We went off-season during lunch on a random Monday, so it was not very crowded at all. I assume that during the summer months, especially on weekends, it may be much harder to get a  reservation.

The food was all very well designed and executed - no real misses. It wasn't the most creative or inventive menu I've ever seen, but everything was cooked with great skill.

In some ways, I felt like I was eating really, really high-end spa food. Everything was so fresh and delicious yet felt really healthy at the same time. I like feeling that way when I eat at a restaurant. I wish more restaurants made me feel good and satisfied in a healthy sort of way when I leave (as opposed to feeling gross from being overly stuffed or unbalanced somehow!).

The ambiance is formal and a bit quiet, though the service is very warm and friendly. The wine list is so big that it's actually housed in an iPad. If you buy wine at the wine shop outside and you want to drink it in the restaurant, you still have to pay a corkage fee.

Overall, if you plan on visiting Domain Chandon anyway, this is a convenient and great option for lunch. If you actually do decide to join their wine club, you get a discount at the restaurant the day you dine there. We initially signed up for the wine club (tempted by the 50% off all purchase that day) but then canceled when we found out the discount did not apply to the étoile Tête de Cuvée, our favorite (you only get 20% off for that one).

Etoile
1 California Drive
Yountville, CA 94599

Joseph Phelps Winery

This is part 3 of the Napa Valley Adventures series. Other posts in this series: Ad Hoc and Bottega Ristorante

Imagine having a chance to play winemaker for an afternoon.

A chance to sit in your own "wine lab" and experiment, tasting individual flavor components from single origin wines, and then mixing them according to your preference.

Better yet, imagine you were using the same components used to make the winery's own very special, very expensive signature wine.

The Joseph Phelps Winery in Napa Valley holds many different kinds of interesting wine classes and workshops. The inner chemist in me was drawn to this "Make Your Own Insignia Blend" class because it looked so much more interesting than a basic tour. Better yet, we would be able to taste elements of the wine that we'd never be able to taste anywhere else.

The class is held inside their main tasting room. As soon as you enter, you see that each place setting already contains six glasses full of small amounts of red wine.

These are the individual components of the Insignia, the signature wine that Joseph Phelps Winery makes. From left to right, we tasted the following components, each from a single vineyard:

2008 Merlot
Oak Knoll District
Napa Valley

2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
St. Helena Ranch
St. Helena (Napa Valley)

2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
Suscol Ranch
Napa Valley

2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
Las Rocas & Barboza Ranches
Stags Leap District (Napa Valley)

2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
Banca Dorada Ranch
Rutherford (Napa Valley)

2008 Petit Verdot
St. Helena Ranch
St. Helena (Napa Valley)

The individual components are never sold to the public. Instead, they are blended together to make the signature Joseph Phelps Insignia, which contains 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, and 4% Merlot. Of course, we don't know the secret combination of the the ratios of the different Cabernet Sauvignons!

It was definitely interesting to taste the individual components. The Merlot definitely has the deepest fruit, while the Petit verdot is the complete opposite - almost harsh and acidic in a way. The different Cabernet Sauvignons tasted much more similar (it is the same grape after all, just different terrior from each of the regions), yet you could definitely taste the differences between the different regions.

It's pretty incredible how the mere soil from plots that are only a few miles apart can make such a difference.

After tasting all the wines, the real fun part began! Based on our own preferences, we tried blending our own wine. Each person was given a pipet that could hold 10mL of wine.
We then mouth pipetted various amounts into a glass and blended them to see how they would taste. For fun, Bryan first tried making a wine that was equal parts of each component. He quickly conceded that it wasn't that great.

Similarly, my random blends were OK, but didn't taste that amazing either.

Finally, they poured us a sample of the actual Insignia wine. Not surprisingly, it tasted a lot better than any of the blends we had tried making. Of course, it benefited from the fact that it had been kept at the perfect temperature and served in the perfect glass. Still, I think we've decided to keep our day jobs for now and not become winemakers!

Overall, we had tons of fun at the wine making seminar. It's just a bit different from a normal winery tour + tasting that you'd get.

Furthermore, on top of tasting all the components, you do get to taste several other Joseph Phelps wines. So it's sort of like a normal tour + tasting but with a fun and unusual twist.
 
Afterward, you get to hang out on the patio overlooking this gorgeous view for as long as you like.

Sip your wine, savor the sun, and just relax.

Notes
Tickets are $60 and you must reserve them beforehand from the website.