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Ask Zagat: What's Vegan Wine?

BuzzEditor — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:07:00 GMT

We recently heard about an event in Boston that left us wondering. UpStairs on the Square, a popular restaurant in Cambridge, is hosting a dinner with vegan wine pairings. What is vegan wine? Being made from grapes, wine seems like it would be an acceptable choice for those who had sworn off animal products.

Well, according to animal-rights activism group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), during the filtration process of regular wines, isinglass (a pure form of gelatin derived from fish bladders) and egg whites are occasionally used as finings to remove sediment or impurities. Vegan wine, however, uses inert clay powder bentonite or the mineral kaolin instead. Currently there are roughly 20 certified brands of vegan wine, with the easy-to-find Yellowtail brand being one of them.

Ask Zagat: Why Is Escargot Day May 24?

BuzzEditor — Sun, 25 May 2008 02:08:00 GMT

To celebrate National Escargot Day, One if by Land, Two if by Sea is serving a special menu topped off with a special dessert: a meringue piped in the shape of a snail, served with licorice ice cream and mint granite.

photo: courtesy of One if by Land, Two if by Sea

Arguably one of the lesser food holidays, May 24th is National Escargot Day, a day when gourmands are invited to sup on and celebrate the lowly gastropod. But why does it take place at the end of May? The same reason that Thanksgiving is celebrated in November: The harvest. Of the thousands of varieties of gastropods that slowly crawl around the planet, only a little more than 100 of them are edible, and a mere two – the helix pomatia and the helix aspersa – are popular among diners. Of those, most of the pomatia snails sold commercially come from public land in Burgundy, France, and are harvested in May according to Potironne's snail distributor Doug "the Snailman" Dussault. And so National Escargot Day, the exact origin of which is up in the air, lands conveniently as the springtime harvest wraps up and makes its way down the supply chain.

But first the snails must be prepared for travel. After the annual harvest, snails are cooked for two-and-a-half hours to destroy any parasites, and then canned for distribution. "Snails are never served fresh, they are always frozen or canned," explains Craig Hopson, chef at NYC's famed One if by Land, Two if by Sea.

Though canned snails are ready to roll from the get-go, most chefs prefer to cook them further before serving. Traditionally, in the old French brasserie restaurants, says Hopson, chefs would remove the snail and then it put back in the shell with snail-flavored butter and bake it in the oven. While that method is still beloved by many, more and more toques are losing the shells altogether. For his special Escargot Day menu, all of Hopson's gastropods have been de-shelled.

But snails can and should be celebrated all the time. The tiny treats – edible snails are between the size of a dime and a half-dollar – are relatively eco-friendly compared to most other meats in this day and age. A wild animal with a controlled harvest, the snail is in many ways, according to Dussault, the perfect protein: "They are sustainable, have no methane emission, no processing... all the things people worry about.”

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: Where's My Spoon?

BuzzEditor — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:03:00 GMT

Restaurants often will leave the spoon out of standard place settings.

Diners have started noticing something missing from their place settings: spoons. As TerrenceS74908 recently posted on our discussion boards, "Unless I ordered coffee, or later, a dessert that required one, spoons seem to be missing from place settings."

So where did all the spoons go? In our quest to find out, the Buzz got in touch with one restaurateur who goes the spoonless route: Marc Murphy (NYC's Landmarc, Ditch Plains).

"It just seems to clutter up the table," he told us, "and not everybody needs a spoon. When we send the soup out, a spoon comes out on the liner under the dish. And, honestly, when I go to one of those fancy restaurants with all that silverware, I just push it aside – I need my room. I don’t know, I just like it to be a bit cleaner and neater."

A distaste for clutter seems a reasonable enough reason to drop a utensil, but we wondered if there was something more to the spoonless trend. And it turns out there is, according to Dr. Brian Wansink, the director of Cornell's Food and Brand Lab who's currently on leave to run the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, in Washington, DC.

Wansink said that his team at Cornell learned that "while place settings don't seem to have much of an effect on the way people order it definitely changes how people perceive a restaurant." They conducted a study of business diners "who don't blink at spending $30 on an entree," in which they asked participants to look at dozens of different settings and rate them by features like how expensive that restaurant would be.

"Settings without spoons were seen as more 'European' and were rated as slightly more elegant than most settings that had spoons," Wansink said.

However, the spoonless settings did not take top honors in the study. That distinction went to the very traditional setting of two forks and two knives on either side of the plate with a soup spoon across the top.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: What is a Caja China?

BuzzEditor — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:00:00 GMT

A whole pig in a hand-built caja China. The roasting boxes from Cuba inspired creative, and practical, options for backyard cooking.

photo: Jill Mitchell

If you're lucky enough to attend a pig roast this season, you might encounter a caja China, a roasting box whose use is on the rise thanks to a growing contingent of enthusiasts and increased accessibility. Its name means Chinese box in Spanish, and it has its origins not in China but in Cuba. Rectangular in shape, made of wood and lined with metal, a caja China has a lid that holds the heat source and a metal rack inside for the food, allowing the heat to circulate around it. For more about how it works, the Buzz turned to Roberto Guerra, president of La Caja China, a major manufacturer of the boxes, and Steve Dolinsky, food reporter for ABC 7-Chicago and amateur roaster. Dolinsky will co-teach a class on pig-roasting at Chicago's Red Light on May 18th with chef Jackie Shen.

"In the process of caja China, the meat goes inside and the charcoal goes on top, outside," Guerra says. "So basically there’s no burning of food and the meat comes out very, very moist. Like a reverse grill."

And while the boxes were designed for pigs, Guerra notes that they can be used with "any type of meat. I have customers who do pizzas. In Connecticut they’re popular for lobster and clambakes."

Steve Dolinsky, who discovered the boxes through his friend chef Adam Perry Lane (NYC's Daisy May's BBQ), explains that the caja China "simulates the tradition of cooking in a pit."

Roasting time depends on the size of the pig: "I just did a 50-pounder last week," says Dolinsky. "Let’s say you have good air circulation around the pig in the box and you’re using hardwood charcoal, the pig would take three hours and 40 minutes."

"Now if you were doing a 65- or 70-pounder, there’s a little bit less circulation inside the box and the skin doesn’t crisp up as quickly, so that takes longer. The key is that the first three hours the box remains untouched. Once you put that lid on, you leave it. At the end of the first hour you add eight or nine pounds of charcoal. At hour two, you add another eight or nine pounds, and then at two-and-a-half hours you add another eight or nine pounds. At three hours, you actually lift the lid up for the first time, take a look at the pig and by then the underside is cooked very nicely. You flip the pig over, score it with a knife – that helps crisp it up. Then cover the box and at three-and-a-half hours you do a check to see how crisp the skin is. It ranges from another 35–50 minutes, depending on the size of the pig."

– Deirdre Donovan

Ask Zagat: Why Is Kosher Wine Different From All Other Wines?

BuzzEditor — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:21:00 GMT

photo: RaeA

At Passover seders from April 19th–27th, many who don't keep kosher will drink kosher wine in honor of the holiday. While Manischewitz (which is made with Concord grapes and, to compensate for the grape’s acidic taste, lots of sugar) is one of the biggest names in kosher wine, there are now many more types out there. With that in mind, the Buzz asked Tom Geniesse, founder of Bottlerocket Wines in New York City, to explain why kosher wine is different from all other wines.

“A wine is kosher if all the people who handle the wine from the vineyards all the way through the bottling process are Sabbath-observant,” Geniesse says. Therefore, in order for a rabbi to bless the final product, every detail in the wine-making process – down to the soap used to wash the vats – must comply with kosher law.

But not all kosher wines are created equal. There are two types of kosher wines: Mevushal (which means “to boil” in Hebrew) and non-Mevushal. Years ago, in order to make Mevushal wines, wine makers “would literally boil the wine, totally destroy it, and make it horrible,” Geniesse says. “But now they use modern flash pasteurization.”

Different rules apply to these two categories of kosher vinos. If a wine is “non-Mevushal, which means non-cooked,” Geniesse says, “then once it’s opened, if a non-Jew were to touch the bottle or serve someone a glass, it’s rendered non-kosher.” With Meshuval wine, like the traditional Manischewitz, people of any religion can handle it.

So before you resign yourself to the thought of drinking not-so-stellar wine at this year’s seder, remember that there are lots of high-quality kosher wines. According to Geniesse, an interest in kosher wine “popped in a big way” in the 1980s and now top-notch producers, especially in California and Israel, are showcasing Passover-friendly vinos. As long as the wine-making process complies with kosher laws, any winery can produce a kosher wine.

“There are good wines and bad wines of all kinds,” Geniesse says. “Because a kosher wine is kosher doesn’t mean it isn’t a world-class wine.”

If you are unsure of which kosher wine will best suit your tastes, ask your local wine store clerk for guidance. Many urban wine stores create kosher wine sections in preparation for the holiday.

– Emily Hirsch

Excuse Me, Waiter, There's a Flower in My Salad

BuzzEditor — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:58:00 GMT

In honor of the Macy's Flower Show in NYC, Macy’s Cellar Bar and Grill is serving a Flower Show Salad.

photo: Patina Restaurant Group

Just in time for spring, edible flowers are sprouting up in restaurants all over the country. You'll find flowers in the house salad at Meadowood, The Grill in Napa Valley and in the squash blossom soup at Rainbow Lodge in Houston. White citrus coriander flowers are blended with wasabi and truffles for an almaco jack appetizer at Vernona in Sarasota, FL, and hibiscus is used in the syrup and as a garnish for seared scallops at Palisade in Seattle. Chef Will Artley, who has used nasturtiums with his rockfish, is looking for ways to incorporate pansies and Sweet Williams into his New American cuisine at Evening Star Cafe in Alexandria, VA. Over in London, fancy Chinese Kai Mayfair offers a special springtime three-course edible flower menu.

Have you ever wondered which kinds of flowers are safe to eat and how they taste?

Primroses, violets, roses, lavender, day lilies and many more are all consumable. According to Kathy Brown, owner of The Manor House Garden located 50 miles outside of London and author of The Edible Flower Garden, these blossoms taste just the way you’d think they would.

"Imagine the scent of the most perfumed rose – that’s what rose sorbet or rose butter icing on a cake taste like. Imagine the pungent glorious smell of lavender – that’s the flavor of lavender jelly or lavender-chicken casserole," Brown said.

The more heavily scented the flower, the more flavorful it tends be, but even then it’s unlikely it will overpower the dish. In fact, many edible flowers, such as hollyhock, have very little flavor. Ultimately, edible flowers aren’t about adding seasoning or flavor; they’re used to add color, texture and personality to a dish, according to Brown.

"They quite literally transform a meal,” Brown says. Lilacs and marigolds add splashes of vibrant color while primroses and day lilies add distinctive texture (smoothness and crunchiness respectively).

Floral enthusiasts, take heed: there’s no way to determine whether or not a flower can be eaten just by looking at it. Consult guides, like Brown’s book, for a list of permissible flowers. And, Brown, warns, never eat store-purchased flowers because they could be doused in various chemicals. Eat only restaurant-prepared edible flowers or, if you’re feeling horticultural, flowers you have grown yourself.

People with springtime allergies may be nervous about consuming flowers, but they probably have little reason to worry. That's because most are allergic to tree pollen not flowers, according to Dr. William Reisacher, an ear, nose and throat specialist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. You may not want to go overboard with the edible blooms the first time you try them since you don't know if you'll have a reaction. Keep your allergy in the back of your mind and, as Dr. Reisacher says, “be cautious.”

– Emily Hirsch

Ask Zagat: LEED Certified?

BuzzEditor — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:42:00 GMT

Got a dining question you're too embarrassed to ask your server about? Ask Zagat.

Green dining is all the rage these days, from Colorado (which is trying to "green" its restaurants before the Democratic Convention) to Chicago (where newcomer The Balanced Kitchen boasts eco-friendly details like sustainable bamboo, recycled glass and resin panels). The Buzz took a look at the greening of restaurants earlier this year, exploring five ways in which the industry is making like Kermit. One reader, however, recently noticed a spate of new eateries calling themselves "LEED" certified and wondered what it meant. So we turned to Ashley Katz of the USGBC (the U.S. Green Building Council) for more info:

Zagat Buzz: What exactly is LEED certification?

Ashley Katz: Basically the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary building certification program, like the nutrition label on your food but for buildings. It shows how much energy is being used, how much water is being used, what the building is made of, where the materials came from, what the indoor environment is like and so on. We look at all those features and assign points in those areas. How many points a building accrues determines the building's level of certification, of which there are four (Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum). For restaurants, LEED certification offers diners a chance to be as picky about where they eat as they are about what they eat.

You can learn more about LEED certification here.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: Do Champagne Flutes Make a Difference?

BuzzEditor — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:28:00 GMT

Got a dining question you're too embarrassed to ask your server about? Ask Zagat.

With the king of all sparkling-wine-soaked holidays approaching – that'd be New Year's Eve – Zagat Buzz turned to a man who knows his champagne from his prosecco, Hervé Rousseau, to answer our bubbly-related questions. Rousseau, owner of NYC champagne bars Flûte Gramercy and Flûte Midtown, spoke to the Buzz from Paris, where he is opening a third Flûte this New Year's Eve.

Zagat Buzz: Are champagne flutes purely decorative? We've heard white wine glasses are better for encouraging the aromas of champagne.

Rousseau: Sure, why not, it can help the aroma. But the thing about the flute is that it concentrates the flavor and it also keeps the fizziness in the champagne longer. Because the wider the glass, the more CO2 is going to escape. That is why when people would drink champagne out of cups, before they had flutes, the champagne would go flat very quickly. More quickly than with flutes.

And a little tip about flutes. It is better to hold it by the stem. And not because you want to look like a wine connoisseur, the only reason is that this way you won't warm up your glass, basically. Champagne, like any good wine, hates an abrupt change in temperature.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: Cork or Plastic? Letting Wine Breathe

BuzzEditor — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:24:00 GMT

Does cork type matter?

Got a dining question you're too embarrassed to ask your server about? Ask Zagat.

This week we received two related wine questions and so once again we turned to Roger Dagorn, Master Sommelier at New York's Chanterelle, to answer them.

Zagat Buzz: What is the difference between a plastic cork and a cork cork?

Roger Dagorn: They are both stoppers. A real cork does breathe though, and so allows for some interaction between the wine and air – in a good way.

Real cork is especially good for those wines that need to be laid down and aged for a bit. But as most wines do not need that, plastic corks will work just as well.

ZB: And should wine breathe after it has been opened?

RD: It depends on the wine. If the wine is tannic or has been closed for a long time, it will need time to oxygenate after opening. But most wines do not need it. For example, most white wines are ready to be consumed as soon as the cork is pulled.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: Executive Chef or Chef de Cuisine?

BuzzEditor — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:33:00 GMT

Got a dining question you're too embarrassed to ask your server about? Ask Zagat.

Once again we turn to John Fischer, an associate professor in table service at the Culinary Institute of America's Escoffier Restaurant, to answer this week's question.

Zagat Buzz: What’s the difference between an executive chef and a chef de cuisine?

Fischer: The chef de cuisine is basically the boss of the kitchen. The executive chef is sometimes also the chef de cuisine but often the executive chef isn’t in the kitchen doing the actual work.

So celebrity chefs will often be the executive chef while they have a chef de cuisine who is in the restaurant working every day.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: White Zin or Rosé?

BuzzEditor — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:18:00 GMT

Got a dining question you're too embarrassed to ask your server about? Ask Zagat.

This week we go to a question submitted by Zagat member hudsong631: "Here's one that my wife and I always debate over at dinner – she loves to drink "rose" wine and I always tell her each time that it's the same as Zinfandel – the kind you can get at your local supermarket for 4.99. She swears there is a vast difference – I disagree. So, what's the difference between rose and Zinfandel?"

Before we could get an expert to answer, Zagat member RebeccaD343557 pointed out the main difference between the two: "Whereas you are probably thinking of the nasty sweet White Zin from the 80's, a good rose can be made from any red grape varietal, or combination of grapes (incl white)."

In other words, not all Rosés are made from Zinfandel grapes. For further elucidation on the topic, we turned to Roger Dagorn, Master Sommelier at New York's Chanterelle restaurant:

Zagat Buzz: What is the difference between White Zinfandel and Rosé?

Dagorn: Zinfandel is a red grape variety – in its original form it is a full-bodied, hearty red wine. [Rosé is a type of wine.] You see, red wines get the color from the skin; the juice itself is clear. If it is macerated with the skin it takes on that color. That’s why all red wine starts off as clear juice.

With times changing in California in the '60s and '70s, red Zinfandel was no longer popular and so Sutter Home – which had planted lots of Zinfandel – had the bright idea that they were going to harvest their Zinfandel, crush it and remove the skins before it tainted the clear juice.

By fermenting that clear juice they made White Zinfandel, and with a little bit of tinting it could become a Rosé. They called it blush.

It was all marketing but it took off and became quite popular as White Zinfandel or blush wine. Those are not as popular as they used to be though, and mostly Zinfandel is back to its original state as being a red wine.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: Sommelier or Wine Steward?

BuzzEditor — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:11:00 GMT

Got a dining question you're too embarrassed to ask your server about? Ask Zagat.

Once again we turn to John Fischer, an associate professor in table service at the Culinary Institute of America's Escoffier Restaurant, to answer this week's question.

Zagat Buzz: What's the difference between a sommelier and a wine steward?

Fischer: A sommelier [is] the person in the room selling wine to people, helping them choose good wine for the money they want to spend. They should know enough about the wine to recommend it with food and know if the wine is good enough.

A wine steward is essentially the same thing – just using English instead of French.

But when you get to something like wine director, that’s someone who has managerial responsibilities. Sometimes they will also be called the wine buyer or even beverage manager.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!

Ask Zagat: Amuse-Bouche or Appetizer?

BuzzEditor — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:50:00 GMT

We at the Buzz are often asked questions about dining that people may be too embarrassed to ask their servers. Hence our new "Ask Zagat" feature, in which we uncover the answers to all your restaurant-related queries.

We turned to John Fischer, an associate professor in table service at the Culinary Institute of America's Escoffier Restaurant, to answer our inaugural question.

Zagat Buzz: So, what exactly is the difference between an amuse-bouche and an appetizer?

Fischer: An amuse-bouche is usually a little bit of food. It literally means "to amuse your mouth." It is supposed to be one bite of food that comes out unexpected and unbidden. It’s a way for chefs to welcome guests by giving them something that is free – though it is actually paid for by the rest of the stuff they buy – but it is also intended to show off the house style a little bit.

An appetizer is a first course that would be ordered from a menu.

Do you have a dining question you'd like answered? Drop us a line at buzz@zagat.com!