FOOD/WINESIPPER REVIEW/FOOD Restaurants get one chance to hit BW with their best shot.
It’s pinot gris in France, pinot grigio in Italy, but in the rest of the world, it’s anything goes. Although they’re the same variety of grapes, they often produce very different wines. Typically, grapes for bottles labeled pinot gris are harvested a bit later, resulting in wines that are fuller and richer than their grigio counterparts. The panel’s top wines hail from three exceptional regions known for producing top-quality examples of the grape: northern Italy, Alsace and the Willamette Valley. Here are this week’s picks:
JEN GR AB LE
CASABLANCA CUBAN GRILL
YOU SAY GRIS, I SAY GRIGIO
The people’s grub JOSH GROSS Ethnic cuisines like Mexican and Chinese are now so ubiquitous that they’ve become part of the American culinary stew. The sweeter, milder flavors of Cuban cuisine, on the other hand, are a little less common. But thanks to the recent opening of CasaBlanca Cuban Grill at 5506 W. Overland Road, Boise can now get a taste. Housed in an old Chapala building, the arched windows and adobe color scheme of the space work perfectly for Cuban ambience, especially when basking in tunes from the Buena Vista Social Club soundtrack. It Pass up a meal at CasaBlanca and you’ll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, feels simple and relaxing, a vibe that owner but soon and for the rest of your life. Karina Soteras contends is just like eating at home. Soteras—whose head chefs are her had a hearty, starchy texture similar to thick the menu, indicating it was one of the chef’s mother and mother-in-law—said the restaumashed potatoes, and it was swimming in a specialties. The dish was a subtly spiced rant’s other name is “Mom’s Kitchen.” delicious garlic oil. shredded beef marinated in a The food coming out of Fried bananas finished off the meal. light tomato base with onions that kitchen is traditional and hints of olives. Despite the CasaBlanca offers two varieties: the starchier Cuban, which is based largely CASABLANCA CUBAN GRILL Tostones (raw green plantains, served with island’s rep as a haven for all off the region’s peasant cuisine: 5506 W. Overland Road, a citrus vinaigrette ($2), or the sweeter things spicy, it was a smooth delicately spiced meats served 208-331-2370. Maduros ($2), which are made from riper and savory dish, with hints of with starches like beans, rice, plantains. Both are excellent compliments to sweetness from the olives and fried plantains and tubers. And the meal. a hearty texture. that of-the-people mentality The beauty of Cuban food is its simplicity. The menu also offers Vaca Frita ($8.95), translates to the prices at CasaBlanca. The Much like American comfort food, it finds most-expensive items on the menu are shrimp a similar beef dish with a wedge of lime and onions in place of the tomatoes and olives. On ways to let the ingredients’ rich, natural flavors sautes in either garlic sauce or creole sauce shine. And CasaBlanca dances those steps well, the side was a black bean and rice mix and a (both $11.95). with food that manages to stand tall while bowl of yucca con mojo crollo, a cassava root I ordered the Ropa Vieja ($9.95), which totally lacking pretentiousness. tuber baked and seasoned to perfection. It was marked with a vaunted palm tree on
NEWS/FOOD Thursday, Sept. 6, from 6-8 p.m. at 3516 Hawthorne Drive. Attendees should bring $5 or plenty of heirloom, open-pollinated (not hybrid) toCome early September, summer’s bounty is more than ample— matoes to share. The event hopes to sample at least 100 locally grown plums are tumbling to the ground with juicy thuds, squash has almost varieties to showcase genetic diversity in the area. There will also be a been reclassified an invasive species and heirloom tomatoes are so salsa contest with mild, medium and hot divisions, along with tomato plump, Sir Mix-a-Lot is penning odes to them. seed-saving and processing demos and live music. And that means the time is ripe for harvest dinners. The Capital City Moving from plump to funk, Bittercreek Ale House is hosting a Public Market will host its annual fundraiser, the Harvest Moon Dinner, three-day Funk Fest from Thursday, Sept. 6-Saturday, Sept. 8. The fest Saturday, Sept. 8, from 6-10 p.m. The sold-out, five-course meal will will feature wild ales, sours and other asfeature all local wine and grub, including sortments of funky beers from breweries lamb tagine from Richard Langston from like Brasserie Fantome, 21st Amendment, Cafe Vicino. Epic, New Belgium, Odell and Payette. Boise Urban Garden School is mixing Thursday, Sept. 6, there will be two it up this year with its food truck rally blending symposium sessions, at 2 p.m. themed Harvest Dinner and silent auction. and 6 p.m., with New Belgium brewer Eric The event will take place Friday, Sept. 14, Salazar. Friday, Sept. 7, at 8 p.m., Boise from 6:30-10 p.m. at 4821 Franklin Road Beardsmen will host a Funky Facial Hair and feature items like pork sliders, tacos, Contest. And Saturday, Sept. 8, there salads and cake balls, all served from will be a funky brunch paired with beers wooden food truck facades handcrafted at Bittercreek beginning at 10 a.m. Later by BUGS students. Tickets cost $60 per that evening, there will be a wrap party person and can be purchased at boiseurwith taster-board and food specials. For bangardenschool.org. more info on Funk Fest, visit Bittercreek’s And speaking of plump tomatoes, Facebook page. Earthly Delights Farm is hosting an HeirThe Harvest Moon Dinner would make Neil Young proud. —Tara Morgan loom Tomato Tasting and Salsa Contest
2011 ELK COVE PINOT GRIS, $17.99 This Oregon winery is known for its delicious, oh-so-rich pinot gris, but its 2011 offering dials things back a bit, offering a balanced style that I find even more appealing. Spicy peach and citrus aromas lead off. The flavors are a big mouthful of creamy stone fruit and ripe citrus, perfectly complemented by a bracing core of acidity. This is one of the best Oregon pinot gris I’ve tasted to date. 2011 GAIERHOF PINOT GRIGIO, $17.99 From the Trentino region of northern Italy, this wine’s aromas are surprisingly rich. You get a complex mix of pear, green apple and nectarine, colored by honeysuckle and herb. The flavors start out lean and lively, with crisp peach and citrus, turning round and ripe on the mid-palate, then finishing with a refreshing hit of food-friendly acidity.
FUNKY HARVEST
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2010 LUCIEN ALBRECHT PINOT GRIS, CUVEE ROMANUS, $21 The Albrecht family has been making wine in the French region of Alsace since the 15th century, so it must be doing something right. This wine is a definite winner with its aromas of unctuous white peach and apple, backed by intriguing touches of clove and bacon fat. The flavors are absolutely sumptuous—candied fruit playing against crisp lemon and lime. The supple but lively finish lingers nicely. —David Kirkpatrick
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