Charmed.

Two Wines. Two Countries. Two Alluring Reds.

Domaine d'Andézon 2011, Côtes du Rhône, France 

This is absolutely delicious -  a gorgeously rich Syrah, with 10% Grenache, from Importer Eric Soloman in partnership with winemaker Jean-François Nicq of Vignerons d’Estézargues. The wine is made from old vine Syrah grapes from one of the vineyard's best parcels - Andézon. Apparently, in the past, the grapes were previously sold in bulk to a famous producer in the Rhône Valley. Solomon seized the opportunity to create a customer cuvée. Thank you Eric. And Jean-François. This is a handsome, extremely charismatic Rhône Valley Syrah, soley tank fermented, with layers of flavor of dark berry fruit, touches of spice, a hint of smoke and bacon fat, and a seductive finish. Quite the French find at around $15! Go, search, wrap yourself around this one. 

Creta Roble 2009, Ribera del Duero, Spain

There seem to be so many Tempranillos available on the market today. That's a good thing I suppose, though many seem to just not sing. This one, Creta Roble, on the other hand, has a mini choir going on. It is also an Eric Solomon collaboration, this time with winemaker Eric Fernandez. Together they have produced a 100% Tempranillo from the 70 year-old Pago de Cabarroso vineyard known for its impressive chalk (known as "creta") content. Chalk, significant here, is found in some of the best vineyards of the Ribera del Duero. Spain's Ribera del Duero wine region is a rising star and if you haven't had a wine from the region, start here. This Tempranillo is aged in recycled French and American oak barrels. At around $16, with a Wine Advocate score of 90+ points and notes describing "brooding bouquet of pencil shavings, espresso, Asian spices, incense, and assorted black fruits. Structured on the palate with layers of succulent fruit, this concentrated, lengthy effort admirably reflects the strength of the superb 2009 vintage. Drink this outstanding value over the next 4-5 years", you'll be charmed by this Spaniard. 

The Hidden Boulangerie.

Some of the best things in life are not always so obvious. And while a Boulangerie on any street is a happy find, one tucked behind a celebrated French restaurant, in Maine, is a blissful one. So are their Macarons, as I discovered.

Welcome to the 98 Provence Bakery. Made fresh daily: Baguette, Fougasse, Ciabatta, Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Almond Brioche, Walnut Sticky Buns to list a few. And – sound the trumpets and french horns – Macarons! Beautiful, pastel, crunchy-chewy bites of pastery artistry. My vote: Pistachio, but the Hazelnut is a close second and the assorted colors make it hard to choose, so don't, get one of each I say.

There are also soups, salads and sandwiches – French Ham & Gruyere on a baguette might have you searching for a park, a bottle of Limonade and Jacques Brel strolling with an accordion. Croissant with warm Ratatouille and Chévre anyone? I might just start whistling La Mer.

And then there is whole-roasted chicken with lemon curry and thyme butter. It's a whole chicken, roasted with Chef Pierre Gignac's blend of curry butter and herbs, and it just begs for a bottle of Provencal Rosé and a farmer's table in a meadow. Don't wait to find one of those tables, just eat the roasted chicken anywhere, and hum.

Oui, s'il vous plait. And a few Macarons for dessert.

Find it: 98 Provence Bakery Boulangerie
262 Shore Road, Ogunquit, Maine 
Around back.
207 646-9898

Memorial Day.

Chowder With a Side of Memorabilia.

The Ramp at the wharf in Cape Porpoise, Maine on a Sunday afternoon: Pete's Clam Chowder, Cabot Cheddar Burger and a side of vintage advertising, news and signage. The Ramp is the only place where I've ever seen vintage political posters sharing space with sports banners and lobsterboat views. The collection of posters is impressive – Carter/Mondale, Rockefeller, Kennedy, Muskie. Cain. Herman Cain. A poster asking for the vote for November 2012 – all on the ceiling alongside Boston Red Sox banners, a Heavyweight Championship Boxing poster from Norton's days, yesteryear metal signs of $10 ballpark fees and inauguration parking rules.

Go. Go for the drive. Go for the ocean cove view. Go for the food – the Lobster Roll is one of the best I have had, made with the freshest lobster and just the right amount mayo and scallions. You might share the first one but from then on you'll want one all to yourself. You'll feel the same about the homemade potato chips it comes with. The menu hits all the right notes: Maine Crab Cakes (served with an arugula & fennel salad), Steamed Mussels or Clams are done three ways. Chopped House Salad, Seafood Stew,  BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich. It's pub fare, taken up a notch, on a cove on the coast of Maine. On Sunday afternoons there might be a wait. So wait. And look up.

Take RT. 1 north from Ogunquit, Maine, through Wells and then a right on RT.9 to the village of Kennebunkport, to the church at the top of the rise. Make a right and then a left for the continuation of RT. 9 into Cape Porpoise. Straight ahead to Pier 77 Restaurant and its Ramp 77 below, side entrance.

Alan Crofut Chocolates.

I recently had the delicious fortune of being introduced to chocolatier Alan Crofut, owner of Unbridled Chocolates, a small boutique chocolate shop in Marlborough, New Hampshire. Most intriguing of Crofut's creations are the dark chocolate truffles he is crafting with Ghost and Habanero peppers. And with the Fatali pepper which I have never heard of, and have yet to taste. The pepper is Crofut's favorite. His chocolate has won awards and I suspect more awards are in the future.  unbridledchocolates.com

Still life in boxes.

The boxes are often more beautiful than the labels.

Looking up on Madison Ave.

Along Main Street and its alleys, Oneonta, NY.

Thinking about pears.

Market Square, Portsmouth, NH

Heading out to find pumpkins.

Farmcoast early light, Westport, Massachusetts.

Dusk at Long Sands.

Evening in Padanaram.

Padanaram, Massachusetts, Bristol County - village, harbor, once a shipbuilding center in the 1700's,  attacked by the British during the American Revolution, served as a small whaling port in the 1800's, now home to the New Bedford Yacht Club and host to the Buzzards Bay Regatta.  This particular visit found a beautiful dusk sky and a great meal at the newly discovered Black Bass Grille.

Irene. No day at the beach.

East Beach Road, Horseneck Beach, Westport, MA.  After Tropical Storm Irene.

Small Plates & Wines - A Pairing Dinner.

In May, Lucia's Kitchen in Cape Neddick, Maine, collaborated with THE CLOWN in York for the first of what hopes to be series of Wine Dinners presented by the two. The menu and pairings from the evening follow. The cuisine, the wines, the pairings, were bright, sexy, smokey, the wines played well on the Latin notes of the dishes. I selected wines to showcase Lucia's Spanish and Mexican-influenced dishes, and the wines themselves. All were delicious. The applauded pairings of the evening? The Antaño Rioja Crianza, the nose alone burst from the bottle upon popping the cork 30 minutes before pouring, paired with a chorizo stew, and the Tabali Late Harvest Muscat from Chile matched with a just-out-of-the-oven baked crostata of fresh strawberries with a vanilla crème Anglaise. Look for another Wine Dinner with Lucia's and THE CLOWN this Fall.

THE MENU

ROASTED ASPARAGUS, ROMAINE, AVOCADO, TOMATOES, QUESO FRESCO,

 AVOCADO DRESSING

MONTINORE ESTATE, BOREALIS "THE NORTHERN WHITES" 2009, OREGON

CHARCOAL GRILLED BONELESS CHICKEN THIGHS IN GARLIC-SAFFRON SAUCE 

OVER PARSELY RICE

MAS DE BRESSADES  CUVÉE TRADITION ROSÉ   2010, FRANCE

WHITE BEAN, SPANISH AND MEXICAN CHORIZO AND KALE STEW 

WITH CRUSTY BREAD

ANTAÑO RIOJA CRIANZA 2007, SPAIN

SPANISH BBQ BABY BACK RIBS WITH SWEET RED PEPPER SAUCE

INKBERRY SHIRAZ/CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2009, AUSTRALIA

CROSTATA OF FRESH STRAWBERRIES, VANILLA CRÈME ANGLAISE

VINA TABALI LATE HARVEST MUSCAT 2009, CHILE

Opa! A Greek White for Summer. Kallisto, Mercouri Estate, Peloponnese, Greece.

I admit I haven't had many Greek wines, but plan to explore several this summer. Should be easy to do, THE CLOWN in York, Maine has a fantastic selection of wines from Greece, not a bottle of Retsina in sight though always available by special order for those die-hards that swoon over the classic if not iconic wine along with memories of time spent drinking the pine resin infused creation tapped from barrels on a trip to Greece. 

Greek wine gem discovery #1: Kallisto from Domaine Mercouri, an estate with vineyards  dating back to the late 1800's in the western Peloponnese.  Kallisto is a blend of Ribolla Gialla and the rare Greek grape Tourkopoula, is a limited release dry white that is fermented in stainless steel.  Beautiful light aromas of citrus, freshly grated lemon. Only 12.5% alcohol was a nice surprise and though we enjoyed the wine with a shrimp scampi, it was just as lovely the next evening with a dayboat haddock broiled with nothing but butter, cracked pepper and sea salt.  An absolutely perfect wine for backyard, beachside, cottage lawn, side deck summer sipping. Or if you're lucky enough to be sitting under a vivid Cerulean sky in the Mediterranean cozied up to a platter of grilled calamari. "Opa!" is right.

Clara's Cupcake Café

It's all in the dough. And a pastry chef's passion.

I wondered, when I first moved to the area, why there was no bakery in the village of York. Kittery has Beach Pea and When Pigs Fly, Ogunquit has Bread & Roses but, with no disrespect to Hannaford which does an admirable job with their artisan breads, I wanted to walk into a small hometown bakery complete with steamed windows, old stainless steel and glass cases of large kitchen war-torn aluminum trays of all things baked and frosted, powdered, sugared, dipped and glazed. I wanted a Nicolas Cage, right out of Moonstruck, to walk out of the back of the bakery with a sack of flour over his shoulders and emerge minutes later with fresh baguettes. An old fashioned idea yes, but that's what we all, I think, love about finding a little bakery. Excited at the possibilities of finding a few old fashioned favorites in the cases along with all the nouveau pastry delights of modern times.

When I walked into Clara's Cupcake Café three years ago, the bakery was the latest addition to the renovation of the Atlantic House on Beach Street in York Beach. It was part of celebrity Chef Lydia  Shire's culinary installment on the second floor, Blue Sky on York Beach. Clara's was on the ground floor and baked the bread and many of the desserts for Blue Sky. The pastry Chef was Jennifer Woods. I commented one time, after discovering and devouring at Clara's a pain chocolat - a french croissant filled with dark chocolate, that if I had had my eyes closed I would have thought I had stumbled into a boulangerie on the streets of Paris. I was transported. I had not had a croissant of that caliber in decades.

Fast forward to earlier this year when Lydia Shire departed from the Blue Sky endeavor and shortly after  many of her people followed her path out of town. Jen Woods is now Pastry chef at Mombo in Portsmouth. Patrons there might find sweet tooth bliss if Woods decides to make her spiced apple cake with buttermilk glaze. The bakery/pastry chef at Clara's after Woods departure, maybe there were several, gave the post an admiral attempt but I didn't feel the love, from the baker to the cashiers, gum chewing teenagers waiting to be rescued from having to work at all. The croissant in the case were smaller, overbaked and tired. Everything looked tired.

Fast forward again to a September 1st, 2010 when a young and talented pastry chef by the name of  Kristen Lawson arrived on the scene, I imagine a scenario much like that of Maria showing up at the Von Trapp household. Lawson is a Johnson & Wales grad and came to Clara's from Flour Bakery in Boston. There is an ever present smile on her face, a focus in her eyes and in the push of the kneading of bread and the pastry case in stocked with a charming variety of baked wonders. My first discovery in the case: an old fashioned donut. Small, round with a dark, deep fried golden outside and a tender inside that is almost like a Rhode Island clamcake sans clams. The story is that the recipe is from Lawson's great great grandmother. So now in the case, if there are any left on the day you decide to stop in, you will find "Grannie Nellie's Old Fashioned Donut Holes". Get two while you're there because you'll kick yourself halfway on your walk on the beach that you didn't. And eat them while they're warm. Swooning allowed.

Croissant and pain chocolat are back and in regal form. Paris would be proud. Muffins and scones are in the case, warm breads on the racks. And cupcakes. Pick your favorite. York Beach has a bakery.

A passionate pastry chef is at the helm. Love is back.

The Ice House, Route 1B.

Who doesn’t love a neighborhood ice cream stand complete with small sliding windows and service from cheery collegebound teenagers and their piles of dollar bills next to their magicmarkered names. Good ice cream. Great even. Many flavors choices, a line of people three and four deep, especially in the late afternoon or early evening when it’s not quite dark but just the right time at the end of a summer one early Fall day to get an ice cream. While my favorite local go-for-a-cone place is Brown's near York’s Nubble Lighthouse, who doesn’t love a divergence? On a breathtakingly crisp Autumn drive near Portsmouth, NH along Rt.1B near New Castle I revisited The Ice House. It all there - the gravel parking lot, two to three service windows, ice cream choices that on this early Fall afternoon included Apple Crisp and Pumpkin. Moostracks? Of course. Tollhouse, yep. Coffee Kahlua Brownie, Totally Turtle, Raspberry Cheesecake and Birthday Cake, you'll find them here.

What the Ice House also has at the “outside” stand is a enormously extended list of pleasures from its inside restaurant. Temptations at the window include lobster roll, native shrimp roll, native crab melt, fried haddock, and a Spicy Boom Boom Burger ( you’ll have to make the trek to find out.) On this afternoon, my partner and I sat in the car, people watching, while digging in two large styrofoam cups of the Ice House Seafood Chowder. It’s all in there - local white fish, clams, even a few clam bellies, and lobster, in a thin milk-based broth. "Chock full" as my mother would say.  A crow sat on the overhead wires above the deck entertaining patrons with sqwaking stories of its day. So charm is included. He probably wanted the remnants of their cones, not that I can imagine he'd find any, and would wait, if not for this group of people, then the next arrivals of minivans and Mercedes. Friendly service, a picturesque spot on Route 1B, and a menu that will make you consider more than just ice cream, get to the Ice House before it closes for the season on Oct 17^th and taste their Pumpkin ice cream, spiced with ginger and nutmeg. This is what Fall drives, and ice cream stands, are all about.

Time for apples.

Just as my nose thrills in inhaling the aromas of a wine, it can't get enough of the nuances of the beginning of a season, the shift from the last one. Especially Fall. Leaves, the first tinge of woodsmoke in the neighborhood, cold air mixed with warm sun even has a scent though I don't think I can adequately describe it. And apples. Crates of fresh picked apples smell amazing. And we haven't even gotten to the baking them into pie smell yet. The first find of roadside apples takes me right back to Sunday mornings as a kid at the apple stand out at the far north stretches of Chestnut street out at the West End. By the end of the excursion, we had tasted apples and brought bags of them home. It was always sunny, with sounds of rustling leaves from an always present October wind and cars parking on the gravel lot near the trees.  Car doors slamming, kids running, it was an event. I don't remember it ever raining on the day we got to go get apples. I don't recall smelling apples as a kid but I do remember the smell of the sunporch all week after that Sunday and its bags of fresh picked Macouns, Yellow Delicious and Macintosh.

It's time for apples.