Burger Basics 101

I’ve revealed that my burger quest began once upon a time at Wendy’s. And though my tastes have evolved since then, revisiting one’s roots can provide perspective. A friend suggesting  we meet for lunch provided an opportunity to review Burger Basics 101 – a visit to Five Guys became the plan. Five Guys is “fast food” but not “grab-n-go” food; that is, the burgers are made to order. The burgers come in two size – one patty or two patties. The options are with or without cheese, with bacon or with bacon and cheese. A laundry list of toppings – all free – allows further customization. Perhaps in deference to inclusivity, there are a few vegetarian options, though why a vegetarian would come to a burger joint is unfathomable UNLESS it were for the Five Guys fries. (More about those later.) I realized that my usual grading system would have to be canned – for Basic Burgers, it would be “Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down”. I ordered a regular bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and barbeque sauce. And this is how it went down….. 

PROS AND CONS 

After we unwrapped our burgers and tucked in, there was a long period of silence – a sure sign that we were focused, enjoying our meal. When I had initially unwrapped my burger, I questioned whether the soft seeded roll would stand up to the last bite. It did. Secondly, gazing upon the towering burger, I wondered whether it would just crumble and fall apart. It didn’t. Since Five Guys cook all burgers  to well-done, would I miss the tang of my usual rare burger? I did, but this was fresh ground beef, suffering from no “freezer fatigue” and tasty considering the degree of doneness. The bacon was a let-down – I’m spoiled! There’s just too much good bacon out there to settle for a tasteless pork product. The barbeque sauce provided a sweet spicy accent. I wasn’t wild about the cheese but I didn’t dislike it either. And as for aforementioned fries, they were very good - nice deep color outside, fluffy inside. In a twist on the food culture’s near fetish for sourcing, the farm and its location of the poatoes being served that day are listed on a whiteboard by the cashier. To verify the provenance, 50 lb. bags of the spuds are laid out on a pallet nearby. (The day we stopped in, the potatoes were from Rexsberg, Idaho.) Eating this burger had been a pleasure and not a guilty pleasure – a visit to Wendy’s would have been that. 

Assessment – THUMBS UP! 

Five Guys     65 Station Landing (Wellington Circle)     Medford MA

My thought after last year’s Wine Expo was that the event had run its course; frankly, the expo lacked the excitement and glamour of past years. A change was needed and, fortunately, that change did occur. This year the event was revitalized and engaging. Kudos to the organizers for realizing their vision of a better expo. Herein I offer a few of our thoughts about this year’s event.

• In years past, the Chateauneuf du Pape pavilion had always been a highlight for us. Last year, it went missing. As soon as I walked through the doors, I spied the distinctive banner and insisted we begin our tasting there. Honestly, what better breakfast could there be? Long time expo exhibitor Olivier Hillaire was again present offering tastes of his wines. As usual, his luxury cuvée, “Les Petit Pieds d’Armand”, was outstanding.
• The Massachusetts Farm Winery and Growers Association was well represented. We decided to try the Turtle Creek Cabernet Franc and were taken aback. It’s rare to find a Cab Franc that, in spite of the beautiful nose, is not thin and reedy. Winery owner Kip Kumler’s wine was full, almost lush. For those who think that Cab Franc is only for blending, this wine belies that assertion. Check out the video of the winery by French Oak TV here.
• As I’m continually attempting to overcome my trepidation vis-a-vis Italian wines, we headed to the Italian section. At the “Food and Wine Culture” tables, an importer and distributor of Italian food and wines, we sampled several wineries. The pay off was tasting through the wines of the young Piedmontese winemaker Enzo Boglietti - all superb. We also sampled two outstanding cheeses – a pecorino infused with saffron (beautiful color) and one incorporating truffles.
• Should they grow Pinot Noir in California? That’s a question I occasionally ponder – and often answer  no. However, I found a California Pinot I can get excited about -  the 2007 Inman Family Pinot Noir from the Russian River. Not overripe, over-extracted, nor over-manipulated – an outstanding example of a natural wine.
• As we roamed through the exhibition space, I has a flashback. No – not to the 60’s but to the 90’s and the Spinazzola Gala, that unsurpassed event of food and wine, that occurred in this very space. The reason – the increased participation of Boston restaurants and upscale purveyors. The expo benefited greatly from the enhanced food offerings. Notable for me – the torchon of foie gras from the Hudson Valley Foie Gras Company and the pulled pork sliders from Kings – an Upstairs/Downstairs assessment.
• For us, education is an important part of wine culture; after all, we did meet at wine school.  This year the seminar program was greatly expanded and there  was something for everyone – from the novice wine lover to the wine professional. The enhanced offerings added to the stature of the expo.
• What was missing was a more diverse line-up of wine regions. There was only one winery (Archer Summit) from Oregon that we could find, two from Washington, none from Long Island. And to balance the proponderance of Italian and Spanish wines, more French wines could be represented. (We miss the charming winemaker from the Jura we met years ago on our first visit to the Expo.)

Anyway, we’re already looking forward to the 2013 Boston Wine Expo. As Katrin has stated that for wine lovers it is  “the must-attend event of the year…… the post-holiday, dead-of-winter joy”.

On Saturday night we served a lovely Pinot Noir from J. Hofstätter to 500 guests (see my previous post). I thought it was elegant and representative of a light, flavorful style of Pinot Noir that seems only to come from Alto Adige. To my delight, others enjoyed it as much as I did and it received rave reviews. The next day, as I perused the wine aisles at Whole Foods, I was immediately drawn to another J. Hofstätter wine: the 2010 Pinot Grigio. My impression of this popular Italian varietal was equally positive.

The nose is forward and appealing with great pear, minerality, and melon aromas. Carambola (honestly this is the first time I can remember getting starfruit on the palate in a wine) and citrus added interesting dimensions to the pear and apple flavors. This Pinot Grigio is rich and satisfying without being oaky or cloying. In fact, it has a lanolin viscosity that is reminiscent of Sémillon. Medium acidity. The finish has lingering pear and acidity. Elegant and totally enjoyable. Very good.

At Whole Foods on River Street, Cambridge for $19.99.

Saturday was a big night: a celebration with 500 of my organization’s nearest and dearest donors, volunteers, and friends. I had been mulling over the wine selection for weeks, tasting various options with colleagues and on my own, writing about the results, and even getting suggestions from you, our readers. In the end, the selection for the bar during the reception and for the dinner ended up being a sampling of some of my favorite wines of the past year or so that met two qualifications. First, they were within my price range of $16 or less after any discounts. And second, I thought that they would be well-received, in other words, interesting and delicious, but not overly challenging for people who thought they would be able to get a simple choice between a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and an Australian Shiraz.

I won’t name names, but the owner of the retail establishment that provides wines to the event venue tried to offer advice and options that I would not have otherwise considered. I found all of the wines he recommended boring, mainstream, and mass-produced. Perhaps they would have been pleasing to a general audience, but I didn’t like any of them and the thought of bowing to the lowest common denominator goes against the thousands of great wines out there.

In the back of my mind, I know that it’s impossible to please everyone – though I did give it my best shot. So, for those of you who asked, here were my choices. And if you read this space often enough, you may even recognize some of them from recent reviews.

Served during dinner
2009 J. Hofstätter Meczan Pinot Nero (Alto Adige, Italy)
2009 St. Michael-Eppan Pinot Grigio Anger Vineyard (Alto Adige, Italy)

On the bar
2010 L’Ecole No. 41 Sémillon (Walla Walla, Washington)
2009 Josef Leitz “Eins, Zwei, Dry” Riesling (Rheingau, Germany)
2009 Amalaya red blend (Salta, Argentina)
2008 Brancaia Tre (Tuscany, Italy)

Though my obsession with Alto Adige was well-served, it was unintended. My first choice for the dinner red was the August Kesseler Spätburgunder Pinot N (Rheinhessen, Germany), but unfortunately just three days before the event, the distributor discovered that they did not have it in stock. The 2010 L’Ecole No. 41 Chenin Blanc, curiously enough, was out of stock, too (even though I had just purchased it a couple of weeks earlier) and we substituted it with the winery’s Sémillon. In the end, it was a wonderful evening to which, I hope, the wine was a wonderful complement. And in an ideal world, some guests were introduced to a new wine or region that they will explore again.

My Winter Red

Typically, each winter, I seek out on a value-priced hearty red that becomes my go-to winter wine. For several winters, I drank a profuse amount of Excelsior, a South African Cabernet; this was eventually replaced by J. Martini’s Sonoma Coast Cabernet. To mix things up, I’ve also favored a French Malbec, “Le Cèdre”. What I look for is warm fruit, good acidity and tannins – that is, a somewhat hearty wine able to be both drunk on its own or paired with the braises and stews I so enjoy during the cold months. My plonk pick Zinfandel has always been Rosenblum’s Vintner’s Cuvée, so when I came upon their Vintner’s Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon, I was intrigued, though the price – $7.99 – made me cautious. Choosing wines under $10 can be tricky - the bottle either a barely palatable anemic quaff or an overwrought fruit bomb. But not this wine. In the nose, lots of dark fruits and candied violets, earth and smoke underscored by a bit of green herbaceousness; the fruit carries over onto the palate with a nice dose of warm peppery spice followed by decent acidity and tannins; it actually has a somewhat lingering finish! Merlot – 10% of the cuvée – adds enough body to give the wine some heft. For the value-oriented, i.e. cheapo, wine shopper like myself, this wine is a find.

Available at

Whole Foods   340 River St.   Camb. MA

Saving the best for last, the final seminar of Saturday’s Boston Wine Expo featured Nora Favelukes of Wines of Argentina presenting on “Argentina: Celebrating Diversity.” The full house was entertained, while also being educated on Argentina’s wine, food, culture, and geography.

A lot has changed in the Argentina wine industry in the past 20 to 30 years. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Nora said that she knew exactly where to look for the Argentine wines: way in the back of the store, on the bottom shelf, covered in dust. Nicolas Catena and the arrival of two international wine consultants, Paul Hobbs and Michel Rolland, changed all that.  Their work in modernizing grape growing and winemaking set the groundwork for making wines from Argentina an international sensation.

One of Argentina’s great strengths, which wine enthusiasts around the world are starting to recognize, is diversity; from Salta in the north to Patagonia in the south; altitudes ranging from 1,000 feet to 10,000 feet; incredible microclimates; and a wide range of varietals.  Clearly Argentines enjoy their wine; with one of the highest per capita wine consumption rates in the world, Argentina only exports 10-12% of its total production.  The rest is enjoyed at home!

We tasted five wines that gave a flavor of the geographic and varietal diversity of Argentina.  Nora had selected them based on their availability in the local market and their price to quality ratio.

2011 Michel Torino Estate – Don David Torrontés (Cafayate Valley, Salta)
Beautiful nose of peach pit and white flowers. Very mouthfilling with high acidity, spice, and a long, clean finish.
$16.99

2011 Graffigna Pinot Grigio (Tulúm Valley, San Juan)
Very pale to nearly clear in the glass, the Pinot Grigio was so subtle in comparison to the Torrontés. Ripe with medium acidity.
$13.99

2010 Dante Robino Bonarda (Santa Rosa, Mendoza)
Great smoky nose with a meaty palate.  Bonarda like this is a perfect accompaniment to burgers and pizza. I agree with Nora that this is a rustic, but rich example of this varietal.
$12.99

2009 Del Desierto 25/5 Cabernet Franc  (La Pampa, Patagonia)
Incredibly unusual nose.  Lots of dust and cocoa powder. The palate is intense showing more chocolate notes, spice, and minerality. Medium plus acidity and tannins give this Cabernet Franc great structure.
$14.99

2007 Rutini Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon (Tupungato, Mendoza)
Cassis and dark fruits on nose and palate. This is one intense and very tannic wine. Tight. Bring on the steak!
$16.99

Hopefully, Nora will do a presentation at next year’s Boston Wine Expo. With her passion for Argentine wines, fun presentation style, and infectious laugh, you won’t want to miss it.

Cheesemonger Stephanie Santos

For me, this was the perfect evening (but then, I’m hardly typical) - comparing and contrasting ten cheeses, five Old World classics with five New World cheeses derived from those classics, all under the tutelage of Stephanie Santos, cheesemonger at Central Bottle. The theme of the class had intrigued me; my thoughts concerning European versus American cheeses have been evolving. At one point, I’d felt that European cheeses were the pinnacle and that American cheeses poor imitations. Over time, though,my hard line has softened – while some European cheeses could and should be considered classics, American cheeses should be judged on their own merits. That being said I still feel that some American cheeses fall short; however, the Europeans have been making cheese for thousands of years and the cheese renaissance in the US is barely thirty years old. So how would Stephanie design the class – as a competition or as a comparison? I was intrigued.

We began the class by being offered a choice of beverage – an American Riesling from the Fingers Lake, a red French blend or a Belgian Lambic. Since the temperature had been falling all day, I chose the 2008 “Les Cimels” from Chateau d’Oc et des Gueules in Nîmes, a Syrah-dominant blend which was bright, fruity, spicy and herbal – a hit of French sunshine for a chilly New England evening and with the fruit and acidity, a good companion to cheese.

The class comprised five types of cheeses. First up were the fresh goat cheeses followed by aged goat, sheep, washed rind and finally blue cheeses. Stephanie had stated that she has been thinking about this class for years yet had only hit upon the final presentation recently due to what was available and good at the moment. All her choices were excellent. Stephanie would introduce the cheeses, we would taste and then she would elicit responses from the group. Fortunately, my classmates were not shy but expressive - all had opinions they were willing to share. Interestingly, we were all split whether we liked the European or American expression of each cheese. Throughout, she shared much information about the cheeses we were tasting. For the last two pairings – the washed rind and blue cheeses – we were offered the Lambic, the Lindemans Black Cherry Kriek. The two washed rinds were extremely runny and unctuous; the cherries and the mild carbonation a good foil to their buttery and meaty richness. And the sweetness of the Lambic paired nicely with the blues, as sweetness always does.

Since Vermont has been the locus of much of the current cheese revival, Stephanie included five cheeses from the Green Mountain State – though perhaps it should be renamed the Green Pasture State. She spent time discussing the vital role that the Mateo brothers of Jasper Hill Farm are playing in American cheese making. She included two of their cheeses in the evening’s line-up – Winnimere, perhaps the best cheese of the class and the near iconic Bayley Hazen blue.

Stephanie and Central Bottle will be offering more cheese classes during the coming year. Why not stop in, chat about cheese and sign up for a class?

Central Bottle + Provisions

196 Mass. Ave.  Camb. MA

617-225-0040

1265 Boylston St. Boston MA

 Katrin had a Groupon. She said she’d heard the place had good burgers but she wouldn’t tell me the name until I agreed to go. But in a flash of intuition, I realized it was “Jerry Remy’s” and yes, I did want to go if only to catch some gossip about the Fall (from Grace) or the 2012 season.

Order these!

 I began with the Jerry Remy’s “Life’s 2 Short” red wine, a proprietary wine made on the Vineyard. Fortunately, it was not the high alcohol fruit bomb I was expecting but rather a quiet and agreeable light red. On to the food. I don’t eat enough onion rings, though my stomach would prefer I eat none. I couldn’t resist though and we ordered the beer-battered rings as a starter. Due to miscommunication on our part with the bartender, our entrees came at the same time. Though he offered to take them away until we were ready for them,  we declined and charged ahead. Back to the rings. Crisp and tasty, offset with two contrasting condiments – cool ranch dressing and spicy chipotle aioli – they were quite good – good crunch to the beer batter – meltingly soft onions inside.

 I didn’t want to keep my entree waiting while I was savoring the rings, so I tucked into that. Not surprisingly, I’d ordered the Remy Burger. This burger is quite the production and so I’ll begin with a bit of deconstruction.

Please note the fried pickle

The foundation is a knotted egg roll. Next, a generous slather of Russian dressing and a mound of shredded lettuce for a tasty retro touch. Upon this sits the generous-sized grilled patty. Atop the patty a portion of delicious sweet grilled onions. Over these, a slice of cheddar cheese. Followed by two slices of crisp bacon. And finally, all topped off with the other half of the roll. Somewhere in the midst of all this is a slice of tomato. This was quite the handful! As wonderful as all this sounds, there were a few faults. I ordered the burger “rare” and it came “black and blue”,  i.e. almost – but not quite - too rare for me. The burger itself, though grilled, needed more flavor and seasoning. The bacon was tasteless, perhaps leftover from lunch. The roll, though tasty, was slightly past its peak – toasting might have brought it back. Even in the face of all these, I did manage to enjoy the burger. My overall assessment – B. The rings, though, merited an A.

To accompany this, I had the Remy’s Red Ale – a very delicious brew - created for the bar by Wachusett Brewing who also provide the “Monsta” Ale.

Unfortunately, I didn’t gather any insider info about the Sox.

A revelation

This wine was a revelation – not that it was transformative or rhapsodic – but that it actually exists! Who knew the Spanish made Vermouth? They certainly made their mark with Sherry. Anyway, there is a small production of aromatized fortified wines in Spain but only recently has any been exported to the US. Manufactured by Martinez Lacuesta Wineries, the method is quite standard – barks, roots and herbs – “La Corzina” – are macerated in white wine. Caramel – to color the vermouth, sugar and alcohol are then added. Lacuesta also produces a Riservsa which is aged in French oak for seven months. The wine has a good balance of bitterness and sweetness. I’ve been making my Manhattans with this, mixing it with an equal measure of Rye, in this case, Old Overholt. (Yes – I do like my Manhattans on the sweet side.) And the price is right – $10.99.

Available at

 Whole Foods   340 River St.   Camb.MA

If you are a wine lover living in Greater Boston – and if you are reading this, I can only assume that you are at least a wine enthusiast – the Boston Wine Expo is the must-attend event of the year. I personally consider it the post-holiday, dead-of-winter joy. The 2012 Expo is a week-long celebration that culminates over the weekend of January 21 – 22 with the Grand Tasting and seminars.

The seminar offerings are more robust and diverse this year than they have been in several years. Ranging from knife skills to the wines of the Finger Lakes to wine and food pairings to getting to know Amarone, the seminars are a great way to learn something new and take a break from the floor of the Grand Tasting. I am particularly looking forward to the Catena Zapata seminar and tasting with Fernando Buscema on Sunday. Catena is largely credited with leading the quality revolution in Argentina and helping to make the country’s wines the international sensation they are today. And, because I enjoyed it so much the first time, I will be going to “Argentina Beyond Malbec – Celebrating the Diversity of Argentina” with Nora Favelukes again.

The Boston Wine Expo developed an app for the 2012 show. I just downloaded it and it looks like it will be really useful in planning for the Expo and creating a schedule of seminars and speakers. It will allow the user to track the wines that they tasted and where find where they are available locally, which is a pretty neat feature. Trying to remember the better wines after having tasted dozens is more than a challenge; it’s nearly impossible. Speaker bios are also listed and you can mark your favorites.

There’s also the Grand Cru Wine Lounge, which I will one day attend, and cooking demonstrations by some of Boston’s well-known chefs, including Patricia Yeo of Om, Andy Husbands of 647 Tremont and Sister Sorel, and Chris Douglass of The Ashmont Grill. New this year are the Vintner Dinners that feature food and wine pairings from different wine regions.

So much to taste, learn, and experience! If you enjoy wine, don’t miss this year’s Boston Wine Expo. See you there!