The Restaurant Guys

Strawberries Everywhere! Even In The Pasta!

Strawberries are in full swing. Local strawberries are as unlike California Driscolls as you can get. The season is short and this year's crazy weather has made the crop even shorter, so come in while you can.

We will be incorporating strawberries into a number of items on the menu, that will include our version of a Strawberry 'Daiquiri.' It's not really a true daiquiri because it contains an egg white for frothing, so it's technically more of a sour, but whatever you call it (a rose by any other name), it's delicious and it only works with great local strawberries in-season.

We'll also offer the masculine take on strawberry cocktails Eric Felton's (Wall St. Journal Columnist, Jazz Musician, Cocktailian) bourbon based Strawberry Cocktail.

Finally, Catherine Lombardi will offer the inimitable Spaghetti with Strawberries, Marinara and Balsamic. It's a dish Mark and I discovered, while dining with Gael Greene (restaurant critic for New York Magazine) in 2009 at Restaurant Sfoglia in Manhattan. Reading the menu description is a gauntlet thrown down and we knew it was going to be a terrible train wreck or a revelation. Fortunately, it was the latter. It only works when the strawberries are really great, so we don't make it every year. We will offer it while supplies of excellent strawberries last.

Stage Left Reservations here!
Catherine Lombardi Reservations here!

The Spirits Project: Domaine D'Aurensan Armagnac Ténarèze 20 Year

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $199
• Thursday, June 2 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring one ounce for $6

The Rozès family has been distilling Armagnac for four generations. Domaine d’Auresan is a 5 hectare estate with southwest facing vineyards situated on chalky, clay soil. They grow Ugni Blanc, Colombard, Folle Blanche, and Plant de Grasse. The latest generation, headed by sisters Sophie and Caroline, are moving the domaine to organic and biodynamic viticulture. Trying to achieve the purest spirit possible, the fermentation is done with natural yeast. No sulphur is used, and the brandies are aged in local Gascon wood casks that are 420 liters in volume. The casks are made from trees that grow on the estate. The brandies are then bottled according to their “Triple Zero” philosophy – no sugar, no coloring, no water. This is quite uncommon in spirits anywhere!

Armagnac from the region of Ténarèze are known for their richness and expressions of dried fruits – figs, dates – and sweet spice. The unadulterated brandies bottled by Domaine d’Aurensan express this terroir. The manipulations used by the majority of Armagnac producers mask these differences and render the appellations nearly indistinguishable on the palate; not so Rozès.

20 Year?

In Armagnac, the age must be the youngest brandy in the blend. In this case, the 20 year bottling is a blend of 4 casks: 1990, 1981, 1978, and 1973. They were bottled together in 2015. A bit of quick math reveals the youngest brandy in this bottle is 25 years old. That goes well above the requirement. Furthermore, it's not just 4 or 5% of older brandies like the 37 and 42 year here, but entire casks. This rare bird is 100% Ugni Blanc. See you Thursday!

Upcoming in The Spirits Project

• June 9: Domaine D'Aurensan Armagnac 75 Year $12
• June 16: Glen Scotia 21 Year Scotch Samaroli (1992) $11
• June 30: Duncan Taylor Single Cask Enmore Distillery 1985 27 Year Rum; Guyana $5
• July 7: Duncan Taylor Single Cask Long Pond Distillery 2000 23 Year Rum; Jamaica $4