May in Chicago, SF Bay Area, NYC

Chiaroscuro: Alison Harris's photo show in Chicago


We're going on book and photo tour again!

As mentioned in an earlier post: April is swell, but May flowers will also be abundant this year, since the April showers are thorough and pleasantly cleansing (and the temperatures in Paris in the 30s, 40s and 50s--remember, "thrill" rhymes with "chill").

We'll be elsewhere in May: in Chicago, the SF Bay Area and New York City.



Leaving Paris behind...


Why? Great events!

For one thing... a month-long photo show in Chicago at the Chicago Photography Center, featuring Alison Harris's B&W photographs of an abandoned 19th-century theater in Italy. Aptly named "Chiaroscuro" the show is about light and shadow, the timelessness of time, the lightness of darkness, and the darkness of light. That's me palavering lightheartedly, not Alison.

Alison will also give a lecture about still-life photography. Click for info about Chiaroscuro

Concurrently, we'll be the guests of honor at a gala spring lunch with Chicago Gourmets at Charlie Trotter's celebrated restaurant in Chicago, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the restaurant, Alison's photo show and the 2nd anniversary of the 2011 edition of "Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light." It came out with Random House in paperback and e-book format in April 2011 and has gone into its 6th reprint (that makes 9 printings all told so far, including the first edition). Click for info about Chicago Gourmets and bookings

Then it's off to the San Francisco Bay Area and two more great events:

First up on Sunday May 13 "Paris in the Springtime" a lively, friendly conversation with renowned travel guru Don George at the fabulous Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera (Marin County). That's May 20. For info, click on the Events tab at the website (our event is going up on the website soon). Click for info about Book Passage events

Then on May 17 it's "Springtime in Paris"--the other way around--at the Jewish Community Center in SF. I'll talk about Paris as it lives in literature and fact at this glorious time of year, read from "Paris, Paris" and share the podium with two other writers whose books feature the City of Light. Click for info about the JCC SF evening and to reserve tickets


Finally, we'll wing back east to New York. An event is in the making. As soon as it's confirmed (or not) I'll revise this or create a new post for May.

For now: happy April showers, April flowers, and bon voyage to "Paris, Paris"

Gluttony as High Art at La Cucina di Nonna Nina

Gluttony can be defined in many ways. If the term refers to gross over-eating and over-indulgence of alcohol, chocolates, eye-candy, whatever, then gluttony (like unadulterated hedonism) is something I avoid these days and find seriously boring. Ditto “entertainment”-style cooking, usually practiced by chefs who chain-smoke and turn their backs (like Miles Davis) when customers arrive. I didn’t lose 50 pounds and hike across France for nothing… one of the many epiphanies was: how wonderful the lightness of being light! Light on the feet, light in spirit and light in the head (from effort and butterfly enlightenment)!

On the one hand it’s easy to avoid gluttony when eating at Nonna Nina, the celebrated Ligurian restaurant in San Rocco di Camogli (20 miles southeast of Genoa): the food is ethereal, fresh, and exquisitely flavorful. It seems impossible to eat too much of it. On the other hand—my left hand—it’s even easier to keep ordering delicacies—the best seafood on the Italian Riviera, for instance—and savoring them with glass after glass of nectarous Ligurian wine. Wine! From the Italian Riviera? You bet! The Pigato—the Riviera’s most delicious, complex wine made from the mottled, straw-yellow Pigato grape, a native variety—as crafted by Azienda Agricola Bruna, for instance, is irresistible. This wine is so pure (it’s not certified organic but for all intents and purposes is) and so redolent of the Riviera’s sun-washed, honeysuckle-tangled seaside terraces that it is becoming unfindable. Much of it is now imported into America by one of the country’s most prestigious importers…. Grrr… Google it and you’ll soon find out who the culprit is. You’re better off tasting Bruna’s Pigato here in Liguria, if possible at a table at Nonna Nina’s. Location, location, location! The restaurant is just north of Portofino, on the less-chic but much more real and likeable, Genoa-side of the Monte di Portofino Regional Park. This is not only the best place on earth to devour the marvelously flavorful minnows that come from the Gulf of Genoa, about which I have written elsewhere. All supremely fresh fish whatever the size is welcome in Nonna Nina’s kitchen, plus plenty of land-based traditional Ligurian foods to please most carnivores. No, they don’t serve Florentine steak or “international” Italian food, so if you’re hankering for spicy amatriciana or a variation on pizza, you’d best apply elsewhere.

The restaurant’s official name is La Cucina di Nonna Nina—Grandma Nina’s Kitchen. As you might suspect, Grandma Nina never set foot in the establishment: it opened a quarter century ago, and her soul parted company with San Rocco several years before that. However, before checking out she did bequeath to her descendants dozens of delicious regional recipes from times past. These are the basis of the cuisine developed by the retiring, elusive chef Paolo Delpian and his wife, Rosalia, Grandma Nina’s heirs in spirit and flesh. Paolo makes everything from scratch, fresh, using local ingredients. Rosalia runs the restaurant. Though she’s a bona fide grandmother she doesn’t look like one: she’s always fashionably dressed and has none of the flour-dusted Italian nonna of yesteryear. The restaurant and its food are a reflection of Paolo and Rosalia’s personalities: discreet, quiet, tasteful, simple. They are authentically full of enthusiasm for the best the region has to offer. Back to gluttony: I admit to having eaten at Nonna Nina’s not once but three times within the space of a month. The food each time was so sublime that I just had to go back and try everything again. The problem: the menu kept changing. It always does, reflecting the seasons, the catch, the harvest, the market. It has always been that way, which is why in 25 years of eating at this truly great restaurant I have yet to taste everything on offer. The Pigato by Bruna is one thing that is generally available (“As long as it lasts,” to quote Napoleon Bonaparte’s mother, meaning we hope it isn’t all exported to America). I’m not a professional photographer, but the photos I snapped on my third visit a few weeks ago show the flipping-fresh seafood salad as of late winter/early spring 2012, the squid stewed with fresh peas (to die for), the stuffed lettuce leaves (unsightly but an unbelievably delicate labor of love), the homey pies and cakes (with almonds or pine nuts) and Paolo’s ice cream. All made in the restaurant’s small kitchen. The ice cream, by the way, is made with milk, as is almost all great Italian gelato, and it is some of the best anywhere, period. (As anyone who has read my Food Wine guidebooks to Rome and the Riviera or elsewhere knows, I am an ice cream fanatic). Several of Paolo’s recipes are in the classic Riviera cooking-and-lifestyle book “Enchanted Liguria” (by yours truly, with gorgeous photos by Alison Harris). It will one day be an e-book: we’re working on it. These things take a very long time to cook up. Transforming 5 print books into updated e-books? Maybe I’m a glutton after all… a glutton for punishment? Take a Custom Tour with us Book one our favorite Riviera hotels

Paris, Paris Goes to Chicago @ Charlie Trotter's

Here's the invitation to the big gala lunch at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago on May 2, 2012 to celebrate anniversaries and the success of "Paris Paris: Journey into the City of Light". Details below.




Chicago Gourmets!
816 W Armitage, Chicago

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION LUNCHEON
OUR 15TH AND CHARLIE TROTTER’S 25TH!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Reception at Noon Followed By Tasting Menu
Tour of Kitchen and Wine Cellar After Lunch

Charlie Trotter's is regarded as one of the finest restaurants in the world. For over 24 years, the restaurant has dedicated itself to excellence in the culinary arts. Charlie Trotter's Restaurant is innovative and progressive in the world of food and wine and has been instrumental in establishing new standards for fine dining worldwide. Charlie Trotter’s will continue dinner service until August 2012. Don’t miss the opportunity to bid adieu to this legendary Chicago restaurant!

Guest of Honor Author David Downie







David Downie is a San Franciscan who moved to Paris in the 1980s and divides his time between France and Italy. His travel, food and arts features have appeared in magazines and newspapers worldwide. “Many of you know me as a food, wine and travel writer, a benign curmudgeon who scours the big cities and back roads of France and Italy in search of the authentic and unadulterated… The big news item last year was the April 5, 2011 reissue of Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light by Random House as part of Broadway Books’ prestigious “Armchair Traveler” series.” A year later, in April 2012, “Paris, Paris” is into its 9th printing. A startling success for a quirky little book of irreverent, smart, sophisticated essays! Books will be available for purchase and signing. (Cash or check only, please.)








CHEF TROTTER’S MENU
Charred Skipjack with Ponzu & Fava Beans
~Cava "L'Hereu-Reserva" Raventos Blanc 2008~
Unagi Terrine with Grapefruit, Red Curry & Kaffir Lime
~Riesling Kabinett "Zeltinger Sonnenuhr" Selbach-Oster,
Mosel 2010~
Steamed Halibut with Green Almonds,
Acorn-Fed Iberian Ham & Lemon Balm
~DeLille Cellars "Charleur Estate" Columbia Valley 2009~
Broken Arrow Ranch Antelope with Toasted Espresso,
Crumbled Oats & Boudin Noir
~Rioja "El Puntido" Vinedos de Paganos 2006~
Granny Smith Apple & Greek Yogurt with Pistachio & Tarragon
Toffee-Glazed Banana Financier with Candied Hazelnuts,
Date Jam & Frothed Pineapple
Criollo Cake with Parsnip, Red Wine
& Candied Vanilla
~Samos "Anthemis" 1999~
Chicago Gourmets! Hosts Jean Zivkovic, Sharon Meyers,
Don Newcomb & Jim Price

You can attend this luncheon without being a member of Chicago Gourmets, but if you’d like to join…
Join Chicago Gourmets! Membership is $45 per year per household.
Please reserve online at www.ChicagoGourmets.org Discover, MasterCard and Visa accepted.

Prepaid reservations must be received by 4/25/12; no refunds after that date.
Reservations are secured with receipt of payment on a first-come basis. Events often sell out early!
E-mail: DonaldNewcomb@att.net Tel: 708-383-7543
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
For non-internet reservations mail to: Chicago Gourmets! Premier Bank, 1210 Central Ave, Wilmette, IL 60091
CHARLIE TROTTER’S Reserve _____ at $185 per person, inclusive = $ ________ enclosed.
5/2/12 _____ Membership/Renewal payment ($45) enclosed. See expiration (exp) date on mailing label.
Name(s)
Address Email:
City/State Zip Phone #

April in Paris Paris 2012, May in the US of A

April showers, April flowers, April produce that sings "spring"... As everyone knows April is the month in Paris, Paris when "thrill" rhymes with "chill" (okay, I'm quoting from my own book and will stop).












Spring greenery: fresh tender baby peas, artichokes, asparagus... fresh fruit from the four corners of the globe (sorry about that locavores but Paris is north of Montreal and we don't get much to eat if we don't ship it in)












This is also the month of miraculous metamorphoses, the transfiguration or transmogrification of all those chocolate Easter bunnies: what happens to the unclaimed, the unsold, the unwanted, the uneaten rabbits? Tune in again soon to see... waste not, want not, and when it comes to precious chocolate the famously parsimonious Parisians are very very careful--and creative.







April is swell, but May flowers will also be abundant this year, since the April showers are thorough and pleasantly cleansing. We'll be elsewhere in May: in Chicago, the SF Bay Area and New York City.

Why? Great events!

For one thing... a month-long photo show in Chicago at the Chicago Photography Center, featuring Alison Harris's B&W photographs of an abandoned 19th-century theater in Italy. Aptly named "Chiaroscuro" the show is about light and shadow, the timelessness of time, the lightness of darkness, and the darkness of light. That's me palavering lightheartedly, not Alison.

Alison will also give a lecture about still-life photography. Click for info about Chiaroscuro

Concurrently, we'll be the guests of honor at a gala spring lunch with Chicago Gourmets at Charlie Trotter's celebrated restaurant in Chicago, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the restaurant, Alison's photo show and the 2nd anniversary of the 2011 edition of "Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light." It came out with Random House in paperback and e-book format in April 2011 and has gone into its 6th reprint (that makes 9 printings all told so far, including the first edition). Click for info about Chicago Gourmets and bookings

Then it's off to the San Francisco Bay Area and two more great events:

First up on Sunday May 13 "Paris in the Springtime" a lively, friendly conversation with renowned travel guru Don George at the fabulous Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera (Marin County). That's May 20. For info, click on the Events tab at the website (our event is going up on the website soon). Click for info about Book Passage events

Then on May 17 it's "Springtime in Paris"--the other way around--at the Jewish Community Center in SF. I'll talk about Paris as it lives in literature and fact at this glorious time of year, read from "Paris, Paris" and share the podium with two other writers whose books feature the City of Light. Click for info about the JCC SF evening and to reserve tickets


Finally, we'll wing back east to New York. An event is in the making. As soon as it's confirmed (or not) I'll revise this or create a new post for May.

For now: happy April showers, April flowers, and bon voyage to "Paris, Paris"