Category: Cooking, Food & Wine

Authentic Kobe beef, among the most sought-after in the world, is low in supply and high in demand. To be classified as Kobe, it needs to come from the Tajima-gyu strain of the Japanese Black breed of Wagyu cattle, which must be born, raised and processed in Japan’s Hyogo prefecture (whose capital city is Kobe) in accordance with strict regulations regarding the animal’s diet and lifestyle, as well as the quality, weight and marbling of the meat.

Wagyu, the greater category to which Kobe belongs, simply refers to four major breeds of Japanese cattle. It’s a legitimate type of beef sold in the United States—unlike Kobe, a term that is unregulated here. While you’ve probably seen Kobe on menus, it is generally a marketing-driven misnomer.

Enter Georgia chef and restaurateur Linton Hopkins, whose portfolio of Atlanta restaurants includes C. Ellet’s steak house and Restaurant Eugene, which holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. After recently discerning Athens, Ga., to be on the same latitudinal axis as Hyogo, with a similar warm, muggy climate, he began to wonder: Might Athens be sitting on Kobe-grade beef terroir?

Today, Hopkins is working with the University of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Agriculture to pioneer what he says could become the U.S. beef industry’s first Kobe-level subcategory. Though true Kobe will always be from Japan, he hopes to create an agricultural and regulatory system in its image here in Georgia.

To be successful, the project will entail years of painstaking work, both at the farm and legislative level, including a raft of state regulations and a new quality standard. Hopkins and state Department of Agriculture commissioner Gary Black are currently laying the groundwork for a tiny, two-steer pilot.

Why would a chef like Hopkins attempt such a massively complicated undertaking? He says it comes down to building community along the chain of Georgia meat distribution. “I’m not just one single finger,” he says. “I’m a fist, I’m part of a hand, and I recognize my success as a finger depends on the other four.” With any luck, the eventual development of Georgia Kobe will not only give him and his fellow restaurateurs an exciting new product to play with, it will raise the bar for cattle farmers, butchers, beef distributors and restaurant-goers in Georgia.

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Eight ingredients, plus pantry staples. That’s all it takes to make an entire meal from scratch. Add in a good bottle of wine for less than $20, and you’ve got a feast for family or friends.

When savory, crisp chicken meets a sweet, sticky sauce in Chinese takeout classics like sesame chicken and General Tso’s, the results are irresistible. The only thing standing between you and one of these satisfying meals is the sense of guilt over ordering out instead of making a healthy, home-cooked meal.

This recipe is the solution. There’s no deep-frying, so the end result is less greasy than your go-to takeout order, without sacrificing that essential crunchy exterior or thick sauce. Add a low-maintenance string bean side and perfectly cooked rice, and you’ve got a craveable dish without the extra cost and calories of takeout.

While some roasted vegetable recipes require frequent tossing for an even crisp, here you’ll let the beans hang out with minimal interruption for a pleasant char. Roast them while the rice is cooking to save time, but don’t skip those extra steps for the rice. Rinsing the grains before cooking removes excess starch, while covering the pot with a paper towel afterwards absorbs excess moisture; both steps prevent the rice from becoming gummy or sticky.

The sauce is made with pantry staples and allows plenty of wiggle room for substitutions. No tomato paste? Give it a squirt of ketchup. Out of Sriracha? A few shakes of red pepper flakes will work. Just keep the key components of sweet, savory and spicy.

For the wine pairing, my first instinct was to go with the variety I almost always reach for when heading to a BYOB Asian eatery: Riesling.

In the hopes of a pleasant surprise, I first tried an Albariño, which has some similar qualities. Bright and refreshing on its own, this example was too light-bodied and minerally to stand up to the bold flavors of the dish, so I reverted to Riesling.

Lamoreaux Landing Riesling Finger Lakes Dry 2016 delivered what I was looking for in a match. The high acidity balanced the richness of the sauce; tropical and orchard fruit aromas and flavors offered an impression of sweetness to complement the dish’s heat. Grab a glass and a pair of chopsticks and dig in.

Chinese Takeout–Inspired Chicken with Charred Garlic String Beans

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Pair with a Riesling such as Lamoreaux Landing Riesling Finger Lakes Dry 2016 (87 points, $15).

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Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Approximate food costs: $25

• 1 cup white rice
• 1 1/2 pounds string beans
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha (or more if desired)
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup corn starch
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional, for garnish)
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Rinse rice until water runs clear, then add to a medium saucepan with 1 1/4 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let cook for 18 minutes until the water is absorbed. Turn off heat, fluff with a fork and cover with a paper towel before placing the lid back on the pan. Set aside.

2. Place string beans on a baking sheet, toss with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and half of the garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for 20 minutes, tossing at the halfway mark.

3. In a small bowl, whisk honey, soy sauce, tomato paste, Sriracha and remaining garlic. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

4. Cut chicken into 1 1/2-inch cubes and place in a resealable, 1-gallon plastic bag with cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Shake to coat chicken.

5. Heat remaining vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium high. Once oil is shimmering, add chicken in a single layer and let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure an even crust. Add sauce, reduce heat to medium low and stir to coat the chicken. Let cook for 2 minutes more until the sauce has thickened.

6. Serve chicken over rice and top with scallions. Plate string beans on the side. Serves 4.

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More than a dozen New York State wineries on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley are facing federal lawsuits, with plaintiffs claiming that the wineries’ websites violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by not being accessible for the visually impaired.

The lawsuits, filed earlier this month by the Brooklyn-based Marks Law Firm on behalf of its visually-impaired client Kathy Wu, claim that the lack of website services like screen-reading software by 15 New York wineries, including Wölffer Estate, Bedell Cellars and Channing Daughters, discriminates against disabled customers.

“Approximately 8.1 million people in the United States are visually impaired, including 2 million who are blind,” the complaints state, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. “Approximately 400,000 visually impaired persons live in the state of New York.”

Representatives from Wölffer Estate, Bedell Cellars and Channing Daughters declined to comment on the pending litigation, as did staff at the Marks Law Firm.

Lawsuit Reform Alliance public affairs manager Adam Morey said he’s noticed an increasing trend of ADA Title III federal lawsuits filed against wineries and other small businesses in the past year. A study conducted in July by the Seyfarth Shaw Law Firm found that ADA lawsuits involving website accessibility hit record numbers this year—4,965 federal ADA Title III lawsuits were filed in the first six months of 2018 alone, according to the report, compared to the 7,663 that were filed for all of 2017. Of those 2018 suits, 1,026 were filed in New York.

“There aren’t clear guidelines from the [U.S.] Department of Justice on how the ADA applies to the Internet,” Morey told Wine Spectator. He believes law firms are taking advantage of the unclear regulations. “New York has quickly become the top jurisdiction for these lawsuits.”

A Department of Justice spokesman told Wine Spectator that the department is still evaluating whether specific web-accessibility standards are necessary to ensure compliance with the ADA. More recently, the department has opted to refer to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a compatible set of online-compliance standards.

New York courts have adapted and ordered businesses to comply with those standards in similar cases, such as a 2017 lawsuit involving Blick Art Materials, LLC and a visually-impaired customer. The guidelines suggest websites implement features like screen-reading software as well as make color, word spacing and text size customizable to website visitors.

Chris Danielsen, director of public relations for the National Federation of the Blind, offers another solution. He recommends that wineries and other businesses with online platforms work directly with visually-impaired consumers.

“It basically incorporates human testing into the process of making a website accessible,” Danielsen said. “We are willing to work with companies on this, so that the website is not only technically accessible, but it’s actually working well for blind consumers.”

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