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We chat to restaurateur Arkadiy Novikov about how the culinary school that bears his name in Moscow is helping to nurture a whole new generation of Russian chefDwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, celebrity power couple on court, stage and crushpad, had a Napa-good time this week when they came to town to blend a new 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon for Wade Cellars, the veteran NBA All-Star’s winery partnership with the Pahlmeyer family.
While in the valley, Wade made the most of his trip, checking in on the vineyards where he sources his grapes with Wade Cellars winemaker Jon Keyes. “We spent some time walking the rows, eating grapes off the vine, and discussing vines and vineyards in general,” Keyes told Unfiltered. “[Wade] has been super interested in the process from vine to bottle, and he got to experience a lot of it! He even got to drink a birth-year wine, 1982 Cos-d’Estournel.”
The jaunt was more than just business for the wine-loving basketball star (or is he more basketball-playing vintner?). Wade and Union—actor, author of memoir We’re Going to Need More Wine and herself a sometime cellar-dabbler—also paid visits to other nearby wineries, including Futo, where they took in a leisurely wine-tasting tour, and Failla, where they got put to work. Union showed off her skills at the sorting table, while Wade fulfilled a longtime off-court bucket-list item by stomping some rookie Pinot Noir grapes.
New Hollywood lovebirds Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger also hit up and lit up Napa wine country this week on a VIP visit to Rutherford’s Round Pond Estate. Pratt (Andy from Parks and Recreation; gruff reluctant hero/dinosaur guy in Jurassic World) and Schwarzenegger (eldest scion in the Terminator/governor line of Schwarzeneggers) tasted wines and snapped some pics with friends and family.
In town for Sunday’s Mayor’s Gala Benefiting the Leaven, which helps bring after-school mentoring and tutoring programs to low-income neighborhoods, the Schwarzenegger-Pratt posse visited the Napa winery on the recommendation of a friend.
According to Round Pond co-owner Miles MacDonnell, the group kicked off the visit with a toast of Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs, followed by a tasting of a variety of Round Pond offerings, including the Rosato di Nebbiolo, Sauvignon Blanc and “Gravel Series” Scholar’s Gate Cabernet Sauvignon. The Guardians of the Galaxy star even tried his hand at sabering a bottle, though the first attempt was, in his words, an “unprecedented failure.” (He got it right eventually.)
“They were incredibly gracious guests and an absolute blast to spend time with, not to mention unbelievably sweet with our kids (who were all in awe of Star-Lord),” MacDonnell told Unfiltered. “We are looking forward to their next visit.”
Champagne vending machines? How embarrassingly 2017! New York Fashion Week is here again, and while some may have opted for the classic effervescent wine accessory this fall, vodka house Belvedere took advantage of the occasion to unveil a new bottle design that just might rival this season’s looks on the runway: a limited-edition get-up with a full sleeve of artwork by Nigerian artist/designer Laolu Senbanjo. (You might recognize his African tribal-style body art from Beyoncé‘s Grammy-winning Lemonade album-length video.) “When I find a new project, I search to reveal the inner beauty within each subject, and by stripping it down, anything can be my canvas,” Senbanjo told Unfiltered.
At Belvedere’s recent launch party for the new bottle at the Whitney Museum, Unfiltered had an up-close-and-personal view at the artist’s many varied canvases—from the bottles on display to the models wearing his motifs. Sales of the Senbanjo-clad Belvedere ($30), will benefit the non-profit (RED) organization that raises money for the Global Fund to help HIV/AIDS relief efforts in Africa. “Before becoming an artist, Laolu was a human rights attorney in Nigeria focusing on AIDS atrocities against women,” Belvedere CEO Rodney Williams told Unfiltered. “We knew right away he’d be the perfect fit due to our shared beliefs.”
Art bottles are one thing, but other quarters of New York Fashion Week aren’t exactly known for exhibitions of sensible style. But there’s at least one other #lewk from this season’s festivities Unfiltered can get behind. Wearing an outfit straight from the designer Brandon Maxwell‘s runway show, which she had walked in the night before, supermodel Gigi Hadid showed up to Sunday night’s Business of Fashion 500 gala sporting a clear plastic purse that seemed to only contain one item: a bottle of sparkling rosé.
No word on what kind of sparker it was, or who made it. (The label reads “Brandon Maxwell Spring Summer 2019,” so you know it’s part of the outfit, not just a BYO attempt gone wrong.) Here’s hoping that Hadid at least shared the contents of her bag with other fashion-forward partygoers, and perhaps that Maxwell can create a custom tote for fellow designer and notorious wineglass “borrower” Rihanna.
If you think you’ve seen a lot of Australian wine on the airwaves and interwebs lately, you’re not crazy. First, Wine Australia tried going viral in the U.S., assisting with a Crocodile Dundee remake/spoof and Late Night segment wooing Amber Ruffin with Moscato and marmite. Now the organization’s spendy creatives are training their sights (and a recent $50 million Australian grant for promoting Oz wine) on connecting with China’s cool kids, through social media influencers the Chufei Churan twins, Yoni and Joyce, sometimes billed as the “Chinese Kardashians.”
For the occasion of Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall’s 9.9 Global Wine and Spirits Festival, Yoni and Joyce were flown Down Under to put in the yeowoman’s work of showing off Australia’s wine wares to their 1 million followers on networks like Weibo (Chinese Instagram/Twitter/Myspace) and Taobao (Chinese eBay/Etsy/… Craigslist?). They hit up locales like the Sydney Fish Market and Koi Dessert Bar to taste everything from Yellow Tail bubbly to St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet, but a planned tour around vineyards in South Australia had to be scrapped over “extreme weather” concerns, as Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark explained to Unfiltered via email (it’s not harvesttime down there, at least). “Australian products are so premium,” the pair said in a statement provided to Unfiltered, of the trip. “Everything is such good quality, like the wine, food and even the water—it is so clean.”
While no influencer in the Middle Kingdom has more sway than the government over which wines get big sales and which get you sent to prison, Wine Australia’s latest gambit goes well beyond squeezing its products into selfies with internet celebs and koalas: Tmall is an e-commerce outlet of Chinese retail giant Alibaba, which also owns Taobao. Australia sold $806 million US worth of wine in China in the past year, and Alibaba is one of the biggest retailers—and companies, full stop—on the planet. The two parties inked a deal at Vinexpo in May for a campaign to capitalize on “the strong engagement of Chinese consumers in online retail and their growing interest in Australian wine,” said Clark. Kangaroos and “Kardashians” may prove to be the beginning of beautiful friendship.
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The Michelin Guide to Washington, D.C. 2019 has been revealed, with the big news that the region has it’s first ever three-Michelin-star restaurant!
The Danish chef bares all in his new self published restaurant cookbook, “In my Blood.” Take a look inside.In Denmark’s charming, residential city of Frederiksberg, Formel B champions regional cuisine and French wines. Owners Rune Amgild Jochumsen and Kristian Arpe Møller both play hands-on roles: Jochumsen serves as wine director and Møller helms the kitchen. The frequently changing menu includes about 20 small plates—ideal for sampling an array of flavors—that showcase seasonal Danish cuisine with the help of French techniques. The Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence–winning wine list offers 800 selections with strengths in the Rhône, Bordeaux and Italy, but Formel B’s main draw is its Burgundy collection. Here you’ll find numerous impressive verticals from producers like Domaine Leflaive, Comte Georges de Vogüé and Philippe Pacalet, plus more than 20 labels from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. For an even more wine-centric experience, try to snag the table that sits on a glass floor looking down into the wine cellar.
Washington, D.C., chef Nicholas Stefanelli is opening Officina later this month, a three-story destination for Italian cuisine in the city’s massive new waterfront complex, the Wharf. Officina will occupy 14,000 square feet, with a market on the first floor, a trattoria-style restaurant on the second floor and a rooftop bar with an adjacent private-event space. The market will include a wine shop, butcher, bakery, pizzeria, gelato bar and more.
Stefanelli is known for the elegant Italian tasting menus at his Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence winner Masseria, but he’s bringing a more approachable vibe to this project. “It’s simple, it’s beautiful, it’s rustic, and it’s a place that you could eat at every day,” said Stefanelli.
The trattoria will serve grilled meats, classic pastas and more, using ingredients from the purveyors in the market downstairs. Beverage director John Filkins built the 550-selection wine list, which is entirely Italian with the exception of a Champagne section. The list will also be available on the rooftop bar.
Officina will host various events and programs throughout the space, such as a wine-dinner series highlighting different Italian regions. This is all part of Stefanelli’s goal to create a go-to spot for every occasion, from grabbing groceries at the market to enjoying a full dinner in the restaurant.—J.H.
Best of Award of Excellence winner Galatoire’s in New Orleans has a new executive chef, Phillip Lopez, who now helms the kitchen at both the Louisiana institution and its sister restaurant, Galatoire’s 33 Bar and Steak.
Co-owner Bill Kearney told Wine Spectator that Lopez, who previously worked at the now-closed Square Root, is a “creative culinary genius” with a particularly deep appreciation for wine. Kearney is looking forward to seeing the chef’s influence on the wine program as well as the restaurant’s regular wine dinners. Lopez replaced Michael Sichel, who held the position for seven years, but diners can still expect favorites like the bouillabaisse and shrimp etouffée.—J.H.
On Sept. 14, Boston’s Columbus Hospitality Group—which owns Restaurant Award winners Sorellina, Mistral, Mooo and Ostra—is bringing regional French classics to a small space in the South End neighborhood. Bar Lyon will pay homage to the namesake French city, whose cuisine chef Jamie Mammano was inspired by.
“Lyon is the city where all the legendary chefs came from and really established all the great traditions of that country that have informed the food culture worldwide,” beverage director David Borsman told Wine Spectator. “[The team] is harkening back to the foundational aspects of cuisine.” The menu will feature quintessential bistro fare like chicken-liver pâté, duck confit and omelets for dinner.
Borsman says Bar Lyon emulates a “bouchon Lyonnais,” which he describes as a “traditional French bistro that you can go to any night of the week, get a delicious classic meal and a beautiful bottle of wine without turning it into an occasion.” The all-French wine list at Bar Lyon reflects this, representing a broad range of regions like Burgundy and the Rhône while staying affordable—few bottles cost more than $100, and 18 wines are available by the glass. The restaurant will open with 50 selections and will soon expand with a list called “cellar selections,” which will have more depth and an expanded price range, but with some attractive markups in certain regions.—J.H.
Ballyhoo Hospitality, the group behind Award of Excellence winner Coda di Volpe, opened Walton Street Kitchen + Bar in Chicago this week. The two-level concept features a cocktail lounge on the first floor and a restaurant upstairs, serving classic American fare with global touches, led by executive chef Jon Keeley.
The 110-selection wine list has 17 by-the-glass options, and highlights small-production, family-owned wineries that employ organic practices. “My goal is to present our guests with a list that features excellent examples of wines produced throughout the world—both Old World and New—as well as alternative grape varieties in an effort to encourage them to try wines beyond their comfort zone,” said wine director Stephanie Brauer.—B.G.
ALX Gastropub in San Francisco is the first casual concept from the team behind the two Best of Award of Excellence–winning Alexander’s Steakhouse locations in California. The kitchen will be headed by executive chef Jessie Lugo.
Wine director Barry Horton will maintain the restaurant group’s commitment to well-curated wine lists with the gastropub’s 60-selection, California-focused list, which has 26 by-the-glass options ranging from $12 to $45. “Using our name ALX, I put together a by-the-glass ‘Approachable’ section, ‘Lavish’ section and an ‘Xtravagant’ section,” said Horton. “I think we will be seeing a much broader range of people in terms of what they might want for a glass of wine.”—B.G.
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Make a meal out of mushrooms with this delicious selection of recipes, from stuffed to stir frys, there are any number of ways to enjoy these funghi.My favorite pasta dish ever! Loaded with crispy bacon, perfectly roasted garlic cauliflower + the best Parmesan sauce EVER.
I make carbonara ALL THE TIME.
Mainly because I always have everything on hand when it comes to carbonara – spaghetti, bacon, eggs, Parmesan – you know, all the important stuff.
But with this wedding diet and all, I need to eat a little bit healthier. Which basically means I’m incorporating some veggies into my already set diet.
You know, the spaghetti-bacon-egg-Parmesan-sauce diet.
So that’s what we have here. Sneaked in cauliflower roasted just beautifully with fresh thyme and garlicky goodness.
See, the wedding diet isn’t too bad, right?
My favorite pasta dish ever! Loaded with crispy bacon, perfectly roasted garlic cauliflower + the best Parmesan sauce EVER.
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious.
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