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uncle phil · 10-14-2004, 01:44 PM

(from Eye Weekly, 28 September, 1995...)

DECANTING DAVY CROCKETT
by
KONRAD EJBICH

It's not often I get excited about wine in a restaurant setting. I can spot a 250 per cent mark-up at a glance and the wines are generally stored in inferior (read: warm) conditions. If the wine is served by the glass, I'm destined to get something that may have been opened days ago and gave up its ghost long before my arrival.
But a late-night snack at Boba last week got me going in a big way. I chose Thai-influenced steak tartare off the appetizer menu. Prepared in the traditional way, steak tartare should be paired with something red, something fairly tart and fruity to compensate for the fattiness (even though there's no real fat in this lean ground beef filet, the texture still has a natural fatty feel) and something with a good hit of alcohol to help digest the uncooked meat itself. I would have opted for a two- or three-year-old Beaujolais from a village such as Julienas or Morgon, or a decent Ontario gamay like that made by Cave Spring. But the wild "Thai-influenced" dish prepared by chef Bob Bermann completely changes the nature of the beast with its spicing, lemon grass, wonton crisps and all. Without batting an eye, my server brought out a bottle of Fess Parker 1992 Syrah ($8.95/glass, $44/btl). Parker played Davy Crockett in the Disney series of the early '60s and ultimately turned his royalties into a small-but-serious winemaking operation in Santa Barbera County.

I was floored. This was an incredibly concentrated, fantastically rich wine, oozing blackberry and black cherry flavors. Had I not been in a public place I might have sipped it with one hand under the table. I swear I could still taste it as I drove home. (For a cold shower, we trust. -- Uptight eds.)

Anyway, find an excuse to go to Boba for a glass of this rare and wonderful juice. I'm told it's also available at Auberge du Pommier, but only Boba has the Thai tartare.

10-14-2004, 01:44 PM	#384 (permalink)
uncle phil comfortably numb... Super Moderator Location: upstate	(from Eye Weekly, 28 September, 1995...) DECANTING DAVY CROCKETT by KONRAD EJBICH It's not often I get excited about wine in a restaurant setting. I can spot a 250 per cent mark-up at a glance and the wines are generally stored in inferior (read: warm) conditions. If the wine is served by the glass, I'm destined to get something that may have been opened days ago and gave up its ghost long before my arrival. But a late-night snack at Boba last week got me going in a big way. I chose Thai-influenced steak tartare off the appetizer menu. Prepared in the traditional way, steak tartare should be paired with something red, something fairly tart and fruity to compensate for the fattiness (even though there's no real fat in this lean ground beef filet, the texture still has a natural fatty feel) and something with a good hit of alcohol to help digest the uncooked meat itself. I would have opted for a two- or three-year-old Beaujolais from a village such as Julienas or Morgon, or a decent Ontario gamay like that made by Cave Spring. But the wild "Thai-influenced" dish prepared by chef Bob Bermann completely changes the nature of the beast with its spicing, lemon grass, wonton crisps and all. Without batting an eye, my server brought out a bottle of Fess Parker 1992 Syrah ($8.95/glass, $44/btl). Parker played Davy Crockett in the Disney series of the early '60s and ultimately turned his royalties into a small-but-serious winemaking operation in Santa Barbera County. I was floored. This was an incredibly concentrated, fantastically rich wine, oozing blackberry and black cherry flavors. Had I not been in a public place I might have sipped it with one hand under the table. I swear I could still taste it as I drove home. (For a cold shower, we trust. -- Uptight eds.) Anyway, find an excuse to go to Boba for a glass of this rare and wonderful juice. I'm told it's also available at Auberge du Pommier, but only Boba has the Thai tartare. __________________ "We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done." - Robert S. McNamara ----------------------------------------- "We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches... We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles." - Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message" ----------------------------------------- never wrestle with a pig. you both get dirty; the pig likes it.