Happy New Year
Sage wishes all our friends a happy and prosperous new year! To the tidewater folks, we hope your new-year hoppin’ john is tasty. We hope you Danes get all the lucky boiled cod you can eat, and mounds of stewed kale sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. May you Austrians enjoy your marzipan pigs, and you Hungarians your roast suckling. Germans, enjoy your split peas and sausage, and Italians, your cotechino with green lentils. We hope our Dutch friends find their doughnut-shaped, eternity-symbolizing ollie bollen, well, endless. Enjoy the pig’s feet, you Swedes. And the herring, you Poles. May the lentils in your midnight spoonful of soup swell, Siciliani, like euros. May you Norwegians each find the lucky almond hidden in the rice pudding, and you Greeks the foil-wrapped coin in the vassilopita. Dear Iberians, Cubans, Venezuelans and Peruvians, may none of the twelve grapes you eat on the twelve strokes of midnight augur a bitter month ahead. And steadfast Britons, may the first visitor crossing your threshold in the new year be a tall, dark haired man carrying coal. Or fruit cake. Happy 2008 everybody! (Next month: Happy Wu Zhi).
|
|
Goblin Market
On the last Wednesday Market of the year, chefs were stocking up for the next two weeks. The farmers were ruddy faced and smiling, and the home cooks pushed strollers and hid dogs in their coat pockets. It was gray, not chilly, and nearly pleasant. The showers had stopped and an uncanny white glow came from the end of the block, just beyond the baguettes and honey, where the wan winter sun lit the pale Pacific. Chef Rich’s guffaw resounded through the stalls as he passed out cheesecakes to the farmers, and schoolchildren on a field trip held aloft their stalks of Brussels sprouts.
There was a cool, rejuvenating fragrance of chlorophyll from the tables laden with winter greens. Coastal Organics had crates of fresh-picked kale, mustard greens and red Swiss chard wrapped in wet newspaper for the Sage team, the leaves all the more flavorful for the cold temperatures, which induce the plants to turn their starches into sugars. Fennel bulbs, spaghetti squash and baby spinach were waiting at Rutiz Farms, and flats of berries and Pink Lady Apples at Pudwill. Peter Schaner of Schaner Farms put aside his best oro blancos, a sweet white seedless hybrid of grapefruit and pomelo, for Sage’s Citrus and Avocado Salad, and his fresh pomegranate juice for holiday martinis. Hector at Jaime Farms had boxes of butternut squash for pick-up, and Arturo at McGrath Family Farms provided the red and golden beets for Sage’s unbeatable beet salads.
Scott Peacock had fresh eggs, walnuts and plump Red Flame raisins from Peacock Farms in Dinuba stacked behind his stall, where he poured his visitors shots from a wine bottle. Not wine, it turns out, but fruit juice. Scott was up at 2 am, for the loading, driving, and setting up. Selling outdoors in all weather, he endeavored to keep himself and the other farmers healthy with açaí juice, from the antioxidant-rich dark purple berries that flavor Brazilian ice cream and smoothies and grow on the tall, slender South American hearts-of-palm palms of the genus Euterpe. Even more purple were the Peruvian fingerling potatoes from the Weiser Farms stall, where Alex Weiser had boxes of dainty yellow, orange and purple carrots waiting for Sage, and a scant two pounds of his tiny rare crosnes set aside for Chef Rich. Daisy at Green Farms had baby Brussels sprouts and baby artichokes, and Gloria Farms snappy thin green beans and first-of-the-season English peas. David West and his assistant Carl handed over flats of wild hedgehog and yellowfoot mushrooms (earthier than chanterelles, said Carl, less apricot flavor) and, for the New Year’s menu, a few precious Oregon truffles, looking like hand-rolled chocolate truffles except for the delicious earthy umami aroma. The market people exchanged gifts and hugs, salutations, consolations and advice, and felt the old year dwindle swiftly away. The sky darkened, and nostrils made keener by the abundance of ripe scents detected a new one and headed for cover.
|
|
New Wines for New Year
The new year looks Rhône-y, says David the wine pasha, as January unveils his bold new acquisitions for the Sage wine lists. Both restaurants will feature the following:
Failla Syrah, Phoenix Ranch, Napa Valley, 2005
Stephen Tanzer rated it 91: “dense and ripe…distinctly dry” with aromas of “sappy black raspberry, smoked meat, black pepper…”
Tolo “Léros,” Rhone blend, Paso Robles, 2003
Rated 92 on cork’d.com, a blend of Syrah, Grenache noir and Mouvédre, with notes of plums, tobacco and pine needles, “like the central coast on a hot summer day…”
Foxen, “Cuvée Jeanne Marie,” Santa Ynez, 2004
Named for winemaker Bill Wathen’s mother, this plush, richly-textured Rhône blend is outstanding with barbequed pork, lamb or steak.
Sage Eastbluff has a new Pinot, Zinfandel, and Washington State Cab-blend:
Melville “Estate” Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, 2006
100% Santa Rita fruit, aromatic with red currant, black raspberry and umeboshi, with notes of maple, thyme and mocha
Bourassa Zinfandel, Napa Valley, 2005
Lovely blackberry fruit and a zesty finish of anise, pepper, mint and sage
Isenhower “Red Paintbrush,” Walla Walla Valley, 2005
Cab-Merlot blend, with 6% Cab Franc and 3% Carmenere, tastes of sweet red plum and cola–nut, plus a hint of mocha and vanilla—great with butternut squash soup and prosciutto
Two new by-the-glass wines to try at Eastbluff:
Greg Norman, “Monster,” Zinfandel, Paso Robles, 2005
As the name implies, says David, big and ripe and powerful.
Villiera Chenin Blanc, South Africa, 2006
Rich and full-bodied white, creamy with intense fruit, including pineapple, guava and citrus; great with the Farmers’ Market Vegetable Plate
|
|
The Best of the Best
Come enjoy a special evening of wines:
the best of Sage on the Coast's
2007 Second Saturday wine tastings
are revisited and paired with a unique
tasting menu January 29, 2008 at 6:30 pm.
$45 per person.
Call to reserve.
|
|
|
This month's Second Saturday
Wine Tasting is January 12,
featuring the wines of Australia.
2:30-4:30pm at Sage on the Coast,
$30 per person.
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Sage
If you wish to unsubscribe from our newsletter please click here.
If you wish to reply to this e-mail please address your comments to info@sagerestaurant.com
Thank you.
This email was sent to you by Sage Restaurant
Please add news@sagerestaurant.com to your address book to insure delivery to your inbox.
Online Newsletter can be found here.
|
