Compacted Menu Descriptions

Thanks, Emma!

New Menu Items 9/15/2016

Chorizo Iberico de Bellota

Iberico di Bellota pork, coming from the pata negra (black foot) pigs, of spain is considered to be some of the best pork in the world. The phrase de bellota indicates that these pigs have been fed a diet of acorns, giving the pork a unique flavor and a delicate texture. Not all iberico pork is acorn fed and the de Bellota is considered to be the best of the best. This is a very simple and classic sausage, pork, pork fat, pimenton, garlic, salt, and pepper. This sausage is nitrate free. 

Mazzafegati

This is a classic umbrian style offal sausage, the name indicates the use of liver (fegato) however other offal cuts can also be used. We will be using primarily pork liver but sometimes kidneys as well. The offal is mixed with pork, pork fat, red wine, and red wine vinegar, cocoa powder, roasted shallots, thyme, cloves, and nutmeg. The ground meat is then mixed with prunes poached in red wine, and toasted pine nuts, stuffed into a beef casing and cooked. To serve it is hand cut, garnished with salt, oil, and fennel pollen. 

Bonne Bouche

From vermont creamery bonne bouche is an ash rubbed goat cheese with a geotricium rind. Aged for about 1 month its very oozy around the rind with a Cakey interior. Creamy and citrusy this a delicious and classic goat cheese.  

2015 Château d'Or et de Gueules "Les Cimels" Rosé

2015 Château d'Or et de Gueules  "Les Cimels" Rosé $11/$44

Where: Costieres de Nimes, Southern Rhone

Who: Diane De Puymorin

What: mourvèdre (40 %), cinsault (40 %), syrah (10 %), grenache (10 %)

Tastes like: A delicate pink robe complemented by a nose of great finesse; notes of citrus, fruit and flowers give it a nice complexity. Long and round on the palate, its finish features notes of citrus. - See more at: http://domaineselect.com/product/rose-les-cimels/#sthash.LD0EzDBc.dpuf

What to pair with:  Late summer foods, tomatoes, corn, seafood

Notes on the winemaker

After finishing a degree in Agronomy, the talented and passionate Diane de Puymorin set out to slowly elevate the image of Costières de Nimes, the southernmost appellation in the Rhône Valley. Believing the soils to have the pedigree to make great wines, she bought the Domaine in 1998 and changed the name to Château d’Or et de Gueules, a reference to the Puymorin family crest. She has since become a passionate advocate for terroir distinction within the appellation, and has recently proposed changes to the INAO to gain recognition for the soils around St. Gilles on her labels. With the help of her husband, Mathieu Chatain and their five daughters, she creates charming, spicy reds, as well as vibrant rosés and whites.

Diane farms 50 hectares to the southwest of the old Roman city of Nimes. In between St. Gilles and Générac, not far from the salt marshes of the Camargue and the Mediterranean, the climate here is optimal for creating balanced wines. The vineyards are planted to Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Rolle destined for several different cuvées of reds, rosés, and whites. Southern and southeastern sun exposure ensures full ripeness of the grapes, diurnal temperature shifts keep the grapes cool, and the presence of the Mistral protects the natural acidity of the grapes and wards off pestilence and rot. The soils are composed of galets roulés, a similar rounded limestone alluvial gravel that is also found in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, insulating the roots from extreme temperature fluctuations. After years of implementing sustainable farming in the vineyards, Diane has recently become certified in organic farming. She prunes rigorously to limit yields, pulls leaves to create circulation between clusters, and plows to aerate the soils—a necessary part of organic farming.

The Costières de Nîmes consists of some 12,000 hectares under vine, of which only 4,500 are designated as AOC Costières de Nîmes. It is one of the few appellations of this size to have no distinction of terroirs through premiers crus let alone lieux-dits. Diane is currently spearheading an initiative with the INAO to designate an appellation extension of St. Gilles to her vineyards as well as other areas in the southeastern part of the appellation that share her soils. Once known for its excellent Mourvèdre, the designation would require a minimum percentage of the varietal to blends from this area as well as restricted yields. While the change requires two years of study before an INAO ruling, Diane’s passion and stewardship has already brought awareness to the quality terroirs of the appellation and helped elevate its standing in the marketplace.

At Château d’Or et de Gueules, sustainability is a comprehensive ethic that is infused into the vineyards, cellars and even shipping. She is one of the rare producers to be carbon neutral; she powers her winery entirely with solar energy and uses recyclable packaging and water-based inks on bottles and boxes.

New Menu Items 9/7/2016

Lazy Lady Goat Cheese
Lazy Lady Farms of Westfield vermont is a totally off the grid (producing all their own power) farmstead creamery, located near the Canadian border. Cheesemaker Laini Fondilier raises her herd of goats and makes a selection of goat cheeses that can change on a weekly basis. We'll be bringing in a variety of these cheeses (all pasteurized goats milk in the 1-2 month age range) but with subtle differences in rind, shape ect. It should be really fun to see the variety of products from this skilled cheese maker. 

Ashbrook 
Made by Spring Brook Farms in Reading VT. Spring brook farms is a non profit organization that runs summer programs for urban kids to teach them about farming and food pathways. They started their dairy as a way to help pay for the program and have begun producing some great cheeses. Ashbrook is a morbier style cheese (washed rind alpine, with an ash layer in the middle, traditionally this ash was used to protect the morning cheese from flies, allowing cheese makers to milk their cows twice in a day and make larger wheels of cheese). Made with raw cows milk Ashbrook is washed with a saltwater brine and aged for three months. 

Fritzenhaus Gruyere
This is a small production gruyere, and one of the only ones still produced 100% start to finish within the Gruyere AOP (local grass fed cows (within 4 km of the dairy), provide milk that cooked, set and aged within the region). Many larger producers either buy milk from other regions of switzerland or age the cheese within the region for the minimum number of months before shipping it off to a larger aging facility to finish. Gruyere is a cooked curd cheese, meaning the curdled milk is reheated, expelling additional whey and air. The cheese is then set, brined, and then aged fro 18-24 months. This is a big but subtle cheese with lots of complexities, nutty, earthy, and rich.

Local Arugula Salad
Little Leaf Farms arugual greens are mixed with frisee and then dressed with a smashed citrus vinaigrette (lemon segments, and orange segments, broken into pieces and mixed with brunoise shallots, lemon juice, pistachio oil, olive oil, lemon zest, orange zest, salt, and pepper). The dressed greens are plated on top of a parmesan crema, and garnished with bresaola (cured beef), shaved parmesan, pistachios, a pistachio and roasted garlic crisp (pistachio and garlic foccacia, shaved thin and toasted with olive oil and salt), and saba (also known as vin cotto, a cooked syrup made from grape must).