2015 Encostas do Lima Vinho Verde Rosé $9/36

Where: Ponte de Lima, Minho (Vinho Verde wine region), Portugal

Who: Coop:  Cooperativa de Ponte de Lima

What: 75% Souzão, 15% Borraçal (which is also known as Caino Tinto) and 10% Espadeiro

Tastes like: Fruity, strawberries, cherries and red berry fruits--quite dry despite the “off dry” designation. Slightly effervescent

What to pair with: Summer

Sorry guys, there is literally zero information available online for this wine. But check out the town it comes from! Ponte= Bridge Lima= a river. It’s the bridge over the river Lima, the second most northern river in Portugal (the most northern is Minho, which is the border with Galicia).  

Soda Garnishes

Hi team,

I want to clarify both the life cycle of garnish fruit, and the appropriate garnishes. Servers cut fruit every day for the service stations, but don't use a ton of it, so at the end of the evening, that fruit should be given to the bar so that they can use it the next day and not have it go bad or get reused over and over again.

Additionally, garnishes for n/a beverages are as follow:

Lime: Diet Coke, Soda Water, Tonic, Soda Cranberry
Lemon: Iced Tea, Arnold Palmer
Nothing: Coke, Lemonade, Sprite, Rootbeer, Gingerale

There's only a need to modify the ticket if your guest would like something different. Please not the difference between a coke and a diet coke: this should be the non-verbal cue for refill--if it has a lime, it's diet. Obviously still check with the guest or the server if it's not your table, but it should make it easier. 

2013 Scagliola Barbera “Mati”

2013 Scagliola Barbera “Mati”

Where: Piedmont, Italy (Calosso Province of Asti at 400 metres)
Who: Scagliola
What: 100% Barbera
Tastes like: Juicy unoaked red. Lots of cherries and other red fruits. Very fresh, very drinkable
What to pair with: Awesome on it’s own or with lighter meat dishes.

The Scagliola estate is located on a hill at San Siro in Calosso, a small village in southern Piedmont, on the last hills of Monferrato, on the edge of the Langhe. A bit of sand, some layers of marl and a good dose of limestone characterize the soil. The estate is run by the brothers Maggiorino and Mario Scagliola and was started by their grandfather in 1945.
Mario is in charge of the winery. The previous generations were growers selling their wines in bulk. From 1980 onwards, the Scagliola brothers started investing in facilities to bottle Moscato wines and subsequently added rotofermenters for red wines. The facilities are state of the art and new buildings and machinery are added continuously to allow for growth.
Maggiorino is in charge of the vineyards. The winery currently cultivates 28 hectares of Barbera, Moscato, Brachetto, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Dolcetto and merlot grapes.

Barbera Mati
100% Barbera from 30 year old vines
Is "Mati" the dog or the little girl? Short for Mathilde, it is frequently used as a name for either in Piedmont. Like either "Mati", this barbera is young and energetic. Made in stainless steel with a small percentage of the Frem (aged in large Slavonian oak barrels), its fresh fruits and zestiness match well to everyday foods and snacks.
Around 2500 cases produced.

2015 Ostatu Blanco

2015 Ostatu Blanco

Where: Rioja Alavesa, Rioja, Spain
Who: Iñigo Saenz de Samaniego
What: 90% Viura, 10% Malvasia
Tastes like: Creamy medium body white with nice acidity. Lots of citrus and slightly herbaceous. No oak
What to pair with: Chicken, rabbit, pesto, cheese.

Bodegas Ostatu is a family winery located in the heart of the Rioja Alavesa region in the town of Samaniego. The Saenz de Samaniego family has been in the area for many generations. The winery dates back over two hundred and fifty years. The vineyards, which are protected by the Sierra de Cantabria range, are composed of chalk and clay and the average age of the vines is 50 years. The estate is comprised of over forty hectares of vines located in and around the town of Samaniego. The poor soils and the unique location at the foot of this mountain range together create a special microclimate that is very favorable to the Tempranillo grape.

PATIO SERVER STATION SET-UP

Hi team!

Our patio service stations are even more visible than the indoor ones, so we need to be extra careful with the set up. As follows:

The green station should be for clean things only:

In that station: 

- a box for roll ups (needs to stay there even if we are out of roll ups, as we bring roll ups back from tables after seating them and don't want the roll ups just seating on the rack.
- a box with "loosie" silverware. under the loosies: folded napkins for guests who need an extra!

- stacks of plates
- mise trays (not pictured)
- water pitchers (with the napkin folded over--not pictured)
- tray with glasses full of water. This is something we should be doing only during super rush hour. It doesn't look good, plus the water gets warm. I understand it needs to happen sometimes, but not always.

On the other hand, look what we've got!:

 Yep, that's an ice chest, full of ice (two buckets) and several water bottles with caps. The caps are re-used wine caps and should definitely not go to the tables. put them in the handy container to be re-used. Don't throw any out! Also, there is a bucket under the ice chest to collect the melted ice. Needs to be emptied at the end of the night, and checked again in the morning.

Now for the "other station":

This is where all the less clean things go. Please make it as neat as possible, and make sure we always have:

- Trash can on the left

- Recycling on the right

- a bus bucket and space for boards

- sanitizer and a container for rillettes/torta jars. 

- a stash of clean folded kitchen towels (on the left)

- one (or two) "in use" kitchen towels (on the right)

- one (or two) spray bottles

- a box for soiled linens

- a stack of check presenters, pens, trays

Also, one of these:

There is now one of these in every station. It should be self explanatory: it keeps signed receipts so that we don't loose so many, it also frees up more books to go to the tables. Do I even have to say this?: don't take these to tables!!

One more thing: please don't keep personal beverages in the patio server stations. A water bottle in the ice chest is fine, everything else should be in the inside station. It's hard enough to keep the space clean without a million starbucks cups. 

Happy Patio Season!

New Spring Items (Dinner)

Burrata
Burrata is a stuffed mozzarella, ours is being made in house using mozzarella curd, that is stretched, and then stuffed with a house made ricotta cheese (milk, cream, citric acid, salt), and then soaked in a brine made from salt, heavy cream, and buttermilk. The burrata is plated with grilled asparagus, grilled spring garlic, and a fava bean gremolata (Fava Beans, Hazelnuts, Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, Garlic, Olive Oil, and chili flake). Finished with olio verde and sea salt.

Fettuccine
Fettuccine is a long thin flat noodle (00 pasta flour, durum flour, eggs, and egg yolk), the cooked pasta is tossed with a lamb ragu (lamb shoulder, lamb stock, buttermilk, white wine, garlic, rosemary, sage, black pepper, coriander, black & white anchovies). The pasta is tossed with grilled pea greens, butter, lemon, olio verde and pecorino cheese.

Foie Gras Garnish 

Rhubarb Conserva made from rhubarb, poached in riesling, white wine vinegar, salt sugar, bay leaf thyme and black pepper, thickened with pectin. 

Project X $8

This cheese is a collaborative effort between Murray’s cheese in NYC and Spring brook farm in Vt. Spring Brook Farms is a non-profit project that teaches urban children about “where food comes from”. Project X is a raw cow’s milk cheese made in a tomme style (low in salt, and fat, pressed).  The unaged cheese is then shipped to Murray’s in NY where it is rubbed with fennel pollen and then washed repeatedly with gewurztraminer. The cheese is then aged for 4 months in Murray’s caves. The result is semi firm, and moist with notes of walnuts and anise. 

Hudson Flower $7

Inspired by a classic corsican cheese this is another collaborative effort, this time between murray’s and Old Chatham Sheepherding company in Old Chatham NY. The pasteurized sheep’s milk cheese is again shipped unaged to Murray’s where it’s rubbed with fragrant herbs from upstate NY, including ( hop flowers, rosemary, elderberry, and lemon verbena. The cheese is aged for 4-6 weeks where it developes a bloomy rind and a creamy paste near the exterior. Herbacious and bright, perfect spring cheese.

Bucheron $7

This classic french goat’s milk cheese from the loire valley is one of the first french goat cheese ever imported to the US. This is a classic chevre style cheese that’s aged for 6-10 weeks. The bloomy rind creates an oozy texture near the exterior, but the inside remains fluffy and lemony. 

Lunch Menu Changes 4/12/2016

Beer Braised Pork Belly
Pork Belly is seasoned overnight with salt, sugar, juniper, and mustard, then braised for 9 hours with trillium IPA, bay leaf, and thyme. The Belly is seared to order and glazed with some of the braising liquid. Also on the bread is camembert cheese (a french bloomy rinded cheese), and a salad of quick pickled fennel (fennel, salt, sugar), sliced spring onion tops, red frill mustard greens, dressed with a pickled mustard seed vinaigrette (pickled mustard seeds, malt vinegar, olive oil).

Lamb Porchetta
We’re using lamb shoulders, deboned, brined for three days, then seasoned with a middle eastern spice blend (including, coriander, cumin, caraway, thyme, paprika, aleppo, and mustard). The seasoned lamb is trussed into log shape and cooked in the combi oven, then grilled to order. Also on the bread is a chickpea passata (dried chickpeas, grilled lemon, greek yogurt), and a salad made from quick pickled cucumber and radishes (cucumbers, radish, salt, sugar, garlic, chili flake, dill, and coriander), and pea greens, dressed in a harissa vinaigrette (grilled lemons, harissa, water, olive oil, white wine vinegar, honey).

Pizza Fratelli
This pizza has an olive oil base and is topped with house italian sausage (pork, beef, pork fat, garlic, fennel, aleppo, smoked paprika, oregano and red wine), provolone cheese, mozzarella, roasted mushrooms, red onion, and pizza sauce. The cooked pizza is garnished with oregano, parmesan, and olive oil.

Pate Provencal
This is made in the style of a pate de campagne, and spiced with provencal flavors. The pate itself is pork shoulder, ground with roasted shallots, Garlic, salt, pepper, herbes de provence (rosemary, thyme, lavender, savory), rose wine, and house rose vinegar). The pate is wrapped with ventreche, a french style bacon made from pork belly seasoned with salt, sugar, and herbes de provence, allow to rest for 1 week before cooking. The pate is cooked, pressed overnight, sliced, and seasoned with citrus salt and olio verde.

Baby Kale Salad
Baby kale, along with tarragon, basil, and parsley, is dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. Garnishing the salad are pickled ramps (red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, water, sugar, salt), grilled asparagus, a 6 minute egg, a pecorino dressing (pecorino cheese, water, olive oil, pepper), and a oat and walnut crumble (oats, flour, walnuts, salt, sugar, butter, and walnut oil)

Chef’s Choice Board
This is intended to be a rotating board, with a selection of two house made meats and one cheese, plus seasonal pickled vegetables and mesclun greens. This will change daily.