Foodie Lifestyle by Imtiaz Patel

It’s been a while since I wrote about one of our wine tasting nights. Last month we did martini’s instead of wine but this month we’re back on track again. The way this works is that we are four couples in our self made wine club and we rotate through a different couple’s home once a month (though a lot more regularly lately). The host couple gets to decide the wine theme and food theme for the night and everyone brings 2 bottles plus 1 dish consistent with the theme. We started this back in October last year and it’s something we all look forward to very much.

This time around we were at my place and we’d selected Bordeaux’s plus grilled food. We tried 8 Bordeaux’s and then hit my collection for an excellent Priorat (I love Priorats) and a Napa Cab. We did have 4 guest attendees, we usually do though the core of the group is the 4 couples.

My love affair with wine started just a few years ago and has been much more serious in the last 2 years. As a result I really haven’t made it around the wine world. I started on California Cabs and gradually moved on from there, trying different wines and developing my palette. The wine club has been a great way to accelerate the learning. I have never really tried much Bordeaux and I must say I like it, though not as much as I like Cabs, Rioja or my favorite Priorat.

Onto the wine (in order of tasting):

1. Chateau Cote Du Baleau, Saint Emilian Grand Cru, 2005 - Generally rated as good. It had an initial bitter taste and a very long flavor profile with the flavor moving from the sides of the tongue to the center. Leen thought the wine was a little corked, she probably has the most sensitive palette and sense of smell.

2. Chateau Saint Marie, 2006 - good, smooth, but the 1st wine was better

3. Chateau Pierrail, 2006 - good, best so far. It was a smooth cab like wine

4. Cheval Noir Grand Vin, 2003 - This was rated as just ok, a classification just above “doable”.

5. Chateau Saint Michel, 2005 - Considered to be good, almost very good. Thank you Shailesh & Divya

6. Chateau Du Moulin Rouge, Haute Med, 2005 - This wine was doable/ok. Not worth buying really.

7. Chateau Beaumont, Haut Medoc, 2001 - worst wine of the night, also the most expensive. Rated as stinky

8. Chateau Mont-Perat, 2003 - rated as doable

That was the Bordeaux’s. We still had some steam left in us so with help from my gorgeous neighbours (the women, not the guys - Divya was looking pretty hot!), we selected 2 more wines from my collection.

9. Masperla, Priorat, 2005 - this is a 94 point Robert Parker rated wine and it’s fabulous. If you’ve never tried Priorats you have to try them. The only downside is that they are expensive. It’s more of an indulgence wine.

10. Anderson Conn Valley Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 - This is another highly rated wine and is an excellent example of a good Napa Cab.

The Bordeaux’s ranged in price from $15-$25. That’s typically of our wine club selections.

The food last night was great too, nothing was bad. We had whole leg of lamb, jerk chicken, chicken kebabs, ribeye, cheesecake and watermelon.

Another fabulous night, good friends, good wine and food.

Tags: Bordeaux Wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, California Wines, Napa, Priorat, Red Wine, Spanish Wine
Posted in: Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Wine, Wine by Imtiaz Patel
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I went to Buddakan a few weeks ago because Dale, one of the contestants on Top Chef was a chef at the restaurant. His food seemed really interesting and inventive so I figured I should check it out. Talking about Top Chef, is there a more georgeous woman on TV than Padma Lakshmi? That’s another blog I may write sometime.

The food at Buddakan is asian, but modern asian - basically asian fusion. Buddakan also has locations in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. As is obligatory, I checked out the Zagat review just in case it was lousy, which it wasn’t. Getting a reservation 24 hours before dinner was pretty easy.

Buddakan is one of those cool, trendy places where the staff and patrons are pretty attractive. It seems to be more about the cool and trendy, a place to be seen at the bar rather than the food. The restaurant itself is a huge space, even the hostess space is like a trendy hotel lobby.

After a martini at the bar while we waited for Michelle, we were escorted to our table. From my other posts, you’ll know that I like to try a bunch of things rather than being boring and just having 1 thing so we ordered a number of appetizers and mains which we shared. Our waiter was extremely helpful in helping us decide what to order and we were not steered wrong. The steak, cod and short rib were all excellent - tasty and perfectly cooked. The steak was probably the worst thing we had and it was pretty good. The cod was outstanding. We shared a couple of desserts which too were good.

Overall the food was better than I had expected and it was also very reasonably priced - all in all a very good experience and one I will repeat.

Tags: Asian Restaurants, New York Restaurants
Posted in: NY Restaurants, Restaurants by Imtiaz Patel
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Anyone who has been to Delhi and eaten at Bukhara at The Maurya Sheraton hotel realises how good Indian food can be. The food at Bukhara is referred to as northwest frontier cuisine (the border between Pakistan & Afghanistan) with lots of succulent, melt in your mouth kebabs cooked in a tandoor. These are quite simply the best kebabs in the world. Bukhara has been voted one of the best restaurants in the world.

I have only been once, way back in early 1993 and since then I have been hoping they opened a location in New York. There have been other restaurants by the same name but that’s all they were. Well, finally it looks like my quest is over. While Bukhara hasn’t opened a New York branch, a former chef from Bukhara has recreated the menu at Yuva and when I heard this, I had to go try it out.

A couple of weeks ago during Restaurant week, Kedar and I were looking for somewhere to go, some new restaurant to try. He sent me a short list of restaurants with brief descriptions and in that list was Yuva. As soon as I read that the chef was formerly at Bukhara, that was our choice.

We checked out the restaurant week menu and it looked good but after perusing their regular menu we both had to order the Yuva platter which included 2 types of chicken, 2 types of lamb, shrimp and afghani kebab. Basically this was a mixed grill. And…it was amazing. The meat was the most tender, ever and tasty too. At lesser restaurants, the meet is overcooked and dry and also overwhelmed by the spices. Not so here. Should I say it was perfect? We had another in our party who ordered daal and lamb in a cashew sauce - also amazing.

The restaurant itself is a little small and service is slow, actually too slow but these don’t detract too much from the food. Located on East 58th street it is next to Chola and Dawat, both good indian restaurants.

Yuva, along with Devi has become my favorite Indian restaurant.

Tags: Bukhara Restaurant, Indian Restaurants, New York Restaurant
Posted in: NY Restaurants, Restaurants by Imtiaz Patel
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For the last few years I have resisted going to Mediterra, ever since I had lunch there once. The burger I had wasn’t great and the service was worse. I’m happy to report that things were way better this time around. I try to give restaurants atleast 2 tries, especially if during my first visit I didn’t try the specialties of the house.

It was late in the evening and I wanted to have dinner where I could sit outside and enjoy the weather. Mediterra is located just by Palmer Square on Hulfish Street in a great location so I surpressed my original opinions of the place and decided to go there. Mediterra bills itself as a casual, upscale restaurant serving food from the 21 countries surrounding the mediterranean.

We were three for dinner and were seated outside. The weather was just perfect. The only annoying thing was a lone diner on the table next to us who spent most of dinner talking loudly on his phone and then yelling across to some people he knew as they walked by. Boy was he annoying as hell. I think cell phones should be banned in restaurants, though I did get a call and quickly ended it, probably in under 30 seconds.

For once I decided to skip the appetizers and just eat the main course. I need to watch the calories! I ordered the Paella which was excellent. Just the right size portion and perfectly seasoned and flavored. One of our party ordered the cod which he said was excellent. The 3rd in our party wanted to go off menu and got a bespoke pasta dish which the chef was happy to do. That too was very good. I had a red wine sangria to acoompany my meal, very refreshing.

Live music was playing at the restaurant. It wasn’t too loud and quite pleasant. Our waiter, Pedro was very attentive and chatty. He took his job seriously which is what I like to see. He was so eagar to make sure everything was perfect. We skipped dessert and went somewhere else for some excellent ice cream. Dinner for 3 turned out to be under $70. Great value.

I may have to start changing my opinion of Princeton area restaurants.

http://www.terramomo.com/restaurant/mediterra/index.html

Tags: Mediterranean, Palmer Square, princeton restaurant
Posted in: NJ Restaurants, Restaurants by Imtiaz Patel
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Since the last days of school are easy my family decided to take a trip to the mall and I met them there. We decided to eat at the restaurant called McCormick & Schmick’s at the Bridgewater Commons restaurant. The restaurant seemed smaller then I remembered it the last time we went there. We picked the 4 person booth, for a more cozy experience, to eat our meal. The menu had the day and date on it signifying that they prepare a new menu everyday depending on the fresh fish of the day. The wine menu on the reverse offered a variety of choices to match the choice of food. Divya ordered the Chateau Michelle Riesling and I ordered a Sam Adams. For Appetizers, we decided to order the Large Sampler of the Oysters and we decided to rate them so that the next time we come we can get that plate. My daughter’s Meghan and Isha passed on the Oysters but enjoyed a bowl of the Seafood and Corn Chowder which was a delight.

-Hama-Hama Oysters - A little fishy for us.
-Chiconteague Oysters - Good
-Blue Diamond Oysters - Good
-Salty Aire Oysters - Very Good
-Jorstad Creek Oysters - Doable
-Blue Bayon Oysters - good size and better than good.

Verdict the next time we will order the Salty Aire Oysters or the Blue Bayon.

Since we do not have a very large appetite we decided to share three entrees.
Isha tried the Fried Shrimp Platter which came with fries and a cocktail sauce. The shrimp was cooked just right and the batter was crispy the fries complimented the shrimp perfectly.

Meghan decided on the Crab Cake Duo which we also enjoyed but we felt we have had better at the Cheesecake Factory which will be my next review.
Lastly my wife Divya and I decided on the Miso Cod Kodiak Alaska, which I must admit we absolutely loved. The Cod reminded me of the Chilean Sea Bass and it was moist and flakey. It came with some crispy fresh leafy vegetables and a lemon flavored sauce to me mind it was the best dish we ordered. This is a very upscale sea food restaurant and I am sure we will visit it again soon.

Review by guest reviewer Shailesh.

Tags: central new jersey restaurant, seafood restaurant
Posted in: NJ Restaurants, Restaurants, Uncategorized by Imtiaz Patel
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We had another get together for the neighborhood wine club this past Friday. This time our hosts were Johan and Leen. As is customary with our wine club, the host determines the varietal of wine we’ll be drinking and also the food theme for the evening. Everyone then supplies 1-2 bottles of wine and a dish. They selected Rioja’s and Tapas.

While I have had some Rioja’s, I really haven’t had them since I started getting serious about wine. That’s the great thing about the wine club - it forces you to try different wines and appreciate the differences between them. We all look forward to these evenings which have now been going on for about 6 or 7 months.

My general feeling after Friday night is that I need to drink more Rioja’s and add them to my wine collection which is now around 150 bottles (mainly cabs and syrah’s). We tried a number of Reserva’s and Crianza’s, with the reservas being better than the crianza’s as they should be. I had never really appreciated how wonderfully complex and tasty rioja’s can be.

On to the specific wines:

1. Palacio Quemado, Reserva 2001 - soft, smooth, strong flavor and nose and rated as good. One of the best of the night.

2. Herederos Del Marques De Riscal Reserva, 2003 - we ended with all 4 couples buying this wine. This has never happened before. We decided to drink 2 and swap out the other 2. This wine had a strong nose, not as smooth as the first wine, bolder taste, a little smokiness. Was considered the favorite of the night by a few people.

3. Marques De Vargas, Reserva, 2003 - Strong bouquet, unbelievable legs, rated as good too.

4. Ursa Maior, Crianza, 2004 - a little sour, rated just ok.

5. Marques De Caceres, Crianza, 2004 - light body, not really memorable, just ok, not bad for casual drink.

6. Primavera, Bairrada, 2003 - not a rioja (we swapped it out for #2). Rated stiinky, the worst wine of the night.

7. D’arenberg McLaren Vale d’arry’s original, Shiraz Grenache, 2004 - this is an Australian winery that produces great wines which range in price from $15 to $100. This particualr wine was good, even folks who didn’t like shiraz’s liked this one.

8. Terra Barossa, Shiraz, 2006 - An ok wine, the D’arenberg was much better.

Once again we had a great eveining with friends, good wine and food. I really like this neighborhood - what more could you want?

Tags: Red Wine, Rioja, Shiraz, Spanish Wine, Wine
Posted in: Red Wine, Wine by Imtiaz Patel
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East is an asian restuarnt that serves a pretty large menu of Chinese and Sushi items. Occassionally it also serves some Thai items too. The restaurant hasn’t been open too long, located in Plainsboro Village Center. I was pretty excited to try the place because I have been looking for a sushi place close to work - somewhere I could get to and from quickly during lunch.

The restauarant is nice and bright and very clean, though the tables are really small. I think they can barely fit 2 entrees and drinks. I went in a party consisting of my 2 kids, 2 neices and my wife. We all tried something different. The kids had chicken lo mein and hot & sour soup, the girls had fried sushi (i’d never heard of such a thing until this lunch - there’s something very wrong with having friend sushi!), I had traditional sushi, including a spicy tuna roll and hand roll and my wife had some thai noodles. The soup was good, lo mein was awful, the thai noodles not so good, the fried sushi was overwhelmed with a sticky brown, sweet sauce and my sushi was acceptable, though knife skills leave a little to be desired.

The servers were eagar to please though english seemed to be an issue for our waitress. I was worried I wasn’t going to get what I had ordered.

The restaurant was pretty busy for a late saturday lunch so it appears to have built up somewhat of a following pretty quickly. I’ll probably go back once to try the chinese items, but on current form we now have another bad chinese addition to New Jersey - like we need any more! For sushi, I’ll just stick to Whole Foods for now.

Tags: Chinese, Princeton Restauarnt, Sushi, thai
Posted in: NJ Restaurants, Restaurants by Imtiaz Patel
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I picked up a case of this wine a couple of days ago, splitting it with my neighbors. I had read about it in an email from the Wine Library and it sounded worth trying, especially considering the price which was under $12 for a Napa Valley cab. I needed an everyday cab since I was running low in the sub $20 wines. I expected a decent wine, nothing to write home about but I was pleasantly surprised. It was more than I was expecting for $12. The wine is smooth, lots of fruity flavor - plums and berries, a little on the sweet side though not a great nose. This is a wine that compares well to wines in the $20-$25 range. It's a good wine to just sip casually sitting at home.

Here are the tasting notes from The Wine Libray:

"Too good to be true? Think again! Yes, this is high quality Napa Cabernet for only $12! Ripe with great strawberry, raspberry, black currants, plums and black berry, with great tannins and a long, dusty finish. This is a must try! Fans of Twenty Bench and Franciscan will love this!"

Here's a link to buy it:

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=38933

Tags: Cabernet Sauvignon, NApa Valley, Red Wine
Posted in: Red Wine, Uncategorized, Wine by Imtiaz Patel
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So I finally got over to Stage Left last Friday to try their cheeseburger which is modestly called “The World’s Best Cheeseburger”. I heard about the cheeseburger at Stage Left in New Brunswick probably three years ago and since then I have been thinking about going to try it. The problem is that they serve it for lunch only and they are only open on Friday for lunch. Plus, it isn’t exactly conveniently located to my office so I can’t go and have lunch there unless I want to take a two hour lunch. Though I did learn that they serve it at the bar in the evening too.

I have always been on a quest to find a great cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers but the guilt associated with the calories, saturated fat and the carbs (well you have to eat fries with a burger!) mean that I only eat a burger when I know that it will be good enough to compensate for the guilt. The problem with most burgers is the excessivelly sized bun where the bread overwhelms the meat, or an under-seasoned patty or something that is just a sloppy mess. My reigning favorite was the burger at Union Square Cafe but the Stage Left burger is probably as close to perfection as you’re going to get.

First off, this burger makes an entrance - it looks intimidating. The patty is massive. As you sit there contemplating it you think to yourself that there is no way this thing will fit in your mouth and how the heck can you finish it? Trust me you can, or atleast you’ll want to. It comes covered in aged cheddar and excellent bacon, onion, lettuce and tomato. The burger was perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. The bun was even perfect - not too big, slightly toasted and just right. From the first bite of the burger you just realize how good this burger is. Perfection extends beyond the burger to the fries. Calling them fries seems like an injustice. They are massive chunks of fried potato slices and boy are they good. The burger and fries are $16 and well worth it.

I have truly found my burger.

Tags: Burger, central new jersey restaurant, New Brunswick
Posted in: NJ Restaurants, Restaurants by Imtiaz Patel
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This past Friday our monthly wine club got together at David & Noreen’s. As is our custom, the host decides what wine selection we will be drinking and also what food everyone needs to bring. This was our night for red zinfandels.

We tried a selection of 7 different wines. I got serious about wine about 18 months ago, starting with California cabs, syrahs and pinot noirs so have not really been familiar with red zins. The great thing about the wine club is that rather than being stuck with a particular type of wine, we end up trying a lot of different varietals based on everyone’s tastes. You end up really learning what you like and don’t. It’s a great way to explore the confusing world of wine. Also a great way to bond with your neighbours.

Onto the wine:

1. Cheyanna, 2004, Napa Valley - good, light wine. Great value at $10, make that amazing value. This wine had a 92 rating from Wine Advocate. Best of the night.

2. Hartford, 2005, Russian Valley - another good wine, but not as good as the first wine. Also much more expensive at $24.

3. Neal Family Winery, 2006, Napa - stronger, fuller flavor than the previous 2 wines, more like what I was expecting from a red zin. Another wine that cost $24. This wine was ok.

4. Earthquake, 2005 - A very heavy, strong wine. Even the bottle was heavy! Rated as just ok.

5. Cline, 2006 - This wine was $15 and rated the worst of the night. It was a struggle finishing this wine. Probably our first stinky wine of the wine club - sorry Johan.

6. Farleigh, 2004 - This wine has grapes from 2 counties in California, with 50% coming from Mendocino and the other 50% from Amador. This wine is decently rated though we thought it was just ok. It cost around $10.

7. Seghesio, 2006 - We rated this as just doable which falls below ok and above stinky.

The surprising thing is that the wines were pretty erratic in their quality, with price not really being a good indicator. The best wine cost only $10 and some of the more expensive wines were just ok.

We next meet at Leen and Johan’s in a few weeks. The plan is to try a bunch of Rioja’s.

Tags: NApa Valley, Red Wine, Russian Valley, Wine, Zinfandel
Posted in: Red Wine, Wine by Imtiaz Patel
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