What
makes a wine "corked?"
A wine is considered "corked"
when it has a dank, moldy, underground aroma that reminds you
of wet cardboard. It's quite noticeable. It comes from a fungus, called
2,4,6 tricloroanisole or TCA, that can afflict natural corks,
which wineries have used to close bottles for hundreds of years. Your odds of getting a bottle that's corked are about 1
in  22. And price has no bearing. That $500 Chateau Palmer is
as likely to be corked as any $20 California Merlot. So grin
and bear it, but make sure you're not forced [by a sommelier
who lacks knowledge] to drink it! Oh yes, a wine that has fragments
of cork floating in it is no more likely to be "corked"
than any other wine. That's probably just from a careless uncorking
of the bottle.
What's the long term solution? Well, how
do you feel about synthetic corks? Because we may be headed down
that road. Me? Well, I'm a traditionalist. Any wine that's closed
with plastic or synthetic cork reminds me too much of Boonesfarm!
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Musings
about town
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Railroad BBQ Brought home some fare from the
Railroad BBQ the other night. It's in the town of
Manchaca near Buda. The food was OK [although the sausage
was tough]. But I asked where the onions, pickles, bread, et.
al, were and the server told me that the owner was now "charging"
for these items. Can you believe it? That borders on being downright
non Texan [not to mention penny wise and pound foolish]!! Last
time I go back there till they lose that rule.
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Cool River
If the women get any better looking at
new Parmer Lane steakhouse Cool River,
they're going to have to open up a "cool down"
room next to the Cigar Room. Speaking of women, how many Austin
men have told their wives or girlfriends that they really go
clubs like The Yellow Rose, Sugar's, or Expose for lunch because
the food is so good and inexpensive? And how many times do the
wives and girlfriends derisively respond: "yeah, sure!.
And you read Playboy for the stories." Well, the truth is
that the food is good at all three, exceptionally good at times,
and reasonable. Isn't life full of irony?
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P.F. Chang's
I
love P.F. Chang's [at the Arboretum] but this
yin/yang thing they have going with salt and pepper is a bit
much. I asked my server for cracked ground pepper for my Dan
Dan Noodles. He said that they
had no pepper and that the red chili oil [already on the
table] would give me my pepper fix. WRONG. I finally prevailed
and my waiter spent ten minutes hunting down some pepper in the
kitchen. He came out carrying it like Moses carrying the golden
tablets down from the mountain. "That's all we have,"
he said carefully. Gimmeabreak!
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...Was having breakfast at a very sophisticated
and pricey downtown eatery last week. Seated next top me was
one of the top dogs of the establishment. And wouldn't you know
it, as I finished my waffle, I bit down on a substantial chunk
of plastic. My companion was nonplussed, to say the least. He
was, for a second or two, speechless. Imagine, sitting
there with the food critic and have some thing like that occur.
Just goes to show you.
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El Sol y La Luna
Heard that Gladiator superstar Russell
Crowe became quite fond of El Sol y La Luna
[on South Congress near the School for the Deaf] on his recent
trip to Austin to play Stubbs BBQ with his rock band. Have to
agree. Their gorditas and shrimp enchiladas are amazing!
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Stonehouse
You've
got to check out the Stonehouse on Burnet. Great little spot. That's
next in line for my stalwart group of pals, the Gonzo Gourmet
Club. You may have heard me discuss them from time to time in
my reviews on FOX 7 TV or KLBJ-AM. The name's borrowed from Gonzo
journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson [Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas]. Our motto is "there is nothing wrong."
Members besides yours truly include Mike "Condo" Conderla,
former sports talk host on KJFK-FM [and now high tech mogul],
Hugh Lewis, of KVET-AM The Zone [sports radio station] and UT
head baseball coach Augie Garrido [three national championships
and a wine lover to boot]. Our evenings, are, shall we say, interesting.
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Locally owned
One thing we can all be thankful for
in the River city: locally owned and operated restaurants
are still coming on line around town. I don't know about you,
but this trend toward the "franchise with the local flavor"
thing has about warn out its welcome with me. I want to dine
at a restaurant where someone older than 20 is running the place. La Traviata
is a good example of the owner/operator trend being alive and
well in Austin. So is Tocai.
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Diningoutwithrobbalon.com will
keep you appraised of all new locally owned spots we find and
enjoy.
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Coming soon to diningoutwithrobbalon.com: interactive features where you can vote
on your favorite chefs, or waiters, or restaurants. We will expand
the Gonzo Gourmet Club to several hundred members and have an
enormous dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. The event
will be broadcast live on the site from our "gourmet cam".
See you soon. |
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