Gołąbki

My homeland is famous for bread, sausage and vodka. But those do not make for a cuisine of world renown.

A signature Polish food is (or more correctly, “are“) Gołąbki (go-WOHMB-kee). It literally means “little pigeons”. A good synopsis of the history of these little cabbage rolls is found here.

This sturdy farm food is both satisfying and very tasty. The variations are mostly in the stuffing but consist of a grain (typically barley, but also rice) and a meat or mushrooms. The sauces are either tomato- or mushroom based. In either case, the cabbage is a prominent component in the dish.

Poland, being considerably to the north of the 45th parallel is not wine country (with a few tiny exceptions). We grew grains and potatoes and found that those make a fine base for distilling liquor. And so, the culture of imbibing is very different. The average family (at least when I was growing up) would not have alcoholic beverages at the dinner table. Vodka is not part of every meal, but a bottle could liven up an evening when company was over, gathered around a nice spread on the coffee table. 50 ml shot glasses are raised in toast every so often – in between bites of cold cuts, bread, bigos, and pickled foods.

It has been said that a nation’s cuisine and beverages evolve together. While much of Poland’s distilleries produce rye and potato vodka (the only way to make it, as far I’m concerned – grapes are for wine and cognac), there is also Starka (an oak-aged liquor resembling whiskey) and malted vodkas like Siwucha or herb-infused vodkas like Żubrówka. In fact, these herbal vodkas go very well with some of the spices used in Polish foods – like the juniper berries in hunter sausage, for instance. They also go with the flavors in gołąbki.

My 80 year old grandmother prepared a few casseroles of gołąbki yesterday. My wife, Irene, licked her chops as they finshed baking while I scratched my head looking for a suitable beverage.

I’ve been on an absinthe kick of late, so I decided to try some Grande Absente (mixed half and half with ice water). Something about the licorice and herb aromas punctuated by a hint of lime and mint as well as a sage-like bitter note suggested itself to the cabbage leaves. Maybe it was that I knew the Argentine cabernet Irene wanted to try would just not work. Neither would any of the white wines in the wine bar – too clean and fruity for cabbage. Pinot grigio is too insipid for gołąbki and would not stand up to the flavors. Anything that had been heavily oaked, I expected, would make me give up in the meal altogether.

The pairing was successful. The herbs in the absinthe resonated with the spices and cabbage in the gołąbki. When I bring the galss of absinthe to my nose, with its delicate, pale honeydow-colored louche, there is a light, fresh sensation that reminds me of a herb garden after a rain. It’s very clean, green and feminine. It makes for a nice synergy of flavors without being overwhelming of distractin. The key is to dilute this 138 proof doozy. This makes it less of a licorice bomb and brings out the herbal nuances.

I also praised myself for skipping the sugar in the absinthe. I suspect that if had I done so, it may not have been as bad as pairing it with the plump cabernet but it may not have been so focused and powerful of a synergy of spices and herbs.

I suspect a retsina, a vin jaune or even a chardonnay that is on the decline (and maybe a tinge oxidized) would do splendidly with these wines. A dry white sparkling wine (cava or cremant) would do as well. I would stay away from reds when pairing this dish. The problem with red wines these days is that they are too rich, sweet and syrupy. If you find one, say a Chinon, that has delicate tannins and a nice vegetal edge, I’d bet it might work too.

Now, I’ve no doubt they were able to fill our coveted 5:30pm slot. You know, the one normally reserved for those over 65 and usually found at a deli in Boca. Still, it felt good.

I’m surely not the first person to write about this phenomenon, the two choice reservation. Go ahead, try this. Pick up the phone and call (insert hot restaurant here) to reserve a table. In the case of either Mozza option, this of course must be done a month in advance, and only after 10am. For those fond of radio station contests this will feel familiar.

Lets say you get through and even manage to make one of the people answering the phone (those with personality need not apply) check the book for your choice night in question. And lets also say, for the sake of fantasy that you are able to make a reservation for said month hence (because really, who doesn’t like planning that far ahead?). If the planets have aligned, I guarantee you will be given two options, 5:30pm or 9:30pm.

Cue: Muffled, snickering laughter from the corner of Highland & Melrose.

What Robot #1 doesn’t know is that my preferred reservation time is 5:30 (I have kids and often times want to go to a movie afterwards – a la Vicky Cristina Barcelona). So what if my wife and I, along with a few friends, have to dine before the valets come on duty (there’s plenty of street parking on Melrose), or while our table is still being set around us? As long as the lights are on and the ovens are lit, we’re happy.

But this does prompt the question, who does get to eat at these places at 8pm? Do us little people come in for the early bird mugging (see: your bill), only to be swept out back while the limos and Bentley’s pull up curbside, where (insert celebrity couple here) are whisked to their tables to eat at a normal hour. And once they finish their meals and exit, I’m thinking three guys with metal detectors comb the room for loose diamonds and gold dubloons, while the staff gets ready for the starving class to crawl in at 9:30, who’s only sustenance prior to dining was four red vines.

Who’s with me on this conspiracy?

The real moral of this story though is that Saturday night, with no fanfare whatsoever, I logged onto Open Table at 4:30 *that* day and secured a 7:00pm reservation at one of the best, most romantic places in town, Locanda Veneta. I’d link them but they’re so hip, I don’t think they have a website anymore. They don’t need one.

Those in the know (maybe I really am an LA Foodie hipster) already eat their regularly, and now you can too…

P.S. In case the staff at Mozza is reading this (Cue: Snickering laughter from the entire world), the food at both places is truly special and I will continue dining there at 5:30 any chance I get.

Vessia

Being as we’re not long for this part of California (we’re moving 50 miles to the north in a few weeks), we wanted to take advantage of a little time and visit one of our favorite restaurants: Vessia, in Irvine. We go often enough to be regulars but don’t get a “Hi Norm!”, nor does the staff chatter excitedly in hushed voices: “THEY‘re here” when we walk in. I am totally fine with that.

I do not intend to start writing restaurant reviews. And this is not meant to be a review of Vessia, but we are fond of the place. It’s big, but cozy feeling and the food is great. The wine list emphasizes Italian wines and is pretty nice for a bedroom community.

We have never had anyone introduce themselves as the sommellier, but the wine service has never been lacking: They decant at the table. If there is a problem with the wine, they whisk it away and bring another bottle. No questions. No arguments. If the wine is too warm, they chill the bottle. But they can’t do that without us telling them what we like or need. The servers taste all wines on the list and they do get some training as well.

We’ve had some awkward and even bad wine service in the past. It happens. On occasion, you get a server who is a jerk (or is having a bad day) and some restaurants have crappy wine service. If the place is not geared towards being attentive (in spite of its pricing), we speak up – politely. If there is a problem, I find that most restaurant staff (servers and management) are accommodating. If the staff disregards our concerns, we let our money do the talking when it’s time to pay and do not return to those places. We work hard for our money and don’t like throwing it away on a bad time and bad service. If we want a nice wine-and-dine experience, we go elsewhere. It’s that simple.

For our time in Irvine, we have been glad to have Vessia in our neighborhood.

My idea for this site stems from the LA Times ditching regular local wine coverage.

One thing I was thinking about doing is a hybrid site like http://foodandwineblog.com/ that covers wine and food in LA but looks at the more obscure or atypical angle: a-la Tony Bourdain meets “Bizarre Foods” with Andrew Zimmern.

We could cover wine events, restaurants, tastings bars, etc – whatever we define as the format of the site.

Let’s use the comments section below to talk about ideas and possibilities.

This site can be reached with these URLs:

www.wine-la.com and www.la-wine.com

Whatever the format of this site will be (as a product of our collaboration) I would like this site to fill the void in food and wine writing that the LA Times recently created.

Another point I’d like to bring up is what to we want to accomplish with this site?

• Do we want a casual community blog that chronicles our experiences and foibles in wine and offers opinion-driven content from enthusiast-authors?

• Do we want something with a journalistic culture, an editorial direction and with potential permanence – a journalistic serious player that follows these principles: http://www.redwinebuzz.com/faq.htm#wiaip?

Let’s see where we go with this.