Posts from — April 2008

“Poco, ma Buono,” in Italian, literally, “Little, but Good,” is a deceptively simple phrase that sums up in a remarkably succinct way the Italian approach to so much of what is great in the wine, food, and culture.
Take, for example, espresso (not “expresso”). Invented by a Milanese businessman as a way to encourage his workers to speed up their coffee breaks around the turn of the century, it represents a true condensation of all that is great about coffee in one mere ounce of tawny brownish-gold elixir.
Yet this is not what we here in America have come to expect…

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Vinography.com led with an edgy piece, featuring a great photo yesterday pointing out the writing of Jancis Robinson, who speaking recently in Ronda, Spain, proclaimed that wine critics were parasites. In an article appearing on Decanter.com, she is quoted as saying: “We must always remember that we are parasites on the business of winemaking.”
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Being a big fan of Italian wine bars, I was interested in the buzz generated by ‘inoteca, in particular the legendary waits required to get a table. The product of Batali alums from Otto, Lupa, and the former ‘Ino, ‘inoteca was to outdo their predecessors, and bring the Batali esthetic to the Lower East Side.

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