Category — How-To

Having eaten at Babbo a couple of times, and being armed with The Babbo Cookbook, Jamie and I decided to try our hand at an authentic Babbo recipe.

After reviewing a few options, we settled on an interesting take on monkfish. Mario’s insight into the creation of the dish is interesting…
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The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization

I read and re-read this book a couple of times, trying to pierce to the heart of what her underlying focus was. What made her so angry about today’s wines? What was she rebelling against? And what, importantly, was she aspiring towards?

It turns out that her biggest gripe is with the techniques used to make wine today. In her lexicon, she calls these wines “spoofulated,” and credits her palate with being able to discern the even the slightest manipulation. She extols the virtues of naturally-made, “expressive” wines which convey their terroir and sense of place.

As she tours vineyards, falls in and out of love, and even helps with a grape harvest, she reveals a great deal about what she’s learned about how wine is made. However, she is clearly writing within the confines a very limited wine critic scope, from which the book both benefits, and suffers…
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Christopher Hitchens, (quite a ringer for Andrew Lloyd Webber, isn’t he?) who has famously railed at religion in his recent book “God is Not Great,” has now sharpened his claws to move in on an equally formidable foe - the wine waiter. You know the type - the one who pushes the spoofed Brunellos going for $150+ on the wine list, only to histrionically groan and sneer derisively when one chooses a simple Nero d’Avola in the over-priced $45 price range. (I’m talking to you, “La Pizza Fresca” wine guy.)
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