St. Louis Eats and Drinks With Joe and Ann Pollack

Mia Rosa

The word "tapas" has slid into the language of American restaurants, just the way "pasta" did; few people bother to assume that the small plates of food even will be minimally Spanish. Mia Rosa has moved the concept to an Italian menu, offering them in two rooms on the western edge of the Grove neighborhood. Simple, modern rooms with big, bright original artwork, the only drawback is that they, like so many restaurants these days, can be very noisy when they’re busy. Our server was young and eager, and mostly very knowledgeable about the food.

Insporite was a new word for us; turns out it’s a salad of black olives and artichoke hearts marinated in a red wine vinaigrette, tangy and satisfying. A grilled shrimp cocktail’s red sauce was tomato and roasted garlic, the garlic under good control, but with an acidic sharpness that surprised. The shrimp were slightly overdone, leading to chewiness. Big chunks of eggplant, a nice change from the wee dice usually seen, marked the caponata, its sweet-and-sour seasoning providing pleasurable sensations.

From the list of warm tapas came an excellent and very different lasagna, vegetarian and without pasta, just layers of grilled zucchini and eggplant, tomato sauce, mushrooms and cheese, pleasing even to non-zuke fans like us. A single piece of osso bucco, described as "provance (sic) style," sat on fresh tomato pieces and white beans, all sauced with the pureed cooking juices and vegetables. The beans looked absolutely perfect, shiny and smooth, but they were a shock to someone who grew up eating country style ham and beans. Still a little resistant to the tooth, they were cooked through, but seemingly not a minute longer. However, the texture worked well and the combination of flavors was swinging. A tiny spoon came alongside to dig out the marrow.

Pumpkin ravioli had the pumpkin in the pasta itself, the filling made of smoked shrimp. Sauced with brown butter, they were excellent. And so were a pair of lamb chops, described as grilled with black pepper and garlic. Neither seasoning overwhelmed, but settled in nicely. Old-school lamb lovers who go far enough back to remember the mint jelly tradition, would have appreciated the mint vinaigrette drizzle on the plate, but what dazzled us were the polenta fries, crispy-crunchy, impossible not to devour.

As expected, the wine list leaned heavily on Italy, with the Piedmont, Tuscany and other areas predominating. Moderate prices, good selection

An individual, very fudgy, chocolate cake finished things off, alongside a scoop of espresso chocolate chip gelato with a nice texture and serious flavor. Quite satisfactory.

Mia Rosa

4501 Manchester Ave.

314-652-7672 (ROSA)

www.saucemagazine.com/website.php?e=3832

Tapas: $4-$9

Lunch Tues.-Fri., Dinner Mon.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: No

This Week's Wine March 22, 2009

What’s the difference between Champagne and Cremant?

About 200 kilometers, and thousands of years of French bureaucracy and law.

In France, Champagne refers solely to the sparkling wine made in the Champagne region. The very word conjures up more images about wine, and life, than any other word that deals with alcoholic beverages. French law, bolstered by the Treaty of Versailles, defines the district, its geography and its products.

We were in Burgundy a decade or so ago, at a region-wide tasting, and a few winemakers were showing off a sparkling wine labeled Cremant, made in Burgundy, Alsace and a few other areas. I was not impressed at the time, finding the bubbly too sweet for my palate. Now, the wine is improving – to me, anyway -- and the term is gaining wider access, being used in the Languedoc and some other districts in the south of France. And some of it is being shipped to the U. S., and even to St. Louis, where Glazer is the distributor.

It is vinified and aged just like Champagne, using the same grapes and maybe a few others. Classic Champagne uses Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Cremant may have a touch of Gamay, or of another grape or two that grow in the region. And that’s another difference between Champagne and Cremant. The latter is not limited to the three classic grapes, giving the winemaker a chance to play with flavor or texture.

I sampled three Cremants recently from Simonnet-Febvre, a producer in Chablis, the Chardonnay capital of France and home of some of the greatest of white Burgundies. Simonnet-Febvre, one of those younger French wineries (only around since 1840), makes a Brut, or dry sparkler that is 60 percent Chardonnay and 40 percent Pinot Noir, a Brunt Pinot Noir that is 100 percent of the named grape, as is a Brut Rose.

All three were extremely dry (another Champagne peculiarity is that Brut means dry while Extra Dry means semi-sweet) and all were bursting with fruit. The Cremant Rose was exceptional, with a wonderful cherry essence and a small, tight bubble that exploded in the mouth. Despite the fruit, it was delightfully dry, but stood up nicely to a spicy dinner of shrimp curry. The other two were delicious, bone dry and on the austere side, but with fine grape flavor and the delicious fizz that makes sparkling wines so special.

Cremant. Give it a try, and if the local wine merchant does not carry it, call the distributor.

* * * *

MEDALS FOR MISSOURI WINEMAKERS: St. James Winery took home four gold medals and Stone Hill Winery earned another as the two Missouri wineries took home a total of 30 medals at the recent Grand Harvest wine competition in Santa Rosa, Calif. The contest is sponsored by Vineyard & Winery Management magazine/

Ten of the medals were in the Missouri wine category, with gold for Stone Hill’s 2008 Traminette and St. James’ 2005 Norton Dessert Wine. St. James also earned four silver and five bronze, while Stone Hill took home two silver and three bronze.

In the "American wine" category, a label which permits the winery to use grapes grown in other states, St. James earned gold medals for its sweet Blackberry, Strawberry and Concord wines while also collecting six silver and three bronze medals.

Estate-bottled wines from Hermann provided another pair of medals for Stone Hill, silver for the 2005 Norton and bronze for the 2005 Norton from the Cross J vineyard.

The contest, now 19 years old, attracts entrants from throughout the wine world, and the wines are judged by regional classification, a far more level playing field.

* * * *

RECENT TASTINGS: The Chalk Hill appellation of Sonoma County, just east of Healdsburg, is home to some of California’s outstanding wines and wineries. We recently tasted some fine red wines from Chateau Felice, where winemaker Tami Collins creates Bordeaux-style blends and smooth, flavorful single-grape wines like an estate-bottled Cabernet Franc that is a real treat. The 2004 vintage, with an aroma and flavor of black cherries, also shows sweet notes of tobacco and benefits from outstanding balance. When there’s need of a change from the more traditional Cabernet Sauvignon, this is a treat.

The proprietary labels includes 2005 London Cab, blending Cabernet Sauvignon (58 percent), Merlot (34) and Cabernet Franc (8); and 2002 American Celebration, with Cabernet Sauvignon (70), Merlot (20) and Cabernet Franc (10). The latter, taking advantage of lovely aging quality, is, of course, richer and deeper, with red plums and eucalyptus on the palate. Interestingly, they are at opposite ends of the winery’s price range, with the younger wine about $20 and the older about $40. The other Chateau Felice wines are between those limits.

In addition, Collins makes two different Chardonnays, one labeled Acier and created solely in stainless steel, without malolactic fermentation. The estate-bottled version, more in the California tradition, is more buttery, with malolactic fermentation and some time in oak. And fortunately, I caught a typographical error in the press release which noted that the wine had an aroma of leeches, when I’m certain someone meant lychees

-Joe

Senor Pique

One of our favorite Saturday lunches is Mexican food, provided we can find something more interesting than the likes of Taco Toot Drive-Thru. That’s a lot easier than it once was, not only with the Cherokee Street neighborhood offering a larger selection and good, down-home quality, but St. Louis County showing a burgeoning number of reasonably authentic establishments.

We’d never been to Senor Pique in Ballwin until recently, but we’re glad we went. Just a fast, relatively light lunch, just like this review.

The menu emphasizes that this is a family operation. Housed in a former chain restaurant that shares a parking lot with, among other things, a Starbuck’s and a Marshall’s, it thus begins with something most St. Louisans seem to worry about: There is plenty of parking. And that’s good because it’s a large restaurant, with a big bar, some outdoor seating and about four dining areas.

Chips are fresh from a warmer; the salsa that accompanied them was chunky and perkier than it looked, despite wearing the brilliant red of canned tomatoes. Guacamole sprinkled with diced tomato and white onion arrived in three scoops the size of ping-pong balls. It was nicely made, both creamy and chunky at the same time, and, while a little pale, tasted of nothing but avocado and a little seasoning, and none of the heretical mayonnaise.

Mushroom lovers need to beat a path to Pique. The caldo de hongos is among the best soups we’ve ever had in a Mexican restaurant. A dark, clear broth holds plenty of mushrooms, some epazote leaves, a little onion and some thin slices of avocado. The broth itself smacks of deep mushroom-ness, a reasonable amount of chile de arbol, and a little chicken for the background. The delicate palate may find it too spicy, but we were beaming.

The house version of ceviche, which uses tilapia marinated in lime juice, with some pico de gallo stirred in and punctuating things nicely with its tomato, onion and chile, seems a little different. There’s another note in there, almost a sweetness, although the lime juice leaves it plenty tart. It’s remarkably tasty, something we’d eat again anytime.

A couple of tacos? Of course. Our server, young and enthusiastic, raved about the tacos de camaron, or shrimp tacos. Okay, one of those, and another with chicharron verde. The shrimp arrived on a four-inch flour tortilla, the shrimp in a creamy sauce very lightly spiked with the smoky chipotle pepper, a few black beans hanging around. It was good, although not miraculous. The chicharron was not the crispy pork skins that come under that name, but rather shredded lean pork in a spicy red-brown sauce, full of porky, peppery flavor, a single strip of cheese laid across its top as it rested on its four-inch corn tortilla.

These are single tortillas, by the way, not the pair that usually hold each taco at other local Mexican restaurants. Nothing tore through, but safer to eat them over the plate than the lap. What the menu calls "classic tangy potato/onion side dish," is diced potatoes with a generous portion of shredded onions, all cooked together and a tartness added by what seems like a squirt of lemon. Fun, and we can imagine it in a taco with some scrambled eggs and/or chorizo.

A good quick lunch for us, and a menu with many more intriguing choices for another visit. Sadly, the menu is not on the website. But for those who are used to Cherokee Street prices, be aware that the shrimp taco, solo, was $3.29 and the taco de chicharron verde was $2.99. Not the end of the world, but a warning.

Senor Pique

14870 Manchester Road, Ballwin

636-394-3455

www.senorpique.com

Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Entrees: $10-$18

Veritas

And now, to use the old Monty Python line, for something completely different:

No one is doing what Veritas Gateway to Food and Wine does in terms of food and wine, at least not to our knowledge. The West County shop offers tableware, gifts, gourmet food and wine, plus cooking for customers. It’s also a restaurant, at least in the daylight hours. The kitchen, in the middle of the store, has a counter with stools, so folks can wander in for breakfast/brunch on weekends and lunch every day but Monday. Now, Veritas is serving dinner Thursday-Saturday, changing the after-dark dynamic. (The website, at this writing, doesn’t reflect that, so phone for the reservation.)

Veritas has been host to wine dinners and similar occasions ever since David and Stephanie Stitt opened it four years ago, so they’re comfortable with having tables in the middle of the store, and a recent expansion next door provides even more room. Casual is the operative word, and it’s not unusual for folks to wander up to watch the cooks at work or to patrol the wine stock to pick out something for dinner, either at the restaurant tonight or at home tomorrow. The menu, which changes from night to night, makes a charming statement on the bottom, Take your time – enjoy your night out. When you’re ready, we’ll meet you at the register.

We did a lot of poking around among the first courses, in particular, and were rewarded with some real finds. We hope chef Andrew Wittmer's mushroom soup makes a regular appearance. Thick with chunks of the tasty fungi, laced with a little brandy and hinting of the nectar of dried porcinis, it was remarkable. A bowl of mussels, large enough to serve as an entree, was a winning choice, with plenty of toasted bread alongside to soak up the delectable broth.

The menu isn’t focused on any particular cuisine, but the pasta options were extremely tasty. Fat ravioli in sage butter, stuffed with spinach, eggplant, portabella mushrooms and ricotta absolutely shone, and the gnocchi with mushrooms in an herbed cream sauce weren’t far behind. Risotti came as either mushroom or Italian sausage, and they were indeed different, not just the same rice with different add-ins. The mushroom was subtle, the sausage rowdy, both good – but we’d probably give the edge to the sausage.

Two more stars were the pan-fried oysters, crunchy from an introduction to some cornmeal that seemed to be more coarsely ground than average, and presented on a small layer of Tabasco butter. Divine. We’re generally extremely skeptical of crab cakes at Midwestern restaurants, but succumbed to temptation and were rewarded with a couple of the better ones we’ve found locally. They showed clear signs of real lump crabmeat that had not been manhandled to shreds, and seasoning assertive enough to balance with the delicate flavor of the crab.

A couple of entrees were splendidly intriguing. Short ribs wore a rich brown gravy, succulent and homey, a classic rendition. Pork chops described as pan-seared with a blue cheese wine sauce were two chops of garden-variety supermarket thickness. It’s easy to make chops like that cardboard-stiff, but these were moist and tender, the sauce a nice counterpoint, the whole thing rich and one of those big-flavor dishes we’re so fond of. Both came with polenta lightly laced with rosemary and some thin grilled asparagus.

Dinner in a wine shop offers an embarrassment of riches, and David is an expert. The selection is wide and deep, with a full range of prices and some interesting choices. We’ve sampled a number of his favorites, without a disappointment.

Cookies baked to order for dessert? Well, if souffles can be done that way, why not cookies? We tried one of each, a chocolate chocolate chip, an oatmeal raisin and a macadamia nut. Now, frankly, what sort of person doesn’t just babble over cookies still warm and gooey from the oven, so saying these were delicious is obviously redundant, but they were delightful. A lemon cream cheese tart’s crust had remained crisp, the filling dense and tart, a joy to any lemon lover, reminiscent of what came out of kitchens for company desserts when our pie-baking aunts were in their prime.

Veritas

1722 Clarkson Rd., Chesterfield

636-530-9505

http://http:/www.veritasgateway.com

Lunch Tues.-Sun, Dinner Thurs-Sat., Breakfast Sat.-Sun

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Yes

Smoking: No

Entrees: $13-$24

Mediterranean Mussel Soup

I am an absolute sucker for fish soup of almost any sort. In Norway, it’s ubiquitous on menus year-round, each version different, depending on how bestemor, or Grandma, made it, but each delicious. Traveling up and down the North Sea coast, I’ve sampled many, all good. Over the years, variations on the bouillabaisse theme gradually made me realize that I could tolerate, and then enjoy, saffron, something (like cilantro and coconut) that I avoided for years.

Making such soups, however, becomes more of a problem hereabouts. Most recipes call for fish stock, and I often have problems getting fish frames, or bones, at my usually very reliable seafood dealer. Sometimes I sub clam juice, which can be purchased in large cans at some of the grocery stores on the Hill, and I found some fishy equivalent of bouillon cubes that I haven’t had the nerve to use yet. But last week I found an absolutely wonderful soup that avoids the fish stock problem.

This would be an elegant first course for a dinner party, but we used it as a main course. It’s adapted from Elizabeth Rozin’s "The Universal Kitchen," where she calls it avgolemono, but it goes far beyond the egg-and-lemon Greekness that word implies. The saffron brings a whole new dimension, and it’s extremely satisfying.

She calls for fresh tomato, but I’ve used the petite diced canned tomatoes, and she asks for orzo, the rice- shaped pasta. I had some fregola, the small pencil-eraser-sized pasta, on hand and open, so I used it, but something like Israeli couscous (which is actually pasta, but you knew that, didn’t you?), any small pasta, or even rice would work.

2 lbs. fresh mussels

1 c. bottled clam juice

1 Tbs. plus 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

about 3/4 c. diced canned tomatoes, drained, or 3-4 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1/4 tsp. salt

several grinds of black pepper

3 c. chicken broth

1/4-1/2 tsp. saffron threads, to taste

1/4 c. small pasta (see above) or rice

3 tsp. dried dill

2 eggs, room temperature

Scrub and debeard the mussels (although these days most mussels don’t have beards) and discard any that are cracked or open. In a large pot, bring the clam juice, 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and the garlic to a simmer. Add the mussels, put the lid on, and cook for 5 minutes.

Open the pot, remove all the mussels that have opened and set them aside. If any are unopened, put the lid back on, and let cook for another 3 minutes or so. Remove the rest, discarding any that haven’t opened.

Occasionally mussel broth, which is what you have now, can be sandy. Some people strain it; I just carefully pour it off into another container and check the bottom of the pot for any. Remove the mussels from their shells and discard the shells. Cover the mussels and set aside.

In that large pot, heat the olive oil over moderate heat. Add the onion and saute until golden. Add the tomatoes. If you’re using fresh, cook for another few minutes. Add the salt, pepper, chicken broth and saffron. Bring the liquid to a boil and add the pasta or rice. Cook for about 10 minutes, 15 for rice, until it’s tender. Stir in the dill and the reserved mussels and turn off the heat.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs well. Gradually add a ladleful of the hot soup, stirring the eggs constantly, then another ladleful , and then another, bringing the temperature of the eggs up. Stir the soup, and while stirring it, slowly pour in the eggs. The soup will thicken a little.

Taste the soup, add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice as needed. If you must reheat the soup, don’t bring it to a boil; it’ll separate.

Serves 3 as a main course, 4-6 as a first course.

-Ann

Erato on Main

Kevin Willmann and Tim Foley paid their dues in kitchens and dining rooms, bars and restaurants, all over the U.S., and if they pooled their dreams in Edwardsville, Ill., well, all the better for us. Many restaurants are named for their addresses, or street names, but Erato on Main, the terrific spot about 30 minutes from the Poplar Street Bridge, may be the first to be named for a street in another city. But Foley, obviously a sentimental sort, named it for the street in New Orleans where he met the woman who is now his wife. A photograph in the area that connects the bar with the dining room shows the sign.

Erato, with a tapas style menu and a kitchen that features fresh raw materials from as close to home as possible, is a dynamic entry to East Side dining, and good enough that it should draw diners from the west side of the river. Willmann, the chef, knows exactly what to do when he stands in front of the stove, and though he’s occasionally a little fussy, he produces some spectacular combinations that are as exciting to the eye as to the palate. Want dedication? The kitchen makes its own Worcestershire sauce.

The front room is an elegantly casual bar with a high ceiling, with a photograph-dappled passageway that leads to the red-walled dining room. Many folks come in through the rear, where an outdoor dining area is on the way to the parking lot. Most customers seemed to be local, with obvious regulars a majority the night of our visit. And service, traditionally the weak spot in our visits to places outside the immediate metro area, was just fine.

Erato focuses almost completely on tapas-sized plates - on our last visit, it offered 13 small ones and only one large, a beef filet. That currently popular style is one we particularly love; appetizers are a favorite and we can mix and match, sampling dishes whose ingredients we are curious about or may not have tasted from a chef. We also get the opportunity to enjoy a number of flavors without finding ourselves surfeited.

Erato is serious about swine. Our first clue came with the potato skins, chewy-crunchy bites filled with trout caviar and sitting on some horseradish-laced creme fraiche, all covered with a waft of bacon dust. In this case, well, Dust Busters are us. Yum. Then the bruschetta arrived, with housemade mozzarella, a few pieces of roasted sweet red pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and a couple of white anchovies, an optional add-on we never pass, all swinging together.

One of the few areas where we part ways is cauliflower. Ann likes it; Joe avoids it. He was persuaded to try a cauliflower salad because of its description, something that tempts many people with things where they may be dubious. Whoever thought cauliflower could wear the word"thrilling"? Shaved almost as thin as slaw, although not in shreds, it was dressed with the juice of Meyer lemons, some first rate olive oil, and crumbled pork cracklings. A remarkable dish with its crunch, its tartness, the savor of the pork, a delightful shock to the mouth.

On to the hot dishes. A pairing of country-style vegetables gave us small bowls of white beans cooked with rare-breed pork ham hocks, a fine granny dish, and collard greens which replaced the cornbread noted on the menu (Willmann reported he had run out). Stunning collard greens, carefully seasoned, slightly sweet, slightly hot (no need for the proferred pepper vinegar), almost mysterious in their flavor. They were so green it was obvious they hadn’t been cooked for hours and yet they were extremely tender. A piece of cobia (shown next to the restaurant details below), the mild white fish, was cooked to perfection and wore a glaze from satsuma oranges, which provided a lovely accent. It sat on a little pureed globe artichoke or sunchoke and supported a couple of coins of smoked sausage, still nicely moist. Some pepper jelly, which went particularly well with the sausage, finished off the plate – and so did we.

We parted ways on the braised octopus with a cauliflower puree. Tender octopus is difficult to achieve, but this managed to do so in its tomato-fennel cooking juices. Ann thought it remarkable; Joe thought it overcooked and too tender, but agreed the dish showed delightful flavor. Your call. We did, however, return to back to unanimity with the the seared dayboat scallops with whipped cream seasoned with truffles and some ancho chile oil drizzled nearby was a delight. That whipped cream, though, would make razor blades taste good. The chile oil also went well with the sweet scallop meat, although overshadowed by its elegant associate. At this point, we ran into more pig, this time some braised pork belly, a strip of wonderfully cured bacon, properly crisp-chewy, and a softly cooked egg. The pork was more of the heritage breed, rich and full of porky flavor, absolutely satisfying.

From the dessert menu came a combo plate of sweet potato pie, a small round, and a similarly-sized ball of sweet potato ice cream. It’s hard to say which we preferred, but both were exciting, the creamy pie with nuances of nutmeg and cinnamon, or the ice cream, rich and showing more of the vegetal flavors. For the more conservative, there’s that old standby, molten chocolate cake. But it arrived with basil ice cream, unusual and striking. Even if you think you don’t like basil, this is too interesting not to try, and it may begin a conversion. And there’s a cheese plate that includes triple-creme St. Andre and some truffle honey, a voluptuous, indulgent finale.

Erato on Main – a strikingly delicious dining experience.

Erato on Main

126 N. Main St., Edwardsville, Il

618-307-3203

www.eratoonmain.com

Dinner Tues.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: No

Small plates: $4-$13, Entree: $28 

This Week's Wine March 8, 2009

I’ve handled a lot of poker chips in my time, sometimes raking them in, most of the time throwing them into the pot, but I’ve never seen one on a wine bottle, serving as the label.

It was a black chip, not to be removed, and it marked High Roller, a 2006 California Napa Valley Cab that is the premier wine of JAQK Cellars, a young, San Francisco-based winemaker and marketer. And marketer is a good word since half the ownership quartet, Katie Jain and Joel Templin, came out of the marketing and design world. The descriptive information, labels and proprietary names all show imagination, talent and the fact that they do not take themselves seriously.

As their mission statement notes, "We are a new wine company. We’re also a new type of wine company. In addition to being dedicated to making great wine, we’re also passionate about something else: play. For us, play includes the excitement of testing our luck–and tempting fate–at games of chance."

JAQK, which buys grapes around California and does the vinification and bottling in San Francisco, as eight wines, five red and three white, ranging in price from $70 for the High Roller to $23 for the 2007 Charmed, a California Sauvignon Blanc. The others are Her Majesty, ‘07 California Chardonnay ($27); Bone Dance, ‘07 California Merlot ($29); 22 Black, ‘06 California Cabernet ($31); Pearl Handle, ‘07 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($42); Black Clover, ‘06 Napa Merlot ($48); and Soldiers of Fortune, ‘06 Napa Shiraz ($50). High Roller and Black Clover have simple black labels, the others are more fanciful in their label design.

Obviously, grapes from specific counties are more expensive, and presumably better, than those with the California designation, meaning they can come from anywhere in the state, in any proportion of the blend.

Given the usual 2-to-2½ times markup for restaurant wine lists, these can be on the high side. I sampled five of them and found all to be extremely worthy, well-made wines with good structure and a lengthy finish. The High Roller answered to its high price with berry notes on the palate and a hint of tobacco in the aroma. Well-balanced and with splendid flavor, it’s an excellent wine. My favorite was the Soldiers of Fortune Shiraz, a brilliant wine, extremely dark and rich, with big flavor notes. The two Merlots, Black Clover (from Napa) and Bone Dance (California) were good, but the former showed more depth and richness. The Pearl Handle Chardonnay was pleasant, but I have tasted only a handful of Chards that have provided a fabulous experience.

Design is a high point. JAQK offers a pair of four-pack gift sets, four different soldiers on a set of Soldiers of Fortune, each representing a suit in a deck of cards. Similarly, the Pearl Handle has a set of aces in ornate, attractive designs.

* * * *

Given difficult economic times, price is a driving factor in wine sales these days, and the best thing about it is that wineries are working diligently to make better wines, and therefore better values, at the lower end of the scale. Makers of sparkling area wines have had mechanical help to make less-expensive bubbly, and prosecco and spumante sales have responded in the last few years, with Italian offerings scoring well on the sales front in both the retail and restaurant areas.

Spumante, which means "foamy" in Italian, is the term that covers all Italian, or Italian-style, sparkling wines. Prosecco comes from the Venice area of the country. All Prosecco is Spumante, but not vice versa. It’s like the French situation where Brandy is the generic term for the liqueur, but Cognac is from a specific area.

Gallo, whose wines cover the world and the price spectrum, is in the spumante field with Ballatore, a California producer. Made primarily from the Malvasia Bianca grape, the fresh and fruity bubbly is a fine value at less than $10, and comes in both traditional white and a wonderful Rosso, or red, in the same price range. Both are about eight percent alcohol, about two-thirds of most table wines, and both have a tinge of sweetness. I was extremely impressed with the red, finding all sorts of strawberry and cherry flavors. The red has a sugar proportion of eight grams per 100 milliliters, slightly above the 7.6 grams ratio of the white.

I found them outstanding aperitifs, just for quaffing, and the white also was a fine companion to spicy Asian dishes.

Across the Atlantic, Mionetto makes the traditional Italian Prosecco, from the Venice region, and uses the also-traditional crown cap for the bottle labeled "Il," emphasizing that this is "the" classic Prosecco. Again, it is lower in alcohol, and slightly less sweet on my palate. Good fruit in both the Il and the brut, which is even a bit drier. A little sweeter is the Sergio Extra Dry, named for winemaker Sergio Mionetto, also possessing pleasing fruit flavors and a good bubble. The Il is about $12, the others between $17 and $20,

* * * *

Tom Meadowcroft makes wine in Sonoma County, one of our favorite places in the whole wide world; he talks about making wine in the spirit of giving, of sharing, and his Magito label (muh-GEE-toe), pays tribute to the Magi, well-known givers and sharers through history. Remember "The Gift of the Magi," the O. Henry short story in which a man and his wife each sold a most precious possession to buy a gift for the other? It exemplifies the spirit of sharing, as the Magi of legend brought gifts to Bethlehem.

From a winery in Sebastopol, Calif., Meadowcroft produces $16 bargain wines of superb flavor and complexity, blending different grapes from different vineyards along the way. For example, his ‘05 Panorama Zinfandel, delicious and mouth-filling, includes six different grape varieties from eight vineyards in four northern California counties. He starts with 75 percent Zinfandel from Amador, Solano and Napa counties, then factors in Cabernet Sauvignon (8 percent, Sonoma), Sangiovese (6, Napa), Syrah (5, Napa), Merlot (4, Sonoma) and Petite Sirah (2, Napa). The result is an extremely complex wine with berries and plums on the tongue.

His 2006 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc, a bright, citrus-touched offering, offers a wine far more complex than the usual versions, which use Sauvignon Blanc grapes and rarely add others. But Meadowcroft, making his wine far more complex, uses 75 percent of the key grape, sourced from Mendocino, Napa and Lake Counties, then adds Verdelho, a Spanish grape (10 percent, Lodi County); Sauvignon Musque (8, Sonoma) and Viognier (7, Sonoma).

The result is outstanding, with an aroma of citrus and flowers, and flavors of melon, peach and citrus, with a touch of mineral that creates backbone. Delicious.

The 2006 Highlands Cabernet blend, with a Sonoma County designation, involves three classic grapes, all from the county. He starts with 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, then adds Cabernet Franc and Merlot in equal amounts. As a result, he can call the wine a Cabernet blend but not Cabernet Sauvignon; he would need 75 percent to name it after a single grape.

The wine is big, with the flavor of extremely ripe fruit, featuring blackberry. There’s a little tannin, but its presence is an addition, not a subtraction.

Meadowcroft admits to borrowing a page from Italian and French winemakers, who usually use almost every grape on their vines in their wines. As a vineyard manager for many years, he talks about strolling among the vines, sniffing and tasting, trying to get a feel for the grapes.

"It involves a lot of walking," he said, but the results are very special.

It’s a small winery, with a small, Columbia, Mo.-based distributor, Golden Barrel, but the wines should be available at Lucas and the Wine and Cheese Place.

-Joe

Brunch: Local Harvest and Brio Tuscan Grille

One weekend. Two brunches, direct opposites in so many ways. And yet both totally satisfying.

Local Harvest Café is on Morganford Road, the thriving main street of the thriving Tower Grove South neighborhood. (The café’s website says at least half its ingredients come from within 150 miles of St. Louis, thus the name.) The feel is very neighborhoody and deeply casual, the sort of place where the phrase "dress code" would cause inhalations of breath sharp enough to shatter windows. No one gets uptight with long pauses while studying the menu options on the walls and chalkboard before ordering at the counter; food is cheerfully delivered to the table.

Breakfast is offered every day, brunch on Saturday and Sunday. We divided our attention between one breakfast-ish dish and some lunching. From the chalkboard list of specials on the counter, a stuffed French toast caught our eye. Three layers of whole-grain bread layered with cream cheese and banana before baking. The whole thing was fluffy and not very eggy, its top crispy and requiring very little of the warm maple syrup that came alongside. Different in style, to be sure, but a pleasure to eat.

 On the lunch side of the table came a spicy butternut squash soup, silky and rich with curry-like seasonings, and holding a few nuggets of cauliflower that happily retained a slightly al dente quality. It's not often that a tuna sandwich can be referred to as remarkable, but their Sorry, Charlie, a reference to a long-ago commercial, cheerfully urged us to use the word. Wonderfully lemony from a peppery aioli and studded with a few dried cranberries just for fun, it sat on multigrain bread that also wore excellent greens and a surprisingly-good-for-winter tomato slice. 

 

And the coffee, from Edwardsville-based Goshen Coffee, was excellent.

This place may grow up to be the next generation’s Duff’s.

 

And then we went to Brio Tuscan Grille at Plaza Frontenac.

We make no secret of our general avoidance of chains. For many reasons, we prefer local restaurants. Still, we needed a spot to eat brunch in this part of town, and the menu looked interesting. Of course, it’s a dressy-casual restaurant, even at its Saturday and Sunday brunches, but in a different way, and the people-watching was just as good.

A particularly good mimosa kicked things off, followed by coffee that was a notch or two above average. (We admit being charmed by the longer-than-average coffee spoons to reach the bottom of the tall cups, a thoughtful touch.)

We’ve always been surprised there aren’t more frittatas on brunch menus. The open-faced Italian answer to omelets, they’re particularly good, we think, with pasta. Brio offers a fritatta of the day as well as one described as "al forno"—meaning "from the oven." The fritatta al forno holds angel hair pasta, artichoke hearts, spinach and a little bacon, all gently baked in a custard. Topped with (the inevitable) cheese, its mixture of flavors and textures made it a real treat. Fresh fruit came alongside.

Salmon and sweet potato hash is topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce, a fine idea. The hollandaise is quite buttery, less lemony than some, but a winner. Some onions, of course, were included, along with sweet peppers and a few mushrooms. Sweet potatoes are a good idea in the hash, offering a nice difference from the standard, and a fine complement to the fish. Superior combination.

Brio is doing the mini-dessert thing, which makes it easy to sample several. We tried a caramel creme brulee, strawberry cheesecake and banana bread pudding. Three, the brulee was the winner.

Local Harvest Café

3137 Morganford

314-772-8815

www.localharvestcafe.com

Brunch Sat.-Sun, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Breakfast/brunch entrees: $5-$8

Brio Tuscan Grille

1602 S. Lindbergh Blvd., Frontenac

314-432-4410

http://www.brioitalian

Brunch Sat.-Sun, Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: Yes

Brunch entrees: $9-$16

Kirby's Sandwich Shop, Sikeston, MO

Urban areas aren’t the only places that carry the burden of franchise food. It’s taken a toll on small towns, too. Oh, yes, a couple of generations ago, most folks were quite pleased when a McDonald’s finally came within the county line, proving that they, too, were part of the "modern world." But even more than in cities, the small-town-home-cooking places were hurt. No more the burgers from places like Dunk’s Pool Hall in Desloge, gone in a flurry of kids’ toys and ersatz milkshakes extruded from a grumbling machine.

That makes it even better when we find a place that not only hasn’t succumbed but also serves up the sort of food that makes it a mandatory visit for folks who haven’t returned to their home town in decades. Kirby’s Sandwich Shop in Sikeston has been around since 1907. We ambled in a little after 10 in the morning, to find the place empty. Folks in Sikeston don’t seem to get moving too early; Kirby’s opens at 9 Monday through Friday and 8 on Saturdays. Breakfast or lunch? We decided on a little of both.

Biscuits and gravy, of course: This is what sausage gravy is supposed to taste like, smooth and milky-white with nubbly bits of sausage, assertively seasoned. As to the biscuits–well, we wished we had some homemade jam to go on these tall, tender guys. And the over-easy eggs were done perfectly.

But the real specialty of the house is the Kirbyburger. "You want onions on that?" asked the waitress. "Yes, please," we replied. And from the grill cook, who was at work a mere 3 or 4 feet away, came "Of course! It’s not a Kirbyburger without onions!" We were sitting at the counter, one of our favorite perches, where we could see the grill cook at work, and watched as she removed a patty of ground beef from the fridge nearby, patted it affectionately, and plopped it on the grill. She then took a handful of sliced onions and perched them atop the cooking meat. After a little while, she grabbed a spatula and smooshed the onions into the cooking meat. Soon, it was time to flip the burger, and over it went, onions and all. Onions fried in hamburger juices? What could be bad?

One of the particularly good things about sitting close to the cook is that food arrives really hot. The burger arrived smoking, and it was all we could do to grab a photo before diving in. Onion lovers, this is a do not miss. The meat is juicy, the bun is hot from the grill, all in all a superb sandwich.

We skipped fries and tried the fried okra, which came out of a large sack, obviously battered and frozen, and therefore okay, not fabulous. Entertainment suddenly arrived as we watched our waitress carefully slicing ham off a real one to get ready for the lunch crowd. A fellow who’d was eating his own breakfast ended up buying the ham bone for a batch of beans to be cooked at his house the next day. It’s that sort of place.

Kirby’s Sandwich Shop

109 N. Kingshighway, Sikeston

573-471-1318

http://www.sikeston.net/kirbymenu.html

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: Yes

Sandwiches: $3-$6