Hometown Pairings - Round 2

     Continuing with our Hometown Pairing series, we next move to Dave's Chillin' and Grillin' , one of those places that makes Eagle Rock a unique, neighborhoody place in the middle of a big city.  In addition to providing great service and delicious sandwiches, Dave can (and will) provide you with the most detailed description of every ingredient of his sandwiches from the exact fat content to the mood the driver was in when he delivered that crate of pork sausages last Tuesday.  It's truly remarkable.  So.....let's get to why we're really here....what to eat and what to drink with it....

     Every Friday and Saturday, Dave and his staff run a deal on their mouth-watering meatball and sausage hoagie.  The sandwich comes dressed up with melted provolone, grilled onions, grated cheese and this great spicy/tangy pepper spread (you would be very, very, very silly not to get the pepper spread) for $6.  After selflessly tasting a dozen different wines with the meatball/sausage wonder, we settled on the 2007 Mas Malbec from Mendoza Argentina for $11.99/btl.  The vanilla, plum, tobacco and smokey notes from the malbec pair perfectly with the sweet from the meatballs and sauce and the spice of the sausage and pepper spread.  Let me see if I can tell this story in pictures...

Good Vibrations

     There is very little proof of what specific damage vino sustains from a little shaking, but many believe the sediment gets disturbed and interrupts the wine's "sleep", thus prematurely aging the wine before its time. Collectors have gone so far as constructing wine cellars out of rubber and even floating a thousand-bottle collection on a spring-loaded floor. It's that pesky 'gravity' thing....which willl be sooo much easier when we live on Mars. With old bubblies however, there is the very real concern that the pressurized contents inside could out-muscle an aging cork with too much jostling.  And in the canon of 'depressing things that can happen with booze', seeing a fine bubbly spilled all over the floor must be as depressing as it gets.

     So, to sum up, unless you're a high-end collector with a vintage collection, and you haven't kept your wine on top-brown in the toaster oven, your collection has more than likely not jumped the shark just yet.  It's easy to get too caught up in the pomp and circumstance surrounding wine and forget to just enjoy a good wine/food pairing with friends. Yes, that sounds like an afterschool special but we believe it completely nonetheless.

Hometown Pairing

     We're going to start a series of hometown wine pairings every once in awhile here in the newsletter. For us, hometown means our very own Eagle Rock. For those customers outside of Eagle Rock, hopefully this will encourage you to try some of our fine dining establishments if you haven't already. For those locals out there...you've probably had the food, but try the wine pairing. Trust us...it's damn good.

     First we're going to begin with Oinkster. Chef Andre Guerrero branched out in Eagle Rock as his third venture, after MAX and SENOR FRED in Sherman Oaks. The idea was to do gourmet fast food, keep the menu small, provide a cool outdoor space, and watch the crowds roll in. Well after dozens of shining reviews including comments from Jonathan Gold suggesting they had some of the best roasted chicken and fries in Southern California, they're doing rather well. But, I digress. I'm here to talk about pastrami. House cured pastrami, to be exact. Oinkster cures their pastrami for two weeks, rubs it with a special spice blend and smokes it with applewood. It's messy, it's complex, it's fantastic. So how to make it better? Wine, of course.

      Our suggestion is the Owen Roe Ex Umbris Syrah 2006, Columbia, Washington ($23.99/btl).  We love virtually everything that Owen Roe bottles, but this one specifically is a dead ringer for the Oinkster pastrami.  There's enough fruit to balance out the spice in the pastrami, but also enough spice and smoke to compliment to the toastiness of the applewood.  We stumbled upon this pairing a few months ago when Jennifer and I were exhausted from a long baby week (parents...you get it) and we happened to have the Ex Umbris open at the bar when we grabbed Oinkster take-out.  It's as if the pastrami and syrah saw each other across a crowded room and walked in slow motion to each other's arms.  It was that dramatic.  Seriously.  We were crying while eating just thinking about it.  That could have been exhaustion, but we choose to think it was the love affair between our wine and food. 

     Try it.  You'll agree.  Also, have other perfect pairings with restaurant items in your 'hood?  Comment below.