Drink Eat Love

Wine, Food, and Music: Outside Lands Music and Art Festival

(All photos by Shoshauna Leytus)

When Outside Lands was conceived the organizers wanted to bring great music to the park from around the world while highlighting the foods, wines, and arts that make the Bay Area such a special place. The ability to draw from so many amazing farms, restaurants, and wineries gives the region an "unfair" advantage over the rest of the country...maybe world but that is exactly what was found this weekend. The moment you walked through the gates you were not given options of traditional "fair" foods and nasty beer but fresh oysters from Tomales Bay shucked by Hog Island Oyster Co, gourmet sausage sandwiches by Fatted Calf,and of course wine...lots of really good wine.

Eco-Chic Draws from Bacchus-Inspired Aesthetics

As we continue to find new was to conserve some innovative artists, restaurateurs and the like have begun to use wine bottles, barrels, glassware, and the like not to just hold wine but to add a new design element to their spaces. This week guest writer, Shireen Qudosi of Air & Wine Inc, shares what is going on the world of "eco-chic" when it comes to wine.

Bad Blogger

The Schlossberg vineyard in Rudesheim, Rheingau. The castle was built in the 11th century.

I have been a bad blogger this week and I apologize, but I have been a great drinker and eater. The above photo may be misleading as I'm not going to talk about any Germany wine, I just thought the picture was pretty and the blog needed another photo...hope you don't mind.

Street Food for Everyone

This past Saturday on a small stretch of Folsom street in the Mission District throngs of people got together to eat. The street food craze has hit urban areas around the country and over the past few years has built a head of steam so big that many of these "food corner crusaders" have gone legit. The San Francisco Street Food Festival brought together illegal food vendors, local restaurants, and upstart entrepreneurs who work with La Cocina (please click this link to learn what La Cocina does, it is really cool) to present to the people of San Francisco the beauty of street food. Together this rag tag band of foodies put on an event that by the looks of it will be around next year too!

Monday Night Wines: The slight fizz of Champagne

I have stated before that the one style of wine I cannot live without is Champagne. Not sparkling wine, but Champagne...the real stuff from that small region 90 miles northeast of Paris. Champagne is ethereal, exciting, sexy, fun, and when it is good it is really good. This week's wine was introduced to me by Rajat Paar, the wine director of the Michael Mina Group. Shauna, my pal Jesse and I dined at RN74 and Raj started us off with a few glasses of Champagne, which quickly evolved into the entire bottle. The moment I put the glass to my nose I had a giant grin plastered on my face. As Jesse and Raj caught up, I just let the wine take me over. For those of you who still don't think Champagne is the "bee's knees" get a few bottles of good Champagne from your local fine wine shop and don't stop until you get it.

Mom's coming to town

Call me a "mama's boy" or whatever but I love my mom and I'm totally stoked she is coming to town this weekend! Though she is only here for two days we have a full weekend! Saturday we are making pizzas at home and Sunday we are going out to celebrate our second wedding anniversary at Gary Danko. Shauna and I have talked about going to Restaurant Gary Danko for years and we are excited to share the experience with Richard and Mom! Yea for Mommy!

Monday Night Wines: Its in the dirt

Those large hands belong to Thibault Liger Belair, a young, passionate, driven, and funny grower in Burgundy. He, like many of his compatriots along the Cote d Or believes that dirt is a primary reason his wines taste so great. Since my return from France I have found it hard to taste, let alone, drink any wine that did not show me some dirt. This past weekend we had guests over for a lovely meal in our tiny kitchen. We opened a bottle of wine none of us had tasted, and it was fantastic. It personified that mound of dirt in Thibault's hands. Even after I finished my glass, ate some food and washed the dishes I could still taste the soul of the wine. Wines that speak of where they come in such a way keep me up at night or enter my dreams. These are singular wines that can move the soul and make a good meal into a great meal

How San Francisco does a music festival

 

(Photo of Woodstock August 1969)

Forty years ago throngs of people descended upon San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district declaring it the "Summer of Love". In that same summer from August 15th through the 18th the "Summer of Love" culminated with Woodstock. It is now 2009 and the "Haight" is a mix of capitalism, local SF flair and a bunch of kids trying to sell pot and Woodstock is being revisited in Ang Lee's new film, Taking Woodstock. Yet, we still love music and want to see it, but as the economy continues to suck wind it is getting expensive to see all the acts you want to experience. Thank God for the music festival! Across the world there are countless festivals that bring together some of the greatest acts for a pretty darn good value: Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, Hardly Strictly Blue Grass and the newest (2009 is the second go)  San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Art Festival.

315 Wines One Vintage

I am back in the States and still processing the latest wine adventure to shake my soul. Over the next few weeks I'm going to try to distill what I experienced and how you can go out, find these wines and experience, at least the most important part of my trip: the sense of place.