Pozole, Wine is Alive, Fun With Video

Today's Eat Drink Cook honors a fallen restaurant, celebrates pozole, documents how good wine is ALIVE, and has Talia on both sides of the camera. The video at the bottom is chuckle-icious.

This is Eat Drink Cook: a life-journal from a Napa Valley dad, wine expert and enthusiastic cook. Twelve subjects, short and sweet, with an emphasis on food, wine, cooking and being a 50-something dad of a teenager. Read me for food & wine tips, recipes and day-in-the-life observations you may find interesting…especially if you are also a product of 1980s American culture.

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Speaking of which, I’m finalizing a couple of all-readers-welcome events for next month. Call them pledge drive events if you’d like. Details next week.

Eatin’

Napa and outposts in Emeryville and San Ramon abruptly lost C Casa Restaurant, a contemporary Mexican restaurant where everything was gluten-free. The US Department of Labor came down hard on C Casa for multiple violations that the owner says a) are exaggerated and b) have been addressed and corrected.

I come to praise C Casa, not bury it! For fifteen years C Casa provided locals and visitors with invigorating, healthy and great-looking food for affordable prices. I remember voraciously the first time I set eyes on the Nachos Not, an intensely flavored, airy, satisfying, gorgeous take on Nachos, not with meat, not with gluten. It was to me perfect. The C Casa star lost its twinkle with expansion, as is so often the case. I’ve reserved my memories for C Casa’s 12 years of being perfect. That’s quite the run.

Drinkin’

It’s alive! It’s alive! I poured the Domaine les Grands Bois Cairanne "Cuvee Maximilien" 2022 at my Rhone Valley wine class with rousing success. This GSM from the Southern Rhone village/appellation of Cairanne was dark, rich and spicy like a Peet’s coffee. I wrote shelf-talker notes for the three cases Outer Space Wines brought in after the class.
I opened a bottle for friends last night…and it was a different wine! Still really good, but more red fruited, silky, aromatic and respectfully understated: a perfect wine to enjoy with chicken & rice or a bowl of pasta with red sauce and mushrooms. I read my tasting notes. We agreed…not this wine. Not tonight. Tomorrow, who knows? Highly recommended regardless of how the wine feels the day you pop the cork. Good wine, the best wines, made with skill and passion, is alive and quirky. You never know how it will roll out of bed. I love that. The Grands Bois Cairanne “Maximilien” is available at Outer Space Wines in Napa for $25. Mention Eat Drink Cook for 10% off.

A Recipe

We ate our fair share of pozole over the holiday. We like it a little spicy, the kind of spice that layers on your palate with each spoonful until, half way through, a fine bead of sweat decorates the forehead.
My recipe this week is a cookbook, The Rancho Gordo Pozole Book by Steve Sando. Sando, founder and owner of gourmet bean purveyor Rancho Gordo, has a love for pozole that translates into his stories and recipes. A far cry, but still the next best thing to a steaming warm bowl of pozole with a tray of garnishes on the side. A cover-to-cover read, the Pozole Book in Sando’s words “will be more reference for you than a literal guide after you’ve made a few pots.” Buy it direct from Rancho Gordo, add the prepared hominy & a few bags of heirloom beans, and reach the “free shipping” threshold. And invite me over for a bowl.

A Show

We made our own show for this edition of Eat Drink Cook. Guess how much I had to pay to close the park in order to shoot the video. As for the slide itself, called Vertigo at our private waterpark, I did it twice, Talia once. Neither of us have the urge to do it again.

An Artist

Imagine my joy when Talia chose to watch Good Will Hunting, much of the world’s introduction to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Amidst a cast and crew of movie stars, the artist who rose above, in my eyes, is Robin Williams. Watch it, or watch it again, and appreciate the angst, reflection, humor and solemnity of his character and his performance. Damn it I’m sad we lost him.

Bein’ A Dad

If I could just bottle this happiness and pour a glass of it whenever I want.

An Event

In these parts dining out is an event, and could there be any better dining event than Auberge du Soleil? Lunch or early dinner on the Auberge Terrace, gazing upon the Napa Valley below, is probably what it’s like dining in heaven. January is your chance to experience Auberge du Soleil for a great price. During Napa Valley Restaurant Month enjoy a three course prix-fixe lunch at Auberge du Soleil for $65. Available Monday to Friday through January. We’ll be celebrating a certain someone’s birthday there!

Sport / Grievances (a twofer)

From the Rick Barry ‘70s to the Sleepy Floyd ‘80s to Run TMC early ‘90s to “We Believe” ‘00s to Steph & Co ‘10s I’ve helplessly followed the Golden State Warriors. What can I say? Your team is your team.

The family just went to a Warriors game at their sparkling new(er) home, Chase Center in San Francisco. Talia loved it and rooted the Warriors on throughout their uninspired play. Curry played well, though, which is nice.

The Warrior fan apathy was palpable. Ticket prices, out of reach for most, filter out the rabid fan unless they’re competing for a championship. Which their not. Over half of the 18,000 in attendance could have cared less whether the Warriors won or lost. And half of those half probably didn’t even know the outcome. Where have you gone, Bernard King, Purvis Short and the die-hard Oakland fan who cheered throughout the 28-54 seasons? And get off my lawn.

Country

The Palisades and Eaton Fires in the Los Angeles area are the third and fourth most destructive fires in California history, destroying 5000+ and 4000+ structures respectively. Over 12,000 structures, many of them homes, are gone. And who’s there giving the weary a good meal and with it a serving of solace? You know it: José Andrés' World Central Kitchen. WCK is my donation choice out of myriad worthy organizations. Live To Eat is a luxury. Eat To Live is a necessity. World Central Kitchen not only offers fuel, they offer hope and dignity to people in crisis.

Finally

Thank you for reading, watching and sharing!