New York Food Blog

​Amid the grinding, sparkles, and gratuitous under-boob shots, you catch a glimpse of the gleaming, angular bottle of Nemiroff. The brand touts itself as the vodka "for the Great, the Successful, the Courageous, for those who change this world and hold it on their shoulders." Lady Gaga is sure to change the world of the makers of this little-known spirits brand. Of course, such blatant product placement is nothing new to the pop star.

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If you're a bartender or bar owner on the Lower East Side, you might have run into Dr. Richard Ocejo at some point or another, either bellied up to the bar by himself or skulking around some community board meeting, furiously scribbling down what is being said. The 28-year-old sociology professor at CUNY's John Jay College earned his PhD this past summer after years of hanging out in bars. Unlike most grad students, he wasn't just out trying to avoid working on his thesis. He was studying said bars, their patrons, and how they reflect urban change in the neighborhood. His findings have been published in academic journals and presented at various sociology conferences. Fork in the Road was curious as to how one comes to study bar culture and get awarded a degree for it.

lushlife.com

Maxwell Britten

​Maxwell Britten, a bartender at Freemans, who was named a Rising Star in mixology by StarChefs earlier this year, has plans to launch an invite-only pop-up supper club, to be held monthly at secret locations throughout the city. The Tucson native and his brother last year founded Jigger, Beaker & Flask, a mixology consulting firm named for the iconic cocktail tome by Charles H. Baker. The supper club will be an ongoing project for them.

"Bartending was an accident," says Britten. "A happy accident, I suppose. My father was a restaurateur when I was growing up. Being near food and beverage has always been kind of a natural thing for me."

What started as way to pay the bills quickly became a passion for Britten, who is now known for his classic, aromatic drinks, which tend toward the dark and complex, boozy and stirred. Oh, and you can keep the term "mixologist" or "bar chef" to yourself: "We are bartenders," pronounces. Britten. "Someone who gives themself [sic] [the title of mixologist] probably isn't a very good bartender."

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​For reasons unknown, the simple gin and tonic has become one of the most popular drinks in Spain. True to form, Bar Celona, the new tapas bar opened by former fashion consultant Cynthia Diaz in Williamsburg, will not only serve small plates and a selection of wines, it's also touting a pretty ambitious cocktail list that features, among other things, a gin-and-tonic section. Designed by mixologists Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay, otherwise known as The Tippling Bros., the drinks menu is broken down into G y Ts (for gin and tonic), Gastros (for culinary cocktails), and Variedades (for everything else). There is some debate among bartenders about the pairing of food with cocktails, but Carducci believes the marriage can work, as long as a few simple rules are followed:

"Try to match body with body. Most sommeliers wouldn't recommend a full bodied California Cab with a light salad, nor would I recommend a classic Manhattan or anything with dairy," he says. "When pairing a cocktail with dessert, make sure the drink is sweeter than the food. [And finally], alcohol will emphasize the perception of heat on the palate, so try to keep drinks on the lighter side when pairing with spicy food."

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Tequila is trendy these days. Several brands have hit the market recently, but, surprisingly, few of them are 100-percent Mexican-owned. Don Roberto, named for Don Roberto Orendain, who founded the brand back in 1924, is. Of course, it's no small label. It's made by the largest tequila producer in the province of Jalisco, where the distillery is located. But the Don Roberto bottling is a special reserve made by and for the family; it has only been marketed commercially since 1995 and is only available in the U.S. as of now.

​It's Rioja Restaurant Week in New York, which means that some 100 restaurants around the city are offering special dining deals, like $25-50 prix-fixe menus plus a glass of Rioja wine, or a 20 percent discount on a bottle. Coincidentally, Fork in the Road just happens to be on the road in Rioja this week. We're up to our eyeballs in Tempranillo and Garnacha, and loving every minute of it. One of the more interesting wineries visited in the region has been Finca Valpiedra, an 80-acre operation overlooking the Ebro River. One of only 23 wineries in Spain and the only one in Rioja that is part of the Grandes Pagos d'Espana, the country's association of single-estate vineyards, it produces, among other offerings, two elegant wines: Cantos de Valpiedra 2006 and Finca Valpiedra Reserva 2005, both named for the stony soil in which the grapes are grown.

Dangerously drinkable: Black Cherry Rickey

​As is the trend among Michelin-starred chefs these days, Saul Bolton of the eponymous Smith Street restaurant is opening an American gastropub. The Vanderbilt (570 Vanderbilt Avenue) will serve small plates, such as saffron pickled eggs and house-made sausage. But the "gastro" part of the equation won't be the only focus. It will also offer a shortlist of craft cocktails, designed by Brian Floyd, who is taking a few months' break from his regular gig at Weather Up to help get this new venture off the ground.

"The thing about Saul is that he's very friendly, very approachable. Whatever I want to do, like juice my own juice everyday or make my own syrups, he loves it," says Floyd. "Like, I said, 'Let's make our own tonic,' and he gets me a whole bag of Peruvian quinine. That's an advantage other bars don't have."

​Jill met her future husband, Dale DeGroff, in Hollywood back when he was a struggling actor tending bar on the side. She's been a witness to the career of the man who would become King Cocktail, not to mention the evolution of the craft bartending movement that he helped pioneer. Lush Life: Portraits From the Bar is Jill's tribute to her husband and his fellow cocktailians. The artist's whimsical caricatures of bartenders, brand ambassadors, and other boozy characters have the happy, hazy feel of a world gone, well, tipsy. And the snippets collected from her subjects offer a glimpse into this socially lubricated scene of drink slingers and sippers -- from Pegu Club owner Audrey Saunders's recollection of asking her mentor, Dale, "What's a Pegu Club?" to King Cole Bar's Kwaku Nyampong's recipe for his signature King's Passion cocktail. In the tradition of Ralph Steadman's The Grapes of Ralph, Lush Life is what you want to peruse as you proceed to wet your whistle.

yumsugar.com

​Miller High Life may have billed itself the "Champagne of Beers" back in 1903, but that was before a handful of breweries started making actual champagne-style beer. Most beers made with saccharomyces bayanus, the champagne yeast, are ales. Lager yeast doesn't agree with champagne yeast. But Kasteel Cru, brewed in Alsace and sold exclusively in London and New York, is a lager made using the methode champenoise. Its brewer -- curiously, a silent partner in the company -- discovered how to extract the lager yeast before the beer undergoes a secondary fermentation with the champagne yeast. The result is a light, crisp, and intensely carbonated beer, with just a touch of breadiness in the mouth. The champagne bubbles scrub and cleanse the palate, making it an excellent food beer. You can buy it at Whole Foods or order it at Monkey Bar,
Resto, or the newly opened Crosby Street Hotel.

​When most people think of Spanish wine, Rioja comes to mind. But don't write off Ribera del Duero, which is producing earthy wines with great minerality at very reasonable prices. The main grape in Ribera de Duero is Tempranillo, just as in Rioja. Except that, in Ribera, they call it Tinto Fino or Tinta del Pais. The region's higher altitude -- vineyards, some of the highest in Europe, are planted between 2,500 and 2,800 feet above sea level -- results in wines that are not quite as big as those from Rioja, but all the more interesting. Light to medium-bodied reds express earth, clay, and spice, but also bright red fruit. At the 16th annual Great Match, a grand-scale wine-and-tapas pairing held yesterday at the Metropolitan Pavilion, several wines from the region stood out.

Pagos del Rey, Condado de Oriza Crianza 2006 ($10) This great-value wine, full of earth and slightly herbaceous, has just a touch of wood to give it structure.

Bodega COOP Santa Ana, Aventino Roble 2006 ($14)
Coming from vines more than 100 years old, this wine sees little oak, so the fruit comes through as clear as a bell.

Bodegas HNOS. Perez Pascuas, Vina Pedrosa Crianza 2006 ($22)
Medium-bodied and slightly rustic, this dark ruby juice has notes of tobacco, clay, and spice, balanced with bright fruit.