Think Pink for Summer!

by briarcliff, June 27, 2009 | Permalink

Think Pink for Summer!

By: John Chumbris

That’s right, I said it. Think Pink! I’m talking about a great summer wine - Rosé. Like many, I once thought all rosés were sweet and fruity like the ever popular, California white zinfandel or the 70’s Portuguese favorites, Lancers and Mateus. While the Portuguese wines have fallen out of favor in the US (you can still see Mateus billboards in Portugal proclaiming, “Drink Pink!”), white zinfandels are going strong. These days though, a wider variety of rosés are available. The increased interest in recent years has made it much easier to find wonderful dry styles and they remain quite affordable, with most $10-$15.

Rosés can run the gamut from dry and elegant to sweet and fruity; they are incredibly food friendly, playing nice with a variety of foods from light summer salads to burgers or ribs from your backyard grill. Rosés are made from red wine grapes - pinot noir, zinfandel, malbec, grenache, syrah, sangiovese and many others - but are treated more like white wines. After the grapes are crushed, the clear juice is left in contact with the skins for a few days rather than weeks, long enough to pick up a bit of color and flavor but a fraction of the time that would result in a red wine. The variety of grape and how long the juice remains in contact with the skins determines the depth of color and flavors they pick up. The result is a wine with many of the characteristics of a white, with the addition of bright red berries flavors such as strawberry, cherry and raspberry.

The key to its versatility is matching the style of rosé with the food you are serving. With lighter fare, try the Chateau St Martin de la Garrigue Tradition 2008 Coteaux du Languedoc, a blend of syrah and carignan; or the Chateau Routas Rouviere 2006, a 40/30/30 blend of grenache, syrah and cinsault. These lighter, elegant styles have a nice balance of fruit and crisp acidity. With heartier fare off the grill, go for a richer, more lush style such as the Bastianich Rosato, made from the uncommon Italian refrosco grape. More deeply colored than many, it has a full juiciness that will stand up to bigger flavors while remaining crisp and refreshing. Don’t forget the sparkles also! New Mexico’s Gruet Brut Rosé is a fine example of a fruity yet dry sparkling rosé made in the traditional méthode Champenoise style and a deal at under $20.

With 10-12 rosés on the floor at the moment, you’re sure to find a style that suits your taste. We even have a white zin if that’s what suits you. Serve your rosé well chilled but not ice cold. They are a refreshing antidote to the intense summer heat, so what are you waiting for?

Getting Fresh With Porcinis

by briarcliff, June 21, 2009 | Permalink

Getting fresh with porcinis.

By: John Chumbris

As I was leaving the store yesterday, I saw Tim putting out some amazing looking fresh porcini mushrooms. This immediately made me think of a Tuscan style chicken dish I come back to time and time again but usually have to settle for dried porcinis instead. It’s super easy to make you can make it in one pan (always a plus), versatile (you can vary the ingredients to what’s available), and full of flavor.

I use chicken thighs because they pack the most flavor and juiciness, are forgiving to cook and inexpensive. If you don’t have fresh porcinis available you can always use dried (remember to soak them), another flavorful mushroom or a mix. I usually use shallots, but this time of year, I’d use some wonderful local Vidalia onions instead.  For 4 people you’ll need:

8 chicken thighs, skin on

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large Vidalia onion, peeled & quartered

1-2 large fresh porcini mushrooms, sliced ¼” thick

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken broth

1 sprig Rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

Black pepper and salt for seasoning

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season thighs with salt and black pepper. Heat a large ovenproof pan or cast-iron skillet to medium high heat. Add oil and add chicken thighs, skin side down. Cook until skin is golden brown and crispy and remove.

Drain off excess oil, leaving a tablespoon. Over medium heat, add onions to pan and cook for 2 minutes until slightly yellowed. Add sliced mushrooms and cook for 2 min. Add chicken broth, white wine and tsp salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add rosemary sprig and simmer for 5 minutes.

Return chicken thighs to the pan, skin side up and place pan in oven for 15 minutes or until thighs are cooked through. Note: If you don’t have an ovenproof pan, you can transfer to an oven-proof casserole or finish on the stove top.  When cooked through, remove thighs, discard rosemary, spoon out the porcinis and onions onto plates and place thighs on top. Enjoy with an arugula salad and some crusty bread.

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I had the opportunity to see an advance screening of Food, Inc. this week and I strongly urge anyone who is concerned or wants to learn more about the American food chain to go see it.  It is a powerful statement for change in all aspects of the food chain, from the farm to the table.  It is sure to spark controversy and discussion; and, will hope fully reach far beyond its core audience. Its high production values and concise pacing should make these issues approachable and accessible to a broader range of people.  Let’s hope so.

Beginning an Adventure

by briarcliff, June 13, 2009 | Permalink

Beginning an Adventure

By: John Chumbris

Food is many things to many people – pleasurable, nourishing, scarce, abundant, adventurous or purely functional. For me, food has been all of those things at one time or another, but most of all, what I value most from food is the experience. Not just the experience of eating and cooking, but also of where you are, whom you are with and a lifetimes of memories that are associated with them. Food is best enjoyed with people.

I was thinking about this recently when a large wine company began a nationwide search for a “wine country lifestyle correspondent.” It’s a pretty sweet six-month gig and a local Atlantan, Hardy Wallace, is in the lead. Looking at the process and videos of the applicants got me thinking about a simple, straightforward answer if asked why I like wine.  I came up with some basic reasons, which can be pretty much applied to most food in general.

1)     Simplicity – Wine is basically grapes and yeasts. Cheese is basically milk, salt and rennet or other enzymes. Fresh vegetables and good cuts of meat or fish are often best with just salt, pepper and maybe a few other herbs and spices to enhance the natural flavors. From these simple ingredients comes a broad and wonderfully complex world of flavors. If you start with good ingredients, it doesn’t take much to create good food.

2)     Taste –Seems fairly obvious but some people think more about practical and functional reasons than pleasure. This really applies more to food in general than to wine but I enjoy wine and I prefer enjoying meals rather than just eating and drinking. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just honest and good.

3)     Experience – Many of us think about food in the context of our lives, remembering particular wines or meals by where we enjoyed them and who we were with – a friend’s wedding, family holidays, a trip to Tuscany - more so than the specifics. Foods can evoke strong memories and I often find myself picturing various parts of my life through meals. Those experiences are not just of the person holding the glass though; they are also in the glass. The experience of the grapes – the soil the vines were planted in, the temperatures they endured, the amounts of rain and sun they saw, the process the went through to become wine, whether they aged in wood or steel and for how long. All of these experiences influence the results in the glass. Cheese is similar. I am still fascinated with amazing variety that can come from such humble beginnings.

Growing up in D.C. in the 70’s, I loved watching the Frugal Gourmet and it is what started my fascination with food as a kid. The host, Jeff Smith, often talked about the context of food in culture – the family gathering around the table preparing ingredients; food’s role in society and class; the importance various ingredients to the people growing or picking them. I hadn’t really started cooking much yet but it opened up a new world to me through food. As I started eating out on my own, I sought out at that point still exotic cuisines such as Hunan and Szechuan Chinese. Other cuisines soon followed. I traveled the world through a fork and knife (and chopsticks!). When I started cooking, I don’t think I ever cooked one of his recipes, but his merging of food and culture started a journey that has lead me here – to Whole Foods Market Briarcliff and to writing this blog.

This is the start of a weekly adventure into food. Sometimes I will write about specific foods, wines or the people behind them. Sometimes about ideas, techniques or issues. I hope to broaden your food world as the Frugal Gourmet and many, many others since have broadened mine. It’s a world I love to continue exploring. I’m not sure where this will lead from here but it will be fun finding out. See you next week!

Party Like It Opened in 1999

by briarcliff, June 10, 2009 | Permalink

The evening of Saturday, May 30, 2009 our little food empire here on 2111 Briarcliff Road celebrated its 10^th Anniversary.  Whole Foods Market, Briarcliff opened as the first Whole Foods Market in Atlanta in May of 1999, and we are so pleased about where we came from, where we are, and where we are going.  We wanted to make our celebration memorable and we thought it important to give back in some way to our community. We decided to do a farm to table style dinner celebrating our local growers and producers and donate proceeds to The Oakhurst Community Garden Project located in Decatur, GA.  We accomplished both and are still beside ourselves with excitement about how well the dinner turned out.

When the idea was conceived it all seemed romantic and wonderful-we envisioned a large white tent set up in the parking lot, bluegrass music, plates and plates of food, brimming wine glasses, and people celebrating together happy and full.  You know what?  It happened just the way we imagined.  Each grower and producer that we reached out to was happy to take part and attend.  We had our local pork producer, Thompson Farm Smokehouse, local  beef from Harris Family Heritage Farm, all of the wonderful produce came from Nicolas Dunck at Crystal Organic Farms and Andy and Hilda Byrd at Whippoorwill Organic Farms.  The amazing pasta was from Elisa Gambino of Via Elisa Pasta, the wine came from Persimmon Creek Vineyards and beer from Atlanta Brewing Company.  Even the centerpiece orchids were local, and dressed by Patricia Cagle of Botanical Couture. The founders of Fromagerie Belle Chevre Tom and Liz Parnell attended, as did Farmer D. from Farmer D. Organics. Our very own Whole Foods Market chefs Scott Crawford and Butch Raphael together with our Prepared Foods Team Leader, Robert Brunet put together the food conception and execution.

So, we had the huge white tent, the white linens, the sweet Georgia setting sun, and a nice breeze blowing-mixed with music from the Drovers Old Time Medicine Show and incredible folks sharing in it all-it really doesn’t get any better. I have been with Whole Foods Market for 10 years now, and I have honestly never been a part of something so cool.  Yes, I am tooting our horn, but it was truly amazing, and I sincerely appreciate all of those who took part.  Our team members were the servers and set up crew; without them we could not have done it. We were so pleased with the event I want to let you all now that the wheels are turning on how to do this again in the near future.  Believe me; you will not want to miss out. Stay tuned.

The Pasta Lady

by briarcliff, June 6, 2009 | Permalink

One of the great things about managing a Whole Foods Market is the freedom it allows to be an entrepreneur.  The freedom to manage your business the way in which you believe ultimately supports the Core Values of the company.  We at the Briarcliff location believe that one way to do that is to support our local growers and producers

Personally, I have been a huge fan of Via Elisa Pasta for a number of years.  I’ve met Elisa Gambino many times at local events where she was supplying her pasta or attending because the event aligned with her business and beliefs.  At the most recent South Face Visionary Dinner we started talking about her pasta truck.  For those who do not know, Elisa takes her truck to Atlanta neighborhoods and sells pasta directly to the customers in the community.  I never thought of doing this at the Briarcliff Whole Foods Market since we sell her pasta inside the store, but on this particular night the light bulb went off and the idea came together; Elisa and I agreed to her coming to the store’s parking lot to sell pasta directly to our customers and to folks driving by. For those of you who do not know Via Elisa Pasta I have to tell you that I find it hard to believe it possible that it is not the best pasta available outside of some grandmother in Italy’s kitchen.  It is a silky, billowy, bit of heaven.  Whether it be ravioli filled with porcini mushroom, or sweet potato gnocchi, this pasta is like the dream that you do not want to wake up from.  To those of you who do know Via Elisa Pasta, we would like to invite you to come and meet or talk to Elisa and see if she has any special treats on the truck that you may not have tried. Then of course, come inside and pick out the perfect bottle of wine to accompany your pasta. 

Elisa will be at the store today (Saturday, June 6^th) at 2:30pm so don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to get the world’s greatest pasta straight from the lady who makes it, The Pasta Lady, Elisa Gambino.  Thanks for your gift Elisa.

You Want It LOCAL???

by briarcliff, June 4, 2009 | Permalink

If you know me at all you know that I am a huge fan of farmers. I am amazed and awed by their work and genius. I go to as many farms as possible and steal as many ideas as I can for my own little back yard experiment/operation. One of the things I love about being with Whole Foods Market is the ability to work with the farmers who produce the food. I met Nicolas Dunck of Crystal Organic Farm a few years ago, and I have a great respect and appreciation for what he does and how he does it. He is a great farmer as well as an honest and respectable business man. His produce is something VERY special and highly respected in the restaurant and foodie circles of this town. I first discovered him and his wonderful mother, Helen, at Morningside Market and immediately noticed the way he meticulously merchandises his tent and the kind, inviting way that he interacts with his customers. He is truly appreciative of the folks who want his products, and he is willing to spend time giving them every bit of information they desire and need.
Well, Nicolas and I have continued to talk off and on over the years, and I have seen him and his lovely wife, Madeline at many special events partnered with Whole Foods Market, and I never asked him if he would sell his produce at our store, but when we invited him to our farm to table anniversary celebration here at Briarcliff he was gracious enough to provide us with produce and come to the event. Somewhere in the delivery process I just came out and asked him what he thought of us setting up a special space in the store and dedicating it to Crystal Organics produce. I was a bit surprised to hear him say “we could give it a try.” Well, just like that the Briarcliff store raised the bar even higher. I somehow kept my excitement somewhat at bay and proceeded to work out the details in my head and then through phone conversations with Nicolas. So, as of about 1:00 PM today (June 6, 2009), we officially have Crystal Organics Produce in our store. We set a special section in our wet rack for Crystal’s awesome baby leeks, beautiful torpedo onions, tall and luscious fennel, and the most wonderful heads of red oak lettuce that I have seen in my time. I cannot tell you how excited our team members were as we were opening the boxes and handling the goodies. We are like kids in a candy store around here. We have topped off the section with a growers profile about Nicolas and the farm so everyone will know the story and put a face with the product.
As the season moves on and the earth produces more, we will continue to dedicate more space to this farm’s wonderful creations. We are truly honored and excited about the relationship that we have built with this farmer and are totally committed to growing it and supporting it for as far into the future as we can see. Nicolas, if you are reading this, thank you; we appreciate what you do, and we are excited that you have fit us into the circle that you have created.
To all of our customers, if you want it LOCAL, come and get it! We look forward to serving you!
To learn more about Crystal Organics farm please visit out Farm to Market Slideshow: http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2009/01/crystal-organics