The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

I don't suppose this is much of a discovery, since Angeline's has been around for 5 years in downtown Berkeley, just a couple of blocks from Berkeley BART station on Shattuck, but it was my first visit. I try to avoid Berkeley ever since my college days and my start-up days at Ask Jeeves. The hippie scene is not my cup of tea, really. But it's hard to argue with all the good food in that neck of the woods, something Palo Alto is lacking, in my opinion, despite the glitzy facade. Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen is one of those places that belongs on Food Network's Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins. I am no expert in New Orleans food, but Angeline's tastes damn good. Fried chicken, jambalaya, corn hush puppies, and out-of-this-world beignets. At a cool $10 corkage, what to pair with? 2008 Austrian Zierfandler "Mandel-Hoh" from Stadlman was perfect! Enough body and dominant, ripe quince flavor with hints of orange and Asian pear to go with sweet, creamy, fried ...

Crab season continues on the Pacific coast. So the morning of Christmas Eve, friends and I headed over to Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay to pick 22 lbs. of live dungeness crabs for an all-day feast. For those interested, my infinitely satisfying, Chinese-inspired simple technique of steaming and devouring crab has been well documented here . To go with those babies, I brought a random bag of white wines from Austria, Germany, Portugal, and France. Of course, trying to feed Russians with just plain crab is barking up the wrong tree. While the monsters are steaming (I am talking about the crabs), appetizers are demanded, which brings me to the point of this post... Salo - salt-cured pork fatback (unrendered lard) - with garlic and Russian mustard on Russian rye bread, paired with pungent, strong tasting white wine made from Zierfandler grape cultivated in a small area in Austria. I tell you - I haven't had cured pork lard (pronounced "sahlo" in Russian) for over 20 ...