Great Italian Food

Giovanni is working on a menu for DK Cellars upcoming Winemaker Dinner........we'll start with Sauvignon Blanc paired with crab and avocado timbale, goat cheese and fennel pollen and daikon radish spring rolls...........

He's thinking about pairing their cab with roasted red beet ravioli...their merlot with Biellese, Piemonte 'Capunet'....rolls of swiss chard stuffed with pork and herb. Dessert hasn't yet been decided, but I think it will be either pine nut torta or a fruit torta with dessert Semillon. Our winemaker dinners will be the first Thursday of every month. I'm thinking we need to be a little more creative with our Thursday nights.....vino and cibo...cibo and vino, I don't know- just something a little more catchy than winemaker dinner.

It's Friday night at Bocconato.....the beginning of grape harvest in beautiful Fair Play, CA has begun.....the evening air is reminding me of fall and definitely of Italy. We leave every year in mid-October for Italy to find new wines, recipes, restaurants and truffles.....Bocconato Trattoria keeps us here for now. It's okay with me, this endeavor is a good one......most everyone that has passed through our doors thus far is amazed by Giovanni's cuisine....he's been compared to Thomas Keller, he's earning the reputation of changing people's souls through food.......

Through this entire restaurant-opening process, I've learned about the incredible learning curve in the process, I've learned about the sheer number of hours required to make it all a go....but mostly I've learned that Giovanni creates magic around him....that I am humbled by this process that has taken on a life of its own and I am in the middle of it all.

Michael, our most amazing lead server, is training Tracie tonight.....who has worked at amazing restaurants throughout Northern California, including Gary Danko, Ghiribaldi's, Masque. I can't believe what's happening here.......I try to visualize this massive quantum blanket that we all sharing...what's happening on a particle level here, despite my worries, my fears? Can we really pull this off in Fair Play? Can we really pull this off right now in this bizarro economy? I think, 'yes!' Yes! Yes!