Erik Moe: Critic at Large

Last Saturday I was invited to an all-day birthday party in the form of a bus tour of Virginia wine country. Even though I’ve seen Sideways, I pictured something unnecessarily snooty and dignified. I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be the exact opposite. Our tour only went to two wineries (possibly because sensible vineyards try to cultivate an image that doesn’t include rehabbed orange school buses decorated with vinyl silhouettes of people dancing in bell-bottoms). Two proved to be exactly the right number for a reasonably paced introduction.

First up was the beautiful hillside Bluemont Vineyard. While there, I learned about a variety of grape called Norton that has been grown locally since the time of Thomas Jefferson. I found it to be well rounded and Bluemont’s best offering. Next up was nearby Veramar Vineyard. Their Cabernet Franc was my top pick for it’s pleasantly spicy flavors.

Loudoun County has a number of other vineyards. All are close enough to make a great day trip for any locovore/foodie in DC—so long as someone else is driving.

Fried avocado Mighty Cone = highly recommended

Austin is a great food city, but during SXSW I kept too busy to put as many delicious things in my belly as I should have. I did eat the above pictured and highly recommended “Mighty Cone” from an outdoor trailer / stand on South Congress Street. It is essentially a large soft taco in a paper cone. Inside the flour tortilla is cole slaw and yes, fried avocado topped with spicy mayo. Mighty Cone breads the avocado with a mix of sesame seeds, almonds, chili, salt and corn flakes giving it a flavorful and crunchy exterior when it comes out of the advertised “deep saute.” If you are of the meat-eating persuasion, you can have that same treatment applied to chicken or shrimp.

The best thing I ate since last report: truffle egg toast with bottarga during brunch at ‘inoteca on the Lower East Side.

I can’t say that this is a great brunch spot (it was a last-minute pick). It felt like breakfast was an afterthought tacked on to a (probably good) dinner spot: the menu is short on A.M. comfort food, and something as simple as morning coffee seemed foreign (you’ll get Lavazza espresso served Americano).

THAT SAID, the truffle egg toast with bottarga is delicious. Crunchy toast yields to perfectly soft eggs with a delightful hint of truffle oil. The optional bottarga adds a nice complimentary texture. Yum.

PS: In DC, Pizzeria Paradiso offers something very similar in pizza form.

This unlikely sign hangs above the busiest of the many Vietnamese restaurants surrounding the Argyle el stop. Rachel and I have quickly become fans of the vegetarian spring rolls at Tank Noodle (or Pho Xe Tang according to the receipt in front of me). A fresher, tastier roll I’ve never had. And why not wash it down with a mango bubble tea? Sadly, I haven’t found much else on their meat-heavy menu for my vegetarian tastes. Happily, two of these spring rolls make for a fairly satisfying $3.50 bite to eat. There are plenty of delicious Thai vegetarian options in the neighborhood. Does anyone know which Argyle-area spot has the best vegetarian options?

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Rachel and I drove up to Boston. It was the first time either of us spent any real time there and I left wondering why it took me four years on the east coast to begin exploring the gems it has to offer.

The clear highlight of the trip was the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. The museum is just north of Boston in a scenic wilderness area next to Walden Pond (yes, that Walden Pond). On the grounds of the museum are dozens of memorable sculptures including the Trojan Piggybank (pictured) by Aristotle Georgiades and Gail Simpson. Though many of the works were whimsical like that pig, the most impressive were somewhat understated and played off the natural beauty of the outdoor environment. Jim Dine’s Two Big Black Hearts was especially suited to the landscape. Our consensus favorite was Kitty Wales Pine Sharks. The metal creatures were oddly peaceful swimming above our heads.

The DeCordova’s indoor galleries were equally impressive. We had a hard time picking favorites from the annual exhibition of New England artists that had just opened the week before. The museum’s staff were also very welcoming and helpful, a nice and unexpected plus.

The rest of the trip had a hard time competing with DeCordova. We accidentally stumbled upon the home of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. We got lost on our way to Salem and met a very young gas station attendant who asked us why we’d want to go to Salem, anyway (“there’s just a bunch of old people there,” he said). Salem was a bit of a disappointment, mainly because we arrived well after the town went to sleep (including the pirate museum). Our jaunt through New England towns the next day was rather idyllic, however.

Exploring the actual city of Boston was a real pleasure. While exploring the neighborhoods, we wandered into the Boston Center for the Arts where a subtle installation filled the main gallery with the soothing blue light of slow-motion surfing scenes and the sounds of the waves falling on a beach. Again, we were impressed with the friendliness of the staff/volunteers on hand. We were most fascinated by some oddly shaped pillows sitting on the reception couch that weren’t even part of the BCA’s exhibitions. They were cone-shaped with lots of eyes and reminded me somewhat of Yoshitomo Nara‘s creations. When Rachel expressed interest, the volunteers brought out some tinier creations and suggested that we leave a note for the unknown artist. Still no word in response…

Gallery: Boston Photos

Apparently, us city people typically drink wine, carry whips, push blocks of gold around on hand trucks, and wear life preservers and sunglasses when we swim. We can also be had for $3 on ebay. Is this where all those wacky conservative ideas about “latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak shows” come from? Too much time playing with biased Scandinavian toys? And why are all of the city people yellow-skinned? Then again, maybe the box isn’t so off the mark. Half of them are clearly working class (waiter, construction worker, car repair dude), and that bicycle girl probably is a college student. Clearly the dude with no pants and a life preserver is rich and insane – as one in six city people are. I have no idea what the deal is with the white-gloved girl holding the whip, but there are probably people like that in the city too. Cities are big places.

How insane is it that we distribute power in this country by our completely arbitrary geographic boundaries rather than by population? For the most part, this map shows areas where people live in blue and areas that are populated by fence posts in red (literal fence posts). The fence posts have more political power. If Wyoming’s 500,000 people deserve to be a state, then New York City’s 8 million should be 16 states, right?

While I’m posting, I might as well add a List of Works Consulted to the San Francisco report. The following films were highly useful in gathering supplemental information… Dark Passage (1947) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The first half of the movie is a little show, and is shot from a weird first-person perspective — a device that needed to be employed because midway through the film Bogey gets radical plastic surgery to escape the law. When the wraps come off he looks exactly like Humphrey Bogart. There are some nice 1940s views of the city in the film, and the obligitory “throw someone from a high place” shot. This time it’s the Golden Gate bridge overlook. Rating: 7… Bullitt (1968) features Steve McQueen as the original no-rules cop. The chase scenes on urban San Francisco hills are crazy. Much of the film is silent, or at least dialogue free. It is all very stylish too. Rating: 8… Dirty Harry (1972) is the other legendary San Francisco action flick, and clearly borrows a lot from Bullitt. San Francisco is used very well in the film – to the point where it feels like one of the characters. Rating: 9… Live Nude Girls Unite! (2000) is a documentary about a SF peep show’s struggle to become unionized. It provides an interesting glimpse at the relationship between San Francisco’s bohemian past (and present), exploitation, and progressive politics. Rating: 7… Vertigo is the other required SF film, but you don’t need me to tell you about it’s creepiness and falling from high places-ness. Rating: 9.

As the only surviving commissioner appointed to the Commission on Zip Codes yada yada I am honored to present to you the controversial findings of the 9XXXX commission’s expedition to the San Francisco metropolitan area. I would also like to add that I am shocked and dismayed at the recent revelations in the press regarding certain partisan efforts to delay this report’s publication until after the election.

Expedition Successful! Shocking Revelations! I returned from the extreme westerly portion of the continent nearly a month ago and am just now finalizing my report on the Zip Codes I found there. As a teaser, I post the facade of the Post Office in San Francisco’s Chinatown (more images to come – as soon as CVS returns the photos from the cheapo camera I had to buy when my digital ran out of batteries).