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Howard W. Hewitt

~ … The "W" stands for wine!

Howard W. Hewitt

Tag Archives: Chocolate for the Spirit

Ingredients for Valentines’ Lovers

04 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by Howard in Holidays, Newspaper Column 2017, Uncategorized

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Adelsheim Winery, Bergstrom Winery, Best Chocolate in Town, Chocolate for the Spirit, Domaine Drouhin, Domaine Serene, Lange Estate Winery, Meiomi Pinot Noir, Valentine's Day, Winderlea, wine and chocolate, Wine for Valentine's Day

One of the great marketing slogans of all time might be “Virginia is for Lovers.” Who knows, they might still use that one. Valentine’s Day is for lovers. And here’s an argument that Valentine’s Day is for Pinot Noir lovers.

grape-sense-logoOver the past few years holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day have grown in popularity and celebration.

Valentine’s Day is the second largest card-sending holiday every year. There are estimates that more than 2.5 billion cards are sent each Feb. 14. The wine numbers are equally impressive. It’s hard to narrow down exactly when consumers pick up their Valentine wine but industry experts estimate more than $8.5 million is spent on wine for the lovers’ big day.

No column on Valentine’s Day would be complete without a quick history lesson. Yes, there was a Saint Valentine but that’s about where the agreement begins and ends. Officially, in the Catholic Church at least, Saint Valentine of Rome is the Saint most associated with Feb. 14. He is known as the patron saint for beekeepers, epilepsy, and of course engaged couples and happy marriages

saint-valentine

Saint Valentine

And for all those engaged couples, happily married, or dating duos, it’s time to think about the lovers’ day on our annual calendar. A dozen roses, a nice dinner, great chocolate and an even better Pinot Noir can create an awesome and memorable holiday.

Let’s start with the chocolate and state the obvious. The names you know are not the ones you want to be pairing with your wine. Even with Pinot you want a darker chocolate. A good starting point for your chocolate is buy one with at least 60 percent cacao. Ghirardelli is a pretty good place to start. It’s easy to find and a really good mass-produced product. They flavor it up lots of different ways but keep it fairly simple with your wines.

Two great Indy area chocolatiers, and there are more than two, are Best Chocolate in Town on Mass Ave., and Chocolate for the Spirit, available online. Both make a high-end and elegant chocolate truffles and other treats worthy of your significant others. Sure, artisan chocolates aren’t going to come cheap – you can expect to pay $2-3 per chocolate truffle. But that’s the sort of gift your loved one is really going to appreciate.

Recommending a great Pinot in various price points and easy to find is tough but someone has to do it. If you are on a tight budget hit the local grocery wine aisle or liquor store and look for Mark West. The West pinot is almost always under $10, light bodied, but has correct Pinot Noir flavor.

It gets easier if you step up between $10-$20 price range there are many decent picks. Meiomi Pinot Noir is very widely distributed and sells around $16-$17. Meiomi Pinot is the biggest selling Pinot in the U.S. It’s a consistent product, perhaps a tad sweeter on palate than some, but a good choice.

Step up to the $20-$30 range then you’re talking significantly better wine. I’ve suggested in this column space many times that Lange Estate Winery’s Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noir is one of the best buy wines of any varietal. You can find it in better wine shops in the mid-$20 range.

If you want to splurge and go above the $30 price point, I’d recommend a great Oregon Pinot Noir. Bergstrom, Lange, Adelsheim, Winderlea, Domaine Drouhin, and Domaine Serene are just a few of the great names from Oregon. Those wines will be in a silky and refined style.

If you want something bigger look to Sonoma’s Russian River Valley or the California Central Coast.

Buy your bestie some really good chocolate and a nice Pinot Noir and your Valentine’s Day is sure to be a great one.

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An Indy northside-inspired dinner

14 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Uncategorized

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Chocolate for the Spirit, Cork and Cracker, Fresh Market, Nicole Taylor Pasta

So this blog is all about wine – well, at least most of the time. But the longer its been around the more often I get asked about some of the things I enjoy with wine – where I buy my wine, etc.

Let’s take tonight’s dinner for example. I made a big frying pan full of pasta/meat sauce that will provide a couple of meals beyond this evening. The wonderful sweet Italian sausage comes from Fresh Market at 54th and College. They also have a hot version for those a bit more spice inclined than me. it’s a wonderful upscale market. you can buy the mild or sweet sausage in bulk or large links. I like to slice up the links and combine with ground turkey.

img_0315

Tonight’s northside ingredients

It goes over really tasty and firm pappardelle from Nicole Taylor’s pasta shop. This stuff is great. The little shop tucked in an older strip mall is just down 54th from Fresh Market. After crossing the Monon Trail and seeing Mama Carolla’s landmark restaurant on your right, turn into the plaza on your left.

Tonight my glass of wine is – brace yourself – Merlot from Blackbox I picked up at Fresh Market. I tried this a few months back and its even better this time. I have it in my Boxxle, which I wrote a column about. It’s great to have a small glass of wine without opening a bottle.

But do buy a lot of wine in the area. One of my favorite stops for great weeknight wine is Cork & Cracker on 62nd close to Keystone Ave and a short drive out of Broad Ripple. Ask if Ron is in and tell him Howard sent you.

Chocolate, Julie

Julie Bolejack

Even a Tuesday night dinner at home deserves a small dessert. I dug out a piece of chocolatier Julie BoleJack’s incredible dark chocolate Purple Sue from Chocolate for the Spirit. Let’s just  call it  a small bite of incredible dark chocolate, with raspberry-rose ganache, and a hint of violet liqueur. These are not inexpensive but you won’t regret it. You might even be like me and wipe Julie’s supply out on future visits. She has a small shop on Carmel Drive, Carmel, that she is closing at end of this month. But she will still be making chocolates.

Dinner from the northside – it works for me.

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Carmel Wants Share of Spotlight

29 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Indiana, Midwestern States

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Alexana Winery, Carmel City Center, Chocolate for the Spirit, Divvy Restaurant, Eggshell, Julie Bolejack, Peace Water Wintery, Scott Burton, Uplands Brewery, Woody Rider

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CARMEL, IN. – This affluent Indianapolis suburb certainly raises the connotation, and rightfully so, of an affluent and growing community. Its progressive Republican mayor is constantly grabbing the headlines with big ideas.

Carmel conjures up a lot of images – but as a foodie destination? Indianapolis’ dining scene has claimed all the headlines in recent years but Carmel wants to step out of the big city’s shadow with its own eclectic dining options.

Hamilton County’s Tourism office sponsored a foodie tour for Midwest food writers, and one wine writer Thursday evening. The tour was hosted by Small Potatoes Catering. The company not only caters but leads private foodie tours of Carmel, Indy, Mass Ave, and soon Fountain Square.

I was joined by two area Chicago food writers, the Indy Star food writer, and Cincinnati’s Food Hussy. Heather, aka the Food Hussy, is one of Cincy’s top food writers and was lots of fun. It helps when your press contingent has an adventurous and congenial attitude.

We made four stops Thursday night – Peace Water Winery, Divvy Restaurant, Uplands Brewery, and Chocolate for the Spirit. Most of us stayed over for breakfast at Eggshell the next morning. Each of the fives stops helped the tourism pros illustrate how unique and local can make any suburb or small town a food/beverage destination.

Peace Water Owner Scott Burton

Winery Owner Scott Burton

Peace Water is certainly the most unique of Indiana’s 80 wineries. Owner Scott Burton owns a winery in California, buys his grapes from California vineyards, and employs a winemaker in California. His tasting room is in Carmel. His wines are not even sold in California.

For Burton, it’s all about giving back to community after an obviously successful career as a corporate lawyer. He has a unique approach to giving back – when you buy a bottle of wine in the downtown Carmel tasting room you are given a token. Then you decide which of seven charities shares in Burton’s philanthropy. The winery earmarks 50 percent of all profits to the seven charities.

The wines were pretty solid too! He poured four of his several wines during our brief visit. His Sauvignon Blanc was pleasant enough, crisp, but definitely on the acidic side. A Sonoma County Rose had pronounced strawberry flavors and was an easy sipper. His red blend and Cabernet were the really quality winners for my palate. While both saw substantial time in oak, the tannins on the reds were smooth. The wine is definitely in the ‘fruit-forward’ style popular with so many consumers.

His price points range $20-$40. Through his winemaker’s family winery on Howell Mountain, Burton acquires a limited amount of fruit from one of the regions considered holy grail in wine circles. His Howell Mountain cab, which we did not taste, sells for $120 for the real wine aficionado.

Owner Woody Rider

Woody Rider

Divvy restaurant was our second stop inside Carmel’s City Center Complex on Rangeline Road. The best way to explain the concept is the old adage “divvy it up.” The staff explained that we not think of their restaurant as “appetizer, entrée, and dessert” but that everything on the menu was an appetizer, entrée and dessert.

It’s a fascinating concept that is essentially small bites as a meal. I loved the beer cheese with an assortment of breads and the bacon bites which was pork belly, maple bourbon gastrique with Applewood smoked sea salt. The porterhouse steak bites were tender and juicy.

According to staff, their most popular dish is a corn crème brulee with romano, jalapenos and red sea salt. I am adverse to heat/spice and took just a small bite of the corn which was yummy. The bites range from $6 to $16. Our Small Potatoes’ staff hosts said an order for two people is usually 4-5 of the bites.

Owner Woody Rider joined us briefly to talk about the restaurant. He also owns the popular Woody’s Library in downtown Carmel on Main Street.

champagne veleveUplands Tap House Brewery, which has several Indiana locations, was our third stop for a taste of some Hoosier brewed beer.

Our hosts served up their historic Champagne Velvet and popular Dragon Fly IPA. I’m a wine guy and seldom a beer drinker but really enjoyed the Champagne Velvet.

The Uplands staff soffered some creamy Mac-n-Cheese made with wheat beer. That was accompanied by one of the best, rich-tasting pulled pork sandwiches I’ve ever had.

Julie Bolejack

Julie Bolejack

Our final stop of Thursday night was with old friend Julie Bolejack and her Carmel Chocolate for the Spirit location on Carmel Dr., just off Rangeline.

Julie educated and entertained as always. She talked about the different chocolates she uses in her creations and gave us a taste of three different chocolates. Julie has access to the world’s rarest chocolate – Pure Nacional.

We toured the kitchen where Julie makes her beautiful creations and bought some take-home chocolate as well. Julie sent each of us on our way with a box of three truffles.

Eggshell Bistro, also in City Center, was our Friday morning and final stop of the foodie tour. Chef Larry Hanes wowed us with his breakfast creations. Now I’ve read the word “wowed” in far too many food/restaurant reviews for years. I can honestly say this might be the first time I felt confident using the jargon.

Hanes is not just a chef at all. He designed the small bistro space, picked out the art, collected numerous kitchen antiques and pieces with interesting history to stock his café. Click on the restaurant link above and go to the “About” section to read more about this remarkable man.

Our brunch started with Blue Bottle coffee that was one of the best cups I’ve had in years. I have to admit that I had never heard of Blue Bottle but a couple of the food writers were quite impressed.

Larry Hanes

Larry Hanes

Chef Hanes wowed us with dish after dish he served up family style so we could get a taste of many different breakfast entree’s. We had frittata’s, quiche, a Morocan inspired dish, and more.

My two favorites were a rosemary/ham frittata and fish and grits with a soft boiled egg on top.

This restaurant has received accolades but remains a bit of a hidden gem in my estimation. The small dining room was only half full on a Friday morning at about 10 a.m. It’s one of the most remarkable dining experiences you’ll find in the city.

It should also be noted that Chef Hanes cooks everything. He is the only person in the kitchen and does it all himself. The antique equipment, art, and atmosphere are worth the drive if you’re elsewhere in the city.

Don’t be in a rush at Eggshell, the service can be a bit slow based on our experience and a few Yelp reviews I read after visiting. Go anyway, Eggshell is a treasure.

NOTE: I plan on writing more on a couple of these businesses. Those posts will go up in the coming week or two. We didn’t have the time on a tour to stop and interview the owners. Our hosts did provide some notes that I will use to tell you more about a couple of these businesses. And I’ll note appropriately that the material was provided.

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