Posts Tagged ‘Champagne’

Last Minute Ideas for Delicious Valentine’s Outings from San Diego to the Bay

Friday, February 12th, 2010
Can't decide what to do for Valentine's Day? Let me play Cupid.

Can't decide what to do for Valentine's Day? Let me play Cupid.

Still pondering where to go for Valentine’s Day? Here are a few spots in Northern and Southern California planning some creative and romantic offerings.

The Bubble Lounge in San Francisco is pulling out all the stops with a jazz singer performing, a special menu of aphrodisiac foods and featured romantic cocktails by moi, The Bubbly Girl on Feb. 14. They’ve selected the Elderbubble (St. Germain, raspberry vodka and champagne) and the gorgeous Belle de Jour, a mix of Lillet Blond, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur and rosé champage created by Jackie Patterson and featured in my book Bubbly Bar. Couples can also order a bottle of Dosnon & Lepage Brut Rosé Champagne and have it sabered open – (by the way, there’s a web site devoted to the art of Saberage). Bubbly Lounge chefs are cooking up a sexy menu of sweet roasted beets with micro greens and goat cheese, caviar from the California Caviar Company served with blinis and creme fraiche, a seafood platter with oysters and shrimp and a heart-shaped Scharffen Berger Chocolate cake. The fun starts at 6 p.m. at 714 Montgomery St.; for reservations call 415.434-4204.

The Grand Del Mar, a five-star resort in northern San Diego, is offering a seductive set of food and wine experiences on Feb. 13 and 14 that are sure to spark a romance. On Feb. 13, enjoy a three course Chocolate and Red Wine Tasting menu from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Lobby Lounge for $25 per person; Grand Del Mar Sommelier Jesse Rodriguez will stop at your table and chat about the pairings. Or if you don’t feel like chatting, pick one of the cozy corners of the Lobby Lounge, and sip Another Day In Paradise a cocktail for two featuring rose petal and raspberry infused vodka. Strawberry Chocolate Decadence, a dessert with layers of strawberry confit and dark chocolate, is also available for $19 paired with the sparkling red wine Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui

The Strawberry Chocolate Decadence at the Grand Del Mar features a sublime combination of tastes at textures. (Courtesy photo)

The Strawberry Chocolate Decadence at the Grand Del Mar features a sublime combination of tastes at textures. (Courtesy photo)

If you’re craving a total culinary experience, call 858.314.1900 and make a reservation for Executive Chef William Bradley’s lavish six-course Valentine’s dinner in Addison’s dining room. The chef — a very happy newlywed — is sure to be cooking with his heart on his sleeve; seductive courses include baby sea scallops, roasted endive with caramelized pears, butter-baked salmon and pistachio nougatine with honey comb gelato. The dinner is $125 per person, or $185 per person with wine pairings plus gratuities, but hey, Valentine’s Day only comes once a year. Meanwhile at Amaya, Chef Camron Woods’ tempting dishes include winter mushroom consomme with truffled ravioli, seared Diver scallops with parsnip puree and golden raisins, and a limoncello semifreddo. That repast is $110 per person or $155 with wine pairings, plus gratuity. For reservations, call 858.314.2727

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10 Great Bubbly Bargains for New Year’s Eve – All Under $30

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

This cremant from Burgundy is French, eminently drinkable, and $10 at Trader Joe's.

This cremant from Burgundy is French, eminently drinkable, and $10 at Trader Joe's.


On the whole, I think 2009 will be remembered as the year of moderation. Nearly everyone is looking for ways to be smarter about how they spend their money. While champagne and sparkling wines seem like a luxury – and they are a luxurious experience — they don’t have to come with a high price tag. One of the most useful features of my book The Bubbly Bar is a guide to buying bubbly in every price range. Since I wrote the book, I’ve continued to discover affordable sparkling wines that are great for sipping alone or in cocktails. Here’s my list of bargain bubbly available nationwide for New Year’s Eve 2010.

1. Michel Dervin Brut Champagne – crafted by a small grower in Champagne, this is toasty just the way you want, about $29.99
2. Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut or Extra Dry – made just outside Seattle, these wines are fresh and easy to like, about $8.99
3. Juve y Camps Reserva de la Familia Cava Brut Nature – an elegant and delicate mouthful, about $15
4. Blason de Bourgogne – a sparkling wine from Burgundy, made especially for Trader Joes available in brut and a brut rosé, about $10 – At Trader Joe’s
5. Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs – crafted from pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, a satisfying bubbly with a hint of richness, about $17

The Domaine Carernos Brut is a perfect marriage of California and France, with its fresh fruit balanced by toastiness.

The Domaine Carernos Brut is a perfect marriage of California and France, with its fresh fruit balanced by toastiness.


6. Domaine Carneros Brut — fresh and toasty, a marriage of California and France, about $24
7. Roederer Estate Brut – crisp green apple abounds, about $19
8. Mionetto Prosecco Brut – fresh green pear and soft bubbles, about $14

A sophisticated sparkling wine from Alsace, it delivers gorgeous pinot noir flavor.

A sophisticated sparkling wine from Alsace, it delivers gorgeous pinot noir flavor.


9. Lucien Albrecht Cremant d’Alsace Brut Rosé – sophisticated and juicy with pinot noir, about $20
10. Domaine Chandon Brut Classic – a bright and bubbly wine, always a classic about $15

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Julia Child’s Kitchen, The Smithsonian and Champagne

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

In a video at the Smithsonian Museum, Julia Child explains that a champagne stopper or bouch kept her Dom Perignon bubbly three days after opening.

In a video at the Smithsonian Museum, Julia Child explains that a champagne stopper or bouch kept her Dom Perignon bubbly three days after opening.


We love champagne and sparkling wine for its tantalizing bubbles, but is there a good way to save those bubbles if you open a bottle and don’t finish it?

Absolutely, according to Julia Child, the woman who brought French cuisine and a taste for champagne to Americans with her cooking show and books. While travelling on the East Coast recently for Bubbly Bar tastings and book signings, I planned the trip so I’d have an extra day in Washington DC. I wanted to make sure to get to visit Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Julia Child says she served her best champagne - a bottle of Dom Perignon - to Bon Appetit editor Barbara Fairchild.

As soon as I walked into the kitchen exhibit, the first thing I heard was Child’s distinctive voice… talking about champagne! A video monitor was set up to play a series of videos on topics including her favorite kitchen gadgets. In this segment, Child pulls a gold champagne stopper off a bottle Dom Perignon. As she demonstrates, the champagne was still bubbly three days later.

I agree that one of the best ways to keep leftover champagne (yes, it does exist) fresh is with a stopper or bouchon in French specifically made for sparkling wines. The grey rubber stoppers that come with a vacuum hand pump are great for still wines, but useless with champagne because the bubbles easily escape.

I’ve been partial to champagne stoppers with two hinged arms that fit tightly around the lip of the bottle, like this one in the J Wine Cuvée 20 Collection gift set or this champagne saver and pourer from Vacu Vin. But the sleek one piece stoppers like this Domaine Carneros bouchon that work with suction are still quite effective if you can leave an open bottle sitting for long.

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Champagne Daniel: You Can Take it Home with You

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Cuvee Daniel Champagne

Cuvee Daniel Champagne


I’ve been in NYC for a few days of press interviews and book signings to promote The Bubbly Bar. The highlights included taping a Better.TV segment with Audra Lowe that airs later this week, making cocktails for Betsy on Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food with Betsy Karetnick. But in between all the running around, I was lucky enough to be able to steal away to a few of Chef Daniel Boulud’s restaurants that included the fabulous new DBGB Kitchen & Bar where we had the most perfect gourmet burgers and housemade sausages and DB Bistro Moderne, where I enjoyed a a light lunch of an Indian spiced squash soup, Alsatian tart and an Eliot Spitzer sighting.

One element that I found in all three restaurants – besides the amazing food, interesting decor and top-notch service, was the Cuvée Daniel Champagne. It flowed most freely at Restaurant Daniel, where we sipped glasses of the house bubbly along with a series of little morsels including scallops and satiny fluke that were on the appetizer menu. It was elegant and crisp with a richnesss that unfolded around gorgeous streams of tiny bubbles.

Daniel’s champagne is made by Pierre Paillard, a small producer in Bouzy that has specialized in pinot-noir driven wines and champagnes since 1768!

And it turns out, it’s available for purchase from Sherry-Lehman in NYC. This week they’re offering Cuvee Daniel for $45 a bottle; even with cross country shipping it’s a quite affordable way to experience a bit of luxury from one of New York’s top restaurants.

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Protected: Sparkling “Side Dish” Cocktail Recipes for Turkey Day

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

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Isn’t it Grand? Champagne Tasting in San Diego

Friday, November 13th, 2009

grower glasses smallThe Tour de Champagne – a fabulous tasting event that I just attended in Washington DC – hasn’t made its way to San Diego just yet. But we have an annual tasting that’s just as spectacular: Le Grand Champagne this Saturday Nov. 14 at the WineSellar & Brasserie.

This year, the pre-holiday tasting and appetizer pairing will feature 37 different marques (aka brands) of champagne and sparkling wines. They range from wines from small producers such as Charles Ellner and Bruno Paillard (check out the site if you love the movie Diva) to tête de cuvées by well known houses like Taittinger, Bollinger and Moët & Chandon. It’s not just NV brut; there will be several fine rose champagnes, the somewhat elusive Veuve Clicquot Demi Sec and Iniskillin’s amazing sparkling ice wine. Special pricing is being offered on Saturday for people who want to take their favorites home.

Matt Smith, the creative new chef at WineSellar & Brasserie, has created a delicious menu to enhance the different bubblies. Enjoy honeydew and grapes with delicate wines, lavender-scented goat cheese with crisp ones, celery root soup and crispy pancetta to pair with bold toasty champagnes and smoked salmon mousse with brut rosés.

The tasting is from 2 to 6 p.m at the WineSellar & Brasserie, 9550 Waples St. Suite 115 in Mira Mesa. Tickets are $85 per person or $70 for Wine Club members. For more reservations and more information, call 858-450-9557.

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Massages and Cocktails: Hawt on Yelp Spa Week

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Voda Spa in West Hollywood features luxurious treatment rooms - they also serve cocktails in the lounge. (Courtesy photo)
For the past few weeks I’ve been running around the country doing Bubbly Bar book parties and boy are my legs tired (ba-dump.) Actually, toting suitcases around and being squooshed into less than capacious airplane seats has taken its toll. The Bubbly Girl could use some pampering.

Good thing next week is Hawt on Yelp Spa Week! From Nov. 2-8, Yelp members get 50% off on services at selected spas around Los Angeles. At Mani-Kir Royale (love it) in North Hollywood you always get a glass of bubbly along with a gorgeous set of nails. They also use lots of fun products that have cocktail themes. The Bellini foot treatment include a bubbly foot soak, a peach nectar scrub and a champagne oil massage; the Sangria Massage is done with tropical fruit oils while the Champagne Facial uses actual champagne grape seed extract to leave the skin wonderfully moisturized.

Another highlight is Voda Spa, a chic day lounge in West Hollywood that features a Russian banyas, a private spa room for group events. Signature treatments include the Clear as Water Facial (voda means water in Russian) that uses a unique combination of enzymes, sulfur and probiotics to erase the conditions that cause acne and the Caviar Wrap that uses caviar extracts to exfoliate, nourish and tone the skin all over your body.

Then when you’re firm and and pretty, head down to the Voda Lounge lounge that serves drinks that highlight the health benefits of champagne and vodka. For Hawt on Yelp week, they’re serving a $7 Detox Martini that includes organic Ocean Vodka and a splash of electrolyte blend. To that, I say Na zdrowie!

Download the entire Hawt on Yelp a list of spas here.

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Moet & Sugar Cubes: The Bubbly Bar Los Angeles Launch Party at The Edison

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

moet champagne cocktail
Last week I met up with some new and old friends in Los Angeles at The Edison for a Bubbly Bar book launch party that featured Moet & Chandon Champagne. In case you haven’t been, The Edison is a unique night club venue in downtown Los Angeles set in an old private power plant. Many of the old power plant fixtures like doors to coal furnaces remain, but the place has been plushed out with velvet sofas, original vintage style light fixtures and movie screens that show old sepia toned movies.
Members of the Medill Alumni Club of Southern California at The Bubbly Bar launch party in LA.<

Besides lots of friends, the party in the Tesla Room drew members of the Medill Club of Southern California, media Los Angeles including Lori Corbin, the Food Coach from KABC, Michael Reel of Reel Urban News and Natalie Bovis-Nelson, The Liquid Muse and Michael Jenkins Brown of South Bay Foodies. I only wish Julia Fitzroy, the lovely and super busy Moet rep who made the party possible, had been able to make it down.

I'm flanked by Annie Kuo, president of the Medill Club of Southern California, Liquid Muse Natalie Bovis Nelson.
The featured drink was Champagne Cocktails which guests could customize. The capital C “Chamapagne Cocktail” is the original drink made with champagne, dating back to the mid 1850s. This was a time when champagne had an undisputed association with luxury and slightly decadent living; it was also known as chorus girl’s milk. The simple recipe for a Champagne Cocktail is a dousing a sugar cube with aromatic bitters before dropping it into the glass. As a variant, I infused sugar cubes with a variety of flavors including La Fee Absinthe, PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur, Angostura Bitters, and Stirrings Blood Orange Bitters.
A silver tray held sugar cubes flavored with Angostura bitters, absinthe, PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur and blood orange bitters so guests could make their own style of Champagne Cocktail.

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How to Open a Bottle of Champagne – The Right Way!

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Just last night I was having dinner with a really smart and fun foodie friend who loves, cooking, wine and cocktails. At one point the conversation turned to sparkling wine and champagne – big surprise!

But I was surprised when she admitted that when it came to opening bubbly, she usually handed the bottle off to someone else.

If you’ve been suffering from a secret fear of opening a bottle of bubbly, don’t despair! With the help of my TV reporter friend Kristi, I’ve recorded this video to teach anyone how to open that bottle of bubbly safely.

As you’ll read in the introduction of my new book “The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Every Occasion” the first thing to do is to make sure to chill your sparkling wine properly for 30 minutes to an hour in the refrigerator or an ice and water bath. There’s the same amount of force behind a flying cork and a bullet leaving a gun barrel; making sure the bottle is nice and cold ensures that everything will go smoothly.

Now grab a cloth napkin, your cold bottle of bubbly and let’s get popping!

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Bubbles on Tour: Bubbly Bar Book Events

Monday, September 14th, 2009
Signing books at the Hotel Solamar on Aug. 26 at the San Diego launch party presented by Slow Food Urban San Diego  and Domaine Chandon - what a blast!

Signing books at the Hotel Solamar on Aug. 26 at the San Diego launch party presented by Slow Food Urban San Diego and Domaine Chandon - what a blast!

It’s been quite the whirlwind since my book The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails (Clarkson Potter, $16.99) launched a few weeks ago. It’s amazing how many different skills it takes to be an author; not only do you need to know enough about a topic to write about it, once you’ve done so and had the incredible good fortune to get a book published, then you need to become an expert at marketing, event planning and logistics! All that is to say that with the help of some friends, I’ve put together some fun Bubbly Bar book events that will start happening around the country in a couple weeks.

If you’re a Bubbly Girl – or even if you just like to have fun while tasting some sparkling wine cocktails and learning something new, then I hope you’ll come out to join the fun as I make my way around the country. Stay tuned for more events in NYC, San Francisco, Atlanta and San Diego but here’s where I’ll be for the next month or so:

Chicago

Oct. 1.  – Pops for Champagne 601 N. State St. 6 to 8 p.m.
Come learn how to make great autumn cocktails with Domaine Carneros – America’s first estate grown organic sparkling wine and fine artisanal spirits. Ticket are $25 and include a signed book, cocktails and nibbles at America’s most acclaimed champagne bar. To RSVP, email rsvp@popsforchampagne.com

Oct. 3 – Shop & Sip at M2 Boutique, 3527 N. Southport Ave. 12 to 4 p.m.
We’ll have fun sipping fizz and browsing through fabulous fall fashions including TANO leather handbags at 20% off at this value-conscious boutique. Free event, no RSVP required.

Los Angeles

Oct. 7 – Moet Champagne Cocktails & A Sparkling Book Party at The Edison, 108 W. Second Ave. 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. Meet me in the Tesla Lounge for an intimate literary cocktail party featuring Moet & Chandon champagne cocktails and appetizers at this unique vintage-style bar in downtown LA. Wear business or cocktail attire – the Edison has a dress code. Stick around for the sexy cabaret show starting at 8 in the main bar. Tickets are $20 and include a signed book and bubbly. All guests must pre-pay by Oct. 3 by emailing maria at thebubblygirl.com.

NYC

Oct. 12  – The Bombay Bubbly Experience at Beekman’s Bar & Books, 889 1st Ave (At 50th) 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
We’ll explore the unique synergy between fine aromatic Bombay Sapphire gin and bubbly at this cocktail demo and party at Beekman’s, a warm and clubby bar that’s filled with thousands of books. I’ll be mixing drinks along with resident bartender Ben Scorah – GQ Magazine’s NYC Bartender of the Year- and Bombay Sapphire U.S. Mixologist James Moreland.  Tickets are $25 and include cocktails, food and signed books. For information on reservations, email maria at thebubblygirl.com

Napa County

Oct. 24- Cocktail clinics & book signing at Domaine Chandon, 1 California Drive, Yountville. I’ll be lounging in the gift shop of this modern showcase winery and giving two cocktail clinics featuring drinks from the book throughout the day. Cocktails from The Bubbly Bar will also be available for purchase at the tasting bar. Come up and make a day of it by taking a behind the scenes tour of the winery and treating yourself to a bubblicious lunch or dinner at Etoile! Free event!

Washington DC

Nov. 4 – Cava and Latin Libations at Masa 14, 1825 14th St. NW, Washington DC 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Masa 14 is the hot new restaurant by Richard Sandoval and Kaz Okochi that serves Latin and Asian small plates in a hip setting. We’ll explore the fine Spanish sparkling wine called cava and Latin libations from The Bubbly Bar paired with small plates from the restaurant. Tickets are $35 and include, drinks, food and a signed book. Make reservations through www.hooksbookevents.com or call 202-328-1414.

NYC

Dec. 12 – Book signing & Weekend Tasting at Harlem Vintage, 2235 Frederick Douglass Blvd. 4 to 7 p.m. Perrier-Jouet Champagne will be the featured champagne at this tasting and book signing at Harlem Vintage in this famous neighborhood that was home to lots of gin joints and speakeasies dating back to the classic cocktail era. A bottle of international bubbly and a signed copy of the Bubbly Bar make a fabulous and fast holiday gift. Harlem’s own Hue-Man Bookstore will be our book-selling partner for this special tasting. Free event!

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