VIDALIA'S GOLDEN GLOW

Food Tourism Soars in Georgia

 By Doc Lawrence

VIDALIA, Georgia— The great journalist Lewis Grizzard described the area as Georgia’s big sky country. In Vidalia, visitors behold a glorious horizon, a stunning panorama of natural beauty. A case can be made that all good plants will grow well in the fertile soil in this Deep South nook with the world famous name. Water is abundant and the clean air and moderate climate supports a comfortable lifestyle. But the magnet that attracts visitors is now and forevermore the great sweet Vidalia onion, arguably the world’s most talked about vegetable.

Ingrid Varn, on left, with Lara Lyn Carter

The Vidalia Onion Festival just concluded. Food tourism is a fast growing industry, a fact not lost on Ingrid Varn the high energy Executive Director of the Vidalia Area Convention and Visitors Bureau: “The economic impact each year is about $850,000.  The festival is huge pull for our region.  It is a way for us to showcase our small town.  We are unique because we are a nationally known brand but still a small city of about 12,000 citizens.”

Vidalia onions have high profile fans like acclaimed chefs Emeril Lagasse and Georgia native Paula Deen, but also include fast rising star TV chef Lara Lyn Carter of WALB-TV in Albany, Georgia. “We had an onion-farmer from Uruguay visit last year,” said Ms. Varn, “who read about the museum and stopped by on his annual trip to Miami.  We have also had a group from Kazakhstan on an agricultural tour.  The kids seem to love the interactive onion grader in the children's room.  It allows them to see how the onions are graded by different sizes.” Ms. Carter says she used the legendary onion in countless dishes. “Vidalia’s are as basic to me as salt and pepper.”

The festival anticipates the harvest of Vidalia onions and the introduction to the national marketplace and this year featured the second Vidalia Onion Cook off, a competition among top Georgia chefs for cash prizes, trophies and bragging rights. First place honors were awarded to Chef Daniel Chance, executive chef of Campagnolo Restaurant and Bar in Atlanta for his recipe, “Scallop Stuffed Vidalia with Onion Purée.”

Good soil, pure water, fresh air and friendly people seem to be somehow embedded in the Vidalia onion, Georgia’s official state vegetable. This is a destination for travelers most any time of the year, who, according to Ingrid Varn, “need to come to Vidalia to experience the whole onion.”

NOTE: Wonderful recipes incorporating Georgia’s legendary onion are legion, but nothing beats authenticity. A genuine Georgia Girl, Lara Lyn Carter knows her way around a Southern kitchen. Here’s one of her original recipes:

Lara Lyn Carter’s Vidalia Onion Tart

4 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. sugar

4 cups Vidalia onion sliced

½ cup white wine

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 cups smoked Gruyere

Pre-baked Pie Crust

Melt butter in skillet, add onions with sugar and cook until tender. Remove skillet from heat and add wine, parsley and cheese. Mix all ingredients well and pour into pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted.

FLAMENCO IN ATLANTA

ZORRO ROCKS THE ALLIANCE

By Doc Lawrence

“You are my life, the fate of destiny,
in the destiny of abandonment.
Still the same as yesterday,
I am just the same.”
                      Bamboleo-The Gipsy Kings

ATLANTA-Music and dance inspire rejuvenation of a sagging spirit. When Gypsies perform Flamenco, there is something that connects with an ancient flame still burning deep inside our mortal souls. Zorro, the outstanding musical at the Alliance Theatre, proved to be the equal of Frida and Diego, the art exhibit extravaganza drawing record crowds next door at the High Museum. Zorro, with it’s entertaining rythyms and harmonies, is another reminder that Atlanta is indeed an international city where risk and adventure in the arts community comes as easy as a Sunday morning..

With music by the legendary Gipsy Kings, and a cast of Flamenco dancers performing at a breathtaking pace, there was no risk of the audience being disinterested. Zorro is “the fox,” a clever masked hero rescuring his family and community after returning from military academy in Madrd to early Spanish colonial California, bringing along a band of Gypsy friends. Through song and dance, we are led to the spectacular finale with the masked hero swooping over the audience to reclaim justice and procalim love. The celebration features Flamenco dancing and songs accompanied by amazing percussion and instruments.

Zorro is billed as the first Flamenco musical. The cultural connections embrace the music, song and dance of Andulsia in southern Spain, paying homage to the Romany people, popularly known as Gypsies. The blend of Romany, Spanish and Arab cultures is there, but the speed of the musical allows no time for analysis: you just give in to the irrestible embrace of sights and sounds.

Fueled by Flamenco and balanced by amazing choreography, the feet pound out the Gypsy beat while the skirts fly around swirling dancers. Zorro incorporates over 50 actors, dancers and musicians building to a full-cast crescendo with “Bamboleo.”

 Zorro celebrates the heroic tradition. The musical brings the magic of Gypsy culture to the Deep South on our most heralded stage. See it to honor love through music and dance. And bring friends and family.

BASEBALL AND THE BRAVES

ATLANTA’S BOYS OF SUMMER

BEGIN WITH A BANG

“Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.”
                                           George Will

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA-The day was made for tourism officials. 100,000 in town for basketball’s “Final Four” and the Braves playing the Cubs under a clear blue sky at Turner Field before a sellout crowd. After the game Sting and Dave Mathews were performing live and free in Centennial Olympic Park. Few stayed home on this lovely spring day in Dixie.

Enjoying the game with me were folks from Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas and Florida, here for baseball and basketball. Baseball fans are a gentler lot, minus most of the bluster and bravado and all too often vulgarity of college and NFL football games. I take small children to Braves games and would never think of taking them to any football games other than high school contests. Baseball enriches our higher instincts.

With young families doing the Tomahawk Chop and Chant (a Braves tradition began in the early 1990’s by Dieon Sanders during his tenure as a Braves outfielder), veteran pitcher Tim Hudson was in near perfect form. Braves newcomers the Upton brothers continued to shine and struggling second baseman Dan Uggla showed signs of new life with a towering homer.



THE LEGENDARY CLYDESDALE HORSES GREET BRAVES FANS

I always arrive early on game day because tailgaters-the Braves are as much a part of tailgating in these parts as Saturday college football-and photo ops are priceless. As always, some outdoor tables were beautifully set with wine glasses waiting for pours of quality vino and grills sizzled with chicken, catfish and steak. This crisp and dry day begged for a tasty Bloody Mary.

The Clydesdale horses and wagon from Anheuser Busch were outside the stadium complete with a Dalmatian atop the wagon. What a wonderful greeting as fans entered the game confines.

The chanting and chopping paid off. As Skip Carey, the late voice of the Braves proclaimed: “Braves Win! Braves Win!”

Baseball fits life’s rhythms. There will be victories and losses. Tomorrow is always a clean slate. There are surprises and disappointments. But until that final day in October when the last out is called in the 9th inning, there’s hope.

Hope is a dream, Elvis said, powered by a V-8 engine.

Going to The Masters? Meet me in Aiken, SC:

http://mycookingmagazine.com/gourmet-highway-jazz-southern-hospitality-and-racing-horses/

VINO FROM THE KING OF THE BLUES

B. B. KING’S WINES

“Music is love, and love is music

      In perfect harmony.

So when I sing, I have sung all about

    The love of you and me.”

                        B. B. King

By Doc Lawrence

MEMPHIS--Blues legend B.B. King released a new line of signature wines bearing his name across the United States. The Rock and Roll and Blues Hall of Famer debuted the B.B. King Signature Collection here in

Memphis and also in Nashville. The good news is that the wines are headed for other markets including Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, New Orleans and everywhere Americans gather to celebrate life

The introduction fanfare brought to mind what Wynton Marsalis once said at Emory University when a student asked him what the blues meant. “The blues,” maestro Marsalis responded, “is a way of never giving in, no matter how tough life is.” As I took a first sip, I thought about all the times I saw B. B. King, going back to my teenage years in Atlanta when, during the heyday of racial segregation, I enjoyed King and other performing legends like Little Richard, Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner at the landmark Royal Peacock on the city’s ”Sweet Auburn” Avenue.

These experiences, then and now are transformational.

B.B. King’s wines include a red and a white. Both wines are sourced from the award winning Bodega Santa Cruz Winery, which has been producing wine for over 60 years and is located in the D.O. wine region of Almansa, Spain. The red is a Crianza blend made from Garnacha, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon, and the B.B. King white is from 100% Verdejo grapes.

For more than half a century, Riley B. King has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over 50 albums, many of them global classics. Over the years, B.B. King has become one of the most renowned blues musicians and developed one of the world’s most identifiable guitar styles, which earned him a #3 spot on Rolling Stone’s Top Guitarists of All Time list. B.B. King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He has received more than 15 Grammy awards and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1987. At 87, King continues to tour and averages 250 concerts per year around the world.

Hardly slowing down, B. B. King successfully introduced these new bottles of wine that like his songs, are filled with joy.

A perfect pairing with the blues, good conversation and Southern food, both wines are easy to enjoy for everyday drinking. After a couple of glasses and some great Memphis barbecue, things seemed a little better. It’s the power of the blues and good wine, B.B. King’s gift to the world.

PRIME TIME FOR KOSHER WINES

 

KOSHER WINES ARE FOR EVERYONE

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA-Passover is an appropriate time to become more familiar with the delights of Kosher wines.

Kosher wine, said Mitch Schneider, who lives in Israel and is well versed in this subject, “is produced according to Jewish dietary laws, called Kashrut. All the appropriate wine making equipment, tools, and storage facilities must be used exclusively for producing Kosher wine. Beginning with harvest, only Sabbath observant Jews are allowed to work in wine production. Only certified Kosher products like yeast can be used.”

Schneider, a career wine professional, offered a few Kosher wine nuggets:  “With some Kosher wine,” he observed, “you might see Mevushal on the label. "  He explained that this literally means boiled or cooked. “Back in history, the Jewish people would boil the wine in order to make it unfit for idolatrous use. Even if an idolater touched it, the wine would still keep the status of Kosher. Today, we use the process of flash pasteurization to make the wine Mevushal. Flash pasteurization is a very, very fast process in which the wine goes through a continuous flow while subjected to temperatures of 160 °F to 165 °F.”

I asked if the terms Kosher and organic were related? “I don't believe they are,” Schneider replied, adding that “in Israel, Yarden Winery produces an organic Chardonnay from their Odem Vineyard. In America, Baron Herzog Winery is not certified organic, but many of their wines come from sustainably grown, low spray grapes.”

Obviously, with all the diversity inherent in wine for over six thousand years, there are aspects of Kosher wine that should attract everyone who loves good wine.  Mitch Schneider believes that Kosher wine should have the same appeal a non-Kosher wine brings. “A Chalk Hill Cab that is Kosher,” he said, “will taste like a Chalk Hill non-Kosher Cab. I know many people won't even try Kosher wine, but the truth is, when tasting a wine, whatever your preconceived notions you had in your head will effect the taste of the wine.”

Schneider claims that there are amazing Kosher wine available today from around the world. More than a few, he states, “are being written about and rated in top wine magazines and winning top medals in various competitions. The days of sweet concord wine are gone! Today, Kosher wine is something to be proud of like any other wine.”

Schneider said to look at Vodka. “There is a Kosher certification on Stoli. Why? Simply for the marketing aspect. No one thinks of Stoli as the Kosher Vodka. Likewise, don't think of Kosher wine as sweet concord wine.”

Here are some of the superior Kosher wines Schneider said to look for in the American marketplace: Castel Winery from Israel – “Their Grand Vin label is amazing.” Hagafen Cellars from California – “Look out for their Pinot Noir.” Borgo Reale Moscato and Bartenura Moscato.- “Two wineries, one wine - both delicious and refreshing from Italy.” Yatir Winery from Israel plus Goose Bay from New Zealand-“their Sauvignon Blanc is crisp, and very well balanced.”

What about Bordeaux? Or Burgundy? Schneider quickly responded, “we sure do have them,” referring me to two sites: KosherCuvee.com and Kosher French Wine importer.

 

Where to find Kosher wines retail? Whole Foods, Fresh Market, a first-rate wine retailer and if you’re in the Atlanta area, the Dekalb Farmers Market. I have a lifelong pal who has led me into different and usually better worlds and when we were kids, his mother would offer me Kosher dishes, saying with a big smile. “Come on: Try it just once.”

Enough said. It’s time to pour a glass of Laurent-Perrier Kosher Champagne and toast to heritage, tradition, and friendship A glass of Kosher wine brings the history of humankind onto the palate. A transcendent experience.

 

JUILLIARD IN AIKEN

 

Music Tourism In South Carolina

By Doc Lawrence

AIKEN, South Carolina –This lovely city is well known for thoroughbred horses and all sorts of stylish equestrian competition. Like much of the South, when you look around, there’s always more to keep a visitor occupied and entertained.

The 5^th annual Juilliard in Aiken Festival just concluded and what an event it was. Yes, this is the same New York City headquartered music school so identified with excellence. What may not be well-known is the school’s very prestigious Jazz program, turning out some distinguished alums like Jazz greats Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea and Christian McBride who rank musically with other Juilliard graduates like Academy Award winning composer John Williams and classical pianist Van Cliburn. The Juilliard in Aiken Festival is firmly established as one of the most impressive, mutually beneficial relationships in the country.

The schedule featured an evening performance at the Green Boundary Club by the Juilliard Jazz Artists Diploma Ensemble, composed of Juilliard’s most advanced jazz musicians.  The selections included a song by Hoagie Carmichael and more than one arrangement inspired memories of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Just prior to my leaving for Atlanta, the group surfaced for a repeat performance at The Willcox, one of the best luxury hotels anywhere in America, The intimate concert in the bar was what you’d expect in New Orleans or Key West.

Even with their busy performing schedules, the Juilliard artists who range from classical vocalists to violinists stay busy with daily performances in regional schools as part of the Juilliard in Aiken Outreach Program. Dr. Sandra Field, President of Juilliard in Aiken, said that “outreach is very important to Juilliard’s mission, and to ours, too. It’s a huge part of what the Juilliard artists are here for. When they’re not on stage they’re in the schools. They teach in their disciplines, but they also serve as mentors and role models.”

The exclusive Juilliard in Aiken Performing Arts Festival and Outreach Program is the only partnership of its kind maintained by Juilliard anywhere in the world. The Festival began in 2009, thanks to an extraordinary gift to Juilliard by two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, Aiken residents Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh, who bequeathed the use of their mansion, Joye Cottage, to the school.  

Tourism’s trajectory is soaring high here in this wonderful part of America. Offer excellence and people will come. The truly lucky ones will stay.

Be proud, Aiken.

Gourmet Baseball 2013. Come along and watch spring baseball games in Florida, then join me for dinner:

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FOOD,WINE AND COCKTAILS WITH CLASS

WILLY’S ATLANTA PALM

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA- My home town lost her best restaurant general manager in Willy Cellucci. From the day the Atlanta Palm opened its doors just in time for the 1996 Summer Olympics, he attracted customers to the finest bar in the region, a mixture of sports stars, movie idols, legendary musicians, local celebrities and interesting local.

Willy’s personality brought them in like a magnet.

After a long battle with cancer, the irrepressible Willy Cellucci departed this life and I count myself among those who are thankful for the good times together. I learned loads about how to treat people through his example. He was  always a gentleman.He remembered names, was even-handed and  adapted to any group of guests. Uniformly good-natured, Willy knew baseball, wines, what made a good cocktail, the best from the day’s menu, and would share a tasteful anecdote that occasionally made my columns more entertaining..

Special memories include Willy’s Tequila dinner, pairing the chef’s gourmet selections with an array of anejo, blanco and reposado Tequila, an introduction of what is now commonplace with Scotch, Bourbon, Rum and othe spirits. During  lunch with Christine Born, one of the most gifted editors I’ve ever worked for, Willy joined us and explained why the cocktails at the Palm were superior. “We give you a great cocktail,” he said. “Big chunks ice that melt slowly, always with a very generous pour. I want you to come back.”

Willy was the Palm’s unofficial Sommilier and once took me on a tour of his reserve wine cellar. His knowledge of each bottle was staggering and the stories he shared about how they found their way to a celebrity’s dinner table was the stuff of a New Orleans restaurateur.

If you’re a real Dodger fan, Willy observed, “you bleed Dodger blue.” He enthralled customers with his baseball lore, always plugging his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Atlanta Palm set the standard for excellence in Buckhead and beyond. Sure, much of this is because the restaurant is exceptional to begin with. But Willy’s  special touch, which came as natural to him as his big smile, added to the enjoyment.