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Maude Journeys to Burgundy for the Spring 2018 Menu

For wine lovers, Burgundy is Mecca. It is one of the world's most prestigious wine regions. While traveling to Burgundy is preferred, from April to June, Maude Restaurant brought Burgundy to us as Burgundy was the wine region that inspired the second region featured this year.

Burgundy is in the eastern region of France. It is only 75 miles long and runs form Dijon in the north to Macon in the south. Burgundy is divided into five main wine regions: Chablis and Auxerrois, Cote de Nuits, Cote de Beaune, Cote Chalonnaise, and Maconnais. The Maude team traveled to Burgundy earlier this year to explore the region. This is a region known for its wines but also for its gastronomy with specialties such as dijon mustard, coq au vin, beef bourguignon, Burgundy snails, cassis and epoisses de Bourgogne cheese. From their travels, they created a delicious 10-course meal that was beautifully executed and it embodied the tradition and elegance of Burgundy.

28 June, 2018

Getting to know Porto, Portugal

This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. To me, the best way to get to know a county and its culture is through its food and wine. Local ingredients and dishes, the indigenous grape varieties and winemaking processes, they all tell so much about a culture, its history and present-day. So, on my first trip to Portugal, specifically to the city of Porto, I dove right in. Located in Northern Portugal, along the Douro river, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. From the cobblestone streets to the tiled houses to the food and wine, it is no wonder that Porto was classified as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 1996 and recently awarded The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency.

Porto is flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the vineyards in the Douro to the east. The cuisine of Porto uses its natural resources, which include fresh seafood and meats. And there are the sweet desserts, many of which are made with what was described to me as just “sugar, sugar, sugar and eggs, eggs, eggs.”

02 January, 2018

Maude September 2017 – Melon

I have enjoyed thirty-six meals at Maude over the past four years and while every menu has been very good, with some dishes being great, a few months have just been a home-run with each and every bite being as good, if not better, than the last one. September's melon menu is one of those months.

Melon is a quintessential summer ingredient. With the bitter-sweetness of summer ending, the sweetness of the melon was a perfect ingredient to feature. A relative of the cucumber, summer melons include cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon, as well as many others. Maude explained on their website that "summer melons include those with a raised cross-hatched pattern or netting on the rind. The Charentais variety is characterized by the green ribs on the rind. Its tender, apricot-orange interior and gorgeous fragrance, make it the perfect dessert melon. Muskmelons are known as cantaloupe in the U.S. Their pale orange flesh is juicy and sweet. The Galia is a honeydew-cantaloupe cross. Spherical and small, the creamy, light green flesh is spicy-sweet. The Ambrosia is a hybrid muskmelon with a highly-perfumed scent, best enjoyed fresh. The popular Spanish variety, Piel de Sapo, has a rough, dark green exterior and crisp flesh and pairs well with salty, smoked meats. And we'd be remiss to exclude the watermelon, the largest of the melons. Barrel-shaped with bright, pink flesh, which can also be yellow or white." For this menu, we decided to do the wine pairing created by the Maude team. And, like most meals at Maude, we started with champagne - Vazart-Coquart Brut Reserve Blanc de Blancs Champagne.

26 September, 2017