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News Bites: Gracie’s, The Capital Grille/Share Our Strength, Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ and Temple Downtown

by David Dadekian
written by David Dadekian
from left to right: Gracie's Director of Special Events Brendan Chipley Roane, Gracie's Owner Ellen Gracyalny and AAA Southern New England Senior Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Lloyd Albert

from left to right: Gracie's Director of Special Events Brendan Chipley Roane, Gracie's Owner Ellen Gracyalny and AAA Southern New England Senior Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Lloyd Albert

Gracie’s

Congratulations to Gracie’s restaurant in Providence on receiving the AAA Four Diamond Award. Gracie’s is one of only three restaurants in Rhode Island to earn the award in 2011 and one of only 754 restaurants in the nation to hold the AAA Four Diamond rating. The AAA Four Diamond Award was presented to Gracie’s and other Rhode Island recipients earlier this month at a luncheon hosted by AAA Southern New England at the Ocean House in Westerly. Gracie’s owner Ellen Gracyalny said, “We are thrilled to receive this award and honored to be recognized for the execution of our philosophy. The entire Gracie’s team believes deeply in our mission of educating and enhancing the palate with fresh ingredients inspired by the seasons and to do so with extraordinary service and attention to detail. I am so proud of our incredible team and grateful to all of our loyal guests and dedicated purveyors who helped Gracie’s achieve this wonderful recognition by AAA.”

AAA’s rating process system is aimed at providing restaurant-goers with guidance on good, basic food or an extraordinary dining experience. The AAA Four Diamond Award is presented to restaurants focused on a menu marked by a high degree of creativity and complexity and delivered upon by an executive chef and accomplished staff who use imaginative presentations to enhance high quality, market-fresh ingredients. The award also reflects a proficient service staff that demonstrates a strong desire to meet or exceed guest expectations, a wine steward who provides menu-specific knowledge on wine selection and a highly refined, comfortable and well-coordinated ambiance.

Seasons at the Ocean House and the Spiced Pear at The Chanler at Cliff Walk were the two other Rhode Island restaurants who received the AAA Four Diamond rating.

Gracie’s, 194 Washington St., Providence, RI 02903. 401-272-7811

The Capital Grille Artist Series Wine with winning artwork by Julie Agee

The Capital Grille Artist Series Wine with winning artwork by Julie Agee

The Capital Grille

The Capital Grille Artist Series Wine Event is returning for its third year beginning March 19. This annual event gives guests at The Capital Grille the opportunity to purchase an exclusive, limited allocation wine adorned with a unique piece of original artwork as its label, while supporting Share Our Strength and their mission to end childhood hunger in America. The restaurant will once again donate $25 to Share Our Strength for every limited-edition bottle sold.

This year’s Artist Series wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon hand-selected by The Capital Grille’s own Master Sommelier, George Miliotes.”We are extremely pleased to bring back the Artist Series Wine Event for a third consecutive year. As always, we are thrilled to support a worthy cause like Share Our Strength, which helps feed hungry children in America. The Capital Grille has donated nearly $1 million to Share Our Strength over the past four years, and we look forward to reaching and exceeding that milestone this year,” said John Martin, President of The Capital Grille. The Capital Grille Artist Series Cabernet was hand-crafted at Napa Valley’s Freemark Abbey Winery by Ted Edwards, in collaboration with George Miliotes. Fewer than 1,000 cases of the wine, blended solely for The Capital Grille, were produced. To match the work of art inside the bottle, The Capital Grille invited artists and wine lovers to submit original art for the bottle’s label, during a competition held last fall. The winning painting, Complexity, by Missouri-based artist Julie Agee, was chosen for the way the vibrant colors and abstract lines perfectly complement the robust flavors and subtle undertones of the wine.  The artwork will appear on every individually numbered bottle of The Capital Grille Artist Series Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Capital Grille, 1 Union Station, Providence, RI 02903. 401-521-5600

Mama Kim's Korean BBQ Banchan Menu

Mama Kim's Korean BBQ Banchan Menu

Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ

Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ truck has opened their extensive banchan (“side dish”) menu to the public, twice-a-week, via pre-order only. Each banchan will be cooked fresh and packaged individually, and comes with Mama Kim’s Five-Grain Rice, which uses premium mochi rice. You can order either in person at the truck—follow Mama Kim’s Twitter feed or Facebook page to find where the trucks are located—or by email at [email protected]. Order by Wednesday, and they’ll have it ready for pick-up Friday; order by Friday, they’ll have it ready for pick-up Wednesday. Click the menu to the right for a large version of the full menu.

Temple Downtown Restaurant and Lounge

Temple Downtown Restaurant and Lounge now offers $5 flatbreads in the lounge every day from 3 to 6 p.m.. The 10-inch thin-crust flatbreads include three toppings. Additional toppings will cost 25 cents each. The flatbreads feature a variety of sauces—white, oil and garlic, tomato and pesto. The cheeses include feta, taleggio, Gorgonzola dolce, fresh mozzarella, manchego, reggiano and ricotta. The possible toppings are extensive—sausage, pepperoni, chorizo, bacon, Serrano ham, anchovies, calamari, littleneck clams, shrimp, basil, sliced tomatoes, kalamata olives, asparagus, sliced red onions, roasted peppers, mushrooms, arugula, spinach, garlic, oregano and fines herbes.

Temple Downtown Restaurant and Lounge, 120 Francis St., Providence, RI 02903. 401-919-5050

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chefs & restaurantswine & drinks

The Capital Grille’s The Generous Pour Summer Wine Event

by David Dadekian
written by David Dadekian
The Capital Grille in Providence

The Capital Grille in Providence

One of the better restaurant wine deals that I’ve come across in a while is going on now, through September 4, at The Capital Grille in Providence. The Generous Pour Summer Wine Event lives up to it’s name. For $25, with dinner, diners may have as many of nine specially selected wines as they like. You can try all nine or choose a few favorites for multiple glasses. I was a guest at a preview dinner where I decided on the former, tasting through the complete selection that The Capital Grille’s Master Sommelier George Miliotes has put together for this event.

The nine wines are an eclectic list from well-known names such as Freemark Abbey and Chalk Hill, to wines only available in the U.S. at The Capital Grille like the 2009 Tarima Hill Monastrell. Miliotes’s selections were well-paired with the restaurant’s dishes we ate. The dishes tend toward rich, heavier flavors (think dry-aged beef), even with items like their Cedar Planked Salmon or Lobster Mac ‘N’ Cheese.

The wines are:

As with any food or wine experience, personal preference will vary. I enjoyed the Marquis de la Tour Cremant de Loire Brut as an opening wine, though I could also see it as an end-of-the meal drink with the Strawberries Capital Grille dessert. It’s light with some melon flavor and a lot of crispness. The La Cana Albariño 2010 was a perfect summer white wine and would go very well with a seafood appetizer. The Chateau St. Jean Belle Terre 2008 was a classic California Chardonnay in that it was heavily oaky for my palate and not to my tastes.

Of the reds, the Freemark Abbey Cabernet Bosché 2003 was the standout Cabernet Sauvignon when paired with the Capital Grille’s Bone-In Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin. I enjoyed the Chalk Hill Estate 2006 but it just struck me as too big and tannic right now. The Byron Pinot Noir 2009 was a typical fruity Central Coast Pinot Noir, one I would gladly have again and should work with a variety of dishes, though not the Dry Aged Sirloin. The Tarima Hill Monastrell was delicious, but very young. It held it’s own with the sirloin but I would like to try it after a few years of age or against a lighter beef dish.

For me, the standout red wine was the Conte Brandolini Vistorta Merlot 2006. Harvested from 100-year-old vines in a small vineyard in Northeast Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia), this was an elegant wine, beautifully balanced with a little spice. It may have been a touch light for the Dry Aged Sirloin but I’d be more than happy to have it again with steak, or perhaps lamb or duck. The final wine was the RL Buller The Portly Gentleman, an Australian wine made in the style of Port. I enjoyed trying it, but I would advise if you want Port, order Port.

George Miliotes, one of only 173 Master Sommeliers in the world presents his notes on the wine in a video online. “I believe that wine education must be experienced first-hand,” Miliotes said. “That’s why I’m thrilled to be able to provide a fun, wide-ranging wine exploration at The Capital Grille.  We are especially pleased to bring our guests some of the world’s most exclusive wines this summer, for a delightful, educational taste journey.” Miliotes can be found on Twitter at @thewineexpert.

The Generous Pour Summer Wine Event runs through September 4 at all The Capital Grille locations. The Providence location is at 1 Union Station. The restaurant is also hosting a charity event on Friday, August 26 in conjunction with the inaugural Providence Food & Wine Festival (of which Dadekian is an organizer) to benefit Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy. Tickets and more information can be found here.

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