Bad wrap: Tijuana, Chip, Moe or no?

Whose burritos rule? Moe's seemed the favorite with kids in Chef Paul Kennedy's culinary arts class at Osceola High School.

I stopped by for the Great American Teach-in and found some things in high school haven't changed. Black T-shirts are still regulation for guys but orange and blue is cool for Osceola Warriors as well as Gator fans.

But the fast food of choice now burritos not burgers. Moe's flooded the bay area first, then Tijuana moved in from Orlando and now Chipotle's on the menu, first in Tampa and now on St. Pete's Fourth St. N.

Myself, I'm conflicted on monster burrito chains. Maybe it's not my gen.

I do love Mexican food. I like a simple fast food bean burrito or one from an authentic taqueria, and I thought New Age wraps were clever when I first tried them in San Francisco eight years ago.

Now they all are too big, too much tortilla and too much rice. Of Moe's (50 Fla. locations), Chipotle Grill (12) and Tijuana Flats (20), my money would go to Chipotle. As I wrote at first bite in April, Chipotle's fillings are long-simmered and full-flavored. But on the way home I stopped to lunch on my real favorite, a Greek gyro. It was sliced fresh from the cone in a vertical broiler with yogurty tzaziki for spice and health, laid out in a pita, and then rolled up.

Now that's a wrap in my book. How about you: Chipotle, Flats, Moe or no?

Bojo redux: The best 2005 nouveaux

I gave the first taste of this year’s Beaujolais nouveaux a second go Friday at Vintage Wine Cellars, Vintage always has the biggest pouring – six nouveaux and 70some folks, the kind of fun that should salute the primeur.

Wine was more like old times too. Mommesin and Bouchard were still unexciting, but the other four came closer to winning the cherry: right, bright and light, That’s all I ask of BN and trusted importers delivered – Laboure Roi, Drouhin, Kermit Lynch and the king, HRH Georges DuBoeuf.

Burgundy’s Laboure Roi fetched sweet cherries and a bit of pepper mild and easy but Drouhin did it better with a grapey taste, a full round mouthfeel in bright shiny purple.

Just as fine was Dupeuble (pronounced Da pubb, Vintage advised on the tasting sheet, an innovation worth copying. This is less common and more expensive: $13.99, compared to $10.99 for the rest.. It comes from the better villages and as selected by Lynch, a brilliant importer from Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto. Again, bright colors, cherries and pepper easy to drink.

At Vintage tasters vote with their wallets, and most left with a bottle or three of Dupeuble and Drouhin under their arms.

Good call, but I put Duboeuf in my top three too. No one polishes gamay like the master. His had crisper raspberries in the nose and on the palate, fewer cherries and the smoothest.,richest texture.

Buy any of the three and you’ll get a solid taste of the fun and the fuss. (On the labels, DuBoeof put his trademark flowers in gold leaf Picasso sketches, Drouhn pted for an off-kilter checkerboard, LaBoure Roi for happy sketches. The Dupeuble had plain script and put all its color in the bottle).

Vintage also threw in a 2003 Macon, the white Burgundy for real people, crisp and full of pear and a little spice, and a non-nouveaux Beaujolais Villages from 2004.That’s real Beaujolais,only a year old it’s grown up big, ripe and full – and cheaper than nouveaux.
On to next year – and back to 2004, 2003, and 2002.

On the bojo trail

Day 1: Only two bottles of Beaujolais nouveaux est arrivee on my routes Thursday, Mommessin and Bouchard. All I can say is ""2005, you're no 2003.'' Not yet. Mais oui, the summer of 2003 was so hot that camels had heat stroke in northern Europe. This summer around France, weather was good but not great. Grapes ripened slowly and in good quantity and harvest was unhampered by rains. So it's fun to toss a beret in the air even if the first taste of Beauholais 2005 was thin. It has light purple in color and flowery bouquet but light weight and sometimes sharp flavors in the mouth. But France covers a multitude of vins. Bordeaux boasts '05 is grand almost as good as '03, in quantity and quality. In Burgundy to the east and north, Aleth Voarick, of the St. Pete Wine Warehouse, reports a fine crop and grapes of great color. She helped in the family harvest at Michel Voarick in Aloxe-Corton, and says they left grapes on vines three days more for extra ripening but they and other Burgindians will still give some wines extra sugar. But on south to Beaujolais where good folk of Lyons can't wait for the nouveaux. Here are my first tastes. MOMMESSIN ($6.99): Light red color, sweet nose alternating between banana and an alcohol burn, but no bubblegum in the taste, It's tight and a bit sharp. More interesting and equally debatable feature is the labels. Plural; Mommessin 2005 comes in four labels, each a hip pastel take on '50s wallpaper. They would do well at Anthropologie. BOUCHARD ($7.99): A bit more of banana and bubble gum in the aroma. Taste is brighter and texure smoother, with a decent finish. Classic fruit but diluted. For label mavens, if you liked the Triplets of Bellville you'll love the berets and bicycles. MORE: I sample another four tonight and my/our luck may improve. I'll post again. What drink you?

Cheers to Nouveau

The 2005 Beaujolais Nouveau will hit wine store shelves tomorrow. Times wine writer Chris Sherman will start sampling and post his reviews on Stir Crazy this weekend.

Check back for his thoughts. It's a tough job but somebody's got to drink it.

No thanks

I have a confession to make. Other than the cooking I've done for the Taste section of the St. Pete Times, I haven't made a complete Thanksgiving dinner in years. Either we go out or have been at relatives out of state.

Truthfully, I don't like to cook Thanksgiving. It's too much work for a small family. Also, you slave all day (or two or three) and then everyone eats in about 10 minutes. Forget it. Then you've got all those dishes. Bitter, party of one?

I like the food, though, especially the stuffing. I think the way to go is to get a restaurant to make the turkey and then focus on a couple side dishes. I make a killer cranberry sauce.

What do you think? Do you cook Thanksgiving dinner? Do potluck? Pick it up at the grocery store?

Cheese discoveries

Oregon seems to be coming on strong in the artisinal cheese category. I recently tried Rogue River smokey blue and Oregonzola, both worthy buys even though they are sort of pricey. Upwards of $10 a pound. I found them in the new cheese room at Mazzaro's Italian market in St. Petersburg. Actually, found is not the right word. Maureen, Mazzaro's cheese lady, recommended the smokey blue. She was right, it's fabulous.

The smokey blue cheese has a depth of flavor you don't find in regular blue cheese. First you taste the smoke and then the pungent blue kicks in. Ahh, lovely.

The Oregonzola is a rain country take on intense gorgonzola but it seems creamier. Let it sit at room temperature for about an hour and then smear it on bread or crackers. Or even on small roasted potatoes.

Check them out. I'd like to know if you've found any great cheeses.

The Day After

Well, it's the day after Halloween and what does that mean? (Besides we can start concentrating on Thanksgiving?) It means that everyone has brought their leftover candy to the office.

Is this a good idea? I know, no one wants it in the house for fear that they or their kids might eat it. But honestly, do we need the mountain of Mounds bars at work?

They only good thing is that you can see what kind of candy was given out. I like to match the candy to the coworkers. I am not even going to tell you who I think gave out small bags of pretzels.

Sara moving to PBS?

I Heard from someone who was at the Gourmet Institute in New York last week that Sara Moulton may be leaving the Food Network. Skipping out for PBS. No word yet from Food Network but I'm seeking an official confirmation.

Who can blame her? She's one of the best teachers Food Network has and they've pushed her show to the afternoon. A network exec recently told me that they believe people are busy and tired and don't want to "learn anything after 7 p.m.'' I guess that's why we're subjected to re-runs and permutations of "Iron Chef'' and "Unwrapped,'' which feels like a boring junior high film strip to me. Arise Iron Chef and go away.

Moulton is the executive chef at Gourmet magazine and was an apprentice to Julia Child back in the day. I'd love to see her on PBS where the more serious cooking shows have found homes.