Sunday, March 26, 2006

Bubbly from Israel

The fondness that Jewish people have for Chinese food is storied; in fact a pair of sociologists even penned a scholarly paper on the topic called "Safe Treyf: New York Jews and Chinese Food."
http://www.soc.qc.cuny.edu/Staff/levine/NYJews-and-Chinese.htm

So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover an Israeli wine on the list at Red Pearl Kitchen, a new pan-Asian restaurant in downtown San Diego. Actually my friend Lori, who is Jewish, noticed it first. The restaurant offers three bubblies by the glass, including the Golan Sparkling Moscato. "Golan, as in Heights?" she wondered aloud.

I knew there was wine produced in Israel but this was something new. If I had been looking for a still moscato, this wine would have been wonderful. It was rich in fruit and floral aromas and pleasantly sweet, but with enough acid to balance it all out. And it worked well with the spicy and sweet flavors on the menu. But as a bubbly, it was a bust. The first glass had 0 bubbles, the next had about 5 lazy ones. But I didn’t have the heart to send the waitress back to the bar again.

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