Fork and Gobble It: Say What?

Gewurztraminer. Go ahead, just try to pronounce it. It's the most mispronounced grape name/type of wine I've ever known. The name literally translates to "Spicy Grape" in German, although the best examples of this wine come from the French region of Alsace. Spicy does not imply heat rather, aromatic spice. When it comes from the Grand Cru vineyard of a well respected producer like Zind-Humbrecht or Marcel Deiss, or in this case Albert Mann, the results are nothing less than spectacular. You really get a sense of depth and complexity just smelling the aromas that come off a glass of this noble wine. Layer after layer of different elements reveal themselves. Litchi, apricot, mineral, honey, baking spices, and floral aromas are just some of the scents suggested by this wine. In the mouth, it comes on suggesting sweetness, and then finishes dry. It is an incomparable food wine that matches so well with intensely flavored cuisines, such as Eastern Indian, and Asian. The complexity of these richly spiced and aromatic cuisines are met toe to toe by a good Gewurztraminer and the result is a really cool thing.

One of our favorite cheap but really good eats is Vietnamese food. It is by far my favorite of all Asian cuisines because it is light and fresh and shows the French influence from being a French colony for so long. There is a local place called Bien Hoa in Edison that doesn't look like much until the food starts coming out. We go there for the spring rolls and vermicelli dishes, but mainly for the Pho.

If there is one dish that represents Vietnamese food to me, it is Pho. Pronounced "fuh,", it is believed to have been derived from the French dish Pot au Feu, boiled beef and vegetables. The Vietnamese took that dish and added star anise, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and chilies and turned it into a sensual, sensory feast for the nose and palate. Walking in there last night as cold, damp, and gray as it was outside, Pho was the only thing I knew I wanted.

We started out with a round of two kinds of spring rolls, the fresh kind made from rice paper rolls around vermicelli and shrimp, and the crispy kind, also made with rice paper, but stuffed with pork and shrimp and fried to a delightful crunchy texture. Those fried rolls get wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf with mint leaves for a very fresh and cool feel to them.

They are served with a slight spicy, slightly sweet dipping sauce and are highly addictive.

The fresh spring rolls come with a peanut based dipping sauce that also mixes spicy and sweet but the crunch here comes from the bean sprouts that make up the filling along with carrots, cilantro, shrimp and bean thread vermicelli.

This is my type of fast food because these dishes are on the table within minutes of being ordered. No sooner had we finished our appetizers than the main courses appeared. I had order Pho Bo, or beef Pho. It is comprised of that fantastic complex broth served over a bowl of thin sliced rare beef and vermicelli. You then garnish the dish to your liking with bean sprouts, mint, basil, scallions, fresh chilies, lime juice, and a variety of other condiments such as the obligatory Sriracha sauce that adds a kick of serious heat.

The wine was perfect for this food. Leading in with just the right amount of sweetness, acidity, and all those complimentary complex flavors I spoke of, this was simple and multi-layered all at the same time. The wine itself was the Albert Mann Grand Cru Gewurztraminer Steingrubler 2007 which typically retails for about $33.00 bottle. It performs way above it's price point and considering that dinner for two was well below $30.00, it's an easy choice to make. Much easier than it is to say.