Joe Canal's Presents Smirnoff Coconut!

Joe Canal's is excited to announce the arrival of a new spirit to our lineup, Smirnoff Coconut Vodka!

Smirnoff Vodka was boted the best vodka by the New York Times and described as "pure, clean and ultra smooth, with pleasing texture and classic vodka aroma."

Smirnoff has a wide variety of flavored vodkas, and the newest flavor to grace the lineup is the delicious coconut! This summer, coconut is IN! Bust out the blender and try a splash of Smirnoff Coconut on top of your pina coladas or banana daiquiries, or whip up a simple vanilla coconut smoothie for a creamy, delicious treat.

Fork and Gobble It: Tuscan Honeymoon - Lost and Found in Rome

Saturday morning found us packed and reluctantly ready to go. We would fly the short distance from Florence to Rome, spend a night there, and then cross the Atlantic back to New Jersey. We enjoyed a quick breakfast, bid goodbye to our host Barbara and her staff, and drove to the airport. An uneventful flight brought us to the airport in Rome. We must have been the only couple not catching a connecting flight out of Rome. This would as we were about to find out, add a final and unpleasant twist to last leg of our trip. We talked about what we'd seen and done over the last we as we waited for our bags at the luggage carousel. By and by we noticed that we were the only ones still waiting and the carousel stopped turning. Traveler's nightmare, lost luggage! We went to the Alitalia office for lost things and filled out a report and claim. It being such a short flight we didn't have the foresight to pack a change of clothing in our carry-on bags. I had visions of our bags catching a connecting flight to parts unknown, while we stayed in Rome. We decided to go to our hotel and wait to see what the airline could discover.

The Crown Plaza Hotel at St. Peter's in Rome gets my personal thanks for having a staff that was very comforting and helpful to two very stressed out tourists. The concierge made repeated calls to the Alitalia office to find out what progress if any had been made in the search for our missing bags. We decided to carry on with our plans for that afternoon and evening anyway. We got a recommendation from the concierge for a restaurant to dine at that became the bright spot in an otherwise frustrating day. Dinner reservations made, we had about 5 hours to spend and given our disappointment with the efficiency of the airline, we decided to take solace at the hotel bar before doing a little sightseeing. I can now say that there is nothing (for me at least) to take your mind off of lost luggage like a good martini. A real martini, the kind with good gin, not vodka, and nothing more fancy than good olives to garnish it.

It is a timeless cocktail that, when properly executed, does wonders for one's mindset. My mindset at that point actually required three of them. My wife, realizing that I might be perfectly happy to remain at the bar the rest of the afternoon suggested that we move on. We took a cab to a neighborhood referred to as the Old City. Not having time to see any of the major sights of Rome, it was suggested by our bartender that this was a good place to just stroll around and relax. It was an unremarkable part of the city. There were no real tourist attractions and it could have been any large city in the world. We both found it very interesting. We perused a couple of enotecas, a guitar shop, and stopped for a glass of wine before catching a cab to the restaurant.

Citta' del Gusto is on the outskirts of the city of Rome. When we asked the concierge for a recommendation, we were specific about not wanting to eat in a typical tourist trap restaurant. He couldn't have been more precise in his suggestion. Located on the west side of the Tiber River, in a hip looking plaza that also houses a movie theatre, the restaurant is on the 4th floor of the building that houses it. The restaurant is a lounge on one side and a dining room on the other with the bar dividing the two rooms. The dining room looks like a Manhattan loft space with tin ceilings supported by pillars. Hardwood floors and floor to ceiling bookcases line one wall. Instead of books, there are bottles of wine representing the wine list. There is a bar on the backside of the lounge bar with a display case of cured salamis and cheeses. The opposite wall is floor to ceiling windows that face out at the city and the Tiber. It was so hip we forgot all about our luggage issues and melted right into the scene.

We started out with glasses of rosato and read over the menu. Luckily our waitress, a remarkable young woman, spoke English very well. We ordered our appetizers and entrees and a very cool bottle of red wine to go with dinner. My appetizer order was probably the most tourist-like move I made the entire trip... Beef carpaccio. What is it that they say? “When in Rome...”

The pairing with my rose was perfect. The raw beef melted in my mouth. My wife Stacey, not being as adventurous as myself, simply rolled her eyes. The waitress arrived with the bottle of wine I ordered to go with dinner. It was a Bonarda from the Lombardy region in Piedmont. Bonarda is a red grape usually blended with Nebbiolo in Piedmont, but there are good examples of it being used as a primary varietal. This was one of those. The producer, Martilde, labels their wines with sketches of Siamese cats in various poses. This one, with a picture of a man and one of the cats sleeping was called “Ghiro d'Inverno” or Dormouse of Winter. One must infer that are residents of the estate. My favorite part about this wine and to a greater degree wine lists in Italy in general, is that it had some bottle age on it. It was a 2004 vintage. Medium in body with red fruit flavors and a dried fruit note, it was just right to pair with my entree, grilled tuna steak.

By the time we finished dinner, our troubles were very far away. A cheese course and coffee brought the evening to a perfect end. We got the check and asked if the hostess could call a cab for us. As we waited we told the hostess about how amazed we were that on a Saturday night, our waitress handled the entire room by herself and what a wonderful meal we had. We were offered after dinner drinks and we chose an Averno, a Sicilian digestive. The taxi arrived, we again thanked our hosts and waitress and headed back to the hotel. It had been a really cool week and this unexpected but delightful dinner capped it perfectly.

The following morning at the airport I made one more inquiry about the location of our bags. After staring at a computer screen for a few minutes, the attendant told us our bags were waiting for us across the hall. It really could not have ended better.

Joe Canal's Presents Nolet's Gin

Joe Canal's is excited to announce the arrival of a new spirit, Nolet's Silver Gin!

Nolet's Finest Gins are the reflection of a rich heritage that dates back more than 300 years. Since 1691, when Johannes Nolet founded his distillery in Schiedam, Holland, members of the Nolet family have been perfecting the craft of distilling spirits and passing down their expertise from generation to generation and from father to son.

Created for a new generation of gin drinkers, Nolet's Silver is a cocktailing gin that brings friends together. Nolet's Silver serves as inspiration for a wide range of innovative cocktails and reinvents much-loved classics. This floral and fruit-forward gin is bottled at 47.6% Alc/Vol. (95.2 Proof) and expreesses the essence of three coveted ingredients: Turkish rose, white peach and raspberry.

Happy 4th Of July!

Fork and Gobble It: Tuscan Honeymoon - Friday Farmer's Market and Co-op Dinner

Friday morning and the weather is gorgeous again. Do you dare call it predictable or boring when each day brings the same perfect conditions? To be truthful, we were told that rain is a little too sparse in the summer there in Tuscany, but we would suffer it a couple days more. This morning we had plans. The farmer's market that travels from village to village throughout the week was here in Colle di Val d'Elsa today and being fans of farmer's markets in general, this promised to be something extraordinary. We drove into Colle Basse, the lower part of the village and gambled on a maybe legal parking spot. This market was huge! It covered many blocks and vendors were hawking everything from foodstuffs to clothing and furniture. Aside from just absorbing everything we saw, we had a mission. Our hostess at Montecastelli, Barbara, had suggested that we have a cooperative dinner in the courtyard in the villa. Stacey and I, Barbara, and two other guests at the villa would prepare one or two dishes and bring it all together tonight our last night at Montecastelli. It would be a very fitting end to what had been a really amazing and yet relaxing week. In my typical fashion, I had no idea what I was going to make until I saw it. We walked about through the streets marveling at all the vendors. The produce was abundant and fantastic. Produce at a farmer's market is always great. Well duh!! It is a farmer's market. Yet here in the Tuscan countryside it was ever so much more so.

I realized that we were coming to the end of the spring season and one of my favorite spring vegetables or more precisely legumes, fava beans, were still around. I found a stall with some great favas and picked up a bagful. To really understand how big of a deal this was and how serious the vendors are picture this: Many of these guys had pulled up in vehicles that looked like massive Winnebagos which opened up from the side to become an instant storefront. Some were grocery stores, some fresh seafood or meat markets, one was a rotisserie shop selling all sorts of roasted foods. It didn't matter that we had already eaten breakfast, this was a mandatory foodstop. I heard the call of the rotisserie truck and headed in that direction as if pulled by a tractor beam.

At this point Stacey remarked that all week long for all the food we'd seen and eaten, there had been no sign of turkey. Did that seemingly American bird exist here in Italy? As I approached the rotisserie truck I showed her that it did indeed. Tacchino, as it is called in Italian was there presented as a sandwich. An herb stuffed piece of turkey breast on a long piece of Italian bread, and wrapped like a mummy in panchetta, it had been roasted until it was perfectly crisp. There was no stopping me. I had to have that.

I think the pictures pretty much tell the story there. If Rachael Ray had been right there to scream "Yummo!", it still wouldn't have done it justice. Stacey was abstaining from pork that day and she for her part had a roasted potato fritter or Italian latke if you will.

We continued on our search for what we would bring to dinner that night. We passed another Winnebago market, this one a seafood vendor and I spied fresh whole mackerel just big enough to make into an appetizer. I picked up a few of those and now I knew what to do to finish our contribution. I would make a large green salad with the fresh fava beans and grill the mackerel and serve it in a most Italian manner with agre y dolce or sweet and sour onions. The onions, sauteed until very sweet and caramelized and then splashed with balsamic vinegar, would be a perfect counterpoint to the rich, oily flesh of the mackerel. We headed back to the car, stopping briefly to pick up some flowers to decorate the table and a large piece of burrata, a fresh mozzarella type cheese that oozes a creamy center when cut into. Thankfully the car was still there and there wasn't a ticket on the windshield when we got to it. We drove back to the villa full of food and ideas.

Late that afternoon I started cooking. Onions were sliced thin and sauteed slowly in olive oil to caramelize their natural sugars. Fava beans were peeled, blanched, and peeled again. Fresh favas are a lot of work but for the short time they are available, it is really worth it. A large outdoor woodburning grill was lit. Barbara had purchased sausages, chicken, and fresh pork to grill. A feast was coming together, but it required wine. We opened one of the wines we'd purchased from Pietro in Colle Alta the day before. A rose from Acquagiusta, a Tuscan producer from the coastal Maremma region, was the opening gambit. A delicious wine, dry and full of strawberries and mineral flavors, it cooled and refreshed our palates. I later learned that although we have their red wine in the store, the rose' unfortunately never makes it to export. Once the meats were finished I grilled the mackerel.

All things now ready, we moved to the table. There was a variety of grilled meats, the fish with their onion accompaniment, the green salad and fresh burrata. Newly acquainted people gathered like old friends around the table. I pulled out a special bottle that had been given to us by Marco Mantengoli of La Rasina when we left. His single vineyard Brunello, Il Di Vasco, named for his grandfather who had established the vineyard decades ago, was a fitting drink for this special occasion. I opened it with pleasure, knowing the wine would taste even better shared with our new found friends.

Tomorrow we would leave Montecastelli and fly to Rome for a day before returning home.

Winemaker Martina Molino Visits Joe Canal’s Lawrenceville

Joe Canal’s has long been a "must-visit" location for winemakers and other industry VIPs. The latest visitor to meet and greet the customers in Lawrenceville was Martina Molino, the charming young winemaker from Mauro Molino.

The Mauro Molino winery is located in northwestern Italy’s Piedmont region. Joe Canal’s carries Molino’s Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo, and Barolo, all of which were available for tasting with Martina. The 2010 Barbera D’Alba (available exclusively at Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville and Woodbridge) is a fresh, fruit-driven wine that is aged in stainless steel tanks. This red wine is light enough for summer sipping, or pairing with casual food. The Langhe Nebbiolo is a richer wine, spending time aging first in stainless, then in oak. The traditional 2007 Barolo is young, but enjoyable, and capable of aging for 20 more years.

Martina spent two hours at the Lawrenceville store, signing bottles and talking about her wines. The occasional summer thunderstorm didn’t dampen anyone’s appreciation of the wines, which showed amazingly well. And although she’s only been studying English for about eight years, her stories of the wines and vineyard life captivated every store visitor.

With the Barbera priced at only $12.96 (BottleClub), the Mauro Molino wines are as affordable as they are enjoyable. Please remember to visit the Events page on jcanals.com to get the latest updates on special guests and activities in Lawrenceville and Woodbridge.

Fork and Gobble It: Tuscan Honeymoon - Colle Alta & Ristorante Arnolfo

Who would have thought a quiet and tranquil village like Colle di Val d'Elsa would be home to a Michelin starred restaurant? When I was booking reservations for this trip, the owner of Montecastelli, Jens Schmidt recommended eating there. He said it would be an amazing experience. I took his advice and booked a lunch reservation with the thought that a meal like this should be eaten at midday to allow us to walk it off the rest of the afternoon. Colle di Val d'Elsa is a quiet place and not at all what you'd think of as a tourist destination. It is bustling like any other small town during the day with businesses, small shops, and restaurants, but beyond that it seems pretty ordinary. There are two parts to the village the hilltop portion referred to as Colle Alta, and the lower part which is Colle Basse. Arnolfo is located in Colle Alta. Our reservation was made for 1pm, so we decided to spend the morning in Colle Alta just exploring.

Colle di Val d'Elsa lies between Siena and Florence. Over the years this location was key because of the constant fighting between the two cities. Colle Alta was clearly a fortified village and is stilled walled in. We got there in late morning and began walking around.

In many ways it was similar to the other villages we had explored that week. There were florists, food stores, clothing shops, wine shops or enotecas, but what was thankfully absent was any sign of fast foods restaurants or chain stores. We checked out a small shop where a woman sold artwork made by her daughter and then walked over to an enoteca that caught my eye. (Don't they all?) Enoteca Il Salotto by all appearances was a serious wine shop. The shelves were full of the wines of the region and other parts of Italy and some international selections which was a rarity in Italian wine shops. The defining feature of this place though was the Enomatics. Our eyes went wide. The very same "Wine Tasting on Demand" machines we have in our Iselin, New Jersey store were right in front of us in this shop. I knew this was a store I needed to spend some time in. Il Salotto is run by Pietro Fratiglioni and his wife Patrizia. He spoke english very well and we were treated to a flight of wines to taste. I told him I was also in the business (ITB) and then the serious wine geekery began. We walked through the shop talking about different wines and their producers and Pietro answered my question about the white wine we'd found earlier in the week, Bianco di Patigliano. We told them of our reservation at Arnolfo and said we'd return after lunch. We walked up to Arnolfo precisely at 1pm. Our punctuality was due more to the fact that we knew lunch was going to last several hours than anything else. We were greeted by Giovanni Trevato and his staff. Giovanni is the sommelier and his brother Gaetano the chef. Together they own and operate Arnolfo. Once seated we were offered glasses of vintage Moet and amuse bouche were placed before each of us. Amuse bouche are complimentary appetizers presented by the chef in appreciation of your patronage. They can range from the simple to the ethereal and these were definitely on the later part of that scale.

Not wanting to turn a fantastic meal into a study in food, I did take pictures but tried to keep the note taking to a minimum. My lovely and patient wife appreciated this immensely. I looked over the wine list deep with older vintages of fantastic Tuscan wines and did what I usually do, took the road less traveled. Since I would be eating through a tasting menu that was mostly meat and game I selected a Syrah from Cortona for myself. Stacey was not up to a full degustation menu. We substituted one of my courses with a lobster risotto that we would share and then she order a sea bass preparation. To match the fish and other lighter courses I selected a Gewurztraminer from Hofstatter, a well respected producer from the Tyrol region of Italy.

Then the food started coming out, amazing food that looked as marvelous as it tasted. While up to now we had been very content with the simple but very satisfying meals we'd been served or prepared, this was a clear statement that Italian chefs were capable of serving haute cuisine equal to that of any other region in the world.

Seven courses, and three and a half hours later we finished. The Gewurztraminer was gone and there was half of the Syrah left, which we took with us. Once again, our senses were shaken in a most delightful way. Gaetano was at the top of his game in the kitchen as was his brother in the dining room and my only question was "Why did they have two stars from the Guide Michelin and not three?"

We waddled out of the restaurant and made our way back to Enoteca Il Salotto. We talked about our lunch and the wines we drank and suddenly Pietro's eyes lit up. The Syrah, D'Alessandro "Il Bosco" 2001 is as I said from Cortona. Pietro told us that was the same village where an American writer had bought and restored an old farmhouse and then wrote a book about the experience. Yes, it was Frances Mayes and "Under the Tuscan Sun."

He strode over to the shelf and pulled a bottle down. Another Cortonese Syrah made by Antinori called... Bramsole, the name of Francis Mayes property. We bought that bottle and several others and after multiple thank yous and good byes we headed back to Montecastelli.

Friday would be our last full day at Montecastelli and we were looking forward to the farmer's market that comes to Colle Basse on Fridays and a meal cooked with new friends at the villa.