Miscellaneous Wine and Questions

Fresh Market @ 54th and College: The land is cleared. The construction hut is up. Where is our Fresh Market? Anyone have an ETA on the ground breaking? What's the hold up?

Corked Dorks: Cracked a lovely bottle of 2000 Von Strasser Chardonney the other night. It was delightful if not a little heavy and oaky compared to all these white Burgundies I've been drinking lately. Sadly, we were going to follow it up with one of my favorites, the 2001 Iron Horse T-Bar-T Cuvee R but it was *corked!* (To be fair, I suspected it might be past its prime.) The cork was synthetic so we didn't get the big wood hit, but much like sour milk or rancid dairy, one sip (plus a second to confirm with a bad face) was all it took to know this wine was gone, daddy, gone. One local sommelier at a downtown restaurant recently told us their loss rate due to corked wines is close to 10%. That's more than 1 per case which can get pricey for high end wines. It certainly makes a fine argument for screw tops even on the pricey bottles -- tableside presentation be damned.

Cupcakes Cometh! Christy "dished" this a few weeks ago, but as usual, I'm late to the cupcake party. If you don't know that cupcake bakeries are all the fashion in NY, LA, and SF, then you've been living under a rock. Or at least, just not eating enough cupcakes. Enter The Flying Cupcake slated to open in the next few weeks at 56th and Illinois. They'll do other gourmet tidbits and treats as well as offer outdoor seating. (Great for when this weather cools off just a bit.) Look for them in the old Baskin-Robbins space.

More Location Shuffling: By the way, also look for a Starbucks moving onto the corner next to Kinkaid's, the former Emmett's salon space. Emmett's is moving to 49th and Penn and there will be some shuffling in that block as Emmett's and the expanded Patachou fill the space formerly held by Corks and the Hamaker Pharmacy. Confused yet? Don't worry, it will all be sorted out by the end of the year.

More Fair Food! I don't know how I missed this, but the Star picks up the recipe for the winner of the canola oil fried fair food competition: Fried Hush Puppy Meatballs. From what I can tell, you start with 2 quarts of canola oil for deep fat frying. (Yeah, transfat free doesn't mean regular fat free so get ready). Then you make meatballs, then you make hush puppy batter from a mix, then you apparently coat the meatballs *in* the hush puppy batter, and fry the whole thing. Use ranch dressing for dipping sauce. Finish by making an appointment for a double bypass.

Hangover Helper: Neal over at InTake has a nice article on pubs that offer great brunches. If you've ever been in the mood for a little bloody Mary and some good pub grub before lunch time on a Sunday a.m., these are the places to go. (I have other brunch advice like avoid any "seafood specials" and only order meals that are likely to be made fresh that morning, but that's a whole other post.) Now we know there's a reason to go to the Red Eye Cafe.