Is food sacred in America? What’s special about Sacramento as a food town? Will Corti Brothers grocery store close?

Two nights ago, Sacramento food legend Darrell Corti sat down with award-winning food journalist Elaine Corn as part of the Living Library discussion series sponsored by Time Tested Books and Midtown Monthly for a conversation about—you guessed it—food!

Aside from the occasional opportunity to ask for his opinion on a bottle of wine at Corti Brothers, I can’t say that I know him at all. Only, that is, by reputation.

For those of you who don’t know, Darrell Corti, owner of the fine foods grocery store Corti Brothers, isn’t just a legend in Sacramento. He’s world-renowned, according to his website, for his “encyclopedic knowledge of food and wines.” You’ll find his name in the memoires of former Gourmet Magazine editor, Ruth Reichl. Both Reichl and Corti are among those credited for putting California on the map for its great food and wine.

In 2008, Corti was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of America for his vast wine knowledge. He is known world-wide for his incredible palette as a wine judge and as an expert in Italian foods—and any other food, for that matter. He has also been named a “Cavaliere” by the Italian government for promoting Italian foods, so he’s essentially a sort of “food knight.”

Having heard much ado about this culinary champion, I was eager to find out what gems he would share about the Sacramento food world. So I joined the packed crowd at Time Tested Books to hear him speak. Here’s what he had to say…

Food as Sacred
When Corti was a young boy, his grandmother hit him for setting a loaf of bread on top of the counter upside down. She was angered that he showed such disrespect for the bread. That was the day young Corti learned that food is sacred.

Yet, to his sadness, Corti believes that most Americans have an utter disregard for food. We don’t eat leftovers. We buy more food than we need, and when it spoils, we throw it out. Yet, we want to buy this food in bulk, and buy it cheap.

“If we’re so wealthy [that wasting food doesn’t bother us], why does food have to be so cheap?” Corti asks.

Americans as Cooks
Elaine Corn asked Corti for his impression of Americans as cooks. Corti responded, “Americans are next to the Japanese in being able to imitate things.” Because we can master the recipe for any number of ethnic recipes, and then make them our own, Corti is impressed by the American cook.

Making Ingredients from Scratch
On the subject of making food from scratch, Corti responds like the practical grocer that he is. “If you can buy quality ready-made products, do it! It’s what you do with it that matters.” He described an Italian friend who long ago shunned the notion of making pasta by hand once he discovered a wonderful brand sold at Corti Brothers. If the final product can’t be improved upon, why bother? Cut yourself a break and use the products off Corti’s shelf!

He makes a valid point when he describes the home cooks of yore, pounding away at large bricks of salt and sugar with a mortar and pestle. “When granulated sugar and salt were invented, man never looked back!” he said.

Yet, when it comes to “people who actually cook out of a microwave? That I find reprehensible!” Corti declares.

Genetically Modified Foods
Corti believes that modern agronomical science has its place. But his main concern when it comes to food is taste. Regarding scientists tinkering with plants, he believes that the main outcome ought to be to make them taste better. End of discussion.

14.5% Alcohol Wines
Corti says there are wines that taste good with more than 14.5% alcohol, but he has no use for them in his store. He won’t sell anything higher than 14.5%, and believes that consumers should vote that way, too.

Is Sacramento the New L.A.?
According to Corti, it is, indeed! He explained that 30 years ago, people in L.A. had to travel to San Francisco for good food. Until recently, Sacramentans did the same. Yet, Corti believes we’ve always had “reasonable cooking here.” And today, he beams with pride over restaurants like Biba and Mulvaney’s. He said that what makes Sacramento a special food place is that “for a very long time, it considered that it wasn’t.”

The Fate of Corti Brothers
In 2008, the Sacramento community was in an uproar when Corti Brothers nearly lost their lease. After protests and local media storms, today Corti proudly informed us that his grocery store now has a 10-year lease. You can expect to find him in his shop on the corner of Folsom Blvd. and 59th Street for another decade to come!

Labels: Corti Brothers, Darrell Corti, Elaine Corn, food and wine, food expert, grocery store, Living Library, Ruth Reichl, Sacramento, Time Tested Books, Vintners Hall of Fame, wine expert

In honor of Ruth Reichl’s upcoming appearance in Sacramento as part of the California Lecture Series, I am providing a review of the book that made me a food writer: Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise.

I first stumbled across this book in an airport several years ago. Bored with the nonfiction book I had packed, and facing a long delay, I headed to the airport bookstore for something more spirited. The pickings were slim, but Garlic and Sapphires stood out. I didn’t imagine myself the type of person who would devour every word written by a food critic. To me, such people belonged to a group of pretentious elites. I’m a practical cook. I use coupons when I eat out. I’m passionate about food, but how could I ever relate to a food critic? Didn’t they dine in exclusive restaurants eating nothing but caviar and champagne?

Yet, the book jacket of Garlic and Sapphires seemed to present something different. It promised the story of a critic who hid behind disguises in the hopes of being treated like a “regular” customer, maybe even a customer like me. It promised laughs. This was just the sort of light reading I needed.

With the swipe of my credit card, little did I know that my life was about to change.

With one turn of the page, I was immediately hooked by Garlic and Sapphires. This was not the story of a highfalutin food snob. Instead, it was the story of a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend. She took me with her to her new job at the New York Times, where she was at times timid. She took risks as a female in a traditionally male profession. She went to great pains to hide her position of authority as an important food critic in order to reveal the treatment of ordinary people in the city’s finest restaurants. She even ate in (gasp) ethnic restaurants off the five-star circuit—a new twist for the paper.

To my great surprise, I found myself wholly immersed in every word of her food reviews. When she described taking a bite of sushi, I could feel the sting of wasabi on my tongue. When she ate a piece of steak, my mouth watered. And I’m a vegetarian!

Reichl’s keen ability to transfer food’s flavor to the pages of a book and then straight onto your palette astounds. No other writer possesses this mouth-watering ability. Her zeal for food and for life leaps off every page. Similarly, her ability to draw you in, using food as an anchor for more meaningful stories about family, friends, and profession, leaves the reader hungry for more.

Garlic and Sapphires is the story of a woman making ethical choices as she bravely transforms the field of food writing. Her culinary tales act as condiment, bringing zest and depth to the book. One of my favorite vignettes shares an intimate moment between Reichl and her young son as they stir together the ingredients for a simple cake. That scene reveals the deeply personal relationships Reichl communicates to her reader through food, and her very unpretentious approach.

Through this book, my own zeal for writing was reawakened. As a young girl, I always told my mom I would grow up to be a writer. Yet soon after college, I chose another path. The writing I performed at work held a much more standard function. It never sparked a fire in my belly as the words of Ruth Reichl did.

When I finished reading Garlic and Sapphires, I bought Reichl’s other memoires. After reading Tender at the Bone, I put the book down and opened my laptop. For the first time since high school, I began writing from a place of passion—and I haven’t stopped.

If you want a taste of this inspiration, Ruth Reichl is coming to Sacramento on March 26. For $100, you can join her for a Garlic and Sapphires reception at Grange Restaurant & Bar. Though I admit it’s a steep price, I also believe that if you’re passionate about food, this might be the best $100 you’ll ever spend.

Labels: book review, California Lecture Series, food critic, food writer, Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl, Sacramento, Tender at the Bone

There’s nothing I love more than a good bargain. I’m a thrift store junkie and a garage-sale hound. I know just the right hour to visit the farmers’ market when the farmers bag up dozens of fruit and sell them for a mere $3. Yet, when it comes to restaurant coupons, I am often leery. I wonder if there’s a reason the establishment needs to lure customers in with the promise of “free.”
When I first moved to Sacramento more than eight years ago, my husband and I bought our first Entertainment Coupon Book at the suggestion of a colleague. After all, we were fresh out of college and didn’t have much to spend on eating out. Importantly, we didn’t know our way around Sacramento. Trying new restaurants from the coupon book helped us begin to navigate our new city.

That first experience was mixed: some places were great, others lousy. After a while, we developed favorite spots that we visited again and again, so we stopped buying the coupon book. A long time has passed since then.

In this economy, we have cut back our dining adventures largely due to cash flow. Lately, we find ourselves flipping through newspapers on a hunt for coupons before choosing a dining location. So, the coupon book suddenly seemed like a great idea again. After all, if there are only five restaurants in the book that you like, you’ll still save money. Those coupons are all buy-one-get-one-free deals. You make up for the price of the book in your first two or three dinners. Even on a budget, we find ourselves going out a few times per month. In a year, we’ll surely make a dent in that book.

Now that I have the handy coupon book in my possession, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see how well I can actually eat while using coupons. By eating “well,” I mean eating healthy (except for the occasional pizza splurge).

Realistically, I know I need to make a home-cooked meal to get the most health mileage out of a meal. So, when I eat out, I typically gauge health by whether I’ve had fresh vegetables, a lack of oil and fried foods, that sort of thing. It’s not a perfect system, folks. It’s coupon-eating.

I don’t recommend that anyone try eating at every restaurant in the coupon book. In fact, the first thing I did was to rip out all the fast food joints, the hot dog stands, BBQ spots, and the high-calorie-filled establishments that I know I’ll never attempt to visit. Now, I’m ready for adventure…

Wish me luck!

Labels: coupons, dining on a budget, Entertainment Coupon Book, free, restaurants, Sacramento

Shop local. Craft fair today only in Sacramento. Learn more. Read my latest post on SacRag.com: http://sacrag.com/2009/11/today-fine-art-craft-show/.

Labels: Sacramento, shop local

My fair city, Sacramento, ranked 7th in an environmental survey by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Check out my full report: http://sacrag.com/2009/11/sacramento-seen-in-green-city-voted-7th-on-environment/.

Labels: environment, green cities, National Resources Defense Council, Sacramento, Smart City