 |
| Bravo's crackers, Tradition de Belmont Brie and André California "Champagne" |
It was my day off and I had to go to the restaurant for a mandatory "front door" (maître d' and hostess) meeting and on my way home I thought to myself: I deserve some bubbly...
The thing is, I was strictly limiting myself to not spending more than ten dollars (it had been a rather extravagant month). I thought that, maybe, I could pick up a half bottle or split of Veuve or Moët,--something I wouldn't normally do--but to my disappointment, those bottles were out of my fixed-budget price range. (I was only trying to fool myself...) It turned out, the least expensive bottle of sparkling they had was a $5.99 bottle of André California "Champagne." (no fooling there--it's definitely not champagne!)
I selected the bottle of André thinking: Maybe it won't be so bad--in which case I'll always have a highly affordable go-to bottle whenever the mood strikes me!
A short walk later found me home and I decided that I'd be frugal with my dinner as well, breaking out "Bravo crackers" and a wheel of Brie, from Fine Fare. I poured myself my first glass of André and at first taste, the gaudy, gold foil wrapper came to mind--the wine had the essence of metal! In addition, I noticed, which I'd never noticed in my champagne flutes before, a rainbow-colored sheen within the glass...
At least the Bravo crackers were satisfying (I actually prefer them to Ritz) and the Tradition de Belmont Brie had, nearly, no fault. Total cost: less than $15. But the biggest farce of all was the American Culinary Chefs Best Award for best taste. Absolutely ridiculous!
 |
| Really? |
Not only did they get away with labeling the bottle as champagne, (I'm not familiar with any region in California named "Champagne") but they've also added the "Chefs Best Award" for "Best Taste," no less, on the bottle! I googled the 'award' to see if it was as legitimate as those açaí berry diet "news" sites and, to my surprise, found that www.chefsbest.org does, in fact, exist. It seems that the moral of tonight's dinner is to never, ever buy anything labeled with the "Chefs Best Award."
10 comments:
Good to know...
Just an example: a scroll down their rather lenghty "frozen food recommendations" finds this:
http://www.chefsbest.org/corn-dogs-award-winner-1983.htm
Wow, H; glad to see you're so quick on reading my posts!
Why would you trust a chef to judge a wine? All the chefs I know are drunks and will drink any old swill you put in front of them, so long as it is plentiful.
Love the dinner - next time include some dates and it's a square meal. If you can afford them.
Oh, and by the way, the cheapest bottle of bubbles I can buy off the shelf here is 38 dirhams - that's more than $10. And I wouldn't even serve it to chefs....Oops, you're not a chef, are you?
Well, let me first state, I did *not* select the wine because the 'chefs best' award... I was merely on a very tight budget.
As the for the dates--that sounds like a great idea! I love dates. At Cafteria, here in NYC, they serve them stuffed with almonds, wrapped in bacon, and topped with blue cheese--divine!
And no worries of offending, I'm *not* a chef (although I wouldn't mind being one). What's the name of the cheapest bubbly over there?
I love reading your blog. Gave me the smirk I needed this morning after a sad night. You know, mom probably loves Andre ...or is it Asti? Aren't they very similar? Couldn't you afford some Asti instead? :-)
It's Asti that Mom likes (also not champagne ;)--I think they did have Asti, but it was more expensive than the André "champagne"
Ps. I passed on a blog award to you - wanky, I know, but hey, we all want to be loved.
Pps. No idea what the bubbles was called. Like all traumatic memories, I rapidly erased it.
Wow--thanks!
:D
Post a Comment