Tasting with City Provisions

Stop by Provenance Lincoln Square on Tuesday April 28th between 6p-8p. Cleetus Friedman, owner of City Provisions, will be in the shop with samples of his wraps and sides. We started carrying these premade items recently in the shop and they've been selling very well. City Provisions sources ingredients from as many local, sustainable and/or organic producers as possible and the quality is terrific. You will never buy one of those premade sandwiches from Starbuck's again - there's just no comparison!

Ethereal Jam?

So, we just brought in the Harvest Song Tea-Rose Petal Preserve. I LOVE the Harvest Song products...Sour Cherry (SugarKist is using this flavor in several wedding cakes this season with buttercream icing); Golden Fig; Wild Strawberry (not to be confused with the Bergman film)...they are so good - and the Tea-Rose Petal is now my favorite. We were carrying a Rose Petal Jam from Spain a while back, which I liked - but this? This is heavenly. Try it on vanilla ice cream, with Capriole Farms' fresh goat cheese with pepper, on toast in the morning with some fresh fruit or mascarpone cheese. Drool...

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose?

Submitted by Joe:

At Provenance Food & Wine one of the most exciting times of the year is the spring, when we await the new rose releases and the weather that is supposed to come with them. Well, we all know what I mean when I say "supposed to". It hasn't exactly been rose weather yet.

Actually we like roses year 'round here. They are great food wines for dinner parties and BYOB's. Besides, just drinking them you can almost feel that summer breeze. The roses are definitely arriving so we know that spring & summer is not just an illusion.

One that we already have in stock at both shops has been a perennial favorite of ours. The Domaine de Figueirasse from the southern Provence region of France, known as Vin des Sables, or "wine of sand"is an amazing wine at only $10.99 a bottle. They've always made dry, crisp and aromatic pink wines from this sandy and hot part of the world. This dry style is what most winemakers around the world are emulating these days. Not the sugary-sweet white zins that gave rose a bad name in the 80s and 90s.

For our tasting at the Logan Square shop this Saturday (3p-6p) we will be pouring another rose from Southern France. The Domaine Massamier la Mignard is aromatic with notes of flowers and fresh berries. Like the Figueirasse it is dry and minerally with a slightly fuller body. This one retails for $12.99.

The Figueirasse and Massamier are just two of the many roses that we will be carrying throughout the warm months of Chicago. Check in to see what we have when going to that picnic or BBQ, as well as your favorite neighborhood BYOB.

This Month's Coupons!

Check out the "Specials" section of our website for current coupons and promotions in the store!
www.provenancefoodandwine.com/specials.php

Artisanal Cheese with Daphne Zepos

Tracy wrote:

Stop by our Logan Square location between 6-8p on Tuesday, April 21st to meet our friend Daphne Zepos of Essex St Cheese. She'll be sampling her Essex St. Comte, Cravero Parmigiano-Reggiano and L'Amuse Gouda alongside several small production wines. Daphne is an amazing woman...in addition to starting Essex St. Cheese Company, she's worked with Artisanal Cheese Center in NYC and has sat on the Board of the American Cheese Society. She was also my neighbor when I lived in San Francisco and I'm so honored and excited to have her in the shop!

This event is $8/person which can be applied to anything purchased the evening of the event.

Asian BYOB perfection!

Richard wrote:
The Rentz Alsatian Gewurztraminer was fabulous with the wide range of dishes at Urban Belly. It stood up beautifully to their fresh-made, hot and spicy kimchee. The wine’s unexpected creaminess took all those yummy umami and meaty gravy flavors to new heights. Not even the citrusy sweetness in the squash dumplings dulled the Gewurtz’s well-rounded taste experience! I'm looking forward to taking this on my next visit to a Vietnamese restaurant!

New to farro? Try it as a cold salad made along with thinly-sliced carrots, chopped fennel bulb, fresh parsley and a light vinegar/oil dressing. Next to a sautéed filet of tilapia and some steamed rapini (broccoli rabe), you’ve got a lovely weeknight meal, or one to impress your fussiest guests. The Maipe Torrontes is the frosting on that cake!!!

The What and the Why

So, I've been thinking about the whole "blogging" phenomenon, if you would call it that...a lot of people are doing it, some are doing it well, some probably don't care - in a way, I can see blogging as cathartic - an online journal if you will. I see more and more blogs on other business' websites and many of my colleagues are blogging about their businesses. So I asked myself "why" should Provenance have a blog? What is our goal? We send out 2 emails each month to our customers, and many seem to read it and comment on it to us...then I thought: I write the newsletter, why shouldn't our customers hear from the rest of the staff here. We have some great, energetic people who love food, wine and learning about it. I'm sure they have some great things to say and ideas to share...and so it goes: Our goal with this blog is to give those who are interested more info on stuff we love, stuff we've learned and stuff we just find interesting and think you may, too.

Thanks for reading. Please let us know your feedback by posting a comment on this blog. Cheers!