Newsletter Archive
Yanni and Denise are in Greece this week, at a long table with their cousins, and they sent us this photo. That's lamb shank, cooked slow the way a Greek family does it when everyone's home.
They didn't say anything. They didn't have to. When the owners text you a plate from a village in Greece, you make the plate.
So this week it's Lamb Osso Bucco: the same slow-cooked lamb on the bone, done the right way, with the bone in that everyone pretends not to want. Two things to drink with it, one elegant and one ice cold. Keep reading.
Fun facts: Greek Lamb Notes
- Kleftiko is the classic Greek slow-cooked lamb, named for the klephts, the mountain fighters under Ottoman rule who cooked "borrowed" lamb in sealed pits so the smoke wouldn't give them away. Slow, sealed, and patient. Still the way a lot of Greek families cook lamb on the bone.
- Osso bucco is Milan's answer: shank cross-cut so the bone shows its hole, braised, with the marrow as the prize. Same idea, different accent.
- Greek families call it kleftiko, 'stolen lamb.' We stole the idea from a photo. Feels right
The Special - Lamb Osso Bucco
Lamb Osso Bucco. Lamb shank, braised for hours, until the bone lets go of the meat on its own. Bone-in, in a rich sauce, over a bed of linguine. We'd tell you to share it, but we've watched people try.
Now, the drink. You have two options and we're not going to pretend they're similar.
The Donum Pinot Noir is the grown-up choice. Carneros fruit, fog-cooled, biodynamically farmed on an estate with more sculptures than some museums. Black cherry, raspberry, five-spice, silk. Yanni's newest favorite and he's not subtle about it.
The Oktoberfest draft is the it's-still-90-degrees choice. A Märzen, brewed in March and kept cold all summer so it's ready right about now, which is also when Munich taps its first keg (September 19). Toasty, copper, dry finish. It does to braised lamb what a squeeze of lemon does to everything else.
Pick one. Pick both. Nobody's checking.
Pairing Notes
Tasting Notes:
Donum Pinot Noir 2023, Carneros. Medium-to-deep ruby. Black cherry, raspberry, five-spice, a whisper of sassafras that's a Carneros signature. Silky, long, balanced, built to be interesting without being loud. Organic and biodynamic farming; the estate is known as much for its sculpture collection (Kusama, Bourgeois, Botero) as for its Pinot.
Oktoberfest draft (Märzen). Named for März, German for March. Bavarian brewers couldn't brew in the summer heat, so they made a big batch in March, cellared it cold, and tapped it in the fall. Copper to amber, 5.8 to 6.3% typically, toasted bread and light caramel, low bitterness, dry finish. The first Oktoberfest, in 1810, was a royal wedding party that never really ended.
Labor Day Weekend - Closed Sunday & Monday
We're closed Sunday, September 6 and Monday, September 7 for Labor Day weekend, so the team can sit at a long table with people they love.
Which means the Lamb Osso Bucco has a clock on it. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then again when we reopen Tuesday. Plan accordingly.
Updated Wine List, in less than 20 seconds
While Yanni's been out collecting bottles, our team has been rebuilding the wine list on the website so you can actually find them. It's cleaner, it's easier to browse from your phone, and every new arrival from this summer's trips is in there.
We made a short video showing you how to get around it: how to find a bottle, how to browse by region or by what you're eating, and where the new stuff lands first. Thirty seconds, and you'll never have to squint at a PDF again.
