Brava

April 2013

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play with your food Simple Sips Everything's coming up rosé All Mixed up at Merchant Where high-concept "soul" food meets mixology By Michael and Jean Muckian Take the idea of culinary perfection and strip away its pretensions. Whisk thoroughly with a commitment to sustainability and carry the concept of craftsmanship from the kitchen to the bar. Jot this down on paper and you have a high restaurant concept. Put the ideas into practice and the result is Merchant, one of Madison's most innovative restaurants, and one committed to refining the "mixology" of food, libations, music and people into a vibrant blend. "Merchant is a fine-dining program wrapped around a bar," says co-owner Joshua Berkson who, with partner Patrick Sweeney, opened the restaurant and retail store in December 2010. "We wanted to have a lively place that's neighborhooddriven, super-casual, fun and relaxed." By all accounts, Merchant is that and more. Absent is any air of pretension. In its place is a creative kitchen under the direction of Michael Liotta, which serves unusual dishes like Charred Bone Marrow ($14) and Chicken Under a Brick ($19). Chef Liotta, an alumnus of The French Laundry, Alice Waters' famous Napa Valley restaurant, uses as much locally sourced food as possible. Merchant's bar applies the same culi- 70 BRAVA Magazine April 2013 nary care as the kitchen. "Bar chef" J.R. Mocanu oversees one of Madison's first— and perhaps most creative—craft cocktail lineups. Mixologist Sam Gauthier's recent creation using "pork-washed" rye whiskey is one for the books. "The craft approach we take behind the bar started at The Rainbow Room in New York City in the late 1990s," says Berkson, who trained at New York's French Culinary Institute and worked the city's culinary scene for 10 years. "We follow the same fine dining principles of knowing where your ingredients come from and who makes them. That's paramount." It also reflects Merchant's commitment to food and drink as an art and a discipline. "Our food is 'soul food,' not as in fried chicken and collard greens, but as basic American cuisine prepared with a twist," Berkson says. "It's food that we love and that we think has something to say." Michael and Jean Muckian have covered the local food and arts scenes for over 25 and 15 years, respectively. Find them online at the Culturosity blog on bravamagazine.com Buds and blooms aren't the only signs of spring. As the tulips and hyacinths pop out of the soil, pop a cork! The arrival of rosé wines on retailers' shelves also points to the change of season. The roots of rosé winemaking can be traced back to ancient Greece, when much of the red wine produced was pale red. By the 19th century the practice of producing "light wines" via shorter contact with grape skins during fermentation eventually spread to the U.S., where rosé wine found a marginal place in California around the mid 1800s. The first Californian pink wines weren't necessarily sweet, but when Sutter Home released a successful batch of semi-sweet rosé, the category of "blush" wines was born. Today, dry rosé is gaining popularity in the U.S. as not only a seasonal drink that evokes the charm of sitting in an outdoor Parisian café, but as a legitimate category of wine that can translate variety and terroir with great intensity. With each sip of a fresh spring rosé, I can't help but be transported back to a time when I sipped dry French rosé and ate juicy mussels in a coastal beach town in southern France. The day was warm and sunny, and the wine, fresh and delicious. These wines pair well with many meals! Here are some of my favorite food and rosé combinations: • crisp, dry rosé with smoked or cedar A plank salmon • robust, Syrah-based rosé with BBQ A meats • osé with salad Nicoise or cold grilled R vegetables including asparagus • Fresh rosé with baked ham • uicy rosé with Thai chicken or other J spicy foods • Dry rosé and lobster Cheers to spring! Karen Eigenberger is partner at STEVE'S Wine-Beer-Spirits on Mineral Point Road. Visit stevesknows.com. Photo by Peter Wynn Thompson Photography By Karen Eigenberger

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