Recipes for Romance

Recipes for romance: Perfect wine and food pairings for a lovers feast

Nothing ignites passion as well as wine properly paired with a meal made of aphrodisiacs. Making a romantic dinner for your sweetie at home on Valentine’s Day is a great way to avoid the crowds and the inevitable wait for a table. It also positions you much closer to the boudoir, should everything go as planned at dinner.

Some think that aphrodisiacs are just a myth. Others believe that the food we eat affects our hormones, our energy levels, our brain chemistry and other physiological properties that influence arousal. Whether you believe in the physical or psychological properties or not, it sure is fun to eat healthy food that could increase your chances for extra fun.

Here is your roadmap for romance, a four-course aphrodisiac and wine pairing menu that is sure to delight your valentine.

Oysters and a Champagne cocktail
Oysters have long enjoyed association with Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and are arguably the most well known aphrodisiac. In addition to the lovely appearance, oysters have tons of zinc, which enhances male virility, buckets of iron that can boost the energy and are high in omega-3, which promotes a sense of well-being. What could be sexier than to pair that with a gorgeous Champagne cocktail?

This is a special Champagne that will cost you a few dollars, but your love is worth it. You don’t have to be a Georgia O'Keeffe scholar to understand the beauty of the distinct floral design on the bottle of Perrier Jouët. It, along with the delicate pink hue of the cocktail, will set the tone before you even take a sip.

The rich berry flavors of the Lillet Rosé coupled with the frolicking bubbles and crisp acidity of the Champagne are a perfect accompaniment to the briny oysters. Both Lillet and Perrier Jouët are available at Austin Wine Merchant, going for $20 and $125 respectively.

Rosé et Reims

2 ounces Lillet Rosé
4 ounces Perrier Jouët Belle Epoque Champagne
Brut Grapefruit bitters
Orange twist

Serve in a Champagne flute. First, add four dashes of grapefruit bitters to the glass. Add Lillet Rosé, and then top with Champagne. Garnish that gorgeous drink with a long orange twist.

Spicy salad and seductive Chardonnay
For a second course try a light and lively salad made with a mix of lust-inducing ingredients including a bed of arugula and basil, luxuriant avocado, firm asparagus and spicy red Fresno peepers. Peppery arugula has been considered an aphrodisiac for centuries. Crammed with minerals and antioxidants, it blocks out libido-leeching contaminants. Layer that with thinly sliced, sweet smelling basil. The scent is enough to drive many people mad, but it also improves circulation and heats up the body. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Next, add chilled, blanched asparagus that has been marinated in rice vinegar and sugar to give the salad extra depth. Asparagus has long been considered a natural aphrodisiac in part because of its phallic appearance, but it is also rich in potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin and folic acid.

Shapely, creamy avocados add a sensuous touch. They are rich in vitamin E for a boost of vigor and folic acid, vitamin B6 and potassium which boosts immune system. Bright red Fresno peppers get the blood rushing and encourage beads of sweat to glisten while you’re still at the dinner table. Hot peppers are loaded with capsaicin, which elevates body temperature and heartrate to get you hot and bothered. Finish the sexy mix with a drizzle of lime juice and olive oil, which is loaded with antioxidants for a healthy glow.

A crisp California Chardonnay will bring out the creaminess of the avocado and tame the bitterness of the arugula. Go for the good stuff. Kendall-Jackson 2012 Grand Reserve Chardonnay is made with grapes grown in Monterey County and Santa Barbara County where the cool, foggy nights give the wine an acidic edge and lush tropical fruit flavors. The peach and lime flavors are as bright as your lover’s eyes and this creamy, smooth wine is as luscious as a kiss. Kendall-Jackson 2012 Grand Reserve Chardonnay is easy to find at wine shops like Specs for around $22.

Angels and lamb
The main course is where we stoke passions with a hearty dish and a voluptuous red wine. There have been many health claims about red wine in recent years, but the most important one for Valentine’s Day lovers is that Italian scientists say a glass of red wine each day can boost your libido.

With that in mind, picking the right red wine first and then pairing the meal seems appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Purple Angel by Montes is a special wine worthy of the most romantic dinner. Hailing from the Colchagua Valley, Purple Angel is one of Chile’s most sought after wines. It is made with Carmenere, Chile’s top indigenous grape and a touch of Petit Verdot grown on steep slopes.

Purple Angel has a lot of heart. The wild, brambly scent — lush with blackberries and dusty mocha — is a dead giveaway for what you'll taste. Bold, dark, brooding and ready for a romp, this succulent red is loaded with blueberry, blackberry and stewed plum layered with black olive, clove and dark chocolate. The tannin bites in a flirty way. The finish is long, just how you like it. This wine is as potent as your lover knows you will be.

Serve it slightly chilled and decant it for about an hour to let it open. It is available at Specs for $60.

Carmenere is versatile to pair with food, but it goes particularly well with grilled meats like lamb seasoned with rosemary, garlic, black pepper and topped with mushrooms sautéed in butter. You can pick up lamb at Whole Foods Market or Central Market. Mix up a simple marinade and fire up the grill. The elegant, yet audacious Purple Angle paired with the lamb will make every morsel taste heavenly.

Ingredients

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano, crumbled
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 (2- to 3-lb) butterflied boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of fat

Preparation

Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in sealable plastic bag or a glass pan. Add lamb and let that baby marinate, chilled for around four hours. Bring lamb to room temperature, about one hour, before grilling. Grill on a lightly oiled grill rack, turning over occasionally until the temperature reaches 125° to 128° F for medium-rare. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes on a hot grill. Let lamb stand 20 minutes before cutting across the grain into slices.

Sweets for your sweetie
To cap off a delightful meal, let’s end with the granddaddy of all aphrodisiacs: chocolate. We all know that it makes us feel good, but beyond the sheer enjoyment there is also some science at work. Chocolate has several compounds including anandamide, whose name is taken from Sanskrit word, ananda, which means “bliss, delight,” and phenylethylamine, a naturally occurring amphetamine known as the “love drug,” and serotonin, that lovely chemical that makes us feel lovey-dovey. No wonder chocolates pack the shelves on Valentine’s Day.

If you really want to impress your sweetheart, serve gourmet chocolate truffles handmade right here in Austin. Delysia Chocolatier makes treats for lots of occasions and has a special Valentine's collection which features raspberry, champagne and dark chocolate truffles. You can pick it up at Con Olio, Breed & Co., Savory Spice Shop, Mecca Gym & Spa or Delysia's online shop for $20.

There is nothing like a sweet desert wine to go with chocolate for the perfect romantic nightcap. Hatzidakis Vinsanto 2003 from the Greek island of Santorini is gratifyingly sweet without being syrupy. It’s made with a blend of 80 percent Assyrtiko and 20 percent Aidani Greek grapes. The grapes are picked when they are really ripe to allow the natural sugars to develop. They are then left to sun-dry for 15 days before being crushed, fermented and aged for six years in oak barrels.

This wine tastes like honey-dipped raisins rolled in nutmeg and baking spice with a hint of coffee. Its full, round and velvety smooth with body has balanced sweetness and refreshing acidity with a long finish. Serve it in aperitif glasses or regular white wine glasses. It’s not fortified, so the alcohol level is about the same as typical table wine.

A little hard to find, this wine is worth the search. Your favorite local wine shop will likely order it for you, or you can find it online for about $60.

Now you have your menu for Valentine’s dinner that is sure to spark romance. We’ll leave the rest up to you.

Purple Angel pairs well with lamb for your main course.

Photo by Matt McGinnis

Purple Angel pairs well with lamb for your main course.

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Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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