Blue Danube Wines: Unique, Interesting Varietals Along the Danube

There's a new kid in the town of wine importing.
Blue Danube Wine imports some very interesting wines from countries along the Danube river including Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.

I've never encountered or even thought about the possibility of wines from these regions with only one exception (Tokaj from Hungary), but a blogger tasting (held at Mignon in downtown LA) guided by Stetson Robbins from Blue Danube Wine really opened up my palate.

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8 Hours in Hong Kong.

An 8 hour layover in Hong Kong.

View from Victoria Harbour

Landed around sunrise.

The authentic, cheap HK food was supposed to be in the area called Causeway Bay, so I attempted to walk there. Turns out Hong Kong was really hard to get around on foot - the map doesn't tell you where things are connected on land, by bridge, or not at all. Eventually I gave up and tried out their subway system.

Causeway Bay wasn't particularly "pretty" and there were a lot of small constructions going on. Interestingly, a high end mall with stores like Louis Vuitton were located just behind a row of market stalls.


I had some trouble finding food. See, I landed very early in the morning, and turns out that most places don't open until 10 am. So I walked and walked until I found something open and interesting. In the end, I went into a hole in the wall selling fish noodle soups.

How can I say no to a pieces of tripe and intestine hanging on a window display?

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Magnum Pop-Up with Joseph Mahon and David Haskell

Oftentimes pop-up restaurants leave you to your own devices as far as booze-pairing goes. The team of chef Joseph Mahon and sommelier David Haskell (dubbed 'Magnum') promised to be different -a full tasting menu with pairings, and their own back-of-house and front-of-house team.


Chef Joseph Mahon was the latest Bastide "alum" and trained under Daniel Boulud and David Bouley in New York before moving back to California to work at David Myers' Sona. David Haskell had also worked in New York, including Le Cirque, before opening Bin 8945 in West Hollywood, which he then sold a couple years back. The pop-up was held at Biergarten in Koreatown. Koreatown?? Considering David Haskell's notorious love for Korean food, it wasn't that surprising. Mahon's menu turned out to be quite influenced by Asian cuisine (kimchi included). The pairing was also a nice mix of wine, beer, sake, and soju (hey, we're in Koreatown).

I was accompanied by Eating LA whose birthday, like mine, was coming up. It ended being a great pre-birthday dinner for both of us (read her post here).

Haskell visited each table for each course to explain the pairing that he had chosen.
The first course was Carrot Pudding  with orange granita and shaved peanuts.
Paired with: NV Jules et Michel Beauchamp: Champagne, France: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier

Haskell wanted to use the strawberry notes from the rosé combined with this course to invoke the taste of a creamsicle.

#2: Coconut Soup (mussels, tapioca, cilantro pistou, lime)
Wakatake "Onigoroshi", Junmai Daiginjo: Shizuoka, Japan

Yes, it did say "tapioca" on the menu but nonetheless I was surprised by the texture it gave; the soup was a very pleasant surprise filled with great mussels. This dish along with a few others that night were nice examples of how seamlessly Chef Mahon can incorporate influences from Asian cuisine.
The richness of the coconut soup balanced out the slight bitterness of the sake.

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