Tag Archives: CYOB

Food & Drink, Wine
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See You in the Wine Room

Between the rugged overhead wooden beams and the long elegant glass table, you may feel caught between the modern and traditional in the Enoteca. It’s the perfect starting point for our “Choose Your Own Bottle” or CYOB dinners, where guests can relax in the comfort of family-style Friday night dinners while trying something new. What better way to do that then with a bottle of wine?

Wine Tasting with Our Experts

As the Wine Program Intern, my job is to help select a wine that not only pairs well with the menu, but also with your own tastes. My advice would be to arrive early so that before the dinner starts I can treat you to a private wine tasting in our Wine Room. Although our Enoteca boasts more than 100 different bottles of wine, I’ll narrow it down to a few for the occasion.

Often when you go to a restaurant there is a separation between the wine list and the guest. There’s a sort of needle in a haystack mania that takes over as you scour the selections and try to find something just right. I think part of why I love CYOB so much is because I can help connect every guest to the wineries. Sharing stories of harvests and visits is just a part of how I am able to take part in a more personalized selection. Though, the best part would have to be the look on their faces when they first taste the wine with their meal in the Laboratorio. Led by the chef, Johanna, the entire evening is focused around Via Umbria’s mission to Discover, Savor, [and] Share.

Dinner in the wine room

At CYOB you’re not just having a drink with someone you know. At CYOB you are discovering a new favorite wine from over 100 different bottles hailing from artisanal producers. You are savoring a delicious meal prepared right in front of you. Best of all, you are sharing this entire experience with everyone around you. A modern twist on Friday night dinners never tasted so good!

Discover wine during our CYOB dinners Read more

Between the rugged overhead wooden beams and the long elegant glass table, you may feel caught between the modern and traditional in ...

Events, Experience Italy, First We Eat, Food & Drink, Our Family Table
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Sardinia? Don’t mind if I (su porche)du.

When July rolls around and the heat is out of control, there’s only one thought that crosses my mind: Get me to the beach. What better way to escape the summer heat than by spending a few days soaking up the sun (rather than hiding from it) and relaxing in the water? Unfortunately, an actual escape is not always possible and so I find myself wandering the internet daydreaming of vacations that could have been and ought to be.

Maloreddus

Enter Sardinia. With its gorgeous coastline and lush mountains it’s the perfect escape for every type of traveler–especially those who are hungry. The contrast of the expansive coastline and the treelined mountains of this region has bestowed upon it one of the most unique, and enticing food cultures in Italy. On the beaches and coast locals and travelers enjoy seafood by the boatload–everything from spiny lobster, to octopus, to sardines, all locally caught and served straight from the sea. In the mountains, the food is more typical of country cuisine, based off of what you can raise and what you can grow–there is little crossover between the two culinary realms, and yet each are distinct and delicious in their own right.

As a pasta enthusiast, I find myself drawn in particular to the Malloreddus, a Sardinian spin on Gnocchi that is so good they made it their national dish. Slightly thinner than a typical gnocchi, and with an added dash of saffron, these little pasta ‘dumplings’ are the stuff that food-dreams are made of. Add a light tomato sauce with freshly ground pork sausage, garlic, and grate some pecorino on top and it’s a wonder anyone ever eats anything else.

Speaking of pork, let’s not forget the su porcheddu, a spit roasted suckling pig that’s tender, aromatic, and packed with flavor. Just the thought of this dish has my stomach growling. Though my toes may be in the imaginary waters of the Mediterranean, my heart will always be in Umbria, and my stomach will always crave a well prepared pork.

Su Porcheddu

For those of you who, like me, can’t always get away when you want to, Via Umbria is offering up the next best thing. Each week this summer we’re focusing on the cuisine from a different Italian region with the goal of touring you around Italy without the plane ticket or time commitment. Join us this week as we celebrate all things Sardinian with a Demo Dinner where you will learn to make your own malloreddus, a CYOB (Choose Your Own Bottle) Dinner and a Wine Dinner where you can taste the mouthwatering delights of su porcheddu, and a Sunday brunch with a Sardinian twist. With four distinct dining opportunities, and Sardinian wine specials all week long, Sardinia week at Via Umbria is the perfect way to turn your vacation dreams into stay-cation reality.

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When July rolls around and the heat is out of control, there’s only one thought that crosses my mind: Get me to ...

Events, Food & Drink, Wine
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99 Bottles of Wine on the Wall

Learning about Wine

There are few tasks more daunting than choosing a bottle of wine at a restaurant. Whether you’re an Everyday Enthusiast or simply a Weekend Wino, there’s always something slightly intimidating about being handed a list- or even worse, a book!- of wine names and being asked to choose the perfect bottle for your meal. In my experience, the struggle is attributable to three major factors: the pressure of picking a wine that everyone at the table (with their different tastes and food orders) will love, the impersonality of choosing a name from a page rather than a bottle from a shelf, and the price tag associated with what, nine times out of ten, boils down to simple guesswork.

Don’t get me wrong – I love wine. I love white wine, I love red wine, I love cheap wine, and (much to my bank account’s dismay) I definitely love expensive wine. The problem is, loving wine doesn’t always help matters much when set to the task of selecting wines for a particular setting. Which brings us to the question: how does one choose? What makes one vineyard’s Sagrantino different from another, and how do you know to choose between them? Silly as it sounds the answer seems to be ‘choose the one you like’.

Wine Tasting

Coming from a family that treats meal time with the same reverence as many would a church service, I have been fortunate to encounter some amazing food and wines. But as we eat and drink our way through Italy, one thing has become increasingly clear: learning the stories behind the wines, seeing where they come from, and meeting the people that created them imparts a special quality on each and every bottle. Even using the same grapes, and following all the same DOC regulations, vineyards all have a slightly different way of doing things, and it shows in their wines. While we may not remember the exact name of every bottle we’ve tried (especially after the second or third), our faces will always light up when we recognize a label, a vineyard we’ve been to, or recount the stories of an afternoon lost together in a tasting room – and this is an experience we want to share with you.

Augusta Pardi

On Friday evenings, Via Umbria is serving dinners CYOB (Choose Your Own Bottle). A step up from your typical BYOB, we encourage you to come a few minutes before your meal, and talk and taste with our wine staff to pick the perfect bottle for both you and your meal (at retail prices!) We’re excited for the opportunity to show you some of our unique bottles, all of which come from small production vineyards throughout Italy, tell you the stories behind them, and help you explore our selection to pick out something that you’re going to love. With nearly 100 distinct bottles to choose from, we’re sure we’ve got something for every palate. Our selection may not be considered typical; everything that we have, we have because we enjoy drinking it and we enjoy talking about it, and it’s meant to be interesting and accessible. You don’t have to know anything about tasting notes, wine regions, or Italian grapes, to enjoy these wines – although it’s great if you do. What’s most important to us in a bottle of wine is that you like it. Plain and simple.

So come join us for dinner at our Ristorante on Fridays, choose your bottle of wine (CYOB), and let’s head upstairs to share a meal. After all, drinking wine is great, but drinking great wine with great food is even better.

Discover our selection of Umbrian wines Read more

There are few tasks more daunting than choosing a bottle of wine at a restaurant. Whether you’re an Everyday Enthusiast or simply ...