Modern Gentleman

11/11/2021

Turn the volume way up…

And behold some ASMR joy from yesterday’s menu tasting / wine pairing session with Chef/Owner Hamid Noori and at .

If you love the soul + food + sip connection when farmer | chef | winegrower bond over earth | fire | history, you’ll want a seat for Tue 11/16. Join us as celebrates Afghan cuisine, , and .

I’ve eaten Chef Noori’s food several times and it is absolutely superb.

After COVID shut him down, The Mantu continued to feed other refugees. Chef Noori escaped with his family from Kabul, and since the capitol fell in August, chef and his team have been making food runs to a refugee processing facility. Last week, he delivered 3,000 meals to displaced Afghans, many of whom hadn’t had their native cuisine in months.

The Mantu’s menu is aromatic and generously spiced, but not hot spicy. I’m excited for unfamiliar guests to experience these welcoming flavors and nourishing hospitality.

NOTE: Food is much bigger than politics, but often the two are undeniably embroiled. Book a seat for the dinner alone, please. BUT, if you can support Chef Noori’s efforts to feed Afghan families and share resources with needy refugees (often via ), please say when you book your seat “PLEASE CHARGE ME FOR 1, 2, 3+ SEATS TO FEED FAMILIES.”

You won’t go hungry on Tuesday. And with your extra $$$, many Afghan families won’t either.

08/24/2021

Buona vendemmia, !

Kicking off the 2021 vintage (and our shoes) with some ol’ fashioned . and I broke bread and then smashed . With ’s green-gold grapes, Eric’s lime toes, and my pale chartreuse trou, it was a red-letter day in Virginia wine country.

Grazie to for bringing his crew to the for a date with brix, pesto, and Château La Feet 😜

07/11/2021

Finally tasted these tonight. My White Claw-conversant teenage daughters made me promise not to crack em til they were both home. Delicious flight! Debate in our house whether 1st place goes to #1 (Surfer Rosso) or #2 (Sun Sign). Much agreement in putting #3 (Faerie Fizz) 3rd, though it’s prolly the mainstream fave. Dig the clean, cool packaging and dry, complex flavors with thoughtful ingredients. New by the same peeps beyond .botanics’s spirit-free elixirs. Dope 📷 📷.tesauro

05/30/2021

What’s that quote?

“I like to have a martini,
two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
After four I'm under my host.”

Busted out the 🍸🍸🍸 for some fellow gin hounds. Ain’t traveling yet? A martini flight ✈️ is just the thing.

• Bristow +
• +
• + .official

I went classic with ’s “The Official Mixer’s Manual” ratio: 2/3 gin, 1/3 . Stirred. Bristow is always deee-lish, but 47’s florality really sang last night. Cardinal was super-anise forward. 🍸

05/13/2021

The scene right now from the setting of ’s brilliant and shattering historical fiction. takes place exactly here in but 150 years ago. It’s a hard-to-be-with-yourself-reading-it book with visceral truth everywhere you look. And yet so much beauty, hope, joy, and passion where you’d least expect. Join me tonight on at for a conversation with the author. Grazie to for first imploring me to open this work.

04/12/2021

Do you have enough in your life? ?? ???

Armed with 26 glasses and 1 copy of ’s Wine Grapes, I’ll be tasting one variety from each letter of the alphabet: to .

For Part I: A, B, C, I’m joined by ’s 2020 Beverage Director of the Year, , wine whisperer at . And if you wanna jump in, ping , my go-to source in for weird/curious/esoteric bottles. (3 down... 1,366 to go :) Link in bio.

03/12/2021

4/1 April Fool’s Day (!), SOMMniloquy continues on with Phyllis Grant . If you haven’t yet dived into “Everything is Under Control,” swipe for excerpts.

Double-dog dare you to NOT take this book .

I devoured this pink wonder – “A memoir with recipes – breathlessly, pencil in hand, underlining words / lines / passages like a book of poems. It’s brilliant, beautiful, raw, and pulsing like a placenta (which makes a cameo) with pure mama / human / dancer / daughter / chef / luvah / yogi spirit.

Founding members to my Substack enjoy free admission & behind-the-scenes access to Phyllis and all of my guest authors. Come get foolish with us on 1 April. See linktree in bio.

NOTE TO INDUSTRY FOLK...
This episode of is being generously sponsored in part, by . Thx to their support, comped seats are available for resto workers. Please DM requests and feel free to share.

Attendees will also enjoy a La Tienda discount code. While we can’t all get to Spain, let’s at least savor a little international flavor on our doorsteps.

Tickets are $10 and the curtain goes up at 8pm EST. Link in bio.

03/03/2021

“To remember how it was like when I was slow. All the promises I made.” —

Highlight from last episode of on . Who knows what zoom-wisdom award-winning writer / pastry chef / mother / survivor / human will serve up tonight. Join us @ 8pm EST. Link in bio.

03/02/2021

Tomorrow, SOMMniloquy continues on with Award Winner . If you haven’t yet dived into “Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger” swipe for excerpts.

If you dug Gabrielle Hamilton’s “Blood, Bones & Butter” and Iliana Regan’s “Burn the Place,” think of this as “Fruit, Flour & Finding the Courage to Feel All Feels but Give no F**ks.” Mothers, bakers, survivors, writers, Southerners, multiracial Americans... all will find wisdom and belonging in this raw and intimate memoir.

Tickets are $10 and the curtain goes up at 8pm EST. Link in bio.

OR, founding members to my enjoy free admission & behind-the-scenes access to Lisa and all of my guest authors. Link in bio.

NOTE TO INDUSTRY FOLK...
This episode of is being generously sponsored, in part, by . Thanks to their support, comped seats are available for restaurant workers. Please DM your requests and feel free to share.

All attendees will also be treated to a La Tienda discount code. While we can’t get to Spain (or Lisa’s Nashville), let’s at least savor a little away-from-home flavor on our doorsteps.

02/04/2021

Tonight, the inimitable Bo Bech joins me at Book Ya Ya via Zoom from Copenhagen.

Bo's latest tome, "the relation between us," was raved by NYTimes: “... Food scenes from around the world, interspersed with compelling text, the book is hard to put down ... threaded here and there with wonderment .... I couldn’t stop reading....” – Florence Fabricant.

Tickets are $10 and the curtain goes up at 8pm EST.

OR, founding members to my Substack enjoy free admission & behind-the-scenes access to guest authors: https://jasontesauro.substack.com

NOTE TO INDUSTRY FOLK...
This episode of SOMMniloquy is being generously sponsored, in part, by La Tienda. Thanks to their support, a limited number of comped seats are available for restaurant workers. Please DM your requests and feel free to share.

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01/27/2021

While suitcases and passports (necessarily) collect dust, I’m grateful for every mini journey outside my zip code. Today, a return to a place I’ve loved for nearly 20 years.

My admiration for Barboursville Vineyards began with a 1998 Sangiovese I bought in July 2001. In June 2002, I left my sommelier gig in Atlanta and moved to Virginia to join the family. In the decades since, I married here, my teens were raised here, my littlest learned to ride a bike here, and many many friends discovered here.

These are the historic Barbour Mansion Ruins. Designed by Tho. Jefferson in 1814 for the 18th Governor of Virginia. The home, with its distinctive Octagonal dining room and gorgeous Flemish bond, burned down on Christmas Day 1884. I adore it differently as the light and seasons change. Pix taken during today’s frosty, overcast morning.

01/25/2021

Where life is right now.
Layers.
Thirsts being met in hungry-for-something times however best we can. Poetry in bottle, poetry in book.
Lollipops & Biden White House set for my littlest boy.

The is reward for papa & mama keeping their s**t together. (’s book is reminder not to let wonder and astonishment wane while we do so.)

Not pictured: the biohazard bag ready for specimens. The lollies are reward for Julian getting 🩸🩸 drawn as part of his newly-diagnosed care (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome ... yeah, oof). A special-needs child needs special treatments, supplements, patience. Thank % #€?@$& goodness I have , a web of support, words & wine to face it all.