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K-J founder richer than Oprah, Forbes list says
October 21, 2000
By TED APPEL
Press Democrat Staff Writer
The wine boom has now created its first billionaire: Jess Stonestreet Jackson, who started with a small vineyard in Lake County and built a wine empire headquartered in Santa Rosa that produces premium wine around the world.
Jackson, founder of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, is one of the 400 richest people in America, according to a yearly list published last week by Forbes magazine.
With an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, Jackson debuted at No. 223 on Forbes' list of the super-wealthy, beating out junk bond king Michael Milken, talk show magnate Oprah Winfrey, Disney chief executive Michael Eisner and Jackson's archrival in the wine business, Ernest Gallo.
Just have to post a quick word about Prune (First Street btw 1st and 2nd Ave.) We were going there when it first opened (about a year ago?) and have always liked it, but for some reason we stopped going. I guess it just got too popular. It's a very tiny place. But this week we went twice, and once again I am sold. Incredible. You must have the anchovie app (even if you think you don't like anchovies.) The ham and fig app is quite beautiful, and the carnivores made quick work of it. The bone marrow entre had my friend Andrew (an englishman not too easily impressed by such things) absolutely swooning. The grilled whole fish of the day is a simple, dependable dish, if you lean more toward the sea. Small, reasonably priced wine list, but bring your own for $15 if you must have something fabulous (the food is worth it.) The staff is great. Make reservations. Did I mention to make reservations? Tiny bar, and no place to wait (which you might have to do even with reservations) but well worth it.
Just killing time. Search engine fun. 71CFF links:
Here. Here (scroll down to "Old Friends".) Here (huh?) Here. Here.
we need to do a simple white truffle meal at some point--fresh eggs / truffle's + simple pasta / truffle's--jmb can you find out if we can get some wholesale??
Maybe Wheel will comment more fully, but here's my quick take. We went to ESCA last night, which is the all seafood restaurant in the Mario Batali empire (you know, the guy with the food show, the long red hair, and the funny shoes who brought us Po, Lupa, and Babao.) The menu had us absolutely dizzy. We literally wanted to order evey single thing (well, O.K., only MB and I wanted to order the sea urchin.) All Italian wine. A great Northern Italian white from the area (Tirol) we traveled through last year, and an amazing example of the elusive (red) Lagrain (sp?) grape which we searched for in Italy, but now it seems finally found the one we wanted right here in NYC. With the Quinterelli for dessert we were feeling no pain. Oh, the food? Great. The fried fish was amazing (vongole and the frito-misto (sp?),) maybe the best I've ever had. Pasta's (as you might expect at a Mario restaurant) were perfect, although the perriwinkle and chilie was not as amazing as we had hoped. The eel (appetizer) was also not a favorite (although surely not bad.) The beet and botarga salad was a winner, as was the big stuffed clam (anyone remember what that was called?) I'd say: order lots of appetizers. Expensive; sure. Weird location - 43rd and 9th; for sure. Good time; good bet.
anybody starving?? iceland treats include rams testicle's, sheeps eye's, blodmur (congeled sheeps blood held together with lard and wrapped in lambs stomach), seal, whale, and rotten shark meat which is consummed with brennivin (a strong schnapps made from potato and caraway)
William M. Gaines wine collection is up at auction
this saturday at Morrell & Co. and it is a totally "Mad" collection including old Tokaj back into the 1800's!!
My neighborhood (lower east side) has had a definite shortage of places to eat. 71 Clinton was a great addition, but it's only open for dinner, and how often can you eat there really? If you're thinking lunch, forget about it (The Hat? No thanks.) Until now that is. Barrio is a new restaurant on Stanton St. between Ludlow and Orchard. It's a huge space (2 floors, plus roof garden) that the owners put a lot of money into (they bought the building I believe.) But the atmosphere is defintely casual down town (as opposed to, say, the 71 Clinton St. upper east side on the lower east side craziness.) And not only are they open for lunch, they're open 24 freakin' hours a day. Think 3 star Yaffa cafe (if it's possible to imagine such a beast) and you'll be pretty close. The chef is supposedly (like 71 Clinton) a former Jean-George employee (waiting for definitive confirmation on this.) The food is a joy. Very clean. For instance, the toast that came with my brunch on Sunday, had NO BUTTER on it! There's no butter anywhere in sight. Nothing is being covered up or hidden. The tofu sandwich (eating right now) is great. Fantastic whole grain bread. Interesting little sprouts on top (interesting sprouts and shoots seems to be a Jean-George trained identifying characteristic.) And it comes with home-made tarot chips on the side. Every plate seems to have a nice touch like this. Last night we had the vegetable risotto, and a fish special (Pike.) All very good. Not over thought, or over dressed, or over done. Simple. Clean. Fresh. I'll wait for Mike's word on the wine list, but it seems good to me (mostly in the $25-$60 dollar range; few big one$.) No Kendall Jackson type offerings at all. We had a very nice Valpollicella. It's not going to get 3 stars from the Times, but it's not trying to. Praise the lord. A good, simple, no effort required place to eat in the 'hood. It's been a long time coming.
mike and i seemed to have made up for the fact that our hotel and airfare were paid for this weekend (thanks to ff miles and vineyard brands for the "groovey room" at the w hotel) by spending a small fortune at restaurant elizabeth daniel. i'll leave it to wheel to post more detail (he took notes, of course). best vietnamese food ever at the slanted door with an old friend of mike's on sunday. p.s. summer is married and very happy. lovely wedding at restaurant 42 degrees - mw and i were the last to leave the party (as per usual) - couldn't get him off the dance floor...
9/9/00 now on a plane to SF after spending 4 hours in Cincinnati due to a delayed departure...i am wondering which SF lunch spot to drop off the list...the Delta Airlines lunch service begins, no veggie lunch for me as i'm not really on this plane, my veggie meal was eaten by a happy hippie whom forgot to call his own in on my missed connection...lets see Land o'Lakes Classic Blend (65% veggie oil and dairy spread), what is polyglycerol esters of fatty acids?? whom made it?? how?? and why?? it really is a good match for the caramal colored sugared up and dough conditioned bun!!! i wanted to add some salt to it but i hate my salt with dextrose carbonate's and silocate's
what did all the 80's coke dealers retire to the salt industry??...i move to the salad which is unlabeled and i'm happy cause i dont want to know whats in the tomatoe
wine sales via the internet gets a legal boost.
One more thing about my vacation: I ate a lot of lame food. My sister had her kids (9 year old Martin was only interested in onion rings, and only in the Burger King style) so we mostly ate at mid-priced "family" restaurants, which my Dad, who's pretty much given up cooking, also frequents. You always hear how overweight Americans are, but in NY you don't see it so much, at least not in our fashionable Manhattan haunts. The Midwest is making up for us. Everything was overdone and overblown. I call it big food, sort of like big hair: everything seems inflated; larger than life. It turns out that there is nothing that cannot be fried, not to mention covered with melted cheese. What really got to me, though, was the incredible amount of food that was wasted. Between the kids and the seniors, it seemed like most of the food went uneaten, and it wasn't like there were more sensible menu options. They kept offering us doggy bags, but it generally seemed like a bad idea. They would only be thrown out a week later, after the grease had eaten through the Styrofoam containers. There was already enough of that going on in the refrigerator. Maybe it's worse that a lot of people actually do finish those enormous portions, hamburgers the sized of grapefruits, french fries the size (and nutritional equivalent) of sticks of butter. No wonder people get mad if they have to park more than 10 feet from the restaurant door. It made me appreciate the range and quality of food available here, not to mention the talents of some of the amateur chefs among us.
this is a note i sent to all at our wine company "APB for great food***
i have been eating here almost since they opened (less than 1 year)
and the wine list really really needs help (drink the one riesling)***
finally last night i had to tell them and i/us may try to help
but the food has been and continue's to REALLY ROCK***
KORI 253 Church***
maybe its dont care about the wine
drink the one riesling maybe the beer
have the plum wine with the recent new dessert chef's treats***
for me KORI and WALLSE are my two best of 2000 so far***
peace"
Jim Marybeth and I had lots of good food in Cape Cod (on our first annual visit to the mom's) but the best meal (go starving) was in Providence RI at Empire 123 Empire St. #401-621-7911 in the new up and coming downtown...
Bayard's old review from previous chef will be expensive and new chef is even better i hear....check out thier web site might have to call and get the pearl room
Here's a familiar looking group blog about food. And here's a strange one about not eating food. "You can eat if you want to; that's your prerogative... I used to play that game... I know what it's like... But I'm
just not interested in it any more..."
a flood destroyed the crops of my favorite organic team at the Green Market but still plenty to choise from. bought 3 kinds of tomatoes and two types of corn and cranbery beans....
had lunch at the infamous Gundel (art nouveau building and restaurant since 1896) in Budapest today--very old world--but ok and finished with a 1964 Tokaj!!--the baths here are great, i dont think i will see much of the city besides restaurants and my hotels mineral baths (there are 140 mineral baths in budapest and my hotel/baths were also built in the late 1800's)