Brasitas, of Stamford and Norwalk, CT, is named for ‘little coals’, so it is not surprising that the Latin Fusion menu in these sprightly decorated restaurants features a wide range of grilled goodies, as well as more complex offerings from the rest of the kitchen.

The menu reads somewhat simply, e.g. Pinchos de Churrasco (beef skewers), but this appetizer also features a crispy “yucca” (actually cassava, a Cuban staple) cake, creamy textured on the inside and crisp on the exterior. And this simple description does not give a clue to how perfectly marinated and grilled the tender chunks of skirt steak are.

Similarly, a selection of empanadas, a standard on Latino menus, arrive thoughtfully cut in half, perfect for sharing, their flavorful fillings enhanced by a creamy guajllo chile aji dipping sauce.

On a recent visit to Brasitas, we notched up our usual food sampling adventures with a mini wine tasting, focusing on three whites, all made of 100% Albariño grapes, from the verdant Rías Baixas region of northwestern Spain. Also called Green Galicia, the region is well known for Santiago de Compostela, a religious pilgrim’s destination since the Middle Ages and recently in the spotlight in Martin Sheen’s film, The Way.
We chose the Lusco, rich in the mouth and aromatic, to accompany the appetizers, and it complemented everything, from the ceviche to that excellent grilled beef.



Main courses range from the expected, a Latino paella (with seasonings more assertive than one would expect in a traditional Spanish version, and made with exceptionally moist rice), to shrimp quesadillas, accented with chili oil.

Portions are generous but not overwhelming and plated to facilitate sharing. Brasitas graciously avoids those annoying “extra plate” charges becoming common in too many restaurants, some of whose portions border on the ridiculous for one person.

A Latin Fusion standout was Pollo Criollo, perfectly moist roasted free range chicken breast with seasonings native to the Americas, bathed in foie gras infused Huancaina sauce. Originating from the Andes in Peru, this sauce is made of queso fresco (also known as farmer’s cheese), onions and yellow aji chiles. Truffle oil mashed potatoes rounded out the plate.

Adega Condes de Albarei, clean and dry, on the light side but still fruity, was the group’s  wine choice to accompany the chicken, and to segue into Paella.



Next came Camarones al Ajillo, prawns with garlic.  But what prawns, jumbos and impeccably fresh, sizzling in a tomato garlic sauce! There was more: Baby spinach seasoned with toasted garlic, pungent enough to serve a punch, but at the same time mellow, and an attractively presented inverted cone of saffron rice.

Torre la Moreira, slightly crisper and with a prominent nose, was the perfect foil for these lively flavors, and made for pleasant sipping as we contemplated dessert.



Dessert offerings are limited, probably because most guests are so happily sated at this point, but myMEGusta diligently persisted, sampling two: Crepes in dulce de leche and a traditional Latino flan. This provided an adventure in tasting two types of caramel, the former the reduced sugar/evaporated milk so wildly popular in Latin America, particularly in Argentina, and the latter simply caramelized sugar which melts irresistably in the custard’s juices to be a light sauce. Both were excellent.

The reasonably priced wine list is limited, however the sangria is fabulous and Brasitas’ charge for corkage is modest.

Read more about Mary Ellen's food and wine explorations on her blog myMEGusta.

Brasitas, 954 East Main Street, Stamford, CT 06902 (203) 323-3176

During the winter, it can be difficult to find Albariño wines because many wine stores seem to feel it is more of a summer wine. Yet I strongly disagree with that reasoning as I believe Albariño is good year round. Sure, it is a perfect summer wine, yet its versatility in food pairing make it an excellent choice during any season. After tracking down a bottle of 2010 Burgáns Albariño, I brought it with me to Kyotoya, a Japanese restaurant in Stoneham, to assess its compatibility with that cuisine. 


 
Albariño is an indigenous grape in Spain, and grows primarily in the Galicia region, in the northwest of Spain. It is the signature grape in the Denomination de Origin (D.O.) of Rías Baixas, which is also the only exclusively white wine D.O. in Spain. Though 12 grape varieties are permitted in Rías Baixas, Albariño is heavily dominant, representing 90% of all plantings. Interestingly, over half of the nearly 200 wineries in Rías Baixas have female winemakers. This has been a very recent change as back in 1990, there were few female winemakers. This surge of female winemakers has also accompanied a rise in higher quality and more complex Albariño wines.
 
The Burgáns Albariño is produced by the Bodegas Martín Códax, which was established in 1986 as a cooperative and now has about 285 members. The winery name is derived from the name of a famous 13th century Galician poet, more accurately known as a jogral, who composed a type of lyrical poetry called cantigas. A jogral is similar in a number respects to a troubador, though they are not nobles. The name Burgáns refers to the name of the slope where the winery is located.
 
The nose of the 2010 Burgáns Albariño is a compelling blend of citrus and other fruit smells and much of that fruit comes out in the flavors as well, including peach, lemon, apple and ripe pear. Accompanying these flavors, there is a subtle minerality and an almost sweetness to the ripe, full taste. The flavors linger in your mouth, providing a very pleasant finish. But how does it pair with Japanese cuisine? Actually, quite well.
 
Kyotoya is one of my favorite local restaurants and it creates some excellent and inexpensive Japanese cuisine. In addition, it is BYOB, so you can bring your own wine or beer and they do not even charge a corkage fee. Thus, Kyotoya provided a perfect opportunity to put the Albariño to the test with a variety of dishes.
 
We began the meal with some sushi, including tamago (egg omelet), maguro (yellowfin tuna) and salmon. With the raw fish, the fruit of the Albariño became more muted and the minerality surfaced. In addition, the wine helped to mellow some of the heat of the wasabi. A nice start to the meal and the Albariño was already showing some of its versatility. Soon after, we were delivered some miso soup and salad, and the saltiness of the soup also mellowed the fruit flavors and sweetness, though without raising the minerality. The wine was now showing a different face, and that was very interesting.
 
Kyotoya has superb tempura, shrimp and vegetables, which is perfectly light and crispy. Frankly, it is one of the best tempura I have ever tasted. The Albariño made a fine match, the flavors of both the food and wine complementing each other, though taking on a different flavor than when it has been paired with the sushi and miso. The clean flavors of the tempura worked well with the fruit of the Albariño, and the wine also worked as a palate cleanser.


 
The crisp gyoza, fried dumplings, did as well as the tempura with the Albariño, and the wine was not bothered by the slightly earthier filling inside the gyoza.


 
Beef and white wine? Not always a first choice but it can work sometimes. We tried an order of Beef Tataki, thinly sliced, rare beef in a ponzu sauce. Ponzu sauce is citrus based and those flavors matched well the citrus found in the Albariño, so the pairing actually worked. The wine was also rich enough to handle the silky, tender beef. I could easily see the Albariño with a beef carpaccio too.


 
The Tatsuta Age, ginger battered fried chicken, brought out another side of the Albariño, emphasizing almost a spicy undertone while once again muting some of the perceived sweetness. In some respects, the Albariño reminded me of Sybil, with all of the different personalities it was evidencing, each brought on by a different food pairing.


 
One of my favorite dishes at Kyotoya is the Unagi Sandwich, which has pieces of eel sandwiched between slices of sweet potato tempura and topped by a type of barbecue sauce. The sweetness of the sauce complemented the wine, while the wine also handled the tempura and strong eel taste. Another winning pairing.


 
Finally, we ended with Salmon Teriyaki, and once again the sweetness of the sauce was an excellent complement to the fruity Albariño, while the salmon flavors were not overpowered by the wine and seemed to extract a bit more minerality out of the wine. I knew seafood paired well with Albariño but it was nice to learn that Asian flavors also worked well too.



I believe my Japanese excursion provided more evidence of the versatility of Albariño in food pairing, as well as indicating its diverse personality, how it changes in taste and style dependent on the specific food with which it is accompanied. Sometimes it is fruitier while other times the minerality is more dominant. It can handle spicy flavors, seafood, fried foods and even beef. Don't think about Albariño as just a summer wine, but enjoy it year round and don't be afraid to experiment with food pairings.

Richard Auffrey is the creator and blogger for The Passionate Foodie and you can follow him on Twitter @RichardPF. 
 

To the uninitiated, pairing Chinese food and wine is a daunting prospect: What grape juice, after all, can stand up to the wok-hot oil, the spicy perfume of ginger, the (lord help us) cloying sweetness of General’s Tso’s chicken?

My apartment in Philadelphia is less than a 10-minute walk to Chinatown, and over the course of the last three years, I’ve devised what’s generally considered to be a foolproof strategy for matching wine with the menus of my favorite Chinese restaurants: I drink  Riesling and Champagne...and Albariño, all of which handle everything from egg rolls to hand-drawn noodles to Mongolian stews reasonably well.

But then one day, a little more than a year ago, a new Szechuan restaurant opened up in my neighborhood, throwing my strategy into question in ways I’d never even considered. Han Dynasty, after all, was, from the start, as authentic as it gets. No punches were--or continue to be--pulled in the spice-heat department; my vocabulary for explaining the varying degrees and tactile nature of the tongue-, throat-, and teeth-scorching peppers and oils had to expand exponentially, and immediately.

What the heck would I drink with this?

Which is where Albariño comes in. Of course, Riesling works perfectly well with this kind of food, but man, as they say, cannot live on German wine alone.

Even before popping the corks from three Spanish beauties, the match made perfect sense. Albarino, after all, shows exactly the sort of gentle floral or peach or crunchy apple notes that would highlight and enliven the spices of the food, enough acid to cut through any oil used in its cooking, and reasonable enough alcohol levels that each sip wouldn’t result in a Chernobyl-style tongue-meltdown when the wine came in contact with, say, a rogue dried Szechuan chili pepper.

For this particular Albariño - Szechuan food experiment, I relied on three different wines: The peach- and mandarin orange-scented Burgáns Albariño 2010, its more feminine notes balanced by a mineral finish; the more herbal, apple-y, slate-expressive Martín Códax Albariño 2010; and the Adega Condes de Albarei Salneval Albariño 2010, its gently waxy texture and coconut-creme and rich fruit notes seductive right off the bat.



Despite their differences in style and expression, each worked beautifully with at least several of the dishes. Spicy dan dan noodles, practically glowing in their chile oil bath, were brightened up brilliantly by the Burgáns, which also worked well with chicken enrobed in a thick layer of cumin: The spice powder’s toastiness and floral character really sang in the light of that wine. The Salneval also worked well, its texture the greatest asset here. It almost seemed to weave itself into the loom of the food, rendering the combination particularly appealing.



Salt and pepper shrimp should have been a wine-killer but instead worked brilliantly with all three, the Códax throwing the spice heat into lovely relief, the Burgáns temping it down and allowing the shrimp itself to shine, and the Salneval playing off the salt with particular aplomb.

Even vegetarian foods worked with Albariño, particularly a serving of sauteed pea shoots. I particularly liked them with the Salneval, whose lusher notes played a perfect foil to the vegetables, and the Códax, which brought out a gorgeous bitterness in the pea shoots, and which, in turn, itself developed a beguiling ripe green apple character as a result.



In the end, two things were made abundantly clear:
            1. Albariño is one of the most versatile, food-friendly wines around, and
            2. I am getting too old to eat all that spicy food in one sitting.

As a remedy, I finished almost all of the wine that night with my wife. It was better than any dessert, and we went to bed well-fed, thirst-quenched, and very, very happy.

Learn more about Brian Freedman by visiting www.onthefrontvines.com or follow him on Twitter @wineupdate.