Sommelier's unusual route to Vietnamese cuisine

by Patrick J. Comiskey


Mark Ellenbogen is an Italophile. He has lived in Italy and is fluent in the language. He has spent a good portion of his wine career as a specialist in Italian wines. He has managed wine lists for Italian restaurants and sold Italian wine portfolios.

So doesn't it make perfect sense that Ellenbogen, 48, should maintain one of the most iconoclastic wine lists in San Francisco at an Asian restaurant, Slanted Door, a place whose range of flavors stand almost in direct opposition to Italian food? Why go with what you know?
 
Of course, Slanted Door is not just any Asian restaurant. For the past eight years Charles Phan and his family have fashioned one of the most dynamic menus in the city. Meals are at once authentically Vietnamese and powerfully original. In the kitchen, Phan invokes the full range of Vietnamese flavors, and that means precise increments of heat and sweet: heat derived from ginger or 7-alarm Thai chiles, counterbalanced with a caramelized, tropical spectrum of sweetness.

 It is a cuisine that goes hand in glove with Riesling, and Ellenbogen usually has a healthy proportion on hand, mostly from Austria and Germany.

"There's a particular synergy with German wines and Vietnamese food," he said via e-mail. "The sweetness (of the wine) quells the heat in the dish and pairs ideally when sweetness is present (in clay pot or caramelized dishes). An underpinning of high acidity keeps your palate light. Amazingly, both the dish and the wine taste better than if eaten/drunk separately."

Ellenbogen's selection is so devoted to Slanted Door's menu that it may seem more disorienting than lotus root, galangal or green papaya. To start with, there are more than twice as many white wines as red wines on Ellenbogen's list. And less than 10 percent of the wines on the list are domestic. Right now you'll not find a single American Chardonnay, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon.

So it goes; if you eat there, you'll never miss them. The list is small and is literally weighted -- the lightest wines float near the top of the list, the most full bodied fall to the bottom -- so it's surprisingly easy to navigate. "The list may appear challenging for the 'non-wine-geek' diner," says Ellenbogen, "but I think opening yourself up to new, interesting flavors is a major reason to eat in restaurants."

Food-Wine Pairing: Lemongrass Tofu ($8.50) with the Nikolaihof 1999 Smaragd "Jungfernwein" Riesling ($64). "Rarely are Austrian wines not dry, but this first-harvest wine from a young vineyard grown by a stellar, biodynamic producer pairs marvelously with this intensely flavored dish," Ellenbogen says.

Current staff favorite: Darting 2001 Durkheimer Spielberg Spatlese Scheurebe, Pfalz ($29). "This Scheurebe has a real exotic quality, with flavors of grapefruit and black currant, much fuller and softer, very unlike Riesling. The staff likes its wild, brambly character. Servers often buy a bottle to share."

Current passion: Loire Valley wines from Louis/Dressner, a New York importer. "A fantastic group of artisanal wineries, many of them biodynamic. Austrian wines, where else can you get such thrilling dry white wines? Riesling and Gruner Veltliner, plus especially lovely 2002 Dry Muscat and Sauvignon Blancs from Styria -- a gorgeous region of green rolling hills in the south of Austria. Always -- the ethereal wines of the Mosel -- a mineral bath in a glass."

Most exciting wines by the glass: 2001 Schmitt-Wagner "Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg" Mosel Kabinett Riesling ($8) -- "a very fine, very satisfying, often overlooked Mosel producer. Not the raciest, but more earthy than most Mosel winemakers" -- and Messmer 2001 Burrweiler Schawer Spatlese Riesling ($12), "for sleek, for the Pfalz, a wine with that high-wire balance of sweetness and acidity."

Most underrated region: "I don't think Germany and Austria are underrated any longer, though they certainly weren't on too many people's radar screens a short time ago, but Alto Adige in Italy certainly is (at least in the United States) -- home to Lagrein and Schiava, lovely, soft reds from native grapes."

Most unjustly overlooked wine: Riesling. "People seem to have so many preconceived notions about the grape. Perhaps it is fashionable to say you drink dry wines, but why close yourself off to such an amazing experience?"

Advice for the adventurous diner: "Let any server at the restaurant guide you through the list. Ask a bartender for a glass of Riesling or Gruner Veltliner; you'll be surprised at how good they are."

If I could change the world's wine tastes just for a day, I would have everyone drink more: "unoaked, low-alcohol white wine. And have people stop using the term "food wine" -- huh? Whaddaya mean?"

Wine the chef has with his meal: Champagne. Charles really enjoys the crisp Pierre Peters nonvintage Blanc de Blancs we pour by the glass ($12). He usually likes to down a plate of eastern oysters with it."

 Note: Slanted Door is at 100 Brannan St., San Francisco (415) 861-8032.

 SLANTED DOOR BY THE NUMBERS

Wines on the list: 67 plus 10 dessert wines
 
White wines: 46
 
Red wines: 21

Least expensive: $19
 
Most expensive: $135
 
Median price: $49
 
Ratio: domestic, 7 percent (67 percent from Oregon, 33 percent from California); imported, 93 percent (44 percent French, 27 percent German, 17 percent Austrian)
 
Strengths: German whites, Austrian Gruner Veltliner and Riesling, Loire Valley Chenin Blanc, grower Champagnes