Richard Betts | Recommendations - Find. Eat. Drink.
Richard Betts, Master Sommelier, Winemaker, Mezcal Producer, Betts & Scholl, CC: Wine, Sobra Mezcal, Oaxaca, Recommendations, What to drink, Wines to recommend, Favorite Wine, Where to eat in France, Mexico, United States, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Lyon, Seattle, Tucson, Aspen, Colorado, Arizona, California, Texas, Washington, WA, Cabernet, Chardonnay, Hermitage, Barossa Valley, Syrah, Cali, Burgundy, Dujac, Wine Collection, Twitter, Yobetts
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1900 Broadway, New York, NY 10023 (view map)
T: 212.595.0303 (make a reservation)
Michael Madrigale is amazing. Pour it all out of magnum... why not... fuck it. I love it. Michael is so passionate about wine, that’s the key.
Upper West Side
French
57 Great Jones Street, New York, NY 10012 (view map)
It’s amazing. I’ve become a regular; I’m a huge fan. I go almost every trip. And the space is amazing -- there’s real moss growing in there.
Noho
Japanese / Izakaya
Arizona
California
Colorado
NYC - Brooklyn
Restaurants - New York, NY
NYC - Manhattan
Seattle, WA
Texas
Ten Bells is very cool and super authentic. The whole scene can get a little gritty... there’s no pretense. There is none of the snottiness that can come with wine sometimes.
Lower East Side
Wine Bar / Tapas
Wine Bars - New York, NY
8 Stuyvesant Street, New York, NY 10003 (view map)
T: 212.777.5415
It’s worth going for the cocktails and for Johnny’s Tofu.
East Village
Cocktails / Japanese
Cocktails - New York, NY
Brooklyn Fare
It’s the best meal I’ve had this year, including everything in France. Cesar Ramirez is the chef and it’s like a horseshoe seating arrangement with 14 seats. You go there and it puts you in a whole other state. Just be there, because it is great.
Boerum Hill
New American
Restaurants - Brooklyn, NY
Cache Cache Bistro
It has been there for almost 20 years now and it’s super.
Aspen
American
Restaurants - Aspen, CO
Little Annie’s Eating House
It isn’t really a secret anymore.
Aspen
American
Matsuhisa
It’s great and it cranks.
Aspen
Japanese / Sushi
Montagna At The Little Nell
www.thelittlenell.com/restaurants/montagna-restaurant.aspx
675 East Durant Avenue, Aspen, CO 81611
T: 970.920.6313 (make a reservation)
It’s actually the best thing there. Right now, they are doing it the best they ever have because of chef Ryan Hardy. He’s amazing. He moved to Aspen and bought a farm in Paonia (about an hour and a half away). He has pigs, chickens, eggs. The veggies are all his and he’s a really skilled pasta maker. He gets food in a very simple way - he’s not fussy.
Aspen
American
El Korita
251 Harris Street, Basalt, CO 81621
T: 970.277.4500
A really delicious Shrimp Cevice done Korita style is way spicey and way delish!
Basalt
Mexican
Restaurants - Aspen Area (Basalt & Woody Creek), CO
Amu
My favorite place in Boulder. It’s about six seats at the bar and a tatami table in the back. You’re in there with some other colorful characters in town, like the Japanese track coaches. It’s really special. It’s Japanese street food: fermented seaweed, etc.
Downtown
Japanese / Izakaya
Restaurants - Boulder, CO
Basta
The pizza is amazing. It is very hard to find. It’s in The Peloton building in East Boulder. Kelly Whitaker who had worked in Los Angeles is making amazing pizza. I’d put it up against any of the Neapolitan style pizzas in New York. It’s really, really super.
Peloton
Italian / Pizza
1738 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302 (view map)
T: 303.442.6966 (make a reservation)
All the time, it’s great. Their new pizzeria is open, which I am super amped for.
Downtown
Italian
1039 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302 (view map)
T: 303.544.5973 (make a reservation)
They have a real commitment to the community and to the farmers.
Downtown
New American
OAK at Fourteenth [currently closed]
1400 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302 (view map)
T: 303.444.3622 (make a reservation)
It was opened by some Frasca alum, doing their thing around wood burning ovens. It’s really good. Sit at the chef’s table, which is a bar in front of the two hearths. It’s cheap and the cocktails are amazing. Steve and his partner Bryan [Dayton] both worked at Frasca. Chef Steve [Redzikowski] worked at The French Laundry and The Little Nell and you’d think he’d make something very fancy, and it’s not at all. Chicken truly under a brick right there in the fire - it’s very good.
Downtown
New American
Pizzeria Locale
1730 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302 (view map)
T: 303.442.3003 (make a reservation)
I am super amped for Frasca’s new pizzeria.
Downtown
Italian / Pizza
El Mezon Del Cobre
Another great spot.
Northwest
Mexican
Restaurants - Tucson, AZ
Little Cafe Poca Cosa
It’s great, but the little one is better than the big one. It’s the one her sister owns, who is really wild, and lives in Mexico and rides her motorcycle up and is crazy. It used to be right next to the Federal Courthouse in a tiny space, but after 9/11 they made her move because she was too close to the courthouse. It’s breakfast and lunch only.
El Presidio
Latin American
Mariscos Chihuahua
The Mexican foods amazing. They have several now, but the one on North Grande Avnue is the deal. They have this amazing abalone that’s sliced paper thin with cucumber, a little red onion and a lime. It’s amazing. You drink Micheladas. A Mexican beer cocktail with chili, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, lots of lime, crushed ice, salt rimmed glass and a beer, which has to be a Tecate in can which you pour right over the top. It’s sort of Bloody Maryesque. It is really limey, it can clammy, and it’s really great. With cold fish when it’s a 110 degrees out, it’s pretty nice.
Barrio Hollywood
Mexican
Paggi House
200 Lee Barton Drive, Austin, TX 78704 (view map)
T: 512.473.3700 (make a reservation)
I really like drinking wine outside at the Paggi House. Sommelier Chris McFall has done an amazing job of putting together a smart and fun list.
Downtown
American
Restaurants - Austin, TX
Tei-An Soba House
1722 Routh Street # 110, Dallas, TX 75201 (view map)
T: 214.220.2828 (make a reservation)
I totally recommend for their amazing Japanese food, it’s really great, very elegant, really sweet people.
Downtown
Japanese / Sushi
Restaurants - Dallas, TX
Georgetown
New American
Restaurants - Seattle, WA
1531 Melrose Avenue E, Seattle, WA 98122 (view map)
T: 206.324.0662
Owned by the guys who own The Corson Building. So those are my three favorite related restaurants in the country right now. Marc Papineau runs it and has all these awesome soulful wines. There’s no attitude and no pretense. He’s there to tell you all about the wines - with love and a smile.
Capitol Hill
New American
1531 Melrose Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122 (view map)
T: 206.623.5882
You go there and drink Occhipinti (super honest stuff). It’s so unassuming, but so cool and basic and perfect.
Capitol Hill
Wine Bar
Wine Bars - Seattle, WA
LAMill Coffee Boutique
1636 Silver Lake Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026 (view map)
T: 323.663.4441
Silverlake
New American
Restaurants / Coffee / Wine - Los Angeles, CA
RN74
301 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (view map)
T: 415.543.7474 (make a reservation)
It is probably the most fantastic thing in the country. It’s super legit. You can drink incredible stuff there by the glass. And you have Raj Parr. And you have everyone that wants to work for Raj Parr. Raj has some of the best sommeliers in the country working for him.
SOMA
Modern American
Restaurants - San Francisco, CA
Merle
You do your shopping and you eat oysters and these amazing little shrimp in the shell and dip them in aioli. It’s one of my favorite little spots. You have late breakfast there. And you drink these pots (pitchers) of cold Macon - un-oaked Chardonnay. You are eating just the shrimp, knock back the oysters, and it’s convivial. The guys who work there are always really surly, but it adds to the whole character of it.
3rd Arrondissement
French
Restaurants - Lyon, France
Les Halles
Les Halles is where all the chefs shop - Bocuse sous-chefs will be there.
3rd Arrondissement
Market
Markets - Lyon, France
102 Cours Lafayette, 69003 Lyon, France (view map)
T: +33/(0)4.78.62.39.70
Itanoni
They just serve lunch and it’s all based on corn. You can eat dishes based on 28 different varieties of corn. There two comal, which is a domed hearth with a little sideways flue where you feed the fire and the comal is dipped on the top. There is one woman per comal and they have all these amazing bowls filled with amazing things. The slap together whatever form of the corn you ordered. She makes it and puts it on the comal and puts the stuff in it, and there it is. It’s really great.
Oaxaca
Mexican / Corn
Restaurants - Oaxaca, Mexico
Marco Polo
Oddly, you are an 8 hour drive from the sea, but they cook these amazing fish in these wood burning ovens. Open only for lunch.
Oaxaca
Mexican / Seafood
Guild of Sommeliers
It’s an offshoot of the Court of Master Sommeliers. I am one [a Master Sommelier] and I’m on the board, so full disclosure here. The Court of Master Sommeliers is a non-profit organization, which means unfortunately their best work happens in a very narrow bandwidth. The Guild of Sommeliers has every resource you could hope for.
Wine Resource
Resources
J.L. Chave
Available at the following retailers.
France / Rhone
Wine
Wines
Domaine Dujac
Available at the following retailers.
France / Burgundy
Wine
Nigl
Available at the following retailers.
Austria / Kremstal
Wine
Available at the following retailers.
Super honest stuff.
Italy / Sicily
Wine
Books
Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World's Top Wine Professionals
I totally recommend this book. It’s a really nice profile of people, of why wine matters, how people got emotional about it, and different producers.
Purchase at: Amazon.com
Authors: Rajat Parr & Jordan Mackay
WoOdy Creek Tavern
For Mexcian.
Woody Creek
Mexican
CASA MEZCAL
Owned by creator of Los Amantes (“The Lovers”) Mezcal, Willie [Guillermo] Olguin - he’s great.
Lower East Side
Cocktail Bar / Mezcal
LA CASA DEL MEZCAL
Calle Flores Magón (b/w Calle Las Casas and Calle Aldama)
Centro Histórico, Oaxaca City, Oaxaca
Centro Histórico
Bar / Mezcal
Bars - Oaxaca, Mexico
Owned by creator of Los Amantes (“The Lovers”) Mezcal, Willie [Guillermo] Olguin - he’s great.
DEL MAGUEY
Available at the following retailers.
Ron is the Godfather. He’s the guy that first brought it to America. You can easily spend $100 to $200 on a bottle of his mezcal and it’s worth it. It is a real artisan thing.
Mexico / Various Villages
Liquor / Mezcal
Mezcal
ILEGAL
Available at the following retailers.
They do a good job. They are a little different. Their mezcal is a little more smooth and less overtly a product of the process, meaning the fire and the smoke. It’s definitely delicious.
Mexico / Oaxaca
Liquor / Mezcal
LOS AMANTES
(“The Lovers”)
Available at the following retailers.
It’s fantastic. They have the Casa Mezcal in Manhattan and Oaxaca as well. That’s Willie [Guillermo] Olguin - he’s great.
Mexico / Oaxaca
Liquor / Mezcal
LOS DANZANTES
(“The Dancers”)
Available at the following retailers.
They are also quite good.
Mexico / Oaxaca
Liquor / Mezcal
SOMBRA
(“The Shade”)
Available at the following retailers.
Ron [from Del Maguey] helped us get started and now we are off, on our own, doing our own thing. I think we are doing a pretty special thing.
Mexico / Oaxaca
Liquor / Mezcal
Who
Richard Betts is a Master Sommelier, winemaker, and mezcal producer.
Why
He’s passionate about wine and mezcal and is spreading the gospel of wine as a grocery item, not a luxury item.
Richard Betts | Recommendations
March 27, 2011
Master Sommelier, Winemaker, & Mezcal Producer
Recommendations
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