The Tasting Room was getting overloaded with wine once again, so it seemed like a good time to taste through a passel of Pinots (which raises the question of whether groups of wines ought to have names a la "pride of lions" or "exaltation of larks", e.g. "crowd of Cabernets" or "symposium of Sauvignon Blancs" or "bog of fruit-bombs", i.e. "The wine critic fought his way valiantly through the fifty-bottle bog of fruit-bombs, but, in the end, his palate was obliterated and he drowned.").

In any case, moving right along, here were the winners out of the 22 wines we opened today.

2007 Cono Sur Pinot Noir ($9) This is labeled with the deeply terroir-specific tag "wine of Chile," but who cares—for nine bucks, it's surprisingly appealing Pinot. The nose isn't much to speak of, but it's got some appealing berry flavors, a leafy tobacco note, and the winery's carbon neutral, too. Can't argue with that. 

2006 J. Daan Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($24) I know zip about winemaker (and owner, I assume) Justin van Zanten, save that he was assistant winemaker at Andrew Rich, but I'm interested to find out more. This is a graceful, light-bodied Oregon Pinot, the nose a bit faint at the moment, but with evocative floral-strawberry-raspberry notes and a hint of earthiness.

2006 MacPhail Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($45) James MacPhail has been getting a lot of praise for his Pinots from a variety of wine writers, and based on this wine—one of his two basic cuvées, the other being a Sonoma Coast bottling—it's deserved. Floral, spicy aromas and ripe but focused flavors—sort of raspberry liqueur, if you can use that term without implying overripeness, which this wine isn't in the least. My note says that it "sorta glows"—in terms of flavor, not color—which if you ask me is something Pinot ought to do.

2005 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($40) This had a touch of reductiveness when first opened, but some good swirling got rid of it (decant the wine, if you buy it) to bring out pretty black cherry and cola notes. The black cherry continues in the flavor, along with brushy spice notes; plus it's got a silky, sexy mouthfeel that is really impossible to resist. Technically this comes from the Petaluma Gap area, just north of San Pablo Bay. Winemaker Michael McNeill is making some terrific wines here, white and red, and they're well worth checking out.

2006 Paraiso Vineyards West Terrace Pinot Noir ($40) I visited Paraiso ages ago when I was doing a story on Gary Pisoni, and thought at the time their wines were good but not much more. In the past couple of years they seem to have hit their stride, though—I thought Paraiso's 2006 Riesling was a steal for $14, and this Pinot was an unexpected star of this tasting. Very aromatic, with licorice, cinnamon and dark cherry notes, it's ripe and full-bodied, but those cool Santa Lucia Highlands winds must have had an effect, because it's also got a firm enough backbone of tannins to support the fruit. You could pay a lot more for Pinots that aren't nearly as good.

Just to keep going with what I started the other day (or what we finished the other night, depending on how you want to look at it), here are the red wines—and two rosés—from the wine dinner Bruce Schoenfeld hosted on the Tuesday before the 2008 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. (Photo again by Jeremy Parzen.)

1997 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rosé General agreement could be found around the table that this wasn't the most impressive version of LdH's rosé around; I was part of that gang. Nice enough, with a kind of old book-dried strawberry scent, watermelon-strawberry fruit and a creamy texture, but it didn't have the depth some other vintages have had.

2007 S. C. Pannell McLaren Vale Grenache Rosé All ebullient ripe raspberry fruit and not much else. I wrote at the time, "crisp, juicy and a bit idiotic." 

2004 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir Crunchy ripe raspberry and other berry notes wrapped with sweet spicy tannins. Very ripe Central Coast wine, but with a nice spice element to it. Sea Smoke's gotten a lot of culty praise; I thought this wine was very tasty, but not complex enough to justify raves.

2007 Emilio Bulfon Piculit Neri ($26) I completely rained on Jeremy Parzen's plan to mystify the whatsis out of me by having actually had this wine before—it's obscure as all get-out, but Henry Bishop (who used to run the wine program at Spiaggia in Chicago) once gave me a bottle, oddly enough. I liked it then, and I like it now. The aroma is floral and twiggy and reminiscent of a really good Dolcetto; the flavor is darker and sweeter than most Dolcettos, though, with lovely wild berry and plum notes, ripe but graceful. It's on wine-searcher.com, but strangely only available in Illinois. Go figure.

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Now that our annual F&W Classic in Aspen is over, I finally have the time (and focus) to recap some of the highlights of the thing. First up, our sister mag Travel & Leisure's contributing wine editor Bruce Schoenfeld's annual pre-Aspen dinner. As always, a gang of sixteen or so wine folks—makers, writers, drinkers, etc—convened on the-restaurant-that-shall-not-be-named in Boulder on Tuesday night, preparatory to making the trek up to Aspen. And as always, everyone brought along fabulous—or at least would-be fabulous—wines. Here's the lineup of whites (reds tomorrow), with prices for those that are current releases. (And many thanks to my pal and fellow wine blogger Jeremy Parzen for the loan of his terrific photographs!)

2004 Domaine Joseph Cattin Hatschbourg Pinot Gris  Not a wine I'd had before, this was potent, off-dry Alsace Pinot Gris, with an oily, luscious texture, dusty spice and dried peach flavors, and an odd, slightly varnish-tinged aroma that made me wonder if it had a bit of VA floating around. "Intriguing" might sum it up best.

2006 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Châteauneuf de Pape Blanc Les Crau ($55) A blend of Clairette (40%), Grenache Blanc (30%), Bourbolenc (15%) and Roussanne (15%) from roughly thirty-five year old vines. The nose here was subdued, though some steely apple (yep, steely apple—only way I've figured out how to describe it) and floral notes crept out. The wine itself was full-bodied, lush, with pear and sweet spice notes. Very pretty stuff, and will be better with time, I'd guess.

2006 Zarate Albariño ($22) Crisp, as Albariño should be, with an appealing briny note, and surprisingly full-bodied. I liked this just fine, but it didn't strike me as quite as complex as Pazo de Señorans, say, or Fillaboa.

1983 Kirchmayr Gumpoldskirchner Cuvée Solist Konig Altwein My first reaction here was roughly, "What the hell is this stuff?" and my second was roughly, "Well, whatever it is, it's fantastic." Partly that's because at my corner of the table it was too dark for me to read the back label clearly. But because I am a skilled reporter, I stood up and walked over to a light. It was a blend of—wait for it—Zierfandler, Rotgipfler, and Neuberger; it was dark gold in color; and it was blow-you-away good, with deep resinous and stony aromas, a rich but focused presence, lingering stone fruit characteristics, and notes of minerals, honey, and nuts. 

2000 Lucien Albrecht Clos Himmelreich Riesling  Clos Himmelreich is a two-hectare monopole of Albrecht. I didn't love this as much as some people did, but I enjoyed its orange-rind scent and its power; it had an odd raspiness to the texture, almost tannic, that didn't thrill me.

1989 Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva ($45) Oh, those old Lopez de Heredia whites. I love them, even if they occasionally suffer from a certain amount of bottle variation (which, of course, all older wines tend to suffer from—more on this when I get to the 1988 Bordeaux tasting in Aspen). This blend of 90% Viura and 10% Malvasia hit all those notes that make old white Rioja so appealing: wax, resin, almonds, citrus zest (sort of lemon oil, here, actually), and still retained some green apple as well. Plus the winery has a fellow with a really excellent beard on its home page. 

On my recent trip west, I tasted quite a few good Napa Valley wines, some of them discoveries (or discoveries for me, at least). I'd point people towards Jamie Kutch's silky, flavorful 2006 Kutch Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, for instance, if it weren't darn near impossible to find—still, get on the mailing list and who knows what will happen. Jamie makes his wines at the Deerfield Ranch Winery, and while I was there I also got to taste a pretty terrific Chardonnay from another fellow making wine there, Matt Wilson. The 2006 Sky Saddle Chardonnay ($30) comes from a small biodynamic vineyard in the Oak Knoll District; fourteen months of extended lees contact gives it a silky texture and depth that recalls Mark Aubert's Chardonnays, for instance, albeit at a lot less $$. Not very much of this around, but no one seems to know about it yet, either. Give the man a call.

You wouldn't cause yourself grave damage drinking the 2006 Rockledge Saralee's Vineyard Roussanne ($40), either, unless you liked it so much you inhaled the entire bottle and went zooming off in search of more—a risk, in fact. Pear and wildflower aromas, creamy texture bolstered by a firm mineral backbone, rich but not sweet. Fine example of California Roussanne. 96 whole cases made, so, again, act now. Or yesterday (again, best place to find this is by contacting the winery directly).

And I was happily surprised by the 2005 Wolf Family Estate Cabernet Franc 97% Cabernet Sauvignon 3% ($60), a cumbersome name for a graceful red that actually smells and tastes like Cabernet Franc, something a lot of California Cab Francs seem disinclined to do. From vines planted in the late 1970s—a whopping three-quarters of an acre of them—it's got pretty floral/violet aromas mingling with mocha and black cherry, and similar flavors ending on dusty, firm tannins. Where to get it? Yep, once again: call the winery. (Though if you're in CA, some retailers turn up on wine-searcher.com: check it here.)

Several good Sauvignon Blancs have shown up at recent odds-and-ends tastings here at the Tasting Room, so it seems like now's the time to mention them all, a kind of grab-bag of citrusy vino-zing.

2006 Ataraxia Sauvignon Blanc ($19) South African winemaker Kevin Grant (formerly of Hamilton Russell Vineyards) founded Ataraxia a couple of years back—the first vintage released was '05—to concentrate on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. But he couldn't resist making a Sauvignon Blanc as well, which is nice for us, since it's full of flinty citrus notes and a hint of cracked pepper. I'm also indebted to Grant for his descriptor of what too much Sauvignon Blanc smells like, which is "sweaty adolescent armpit." Yep. That's a negative smell, that one. (Imported by Leucadia)

2007 Ceàgo Vinegarden Kathleen's Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc ($18) Ceàgo is former Fetzer president Jim Fetzer's biodynamic project up in Mendocino, though this wine actually comes from a separate (also biodynamic) vineyard in Lake County. Very appealing crisp Sauvignon with melon and citrus zest notes, almost prickly on the tongue but in a good way. Ceàgo, by the way, is derived from a Pomo Indian word meaning "grass seed valley." You know the Pomo Indians...they're the ones that are always referencing other Indians in a studiedly ironic way...

2007 Provenance Vineyards Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc ($20) Lots of flavor in this Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc—lemon curd, lime zest, rubyred grapefruit—but not the flabbiness often found in warmer climate SB's. It gets some additional richness and palate depth from 20% of the wine staying on its lees in stainless steel barrels (and 5% in oak), and also about 8% Semillon being in the blend. Really inviting Sauvignon—this you could drink all summer long.

2006 Kim Crawford Small Parcel Spitfire Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($20) My tasting note for this reads, "Absolute spot-on 100% passion fruit." And in truth, I've never had a Sauvignon Blanc that smelled so exactly like fresh passion fruit, which is kind of cool. Doesn't hurt that this is fun to drink, too—all that passion fruit (did I mention passion fruit?) flavor gets balanced by a crisp herbiness and tingly acidity. (The vintage is current; Kim Crawford's Small Parcel wines are released later than regular releases.) 

2007 Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc ($25) Winemaker Francois Cordesse says about this white, "We try to stay away from dry herb, and fine-tune toward grapefruit." To which I say, hot diggity dog. I also say: it's mostly Knight's Valley fruit, a small percentage of Sauvignon Musque, with about 15% of the wine in one- and two-year-old French oak, and if you ask me it smells and tastes like mangoes, lemon oil, grapefruit and a touch of cream. Very pretty wine.

2006 Château de Sancerre Sancerre ($25) Very classic Sancerre with a grassy, clear, citrusy aroma and clean, fresh notes of melon and citrus; though it has good Sauvignon Blanc acidity, it also has a very appealing roundness in the mouth. The Château itself, oddly enough, was a gift from Louis Marnier-Lapostolle to his wife in 1919.   

As I wade through the scrawled notes from the last couple of weeks, I see I've missed a few wines worth mentioning. From the Frederick Wildman tasting a week or so ago, some appealing and impressive stuff (in addition to the two new wines from Jolivet that I already blogged about):

2006 Castello Monaci Salice Salentino ($10) Negro Amaro with 20% Malvasia Nera. Tasty, inviting Salice Salentino for a very good price—lots of strawberry, plum and pepper. The grilling months are approaching...

2006 Olivier Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc "Les Setilles" ($23) Almost always a good choice in basic Bourgogne Blanc, this cuvée comes from declassified Meursault and Puligny fruit. Light oak toast on the nose, and crisp, almost prickly apple & peach fruit. Simple, but charming. Getting a bit pricey, though. Regarding 2006, Patrick Leflaive says, "A very nice year for whites. The reds..." He ended with one of those Gallic shrugs.

2006 Re Manfredi Bianco della Basilicata Muller Thurgau/Traminer ($20) I don't know what these folks are doing growing Muller Thurgau and Traminer down in Basilicata, but as strange as that idea may be, based on this wine it's not a bad one. A sort of round, luscious, spicy variation on these northern Italian grapes. Pretty darn tasty, to get all technical about it.

2006 Nino Negri Ca'Brione ($34) An even stranger white: a blend of Incrocio Manzone, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and, to top it off, free-run Nebbiolo juice. Go figure. But it's a dense, viscous, fascinating wine, with citrus zest, red apple, melon, and a touch of wild berry, framed by some light oak spice. Some of the grapes are also dried for a few weeks before fermentation, apparently. Those crazy Lombardians! I love them.

2006 Château Fuissé Vieilles Vignes ($56) Says Antoine Vincent of Ch. Fuissé, "2006 was very round, and we had to pay attention to balance, not to have wines that were too fat. Which is why we used no battonage." Evidently a wise choice, because this certainly wasn't too fat; rather, it was focused and clean, with pretty green apple fruit and a touch of caramel, and a resinous note on the end sort of recalling the taste and texture of fresh-peeled apple skin. From 65 to 77 year old vines.

One of the pleasures of doing seminars at our Food & Wine Classic in Aspen is that I get to come up with a nifty topic, then taste a slew of potential candidates for the five or so wines I can actually pour at the thing (forty-five minutes isn't very long). There are always more good wines in the tasting than actually make the Aspen slate, and it seems a shame not to give them some attention, so here are a few good Spanish white wines that almost got picked but didn't quite. Note that for this seminar, enthusiastically titled by our marketing department "Spain's Profound Whites," I'm only pouring one wine per region, so the fact that I chose not to pour the Palacios Remondo Placet doesn't mean it's not a good wine. Got it? All righty then.

2007 Vega Sindoa Blanco ($8) Eight bucks? No argument here. 75% Viura/25% Chardonnay, and while I wouldn't claim it was the most complex wine on the planet, I liked its happy apple-blossom scent and crisp body. Buy several thousand cases and pour it for everyone at Shea Stadium.

2007 Bodegas Pedro Escudero Valdelainos ($11) Grassy melon-lime aromas and perky grapefruit flavor define this appealing (and affordable) Rueda. Darn tasty stuff.

2006 Aforado O Rosal ($19) Vinos & Gourmet, a small importer of Spanish wines that I hadn't run into before, brings in this citrusy, lightly seasidey (if that's a word) Rías Baixas white. O Rosal wines (it's a subregion of Rías Baixas) are typically blends of Albariño, Caiño (Trincadeira), and Marqués (Loureira), and are on the more saline, vinho verde-like side of the Albariño spectrum. Another good one to try, if you can't track this one down, is the Terras Gauda O Rosal—though, according to wine-searcher, it's mysteriously only available in Neptune City, NJ, and Sioux Falls, SD. Go figure.

2006 Palacios Remondo Placet ($30) This is pretty terrific white Rioja, and if there hadn't been an even more impressive white Rioja in the mix I undoubtedly would have chosen it for the seminar. Lemon-lime zest aroma, minerally, clean flavors of green apple and citrus, round texture. From Priorat star Alvaro Palacios's family estate in Rioja; 100% barrel-fermented Viura. 

2005 Bodegas Dos Victorias José Pariente Fermentado en Barrica ($32) Generally, Verdejo fermented in oak leaves me cold—such a nice bright grape, why slap it with a bunch of wood?—but in this case it makes for a rich, viscous, but not overly galumphing white, the grapefruit and green apple character of the variety mingling with honey and earth notes.  

2006 La Conreria d'Scala Dei Les Brugueres ($33) Another superb wine that I just couldn't fit into the lineup. Sigh. Anyway: This white Priorat avoids the flaccidity that affects a lot of white Grenache. Instead, it's a crisp, vivid white with a lot of succulent stone-fruit character and an elusive lushness that I'm guessing comes from the winemaker's choice of letting the wine rest on its lees in stainless steel for several months.

I stopped by yesterday at the VOS Selections portfolio tasting. For those not in the wine business, at various times during the year wholesalers and importers put on comprehensive tastings of their wines for folks in the trade, a concept that sounds pleasant in theory but is often like trying to taste wine in a rush-hour subway station. (Even worse, a subway station where everyone around you keeps spitting out jets of red liquid every few seconds.) Thankfully, VOS's event wasn't too jammed, which afforded me the opportunity to taste some terrific French wines, among others. I probably made it through 60 or 70 wines before the siren-call of the office pulled me back uptown; here are some highlights, all worth looking for. If you have trouble finding them, which you might well, then I'd suggest getting in touch with VOS directly and seeing if they have accounts who stock their wines in your area (in fact they suggest that on their website).

Roger Pouillon Cuvée de Reserve Brut NV (about $48) This grower Champagne comes from organically farmed vineyards. The cuvée is 85% Pinot Noir, which accounts for some of its full-bodied depth; it was toasty but crisp, with rich fruit and notes of honey. Pretty seductive.

2006 Domaine Courbis St Joseph Blanc (about $28) Impressive Rhône white for not too much money, at least given what you pay these days for white Hermitage. The origins of this estate date back to the 16th century (so says the handy tasting book from the event); this wine is a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne from chalky soils. Fragrant white nectarine and crisp pear fruit, with firm acidity that really brings it to life. 

2006 Domaine des Schistes Côtes du Roussillon Villages Tradition (about $20) Boy howdy, you want value, this is value. Heaps of sweet black- and blueberry fruit, dense velvety tannins, underlying earthy notes. Forty year old vines, 40% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 40% Carignan. Very impressive.

2003 Domaine de Cabrol Cabardès Vent d'Ouest (about $24) Cabardès, you say, bien sûr. As did I, of course, because I know EVERYTHING ABOUT this tiny Languedoc-Roussillon AOC north of Carcassonne, named for the ancient Lords of Cabaret (a gang of medieval French fellows wearing tights who happened to be very fond of Liza Minelli CDs), which became official only in 1999. OK. I admit to journalistic falsehood: I knew nada about Cabardès before Victor Schwarz of VOS helpfully explained to me that the intriguing aspect of this miniscule region is how it is mutually influenced by both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; hence the winemaker's two cuvées, Vent d'Ouest (west wind) and Vent d'Est (east wind). Appropriately, the Vent d'Ouest is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) with equal parts Grenache and Syrah. It's also a fascinating wine, with an earthy, dark aroma that reminded me of Bourgeuil more than anything else, but then has an almost Bordeaux-like cedar-and-graphite turn to the flavor, atop cassis and plum fruit. I found it fascinating, which is why I'm subjecting you, patient reader, to this absurdly wandering wine note. But now it's done.

2006 Gilles Morat Pouilly Fuissé Belemnites (about $32) Choosing between Gilles Morat's two superb single-parcel Pouilly Fuissés is pretty much a matter of personal preference, since they're both so impressive. For me, the Belemnites, which comes from 42-year-old vines on limestone-clay soils, had a slight edge this time over the more linear La Roche bottling; I loved its scent of orange zest and earth, and the substantial lime and mineral depths of its fruit. 

That's all I've got time for today. I may add some of the pricier Burgundies tomorrow (short note: if you see any of the '06 Dupon-Tisserandots, and you can afford them—not easy—then buy them. Do not pass 'Go', but definitely collect that $200, because you'll need it).

This is just a head's-up on a couple of Washington wines that arrived too late for the March column, but that certainly deserve mentioning. And buying, for that matter. And then serving, maybe with Bruce Aidells's Green Olive and Lemon Crusted Leg of Lamb (I suggested a Napa Cabernet blend with this recipe originally, but I think either of these Syrahs would be super with it, too). 

2006 Dusted Valley Vintners Walla Walla Valley Syrah ($28) Lots of Northern Rhône Syrah characteristics here, with peppercorns and game on the nose and savory, peppery berry fruit lifted by truly refreshing acidity. It's got attitude—sort of like a short, wiry guy who gets into fights with everyone but you, because you happen to be his friend. I actually preferred this wine to Dusted Valley's more expensive and more powerful Reserve bottling. 

2003 Forgeron Cellars Columbia Valley Syrah ($30) This is bigger and darker than the Dusted Valley, but not so big and dark that it becomes troll-like, if a wine can be considered troll-like. In other words, it's balanced—a testimony to winemaker Marie-Eve Gilla's skill. Dense coffee-mocha aromas, very enticing; luscious dark fruit with a roast-meat edge to it. "A bear-hunting wine," to borrow a phrase from Cab Franc maestro John Skupny—about whom, more tomorrow.

It’s heartening when one’s home state strikes a powerful blow against the forces of darkness. And I’m here to tell you, if you want the forces of darkness whisked from your view like yesterday’s dust-bunnies, you’d better get on a plane, fly to Houston right now, go to Killen’s Steakhouse in Pearland, and order their creamed corn.

Yes, I know: creamed corn? What’s with this lunatic and his dern creamed corn?

Well. If fate had smiled on you as it did me, and you had made your way to Killen’s the other night and seen fit, as I did, to order yourself a sixteen-ounce ribeye, a plate of fried asparagus (yep) and some of chef Ronnie Killen’s so-sublime-your-brain-will-melt creamed corn, you’d know what I’m talking about. You’d start to give a damn about creamed corn. An upside-down, sideways and with boots on damn, in fact.

Anyway, enough of this folderol. What Killen said he does is as follows (I think this is largely accurate): he cooks his corn on the cob, slices off the kernels, then simmers the cobs in cream and butter, infusing the liquid with an intense essence of corn character. He removes the cobs, scrapes every bit of corn pulp and milk out of them into the pot, purees a quarter of the kernels, adds those, adds the rest of the whole kernels, dashes in a bit of cayenne pepper (crucial), grates a bit of parmesan on top, and sticks the whole thing under the broiler just long enough to brown the parmesan. Whereupon he serves it to people like me, who then have their whole understanding of creamed corn’s place in the culinary universe pretty handily rewritten for them.

Alison Cook, esteemed restaurant critic at the Houston Chronicle and hometown pal, hauled me (and my mother—long story, but she's pals with Alison, too) out to Killen’s the other night, and thanks is due. Outside of my corn-epiphany, everything about this meal was spot-on: a sixteen-ounce wet-aged ribeye that was charred on the outside and toothsome within, a sixteen-ounce dry-aged ribeye that was straight-up the best steak I’ve tasted in at least a year (better than anything I’ve had in NYC in that span), and, hey, fried asparagus. Breaded fried asparagus. With lump crabmeat in a lemon-butter sauce on top. God knows what Houstonian chef-maniac dreamed up deep-fried asparagus, but apparently it’s the latest food-rage in my always odder-than-it-seems hometown.

Nice wine list, too, by the way (this is a wine blog, after all). We ordered a 2004 Les Mas de Collines Gigondas that was aromatic and supple and went surprisingly well with onion rings, and then a 2004 Scott Harvey Old Vines Zinfandel ($30) that was chock-a-block with wild berry fruit and relatively (14.5%) moderate in alcohol, at least as far as old vines zins run these days. Great with a steak.

Oh. And chef Killen’s crème brûlée bread pudding, four words that were destined to go together, as far as I'm concerned. You don’t want to know, but essentially it involves soaking buttery croissants in lusciously rich (but not wildly sweet) crème brûlée custard, then baking the mushed-together mass until it is, um, extremely good for your heart. Right. (Here: the look of someone used to getting everything, denied his rightful portion of c.b. bread pudding.)

Two last things: I left with lingering regrets that I did not order Killen's sirloin chicken fried steak, though that does give me a justification for driving 12 miles straight out Telephone Road to this deceptively low-key place the next time I'm in town. Also, it's worth noting that when Ronnie Killen's parents owned the property, it was an ice-house. Man, the times they are a'changin. Oh wait—hasn't that been said before?