Food and Wine » Wine and Pairings » Best wines for spicy food Rich fried chicken needs something crunchy and cooling for counterbalance, and this zesty slaw fits the bill. Recipe: Fried Chicken Sandwiches with Spicy Slaw Pair with: Pinot Gris. This is a fairly rich white wine that can wrap around fried chicken. But it also has crispness that keeps you wanting another taste of the exotic flavors both wine and slaw offer. Recommended bottle: Morgan 2010 “R & D Franscioni Vineyard” Pinot Gris (Santa Lucia Highlands). If you’re going to eat a sandwich that will stay with you for, oh, a week or two, let me make a recommendation: The Adam Richman at Ike’s Place in Santa Rosa (1780 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa). To celebrate National Sandwich Day 2015, here’s a pick that will make you feel a little dirty.  As in Dirty Sauce, Ike’s garlicy-mayo spread is just part of the secret mojo that goes into a list of 200-plus sandwich combinations that have made the Bay Area sub shop legendary.

The Adam Richman is a gut-bomber of  fried (halal) chicken, honey, avocado, ham, dirty sauce and a Dutch crunch roll that’s an ode to former Man vs. Food calorie martyr. Add a couple fried mozzarella sticks just to make sure you’ve celebrated properly. Though I’ve only ever eaten one, I’ll go out on a limb and say: Best. Not up for that kind of culinary investment? Ike’s also includes a number of meaty and meat-free choices (including several nods to locals including the Charles Schulz, Luther Burbank and SRJC Bear Cub). My Personal Favorite (besides a straight up turkey and Swiss): Banh mi. This Vietnamese-French hybrid is typically a baguette filled with pate, pickled vegetables, barbecued pork, jalapenos and cilantro. Pair with a tasty Vietnamese coffee and you’re good to go. – Lee’s Noodle House: 1010 Hopper Ave. Santa Rosa, (707) 523-2358 – Simply Vietnam Express: 3381 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa, (707) 544-4585 The Latin Sandwich Crew

A grilled Cuban sandwich with roasted pork, ham, Swiss, pickles and mustard on real Cuban bread. Rumba Cuban Kitchen, 8750 Old Redwood Hwy, Windsor, (707) 687-5632. This taco-truck staple is worth seeking out. Filled with meat, cheese, and other goodies the two best I’ve found.. – Homemade Tortilla: The Pambazo is a four-napkin feast with chile-sauced soaked and fried bread filled with chorizo and potatoes (papas con chorizo, $6.95). best wine glass travel caseDon’t miss a side of curtido, a fermented Salvadoran slaw similar to sauerkraut (2770 Stony Point Ave., Santa Rosa, (707) 521-9977)buy wine bottles for homemade wine – Nuevo Sazon: Torta Ahogada, a roll dipped in tomato sauce, stacked up with carnitas, onions and refried beans. best selling table wine

At the West End Farmer’s Market on Sundays (check the Facebook page to make sure they’re at the market). So what’s your favorite local sandwich?The holy trinity of Chicago foods has to be deep-dish pizza, hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. With foods like these elevated to the status of cultural sacrament, you want to find a good wine that will support but not overshadow the meal. We've done the pizza. best type of dry red wineWe've done the dog. best wine vintages franceNow, we go for the beef.best port wine 2016Matching Italian beef with wine poses its own unique set of considerations. best wine in india for skinDepending on the maker, the meat can be mild or very peppery. best sf wine stores

Then there's factoring in the spicy giardinera and the roasted sweet bell peppers.Larry Kaplan, owner of The Wine Cellar in Palatine, offers two strategies."You can go traditional with an Italian sangiovese or Chianti," he said. These wines would provide a leg up for all the flavorings in an Italian beef sandwich to "jump on the palate." Even an American sangiovese, such as a 2002 Chariot, would work well with the beef, he said."buy wine in chinaThe other way of doing it is to go spicy," Kaplan added. "You could do a nero d'avola or a nice spicy zinfandel or shiraz."A 2001 Four Vines Zinfandel from California would play off roasted peppers, he said.Consumers also can pick a wine by their beef sandwich brand.Kaplan thinks Buona Beef's sandwich tastes a little richer, "a little more meaty, more deep." For that, he'd go with a sangiovese to highlight that meatiness. A Johnnie's Beef sandwich (from the highly regarded suburban joint) is lighter, "more steak-ey than meaty," allowing him to savor the other ingredients, especially the peppers.

For that, he'd choose a zinfandel.Tanya Hart, owner of A Taste of Vino in Hinsdale, thinks the food-wine pairing is easy because the flavors can be hearty."A shiraz would be a good pairing because it would have the spice and the fruit," she said. "If you do Italian wines, a sangiovese would work quite well, but I would think it needs something fruit-forward."Like Kaplan, she sees two courses a wine drinker can take. The shiraz would match the Italian beef for zest while a primitivo, the Italian cousin of zinfandel, would use its plentiful fruit to "calm down the flavors."For Gregg Wilson, wine director of The Artisan Cellar in Chicago, the operative flavor to work with is the black pepper."I would think something soft and jammy but not overly jammy," he said. "Chicago-style Italian beef needs something with a little spice. A shiraz, a zin or a malbec."His first choice: an Alamos malbec from Argentina. The 2001 vintage, which sells for about $9, earned a two corkscrew rating from the Good Eating tasting panel earlier this year.

That Wilson chose a non-Italian wine for Italian beef reflects his belief that the sandwich is not really Italian."Most people around here will think of it as a local treasure rather than an ethnic dish," he said.Don Wils, a manager at Schaefer's in Skokie, points to Italian reds not because of the name link but because the Italian reds have a little more acidity that "goes real well with beef."His choices include a 2001 Falesco Vitiano, an Umbrian red that the Good Eating taste panel thought went very well with Chicago deep dish pizza, and a 2001 Monte Antico Tuscano made from the sangiovese grape.Matching a classicPairing wine with Chicago's own Italian beef sandwich can pose a real challenge. In an informal, blind tasting, the Good Eating staff sampled red wines with sandwiches from the original Buona Beef in Berwyn. We ordered a hot tray of Italian roast beef, complete with roasted sweet peppers, giardiniera and lots of Italian bread. Tasters assembled their own sandwiches; though some opted for the sweet peppers, few attempted to mortar their beef with giardiniera.

Good thing, too, as the giardiniera had a hot, salty flavor that fought with the wine. Panelists tasted and rated the wines first on their own, then with the sandwiches. Wines we thought would do fabulously with the beef didn't always work and wines dismissed as nothing special really shined with the beef. The corkscrews reflect how well the wines paired with the sandwiches.ExcellentVery goodGoodFair(No corkscrews)Poor2000 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di MontepulcianoAn intense, rich Italian red fashioned from sangiovese, canaiolo nero and mammolino grapes, with a slight fruity sweetness at first, followed by deep cherry notes and plenty of lively tannins. The wine's rustic elegance got a boost from the beef--indeed, the score jumped when the beef was factored in. (3 corkskrews) / $18.2001 A Mano Primitivo From Apulia in southern Italy comes this big red made from the primitivo grape, and intensely seasoned with fruit and spice. "Like a first date that comes to a very romantic ending," one taster rhapsodized.