A Hungry Girl

Apple Pie Contest

2011-10-21T12:03:00.004-04:00

I’m not competitive…I just avoid competition because I hate to lose. There are, however, certain temptations and recently Montgomery Place Orchard in Red Hook New York, presented me with one I couldn’t resist. Every September the orchard puts out a clipboard with a sign up sheet for their apple pie contest. I love their many variety of apples and I’ve often considered the contest. How hard could it be after all? I’ve made dozens of delicious pies in my time and I’m especially good at a tart tatin. There was no category for tart tatin at Montgomery Place; the only categories were traditional double crust or crumb top. I went for the double crust.

Montgomery place sells a variety of familiar apples like Empire, Fuji, Gala, Jonagold and Golden delicious but I get excited by the less familiar varieties --Esopus Spitzenburg, Karmijin de Sonnaville and Ananas Reinette to name just a few.

I noticed some chestnut crab apples, a small variety with an intense flavor that matches my idea of everything an apple should be and taste like. This was the first time I had noticed them. They are crisp, not too sweet and I decided that this was the apple I would use for the contest.

If you sign up for the contest Montgomery Place gives you a free peck of apples. I took my peck and then bought all the remaining chestnut crab apples they had to make sure I’d cornered the market. Not that I have a competitive nature or anything.

My apple pie testing began. My normal crust is part butter and leaf lard. I tested a few varieties of this crust, with different sorts of butter and varying proportions of butter to leaf lard (I use the leaf lard from Flying Pigs Farm at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC). I also tried out different flours. The final crust was perfect by my standard, flakey, a bit savory and not too sweet.

The apples cooked beautifully. All I added to them was some maple sugar, brown sugar, thyme leaves and a little flour for thickening.

I felt confident this was the best I pie I could make so and I was ready to bake for the big day.

I made my dough two days before the contest and rolled it out the night before. In the morning the apples were peeled and the pie was ready to be assembled. I decided the morning of the contest to make a bit of caramel and add some fleur de sel and toss the apples with a bit of this mixture along with everything else. Why? Who knows but next year I probably won’t do that.

The pie came out smelling heavenly and I took it over to Montgomery place at 11:30 am. Your pie has to be there by 12:00, so there is no hot pie advantage.

The frenzy around the stand was palpable and exciting. This year’s judges were a group of people who keep the farm running: electricians, plumbers, and other essential workers. There were 28 double crust pies entered and about 15-crumb tops. My pie was given number 10.

One of the volunteers approached my pie and began to slice it with a pie spatula rather than a sharp Japanese blade as I would have preferred. She struggled. “Heavens! She is tearing my pie I thought,” but somehow she managed to sever three slices. She commented how flaky the crust was which surprised me given the fact that she had smashed the crust with her dull contraption. Nonetheless, the pie was now in front of the judges.

After about an hour the winners were announced. To my disappointment I didn’t win. Mary Creech took first place in the double crust division. She used a combination of Swiss Gourmet and Macoun apples. It was a very traditional pie with, I think, Crisco in the crust. It was flakey, and the filling was delicious, light and gently spiced. It was a great pie.

Will I enter again next year? Yes, I feel like I need one more shot which is why I don’t enter contests: I can’t stop until I win.

On a side note, after the judging is completed and the winners announced everyone is given a plate and fork and you can taste any of the pies that were entered. It’s a frenzy. Below is a photo of my pie number 10, which as you can see is almost all,gone? I got much satisfaction from that.

My Top 10 Favorite things to do in San Francisco

2011-10-06T09:44:00.081-04:00

My friends are always asking me for my lists of what to do and eat in cities around the world and here at home. Having been born and raised in San Francisco I thought I would start with one of my favorite cities in the world. This is a top ten list and not an easy list to edit, but I will update them from time to time.

Swans Oyster Depot
A true classic and never out style seafood bar where you can sample the finest seafood the bar area has to offer.
http://swanoysterdepotsf.com/

Sightglass Coffee
For the coffee obsessed drinker this is a must stop.
http://sightglasscoffee.com/

4505 Meats
The Hamburger at 4505 Meats at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Thursdays or Saturday is simply one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Simple ingredients equal perfection. I always pick up a few bags of their famous Chicharrones.
http://www.4505meats.com/eat/lunch/

Tartine Bakery

Chad Robertson’s bread is a religious experience and I pick up as many as I can get my hands on, no matter what the occasion.
http://www.tartinebakery.com/bread.html

Mr. and Mrs., Miscellaneous
A jewel of an ice cream shop in Dogpatch serving fun twists on classic flavors and combinations of
everything ice cream.
699 22nd Street, at Third St.

Mission Chinese Food at Lung Shan Chinese Restaurant
A brilliant pop-up Chinese restaurant inside an existing Chinese restaurant, I go for the dumplings that are made to order.
http://www.missionchinesefood.com/

Cask
This wonderful shop is for anyone searching for the finest selection of spirits, and all the specialty ingredients to make genius cocktails at home.
http://www.caskstore.com/

Bi-Rite Market
I especially love the wine selection shop at Bi-Rite and everything else as well. One of the best-edited markets I’ve ever been to.
http://biritemarket.com/

Omnivore books on Food

New, antiquarian and collectable cookbooks for anyone who loves cookbooks, this is the bookstore for you.
http://omnivorebooks.com/

Bar Agricole

Besides the fact that this is an amazing restaurant, it is also serving some of the finest cocktails in the Bay area.
http://www.baragricole.com/#/drinks/

Torrontes, The other White Grape

2011-09-26T12:28:00.003-04:00

I first discovered Argentinean wines quite a few years back when I made my first trip to Mendoza, a wine region in Argentina where some of the greatest reds wines in the world are produced, specifically made from the Argentinean varietal Malbec. Every meal I had with various winemakers, they always served a white wine with the first course and most often it was an Argentinean Chardonnay. I’m not a big fan of Chardonnay outside of Burgundy because it is usually just another anomalous chardonnay, refreshing but not satisfying or expressive and complex. My memory of the whites wines there were not as memorable as the reds so I never gave much thought to Argentina as a great white wine producing country.

I went back to Buenos Aires a few years ago and had dinner with some friends. We went to have a classic Argentinean dinner, an Asado where meat plays center stage. A variety of meats are cooked over an open fire and then served in progression along with various side dishes. The meats in Argentina are extraordinary, usually what we call in this country grass fed.

We left the wine ordering to one of the guests who was a native of Buenos Aires. I am always curious to discover something I haven’t had before and be surprised.

I expected to us to start off with the dreaded Chardonnay but to my surprise he started us off with a bottle of Torrontes, a white wine I’ve never heard of.

Upon my first sip I was in love. The Torrontes was a bottle of Colome’, the aromatics of the wine were so refreshing, Jasmine, white peach and citrus notes were all beautifully expressed. The wine reminded me slightly of a Viognier, less complex but the structure of fruit and acidity were in perfect play.

You begin the Asado generally with some Empanadas, often baked in a wood-burning oven. The torrontes was refreshing and vibrant with the Empanadas, and then we had the grilled sausage, which was an interesting compliment to torrontes. The fattiness of the meat and the crisp aromatic wine went well. And to my surprise I wasn’t missing a red wine at all with the sausage.

Torrontes is made from a hybrid of Moscato De Alexandria and the Criolla grape. It is originally thought to be brought from Galicia Spain to Argentina by Missionaries. Phyloxeria destroyed the vines in Europe so they disappeared and so to this day, Argentina is the only country that has the vines and produces the wine.

Over the last 15 years there have been big changes with Torrontes. Torrontes doesn’t have the prestigious pedigree of let’s say Chardonnay, and the grapes were much more rustic years ago and no one took the wine very seriously. Over the years that has dramatically changed when winemakers started realizing the potential of the wine.

No one is more passionate and producing one of the finest Torrontes than Jose Luis Mounier who arguably makes one of the finest examples of Torrontes in Argentina. Mounier has been producing Torrontes for 25 years in the Calchaqui Valley of Salta a region in Argentina, which he considers one of the best terriors for the grape. The Salta region is located at the foothill of the Andes at an elevation of 5,500 feet above sea level.

He believes because of the altitude, extreme temperatures, low rainfall, sandy soil and the quality of the water it is the ideal location to bring out the elegant South of him is Cafayate which produces good and interesting wines according to Mounier but nothing compares to the expressions you get from the terrior in Salta.

When I first tasted Mounier’s wine, I was blown away. You first have to understand that Torrontes is a simple wine, unlike a Viognier or big like a Roussane it’s subtle and when well made extremely aromatic. Think of biting into a Muscat grape is the best way I can explain it.

Mounier’s wine is incredible, and was one of most expressive Torrontes that I’ve tasted so far. What impressed me was the texture of the wine on my palate; it was dense, full and had great volume. It was complex and very surprising. The fruit was also so expressive and refined at the same time. The wine blew me away. Clearly this is a guy who is obsessed with detail, that’s why it’s no accident that his wine is so good.

His obsession starts in the vineyard. Because of the extreme sun, the way the vines are planted are so important. In the wine world it’s called the canopy, the style of covering the fruit with the leaves for proper shading of the fruit so the fruit won’t burn but so that it gets the right exposure of the sun. Another, detail is the volume of fruit he produces from each vine. For example, think like this. If one vine can produce 15 clusters of grapes, but at the right moment when the clusters are still green you cut off 7 of them, the energy of the vine goes into the remaining 7 clusters that remain. That’s the principle so for many dropping that fruit is like leaving money on the vineyard floor but for the winemaker who wants to make great wine, a necessity.

Mounier isn’t the only winemaker producing fine examples of Torrontes. The wines made by Susana Ballbo at Crios and Colome are also among some of the top Torrontes also being produced and among my favorites. Balbo’s wines are very accessible here in the states and she also brings 25 years of winemaking experience to the table.

In LA where sushi plays such a starring role, I’ve been tasting torrontes alongside and I have to say it’s a fantastic marriage. Grilled Santa Barbara spot prawns are also right up there as one of those magical combinations.

All of us are looking for good value in wine these days especially me. I want to drink wine that has integrity but I can afford to drink daily and as far as whites goes, this is one I am ordering by the case.

My Tournebroche, I Never Leave Home Without It

2011-09-13T18:22:00.011-04:00

Fire is primal and almost everyone in love with cooking over a wood fire has had a primal moment. Mine was this: lamb revolving slowly on a spit over burning wood in the downstairs kitchen of Chez Panisse. That was back in 1988. The look, the smell, the anticipation of the taste, but above all the simplicity of the scene took me to a place I never wanted to leave—a place where something is always turning slowly on a spit.

Years later in 2001 at Chez Panisse’s 30th anniversary, Alice Waters set up a tripod and suspended a giant copper cauldron from it to cook fish bisque over a wood fire. That was about the best soup I have ever had. Was it the smoke, the scene, the person stationed there whose sole job was to stir the pot that made it so wonderful? It was all of these plus the visual anticipation of a meal prepared so memorably.

Over the years, I’ve collected equipment for cooking over an open fire. One of my most cherished tools is my Tournebrouche by Le Capucin from France. The French have made these nifty clockwork spits for well over a hundred years. The mechanism could not be simpler: you wind the clockwork handle which turns the spit; when it winds down a charming little bell rings and you wind it up again. The Tournebroche was probably only meant for the fireplace which is how I usually use it, but I took it to upstate New York this summer and decided to try it outside. I built a fire and made spit roasted pork shoulder for pork burritos.

The 10-pound pork shoulder came from Fleisher’s, the great butcher in Kingston, New York. They were careful to leave an inch of fat on it so that it basted as it turned. I wrapped the meat in herbs from the garden and did nothing else besides rubbing it with salt, pepper and olive oil. I cranked up the Tournebrouche and the whole magical ritual began.

I cooked the pork shoulder for three hours until the crust turned beautiful dark amber. The smell was intoxicating. But don’t get me wrong; you do have to work during the cooking. You have to tend to the fire constantly moving embers and adding wood to keep an even heat under the meat. And you have to regulate the fire so it heats but does not burn.

When I took the meat off the spit my sense of accomplishment was off the charts. We had made black beans, rice, several salsas and homemade tortillas for the burritos but the pork barely made it to the table; everyone in the kitchen was picking at it. The flavor was unlike anything I remember before and the texture was as tender as if it had been slow cooked for eight hours. This lunch was one of the greatest successes of the summer and everyone who was lucky enough be there will carry the taste forever.

All I can say to friends who weren’t there is that my Tournebrouche travels well and I will gladly travel with it and do this meal or another like it again and again and again.

Takeout with Nancy Silverton

2011-09-12T17:43:00.000-04:00

As I was sitting at the Mozzarella bar at Osteria Mozza the other night, I was telling Nancy Silverton how much I loved the chicken at Pollo a la Brasa and how I had just written a blog about them. I knew she was a fan, and she immediately one-upped me and told me she has this routine—first she picks up a chicken at Pollo alla Brasa and then goes to Carousel, the amazing Armenian restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard, to get side dishes to go with the chicken.
She invited me along with some friends to come over for dinner and try it out. I was beyond curious as to how these sides would fare with wood-roasted chicken, but I was sure Nancy knew what she was doing.
I arrived to a table Nancy had set up in her beautiful garden. With the outdoor fireplace blazing, I glanced over the amazing array of side dishes she'd laid out, each more mouthwatering than the next.
Nancy asked her friend Jason to stop at Sunnin Lebanese Café, to pick up some dishes there so we could compare. I couldn’t wait to dig in. I loaded my plate with everything—hummus, tabbouleh, mutabbal, muhammara (made with walnuts and red peppers), labneh harrah (a yogurt cheese with pickled peppers, tomatoes and olive oil) and, of course, the chicken and some pita. It was all sublime.
I thought the sides from Carousel were pretty amazing, and the dishes from Sunnin were good as well, especially the fattoush salad, made with tomato, onion, cucumbers, toasted bread and sumak. Nancy had this down, and as she was putting out the final offerings, she said, “No dishes, no mess.” A perfect dinner party.

Then she upped the ante with some of Manfred Krankl’s Sine Qua Non wines, including the estate grenache and syrah. The grenache was mind blowing. I'd aways wanted to taste it, and sure enough, it was the best grenache I’ve had outside of France. The syrah was right up there, too.
Nancy was right: It’s a perfect dinner to throw together—a meal you couldn't improve on if you had made it yourself. I can’t wait to try it at home. Pollo alla Brasa, 764 S. Western Ave., 213-382-4090; Carousel, 5112 Hollywood Blvd., 323-660-8060; Sunnin, 1776 Westwood Blvd., 310-475-3358.

Soba Heaven

2011-09-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

Since I love anyone obsessed with food, it's no surprise that I would love Sonoko Sakai. I recently had dinner at her home. Aside from being an accomplished movie producer, she's also a master of the soba noodle, which is a buckwheat noodle from Japan. When made properly, these noodles can be transcendental.
My own experience with soba noodles was at Honmura An, a soba-noodle restaurant in New York, which prepared fresh soba daily. It was one of my favorite restaurants in N.Y., and I was devastated when they closed.
As I sat down with Sonoko, I shared my own obsession with making the perfect loaf of pain levain, a bread made with sourdough. Immediately, Sonoko and I had a meeting of the minds. She explained her passion for soba, how she approaches it as a kind of daily meditation and that if she misses a morning of making the noodles she’ll feel unbalanced. I knew I was in the right place—if you’re going to learn about how to make soba, then you want your teacher to have that kind of passion.
The thing is, real artisanal soba noodles are made with only buckwheat flour and water, and because buckwheat has no gluten, the measurements must be right or they will turn out chewy or will fall apart in the water. Most commercial soba you buy is mixed with wheat flour.
To watch a soba master make soba noodles from scratch is profound. In fact, Sonoko told me that the best soba masters grow their own buckwheat to their specifications. She even travels to Japan regularly to study with her teacher Akila Inouye and, in fact, brought him to L.A. to teach a few classes.
As I watched Sonoko, she sifted the imported buckwheat flour from Japan. After adding water, she began kneading the dough in a gigantic metal bowl. She then turned the dough into a ball with a little top, which she referred to as a nipple (her teacher calls it a Hershey's Kiss). Then, as she rolled the dough with four-foot pins, she used numbered discs to measure its height.
Sonoko kept apologizing for not being perfect yet, but her work looked flawless to me. Somehow, magically, the dough went from round to rectangular, then folded up into a tight little package. She then brought out a gigantic knife and started slicing the soba with consummate precision. She tells me that a true master actually slices without ever looking at the knife while slicing. Then she makes piles of perfectly sliced soba noodles ready to be boiled.
Finally, it is time to eat. She boils the soba noodles and then runs them under cold water—we’re eating them cold, which is my favorite way. We have fresh nori to crumble over the noodles and a broth with freshly grated daikon to dip the noodles in. With my first bite, I am transported into pure bliss—the taste and texture are just perfection.
I know I will always treasure this experience and am most definitely signing up for the next class when her teacher returns to L.A.

A Great Pair: Tavern and Bonnacorsi

2011-08-26T17:41:00.000-04:00

My recent lunch at Tavern showed when it comes to passion in the kitchen no one comes close to Suzanne Goin. The Brentwood eatery, which she started with her partner, Caroline Styne, has, in my opinion, finally found its footing—not an easy thing to do in a town where people want a restaurant to be perfect from the start. I always have been of the school that it takes at least a year for a restaurant to get its rhythm, and Tavern has done just that.
I think one of the biggest strikes against it has been the space—odd and confusing. You enter the take-out space, but the hostess is in the middle of the restaurant, which, especially if you you’re arriving for the first time, is really disorienting. You don’t get that initial hit of a boisterous bistro allowing you to connect right away with a dining experience.
I went for lunch with my friend Jay McInerney and the winemaker Jenne Bonaccorsi to taste some of her recent wines. (Bonaccorsi is making some of my favorite pinot noir and syrah in Santa Barbara county.)
We started with the house-made sourdough that was served with some sweet butter and salt. It was killer. I have been obsessed with making bread myself, and I have to say that Tavern’s sourdough is the best I’ve had so far in L.A.
This was followed with one of the best salads I can remember having in a long, long time—made with Little Gem lettuce, crab, prawns, cucumber and radish, all tossed in buttermilk vinaigrette. It was perfectly dressed with a nice lemon finish and each and every ingredient was beyond fresh. I really appreciated that the lettuce was cold. I can’t tell you what a pet peeve it is of mine when you order a salad and the lettuce is room temp or warm.
We had Bonnacorsi’s Vogelzang Viognier with the salad, which also blew me away. Jenne only makes 100 cases of this delicious wine, and I know I'm not going to waste any time getting on her mailing list. The wine was elegant, with notes of kumquat and honeysuckle and great acidity. It was extremely well balanced—not overpowering or cloying, as most California Viogniers tend to be.
Our entrées included the Tavern turkey burger, chicken over lentils and steak frites. My turkey burger was exactly what I was in the mood for. The homemade brioche-style bun and all the fixings were great. Jay’s chicken looked delicious, and he loved it, and Jenne’s fries were perfect, especially dipped into the homemade mayonnaise.

We ordered the orange cycle for dessert and when it first came out it wasn’t what any of us expected—more of a parfait with layers of fruit and sorbets. I really wanted a more traditional orange cycle, but it was good nonetheless. The Meyer lemon tart was next. Its buttery, thin crust almost resembled an old-fashioned English meat pie. The thinly sliced lemons melted in your mouth. It was sublime.
As I left and walked past the pantry of cookbooks, cheeses, charcuterie, breads and prepared foods, I was really tempted to buy a few things. I thought that exiting worked better than entering, but no matter, I am coming back for sure.

Mango Madness

2011-08-18T17:49:00.000-04:00

You would think they were selling freshly plucked black truffles from Lalbenque, France, what with the swarm of shoppers surrounding the Wong Farms mango stand this Wednesday at the Santa Monica farmers' market. The frenzy was quite a sight—so much for the notion of the laid-back Angeleno.
Wong Farms sells the most extraordinary, tree-ripened mangos from the Coachella Valley from mid August thru mid September. This was their second week at the farmers' market, and the word was out. Luckily, I had ordered my mangos the week before, so I was there to pick up my case. The frenzy was due to the fact that after 10 a.m., Wong sells whatever mangos are left that were not picked up from customers who preordered.
When I got there, the line was already long. But if you could taste this mango you'd understand why. As I was standing in line being pushed and shoved, a guy walked by and said he didn’t even care what they were selling, he was going to get whatever people were waiting for—it was hysterical.
They were selling the Valencia Pride mangos, and this was the last week for those (next week, they start with the Keitt varietals), and their Valencia Pride mangos are just unbelievable. First, once ripened, the texture is like no other mango I’ve ever had except in India. The flavor is intense, floral and almost perfumed—in a good way. I love to chill them and just spoon out the mango.
Last night some friends came over for dinner, and Stan scrapped off the remaining flesh from the skin and seed, threw it in a cocktail shaker, muddled it, added some vodka and ice and whipped up the most delicious cocktail. It needed nothing else.
Next week, the frenzy will probably be even crazier for the first of the seasons Keitt varietals. Order yours in advance. The mangos sell for $3.49 a pound and are worth every cent. Wong Farms, 760-265-9167.

Breaking Bread at Tavern

2010-10-29T17:55:00.000-04:00

When I first tasted the sourdough bread at Tavern in Brentwood, it reminded me of the sourdough bread I used to eat as a child in San Francisco. The texture, flavor and consistency was almost identical.
If you’ve been a reader of this blog, you know I'm a bit of a bread snob—and I couldn’t believe that bread of this caliber was being made in Los Angeles. So I reached out to my friend, chef-owner Suzanne Goin, to see just who was doing the baking.
Goin told me his name was Nathan Dakdouk and that I might want to meet him in person to get the gestalt. Boy, she wasn’t kidding. Nathan is probably one of the most passionate breadmakers I have ever met, with a personality to match.

First, he took me into the wine cellar to show me the sourdough starter he uses to make all his breads. He affectionately calls it la Madre. He brought this starter to L.A. from Connecticut, where he had owned a bakery. A real sourdough starter is so important when making bread. Each loaf Nathan bakes is made with love and personal attention, even though he makes the bread for all of Goin's restaurants—Tavern, AOC and Lucques. He also bakes bread for the Hungry Cat, Goin’s husband’s restaurant.

The thing with any sourdough when made with a real starter is the bread isn't dead after the first day, whereas most fresh bread you buy is either stale or too hard after one day. Good sourdough should last a week—just reheat in the oven, and it comes back to life.

Nathan also makes a special AOC loaf, which is great; blueberry bread, which toasted is my favorite bread for breakfast; and a variety of others. But his sourdough is one of the greatest food finds L.A. has to offer, and I don’t hesitate to drive across town to get my loaves no matter what the traffic. 11648 San Vicente, Brentwood, 310-806-6464, tavernla.com.

Blue Bottle Coffee Brews It Best

2010-10-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

Blue Bottle isn’t new. I’ve been enjoying the Bay Area purveyor’s coffee for years. But ever since hearing about its first store on the East Coast in Brooklyn’s hipper-than-hip Williamsburg earlier this year, I’ve been jonesing to get there. Owner James Freeman is obsessed with how his coffee is prepared, so the beans are only available through his stores, although Blue Bottle does sell to restaurants.

What especially intrigued me about this store was the introduction of Japanese slow-drip coffeemakers to make iced coffee. But there they were, behind a glass wall, slowly dripping 88 drops of water per minute. For coffee aficionados, this is sure to be an experience like no other.

I decided to try the Kyoto-style iced coffee, and it truly is a tasty brew. The nuances of the bean are so crystal clear and expressive: first, a powerful hit of chocolate, then an essence of coffee beans and a texture unlike most brewed coffee. Now, I love my macchiato, don’t get me wrong, but this surpassed any espresso or siphoned or brewed coffee I’ve had before.

Still, perfect coffee notwithstanding, because I’m obsessed, I have a suggestion: For all the trouble Blue Bottle goes through using these expensive machines to produce such extraordinary results, they should invest in a Kold-Draft ice machine. Kold-Draft uses an exclusive, state-of-the-art “upside-down” horizontal evaporator, which makes cubes that are larger and melt slower. Slower-melting cubes means less dilution.
Anyway, just an idea. Even without fancy ice cubes, there is nothing diluted about a cup of Kyoto iced coffee at Blue Bottle. 260 Berry St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn (other locations listed on the Website)

A Loaf of Tartine Bread

2010-10-05T17:50:00.000-04:00

The bread baked by Chad Robertson at Tartine’s in San Francisco is my favorite in the United States, hands down. Nothing can compare to picking up a freshly baked loaf when it is just coming out of the oven. The smell and texture are intoxicating, and it takes everything in me not to tear into it the minute I get it in my hands.

That’s not to say that there isn’t fantastic bread available in other cities across the country, but Robertson approaches breadmaking as an art, and he has been perfecting his loaf for more than 15 years. The guy is old school. He apprenticed with various bakers here and abroad to experiment with different styles until he perfected his own recipe. To this day, he is still learning—in fact, he recently emailed me from Paris, where he was meeting with several bakers.
Now everyone can take a crack at his bread. Tartine Bread, a book I have been waiting for since Robertson first told me about it more than a year ago, was released last week. And it is nothing short of brilliant.
I first met Robertson in Point Reyes Station 14 years ago, when he was baking bread in a small shack called Bakeshop with a wood-fired oven built by Alan Scott. The bread was amazing even then. Through the years, Robertson moved to Marin and then finally to San Francisco, opening Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street in 2002, offering an array of pastries, desserts and sandwiches.
Tartine Bread promises to teach you how to make the perfect loaf right in your own home oven. The recipe is relatively simple, needing only a bit of time, patience and practice. Robertson went through great pains to get his wet dough right, sending it it out to nonbakers to test. The book includes great bread recipes and more than 30 sweet and savory dishes.
I have been on my own journey to make the perfect loaf. There is nothing like breaking freshly baked bread with loved ones, along with a bottle of wine and some delicious food. That’s all you need. Stay tuned—I'll be trying out Robertson's recipe.
Popout

Bread for a Day

2010-08-23T10:36:00.006-04:00

Recently I visited one of my hero's in the wine world, Manfred Krankl and his wife Elaine. Their winery, Sine Qua Non which is located in Ventura California is legendary and the wines impossible to get which has given them cult status. What started off as a hobby for Manfred, has turned into a full time business. Sine Qua Non produces some of the finest Rhone varietals I've had in California and one of my favortie's is The Naked Truth, an estate grown Grenache. The production isn't huge and because they have such a cult following and the demand is greater than the production the best way to get the wines is to get on the mailing list otherwise you will pay through the roof.

Nancy Silverton first met Manfred in Greece back in the 70's while on vacation with her sister. While working at Campanile restaurant for Nancy and her ex husband Mark Peel he started producing small amounts for the restaurant. They then started up La Brea Bakery together which they then sold. After the sale Manfred used the capital devoted himself to making wine his full-time job.

We started off at his winery to do some barrel tasting. Manfred has different photographs on all his barrels which I've never seen before. It's very funny actually, what images he chooses to reference his various barrels. As we started tasting there was very little spitting going on let me tell you...The viognier was spectacular as was everything I tasted. The whites, the reds were all exceptional. The most interesting part of the tasting, was tasting all the various fruit seperatly and then taste some which he has then blended. In the case of the whites, each wine whether Fiognier, Roussane or Marsanne could of been bottles by them selves they were that good yet as a blend they went to another level. The same went for the reds.

We went back with Manfred to his house and drank even more great wine over a wonderful lunch. It was such really a treat. Manfred and Elaine have a gorgeous property over looking Ojai, where besides restoring a house they have planted vineyards and are building a winery on the property. They are getting some fruit from their vineyard now and in the years to come when the vines mature will be getting much of the fruit from there, hopefully that means they will be able to make more wine. They have a great collection of decanters in their dining room and above them is a wonderful quote which says it all..I couldn't agree more.

This

La Numero Uno

2010-08-10T17:47:00.000-04:00

Once in a while, a restaurant comes along where you experience home-cooked food that's not necessarily simple, quaint or un-fussy—it’s just real. La Numero Uno is such a place, a small Salvadorian and Mexican restaurant that serves some of the best Mexican food I’ve had in a long time. The Mercado family, who are now the owners as of a month ago, are hands-on chefs.
On the Salvadorian side of the menu, they have delicious pupusas. We ordered the revuleta pupusas, which were filled with pork, cheese and beans and served with a side of coleslaw that was wonderful. The Mexican side of the menu is mostly recipes inspired from Mexico City , including classic dishes like mojarra frita, a simple piece of fried fish, and pollo con guisado, an exquisite chicken stew—both of these were sensational and satisfying.
One of my favorite dishes, and the best I’ve had in L.A. so far, was their chile rellenos. The chilies were fresh, the batter was light, and the red sauce delicious. When I asked our server what their most authentic and unique dish was, she said the salpicon, a traditional Mexican dish of shredded meat and chopped radishes served room temperature. They made theirs with ground beef, and though it was fine, I think if made traditionally with shredded meat, it would be outrageously good.
My friend Craig who lives in the building next door turned me on to La Numero Uno. He is trying to introduce them to using some organic ingredients, so he brought some tomatoes and peaches from the farmers' market. They served us some sliced peaches for dessert, a perfect ending for a great meal.
Besides just great food, the prices are unbeatable, and you can BYOB—another great plus. It’s also right down the street from the ArcLight on Vine, so it’s a great spot for before or after a movie or any other time as well.
La Numero Uno, 1247 N. Vine St., Hollywood, 323-957-1111

Cuts Like a Knife

2010-06-04T17:30:00.000-04:00

Anyone serious about cooking knows how invaluable a sharp knife is. There are so many gadgets out there to sharpen knives, and most don’t work, but sending your knives out to be sharpened is a risky business unless you know they will be sharpened by hand. If a knife is sharpened by a machine, it is done on an electric stone, which usually gets too hot and ruins the tempering of the knife. It can never keep a sharp edge.
I believe through years of experience that the best way to maintain your knives is to sharpen by hand with two whetstones, one to get the blade sharp and the other to fine tune the edge. The only drawback to sharpening this way is that it takes a good half hour per knife—honestly, I am lazy and would rather have someone else do it for me. The problem is that I haven’t found anyone in L.A.—until now.
My life has changed.
While shopping for a broom in Little Tokyo, I stumbled into a charming old-school hardware store called Anzen. Inside I noticed two worn-out sharpening stones on the counter. I asked the owner, Norihiko Takatani, if he sharpened knives. He explained that he did and that it’s a service he likes to offer his customers. I was ecstatic, because who knows knives better than the Japanese?

Baking Bread in New York City

2010-05-24T10:01:00.001-04:00

For the past month I've been swamped with work and have been a very bad blogger, but that has not stopped me from baking bread religiously. In fact while I was recently working in NYC, I brought my starter and baked a few loaves. Unfortunately, I didn't have my mixer which was a drag. I had to knead by hand and the results, well it tasted great, but wasn't the most visual.

There is something so gratifying about baking being a constant in my life, making something by hand that gets better and better.

More to come, including my first Walnut Sourdough with some first of season walnuts I picked up at the Farmers Market.

wowowow

2010-04-02T23:08:00.000-04:00

My friend Julia Reed interviewed me on her radio show for the website wowowow. Check it out, kind of fun.
http://www.wowowow.com/entertainment/wow-effect-episode-5-new-career-new-town-lesley-stahl-linda-fairstein-452160

Practice, Practice & More Practice

2010-04-02T22:31:00.001-04:00

I’m such a bad blogger; forgive me everyone for not posting more often. Not quite sure how those bloggers out there can blog on a daily basis, maybe they don’t have a day job or something going on, not to be judgmental. I’ve felt like I don’t want to bore everyone with the process of baking but I actually realized this weekend that it’s exactly what I should be blogging about, the endless weekends spent baking, even though I think nothing is really happening actually so much is.

Baking has been my constant, my refuge and the practice; call it meditation that is keeping me sane during insane times. I feel like the world is cracking up and though I try and do my part, its intense out there. I remember when my life was much simpler and the stress level was much more sane. I thought when you got older all that you invested in starts to pay off, but guess what, its kind of not working out that way, its actually the opposite. To survive I feel is having to be open to re-inventing yourself and in the end it’s really been a good thing for me. It’s how we grow and change. I want no self pity because I would never have taken this journey, but here I am and I am so proud of one thing, that I have some control over, my pain levain.

So many friends I know are actually surviving by reinventing themselves, taking it back to the simplest denominator. In the food world it seems everyone is trying to go back to making something by hand and I for one think that is so the way to go. It’s a given that no matter what, everyone has to eat so the business won’t go away.
This week after almost a month of posting I realized that to be good at anything, no matter what, it simply takes practice. That thing that you do on your own, with no one watching, just you practicing what it is you want to learn and in my case be the best at. It’s the subtle small lessons, the weird way you start to become so familiar with something, it becomes second nature.

Last Sunday on one of those morning shows, there was segment on Lionel Poilane. The Lionel family was in the bread business in Paris and he made it so chic and produced one of the finest loaves of bread in Paris. I was so lucky to have met him and spent an afternoon with him at his bakery. I think it was one of the reasons I wanted to make bread. It was a video taken of him before the tragic helicopter accident that took he and his wife Ibu. Lionel was making his signature cookies and doing it all with just one hand. He was explaining that it’s about touching the ingredients, an egg in the middle, a circle of sugar and then a circle of flour. All the while he was incorporating the ingredients in a slow motion and presto it was a ball of dough. He spoke of how we need to touch, it’s that tactile experience that you need in baking.

When the weekend comes around I don’t really want to take chances with my bread but that is what I should be doing, experimenting. It just a drag to spend 10 hours on something and then it doesn’t turn out, but my bread needs more work to get it to be ultimately what I want. How do I get there, by sometimes making bread that doesn’t work so I learn not to do whatever it was I did again? It’s the practice of making it over and over again, and getting more and more familiar with it. I am so proud of where my bread has come; its incredibly delicious and all of my lucky friends who I share it with are in awe. Not in a way that feeds my ego, but in a way that just confirms my resolution, sometimes it’s the small things in life that are the most important.

Ojai Citrus Is Something Special

2010-03-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again, as I wait patiently all year long for the height of citrus season. The farmers' markets are busting out every kind of citrus imaginable, and the colors are incredible. I feel healthy just looking at them. The greatest variety runs from January thru April. There are Cara Cara oranges, Page mandarins, Tahoe Gold, Gold Nugget, Daisy and Clementine tangerines, tangelos, cocktail grapefruits, lemons and limes and so much more.
I especially love the citrus from Friend's Ranches in Ojai. They're at the Hollywood farmers' market on Sundays and the Santa Monica farmers' market on Wednesdays. Their stand is so old school, and the variety is great as well. The citrus from Ojai never disappoints. I'm looking forward to the Ojai Pixie Tangerines, which should be showing up soon—they're seedless and incredibly sweet.

I’d have to say my all-time favorite is a Page tangerine, and the finest I ever had are from Churchill Orchard in Ojai. Unfortunately, they only sell mail order or at the Ojai farmers' market on Sundays, so I'll be heading up there next Sunday to load up. The tangerines are a very rich deep orange color—sweet and luscious and the perfect juice to use in a cocktail.
This is the time to make your marmalade, squeeze juice for your whiskey sour, cook with them or just eat them plain. Just get out and enjoy while the going's good.

The Perfect Loaf

2010-03-07T11:02:00.003-05:00

Yesterday after 5 months of testing and baking Pain Levain, I can say with confidence that I made the perfect loaf. Everything was there, taste, smell, texture and a good crust. Considering that I am making a loaf at a time in a pot, it's pretty amazing. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when I get to bake in a wood burning or a professional deck oven. I'm really happy and still have a long way to go, but these benchmark moments make the journey fun.

Back to Bread

2010-03-03T10:57:00.003-05:00

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I’ve been traveling and and working to pay the bills. Finally, this weekend I’m back to baking bread. It’s been good to take some time off and reflect on the bread I’ve been making. When I step away, I can be more objective and critique my work fairly.

I did take my yeast with me so I could keep it going which was pretty insane. I guess I could start over, but at this point I’m really attached to my yeast. I really like the flavor and smell and don’t want to loose them.

This weekend was mega baking marathon all day Saturday and Sunday. I am testing different dough, trying to get my dough to have a specific texture and flavor, which for now, is only in my imagination. Trying to produce this is, well, let’s say it ain’t easy. Working with a natural starter has a lot of variables.

I made 6 kinds of dough, all of which use different methods. It’s a bit frustrating. And so scientific! I find myself feeling rebellious and want to quit. Besides which working with a wet dough is even harder but I know once I get it, it’s all going to be worth it.

One thing I am noticing that really makes me happy is the improvements in the smell and flavor of my bread. My loaves really taste alive and stay fresh for 3-4 days after I bake. That is the one thing I wanted, now I just have to get that wet texture down.

A loaf that is a couple of days old is perfect for making a grilled cheese sandwich on the Panini press. I was watching PBS the other day and Ruth Reichel was on the Gourmet travel show reproducing a grilled cheese sandwich she’d eaten at the Borough Hall Market in London.

She spoke about how simple it was because of all the perfect ingredients. Basically she buttered the outside of the bread then piled cheddar cheese on one side then a variety of chopped onions, red, shallots and scallions on the other. She put the halves together then grilled the sandwich on both sides until it’s golden brown and there you have it.

I couldn’t wait to make this panini when my bread was old enough. The result was fantastic. The onions bring the sandwich to life. I kept fantasizing that the inspiration for the sandwich was the Cheddar cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy, which is outside the Borough Hall Market. I made mine version with some of the clothbound cheddar from Cabot which I brought back with me from NY. A perfect choice!

This weekend my friend who is a farmer and on the board of the Hollywood Farmers Market, delivered two of my fresh warm loaves to the women who run the market. I really want to get a small stand there and sell bread. I can’t believe that I am even trying without a kitchen yet, but there is a fire in me and I just have to blind faith right now. If I get a venue to sell my bread, I know I will find the space to do it.

One day when I get a real space with a real oven, professional mixer and more space it will be easier and the results will be brilliant, but for now I’m fine making a few loaves at a time and getting the recipe perfect.

Traveling With My Yeast

2010-02-22T18:05:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry my blogs have been far and few between. I've been on the east coast and will be back home tomorrow. I plan to pick up my bread baking and bake over the weekend. Meanwhile, I am proud to say that I have been traveling with my yeast, feeding it twice a day. All I can say is it's no small feat and I am actually impressed with myself.

Right before I left, I baked one of my most successful loaves of bread ever. I think the secret was using banneton's, a linen covered basket that you use to proof bread.

More to come.

Bread, Truffles and Champagne

2010-02-03T11:48:00.004-05:00

Usually, I plan to bake bread on Sundays, sometimes on both Saturday and Sunday if I have time. It takes me a week to prepare my starter. On Friday I prepare the build, which is combining a few tablespoons of the starter to a flour and water mixture and let it sit overnight. This gets added the next day to my final mixture. It’s often called the first build. This weekend I’ve had both days free to bake. It’s been full on.

I experimented with several different loaves. The loaf on the left I proofed in a round coiled wicker basket and the loaf on the right I proofed in linen. Both loaves tasted great, but I love the free form oval shaped bread the best. I baked both of them in Staub cast iron pots, one round and one oval, which is the next best thing to having a professional oven. I’m lucky enough to own these pots—they are pricey. If you don’t happen to have a Staub, Chad Robertson of Tartine suggests a Lodge cast iron pot as an alternative. The Lodge is more affordable and gives you the same results.

This past week some friends and winemakers from Bordeaux visited me in LA. I decided to treat them to a dinner of black truffles—my first experience with a black truffle was in France and I wanted to relive it. On my last trip to NYC, I was turned on to the company Plantin in New Jersey that supplies all the top chefs with truffles. I was very impressed with the quality of their truffle—smell, texture, and appearance. If you’ve never had a black truffle, I can only describe it by saying that it’s like tasting the earthy and essential essence of mushrooms. Their taste unique, delicious, and powerful that once you’ve a great one, there is no substitute.

I started with my favorite all time recipe for black truffles, it’s also the simplest—a toasted truffle sandwich. I first tasted this when I was in Bordeaux with my friend Bruno Borie of Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou at the house of Pebeyre family in Cahors. The Pebeyres are a wonderful family who have dealt in truffles for many years. Jacques Pebeyre made these exquisite, blissful concoctions—heaven on bread. I couldn’t believe that something so simple could be so remarkable.

Back in LA, dinner was great; the truffle sandwiches, which I made with my bread, Pain Levain, were a hit and always are when I serve them. I followed them with a risotto topped with shavings of fresh black truffles over it and served teleme cheese, a delicious old school California cheese, which also had truffles, shaved over it. A true truffle fete.

The best part of this story though is that I had a truffle left over! I immediately put in a bowl with some eggs so I could enjoy some fried eggs over the weekend with my freshly baked bread. So on Sunday, I fried up an egg, toasted a couple of slices of my bread and shaved my remaining truffles over the egg. As I took my first bite I was in heaven. It was seriously one the best breakfasts I’ve had. There was something missing though. A drink. Since it was Sunday, late, late, late morning, I’m not embarrassed to tell you I treated myself to a glass of Pommery Blanc de Noirs Champagne with my egg and toast. This was the perfect complement to my sublime breakfast. I can’t think of a better Sunday brunch, not least of all because I was eating my own bread.

Story about Sam's bread

2010-01-27T09:31:00.002-05:00

My friend Alice Waters sent me this link yesterday, a wonderful story about bread. I loved it and wanted to share it.

What to Do When Alice Waters Calls, Seeking Bread

My Loaves

2010-01-23T11:20:00.004-05:00

I'm proud of all my sad and not so perfect loaves of bread and wanted to post them because it shows a process underway.While looking back at images of the breads I've made over the past months, I'm finding it interesting and in fact very encouraging. Learning something new take lots of time and practice and there is no fast track to perfecting something. There are lots of subtle experiences to take in along the way as well.

I'm such a perfectionist and at times quite impatient, which is why I never took on baking. But the things that I'm taking in during this process is really interesting. I never realized this as much until last week while I was in NYC.

I needed to buy bread for some dinners. I went to several well known bakeries to buy some pain levain and at both places the bread I bought was crap. Both bakeries claimed that the bread was made with a sourdough starter. The texture or moisture wasn't there and both loaves lacked any expressive flavors. I also noticed that at these bakeries they both offered extensive selections of breads and pastries. When I think of my favorite places for bread, it's bakeries that only sell a few varieties of breads and at least one of their breads is made with a natural sourdough starter. Most bread out there is really commercial even if the bakery bakes daily. Their are of course some exceptions; Acme Bread, Della Fattoria in Northern California and Ken's Artisan Bakery in Portland to name a few.

I guess I've developed a discerning palate when it comes to bread over these past few months which is quite unexpected and shows me that I'm really learning what good bread is and should be. I can't wait to bake again next weekend, I have skipped a couple of weekends and I jonesing for it. I'm actually going to try and make a larger batch and produce several 2 pound loaves and am going to start a new starter as well, using some tricks I picked up from Chad.

Ham Good

2010-01-22T17:34:00.000-05:00

When my friend Craig called to tell me he had been given a 15-pound smoked ham from Heritage Foods for Christmas, we wasted no time in inviting some friends over to enjoy it.
Heritage Foods is one of the best sources to buy meat in this country. Started by Patrick Martins, who formerly ran Slow Food USA, Heritage promotes small family farms and genetic diversity and sells sustainably raised meats, poultry, goat and game, as well as charcuterie and Native American foods and cheeses. You can even trace where your meat came from on their Website.
To take our dinner party up a notch, we invited our friend Jodi, who is a great baker. She made an apple tart from Alice Waters’ cookbook as an homage to Alice, who had given Craig the ham. I thought, What better to go with ham than grits and collard greens? So I made a stop at the Santa Monica farmers' market for Flora Bella Farm, which has the best collard greens and escarole available right now. While I was there, I also picked up some persimmons, and when I got home made an escarole, persimmon and hazelnut salad.
As the ham was baking, the smells coming from my kitchen were so intoxicating that I was transported to memories of my childhood—having a Sunday lunch after church with my family. I decided to add a jar of June Taylor’s hand-cut Seville Orange Marmalade over the ham for the last hour it cooked.
The ham was spectacular. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I have had a ham that good. The chunks of Seville orange peel were perfectly caramelized and crispy—the syrup created a lovely sauce. The collards, grits and ham were matched nicely. And the salad, with the perfectly ripe persimmons, crispy escarole and toasted hazelnuts was great. It’s now one of my favorite winter salads to make. In fact, I love it so much I'm going to post the recipe in my next blog.
Jodi’s apple tart was exquisite. We reheated it and served it with a combination of whipped cream with some crème fraîche whisked in. It was one of those magical meals that was so special I'm going to make it a tradition and repeat it again next year and the year after.

Bread, Bread and more Bread

2010-01-19T16:49:00.031-05:00

For the past few months I’ve been busy baking and I think I’ve developed a bread that is absolutely delicious; it isn’t perfect but it is a pretty good step towards becoming the bread of my dreams. When I was in northern California for the holidays last month I took one of my loaves to the bread master himself, Chad Robertson at Tartine. I was eager for his critique.

Chad started by telling me that I wasn’t shaping my bread properly so the center of the loaf was a little too dense. After he straightened me out on that score he taught me something else: He put my bread in his oven and showed me how to bring a baked loaf back to the state of just baked freshness. Of course, this magic will only work with bread that has been made with a natural sourdough starter but it worked. The loaf I’d baked a day before was almost as fresh and moist as when I’d first taken it out of the oven.

I learned a bit more about the starter from Chad as well. I had taken my starter up north with me and fed it several times a day though I never had time to bake a loaf. Chad explained that there is a special moment when the starter smells perfect and you know it is ready. It will take time for me to be attuned to this and to really be in sync with my starter but that is,I learned, what baking is all about.

(By the way, Chad also gave me a look at his new book, Tartine Bread, which will come out next fall. It’s absolutely original and inspiring. Anyone interested in making bread will want to own this book. I don’t want to give away what makes it special so I’ll just leave it at this: I’ve never seen anything like Tartine Bread.)

At this point in my journey, I can say I am pleased with my progress. When you consider that I don’t have professional equipment and that I’m turning out loaves on a stone in my little domestic oven, I’m doing okay. I have to keep making adjustments and improvisations. Right now I’ve decided that because I haven’t been able to get the crust I want, I am going back to baking in my cast iron Staub pot for the next few times. I think it’s the only way for me to get the kind of heat that a professional oven can supply.

I’ve also started experimenting with pizza dough. I’ve been baking it in my Weber egg shaped grill. I heat the Weber with wood before putting in a pizza stone. More about my methods and the results in a future blog. And more about the great flour from Central Milling too.

Studying bread and baking pain levain at home is the most satisfying experience I can imagine. I am taking every step necessary to achieve the perfect loaf.

Central Milling Company

2010-01-11T17:50:00.015-05:00

Any artisanal or commercial baker in northern California worth his or her name is now using flour from Central Milling. When I visit a bakery my first question is always, what flour do you use? The answer is invariably, Central Milling.

The company’s mills are in Utah and most of the flour is organic except for Red Rose and Gilt Edge. The history of the company goes like this: The Giusto family owned Guisto’s flour company which was located south San Francisco until they eventually sold it. Unhappy with the product the new owners were turning out, Keith Giusto decided to start up his own company in Petaluma and produce a top-notch product.

On a visit to the company warehouse I was impressed by the wide variety of flours they produce. Each flour has a very specific purpose and Central Milling works closely with bakers to create blends for their needs. Their most recent products are THE One Organic Baguette Mix and Organic Cracked 6 Grain Mix.

The flour arrives from Utah each week and is sent out that week. Freshness is all! Nicky Guisto, Keith’s nephew, showed me photographs of their wheat fields. From the way the wheat is planted, in a circular formation, to the water powered mills that process the grain, no effort is spared in producing the finest quality flours.

I bought three flours to start with. The Beehive Organic Unbleached Malted All Purpose, High Mountain Organic High Gluten Wheat Flour, and Organic Whole Wheat Medium Flour. Each of these was suggested by Nicky as appropriate for the kind of bread I am trying to make. Since I have also been experimenting with pizza dough I asked Keith to recommend a flour. He told me to try the Artisan Country Organic Type 70.

Since my visit to Central Milling I have been baking quite a bit. My next blog will report the results.

Central Milling
ngiusto@centralmilling.com

Chez Panisse Persimmon Pudding

2009-12-17T20:53:00.003-05:00

I want to share my favorite dessert for the holidays. An early Christmas gift for everyone. At Chez they serve a cognac cream with the pudding which basically is just adding a splash of cognac to the whipped cream. I don't believe this recipe has ever been published.

Persimmon Pudding

For one 8-inch or 9-inch pudding: About 1½ pounds persimmons • 1¼ cups flour • 1/8 teaspoon salt • ¾ teaspoon baking soda • ¾ teaspoon baking powder • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • ¾ cup sugar • 3 eggs • 1 ½ cups milk • ¼ cup whipping cream • 1 tablespoon honey • 1 cup walnuts or mixed walnuts and black walnuts • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

The persimmon should be completely soft when they are ripe, and the flesh should look translucent and a little like jelly. Scrape the pulp off the peel and put through a strainer, or puree in a blender or food processor. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Combine the persimmon pulp, sugar, eggs, milk, cream, and honey. Gradually stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. It will be thin at first but will thicken quickly. Let the batter stand to thicken.

Lightly toast the walnuts 5 to 6 minutes in a preheated 350° oven; then let them cool. Butter an 8-inch or 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with baking parchment. Melt the butter, let it cool slightly while you chop the nuts coarse, then stir both butter and nuts into the batter. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the 350° oven for 2 to 3 hours, or until the pudding is set. Remove from the pan while warm. The top will be a dark glossy brown and needs no embellishment other than a pretty plate or tray.

Serve warm with crème Chantilly.

Acme Bread

2009-12-17T12:45:00.003-05:00

The last stop on my trip through the world of great artisanal bread making was the first great benchmark of the movement—Acme Bakery. The story behind Acme began in 1979 when Steve Sullivan, then a bus boy at Chez Panisse, brought a loaf he had baked at home to show Alice Waters at the restaurant. Alice and her chef at the time, Jeremiah Tower, loved the bread and Steve began baking for the restaurant. A few years later, in 1983, he left to open Acme Bread with his wife Susan. They now have four bakeries including a wholesale operation that runs 24 hours a day and produces an average of 50 to 60 thousand loaves a week depending on the season.

Alice has been a big supporter of my plan to learn about bread and one day start a business of my own. She called Steve to ask if I could go to his bakery and watch the operation. Steve generously agreed and arranged for me to go to the wholesale bakery in Berkeley.

After observing the bakeries of Chad and Celine recently (see my previous blogs on Tartine and Brick Maiden), Acme came as something of a shock to me. My memories of it were of a small place on Fourth Street in Berkeley. We are a long way from that now but, unlike the story of La Brea bakery in LA where an increase in volume meant a decrease in quality, Steve has stayed with his mission to make great bread in large quantities. I met Arturo who manages the night shift at this branch of Acme. He along with other bakers were going to be spending most of their time shaping bread and prepping it before it gets baked off, while in another room bakers were making dough for the next day. I asked Arturo how many loaves of bread he was going to make that day and he replied that he didn’t want to know. I understand.

I loved this visit but it did confirm my sense that I am not meant to engage in a huge production of anything. I also know now that I don’t want to make every kind of bread in my bakery. I just want to perfect one or two loaves, a good pain levain and a good baguette. Perhaps I’ll do something else for various holidays but to perfect these two varieties is my dream. Yes, it is a dream but I am slowly taking the steps that make a dream come true.

Tartine Bakery & Cafe

2009-12-04T18:50:00.001-05:00

The first time I tasted Chad Robertson’s bread I was blown away. Back then; I wasn’t experienced in bread baking or even bread tasting. Even so, there was no mistaking it—this was a perfect, handcrafted loaf of bread. The man is an artist!

That first experience was with a hunk of sourdough that had just the right amount of sour with a perfectly gorgeous crust and an amazingly moist texture. I’ve been Chad devotee ever since.
I first met him when he was at his Point Reyes bakery which is now run by Celine Underwood of Brick Maiden Breads. Chad and his wife Elizabeth have moved on and now own Tartine Bakery and Café, as well as Bar Tartine in San Francisco. Since the day Tartine opened people have been lining up outside the shop. Chad and Elizabeth sell an incredible array of baked goods, both savory and sweet, as well as their famous hot pressed sandwiches. One of these sandwiches, which are made with Tartine’s bread, of course, is big enough for two people. Their Three-Cheese Tasting sandwich made with Bellwether Farms Jersey Carmody, Strauss Cheddar, and Rocinante Idiazabal is the most decadent and the best-grilled cheese sandwich I have ever had.

Tartine’s charmed existence has not been without a drawback or two. They bake their bread in the afternoons, which means that if you want buy fresh bread in the morning or at lunchtime, you are out of luck. Then too, you need to be in line at Tartine by 5 pm if you want to snag a loaf. So if you live nearby, you are in luck.

Chad would love to be able to sell fresh bread throughout the day, but it just isn’t possible. Space is limited in the bakery and he can’t sustain the business on bread alone. Given all the other considerations that go into running a successful business, baking in the afternoon is the only feasible solution. (Although Tartine is demanding, Chad is determined to have a life outside of the bakery, so he always makes time to surf in the mornings.)

I joined Chad on a Saturday to observe his bread making process and to discover what it is about his method that makes his bread exceptional. Even though he no longer bakes in a wood oven as he did when he started, his bread remains exceptional. Chad now bakes in a gas deck oven, which has double steam generators, which are critical to his production. Just like Celine Underwood (see my previous blog) Chad uses a wet dough—something industrial machines cannot not handle. He also employs many a good many tricks that give his bread its unique qualities. For instance, he developed a special formula for his dough—a secret blend of flours all specifically hydrated. He also heats up his deck oven, then turns it off before putting the bread in so he is essentially baking with stored heat. This is the same technique he used when he was working with a wood fired oven. He simply translated the method to his gas deck oven.

Visiting Chad was one more lesson about the long, hard road I will have to travel to turn my dream of baking bread into a profitable business. But, as in my previous stops along the artisanal bread route, I also witnessed the thrill of turning out a perfect loaf. I will continue my journey until I find my place in the bread-baking world.

PS. Chad's new bread book will be out next year.

Notes from the Baking Trail

2009-11-24T15:33:00.018-05:00

First Stop Brick Maiden

I’ve taken a good many road trips in my life, mostly in my teens and twenties. Back then I was unstoppable. I traveled endlessly to pursue my passion for food and to discover what my niche in the food world would be.

Now I’m on a new kind of road trip, this time to San Francisco to begin my baking career. Believe it or not, and I don’t quite believe it myself, I’m no longer twenty. My passion for food hasn’t diminished, but I’ve got a few more aches and pains. I may be growing older but as Laurie Anderson brilliantly said, now that I’m fifty, I feel like five ten-year olds in one body.

My first stop was to visit Celine Underwood, the owner/baker at Brick Maiden Bakery in Point Reyes, California. Chad Robertson of Tartine bakery in San Francisco (he’s next on my list for a visit) used to bake his bread there before he moved to the Bay Area. Celine bought Chad’s business and she now bakes her bread in a wood fired oven—my dream!

When I walked into the bakery at 11:00 am, Celine was mixing dough, an assistant was shaping dough, the oven was being fired up with wood, and Celine’s husband was getting ready to feed the starters. Celine’s breads are made using a live sourdough starter, which has to be fed a couple of times a day. She shared with me that she has been to known to take her starter on vacation with her so she could continue feeding it. That's commitment! I can’t envision a more ideal operation.

Celine uses almond wood because it is sustainable. I’ve been eager to visit a bakery that uses wood because there is something unbelievably romantic about it. When I get my operation going, almond will be my wood of choice.

After a few minutes with Celine, I got a really good sense of how incredibly physical and laborious bread baking can be. Doing everything by hand, without the use of dough machines, really tests your stamina. No wonder few people do it which explains why most of the bread we get is machine-produced crap!

Celine works with wet dough, something new to me. Wet dough is not used in commercial baking because industrial machines can’t handle it. Wet dough is much more pliable and elastic than other dough. Watching her work with it is like watching a dancer move. Because the dough is so loose, cutting and shaping depends on timing. To the onlooker it seems nearly impossible to control the dough as it is poured out of the tubs. But Celine and her team are masters, skillfully mixing and folding the dough, so that it can shaped.

Celine tells me that she started baking at nineteen. And now, at thirty-four, she feels her body is starting to wear out. She wants to expand her business but she is already baking four hundred loaves a day for her wholesale clients and various farmers’ markets. To get ready for this coming Sunday market she has to start baking at 1:30 am on Saturday!

I’m getting a reality check here and I’m starting to panic. What have I gotten myself into? If Celine is only thirty-four and feeling worn out, maybe I should stop now. When I ask her if I can come back and watch her bake the next day, I’m hoping she doesn’t suggest I appear at 1 AM. I’m thrilled to find that I don’t need to show up until 7 or 8 am.

Celine is my hero. When I calm down I realize that I understand her passion and her commitment. And I think I’ve learned from her, that no matter how hard the job is, if it speaks to your soul you will be fine, if a little tired. As I leave, she joins her assistant in shaping dough and placing it in on the linen couches ready to go into the retarder, where the fermentation will be controlled until baking.

So this was my first stop. I’ve got a ways to go on my baking travels. I couldn’t be more excited. Until next time.

Brick Maiden Bakery
40 B Street
Point Reyes Station, CA 94945
415.663.1203

First Loaves

2009-11-17T15:10:00.018-05:00

Baking is so incredibly hot!! When I think about it, all my senses are aroused. Seeing, listening, touching, smelling and tasting. The time has come to finally bake off some bread. I’m baking in my little house with a very little oven, so I’ve decided to bake my first two loaves ensuring at least a gorgeous crust using Jim Lahey’s, baking in a pot technique. Though baking in covered pots has been around since the days of Apicius, he’s brought the idea into vogue recently.

It’s ironic that I am drawn to baking as my new medium. I was a terrible student because maybe I had such trouble focusing on reading and studying. As a cook/chef I did well, but as a baker I had to be very studious because I lose my concentration quite easily.

Since I am baking a pain levain I’m not sure what the results will be, I’d just be happy if my pain levain would rise and taste half way decent. After weeks of working on the starter I’m just happy to do something different.

I pre-heated the oven to 500 degrees with the pot in it and was so excited. I took the pot out of the oven and gently placed my loaf inside. I sprayed some water over the loaf, covered it and placed it back in the oven. No explanation in baking is simple, but simply put; water affects the gluten and creates a shiny crust.

After 30 minutes of baking you remove the lid and then continue baking it for another 30 or so minutes. As I lifted the cover, I stared at a real loaf of bread but in my ecstatic moment I realized that I had forgotten to score the top of the bread. Scoring the bread you allow the bread to have an escape route basically which results in a much better loaf of bread/ Luckily I had one more loaf to bake off so that mistake wasn’t the end of the world. I’m sure plenty more are in the horizon so I can’t get hooked up on this one.

When the bread was finished, I let it rest for an hour, which is important because the bread is still baking, I took a slice and I must admit that it was a thrilling moment. My bread was denser than I want it to be; yet the flavor was there. For my first loaf, it wasn’t a complete failure but I realized I have a long way to go. I opened a bottle of my favorite wine, a Condrieu from Andre Perret and spread some delicious raw butter on the bread and just savored the moment of this journey. It’s baby steps towards my goal and I’ve got a long way to go but I wasn’t discouraged. I anxiously look forward to next week when I go up north to the SF bay area and get to work with some of the best bakers going. Can’t wait.

All About My Mother

2009-11-08T12:59:00.012-05:00

Years ago while I was working in Paris I went to visit the great bread maker Jean-luc Poujauran. While walking through his bakery I noticed he had all these different plastic buckets on the floor filled with dough’s, all in different stages of fermentation. At the time I didn’t quite understand what they were but I now do, he was making soft dough using a wet levain starter. Poujauran’s bread is absolutely incredible and is one of my benchmarks.

A "mother starter" is the sourdough starter culture or levain that is used to make bread without using commercial yeast. The whole idea of bread made from a sourdough starter rather than commercial yeast is appealing to me, not only because I think the flavor will be much more interesting and complex, but it seems like a more natural process. For me the alchemy of working with flour and water to create something is what this is all about.

I’ve spent the past few weeks working on several starters and its been a real learning curve. One starter is just flour and water, the other flour, water and crushed grapes. The principal is easy, first you begin with combining small amounts of flour and water, then each day you continue to add more flour and water, which is called feeding, then hopefully over a few days it begins to ferment. Once your starter is ready, you use it to make bread.

Working on these starters has literally been like embarking on a new relationship. I’ve spent day and night with them, I worry is it going to work or isn’t it? I keep them in my bedroom because it’s the warmest room in my house and I think about them all day long. Finally I've completed the process and its very exciting. I think the sourdough starter worked but the grape starter is weird and I'm not into it as much. I'm throwing it out and will revisit it some other time. I took to much on and realized that I need to do one thing at a time. Meanwhile my starter is resting in the fridge until I have time to bake my first loaves.

Food and Love

2009-11-03T17:58:00.002-05:00

I was a childhood foodie. Even at three I knew my destiny lay in the world of food. By my late teens I understood that being good at something meant being passionate about it. I sensed that cooking was magical and mysterious, closely tied to passion and also to love.

I have had an extraordinary journey through the world of food. I have been a caterer, a restaurateur, a private chef, a food stylist and a food editor. I have traveled the world, met amazing chefs, drunk the best wines and eaten the finest meals. Best of all, I have been able to do what I love.

A few years ago, my job as a food editor of House & Garden came to an end when the magazine closed. Eventually I got a call from the Los Angeles Times. They wanted to re-launch the magazine and needed a food editor. I thought, why not? I had always envisioned a return to California at some point so this was it.

Soon after I started the recession hit and my job was cut back. I found myself in a new city and wondering whether to stick it out or go back to New York.

I’ve had to face those big life questions recently that I thought had been resolved in my 20’s. I’ve been down and lost but one bad day I asked myself what is it that I have always have wanted to do? Maybe I wasn’t in the financial position to ask this but I did anyway.

There are two things I’ve always wanted to do. The first is to make wine, the second is to make bread. Wine is an expensive proposition so why not make bread? It seemed right for the times. Bread is so basic. Water and flour and yeast. Who doesn’t love bread? It is also something I can start doing in my house, a grass roots project that I can turn into business.

Now a new journey in the food world begins. The first thing I want to do is to apprentice with some of my favorite bakers for a week or so: Steve Sullivan at Acme Bread and Chad Robertson at Tartine.

Recently two things have happened that sealed the deal for me. Christine Muhlke wrote a piece in the NY Times about Jeff Ford of Cress Spring who sells his breads at the farmers market in Madison, Wisconsin. The story was so moving to me because he was doing what he loved and I could easily see myself doing just what he was doing. Then my friend and mentor Alice Waters visited and we had dinner together. I told her about my plan and she got it right away. She offered to do what she could to make it happen. Before we had finished dinner she was setting up my visit with Steve Sullivan.

My idea is simple: When I get the bread I’m happy with I want to start small by selling it to my neighbors and maybe one public outlet. I’d also like to sell it through a CSA program and then eventually open a small bakery in Los Angeles.

I believe my long journey has taken me here to LA for just this reason. This is my first entry of my new blog documenting my life as a baker. I’m excited, ready, and scared.

Blogging for the LA Times Magazine

2009-09-29T16:50:00.003-04:00

I've just started writing a new blog for the LA Times Magazine's website. I won't be posting for another week or so. In the meantime check out my new blog, I'm Still Hungry.

I'll be back.

Porchetta

2009-09-15T13:18:00.006-04:00

New York is a pork obsessed city and Porchetta is a good bet to become its temple of pig. I’m a bit pork obsessed myself and I’m also a believer in restaurants that specialize in one thing done superbly. So that’s two reasons to give Porchetta a leg up, so to speak, in my book. I’ve also noticed that many discerning people are not eager to go to a restaurant where you can order pretty much anything. (Our mayor is an exception. He once told me that diners are his favorite restaurants for exactly that reason). Serious eaters want the best hamburger, the best pizza, the best lobster roll or gelato. They won’t be satisfied by a place with an ethnic specialty like Indian or Spanish; they want specific excellence.

These days New Yorkers are lining up for Porchetta’s sandwiches in the East Village. Porchetta is the brainchild of Sara Jenkins, the chef and cookbook author who grew up in Tuscany. Porchetta is a boned out pig, which is then stuffed, seasoned with, among other things, fennel pollen, rolled up, and spit roasted. The genius of it lies not only in the delicious meat but also in the crackly crispy skin, the piece de resistance. Though Jenkins does not spit roast her porchetta over a wood fire, which is traditional, the results she gets are just amazing.

The porchetta sandwich is my favorite thing to order. It’s made on a Sullivan Street roll and must be eaten warm. They also serve a Porchetta plate with shell beans and freshly sautéed greens, again a winner. Crispy potatoes with burnt ends and the chicory salad with garlic dressing are also outstanding. This is a hole in the wall with just a few stools so it’s pretty much standing room.

Recently, they added a mozzarella sandwich probably to satisfy vegetarians but if you ask me vegetarians have no business being here.

My only complaint, which I’ve had to resolve myself, is that I think the sandwich benefits from a couple of shakes of Tabasco sauce. They don’t serve any sauces so I just bring my own now. I try to be discreet but the other day another customer saw my Tabasco asked to use it. I obliged happily.

Porchetta

110 East 7^th St

NYC, NY 10009

212.777.2151

CO.

2009-09-01T12:38:00.009-04:00

You can’t always judge a restaurant by its name. CO (pronounced company, natch) is one of the recent and very welcome additions to my Chelsea neighborhood. Despite its cryptic name, it’s straightforward and great. I’ve been living around here for 30 years and all I can say is that it’s about time we got some really good restaurants.

Co. is a pizza joint started by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery. New Yorkers have about as many opinions about pizza as they do about movies so opening up a new spot is a dangerous proposition. I personally want the pies to be made in a wood burning oven if possible; I want a good crust and a simple, fresh topping. Neapolitan style, Roman style, or new world style are not the point for me. Each slice just has to taste good and have great texture. Co’s pizzas do that.

I’ve been about a dozen times now and I have to say my favorite version is the fennel and sausage with crushed tomato, red onions, chili, buffalo mozzarella and parmesan. It’s nirvana. The crust is chewy with a slight sourdough finish, the Italian style fennel sausage which is blended with crisp sliced fennel is out of this world, I guess you could say I’m addicted to it. The close second is the flambé which is made with béchamel, parmesan, buffalo mozzarella, caramelized onions, and lardons. There are ten other pizzas to choose from but I’ve yet to try them. I do have my eye on the Popeye which the waiters keep telling me is wonderful. It is made with pecorino, gruyere, buffalo mozzarella, spinach, black pepper, and garlic. Next time.

Leahy uses a wood-burning oven and bakes the pizzas at about 700 degrees which gives the crust its bit of char and great flavor. His ingredients are top notch. Though he offers a simple menu besides pizzas such as toast with different toppings and salads and soups, the pizza steals the show. Depending on who is making the escarole salad it can be exquisite; it’s either perfectly dressed with bread crumbs, capers, anchovies, lemon and olive oil, or it is over -dressed and the ingredients struggle to swim to the surface.

Diners should be aware that the oven determines the pace of the restaurant. Sometimes dishes come out tout suite and sometimes they seem to take forever. I can forgive the wait for such fine results just steps away from home.

The wine list is excellent. Pretty much every bottle has a screw cap, which is not a problem for me but when you start paying 13 dollars a glass it might make some people wonder. The list is very well edited and though the wines by the glass are expensive, there is no compromise on quality. So order a bottle and relax. And by the way, the price by the glass is figured on the basis of four glasses to the bottle so you are paying for a quarter of a bottle when you order a glass. Fair enough.

I haven’t had the desserts though the banana split sounds interesting. Actually I did have the chocolate walnut cookie and it was quite good.

The restaurant has communal seating, which I like, though not everyone does. There are also a few seats at the bar. I love the fact that at the bottom of the menu they say “ Our pies are not always round.” I wonder if someone complained. If so, why apologize?

CO.
230 Ninth ave
NYC, NY 10011
212.243.1105

Vinegar Hill House

2009-09-01T11:07:00.016-04:00

I knew as I approached Vinegar Hill, a small neighborhood restaurant in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn, that I was going to love it. It’s absolutely everything I want in a restaurant these days: simple, honest, delicious food, not too many choices, a good edit of reasonably priced wines, and great cocktails. Who can ask for more?

My friend Betsy who lives in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn first told me about Vinegar Hill a while ago and then several other friends mentioned it to me. Many New Yorkers shun a subway ride to Brooklyn and I was no different for a while, but no more. Manhattan is too expensive for a small operation like this to make it, but this is just the sort of well planned and personal place that I like. They keep the feel of the neighborhood and the food is never faddish.

Bria and I decided to sit at the bar. Actually she decided because she prefers to eat at a bar; I agreed because I was in the mood. Our seats had a perfect view of the kitchen. We started off with cocktails. Since I’ve been living bi-coastally, I’ve become quite obsessed with the cocktail scene in LA. One of my favorite downtown LA bars is 7 Grand that specializes in American cocktails. They make a superb old fashioned with Sazerac rye. The bartender at Vinegar Hill suggested I try his version and I have to say it was great. He makes it with Michters’s Rye served on the rocks, which is good, but I prefer the spiciness of the Sazerac.

I was impressed that they used Kold-draft ice which is the must have ice if you are a serious cocktailian. A whole new technology in ice, Kold-draft melts more slowly than other ice and the cubes are bigger. Bria had the margarita which was also delicious I can’t remember what they did that was different but it had a unique flavor. We then ordered the farmstead cheese and salami plate to go with our cocktails, and it was incredible: three different Vermont cheeses, pickled quail eggs, artisanal salamis, and homemade crackers, each flavor and texture complemented the other.

I wanted to try so many things on the menu but we settled for just a few. I started with the watermelon salad with feta and calamata olives and Bria had the black pepper fettuccine with shell beans and cherry tomatoes. My salad was just ok, the two varieties of watermelon were cool, but the feta did not work at all for me. I was thinking maybe ricotta salata would have been a better choice. Bria’s pasta was insane, perfect in every way, a marriage of textures and flavors that were speaking eloquently of the height of summer.

I was torn between the Cast Iron Chicken and the Red Wattle Country Chop. It was 95 degrees outside and I thought the pork would be too heavy. Everyone said that I had to try the Cast Iron Chicken and so I did. Bria ordered the Boneless Braised Short Ribs. Before my chicken was served a potholder was placed in front of me, a nice touch. The chicken came in a skillet and was quite good. It had some kind of vinegar sauce/reduction that I love with chicken. Bria’s shortribs were also good, but a dish I would prefer in the dead of winter.

A customer next to me got the pork chop. I was so jealous!!! I wanted to reach over and fork a piece for myself. It was sliced and served on what looked like a fingerling potato salad. I immediately began planning my return.

We ordered a bottle of Viognier from Alban Vineyards. I have a soft spot for Condrieu, which is a white wine made in the Northern Rhone of France with the Viognier grape and a very soft spot for John Alban who makes probably the best Viognier in California. This was not one of his single vineyard Viognier’s. Nonetheless it was a perfect wine for our meal.

I am not much of a dessert person, but Bria insisted I try the Guinness Chocolate Cake with a cream cheese icing. It was one of those desserts that you think, oh I will just have a bite, and before you know it, it’s gone.

If a restaurant can be judged by how soon you want to go back for your next meal, then I would have to judge this restaurant on a scale of 1-10 a 10!

Vinegar Hill House
71 Hudson Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11201
718.522.1018

www.vinegarhillhouse.com

Roast Pork with Fennel Pollen

2009-08-25T09:11:00.011-04:00

My pork roast was superb. In fact, I heard one of my guests was out foraging fennel off Mulholland Drive the next day so he to could make this dish.

The first step was to dry out the fennel and shake off the pollen. Instead of drying it out in a paper bag, I dried it on my indoor windowsill, which is a much faster process.

I invited extra friends over at the last minute and was worried I wouldn’t have enough pork so I ran down the hill and bought a pork loin to go along with the pork shoulder I had bought at Marin Sun Farms.

I also got a chance to use one of my favorite pieces of cooking equipment, my large Staub roasting pan. The Staub pot has a dimpled lid, which creates moisture, insuring that whatever you roast will be incredibly moist. It's a must have if you do any kind of roasting.

Here's the recipe.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the pork generously with the fennel pollen, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Lay fennel stems along the bottom of the pan and place the pork roasts on top. Cook for 3 hours at 350 degrees. 1 hour before the pork is finished add some fingerling potatoes. Remove from the oven, let rest for 15 minutes and then serve.

The pork was amazing, tender and moist and the flavor of the fennel pollen was quite interesting. It tasted like the essence of what fennel tastes like but had much more of a subtle and intense flavor. The fennel complimented the pork perfectly. The pork shoulder melted in your mouth and the pork loin believe it or not was not dry or overcooked. The loin was good as well but not as flavorful as the shoulder.

The Staub pot has so much to do with the success of this dish. Take it from me, I am a big believer that the right piece of equipment is worth the investment. This has been such a satisfying experience, foraging an ingredient and then actually cooking with it. This recipe is a keeper.

Road Trip

2009-08-15T11:12:00.008-04:00

Last week I took a road trip driving North up the coast of California. Along the way I stopped by to visit with friends and stay the weekend in Bolinas, which is about an hour north of San Francisco. One afternoon as I was driving with my friend Fletcher to Point Reyes he pointed out all the wild fennel that was in full bloom all along the side of the road. It reminded him of a dish that the Chef Paul Bertolli had prepared for him that was the best thing he had ever eaten. It was a pork roast rubbed with Fennel Pollen, garlic, bay leaves, salt and pepper. That was all I needed to hear, I was so on it.

I went to find a patch that was off the road and harvested several bags of fennel to take back home with me. I then drove to Marin Sun Farms which an incredible local butcher who sells only grass fed meats. I bought a pork shoulder roast to take back with me to LA. There is nothing more exciting to me than foraging ingredients for a meal.

I'm going to make the dish this weekend and will post the results. Can't wait.

Swan Oyster Depot

2009-08-08T17:37:00.015-04:00

San Francisco is a seafood town and as a native San Franciscan Swans Oyster Depot is my kind of place. Swan's is almost 100 years old and was a classic from the day it opened. It first began as a fish market and soon after a few seats were added along the counter where they began serving customers very simple fare. Freshly shucked Oysters, Dungeness cracked crab or any combination seafood cocktails. They don’t serve any hot food except for clam chowder. There are no gimmicks, just the freshest seafood available.

There is always a line out the door and it's no wonder with just 19 or so stools. The early morning hours at the store are spent getting wholesale and private orders packed up and I'd have to say my favorite time to go is in the morning around 11:00 am. There usually isn’t a line but once all the stools are filled the lines begin and continues all day long. Swan's is only open until 5:30, they don't serve dinner. I love watching local great timers enjoying a cup of chowder, seafood salads or as I spotted for the first time, a woman who was having Dungeness cracked crab served with melted butter in a very small copper pot.

Swan's in my opinion is not only the best place in the city to enjoy the bounty of San Francisco seafood but also the best place to buy local seafood. Whatever is in season is on display, sand dabs, bay shrimps, freshly caught salmon, Cracked Dungeness crab or shucked crabmeat.

I usually start with a cup of chowder and then follow with a simple salad topped with crab, prawns and bay shrimp, which they serve along with a bowl of Thousand Island dressing. Sometimes if I’m in the mood, I order a selection of oysters. They serve a locally smoked salmon that melts in your mouth. You can of course order any of the prepared seafood which is served with some homemade cocktail sauce. I either sip a glass of Honig Sauvignon Blanc, simple and crisp, perfect for seafood or the local Anchor Steam Beer.

It’s very comforting to me that a shop like Swan Oyster Depot hasn't fall to the wayside and that one of the city's greatest culinary traditions is still vibrant and very much alive.

Swan Oyster Depot
1517 Polk Street
San Francisco, California
415.673.1101
Open daily 8:00 - 5:30
Closed Mondays

Julie & Julia

2009-07-30T11:44:00.005-04:00

Julie & Julia

This is my movie! How could it not be? It’s the tale of two foodies-- Julie Powell and Julia Child--directed by a third, Nora Ephron. You know the story behind the movie by now—how it is based on two books, one the memoir of famed chef Julia Child who brought American food out of the dark ages of Spam and Hamburger Helper, and the other by Julie Powell a blogger who made every recipe in Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking during the course of one year and blogged about it daily becoming famous and publishing a best seller in the process. Both stories are old fashioned American success stories which we all enjoy almost as much as a great meal.

I went to the premiere with my friend Eve Gerber and with Alice Waters who knew Julia. At the premiere I laughed and I cried. There are so many scenes that I want to relive, like the one with Julia at the Cordon Blue cooking school, or Julie cooking lobsters. Meryl Streep was Julia, so much so that at times I forgot I wasn’t watching that big boned gal herself. I did wonder how they made petite Meryl look so tall and a crew member told me they surrounded her with short actors and had her stand on a box when she was cooking.

Afterwards we talked a lot about how the world of food has changed because of people like Julia Child and James Beard. Alice thought the movie was perfect except for one scene where Julie goes out on a winter’s day to buy ingredients and comes back with a bunch of basil. Not seasonal!! That’s Alice for you, if it’s not in season, don’t eat it.

I used to cut classes to come home and watch The French Chef. I was obsessed with Julia. The greatest day of my life was the day I won The Julia Child Award for a first cookbook for “I’m Almost Always Hungry.” Julia Child’s joy and love for food came across brilliantly in the film and reminded me of how much things have changed for TV chefs in the years since Julia reigned on television. Julia was a lover of food, not of celebrity. Her show was about cooking, not competition. It was a pure joy and she kept it pure. She also did her homework and knew her stuff, unlike so many food bloggers who sound off now with nothing to back up their opinions.
Julia taught us to be fearless in the kitchen. Julie Powell was also fearless, and the magic that drew her to Julia and that helped her through her daring year in the kitchen is one of the things that makes the movie so poignant.

In the Master’s Hand

2008-12-01T17:28:00.014-05:00

I’ve discovered since I’ve been living in Los Angeles that this is one sushi-obsessed town. Everyone you meet tells you they know the best place to eat sushi, the places to avoid, the ones that are authentic, and the ones that are the most expensive (which, of course, does not qualify them as the best). In fact, while my acupuncturist was putting needles in me the other day, he told me his choice for the best sushi in Los Angeles.

First, he is Japanese, and he has lived in LA for quite some time. He said that he believes Sushi-Gen has the very best sushi, but only if you sit in front of the master, Kazu. He went on to explain that Kazu is an artist, and that he handles fresh fish like no one else.

Well, soon after my treatment I made my way down to Little Tokyo to experience the best sushi in town. Unfortunately, I went on a Monday night, and Kazu does not work on Mondays. I settled on having sushi by another sushi chef, and although it was good, it was not life changing.

I went back for lunch several weeks later and sat in front of Kazu and told him that I was in his hands. I started with Toro belly. The first thing I noticed was how fast he was with his knife.

Second, watching him roll rice in his hand was like watching Yo-Yo Ma play the cello. As I tasted my first bite, I noticed that the rice was very soft in my mouth, not compressed and chewy. The rice was warm and the fish was cold. The contrast was quite sublime. I also loved the ratio--there was so much more fish than rice. The sliced fish just draped over the rice.

I then had halibut, which Kazu topped with grated yuzu and Meyer lemon juice. As he placed the sushi on my tray he said, “No soy sauce!” Then I had yellowtail, which was equally delicious. Next came eel, which he prepared two ways. They were both warm, but one had a sort of yuzu and sweet miso sauce on top and the other was plain. Those were insane.

As I sat there and watched Kazu, I was struck by his ability to handle so many diners with perfect precision. My last taste was a sort of digestive hand roll made with a variety of vegetables.

I’ve been back to Sushi Gen several times, and each time I’ve tried something new. The last time, I went with a group of four, which for me isn’t as great just going alone or with one person. I’m not sure if this is the best sushi bar in LA--my experience here is still limited--but it’s certainly the best I’ve had thus far.

Sushi-Gen
422 East 2nd Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
213.617.0552

The John Dory

2008-11-24T18:42:00.015-05:00

Last week while I was in New York, my dear old friend Jay and I were invited to a friends-and-family pre-opening dinner at The John Dory, a new fish restaurant in Lower Chelsea, right next door to Del Posto. The same team that brought you The Spotted Pig has just added The John Dory to their portfolio. Chef April Bloomfield was there, along with Ken Friedman and Joe Bastianich, and a few of the other partners. I was excited to see David Lynch working there as well. David is a brilliant sommelier who worked at Babbo for years, most recently as the manager and wine consultant.

As I entered and gazed at a giant fish tank, the theme of the restaurant became apparent: fish. Just as The Spotted Pig is all about pig paraphernalia, The John Dory is all about fish imagery in every shape and form, on every surface imaginable. The bar, which has rows of fish encased in plastic, was especially interesting--think Damien Hirst.

Jay is the most sentimental person I know. He brought two bottles of white wine, both from the 1996 vintage, the year we started working together on the wine column for House & Garden. Both bottles had appeared in stories we had produced for the magazine.

The first wine we opened was the Chablis Grand Cur “Les Clos” by Dauvisat. The next was the Clos Windsbuhl Riesling from Domaine Zind Humbrecht. These are two of my favorite food wines in the world, and I was so happy to be sharing them with Jay.

Since this was a friends-and-family night, we were the guests of the restaurant. These dinners are a chance for the restaurant staff to get their bearings, work out kinks, and basically get up to speed before the official opening. All I can say is, if this night was a sample of what’s to come, The John Dory is going to be a hit from day one. I was already inquiring about reservations, considering the seating is limited. I believe the capacity is roughly 60 seats including the bar.
We started with an amuse bouche of House Smoked Char with homemade potato chips.

Delicious, loved the textures, and the char was light and not overpowering. Next we ordered the Nantucket Bay Scallops crudo and a selection of east coast and west coast oysters. We started with the Chablis. When they poured our first glass, I immediately noticed the color--a beautiful green gold. The wine had the perfect characteristics of this vineyard and the varietal--flinty and minerally, perfect acidity, amazing fruit. Some people might think this wine is an infant, but I think it is drinking perfectly at this moment. The oysters and the Chablis were an insane combination. The oysters were fresh, plump, and juicy, and it was a joy to have the Chablis to wash them down. The oysters came with a cilantro mignonette, which was quite good, but ultimately I am a purist, and I love my oysters with just a little squeeze of fresh lemon. The Nantucket Bay Scallops crudo were equally amazing.

Next we ordered the restaurant’s namesake dish, the Whole John Dory for two with salsa verde. We also ordered (at the suggestion of Joe Bastianich) the grilled rib-eye for two with a smoked oyster and bone marrow sauce. At that point, we opened the Clos Windsbuhl. Oh my God! The nose was full of white peach and apricots and a fabulous sweetness in the middle followed by a perfect dry and acidic finish. This wine is just spectacular. It was ideal with the John Dory. The meat of the fish was so succulent and firm, and the wine just melted away the fish. This was pure bliss.

The steak was equally profound. My only complaint, if you can call it one, is I wanted more of the divine sauce (although I am sure I could of just asked for more!). It was a brilliant kind of English oysters and steak moment.

The John Dory hits the right notes in so many ways. I couldn’t be happier because it is located just down the street from where I live. Like the Spotted Pig, I’m sure it will be impossible to get into, but who cares? It is worth the wait, and I for one can’t wait to go back.

The John Dory
85 10th Avenue
NYC NY
212.929.4948
www.thejohndory.com

Bastide

2008-11-09T13:35:00.009-05:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am always hesitant to sit down for a dinner that consists of many courses. No matter how amazing the food and wine may be, an endless meal can be torture. What can I say? Bastide in Los Angeles changed my mind about all that. My first visit was this past summer, and I’ve been back several times since. The restaurant blows me away every time.

Bastide is located on Melrose Place, and it offers one of the most elegant dining experiences in LA, especially if you sit outside. You enter through a courtyard and the restaurant is in a small building beyond. There are several small rooms and no more than a dozen tables. Bastide’s owner Joe Pytka, who is a very successful video director, has been at the helm through the restaurant’s various incarnations. After several chefs and a renovation by legendary French designer Andrée Putman (which closed the restaurant for over a year), the baton was passed to chef Paul Shoemaker and sommelier Pieter Verheyde. Paul, a transplant from the restaurant Providence, is one of the most creative young chefs I’ve come across in a long time. I first met Pieter when he was sommelier at Alain Ducasse’s first restaurant in New York. He is an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable wine steward, and at Bastide, he has one of the greatest wine lists in the country to work with.

I’m not sure where to begin when it comes to the food. On my first few visits, the menu was divided into four- or seven-course tasting menus with additional wine pairings. On my last visit, they were offering an a la carte menu as well as an eight-course tasting menu. For my money, if you want to get the most out of your Bastide experience, put yourself in the hands of the chef.
Last night we started with an amazing amuse of King Crab Croquettes. One of my friends is allergic to crab, so they substituted little square fried chickpea panisses, which were so light that they evaporated in your mouth. On a previous visit, we started with a vegetable fritto misto that, again, was so light it melted in your mouth.

Our next course was an oyster shooter with something on top, which I can’t remember because I was so enraptured by what came along with it: fresh uni on top of an apple gelée with small diced apples and an apple foam. It was outrageous. It was one of those combinations of flavors and textures that totally transport you. Then came a small demi-cup of lobster bisque with perfectly poached pieces of lobster. Everyone at the table could not stop raving about it.

Our next course was the star of show--Nantucket bay scallops with celery, lemon and shaved white truffle served at room temperature. My friend Bret said it was the best scallop dish he has ever had, and I would have to agree with him.

We then had a beef course that was also out there, in the best way--perfectly cooked sliced steak with a salt and pepper crust. At a certain point, well into my meal, I reached a state of gastronomic ecstasy and stopped taking notes. To be perfectly honest, I am not writing food reviews per se, but sharing my experiences. So instead of a complete rundown of the menu, let me just say that the experience was heaven.

And then there are the wines! Every time I visit Bastide, Pieter turns me on to something brilliant. Last night he poured a mystery wine for a blind taste test. At first, I thought it was a French Burgundy, maybe Mersault. The finish though was really short, so I was a little dumfounded. It was very elegant--some oak was present, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The wine turned out to be a California Viognier called Failla, 2001, with fruit from Alban Vineyards. Once again, I was blown away.

The extensive wine list would take me hours to get through, so I usually let Pieter take charge. If you want something specific, I’m sure they have it, but I think it’s all about putting your trust in Pieter. We also had a 1999 Marquis Dangerville Volnay Champans from Magnum, a Brunello Di Montalcino, and a variety of other great white and red wines.

For me, Bastide has been like making a new best friend in a city that is still new to me. It’s also a place that has stripped away my prejudice against tasting menus--whether I want a long meal or a short one, they always accommodate me. I love the playfulness and creativity of the menu, and I know there are more fantastic experiences to come at Bastide.

Bastide
8475 Melrose Place
West Hollywood California
323.651.5950

What’s Up

2008-11-02T20:40:00.003-05:00

I’m Coming Back

For the past few months I’ve been going back and forth from my home in New York to Los Angeles where I’ve become food and wine editor at the newly launched Los Angeles Times Magazine. I’m loving this gig but it has been hectic to say the very least. Now that things are settling down some, I'll be getting back to some blogging this week.

A Surprisingly Genius Experience

2008-11-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

Once in a rare while I discover a great food experience that, if you know me, you know I’ll describe as “genius.” That’s my word for food, décor, ambience etc. that, to begin with, is neither over the top nor overly simple. “Genius” also describes a food experience that takes me by surprise and is, in its own unique way, “perfection”--another favorite word that I award sparingly.

I ran across “genius” a few months ago while I was scouting my first food story for the LA Times in Oxnard, California. My assistant and I were in pursuit of sea urchins so we drove up to meet some sea urchin divers. When we arrived in Oxnard, we were starving. You should know that Oxnard is not exactly Marseille; it’s better described as a sprawling suburb of Los Angeles with lots fast food joints.

We drove to the pier and spotted some people eating at a no frills dive. As we got closer we saw they were knocking back some amazing looking seafood and my heart starting racing. There were tanks with an intriguing variety of crabs, and as I went inside the shack, I spied a tank of Santa Barbara Spot Prawns. We ordered the spot prawns, steamed and grilled, and the crab too.
I was in heaven. The seafood was fresh and extra delicious and the spot prawns stole the show—perfect texture, sweet, and elegant. This is what I always dream about finding--a seafood restaurant with the catch of day prepared as simply as possible. They also served rice with the seafood as well as classic sides like fries and coleslaw. There is no liquor license but a store nearby has a decent selection of beer and some mediocre California wines.

The best part of this escapade was that I got to come back to do our photo shoot at this location a few weeks later. I’m sure you know that I came prepared with a bottle of Condrieu, some Meyer Lemons, and every intention of ordering all the things we’d had before. We did and had another success all around. “Genius?” Oh, yeah!

H.C.Seafood Co.
3920 West Channel Island Blvd.
Oxnard, California 93035
805.382.8171

Spago

2008-08-13T12:42:00.010-04:00

Okay, I’m a little late on this one. 17 years after it opened I finally had dinner at Spago in Beverly Hills and I have to say it was kind of great. I was there with Brett Easton Ellis who now lives in LA, and with Paul and Chris who had never been to Spago either. (Rumor has it Paul was banned years ago for suggesting that Barbara Lazaroff’s design might not be everything one could wish).

Spago could well be the most famous restaurant in America, at least if you value glamour and glitz over the pathbreaking cuisine of Chez Panisse, the other contender for America’s most famous.

I should say at first the restaurant knew we were coming and took great care of us, but I watched other tables and they were equally well taken care of too. We were offered several amuse bouche, one was the raw uni cornet, which I always thought of as Thomas Keller’s invention, but since Spago has been open longer, maybe Wolfgang’s was first or at least the inspiration for Keller (or maybe they stole the idea from the French Laundry).

What makes Spago great? I kept asking myself that as I looked around the dining room and noticed that everyone seemed really happy and excited. Maybe it’s the celebrity factor that thrills people, or perhaps it is simply the fact that the food is consistently good, especially the classics. If you order simply you won’t be disappointed. If you order right you might be kind of amazed.

The menu is fun to read though ordering is kind of challenging because you want to try that “Karntner Kase Nudeln” Giant Farmers Cheese Ravioli or the roasted Chino Farm’s Beet layer cake. And what about that sweet corn and mascarpone agnolotti with shaved summer truffles? The agnolotti were sent to the table so I didn’t have a choice and they were so transcendent. Agnolotti are one of my favorite dishes and these were the best I’ve had outside of the Piedmont.

When the waiter came to take our order Brett told him that he hates to make a decision and asked him to make it for him. The waiter suggested the vine ripened California heirloom tomato salad and the caramelized “natural” veal chop which Brett happily accepted. I ordered the Adriatic fig and proscuitto salad with fresh burrata cheese, 50 year old balsamic vinegar, and micro greens, and the pan-roasted Alaskan halibut. Chris and Paul ordered the spicy beef goulash and the wiener schnitzel”. See what I mean? The menu asks you to take these crazy chances…

All of our appetizers were amazing. My halibut was slightly overcooked but Brett’s veal chop was perfect and delicious. The goulash served with pan-fried spaetzle was okay, not mind blowing, and the wiener scnhitzel did nothing for me. Kevin O’Conner, the sommelier, poured some very interesting wines for us,-- a 2006 Chenin Blanc from the Loire, Jasnieres, Cuvée du Silex from Pascal Janvier, and Jean-Marie Fourrier Morey St. Denis “Clos Salon” 2001 that he had been saving in the cellar. It was insane. He then poured a 2000 Flaccianello , a 100% sangiovese wine that was calling out for cheese. They sent us desserts--a huckleberry semifreddo, a chocolate layer cake, and something else I can’t remember. All were okay. I’m just not a dessert person. I would have preferred cheese.

As we finished dinner, I actually thought to myself that I’d like to come back. I really had a great time and though the dining room is not exactly my style, there was some great 80s rock playing in the background. I thought it was all kind of perfect.

Spago
176 N. Canon Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90210
310.385.0880

In the Fields and Pastures of Stone Barns

2008-08-13T11:32:00.016-04:00

The other day I got a private tour of the gardens and pastures of Stone Barns with my former editor at House & Garden, Dominique Browning. It was a real treat to walk through the vegetable gardens with Jack Algiere, the farmer in charge. Stone Barns is famous for Dan Barber’s restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, but it is also an educational center and a non-profit farm.

At any given time they have six acres of fields planted and one acre of plantings in the greenhouses. As we started through the fields I saw rows of tomatoes, some 30 varieties. There were also rows of varieties of eggplants, peppers and potatoes. They were harvesting zucchini flowers for the restaurant while we were there, and Jack explained that everything is harvested by hand and all the vegetables are grown in a sustainable and organic way.

Then he took us to the rows of corn that he has been given a grant to grow from Anson Mills. Anson Mills is one of my favorite sources in Columbia, South Carolina. They produce heirloom grits, cornmeal, Carolina gold rice and various flours. The corn we were looking at was almost unknown here till they began to bring it back. The variety is called New England Eight Row Flint and is considered the best corn for polenta. He plants the corn in the traditional"three sisters" method along with several varieties of beans and squash.

We then went over to meet Craig Haney, who manages the livestock. They raise, pigs, sheep and chickens. They have Berkshire pigs, various varieties of chickens all used and sold at the restaurant and farm. I learned all about how they rotate the animals and how that whole process supports the land and in the end is sustainable. I also learned that they have a farmers market Wednesday, Friday and Saturday which was great news to me. You could go buy all their amazing products. They do have a few vendors come that sell cheese as well, but pretty much it is all their products.

We then had a wonderfully simple lunch that Dan prepared. A green gazpacho soup, a peach, tomato, and sliced zucchini flower salad, house cured bologna and soppresatta, and some cheeses. It was simple and delicious. We also had a selection of desserts. My favorite was the goat cheese sorbet with black and red raspberries. Following this we sampled a mulberry chocolate cake and a tanka bean ice cream that was really delicious.

What Stone Barns is doing here is really inspiring. There is so much to learn and take home to your own garden however small it may be. My only wish is that they might open another restaurant there that is more casual-- something that really just showed off food in the simplest way and was more affordable.

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
630 Bedford Road
Pocantico Hills, NY 10591
Tel: 914 366 6200
Fax: 914 366 7905
E-mail: info@stonebarnscenter.org

Membership Has Its Privileges

2008-08-13T11:20:00.006-04:00

A friend in LA was telling me about a really cool store called Rawesome around the corner from his house in Venice. When he said it sells only raw ingredients I wanted to hop in my car immediately and check it out. Sadly, it is only open Wednesdays and Saturdays at noon. I had to wait a whole week before going over there with Amanda to check it out. Naturally we were early and had to wait for it to open. As we did, we watched avid customers assembling with boxes and coolers stacked on their dollies.

Eventually the door opened and the frenzy began. We both loved the place at first sight. Rawesome gets around FDA regulations about selling raw milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, and so forth by making the products in the store available to members only. We talked to James, one of the owners, about his fights with the FDA over all this but were interrupted when a farmer arrived to deliver the eggs and James trotted off.

As I went from cooler to cooler I was a little alarmed by the frenzy, the aggression, the slightly nutty desperation of the members in pursuit of their supplies. On the other hand, the ingredients were incredible and between us we spent a small fortune. Amanda, who was on the second day of 10 day fast,was in heaven over the fresh coconut water, honey, terramin clay, and these amazing halite salt crystals she loves. I got all the dairy I could hold. We both became members on the spot-- 25 dollars a year.

When I got home I tried the raw butter which I happen to love; it’s not as sweet and creamy as good French butter, but on some freshly toasted bread with sea salt it was amazing. The cream was great as was the milk and goat’s milk yogurt.

This is really one of the coolest food stores I’ve been to in a long time and I plan to make it a regular stop. Though they are very protective about press and attention, they welcome everyone who shares their passion and belief that raw ingredients are better for you. But you don’t have to be a raw food devotee to shop here. There’s something wonderful for everyone.

Rawesome
665 Rose Avenue
Venice, California 90291
310.452.2244
Opens at noon Wednesday’s and Saturday’s

Positively West 4th Street

2008-07-25T22:09:00.004-04:00

Everyone has a secret luxury, and I indulged myself in mine just the other day. As my friends know, I am a luxury-loving girl, especially when it comes to things like the big three—truffles, caviar, and foie gras. Those are not secrets and I enjoy sharing them with friends. My secret luxury is something I keep to myself: I love having scrambled eggs and a perfect cappuccino at Sant Ambroeus, a chic, expensive Italian restaurant in the West Village. I don’t get there often, but every time I do, I love it.

It’s the only place in New York where I can have a breakfast and pretend that I’m at a cafe in Italy. (That’s probably because Sant Ambroeus is a branch of a famous café with the same name in Milan.) I bring my New York Times and sit outside when the weather is nice and have a quiet hour to myself. Of course this is New York and on my recent visit a huge refrigerated truck was parked in front with its engine running. Luck was with me though and the driver returned and drove off.

The scrambled eggs are served with the shavings of reggiano-parmigiano cheese that softens perfectly after hitting the warm eggs. There are also roasted potatoes and a watercress salad to make things even better. The cappuccino is the right kind of hot and has the right balance of milk to coffee.

Maybe to some, luxury is breakfast in bed, but I find mine on West 4th Street.

Sant Ambroeus
259 West 4th St,
NYC, NY 10014
212.604.9254

Middleton Farm raspberries

2008-07-14T14:03:00.016-04:00

I went to northern California for July 4th, but before making the drive up the coast I stopped at my favorite station of the cross for lunch, Chez Panisse in Berkeley. My friend Amanda came up from Los Angeles for this because she loves food and Chez as much as I do. I’ve almost always had an ingredient or dish there that blows my mind and this meal was no exception. Between the delicious lunch and dessert they brought us a bowl of Middleton Farm raspberries. Amanda put a raspberry in her mouth and I saw a blissful look appear on her face. She could not believe how delicious it was. Our server came over to take our dessert orders, but Amanda was literally speechless. I told the server we needed a little more time at which point I popped a raspberry in my mouth and was also enraptured. This is what a raspberry should taste like. We were still talking about those raspberries days later.

Eventually, Amanda decided we had to locate Middleton Farm and pay them a visit. I put my friend Fletcher in charge of that project and he found them in Healdsburg. Perfect…we were going up there on Sunday to visit friends anyway. Nancy from Middleton Farms returned our phone call and said she’d be at the Sebastopol farmers market that day and to meet her there.

Well, we got a late start and never made it to Sebastopol so we decided to go to the farm itself, thinking maybe Nancy would be back from the market. As we approached the farm Amanda spied a hedge of blackberries and made me stop the car. Just as she had started picking a few a large white truck pulled up and I told Amanda, “you are so busted.” Of course it was Nancy behind the wheel looking very unhappy. Before she could say anything, I introduced myself and asked if we could see her raspberry bushes. She obliged but was naturally somewhat suspicious.
Middleton farm is charming and old fashioned, the way I imagine all of Healdsburg was long ago. Nancy took us around and I asked her what varietals her raspberries were. She endeared herself to me by saying that she wouldn’t tell me. I loved that. As we approached the hedges she warned us not to pick any, and I realized I’d met someone who might be even bossier than I am.

We came back to her little farm store which was filled with garlic varietals, onions, peaches and plums. We talked for a bit and I could see that Nancy was as passionate about her farm as she was feisty. Her husband passed away a few months back and except for one or two helpers, she does this farm on her own.

I saw a sign for the eggs that read, “eggs from our gorgeous Hollywood quality stars.” They were the best eggs in Healdsburg Nancy told me, explaining that her chickens ate bread and cheese and not just any cheese, really fancy cheese.

We bought some of everything including black raspberries. The prices are not cheap, and friends later said that she is the most expensive vendor in the farmers’ market. But everyone agrees that her produce is the best even if she can be difficult. I think she is fantastic.

As we were leaving Amanda and I admitted that we had picked two raspberries from the hedges. Nancy said she knew we would but warned Amanda not to pick any more blackberries on our way out because she was harvesting them the next day. We left with big smiles and ate raspberries one by one all the way back.

Middleton Farm
2651 Westside Road
Healdsburg, California 95448
707.433.4755

3 Pommes

2008-07-14T12:54:00.009-04:00

Monique Duveau knows everything-- at least everything about food. She recently took me shopping for dinner in Paris and we stopped in at Three Pommes, a specialty vegetable shop to get a lettuce called salanova that is shaped like a rose. It comes from the gardens of Alain Passard, the chef of Arpege, and of course I loved seeing it as I’m always on the lookout for unique foods grown in small quantities. The lettuce was indeed rose-shaped and the green and red heads were neatly packed in a crate. It was sandy but tasty, similar to bibb but with a denser texture.

Everything else in the shop was also listed by name and origin, which thrilled me—tiny button mushrooms, amazing cherries, carrots covered in dirt and so on.

On a second visit I met the owner and told her how much I loved her shop and she asked if I had tried the strawberries. She told me that everyone considers the Gariguette strawberries to be the best, but she had found someone to the east of Paris who grows Manille strawberries. They were incredible, the essence of what you imagine a strawberry should taste like with a silky texture and a heavenly perfume.

I also tried her heirloom tomatoes. They were flavorful and the texture was good but nothing beats tomatoes grown all over the states when they are at their best in August.

It’s a dream to find a vegetable store like this in Paris, and I wish someone would open one in New York. Though I always prefer shopping at farmers markets, a store like Three Pommes helps small growers with their distribution and leaves them time to grow more and travel to market less. I’m in favor of this. May such a place come to my neighborhood soon?

3 Pommes
25, rue Mouton-Duvernet
75014 Paris
01.45.40.48.02

Petrelle

2008-06-27T15:13:00.008-04:00

It’s been my custom as a food editor to go to Paris once or twice a year carrying the latest list of hot new restaurants or simply armed with one major tip from a friend of a friend. Given that, how do you explain that 12 years have gone by without my ever going to Petrelle? I have to admit that this is kind of shocking. I did hear about Petrelle a few years back but every time I called it was booked and I can’t usually plan my meals weeks or months in advance.

Petrelle is so good that it is the first place I’ve been to since I closed my restaurant, Lora, that has made me want to open another. And that is saying quite a lot.

The occasion of my visit was the 30th birthday of my friend Monique’s daughter. We arrived at Petrelle and I was thrilled to see a basket of meringues that set my heart beating to a dangerous rhythm. I love meringues and these were nestled among gorgeous cherries and other berries. Quite close by there was a display of seasonal vegetables that I was sure were going to be part of my meal. Wild asparagus, girolles, carrots, and so forth. The chef was in the kitchen with one assistant, so I introduced myself and he seemed quite happy to meet me even though we really didn’t have much chance to talk.

As a first course I had cocotte en oeufs, basically a poached egg in a cream infused with garlic and topped with chives-- so decadent, so delicious. When I asked my French friends about this recipe they described it as Grandmother’s food, in other words, an old comfort food standard. Next we had a crazy salad of artichokes topped with fried basil. But better than that was the blanched wild asparagus topped with sautéed girolles,(a small mushroom a little like a chanterelle and exceptionally flavorful). This was the best spring dish I’ve tasted all season.

We drank a Saint Joseph from Domaine Cheze “Do rée”, a mouthful of apricots, honey and almonds with a perfect acidic finish that went wonderfully with the food. The chef told me he tastes every wine on the list and looks for the best small producers he can find. (I should mention that the ravioli with lobster and asparagus was not great; the dough was too soft, and the sauce overwhelmed the asparagus and lobster. )

Next we drank a 2001 Nuits St George “ Au Bas De Combe” Jean Tardy, followed by an ‘88 Cheval Blanc. Both were amazing but as usual the Cheval Blanc took some time to open up. When it did that intense layer of cherry emerged and I was so happy I forgot about jet lag. I did not take notes on everyone’s next course but I do remember mine: I ordered roasted pigeon which was cooked to perfection.

For dessert I first wanted something that the waiter discouraged me from trying, directing me instead to the frais des bois ( wild strawberries) served with an amazing custard, topped with a sweet crispy cracker. Then came the baskets of meringues, perfectly dry on the outside and chewy on the inside. Yeah, he was right as was everything about Petrelle..

Petrelle
34, rue petrelle
75009
Paris
Telephone 01 42 82 11 02

The Hungry Cat

2008-06-19T04:36:00.011-04:00

When I tell you I was late for lunch at The Hungry Cat, I’m sure you’ll realize that the place is hard to find. Why else would I be late for a meal, ever? The Hungry Cat is in a setting that resembles a strip mall but don’t let that deter you. I sat outside for awhile and imagined myself in Milan in the 80s—not much to look at really, but a good place nonetheless.

I loved watching a Fruits de Mer platter of the most gorgeous seafood being assembled at the raw bar, and I loved the casual energy of the bar activity with delicious looking citrus drinks being made and sent to the tables.

Chris and I started with a cocktail, which I can’t remember having done before in the middle of the afternoon but the cocktail list was so seductive that I couldn’t resist. I wanted to try the Bitter Rose, which was made with rose petal infused boomsma gin, averna, strawberries and lemon or the Echo Park. I went for the Echo Park which was made with altius vodka, lime juice, muddled mango, cucumber and chili salt. It was wonderfully thirst quenching and refreshing with all the flavors infused in a sublime way with a subtle bite of chili at the finish. Next time I’m going to try the mint julep. Chris had the ice tea which came with a side of simple syrup, a detail I always love.

Amanda had told me to order the sea urchin, but they didn’t have it because it was Sunday and no one was diving for them. (I loved that bit of information.) We opted for Alaskan king crab claws. When that plate arrived I knew we were in for a great meal. I was reminded of eating at 72 Market Street in Venice, Ca. 20 some odd years ago. That restaurant had the most perfect plating ever—just very simple so that the ingredients just stood out. Anyway, the crab came with two sauces, a mayonnaise based sauce with whole mustard and a cocktail sauce. The mayo/mustard sauce was my favorite with the crab; crab needs a little fat. The cocktail sauce was too strong for the delicate flavor of the meat. I switched to a glass of Spanish Albarino white which came in a tumbler. I loved that as well.

Amanda had also told me that The Hungry Cat had the best hamburger in LA so I ordered the pug burger though I also wanted to try the lobster roll, the grilled fish tacos, the soft shell crab sandwich, and the cornmeal-crusted fried oysters. Ah, well. Chris ordered from the brunch menu and had the house-made chorizo and eggs with queso fresco and romesco sauce. I loved the burger which came with blue cheese, bacon and avocado and the best fries I’ve had in LA. Hand cut, crispy, and not too greasy. My only complaint about the burger was about the bun which was a little too chewy and dry for my taste. Chris’s dish was perfection: the chorizo was sublime, the eggs on top with rich yellow yolks were cooked perfectly and the romesco was a nice touch. They even served warm tortillas to sop it all up.

What I love about the food here is that nothing is overdone, and the ingredients can stand-alone. It takes a lot of discipline to cook that way, layering food to achieve perfection. So many restaurants I go to work hard to make everything sound brilliant on the menu, but when you get your dish it doesn’t measure up to the advance publicity. I can’t wait to go back to the Cat and order from the rest of the menu. I’m also going to try more of the cocktails like the Hendrick’s gin, cucumber juice and fresh lime.

The Hungry Cat
1535 North Vine
(Sunset & Vine)
Hollywood, CA 90028
323 462 2155
www.thehungrycat.com

Mercato in Red Hook, New York

2008-06-04T17:09:00.009-04:00

Spending time in Rhinebeck, NY at my gardens has had its drawbacks and one of them has been the dearth of good local restaurants. I was going to Gigi’s with the regularity of a homing pigeon until some friends introduced me to Mercato in the town of Red Hook (birthplace, I hear, of Eleanor Roosevelt). I loved it the first time and went back last week and was equally charmed. Is it perfect? No, but charm doesn’t always have to be.

Mercato occupies a beautiful old building with big windows that wrap around the front. There is a great bar on one side of the restaurant which accommodates diners nicely, but I sat in the restaurant proper on my first visit and enjoyed it's excellent vibe and found the service just fine. Then too, as a neat freak, I appreciated the super clean kitchen which is open to the dining room and has sparkling pots and pans.

On my second visit we sat on the porch which is romantic if you don’t mind shockingly bad service. At one point I almost went to the kitchen to my fire up my own meal. It was comic. We asked to have our wine opened and the waiter came with glasses but no corkscrew. Everyone was served at different times and so forth. So, sit indoors if you are in a hurry because this place is short staffed.

The kitchen is manned by Francesco Buitoni who is the chef/co-owner. He’s busy running around in his shorts cooking, greeting customers, and sending out good vibes from his kitchen. On this last visit I had the soft shell crab appetizer on a bed of flageolet and braised cabbage. It was cooked to perfection and the braised cabbage and beans really complemented the soft shell crab. Francesco tries to use as many local and organic ingredients as he can which I appreciate. I can’t remember the name of the farm they got their broccoli rabe from but it was incredibly tender and full of flavor. When you start growing your own vegetables, you realize how bad most of the stuff from grocery stores is.

For an entrée I ordered roast chicken, but the waiter came back to tell me the oven just broke and there would be no roast chicken. Love That. Yeah, don’t want to have mine crudo, thanks. I just had to laugh. I ordered the tagliatelle with ragu instead. The pasta was cooked perfectly,
the sauce was kind of a basic 101 ragu, not a long simmered one, but it was tasty. No complaints. My friends had the pumpkin ravioli which was really good.

The wine list is very well edited but you can bring your own too. The last time I was there we had a bottle of the Soave from Pieropan which is one of my favorites. There were also many great whites and reds to choose from.

I’m going to be a regular at Mercato. I love the crowd, love the room, and the menu changes all the time. Most of all I love to be able to go somewhere local and get a good home cooked meal that’s cooked with love.

Mercato
61 E. Market St.
Red Hook, NY
845.758.5879

Ted Muehling Store

2008-05-28T15:02:00.014-04:00

My dear friend Ted Muehling recently had a party at his store in downtown Manhattan to introduce the collection of glass he has designed for Lobmeyr of Vienna. Ted is a jewelry designer but in the past decade he has designed porcelain for Nymphenburg, glass for Steuben and bronze with E.R Butler.

Ted’s shop is like a gorgeous still life, and in the back of the store his studio is filled with all the things from the natural world that inspire him.

When Ted has a party I know I’m going to be in for a visual and gustatory feast. ( I have long had the fantasy of doing a dinner in his studio where the table is set using all of Ted’s designs.)
When I first walked to the party I spied a plate of deviled quail eggs. Do you know how much time it takes to peel dozens of a quail eggs? Well his staff does. I hear they couldn’t get the shells off the first batch and had to start all overagain with another batch. The results were divine, and I am going to copy them the first chance I get.

The quail eggs went perfectly with the drinks: Saint-Germain elderflower liqueur mixed with prosecco, and, of course, the Nigel Gruner Veltliner. I have to say that I usually don’t enjoy
drinking wine at a cocktail party but this Gruner is so crisp and refreshing it was perfect for the occasion.

Speck ham, asparagus, butter, mustard and
wonderful Gruyere cheese filled out the table. Simple and perfect. Ted used an exquisite terra cotta and porcelain bowl he had designed with Nympherburg for the ice and it was gorgeous.

The displays in the store were breathtaking, especially the table setting with drinking set No. 279--exquisite hand painted and etched glasses. Ted says he wanted to go back in time and use stemless glasses because, as he points out, water and wine flow equally well from a simple form.

To think that Ted is designing glasses for a company that has had the best designers going back for more than one hundred years is just thrilling.

I’m going to ask Ted if I can do the dinner party I have fantasized about in his studio.
I want to set a table and show off food and wine in beautiful dishes, glasses surrounded by objects of nature, and no one has a better setting for that than Ted.

Ted Muehling
27 Howard Street
NYC, NY. 10013
212.431 3825
www.tedmuehling.com

The Gardens at Clifton Point

2008-05-18T12:44:00.009-04:00

As I said in my earlier blog, my recent trip to California was undertaken to do research on organic farms for my farm project in upstate New York—(of course I had to do a little restaurant research as well). I’ve been a caterer, private chef, restaurateur, food and wine editor, and, after House & Garden closed, I decided that I would not jump back into any of those things, at least not right away. I decided that, along with my styling work, I wanted to do something new and something I could learn from. The perfect situation opened up--a friend upstate with lots of land and a strong desire to farm her land asked me if I wanted a blank canvas to create something.

So now I am officially an amateur farmer. I’m eager to do the kind of work that ties me to the seasons of the year, that allows for the growth of plants that will eventually be harvested and shared with others. I also am inspired by the fact that we have become a country of ethnic eaters. Yet, when I come back from a foreign country I often can not find that special tomato or pepper or flavor that makes that country’s food so distinctive. My idea for the garden is to grow things that will fill that niche and to experiment with heirloom vegetables. I am really liking the idea of birth, growth, and harvest.

I have started with a few beds as an experiment and I’ll see where they take me. The quality of the soil and seeds appeal to me the way the quality of ingredients appeal to me as a chef. So the first thing I want to know about is my soil which turns out to be quite poor on this farm. I am starting with raised beds and a few rows in a field.

I’m going to be blogging about this project during the coming months so you are getting in on the ground of it so to speak…

New York, A Winedoggybag State

2008-05-14T14:39:00.002-04:00

The other night after a long day’s work in Rhinebeck I called my friend Allen who lives nearby to join me for dinner at Gigi Trattoria, the only really good restaurant near us.

I was driving back to New York City that evening, and though I’m not one to skip a glass of wine with a meal I was reminded by Allen about winedoggybag.com which allows you to order a bottle, have a glass, have the restaurant seal the unfinished bottle with their cryovac machine (receipt of purchase enclosed in baggy) and go on your way..

In NY, everyone jumps in a taxi or a subway after dinner so the demand for taking an unfinished bottle home is probably not as high, but when you are in the country and you have to drive to get anywhere it’s very useful.

It’s important to me not to drive drunk but I also don’t want to be subjected to mediocre wine by the glass at a restaurant. I’d so much rather order a good bottle and have a glass and finish the rest at home. Honestly, it’s just the coolest idea, and it enabled me to enjoy a bottle of Angelo Gaja’s Ca’ Marcanda at Gigi.

Another little tip: on Wednesday’s Gigi offers 30 percent off on a bottle night, so that’s all the more reason to go for the bottle not just the glass.

I’m not sure every restaurant in New York has the wine doggy bag system in place, but they should. I admit, it is rare for me to leave a NYC restaurant before a bottle is empty, but there are times even when a taxi is nearby that I might want to carry out and carry on later. Wouldn’t you?

Gigi Trattoria
6422 Montgomery street ( Route 9)
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
845.876.1007

www.winedoggybag.com

Yountville, Ca.

2008-05-03T18:42:00.002-04:00

It’s an odd place. The draw is the French Laundry, of course, and also the wine country. I went there for years as Food and Wine Editor of House & Garden and I always felt wonderful upon arriving. The air is gorgeous, and I had this sense that an important adventure was about to take place. Something has changed for me. That quality of specialness is gone. At least I missed it on a recent visit.

My first misgiving came when I saw the sign above Thomas Keller’s newest restaurant, Ad Hoc: “ temporary relief from hunger”. Are you kidding me?? Has anyone in Yountville ever truly experienced hunger? It seems a poor joke in a world where there is so much real hunger. I was traveling with Amanda and we both thought that, barring an actual benefit for hunger relief, this was a joke in pretty poor taste.

We ate at Keller’s Bouchon. Good food, good ingredients but nothing earth shattering except for the bread, epi rolls which were baked next door at Bouchon Bakery. Amanda and I polished off two servings without blinking. I did love seeing Keller’s garden across from the French Laundry with its meticulous design as tidy and pristine as Thomas himself. Their vegetables looked perfect and on there way to Thomas’s kitchen to be used in the most imaginative and profound ways.

I should say this in defense of Yountville: It’s great that so much business can be generated and so many jobs created for this community out of wine and food. But what about establishing some sustainable restaurants?? Also, I was really sad to find that Gordon's, the best and really the only, great breakfast place, has closed.

Well, maybe I’ll return next year and find that the magic is back too. I wonder.

Benoit

2008-05-02T10:11:00.002-04:00

The other night I was waiting for Jay at Adour, Alain Ducasse’s new restaurant at the St Regis. Since it was Jay I was meeting, I wasn’t too surprised to see him saunter in with the great Ducasse himself who naturally wanted to be on hand for a glass of champagne with the great McInerney. The occasion of our dinner was to celebrate Jay’s getting a private wine locker at Adour. So cool, so Jay! We chatted for a bit and it turned out that M. Ducasse was in town for a few days to open another version of Benoit, the Paris restaurant I loved and wrote about last fall. Was I the last to know? Yes, indeed I was. Ah, Benoit! The food, the room, the service, perfect French. And when a French restaurant is perfect, it is genius.

So Alain has brought Benoit to the space previously occupied by La Cote Basque and may open more Benoits in other cities. I got so distracted by the prospects of several baby Benoits that I will have to blog Adour later. Anyway, I need to go again before I can write about it with confidence.

If you know anything about Alain, you know he is obsessed with collecting and shopping. Apparently he bought an Offcinie, a 19th century apothecary that specialized in herbal therapy in Bordeaux and has had it transported to New York and installed upstairs in Benoit as a private dining room. He invited me to take a tour of the new place the next day.

Naturally I went and while we were walking around several people came in to say how happy they were to have something open up in the old La Cote Basque space. So am I. La Cote Basque was one of those restaurants that felt like an essential institution I couldn’t afford to go to but whenever I had the chance to be taken I loved it. The paintings on the wall, the banquets, all so grand. It’s true that the patina wore off and the food went down, but I have only the fondest memories of it in its day.

One of things that caught my eye at the new Benoit were the decanters at the bar. I loved their shape. When I asked about them Alain told me that he’d bought out the complete stock of a German glass factory that made decanters for perfume. Beautiful.
I was telling Alain how much I loved the Savarin at Benoit in Paris, ( similar to a baba au rhum dessert but made in one mold, not individual molds like a baba ). In fact it became an obsession of mine, and I read every recipe I could get my hands on, bought the mold and have been making them ever since. Alain said the two desserts I had to try at Benoit in NY were the Baba Rhum and the Mille-Feuille which he said is perhaps the best he has ever tasted. With a recommendation like that, you bet I will.

They are serving breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. I’m going to give them a few weeks or so before I go to eat there, but I can tell you if the food is as good as Paris I will be a regular, and that is saying a lot for someone who lives downtown.
Benoit
60 West 55th street
New York City, NY 10019
646.943.7373
www.benoitny.com

The magical mystery tour of asparagus

2008-04-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

I’ve just been on a wonderful adventure in West Marin county and Northern California doing research for my new farm project and celebrating my friend Amanda’s birthday. One of the most magical memories of my trip was discovering the asparagus from Peter Martinelli’s farm in West Marin.

It all started when we went for dinner at the wild, wonderful compound of Evan and Madeline (for important news about Evan and Madeline stay tuned; they are worth a blog all by themselves). This may not sound so earthshaking but the big deal was this: Evan served us asparagus. I noticed the bundle with broken ends, not cut off and the stalks were green straight through, not milky white as you find them from most commercial growers. Amanda, who is a cook at Lucques in LA, was as enchanted by the look of these spears as I was. Evan simply blanched the asparagus and I can promise you that they were incredibly sweet and flavorful. He told us he got the asparagus from Peter’s Farm nearby, and when Amanda and I kept talking about it, he said we had to visit Peter. Luckily for us we were seeing him the next day.

All the way there we were fantasizing about how we would prepare Peter’s asparagus, especially the huge spears that were so juicy. (It’s nice to have a friend who is as nutty about wonderful ingredients as I am).

We got to Peter’s and learned that he really only grows enough for family and friends. Amanda went into raptures about the big spears so he showed us the plant that is responsible for these giants. Peter’s a lovely guy. He knew that Amanda had to have this asparagus so he broke off the last huge stalk and gave it to her. 16 inches tall with a diameter of 1-inch, it was fated for her kitchen.

When we got back she put our giant stalk in a glass of water along with a few other smaller ones to save for dinner the following day. The next morning we got eggs from my friend Susie’s garden to go with the asparagus. Amanda had to get out the largest stock pot in the kitchen to cook this one stalk. I prepped the hard boiled eggs, chopped parsley and shallots while Amanda cut the asparagus in thin slices and topped it with all the eggs shallots, parsley, some olive oil, meyer lemon, and salt.

We sat down with our asparagus and a bottle of Domaine Tempier Rose and were in heaven. It was almost a perfect ending to our perfect week. The only flaw was knowing we had to leave later that day.

Peter Martinelli
Fresh Run Farm
415-868-2313

There’s a New Milkman in Town

2008-04-18T08:30:00.000-04:00

My friend Matt asked me if I have had the milk from Milk Thistle Farms dairy at the Union Square Farmers Market and if I hadn’t to get down there asap.

The Milk Thistle Farms Dairy is selling their goods on Fridays at the market and I assume that they’ve replaced Ronnybrook Dairy which used to have that spot. Ronnybrook, meanwhile has opened a shop at Chelsea Market which used oddly enough used to be The National Biscuit Company where everything from Saltines, Barnum’s animal crackers and Oreo’s were produced.

The Milk Thistle Farms are located in Ghent NY and I chatted with the owner while I surveyed his goods. They sell whole milk, skim milk and half and half. The milk is sold in glass bottles, quart or pint sizes and have a dollar deposit which you get back when you return them. There is a quote on each bottle by Rudolf Steiner, “In its essential nature, a farm is a self-contained individuality” the father of the bio-dynaminc movement.

The milk is delicious, rich full of flavor and a little grassy in fact. Even the skim milk tastes rich. I wanted to try the half & half but it was sold out, I was told I’d have to come very early to have a chance to get a bottle. I asked if they had butter and he told me he doesn’t want to produce butter because they is so much left over skin milk he has no use for it and he could not waste it. He said maybe one day if there were a way he could use it, maybe a pig farm or something he might consider it. For now I can do without the butter and am just so happy to have this new source of milk.

Milk Thistle Dairy
Ghent, NY
www.milkthistlefarm.com

Postscript to Bar Boulud

2008-04-15T10:55:00.000-04:00

My friends Monique and Jose were back in New York recently and asked me to join them at Bar Boulud. When I told them I’d just been there and loved it they reminded me that their talented friend Sylvan had moved from Paris to work with Gilles on the restaurant’s charcuterie. This was a meal I could not pass up.

We went for lunch and had a little tasting of just about everything. We started with the boudin blanc. This is like no other boudin blanc I’ve ever had. It is light and the flavors are all in perfect harmony with a welcome hint of black truffle. When I asked Monique what made it so good she said they use no fillers. Most boudin blanc has bread in it but not this version.

Next we had the cervelas Lyonnais en brioche, a specialty of Lyon made with saucisson aux Lyonnais, a sausage with pistachio and black truffle. These are baked individually each in its own brioche. Again, it was perfect. Then we had the rillons croustillants au poivre, hot, crispy pork belly that was delicious and decadent.

Our charcuterie tasting resulted in a new favorite-- the compote de veau en blanquette, a shredded slow braised veal short rib.

Sylvain told us that they had just been written up for having the best Croque Monsieur in town. Of course I wanted to try this classic warm sandwich filled with ham, gruyere cheese and béchamel. It really was amazing; the ham was sliced extra thin and layered like a mille feuille, a perfect touch.

Before we left I spied someone at the bar having a simple ham sandwich on a baguette with a glass of wine. It looked like the perfect lunch. Next time.

Bar Boulud
1900 Broadway
New York, New York 10023
212.595.0303

Bar Boulud

2008-04-03T16:47:00.000-04:00

I’m in love. There, I said it. Nothing is closer to my heart than homemade charcuterie and now I don’t have to cross the Atlantic to enjoy it. Not only has Bar Boulud brought quality charcuterie to deprived New Yorkers, it has opened up in the restaurant wasteland across from Lincoln Center where a fine meal used to be much harder to find than a ticket to opening night at the Met.

Daniel Boulud has teamed up with the Parisian charcutier Gilles Vérot, and what a dream team they make. Don’t read the critics. The food is superb but the squawking about the room is silly. It is long and narrow, but if you want to eat at a counter you can; if you want sit at a booth you can; and if you want to stand at a bar table you can do that. But you have to get there EARLY unless you have a reservation. It was packed at 6:00 on a recent Wednesday.

Lets get to the terrines. They are displayed in a gorgeous counter next to the wines, and I kept thinking terrines and terroir, terrines and terroir because the best charcuterie comes from specific villages just as wines do. My friend Lisa and I ordered the Dégustation de Charcuterie, a grand tasting accompanied by a selection of seasoned vegetables. I loved all the terrines but my favorites were the Pâté Grand-Merè, a fine country pâté with chicken liver, pork and cognac; Pâtè Grand-Père a coarse country pâtè with foie gras, truffle juice, and port; Lapin de La Garrigue a Provençal pulled rabbit terrine with carrots, zucchini; and my absolute favorite, the famous Fromage de Tête Gilles Verot, his famous head cheese. We also got a bit of his Jambon de Paris and it was outstanding.

The seasoned vegetables were good but the cournichons and exquisite pickled baby onions were even finer. The toasts that came with the charcuterie were great. Ditto the mustards.
I then ordered a salad, a Frisée Lyonnaise-- chicory, chicken liver, poached egg, lardons, and sourdough croutons. That really put me over the top; it was perfectly dressed and each component had a distinctive flavor which is what I look for in a salad.

We ordered a bottle of the Nigel Grüner Veltliner, a good value at $58, and followed it with a glass of the 2005 Cuvee Le Bec by Beckman, a delicious syrah from Santa Barbara county. Daniel Johnnes is the consulting wine director and he’s done a fab job of putting the list together.

Here is my wish: Let’s have a shop that sells this charcuterie. I’d still go to Bar Boulud because I’ve not sampled anything close to the whole menu. But let’s have a shop so we can bring home a terrine to tide us over between pilgrimages to this sacred shrine of charcuterie.

Bar Boulud
1900 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
212.595.0303
www.barboulud.com

postscript to Mercat

2008-04-03T16:41:00.000-04:00

A friend asked me to meet her for a drink last week at El Quinto Pino. It’s near my apartment and though it has received rapturous reviews, I’ve not had a chance to visit. It’s owned by the same group that owns Tia Pol just around the corner and is a smaller version of Tia Pol, if you can imagine anything smaller than the postage sized Tia Pol. The menu is smaller too but still focused on tapas. The food is sensational and the room does not feel cramped. These are the best tapas I’ve had in NY, not because of the ingredients per se but because of the creativity and quality of each dish.

The wine list is microscopic but the choices are well edited. It’s the kind of place I want to go accompanied by one of my really great Spanish wines and relax and enjoy the lovely food.

The uni panini is insane, the pringa braised meat panini is a close second, and the salt cod croquettes are perfect. There are many more things for me to try which I will very soon, but meanwhile its nice to know that El Quinto Pino is there waiting for me to pop around the corner for something far better than a bite to eat.

El Quinto Pino
401 West 24th street
New York City, NY 10011
212.206.6900
www.elquintopinonyc.com

Mercat

2008-03-25T11:30:00.000-04:00

I’m always looking for a way to recapture the experience of eating in Barcelona, so I was happy when Mercat, Jaime Reixach’s Spanish restaurant, opened about seven months ago. Reixach is from Barcelona where food is king. I first went to Mercat for a private party given by wine importer Chris Cambell for his Spanish winemakers. I liked the food and looked forward to returning. And I did.

Half way through my dinner at Mercat recently I said to myself that on a scale of 1-10, I would give the room a 10, the wine list a 10, and the food somewhere around 6 or 7. Let me explain:
The dining room is fabulous--great long bars at both ends with a ham bar in the center and scattered tables in the back. It’s spacious and really comfortable. The second level of the restaurant is a glass enclosed wine cellar with a spectacular selection of Spanish wines second only to the list at Casa Mono. The menu has a selection of tapas, cheeses, hams and some interesting main courses. The food is good but I was not blown away. Oddly enough that really didn’t matter.

What I was looking for at Mercat were the ingredients that make eating in Barcelona so special: the great Joselito pata negra ham, lomo (the sliced loin of the pata negra), that great Barcelona chorizo, the tomaquet de sucar tomatoes, and the piment de pardon. This is all simple stuff but it is very special simple stuff, and each of these things make Barcelona tapas the absolute best (for the gold standard in Barcelona tapas see the Hungry Girl Special at the end of this blog). So, judged by that standard which is probably unfair, Mercat falls a little short. But hey, do I always have to be fair?

The prices on most restaurant wine lists are currently outrageous. A mediocre wine that sells for $20 at your local wine story often goes for $80 to $100 in a restaurant. Who says there is a recession? Mercat, on the other hand, has an outstanding selection of delicious wines for under $ 60.00. I had the 2005 Organza de Sierra Cantabria, a white wine made with Viura, Malvasia and Garnacha Blanca grapes. It’s a light, crisp wine that is well made and was just perfect with my meal. In fact, I loved this wine so much I am going to get a couple of cases for the summer.

Mercat uses Shishito peppers instead of the Piment de Padron for their Padrones which were sautéed in olive oil and salt. (I told them about Happy Quail Farms which grows Piment de Padrons year round and they were happy to know of that source). The Patates Bravas, fried potatoes topped with the spicy garlic mayonnaise were perfect except the for squiggly design decorating the top.
The Croquetas De Gamba, which my friend Doug described as Hush Puppies by another name were delicious as well, with yummy chunks of shrimp in them. The Pa Amb Tomaquet was not great. This is a classic Catalan recipe in which bread is rubbed with garlic and tomatoes and drizzled with olive oil. Considering all the amazing breads you can find in New York, why did Mercat use this lifeless loaf?

Next we tried the Pebrots Rellenons -- piquillo peppers stuffed with beef short ribs served on a bed of caramelized beans. This was really good. We finished with churros served with a chocolate dipping sauce. Again, good but not amazing.

Everything I had was good and well made and I enjoyed my meal. Mercat is going to be a regular place for me, because there are a lot of times when I don’t want to be blown away. I want a good honest meal, a great Spanish wine, and a little something that evokes the memory of Barcelona even if it can recreate it perfectly.

Mercat
45 Bond Street
New York, NY 10012
212529.8600

HUNGRY GIRL SPECIAL

Villa Viniteca

If you find yourself in Barcelona be sure to go to Villa Viniteca as often as possible. It’s actually two places--a wine shop and a grocery store/cafe across the street from each other. The wine store has the finest possible selection of Spanish wines along with a impressive selection from around the world. The grocery store sells the best hams and cheeses in Spain along with other Spanish foods. Go in to the grocery, sit down, order some wine and get a plate of the sublime Joselito Grand Riserva Pata Negra which is very difficult to find elsewhere. As an accompaniment order their Pa amb Tomaquet. When in season it's made with the famous Tomaquet de Sucar tomatoes, the best I've ever tasted!

Villa Viniteca
Agullers 9
08003 Barcelona
+34.933.101.956
www.villaviniteca.es

Blue Ribbon Bakery & Market

2008-03-13T15:13:00.001-04:00

Here’s something I’m really excited about: a number of good restaurants in New York City are opening small markets and selling the ingredients that make their food so special. Marlow & Sons and the Blue Ribbon Bakery in Manhattan have done this, and the hugely popular Franny’s in Brooklyn is about to do so. This trend adds to our choices of produce, meat and cheese at the greenmarkets with things for the pantry. Hooray!

The Blue Ribbon Bakery Market, another spinoff of the Broomberg Bros. empire, is actually one of my favorite pit stops in Manhattan. It’s on Bedford only a block away from the Blue Ribbon Bakery and sells the great breads for which BR is known. My favorites are the flax seed loaf, the soft ciabatta, and of course the hamburger buns which I wrote about in my blog on The Spotted Pig. The have a Pullman loaf too which is great for grilled sandwiches like the croquet monsieur. I made one recently that was a major hit.

The shelves and the counters at the BR Market are stacked with many, many jars of raw Mexican honey. When I asked about this bonanza I was told that their restaurant has a honey source in Vera Cruz that produces in it five flavors. My favorite of these is the Vera Cruz orange. I love orange blossom honey with Roquefort cheese, but this one is far better for that combination than any other I have had.

Here are some other things you shouldn’t miss at BR Market: their churned butter, farm eggs, cheeses, and many wonderful kinds of salt. It’s a tiny 400 square foot shop, but they really pack in a lot of great stuff, AND they serve delicious soups and sandwiches during the day.

Bring your GPS. If you don’t know the neighborhood, the shop can be hard to find. It’s worth it though.

Blue Ribbon Bakery Market
14 Bedford Street
New York, NY 10014
212.646.0408

Postscript to Marlow & Sons

2008-03-11T15:20:00.001-04:00

Well I went back to Marlow & Sons with my friends Jay, Anne and Dominique. It was a last minute dinner and I was so excited to see what Jay thought of the wine list and the food. He loved both and Jay of course zero’d in on an amazing wine, Domaine Romaneaux, a Vin De Pays from the Ardeche. It was a white wine with a blend of viognier and marsanne grapes and it was fantastic. Crisp and the fruit was so fresh and great with the food they serve. Jay’s favorite wine is Condrieu, which is made with the viognier grape and the Rhone where the wine is made is also one of Jay’s favorite wine regions. We did try the St. Peray from Yves Cuilleron and it was good but not as good as Domaine Romaneaux.

Everyone loved the restaurant and we did sneak back and take a look at the Airstream behind The Diner. So cool and I want to have a dinner there…

Marlow & Sons
81 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.384.1441
www.marlowandsons.com

Are We There Yet? Marlow & Sons.

2008-03-11T15:09:00.000-04:00

I’ve been trying to get to Marlow & Sons for months and last week I finally organized a group of my girlfriends to join me for a road trip across the Williamsburg Bridge to do just that. “Are we there yet?” Or, “Seems kind of far…” my friend Sally mentioned several times, even though we had only gone a couple of miles, so by the time we arrived I really felt we had taken a road trip.

Marlow & Sons is located down the street from the landmark restaurant, Peter Lugers and is right under the Williamsburg Bridge. The minute I walked through the front door I was in love. You first see a small grocery store and bakery which has a couple of tables set up, shelves lined with a cornucopia of ingredients. Then you enter the dining room which, with its dark walls, benches and coat hooks, feels more like a clubhouse for locals than a restaurant.

The menu is small and all the ingredients focus on local and sustainable when possible. There is a cool selection of cocktails, great beers like the local Blue Point Ale and the wine list is fantastic. When I saw a bottle of Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage I was sold. This is a wine I discovered at my friend Marc’s wine shop Augé in Paris. It is an organic, natural wine using no sulfites and has quite a cult following. It’s a wine that tastes alive and fresh, earthy and funky and it’s a treat. Other great treats on the list were a sparkling Macon Chardonnay from Thevenet, a great winemaker, a St.Peray, Marsanne from Yves Cuilleron and a Berthet-Bondet Jura, Chardonnay that I was very curious to try. I love the wines from Jura and this is one I will order on my next visit.

The menu is great and some of it changes daily. You can have a selection of East Coast oysters and great meats and cheeses, panini’s, appetizers. There are usually only a few entrees to choose from. We shared the finnochiona salumi, the chicken liver pate and the crostini which was covered with local Salvatore’s ricotta and then drizzled with Que Sera honey which was outrageous and everyone’s favorite. I loved the chicken liver pate as well. Caroline was beside herself when she saw oysters from North Haven, Maine. She goes there every summer. We ordered a few but I didn’t love them, found them bland, yet they were very fresh.

Our waitress was so cool and nice and I mentioned that I was going to blog our dinner and she sent us out a Battered Pollack fish sandwich that was outrageous. Three of us had the brick chicken and Caroline ordered the risotto with Maine Shrimp. The brick chicken was perfect comfort food served with a side of buttered cabbage, (though traditionally in Italy they often use a brick to weigh it down—here they use a skillet. I asked.) The end result is a flattened chicken, which is more like a paillard. Caroline ordered the Maine shrimp risotto but it didn’t blow me away. It was a bit fishy for my taste but the rice was cooked perfectly.

We then had a couple of desserts. The cream ice cream was served with salted caramelized pignoli that was drizzled with olive oil. It was insane and disappeared instantly. The chocolate caramel tart topped with sea salt, which I loved the sound of, was overpowered by the salt on top and the texture of chocolate to caramel didn’t work.

All in all we all had a blast and all of us want to come back and try their other restaurant The Diner next door and maybe somehow sneak a peak and see their Airstream trailer in the back where I hear you can book a private dinner.

Marlow & Sons
81 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.384.1441
www.marlowandsons.com

Momofuku Ssäm Bar

2008-03-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Momofuku is not news (although Momofuku Ko, which is opening soon, will be). Momofuku is a nondescript restaurant in the East Village that has been the darling of the New York City food world ever since it opened—and deservedly so. It’s a bit eccentric, very creative and relies on excellent ingredients: a winning formula if done right. What hooked me was the menu. A raw bar with sliced Wild Striped Bass on a bed of huckleberries followed by country hams, steamed pork buns, various ssäm dishes (their trademark) including a Bo ssäm at $200.00 which is a whole butt of pork for 8-10 people, reserve in advance. I guess so! Not something I am going to order spontaneously. I love that it is on the menu, though, because it shows the confidence that comes from a strong point of view. Someone in the kitchen really cares.

The menu at lunch is different from the one in the evenings and yesterday we had a 58 degree day. A sense of springtime in the winter. I wanted to go out to lunch and was feeling the hit to go Momofuku. I started with, of course, the country ham. Let me explain that David Chang, the owner, is Korean-American but was born and raised in Virgina, hence the selection of smoked hams. I had the Finchville Farms’ Country Ham from Kentucky. Smoky, woodsy and not too salty, it was delicious and it comes with a sauce they call a coffee mayonnaise. Odd, but it worked. The sauce also has sriraca in it (hot chili) that gave it a bite. I enjoyed it along with a glass of 2006 Danu Bio’ Gruner Veltliner (Kremstal), a nice match.

Next I had the Cured Hamachi with an edamame and horseradish sauce. I was not going in any particular order here, and maybe I was not doing it right but I was in a weird mood and wasn’t sure what I wanted. The Hamachi was fresh as could be, though I prefer it sliced thinner. The sauce was magical. Perfectly subtle.

Then of course I had to have my favorite Steamed Pork Buns with Pork Belly, Hoisin sauce, cucumbers and scallions. I am torn between the Pork Buns here and the ones at Fatty Crab. I am leaning towards Fatty Crab but don’t get me wrong, these are good. I had a glass of the 2006 Brüder Dr. Becker, Spatlese Scheurebe (Rheinhessen) which was rich and luscious and stood up to the Hamachi and the Pork Bun.

I keep thinking everytime I leave Momofuku that one of these days I am coming back for that Bo Ssäm dinner with a group of friends (and Dominique, one of my favorite hungry girls, says she’ll spring for it). In the meantime I will be checking out Momofuku Ko in the next few weeks. I am very excited about it.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 Second avenue
NYC, NY 10003
212.254.3500
www.momofuku.com

Sunday Supper at Lucques

2008-02-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

My friend Ryan, an ex-cook at Lucques who now lives in New York, insisted that I go for Sunday supper at Lucques when I was in LA. Oddly, I’ve never eaten there on Sunday night so I went with my friends Paul, Chris, and Sue to check it out. I had another major reason for going too: Amanda, another friend, has been cooking at Lucques for several years and I wanted to see her in action.

First, let me say Sunday supper at Lucques is the best deal in town! Any town. $40.00 for a prix fixe meal? Are you kidding me? The cost of the ingredients must have come close to that. Sunday supper has always been important to me. It’s the meal I love to cook and share with friends. I think it is brilliant that Suzanne Goin, the owner of Lucques, is offering just the kind of meal I like to share with others at the end of the weekend. Her success with it comes from the heart which is where this kind of meal should originate. I think she knows that. Also, there is nothing better than a prix fix meal when you don’t want to waste time making decisions. You just know you are letting the kitchen do what they do best.

The menu that evening was in honor of Hooks Cheese Company from Wisconsin. The meal was superb, simple, and satisfying. We started with a plate of Hook’s 10-year-old cheddar served with an apple and pickled raisin chutney along with a parsley and celery salad. The cheese was so interesting, don’t know how to describe it except it was milky, smooth, elegant and had a slight rich/sweet finish. I remember a cheese like that from my childhood but can’t quite place it. The chutney and salad were good with the cheese, but I have to say the star of the show was the amazing bread they serve at Lucques. That bread is seriously delicious with amazing density and flavor. I asked the waiter where they got it and he said they bake it over at AOC, a sister restaurant of Lucques. (I wish I had brought a loaf home). My main course was Niman Ranch baseball steak with duck fat persillade potatoes, walnuts, Hook’s blue and an arugula salad. I never heard of that cut but it was cooked to perfection. The roasted potatoes were crunchy just as I like them and the duck fat served them well.

I brought a bottle of 1997 Rudd Cabernet Sauvignon and it was slightly corked. No one else at the table thought so and I didn’t want to spoil it for them, but I couldn’t drink it. A bottle of corked wine is so annoying especially when you carry it all the way out from NY for a special meal. Luckily, Lucques has a great wine list so there was no need to get anxious.

Even Paul and Chris, the toughest critics in LA, were blown away and vowed to return. They did complain about the lighting but all in all we left happy and satisfied and determined to return.

Lucques
8474 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, California
323.655.6277
www.lucques.com

Osteria Mozza

2008-02-25T09:19:00.001-05:00

I’d been dreaming of going to Los Angeles and visiting Osteria Mozza ever since I ate at its next door sibling, Pizzeria Mozza last winter. There were months of delay before Osteria Mozza finally opened its doors but it’s been up and running for six months now and the front of the house and the kitchen have really hit their stride. Both Mozza restaurants were full to overflowing with an eager crowd on the Saturday night I went, so when you go there be prepared. There was even a wait for a seat at the bar.

I went with Sue Moore, one of the most discriminating eaters I know (see my earlier blog on Sue’s grass fed hot dog stand, Let’s Be Frank). She had promised me that the proprietor, Nancy Silverton, would be behind the mozzarella bar, and there she was, as she is most nights.

We started with a platter of salumi that included a delicious salami with cardamom and a luscious lardo with a wonderful woody thyme finish. We moved on to a Little Gem salad with hazelnuts, bacon, gorgonzola dolce and egg. All the ingredients were perfectly married together, and though the dressing may have been a bit too acidic, it was otherwise wonderful. From the mozzarella bar we chose the mozzarella in carozza with anchovy and tomato vinaigrette. It sounded odd but what a great combo. The sweet milky warm cheese with the sauce was divine and the finish of anchovy on the palate was wonderful. We then had the spaghetti alla’ gricia which is one of my favorite Roman pastas. The guanciale ( a particularly great Italian bacon and a favorite of mine which you will know if you’ve been reading my blog) in the sauce was delicious with a bite of pecorino romano cheese and a bit of pepperocini. At first the spaghetti seemed a little too al dente but it kept cooking and by the second bite it was perfect.

As for the wine, the 2005 “Sapaio”, Podere Sapaio went amazingly well with the meal. At $95.00 a bottle it is a great value.

Sue and I had also ordered the crisp duck al mattone with pear mostarda, but we were so full we had to cancel the order much to my regret. Our waiter accepted the cancellation without any attitude which was a relief. The cheese list was amazing but we were too full and wanted to try at least one dessert. We chose the rosemary olive oil cake with olive oil gelato, a Mario Batali signature dish. I hate to say this, but I’m going to anyway: it took the cake.

“Rustic funkiness with perfect ingredients” is how Sue described the food. My description is as follows: I can’t wait to go back.

Osteria Mozza
6602 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, Ca 90038
323.297.0100
www.mozza-la.com

Valerie Confections Petit Fours

2008-02-20T10:03:00.000-05:00

Valerie Gordon and Stan Weightman, founders of the fabulous Valerie Confections, an artisanal confectionary based in Los Angeles, are at it again. They hit a home run a while back with their exquisite toffees and other confections and now they’ve introduced Petit Fours.

Petit Fours really suit my love of great food in small tastes and these are the best Petit Fours I’ve had. Valerie makes up a box of 12 with four each of lemon, rose petal, ginger, and orange. The little cakes are glazed with a delicate white chocolate or dark chocolate glaze--far more pleasant to my mind than the usual thick fondant. All of them were divine but I adored the orange and the rose petal. The former was a dense orange cake with a white chocolate glaze topped with candied orange rind. The rose petal was an intensely flavored vanilla cake layered with lemon curd and finished with a white chocolate glaze and topped with a crystallized rose petal. Over the top!

For Valentine’s Day Valerie made up a box of a dozen rose Petit Fours. So romantic! Everything here has a wonderful handmade quality; nothing feels mass produced. They ship anywhere in the country so treat yourself or someone special.

Valerie Confections
www.valerieconfections.com

Lets Be Frank

2008-02-18T10:18:00.000-05:00

Everyone should know about Sue Moore, the queen and creator of Let’s Be Frank, a hot dog stand that has been selling grass fed beef franks in San Francisco’s AT&T ballpark for 3 years now. High quality, healthy, delicious fast food is Sue’s thing, and she deserves a major award for all the trouble she has taken to develop it successfully.

But here is the new news: Sue has recently moved to Los Angeles to bring another stand to the City of Angels where they can surely use it. So go to Culver City where Sue has leased a space Tuesday through Sunday next to the Helms building complex. The LA Times gave her a smashing review in her first week.

But, back to the hotdogs--DELICIOUS. 100 % grass-fed, no hormones, antibiotics, and no filler. They come with a wonderful grilled bun, freshly grilled onions, and, if you want them, homemade butter pickles. Sue also sells a brat dog which I loved as much as the others. It’s a bratwurst made from 100% family farmed pork with a blend of organic herbs and is incredibly juicy and flavorful. This is what fast food can be so everybody take note. Maybe there’s a trend starting here.

Lets Be Frank caters parties which is really cool, so think about that. But go to Culver City and check out the stand. You won’t be disappointed.

Hungry Girl Special

YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS BUT a good hot dog deserves a good wine, so I stopped by the Bottle King in Culver City and bought a bottle of 2004 Icardi Cortese L’Aurora. The wine was crisp, with slight minerality and was a perfect complement to the hot dogs. Is it legal to drink al fresco like this? Well, no, but no one knew. Sue Moore was so busy she didn’t notice and neither did the customers eager for their dogs. Let's hope these franks will ordered before long so you can enjoy one with a glass of 2004 Icardi Cortese without risking jail time.

Lets Be Frank
Helms Avenue between Washington Blvd and Venice Blvd.
Tuesday through Sunday starting at 11:00 am.
http://www.letsbefrankdogs.com

The hamburger at The Spotted Pig

2008-02-12T12:56:00.000-05:00

Everyone has a favorite hamburger and I’m no exception. Actually I have more than one favorite depending on where I am. For example I love the Hamburger at Zuni in San Francisco, but in New York would have to say my favorite hamburger is at the gastropub The Spotted Pig. Though a hamburger is not something I eat very often when I do I want it to be perfect and satisfying which the hamburger at The Spotted Pig is. And though bar food is pretty simple The Spotted Pig has taken it to another level.

First let's start with bun which is made by Blue Ribbon Bakery. A soft and rich buttery bun that melts in your mouth but doesn’t fall apart or get to soggy. Next of course is the meat which when you order medium rare that is how it comes. The meat is rich and seasoned perfectly the right ratio of fat to meat so it is succulent and juicy. Then the hamburger topped with Roquefort cheese. The rich savory cheese brings to life the hamburger and makes it a completely blissful experience. The hamburger also is accompanied with the thinnest crisp shoestring fries that have been fried with thin slivers of garlic and rosemary. It just does not get better.

The Spotted Pig has a fantastic wine list by the way by the way and I enjoyed the Tocai Friuliano by Bastianich which they pour by the glass with my hamburger.

Next time you find your self craving a hamburger or a little hungover stop by The Pig, sit at the bar and enjoy the perfect burger.

The Spotted Pig

314 West 11th St ( Corner of Greenwich St.)
NYC, NY 10014
212.620.0393
www.thespottedpig.com

Hungry Girl Special

I brought a chilled bottle of 2006 Sancerre Clos de La Neore by Edmund Vatan to see how that would go with the hamburger. I love a crisp cold white wine with a hamburger and this one was a great compliment to the hamburger. Great structure, buttery and a great acidic backbone that was delicious with the hamburger. Available at Chambers St. Wines

http://www.chambersstwines.com/

Food Saver

2008-02-05T17:53:00.001-05:00

Over the years, I’ve heard almost as many methods for storing coffee beans as there are ideas for the right way to cook pasta. Trust me, most of them are whack. Here’s what not to do: Don’t store your beans in the freezer or the fridge; that only creates moisture which compromises their flavor. (And while we are at it, don’t add oil to your pasta water either. Doing so actually coats the pasta and keeps sauce from adhering to it later. Bad idea! )

Here’s what you should do with your beans: invest in a vacuum sealer like the Food Saver. If you’re like me and order 4-5 pounds of beans at a time, this is the perfect way to keep them fresh.

My Food Saver has dozens of other uses too and I will get to these later on so stay tuned.

Foodsaver.com

Ritual Coffee

2008-02-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Here’s a trend alert from my travels: great small batch coffee roasters are on the rise and the people who appreciate great small batch coffees also know the right method of brewing it—one cup at a time, please!

Awhile back I wrote about London’s Monmouth Coffee and described their four star method of making an excellent cup. I have also praised the Blue Bottle coffee stands that started in Emeryville, Ca. (The Times recently reported that James Freeman of Blue Bottle has purchased a $20,000 machine though this hardly seems necessary). New York City now has Abraço Espresso, another quality operation.

But there is more good news: On a recent trip to San Francisco, I met up with the same friends who introduced me to Blue Bottle. They are OVER Blue Bottle because they think the baristas have way too much attitude. Instead they’ve moved on to Ritual Coffee in the Mission district. Of course I went there and the place was seriously cool--filled with happy people, great service, and great coffee.

I bought a selection of beans to take home. My favorites so far are Bella Vista, El Salvador CoE #9, and La Union, Nicaragua Organic / Fair Trade. Ritual ships so you can get a sampling too and decide on your favorites.

Ritualroasters.com
406 542 3509

Hog Island Oysters

2007-11-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

On my last night in West Marin California I decided to have some friends over for dinner so I could get my last gasp of all the gorgeous local ingredients available there. I picked up some grass fed beef--the cowboy steak cut from Marin Sun Farms--and great greens from Star Route Farms. My friend Erik Schlagenhauf, the farm manager at Hog Island Oyster Company, said he'd bring some oysters! You can't get fresher than that!

Erik brought two of my favorite oysters that Hog Island produces, the Hog Island Kumamoto and the Hog Island Sweetwater. The "kummy's," as I call them, are a very small oyster that comes from Japan. They were sweet, plump, with a bit of a buttery finish--an oyster any novice would love and appreciate. The sweetwaters are incredible, and probably my most favorite oyster. These were so rich, plump and juicy, and had a very subtle briny flavor. One thing I notice about the Hog Island Oysters is they have almost have a milky color.

Hog Island is located on Tomales Bay, one of the most gorgeous esturaries of the Pacific Ocean. Approximately 20 miles long, it's a perfect location for raising oysters because the waters are cold, and move steadily with a good supply of the phytoplankton that the oysters snack on. Since oysters often spend 2 to 3 years to mature, water quality is incredibly important to them. The folks at Hog Island are dedicated to taking the best care of the ecosystem that they can, and you can taste it in their oysters.

Watching Erik and my friend Geoffrey shuck oysters was just incredible, pure art. Erik would tap the top of each oyster before opening one, somehow knowing by doing that whether they were good or bad, I think this comes with years of experience. He tried to explain it to me but I didn?t understand. Each oyster they opened was not torn or ripped but perfect. Also, they opened dozens in less than 20 minutes.

Anyone visiting Northern California along Highway One should make sure to stop for some oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company. They are open 7 days a week and honestly, it is one of the most romantic things you can do. Bring a nice bottle of Chablis or some local beer, and even pack yourself a picnic lunch. You can shuck the oysters right outside the farm where picnic tables are set up, and the view is spectacular. If you can?t make it to the farm, Hog Island has a fabulous little bar set up at the Ferry Plaza Market along the Embarcadero that is lovely as well.

Hog Island Oysters
The Farm Highway 1
Marshall, CA 4 15 .663.9218
www.hogislandoysters.com

Benoit

2007-11-09T13:49:00.000-05:00

I’ve been hearing about Benoit for years but somehow I’ve never visited this classic, and very expensive, Paris bistro. Recently I had the chance to go and I was enchanted.

The restaurant dates back to 1912 and is located near the Hotel De Ville. Recently it has been taken over by the Alain Ducasse group and Thierry de la Brosse. According to my knowledgeable friend Cedric Reversade, they have not changed much in the classic bistro fare though they have added some flourishes of their own. When I say French I mean really, really French: pate en croute, langue de veau Lucullus, filet de sole Nantua, and tete de veau traditionnelle with sauce ravigote. In short, the works. I’m an adventurous eater except when it comes to organ meat so I gave the tongue and the tete a wide berth.

A superb plate of warm, melting gougeres arrived after we sat down. I started with the salade langouste puce which was wonderful. The langoustine was perfectly cooked and served room temperature over bibb lettuce, girolles, (tiny chanterelles) and haricot verte. Cedric and Monique ordered the langue de veau Lucullus--thin layers of tongue and foie gras. It was served with leaves of romaine lettuce that were brushed with a creamy mustard vinaigrette which I did taste and loved.

For my entrée I ordered the pave de saumon sauvage roti with chanterelles, jus acidulé aux herbs. The grilled wild salmon was incredible--perfectly cooked, medium in the center, and served on the most earthy girolles I’ve ever tasted. The slightly acidic sauce brought out everything brilliantly and provided a nice balance to the fattiness of the fish.

So far so good. I was going to pass on dessert but Cedric insisted that I order the Savarin au Rhum (rum baba baked in a mold) and I submitted enthusiastically. They served the savarin along with crème fouetté, (slightly whipped cream with vanilla sugar) with two bottles of rum to choose from which are then poured over the savarin. Baba rhum is one of the trademarks of Alain Ducasse. After one bite I knew I was in love with the restaurant

As soon as I get home I’m pulling out my French cookbooks to make the Savarin among other dishes inspired by this evening. It’s so wonderful that the classic cuisine of France has been reinvigorated by Benoit.

Benoit
20, rue Saint-Martin
75004 Paris
01.42.72.25.76

Food Shopping in Paris: Part One

2007-11-02T13:27:00.000-04:00

One of the greatest pleasures in Paris for me is shopping for food. I always seem to discover something new. My second greatest pleasure is being able to have a kitchen to cook what I've gathered, as I did on my recent trip to Paris.

My friend Monique DuVeau and I were working on a shoot for the magazine and after a mediocre lunch out with our crew one day, I decided to cook lunch for the next few days. Monique knows every nook and cranny in Paris and I was armed with a list of a few places I’d heard of.

Our first stop was Joël Thiébault, who grows the most gorgeous and delicious vegetables I've ever seen in Paris. What makes him so unique is the variety of produce he offers, all of which he grows himself. Joël's great-grandparents were selling produce back in 1873. He grows hundreds and hundreds varieties of produce in Carrières-sur-Seine, not far from Paris. So many markets in Paris these days are full of gorgeous produce but most of it comes from every part of Europe except Paris. Chefs, discerning customers and loyal fans are lined up at Thiebault's by 8:00 in the morning.

I bought an array of vegetables but his lettuces in particular were just incredible, so fresh and crisp and full of flavor. I had forgotten how good lettuce could taste. I also bought potatoes, squashes, tomatoes, onions and some fresh vervine which I made an infusion with. Everything was amazing. There is no question that Joël is changing the produce landscape in Paris, and only for the better.

Joël sells Tuesday and Friday mornings market at Rue Gros in the 16th near Maison de le Radio. Wednesday and Saturday mornings he's at the President Wilson market in the 8th.

joelthiebault.free.fr

Eating in Berlin

2007-10-17T13:17:00.000-04:00

I’ve just visited Berlin for the first time, and although the trip was short, I did get to go to a few restaurants. Since I wanted to eat some classic German food, a colleague suggested I go to the gourmet food floor at the department store KaDeWe and eat there. Along with its huge selection of food, KaDeWe offers a dozen or so little counter style restaurants where you can choose from a variety of different menus--seafood, steaks, French, Asian, and other cuisine. I went for one that served German sausages along with sauerkraut, various potato dishes, pretzels, and beer. I ordered the grilled Wurstwaren, a bratwurst. It came with sauerkraut, a dollop of mustard, and a room temperature potato salad. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I skipped the beer though and opted for a local Riesling which was a delicious complement to the rich food.

For dinner that evening we went to the hip restaurant of the moment, San Nici. Its massive dining room with perfect acoustics really delighted me. The menu was classic Italian with a few twists and the wine list included a well-chosen Italian selection. I ordered a buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad and the Cotoletta di Vitello with crispy sage and fried cherry capers. Both were great but if I closed my eyes I could have been eating anywhere.

The next day before leaving I met friends and went to Manzini for lunch. Again, the menu was mostly Italian but they also had some German dishes, including Wiener Schnitzel which I ordered. My order was huge and came with some simple boiled potatoes and the traditional side of cucumbers with dill in a simple vinaigrette. Those cucumbers are always a welcome addition to Schnitzel, as they help cut the fat. We had a Gruner Veltliner which was just perfect. I really like crisp white wines with any sort of fried food.

I can’t say I left with any sort of epiphany about German food or that I had a culinary life-changing experience but I was happy to encounter the local fare, drink the local wines, and try a few beers. When I go back to Berlin I’m going to get a lot more tips from local people. I think that’s crucial in Berlin.

www.kadewe-berlin.de

San Nici
Friedrichstrabe 101
10117 Berlin
030-306.454.980
www.san-nicci.de

Manzini
Ludwigkirchstrabe 11
10719 Berlin
030-885.782.0
www.manzini.de

Food Shopping in Paris part two

2007-10-12T13:37:00.000-04:00

Boucherie Desnoyer

While enjoying a delicious cote du boeuf at Le Severo last year I asked the owner where he got his meat. He told me from the butcher Hugo Desnoyer. I wanted to stop and check it out then but didn’t have time. Finally on this trip I had my chance. Desnoyer not only sells his cotes du oeuf to Le Sevro but to the who’s who of major restaurants in Paris like Chez l’Ami Louis, L’Ambroise and Pierre Gagnaire but also many bistros I’ve not heard of that he recommended I try. Hugo specializes in beef, veal, lamb, poultry and pork which is raised in specific regions in France which according to him is very important because specific soil and grass, let’s say terrior reflect is important.

Walking into the store I was overwhelmed by the displays and wanted to try everything. This is traditional butchering that is harder and harder to find. They bone and stuff everything as well as butchering and have some prepared food as well.

Honestly, I’ve not felt like I could live in Paris until now. I want to try all the various cuts of meats and re-discover all the incredible recipes for some of these classic French dishes. We ordered a terrine of cotes du boeuf which we had for lunch. It was great and Hugo also gave us an amazing pate made with veal and pork to try that was out of this world. I was sorry that I could not buy and grill some cotes du boeuf but on my next trip to Paris I will.

Boucherie Desnoyer
25 rue Mouton-Duvernet
75014 Paris
01 45 40 76 67
www.regalez-vous.com

Du Pain et des Idées

There is bread then there is bread that is so unbelievably delicious that all of a sudden realized you just ate half a loaf in a matter of minutes. Well that is what happened to me at this bakery. Located near the hippest area of Paris, Canal St. Martin in the 10th arrondissement. This bakery is owned by Christophe Vasseur not only makes his own yeast to leaven his bread but gets flour from a mill that still mills in the traditional way. When I walked in I wanted to taste everything, the brioche, the pain levain, the baguettes but especially something that seemed very curious to me. A pain au chocolate which also had a slice of banana it, not exactly traditional. But when I bit into it I was transported to a distant place. The chocolate and banana were a perfect pairing and the buttery pastry melted in my mouth. Why can’t I eat carbs every second of the day, its not fair. We loaded up and bought a little of everything and at lunch sat and enjoyed all the breads with cheeses after lunch. I should say we devoured the bread with the cheeses. This is one place that I am actually happy is not down the street from me.

Du Pain et des Idées
34, rue Yves Toudic
7510 Paris
01 42 40 44 52