Posted May 16, 2012
I’ve been reading all the recent food magazines and the fish wraps, but nothing has been making much of an impact. Could it be that making my way through Calvin Trillin’s The Tummy Trilogy has set the bar a bit higher?
To the question, why live in New York, Trillin arrived at his answer thusly:
A week or so after our return, Alice and I happened to walk by a Chinese restaurant on Irving Place and we realized we had forgotten about it. I don’t mean we had forgotten its name or its exact address; we had forgotten about its existence. The previous spring, we had eaten a spectacular meal there, including a dish that came close to being the Great Dried Beef in the Sky–an Oriental grail we had been in search of since we ate an awesome dried-beef dish in a Chinese restaurant in London (across the street from the Golders Green tube station) several years ago. “This is why we live here,” I said to Alice. “Where else could you forget a restaurant like this?” Now when someone asks me why my family and I choose to live in New York, I don’t have to launch into all sorts of complicated and fuzzy explanations. I just say, “We’re big eaters.”
Or is there less time for writing these days because training a new sous chef–who is quite a food writing critic himself–is time consuming?
Posted May 15, 2012
After limping along with caffein-free Twinings for the past months, I decided to invest in some herbal teas from Harney & Sons. There were many new additions to their offerings and now they are brightening up my daily sacraments. Sure I miss my Chocolate Mint and Winter White Earl Grey, but the Ginger & Liquorice has a spice and a sweetness that perks me up with its scent alone. I’m also enjoying the Lemon Herbal and the seasonal Cherry Blossom. But my happiest discovery has been on the iced tea front. In my caffeinated days I used to go for the Black Currant or the Pomegranate Oolong, but Harney’s Raspberry Herbal is a show stopper. I make it with a couple of bags of Organic Peppermint and some honey. Best iced tea I’ve ever had–and a big step up from the powdered sweet tea I lived on in my youth.
Posted May 14, 2012
The June issue of Food & Wine has a little piece by Josh Dean on the luxury of experiencing Alaska by cruise ship–an option he says 60 percent of the state’s visitors opt for. I, too, have enjoyed the Holland America guide to Alaska, and if you are wondering if you are really the “cruise type,” I have two words for you: taco bar. That’s right, at nearly any hour you can fix yourself a taco poolside. And at that very moment you smack your lips and look around, imagining that there might be a cold beer nearby, a waiter materializes to confirm it.
Other words that come to mind: eggs benedict, waffles to order, salmon jerky, whales, eagles, glaciers, hot tub, discotek, magic show, trivia competition. Okay, some of that stuff might not sell you, but if you’re eligible, there is an outstanding ladies blackjack night with rules that favor the player. Real money can be made if you know your way around the greens.
Dinner every night was a three-course affair and it was never a disappointment. But my fondest memories are of munching salmon jerky and washing it down with Old Crow bourbon smuggled in to offset the bar bill (you see, it comes in plastic hip flasks that look very much like mouth wash if your bags happen to be scanned). Just a hint if you plan to cruise the 49th state. Also, a note to self for the Holland America cabin I plan to book for December in the Caribbean.
Posted May 1, 2012
If you are like me, you find a stocked cheese case intimidating. I usually glide past it at Whole Foods and hit up my stand-bys: smoked mozzarella or a hunk of Muenster. These are also cheeses that lend themselves well to devouring in the kitchen while unpacking the other groceries. For dinner parties, I will linger by the full cheese case sniffing plastic-wrapped options that are unrevealing about their nature. Eventually I ask someone for help, but the fact that they never suggested Port Salut is evidence that I was being steered to their personal favorites or worse the blocks they want to move.
If you like a milder–or as I like to think, more nuanced–cheese, go for the Port Salut. Produced by Trappist monks in the 19th Century, this soft creamy cheese has a hint of tang and very little saltiness, so it goes wonderfully on just about any type of cracker. The other selling point: the price. It’s one of the cheapest in the case, so a nice big wedge is just $5. I feel like I’m getting away with something when I walk out with this gem.
Posted April 20, 2012
It turns out that Cairo Wine & Liquor on 17th Street in Dupont Circle has the Imbue vermouth I wrote about last time. (It also turns out that if you ask for something they don’t have, it will be ordered.) They mentioned that Hank’s Oyster Bar also carries this particular bottle. And it’s newer than I thought. The bottle I bought is only from the second batch. Funny though, this trend does not make Imbibe’s 50 Drinks of the Moment list, an expansive group that includes winners like honey-infused spirits and fruit beer. Shudder.
I also recently wrote about deep-fried herbs, so I perked up when I came across a small note in Martha Stewart Living about frying lightly battered sage leaves and serving them with sea salt. I think that could be an excellent companion to the Imbue or the other trend I’m currently following: bourbon.
Posted April 17, 2012
Two years ago Jason Wilson wrote in the Washington Post about a fortified wine called Cocchi Aperitivo Americano. Basically fortified wines are what the name implies: wine plus a spirit, usually brandy, and also sometimes botanicals. The Cocchi is a white wine flavored with cinchona bark. Wilson described it as a “revelation.” Fortified wines can be used in cocktails–vermouth is one–but they can also be lovely served simply over ice. This is how I enjoy them at Little Serow in Dupont Circle, which always has several on offer, including the Cocchi. It is very sweet at first blush, but there is a bitter undertone, not unlike Campari, which triumphs. The fortified wines are perfect for Little Serow, which doesn’t serve liquor, so they act as cocktails, and the refreshing rush of sweet is the only thing that can tamp down the heat of the toughest dishes. (This is, by the way, currently the best meal in D.C.) They have another on the menu called Imbue, which was described to me as the staff favorite. Rightly so. The grapes are pinot gris from the Willamette Valley in Oregon and it’s infused with botanicals like chamomile, elderflower, and juniper. I tasted less of the bitterness in this one and preferred it. I have yet to find it locally, however the Cocchi is available at A.M. Wine Shoppe in Adams Morgan. This could be the drink of the season.
Posted April 15, 2012
Do read Julia Ioffe’s article in the current New Yorker about a Russian chef/historian who is dedicated to discovering and preserving his homeland’s traditional dishes–no, not potatoes and not borscht. Most of the dishes seem to be a variation of cabbage, meat, and pickle juice, but regardless of whether this diet lights your culinary fire, it is certainly a noble enterprise. The best parts of the piece touch on how these dishes came into being–as in everyone in town brought what they had and a stew or casserole was born. I was also struck by an anecdote about cooking during WWII when food staples were wiped out. “The food warehouses burned down during the first days of the siege. My grandmother would go to the spot where they had stood–many people went and dug the earth where the sugar silo was. And then they would bring this earth home, wash it, and make syrup out of it.”
This reminded me of Barbara Demick’s terrific 2009 piece about famine in North Korea. If you missed this piece in the New Yorker take the time now to go back and read it. You’ll meet Mrs. Song, an incredibly resourceful cook who seems to squeeze soup out of stone, who nonetheless must watch as her family starves around her. Breath a sigh of relief as you sip your mid-day spritzer.
Posted April 13, 2012
There’s a lot to read in the food and dining sections this week. Candy Sagon’s piece in the Washington Post about what you should and shouldn’t cook when your home is on the market is eye-opening. Not about the foods–no fish, no popcorn, no Indian spices–but about just how restricted people are when they are trying to sell their home. Even in a recession-proof market like D.C., it sounds like a miserable process. At least you can still cook up this good-smelling lemon and honey chicken to pick up your spirits.
And some promising food news for the District: The new Rasika in the West End has arrived, and in Petworth, Fish in the Hood sounds like a destination for an excellent fish sandwich. These reviews made me incredibly hungry, but I was pushed to the limit with Pete Wells’ 3-star review (that is: not a funny, but a tasty read) of Kyo Ya in the New York Times. I had to take a break to make a reservation at Sushi Taro.
Also in the Times, Jodi Rudoren has a lovely tribute to Charlie Trotter, whose schmancy restaurant in Chicago will be closing after 25 years. Clearly–there are dozens of articles that argue it–Trotter can be…unpleasant, but he’s also an institution in Chicago and in the philanthropic scene. He gives back a lot and it’s nice to read about that side of him. (Although his regular auctioning off of a slot for a cook for the day in his kitchen turns out to just be a way to avoid giving up any covers in the dining room. There’s an evil genius to that switcheroo.) Oddly, he’s leaving the biz to get a graduate degree in philosophy–another side it seems.
Finally, Damon Darlin’s meal out with Tyler Cowin–economist food blogger–is fodder for a nice article. Cowin’s economic “reasons” for good food truisms, a la Freakonomics, makes for a fun read in the short form, but no need to buy his new book. In the Times review, Dwight Garner describes the experience as being “like pushing a shopping cart through Whole Foods with Rush Limbaugh. The patter is nonstop and bracing.”
Posted April 10, 2012
In terms of density alone, there are several stretches in the District that cater to the eating out crowd. 14th and U Streets, Connecticut near Dupont Circle, Columbia Road and 18th Street in Adams Morgan, 7th Street in Chinatown all come to mind. But I’m here to make the case for the little stretch of 17th Street between P and Corcoran Streets. On the high end there’s the obvious: Komi, so-said top spot in D.C., Little Serow, a James Beard nominated best new restaurant, and Sushi Taro, specializing in Kaiseki menus. And nice range by the way: Greek, Thai, and Japanese.
But the casual spots–places I probably wouldn’t go if I didn’t live right by them are all solid: Pizza No. 17, Agora, and Hank’s Oyster Bar. The nice range builds: charming pizza place, casual Greek with a killer lamb sandwich, and regional seafood. Each restaurant comes with the added benefit of outdoor seating and on a nice evening or these early spring afternoons, every seat is full.
Finally, there are a couple of places that don’t get the credit they deserve for the quality of their fare. Trio, which to my mind is the closest thing this town has to a diner, and Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse, which serves a nice piece of meat and a spicy bloody Mary.
I’d argue that this little strip has another thing that strengthens the case for restaurant row status: The Vibe is distinctly communal. When the weather is nice and the seats are full, the doors and windows are open and the hosts invite sidewalk traffic and make room for all. Essentially, this stretch starts to feel like a neighborhood block party, something that is hard to find in a city of transients.
Posted April 6, 2012
In an attempt to clear out the mass grave that is my crisper, I immediately thought of split pea soup. But I decided to step out of my comfort zone and create something new. That I crafted a soup that already exists aside, I didn’t know it when spotting a bag of potatoes in the pantry, I got the brilliant idea for a baked potato soup. I figured with the ingredients on hand anything I made would be decent. Instead this is one soup I will be making again–an instant classic.
In a combination of chicken stock and water, simmer 1 ham hock for 80 minutes, adding liquid when it cooks down too much. (You should always have a stockpile of ham hocks in your freezer, and not the icky, nearly meatless ones they have at the grocery. The farmers market hocks are a different species.) Add a half dozen plus medium-sized potatoes, quartered, some sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf, and some salt. Simmer 40 minutes more and then remove the herbs before using a hand blender to puree. Add to the pureed soup chopped scallions, broccoli, and parsley. Cook 10 minutes and then stir in some sour cream and salt to taste. Serve with grated cheese, hot sauce, and black pepper.
