Matters of Taste

An All-American English Muffin

Would you believe it’s an English muffin?

It may be the goofiest looking English muffin around. But then again, someone could also call it the most elegant, the plumpest, the most substantial.

For sure, there’s nothing else quite like the almost-four-inches-high  English muffin from Sarabeth’s Kitchen, a beloved New York City bakery/café that opened quietly in 1981 and has since become synonymous with perfect and pricey baked goods and preserves. (There are currently four bakery/cafe locations in Manhattan.)

Gathered together tightly on a tray in the counter of the Upper East Side “Kitchen,” they looked like a sci-fi mushroom field. Alone, split, toasted, buttered and topped with Sarabeth Levine's “Spreadable Fruit” that has won numerous Fancy Food Show awards, they were the perfect accompaniment to some of the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever tasted.   (The cloud-like Green and White eggs are dotted with fresh chives and tiny puddles of cream cheese.)

You can buy most of Sarabeth’s fabulous cookies (the simple Nut Crescents and the outrageous Chocolate Chubbies, made with three kinds of chocolate and two kinds of nuts are my favorites); cakes, and preserves on-line. (The English muffins are not available on line.)

But if you’re craving an English muffin right this minute, I suggest you look to Bays or Wolferman’s and consider some of these delicious toppings.

*** A thin slice of heirloom tomato (they’re safe), basil leaf, and juicy slab of fresh mozzarella

*** Fromage blanc or mascarpone (a nice change of pace from cream cheese) topped with Raspberry Orange Marmalade from Sarabeth's Kitchen or Massachusetts Rubies from Deborah’s Kitchen.

*** Rising Sun Farms’ Gorgonzola Cheese Torta with Roasted Hazelnuts and Cranberries (widely available in supermarkets)    

 *** Trader Joe’s Fat Free Smoky Black Bean Dip with some crumbled feta and a sprig of cilantro

*** Meditalia Green or Black Olive Tapenade (made by Peaceworks, a company selling “healthful products that are produced by neighbors on opposing sides of political or armed conflicts, whose cooperative business ventures we facilitate.”

 

Time Out

I'm taking the day off.

Hope you'll check in tomorrow and Friday when we'll:

#1 Make the acquaintance of this magical 'shroom

#2 Get an update on the bottled water ballyhoo that was central to last week's New York University "Critical Topics in Food" seminar

#3 Check out where Phil Mickelson eats; and the rest of the best places to dine within a tee shot of this week's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines

Lights, Camera, Action, Food

The Oscars of the food world, The James Beard Foundation Awards, were held Sunday night at Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center in New York City.  Like the famed movie awards, this extravaganza featured a red carpet, flashing cameras, celebrities, plenty of cleavage, and more than a few “I’d like to thank my beautiful wife” acceptance speeches.

But, unlike the Hollywood version, this event also featured spectacular food prepared by more than 30 of the country’s best-known chefs at the reception that followed the three-hour show.

Danny Meyer took the big award for Outstanding Restaurant of the year for Gramercy Tavern, which he opened with chef/partner Tom Colicchio in 1994. Meyer, who’s been making waves in the food world ever since he opened Union Square Café in 1985, also captured the medallion for Best Wine Service with his restaurant Eleven Madison Park.

Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali shared the Best Restaurateur award in recognition of their stunningly successful Babbo restaurant (which celebrated its 10th anniversary at a party earlier that day). At the podium, Joe sweetly thanked his mother, cookbook author/restaurateur Lidia, for teaching him to be a restaurateur, and his wife, for letting him be one.

Other top awards, introduced by super-chef Bobby Flay and "Sex and the City"'s Kim Cattrall, went to Gavin Kaysen of Café Boulud for Rising Star Chef of the Year (see yesterday's post below); to the effervescent Michel Richard (who literally danced onto the stage with his very “Fraaaaaanch” white scarf flapping in the breeze) for Best New Restaurant (Central Michel Richard in Washington, D.C.); and to Grant Achatz for Outstanding Chef. In his poignant acceptance speech, Achatz  (of Alinea restaurant in Chicago) thanked the food community for supporting him through his recent battle with tongue cancer. (For other award winners, see below.)   

When the ceremony concluded, it was party time. Guests, who included chefs, restaurateurs, journalists, publicists and other food-lovers who paid $450 for a ticket, strolled the stations on two levels of Avery Fisher Hall and even spilled out into Lincoln Center.

The theme of the evening was “Artisanal America: The Craft of Cuisine,” and each award-winning chef created a dish that showcased the goods of an artisanal producer (some of whom were present with the chefs).

Scott Peacock, who won the JB Best Chef Southeast award last year for his restaurant Watershed in Decatur, Georgia, created weensy southern buttermilk biscuits, brushed them with sweet butter, tucked a piece of Smithfield ham in each, and served them with homemade strawberry jam. Bill Telepan, whose restaurant Telepan is just a few blocks from Lincoln Center, offered delicious pork scrapple topped with a quivering poached egg and sweet pork sauce. (Photos are from Gothamist.com.)

Other highlights of the most sophisticated “buffet” in town included an intense mixed berry sherbet with candied mint and rose petals from Chez Panisse; Ana Sortun’s (Oleana, Cambridge. Mass.) wispy green garlic pancakes with spring peas and homemade string cheese; a sweet-savory summer squash tart with Laura Chenel goat cheese and preserved strawberry tomatoes from Helene Kennan of L.A.'s Getty Center café; and Nancy Silverton’s (Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, L.A.) amazing "mozzarella balloon" filled with ricotta and paired with a braised baby artichoke stuffed with pine nuts and currants.

But my favorite of all was the rich, crackly wafer topped with "Salt-Cured Local Foie Gras,"  warm strawberry-black pepper jam and arugula that came from chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli of NYC restaurant Butter.

Established in 1990, the James Beard Foundation Awards recognize culinary professionals for excellence and achievement in their field. The Foundation's stated mission is to celebrate, preserve, and nurture America's culinary heritage and diversity.

Other 2008 award-winners were:
Outstanding Pastry Chef: Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, Tartine Bakery, San Francisco

Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional: Terry Theise of Terry Theise Estate Selections

Outstanding Service: Terra, St. Helena, Calif

Best Chef Great Lakes: Carrie Nahabedian, Naha, Chicago

Best Chef Mid-Atlantic: Eric Ziebold, CityZen, Washington, D.C.

Best Chef Midwest: Adam Siegel, Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro, Milwaukee

Best Chef New York: David Chang, Momofuku Ssam Bar, New York

Best Chef Northeast: Patrick Connolly, Radius, Boston

Best Chef Northwest: Holly Smith, Cafe Juanita, Kirkland, Wash.

Best Chef Southwest: Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, Colo.

Best Chef South: Michelle Bernstein, Michy's, Miami

Best Chef Southeast: Robert Stehling, Hominy Grill, Charleston, S.C.

Best Chef Pacific: Craig Stoll, Delfina, San Francisco

Rising Star Chef of 2008

NEW YORK CITY---

What does a young guy do the day after winning one of the most prestigious culinary awards in the country?

Cook up a mess of chickpeas.   

Reached by phone this afternoon in the kitchen of Café Boulud, Gavin Kaysen was preparing the dried beans for a canapé that will be served tonight at the popular Upper East Side eatery.  “I’ll probably fold them into some hummus with piqueno peppers, some preserved lemon and a bit of mint and parsley,” explained the winner of  the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year Award. “It’ll be very refreshing,” he added, referring to the furnace-like temperatures that have blasted the city for the last few days.

Last night, at the James Beard Foundation’s glitzy annual awards ceremony at Lincoln Center, Kaysen won the award for a chef 30 years of age or younger “who displays an impressive talent, and who is likely to have a significant impact on the industry in years to come.”

The other finalists were Nate Appleman of A16 in San Francisco Sean Brock of McCrady's in Charleston S.C. , Johnny Monis of Komi in Washington, D.C., Matt Molina of Osteria Mozza in L.A., and Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon.

“Shocked, just shocked,” is how Kaysen described his reaction to the award, an engraved bronze medallion on a red ribbon, which was presented to him by last year's winner David Chang and TV personality Padma Lakshmi. “I mean, you certainly don’t expect something like this when you first move somewhere, especially New York City which is a big pond with big fish,” said the boyish-looking chef who started manning the stoves at Café Boulud just seven months ago. (One of his hits was this sophisticated summer squash agnolotti studded with bits of sweetbreads, crispy bacon “tuiles”, red pearl onions and fresh sage.)        

Kaysen’s rise to the pinnacle of fine dining in the U.S has been a fast one, highlighted by a little luck and a lot of hard work.

For five years before Daniel Boulud tapped him for the top Cafe Boulud job, Kaysen was chef of El Bizcocho in the Rancho Bernardo Inn. While there he won stellar reviews from San Diego restaurant critics, was selected one of Food & Wine magazine's 2007 Best New Chefs and represented the U.S.in the prestigious Bocuse d'Or International cooking competition in France, where he placed 14th.

Kaysen graduated from the New England Culinary Institute, then moved on to stints in the kitchens of Domaine Chandon in Napa Valley, Auberge de Lavaux in Lausanne,  Switzerland and the Michelin-starred L'Escargot in London.

When asked to ponder why he won the award after just seven months in New York when he didn't even make the list of finalists while at El Bizcocho, Kaysen was both philosophical and practical.

“I think the award reflects everything I’ve done up to this point, including my five years in San Diego. But it’s just that when you’re in New York, everyone has the opportunity to eat your food because everybody goes to New York City,” he continued, with “everybody” being the food professionals and journalists who vote on the awards.

“I save all the tickets in the kitchen,” he added, referring to the orders placed by diners. “And I’ve had a lot of people come in and eat my food over these seven months. It makes a very big difference. It’s not that San Diego isn’t on the food map, because it is. It’s just that everybody goes through this city.”

Kaysen also gives much credit to his staff at Café Boulud who he says inspire him every day, and to Daniel Boulud, the creator of one of the most impressive gastronomic empires in the world. (It includes Restaurant Daniel, Bar Boulud, db Bistro Moderne in New York City and Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas.)

“Daniel was like a kid in a candy store when I won,” Kaysen said with a laugh. “He sent me a text message right away; it was classic Daniel. It said something like ‘Big hug to you, Baby.  You rock my world’.”

“Daniel’s a very inspiring person. I’ve always looked up to him as a mentor. He’s somebody you can always learn from.”

The  18th annual black-tie event at Avery Fisher Hall was emceed by Kim Cattrall and celebrity chef Bobby  Flay. A couple thousand professional chefs, winemakers, restaurateurs, food journalists, publicists and well-heeled foodies (tickets cost $450) sat through the three-hour ceremony, then feasted on the breathtaking fare from more than 30 nationally renowned chefs at the reception afterwards.

For a “taste” of the spectacular dishes whipped up by these chefs and a complete list of award winners, including Outstanding Chef, Restaurant and Restaurateur, visit my blog tomorrow.

Pizza Perfection

I wish I had a slice of pepperoni for every time someone’s told me that their favorite pizza was the best in the city, whatever that city may be.

Palermo. Florence. Vancouver. Chicago Near North. Chicago South Side. Boston. And, this afternoon, Brooklyn.

Since I’m always happy to give the benefit of a doubt to the pizza lover in question, I’ve dutifully trotted along to more pizzerias than I could possibly count.    

Today, the pilgrimage took me to Grimaldi’s in the shade of the Brooklyn Bridge. Grimaldi’s is an institution that inspires great passion in the hearts of pizza lovers. It’s a proper sit-down joint, with red-checkered cloths on the tables and a hulking coal burning oven in the back.  A large, hand-scribbled sign in the window proclaims “No Slices.”

When I arrived to meet friends at 12:30 p.m. (the restaurant opens at noon on Saturdays), there was already a line on the sidewalk of close to 100 people. A kindly old gent in a blue, button-down, Oxford cloth shirt (who looked like he should be hosting at an Irish pub instead of an Italian pizzeria) worked the line, asking each party the number of people.

Each group was taken in the order they stood in line. No special treatment. No shenanigans. Just quiet efficiency and not a peep of complaint out of the hungry faithful. We waited about an hour (fortunately there are couple massive trees in front providing shade). 

The experience was well worth the wait.

Once seated, things move along fast at Grimaldi’s. This is not the place to sit and nurse a Negroni. You can order a glass of house red or white wine or one of seven bottled beers (all are $4), but you’d better be ready with your pizza order too. Servers are quick and efficient and in no mood for schmoozing.

It’s a pity the pace isn’t a bit slower, because the show in front of the pizza oven is spectacular. A cast of four or five guys do the duties, patting plump rounds of pizza dough (made daily on the premises), dusting them with flour, patting some more, stretching, twirling, caressing, smoothing, and finally, topping with ingredients.

Each time a worker is ready to pass the dough to the next “station” he tosses it through the air with the nonchalance and grace of Derek Jeter or Khalil Greene going for the easy double play.

Two other men are responsible for slipping the pies into the coal-burning oven. When they remove a pie, it’s shipped airmail over to the counter where it’s slid onto a dented metal pizza tray and delivered to the table.

I loved the pizza.  Fans say its true beauty comes from the coal-burning oven. They scoff at modern day “brick ovens” which do not use coal and do not reach the 800 degrees of the coal oven.

Indeed, I found the crust to have a lovely smoky flavor and a distinctive crispness from the high heat. Moreover, there were a few tasty blackened spots on the bottom…another bonus of the oven, say die-hard Grimaldi lovers.  The pizzas cook in just four or five minutes. (This photo comes from the pizza-loving website Slice.SeriousEats.com.)

The toppings are simple and top quality. Pepperoni, sausage and ham; onions, mushrooms, red peppers, black olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Capers and ricotta are the only remotely fancy additions. They're both delicious, the ricotta lending a lovely creaminess; the big fat capers adding tang and texture.

There’s also garlic and anchovies to punch up the flavor. “Extra basil” or “Extra mozzarella” will set you back two bucks.  A large plain 18-inch pizza costs $14; each topping is $2.

Grimaldi’s is open daily for lunch and dinner. But don’t show up between 4 and 6 in the afternoon. That’s when the oven is “refreshed.”

Step One: Change Recipes

I loved New York Times' reporter Kim Severson's story in today's paper about recipe requirements that send the cook looking for another recipe.

In "Recipe Deal Breakers: When Step 2 is 'Corral Pig,'" Severson  shared the practical and psychological reasons that cooks will toss in the towel and the cookbook along with it.

One of the funniest is cookbook author Diana Kennedy's Mexican sausage recipe that calls for two quarts of pig's blood. "If you do not kill your own pig, order it through a butcher," she advises.

Less dramatic perhaps, but equally unrealistic is a Paula Wolfert recipe calling for 48 tender young grapevine leaves, freshly picked; and a dish in Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe cookbook that required "wild boar from the hills surrounding Santa Fe."

Severson interviews amateur and professional cooks alike and finds that no one really loves stuffing olives, cutting veggies into matchsticks or filleting fresh anchovies. Trussing and de-boning aren't favorites either.

And the terms “Serves 18” and “Remove all jewelry before proceeding” are also pretty good indications that the going will not be smooth.

I stopped to think what recipe demands cause me to flip the page fast.  #1 is anything that involves a candy thermometer. Making caramel and measuring the temperature of exploding sugar is just not in my DNA.

I also rush on past recipes that call for cooking baby artichokes – snipping, trimming, tugging out the insides -- though I love them and order them in restaurants every chance I get.

I know that the ghee in Indian dishes is simply clarified butter and easy to make, but its presence in a recipe is usually a deal-breaker as it implies (to me) hopelessly time-consuming and exotic, to boot.

Turn-off buzz words? “Smoke” is right up there, since I don’t have the equipment to do it and don’t feel the need to expand my horizons in that time-consuming and, er, smoky endeavor.

And “overnight” is usually a killer, too. If the beans soak overnight or the meat marinates overnight, that often means I’ll be looking for gourmet-to-go in the neighborhood since the “overnight” in questions was 12 of more hours ago.

If there’s an ingredient or instruction that triggers the “No way, Jose” response in you, please share it with us here.

Food Fight

As if there isn’t enough fighting going on around the world, here’s Chile and Peru locked in a hot-headed battle over, of all things, the potato.

According to a story in yesterday’s New York Times, Chile’s agricultural minister recently claimed that “99 percent of the world’s potatoes have some type of genetic link to potatoes from Chile.”

Them are fighting words to Peru, where the potato is a source of national pride.

In response, Peru’s  Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcma Belaunde has cranked up a series of events organized around the International Year of the Potato, so decreed by the United Nations to promote the potato’s potential role in alleviating hunger in poor countries. Top chefs in Peru are developing new potato dishes. A Catalan artist traveled to Peru to unveil ”conceptual works” inspired by the homely tuber. And Peruvian President Alan Garcia is trying to increase potato cultivation by replacing white bread with potato bread in all schools.

Of course, the hot potato is only part of the tense status quo between the 2 countries. Peru is also mighty ticked off that Chile calls the “pisco sour” its own even though the town of Pisco is in Peru’s grape-growing country. (Personally, having tasted a couple pisco sours while visiting Peru a few years ago, I don’t know why anyone would want to claim the bitter brandy or slimy cocktail as his own.)

But it’s the spud spat that’s news today. And in honor of that, here’s a terrific recipe that takes advantage of both the lowly tater and glorious sweet summer corn.

SWEET CORN AND POTATO VICHYSSOISE
From  “The Union Square Cookbook” by Danny Meyer and Michael Romano
Serves 4

5 ears of corn
6 ½ cups water
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon butter
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 ½ cups sliced leeks, washed, white and light green parts only
1 ½ cups sliced onions
1 ½ cups diced potatoes
¾ cup sliced celery
1 ¼ cups buttermilk, chilled
1 ½ tablespoons minced chives
Cut the corn kernels from the cobs and reserve. Chop the cobs into 1-inch pieces. Place the cob pieces in a  2-quart saucepan with the water and half the salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30  minutes. Strain and reserve the corn broth. Discard the cobs.

Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium heat. Add the cumin and cayenne and allow to sizzle for 1 minute, stirring. Stir in the corn kernels, leeks, onions, potatoes and celery. Season with the remaining salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables are wilted, about 7 minutes. Add the corn broth and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

While the soup is still hot, pour into a blender and puree until very smooth. It may be necessary to do this in more than one batch. Strain the soup through a fine strainer and chill in a bowl over ice. When chilled, stir in the buttermilk and adjust the seasoning to taste. Serve in chilled soup bowls, sprinkled with chives.

Water Water Everywhere

“If you could rack up frequent-flyer miles on ships, trains and trucks, a little square plastic bottle of Fiji water would be eligible for some big-time rewards.                  

Fiji hails from the island of Viti Levu in the South Pacific. That's about 5,600 miles, as the crow flies, to the port of Los Angeles and another 3,000 or so to East Coast restaurant tables and home fridges.”

These were some of the shocking statistics that I encountered last summer while researching a story on bottled water for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Since then, when I request sparkling water at a restaurant I always ask where it comes from. If the water on the menu needed a passport to get to my table –- or even a long journey from inside the U.S. – I go with a glass of club soda instead.

Since the article ran, restaurants throughout the country have started to confront the issue.

In San Diego, George’s California Modern and Barbarella now offer local spring water, both plain and sparkling, in re-usable glass bottles. They join such restaurants as Pacifica Del Mar, Jack’s La Jolla and Island Prime who spearheaded the move, as reported in the U-T article entitled “Pour Choice.”

And, in New York City, where one’s choice of bottled water is likely to be as critical in “defining” a person as one’s choice of designer handbag, several big name hotels have joined such eateries as Mario Batali’s Del Posto and Gemma in nixing bottled water. Moreover, the city spent ¾ of a million bucks earlier this year in an ad campaign to get New Yorkers to drink from the tap.

But jet-setting bottled water – and the 41 million barrels of oil that are said to be used to make, transport and refrigerate bottled water each year – is only one aspect of the water “crisis.”

This week at New York University, a series entitled Critical Topics in Food will deal with the many aspects of what some call the central issue confronting the planet this century.

“WATER: A Global Discussion of a Critical Topic” will be held at the New York University Fales Library on Thursday, June 5, 2008  from 4 to 6 pm. Suggested donation is $10. Seats may be reserved by calling (212) 992-9018 or emailing rsvp.bobst@nyu.edu.

Panelists include
** Rick Moonen, creator of RM restaurant in Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas and author of soon-to-be-released cookbook “Fish Without A Doubt.”
** Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies & Public Health at NYU and author of “What To Eat” and “Food Politics: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism.”
** Alex Prud’homme, author of “The Cell Game” (about the ImClone scandal) and “My Life in France” which he wrote with Julia Child.
** and Yours Truly

The panel will be moderated by Clark Wolf, founder of Clark Wolf Company, a well-known food, restaurant and hospitality consulting firm, and will deal with issues ranging from sustainable seafood and ocean conservation, to the drowning of New Orleans by hurricane Katrina, the impact of looming droughts on agriculture around the world, and on bottled water – the good, the bad and the ugly.

The “Critical Topics in Food” series has already hosted panels on “Sustainable Agriculture vs. Industrial Food” and “Cooks Who Grown Their Own: A More Direct Route from Earth to Table.”

Thursday’s panel, as well as past presentation, can be seen on-line at NYU’s Media Archive.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Gimme a chocolate cruller, coffee with cream and two sugars, and a heaping side of conservative craziness.

That’s been the order du jour at Dunkin Donuts stores across the country this week, as the company buckled under an assault by right-wingers in the blogosphere.

It all started with Rachael Ray. Yup, none other than that perennially-perky pusher of meals in minutes.

Turns out that Rachael wore a lovely black-and-white paisley scarf in an on-line ad for DD’s iced coffee.

Blogmeister Michelle Malkin, who the Chicago Tribune says “scours the world’s hot button issues hoping to raise the heat” took to the Internet with rants about the scarf resembling a keffiyeh  - a “jihadi chic keffiyeh” to be exact – and wondered aloud if Dunkin Donuts should be boycotted because of this “blunder.” The implication - and the ensuing chatter on the net - was that the garment was synonymous with terrorism and that DD and RR were somehow sending a message about Islamic terror organizations.

At first, DD issued a statement saying there was no hidden symbolism behind the scarf. It was simply the wardrobe choice of the stylist working on that particular ad.

But in response to an apparent frenzy of fear-mongering posts on the Internet,  the company pulled the ad a couple days ago.

I guess there’s plenty to debate here.

Is the keffiyeh a symbol of terrorism or simply the traditional garb that most Palestinian men wear to work in the fields and walk their kids to school?

Was Dunkin Donuts weak-kneed to pull the ad or just protecting its stockholders?

Heck. You can even debate whether Dunkin Donuts' iced coffee is as good as the new one from Mickey Ds.

But, to me, the more important question is why the heck does Michelle Malkin get so much play? I don’t know how this woman gets up and faces that first coffee-and-cruller each morning. If I had to make my living peddling paranoia, I’d wrap a stylish black and white keffiyeh around my neck and pull real hard.