Monthly Archives: May 2010
A Day in the City
| May 25, 2010 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
When I first got my driver’s license I really enjoyed a good road trip whether it was a weekend in Vermont for some skiing or heading towards Ft. Lauderdale for some sun. So now that I have been driving for many years why should that change? I packed up my car and plugged in 2 east 55th street NYC, my destination, the St. Regis Hotel. Just because the idea of a nice drive hasn’t changed doesn’t mean that my accommodation requirements can’t. For this trip, the endurance would not be in the drive but in the dining. The overall weekend scenario is Saturday leave by 1pm, Dinner 1 at Travertine 6:30 pm, Dinner 2 at the Modern 10:30 pm. Sunday’s plan: walk the Brooklyn Bridge by noon, brunch at DBGB 1 pm and dinner 5:30 pm at Ma Peche. Leave for home 7 pm. Here’s how it unfolded.
Got to the Lincoln tunnel by 4:30 pm and it took another hour to get to the hotel. Checked in, changed and hailed a cab to Travertine. Met with friends over cocktails then dug into apps, Hearts of Escarole Salad and bone Marrow, then pastas, Gnocchi and Pici, a duck entrée and finally desserts, rhubarb tart and buttermilk panna cotta. The hand rolled Pici with fennel sausage was my favorite and the escarole a close second. Now it’s time to hit the 6 train uptown. We arrive at the Modern around 10 PM and are greeted with a couple of glasses of brut rose and escorted to a great table by the windows looking into the sculpture garden. Three hors d’oeuvres start us off, the piquillo pepper sphere, chilled asparagus soup with smoked quail eggs and a foie gras and pheasant terrine with truffles. Perfect in every way. Next was the butter poached lobster with morels, again on point. Entrees hit the table squab and licorice caramelized hamachi, man do I love squab especially when it served with foie gras. For dessert a baba grand marnier, caramel parfait and a chocolate palet. All were exceptional. It’s midnight and time to head out, but not before the chocolate trolley arrives with an unspeakable amount and variety of chocolates from candies to toffee. How can you resist? Then came the ice cream cone. At the door saying goodbye and here’s a raspberry brownie for the walk home. At this point I must say I am full but so appreciative of everything I tasted in the previous six hours.
Sunday morning comes around quick, a French press, some grapes and a banana set me right for the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. This was the first time I had done this and was a very good time but with all of that physical exertion it’s time to find lunch so off to DBGB, Daniel Boulud’s market style restaurant. Lamb sausage, veal sausage, a chop salad, house made ham omelette and cheese blintz all washed down with a nice brown ale. I’m starting to realize that my time here is coming to an end as we head back towards the hotel to have a couple classic cocktails before dinner in the Regis bar. I sampled the Red Snapper, it’s the original bloody Mary invented in that same bar. Our last stop Ma Peche, David Chang’s newest restaurant in the chambers hotel. Beef tartar, asparagus salad, chicken pate, pork ribs, fried cauliflower and rice noodles were my final dishes eaten on this trip.
This was a whirl wind trip and was well worth the 9 hours spent in the car. I’m still full!
Whoopie Pies, The New Cupcake?
| May 18, 2010 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Let me tell you I’m a fan. For about five months now we have been making Red Velvet style whoopie pies at Zola Wine and Kitchen. They have been very well received and we also expanded our reach into our other restaurants.
The classic whoopie is two chocolate cake/cookie discs that are filled with a marshmallow fluff filling. I must admit I have eaten more of these sweet treats than I should have but it is the equivalent of an ice cream sandwich that doesn’t melt.
Red Velvet Whoopie Pie at Zola Wine & Kitchen
What we are doing here is introducing many different flavors similar to that of the cupcake world. You have already heard about our inaugural pie, the Red Velvet. Since then, however, we have introduced four additional flavors. We stocked Spy City Café first with three varieties. The first being a fairly straightforward Lemon Pie, this has a vanilla cake that is riddled with fresh lemon and filled with a lemon flavored fluff then garnished with candied lemon. After that came the PB&J, this one is really, really, really good. Imagine that classic childhood lunch morphed into dessert. We use chocolate cakes for this one. They’re filled with a ring of peanut butter fluff and grape jelly then topped with a toasted peanut. And finally the Carnival, this one is a kids’ dream. Vanilla cake baked with jimmies then stuffed with a chocolate chip fluff and finished with a gum ball. Yes, it may be bordering on sugar overload but it’s worth it for the texture alone.
Carnival, Lemon, and PB&J Whoopie Pies at Spy City Cafe
That rounds out the Café and now we move onto Potenza, currently we have only one but it is so fitting, Tiramisu. Destined to be a true whoopie classic, coffee infused cakes doused with a marsala and rum syrup then filled with mascarpone fluff and topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean. This is just the beginning and the possibilities are endless. We currently have a few adult versions in development from the Mojito, Irish coffee and even a Side Car. Stay tuned for more exciting flavors!
The Importance of Food and Wine
| May 12, 2010 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Over the past year I have spent most of my waking hours either at Potenza trying to dial in our recipes from the Sunday gravy to our house cured meats. On the road visiting local farms learning about animal husbandry and how some of these local vegetable farmers go about their process. At Zola Wine and Kitchen teaching cooking classes and starting our quick serve lunch. And finally at Zola re-doing our menu format and introducing new cooking techniques to our staff. Needless to say when I have had some time off all I wanted to do is spend time at home relaxing.
Since doing this I have not been out to dine in quite some time. Dining out not only stimulates the restaurant scene but it also gives one a chance to sit back with friends and family and lose yourself in their company for a couple hours. The importance of this is not only the support of our local restaurants but it keeps you up to date on what’s going on in your neighborhood plus it exposes you to many things you may have not tried in the past. New experiences are great and in my opinion necessary to grow.
Now that Potenza has been up and running for a year, Sous Chef Robbie has pitching in on our classes and running the lunch at Zola Wine and Kitchen and we are refreshed at Zola so I have a little more time on my hands. In order to fill this time I start dining again. Whenever I eat out I always try to eat something I’ve never had or that is prepared in a way that I haven’t seen. By doing this I’m able to learn more about a product or a chef. These experiences also give me some insight into what are the most common ingredients on menus so that I can offer something more unique to our guests.
And then there’s the wine, for the last few years people are preaching beer tastings and pairing beer with food. This is a fun way to experience food and different hand crafted brews but for me on the more serious side of dining, I need my wine. First question is how do you choose sparkling, white or red? The answer is simple and always the same, all of them. I’m not sure how to forego any of these. I always start with a glass of sparkling and then dive into a white and of course finish with red. For most of this I like to live in Burgundy but will venture around the world depending on what is on my plate. In order to be able to pull this off and not get pulled over on the way home I am always appreciative of the restaurant that offers a large and well thought out half bottle page or simply by the glass for two types and focus on a bottle that you really like for the third.
All in all food and wine are meant to go together and should be savored with family and friends this is much better entertainment than any movie I’ve ever seen. Happy Dining to you and remember try something new.
Farmers in Residence: Local Lamb from Springfield Farms of Kent County
| May 6, 2010 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Lamb Salad
Lamb Tenderloin, Mache Leaves, Manchego Cheese Dumplings, Salted Marcona Almond Vinaigrette
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
Salad:
2c. Mach Leaves 1oz. Micro greens
½c. Manchego Cheese, grated
Lamb Tenderloins:
1lbs Tenderloins 2t. Curry Powder
2T. oil 1spg. Rosemary
1oz. olive juice
Salted Marcona Almond Dressing:
¾c. toasted Marcona almonds 3T. canola oil hot
1t. Maldon salt 2.5oz.sherry vinegar
½oz. orange juice 10oz. oil
¼c. shallots, minced & sweated 1T. garlic, minced & sweated
½ea. orange peel, grated ½c. Marcona Almonds, toasted & minced
Manchego Cheese Dumplings:
12oz. AP flour 8oz. Butter
3ea. Eggs, medium 1oz. Manchego cheese, grated
Directions:
Lamb Tenderloins:
Dissolve the curry powder in the olive juice. Combine all ingredients and place in a dish and cover, allow to marinate. Sear the season the Lamb with salt and pepper then sear
in a hot sauté pan over medium high heat in a small amount of oil. Cook the lamb to desired temperature, about 1 ½ minutes per side for medium rare.
Salted Marcona Almond Dressing:
In a blender, puree Marcona Almonds as fine as possible. Slowly pour in the hot oil and puree until very smooth and creamy. Add the salt. Add the orange juice and vinegar to the slowly running blender. Once thoroughly combined slowly add the oil until fully incorporated and emulsified. Note: you may need to add small amounts of water to keep the emulsification stable. Remove mixture to a bowl and fold in remaining ingredients.
Manchego Cheese Dumplings:
Melt butter and incorporate flour to form thick strong roux. Cook roux for 5–10 min, stirring continuously. In mixer with paddle attachment, mix roux on medium speed to begin to cool. Add eggs 1 at a time until each incorporated. Add cheese. Mixture should stick slightly to sides of the bowl and be very shiny and smooth. Season and put in pastry bag. With a pot of boiling water, drop small cylinders of mix into water and cook for 3 min. Shock in ice water. Quickly crisp them in a pan with a small amount of hot oil. They will be puffy and crispy.
To Plate:
Toss all but the lamb together and place in the center of your plates, slice the lamb and place on the salad then finish with a ring of the Marcona almond vinaigrette.
The Gold Cup
| May 5, 2010 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Having grown up in the industrial side of New Jersey the closest I came to a horse race was at the OTB on the corner watching the monitors. So when I was invited to attend this years gold cup in The Plains Virginia I jumped at the chance. Being a rookie I was not sure what to exactly what to expect so I threw on a Polo instead of a tee and we headed out. Upon arrival it was hard to believe how many people were there, the place was packed. Bus tours, campers and of course the hoards of personal vehicles filled the lots surrounding the track. I was fortunate to be on Members hill as a guest, our hosts had a tent for some shade, a nice spread of snacks and plenty of adult beverages. I had decided that I for today I would try and live like the equestrian set and do as they do. I must say the equestrian set that I hung with were not as much about the horse races as they were about the food and beverage, emphasis on beverage.
Upon arriving at the tent I met and thanked the host for having us and in the tradition of true southern hospitality I was offered champagne or mimosas to get my day going right. What would a glass of champagne be without shrimp cocktail and snow crab cocktail claws. After a couple of glasses of champagne and all of the raw bar. It was time to step it up a bit and start on the sandwich platters and I happened upon a pony keg of a nice pale ale. With a full stomach and well on my way to a comfortable state of being it was time to venture out into the world of Gold Cup.
The First tent I came upon is an Audi tent with the brand new Audi R8 Spyder in bright red. So I stand there for a few minutes trying to figure out how much I would need to bet, and win, in order to drive this car home. When I realized that was just not going to happen I headed to the main food and beverage tent and figured what is a horse race without a mint julep? I probably should not have had that particular julep but I suffered through it. Since I was walking around I was on the search for two things, first the best hat and second seeing at least a glimpse of a horse race. I snapped a bunch of photos, not many came out well, and then headed to the fence. The race was about to start, they started and then nothing for about fifteen minutes. I took this as a sign that I was supposed to head back up to our tent.
Back at base camp I notice an all too familiar site and was grateful that I had returned. The site was jello shots, and they just happened to be more shot than jello. And then our host came around asking if we wanted to bet on the next race, I said of course and I pulled Fantastic Foe, and he happened to win. On that note it was time to grab a small sweet bite and roll out before the crowds.
All in all it was not much different than a typical day off in the city, Food, Drink and Gambling. I cant wait to go back.
