Matters of Taste

Top Ten Tastes of 2011

I went. I saw. I tasted it all. These were my favorite discoveries at the Fancy Food Show, held last week at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

POCO DOLCE Sesame Toffee Bittersweet Chocolate Tiles with Grey Sea Salt are divine. So’s the Burnt Caramel Toffee Tile. These are chocolates to savor slowly, with lots of oohing and aahing. I was also fascinated by the company’s new Bittersweet Bar flavored with California olive oil and grey sea salt. This is one to eat slowly, allowing it to melt on your tongue and the olive oil essence to linger 

Say cheese, as in CAPRICHOS DE LA PASTORA TORTA DE OVEJA, and get ready to smile. This unusual spreadable cheese from Spain is sensational. It’s called a torta because it looks like a little cake. Let it come to room temperature, lop off the top, grab a spoon, a bottle of wine and a couple of dear friends and get ready to dine. It will be available on-line at The Rogers Collection, but the price hasn’t been determined as I write this.

The folks at POWELL AND MAHONEY must have felt bad for all us aspiring bartenders who desperately need a bottle of SIMPLE SYRUP simple syrup to create the cocktails of our dreams.  (Sure, you can make it yourself, but it’s a messy operation.) The company introduced Simple Syrup in a neat and tidy bottle at the show, so it won’t be in stores for a month or so. Look for it in gourmet shops and upscale liquor emporiums. Let Happy Hour begin.

 

All hummus is not created equal. In fact, all hummus is not even made from the traditional chickpeas.  At last week’s show, Tryst Gourmet unveiled an EDAMAME HUMMUS that is scrumptious and really good for you too. Made from baby soy beans, it’s flecked with yellow peppers, black sesame and ginger and is smooth, creamy and totally addicting. The Eat Well Enjoy Life line also includes edamame hummus with minced red pepper and toasted sesame, as well as a terrific Spicy Yellow Lentil Hummus (with sunflower seeds and apricot) and Tuscan white bean hummus with roasted pine nuts and herbs. I love them all. Not yet available in supermarkets, but watch for the groovy green lids in the refrigerator case of your market in the next few months.

I’ve always been a fan of LUCINI extra virgin olive oil, which sits in front of a dozen or so olive oils on my pantry shelf. Nonetheless, I shied away from their new line of bottled vinaigrettes because I’m simply not a fan of bottled salad dressings. Wow, did I get a surprise when I tasted the new Delicate Cucumber & Shallot Artisan Vinaigrette. Its light, creamy texture and bright flavors are a perfect match for salads, cooked salmon, steamed veggies, cole slaw, and even couscous fluffed with minced chives. A bottle costs about $7; Lucini is widely available in Whole Foods and most upscale supermarkets.

The newest pasta sauce from perennial award-winner DAVE’S GOURMET is a supremely satisfying merger of cultures called Masala Marinara. Its sweet-tangy flavor will do the obvious wonders for a bowl of bucatini, but I’m looking forward to experimenting with lasagna, lamb stew, chicken cacciatore and even pizza. A 25-ounce jar retails for $6 to $8; available in many upscale markets.

NUVOLA DE PECORA is a semi-soft sheep’s milk cheese from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. The square, soft-rind cheese, which translates poetically as sheep clouds, has a bone-white interior and an awesome velvety texture. There’s a hint of sweetness playing games with the characteristic sheep’s milk tang. It’s distributed by Forever Cheese in Long Island City.

Gluten-free items continue to be big news. I was blown away by Stonewall Kitchen’s rich, satisfying GLUTEN-FREE-BROWNIE-MIX. (There’s also a gluten-free vanilla cupcake mix that I didn’t try.) I was also enchanted with the coastal Maine company’s Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Mix. The doughnuts are light and fluffy, with a heavily dusted, lip-smacking exterior.  They’re baked, not fried so that makes them guilt-free in my book. They’re also easy to whip up (with egg, butter and milk) using the molded mini donut pan that’s sold with the mix. (A package of mix is $8.95; the pan is $14.95.) 

LAVENDER SHORTBREAD schmeared with mascarpone….be still my heart. This was my favorite cookie from two-year-old, Napa-based Botanical Bakery which uses premium ingredients from Strauss Family Creamery and calls the cookies “Our take on butter, flour and sugar.” The Ginger Squared and Cardamom shortbreads are yummy too. A 3.5-ounce bag of bite-sized Shorties costs about $6.

Ever since the MAYA KAIMAL line of Indian simmer sauces was introduced in 2003, these savory sauces have made my Fancy Food Show Ten Best list every year. Originally available only in the refrigerated cases of the supermarket, the sauces are now available in shelf-stable glass jars, with a two-year shelf life. The line includes about a half dozen types of sauce, including Kashmiri Curry, Vindaloo and Madras Curry, but my absolute favorite continues to be the Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce with its cinnamon, cardamom and clove notes and perky tomato-ginger flavor. The sauces are available in upscale supermarkets; a 15-ounce container is about $8.

SWEET-RIOT calls itself an alternative to a chocolate bar. I see it more as an alternative to pigging out. This clever  product consists of the tiny nibs from the cacao bean, roasted and cloaked in three intensities of dark chocolate (50-, 65-or 70 percent). Just two or three nibs give a blast of flavor and a pleasing tickle to the tongue. Only 1 or 2 calories per bite, 140 in the whole tin. About $5 per tin.

 

Fancy That! What's New at Annual Gourmet Food Show

I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE….and it is full of  blue cheese, bacon jam and BeBop Biscotti,  new-age hummus and seaweed snacks, herb-flavored water, teas that promise emotional well-being, and a veritable tsunami of coffee (flavored, socially conscious, pedigreed and preciously packaged), ancient grains, gluten-free you-name-it, deep-dish pizza for dogs, chocolate truffles and the stinky ones too,  one heckuva lot of flavored popcorn, and cheese, cheese and more cheese.

Those were some of the highlights of last week’s Fancy Food Show, the 3-day smorgasbord of gourmet food and beverage that’s held every January at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Staged by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade and open only to the trade, this year’s show featured more than 80,000 gourmet food items (from more than 30 countries), all hoping to be discovered by retail store buyers and catapulted to fame as the hot nosh of 2011. 

Here's a sample of the most interesting, delicious, trend-setting, tasteless, or just plain outrageous food and drink I discovered.

SAY CHEESE

Cheese has always been a major player at the Fancy Food Show, but this year there was more than ever. From Spain, an almost-liquid treasure (above) called Caprichos de la Pastora (see tomorrow’s post for a full description); from Montana, Mountina “Alpine” cheese with pleasing nutty flavor and smooth texture; from Italy, the voluptuous cow’s and sheep’s milk cheeses of Luigi Guffanti; from Rouzaire, a lovely Brie imbued with Grand Marnier that is sometimes available at Costco. Blue cheese was especially rampant, with hundreds of savory wheels including five from the family-run Willapa Hills farmstead operation in southwest Washington state; Crater Lake, Caveman and the new earthy, slightly funky, slightly sweet Flora Nelle from Rogue Creamery; Blue del Moncenisio; and Cashel Blue. There were also do-it-yourself kits for tasting (Artisanal Premium Cheese Co.) and mozzarella making (Roaring Brook Dairy.) 

CHOCOLATE

Show-goers (including manufactureres, importers, brokers and retail shop owners) couldn’t walk ten steps without bumping into a chocolate purveyor. There were fat truffles filled with envelope-pushing ganache flavors, slim bars, tiny pebbles, milk chocolate tool kits and bittersweet roulette wheels. There was chocolate dusted with coarse finishing salt or mated with caramel and toffee. There was chocolate with a schtick, such as Fearless chocolate which claims to be unroasted in order to preserve “natural nutrients, marvelous minerals and abundance antioxidants.”

The new truffle line from Fairytale Brownies, one of my favorite on-line purveyors of goodness, come in  three flavors -- pecan, espresso nib and toffee crunch – and feature intense flavor, fabulous crunch and a cloak of 60% Caillebaut chocolate. My only gripe is that each truffle is really too big for one person at one time. Knipschildt, a boutique that touts its fresh cream, butter and fruit and wins prizes for its packaging, had a winner with its Caramel Sea Salt Truffle Box which features four types of salt.

There was a veritable TEA party going on at the Moscone Center, and not a politician in sight -- black tea, herbal tea, white tea, green tea and even “extremely green tea,” as the Tamayokucha tea from Two Leaves and A Bud is known.  We’re talking artsy-fartsy tea brewing systems; Steaz, a blend of tea and sparkling water that has an unpleasant aftertaste;  tea in cookies, cakes and chocolate truffles; tea for folks who want to relax, and tea for folks who want to get up and go, and Teamotions for folks who’d like such herbs as neem (“for clarity”) and ashwagandha (“for joy”) and schizandra berry (“for hope”) in their afternoon brew. Then there’s tea seed oil. Make that wild tea seed oil.  It was all news to me. And after hearing a few facts (it does have a very high, 485 degrees, smoking point) and tasting the stuff, I don’t see much reason to learn any more about it.

OLIVE OIL still occupies an important place on the shelf in today’s kitchens and there were hundreds at last week’s show.  I was intrigued by the new three-liter box of Italian extra virgin olive oil from Lucini, one of my favorite sources for EVOO and pasta sauces. The box features an airtight seal and is guaranteed fresh for 12 months after opening. It costs $50 for the regular EVOO; $60 for the organic. Plus, it’s easier, neater and creates less trash. Though there’s plenty of olive oil coming from Spain, Tunisia, Greece and other countries, in my opinion the best still comes from Italy. Some of my other favorites are "Crudo" from Puglia, Regaleali and Tenuta di Capezzana; most available at Market Hall Foods and Olio2Go.

HONEY

The world's bees have been keeping busy. Puremiel organic raw honey is harvested  from bees in southerm Spain's Grazalema and Alcornocales natural parks by fifth-generation beekeepers. The packaging is especially attractive; the honeys are delicious.  Ditto the Abella honeys from Galicia in northwestern Spain. I also liked Breitsamer Tangy Forest Honey from Germany.

CONVENIENCE FOODS, such as international simmer sauces in jars and tubes, and GoGo Squeeze, a100% fruit squeezable apple sauce, grow increasingly sophisticated. And there’s increasing evidence that people want to eat healthier…..or at least say they want to. I found seaweed snacks called SeaSnax; chocolate bars with resveratrol, the chemical found in red wine (supposedly one bar has the resveratrol  of more than 50 glasses of red wine); alternative chips such as Flamous Falafel Chips, Beanitos Bean & Chipotle chips, and Turbana Plantain Chips (all of them delicious); Twice-Baked Potato Stix with Salt and Cracked Pepper; and lots of Blue Agave syrup as a substitute for sugar.

As always, LUXURY FOODS made quite a splash. Among them: jars of fragrant Italian black truffles from Savini Tartufi (these and a small tube of truffle paste will be available in coming weeks) and the fragile, flaky wisps of edible gold from Giusto Manetti that can garnish a dark chocolate mousse, risotto or even sushi; float in an Aperol Prosecco cocktail; or dress the rim of a Champagne glass with élan. Buy on-line at Market Hall Foods.

ALL THINGS ITALIAN

Our love affair with the sunny cuisine of Italy continues and there were scores of manufacturers and importers at the show ready to stoke the fire. I loved the heavenly Blood Orange Marmalade, from Marchesi di San Guiliano, that can be schmeared on breakfast toast, grilled chicken and swordfish alike, or folded into sauteed shredded Brussels sprouts or fluffy couscous. A jar costs about $13 and is available on-line at Market Hall Foods.

I also loved the lovely, coarsely ground polenta with a rosy-hued husk from Italy’s Trentino region that’s called Farina della Valsugana. It’s a winter-night wonder when cooked with a bit of butter, taleggio cheese and fresh sage folded in. (Not in markets yet.) Want to recreate the farro dishes that are all the rage in restaurants these days? Manicaretti is your go-to source for Rustichella d”Abruzzo Farro. Considered the “father of modern wheat,”  farro is a hearty grain with a pleasant nutty flavor. You can buy it in ground form and use it as you would polenta, or buy it made into pasta shapes such as orzo and bucatini, or as a whole grain for a trendy “risotto.” 

As at every Fancy Food Show, there were a few duds.  Chocolate-dipped Jelly Belly Jelly Beans seems to me to be an idea whose time never needed to come. Isn’t there enough already going on, flavor-wise, in a Chili Mango, Mixed Berry Smoothie or Strawberry Daiquiri jelly bean? Flavored cheese from Sartori Reserve? C’mon, guys. Raspberry-flavored cheese? Merlot? Chardonnay? Espresso?? How about a little respect for the poor cows trying their best to make cheese taste like cheese.

And Oregon White Truffle Oil. Let’s face it. We can’t all look like Brangelina. We can’t all play the piano like Lang Lang. And we can’t all harvest fabulous black and white truffles in our forests. So, get over it, America. Admit that there are SOME things that the French and Italians do better. The Oregon White Truffle oil I tasted, -- "the first all-natural truffle oil ever produced in the United States" -- had an odd, not-all-that-pleasant flavor.

Lastly, there’s a category I call “novelties” for lack of a better word.

Haggis potato chips, anyone? Didn’t think so. One of the six flavors offered by Scottish company Mackies  (another flavor is Aberdeen Angus Beef), the Haggis & Cracked Black Pepper chips come with an asterisk of sorts. According to press releases – “Unlike other flavors in the line which contain the actual ingredients that are in their name, the haggis flavor has been replicated with spices, explains Kristen Mackie, creator of the crisps.” Dang, I was looking forward to a potato chip imbued with sheep’s hearts, livers and lungs.

And, lastly, is it just me that finds nothing cute or appetizing about hot sauces called  Blair’s Death Sauces and Snacks? The company (which admittedly has a very cool Website) introduced new packaging at the show. Its three hottest sauces -- Sudden Death, Mega Death and Ultra Death – now come in coffins.

Check back tomorrow for my list of the TEN BEST foods I found at this year's show.

 

Remembrance of Macaroons Past

Dear Santa,

I was tickled pink to discover in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal the existence of the Ladurée Caramel Candle. As all my family, friends and blog followers know from my post, “The Magnificent Macaron,” I adore those precious little cookies that make Monsieur Proust’s madeleines seem downright boring.

According to the WSJ article, the elegant candle in a graceful pastel pot smells of “hot melted caramel,  plenty of salt, and butter, tempered by an elegant bouquet of flowers.”

What’s not to love about that?

The article says you can get one for $56 at Colette, on the chi-chi Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris. But for your shopping convenience, I suggest you simply swing by the Sue Fisher King Boutique in San Francisco, where the candle goes for $75. (Also available on-line, if you’re feeling high-tech and trendy.)

In perusing the boutique’s Web site, I see that Ladurée candles also come in Chocolat-Orange, Café Crème, and Marron Glacé, three of the other macaron flavors that wowed me when I visited the bakery in September.

Yeah,  75 bucks is a lot of money for a bunch of wax with a limited lifespan. But I have been pretty good this year. And it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than another plane ticket to Paris.

 

 

 

 

Taking Turkey Day Outdoors

Just a few weeks 'til Turkey Day. And the November issue of Coastal Living magazine wants to help you put a memorable feast on the table.

Out now on newsstands, the magazine’s feature entitled “Let’s Take Thanksgiving Outside” includes the recipes for our family’s traditional dinner, as well as a “how-to” for cooking the big bird on a backyard grill and strategies for enjoying the leftovers.

My editor at Coastal Living asked me to cast the menu as an outdoorsy feast. With that in mind, I did the rotisserie turkey, punched up with orange zest and minced garlic, and a totally irresistible Grilled Smoked Salmon Pizza. For the photo shoot, guests gathered around the grill with aperitifs while we tossed an irregular oblong slab of Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough on the grill. Two minutes later it was a picture-perfect charred, bubbled platform for the toppings:  mascarpone cheese, thinly sliced smoked salmon, capers and snipped fresh chives.

San Diego’s mild weather makes it easy to work the backyard grill into the act. But a rotisserie turkey is also do-able in less clement climes. My husband cooks our Christmas turkey on the outdoor grill at our Colorado vacation home every year. He wears a ski jacket to do the basting, positions the grill under the garage overhang so it doesn’t get snowed on, and hopes mightily that all the local bears have gone to sleep for the winter.

Spit roasting ensures the bird will be golden brown and crispy-skinned all over.  For extra succulence, gently slip pea-size pieces of frozen butter under the skin of the turkey before placing it on the spit. Take care not to break the skin. 

The Grilled Smoked Salmon Pizza, which I developed for the article, will now be a permanent part of our Turkey Day menu. I like it best with peppered smoked salmon slices, which I buy at Costco. The recipe is below.

The November issue will be on newsstands for another couple weeks. You can also find most of the recipes at CoastalLiving.com.

Photos are by the talented photographer, David Tsay. Check out his Web site.

GRILLED SMOKED SALMON PIZZA

From “Coastal Living magazine”

1  pound  prepared pizza dough, at room temperature

All-purpose flour

 Extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups  mascarpone cheese, stirred until smooth

3/4 pound  thinly sliced smoked salmon, preferably “peppered”

3  tablespoons capers, drained

1/4 cup fresh chives

Lemon wedges

Cut dough into 2 pieces, and dust lightly with flour. Roll out one piece on a well-floured surface, forming a circle about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. (Leave crust a bit thicker around the edges to form a rim.) Place on a piece of lightly oiled parchment paper for easy transfer to the grill. Repeat with second round of dough.

Brush one side of each dough round with olive oil, and place, oil sides down, on well-oiled grill grate. Close lid, and grill 1 to 2 minutes or until bottom sides are browned and crisp. (Check dough after 1 minute.) Lightly brush tops of dough with oil, and turn. Close lid, and grill about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, checking after about 45 seconds. Remove dough to a cookie sheet or large flat serving platter.

Spread grilled dough pieces evenly with mascarpone cheese. Top with smoked salmon, and sprinkle with capers and fresh chives. (Pizzas can be served immediately or placed on turned-off grill for 30 to 45 seconds, with lid closed, to warm toppings.) Cut into thin wedges or bite-sized pieces and serve with lemon wedges.

 

Farewell, First-Born....Hello, Fun

This week's cover story in The New York Times, “Students, Welcome to College – Parents, Go Home” brought back vivid memories of saying good-bye to our two sons when we deposited them at their colleges as Freshmen.

But, unlike the picture painted in Trip Gabriel’s engaging story, ours was not a scene of hand-wringing, hanging around, and hysteria. Rather, my husband’s and my memories of those days are of Champagne in front of the fireplace in a cozy room at The White Barn Inn; a luscious, over-the-top dinner at The Inn at Little Washington; biking along the deserted coast of Kennebunkport, Maine; and hiking a woodsy trail in the Appalachians.

Don’t get me wrong. We were devastated that Nicholas and Ben would no longer be involved in in our daily lives. But, we were determined not to be part of the boo-hooing throngs of parents who, quite literally in some cases, were raining on their kids’ “parades.” Instead, I devised a plan for dodging all the drama. And I wrote about it for the Travel sections of The San Diego Union-Tribune and The Oregonian:

 

"The strategy is simple: Plan a romantic getaway that begins with the last wave goodbye."

Sure there was a little sniffle as we walked away from each son, but there was also great excitement about the coming adventure. My husband and I got to discover the quintessential Yankee town of Kennebunkport where we road bikes, walked empty beaches and were dazzled by the candlelight setting (in a restored 19^th century barn) and  sensational food of Chef Jonathan Cartwright at The White Barn Inn.

With son #2, we settled into a luxurious room at The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. We hiked Old Rag Mountain and were pampered by the Inn’s chef/co-owner Patrick O’Connell. Sweet corn risotto with frizzled leeks; a Lilliputian, pistachio-crusted lamb chop;  and a luscious cobbler with local peaches made it totally apparent why the James Beard Society named O’Connell “Outstanding American Chef” in 2001. (Photo of O'Connell's cobbler trio from a cool Web site called Dinner Cakes: Culinary Adventures for Everyday People.)

 

Click here to see the entire article about these strategic “adventures” on the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Web site.

 

 

A Toast to the Fine Art of Bartending

I loved the recent New York Times article about “The Bartender of Your Dreams.”  Writer Frank Bruni roped me in with his first sentence:

“My mother had eyes in the back of her head; Doug Quinn must have them in the palms of his hands. How else to explain the way he muddled mint for a mojito — and went on to make the rest of the cocktail — while glancing alternately at the door to see if anyone new was coming in, at the far end of the bar to see if anyone was telegraphing thirst, and at the guy in front of him, who was babbling anew about something or other? Not once did Mr. Quinn look down at the drink. It was like bartending in Braille.”

Bruni goes on to paint a picture of the venerable P. J. Clarke’s on New York’s East Side and to praise Quinn’s (pictured here in a NYT photo) considerable talents, quoting kudos from other esteemed New York City bartenders. Dale De Groff, who last year won the prestigious James Beard “Outstanding Wine and Spirit Award,” says he drops in on Quinn often, usually in the wee small hours, which is when many other bartenders from around town congregate at Clarke’s after their own shifts.  “You’re not going to get a yuzu gimlet from the guy,” Mr. DeGroff said. “Ain’t going to happen. But you’re going to get a damned good martini.”

At a time when everyone with a shaker and a bottle of Schweppes calls himself (or herself) a mixologist,  it’s impressive to read about the real deal,  a guy with “speed, stamina, dexterity, personality and an awe-inspiring memory.”

Quinn holds court at the original P. J. Clarke’s on the East Side, where seasoned bartenders have been asking “What’ll ya have?” for 126 years. (There are now sibling saloons downtown and on the Upper West Side.) My husband and I were among the fans soaking up the classic ambiance, along with not a few Bloody Marys, in the early ‘70s.

After reading Bruni’s article, I'm excited to re-visit what some call “the Vatican of saloons." I plan to put  a Doug Quinn performance at the top of my agenda the next time I’m in New York. In the meantime, I’m sloshing together a Tanqueray & Tonic on this sunny Memorial Day and giving thanks for the fabulous bartenders and bar scenes I’ve gotten to know over the years.

These are some of my favorites. I’d love to hear about yours.

 I was first introduced to David Nelson (left) over a captivating concoction called a  Kentucky Tuxedo, a heavenly marriage of Bulleit Bourbon, Sherry, homemade lavender syrup and homemade orange bitters. But the engaging bartender/mixologist of Spur Gastropub and Tavern Law in Seattle has charmed me in many other way since that first sip.

At Spur, David’s creative, but never contrived, cocktails share the stage with the fabulous food of chefs Brian McCracken and Dana Tough. But at Tavern Law, it's all David, all the time. Even though McCracken and Tough offer a tantalizing menu, the focus at Tavern Law is on Nelson’s unique,  delicious drinks. It’s a treat to soak up the warmth and quiet energy of the room and to watch Nelson deftly whip up both classics and original potions. He loves to share his knowledge and passion with customers. Pull up a bar stool and you, too, will find out that Becherovka is not a Slavic dance.

 

Matt Murphy’s Pub in Brookline, Mass. may not be quite as raucous as the pubs I found in Galway and Dublin, but it does have flashes of that joy and spirit along with equal reverence for perfectly poured Guinness and Stout. Oh, yeah. And the food is light years better than most fare on the Emerald Isle. Owner Siobhan Carew and the rest of her team behind the bar are consummate pros, both at serving drinks and draughts, and charming guests. The fish and chips, served on wads of newspaper atop the battered old wooden tables, are outtasite.  In a lifetime of Happy St. Patrick’s Days (we with the surname Clancy take the day very seriously), I experienced my happiest at Matt Murphy’s. (Close runners-up: Little Annie’s Eating House in Aspen, and The Tombs in Washington, D.C.)

If Butch Cassidy had galloped into Telluride, Colorado just two years later, he might have ended up drinking up a storm at the hospitable New Sheridan Bar instead of robbing the San Miguel Valley Bank and getting himself thrown in jail. Built during the San Juan Mountains Gold Rush in 1891 (Cassidy and his crew did the dirty deed in 1889), the New Sheridan Hotel retains the look and feel of the period, even though the habitués today are more likely to be mogul skiers than metal miners. In keeping with the town’s persona, the bartenders are a casual, laid back bunch; efficient, outgoing, and seemingly very happy to be part of the Telluride mystique.

I don’t know how versatile the bartenders at Butch McGuire's are. The only drink I ever order    at this beloved Chicago Bar is a Bloody Mary because it is so damn awesome. But I do know that the gents have tons of personality, a great sense of humor, and get the drinks out with lightning speed. This 50-some-year-old institution, renowned for its Sunday Brunch eggs benedict special (the plate has FOUR eggs awash in terrific Hollandaise),  is also cherished for such traditions as the vintage model railroad that chugs through the saloon at Christmas time.

 

Around the World in Three (Delicious) Days…

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) calls its annual conference in Napa Valley “Worlds of Flavor.” I’d call it Buffet without Borders, a three-day pig-out on great food,  and a crash course in how food-lovers around the world share tastes and techniques with one another, fostering communication and understanding in the process. 

Last weekend, I joined some 700 food and beverage professionals (chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers, manufacturers, food service operators, caterers and food and wine journalists among them) to explore the developing trends that will impact the way we eat in the years to come.

“Frontiers of Food: World Street Food, World Comfort Food” was an in-depth look at the “casualization” of the fine-dining scene, and the growing variety of international flavors in fast food operations and volume food service.  “Americans increasingly want a whole world of new flavors, from Asian to Latin and Mediterranean, within easy reach, on a 24/7 basis,” said Greg Drescher, executive director of strategic initiatives for the CIA.  Indeed, one need look no farther than a taco truck in L.A., a Bahn Mi wagon in New York City, a dumpling kiosk at DFW, or the long lines of students jockeying for space at Harvard University's do-it-yourself stir fry stations to understand the phenomenon.

 

Founded in 1946, the CIA is considered the top culinary school in the country. The original campus in Hyde Park, NY is now joined by facilities in St. Helena, Napa Valley and San Antonio, Texas. "Worlds of Flavor" takes place at the sprawling Greystone Napa Valley estate. 

This year the imposing stone mansion housed a highly animated marketplace of hawker chefs from Singapore, street food vendors from Delhi and Mexico City, and faithful facsimiles of Spanish tapas bars, Bangkok market stalls, and the meze hot spots of Greece and Turkey.

 

The Opening Night General Session featured Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo (Chicago) fame narrating a video of  his daughter and himself at their favorite taco stand in Mexico City; witty Turkish master chef  Musa Dagdeviren cooking lamb over open fire behind the main Greystone building; cookbook author Paula Wolfert making the paper-thin Moroccan crepes known as warka using a hot pan and a paintbrush; and  Paul Bartolotta of Wynn Las Vegas fame giving credit to the grandmothers of Italy for his impressive career.

Opening Night (photo left) also featured the “World Marketplace,” a two-hour graze-a-thon in Greystone’s historic Barrel Room, where participating chefs from around the world served samples of their fare. Dozens of stations offered the likes of white gazpacho, shrimp ceviche with local popcorn, fresh mozzarella from Apulia and lahmacun, a Turkish fried bread topped with minced lamb, vegetables and lemon juice.

This year’s conference included almost 40 seminars covering everything from “Hot, Sweet. Sour, Salty: Balancing Flavor in the South Asian Kitchen” to  “Fresh From Barcelona: Tapas, Cava and the Flavors of Catalonia.” In addition, more than 25 Kitchen Workshops were held in the massive CIA kitchen. There Roy Choi, of Los Angeles’ Kogi BBQ fame, taught the fine points of Korean barbecue and Suvir Saran, creator of Michelin-starred Devi in New York City, shared insights on "Mastering the Indian Tandoor."

 

As a lover of street food, I was fascinated to hear masters of that art from Singapore and Delhi, Mexico City and Bangkok. Rick Bayless, who moderated a session called “World Street Food, World Comfort Food: What We Want to Eat Now,” talked of the challenges involved in incorporating street food into the American landscape without sacrificing the authenticity of the experience. “What I love about street food is its thrilling immediacy,” said Bayless, a thought echoed later in the evening by former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl who spoke of the appeal of getting food straight from the hands of the person who prepared it.

Suvir Saran told a charming story about the man who sells “the best chaat in Delhi,” explaining that the guy parks his rolls Royce next to his cart each day. He doesn’t sell chaat for the money, Saran says, because he doesn’t need the money. He does if because he wants to make the best chaat possible.

It’s impossible to wrap up the three-day “Worlds of Flavor Conference” in one tidy blog post. But in coming days, I’ll share some of the insights, techniques and recipes I learned while attending the Seminars and Kitchen Workshops.

Teaser: What country gets credit for the variety of elegant desserts available in Thailand and Thai restaurants around the world today?

 

Times Flies....When You're Eating Well

What’s it like to ‘eat for a living’?

 

Today’s edition of The La Jolla Light features my story about becoming its first restaurant critic 30 years ago, and watching the dining scene evolve over the years from margaritas-and-nachos territory to a sophisticated, trend-setting celebration of terrific  food.

 

San Diego residents and visitors alike will laugh at the vintage photos (at left, in 1981, a super cool Bertrand Hug watches chef Andre Mena do his stuff) and cry over the tarte tatin and confit de canard that they’ll never get to taste again.

Check it out.

Bavarois, Bahn Mi, Bloody Marys -- Life's Memorable Meals

Yesterday I joined KPBS-Radio host Maureen Cavanaugh on her morning program “These Days.”  Together with San Diego freelancer Caron Golden, we talked about the best meals we had ever eaten. (You can listen to or read the transcript on line at KPBS.org.)

The hour was a vast smorgesbord including opulent duck confit and Chocolate Bavarois, cheap Vietnamese sandwiches called Bahn Mi, summer corn risotto, “Oh-My-God” lamb chops,” bubbling cheese creations in a log cabin above Lake Annecy, and crispy, wispy Wienerschnitzel in the Tyrolian Alps.

When a caller brought up the subject of memorable  “exotic” dining experiences, I shared my story of lunch on Bangkok’s unique Damnoen Saduak floating market.  The market consists of scores of flimsy little boats bobbing in the river, packed with produce merchants, mini restaurants and hungry shoppers. (This photo is by Britannica.com.)

My husband and I hired a boat and guide to row us out into the narrow, vine-clogged canals. I ordered “soup” from a smiling vendor in another boat. I loved the dish’s vivid flavors and tantalizing textures -- rice noodles, fish balls, crushed peanuts, bean sprouts, and a spritz of mystery sauce.

When I finished, I handed the chipped ceramic bowl and chopsticks back to the woman, who promptly swished them “clean” in the murky river.

Clearly, I could have been a food-borne illness statistic. Instead, I got a happy “memorable meal” story to tell.

Later in the show, when Cavanaugh asked about memorable "home-cooked" meals, I reminisced about my “big birthday” dinner last summer, an extravaganza of baby grilled cheese sandwiches made with brioche, aged cheddar and braised bacon; heirloom tomato gazpacho with avocado mousse; baby beet salad with goat cheese; and Cabernet-braised short ribs with roasted Vidalia onion-potato puree.

It was all cooked and served in my home. Thus, I argued, that it was my most memorable home-cooked meal.

But it wasn’t cooked by me. Rather, chef Carl Schroeder of Market Restaurant, Del Mar did the honors and totally wowed my group of family and friends. (This photo of Carl is from Examiner.com.)

A New Look at Jell-O Molds -- An Airport Terminal, Anyone?

A couple of college blokes from England have come up with a new and hard-to-beat take on the “Whatever floats your boat” philosophy.

According to an article and slide show in this week’s New York Times:

“Sam Bompas and Harry Parr, two young products of Eton and University College, London, have become England’s leading “jelly mongers” – artists who create extravagant, shimmering, brightly colored compositions in gelatin.”

The two enterprising men have created a booming business out of turning their version of Jell-O into St. Paul’s Cathedral (above), wedding cakes, “a ziggurat inspired by the steeple of an 18th century church,” London’s Millennium Bridge and the Madrid airport terminal complete with weensy, wobbly planes (below). Too bad Mad King Ludwig isn't still around to commission a lemon-lime Neuschwanstein Castle.

The NYT article points out that “Besides chemistry, Mr. Parr, who was trained as an architect, and Mr. Bompas, who was in public relations, have had to learn engineering and a certain amount of cooking. At the end of the day, or rather at the end of the meal, a jelly has to be tasty.”

In addition to the flamboyant creativity called for in this line of "work," threre's clearly a certain degree of "nerd factor" in play. The duo make their own molds,  “designing them on a computer in the workshops of University College that translates them into three-dimensional models and transfers the specifications to a machine that makes plaster casts of the molds…”   Moreover, they collaborated with a chemistry professor at University College to use food-safe quinine to make a jelly structure that emitted a bluish "glow" under black light. See it on the awe-inspiring slide show.