Hungrywoolf’s Food blog

July 16, 2009

99 Drams of Whiskey

My friend forwarded me a post from the Accidental Hedonist blog asking whether any other food/ drink bloggers wanted to review her new book. I like whiskey, I like to read and I like both food and travel books, so I did not hesitate to ask for a review copy.

99drams-1

99 Drams of Whisky is part travelogue, part history, and part a collection of tasting notes. In my opinion it is most successful at the latter but it cannot be categorical in its stated aim, the quest for ‘the perfect shot’ because it is not comprehensive enough. I found the travelogue tedious in places with too much recounting of mundane dialogue. And whilst I definitely learned more about the history of whiskey, Kate seemed to get bogged down in detail about things like taxation law, going into much greater depth than seemed necessary. We are initially advised to treat the book as entertainment but at times it strays too far towards academic. Subsequently there is too much contrast in tone and pace between the descriptions of the tax laws and the accounts of the wayward GPS. It seems that the book is trying to be too many different things and as a result does not fully succeed at any of them.

It was the tasting notes that really captivated me with each whiskey personified in often-laugh-out-loud eccentric characterizations.Famous Grouse is ‘the high-school cheerleader everyone was friends with but no one can remember what happened to after graduation’; Bruichladdich 10-year-old is ‘a morning person’, Bushmills White Label is the Julia Roberts of Whiskey and Glen Grant 25-year-old is the ‘Don Juan of Scotland’s spirit”. It is hard to pick a favorite but I loved the depiction of Redbreast 12-year-old pot still whiskey as ‘the secret restaurant tucked away in the back of a strip mall that only a handful of people know about. The atmosphere is great and the food divine, but no one is sure that they should tell other people about it because either it’ll become too crowded (and thus it will be impossible to get a table) or the increased production by the staff in the back will affect the overall quality of the place’.

Despite its flaws there is a lot to enjoy in the book and definitely some interesting insights and trivia, if you are willing to skim through some of the less engaging sections. I imagine that even whiskey aficionado would learn something from it. Some of the things I found interesting were the history of the Gin Act (and the staggering amount of gin that was drunk before then). Understanding more of the history helps to illuminate how the current industry structure and I particularly enjoyed the elucidation of the legacy of prohibition on the US whiskey industry.

There is a lot of good advice for whiskey neophytes, including how to taste whiskey (blind), drink whiskey (with friends) and whether to add water (yes, if it is cask strength). ’Drinking whiskey is not about impressing others. It’s about enjoying yourself. And while an educated palate may help increase one’s exploration of whiskey, it is not a requirement’. Kate also expounds on whiskey snobs and obsessives and the perils of drinking 3 glasses of whiskey in an hour.

Overall I have to say that I enjoyed the book despite my gripes and my copy has many folded corners. I would recommend it for the tasting notes alone. One final gripe though is the title which did not to me represent the mission of the book. Throughout the book Kate says that she is trying to understand the mythical Mr Disposable Income a man reputed to have spent more than $70,000 on a bottle of whiskey. This quest to understand why whisky has such a status and mystique is a noble aim, but not the same thing as searching for the perfect shot. The title is also confusingly worded. Is she also questing for the history of whiskey or is the history just something additional? I may be accused of being overly literal and pedantic but it didn’t seem to fit and it bothered me.

1 Comment

Filed under Drinks, Food Writing, Websites

Tags: 99 drams of whiskey, accidental hedonist, kate hopkins, whiskey

July 15, 2009

Adventures in Restaurant Week (take 2?)

It seems that most cities these days have a restaurant week. Restaurant weeks are designed to get new customers into restaurants, and allow people to feel that they are getting good value, while boosting both revenue and exposure for the restaurants.

You may recall that we had a restaurant week in March. You are correct, this is our second restaurant week in less than 6 months. The first was a restaurant week for the Dine Originals restaurants, and the current one is presented by 614 magazine. It has been the subject of some controversy and I am sure, some confusion.

Generally I find restaurant weeks disappointing, restaurants are too busy, the food is a watered down version of the regular offerings and it is overly reminiscent of eating out on Valentine’s day. That said, it can be a less expensive way to try a new restaurant and you can definitely find some good value meals. I recently had an excellent early-bird meal at Alana’s, and was tempted to try some more prix-fixe offerings, so the 614 restaurant week presented a timely opportunity.

Last night I went to Rosendales Modern Bistro with a group of girlfriends for their restaurant week offering, a $25 menu of 3 courses with 3 choices for each. Although I have been to Details many times, I have never actually been to Rosendales before and was looking forward to trying it.

Unfortunately, Rosendales confirmed many of my restaurant week prejudices. It was really busy (fully booked, I would guess), which is great for Rosendales but they were completely understaffed. I would be more sympathetic to this if we had not been told that they had been slammed the previous night as well (surely it is safe to assume that a Tuesday will be just as busy as Monday), but I am sure that most of the tables there, like us, had a reservation. Our server was waiting on 8 or 9 tables and although he did the very best he could, running around and working up a sweat in the process, there was no way he could keep up .

The first course was a choice of Tuna Tar Tar Tacos (they are excellent and I have eaten them many times at Details), an endive salad (which was reportedly bland) and the potato poppers.

The poppers were tasty (really how wrong can you go with a fried potato with cheese and bacon) but the potatoes were a little too firm and as one of our party observed, it really felt like something you would eat at TGI Fridays. They needed a little more of both the sauce and the cheese and didn’t hit the mark for crave-ability. If you go, stick with the Tuna Tar Tar Tacos, they are crave worthy.

The main course was were I really felt Rosendales fell down. Their bistro menu is designed such, that to make the prices seem more reasonable, all of the sides are listed separately. This works (albeit it is slightly annoying) when you are ordering a la carte but when you have a prix-fixe menu with no sides listed it does not work. The mains were roast chicken, braised lamb shank and tortilla crusted black grouper. The grouper came with a scattering of halved cherry tomatoes, but the other dishes were just meat. Generous quantities of meat, but nothing accompanying them.

I certainly did not want (or need) to eat half a chicken, and I wish I could have had a 1/4 of a chicken with some vegetables. I ate one piece and took the rest home. The chicken was nothing special, certainly no where as good as Los Potosinos grilled chicken (either hot or cold the next day).

The desserts were tapioca pudding with raspberries, a chocolate and cream ’s’mores’ creation and pistachio creme brulee with blueberry gelée. The latter was probably the most interesting although the color was a little off-putting to some.

rosendales_desserts

The highlight of the meal, except for the sterling company, was the wine recommended by sommelier Chris Dillman which at $33 a bottle both seemed good value and extremely drinkable.

My other restaurant visit this week, was to a restaurant that is not participating in the 614 restaurant week but had a very similar deal. In the spirit of restaurant week I took advantage of G Michael’s Monday night prix-fixe $30 menu.

The menu format is the same, three courses with three options for each. The appetizers were a salad (blue cheese, poached pear and spiced pecans), gazpacho with more than a hint of habanero, topped with crab salad, and thirdly fried calamari. The calamari were excellent, great flavor and texture. I found the gazpacho refreshing but others deemed it to be overly spicy.

The mains were a trout stuffed with spinach ( I forget the sides), a veal chop with jalapeno mashed sweet potatoes and green beans, and crab cakes with a sweet corn risotto, candied tomatoes and sauteed spinach.

The crab cakes were good and I enjoyed both the risotto and candied tomatoes but in general my impression of the entrees at G Michael’s is that they try to put too many flavors on each plate. While I commend them on the seasonal and interesting menu, I prefer a simpler approach and to me most of the entrees seemed overly fussy. Every entree seemed to have a long list of the components and superfluous sauces. I chose the crab cakes in party because it was the only dish without a cream sauce but it was certainly rich as well.

Dessert options were cake, Jeni’s ice cream or creme brulee. The brulee was over done (my neighbor’s was worse), I think because the sugar was too thick. There was a layer of sugar granules underneath the brulee and the creme was not nearly as creamy as the version I had at Alana’s.

The cake had a delicious burnt butter filling that tasted like fudge, but the overall dish was overly sweet and even with 3 of us pitching in we could only finish about half of it before we felt that emergency dental work might be in order.

The food at G Michael’s was definitely of a higher standard than we experienced at Rosendales (but $5 more for the set menu). The service was also much more attentive, but the wine list had far fewer reasonably priced options. We ordered a $27 Malbec and did not enjoy it.

My advice would be to skip restaurant week and if you want a a prix-fixe menu go to the Refectory (Monday-Thursday or 5-6 Friday and Saturday), G Michael’s on a Monday or Alana’s if you can go early for the early bird special.

It should be noted that all of the prix fixe menus do not include tax, drinks or service, so it is likely that you will end up spending quite a bit more than the advertised price.

July 14, 2009

Slow Food at the Food and Ohio Wine Festival

ohiofoodandwine

The North Market’s Food and Ohio Wine Festival is held right on our door step and I proposed the idea that we should have a Slow Food table to raise awareness of the Slow Food movement and recruit some new members. Unfortunately by the time I had this idea it was too late for us to have a table, but North Market Marketing Director Mary Martineau suggested that we could do a cookery demonstration. This sounded like fun and Colleen who is a former professional chef agreed to take the lead. We were committed.

Sometimes things that sound simple in practice turn out to be more complicated and three opinionated foodies trying to decide what to cook for a demonstration turned out to be one of these things. There were just too many options. In addition we were trying to live up to the Slow Food ideals of ‘Good, Clean and Fair’, use seasonal local produce and incorporate some Ark of Taste products. What a shame it isn’t paw paw season!

We spent most of the week discussing recipes, trying and testing variations, discussing pros and cons and working out what we needed to say, make and buy. Finally on Saturday morning we had tested, tasted, shopped and chopped and we were ready. The demonstration was to be held in the new Ohio Proud mobile kitchen, complete with three TV screens, microphones and of course the proverbial kitchen sink.

Our menu was a Swiss chard and goat cheese frittata, roasted cauliflower and roasted beets with mint and cumin. All three dishes highlight local seasonal produce (mostly from Wayward Seed Farm) and hopefully gave people some new ideas for preparing them. We used Chiogga beets which are also known as candy strip or bulls eye beets and they have red and white stripes when you cut into them. We also mixed in some of the beet greens with the chard for the frittata.

The Ark of Taste product that we incorporated was Alaea salt from Hawaii which has a beautiful terracotta color (due to the addition of red volcanic clay) and makes a wonderful finishing salt, especially on something pale like the cauliflower.

Colleen did all the talking and I assisting making sure that everything was to hand and keeping a check on the oven. The demonstration went really well, except for the weather. The sky looked really ominous and we had been told that we would have to stop if the rain was heavy. We rushed through the menu and were just finishing when it started pouring. Trying to serve food in the rain and pack everything up was pretty hectic, but people were lining up in the rain to try things and the food all disappeared despite the thunderstorm. We had some great reactions to the food and it was fun chatting to people afterwards.

Because of the weather I didn’t get a photo of the cauliflower. It had brown crunchy bits and was really delicious. I heard more than one person say that it was the best cauliflower they had ever tasted, they could not believe that it only had olive oil, salt and pepper.

Roasted Cauliflower

3 cups cauliflower
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400˚. Break cauliflower into florets and toss with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 25 minutes, or until browned on ends.

Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Frittata

1 bunch (8 oz) Swiss chard stems, separate from leaves
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 c chopped local sweet candy onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan)
2 oz goat cheese
salt & pepper
Fresh Basil to garnish

Preheat oven to 350˚. Saute onion and garlic in 12″ nonstick frying pan until onion is translucent. Add the chard stems and saute for a few minutes. Add the leaves, and salt/pepper to taste. When the chard has wilted, pour in the beaten eggs. Crumble the goat cheese over the surface. Remove from heat and place in oven for 8 minutes or until egg has set and cooked through.

Roasted Beets with Cumin and Mint

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted & lightly crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
6 medium beets (1-1/4 lbs. without greens), trimmed, leaving 1″ stems attached.
1/3 c. fresh mint, coarsely chopped

Stir together lemon juice, cumin seeds, salt, and pepper in medium bowl. Stir in oil and let stand while roasting beets. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425˚.

Wrap beets tightly in double layer of foil and roast on baking sheet until tender, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 min. Cool to warm in foil, about 20 min. When beets are cool enough to handle, peel them, discarding stems and root ends, then cut into 1/4-1/2″ wide wedges.

Toss warm beets with dressing. Stir in mint just before serving. (Adapted from Gourmet, May 2007)

1 Comment

Filed under Columbus, North Market, Vegetarian, recipes, slow food, special events

Tags: beets, cauliflower, food and ohio wine festival, frittata, goat cheese, North Market, slow food

July 14, 2009

Slow Food Weekend Tour to Athens

: Goats at Integration Acres

On a beautiful June weekend Slow Food Columbus took its second trip to Athens. The first trip at the beginning of November was a day trip highlighting the Village Bakery, Green Edge Gardens and Jackie O’s Pub and was documented by CMH Gourmand. We seem to have very good luck with the weather in Athens, or maybe it is always sunny there. Trip two, bigger and better, a full weekend was organized by CMH Gourmand Jim Ellison. The weekend had a flexible format and participants were able to pick and choose which events and meals they wanted to partake of. I think at most we were 24.

As well as being a college town Athens is also well known for its local food economy, quilt barns, farmers market and festivals. Our weekend was packed full of information so this will at best just be an overview with links for more information.

Our first stop was the Athens Farmers Market and we were lucky enough to be there on the day of the Berry Bake-off. This producers only farmers market has been in operation since the early 70’s and in its current location since 1999. It is one of the largest open air markets in Ohio (if not the largest) and has over 100 members. Most of the vendors come from within a 5 county radius with the average distance from the market being about 20-30 miles. A couple of the stall-holders have been selling at the market since it first started.

Athens_1

We were given a tour by market manager Sarah Conley-Ballew who told us about the history and structure of the market and some of the new initiatives such as the junior chef school, a verified local growers scheme, market bucks (gift certificates) and introduced us to Community Food Initiatives, a non-profit that among other projects collects surplus food and donations from the market to distribute to food pantries and other charities.

The market has a good range of produce, baked goods, meat, preserves and some crafts. We saw some of the farmers that we would be visiting later in the weekend. By lunchtime it was getting hot and paw paw pops (popsicles made from paw paw pulp mixed with other fruit juices) from Integration Acres were the preferred way to cool down.

: Snowville Creamery

Our second stop was at the Snowville Creamery where we were given a tour by Steve Ferreira, the General Manager. Snowville Milk is widely available in Columbus and many of the group were interested to see how the milk and cream they enjoy is produced. Steve explained how Snowville milk is different(flavor, grass-fed active cows, a fresher product with a shorter shelf life, non-homogenized and pasteurized at a lower temperature for less time). We also heard about some of the new developments – Snowville is planning to start selling yoghurt and will also be packaging their cream in smaller containers. Then it was time to go and meet the farmer, Stacy Hall, who along with her husband Bill Dix own the herds that Snowville Milk is primarily produced from.

: Stacy Hall shows us her dairy farm

Stacy showed us the milking parlor and explained how the design and technology allows one person to milk the whole herd (over 100 cows) single handed. The cows live outside year round but are only milked seasonally. They primarily grass fed and but they walk to the milking parlor for food supplements (grain, soybean protein and essential minerals) every day even through the winter. They get fresh pasture and water after every milking. Stacy said that the exercise, diet and seasonal milking cause the cows to live longer and healthier. They usually have 6 lactations which is more than twice conventional herds.

We went out to the fields to meet the cows and see some of pasture including a new siberian clover and heard details of how they have been trying to improve the soil and productivity of the farm which they purchased in 2001.

Next stop was Integration Acres where we were shown around by owner Chris Chmiel. Chris is a promoter of all things paw paw and has been a paw paw pioneer since 1996, he even sports a paw paw tattoo. Paw paws are of particular interest to us Slow Fooders as they are an Ark of Taste product and the state native fruit. Paw paws are the largest edible fruit native to the U.S and you can read about how Chris got involved in paw paws or you can go to the annual Paw paw festival in September (near Lake Snowden, Ohio).

: Integration Acres: Paw paw heaven

Although Integration Acres is now the largest paw paw processor in the world, Chris doesn’t stop at just paw paws, he also promotes other local and native food products such as ramps and spicebush berries. A former dairyman he discovered that goats will not eat paw paw trees and that you could therefore integrate dairy farming with paw paw farming. Chris now has a goat dairy and is making goats cheese. So far he has been making soft cheeses (chevre and feta) but is experimenting with some aged, hard cheeses such as a gouda and some smoked chevre.

: Goats and Goat Cheese at Integration Acres

Warren and Victoria Taylor, the owners of Snowville Creamy had kindly invited us to camp at their house. While some of the group chose the comforts of town and headed off for enviable showers, the more intrepid or foolhardy among us went to set up camp. It was an idyllic spot and the starry sky and bonfire were ample compensations for the lack of a shower.

: Camping at the Taylor Farm

Dinner was at an Athens restaurant Zoes, a little disappointing because the menu used very little of the beautiful local produce we had seen all day. Luckily everyone had taken the BYOB to heart and it was as much a wine tasting as dinner with an amazing array of Ohio wines, many of which I had not tried before. After our respective nights under the stars or in the comfort of an Athens hotel room we regrouped for a relaxed brunch at Jana’s Soul Food Cafe, enjoying traditional American style breakfast food, southern inspired dishes and lots of coffee. The Athens food network is such that we had the same server at brunch that had served us across town at dinner.

A smaller group moved on to Sassafras Farm in New Marshfield, a small farm owned and operated by Ed Perkins since 1974. Ed is the president of the local OEFFA chapter. Ed sells his produce primarily at the Athens farmers market and his strategy is to simulate a grocery store produce section so that someone could buy their fruit and vegetables from him each week. He grows what sells well at the market and what he is comfortable growing. He therefore has a wide variety of vegetables: broccoli, squashes, beans, kale, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, lettuces, eggplants, chard, spinach, carrots, potatoes,onions, garlic, zucchini, brussels sprouts, Jerusalem artichokes, and probably more besides. We also saw raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and rhubarb, but the priority is vegetables. Ed has a couple of helpers and a work horse, but farms with mainly manual labor and little irrigation. He uses successive plantings and tunnels to help him extend the season. Ed Perkins is fiercely passionate and practical about his farming. The farm was beautifully maintained and Ed’s farming philosophy came through strongly both in viewing his fields and listening to his words.

Athens_6

Our final stop of the weekend (apart from a sneaky visit to O’Betty’s for a hot dog) was for a Q&A session at Casa Nueva, with one of the founders Leslie Schaller, who can most succinctly be described as one of the movers and shakers in the Athens local food economy and Bob Fedyski from Rural Action (a VISTA volunteer working on sustainable agriculture). It was an interesting session and we learned a lot more about the local food economy, ACEnet projects, the Food Ventures Center (including the kitchen incubator), Rural Action, the history and structure of the worker owned Casa Nueva,Ohiofoodshed.org and efforts to get local foods into colleges and other institutions.

It was a weekend packed with information, wonderful food experiences and we met some fascinating and inspiring people. It was really interesting to understand more about where our food comes from, to meet the farmers and understand how local food systems can work. Athens is a good model with over 30 years work invested into developing a local food economy and a huge amount of collaboration between organizations. Athens is definitely worth a trip, whether for a day or a weekend. If you missed the Slow Food trip, there is a Locavore weekend getaway on August 14-16 highlighting some of the same places that we went to, and featuring Mailou Suzko, author of the book Farms and Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate.

More photos of the weekend can be found on flickr here, here and here. This post was written for the Slow Food Columbus blog.

My apologies that this post is long overdue. One of my many excuses is that I left my notes under a paw paw tree. Many thanks to Chris from Integration Acres for returning them. Bethia.

July 8, 2009

Greens and Grains

I cooked two new things for lunch today: Kasha and Chard. The chard was a gift from my friend Jane and it was beautiful. I believe it came from the Clintonville Farmer’s Market but I’m not sure which farm.

I used to avoid leafy greens because my mother is allergic to spinach and for that reason we never ate it at home. My uncle, a keen gardener, once ate so much of his abundant chard harvest that he gave himself a blod clot (or so the family myth goes). These reasons combined with the fear that a similar fate might befall me, and the fact that chard is very rare in the UK, mean that it was something I was not familiar with growing up.

I have been tempted to buy chard from the market with its pretty multi-colored stems but there are always too many other things that I want to buy and though I admired it, I never brought it home.

On Jane’s advice I stir-fried the chard, with garlic. First cooking the chopped stems and then later adding the chopped leaves which are much quicker to cook. I added some red pepper flakes, Japanese mixed pepper spice and a dash of soy sauce and a little water to help steam the chard a little at the end. The stems were a beautiful bright pink and could have been mistaken for thin rhubarb.

Some things I learned about Chard today:
It looks like you have an awful lot when it is raw, but as soon as you cook it, you wonder where it all disappeared to.
You need to cook the stems for a lot longer than the leaves. One recipe suggested boiling them for 5 minutes first but I just stir-fried them for longer.
Chard tastes a lot better than beet greens, it is not as bitter.

I served the chard on a bed of kasha, a nutty buckwheat grain that I had only knowingly eaten before in mixed grain cereals. I bought the kasha from the bulk food section of Wholefoods some time ago, perhaps with a recipe in mind, perhaps on a whim. Looking up how long to cook it for, I discovered the advice to toast the grains before you cook them both for flavor and to help prevent them sticking. Out came the iron skillet and I toasted the grains until fragrant and until they were darker in color. I used 1 cup of kasha and two cups of water (I would have used some bouillon but I have run out and couldn’t be bothered to defrost any stock). The kasha cooked in under 10 minutes, absorbed all the water and did not stick. The fragrance of the cooked grains is very reminiscent of pancakes but without the sweetness. According to Veganomicon it goes well with beets, mushrooms and other earthy flavors. Peter Berley has a recipe for a winter root casserole with kasha and it may have been that recipe that prompted me to buy it in the first place.

Kasha dry and cooked

I thought that the kasha and chard combination worked really well and topped it off with some sriracha hot sauce. I ate less than half, so will try the rest chilled in a salad. Browsing online I found a couple of recipes that I think sound good: Spicy kasha vegetable salad from the blog fat free vegan and butternut squash and kasha salad which is a Wholefoods recipe. Maybe I should download the Wholefoods recipe app for my iphone!

4 Comments

Filed under Vegetarian, recipes, salads

July 7, 2009

July 4th Weekend

Not quite red, white and blue but you can tell it's summer!

Our holiday weekend turned into three days of food, fun and feasting. Friday night was an al fresco dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday with delicious treats from Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, spicy capicola from Thurn’s, foie gras pate from France, smoked oat cakes from Ireland, local tomatoes with basil and Blue Jacket Dairy Mozzarella and french rose. It was a ‘picnic’ beyond compare!

Zingerman's treat number one, acorn fed coppa.

Treat number two: Kunik cheese

Kunik cheese from Warrensburg NY (via Zingerman’s) is a wonderful uber creamy cheese made from a mix of goat milk and jersey cream. It is a white mold ripened cheese with a buttery interior and I hope that it is available somewhere in Columbus.

Thus fortified it was time for Red, White and Boom fireworks and our al fresco evening continued with Dark and Stormies (ginger beer and dark rum), my favorite firework watching drink, on a warehouse roof downtown.

Thurns - various meats including capicola

Saturday we were hosting a post doo-dah parade cookout. We had purchased the meat the day before at Thurn’s and chosen a range of burgers, brats (smoked and garlic) and frankfurters. Once you are in Thurn’s how can you resist the bacon?

Saturday morning saw my usual trip to the farmers market but I rather unwisely rode my bike. Bikes are fine when shopping for one or two, not for twenty and not when you can’t resist buying 13 ears of corn. I had a wobbly ride home with bags hanging off each handle bar. You really can tell that the growing season here is in full swing, with so much more variety than a month ago. Blueberries, raspberries, apples, tomatoes, snow peas, cucumbers, beets, carrots and all sorts of greens. My highlights were red skinned pontiac potatoes, orange cherry tomatoes and the first corn of the season!

Somehow I was too busy at the cook out to take any photos. I made the veganomicon quinoa salad with black beans and mango that I made a lot last summer, a potato salad with a mustardy dressing and a blueberry cake (a favorite recipe from the Lompoc Cafe Cookbook). We also made a roasted tomato salsa from 101 cookbooks that was a huge hit. It disappeared before everyone had even arrived.

Lompoc cafe blueberry cake with lemon frosting

Sunday was some more taco trucking – and after one failed lead, we found a new truck in Hilliard (great chorizo tacos) and took a trip to Potosinos, which was busy with Latinos in their sunday best but as welcoming as always. I had some wonderful barbacoa sopes and horchata.

Tacos at Nayarit

The finale of the weekend was an opening party at Kogen’s restaurant in Powell. Kogen’s is a Pan-Asian restaurant owned by the Mark Pi family with a mixture of sushi and other Asian dishes.

We stuck to the sushi menu and tried some of the interesting sushi appetizers such as Asian poke, seafood sunomono, spicy octopus with kimchi sauce and Asian ceviche. We also had some sushi a la carte and not surprisingly ran out of space for any entrees. The Asian poke and the octopus were our favorite appetizers.

Asian ceviche was a refreshing mixture of marinated fish with cucumber, fish roe and seaweed salad.

We also really enjoyed some of the interesting mixed drinks. The favorite at our table was the Cappa martini, sake shaken with cucumber and sour mix. A perfect drink for a hot summer evening and a great accompaniment to the sushi. Isn’t one of the signs of a good cocktail that it is way too easy to drink?

Photos of Red White and Boom and the Doo Dah Parade are up on Flickr.

1 Comment

Filed under Columbus, Drinks, North Market, Ohio, Taco trucks, dinners with friends, special events

Tags: corn, north market blueberry cake, thurns

July 2, 2009

Updates, Excuses, etc…

Photo by Eric Albrecht (Columbus Dispatch)

I haven’t been posting on Hungrywoolf as much as I would like to and I still have a lot of posts to catch up on from my trip to England and France as well as a Slow Food weekend in Athens (Ohio) and some other random bits and pieces.

One of the reasons that I have been neglecting Hungrywoolf.com is that Taco Trucks Columbus has been really busy. You may have read about our taco TV experience on the tacotruckscolumbus website. Well here is the result of our day filming with 10TV.

Our website and the taco trucks were also featured in the Columbus Dispatch and as well as the article, there is a fantastic slide show. We were very lucky that Eric Albrecht (an amazing photographer) accompanied us for a Dispatch Taco Tour. We were also featured in a Columbus Foodcast and organized a sucessful Columbus Underground meat-up to share the delights of Los Guachos Al Pastor tacos. Taco trucks Columbus has now had over 40,000 hits and the google map has had even more.

Al pastor tacos from Los Guachos

We have also been following up on leads of new trucks and trying to keep the website updated as trucks move and we get new information. This is a great time of year for taco trucking and I hope that you will have as much fun discovering Mexican street food as we have. We love it when we go to a truck and someone says that they found out about it through our blog.

dirty_franks

Yesterday the taco trucks Columbus team met up for the opening of Dirty Frank’s, a new restaurant venture by wonder-woman Liz Lessner and her Fiance Harold LaRue. Dirty Frank’s is a hot dog restaurant with some interesting variations on the classic dog (pictured is the Ohioana with spicy corn relish), slushies and all sorts of other goodies, including deep fried leeks! We were caught on video by Columbus Alive. It was so good we ended up going back again the same day. Thanks Liz – and congratulations.

Apart from our travels, June had some great food highlights. I already posted about Alana’s and here are a few other random ones:

Black raspberry and mulberry picking at Lucky Cat Farm

Grilled figs stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon.

Lamb burgers with pate (in the middle) and goats cheese on top (not for the faint hearted).

IMG_3791_2

Discovering La Tapatia Mexican grocery store with its amazing produce section (who can resist 10 limes for $1)

2 Comments

Filed under Columbus, Ohio, Taco trucks, dinners with friends, restaurants

July 1, 2009

Especially for the Early Birds

A lot of restaurants are reacting to the recession with prix-fixe menus, bistro style offerings or early bird specials. There are some great deals around if you are able to eat early and don’t mind having a limited choice. G Michael’s has a Monday night special that looks like good value

A special occasion and some Comfest avoidance took us to Alana’s last weekend to try the early bird special of 3 courses for $25 if you eat between 5-6pm. I had not been to Alana’s for a while and it was my first experience sitting on the patio. It was lovely and will only be improved when the High Street construction is completed.

Being a special occasion we started with cocktails and champagne cocktails at that. Alana’s spring elixir (champagne, vodka, rhubarb bitters and elderflower liquer) tasted every bit as good as it looked, stunningly presented with a red rose petal floating on top.

There was a choice of 3 appetizers (two soups and a salad) and four entrees (one of which was vegetarian). There was no choice for the dessert and indeed our server did not know what it would be until he brought it out to us. He said that it would be whatever Alana had decided to make that day. Both the food and drink menus at Alana’s change often depending on what is in season and available. One of the things I enjoy about eating there is that there is always something new and different. There is a structure but it never gets stale and it is always seasonal.

I started with a peach sake soup with strawberry and ginger salsa (over 21’s only) and it was wonderful. It was light and refereshing, perfect for a summer afternoon. The sake added an interesting kick and ensured that it was not overly sweet. It was the envy of the table.

My winning streak continued with a succulent steak accompanied by a smashed potato salad and local green beans. The potato salad was very lightly dressed and had a slight vinegary tang which helped to make the meal feel less rich than some of the other menu offerings. The sauce was called horsey-sauce, named for the horseradish used to give it a bit of punch. Also popular was the huge helping of creamy risotto of wild mushrooms and scallops.

The mystery dessert was a well executed creme brulee (I particularly liked the burnt sugar crust). All in all, excellent value for the early birds, especially if you can resist the cocktails. This is harder than it might sound as Alana’s has some of the most interesting, innovative and appealing cocktails in the city. One of the benefits of eating early is that you have the whole evening ahead of you to enjoy. In our case we headed down to Schiller Park for some al fresco theatre. How I love the summer.

2 Comments

Filed under Columbus, Drinks, dinners with friends, restaurants, soup

June 17, 2009

Decadence at Roka

Some superlative meals are the subject of much anticipation and others you just stumble upon. While anticipation can be extremely enjoyable, it can also lead to disappointment when the dreamed of dishes do not quite compare to what was conjured up in your imagination. The meal of happenstance comes without the baggage of expectation and is like a surprise lottery win – a complete bonus.

During our recent trip to London, an off-hand mention from a friend led us to discover Roka. A stroke of luck – It was undoubtedly one of the best (and most expensive) meals I have eaten and certainly one that I will remember for a long time. I had not heard of Roka before I went there and so had no preconceptions. Since then I have read many reviews – it is much written about.

roka2

Roka is a well established and award winning London restaurant, (owned by the proprietors of Zuma) with branches in Macau, Hong Kong and Scottsdale. It is based on the robatayaki style of cooking (open charcoal grill) and is a Japanese fusion restaurant presided over by Chef Nic Watt. When we were there it was very busy and the gray London day meant that no-one was taking advantage of the outdoor seating (the glass walls slide open). The interior features a lot of wood but the glass walls make it very light. We sat at the wooden bar and were able to watch the chefs at work.

We opted for the £75 twelve course tasting menu as choosing a la carte was a little daunting and there were so many things on the tasting menu that we wanted to try.

First was Namagaki no tosazu gake (rock oyster with rice vinegar and ponzu) served on an ice bed with Moriawase San Shu – a selection of sashimi (salmon, tuna and red snapper). The rare treat fresh wasabi was brought to the table and served straight from the sharkskin grater. The little wine red sprouts are benitade sprouts.

This was followed by Tarabagani Maki (king crab, wasabi tobiko, rock chives and cucumber) garnished again with benitade sprouts. These were creamy and a mix of subtle yet distinctive flavors. I particularly liked the onion-chive flavor of the rock chives.

Next were Ise- Ebi to gin tara no gyoza (lobster and black cod dumplings) served with edamame. A big hit for my companion but one of the less memorable flavors for me.

Stunning presentation is a feature of good Japanese food and Roka excels in this department with stylish presentation and beautiful garnishes that enhance the flavor and are not just for show. I am a ginger fan and so the Hamachi no tartar (yellowtail with lemon, chilli and ginger) was an easy sell for me. Tiny chopped celery gave it a refreshing crunch. The pearls are not fish roe, but are jellied ginger essence – wow!

The next course was one of my favorites and was truly luxurious. I think at this point we might have started to get giddy. Foie gras to umeshu no ume to nama nori (foie gras with a pickled umeshu plum and nama nori). The toast was like black lace and inconceivably light. The plum was sweet and a taste that was new to me. Sweet and fragrant an not sour or vinegary as I had expected.

Hotate (scallop skewers with wasabi and shiso) were perfectly cooked and another winning dish that might be possible to emulate at home.

Another favorite and a surprise hit was Ko Nasu (grilled eggplant in mirin, ginger and soy). The eggplants used are the smaller japanese style which have thinner skins. They came in a bowl smeared with caramelized miso and garnished with sesame seeds and bonito flakes. This is without a doubt the best eggplant dish I have ever had and I was loathe to share it. The miso was almost like a satay sauce and I could happily have licked the bowl.

The next course was Kamameshi (rice hot pot with king crab). Hot pot sounds a little humble, but in this case it comes topped with a pile of wasabi flavored tobiko (fish roe) that is stirred in at the table. Sadly I wasn’t able to take a photo before our server eagerly set to work. The hot pot is like a Japanese risotto, more soupy than an Italian risotto but with a little crunch from the fish roe. It was a very generous serving and would be a wonderful dish on a wintry day.

roka hotpot

Another sushi followed, but not sushi as you know it – beefy sushi. Wagyu gunkan to be precise (wagyu beef with oscietra caviar, spring onions and fresh ginger), truly decadence on a plate.

I think it was at this point that we were asked if we were ready for the main course. We almost choked. Luckily we were able to find room because the two grilled meat courses that followed were among the best. Firstly, Kankoku fu kohitsuji (lamb cutlets with Korean spices), spicy without being overly hot, tender and perfectly grilled. The cucumber was a good accompaniment.

The second grilled dish was a revelation. Uzura no miso zuke (quail marinated in plum wine and red miso) was more succulent than I thought any game bird ever could me. So tender and so tasty and no need for a sauce, simply garnished with kinome leaves (Japanese pepper leaf) and pickled plum.

Dessert was the Roka dessert platter comprising of a chocolate ’surprise’ cake with a shockingly bright green tea liquid center (really, we were shocked!), a trio of ice creams (strawberry and jasmine, green tea, asian pear), tropical fruit (including dragon fruit) and a chawamushi (Japanese egg custard) with honeycomb, banana liqueur, strawberries and goodness knows what else and served with a light and crunchy almond cookie. Some of the fruits were disappointingly under-ripe, but the mango was excellent. The crisp tuile like decoration tasted even better than it looked with an intense raspberry tang. Somehow, even after all those courses we managed to clear off the dessert plate. The most notable dessert for me was the strawberry and jasmine ice cream which had a heavenly flavor.

roka_dessert

I am so glad I have the photos, or I would have trouble remembering everything we ate. Overall I thought the meal was worth the cost, given the quality and range of the ingredients used, the skill in preparation and the attention to detail. My companion described the meal as almost obscene. I certainly would not spend that much on a regular basis, but as a vacation treat it was wonderful. The presentation was sensational and the food tasted as every bit as good as it looked. It was impressive that Roka can consistently produce a tasting menu of that quality without needing a reservation.

My only criticisms were that it felt like we were being rushed through and courses would appear before we had finished the previous one. The range of nationalities of the servers was fascinating but sometimes it was hard to understand the description and it would have been helpful to have a copy of the menu to remind us of the details of each dish as it appeared. Other than that the service was very good, with drinks refilled before you needed them and little touches like re-folding your napkin if you got up from the table.

I think I might have to find an excuse to visit Arizona.

3 Comments

Filed under London, Travel

June 17, 2009

Krema Nut Company Tour

I had been wanting to tour the Krema Nut Company for sometime. Although it is only a mile and a half from my house it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You can only visit on weekdays, during office hours and you have to have a group of twenty or more people. Finally I assembled a group and last Friday it was ‘peanut butter jelly time’.

peanut_paraphenalia

Krema has been making peanut butter in Columbus for since 1898 soon after Dr John Kellogg (of cereal fame) patented a peanut butter making process. They are the oldest continuously operating manufacturer in the United States.

The tour started with a short video about the process of making peanut butter from farm to jar. Slightly surreal as the video they use is a clip from Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood (for British readers, it is the equivalent to using a clip from Play School or some other cheesy 1970’s children’s TV). We were then told about the different varieties of peanuts (spanish, virginia and runner). Most ‘commercial’ peanut butters are made from runner peanuts because they have the highest yield per acre, but Krema uses higher quality spanish peanuts for their peanut butter.

The factory is small scale and much is done by hand. Krema’s peanut butter is all natural which means that nothing at all is added. The nuts are roasted, cooled, blanched (skins and hearts are removed) and then ground. I was surprised that the heart (the little dot at the top of the peanut) is removed (you eat them when you eat peanuts whole) but apparently they are bitter. ‘Commercial’ peanut butters leave them in but they add sugar and salt to make up for the bitterness.

krema_tour

We learned that when choosing a natural peanut butter you should choose one without too much oil on the surface, there will be some as the peanut butter starts to separate as soon as it is made, but the less oil there is, the fresher it is. When you get it home, stir it to combine the oil and then refrigerate it. If it is too hard to spread, then you can microwave it for 20 seconds to soften it, then return to the fridge after use. It is fine to do this repeatedly.

Krema also makes other nut butters (almond, cashew) and other but products and we learned about cashews (really a seed) and Brazil nuts (yes, they do come from Brazil). When you learn that a 50ft cashew tree only produces 6lbs of cashew nuts a year, you can appreciate why they are so expensive. The extra large cashews we tasted were fantastic. We watched almond butter being made.

almond_butter

We tasted Krema’s regular peanut butter, cashew butter, almond butter and hot and spicy peanut butter. You could really taste the freshness. The hot and spicy peanut butter is my new favorite food. It makes an excellent PB&J sandwich, is a great snack with celery and I think it would make for a wonderful satay sauce.

Krema have a shop with an extensive range of nut products that is open to the public and you can see through windows into the factory (a lot easier than organizing a tour). There is also a sandwich shop that also serves milkshakes, ice cream and sundaes (PB milkshake got a big thumbs up). It is located at 1000 West Goodale Blvd in Columbus. If you can’t make it to the shop, Krema also sell their products online.

pb_sandwiches

Sandwiches pictured: Classic Old Timer (with strawberry preserves and fresh strawberries), the PB-nana (with honey and bananas) and Grandma’s Apple Pie (with chunky apple fruit spread).

One of my other discoveries from the shop – almondized peanuts. These are boiled before they are roasted and it gives them a really crunchy texture. Delicious salted and less greasy than regular roast peanuts.

Thanks to everyone who came along for the tour.

2 Comments

Filed under Columbus, special events

Tags: almond butter, Columbus, krema, Ohio, peanut butter, spicy peanut butter

Hungrywoolf’s Food blog

July 16, 2009

99 Drams of Whiskey

July 15, 2009

Adventures in Restaurant Week (take 2?)

July 14, 2009

Slow Food at the Food and Ohio Wine Festival

July 14, 2009

Slow Food Weekend Tour to Athens

July 8, 2009

Greens and Grains

July 7, 2009

July 4th Weekend

July 2, 2009

Updates, Excuses, etc…

July 1, 2009

Especially for the Early Birds

June 17, 2009

Decadence at Roka

June 17, 2009

Krema Nut Company Tour

Blogroll

Cool links

Food places

Organizations

Recipe websites

Recent Posts

Search

Archives

Top Posts

Pages

Meta

July 2009
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jun
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31