August 20, 2008
From Serious Eats: New York
Posted by Ed Levine, August 19, 2008 at 11:30 PM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
New York can be a tough, unforgiving place for chef-restaurateurs looking to open their own places. Rents are high, start-up capital is hard to come by (especially these days), and figuring out a way to distinguish yourself from the thousands of restaurants here is tough. Yet some people somehow find the money, locate an affordable space, and, with a big leap of faith, open its doors.
The Redhead
349 East 13th Street, New York NY 10003 (b/n First and Second avenues; map); 212-533-6212
Service: Friendly, accommodating
Setting: Comfy, converted bar
Compare It To: The Little Owl, Market Table
Must-Haves: Crab leek tart, summer bean salad, Low Country shrimp, fried chicken
Cost: $45 for three courses, tax, and tip
Grade: B+
The Redhead decided to start slowly. Almost two years ago Meg Grace, who was cooking at the Museum of Modern Art, and her two young restaurateur partners, Rob Larcum and Gregg Nelson, took over the lease at a defunct jazz club and bar with the idea that they would eventually open a restaurant. To keep cash flowing, Larcum and Nelson kept their day jobs (at Drew Nieporent's and Danny Meyer's companies, respectively), and kept the place open seven nights a week as a bar. Grace started cooking every Thursday night. People seemed to take a shine to Grace's regional American, Southern-influenced cooking, and then New York Times dining section editor Pete Wells wrote a positive in-brief review that contained a sirenlike line about biscuits good enough to be in a biscuit museum. Eighteen months later a full-blown restaurant was born. Their toe-dipping had evolved into a headlong plunge.
I had heard from quite a few people in the restaurant business and out about the Redhead, so a couple of days after they began serving dinner five nights a week I went down to see what all the buzz (and the biscuits) were about.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, August 19, 2008 at 6:45 PM
It all started with the pears. In 1910, Seattle hotelier Samuel Rosenberg traded the opulent Hotel Sorrento for 240 acres of pear trees in southern Oregon. Following his untimely death in 1914, his two sons, Harry and David, took over the business, and, in the wake of the Great Depression, began selling their special "Royal Riviera" Comice pears by mail. The rest is history. Almost a century later, Harry & David is an umbrella organization that encompasses everything from fresh fruits and spiced nuts to chocolate truffles, salsas, barbecue sauces, relishes, and that dangerously addictive candied popcorn snack, Moose Munch.
They also have mixes for all kinds of baked goods, such as scones, pancakes, and cookies. This being hot, sticky August, I decided to make Harry & David's rendition of one of my favorite warm weather desserts: key lime bars. (Available at Harry & David outlet stores for $7.95.)
The Crust
A message on the Harry & David Dessert Square Mix package proclaims that the product is "Gourmet Made Easy!" This is not false advertising. The bag contains two pouches, "crust" and "filling." The instructions say to simply press the crust mixture into an 8 x 8-inch pan and bake for eight to ten minutes. At first, I thought it was a misprint—surely I needed to add a few tablespoons of canola oil or melted butter to what appeared to be a plain sack of cookie crumbs. But when I emptied the crust into my pan I found it surprisingly moist. It packed down easily, like wet sand.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, August 19, 2008 at 5:45 PM
If you constantly find yourself muttering, "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me," in the middle of the night, fight back with some of this clown-faced luncheon meat. Feel empowered as you bite into the slices of 80 percent processed pork matter. Release from the dark clutches of clown-derived fear can be yours for just 29 pence per 100 grams! [via Doobybrain.com]
Posted by Robyn Lee, August 19, 2008 at 5:00 PM
For his Think Globally, Act Locally performance video, Brooklyn-based artist William Lamson put on a mask embedded with firecracker-stuffed bananas and filmed himself lighting each fuse, causing the bananas to explode. What's the message? ArtSlant says, "The banana, a classic agent for slapstick pratfalls, has also now come to represent the pitfalls of corporate farming practices." I say, "Bananas are evil and must be destroyed." I'm probably wrong.
Posted by Gordon Mark, August 19, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Image from news.dengeki.com
To help promote the video game Mega Man 9 (or Rockman 9 in Japan)—the latest edition in the Mega Man series—a special energy drink will be released this month in Japan. The Rockman E-Tank Sports Drink pays homage to the E-Tanks used to refill your energy bar in the game. The drink will retail for 137 yen (or $1.25 in U.S. dollars). The new game, in all its retro 8-bit glory, will be released on Playstation 3 (on the Playstation network), Xbox 360 (on Xbox Live Arcade), and Nintendo Wii (on WiiWare). Watch the game trailer after the jump. [via Kotaku]
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From Recipes
Posted by Blake Royer, August 19, 2008 at 4:00 PM
A glistening bowl of chopped summer tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice—it doesn't get much better than that. But that's the problem with this recipe. If tortilla chips are anywhere nearby, you might skip dinner altogether. If you can guard the fresh pico de gallo long enough to pan-sear some fish—a couple minutes on each side—you'll have a light, healthy summer dinner when combining the two.
I used tilapia in this case, but other white-fleshed fish like halibut will work. All you need to cook the fish: a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a pan of olive oil heated to almost smoking status. This ensures a wonderful crust that isn't overcooked or dry. Use lime juice instead of lemon when the fish comes off the heat, since it'll best marry the pico de gallo flavors.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, August 19, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Each week we be round up our favorite posts and recipes from our friends at Apartment Therapy's blog The Kitchn.
This week The Kitchn gives suggestions for how to use cucumbers that go beyond just salads. Try them out in juices, soups, stir-fries, and more.
Also on The Kitchn, ice cream scoop recommendations, a recipe for Mexican chocolate and almond ice cream, the best kinds of brie, and a dishware set disguised as a vase.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, August 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Photograph of Duff Goldman from Wikipedia; Photograph of action figure from Action Figure Insider
Duff Goldman, star of Food Network's Ace of Cakes and head baker at Baltimore's Charm City Cakes, can now add "immortalized as an action figure" to his list of accomplishments. This isn't your run-of-the-mill action figure modeled after a baker—Duff's accessories include "two of the shop’s signature cakes, a drill-powered mixer, a chainsaw, wooden spoon, spatula, guitar and flame-thrower!" The action figure made by Diamond Select Toys will be available through Charm City Cakes this fall. [via Food Network Addict]
Posted by Jamie Forrest, August 19, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Cheese plates are a great, easy thing to serve at a dinner party. How hard is it to unwrap a bunch of cheeses and throw them on a wooden board? They work well before or after the meal, and allow the host to impress guests with some funky, novel flavors. While picking out cheeses can be overwhelming, try picking out four to five that work well together. Here are some suggestions for constructing an amazing cheese plate.
Something Old, Something New
The old adage applies well to cheese plates. It works best if you vary them by texture, age, milk type, and manufacturer. For instance, your plate could include a soft fresh goat cheese, a pungent washed rind cow's milk cheese, a semi-firm aged sheep's milk, and a spicy blue. Speaking of blues, you should offer no more than two blues on a plate, otherwise you risk overwhelming the other cheeses. You can also vary the plate by geography, but sometimes it's fun to keep that fixed, like an all-French or all-American platter.
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From Recipes
Posted by Lucy Baker, August 19, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Moroccan cuisine is one of the most diverse in the world. Rooted in centuries-old Arab and Berber tradition, it also finds inspiration from nearby France and Spain. Heady blends of spices (such as cinnamon, saffron, and turmeric) complement dishes rich with ingredients such as lamb, dates, figs, walnuts, almonds, and couscous. Methods of preparation vary just as greatly, from slowly cooked tagines to oven-baked flatbreads and hearty meats grilled on small barbecues.
Today's Cook the Book recipe, excerpted from Rick Browne's The Best Barbecue in the World, is for Marrakesh fish steaks. The traditional Moroccan marinade, called sharmula, is made from cilantro, fresh parsley, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, saffron, lemon, and olive oil—a perfect complement to any firm white fish.
Win 'The Best Barbecue on Earth'
In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're also giving away five (5) copies of Browne's new book. Enter to win here.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, August 19, 2008 at 1:00 PM
As enticing as the $8 Blossom Bluff Nectarine dessert at San Francisco's Zuni Cafe may sound, be aware that all you'll get is a whole nectarine on a plate. Celeste at Chowhound describes the dish: "A plate came out, with exactly what they ordered - just a plain nectarine rolling around on the plate. ..It seems like a joke but is not." But there's a bonus—the peach comes with a steak knife! [via Eater SF]
Posted by Erin Zimmer, August 19, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Besides the book burning and social propaganda, an important part of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was the tiny mini packs of sunsweet pitted prunes. Oh wait, those never existed. So why does this futuristic commercial act like they did? And use Bradbury to promote the shriveled-up plums? Bradbury isn't sure either. He swears he never mentioned prunes in any of his stories. But just think: if he wanted to, he could have. Watch the wacky commercial after the jump. [via Boing Boing]
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Congrats to Cataroo, MrKnish, beausdorei, kathyvegas, and MerMade07. Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's Cook the Book!
From Recipes
Posted by Robin Bellinger, August 19, 2008 at 11:00 AM
I'm due in about two weeks and my head is spinning. In between tying up loose ends with work and making the apartment baby-ready, I consider all the things I won’t be able to do for a while, wondering if I should be doing them—movies, flea market, making elaborate dinners. Or instead, should I be getting my fill of lazy mornings and long naps?
Adding to my discombobulation and general difficulty prioritizing, I laugh and cry at the drop of a hat now. Bouncing back and forth between euphoria and anxiety is not, as it turns out, particularly conducive to efficiency. I’ve pretty much given up hope on crossing off one item from the absurd to-do list: stocking our freezer with homemade dinners to see us through the first few weeks postpartum. It’s hot, I’m giant and tired, and have a million other things to do—cooking up a storm just isn’t going to happen now. But if I did have it in me, I’d make Deborah Madison’s lasagna with eggplant and chard, my favorite of all her recipes.
The rare chance I do muster the energy and time, I’d love to hear what you would cook to freeze if you were a very pregnant me. I’m always looking for new ideas. In the meantime, here is Madison's eggplant and chard—if I ever get around to it—and a couple other ideas from favorite blogs.
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Mrs. Fields Famous Brands, which licenses and franchises about 1,200 Mrs. Fields Cookies and TCBY frozen yogurt branches worldwide, announced last Friday it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Since January of 2007, Mrs. Fields has been hurting, selling assets and initiating several rounds of layoffs.
