Fork Knife and Shovel

Who do you like in the Superbowl?

2012-02-01T23:15:00.001-06:00

I'm putting my money on these guys.

Mixed, ground, linked, and smoked last weekend. In honor of Super Sunday. Crier havot, mes amis - en garde.

Make me proud FKnS. Gauntlet thrown.

What to do with all these leftovers?

2012-01-23T10:01:00.002-06:00

Last night we had some friends over for a Sunday football supper. We made smoked cheddar pub-style burgers via Cooks Illustrated, with Black Forest bacon and sauteed onions. They brought delicious homemade Madeleines for dessert.

This morning I was informed that we are having salmon for dinner, meaning that the leftovers required immediate attention.

The solution to this culinary conundrum?

Madeleine Cheddar Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches.

Side note: Black Forest Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches work, too.

The End of the World is Near...

2011-11-04T17:20:00.002-05:00

Fried beer has finally been invented. We've done it and now the world can end. I've said it once and I'll say it again, the Texas State Fair is the center of culinary obesity innovation on the planet. God bless.

No!!!!!

2011-11-04T10:45:00.005-05:00

You’ll never believe this, but the conditions at McDonald’s McRib pork supplier are reportedly quite poor...

The Inn At The Crossroads...

2011-10-31T15:07:00.003-05:00

...or My Stomach Is A Nerd.

At last, two of my nerdiest pleasures - weird food and fantasy literature - come together. This blog is brilliant and I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes. I don't think I'll tell Blue how much they love roasted dog in Qarth.

The Inn At The Crossroads - A Medieval Recipe Blog Based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

What's Italian for "Meat Party"?...

2011-10-23T14:04:00.009-05:00

...or An Embarrassment of Local Riches.

We live in a small village north of NYC, abutted by other small villages. The town has enjoyed a culinary mini-rennaissance in the past few years with the addition of a variety of gastropubs, beer-focused bars, and traditional neighborhood restaurants with recent facelifts. The result is a surprising number of gastronomic options for such a small place. We may have escaped Brooklyn, but I think we brought some of its best parts with us.

One of those is the tiny Italian powerhouse Polpettina. Their own site describes the premise and appeal of the place perfectly. Quality, local ingredients put together simply but elegantly in an atmosphere that is completely relaxed and welcoming. And because I'm reviewing it, you know they have an excellent beer selection. Their pantry-sized space means they can only carry 3 taps, but they make up for it with a great variety of bottled and canned craft beers.

The pizza at Poppeltina stands up to any I've ever had anywhere. We've always gone with the thin Neapolitan crust with our own selection of toppings, but they also put together their own house specials with creativity and flair. While we were there this weekend, they had just made a "Grandma" pie with smoked lamb, caramelized onions, and feta cheese that was calling to me even as I stuffed myself.

Did I say stuffed myself? Oh yes. We kept hearing about how good the sandwiches were at Pop, and on this visit, we were wearing blinders made of hoagie rolls. Had to have a sandwich! We chose wisely.

The chicken milanese, with fresh mozz, arugula pesto, and roasted red peppers drizzled with olive oil sounded too good to pass up. Problem is, so did the braised beef with housemade giardiniera on an Italian-style sesame seed roll. The only solution was to order both and split them.

I fully expected the beef and giardiniera combo to completely take over and my chicken milanese to get lonely. But one bite of that chicken sandwich blew me away. The pesto was perfect, the mozz was an inch-thick slab, and the breaded chicken was cooked just so. Maybe the beef would be the leftover after all.

Not so fast. The beef was tender and fell apart in those unctuous strings that are the hallmark of a cook who knows the magic of low and slow. But it was the giardiniera that sealed the deal. This was a savory rather than spicy version, but it still had a perfect balance of tangy bite and sweet crunch. I swear that a good giardiniera may be my favorite condiment. There are few main dishes that can't be improved with one that's well made.

Pair all this with a Captain Lawrence kolsch and then a Sixpoint Bengali Tiger and you have the makings of a quality Saturday lunch. True to their spirit, a sizable portion of beers at Pop are local as well, including both of these. The kolsch was a worthy start, but it was the Bengali Tiger that blew me away. It's hard to describe, but starts with the maltiness of a dark lager and then hits you with a slight bitter bite at the end that just washes things clean and makes each sip taste like your first. Remarkable beer.

I'm not sure how this area supports such quality eats, but with places like Poppeltina representing, they won't have to depend strictly on local patronage. This place is worth the trip from out of town.

Maple Glazed Bacon Steak

2011-10-14T18:04:00.002-05:00

Did a quick trip down to Colorado Springs this week to visit family. Dinner out at the Blue Star, a local up-scale American-style bistro with a 'Focus on the Food' motif - much better than other 'Focus-oriented' organizations that barrow in the Springs' area. But I digress....

After perusing the menu with a glass of the Prisoner in hand, I couldn't help but order the Maple Glazed Bacon Steak. That's right, a pork belly steak that has been marinating in maple goodness for two days before being grilled to decadent perfection. We're talking new levels of cholesterol raising perfection here.

Maple glazed bacon steak, gorgonzola polenta & organic spring mix w/honey-cider vinaigrette

The taste was amazing - imagine crossing grilled pork tenderlion with slow-cooked beef ribs, like the kind of ribs you get at The Salt Lick. And yes, half of that piece is essentially 100% pork fat, although the texture was more like steak than the bacon fat you get with breakfast. This meal probably took 1 month off my life expectancy and I plan to try this again at home soon...

Seafood Paella

2011-09-14T00:07:00.000-05:00

My friends and I are going through a bit of Paella craze. Personally, I think I could eat variations on Paella every night for the rest of forever. But I'm a routine guy; I could eat the Pain Perdu with Beignets at Lucille's Creole Cafe every morning and never complain of redundancy...

That's not to say that Paella will be to the twenty teens what fondue was to the sixties. Crafting this ambrosia takes culinary skill and precision timing - neither of which I have in spades; I take pictures and eat stuff.

Anyhoo, my buddy Erik recently invested in a eight-seater paella pan, him being a big fan of Paella del Slater, which, historically, has only served four hungry adults. Pan acquired, Erik, John and I opted for a seafood theme, having done the pork/chicken two times running. We began 'work' at noon with instruction for the wives to arrive at 4pm for supper.

Step 1: Cut a hole in a box...I mean...make the stock. Simple flavors, chunks o' fish, and white wine. Boil it up for a while.

Step 2: Make flame.

View from the top of the chimney starter.

View from the top of my drank.
Sangria at noon is never a bad idea (at least, the first one isn't).

My dog, Baxter, neither speaks Spanish nor likes fire.

Step 3: Heat oil in the pan and bring on the players:

Halibut. Cubed and quickly browned.

Calimari. Not just a fried appetizer.

Clams and Mussels. Dearest friends from the sea.

Asparagus and garlic.

Qu'est-ce que la diff between shrimps and prawns?
I think these are the latter.

And keep em' coming.

Step 4: Flash brown some sun-dried tomatoes and follow with the stock and rice? I can't really remember, but how else would the rice get that lovely reddish hue?

Step 5: All hands on deck.

Finishing touches.

vamanos!

Please to Enjoy.

I really, really, enjoyed this dish and that's not just the wine talking. But in the end, the Paella with chicken and pork still has top billing. Anything will pork in it, really.

Carver's: Atlanta, GA

2011-09-02T23:36:00.005-05:00

Here's one for all you Southerners, transplanted or otherwise.

On a muggy Friday afternoon in mid-July, I stopped into Carver's for a late lunch. I've heard about the place for years, but had never been. Heading back to the office in midtown after a few runs, it was lunch time and I happened to be nearby. I'm not the biggest fan of "meat and three" spots, but Carver's is known for making everything in-house, so I decided it was time. Plus, their location on the formerly-industrial west-side of Atlanta (nauseatingly referred to as "Midtown West" or some such bullshit), now glutted with condos and the other trappings of gentrification, makes it especially fascinating to me. I love the few remaining old Southern spots that remain inside the city.

I had missed the lunch rush, but the young lady at the counter assured me they had plenty of specials left, in spite of it being after 2 o'clock. Deciding to pass on the remaining fried chicken and pot-roast, I expressed interest in the barbeque brisket. She apologized that they didn't have enough left for a full serving, but recommended the turkey dinner. A gentleman emerged from the back, presumably her father, and did the same. I've always heard the turkey raved about here, as it's roasted whole and hand-carved, but a big Thanksgiving-style spread seemed wrong in the height of summer. Still, the polite and enthusiastic staff held sway, and when in Rome, I thought...

The kicker came when they offered me the remaining brisket to go with the turkey, which already came with dressing (stuffing for you Yankees, but baked separately, not stuffed), and (of course) gravy. I opted for cabbage and greens as the remaining sides (for my health), and corn bread. It was all passed over to me on a tray, cafeteria-style. The friendly and helpful staff brought me iced tea after I'd found my seat.

Always a good sign:

The barbeque beef looks a bit dooky here, but was tasty. True to reputation, the turkey and dressing were transcendent. Everything else was great, too. Buttery cornbread held up to further buttering (from packets, but real), and the cranberry sauce in a plastic container was a nice touch, too.

After a long, slow effort, this was all I could do. Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was shot, work-wise. You can see my bill for $11.95 here, too.

This was the dude I paid on the way out, also friendly and helpful.

Lombardi's, NYC

2011-08-19T21:03:00.006-05:00

Greetings, gentlemen. It's been over a year since my only other post on FK&S, and I want to say thanks again to Jonny Alt and the rest of you for allowing me as a guest. What y'all do here is phenomenal. That being said, let me get to the gastrointestinal good stuff...

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a conference center near NYC for some business meetings. The schedule on the first night allowed me and one of my colleagues to ease into the city to chase down some of the world's best vittles. Based on our location about 25 miles away, we weren't sure if we'd be able to get to Manhattan or not, so any planning for higher end urban cuisine (attire, reservations, etc) was nonexistent. So, rockin' the shorts and flip flops, pizza and beer was a no-brainer.

Leaning on the trusty Crackberry, I uncovered what turned out to be an absolute Soho gem: Lombardi's Pizza (http://www.firstpizza.com/). In an effort to simply seek out some decent pie and suds, we apparently stumbled into "America's First Pizzeria." This place has been in business since 1905 and had every bit of personality and atmosphere you would imagine in a 106-year old joint that was started by an Italian immigrant.

So, we sat down and asked the waiter for his recommendations on toppings. His advice included homemade meatballs, pepperoni, and fire-roasted red peppers. We both had a hankerin' for some shrooms, so we added the fungus as well. Interestingly enough, the waiter advised limited toppings to preserve the "integrity" of the 'za. Per his direction, the order was both proteins all over, peppers on one half, mushrooms on the other:

Add a pitcher of cold Stella to the mix, and life is very good:

In conclusion, if you're in NYC and a fan of New York style pizza, Lombardi's gets my highest recommendation.

Keep up the good work, guys.

Homemade 'Cue Part 2: Charcoal Boogaloo...

2011-08-15T09:55:00.016-05:00

...or I Don't Need Sunshine On My Shoulder, John Denver, You Hippie.

A dismal weather forecast for Sunday didn't deter me from making ambitious plans for the Black Bullet. It had been a few weeks since my last smoke and I was anxious to give it another go. Rather than hit the local Fairway, which does carry some decent meat but isn't quite premium grade, I called my local butcher and asked them to special-order a pork shoulder for me.

Saturday morning, I picked up this 9-pound beauty.

Ingredients really do make all the difference and I could tell as soon as I took it out of the butcher paper (no shrinkwrap for this fella), this was going to be a good cook. Great marbling and a nice, thick fat layer under the skin, all of which would turn into our favorite pig condiment - luscious gelatin.

The next morning, I started putting together my dry rub. No matter what kind of pork rub I make, they all start the same way. Toasting whole cumin seeds on the stovetop and then grinding them to powder by hand in a mortar and pestle. You get a ton of flavor that way, which is important on a long, slow cook. A long cook time on a fatty cut of meat will tend to mellow flavors, so you want to start strong.

To the cumin, I add a healthy amount of salt, fresh ground black pepper, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and ground mustard. Once I've applied a thin coat of yellow mustard to the pork to act as rub glue, I give the meat a generous cover of the rub.

I keep my Rub Hand strong.

An hour after the rub goes on, I build my fire the G-Wiv Way and the pork goes in. My all-weather smoke station kept everything dry except me.

After just a couple of hours, I'm already getting good separation of the fat cap from the meat and the bark is forming.

Just makes you want to club something over the head and drag it back to your cave, doesn't it? But we're just getting started. Every couple of hours for the next 6-8 hours, I flip and turn the meat and give it a good basting with a wash I made from my dry rub, apple juice, and a little olive oil. But the pork doesn't have all the fun. I give myself a good basting too.

I realized too late what a great sauce base that maple whiskey would make. But next time, it'll be part of my experiments.

A little more than 8 hours after the shoulder hit the grill, it's on the pan and ready for its 20-minute rest to let the juices redistribute. It's damn hard to leave it alone, but this is a mandatory step.

Lots of bone showing, which is a good sign that I've given the meat plenty of time to cook thoroughly.

When it's fresh off the smoker, it's such a wondrous sight that it's almost a shame to chop it up for eating. Almost.

This was without a doubt the best thing I've made on the smoker so far, and I attribute it entirely to the quality of the meat. The rub was good and certainly added flavor, but the meat was perfect. Fresh as could be and with just the right amount of fat.

Odell Brewing Inc.

2011-07-31T20:11:00.016-05:00

When it comes to Fort Collins beer, Odell Brewing has always been the little brother to the ever-expanding empire that is New Belgium. However, in recent years, I've come to love the style of handmade, small-batch brewing that Odell does so well. Indeed, their brewery is now the first stop on the tour when friends come to town, as the tasting room at NB is a zoo (but what would you expect when their tasters are served free of charge?). Such was the case earlier this spring with AV and Sonia making a brief visit to Fort Fun.

The standard tasting beers, which some of you may be able to find at your local alehouse, are shown at right; we also chose a 'pilot' tray, which represents a series of small-batch beers that are still at the experimental stage. You might recognize the 'Town Pump Ale', brewed specifically for the bar with the same name - a great watering hole in town. Toxic Cherries anyone?

Take a gander at the Cutthroat Porter served off a nitro tap - could pass for a shot of espresso. One of my personal favs. I encourage you to seek out Odell's offerings - one of Colorado's secret gems that may show up in a taproom near you.

Cheers.

Homemade Barbecue - Test Run...

2011-06-13T13:10:00.009-05:00

...or A Shoulder To Cry On.

I recently bought a Weber Smokey Mountain charcoal smoker, aka The Weber Bullet. As you can see on the web site, this device has attracted a sizable and devoted following, for good reason. You can now count me as one its most ardent fans too.

While working from home on Friday and doing double-duty at my regular job as well as preparing for our annual summer party, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to also do a long, slow cook on the new smoker. I'd made an abortive but still tasty attempt at a small pork butt on my first smoke. Attempting a 6-8 hour cook of a fatty, gristly pork shoulder the first time you light up your Bullet is like getting your first chest hair and immediately asking the homecoming queen out on a date. Pure hubris and woefully premature. This was brought home to me when I had to take the humbling step of finishing my pork butt in the oven despite being on the smoker for a frustrating 10 hours.

But all failure is a learning experience (except for a parachute failure, I guess) and the FK&S nation did not let me down. Thanks to JA, I picked up Gary Wiviott's smoking primer, Low and Slow. If you are thinking about using one of the common home smokers, attempt nothing without reading Wiviott first. Even if you don't adhere to his draconian rules, you absolutely must build your fire the way he prescribes. My next smoke was Gary's introductory dish, chicken mojo criollo. I followed his instructions almost to the letter and produced one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had.

So on my second pork shoulder attempt, there was no question I was going to use Wiviott as my guide. I built my fire according to his instructions and the rest was almost easy.

I've been going with apple wood for my smoke. I like the aroma and the mild but still discernible flavor. (And hardwood lump charcoal, of course. In desperation after my initial failure, I thought my problem was the difficulty of keeping a lump charcoal fire burning. But as usual, it was 100% operator error and not the equipment.)

I got up early to make my own dry rub. Nothing fancy, but I did toast whole cumin seeds and then grind them by hand in a mortar and pestle. You get a finer, more even grind that way than in your typical coffee-type spice grinder. The rest was eyeballed portions of onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and fresh ground black pepper. Without a proper spice grinder, a couple tablespoons of freshly ground pepper with a pepper mill is a hell of a workout. My wrist hasn't gotten that much exercise since I was 16 and the cable company accidentally unscrambled Cinemax for a few hours.

Here it is, well rubbed. Pork shoulder is an ornery cut of meat, full of connective tissue and all kinds of chewy bits. But I don't trim one thing off it. If it's cooked right, all those gristly bits will slowly transform into the best part of barbecue - gelatin. Delicious, creamy, soft, white pork jelly. Damn!

Unfortunately, since I was so slammed with work while also making several pounds of cole slaw, potato salad, and salsa verde, I couldn't document this whole cook as much I would have liked. In my haste, I even forgot to capture the pork in all its glistening brown glory right after it came off the smoker, a mere 8+ hours after it went on the grill.

But I did get a shot after the shoulder had been pulled and the treasure within harvested. Notice the deep mahogany of the bark on the fat cap. Underneath that cap was a 1/2-inch thick layer of perfectly softened pork fat. I may have saved all that meat so each of my guests could have a taste (a teaser for the next party), but that fat was all mine. I think I actually just shoveled it, scalding hot, right into my mouth with my fingers. The pain was a faint echo in the back of that mammoth cavern of flavor. I swear, I would cook one of these just to get that 1 or 2 ounces of melted fat to put on a biscuit.

One last look at that heavenly bark. There are a few signs that you've done barbecue right. The bone slides right out of the shoulder like a man discarding an ill-fitting suit. That pink ring around the edge of the meat that often frightens the timid and discomfits Yankees. And that dark brown, crunchy bark that adheres to the perimeter of the succulent meat. I love that contrast in textures and it's one of my favorite parts about eating barbecue. I was especially happy with the bark on this bit of 'cue. This pork shoulder turned out fantastic, and I owe it all to JA, Gary Wiviott, and the Black Bullet.

I plan on giving this smoker a hell of a workout, but no matter what's cooking on it, I know I'll be thinking about my next pork shoulder.

Potatoes Are Done When Easily Pierced With The Mystical Knife!

2011-06-08T20:27:00.003-05:00

I can't imagine any other circumstances in which a vegan would make it on FK&S. Unless it was a video of us killing, grilling, and eating him.

Simply awesome.

Burger Town

2011-05-28T23:56:00.010-05:00

I don't know if every city is the same now, but Atlanta has a shit-load of high-end burger joints, and I thought it was time to try 'em. Some of the pictures in this post are nearly a year in the making, and some spots have even closed since I started (Fuze Burger on Ponce, anyone?). My love for hamburgers is one of the things that drew me to FK&S in the first place, but lately I'd stopped eating them. I was concerned about the quality of ground beef in the USA, and probably for good reason. Like, I was down to 2 or 3 burgers a year, in a good year. Now they're all healthy and grass-fed so I can eat burgers twice a week for lunch forever and ever. God bless Obama.

I've made no secret about my feelings for Holeman & Finch's godly hamburger, and I'll go on record as saying theirs is still the best in town, overall. It's just that good...

http://forkknifeandshovel.blogspot.com/2009/10/holeman-finch-recovery.html

This is an even more comprehensive burger reckoning in the Atlanta area, written by someone else. Kudos to her for all the creative spots she's cited here; I love that she gets into Bocado AND Red Robin!)

http://www.chowdownatlanta.com/category/burgers/

But my initial sojourn on this burger mission was to the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, and the Grindhouse (Killer Burgers) outpost there in the stalls:

Nice service, quick food, great ground-in-house Angus beef burgers , TV broadcast on the wall, onion rings, fries, et. al. A perfect restorative post-hangover cure-all for me late last summer...

http://www.grindhouseburgers.com/grindhouse-menu-edgewood.pdf

My favorite here 2 visits in a row has been the Grindhouse Style: lettuce, pickles, grilled onions, American cheese, and Grindhouse sauce.)

Next up was Farm Burger in downtown Decatur, a safe traveling distance form my house for burgers and fries. This kind of food doesn't travel well, so your order can't be from far away, but sometimes you just gotta get takeout. It proved to be the fastest route here, as one can call and go straight to the bar to pick- up while everyone else waits in line to order, and then wait some more. Great food; this spot might be the best OVERALL new burger spot, even if H&F have the best BURGER in town.

http://www.farmburger.net/

Two visits in a row and I've gotten the same exact thing, the No. 1 Farm Burger "Black-Board"special: Grafton smoked cheddar, caramelized onions, FB sauce, and house-cured Bacon! It's the best burger in town of the new breed for the simple reason that they made this combination available to you without your having to create it on your own.

A return visit to Grindhouse at the Curb Market: (they now have a second location in Midtown, too; http://maps.google.com/maps?channel=fs&q=1842+Piedmont+Ave+NE+Atlanta,+GA+30324&oe=utf-8&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1842+Piedmont+Ave+NE,+Atlanta,+Georgia+30324&gl=us&z=16),

...I had to try the Apache (roasted green chilies, grilled onions, and pepper-jack cheese), and it did NOT disappoint. Great burger-flavor-combo! I love this place....

Then Googie Burger just opened-up in Centennial Olympic Park , and I'd never even heard of it until the Scoutmob deal turned up, http://www.scoutmob.com/atlanta/deal/800. But this place is great! Excellent flat-grilled DOUBLE patty automatics, with cheese, toppings to choose, weird parking but in a great part of town; very tasty!

http://www.googieburger.com/downloads/googie_menu_01.pdf

Awesome double-stacked flat-grilled burgers like I likes 'em! Great fresh-cut fries and a peach milk-shake, too!

Got back to Farm Burger for a lunch in April, and stepped it up to the Number 5: a beef burger topped with a generous slab of braised pork-belly, BBQ sauce, beer-battered onion rings on top, and pickled jalapenos, too! And it was perfect, actually; a total taste tsunami in the middle of the day.

Next was Shaun Doty's latest venture, YEAH! Burger. I had tried repeatedly last year to book a romantic dinner at Shaun's in Inman Park, only to realize he'd hung it up there and gone full-scale burger with this new YEAH!! concept.

I had lunch at the original West-side location last month, but forgot to take pictures ( I was in shock, actually, by how good the food was), so I had to get takeout the following week at the new VA-Highlands store, and it was also stellar. Both times I had the double-beef patty (grass-fed) with Cheddar cheese on Southern white-bun (from the H&F Bakery), grilled Vidalia onions, Wickles sweet relish, YEAH! sauce, and dill pickles. And one time the mustard and hot Alabama relish...as you can see the possibilities are endless, and endlessly frustrating at times, but an amazing meal both times for sure....I love these hamburgers!

http://www.yeahburger.com/documents/YEAH!-BURGER-Menu-Virginia-Highland.pdf

Last up was Flip! Burger Boutique; your boy Richard Blais' epochal burger-joint to go and read about. I had a variation on "The Local" that was being featured that day: beef burger with pickled chow-chow, heirloom tomatoes, caramelized onions, local lettuce, and home-made ketchup (http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/flipmenu.pdf).

This was a fantastic hamburger because it was so gourmet, with mind blowing fresh local ingredients. But it was also a reasonably-sized single patty, so it was not as bloating as some of the others I've tried.

A companion ordered this mushroom-swiss variation without Blais' trademark foam (http://www.flipburgerboutique.com), but it also had extremely great french-fries served with it.

The Onion Rings I had there that day with my meal may be the best I've ever tasted: anywhere.

They also have shakes, I'm told. Something to do with Krispy Kreme doughnuts: perhaps another day?

Several months ago I grilled 2 frozen Trader Joe's "Kobe" beef burger-patties on my porch and they were freaking amazing! I melted brie on them, 'cause that's what we had (I wasn't trying to be cute or anything,) grilled onions, dill pickle, slapped all onto a good deli-roll, served some frozen sweet potato fries (also from TJ's) on the side, and canned Italian "fagioli" beans in a red-sauce.

Not bad for an amateur, huh?

All hail the hamburger!

Dare accepted!

2011-05-18T10:01:00.006-05:00

twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun

Intrepid TMNT Fans Sample Michelangelo's Pizza Creations

2011-05-11T16:53:00.000-05:00

Wurst Experimentieren

2011-04-26T08:59:00.021-05:00

Sausage-making. Ever considered trying it? Last Saturday my buddy John Slater organized our first exploratory endeavor into the art of, as the French say: sausage. Beings fans of empiricism, we decided to conduct a sausage-making experiment, in the hopes that a preliminary success would eventually lead to the staging a full-scale sausage fest. (I think we can all agree that going about a free-form sausage exploration in front of a festival crowd is totally inappropriate.)

I arrived at John's place at 10am to find the two things I always keep on my training table: doughnuts and beer. Check. With a flask of Bookers in my pocket, my confidence was riding sky-high. Full steam ahead!

Interestingly, most of us already own the key player in sausagecraft: A KitchenAid Mixer. Simply pick up the grinder and stuffer attachments and you're ready to link-in.

For casing we went au natural. There was discussion of synthetics, sheep casing (for breakfast links), collagen, and beef casings. However, in the interest of keeping our experimental matrix balanced and somewhat controlled, we opted for a single casing: Boss Hog.

Note that from this point forward you should imagine a hearty and industrious polka playing in your mind. Cause that's what was playing at the Slater/Burton household from 10:15 till eatin' time. Something like this:

Zolka`s Brother Band - Slovenian Village Polka

The team brought five recipes to the table: JV: Boerewors (traditional South African), CB: Bratwurst, JS: Chorizo, JC: Jalapeno-Cheddar, and a homemade creation from EH that contained pork, pork fat, lamb, currants, and a proprietary spice blend (which is to say I can't remember - I started drinking shortly after 10am).

Delicious chorizo, pre-grind:

A heavenly cut of pork shoulder from JC. Notice the cheddar and jalapenos in the background.

And now, without further ado...I bring you the making of sausage.

First, the grind. I believe that's Boerewors coming out. One thing we did learn was that high-fat meats passed through the grinder easier when cold or nearly frozen. Ever wonder what the removable set-screw on the front of your KitchenAid was for? Knowing is half the battle, as they say....

Next, balling, stuffing, extruding, and the tie-off. It's really quite simple with a cast of 2+. The key is having three hands available. Also, someone with veterinary surgery experience is a plus, when it comes to tying knots with short lengths of animal intestine. Other than that, I found the process remarkably similar to making water balloons with a garden hose.

Here are some of the finished products:

Bratwurst

Boerewors

Chorizo

Jalapeno Cheddar

For cooking, we opted for smoking on John's CookMaster and grilling on my Weber Silver-C propane. You may remember the Cookmaster from the Paella post. We used a mix of hickory and charcoal.

Note the breeches happening with the Jalapeno-Cheddar dogs on the Weber.

Smoking was more gentle to the product. And MUCH more delicious.

Eaten with beer and mustard. No buns.

And a merry time was had by all.

Sausage Experiment: SUCCESS. Most important finding: Smoking is better than grilling. Duh.

M. Wells

2011-04-23T20:39:00.026-05:00

There's a 1954 Mountain View diner above the Hunter's Point 7/LIRR station. The corner's referred to by some as "The Bermuda Triangle." When I first moved to Queens - before Long Island City sprouted high rise condos and cutesy specialty shops - it was called the Blue Sky. It would have been my kinda place except the food was never all that and their coffee was just okay. Over the years it changed hands many times (and featured in many of my photographs) until it closed for good a few years ago.

Maybe they love Jackalopes as much as I do?

Then, last summer, it reopened as M. Wells (the "M" is for "Magasin", French for "store".) I held out hope that not only would the food be good, but that the place would stick around for a while. After all, I photograph in the neighborhood quite a bit, and would like to drop in somewhere for lunch and continue working instead of calling it an early day because I stupidly forgot to bring something with me to snack on. I've eaten here a few times now, and I feel as if I am qualified to write about it in terms other than "this place is fucking great."

Some background first: Hugue Dufour, one half of the brains (human) behind M. Wells (the other half is, well, his other half - Sarah Obraitis, who is no stranger to either Queens or the local food scene) is the former sous chef/partner in Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal, a place revered by those who lust after nose to tail eatin's. So you know the guy knows how to cook. He had a show on Food Network that was a love letter to Québécois cuisine. If he wasn't already married, I might swoon in his presence.

Everyone and their mother is weighing in on this place but as a local, I can go here whenever I want to without "braving the 7 train from Manhattan" (as one snobby reviewer stated.) Queens has an astounding variety of cuisines, and I'm glad that the French-Canadians have landed squarely here in my backyard with all their frog legs and foie gras. The non-residents who read the glowing reviews might come back once or twice, but winning over the locals is a whole other thing.

Menu board. Note the crispy veal brains and fried pickled duck.

Probably the most important thing to know about M. Wells is that because it's situated in a place surrounded by hungry everymen and not just "foodies", the dishes here have to appeal to diners of all kinds. Sure, there's some exotic animal parts on the menu, but there's also burgers, salads, and fish n' chips. Judging by the people I have seen eating in here, Hugue and Sarah have definitely succeeded on that front. MTA machinists, construction workers, and staffers from the nearby NYCHA office sit alongside of people who have come here for the chef's pedigree. After almost a year of doing solely brunch, they recently started dinner service (by reservation) three days a week.

FOH gentleman whose name I never catch. I want that light fixture for my apartment.

A few weeks ago, I went there for brunch on a Friday with my friend TD and his ladyfriend ME. We decided that we'd order a slew of plates in flights and share. I highly recommend this course of action if you are going with a group, but don't blame me if fights ensue over who gets the last bit of whichever. The menu changes rather frequently (I've been told it's weekly) so some of the things we ordered might not be available all the time.

Pickled pork tongue.

The first group of dishes we got were pickled pork tongue, escargot & bone marrow, and the bacon hash (with brussels sprouts and hollandaise.) The pork tongue, which is served whole, was tangy, briny, and slightly firmer than the tongue at Katz's which is more of a regular part of my diet than I would care to admit. I really wish the presentation on this was slightly different - if the tongue had been sliced, one could make little open-faced "sandwiches" with the spicy mustard and buttery soda crackers that accompany it. While I would definitely order it again in the future, TD, ME and I agreed that maybe we should have ordered something else in its place this time around.

Bacon hash, and a pile of Brussels sprouts. Yes, Brussels sprouts.

I'm not the world's biggest egg fan, so I wasn't expecting to love that part of the bacon hash. When I sank my fork into that pillowy thing, I knew this time it was going to be different. I have never had an egg that silky in my life. Cooked just past the point of runniness, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had come out of a chicken that morning. This heavenly cloud sat atop large, thick chunks of smoky, perfectly cooked bacon, potatoes, and vivid green brussels sprouts that had been grilled or roasted. All in a lovely mountain on a plate.

Escargot & bone marrow. Get outta my dreams and into my mouth!

I had eaten the escargot & bone marrow before, and have told several people that I would gladly eat this dish every day for the rest of my life, knowing full well that if I did so, I would surely reduce my life expectancy. Today's portion was slightly salty, but it wasn't enough to make me love it any less. The escargot are tender, bursting with garlic and red wine. The marrow literally melts in your mouth. When I'm on my own and get this, I sit and slowly savor each bite. The garlic toast served on the side makes an excellent delivery system and a crunchy contrast. I wish there were a way to surreptitiously lick the bone clean, but alas, I haven't figured it out yet, and I want to remain ladylike in front of those comely tattooed cooks I have developed crushes on.

I'd like to digress for a moment here. A long time ago, I had a boyfriend who was a heavy smoker and a drinker of fine scotches. Kissing him was thrilling, not just because duh, getting kissed rules, but because his lips had a smoky, toasty, savory taste that I kept thinking about long after the relationship ended. It was comforting and addictive and made my senses swirl.

This is what I think about when I eat that escargot & bone marrow. What I didn't expect was to have it conjured up by another dish I had on this day: the seafood cobbler.

Seafood cobbler. Full of wonderful cheese.

Here is where I get reduced to linguistic blubber. Gooey. Smoky. Savory. Bubbly. Cheesy. Creamy. Nutty. Served in a crock, there's seafood (in my stupor I forgot to ask what was in it, but I know I had a scallop and a piece of cod) and more of those lovely brussels sprouts bathed in Béchamel, covered by cheese infused biscuits of perfect density. As if this weren't enough, there's a liberal topping of aged Gruyère. Filling, but not so heavy as to induce slumber, this is the sort of thing they are talking about when someone mentions comfort food. I live in hope that this is not just a cool weather dish, because the idea of not being able to eat it until next fall is too depressing to think about.

Tortilla Española. With brains.

The Tortilla Española was also a pleasant surprise. A gorgeous golden brown on the outside, smooth on the inside. The egg/potato/onion mixture was liberally studded with chunks of veal brains. Crispy on the outside, creamy and panacotta-like on the inside braaaaaaains. When I finally get to eat dinner here, I am definitely getting the brains. For those who don't hunger for offal in their omlettes, there's a plain version of this dish as well.

Egg sausage sandwich.

To be fair to the egg sausage sandwich, the homemade sausage was perfectly spiced, but I was so taken with the other two dishes in this group that I let TD and ME eat most of it. It was quite large, and the english muffin was chewy and delicious.

Since we're gluttons, we ordered dessert. We were leaning towards the maple pie, but were swayed by one of the specials, maple pound cake. The cake itself was buttery and dense, but not nearly maple-infused enough to satisfy. On a previous visit, I had gotten a Graceland (banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting) that was quite moist and tasty.

Hugue brought us our bill with a devilish grin, which made me blush a bit.

The most expensive thing we had was the seafood cobbler ($16) but all the other dishes ranged from $6 to $10. The waitstaff is friendly, and as attentive as one can be in such a small busy space. Tasty things come to those who wait, so be patient when you visit because there's usually a line, and on a weekend it can easily be an hour before you get seated. If you're flying solo, sitting at the counter allows you to see the cooks navigate the small open kitchen. M. Wells also has a liquor license, so they serve a small selection of beer and wine.

Blue Plate Oysterette...

2011-04-12T10:42:00.010-05:00

...or Shellfish Shangri-La.

Work sometimes takes me to the Los Angeles area, and I always try to stay in Santa Monica. Not only is it a beautiful spot on the Pacific with consistently wonderful weather, but friends live there and the hotels are top-notch as well. Added to all these benefits is the existence of Blue Plate Oysterette. I fell in love with this place on my first visit more than a year ago and now I feel like no trip to LA is complete without stopping in.

Blue Plate is small, crowded, and bustling. The open kitchen sits tight against the white marble bar and if, like me, you prefer a bar seat to any other in the house, the oysters are shucked within arm's length. They serve a variety of seafood dishes, but their specialty is obviously the fresh and the raw. And that is directly up my briny alley. ("Briny alley"...I think I just invented a new euphemism for something sexual and disgusting involving a sailor. Or a pirate.)

The place is so good, I went for dinner on two consecutive nights despite the array of dining choices within walking distance of my hotel on Ocean Ave. I can't stay away.

If you read my FK&S posts, you'll notice the running theme of my forgetting everything I ate due mostly to everything I drank. This is no exception, but it's particularly bitter this time. These may have been the best oysters I've ever had in my life, and that includes the phenomenal shellfish "grand cru" platter I had just after discovering the Single Malt Whisky Society in Paris. Alas, I can't remember their variety. I was told that they were from nearby, but as far as I know, California's oysters are confined to the Bay Area and not the warmer south. These reminded much more of a colder water, British Columbia-type of oyster. They were definitely West Coast, as I always try to eat local and that goes double for oysters. Perfect little morsels of balanced brininess, sweetness, and a smooth creaminess at the end. Incredible. They reminded me of Kumamotos, but even smoother. I'll be looking for these again.

Several of these were the culprit in blurring my memory. I broke my "eat local" rule for the beer. This was a really nice stout from Maine brewery Shipyard. They bill it as a classic Irish stout, but it's lighter and more refreshing than you may think. Whatever the flavor profile, I can say that 5 of them go down pretty damn easy.

You can go with the catch of the day at BPO and I'm sure it'll be fantastic, like everything I've had there. But with so much on offer, I tend to eat a few small plates instead of an entree. I followed these oysters with the crudo of the day, which was tuna and squid with red onion and their delicious crostini. After that, I went with some more oysters, this time grilled with bread crumbs, olive oil, and lemon juice. Top shelf.

The next day's dinner at BPO started with more oysters, this time definitely from British Columbia, Fanny Bay to be precise. These fat beauties are famous for their heft and their delicate, almost cucumber-in-seawater flavor. One of my favorite varieties.

I washed them down with another brew from Shipyard, their flagship Export Ale on tap. A nice, balanced American pale ale that makes a fine session beer for a pale. Just enough hops to make it interesting but not enough to get cloying after you've had a couple. Or four.

After even more oysters and more beers, it seemed like a good idea to finish things off with the crab dip, which I'd heard raves about from other patrons. I figured, it's a dip. How heavy can it be? Well, my first warning sign was that it was served in cast iron.

Holy mother...a deep black-iron dish packed full of crab, corn, onion, and cheese. Lots and lots and lots of cheese, all baked to a crispy top. More crostini. I ate until I thought I'd have to hire a hobo to carry me back to my hotel piggyback, and I barely got through half of it. A truly decadent dish and one I'm going to have save room for in the future.

If you're in Santa Monica, give BPO a try. It can be tough to get a table if you go in the middle of the dinner rush, but don't be daunted. The friendly staff and the outstanding food make it well worth it.

Pizza Roll Factory

2011-04-04T10:42:00.002-05:00

I apologize in advance for posting this.

The Marshall Store

2011-03-28T23:37:00.007-05:00

We spent the weekend up in the famous Great White inhabited surfing town of Dillon Beach, CA with See-Ming and Greg. Since none of us surf, we focused our efforts on eating the seafood in lieu of the alternative. For Saturday lunch we drove down to The Marshall Store on Tomales Bay for an assortment of FRESH seafood and local beers. We've hit this place in the past but I've never had the pleasure of blogging about it. What M&H Grill is to hot dogs, this place is to seafood...and especially oysters. It's situated on piers above Tomales Bay and the seafood is harvested underneath the store daily. Even if you 'know' you don't like oysters, you haven't really tasted one until you've dined here. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. It's usually pretty crowded, but we hit it a little after the rush and right when the rains were threatening so we had ample choice of outdoor seating (since it's a 'General Store' you're not allowed to drink their beers on site which is why outdoor seating is KEY).

The Establishment

The View

The Smoker out front...

The Bar and Chowder Station (JTA, this one's for you)

We brought our food/drink outside but we were rudely greeted with blustery winds and driving rain. We headed inside to eat and left our beers on the deck. One of the owners witnessed this and gave us some paper cups and a couple of winks. This place keeps getting better.

The Crab Sandwich:
A solid B+ but probably the least remarkable lunch item. That being said, I'd order it again no problem.

Raw Oysters...not from New Zealand or Washington but underneath your table. You have NOT had one better. Sweet, briny, fresh...your eyes will ROLL.

Clam Chowder: loads of clams, potatoes, parsley, and butter = Instantly warming.

Fresh Crab. Nothing you've never had but fresh always wins.

BBQ Oysters: The Marshall Store Specialty.
These beauties are thrown on the grill and topped with their homemade BBQ sauce, garlic, parsley, butter, etc. Served with a side of buttery grilled bread for dipping. PERFECTION.

Chorizo Oysters. They had a special name for these (See-Ming?) but this meal apparently blocked out all memory senses not relating to taste and smell. Mexico vs. NorCal...Result: WIN.

Happy Campers

1.5 hours north of SF. Come Visit.

Vienna Beef Returns to Wrigley Field

2011-03-28T11:35:00.002-05:00

This is great news for both Cubs fans and fat asses. The glorious return of Vienna Beef franks to the Friendly Confines... (Chicagoist) (Chicago Breaking News)

Pizzeria di Alt

2011-03-25T14:03:00.007-05:00

Lookout Pizza Hacker, Casa di Alt is honing its skillz.

As you might recall, the Priests set me up with the gift that keeps on giving last year for my birthday. And a little over a year in, Sarah & I are getting pretty darn good at making from scratch zas. Dough, sauce and hand cut ingredients. Last weekend, without plans, we cooked pizzas both nights.

Night one we went with our standard: one margherita, one caramelized onion/chicken sausage/black olives. Night two, we opted for the margherita again, and switched it up a little to sausage & mushroom.

Every time we make pizzas the results are slightly different, due to all sorts of factors: dough, sauce temp, topping temp, grill temp, amount of coals directly under the pizza stone, etc. What looked to be a complete gaffe, ended up being two of our finest creations to date.

Margherita

Sausage & mushroom

After the meal, I sat down and enjoyed a Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout, at a blistering 9.1% ABV. Perfect timing, as I finished off the Two Brothers seasonal on the last day of winter!

Time to think Spring boys!

XOCO - Round 10

2011-03-25T13:34:00.000-05:00

I think we can all agree that we need to recommit to FK&S after a tough winter and a lapse in posts from all of us, with the great exception of CLT.

Los & I honored AV on his birthday with a XOCO run. Almost through the regular menu, I went with the Cubana.

Cubana: Smoked Maple Creek pork loin and bacon,black beans, avocado, artisan Jack cheese, chipotle mustard

HBAV, love Los

Hail to the King, Baby

2011-03-25T09:29:00.009-05:00

My friends John and Jenna recently accompanied me on a lunch run to pay homage to Fort Fun's newest regent: King Weenie.

Simple menu, written on a door that doesn't open. The King does not allow his subject to cross into his domain, instead preferring to conduct affairs solely at his gates. Very simple setup - the gal working there was quite accommodating, allowing me to snap a few interior shots. This place does SERIOUS BUSINESS with the college kids on weekend nights.

Orders were as follows:
John: Regular dog + Chili dog, large Dr. P
JV - Chicago dog, fries
Jenna: Jalapeno Dog, fries

Great dogs - steamed buns, 100% beef, but, alas, no natural casing.

I regret not getting chili on my fries (not shown), as John's chili dog looked quite enticing, with 'good tomato flavor'. The Sonoran also piqued my interest, but I find it impossible to pass up a Chicago Dog so far from the motherland.

Note that the Jalapeno dog comes stuffed with goodies; 1UP:

I'll definitely be returning to King Weenie, although I expect that visit will not be blogged, as it will be well past midnight and I will be blasted.

Field trip time!

2011-03-16T11:05:00.009-05:00

Pack your bags, we're heading to Cali to get this done. Apparently Jonny and AA's long lost brother (J. Kenji Lopez-Alt - seriously?) has paved the way for us. Five bucks to the first one to document a Flying Dutchman Animal Style.

The Ultimate In-N-Out Secret Menu(and Super Secret Menu!) Survival Guide

Anyone for Hot Pie?

2011-02-27T02:00:00.002-06:00

Antico Pizza in Atlanta is no secret "find" by any means. This exceptional pizzeria has been thoroughly covered in food blogs and the local press for the past two years (even gracing the cover of Atlanta Magazine's 2010 "Cheap Eats" issue.) I'm not sure that a $20 pizza qualifies as "cheap", but the two Italian brothers that run this place turn out some solid pie. After starting as a take-out only venture in an unassuming former bakery near Tech, the place got so popular that they begrudgingly allowed first-come style seating in the kitchen.

Why is it that the best places lately seem so high-maintenance? Holeman and Finch's sanctified cheeseburger served after 10 PM, this place with it's survival of the fittest seating, Taqueria del Sol with it's long lines and Byzantine hours of operation, and now it takes an Act of Congress to get a world-renowned "ghetto burger"? All thanks to the random rules and hoop-jumping that diners now encounter from cranky (yet successful) hash-slingers in this town.

Having said that, Antico has mastered the art of the wood-fired pie in the ATL. I've had lots of 'em (Fritti, Varasano's, Baraonda, most of them too burned, though the pre-Gillespie Woodfire Grill had one of the best that I can recall), and this is by far the best I've tasted. They've got just the right amount of char around the crust to make it interesting, but you're not eating charcoal. The toppings are all first-rate, imported from Italy; there are no slices, only whole pies, calzones, and cannolis.

They frequently run out of dough and close early. You eat in the kitchen with the giant ovens cranking out aromatic wonder, surrounded by kitchen supplies and canned goods. Every man for himself. Parking isn't easy, either.

No plates here; only brown paper-towel rolls, with pizza served on a baking sheet; no Parmesan shakers on tables, only sweet hot peppers and salt in plastic cups.

The website, similarly, is highly attractive yet critically dysfunctional: beautiful food pics rife with disconnected phone #'s and closed-down pages:

http://anticopizza.it/kitchen.html

These pics are from December. My last day of work before the holidays was 12/23, so I dropped in around 2 PM for a San Gennaro (sausage, cippolline onions, sweet peppers, and Buffala mozzarella). The basil gets crisped up nicely, too. I was able to take down 2 slices on sight when it came out, and that was all she wrote. The rest got boxed up and was enjoyed by the family well through Christmas Eve.

My two recent "fails" there came as follows; that day in December there was a big hand-written sign in the window about being open until 2 Am on New Year's Eve , and all day New Year's Day, and that then they would be closed for the first week of January. How sensibly, decadently European.

But when, after drinks at the Sound Table, we stopped in on NY's Eve at 11:30 PM, the Italian guy in the parking lot assured me they were closed, though I could see people packing-up inside with lights still on. I called-him out about that sign I'd seen, and he just shrugged and smiled about "no more dough." It's New Year's Fucking Eve and you're stating publicly that you'll be staying open late: who doesn't order extra dough?

I asked if there were at least some cannolis I could take home, and he said, "the registers are closed, my friend." This is customer service at a great local place that I've championed for the last 18 months?

Second failure was tonight when I tried to call-in an order to pick-up. After 5 dropped attempts to call the number given on their website (where on-line ordering is "temporarily out of stock"), I got another phone number from the local yelp review.

After 3 tries, a woman answered, asked me to hold, and after 4 minutes of waiting, I hung up and we got 2 large pizzas and a salad from Fellini's instead.

Still, Antico Pizza's cannolis are the best I've had locally in over 20 years. Most places screw-up the pastry, and the ones that do get the pastry right usually turn-out a custard-like filling that lacks the lightness of the real thing. These are perfect, and varied in style, too...

Field Report: Prater's Barbecue in Morrison, TN

2011-02-20T02:00:00.004-06:00

On our way to Nashville for a wedding last fall, we had the opportunity to revisit a recent favorite of mine: Prater's in Morrison, TN

I discovered this great family-owned joint while working on a TV commercial for agricultural giant Cargill back in 2005. We spent a solid week in this area of Eastern Tennessee scouting and shooting the spot for Cargill's "better pork" ad campaign. We were headquartered in nearby Manchester, TN (home to the annual Bonnaroo festival), an otherwise culturally-barren landscape ostensibly chosen so that we could film the annual Jack Daniels barbeque competition in Lynchburg. We also shot several other local 'que spots, the most epic of which was Prater's. I worked closely with local legend Gary Prater and his wonderful crew over a couple days prepping and shooting his store and food, and had the great pleasure of eating close to half a dozen meals there. Gary is a giant in those parts as a civic leader and all-around badass, so the good food and times we shared there have become somewhat legend among those of us who worked there over 5 years ago.

ANYWAY, even running late for this wedding last October, I couldn't resist the opportunity to stop, in spite of the 45 min detour off I-24 necessary to do so. Sadly, Gary didn't appear to be around that Saturday afternoon, and since I was grabbing takeout, there wasn't much point in summoning him at that time. Needless to say, things didn't appear to have changed much in the last 5 years since I'd last graced its hallowed halls.

Once we arrived at our hotel in Nashville and were "getting ready" for the wedding (with steak dinner to follow), I could at last break out the big score: an LB of chopped pork, two sauces, pickles, cole slaw, beans, and o-rings (obligatory store-bought buns included). I enjoyed a sampling of each, then stashed the rest for later.

Much as I hated not being able to sit-down and hang-out at Prater's again, I must say it was nice to come back to the room for some more of this following the post-nuptial night of boozing at the honky tonks down on the strip. Even so, we had plenty to take back to Atlanta the next day.

50 states, 50 amazing breakfasts

2011-01-26T15:50:00.004-06:00

Courtesy of Food Network. Full slideshow is here. The North Carolina entry will tug at the heart strings and the LDL counts of a lot of FK&S veterans.

Thanks to Kent for the heads-up!

Beefing Up McDonald's

2011-01-13T10:27:00.004-06:00

Step your game up, America. (via Grub Street NY)

Field Report: The Blue Willow Inn, Social Circle, GA

2010-12-23T01:06:00.010-06:00

A cold and breezy slate-gray sky on a wintry December Sunday morning is no reason not to drive nearly an hour out of the city for buffet food, when it's the holidays and relatives are visiting. Nearly 10 years since I last ate here, and even then there was talk that it had gone down-hill and was over-priced. While there's still food-blogger chat that you should "save your $$ and go to Golden Corral", I thought the old Blue Willow was worth another try, as so many folks still seem to love it.
I must say it was charming at Christmas time, with the decorations and lights and all.

The challenge: Hot Line.

I believe that with places like this it helps if you've been before so you don't think you have to try everything, but can just narrow it down and go with what you like. In this case, the key word for me was: FRIED. Specifically, green tomatoes and chicken. There's lots of other options too, I'm just not as interested in them. I set our gathering for 11:00 AM to get an early start.

I hit the salad bar (not pictured) first for some Cole Slaw and shrimp cocktail and amazing Fried Green Tomatoes, with tomato chutney, always a winner here! They have great biscuits and corn bread standing-by at all times in a warming drawer, too.

First course, I had at least 5 full wings (showered with hot sauce), alongside dense, buttery mac 'n cheese and peppery-sweet vinegar collards. [Note prodigious ham chunks in the "beans."]

The Protein Area:

For seconds, I had a fried-chicken breast (because I can't get enough fried chicken here), mashed potatoes with roast beef and gravy, and then sampled the sweet potato/raisin casserole (for my health). All the food was great, perhaps better than it was 10 years ago. A real treat and potential holiday tradition...

Dessert Bar: didn't go there as my feet were numb already...but all the usual suspects were represented, with both sweet-potato and peanut-butter pies looking especially interesting.

Happy Holidays!

Welcome grahamwich!

2010-12-16T13:44:00.004-06:00

We've been waiting on you for months.

Breakfast was delicious.

To-go FP coffee and a muffin with pumpkin seeds, cinnamon and all sorts of other goodness. If you've forgotten whom Graham Elliot is, take a look at the 6:37 mark.

Eight rounds of posts coming soon.

Discuss...

2010-12-09T10:33:00.003-06:00

(context)

Gumbo

2010-12-08T13:02:00.008-06:00

Having a wife that went to Ole Miss comes with plenty of perks. One of these is access to a gumbo recipe from a woman who lives in New Orleans. The weekend before #2 joined our crew, Sarah thought it would be a great idea to make homemade gumbo. Needless to say, I was jacked!

Now I've never been a fan of poaching chicken, but after these badboys bathed in Tony Chachere's, I've turned a 180.

Keep in mind, this is a two pot process. We've all been told the key to gumbo is a good roux. Sarah kept on this for an hour, until it reached the desired caramel color.

Veg - okra, onions, green pep, celery, crushed tomato, Rotel

The andouille was raw from the butcher, so I grilled them for easy slicing.

Sliced sausage and diced chicken ready for a bath.

Put it all together in one pot and you have gumbo!

Serve with the proper rice garnish and a crusty baguette. We've been eating off this for weeks and still have leftovers.

Chef recommends.

Breakfast of Champions

2010-12-01T10:40:00.001-06:00

Courtesey of my buddy Steve. I'll have to say, every item looks delicious.

Getting my Gumbo on

2010-11-24T11:32:00.004-06:00

On of my favorite places to eat in the Fort is a creole-styled restaurant named Luciles. I'm ashamed I haven't covered them before, but I know several FKnS members can vouche for its awesomeness. Anyhoo, every time I opt for a side of Lucille's gumbo:
... I wonder to myself how difficult it would be to attempt such ambrosia at home. I wonder no longer. Having no idea how to make Gumbo, I asked the almighty intertron for guidance. After some searching, I opted for Paula Deen's recipe on foodnetwork. The ingredient list is LONG, but anything that calls for shrimp, sausage, and chicken in the same bowl has my favor. Gumbo in three steps:

from this
to this:
to this:
WORTH IT.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns...

2010-11-21T15:07:00.012-06:00

...or Locavores In Love.

The FK&S nation is well aware of my nearly unwholesome love for Baltimore's locavore paradise, Woodberry Kitchen. I think the only way to get fresher ingredients than Woodberry Kitchen's locally produced fare is to grow them yourself right outside the restaurant.

Enter the inimitable Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Located just a short drive from our home here in Westchester County, Blue Hill sits in the middle of its namesake Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Aside from being a working four-season farm, the Center also teaches sustainable agriculture to young farmers and encourages chefs, restaurateurs, and eaters of all kinds to buy and eat humanely produced, ecologically friendly foods.

As a setting for a restaurant, Stone Barns in autumn is as inviting a place as I can imagine.

So when I first learned of the place early this year, I knew my wife and I had to eat there. After all, if it was good enough for the Obamas and to be called the most important restaurant in America by my fellow but far more imminent food blogger, Ed Levine, then it was certainly good enough for us. Reservations for the Sunday "farmer's lunch" were made, the high demand and small seating area necessitating an excruciating 6-week wait between calling for the reservation and the next available table.

Blue Hill doesn't have conventional menus. True to its mission, it serves only what's in season and fresh that very day. So their attentive and knowledgeable wait staff poll each table for dietary restrictions, allergies, or just plain dislikes, and then the chefs construct a multi-course tasting menu for each table based on that information. Putting yourself in the hands of a master chef can be a liberating experience for some, especially if you're game to eat just about anything like I am.

Right off the bat, Blue Hill didn't disappoint. The specialty cocktails were wonderful. My wife got a toe-curlingly good rum drink, the ingredients of which escape me, but that wasn't cloyingly sweet the way so many rum-based cocktails can be.

I went with a drink that made the unlikely pairing of fennel-infused vodka with freshly pressed concord grape juice and bitters. The result was fantastic, sharp without being acrid and a strong sourness that complemented the sweetness of the grapes perfectly.

Before our tasting menu began, we had some crusty, airy potato garlic bread with butter, as well as some ingeniously cut sweet potato chips woven with a sage leaf and fried as a piece. On long skewers, we also had what we think was a soft root vegetable, maybe yucca, wrapped in house-cured prosciutto and dredged in sesame seeds. That was followed with a wafer-thin slice of the best bresaola I've ever had, also house-cured of course.

Out of our starters, perhaps the most impressive and the tastiest was the "beet burger". It seems strange to say about such a seemingly innocuous morsel, but from the ingenious miniature bun to the incredibly subtle yetflavorful roasted beet filling, this little bite just kept on giving from plate to palate.

As the first of our courses arrived, we chose new beverages. Carol went with a merlot-based rose from upstate New York that was the perfect balance between crisp and mouthy. An excellent wine. I was excited to see a beer from Jolly Pumpkin brewery on the menu. I'd been hearing great things about the Michigan microbrewery but hadn't found any of their wares in my area. I chose their Bam Biere farmhouse-style ale. I don't generally go for Belgian styles because they're too heavily flavored with cardamom and clove, but I do like saisons. This was one of the best examples I've ever had, worthy of all the praise I'd heard heaped on Jolly Pumpkin.

First course was a smoked tomato soup, served hot, with an heirloom zucchini brioche and a zucchini "marmalade". The bread was dense, almost like cake, and melted in your mouth. The soup was the real hero though, intensely smoky and rich but silky smooth. I'd never had anything quite like it.

Next up was a chunky pea soup, almost a stew, full of seasonal vegetables and grains, topped with a soft-cooked egg that was in all likelihood cooked while it was still warm from the hen's nurturing, motherly rump. Again, the texture was perfect and the flavors balanced like a Russian circus bear on a ball. Big and bold but flawless. (Alas, I didn't get a picture of this dish.)

Our main course was practically pulled straight from my id. Multiple cuts of Berkshire pig, each cooked according to its needs, on a bed of grains and squash puree in a mustard seed sauce. HOLY MOTHER OF PORK. Chewy, crispy crackling. Tender loin medallions. Succulent roasted shoulder. What I believe was a tiny, intensely flavorful cube of cheek. And a slab of glistening, fatty, heavenly pork belly. It was all a bit rich for my vegetable-loving wife, but I was wallowing in a Southern man's heaven. All that was missing was some collard greens.

Dessert was a fist-sized court cheese beignet with candied pear and apples, plus an expertly drawn double espresso. If I'd done nothing but eat beignets and drink espresso all afternoon, I would've counted myself a lucky man. Both were incredible.

After such a gut-busting feast, the only reasonable thing to do is take a slow constitutional around the farm's beautiful pastures. Stone Barns encourages the public to visit, and it was obvious that lots of locals make it a regular spot for a nice place to stroll and let their dogs fantasize of having a go at the free-range chickens that roam everywhere. With a belly like a lead weight, I couldn't have caught one of those chickens with a tranquilizer dart and a fishing net. But we were both more than content to soak in both the amazing flavors and soothing sights of what is a singular and, yes, important place to eat.

Paella

2010-11-13T15:52:00.014-06:00

(Or how I discovered a radio for talking to God)

My buddy John Slater typically spends a month in Spain each year. Needless to say, when he invited us over for Paella on a gorgeous Indian Summer day, we readily accepted. Here's the first thing I saw (and heard) upon arrival:

Watching Paella cook is like a homecoming parade for your favorite food groups. Green beans and pork shoulder constituted the next two floats:

Replace beans with garlic and let simmer:

At this point, about an hour in, we reached halftime. Players to the sideline, refresh the briquets. Competition-grade, of course.

Diced tomatoes and stock supplement the oil:

And now the key to any great Paella: the rice. The shorter and rounder the grains, the greater flavor absorption, or so I have read...

All hands back on deck:

Sun setting, steam rising, welcome to flavor country:

Thank you, L'Espagne.

Porco Pizza

2010-11-09T14:03:00.000-06:00

Translation not necessary.

The Captain's Smokehouse...

2010-11-05T10:29:00.014-05:00

...or The Most Dangerous Catch.

A couple of years ago, FK&S stalwart and official test stomach, Carlos, invented the McSurf'n'Turf in a fit of crazed genius. Followed closely by a fit of Vesuvian trots, no doubt. The McS'n'T became a slow-motion mini-phenomenon, even landing on both the digital and print pages of the seminal glutton's blog, This Is Why You're Fat. It even inspired other members of FK&S nation to up the ante a bit.

All of this led me to muse, what if you could fuse a Filet O'Fish and that Bigfoot of all fast food sandwiches, the elusive and enticing McRib? And call it The Captain's Smokehouse? Alas, the McRib was harder to find than Andy Dick's dignity and the Captain's Smokehouse remained our white whale, forever over the horizon.

Until November 2nd, that is. McDonald's, in its evil wisdom, has brought back the McRib to all its stores for a limited time. And I was determined to make the most of that engagement.

Captain, meet Tex. Tex, meet the Captain. You boys play nice. I wasn't sure how to handle the differently shaped buns when sewing together this tangy Frankenstein.

The solution? Fuck it. The Captain, he is saucy.

Autopsies. Tex is holding his own, but the Captain is being overwhelmed. Time for the ultimate test.

I already feel a little...strange.

Just in case I lose consciousness before I can reach the phone.

Carnage. The verdict? It was surprisingly good, though I won't say delicious. When the headache and the sweats hit me about 10 minutes later, I remembered why I don't eat fast food anymore. There was enough salt in that sandwich to melt a slug the size of a sofa. For the rest of the night, I felt like someone was squeezing both sides of my head. Someone who smelled like low tide and old onions. I can't say this will be a regular order of mine. Mostly because I don't plan on ever setting foot in McDonald's again.

Let's take a look at the replay:

Cheers to my cameraman and ersatz paramedic, Mike Faxon. He adroitly pointed out that not long after I finished The Captain's Smokehouse, I'd probably "have to visit the Captain's Outhouse."

"It's just a pig eyeball..."

2010-11-05T10:26:00.000-05:00

THE LEGEND

2010-11-04T10:54:00.001-05:00

XOCO - Round 9

2010-11-02T14:43:00.003-05:00

Late impromptu lunch and headed over to XOCO. Continued checking menu items off the list and after today, only have two standard menu items left. Today's item: Woodland Mushroom.

Wood-roasted garlic mushrooms, Prairie Fruits Farm goat cheese, black beans, wild arugula, 3-chile salsa

Added bonus: I went to sit at the high top bar in the back corner, and sitting in the corner booth was Rick Bayless and Ming Tsai (and an unrecognizable woman). Ming & Rick were chatting up a storm, and when Rick left, Ming took a bite of the Tuesday Special and said "Oh my God". So apparently I'm not the only one that thinks XOCO tortas are the balls.

Xoco Run with JTA

2010-10-25T13:40:00.003-05:00

Quick poast:
chips and guac for starters

We both got the specials of the day: Elote shrimp torta

A seafood flavor blast - a squeeze of lime turned this sandwich from brilliant to right fucking on.

Carnitas.

Fall apart tender speckled with crispy bits of skin. Add touch of salsa verde and prepare to kiss the sky.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company

2010-10-24T15:42:00.007-05:00

We went camping with AC & Monica at MacKerricher State Park a few weeks ago. The ladies had to work on Friday so AC and I took the first vehicle up north to 'set up camp.' After he picked me up at the ferry we bee-lined it directly to Boonville to hit the Anderson Valley Brewing Company. We arrived shortly before 1pm which just so happens to be when they offer tours. What a coincidence!

The Boont Steinber:

SOLD!

The mash/lauter tun, engage.

The Brew Kettle

Inside the Cellar. AC, head brewer and founder of Empty Bottle Brew Co. was very excited to see so much hop back action.

My Christmas list:

Finished off our stay with a Brother David's Double Abbey-Style Ale. This was my favorite and I immediately went back to the Steinbar and ordered a growler of it for our campsite. AC filled his growler with Summer Solstice, for the ladies.

Camp set

Boonville isn't the most accessible city in the world, but if you find yourself within a 50 mile radius (which is also somewhat of a stretch) definitely make the trip to AVBC. They have a handful of homemade concoctions on tap at their bar that will not disappoint. They also have a disc golf course on site and their taps never run dry, which is nice.

Hog and Rocks

2010-10-24T14:17:00.008-05:00

This is the second restaurant Scott (brother of Red Sox, Kevin) Youkilis has started in San Francisco. His first restauarant, Maverick, was voted best new restaurant in SF and serves up the best brunch reuben sandwich I've ever encountered (post to follow). After being extremely satisfied with our various trips to Maverick we decided to check out Hog and Rocks with Tracy, See-Ming, and Greg back in July. I mean, how could you NOT check this place out when this is their slogan:

"Oyster eaters, ham fans and liquor lovers - welcome to Hog and Rocks, San Francisco's first ham and oyster bar."

Started with a couple drafts of Lost Abbey Red Barn Saison

We sampled 2 of their hams, they were salty delights and the highlight of what was a great, and for SF at least, affordable dinner. Simply place on tongue and allow to melt:

We then followed suit accordingly with a sampling of their oysters which were equally as mouth watering:

We continued to eat family style throughout the meal. First up, Pimento cheese dip.

Cast Iron Octopus
Smashed new potatoes, pickled jalapeño, ham vinaigrette

Bratwurst
Beer braised cabbage and onions, pickled pluots, dijon mustard

Fish & Chips
Ling cod, kennebec potatoes, malt vinegar, tartar sauce

Skillet Beef Patty Melt
Mushrooms, onions, emmentaler, frisco sauce, rye bread, dill pickle
(the flavor was good, but this was supposed to be medium rare)

Chicken Wing Confit
Youk’s hot sauce, buffalo wing garnish

The meal was finished off with multiple pitchers of Spaten Optimator Doppelbock which was swiftly followed by sweet, sweet slumber.

Taco Joint: Breakfast Tacos

2010-10-21T11:37:00.004-05:00

My buddy Louis' friend Corey opened Taco Joint in August 2009, and I've been for lunch a few times. Everything I've tried has been amazing, and his three salsas - verde, roja and jalapeno ranch - are some of the best I've ever had, with the JR by far the best I've had.

My last two trips to Dallas, I was able to sample their staple: The Breakfast Taco. Last time, upon Corey's recommendation I went with a Migas Taco, as well as a egg/chorizo/black bean/cheese. Amazing.

This time I went with these two beauties.

Sausage, black bean, potato, cheese

Chorizo, refried beans, cheese

On my next visit, I might ask Corey if I can franchise up north!

Texas State Fair 2010

2010-10-21T10:38:00.007-05:00

This year's Texas State Fair did not disappoint. Some of the notable new items this year included Fried Beer, Fried Margarita and Fried Lemonade. I was advised that the lemonade was pretty good, but the other two were not so great. And everyone described Fried Beer as gross, saying it was a beer filled ravioli that was breaded and fried.

What did not disappoint was this:

Fried Frito Chili Pie! And when served with a sleeve of Daisy and a side of hot sauce, I can firmly say that this is the greatest item I've had in my three years at the Texas State Fair. Lookout bar food scene, this could be the next slider.

And it wouldn't be the Texas State Fair without a Fletcher's Corny Dog - I went with the jalapeno cheddar.

By far the most aggressive stand included this trifecta:

Around the horn - Fried Butter, Fried PB&J, Fried Pizza

Fried PB&J was my second favorite item of the day. Fried Pizza was GROSS. Now, all of you know pizza is my favorite food, but the old saying does not hold true, that everything is better fried. When I asked the guy what fried pizza was (thinking it would be "Pizza on a Stick" or more of a pizza puff), he responded with, "It's a piece of pepperoni pizza that we batter and deep fry". It was topped off with marinara and Parmesan. While watching the fryer man "cooking" it, I said I was worried about an immediate heart attack, and he assured me I'd be fine, and that indigestion might be my only problem. And last but not least, 2009's Most Creative Winner, Fried Butter.

The 2010 Texas State Fair Butter Sculpture: OU-Texas. From Bronze to Butter.

Thanks again to Cindy & Paul for another successful year at The Fair!

SAUSAGES

2010-10-21T10:20:00.003-05:00

Does it get any better?

This collection was brought over a few weeks ago to be served as an app for a BBQ at our house, thanks to Dylan Hale - via Paulina Meat Market.

All were winners.

15 Major Fast Food Failures - CNBC

2010-10-19T10:25:00.001-05:00

15 Major Fast Food Failures - CNBC

A nostalgic slideshow put together by my friend, Dan Bukszpan, who is also the author of the fantastic Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal.

Cousin's Weekend in Chicago

2010-10-18T17:15:00.000-05:00

My lovely wife's cousin Rob was in town a few weekends ago. He hadn't been to Chicago in 10 years so we gave him the royal treatment of food and booze. Friday night we hit the Sox game.

The food at Comiskey is infinitely better than Wrigley. This Cubano sandwich was made fresh - crispy on the outside and gooey cheese, ham AND shredded pork in between.

I had read earlier in the season that one of Chicago's great BBQ spots, Smoque, had opened in Comiskey. The game was exciting but I had brisket on the brain. I grabbed my beer and walked the entire loop of the concourse looking for the fabled food stand. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Ah well, I did find a Vienna BBQ cart that promised me my brisket fix. However...

...this sandwich was a goddamn failure on all levels. Flavorless and stringy and drowning in overly sweet sauce, this is one nosh at Comiskey to avoid at all costs. Zero point zero. (Note: Smoque is indeed at Sox park, but it's in the Sky Box levels. Regular ticket holders are shit outta luck.)

The next morn/afternoon we took Cuz to one of our favorite spots in Wicker Park: Silver Cloud. We started with bloodys and a beer shorty. Strength: returning.

What do you get with you cross a Frito pie (chili, cheese, sour cream on a bed of Fritos) with...

...2 sunny side up eggs?

Answer:

Deliciousness.

That night we headed downtown to take Cuz to the Top o' the Hancock. We got lucky - no wait and seats right at the window. Then it was time for a 10 dollar cocktail. A Manhattan to be exact.

Next up, a post-Signature Lounge visit to Trader Vic's for some potent potables.

Pictured here: a Zombie and a Bahia. Delicious yet deadly.

A quick cab ride home and then off to one of our favorite places in Chicago to eat: Superdawg.

The Whoopski Dawg is quite possibly the greatest invention known to man. A char-grilled Polish sausage, slathered in BBQ sauce and grilled onions, served on a kaiser bun. It takes my breath away every time. Or I'm having a heart-attack. Either way, it's truly spectacular.

Before Cuz could leave we took him to Smoke Daddy for a BBQ brunch. Again, bloodys and beer shorties to start.

AG went with a 2-meat platter: pulled chicken and pork.

I went with the Taste of Daddy platter (choice of ribs and 2 meats): rib tips and, although you can't see them under the massive pile of tips, brisket and pulled pork. After we got Cuz to the airport and arrived back at the apartment I slept for a week straight.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society...

2010-10-12T14:33:00.008-05:00

...or J'aime mon foie.

I had several fine meals during my recent trip to Paris, but thanks to my usual shenanigans and my cell phone camera, captured little of it in a way worthy of FK&S. But I do have to share this gem upon which I stumbled while looking for a place to kill a few hours before a dinner reservation.

On the Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire is an unassuming little hole in the wall. Amidst the Old World charm of the architecture is a storefront almost jarring in its modernity - linoleum floor, large display window, bright lights. But in head-sized font on that streakless window, two words practically screamed at me - "Whisky Bar". Inside was the Parisian retail home of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a members-only, mail-order club that delivers special small batch bottlings of single-cask, single-malt whisky to its members. The Society has been around for many years, and I've occasionally read about their tastings in various locales around the U.S. But I had no idea there was a place where the general public could sample their limited edition elixirs.

I introduced myself to Alfred Couk, who mercifully spoke some English and was both thoroughly gracious and deeply knowledgeable about the golden ambrosia he was serving. I spent the next 2 and a half hours chatting with Alfred and getting thoroughly sauced on some of the finest whisky I've ever had the pleasure of sipping.

I think it's safe to say that a membership in the Society is in my near future. The initial fee isn't small, but after tasting the whisky, I can say without reservation that it's a bargain. These are all top quality potables that span the vast, delicious gamut of malt whisky flavors. And the next time I'm in Paris, I'll definitely be stopping in to bend Alfred's ear with horribly broken French in a progressive slur.

Vive le whisky!

The cult of the McRib: Celebrating mystery meat

2010-10-11T14:18:00.005-05:00

"It's a conglomeration of pork waste, as far as I can tell,"

Barbecue Weekend '10

2010-10-08T23:16:00.008-05:00

It started with a late lunch on Campbellton Road in SW Atlanta...at the legendary JJ's Rib Shack.

Strange scene inside; lots of people standing and sitting around, but none of them eating or drinking. One by one, we received our takeout boxes, no drinks available. We were told we could opt to "dine-in" if we wished, beverage service presumably from the Citgo next door. Not a good spot for pictures...

This was the mess revealed back at work:

After eating for over 30 minutes, completely stuffed by multiple ribs, rich mac 'n cheese, and peppery collards, it looks like I barely made a dent. Lots of leftovers.

I'm still not sure about this place (because I immediately got sick after eating here, not necessarily because of, but I'm just sayin'....)

Still, great cornbread and fatty, flavorful ribs.

The smokehouse behind JJ's.

That same weekend, I continued a long-held tradition with an old high-school buddy of mine involving beer, fireworks, barbeque, bourbon, more food, and hangovers. No fishing, though!

At/approaching/passing 40 is a simple fact of life, but the 2 of us still managed a case and a half that night (maybe 3-4 cold soldiers each the next morning before brekkie), half a handle of Beam, and the Family Pack: 2 lbs of pork and all the sides from Old Clinton BBQ in Milledgeville. I'd been to the original store (near the "Big O Ranch", I believe) on the Gray Highway many years ago and was relatively unimpressed, but I have still continued to read about it.

They opened a new store near our place on the Lake, so I ventured out that evening for the hour-plus journey to pick up, shortly before dark. All in all, it was well worth it!

I went at it "course"-style, with soup (Brunswick stew) and homemade (No BS) pickle as first up, with Buffalo Trace bourbon and H2O chaser to take the edge off:

Then I worked into the pork sandwich with slaw and side of meaty baked beans (pictured). It seems like everyone in that area is putting sausage or ground beef (or both) into their baked beans. Tried decent potato salad too, along with more BBQ pork (w/out- bun) as "second-helpings" before the fireworks/more booze.

This put down a good layer for the long night that followed. I ate at least 3 more sandwiches with various sides over the next 7-8 hours (sadly not pictured, though it DID happen)!

For recovery-day drive back on Sunday I almost stopped at old favorite Dave's BBQ soul-food shack in Monticello, but instead opted to hold out for a newcomer I'd seen up in Mansfield, unsure if they were even open anymore.

They were open, and Where There's Smoke proved well worth waiting for!

Smokehouse in back, not working except Tuesdays and Wednesdays now, I've heard. But they seem to do a volume business the 3 days a week they're open (Thurs-Sat).

They had a brisk afternoon business that day with a chipper staff, and takeout was what I wanted anyway: for later.

A kid in the line behind me recommended the brisket, so I asked for my 1 LB in the Carry-Out Special split between pork and beef (with all the sides listed), and got it.

This way my family got to try some barbeque when I got home that was like what I'd enjoyed (but finished) the night before.

Shredded pork and slaw to-go with 4 sauce sampler:

Brisket:
Beans with meat inside, dad-gumit.

Brisket sand at home with homemade (no BS) pickle and slaw and hot sauce on bun.

Day 2 or 3 leftovers and right back to the pulled pork, this time with So. Carolina-inspired mustard sauce and slaw and still more beans!

Beer Me

2010-10-08T16:28:00.004-05:00

My buddy Erik just discovered this during travels East.

Thanks to Butternuts Beer and Ale. Great website, too.

XOCO - Breakfast Round

2010-10-08T15:52:00.005-05:00

Since the day it opened, I've been wanting to try XOCO for breakfast. But every morning that I walk by, I just somehow don't stop in. We had a going away breakfast for a departing coworker and were going to bring in McDonald's breakfast, and I was jacked for a McMuffin. And when I posed the question if there was a carry out breakfast place that we needed to try in the neighborhood, another coworker said, "How about XOCO?" I was very disappointed in myself for not thinking of it, but I was stoked!

I tried two items:

Breakfast Empanada: eggs, pablano, crispy chorizo & cheese dusting

Savory Bread Pudding: ham, poblano, cheese

And I took a bite of my boss' chorizo egg torta, which is the only item I'll ever order for breakfast again. It was AMAZING.

Woodberry Kitchen Epic Win...

2010-10-04T09:33:00.022-05:00

...or How I Tried To Marry A Restaurant.

A little over a month ago, I was in Baltimore on business and had dinner at Woodberry Kitchen, one of the leading lights of the "locavore" movement. Locavores are restauranteurs, chefs, food writers and other passionate eaters who are dedicated to using locally produced, responsibly grown ingredients in their meals. To my knowledge, no one does this better than Woodberry Kitchen. I wish I could wax rhapsodic about my dinner there, but alas, it was too dark for pictures. And as always at FK&S...pics or it didn't happen.

Fortunately, I returned to WK for brunch with my wife and our friend Megan this past Sunday and my experience was no less transcendent. I can say without a hint of exaggeration that, no matter where you live, you must travel to Baltimore expressly to eat at this place. Since visiting it for the first time, I've been turning toward Baltimore 5 times a day and praying. Praying for a teleporter so I can eat there for every meal.

And eating there every day would never be an exercise in banal routine. Because they use only seasonal ingredients that go straight from the farm to your ravenous mouth, the menu changes by the day. And what a menu!

No brunch can start without a bloody mary. Like everything else at WK, the bloody mary is a work of subtle art. Made with organic vodka, they spice it amply and salt it well. The result isn't as hot as I normally like a bloody, but it was delicious and perfectly balanced. As good as the bloody sounded, I had to go with something a little more unusual. WK specializes in wonderfully eclectic cocktails and, be still my heart, getting pork into as many menu items as possible. So I went with the Morning Glory.

That deceptively delicate-looking glass contains pork belly-infused rye whiskey, tomato water, maple syrup, and celery bitters. The result was completely unlike anything I've ever had. Smoky with the perfect amount of sweet whiskey bite and a sweet/savory combination that has no analog. Simply amazing. (Cocktails that beggar description will be a theme of our visit to WK.)

Soon after the Morning Glory arrived, so did Megan and our hostess. We sat down at one of the cozy tables in WK's impressive, rustic dining room. The restaurant is in an old mill building and they've wisely left much of the building's industrial fittings and finishes untouched - bare brick walls and bare cement floor, a towering vaulted ceiling, brass steam gauges and rusted metal objects. The result is a casual but tasteful atmosphere that is charming and welcoming.

All that wood isn't just for show. WK is famous for its flatbreads, which it cooks in a wood-fired brick oven that reaches temps upwards of 900 degrees F. But, as we'll see, that monster isn't just for flatbreads. They put it to many creative, delicious uses. And our first "small plate" was a perfect example.

As a Southern boy, I've eaten more than my share of okra. Typically I like it deep-fried because A) everything is better fried, and 2) the tendency of okra to get slimy in the center is especially pronounced if you cook it any other way. And that was why this dish was so special. Our waiter, who had also been my waiter on my first WK visit and with whom I bonded over our shared Southern heritage, strongly recommended this dish and, as always, he was right.

The okra and sweet baby bell peppers were roasted in the rocket-hot wood oven then drizzled with olive oil and sea salt. Simple and stupendous. The center of the okra was soft but not slimy. The salty char on the outside was the perfect complement to the sweet interior. I could've made a meal just of this okra. (I can say with all confidence that those words have never come out of my mouth before.)

Our second small plate was potted pork. Slow-roasted pulled pork is mixed with WK's homemade mustard and spices and then chilled with a cap of rendered pork fat. It's served with toast points and WK's own pickled vegetables. (WK makes many of their own condiments and seasonings, including these amazing pickled wax beans, carrots, and green beans.)

Hard on the unctuous, toe-curling heels of the potted pork was my second cocktail, the White Dog. This may have been the most surprising and impressive thing I've had at WK.

What makes this drink so incredible is that it starts with "5-minute old white whiskey". You see, that's how long a white corn liquor (in this case, a fine example from the equally fine distiller High West) must remain in a barrel to legally become whiskey. Those of you who have had moonshine, or even more reputably produced corn liquor, know it's not the smoothest drink. But in the White Dog, it achieves its full and considerable potential. They combine the potent whiskey blanco with elderflower liqueur, grapefruit and peach bitters, a hint of powdered sugar and a slice of lemon that's been caramelized on the grill. Holy mother of cirrhosis! The result is a potent dram that hasn't even a hint of harshness or bitterness. Just a lemony, mildly sweet whiskey with a floral character that fills your sinuses like angel sweat. Incredible.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of Megan's cocktail, the Full Monty. To their house bloody mary, they add Old Bay seasoning, a whole grilled shrimp (suck the head!), and a full piece of their heavily sugared candied maple bacon. Oh, and a chaser of Maryland's version of Old Style, National Bohemian beer. ZANG!

And then came the entrees. Heaven help us.

My wife went with one of the three versions of shirred eggs on the menu, choosing the spinach, onion and gouda combo. Of course, with shirred eggs, you can't always get exactly the level of doneness you like, as there can be variation in the yolks even within the same dish. But no matter, not when they're done this well.

Those skillet potatoes are every bit as wonderful as they look, maybe the best breakfast taters I've ever had.

Megan went with the crab benedict, two thick Maryland crab cakes topped with poached eggs that looked like works of art and the WK fresh hollandaise. Once again, I didn't get a good shot of this. All I had was my cell phone and hands palsied by the previous night's shenanigans and an empty stomach. But they were like a sculptural ode to eggs benedict.

As for me, I once again put myself in our Cajun waiter's hands. He recommended the buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy and, frankly, he had me at "biscuits". Like everything else at WK, the sausage was their own and it fully lived up to the stratospheric bar the rest of WK's dishes have set. Years from now, when I've finally reduced my liver to a lump of charcoal and the light is fading, I'll be dreaming of this sausage and hoping they serve it in Elysium.

After this tastebud orgy, we were ecstatic but groaning. We couldn't possibly choke down another bite, but our waiter had no mercy. Without prompting, he brought us the latest work of genius on the WK dessert menu - the Green Monster.

Not surprisingly, WK is famous for their homemade ice cream. This example is their bizarre yet mind-blowing basil ice cream, served with whipped cream, granola, and a poached pear. I was floored by how fantastically well the intense basil flavor mixed with the sweetness of the ice cream and whip. It has no comparator, so I can only say you have to try it for yourself.

I paired dessert with my favorite cocktail at WK, the Gov't Mule. It's their variation on the Moscow Mule and they take it to a whole new level. They combine organic vodka with their intensely spicy homemade ginger beer and ginger-lime syrup, served in a great little copper mug that stays icy cold. The ginger will sweep through your skull like a prairie wind and the whole effect manages to be refreshing and intoxicating (in more than one sense) at the same time.

After dessert, we realized we'd been wallowing in the WK indulgence for close to 2 hours. Not once did we feel rushed by the staff nor was service ever less than stellar. Not one detail goes amiss at WK but you never feel like you're part of some Swiss watch food machine. They are personable and friendly at every turn. (Our only stinkeye came from the well-appointed yuppies beside us, who seemed mildly put out by our cocktail-fueled enthusiasm and maybe by my expressing that I wished to put a certain part of my anatomy in my biscuits and gravy as a wholesome act of love.)

We left wobbly, sated, and completely awed by Woodberry Kitchen. It is a singular restaurant that haunts me every time I dine out. Beware its double-edged sword, because it may ruin you for all other restaurants.

Taco Tour Part 2

2010-10-02T01:42:00.005-05:00

As promised in the first phase Taco Tour, I hit up a few more taco spots, some not authentic or Mexican or even taco places per se, but all sharing the common denominator of cuisine, the taco.

Starting at Six Feet Under, at their flagship in Grant Park, with fried-green tomatoes, having nothing to do with tacos whatsoever but outstanding nonetheless.

Followed by my variation of the taco-trio for that day, featuring Blackened Shrimp (Atlanta's best as far as I know), Grilled Catfish, and Fried Calamari.

Later I returned to another old favorite, Taco Veloz on Buford HWY in Chamblee, GA. There are other stores regionally, but I've never found any of them. This is the classic taco drive-through for me in Atlanta, although I always go inside due to my language barrier. As soon as the staff SEES that I'm a gringo, it's English all the way, but I've been intimidated to try the speaker-box so far.

I opted for the Lengua, Pastor Pork, and Barbacoa Tacos, L to R. I'm starting to like this tongue thing.
All of the tacos here come with onions, cilantro, and salsa verde unless asked for otherwise.

And the crown jewel, the Chile relleno taco; an honest to god cheese-stuffed poblano deep-fried in masa and then slapped on double-corn tortillas with onion and cilantro, and more of their amazing green table-sauce (quite hot).

Autopsy with partial ooze: enjoy the view and wild-life interaction!

Last on this installment of the tour is the East Point branch of Thumbs Up, a diner and 24-hr breakfast spot that is in no way a taco joint, bit which still manages to have one of the best fish tacos around. Actually, it's more like two giant catfish quesadillas! The abundance of sprouts and the use of guacamole in these beauties belies a Californian sensibility, but brushing away some of the sprouts, along with the copious addition of house-made salsa roja, makes these an all-around winner in my book.

Remember, these are two different things on the same plate!

Conan Makes a Sandwich

2010-09-21T16:33:00.001-05:00

Breakfast of Champions

2010-09-21T13:44:00.003-05:00

On my way home from Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, I was intrigued by the "Breakfast Burger" at Ike's. After I asked the waitress for her breakfast recommendation and took her up on it, she delivered it saying, "We call this the triple bypass." Thanks for the pre-warning.

And then last weekend we had brunch, and at the very end of the meal when I took Sarah's word that I must get another plate and try the B&G, I had an epiphany: The Breakfast Meat Trifecta. Ham, bacon, atop sausage gravy that was smothered on a Wisconsin cheddar biscuit.

Breakfast is key.

27 Is The New 19

2010-09-20T12:48:00.012-05:00

Hey all, SD here. After a birthday weekend filled with shots of Kabanes,

as well as roughly 65 games or so of flipcup,

I decided that there was no way I could make into work today, and played a little hooky.I remembered that my good friend Kevin Danaher works from home, and convinced him to hop in the Aztec and head over to Big Star for my first lunch as a 27-year old. And what a start it was.

Three Tacos de Panza - crispy pork belly, guajillo sauce, queso fresco, onion, cilantro. (not pictured-one taco al Pastor that Kevin was too impatient to allow for a picture before stuffing it in his gob). This pork is like buttah, people, and the cracklin bits are so good I almost started crying at the bar. However, after a sip of Tecate, we were on to the piece de resistance.

Two of the Tostada de Chorizo Con Papas. A recently added item to the menu. These things are made of children's laughter. House made chorizo, crispy spuds, refritos, crema and queso fresco. Insert drooling noise here. These things never stood a chance.

Killshot. If you're going to skip work, skip it for Big Star. Paul Kahan is doing serious work. Happy Birthday to me, indeed.

Filet-O-Fish

2010-09-17T13:15:00.003-05:00

My co-worker walked into my office today at 12:15pm and said, "You want this Filet-O-Fish?"

To which I replied, "Is this a trick question? Are you serious? YES!"

In 1963, the sandwich was introduced by a McDonald's franchise in Cincinnati, Ohio and was named by Cye Landy of Cye Landy Advertising Agency, which was the advertising firm for that particular McDonald's franchise. The sandwich was created in response to declining sales at restaurants on Fridays, due to the Catholic practice of not eating meat on Fridays at the time (a practice that the Catholic Church continues to consider obligatory on Fridays during Lent). Created by young enthusiast Lou Groen, it has become popular with people who cannot eat meat-based products, particularly Muslims: fish is always considered Halal, whilst Halal meat requires special slaughter techniques. Ray Kroc originally wanted to exclude the Filet-O-Fish from the McDonald's menu, instead selling the Hulaburger, a sandwich with a pineapple slice on a bun with two pieces of cheese. The idea was that if either the Hulaburger or the Filet-O-Fish had the most sales, the sandwich would be added. When test-marketed in 1963, the Filet-O-Fish was the most consumed, so it was added to the permanent menu.
In November 2007, McDonald's lowered the use of New Zealand hoki and increased the use of Alaskan pollock, due to declining numbers of New Zealand hoki fishery sustainability. McDonald's originally used cod, before declining cod catches forced McDonald's to find sustainable fish elsewhere. McDonald's is trying to maintain fish only from areas certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, but that is becoming more difficult each year. Hoki is still a major ingredient.
As of March, 2009, the Marine Stewardship Council placed the Alaskan Pollock fisheries in a re-assessment program due to catch numbers declining by over 30% between 2005 and 2008, and by-catch problems with salmon.

Stuft: A Burger Bar

2010-09-10T10:10:00.011-05:00

image via feastingfortcollins
Fort Fun has recently experienced a boom of new restaurant openings, among them STUFT, a new burger joint about six blocks away. Nice outdoor seating and a garage door-style window that opens up the main restuarant to the street. A great locale for a burger/beer combo.

A modest bar, but a great selection of local brews on tap. Also notice the milkshake station on the left. I decided to go with a New Belgium Sunshine Wheat, being in a summertime state of mind.

Loved the DIY menu. I went with a 1/3 lb patty on a wheat bun with smoked cheddar, fire-roasted green chilies, caramelized onions, horseradish mayo, and of course, a fried egg.

The burger came out juicy and delicious. My only complaint is that I didn't have a choice of cooking temperature for the meat. I'd also like to see a pretzel bun on the menu, a la Kuma's. Despite that, I'd gladly return for another visit. If these guys have DirectTV, I may be spending many Sundays here in the near future. They also do $1 sliders and $2.50 micros during Happy Hour. Stay tuned.

XOCO - Round 8

2010-08-27T13:24:00.003-05:00

With the crew up in Glenn, MI for SHANK and me not able to make it this year, I knew I at least needed to make lunch count while they were dining on something fabulous from Bud Man's grill.

Today's Special: Torta de Poc Chuc - Lime marinaded pork, avocado, pickled onion, lettuce, tomato grown on Frontera's roof, mayo, habenero

VERY strong. GLGT boys.

Big Star Chicago

2010-08-25T11:14:00.006-05:00

A surprise visit from Our Man Duke last night resulted in excessive drinking and eating. As I type this, he is sleeping on my couch fighting a raging hangover. After we hit our favorite haunt in Chicago we grabbed a cab and hightailed it to Big Star. It was absolutely JAMMED, but Duke somehow managed to grab us a precious booth spot near the bar. Then...

My darling wife and I started with chiladas and a shot of Old Charter Bourbon 101. The boys ordered cocktails.

We started the massacre with chips and guac.

Next up, Queso Fundido with housemade chorizo and tortillas. Absolutely brilliant. The top is nice and crispy - you sort of crack into it like a crème brulée and spread it on a tortilla. I would bathe in this if I could.

Tacos ahoy - pork belly tacos in the front, al pastor in the back. The pastor tacos were a hit, but the pork belly's crunchy bits and queso fresco made our eyes roll into the back of our heads.

Shredded braised lamb tacos served with the braising liquid. Good GOD these were delicious. (Sorry for the blurry pic, my hands were trembling at this point.)

Pretty stuffed at this point, but Duke and I simply had to go back in for one more round of the pork belly tacos. So nice we MUST do it twice.

Throwback Treat

2010-08-18T13:07:00.006-05:00

Our office building had their annual "Ice Cream Social" where they wheel in a couple Good Humor carts. I was very happy to walk past and grab an old school favorite.

La Chilangueada

2010-08-16T13:13:00.010-05:00

I found myself in Chicago's Craigin neighborhood and was informed by a local business that if I was in the mood for Mexican food, I should check out La Chilangueada. On my drive from downtown to the Cicero/Diversey area, I was looking forward to stopping off and checking out a local restaurant/hot dog stand. As I continued west on Diversey from the Kennedy, it became more & more apparent that I would be dining Mexican.

I was looking on the wrong side of the street, thought I missed it, ripped a Chicago U-turn in the middle of Fullerton and parked in front of a restaurant that looked Mexican, having given up on my search for the recomended restaurant. But as I approached, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that I had found it!

I was told they were known for their Huaraches, which I had never heard of nor seen before. As I arrived, I was greated by smiling faces and a few snickers, as I was clearly the only gringo in the place. The menu was in full Spanish and they seemed very happy to have me. Not knowing the name, nor recognizing the pronunciation I had heard on the menu, I was happy to see pictures and pointed to what I wanted.

When it arrived I was stoked! Reminded me of Lance's tlayuda, but knew it was much different, as I dined on a tlyuda in Mexico last year. This was something very different. It was AWESOME. Seemed to be a cross between a tortilla and a chalupa, which I now know is a huarache. After my seventh bite, I realized the huarache was two ply, and there were refried beans in between! And atop was carne asada, and the standard Mexican toppings of diced white onion, cilatro, queso fresco and fresh lime juice.

When I first sat down, they brought me this salsa trio, and each was flaming hot, without much taste distinction - although by site, they looked like they would vary in taste. As per standard, when in Rome, I went with the Jarritos mandarina to wash things down.

I felt eyes on my back the entire time I dined, and when I couldn't finish, I looked back, and they were all smiling. I thanked them profusely, and had transformed into Mexican Jonny upon arrival so spoke in 90% Spanish the whole time.

Don't know that I'll find myslef in the area again, but might just have to make a special trip once or twice a year to revisit "Los mejores Huaraches de Chicago".

Grilled Cheese Burger Melt

2010-08-13T10:23:00.002-05:00

http://www.boston.com/business/gallery/quirkyfastfooditems/

The Fried Mozzarella Cheese Melt or the Grilled Cheese Burger Melt?
What will my weekend hold?

The Beersicle

2010-08-11T15:28:00.004-05:00

Photo and story courtesy of Urban Daddy.

I know what you're thinking. You've all made these accidentally when you've put a beer in the freezer to chill rapidly, only to forget it in a haze of ethanol and THC. (You have. I never have. That sounds illegal and my mom told me it'd make a pervert.)

But keep reading and you'll realize this is a damn interesting, if blatantly hipsta-trendy, idea.

This heat will make boozers do some crazy things.

Pony Bar in August...

2010-08-09T09:17:00.013-05:00

...or I Sweat Barley.

I took advantage of another summer Friday at work to bug out a little early and hit my favorite bar in the city, The Pony Bar. Loyal FK&S readers will be familiar with Pony Bar and my unabashed fanboy love for it. American craft beers at great prices in a low-temperature, casual atmosphere. It can't be beat, but success has a price. If you get there after 5:00pm on a week day, you'll need a machete and a bullhorn to get anywhere near the bar. That's why I cherish these summer Fridays, when I can get out of the office just early enough to grab a cab before the 4:00pm shift change and get to the Pony Bar when the empty bar stools are still plentiful.

As always, the selection was staggering and I had trouble making up my mind on my first choice. Little did I know that I was about to have the highest-scoring flight of any of my visits to Pony. Mustaches were flying around like a fireman's convention exploded.
I decided to go with one of the two cask selections, Great Divide's 16th Anniversary IPA. This was a nicely balanced beer, as evidenced by the two Rollie Fingers, one Smokey and the Bandit, and one Selleck that it scored. The room temperature delivery of a cask beer is a little tough on a warm August afternoon, but the lighter head and more open flavor profile are worth it.

What to choose, what to choose...I decided that the warm, malty cask ale had taken a toll on my overheated tastebuds, so I wanted to cool them off. With a daunting selection, what better way than to get a twofer? I asked for a snakebite made with Woodchuck Pear Cider and the Left Hand Pilsner. I'd had the Left Hand Pils before and it's a great example of the classic pilsner. I also thought it would be light yet flavorful enough to bring out the best in the cider.

I guessed right and this was delicious, if just tad too sweet. I think a straight apple cider may have been a better match, but I obviously had no complaints. The concoction scored four Sellecks, scratching that warm-weather itch just right.

On a side note, I also tasted that Dogfish Head Sah'tea you can see at the bottom of the board. I don't award mustaches unless I've had a full beer, so it didn't get a score. But I will say that, typical of Dogfish Head's lunatic recipes, this was unique and bold. They call it a "modern update to a 9th century Finnish proto-beer". To a rye beer they add juniper berries and black tea, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper. What I tasted was a mouth-puckering blast of spice and an almost gin-like astringency. Not sure if I could take down a whole pint of this, but it's worth trying for novelty alone.

Next up was something special. Southern Tier is an up-and-coming brewery in the southwestern corner of New York near the border with Pennsylvania. I've had some of their outstanding stouts, including their Creme Brulee stout, which I find surprisingly great considering I don't typically drink flavored beers. But at Pony Bar, it wasn't a stout on the menu but their "2xIPA", a double IPA that's not quite a single IPA and not quite an imperial. It may not be quite either of those things, but it is something special and is the first and only beer to receive a coveted SIX mustaches, garnering four Sellecks for its amazing flavor and two Smokey and the Bandits for the in-your-face hops. It takes a truly special beer to break my 5-mustache scale and this one more than qualifies. Look for it.

The Southern Tier 2xIPA is a tough act to follow, but I wasn't done. So the next brew was a Smuttynose Summer Weizen. This is a damn good example of a hef - crisp, a bit fruity, and lots of citrus flavor. Dangerously easy to drink, I could see many summer afternoons being lost to a 6-pack of these.

As usual, with the high-quality social lubricant available, I made new friends. This time it was a really nice couple from Chicago, whose ears I chewed off about all the indulgent pleasures of that great city - Kuma's, Goose Island, etc. And yet again, I was inspired to order a round of Tuthilltown Spirits' excellent Hudson Baby Bourbon for us. I don't know how the rest of their afternoon went, but mine was something like this:

The 12-block walk back to Grand Central was a pleasant blur.

Field Report: Angelo's Coney Island in Flint, MI

2010-08-08T00:50:00.004-05:00

This was incredible timing following the awesome previous post on Detroit's Greek Coneys. I was also in Michigan at the end of July, and had my own Coney epiphany. I grew up on these "Greek-style" coneys in Southeastern Michigan, and Angelo's is tops in my book. I'm not from Flint, but my Dad is, and my grandparents always lived there, so Angelo's holds personal resonance with me. Anyway, my daughter and I were heading 3 hours to the north for some GLGT, but we flew into Flint, in part, admittedly, to "have a couple."

Never satisfied to just "have one", 'Gelo's has always promoted having "a couple" anytime you can, eventually leading (in my family at least) to asking others who travelled near Flint, (as in the case of my Indianan second-cousins), "didja have a couple?"!!!
I failed: Angelo's is tops for getting gravy with your fries, and in fact offers two types as a side item. Guess I was focusing on the dogs. My 5 year-old inhaled the order of fries (crispy and hot) while I had a couple "up" as they say in Flint (meaning a locally-made Koegel natural-casing frank with house-made coney chili-sauce, mustard, and mad onions.) They come with other options too, but I'm a purist. I do feel bad passing up their outstanding burgers, but I've only got so much capacity anymore. Alhough my Pop says he used to regularly have 1 up, and a single-Cheeseburg back then, with a side of fries & gravy and a pop!

They only serve Pepsi, and though I'm a Coke guy, I wouldn't have it any other way 'cause "Gelo's fountain Pepsi is the best soda I've ever had. Chuck used to limit himself to Diet Pepsi ALWAYS so as to cut back where you can and balance out the greasefest to follow.

Angelo's is actually owned and operated by Macedonians, or I assume it still is because it always was before. I'm ignorant of the actual taste/flavor of the big rivals in Detroit, though I've always wanted to have a Lafayette Coney. But I cut my grandparents' lawn in Flint front and back one steamy June afternoon in my teens, then dusted off 4 Angelo's coneys, brought to me to from a to-go order, to savor al fresco in the mid-afternoon early-summer Michigan heat. There have been many visits since, through 3 decades just for me personally. Glad to be continuing the tradition with a new generation...

Weird post-lunch late afternoon visit, small turn-out, but they're 24/7 too, like the Plants are/were. Don't know if the Shop is 24/7 anymore. Cheap Ice seems a new angle since I was here last. Love the duct-taped video cameras trained on the register. Flint's been in the media lately due to a local summer killing-spree.

Autopsy: I showed my Dad these pictures and he nearly wept, commenting "the onions: they have the best onions!!!", and truth be told they were fantastic, easy to finish off and eat every bit of.

"Have You Had 2 Lately?"

The old rotating-sign on the corner out front is gone now, but I have to appreciate the daily specials (Mon. Coneys, Tues Hamburgers $1.69 all day, Wednesday pancakes, everyday breakfast specials, etc.) , and their bold attempt to rent the facility as a Group Hall or wedding-reception destination. Great hot-dogs; you can order Koegels and Coney Sauce by the pint from Angelo's on-line, and I've bought Koegel's to grill myself many times up North in supermarkets as well. But the chili is the winner by far. No one's telling what it's really made of, but I've always thought it was the leftover hot-dogs chopped up and simmered in a chili sauce with vegetables and herbs and whatnot. But I've also heard it's organ meat ground up, lips and assholes. Either way, it's spoonable...

I recently learned that my late Grandmother, a Flint matron to be sure, used to routinely eat breakfast alone at Angelo's after her doctors' appointments, the kind where you can't eat for 12 hours before they run tests. So she rewarded herself afterwards with a breakfast special at a greasy-spoon and enjoyed herself for a minute of calm and lived to be 93 mostly doing things that made her happy; what's wrong with that again?

Detroit Coney Island Showdown...

2010-08-03T18:23:00.020-05:00

...or Motown Weinerdome.

My wife and I recently took a trip to her home of Detroit for a family wedding. I'd never been to the Motor City and was both looking forward to and dreading seeing firsthand what our modern economy had wrought in this once-glorious city.

Downtown Detroit is a compelling slice of that uniquely American brand of determined, almost defiant, urban aesthetics. It's chock full of wonderful architecture...

...and a surprising concentration of impressive public art, even aside from the famous Joe Louis fist.

Downtown also has its share of food stops of course.

As tempting as Motown Cafe's special bucket combo of wings and fried shrimp was, I wanted something more classically Detroit.

In addition to economic woes and empty streets, downtown Detroit has also been made famous on The Food Network and The Travel Channel for the rivalry between its foremost practitioners of a beloved Detroit staple - the Coney Island-style hot dog.

For more than 70 years, these two legendary eateries have been duking it out for supremacy in the Detroit dog kingdom. What makes that rivalry even more interesting is the fact that the same family owns both businesses. One brother emigrated to Detroit in the early 20th century and, once he had established his business, sent for his brother. Both were such apt students of the hot dog biz that the brother was able to open his own shop right next door. Ever since, this friendly family feud has produced some of the finest dogs around, not to mention fierce factional loyalty among Detroiters.

But hey, enough of my yakkin'. Let's boogie.

Lafayette, the "original", is as old school as it gets. The register is probably older than me, but to the owner, I imagine it's still "the new machine."

The interior is full of pictures of loyal and famous clientele. (Soupy Sales was apparently a huge fan.) The boys of Sigma Alpha Mu '68 must have made Lafayette a frequent post-kegger stop.

On the surface, both places serve similar dogs. The classic cased dog is topped with chili, generous raw onions, and mustard, then nestled in a steamed bun. The Lafayette dog is slathered in a slightly spicy chili and really asserts itself. You know you've got a wiener in your mouth.

American is the larger and more modern of the two diners. Bunting, sports memorabilia, and gaudy beer advertisements abound.

The American Coney looks much the same as the Lafayette but there are subtle yet important taste differences.

The American chili is milder but a bit smokier than at Lafayette. And I could be imagining it, but I think the dog itself had a softer texture. A mouthful of raw onions isn't exactly the ideal palate cleanser.

The verdict? Well, in a microcosm of marriage itself, Carol preferred the smooth American while I was a fan of the spicier, bolder Lafayette dog. Both exceed any Coney I've had here in the original home of this porcine art form. If you're in Detroit and you have any passion for cased meats, you owe it to yourself to take the taste test at these two legendary establishments. Absolutely delicious.

Name That Cocktail - Rd. 2

2010-07-31T17:12:00.005-05:00

A warm summer day puts me in mind of a lot things. Grilled hamburgers. Mexican beers. Halter tops. Bat wings.

But it also makes me think of one of my passions - golf. And a quintessential artist of that most humbling of games was Arnold Palmer. Other than winning 7 Majors, having an unorthodox swing, and just plain being one of the greatest players ever to grace a tee, Arnold is also known for inventing his own signature beverage. It's a simple mix of lemonade and iced tea that will forever be associated with The King.

Carol and I went to a local restaurant for lunch and they serve an adult version of the Arnold Palmer with a tea-flavored vodka and lemon juice with a splash of seltzer. Tasty and a nice summer cocktail but I was convinced I could improve on it.

So I did. That's fresh ginger root (as usual, my wife had a great idea and recommended the ginger) and about half a lemon, cut into chunks, plus a squeeze of lemon juice muddled together, then shaken with ice and a healthy shot (ie, the Upchurch pour) of vodka. Pour in a glass and top with an equal measure of Mom Upchurch's sweet iced tea* and a bit of seltzer. The result is tangy, spicy, sweet, and tart. It's also deadly. (Those are plastic, reusable ice cubes in the glass. I can't recommend these highly enough for cocktails. No dilution.)

As Carol and I were enjoying this new concoction, I began making round 2 for her and realized we had only about a quarter of a lemon left. I needed to make up for the dearth of flavor and liquid and thought about the fresh raspberries she'd just picked up at the grocery store. We found that a handful of raspberries, a bit less lemon, and the same amount of ginger will make this cocktail truly spectacular.

I think both versions deserve christening. I have a couple of names in mind, but this one is ripe for input from the FK&S nation. Considering its inspiration, a golf- or Arnold Palmer-related name would be appropriate, at least for the pure lemon/tea version, but it's hardly mandatory. Follow your Muse, which I know in the case of most of you is your liver. As usual, leave name suggestions in the comments.

*Mom Upchurch's Southern sweet iced tea

Pour about a cup and a half of sugar into a 2-quart pitcher. Add about a quart of near-boiling water, stir to dissolve the sugar, and then add 6 good ol' Lipton tea bags. Steep to taste, but I recommend a solid 20 minutes at least. You want it really strong. After steeping, remove the tea bags and fill the pitcher with cold water and ice. If you don't have a sweet tooth, this is going to make your toes curl. But even if you can't take it straight, this hypersweet version makes for a perfect summer cocktail mixer.