An Introduction To Gourmet Gift Baskets

A creative and unique concept, easily customized to suit an individual, the gourmet gift basket can be a delightful expression of any sentiment. Usually, a gift basket has a collection of items attractively presented and based on a common theme.

Loaded with goodies, a gift basket is sure to please, especially when in doubt about what to give. For special people, this personalized gift is ideal. Wouldn't you say that the thrill of receiving numerous thoughtful presents is often greater than opening just one? The variety of choices available in gourmet gift baskets is truly unbelievable. Be it Christmas or Hanukkah, birthdays or business, there is something for any occasion or holiday!

Consisting of the finest food and beverages, exotic and adventurous, gourmet gift baskets are hugely popular as ideal gifts. For Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays, there are Kosher gift baskets. Or, for Christmas, there are hampers with cookies to cakes, liqueurs to chocolates, caviar to cheese-all delectable. Chocolate gift baskets with Belgian manons, French bonbons, Swiss treats, exquisite chocolates with enhanced fruit and nut flavors, chocolate pretzels and cookies, candy canes, tasty truffles in great shapes and lovely wrapping are all simply heavenly for the chocoholic. There are elegant gift baskets of assorted wine and cheese; premium choices like Dom Perignon Champagne, CK Mondavi Chardonnay, CK Mondavi Merlot, or Moet and Chandon White Star Champagne; cheese from around the world--endless choices such as American Humboldt Fog; Blue cheese like Roquefort; Belgian Chimay with Beer; English Dorset drum cheddar or White Stilton with Apricot; Brown Ale cheese; champagne cheese like Brie; Dutch Dorothea; Italian cooking cheese like Reggiano or Parmigiano; French Camembert or Gruyere; German Tilsit; and so many more. Versatile in every way-- in taste and texture, in origin and in combination, there is no better gourmet gift!

Do not forget an array of meats either: fresh, smoked, grilled, stuffed, roasted, and cooked in different regional styles. Consider unusual choices like venison, elk, kangaroo, or delicious variations of poultry, pork, lamb, and beef or veal. These gourmet meats are unmatched in quality. With smoked fish, caviar, lobsters and shrimps, a seafood basket is a delicious fiesta for the seafood lover. Flavorful and healthy teas or coffees and savory condiments are also exciting picks.

The list is endless; you can make anything special if you put your heart and mind into it. Celebrate life and all its special events with a memorable gourmet gift basket.

Gourmet Gifts provides detailed information on Gourmet Gifts, Gourmet Gift Baskets, Gourmet Meat Gifts, Gourmet Chocolate Gifts and more. Gourmet Gifts is affiliated with Gourmet Fruit Gift Baskets [http://www.e-GourmetGiftBaskets.com].

Great Country Escapes: Hudson Valley

This area just north of Manhattan has serious new restaurants, some owned by big-deal NYC chefs. The Hudson Valley, just north of Manhattan, has beautiful scenery as well as serious new restaurants. Photo © Joseph Sohm/Visions of America/Corbis.

Chef Michael Psilakis became a star by showing Manhattanites that simple Greek food (like grilled branzino with potatoes and olives in lemon sauce) can be transcendent. With the 150-plus seat MP Taverna, he’s bringing incredible Greek food to the valley. One Bridge St., Irvington, NY; michaelpsilakis.com.

Photo courtesy of Cold Spring Farmer’s Market.

This fabulous Saturday farmers’ market is in the parking lot of the 19th-century Boscobel House and Gardens, which overlooks the Hudson River. On market day, entrance to Boscobel’s landscaped gardens is free. 1601 Route 9D, Garrison, NY; csfarmmarket.org.

The most anticipated hotel opening in the valley is the Rockwell Group-designed The Roundhouse at Beacon Falls. The hotel doesn’t open until fall, but the cocktail lounge is already serving drinks like the Smoke, made with mezcal, lime juice and chipotle syrup. 2 E. Main St., Beacon, NY; roundhousebeacon.com.

Earlier this year, four beer-obsessed friends opened this store and restaurant, selling more than 100 brews, including six on tap. Chef Matt Hutchins also uses beer in dishes like beer-cured salmon fillet and a stout-and-ice-cream float. 458 Main St., Beacon, NY; thehopbeacon.com.

Photo courtesy of Café Le Perche.

Owner Allan Chapin decided to open a bakery after tasting the yeasty, dark baguette du Perche in Bretoncelles, about 100 miles southwest of Paris. To re-create it here, he flew in the baker who made the loaf, plus a 17-ton French oven. 230 Warren St., Hudson, NY; cafeleperche.com.

The marvelous Scandinavian-inspired restaurant has a new chef: Timothy Meyers, who previously worked here as sous chef before taking a job at Eleven Madison Park. The menu changes weekly, but the prices don’t: $10 for small plates and $25 for entrées. 225 Warren St., Hudson, NY; dabahudson.com.

Co-owners Benjamin Freemole and John McCarthy met at NYC’s WD-50. Here, they use molecular techniques to make comfort food like a faux risotto with peas in place of arborio rice. 746 Warren St., Hudson, NY; thecrimsonsparrow.com.

View the original article here

The What, Where and Why of Gourmet Coffee

Nowadays, coffee drinkers all over the world have become more sophisticated in their taste. This is apparent in the steady following that gourmet coffee has gradually gained in recent years. People are starting to appreciate the high quality and taste of these special coffee mixes. Here is an overview of what all the craze is about.

WHAT IS GOURMET COFFEE?

"Gourmet" basically means fine food or drink. These substances have been judged by experts in the field, and have been found to be exceptional compared to most. Gourmet coffee, in particular, is coffee with a unique flavor. Coffee beans used to create it typically come from selected places in the world. These places typically have the best elevation and climates for growing coffee, and have rich soil and special cultivation practices, allowing the production of coffee beans with distinct flavor. Various flavors, such as mint or vanilla, are then added to further enrich the taste and the aroma of the blend.

Although it usually denotes the finished product itself, the term "gourmet coffee" actually refers to the entire specialized process of manufacturing the finished product. This includes the selection of the beans, the roasting, the addition of flavors, until the final product is formed.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF GOURMET COFFEE?

There are numerous kinds available in the market. They are made in different flavors, including almond, French vanilla, amaretto, Swiss mocha, chocolate, vanilla, and mint, just to name the more common ones. Some are caffeinated, while others are decaffeinated.

WHERE CAN YOU BUY GOURMET COFFEE?

It is readily available from your local grocery store and café. However, the best place to find it is a coffee roaster, where you can literally choose from hundreds of different coffee blends and mixes. If you're too busy to check out these local coffee stores, you can also opt to buy it online. There are a load of websites that sell various kinds. The best part is they will deliver your order straight to your doorstep!

In general, it costs more than regular coffee. The price can range from around $50 to over $100. Remember, good quality is something you have to pay for!

When choosing a gourmet blend, sample different types of roasts and flavors. Don't forget to smell the it, as fresh gourmet coffee always has a tempting aroma. Allow the merchant to grind the beans for you. Finally, match the coffee to the specific brewing method recommended to fully enjoy the distinctive flavor of your gourmet coffee.

Katya Coen provides information on gourmet coffee beans for Gourmet Coffee Guide - your online guide to gourmet coffees!

Holiday Ideas - Gifting With Food

An unusually nice way to let friends know that you are thinking of them during the holidays is to send or bring them gifts of food. Not only are food gifts always usable but they are the fashion in gift giving today. What simpler way is there to find a find for the person who has everything or the one who has very little? To meet your holiday needs, many gourmet cookware shops and food stores specialize in food gifting, or if you love to spend time in the kitchen you can prepare you own favorite specialties for your friends.

In the last number of years, 'Food Gifting' has become so popular that a whole new industry of 'Gourmet Basket' making has emerged. Baskets come in many different forms and are not only made from woven wicker but are now hand crafted from wood and other materials. In addition to baskets there are beautifully designed gift bags and old-fashioned cookie tins for food gifts. One nice way to present a food gift is to fill a cooking utensil with related items. An example would be a Pasta Pot filled with gourmet pastas and sauces, Italian cheeses and red and white checkered napkins.When gifting with food it is especially nice to choose a theme for your gift and fit the packaging and the contents into it. Below is a list of food themes which suggest ideas for holiday food gifts. You may like to choose one of these or decide on your own. Whichever you do should be our own choice, and fit the tastes and needs of the person receiving the gift.


Wine & Cheese
Fine Spirits
Bread Baking
Pasta & Sauces
Childhood Delights
Coffee & Tea
Sugar & Spice's
Fruit & Nut's

Gourmet Popcorn Treats If you feel creative and have enough time, you may enjoy purchasing the gift container and contents, and putting the package together yourself. However if you, like many people today are very busy and do not have the time, most shops will put together the gift for you with little or no charge as long as you purchase all the items from them. If you do package your own gift, be sure to wrap it in a see through wrapping paper such as clear or colored cellophane. Food gifts are so pretty and delightful to look at that you won't want to cover them up with opaque wrapping paper.

Retail outlets that do put together food baskets and other related items can be found in your local Yellow Pages or in local newspaper ads and or mail-order companies, or you can choose from one of the stores from the listed below.

Specialty Food Stores: Gelson's Markets, Bristol Farms, Whole Foods

Culinary Stores: Let's Get Cookin' (Westlake Village, CA) Sur La Table, Williams Sonoma

Don't forget the Candy Stores, Wine Shops and even some Bakeries. Last but not least, don't omit your own favorite specialties which your friends would probably love to receive along with the recipe, if you are willing to part with it. Whichever you do, you will enjoy selecting and or putting together your gift and your friends will enjoy getting them and using them.

Finally, a delightful bonus derived from 'Food Gifting' is that you don't have to rack your brain trying to decide what to give people. 'Gifting with Food' comes naturally and easily without struggle and is a joy and pleasure to the giver as well as the recipient!

I have been a children's cooking teacher and educator for over 35 years. In addition I have worked for Cuisinart as a Consumer Adviser and taught classes on the proper use of food processors. I teach monthly classes in Ventura, County California for children, teens and their parents. I love to share my ideas to help kids be safe, learn and have fun in the kitchen. I hold a MS in Nutrition and Food Sciences from California State University.

Please check out my website at http://www.sylveeeskitchen.com

Pasta con zucchine e gamberetti

La PASTA CON ZZUCCHINE E GAMBERETTI è una delle ricette più famose del panorama gastronomico italiano. E' un piatto veloce, semplice, gustoso ma allo stesso delicato. 

Cominciamo tagliando la pancetta a cubetti o a striscioline, come preferite. 

Tagliamo anche le zucchine a julienne o a cubetti, cercando tuttavia di ottenere pezzetti della stessa grandezza.

Triatiamo lo scalogno e lasciamolo soffriggere con dell'olio di oliva per un paio di minuti sul fornello.

Versiamo poi i cubetti di pancetti per farlo ben rosolare.

La pancetta è divenuta croccante! Ora aggiungo le zucchine e le lascio cuocere per circa 5 minuti. Trascorso questo tempo si saranno ammorbidite e avranno rilasciato la loro acqua. Versiamo il vino e lasciamo sfumare.

Se il tutto tende ad attaccarsi possiamo comunque aggiungere un pò d'acqua per portarle a cottura.

Aggiungiamo i gamberetti e lasciamo cuocere per 5 minuti al massimo perchè i gamberetti non diventino troppo gommosi.

Intanto facciamo bollire la pasta in acqua salata e scoliamoli molto al dente. Facciamola saltare con il nostro sugo per 2 o 3 minuti prima di servire

View the original article here

Cooking, Cookware and the Perfect Gourmet Meal

If you love to cook there is nothing more important than having the right tools. Just as a carpenter needs his favorite saw and hammer, so too does the gourmet cook need that perfect piece of cookware. Of course not all of us are as fortunate as others when it comes to affording cookware, and some of us must consider our budget, the eating habits of our family, as well as finding time to cook the perfect meal; but once those bridges are crossed, the sweet aroma of dinner will soon be wafting it way from your kitchen.

One of the most important points when choosing your cookware is to consider how it's made and what material (metals) make up its core. While those details can easily be overlooked when basing your decision on price, it's a detail that should most certainly be considered. If you'll take the time to learn about how the various cooking surfaces affect the outcome, you'll understand how to make the best choice, based on time, budget, and cooking preferences.

One of the best types of cookware is made primarily from stainless steel; it's usually priced moderately, is durable, strong, resistant to corrosion and does not react to alkaline or acidic materials. You'll find you can use less cooking oil, thus the nutritional value is maintained, and you'll find cleanup are a snap.

Of course everything comes with their good and bad points, with stainless steel the minus is the way it conducts heat, which in a word is inefficiently. Not to be daunted and coming to the rescue is a thick aluminum or copper core in the bottom. When this is combined with stainless steel, you have a piece of cookware that heats evenly, is easy to clean, and maintains its appearance for years into the future.

Nonstick pans, which are praised by cooks everywhere, especially those who are cooking low fat meals, are a tool of the trade and allow intricate (and flavorful) meals to be cooked without a messy clean up. There are some concerns you need to take note of (environmental questions have been raised concerning perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) a chemical used to bond the nonstick coating to the pan) and while there is no direct evidence that this is transferred to the food being cooked, it is a point to be considered. Laying that negative to rest (but do your own checking) cleanup is a breeze but be careful not to scratch the surface, or it will quickly lose its nonstick properties.

This is easily accomplished by using wooden, plastic, or coated utensils when cooking and keeping the piece out of the dishwasher, only washing in hot soapy water. Do this and you'll have a shining centerpiece of cooking elegance for years to come.

The old standard (been around for hundreds of years) is cast iron which is relatively inexpensive, conducts heat evenly and is perfect for searing or frying. Of course it's not a perfect world, nor is cast iron the perfect cookware and you need to keep your piece clean and dry to avoid rust, stains or pitting. A light application of cooking oil is suggested if you'll be storing it for long periods.

NOTE: Cast iron cookware should not be washed in soapy water; instead it should be wiped clean, and dry with a paper towel.

Of course a miracle of the modern age is aluminum cookware, which is usually inexpensive, light weight, and an excellent conductor of heat. The negative? Aluminum will react to acidic or alkaline foods, and over time could begin to spoil the taste of your meal.

Because of this aluminum cookware is normally coated with stainless steel or an anodized coating, with this combination it's an excellent cookware choice and your food will be protected. In most cases aluminum cookware doesn't require any special type of cleaning, and hot soapy water if just find.

DISHWASHING NOTE: While we all enjoy the ease and convenience of a dishwasher, it's best to hand wash and dry your choice cookware, this will maintain it's quality finish well into the future.

An expensive, but beautiful cookware choice is copper; it conducts and responds to heat quickly, cooks evening, cools quickly when heat is removed and allows your food to achieve that perfect blend of culinary perfection.

Personally I love copper cookware, but I've learned (the hard way) that copper can react to moisture, salty food, and sometimes high humidity. Left unchecked this could cause your food to have a slightly metallic taste. Of course the cooking engineers understood this and normally will line copper cookware with silver or stainless steel, which will enhance its qualities and for the most case eliminate the negatives.

If you're someone who enjoys cooking, or simply enjoy the taste of a well cooked meal, take the time to do a little research, then you'll know exactly what your need to be the perfect gourmet cook.

Using the just the right piece of cookware can spell the difference between a meal hastily thrown together and a true gourmet experience. For those interested in learning more about cooking with premium cookware, please stop by and peruse what we have to offer.

What Does the Raw Food Diet Consist Of?

You've heard the buzz. The raw food diet is gaining momentum! The audience for the raw food books is expanding at a very fast pace. This is because the Baby Boomer generation, many of whom refuse to grow old, is looking for answers. Another reason is that the rising cost of health care (as well as the disappointing side effects of drugs and surgery) is creating a consciousness in people that they need to take responsibility for their health and not hire someone else to be in charge of their body's fate.

The word is getting out---the raw diet is not just another weight loss fad. This is the natural diet and people on this diet have reversed cancer, heart disease, hepatitis, and other major diseases-as well as minor nuisances such as herpes, athlete's foot, dandruff, and even sleepwalking.

The younger generation has also caught on to this diet. Most of them have come from the vegan population. These are ardently opposed to the eating of any animal products. Many feel the next step for them is to "go raw." Many of them view this diet as a spiritual practice, since the energy normally used to digest cooked food is freed up to go to the higher centers.

Then there are the women who also get hooked into this diet for beauty. Model Carol Alt is the ultimate example, and she showed the power of a raw diet to create a beautiful body and maintain youth by posing nude in December 2008's Playboy magazine. Women love this diet for weight loss and maintenance, soft and radiant skin, loss of cellulite, full hair (sometimes even reversing the gray!), and more.

The word is also getting out that the raw diet helps with athletic performance, getting the competitive edge at work, mental health (being freed from depression, schizophrenia, and more), and creativity.

But what does this strange diet consist of? Are all these raw fooders eating salads and munching on carrots and bananas all day? How could that possibly provide enough calories and variety to sustain people for the long run?

A typical raw food vegan diet consists of unheated (not above 118 F) fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and lentils. From this seemingly limited fare, however, one can create a wide variety of dishes, ranging from the "fast food" smoothies and salads to the gourmet imitations of cooked food dishes. Most raw fooders eat this way. They expand the variety of plant food they consume, eating a wide variety of olives, or exotic fruit, for example.

A raw vegetarian might also include raw egg yolks (providing they are from an organic, preferably flax

seed-fed, free range chicken) as well as some raw dairy such as kiefer (available in raw dairy states like California; otherwise you have to buy from the Amish or own part of a cow or goat).

There are also those who eat raw meat, such as steak tartar, ceviche, and sashimi. Marinating it overnight in lemon juice it is supposed to kill the parasites.

Omitting cooked food might seem like a huge sacrifice, but raw fooders don't feel deprived once they have weaned themselves from addictive processed food, filled with sugar, wheat, dairy, monosodium glutamate, table salt, aspartame and intense spices, all of which serve to hook the consumer into food addiction. Raw food actually tastes better than cooked food, because the flavor isn't cooked out into the air. You just don't need to add all those spices and toxic ingredients.

It is easy to make a raw, whole food recipe which most of us are very familiar with: guacamole is an example---just make it from whole foods instead of a mix! Or make trail mix from raw shredded coconut, nuts, seeds, and sundried raisons and apricots.

Many people who go raw use raw gourmet recipes that mimic their favorite cooked dishes until they are used to eating raw, after which they boast spending no more than 10 minutes a day in the kitchen. The raw gourmet dishes often require expensive machines, such as a Vitamix and a temperature-controlled dehydrator, but you can do a lot with just a blender and a food processor.

Here are a few gourmet raw recipes from The Live Food Factor, A Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet:

Sunflower Seed Pâté

1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight, rinsed

1 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked overnight, rinsed

½ cup pitted olives

2 red bell peppers

½ bunch cilantro or favorite fresh herb

1 t Celtic or Himalayan salt

½-1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 30 minutes and cut into small pieces with scissors

Put the seeds through a blank screen of a juicer. If you don't have a juicer with a blank screen, you can use a food processor with the "S" blade to blend them, but it won't be as creamy. Then, mix all other ingredients in the food processor with the "S" blade.

Raw Candy

Nuts, soaked 6-12 hours, rinsed and drained

Dates

Raw carob powder, to taste (optional)

Raw shredded coconut or unhulled sesame seeds

Mix nuts, dates and carob in food processor. Mix in a food processor with the "S" blade until the mixture forms a ball that bounces around inside that machine. Remove and form little balls. Roll the balls in sesame seeds and/or raw shredded coconut. These keep a long time in the freezer. Experiment with ingredient proportions and quantities to suit your own taste.

Deluxe Macadamia Nut Cheese

12 oz (3 cups) macadamia nuts, soaked 6-12 hours, rinsed and drained

1 t Celtic sea salt

2 cloves garlic

1 T fresh cilantro

¼ cup lemon juice

3/8-½ cup unpasteurized olive oil

Blend in food processor with the "S" blade, adding the nuts a little at a time. Mix until creamy, the texture of cream cheese.

Note: For a creamier mixture, you could put the nuts through a juicer with the blank screen before putting them into the food processor. In that case, you will need about half the olive oil! You might have to add one or two tablespoons more of oil.

Blend until it has the creamy texture of cream cheese. Serve on flax crackers, or use as a vegetable dip with zucchini, baby carrots, sliced bell peppers, fresh broccoli and so on.

Tahini Sauce

1 cup raw tahini

¾ cup unpasteurized olive oil

2/3 cup orange juice (about 2 medium-sized oranges)

3 cloves garlic

1½ inches fresh ginger

1 T nama shoyu (optional)

1-2 t Celtic sea salt

¼ cup fresh cilantro (optional)

Mix in food processor with the "S" blade, adding ingredients a little at a time. Mix until creamy. This is great on raw Oriental vegetables for a stir-fry or on Nori Rolls.

Chinese Stir "Fry"

1 foot long daikon radish

4 carrots

1 bunch green onions

5-6 stalks celery

½ head small cabbage

2 zucchinis

1 red bell pepper

1 cup mung bean sprouts

¾ cup watercress

3 stalks broccoli

1½ cups snow peas

Slivered raw almonds or raw cashews

Sesame seeds

Tahini sauce (see "Sauces, Salad Dressings, Condiments")

Tempeh (optional)

With the food processor, grate the daikon radish, and slice the carrots, celery, green onions, cabbage, zucchinis and bell pepper. (This is one time you will be especially thankful for your food processor: A job that could otherwise take an hour will be finished in minutes!) Put into a large bowl. Cut off florets from broccoli and toss into the mixture. Chop off tips of watercress and toss in, along with mung bean sprouts. Cut off stringy ends of snow peas and toss in. Fold in about a cup of tahini sauce. Top off with almond slivers (or truly raw cashews, sliced) and sesame seeds. Chop up tempeh and fold into mixture.

Serves 8-10.

Raw Hummus

2 zucchinis

¾ cup unhulled sesame seeds, soaked 6-12 hours, rinsed, drained

¾ cup raw tahini

¼-½ t cayenne

½ t celery salt

3-4 garlic cloves

1 t Celtic sea salt

¼ cup lemon juice

Blend in a food processor with the "S" blade, adding ingredients a little at a time until creamy. Serve on flax crackers or use as a vegetable dip with sliced zucchini, baby carrots, sliced bell peppers and fresh broccoli.

With a bit of effort, it is easy to transition to a mainly raw diet. After a year or so, most are satisfied with eating simply. Nothing could be tastier than Nature's fast food, after all!

Susan Schenck, LAc, is a raw food coach, lecturer, and author of The Live Food Factor, The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet, known as the encyclopedia of the raw food diet. Go to http://www.livefoodfactor.com to get a free chapter from her book.

Austin Restaurants

F&W names the best Austin restaurants including an exceptional upscale diner, a wildly popular taco truck, a Top Chef winner’s ambitious projects and the city’s two most essential barbecue spots for brisket lovers. Plus: great bars and top cafés. 24 Diner’s Andrew Curren. Photo © Vanessa Escobedo Barba.

At 10 a.m., six days a week, the line starts forming at this East Austin spot. By around 1 p.m., the “sold out” sign is up, and frustrated brisket fans have to come back another day. In just a few years, Aaron Franklin has become one of Austin’s top pitmasters, which is saying a lot in this smoked-meat-crazed part of the country. His following is deserved: slow-smoked for up to 18 hours, the all-natural beef brisket from Montana is incredibly rich and delicious. He also smokes beef ribs, turkey and beef-and-pork sausage, serving them with a sweet-tart sauce spiked with espresso. franklinbarbecue.com

Superbly talented young chef Bryce Gilmore cooked in San Francisco and Aspen before returning to his hometown to serve chef-y comfort food at the Odd Duck Farm to Trailer (now closed). His second solo effort is this unpretentious 30-seat restaurant painted to resemble a weathered red barn. Out of an open kitchen, Gilmore cooks creative small plates with unexpected flavor combinations (a grilled carrot salad, for instance, comes dressed with a vinaigrette made with browned butter, marcona almonds and sherry vinegar). barleyswine.com

The 56-story Austonian condo building has transformed both the city’s skyline (it’s Austin’s highest building) and its dining scene. Star chef David Bull runs all three of its eating and drinking establishments on the ground floor, including the elegant restaurant Congress and the chic and airy Second Bar + Kitchen. The latter is a great spot for playful comfort food, like wood-fired pizza topped with pulled pork and green chiles, and creative cocktails such as the Gin + Jam, offered with house-made marmalade and jam that diners stir in themselves. congressaustin.com

Ned Elliott has found an unlikely home for his ambitious cooking: a gritty Austin building that once housed a skateboard shop. Elliott has cooked in some of the country’s finest restaurants, including New York City’s Alain Ducasse at the Essex House (closed) and Picholine. Now he uses that training to create dishes as refined as crispy beef tongue with horseradish-yogurt sauce and microgreens, and as unfussy as a fried green tomato BLT. fndaustin.com

Native Texan Rene Ortiz looks to Mexico for both La Condesa’s design (a collage of vibrantly colored Mexican billboards adorn one wall) and its menu: ambitious ceviches, tacos, tostadas and larger plates like roasted sea scallops with brown butter yucca puree. The bar features an 80-bottle tequila list and creative cocktails by renowned mixologist Junior Merino. lacondesaaustin.com

Chef Tyson Cole, who has sliced fish in Tokyo and speaks fluent Japanese, pushes Asian fusion in an aggressively Western direction at Uchi, housed in a converted 1930s bungalow illuminated by custom light fixtures fashioned out of fish baskets. Cole combines superfresh seafood flown in every day from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market with familiar ingredients for beautiful dishes that are zingy, vibrant and unexpected. His signature Uchi-viche, for instance, incorporates salmon, striped bass, tomato, bell pepper, garlic and cilantro. Cooked dishes are just as innovative and delicious, including crisp panko-crusted green tomatoes and the lusciously smoky, salty, fatty Bacon Steakie, pork belly glazed with sweetened, reduced fish sauce. uchiaustin.com

Before Paul Qui won Top Chef: Texas, the ninth season of Bravo’s hit series, he rose through the ranks of Uchi, one of Austin’s most ambitious restaurants. Now, at its bigger and more casual sister spot, Uchiko, Qui makes modern dishes that share a similar ethos: Asian in spirit with Western ingredients, combined in inventive, dazzling preparations. The Jar Jar Duck, for instance, is a delicious combination of smoked and confited duck, supercrunchy duck cracklings, sweet kumquat confit and pickled endives served in a glass jar. uchiaustin.com

The Driskill Grill at the Driskill, Austin’s oldest and most atmospheric hotel, remains an iconic restaurant, with its stately dining room, flurry of servers and sense of history—it’s where Lyndon B. Johnson had his first date with Lady Bird Johnson in 1934, and proposed later that day. Chef Jonathan Gelman lends a sense of fun to his daily-changing menus that are rooted in French tradition but nod to Texas and the broader South: The branzino, for instance, is cooked in a cast-iron skillet and arrives at the table accompanied by smoked cheddar and duck confit grits. driskillgrill.com

This five-decade-old Texas institution is known for two things: tender, slow-smoked brisket and phenomenal live music in a giant backyard that holds over 1,000 people. A famed Austin tradition is the Sunday Gospel Brunch, with live singing, two-stepping and a buffet spread of buttermilk pancakes; cheesy, garlicky grits; fried cornmeal-battered catfish; and the stellar smoked brisket. stubbsaustin.com

Photo © Vanessa Escobedo Barba.

At this 24-hour restaurant, chef Andrew Curren applies fine-dining skills learned in New York City to diner staples, like meat loaf dressed up with bacon-braised greens and sweet-onion gravy and an amazing roasted banana-and-brown sugar milk shake. In the morning, the colorful industrial-style space is a power breakfast spot for Austin businessmen; late-night, it’s dominated by the post-concert crowd. 24diner.com

After 20 years of cooking in restaurants with acclaimed chefs like Norman Van Aken, Michael Rypka struck out on his own in 2006 with Torchy’s Tacos, a silver food truck parked near Bouldin Creek. His menu of amped-up street food shows his love for the deep fryer: fried avocado tacos, fried chicken tacos, Baja fried-shrimp tacos with cabbage slaw and chipotle sauce. That insanely popular food truck has spawned 10 brick-and-mortar spots across Austin, Houston and Dallas. The grooviest location is still the original, now stationed in a trailer park with other mobile food operations, umbrella-covered picnic tables and fire pits. torchystacos.com

Debbie Davis’s cheery, bright diner offers a small menu of Southern comfort food, including a grilled pimiento cheese sandwich, crisp crab cakes and grilled Hill Country quail. Still, most folks go for the sublime burger—arguably the best in Austin. It’s a by-the-book burger, with ripe tomatoes, red onions and organic bibb lettuce as accompaniments. The generous patty (six ounces of Niman Ranch beef) is always juicy and flavorful, and the buttered, toasted bun and thick, hand-cut sweet potato fries are reliably excellent. countercafe.com

A side-project from Top Chef winner and Uchiko chef Paul Qui, East Side King food trailers have three regular locations outside local bars, where they serve irreverent and delicious Asian fast food. Each menu varies, but there is lots of deep-frying involved, from deep-fried roasted beets served with spicy Japanese mayonnaise to deep-fried chicken loaded with herbs, onion and jalapeño in a steamed bun. eskaustin.com

This humble-looking sandwich shop on the outskirts of town has become one of Austin’s unlikeliest foodie hot spots. Co-chefs John Bates and Brandon Martinez prepare almost everything in-house, including bread, charcuterie and extra-spicy mustard. Their most ingenious concoction: the house-made pickle tucked into their smoked duck pastrami sandwich, flavored with allspice, honey, peppercorn and caraway to mimic the flavors of rye bread. Noble Pig is usually only open for breakfast and lunch, but serves a four-course prix fix dinner ($65) once a month with ambitious plates like poached bass with sugar snap pickles and pancetta-ham hock foam. noblepigaustin.com

Photo courtesy of Progress Coffee/ Orange Cone Agency.

Joshua and Sarah Bingaman took over part of a 1942 warehouse to create this industrial chic café that blends their love for art, music and sophisticated coffee. Supporting Austin’s indie community, the shop sources custom blends of fair trade, organic, shade-grown beans from local roasters Owl Tree Roasting and organic produce for the café menu, and even gives away its nitrogen-rich coffee grounds to patrons who compost. progresscoffee.com

Actress Sandra Bullock owns and occasionally visits this café and florist on busy 6th Street. In a beautifully restored, pre-18th century building, Walton’s Fancy & Staple attracts a big breakfast and lunch crowd. Baristas pull expert espresso drinks on a La Marzocco espresso machine; customers order pastries and sandwiches (made with house-baked bread) from a counter. When possible, the café menu features stellar ingredients from area farms, like hydroponically grown lettuce from Bluebonnet and chèvre from Water Oak Farm. waltonsfancyandstaple.com

This Warehouse District bar has an old tavern vibe, with wood beam ceilings and exposed red brick, but specializes in a trendy spirit: absinthe, available in 12 varieties. The signature drink is an adult milk shake that combines house-made vanilla ice cream, cherry liqueur and the once-outlawed green spirit. Chef Jason Dodge’s bar menu features rustic small plates from France and Italy that might include mushroom arancini with truffled egg, salt cod whipped potatoes and pork belly confit. pecheaustin.com

This party complex offers bowling, karaoke rooms, live music and an eclectic American comfort-food menu by chef Trish Eichelberger that features tamale balls stuffed with pulled pork, quail hot wings tossed in bacon fat and served with Sriracha-spiced sauce, and buttermilk-brined, cast-iron-fried chicken. Cocktails include the classics, as well as creative renditions like the Heirloom, a refined take on the Bloody Mary prepared with pepper-infused vodka, tomato water, basil, cherry tomato and smoked salt. thehighball.com

View the original article here

Pandispagna al cacao

Il PANDISPAGNA AL CACAO è una golosa alternativa alla più famosa ricetta di base di pasticceria.

Il procedimeto è lo stesso!

Montiamo le uova con lo zucchero e un pizzico di sale fino a quando il tutto triplica di volume. 

Aggiungiamo poca farina alla volta, setacciandola assolutamente.

Mescoaliamo dal basso verso l'alto per inglobare aria, perchè non c'è lievito in questa ricetta.

Dopo aver incorporato la farina eseguiamo lo stesso procedimento con il cacao.

Versiamo l'impasto in una teglia imburrata ed infarinata o ricoperta di carta forno. Inforniamo per 35-40 minuti a 180 gradi.

View the original article here

Crema ganache

La CREMA GANACHE è una tipica preparazione francese. In origine essa veniva utilizzata come base per cioccolatini e bom boms.

E' indicata per farcire torte e per ricoprire pasticcini. Non a caso è per ricoprire i profitterol si utilizza proprio la ganache!

Il segreto per un'ottima crema è semplicemente quello di usare prodotti freschi e genuini. 

Le dosi sono molto facili da ricordare: infatti la panna e il cioccolato devono avere le stesse quantità.

Anche il procedimento è davvero molto veloce. 

Portiamo a bollore la panna, meglio se lo si fa a bagnomaria.

Allontaniamo dal fuoco il pentolino con la panna bollente e versiamoci il cioccolato. 

Mescoliamo delicatamente per far sciogliere bene.

La crema è pronta. Possiamo lasciarla raffreddare a temperatura ambiente o in frigorifero. Se la si lascia in frigo peò ricordiamoci di ricoprirla con della pellicola trasparente o con dei ogli di alluminio, poichè il cioccolato tende ad assornire gli odori.

Un'ottima variante è la GANACHE MONTATA. Basterà fare raffreddare molto il pentolino con la crema e poi montarla con fruste.

View the original article here

Key Components of a Quality Gourmet Knife Set

When purchasing a new gourmet knife set, you want to make sure you have the right combination of knives in the set so that all your food cutting needs will be met. Additionally, quality sets will have good fringe and complimentary components as well. Here are some common knives that should be included in any set.

Chef's

The staple of most knife sets is the chef's knife. Also called the French knife, originally this knife was used primarily for cutting meats. Typically the blade measures about eight inches in length and one and a half inches in width. Currently the functionality of this knife serves more of an all purpose role. It is used for cutting, mincing, slicing, and chopping various food items such as meat, fish and vegetables.

Santoku

The Santoku knife can be thought of as the Japanese version version of the chef's knife. It is different enough that most good gourmet knife sets include both a chef's knife and a Santoku knife. It is thinner and not as long as the traditional chef's knife. The Santoku knife is designed mostly for cutting boneless or lightly-boned meats, poultry and seafood. It is also great for handling vegetables, whether you are slicing, dicing or chopping them.

Paring

A paring knife is a small knife that is ideal for peeling fruits and vegetables. It is also good for precision cutting, such as de-veining shrimp or removing seeds from fruits. This is a common knife found in all good knife sets.

Bread

Bread knives are long, thin knives that are serrated so it can cut soft bread without crushing it or causing it to crumble. These are a must for any knife set since bread is one of the most commonly eaten foods there is.

Boning

A boning knife is a long, thin extremely sharp knife that is used to separate meat from bones in beef, poultry and fish. The material connected to the bone is usually tougher and more elastic than the actual flesh, so the narrow sharp boning knife is perfect for this function.

Complimentary Components

There should also be useful complimentary components in a good gourmet knife set. To house the items, knife sets use a wooden block with slots for the items. This should be made of quality wood such as bamboo or oak. Also, most sets include kitchen shears, which are perfect for cutting string and twine.

So make sure the gourmet knife set you intend to purchase includes the above items - this will ensure all your kitchen cutting requirements will be met.

If you are looking for the in depth reviews for all the best knife block sets such as the J.A. Henckels Twin Pro S [http://www.bestknifeblocksets.net/j-a-henckels-twin-pro-s-7-piece-knife-set-with-block/] just visit our Best Knife Block Sets [http://www.bestknifeblocksets.net/] website. We also reveal were you can find knife block sets for up to 60% off!

Gourmet Cooking Tools - Tips To Find The Right Equipment

If you are keen to create delicious gourmet dishes in your kitchen it is important to have the right tools for the job at hand. Whether you are a professional chef or cooking for pleasure at home, the correct gourmet cooking tool will make a world of difference to the end result. To create perfect gourmet meals you need only the best ingredients, with this in mind it makes sense to also use only the best equipment you can afford. There are many companies dedicated to supplying gourmet cooking tools and the internet is the first place to look.

You may think that investing in gourmet cooking tools is a waste of money when you have equipment at your disposal that you have used for years. However, when embarking on gourmet cooking most of us do not have the specialized tools and equipment that are needed to create the perfect finish to our dishes. The initial investment of purchasing gourmet cooking tools will pay dividends in the future when you see how much easier it is to prepare your ingredients in the way the recipe specifies.

The following are a few basic gourmet cooking tools that are essential to gourmet cooks:

The Spatula is a very useful tool. The best kind are those that are easy to manipulate and not too heavy. They should also be heatproof and made of a non stick material for the best results.

Another useful, and necessary gourmet cooking tool is the Timer. It is so easy to forget how long food has been cooking for and you can avoid a disaster by using this device. And added benefit to this tool is that you can use it to test the cooking temperature and so ensure perfect results.

Finally, good gourmet cooking utensils should be an absolute must. They should be practical and easy to use and made of only the most resilient materials that are rustproof and are able to withstand heat. Choosing the best gourmet cooking utensils will ensure that they will remain part of your equipment for years to come and produce consistently good results.

The above are just a few examples of gourmet cooking equipment. But if you are serious about producing gourmet dishes of a superior standard there are many more tools and gadgets to choose from that will make your job easier and more efficient. By using the right tools you will enhance the presentation of whatever dish you are creating and will undoubtedly avoid gourmet cooking disasters. The investment is always worthwhile and you will enjoy the whole experience all the more if you have confidence in your utensils.

Abhishek is really passionate about Cooking and he has got some great Cooking Secrets. up his sleeves! Download his FREE 88 Pages Ebook, "Cooking Mastery!" from his website http://www.Cooking-Guru.com/770/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Does Gourmet Tea Really Have Health Benefits Or Does it Just Taste Good?

Hot gourmet tea, especially in the cooler nights during the winter, is a great way to relax in the evening. Although red wine has been discovered to have extensive health benefits, drinking wine every night is definitely not a good general health plan. During those hot days of summer, many find that iced tea more refreshing than a carbonated soda. It isn't surprising that tea has been gaining in popularity for many years, but it is interesting to find that gourmet tea lovers can tout their favorite drink with a long list of newly discovered health benefits.

Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, FACN, chief of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University, has cited tea as one of the top healthy foods for 2010 and the future. "The scientific evidence about tea is evolving and I think it's compelling," says Blumberg. The past decade has yielded substantial research that, according to Blumberg, shows that "there is a pretty consistent body of evidence suggesting there is a benefit to tea. Tea is a very rich source of a specific kind of antioxidant - flavonoids."

Studies are still somewhat inconsistent. One study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed nearly 40,000 women for almost seven years, coming to a conclusion that drinking four cups of tea a day produced no reduction in their risk of heart disease. However, Blumberg points out that the bulk of research does indicate that regular tea drinkers (those that drink two or more cups a day) have less heart disease and stroke, lower cholesterol, and may recover from heart attacks more quickly. Early laboratory studies indicate that there may be a relationship between tea consumption and reduced risk of several types of cancer.

Antioxidants seem to have become the morning news and talk show buzz word lately, replacing last decade's interest in the health benefits of soy products. Antioxidants are substances that can reduce certain types of environmental damage, oxidative damage, in the body which helps maintain healthy cells and tissues. The latest research suggests that tea is full of these antioxidants. In particular, black tea and green tea has been shown to have positive health benefits. Interestingly, decaffeinating the tea does not decrease its level of healthy antioxidants in any way.

There is a huge variety of choices of gourmet tea available, but it is important to purchase high quality tea that is fresh. Most tea goes stale within six months. Not only does stale tea have less antioxidants, but it just doesn't taste very good.

For gourmet tea lovers, there is one more benefit that rarely gets mentioned in all this scientific stuff. Assuming you do not add milk, sugar or honey to tea, tea has no calories. That makes it much easier to continue eating that other newly discovered haven for antioxidants: Dark Chocolate.

Find out more about Gourmet Tea, and visit http://www.AnythingGoesGourmet.com for reviews and news about gourmet food, cookware and wine.

Benchmark Wine Producers in Bordeaux

Bordeaux’s legendary reputation throughout the world is based on its long-lived, earthy reds and, even more specifically, on a handful of elite and expensive so-called first-growth châteaus with such notable names as Lafite, Latour and Haut-Brion. Beyond this sampling of renowned wines, Bordeaux turns out a vast amount of affordable reds, whites and even sweet wines. Bordeaux’s Château Cantenac Brown. Photo courtesy of Château Cantenac Brown.

Though classified as a less prestigious fifth-growth producer, Château Lynch-Bages has long aimed far above its rank and is responsible today for some of Pauillac’s top wines. Made in a powerful, firmly structured style, the wines are also more reasonably priced than bottlings of similar quality (thanks to the estate’s unfairly low status). Also a smart buy is the estate’s second wine, Echo de Lynch-Bages.

Photo courtesy of Château Brane-Cantenac.

This second-growth Margaux estate is owned by Henri Lurton, who inherited it from his father, Lucien, a member of one of Bordeaux’s most dynamic wine dynasties. The younger Lurton is also the winemaker, and although he’s a trained enologist, it’s his focus on the vineyards that has most rejuvenated quality. The winery’s second wine, Baron de Brane, is a great value.

Pomerol does not officially rank its chateaus, but if it did, Trotanoy no doubt would place at the top. Owned by the Moueix family, Trotanoy is small and (like all Pomerol estates) focused on Merlot. Its 18 acres turn out just 2,000 or so cases of the grand vin each year, and the wine’s price reflects its rarity.

Named for a British major general who acquired the estate in 1814, spent a fortune and ran it into the ground, Château Palmer is today among the stars of Margaux. It’s now owned by the Sichel and Mähler-Besse families, who have kept the long-lived grand vin on a steady course while introducing a second wine, Alter Ego, which delivers plenty of class at a more modest price.

Photo courtesy of Château Greysac.

Château Greysac is a standard-bearer for well-made, widely available and accessibly priced Bordeaux red wines. The estate, which offers just two bottlings each year (the second is called Château de By), is located north of St-Estèphe in Bégadan, a small town. The top wine gets its supple tannins from a relatively high percentage of Merlot in the blend—a full 50 percent in the 2008 vintage, for example.

New vineyards are rare in Margaux. When the town butcher was willing to sell a 1.2-acre plot next to Château Margaux in 2002, vintner Jean-Pierre Marie, owner of Château Cambon La Pelouse, bought it and planted vines. The resulting wine is a stunner.

Château Cantenac Brown burst out of the middle ranks of Margaux estates with its latest vintages, made under Simon Halabi, a former billionaire who bought the property in 2006 and has spent lavishly to update it. Halabi’s finances have not fared well—a London court declared him bankrupt in 2010—so whether the estate can continue to invest in such quality remains to be seen.

This Graves estate spreads across a hilly outcrop of especially deep gravel in Pessac-Léognan. The soil is one reason Carbonnieux’s white is among the finest in Bordeaux. Another factor keeping quality high is Denis Dubourdieu, the superstar winemaking consultant who has lent his talents here since the 1980s.

This historic Pessac-Léognan estate produces more red wine than white, but lately Fieuzal’s stylish white—a flavorful blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon—has generated more excitement. Irish banker Lochlan Quinn purchased the estate over a decade ago and immediately improved it; one of his wisest moves was hiring talented winemaker Stéphen Carrier in 2007.

Wine magnate Bernard Magrez bought this sizable St-Émilion grand cru estate in 1999 and diligently improved the vineyards and the winery—something he has done many times before with other Châteaus in his portfolio, including Pape Clément and La Tour Carnet. Made in a minimalist winemaking fashion under the direction of famed consultant Michel Rolland, the wine has become one of the best values in St-Émilion.

Not long after taking over his family’s Margaux estate in 1995, Emmanuel Cruse began a massive renovation: regrafting vines, building a new cellar and bringing in winemaking star Jacques Boissenot to consult. These days Château d’Issan is making wines worthy of its illustrious heritage (Issan wine, it is said, was served at Eleanor of Aquitaine’s wedding in 1152).

The Moueix family owns several of the most prestigious Châteaus of Bordeaux, including Pétrus and Trotanoy in Pomerol. Winemaker and president of the family company, Christian Moueix also makes lovely, affordable négociant wines from grapes both purchased from select growers and declassified from estate properties. Not surprisingly, the Pomerol stands out.

This Pessac-Léognan estate was turning out fine wine as early as 1305, when its owner was Pope Clement V (hence its name). Pape Clément’s modern reputation can be traced to the 1950s and the involvement of Émile Peynaud (one of France’s best winemakers). Today, part-owner Bernard Magrez and consultant Michel Rolland are the stewards of its benchmark wines.

The claim to fame of Château de Pez, founded in 1452, used to be that it was one of the oldest estates in St-Estèphe. But since being acquired by the Rouzaud family (who own several top wine houses, including Louis Roederer and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande) in 1995, it has been attracting equal fame for the pristine quality of its wine.

Bernard Magrez owns some 35 luxury wine estates in France and abroad, and he seems to have a knack for bringing out the best in them, often enlisting the help of winemaking talent Michel Rolland. He has succeeded again with La Tour Carnet, an overachieving fourth-growth Haut-Médoc estate that produces exceptionally classy wines at very fair prices.

View the original article here

Melanzane ripiene

Vediamo come preparare in maniera semplice e veloce le MELANZANE RIPIENE.

Questa è una ricetta molto facile e con pochi ingredienti, ma il gusto sarà davvero ottimo. 

Tagliamo dalla parte più lunga le melanzane a metà. Svuotiamole e mettiamo l'interno in una padella.

Cospargiamo con poco olio, lo scalogno tritato, foglie di basilico e un pizzico di sale. Lasciamo cuocere a fiamma alta per 10-15 minuti.

Le bucce le dovremo mettere in acqua fredda con sale per 10  minuti per far eliminare l'amaro.

Una volto cotto traferiamo l'nterno in una ciotola e mescoliamolo con le 2 uova, metà della mozzarella tagliata a cubetti e 3/4 del parmigiano. Se dovesse risultare troppo liquido aggiungiamo uno o due cucchiai di pangrattato. Saliamo.

Sistemiamo le bucce delle melanzane in una teglia e riempiamole con la farcia.

Cospargiamo la superficie con la restante mozzarella e parmigiano. Posizioniamo al centro una forglia di basilico e facciamo cuocere in forno a 200 greadi per 20 minuti.

View the original article here

Boston Restaurants

Here, the best Boston restaurants and bars from pastry genius Joanne Chang’s mod Chinese diner to Ken Oringer’s Roman-style trattoria, Coppa. Plus: incredible foie gras dumplings, local oysters and cannoli.

Barbara Lynch has six restaurants to her name, including the elegant French-Italian No. 9 Park. Her chic oyster bar serves some of the most creative lobster dishes in this crustacean-mad city, such as the B.L.T. with lobster and the chive-and-celery-studded lobster roll (a favorite of star chef Michael Schlow). As the restaurant’s name promises, there are always a dozen daily-changing varieties on offer, all served with an ingenious Prosecco mignonette. bandgoysters.com

Photo courtesy of Eastern Standard.

Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks is one of the few great places to eat near Fenway Park, featuring chef Jeremy Sewall’s stellar seafood dishes and a raw bar that showcases superbriny oysters from Island Creek Oysters, the Duxbury Bay oyster farm that supplies some of the country’s best restaurants. Another reason it’s always packed: mixologist Jackson Cannon’s terrific cocktails made with house-infused spirits. Chef Sewall also cooks next door at the more casual Island Creek Oyster Bar, which is co-owned by Skip Bennett of Island Creek Oysters. easternstandardboston.com

Photo © Mallorie Ekstrom Photography.

It’s hard to tell which of chef Ken Oringer’s outposts is most beloved—his flagship, the Back Bay splurge Clio; sashimi bar Uni; or this casual brick-walled Spanish restaurant that serves on-the-spot pinchos (small snacks), paellas for two and mini hamburguesas (topped with smoked tomato, aioli and pickled red onion) alongside an all-Spanish-wine list. toro-restaurant.com

Michael Schlow’s New England empire includes this excellent Back Bay restaurant that offers superb antipasti (crispy meatballs with spicy tomato-basil sauce, crostini topped with house-made ricotta, sage and chile flakes) and traditional pastas like fedelini (very fine spaghetti) with tiny clams and smashed cherry tomatoes. viamattarestaurant.com

Photo © Emily Sterne Photography.

Chef Ming Tsai is a TV star, but he still cooks at his flagship restaurant in suburban Wellesley, where he serves innovative East-West dishes like foie gras shumai in shallot broth. In 2008, Blue Ginger expanded to include the adjacent Blue Ginger Lounge, featuring small plates like shiitake-leek spring rolls and addictive bings, Tsai’s take on Chinese xiar bing (pan-fried buns), which he stuffs with roast duck, bacon cheeseburgers and traditional pork. ming.com

Photo courtesy of Craigie on Main.

"I don’t spend thousands of bucks on flowers, but I go bonkers to get the best ingredients," says chef Tony Maws of this inventive French-American restaurant in Cambridge. The hands-on chef is fanatical about every element in his food; he does his own butchering in the basement and sources almost all of his ingredients from local farms. His restaurant’s 11-seat bar even highlights small-batch liquors. craigieonmain.com

Named for a small French village near the Italian border, chef Barbara Lynch’s latest restaurant is a superchic room in the semi-industrial Fort Point neighborhood. It’s her most luxurious and expensive outpost so far, with just two menu options: four courses for $95 or, for $145, seven courses and a menu of delicate French-Italian food using top-shelf langoustines, truffles and foie gras. The best seats are at the glass-enclosed chef’s table for a straight-on view of the custom Molteni stove from France. mentonboston.com

In a residential part of Cambridge chef-owner Ana Sortun serves her eastern-Mediterranean menu in a honey-colored dining room or on a foliage-covered patio. She focuses on unusual spices and sauces, adding dukkah (an Egyptian spice blend with nuts and seeds) to a spicy carrot puree and za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice blend with herbs, sesame seeds and dried sumac) to New England-raised chickens. Sortun’s takeout-friendly Sofra Bakery and Café, also in Cambridge, is known for its hummus bar and flaky, chocolate-y hazelnut baklava. oleanarestaurant.com

At this hard-to-find restaurant with high ceilings and dark brick walls, chef/co-owner Tim Cushman brilliantly combines Japanese training with his New England background. The result: a daily-changing menu of innovative dishes like chilled Maine lobster salad with creamy yuzu dressing, and hamachi tartare with ginger verjus sauce. Cushman’s wife, Nancy, created the stellar sake list. oyarestaurantboston.com

Over a decade old, this Theater District restaurant embraces old-fashioned elegance, with a dining room of white tablecloth-topped tables and arched ceilings. Chef-owner Marc Orfaly cooks luxurious, classically informed French dishes like duck liver mousse with vermouth-soaked mustard seeds. But in the expanded bar area, the menu is influenced by flavors from around the globe (fish and chips made with Icelandic haddock, roasted clams with bacon and panko stuffing). pigalleboston.com

Michael Schlow serves top-notch Italian—including fantastic pastas—but the famed chef first charmed Bostonians with his luxurious French-accented dishes like halibut with black truffle nage. The opulent Financial District restaurant, whose dining room is adorned with grand white columns, is a favorite among the city’s business set. radiusrestaurant.com

Overlooking Harvard Square, chef Jody Adams’s enduring flagship excels in regional Italian dishes like Ligurian seafood stew with local fish and fried anise bread. In 2011, Bostonians finally got what they had been pining for: a second venture from Adams, Trade. The high-ceilinged, industrial-looking space in the Waterfront District emphasizes globally inspired small plates and flatbreads. rialto-restaurant.com

Chef Ken Oringer’s restaurants, anchored by his flagship Clio, span the cuisines of Japan, France, Italy, Spain and Mexico. Located in the Eliot Hotel, Uni is a tiny jewel-box restaurant serving traditional sushi and sashimi and modern variations, like raw fluke with jalapeño vinaigrette, rhubarb and Thai basil. Global street food also slips into the menu like fish tacos with avocado cream and charred tomato salsa. unisashimibar.com

In 2009, Ken Oringer opened this Roman-style trattoria with talented F&W People’s Best New Chef Jamie Bissonnette, who has a tattoo of a ham bone on his hand, accompanied by the phrase “eat offal,” Bissonnette challenges diners to do just that, with daring nose-to-tail cooking that includes roasted beef heart and bone marrow on pizza. His out-of-this-world spaghetti carbonara is prepared with house-made pasta, smoked pancetta, a runny egg and an unexpected ingredient: sea urchin. coppaboston.com

Photo courtesy of Hungry Mother.

Virginia-born Barry Maiden trained in some of Boston’s top kitchens (l’Espalier, Sel de la Terre) before opening this little spot in East Cambridge; he now uses French techniques to elevate Southern-style food like country ham biscuits and catfish with mustard brown butter. Even the graham crackers in the crust of the buttermilk pie are made from scratch. hungrymothercambridge.com

Boston pastry genius Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery + Café tackles savory dishes at this eclectic diner-style South End spot, which she opened in 2007 with her husband, restaurateur Christopher Myers. The menu is a mix of Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Thai dishes such as Asian-style short rib tacos, “coal black” garlic-and-honey-glazed chicken wings and tea-smoked duck salad. myersandchang.com

There are 21 locations of this revered New England pizza chain, but purists still endure the long waits at the North End original, which has been serving brick oven pies since 1926. Regina’s distinctive red sauce has a hint of aged romano, and aged whole milk mozzarella is used on almost all of its pies. reginapizzeria.com

Near bustling Harvard Square, Chez Henri has a smart-looking dining room, but the cozy bar is more fun, and also one of the city’s best for its well-made mojitos and other tropical drinks. Chef-owner Paul O’Connell also prepares an excellent bar menu, including his pressed Cuban sandwiches loaded with slow-roasted pork. chezhenri.com

There’s no actual drinks list at this subterranean Fort Point bar from Boston chef-restaurateur Barbara Lynch. After quizzing customers about their preferences, mixologist John Gertsen custom-makes each drink to order. Highbrow bar snacks include candied bacon cashews and grilled pork ribs.

Photo courtesy of Myers + Chang.

Management consultant-turned-baker Joanne Chang opened her first Flour Bakery + Café in Boston’s South End in 2000; her rigorously made French pastry, overstuffed sandwiches and upscale version of nostalgic junk foods (homemade Pop-Tarts and Oreos) quickly turned the small spot into a local favorite that now has multiple locations. Chang and her husband, Christopher Myers, also run the funky pan-Asian restaurant Myers + Chang in the South End. flourbakery.com

For over seven decades, this family-owned Hanover Street shop in Boston’s North End has been the place to go for authentic Italian sweets such as filled-to-order cannoli and eight kinds of torrone (including the famed vanilla nougat with roasted almond). modernpastry.com

View the original article here

Raw Food Author and Chef Experiences Working at the Hippocrates Health Institute

Kevin: Well Nomi, welcome to this program. I'm excited to have you.

Nomi: Hi Kevin, it's good to be here.

Kevin: Why don't you start very quickly for those people who might not know who you are, just tell a little about yourself.

Nomi: OK, I'm Nomi Shannon, I have a book called, "The Raw Gourmet" which is kind of the raw food bible for people who are just starting. Especially because if you read the whole book from cover to cover you'll know everything you need to know to have a raw food kitchen. I have a newer book called, "Raw Food Celebrations" and that book is for people who want to have like a celebratory meal. The book has menus so you have an entire Italian menu for example or an entire Thai menu. It's set up so that you can prepare most of your food in advance which is an unusual thing for raw food. So that if you work from Monday through say Saturday or Friday, you can do most of the prep and then have your event on Saturday, Sunday without feeling like all you did was work.

Kevin: Right and putting together these amazing recipe books is just one part of your experience. You started out at Hippocrates correct?

Nomi: Yes, yes I worked for quite a few years at Hippocrates Health Institute which is a really wonderful, beautiful raw food retreat. The food there is very gourmet and I really am comfortable and familiar with all the aspects that come along with a raw food diet. Cleansing, healing, homeopathically, supplementation that kind of thing. People think of me as a chef and as a caterer and as a creator of recipes but raw food is on continuum from therapeutic to gourmet and really Hippocrates and places like it, such as Optimum Health Institute in San Diego, cater to the therapeutic aspects of it. When people are wanting to become well, improve their health or prevent ever becoming ill. There's a whole range that I'm familiar with and able to teach.

Kevin: Tell me a little about what kind of people that came in to Hippocrates, what kind of things helped them and how they left.

Nomi: OK, I left Hippocrates in '95 so it's quite some years since I've been there, although I've gone back quite a few times to teach because one of the things they have besides a regular three-week program, they also have a nine-week health educator program which is learning a little bit about a lot of different subjects. It's great for people who want to be in the alternative health field to help them learn all the range of things that are out there and then when they leave there they would maybe choose one or two subjects, maybe iridology which is study of the eye of the strengths and weaknesses of the body or there's just probably 15 or 20 subjects that we cover lightly and then if they want they see what they want to learn more about. So I ran that program.

The normal person that attends Hippocrates, people come there from all over the world. It is an expensive program which is why I also mention Optimum Health Institute, there's one in Texas and one in California. There's a place in Puerto Rico called The Anne Wigmore Foundation, essentially the same program. The other places I mentioned are far more affordable. I have literally seen people from every single country in the world attend these places. People have come there that were very, very ill with maybe various kinds of cancer. People have come there who have already undergone surgery, radiation, chemo, maybe became well and then a few years later something came back and they decided to take a natural route. There's another institute in Mexico called The Gerson Institute which while it's not exactly like this, they do a few different things. It's very world renowned. They are able to do things that can't be done in this country, that's why they're in Mexico. There are places in Germany, there's places all over the world. Alternative health really is what it is. There's lots of people who are completely well that go there to learn the program, to clean up their act, their nutritional act. Unfortunately it's very, very often that someone's already sick. To go to a place like Hippocrates, it's not a hospital, it's not a clinic, you can't be in bed sick. You have to be well enough to be able to take care of yourself.

Kevin: OK.

Nomi: Features of the program are wheat grass juice, sprouts; they teach you how to grow these things. You juice the grass, you drink it, that kind of thing. What sets Hippocrates apart from the other places, are the food is truly gourmet and the quality of the classes, that kind of thing. You can even learn this from books. I like people if they can, especially in the beginning, especially if they have a health challenge and they don't know much, rather than sort of desperately attempt to cobble together the information, especially if they're already panicked that they've gotten a diagnosis that frightens them, I'd like to see them go to one of these places. Let somebody else make their food for three weeks and they have classes all day long which they can attend and learn how to do it. They're immersed in it so they're simultaneously cleansing and healing and learning what to do when they go home.

It's just easier rather than try to talk to someone on the phone and then you do this and then you make this and they're not well and they're panicked. I'm like, "You know what? What's more important you're health; take a few weeks off from work, unpaid. Yes, it's a sacrifice."

Kevin: Yeah.

Nomi: But get yourself into the program, especially if you're very ill. Take that three weeks to rest and relax, you'll get lot of cleansing done in three weeks. Then you really know what you're doing when you come home.

Kevin: What are some of the things that you find that most people just need? Whether it's supplements, or it's food or things that universally will help people get on a healthier track.

Nomi: Yes. Well the whole fast food thing, everybody seems so, including me, rushed and busy, even if they're at home all the time. With the Internet and all that, people are, even a generation or two ago people made most of their food at home. Now they're getting it out. It's hard to have good nutrition when you're not making your own food and so the transition even isn't from a person who makes pasta on Monday and roast beef on Tuesday and beans and franks on Wednesday. They're actually eating at home and so what their transition is, OK I'm just going to make different food. The transition now is, learn how to boil water, almost. You're not really boiling water literally when you're eating raw food but the joke is I can't even boil water to make an egg. I don't even know how to do that. The people, the generations that are coming up now, have never made food.

Kevin: Yes.

Nomi: Let alone learning how to do it at home. That's the biggest learning curve. And then people are always worried about time. So I have really, and a lot of people in the raw food movement, have figured out ways to have really great nourishment in a really small amount of time. Like you guys, I shared a smoothie with you before we turned the camera on that you had thrown together in your blender, a green smoothie. And that is, there are, they have to learn that, that's the sort of universal thing that people are learning. How to create really healthy food for themselves in a quite short amount of time. That is the biggie.

Kevin Gianni the host of Renegade Health Show - a fun and informative daily health show that is changing the perception of health across the world. His is an internationally known health advocate, author, and film consultant. He has helped thousands and thousands of people in over 21 countries though online health teleseminars about abundance, optimum health and longevity He is also the creator and co-author of "The Busy Person's Fitness Solution."

The Hungry Crowd: Drew Barrymore

"I don’t look relaxed or cool in the kitchen—I wish I did!" says Drew Barrymore. "I’m not like, ‘Oh, let me just throw this together.’ I’m more like a crazy woman who’s got every single measuring spoon out." Here, Barrymore talks Pinot Grigio, tea (“It’s my soul mate”), Top Chef and Tupperware. "It’s dangerously easy-drinking," Barrymore says of Pinot Grigio.

I’ve always ordered Pinot Grigio in restaurants, because it’s a surefire way to get a wine that’s not too buttery, too acidic or overly fruity. And when I traveled to Italy to sample all the possibilities for my Barrymore Wines line, the taste of this particular Pinot Grigio was so there: It has this beautiful, mild fruit that I love. It’s dangerously easy-drinking.

I always have a giant container of soup that I’ve made over the weekend for the week. Right now there’s a curried heirloom tomato–lentil soup. I’m really passionate about Tupperware. I could easily become like Julie Hagerty in Airplane!, like, “This container will keep your hot dog buns fresh for days!”

Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray Soda is my favorite thing on the planet. I love it so much. It’s great when you’re healthy, and awesome when you’re sick. And I drink tons of tea—black tea Tejava, jasmine tea, UCC, which is an amazing Asian green tea. Tea is my love. It’s my soul mate.

It might be the chilaquiles I recently made. The dish was simultaneously dry and soggy—I somehow accomplished both textures, and basically nothing else. I tried adding Cholula hot sauce, Tapatio hot sauce, but nothing was helping that sucker. Somebody, please teach me how to make better chilaquiles!

I’m a carb queen. I’ll always order macaroni and cheese, but I don’t want it to be fancy. I want it to be as close to Kraft as it can possibly get. I love inventive food, but I want the classic dishes to taste like how I remember them. I get a little bummed out when there is too much fancy stuff going on and it doesn’t resemble the original dish at all.

I’ve always loved Austin because it’s super-eclectic. You can get great Japanese here, great Mexican there. I love Uchi, and I love that [its sister restaurant] Uchiko’s chef, Paul Qui, won Top Chef. I was so rooting for him. I think the world of him!

You know where I love having brunch in New York City? Joseph Leonard. It has the most awesome energy on a Saturday or Sunday. You feel like you’re out at a nightclub, but without the trappings of a nightclub. It’s so lively and fun: They’re making fabulous Bloody Marys, and they’re slinging the best food out of the kitchen, and everyone’s dancing to music. It has this great, sensual energy.

View the original article here

Tips to Help You Select the Perfect Gourmet Coffee on a Budget

The most recent economic woes have caused most of us to start cutting the fat from our budget. Some of the most painful things to part with are the things we tend to spoil ourselves with. The little things that aren't necessities but we've come to enjoy and look forward to. Don't cheat yourself out of your favorite things; make room for them.

Your inner money critic may be telling you to cut out things like gourmet coffee from your favorite treats. While it may cut a sizeable portion from your budget, your taste buds are probably arguing with your inner critic. This feeling leaves you torn between great taste and saving money.

Fortunately you don't have to give up the great taste of your favorite Mediterranean or Sicilian gourmet coffee to save money. Invest in a gourmet style coffee maker and order high quality beans from a trusted source. Search online for the best place to order. Don't let price be the deciding factor.

3 Tips to Help You Choose the Perfect Gourmet Beans

Understand Gourmet Beans: Coffee beans are grown in many areas around the world. The qualities that give gourmet beans their name depends greatly on where they are grown and the work put into growing, gathering and processing them. The word "gourmet" is used to define the rarity or special values of a food or drink.

Discover Bean Types: Of the more than 6,000 variations of coffee beans, about 25 are considered "gourmet". Two such beans are the Arabica and Robusta. We use these two types as an example because they're the most commonly used gourmet beans.

Arabica beans are known for their body and delicate flavor. They are grown in Central and South America. The Arabica bush is susceptible to disease, pests and frost; therefore requires more attention than other bean types.

Robusta beans are most known for their strong flavor and incredible aroma. They are grown in Indonesia, Africa, Brazil and Vietnam. The Robusta plant is very hardy and yields a much more caffeinated bean.

These are just two of the most popular bean types. Each individual bean type brings something new to the coffee enjoyment experience. Once you discover the type of bean you enjoy the most, look for discounts.

Order Online: Gourmet coffee beans will cost more than your average grocery store beans. Fortunately they're not nearly as expensive as going to Starbucks on a daily basis for your gourmet-powered caffeine fix. Order your gourmet beans online for the best deal on the freshest beans. On average, people report saving about $50 per month brewing at home as compared to visiting the coffee house each day.

5 Tips to Help You Brew the Perfect Gourmet Coffee

Clean Your Machine Often: A perfectly clean coffee maker will provide a better tasting brew. Sediment and oils can build up in your coffee maker and produce a stale or bitter taste. Over time your coffee drinking experience can become less pleasant.

Choose the Perfect Gourmet Beans: Whether you use the methods we outline here or you already know your favorite gourmet coffee bean, always use quality beans. Brewing the perfect cup of gourmet coffee starts with the perfect bean.

Use Filtered Water: Water free of impurities will ultimately brew a better tasting cup of coffee. If you use tap water, be sure it doesn't leave an odd taste in your mouth. Any strange tastes in the water will leave an odd taste in your finished product as well.

Properly Measure the Coffee to Water Ratio: It is relatively easy to make coffee too strong or too weak. Properly measuring the amount of grounds per ounce of water will ensure a better tasting cup'o joe.

Stir Coffee before Serving: After the pot stops brewing and before you pour that first aromatic cup, stir the brew carefully. Stirring distributes particles evenly so they're not confined to the bottom of the pot. Settling while brewing can cause the first cups to be too weak and last cups too strong. Stir before each cup.

Lili Rousso is a coffee aficionada who reviews Gourmet coffees from all around the world. This month she features the Lavazza Gourmet Coffee brand from http://www.aromacafeculture.com

Melanzane alla pizzaiola

Vediamo una ricetta veloce, semplice e buonissima: le MELANZANE ALLA PIZZAIOLA!

Questa preparazione vi permette di utilizzare quegli ingredienti che solitamente abbiamo nel frigorifero, combinarli in una maniera semplicissima per ottenere un piatto delizioso!

Tagliamo la mozzarella a cubetti e lasciamola scolare all'interno di uno scolapasta per evitare che in cottura rilasci l'acqua. 

Intanto tagliamo a fette spesse circa mezzo centimetro le melanzane, senza eliminare però la buccia. Mettiamole per circa 5 o 10 minuti in acqua fredda con sale per eliminare l'amaro.

Tagliamo anche i pomodorini a stiscioline o a cubetti come preferite. 

Mettiamo alla base di una teglia della carta forno, cospargiamo la superficie con un goccio d'olio d'oliva e sistemo le fettine di melanzane, cercando di raccogliere un pòò dell'olio presente per umidificarle.

Per renderle più morbide con l'aiuto di un coltello traccio delle linee parallele sulle fettine.

Sistemiamo al di sopra un pò di parmigiano, i pomodorini, la mozzarella, saliamo e aggiungiamo dell'origano.

Aggungiamo altro parmigiano perchè in cottura si crei una buona crosticina.

Mettiamo una foglia di basilico ed un filo d'olio al di sopra e facciamole cuocere in forno per 15-20 minuti a 200 gradi.

View the original article here

Famous Cookbooks on Gourmet Cakes

Gourmet cakes are delectable desserts that can be bought in stores. It can be given as a gift, as a dessert, or for anniversaries, birthdays and other special celebrations. You can also bake one yourself and save a lot from it. You can look into recipe books to guide you.

Here are some of the famous gourmet cake recipe cookbooks:

Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook

This cheesecake recipe cookbook made by Beth Allen and Alan Rosen contains 50 delectable recipes for cheesecakes, New York style.

This is based from the best cheesecake selling restaurant known as Junior's Restaurant. They are now revealing their all-time favorite recipes so that everyone can enjoy their award winning cheesecakes. Some of the cheesecake recipes they included are the All Cream Cheese, On a Sponge Cake Crust, and No Sour Cream among others. This is from the Junior's Original New York Cheesecake, which started everything, up to the cheesecakes with a twist in flavor like Rocky Road, Pumpkin Mousse and Banana Fudge.

It also includes small cheesecake recipes like Little Fellas to their newest creation, their Skyscraper Cheesecakes with layers of cake flavors like Lemon Coconut, Carrot Cake and Boston Cream Pie among others.

This recipe book was released just last October 2007. It is illustrated with English texts. It has about 176 pages. The author of the book is Alan Rosen, Harry Rosen's grandson. Hence, Harry Rosen is the founder of Junior's Restaurant situated in Times Square, Grand Central Station and Brooklyn.

The Cake Mix Doctor

This recipe book was made by no less than Anne Byrn. The book mainly focuses on cake recipes with a touch of doctoring for the actual package. This is through touches of cocoa powder, sweet butter, poppy seeds, and eggs, vanilla yoghurt, grated lemon zest and sherry that make up the delicious Charleston Poppy Seed Cake.

With the recipes in this book, even beginners can learn recipes like Toasted Coconut sour Cream Cake and Devilishly Good Chocolate Cake to Caramel Cake, Holiday Yule Log and various cheesecake recipes. There are also sheet cakes, coffee cakes, bars and brownies and pound cakes.

The book comprises of 175 quick and easy-to-cook cake recipes. The foods are tender, moist, deep, rich and even complexly flavored. This is all thanks to Anne Byrn, a self-described purist and award-winning food writer. Her recipes promote ease-of-use, convenience and dependability. It also has a Q&A portion where in all possible questions and tips about cooking cakes are indicated. This recipe book comprises of 464 pages in paperback material. It was published last November 1999 in English text.

Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations

This recipe book was written by renowned cooking teacher, Nancie McDermott. Residing in North Carolina, she was able to make this book possible with the help of Becky Luigart-Stayner, a photographer of various magazines and living in Alabama.

You will love the cake recipes of Southerners, especially the chocolate goodness of the Mississippi Mud. This book consists of 65 recipes like Peanut Cake, Humble Pear Bread, Jelly Rolls and Jam Cakes among others. It even has a whole chapter for coconut and chocolate cakes. You will also learn from its section on Baking 101 about cake basics and finishing touches such as frosting the cakes. It also has tips on storage, assuring fresh and long-lasting flavors for every slice.

It was published last June 2007 in English. It has 168 pages and paperback bound.

For more information on Gourmet Cakes and Gourmet Chocolate Cake Recipe, please visit our website.

Best Affordable Restaurants in Minneapolis

From avant-garde desserts to haute Tater Tots, Minneapolis’s restaurant scene is full of incredible finds—at half the price of other cities. F&W’s Kate Krader investigates.

When I was a year old, I went to Minneapolis to be introduced to my mother’s family. And then I never went back (I grew up in New York City; my relatives were more interested in visiting me). I finally returned to Minneapolis earlier this year, on a research trip for my job as restaurant editor at F&W. The city had beeped on the F&W radar before: We’d found excellent Best New Chefs there, like Tim McKee and Stewart Woodman, and heard about exceptional cooks like Isaac Becker. But you can eat a lot of disappointing food on these research trips; I was totally prepared for that.

Instead, I lost my heart to Minneapolis and its awesome restaurants, bars and bakeries. I loved the impressive avant-garde food scene that’s not at all pretentious (in fact, it’s the opposite of pretentious); the places that showcase the Midwest’s great pork and produce; and the ones that so smartly update local German and Scandinavian baking traditions. Plus, it’s hard not to adore a city where such good restaurants are so inexpensive, at least when you’re used to New York City prices. In Manhattan, a 10-course tasting menu for two can easily run more than $300; just outside Minneapolis, you can find that deal for $80.

Travail Kitchen & Amusements, in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, is a 15-minute drive from downtown Minneapolis. At the two-year-old, no-reservations place, chef-owners Mike Brown, Bob Gerken and James Winberg—along with their team of 14 or so co-chefs—serve what must be the country’s most entertaining avant-garde food. On my visit, the huge flat-screen that monopolizes the bar area was tuned to a motocross race. There are no waiters. The cooks—who all look like they’re headed to a Phish concert—bring out dishes from the open kitchen. One of them put a potato cube with emulsified egg and crisp bacon on the back of my hand for me to pop into my mouth.

At Travail, they love squeeze bottles: Cooks might fill them with cashew-chile butter to decorate roast guinea hen breast. When I was there, cooks handed me squeeze bottles of passion fruit and chocolate custards so I could make my own ice cream in a liquid-nitrogen bath. But you won’t find that dish there now. “We completely change the menu every week,” says Brown. “We sit around and pull new ideas out of each other’s heads.” In May, Travail introduced what Brown calls an “Abbott & Costello” chocolate dessert arranged on a piece of clear acetate set on a plate. “Two chefs bring it to the table, and one asks, ‘Do you really need this plate?’?” says Brown. “Then one of the chefs pulls the plate away and the guests freak out; the chocolate still looks like it’s sitting in the air, on the acetate.” All that is $80 for two people. 4154 W. Broadway Ave., Robbinsdale, MN; 763-535-1131.

At Victory 44, 30-year-old chef Erick Harcey makes almost everything on his new American menu in a space that, like Travail’s, could double as a college bar. The brief chalkboard menu ranges from bacon fries to short-rib dumplings; a five-course tasting menu is $50, and that’s including wine (the cost of a couple drinks when I’m in Los Angeles). The place serves food all day; I went for breakfast, and Harcey prepared exquisitely poached Eggs Benedict 2.0, made with melted leeks and mustard hollandaise. “I’m intense about cooking techniques; also about eggs,” says Harcey. “I put lots of vinegar in the poaching water [so the poached eggs set], and there’s always a thermometer in the water bath.” Harcey is also intense about coffee: He recently opened Victory 44 Coffee Bar & Provisions, where he sometimes serves as a barista. 2203 44th Ave. N.; victory-44.com; 612-588-2228.

The Bachelor Farmer is the superstylish year-old restaurant owned by Eric and Andrew Dayton (sons of Minnesota’s governor, Mark Dayton, who is heir to the Dayton department-store fortune). I’d heard that part of the restaurant’s design included a pair of glasses left in the bathroom to give the place a homey feel; however, guests kept returning them to the hostess and they were nowhere to be seen on my visit. From the Toasts section of chef Paul Berglund’s outside-the-box Scandinavian menu, I ordered cabbage with roast shallots and Camembert. The cheese was baked in with the brothy cabbage, like a groovy take on French onion soup (in warm weather, the cabbage is swapped out for spring vegetables; the dish is less brothy). It’s accompanied by an adorable antique rack stacked with toast, a specialty—Berglund is a bread expert who baked at Rustica after seven years at the Bay Area’s Oliveto. But he’s also adept at making all kinds of dishes, including a lovely grilled, marinated cucumber salad with smoked trout. 50 N. Second Ave.; thebachelorfarmer.com; 612-206-3920.

The specialty of the house at chef Landon Schoenefeld’s Haute Dish is TaterTot Haute Dish (TTHD). “I grew up with ‘hot dish,’?” says Schoenefeld. “I’d ask my mom what was for dinner, and she’d say, ‘hot dish.’ It can mean anything.” (In fact, it’s a Midwestern term for casseroles.) His terrific dish features glazed, braised short ribs that are falling-apart tender, topped with giant, cheesy, homemade Tater Tots crusted with potato flakes and served with porcini béchamel sauce instead of traditional canned mushroom soup. It’s mammoth, and it costs $22. “We’ve sold about 16,000 TTHDs in the two years that we’ve been open,” says Schoenefeld. “That’s 90,000 Tots.” As a change of pace from the wood-paneled, dive-bar-esque restaurants I’d been to, Haute Dish has a swanky vibe straight from the 1950s: red leather booths, an endless bar and low lighting—which seems appropriate, since the place is surrounded by strip clubs. 119 Washington Ave.; haute-dish.com; 612-338-8484.

Many Minneapolis chefs are Midwestern natives who think the region is coming into its own. Sameh Wadi, chef at the modern Mediterranean Saffron Restaurant and Lounge and the upcoming World Street Kitchen restaurant, believes that, too. But Wadi, 28, was born in Kuwait and raised in Jordan; he moved to what he calls “the frozen tundra” of Minneapolis when he was 13. I loved Wadi’s take on classics like hummus, which he enriches with pools of caramelized paprika butter. “Minneapolis is much more than a meat-and-potatoes place,” he says. “Still, locals might not take a chance on a dish they don’t know if it’s $20; they will on a $10 dish.” The prices at Saffron reflect Wadi’s thinking. 123 N. Third St.; saffronmpls.com; 612-746-5533.

Andrew Zimmern—the host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, an F&W contributing editor and a Minneapolis resident for 20 years—told me that if he had to choose a Twin Cities chef to make his last meal, it would probably be Steven Brown of Tilia. (For Zimmern’s picks on what I missed in the city, see Andrew Zimmern’s Favorite Twin Cities Restaurants.) I’m with Andrew. A local hero in Minneapolis, Brown has cooked at most of the notable restaurants, including Porter & Fry and the 1990s hot spot Loring Café. Last year, he took over an old Chinese restaurant, revamped it to look like a classic lunch counter and started serving excellent, eclectic dishes that range from potted duck (a pâté-like snack served in a jar) to jerk-style chicken thighs. I wound up at Tilia for brunch, my least favorite meal. But Brown sold me on steamed eggs, which sound completely unappealing—unless they’re served with brown butter bagna cauda and caramelized cauliflower, in which case they’re delicious. The dish cost only $8.50, or about half the price of any decent brunch dish in New York City. 2726 W. 43rd St.; tiliampls.com; 612-354-2806.

It may be set in a modest mini-mall, but Rustica represents my bakery hall of fame. Owners Steven and Barbara Horton have stocked the shelves with Sicilian olive-studded bread, miche (a dark-crusted French country bread), kouign amann (a Breton pastry that is essentially caramelized croissant dough) and even hazelnut dacquoise (the meringue-and-buttercream layered cake that I always request on my birthday). I also discovered something new, a Spanish-inspired, yeasty flatbread with a sugary glaze called cañadas de azucar—the special on the Sunday I was there. I now carry Rustica’s menu around with me as a reminder that Thursday’s specialty is levain bread filled with toasted sesame seeds, so I won’t miss it on my next trip to Minneapolis. 3224 W. Lake St.; rusticabakery.com; 612-822-1119.

View the original article here