Serious Eats |
- Grilling: Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers
- Sugar Rush: Ricotta and Dulce De Leche Zeppoles from Vinateria
- Megan Vargas' Guide to Portland Sweets
- Corn Week 2013 Recap: Recipes, Tips, Techniques, Mythbusting, and More!
- Send Your NYC Restaurant Questions to 'Ask the Critic'
- 12 Burgers with Unusual Toppings That Really Work
- Devín: Visiting Slovakia By Way of a Little Bottle of Wine
- TGI Fry-Day: Aguacate Tacos at Masa Azul
- The Vegetarian Option: A Vegetable-Heavy Italian Menu at Adelina's in Greenpoint
- Corn Week: Buffalo Grilled Corn
- The Food Lab: Three Ways to Grill Corn
- San Francisco: Old-School Burgers and a Risque Twist at Bill's Place
- Scooped: The Most Lemony Lemon Ice Cream
- A Sandwich a Day: Falafel at Eastwood
- The Brunch Dish: Brunch Bows With a Bang at Avec
| Grilling: Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers Posted: 25 Jul 2013 04:33 PM PDT
It's been years since the first time I fell in love with the spicy cumin lamb at the ever-popular Xi'An Famous Foods, situated beneath flickering fluorescent lights in the subterranean Golden Mall in Flushing, Queens. Longtime readers of Serious Eats have already seen their fair share of love stories to this establishment, so I'll spare you another, but I can't let credit go unpaid to the place that first turned me on to the earthy, spicy, pungent combo that led me to this recipe. It's the marriage of cumin and lamb—a Middle Eastern influence—that defines these skewers, so when devising the marinade, I made sure cumin was the most prominent ingredient. I used both freshly ground cumin and whole seeds, which deliver a stronger hit of pungency. Although cumin forms the base of the flavor, the dish's distinctiveness is derived from its Chinese influence, which in my version takes the form of soy sauce, sherry, garlic, and hot pepper. While the plate that originally left such a strong imprint on my heart was noodle-based, I'm happy to say that the flavors work pretty damn well on the grill, too. The cumin certainly stood out the most—the tender lamb chunks were visibly coated in cumin seed—but the other ingredients in the marinade were present in the exterior of the meat as well, delivering an addictive, exciting Northern Chinese flavor experience. About the author: Joshua Bousel brings you a new, tasty condiment each Wednesday and a recipe for weekend grilling every Friday. He also writes about grilling and barbecue on his blog The Meatwave whenever he can be pulled away from his grill. Get the Recipe!       |
| Sugar Rush: Ricotta and Dulce De Leche Zeppoles from Vinateria Posted: 26 Jul 2013 08:10 AM PDT [Photograph: Niko Triantafillou] Vinateria is the latest restaurant to open in South Harlem's burgeoning "restaurant row" on Fredrick Douglas Boulevard between 110 and 119 Streets (they opened on April 17, 2013). Based on the crowds I've observed, the boisterous wine bar appears to be doing well. A few weeks ago I finally got around to trying some of their desserts. My favorite, despite one nitpick, is the Ricotta and Dulce De Leche Zeppole with Chocolate Sauce ($7). The Zeppoles are fried to order and served piping hot, four to a serving. Mine arrived perfectly cooked with an inviting dark brown exterior and glistening with hot oil. The exterior texture of each zeppole is crispy like that of a well-cooked French fry, while the interior is soft and creamy. The flavor of the ricotta cheese, mixed into the batter before frying, is very subtle; the dulce de leche drizzled on top, less so. The decision to have the zeppoles sit in chocolate sauce is a great idea, but rather than using real melted chocolate, Vinateria appears to be using Hershey's chocolate syrup or some kind of generic Sysco chocolate syrup. Skip it. Despite the syrup issue, this is a very satisfying, made-to-order dessert that two people could easily split. And at $7, it's also a great deal. About the author: Native New Yorker Niko Triantafillou is the founder of DessertBuzz.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @DessertBuzz.    |
| Megan Vargas' Guide to Portland Sweets Posted: 25 Jul 2013 07:41 PM PDT Mousse del Valle y Selva at Andina [Courtesy Photograph] Megan Vargas is a great source to tap for some of Portland's best sweets. The nominee for Food & Wine's The People's Best New Pastry Chef award has been leading the pastry program at Andina since 2010, and was born and raised in Stumptown. At Andina, Megan's Peruvian-meets-Pacific North West desserts blend familiar elements with surprising tweaks, like fried lúcuma (a tropical fruit native to Peru) ice cream crusted with quinoa and peanuts, alfajores (the quintessential Peruvian cookie), and cheese platters with cancha (corn nuts). So, where does Megan go when a swiped spoonful of her house-made mango-lemongrass sorbet won't quell her sugar cravings? Find out below.
Megan's PicksChocolate Raspberry Fool at Rimsky-Korsakoffee House: My quintessential Portland parents frequently brought us to Rimsky's as children and today, it holds the same charm. It is difficult for anything to stand out among the dangling feet in the bathroom, turning tables, the eerie dummy staring at you in the corner, and of course the live piano. However, the chocolate raspberry fool holds a life of its own and is the reason to come back. I honestly don't think I have had any other dessert there because the fool is just so satisfying. It is mystifying how it can be so light and creamy yet so thick and full of flavor. Just the right bit of sweetness, it is the perfect accompaniment to a cool evening of coffee and company. Bliss Bake Shop's gluten-free and vegan chocolate and carrot cupcakes [Photograph: Tori Ava Photography] Gluten-Free and Vegan Chocolate Cupcake at Bliss Bake Shop: I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work here a few years back. The owners, Jen and Sarah, were on top of their game when it came to sharing cupcake goodness with the growing gluten-free and vegan crowd. The great thing about this cupcake is that there is no butter or flour to take over—chocolate truly is the star. Since no gluten is involved, the cake has a great crumbly texture and is super moist. The best part? You will have no idea that typically prominent ingredients are missing. Look past the "dietary" label and give it a go! Lemon Poppyseed scone from Nuvrei [Courtesy Photo] Lemon poppyseed scone at Nuvrei: We live in a world of bad scones and it is difficult to find a good one. I love them almost biscuit like, really fluffy and buttery. Nuvrei's lemon poppyseed scone is great because the flavor really stands out and meets all my requirements. The best part are the corners of the scone where the texture becomes crispy and covered in icing. You can find them at their shop or do as I do, get them at Barista in the Pearl and pair it with one of their fantastic iced coffees. Buttermilk Doughnut at Tonnali's Donuts & Cream: One of the servers at Andina likes to bring Tonnali's in. I always eyeball the buttermilk doughnut and tell myself "just a slice Megan, just a slice". Funny how that slice always turns into the entire bar and I am fine with that! Nothing is better than that enlightening moment when you bite through the the crisp icing exterior and slowly make your way into the soft cake. Caution: upon consumption of this doughnut, you will never be satisfied by any other doughnut ever again. Eat wisely.    |
| Corn Week 2013 Recap: Recipes, Tips, Techniques, Mythbusting, and More! Posted: 26 Jul 2013 11:42 AM PDT [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] Corn Week 2013 has come and gone, but we're still in the height of corn season, so let's keep those cobs a-turnin' and those kernels a-grillin' for just a little bit longer, shall we? Here's all of the great grilled corn recipes, corn techniques posts, and more in one easy location. Techniques, Tips, and How-Tos!
Corn Recipes!From the Grill:
In The Kitchen:
Still want more corn? Check out some more Summer Corn Recipes We Love! » About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.    |
| Send Your NYC Restaurant Questions to 'Ask the Critic' Posted: 26 Jul 2013 07:10 AM PDT [Illustration: Robyn Lee] On this week's Ask the Critic, Carey listed her top New York food souvenirs: pastrami, babka, and the bagel's oft-ignored cousin that travels better: the bialy. Have a question of your own you want answered? Email carey@seriouseats.com with the subject line Ask the Critic to submit your question. All emails will be read, but unfortunately not all can be answered. We look forward to hearing from you! Previously on Ask the Critic
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| 12 Burgers with Unusual Toppings That Really Work Posted: 26 Jul 2013 11:55 AM PDT  VIEW SLIDESHOW: 12 Burgers with Unusual Toppings That Really Work Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles...and maybe a squirt of mayo, mustard, or ketchup. The standard toppings will never cease to be tasty, but sometimes you want a burger with a bit more personality. For those occasions, here are a dozen creatively-topped burgers that really work. Click through the slideshow to see all of the unique burger toppings »
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About the author: Erin Jackson is a food writer and photographer who is obsessed with discovering the best eats in San Diego. You can find all of her discoveries on her San Diego food blog EJeats.com. On Twitter, she's @ErinJax Love hamburgers? Then you'll Like AHT on Facebook! And go follow us on Twitter and Pinterest while you're at it!    |
| Devín: Visiting Slovakia By Way of a Little Bottle of Wine Posted: 17 Jul 2013 10:10 AM PDT Note from the author: There are 1,368 varieties covered in Wine Grapes by MW Jancis Robinson, MW Julia Harding, and Dr. Jose Vouillamoz. Bet you can't try them all. Ignore the strange spellings and accents (and the Diet Coke in the background). If you find a bottle of this Slovakian wine from the Devín grape, get your paws on it. [Photograph: Stevie Stacionis] In many people's minds, the wine world dead-ends right around the eastern borders of Germany and Austria. What lies beyond is just a hazy tangle of Eastern European countries and, somewhere beyond that, Russia, the Middle East and Asia. No wine there. At least, that's how my mind saw the (simplified) map, until I embarked on this Weird Wine Grapes adventure last December. But in the last six months, I've ventured east into Slovenia and Croatia, Hungary, and Greece. I've been stunned by the beauty of wines in those parts, and slowly my mind map has filled in gorgeous imagery—cyan coastlines, fire-red fields and nearly black caverns hiding precious golden liquid—in places where only empty space existed before. Today, fill in another hole on the map: Slovakia. Slovakia, as it turns out, is closer than I thought. Its capital city, Bratislava, is literally on the border with Austria—less than an hour from Vienna. Drive instead 20 minutes south, over the Danube River, and you're in Hungary. My friend Petra, the wine director at Epic Roasthouse in San Francisco, is from Slovakia. I received a cryptic voicemail from her one afternoon: "I have a little bottle of wine I want you to try. Also I have a bunch of reading materials for you. Come to Epic." "Little bottle"? "Reading materials"? I was intrigued but not convinced. She called again one day, insisting that I see the materials and taste the mysterious "little bottle of Devín." I went straight to Wine Grapes, which told me that Devín was made in 1958 by crossing the headily floral Gewurztraminer grape with the peppery Roter Veltliner. It was grown in the Czech Republic "before being named after a ruined castle near Bratislava" and authorized in Slovakia in 1997. That means Petra's wee bottle has less than 20 years of history in these parts. Wine Grapes says that Devín "produces full-bodied, low-acid, lightly aromatic—spicy, fruity, and floral—wines." I also learned that Devín is susceptible to botrytis, that mystical mold that gives grapes a seductively spicy, honeyed aroma and flavor. I'll see you Thursday, I told Petra. A master of building suspense, Petra poured us bubbles and Burgundy first and sent out piles of snacks: crazy-good steak tartare, bone marrow with toast points, hamachi ceviche, a wicked pea salad, and truly 'epic' mac and cheese. Three hours later, the mysterious "little bottle" finally appeared. I could tell by the short, slender bottle that it was a dessert wine, but beyond that were just a bunch of words and accents that meant nothing to me. From top to bottom: Karpatská Petra served it with a funky and creamy goat's milk cheese and dried apricots. It may have been the visual suggestion of the fruit on the plate next to my glass, but I'll be damned if it didn't smell exactly like those apricots, with a similar dried and waxy fruit character. There was ginger and lemon zest, too; and childhood memories of dusting the coffee table with Pledge furniture polish came rushing back. The second sip teased out a wild, floral and weedy quality, conjuring up images of summer afternoons using dandelion petals for face paint or, more recently, quiet mornings with chamomile tea. I'm usually wary of dessert wines as they often don't have enough acid to keep me interested, but this did quite the opposite, with a roundly sour mid-palate and a finish that whooshed in notes of ash and white pepper. It kept me so interested, in fact, that when Petra stepped away for a minute but left the bottle on the table, I poured myself another glass and drank it greedily in between bites of cheese. Back at home, I tried to search online for the words I'd found on the label. I learned that Karpatská Perla is the producer, výber means something like "selection," and sladke is sweet. It's not much to go on, and it turns out the wine's not even available in the United States (sorry, guys)... But what's most important is that now in my mind's map, Slovakia isn't just an empty white space but a beautiful crescent of land where I lie in a field of chamomile flowers, my face streaked with sunshine and dandelion petals. I hope another bottle of Devín shows up soon. I'm already eager to revisit. 2007 Karpatská Perla Dīlemūre Hrozienkový Výber Devín About the Author: Stevie Stacionis is a wine writer and Certified Sommelier based in San Francisco. She's currently drinking her way through the 1,368 varieties included in the new Wine Grapes tome. Follow her on Twitter @StevieStacionis and check out her snobbery-free wine videos at A Drinks With Friends TV.    |
| TGI Fry-Day: Aguacate Tacos at Masa Azul Posted: 26 Jul 2013 05:59 AM PDT [Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger] Eat as much avocado as I do and eventually you'll be struck by the urge to cook it. Sure, the pebbly-skinned fruit is incredible raw, but you begin to wonder whether there is some kind of equally amazing world of cooked avocado. What no one tells you is that if you cook avocado too long it'll start smelling like rotten eggs, and I don't know about you personally, but that exercise scarred me for life. This explains why I was initially extremely skeptical of Masa Azul's latest creation, agaucate tacos ($9 for there), which feature hunks of tempura fried avocado. But what I didn't realize is that if you cook it quickly and delicately, the batter will crisp up, while still leaving the avocado its usual creamy and cool self. Basically, it's like getting your chips and guacamole all in one go: the tempura shatters on contact, while the avocado mixes with the pickled watermelon radish and serrano to make a guac I wouldn't hesitate to serve at a party. Of course, it only helps that the housemade corn tortillas are light and fragrant. Masa Azul2901 West Diversey Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647 (map)    |
| The Vegetarian Option: A Vegetable-Heavy Italian Menu at Adelina's in Greenpoint Posted: 26 Jul 2013 08:05 AM PDT Ricotta and Red Onion Pizza.[Photographs: Lauren Rothman] Today's Greenpoint, Brooklyn is a far cry from the heavily Polish enclave it was just a few years ago: as Williamsburg real estate gets gobbled up (or skyrockets in price), north Brooklynites are creeping ever farther northward, changing the character of a once-sleepy neighborhood. Still, the area's association with starchy, comforting Polish fare was still strong in my mind, so I was surprised on a recent visit to see so many different kinds of restaurants dotting the streets: Mediterranean, French, Thai. Hunting for dinner, the spot that caught my eye was Adelina's Fraschetta Romana, a tiny Italian restaurant whose menu of hearty, vegetable-heavy dishes caught my eye when I walked by. My friends and I grabbed a table, ordered a bottle of wine, and set to work. Kale salad. For starters, how about kale salad ($8), one of the stronger barometers for New York's endless supply of vegetable-savvy, Italian-ish restaurants. Adelina's version gave me a boost of confidence about the dishes still to come: tender ribbons of curly kale seasoned well with just enough bite, bathed in a bright lemony dressing featuring grated Grana Padano cheese. Crispy homemade breadcrumbs finished the salad, adding a welcome textural element. Arancini. Adelina's kitchen handled textures well in an appetizer of Arancini (3 for $6) as well, the golf ball-sized rice fritters had a thin, crispy shell that gave way to a creamy, well-seasoned interior. Fragrant, garlicky basil pesto filled some of the rice balls, while others had a tangle of chewy roasted mushrooms at their centers. A plate of Eggplant and Ricotta Salata Penne ($11) made a worthy pasta option, with slightly al dente pasta dressed with soft vegetables and tangy cheese. The dish was ever so slightly underseasoned, but still satisfying. Adelina's offers a handful of mostly vegetarian pizza fritta, or individual fried pizzas. A pizza with fresh ricotta, red onion, and oregano ($10, pictured at top) was crusty and well-seasoned, with flavorful toppings, but got a little greasy as it sat on the plate. I liked the idea of fried pizza, but couldn't help wishing I was eating a crispy, thin-crusted pizza hot out of the oven. Still, Adelina's gets some props for doing things a little differently. The solid, comforting Italian food being served up at Adelina's isn't likely to be the most memorable food you'll ever eat, but its diverse, vegetarian-friendly menu offers plenty of affordable and appealing options good for sharing along with a bottle of wine.    |
| Corn Week: Buffalo Grilled Corn Posted: 26 Jul 2013 09:12 AM PDT [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] Welcome to Serious Eats' Corn Week 2013. All week we'll be featuring recipes, techniques, and how-tos about how to get the most out of the sweet summer corn that should soon be flooding our farmers' markets, including a new grilled corn topping idea each day. Yesterday, I mentioned that my Grilled Corn with Spicy Korean Miso Sauce recipe was a great mashup of several different sources. Today we've got what might be the king of backyard grilled corn mashups: Buffalo Grilled Corn. It's exactly what it sounds like. Almost. I tried making a batch exactly as I'd do it for buffalo wings—coating with a mixture of Frank's hot sauce and butter, then serving with a mayo-based blue cheese dressing—but it didn't quite work. The sauce doesn't cling the way I want it to, and dipping corn into dressing is just too awkward. Instead, I shuffled things around a bit, mixing the Frank's with mayonnaise to slather over the corn after it was cooked, then topping the whole thing with an extra drizzle of Frank's and plenty of crumbled blue cheese and chives. The result evokes buffalo chicken, but really works for corn. And it's a vegetable, so it's gotta be healthier, right? Get the RecipeMore Grilled Corn Recipes!
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| The Food Lab: Three Ways to Grill Corn Posted: 26 Jul 2013 08:40 AM PDT It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post. Become a fan of The Food Lab on Facebook or follow it on Twitter for play-by-plays on future kitchen tests and recipe experiments. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] I've had three great corn epiphanies in my life. The most recent was when my little sister showed me the best, fastest way to prepare fresh corn on the cob indoors*. Before that, a college friend showed me that you can throw whole corn in the husk on the embers of a campfire and, rather than burning into oblivion, it emerge blackened on the outside and perfectly steamed in the middle. But the first was the most important. *Place a whole, unshucked ear of corn in the microwave. Microwave it for three minutes. It is now perfectly cooked, and you are welcome.
**The same Daniel Powell who once Three corn varieties It illustrates the first step to really great grilled corn: start with the freshest corn possible. Whether you start with a yellow, white, or bi-color variety, as soon as it comes off the vine, corn sugars undergo enzymatic reactions that slowly convert them into blander, mealy starches. Though producers are hard at work making corn that is not only sweeter off the stalk but more importantly stays sweeter for longer (the Wikipedia entry on sweet corn varieties is fascinating) your best bet for tasty corn is still to buy it as local and fresh as possible—preferably picked that morning and bought from a farmers' market or farm stand—and to cook it as soon as you get it home. So what's the best way to grill corn? I frequently use three different methods, and each has their advantages and drawbacks. Here they are. Method 1: In the HuskIn the husk Ah, good old epiphany number two. Grilling corn in the husk is easy, tasty, and gives you a neat, built-in handle with you fold back the husk to reveal the steamed corn within. Some folks recommend peeling back the husk, removing all the silk, then folding the husk back into place, but I find this to be more trouble than it's worth. Just peel the silk back along with the husk when you shuck it after cooking. If you want to get really fancy, you can peel back the husk, remove the silk, and add some flavored butter before folding the husk back. This has the advantage of making your corn look magical, but in terms of improved flavor or cooking qualities, it really doesn't offer more than simply rolling the cob in flavored butter after cooking. How to do it: Place corn in the husk directly on top of hot coals and cook, turning occasionally, until it is steamed through to the center (you can peek and re-wrap the corn to check if you need to), about 15 minutes. Corn can also be grilled in the husk on a rack above the coals. The outside should be completely black, but the interior should be steamed and moist. Let the corn cool slightly, pull back the husk and silk, roll in flavored or plain butter if desired, and serve. Advantages: It's super, super easy on the prep. You can simply buy ears of corn and haul them out to the backyard or campfire, no other work required. It also produces flavorful corn with lightly grassy notes from the husk. Disadvantages: It can be a little messy to eat (the blackened husk gets on your hands), and can sometimes be difficult to gauge timing wise whether or not the corn inside is completely cooked. Will not produce a charred or grilled flavor. Method 2: Wrapped in FoilWrapped in foil It's very similar in process to the in-the-husk method, but has a few differences here and there in how the corn ends up. How to do it: Shuck corn and discard silk and husk. Wrap the corn in heavy duty aluminum foil, with or without a flavored butter or oil inside. Grill directly on hot coals, or on top of a grate set over the coals, turning occasionally until fully cooked, about 15 minutes Advantages: Very easy to serve—just pull the corn off, let it rest, and serve. The foil will also keep the corn hot for a long time, making this a good method to use for large gatherings or buffet-style service. As with in-the-husk corn, flavored butter inside the package is a neat trick, but doesn't produce markedly superior results to simply coating the corn in flavored butter after cooking. Disadvantages: It's heavy on prep, requiring shucking, cleaning, and re-wrapping. Method 3: Grilling NakedThat's the corn naked, not you, of course. This is my personal favorite way to grill corn. It results in corn with charred, browned, nutty bits that really make it taste, well, grilled. And isn't that what this is all about? Naked How to do it: Shuck and clean corn. Don't worry about getting every last stray piece of silk—they'll burn away on the grill anyway. Do not be tempted to brine your corn. Place the corn directly over a very hot fire and grill, turning occasionally, until charred and cooked through, about 10 minutes total. Serve immediately with flavored or plain butter and salt. Advantages: It's quick, easy, let's you keep an eye on the corn as it grills, and produces plenty of smoky, charred, grilled flavor. Disadvantages: The corn won't be quite as juiciy as corn steamed in the husk or in foil. We may not be able to agree on the best way to grill corn, but let's at least have a delicious ear or two shoved in our mouths while arguing it over, agreed? About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook. Recipes!
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| San Francisco: Old-School Burgers and a Risque Twist at Bill's Place Posted: 25 Jul 2013 03:33 PM PDT [Photographs: David Kover] Bill's Place2315 Clement Street, San Francisco CA 94121 (map); 415-221-5262; billsplace.qpg.com Yes, those are olives sitting atop my Bill's Place burger, and there's a story there, but first, some background information. Bill's Place—"Home of the Hamburger"—opened in 1959 and still maintains plenty of '50s-era charm. The soda fountain counter lined with spinny-stools and the riot of red-white-and-blue decoration in the front window immediately made us feel transported out of the twenty-first century to a kinder, gentler time. After we watched our waitress stop at one table to show off a picture of her grandchild and then rush over to hug a little girl who had stopped in, not to eat but just to say hello, we peered out the window to see if we had somehow landed among white picket fences and manicured lawns. The Bill's Cheeseburger #1 with cheese, bacon, and griddled onions. The standard burger that gets served in these environs lives up to the old-fashioned vibe. Bill's Place grinds its beef fresh daily, and serves it in 1/3-pound patties on conventional, toasted sesame seed buns with mayo and the usual fixings. Nothing fancy, but they manage to keep some pink at the center of their patties and melt their cheese until it pours over the edges of the burgers, and they offer the option of adding tasty griddled onions should you desire. Their burgers, which could use more juice-generating fat in the grind, don't warrant a crosstown trip, but they work well enough as a neighborhood stop before you head off to the sock hop. To go with their standard burgers, the Bill's Place menu features a long list of burgers named after celebrities, most of which feel rather obscure if you weren't born in San Francisco during the same year the restaurant opened. At least, Jack Hansen and Beverly Sills weren't celebrities in my own sphere of knowledge before I visited Bill's Place. Nor, for that matter, was Carol Doda. However, the menu provides brief bios, and so I learned that Ms. Doda earned fame for introducing topless dancing to San Francisco. ...Enter the olives. Bill's Place honors Ms. Doda by delivering two hamburger patties—served topless, of course—with an olive sitting at the center of each one. I suppose you could argue that those olives represent the martinis that Ms. Doda's customers would drink while they watched her perform, but I have the hunch that Bill's Place means to be a bit more literal in how they chose to celebrate her. We may have traveled back to the '50s, but this is still San Francisco in the '50s. Truthfully, beyond the gimmick, the most interesting part of the Carol Doda burger was figuring out how to eat it—fork-and-knife, or massive double-burger? If Bill's Place has scandalized you with its olives, let the generous milkshake redeem your faith in its wholesomeness. As the menu tells you, they proudly make their shakes with Dreyer's ice cream. Well, no need for fancy, newfangled ice cream; these shakes taste just like an old-fashioned one should. One order filled two fountain-style glasses, and then some. French fries at Bill's Place get hand-cut on the premises. In this case, I wished for a bit of modern technology, as decent frozen spuds would have beaten the pants off the Bill's Place offering, which came out with more styrofoam than crispness to their texture. Onion rings had been fried a bit too hard, but they proved to be a better option. San Francisco still has plenty of clubs that feature topless dancers, and Ms. Doda is still in the city too, running a lingerie shop. But if you'd like to pay homage to Ms. Doda's legacy in a more virtuous fashion, consider getting your milkshake at Bill's Place. About the author: David Kover spends much of his time wrangling his one-year-old son, but does a bit of food writing on the side. He occasionally gets his tweet on at @pizzakover.    |
| Scooped: The Most Lemony Lemon Ice Cream Posted: 25 Jul 2013 11:24 AM PDT [Photograph: Max Falkowitz] If you've only ever had lemon sorbet, give lemon ice cream a chance. Sweet and tart, light and creamy, more than a little like lemon meringue pie, it's a beautiful expression of citrus with greater substance than a watery sorbet. This ice cream gets its lemon flavor from three sources: zest steeped into the base, candied whole lemons stirred in during the churn, and a healthy dose of lemon juice for a jolt of puckering tartness. You may be asking, "Won't my dairy curdle if I add lemon juice to it?" If we were talking about milk that'd be true, but the base of this ice cream custard is mostly cream cut with a little half and half, plus plenty of sugar and egg proteins. All that fat will protect the dairy from curdling into big chunks. The candied lemons that get stirred into the ice cream require more work: slicing them thinly, seeding them, then blanching them three times in three changes of water before cooking in a syrup for 20 minutes. You can find a full how-to on this technique in Lauren Weisenthal's excellent post on candied lemon zest. Although I'm using whole lemons, the procedure and ingredients are essentially the same. This requires a little effort, but not much time. Start candying your lemons once the ice cream base is done and you'll be finished before the custard has a chance to cool. You can scale the candied lemon recipe up as needed, and the lemons will keep for weeks, so there's no reason not to make a bunch and save it for later. Extra lemon syrup makes some very nice sweet tea. About the author: Max Falkowitz is the editor of Serious Eats: New York. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz. Get the Recipe!    |
| A Sandwich a Day: Falafel at Eastwood Posted: 26 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around New York. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt. [Photographs: Andrea Kang] On a lazy afternoon, you'll want to head over to Eastwood, an inconspicuous bar in the Lower East Side offering wine and beer and a small snack menu that crosses between Middle Eastern and fish and chips. Their huge, densely-packed Falafel ($7) features green chickpea fritters with a substantial crunch. The pita is then stuffed with a fistful of hand-cut fries, hot and crispy right out of the fryer (they soften over time, but less than you might fear). With ample tahini and some thick, juicy slices of tomato, this is a falafel we'd head back for. Though a plea for the kitchen: use some better pita, please! The pita we had in our sandwiches tasted straight off the grocery store shelf. The falafel's quality overcomes this setback, but it's an improvement we'd love to see. You can also get a pita stuffed with egg and tomato ($6), but instead of a sandwich take on shakshuka like you'll find at Taboonette, it's just an underseasoned egg omlette with some slices of tomato. Stick to the falafel and you'll be much happier. About the author: Andrea Kang is a rising senior magazine journalism student at Northwestern University. She is the editor in chief of Spoon Magazine, Northwestern's campus food publication, and loves to blog about her food adventures at The Sunny-Side Up Kitchen.    |
| The Brunch Dish: Brunch Bows With a Bang at Avec Posted: 24 Jul 2013 10:59 AM PDT [Photographs: Chelsea Ross] When one of the most revered restaurants in Chicago starts serving brunch, it's time for the naysayers to give brunch the respect it deserves. Perpetually packed Avec started serving brunch last weekend, and true to form, the diminutive wine bar was brimming with excitable customers. Avec is the biggest score for brunch since Roscoe combined chicken and waffles. And just as at dinnertime, their brunch menu is full of twists and turns, putting a distinct stamp on the Sunday ritual. Right out of the gate, I'm inclined to like coddled eggs ($11), because the name makes it sound like they were raised with silver spoons in their embryos. They may not be royal babies, but they're indeed cooked gingerly and precisely, so as to produce a barely solid yolk and whites so custardy and smooth you might mistake it for shampoo if you were enjoying these in, say, the shower. The eggs are placed in a teeny glass ramekin layered with Taleggio fonduta, roasted mushrooms, and a corona of bitter greens. The fonduta and eggs create rich layers akin to some sort of savory trifle, while the knobs of mushrooms add a meaty element to the party. It's served with a few soft slivers of garlic crostini, aka the stuff of garlic bread dreams. Dig your spoon into the ramekin like you're scooping up pudding, slather the goods on the toasty bread, unhinge your jaw, and enjoy one of the most masterful egg dishes in Chicago. Chicken and waffles are frequent bedfellows, but I'm suspicious of an affair between chicken and pancakes (see other recent examples here and here). This would make pancakes a bit of a homewrecker, but I encourage infidelity when it tastes as good as Avec's Moroccan Berghir pancake with chicken wings ($12). It's like Hooters traveled to Morocco to attend culinary school. Berghir pancakes are traditional Moroccan morning munchies made with semolina flour, with a flavor and texture somewhere in between an English muffin and cornbread. Avec's pancake is small-ish, roughly the size of an adult palm, and positively heaped with chicken wings so tender and juicy their meat practically flies right off the bone and into your mouth. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be eating chicken wings at Avec, but I'm a believer. It's a little difficult to marry the pancake and the chicken wings, though the tangy, spicy honey-harissa glaze oozing off the poultry tastes especially good infused into the yeasty pancake. Even when Avec tackles something as formulaic as French toast ($8), they still manage to warp minds with an outré interpretation. First of all, the French toast is baked in the wood oven, which is just delightful and homey. The baking process begets a soft and velvety texture to the bread, transforming it into a sponge for the accompanying flavors, which wind up tasting like some sort of breakfast cocktail via tart roasted cherries, mint, and roasted almonds. There's also a smear of fresh cheese to add a bit of zing and mellow the sweetness. Good luck not inhaling this. Be it eggs, pancakes, or French toast, leave it to Avec to swoop in and single-handedly reinvent the brunch wheel. If there was any place that could solidify the legitimacy of brunch, it's Avec. Avec615 West Randolph Street, Chicago IL 60661 (map)    |
[Photographs: Joshua Bousel]
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