Archive for the 'Food Trends' Category

Always a popular summer destination, the Hamptons promise a beautiful warm weather getaway for city dwellers and tri-state residents alike looking to get away from the grind without the necessity of hopping on a plane. Located on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, there are gorgeous beaches to choose from, fabulous shopping opportunities and a bevy of food and drink options to cater to every crowd of any preference. While there are a plethora of wineries located on the North Fork, and some situated on the South Fork (like Wölffer, Channing Daughters and Duckwalk), my most recent trip out to the Island focused on trying new restaurants across the Hamptons to recommend. Here’s what I came up with:

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A pizza revolution has taken over New York and is quickly moving to the West coast and surely, everywhere in between. As the second-best-known pizza town (the boot across the pond being the first), New York has its share of historic pie stations, but there are new kids in town throwing the establishment off kilter.

With impeccably thin crusts, blistery surfaces and carefully-sourced toppings, artisanal pizza demands wine beyond basic, fruity reds. Pair this perfect pizza with a wine you want to shine, rather than a simple quaffer. Extra thought can take your bite from “Just OK” to the next level, like the pairing nirvana I recently experienced at artisanal pizza pioneer: Franny’s in Brooklyn.

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One of the hottest (and my most favorite) trends in the restaurant industry right now is the pairing dinner. You know, those dinners that you pay a little extra up front with the prix-fixe so you can enjoy perfectly matched beverages (usually wine) with the various courses of the meal. Now this in itself might not be a new occurrence, but what has been recently updated to make this craze popular again is the format that these dinners are now taking on… battle.

That’s right… they are now a fight to the death for the two worlds of alcoholic beverage choices (sorry, spirits): beer and wine.

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One year it’s pork belly, the next it’s kobe beef, the following it’s heirloom tomatoes. There will always be trends that emerge on restaurant menus. Now that we’re sliding into 2010, I declare 2009, the year of raw fish.

I know what you’re thinking. Sushi has been around for a long time! What’s new about that? Get with it! But this trend goes far beyond sushi. There is a version of raw fish enveloped into most cuisines, be it a classic French tuna tartare with waffled chips or a Peruvian scallop ceviche with lime and green pepper. Once palaces of pizza and pasta, “crudo” bars are even sliding into Italian restaurants (think Italian, thin-sliced sushi with olive oil, salt and acid). These dishes may not be new, but people are embracing them like never before.

Italian newcomer Marea opened in May in New York, dedicating an entire section of the menu to crudi like fluke with lemon thyme and olive oil or bigeye tuna with oyster crema and crispy artichokes.

Another Italian favorite in NY, known for their sublime spaghetti with tomato and basil, Scarpetta announced that they’ve added a late-night crudo menu with offerings like raw yellowtail with oil and flaked sea salt.

There is even a restaurant called  “Crudo” which opened last month and I can think of others that serve ceviche exclusively.

It seems one cannot open a restaurant these days without serving a dish from the raw fish category. But I’m not complaining.

It takes special fortitude to create these unadulterated cross-sections of flavor with little help from the oven, and these dishes are a paradise for the grazer. One minute you’re getting heat from jalapeno, the next some umami in a slice of truffle, then a crunch of marcona almond followed by some silky fish cloaked in oil. I feel refreshed and buoyant from raw fish preparations, rather than weighed down. I’m a crudo convert.

There seems to be no limit to the craving for raw fish of every flavor. I wonder if we are begging for more food in the raw? Maybe we are somehow setting the stage for the raw food movement with our carpaccios, crudos and tartares.

I’ve had one completely raw food dining experience at a vegan restaurant called Pure Food and Wine. Their theory is that raw food preserves its natural enzymes which catalyze digestion. So eating raw food is healthier. All of the food is prepared in dehydrators, if cooked at all.  The meal was a pretty amazing journey, through  dishes like marinated shiitake and avocado sushi rolls served with freshly sliced, pungent ginger and tamales filled with a white corn mash studded with marinated mushrooms with a raw cacao and tomatillo-cilantro salsa.  There was no actual cheese or meat on the menu and nothing was heated above 118°F. As the restaurant’s name would suggest, it was a lot of pure flavors, and I felt great afterward, even without hot food. As sushi paved the way for crudo, perhaps crudo will pave the way for raw food.

Have you noticed the raw fish trend emerging in your neighborhood?
Could 2010 be the year of  raw cuisine? I can almost hear your laughter from my desk! But with sushi bars as common in grocery stores as hamburger meat, anything is possible…

Do you love craft beer?  Do you also happen to enjoy great food?   Are you one of the many Americans who are constantly looking for that new beverage and food match made in heaven? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then I have the perfect solution for you… SAVOR.

Following up its sold-out inaugural run in 2008, the Brewers Association will return to Washington, D.C. this May for the second annual SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience.  Opting this year to host the event on one night (as opposed to three) and in a larger venue (the fabulous National Building Museum) with more breweries (65; up from 48 last year), in my opinion this is surely becoming the quintessential beer pairing event of the year for beer and food lovers alike.

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For some, food is an adventure. There are people who try new dishes at every turn, constantly seeking new experiences. There are others who enjoy familiarity, they play it safe with comfort foods. I’m typically a member of the former, though lately my mindset has shifted. I’ve been getting cozy with foods that I know, whether it’s enjoying cooking at home, or dining on more casual foods. Am I the only one?

Last Monday I ate at Resto, a relaxed Belgian restaurant in Manhattan that boasts an extensive beer list and classic dishes like moules & frites and deviled eggs. I had the most divine cheeseburger I’ve ever had. The burger was a mixture of beef cheek, hanger steak, and fatback (pork fatty goodness) served with crisp fries and a choice of mayo dipping sauces. On a Monday evening, cozy Resto was nearly full, no small feat for a restaurant at any time of year, especially in these times.

Another restaurant was on my radar, The Redhead, in the East Village,  famous for its “bacon brittle” and fried chicken. I planned on detailing my experiece there, only to find that they had a two hour wait at 8:30 on the Friday we arrived. With some of the stories I’ve heard about empty dining rooms at upscale places, it seems people are making a shift. Perhaps my point has been proven for me?

These days, I’m less excited about going to a stuffy restaurant where the focus can be too much on pretense and less on amiability. Save the foam infusions and caviar on toast points for another time. Lately it’s all about a beautifully crafted cheeseburger, a hearty bowl of soup, or fresh roasted vegetables. I don’t want to worry about how hip my outfit is. It feels like we have bigger fish to fry these days (or maybe fries to fry?).

These warm, indulgent comfort foods are something we can cling to in uneasy times. Even if you aren’t taking comfort in the new era upon us with today’s inauguration, the comfort of a juicy cheeseburger is tangible and within reach. While I am by no means calling for us all to boost our fat intake (save the Luther burger for Paula Dean), we can treat ourselves once in awhile. You deserve it.

Have you been cozying up to your food lately? How have your eating patterns shifted this year, if at all?

With the economy faltering, restaurants across the country are taking a painful hit. Even in Manhattan where I live, a quick walk-by of usually bustling eateries gives the impression that more people are cooking at home. But for diligent diners nationwide, the downturn can actually be a bonus. Where wresting a table at buzzy joints was akin to an audience with the Pope a year ago, tables for mere mortals are becoming available at short notice. Special “happy hour” prices for both food and drinks are appearing at upscale establishments that in the past had no need of offering value. And small plates menus, though not a new trend, seem to be increasing—a strategic approach for budget-minded gourmets who may want to taste what the restaurant has to offer without splurging on a $40-plus entrée.

Varying degrees of this new way of thinking were apparent to me this past week in my own culinary meanderings—I dined at three diverse and equally impressive restaurants: The recently opened Tarry Lodge in Port Chester, New York, the new venture by Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali (among others); Haven in Manhattan’s Midtown East, also newly opened and whose menus are conceived by former Mercer Kitchen chef Kay Choe; and Graffiti in Manhattan’s East Village, the 14-month-old food and wine bar of cookbook author and celebrated pastry provocateur Jehangir Mehta.

All three restaurants specialize in eclectic, small plate offerings at reasonable prices. Two of them, Graffiti and Haven, focus on global cuisine (a shrimp dish from Thailand, Argentine flank steak) and eclectic wines by the glass (think German Rivaner, Hegre Nache from Spain) offering a way for budget-minded diners to trot the globe without the pricey airfare. It reminded me that whether you cook eclectic cuisine at home or dine out, wine and food is an adventure—an excellent way to explore mentally in a time when travel takes a back seat.

At Tarry Lodge, located in a gleaming, century-old building, the journey ranges all over Italy, and the fare is hardly predictable. Plates like Armandino’s salumi (made by Batali’s father), guanciale (pork jowl), black truffle and sunny-side egg pizza and brasato al Barolo with polenta and horseradish smack of being hand-picked by Batali, Bastianich and Chef Andy Nusser—giving diners the feeling of jaunting around Italy with insiders as culinary guides. Splurge a bit with the grilled lamb chops. They’re succulent and perfectly prepared—you won’t be disappointed. Bastianich himself works the room and aids diners with wine choices, whether they’re eating an $8 plate of rock shrimp or a $60 ribeye for two. The wine list is surprising and Bastianich chose a delicious and affordable 2005 Montefalco Rosso for us that bridged a range of flavors and dishes. I was impressed with how respectful he was of budget—no attitude whatsoever.

Haven’s ambiance—think funky English manor meets Victorian brothel—is part of its charm, but the globetrotting small plates menu and imaginative wines by the glass list are both fun and educational. Again, Haven’s menu feels like it was hand-selected by the absent eccentric jetsetter in whose “house” you are kicking back. Two to three small plates are enough to fill you up and won’t break the bank by any means. The lobster risotto and Thai duckling meatballs are outstanding. I mixed it up with Rivaner, a Rhône red and a Washington Cab. I love that more restaurants around the country are having fun with their by the glass menus and really pushing interesting, affordable wines. It’s about time.

The bargain traveling ended yesterday at Graffiti, a closet-sized small plates spot in the East Village. I smelled the rich spices before I even opened the door—a good sign. Like the Tarry Lodge, Graffiti had a homey, personal touch with Mehta working the floor, discussing the exotic, Ayurvedic-influenced nibbles and pouring our wine. The fair, fixed per-glass price of $8 made wine choices easy and invited experimenting. So did the beautifully spiced, aromatic dishes—we had a chili shrimp and a dish of skate to die for and walked out of there with some money left in our pockets.

It’s a grim world out there and nearly everyone has been financially impacted in some way. But thanks to creative chefs and clued-in restaurateurs, there are deals to be had in the gourmet world for the diner who wants to continue to live the good life of wine and food, but is watching his/her pennies.

What creative approaches have you seen restaurants taking in this downturn? What do you wish you were seeing more of?

Once upon a time, a working knowledge of moo shoo pork, California roll, and pad thai got you through most Asian restaurant experiences.

Today, if that’s all you’ve got on your mind’s menu…..your little white take-out carton is intellectually empty.

There are now more Asian restaurants than ever in the U.S.–indeed, more kinds of Asian restaurants than ever!–and, as the movement rolls, more of us are patronizing them more frequently.

But the anchor dishes we once depended on are increasingly surrounded by waves of other things. And, for most of us, sticking with General Tso, no matter how you feel about loyalty, seems positively antediluvian.

So the crunch is on: to get maximum enjoyment, we need to know more about Asian cuisine. How to acquire it? Precisely at this delicious moment, along comes a fine way to do so: a new book by super-foodie Steven A. Shaw, the eGullet founder, called Asian Dining Rules (William Morrow, 2008).

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I’ve said it again and again…..one of my favorite regional dishes in Europe is a platter of choucroute garnie (garnished sauerkraut), as served in Alsace, France. The difference from choucroute garnie as served in American bistros and brasseries is enormous. Oh, sure, we do fairly well on our shores in keeping up with the kinds of cured meats and sausages that ride on top of the sauerkraut. But where we fall down, time and time again…..is in the sauerkraut itself! Alsatian sauerkraut is remarkably light, almost fluffy–much of which derives from its incredibly thin cut. Forgive my cross-cultural stretch, but choucroute in Alsace seems like angel hair compared to the thick, spaghetti-like sauerkraut we see here. It truly makes all the difference.

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Years ago, while conducting research for my book about gastro-pairing (Red Wine with Fish, Simon & Schuster, 1989),  I stumbled upon a freaky surprise: anchovies were just fine with a fruity, reasonably young red Rioja. And the more I tested the combo, the more the truth became clear: there’s something about the Rioja fruit combined with the normally excellent Rioja acidity that covers the fishiness, cuts through the salt, and leaves your taste buds in more harmony than they should have any right to expect. It offered a pairing alternative to a difficult food that was quite unexpected.

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