...more recent posts
first stab at new Momofuku was awesome, and to me more yummy than Saam Bar......we had pork 6 ways and a sensation baby squid dish and a grand cru spanish mackeral......great meal, GREAT!!
Master Cleanse #4: previous #4 failed, I was just too hungry, so I MC'd during day and Vegan'd at night......yesterday was day one and it was tough but I held up, today should be easier......
These should be happy times for owners of small farms. Not only are commodity prices way up, but the buy-local movement has caught fire around the country. Rapidly growing numbers of people are embracing the romantic notion of buying food directly from area farmers, sometimes driving hours into the countryside to buy veggies, meat and milk.
The number of farmers markets over the last five years has increased more than 50 percent, to nearly 4,500 from 2,800, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Since the European idea of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) was adopted by a handful of US farms twenty years ago, enabling consumers to buy shares in the output of local farms, the concept has been adopted by as many as 3,000 small farms across the US. Thousands of consumers are trekking out to dairy farms to purchase suddenly popular unpasteurized milk for its perceived health benefits over the pasteurized stuff, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation, a promoter of raw (unpasteurized) milk consumption. (Retail sales of raw milk are prohibited in most states).
Cracking Down
But as the re-emergence of a farm-to-consumer economy draws increasing amounts of cash out of the mass-production factory system, the new movement is bumping up against suddenly energized regulators who claim they want to "protect" us from pathogens and other dangers.
Federal and state agriculture and health authorities say farmers are violating all kinds of regulations to meet fast-growing consumer demand, such as slaughtering their own hogs and cattle instead of using state and federally inspected facilities, and selling unpasteurized dairy products and cider without the proper permits. Farmers feel there are other issues lurking in the background and driving the regulators--for example, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) under which farm animals are tagged with computerized chips for tracking; in most states the federal program is voluntary, but in Michigan it is mandatory, so the regulators who tested Greg Niewendorp's cattle for bovine TB also affixed radio frequency identification tags to their ears.
d'artagnan
I'm making my first attempt at brining a turkey. We followed this Chez Panisse method. Put it in the fridge at 6:00pm last night. We'll see.
What are other folks making today? Adman? Skinny?
dim sum here was only good after a very nice meal many months ago, was expecting more on the dumpling camp, plus the gang was not feeling that yahoo so it slowed me down, i ate my share of yummy pork parts inc a great dish of super crispy baby pig
dirty bird need to get here soon, as fried chicken and coleslaw is on my all time favorite combo list....
new vegan restaurant
I will give them a try.......
Flex-ing at Shortys.32
Jer. Artichoke Soup, Pork Belly, Rucola Salad w/ Winer Veggies, Pasta w/ Mushrooms...............all yummy.
Remember, there’s a writer’s strike on.
From Page 6:
after having five servings of WD-50 chef Wylie Dufresne's delicious "popcorn soup" at the Taste of New York event at the Puck Building the other night, hydrated comic and "LateNet" host Ray Ellin asked the chef, "Do you do a Milk Dud bisque?"
((from Strong Buzz http://thestrongbuzz.com ))
New Amsterdam Market—Chefs Needed!
If you’ve never heard of the New Amsterdam Public Market, there’s a good reason. It doesn’t exist—yet. This future market is the vision of founder Robert LaValva, an architect, city planner and Slow Food advocate, whose mission it is to create New York’s first indoor public food market dedicated to sustainably produced foods, sold by purveyors and sourced regionally. He describes it as a cross between Greenmarket and Chelsea Market, with a little of London’s Borough Market thrown in there too, and he’s rallying the city to locate the market in the former Fulton Fish Market space at the South Street Seaport, New York’s public market district since 1642. To generate buzz and give you a taste of what’s to come, he’s gathering producers and purveyors to hold a Wintermarket on Sunday, December 16th with a selection of wild foraged foods to artisanal cheeses, all produced or sourced within 500 miles of New York City.
Here’s where all you chefs come in. Robert is looking for chefs to prepare a seasonal dish, using primarily regional ingredients and offer small tasting samples during Wintermarket. The dish should be one that can be cooked at home and should come with the recipe. The idea is that folks attending the market will taste the dish and run around and buy the ingredients needed and head home to make it for themselves. They’re looking for dishes that use more economical or less popular cuts of meat, as one of our goals is to encourage a fuller appreciation for animals used for food. For more information on how to participate in the New Amsterdam Market please contact Robert at robert@newamsterdampublic.org.
a poet succumbing to the green fairy
whats a good brand or online source for restaurant grade china plates. 14"? anyone?
Outstanding dinner tonight at Toro Bravo
05 vina Gormaz
brussel Sprouts
chantrelles
chorizo & canchego (with sherry jelly, tasty)
eggplant (with lamb, this stuff is like crack)
fried anchovies ( with fried lemons and fennel, awsome)
olive oil cake (with huckleberrys)
squash dumplings (with lamb, best dish of the meal)
terrine (rabbit pate with greens)
lustau, dry oloroso
Escoffier and umami -- artists got there first.
Rebel, Disgraced, Tries to Pull Off Rebound (from todays NYTimes)
((wow i didnt know))
NYTimes: Chefs as Chemists. Wylie, Wylie, Wylie...
Pork tartare??....nope.....
Chicken tartare??.....not sure its for me but yes its available...
I love Japanese food and sake, I have a stable of places I go to when I am entertaining customers, some of which I recomand to rav's or boo's. I feel you need to understand the food on more than straight taste, its texture, presentation and more. My passion began with the man whom got me off pure veggie living, Wyle D. He used to show me these Japanese mag's he would buy in like midtown, he called "food porno".
As many know the Japanese have come to town, and it keeps growing, Kai was an old haunt of mine, Sugiyama is the oldest I know of, have not been to both in a while but they rocked. I love the little places and the noodle joints, but one of my fav's is Aburiya Kinnosuke (of course not every dish pleases me, but its on my top 10, year after year).
They opened first Yakitori Totto (2004, smartly above Sugiyama). Yakitori is grilled chicken, street food. Here served are breeds of Japanese chickens, breed upstate. And all the chicken is done medium rare, unless you gringo on them. And when they opened the served chicken sashimi, but rumor is you can only get this at the newer Yakitori Torys (their 3rd restaurant). Both have plenty of pure Japanese food too but chicken (every part) is king.
Going tommorow after Bar Masa (best veggie/vegan snacking in NYC), I dont think I will be doing medium rare but I bet my guests will....
SOS CHEFS of New York
104 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009
from NYT listing of Ducasse suppliers of mushrooms (porcini)
eating your way through the hill country