November 14, 2013
Reader Sue Shadur, The Magic Muffin Lady, Sends a Gluten Free Noodle
Dear Gael,
I have been following you for an enjoyable ride on your roller coaster adventures. I adore your writing and insatiable slant on life, food, colors, taste, & general goodies of the culinary rainbow. Today’s FORKPLAY email blew me out of the box with your lil’ rant on "IT IS WHAT IT IS."
Your thoughts echo my own observations, prescience, and passion princess musing on not being like everyone else, baling out with beliefs, or desire dumping. A true original outlier with my own Barbie pink tinted glasses firmly in place since my teen years, an incurable heath foodie visionary, and fighter independent survivor girl who goes to my own beat of the tom-tom, I THANK YOU for your inspiration, true style & never giving up, giving in, or giving out.
Big thanks to you and kudos to you from a fellow writer kid who
understands deep in my tender heart that "IT IS WHAT YOU IMAGINE IT TO
BE."
Love the smile you put on my face today & always with your great writing and fascinating, fun, perspective,
Warm regards,
Linda Sue Shadur
BOCABABEMUFFIN on Twitter
a.k.a. Muffin Girl,
a.k.a. Where are your cookies?,
a.k.a. "Any more chocolate"
a.k.a. "To di 4" & ‘Wow, those muffins really work!!!!
a.k.a "How do you get them so moist?
Click here to return to the homepage.
July 15, 2011
Our occasional correspondent The Burgermaven noodles:
“When in Chicago the breakfasts at Lou Mitchell’s are famous. All egg orders are ‘double yoked’ eggs. You ask for 3 eggs you get 6 yolks. The omelet’s are overflowing and served right in the pan they are cooked in.
With Greek bread with a slab of butter; real maple syrup and what is rated the best coffee in America!
By the way I had my 65th birthday breakfast at Norma’s [in Manhattan’s Parker Meridien] a few years ago and had the duck hash. It could have been one of the best 20 meals ever! And I love corned beef hash.
Yes, although I am the Burgermaven I also follow: great pizza; corned beef; pastrami; and cheese steaks.
Sonny’s in Hollywood Florida is tops for Philly Cheesesteaks. Bake their own breads/rolls all day long right in the restaurant. They served 1000 sandwiches for Guy (Guido) Fieri’s party at the South Beach Food and Wine festival this past February.
I sometimes drive 200 miles for a sandwich. I live in Naples and Hollywood is about 100 miles away. Have lunch and visit some friends then drive back.
I still love the roumanian pastrami at Artie’s near Zabar’s.
And Vienna has a NY pastrami sold only to restaurants. As close to the ‘real deal’. You need to contact Bob
Schwartz at Vienna and get the "brand/lot number" they sell to Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton.
OK enough from me..just happened to see your comments on Norma’s.
**I do not rate the Burger Joint at Parker Meridien. It sucks.
Skip Becker, Burgermaven
Click here to return to the homepage.
About Craig Claiborne: Mike O’Neal writes 1/12/2011
Craig Claiborne loved the Ginger Man’s Iced Mongol Curried Pea Soup
It was the end of the Summer in 1964 and my brother and I had just opened The Ginger Man in the new Lincoln Center Area. We had taken an old “National Cash Register” storeroom on West 64th Street and built the first restaurant in the area. I had, through a fluke of luck hired as our Chef Dione Lucas (the British cookbook writer). The restaurant only had 60 seats and Dione was always in the kitchen and I was on the “Slide” expediting the food to the dining room.
Labor Day Weekend came and I had given most of the staff off, I wasn’t expecting a lot of business. That was the week that Craig chose to review us for The New York Times. We were swamped, we ran out of everything but we got through it.
Craig raved about how great the place and Dione were, he spent a whole paragraph on the Iced Mongol Curried Pea Soup. We didn’t know what hit us. The review would have been at least 3 stars and maybe four butiIn those days the Times didn’t give stars As for our Iced Mongol Pea Soup, we had a very simple menu and usually two soups, one hot and one cold. I remember on that day Dione had come to me in tears and said that her Vichyssoise had “turned.” Then she got an idea. “Go to the Associated market on the corner and get me 12 cans of Campbell’s Pea Soup.” She had taken the 12 cans of soup and mixed it with heavy cream and sprinkled a little curry powder on top . Voila, Iced Mongol Soup.
That day of Craig’s review, my business went from an average of $5,000 per week to $10,000 per week and it never went back. I told this story to Craig, years later, at an event at the C.I.A , he was in a wheelchair. He just chuckled.
He made a great impact on my life as I sure he did on many, I was too young to realize. The stupidest thing I ever did was to fire Dione a few years later, I really loved her. But that’s another story.
I read your blob religiously.
Mike
Click here to return to the homepage.
Greetings from Laguna Beach:
I have been meaning to let you know how much I enjoyed your Folk Play newsletter re THE REFRIGERATOR. Unfortunately, there are two of us who bought refrigerators without carefully looking at them. I had a size problem too–about fifteen years ago we built my dream kitchen and built in all the appliances. They have now all worn out in one way or another and nothing is the same size it used to be. I had a choice–of one dishwasher that would fit its space, a new range that had to be squished into the original space (I can only open the tiny oven part way but as a work of art and not convenience it suits me). Now, we come to my new refrigerator. There was no choice–GE made the only one that fit the space. Thank God I put my old one in the garage.
In the bottom drawer of the new one I keep nail polish, perfume, extra deodorant, batteries–well you get the idea.
The other two drawers are for produce and deli products. The door which is designed to hold gallon jugs of milk and boxes and cans has become the receptacle for more condiments than two "olds" will ever use in a lifetime. My husband loves the ice it makes, however, and dispenses it every night into the martini shaker. Real food items are existing in the garage but that makes it really easy to unload the groceries from the car. Anyway enough of that–thanks for the pesto recipes–I had only one from a friend’s "nunu". He froze his in little packets. Sorry about all this venting–I’m off to Trader Joes for their divine basil.
Pat Weaver
***
Marlana Pressley, co owner and COO of That Picnic Place wrote offering my readers 10% discount on their picnic delivery service and a sample basket for me. I requested a lunch for two and in my InsatiableCritic mode reviewed it on this week’s Fork Play, rating their service highly and the lunch itself as uneven. Co-owner Antija M. Moore found several errors in my comments.
Hello,
After speaking with Marlana regarding your phone conversation, I was under the impression that you enjoyed the picnic basket that you received. This is the only reason I agreed to allow a review to be written and sent you a photo. Had you expressed your concerns with the service then I would have never given the okay for you to send your negative critique via your newsletter. Especially, knowing that our service has received nothing, but positive feedback from all of our customers thus far. Any critique you had could have been communicated directly to Marlana or myself. There were also a few errors within your article.
The Pre-made Picnic Basket, which Marlana gave you for free, does not come with a choice between 2 sandwiches or a large salad, customers can either choose 2 sandwiches or 2 salads or a mixture of both, which is 1 sandwich/wrap and 1 salad. So you actually received 2 extra items in your picnic basket: a salad and a fruit cup. In addition, you requested a Cuban on sourdough, not a pressed panini (which we also offer). We also offer a Build Your Own Picnic Basket where customers can choose food items, which are not on our publicized menu. Therefore, if a customer requests a panini then we are happy to accommodate that request. Additionally, our lowest priced picnic basket is for 1 and it costs $54. And with the Build Your Own Picnic Basket, customers can choose what they want in their picnic basket and we quote them a price.
I also want to point out that our service is not designed to be like a Chinese food or pizza delivery service that you utilize for a quick lunch. I don’t know too many people who would pay $90 for "lunch." Our customers are visitors from the UK who want to do something special while in New York City and visiting Central Park. They are men who’d like to propose to their girlfriends. They are professionals who need assistance organizing a corporate picnic. And in all honesty, a service that offers a busy professional the convenience of ordering a picnic basket online and then having someone bring it to them at the park packed with everything they need inside. They impress a prospective client or someone their courting and all they had to do was make a phone call or send an e-mail. Is that service worth $90? Our customers think so.
Thank you for taking the time to read this email and for telling your readers about us, although after reading your article, I don’t believe any of your readers will be contacting us.
Antija M. Moore, MA
Owner & CEO
***
Dear Insatiable,
Well I arrived in Philly on a Thursday (pre-Alumni weekend) and headed straight to Bobby’s Burger Palace. I skipped the traditional Philly cheesesteak at Tony Luke’s; Jimmy’s; Pat’s and Geno’s for a burger at Bobby’s newest University of Penn location. At 8 pm the line was out the door. Plus all the seats inside were filled. I calculated about 20 minutes (ok, I asked a manager and he had pity on me). Yes, the average age in the place was early to mid 20’s and here I was almost three times that. No senior discount but at least a seat at the ‘counter’. Let me mention that the interior design is unique. Seating is either at a counter or mostly ‘common tables’. A nice touch for a university location. Now the food:
We ordered two different burgers which were to be cooked medium and medium rare. They arrived – one correct and the other overcooked. The manager came over and asked how they were and noticed immediately that one was wrong. Within minutes a fresh perfectly cooked replacement was served. As accoutrements we added the sweet potato fries and the onion rings. Wow! Likely the best sweet potato fries anywhere! The onion rings were magnanimous. Beer battered and huge. Served in their own special container – hot, fresh, browned perfectly – but slightly greasy.
The total experience was at least an 8 on a scale of 1-10. Is it a gourmet burger? No. Is it fast food burger? No. More like a ‘gourmet’ 5 Guys’ but cooked to order with exquisite toppings and sides. Instead of 2 “3 oz” well done ‘5 Guys’ burgers’ you get a quality 6 oz. 80/20 Angus Beef with a myriad of toppings. Note: the California burger with avocado was a personal favorite of ours. Did I mention the milkshakes – easily a “10”. We noticed that many of the older students were ordering “spiked” milkshakes for about $2 more and loving them.
Skip ‘Burgermaven’ Becker
***
Gael,
OK, I have been eating burgers for over 60 years. Was on NPR with Andrew Zimmern last year as the burger expert and write commentaries for NY, Chicago and LA burgers for Zagat.
I can’t wait to try the 5 Napkin Burger. Just saw it on Martha Stewart’s show and read your review.
I do have a request:
1. I believe the burger at BLT Steak is exceptional (have had both the regular one and the Wagu). The BLT Burger joint is nowhere as good.
2. How can Zagat rate The Burger Joint at the Hotel Le Meridian as the top in the city? That has really got to me. I went there and it was a char grilled burger on a "wonder bun". So bland, plain and nothing. The only good thing was the price, which I guess New Yorkers rate as a big plus. Am I wrong?
3. The Corner Bistro Burger at the bar is better than at a table in back. Don’t know why but the bacon cheddar is excellent.
That’s it,
Love to talk burgers whenever you’d like…
Happy Eating
Skip ‘burgermaven’ Becker.
P.S. If ever in Sun Valley definitely go to The Pioneer for their burger. They grind the leftover of the prime rib, New York strip and filet into a fantastic burger.
***
I asked readers to compete for a dinner for two at The Brasserie by telling me what they would celebrate. Here is the winning letter.
Dear Gael,
At age 18, I became a very strict vegetarian. Fine – I indulged in eggs, cheese, cream, desserts – and even lived a full vegetarian existence in Provence.
Then, at an unfortunately misguided time in my life, I decided to go Vegan (or, as the always-eloquent Anthony Bourdain says, “The Hezbollah-like sect of vegetarianism) – I had my reasons, of course, and staunchly believed I was doing The Right Thing.
For the next five years, I followed a strict vegan diet. That’s not to say I didn’t eat well – I learned to cook and bake – and was an expert “substituter” at very fine New York restaurants (I even had a vegan tasting menu at Daniel, if you can believe it).
One day last February, I’d had it. I was weak, too thin, and very hungry. I fantasized about grilled cheese sandwiches and frittatas. So my wonderful (and patient) lover and I went to Europe (Oxford, London, Paris) and I had a “coming out” party of vegetarianism. Five egg omelets, macaroons, butter, cream sauces! I was in heaven. Back in New York, I had to begin revisiting every restaurant I’d ever been, just to eat their “real” food!
But it wasn’t enough. Come May, after discussing the joys of fresh fish with an Icelandic friend of mine, I craved! My man and I went to Perry Street for my first piece of fish in 10 years! I ate fish every day for months – obsessed and addicted. My man, overjoyed, calmly went to seafood restaurants incessantly with me.
But I wanted more – a week ago, while brunching at Balthazar, one of my companions ordered the Steak Frites (with the herbed butter!) and I ogled – I wanted one! Once again, I asked my brilliant man to accompany me to Standard Grill (and then Wolfgang’s last night) so that I could have a juicy steak. Heaven! I ate turkey off his plate at Bouley Market – and I know the Steak Diane at Commerce is in my near-future.
You see – you’ll not find a more enthusiastic eater of all things rich, creamy, meaty, saucy, and heavy than yours truly – it’s as if I’m eating again for the very first time! And to share this experience with a man so dear, who has a true love of good food (that comes from any part of any animal), who said not a word when I repeatedly took him to Candle 79 – well, it would only be a most special dinner indeed.
Cheers and Bon Appetit
Nadia
***
Dear Gael,
My dearest friend, Molly Epstein, died 24 years ago this year. She was diabetic, food crazed, a graphic designer of extraordinary talent who virtually lived at The Brasserie. She wrote a book – Tales of the Brasserie – whose manuscript resides in my store-room. She would arrive at 2AM, 11AM, 4AM, 7AM, 9PM, and tromp down the stairs like a latter-day Dolly Levi, to be welcomed by the troupe of French waiters.
What she adored was that the Brasserie didn’t have a key. She would sit for hours sketching, munching a croissant, people-observing.
A participant in the medical trial that perfected the portable blood testing device that every diabetic now uses, Molly was anorexic, bulemic, addicted to reading, dreaming, fantasizing and whining about food. When her best friend, Eugene Fraccia, opened Pesca on 22nd Street (where Danny Meyer worked, and which led the downtown renaissance), Molly did all the graphics of logos and menus.
She was probably the most amusing person I had ever met. She lived in a second-floor walk-up on Lexington and 70th., and when Paul Bocuse’s dramatic big maroon recipe book came out, Molly was first in line at Doubleday (remember Doubleday?). As she said, after hefting it up to her aerie – "Here is a book I can’t afford, about dishes I can’t eat, that I can barely carry. But I had to have it."
After Molly died in February 1985, a group of friends went to dinner to celebrate Molly. Where? The Brasserie, of course.
Best,
Geoffrey Weill
September 24, 2009
***
“Yumdrum” emails:
Dear Gael,
Good news that Larry Forgione is fluffing up the menu at Monkey Bar. But no need to wait. New policy allows BYOF (Bring Your Own Food). You can eat your mother’s mac’ and cheese while you stare at Maureen Dowd or Betsy McCaughey (If you want to make a comeback in journalism or politics this is the place to be seen – but select your booth carefully). Was that Will Ferrell eating a fruit plate? Three of the four boys from Billy Elliot had fish and chips flown in Monday (the best day for fish) and saved some for the fourth kid to eat after the show. Tina Brown ate her own blog. The rumor that Sonia Sotomayor had a reservation and was bringing a dinner catered by Victor’s was false as was the story that she had dated Chita Riviera.
Enough! Surrender? Total capitulation. Not yet you say. Then what about the Obamas on a night out after seeing “Irena’s Vow”? The White House chef did a nice job with the tsimmes (spelling courtesy of Google).
June 16, 2009
***
Dear Gael,
I love your newsletter and it invariably sends me to your website… unless I get distracted of course. My kids do say I wax and wane so I am sure you will forgive me.
Bacon seems to be very trendy right now… Ha! Chris even seems to think it is a new food group. Don’t let his Portuguese last name fool you, he has an Irish mother whose own mother and grandmother ate such things as pigs feet… pickled or not, and saved the fat from pork shoulders to fry until crisp (my mother passed this off as bacon to her seven hungry kids) on a Sunday morning. It wasn’t until years later that I found out this was really scrapple and that we were poor.
Truth be known, I loved hot, sticky pig’s feet when I was a kid. I suspect I still would except my cholesterol is through the roof and I think I can even hear my arteries clicking now as I think about that delicacy.
As a new bride, my father-in-law was delighted to find that I loved pig’s feet! I think my mother-in-law, on the other hand, was horrified. She made the most wonderful white bean and pig’s feet dish I have ever had. She would not eat it, nor would my husband, so my FIL and I would have a feast with bowl after bowl, sopped up with wonderful Portuguese bread and washed down with some down-to-earth Portuguese red wine. I truly wish I had noted how she made it. Well, maybe I will try to duplicate it and leave the recipe for my daughter to duplicate… when I ask for it on my deathbed.
Well anyway, I digress. I just wanted to say… keep that newsletter coming to my inbox!
Sincerely,
Mary Lou Santos
P.S. OMG… published at age 70! Life can only get better huh! I thought the only thing that would get published involving me would be my obituary!
May 11, 2009
***
Dear Gael,
I am sure that you heard about the death of Gaston Lenôtre on January 8, 2009.
I have such fond memories of Gaston and his first wife Colette and their children Annie and Sylvie. I never knew the son, Alain, who moved many years ago to Houston, I assume to get away from the Lenôtre empire.
My partner Michael James was Lenôtre’s first cooking school student in Paris in the late 1960s. He worked for Gaston before I met him and before he went to work for Simone Beck [co-author with Julia Child of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”]. I heard incredible stories about the party that Gaston did in Persepolis, Iran, for the 3,000 year anniversary of Persia. Michael told me that everything was shipped in from France by planes. All the ovens, sinks, 50,000 gallon plastic reservoirs for fresh water, etc. Everything was cooked and served under tents. The dining pavilions had wood parquet floors covered in priceless museum quality Persian carpets. Nobody knew how to do a catered affair like Gaston.
Also, Gaston and Colette were fun to be around. He was, for me, always entertaining and Michael highly respected him. Le Pre Catalan never was a great restaurant in Paris but the setting, WOW. I went to many wild parties at Le Pre Catalan from the late 70s till the late 90s. Straight, gay, bi. social people, artists, film and theater people, politicians, shop keepers. A real cross section of people.
I got to know the family very well during the years I worked with Michael at the Great Chefs of France Cooking School at the Robert Mondavi Winery. Gaston came a couple of times to teach. I also went to France several times to do design projects for his family. The last house I designed for them was Annie Lenôtre’s town house in St. Germain. Her father gave her the house and me to decorate it as a wedding gift. A complete restoration. It took us one year. House still is beautiful. Marriage lasted a short time.
Gaston had a wicked sense of humor. For one party in 1921 he hired about 30 pre-operated transsexuals from Brazil, tall with long legs, breast implants, long hair, beautiful faces and huge penises. I mean huge. They looked like versions of Ru Paul. They entered the party completely nude in red body paint on stiletto high heels with Devils’ tails and horns in their hair. The head of each penis was paved in fake diamonds. (I assume fake!)
Also I think of Lenôtre’s macaroons. Nobody did macaroons like Lenôtre. Some people could be very critical of Lenôtre‘s pastry work. I don’t know…for me, no one’s pastry has that lightness and beauty of the work of Lenôtre.
Of course in Barcelona everyone loves the pastry and chocolate of Escriba on Gran Via, just down the street from me. It’s ok. But everything is dense and well… kind of Spanish. Although the chocolate at Escriba is wonderful.
Luckily I can be in the south of France in less than 4 hours on the train from Barcelona. And for me there is nothing like French cooking. I live in Spain but dream about the food in France. No one is ever completely satisfied.
Best and big hugs,
Billy
April 15, 2009
At 88 when he died, Lenôtre was the word for pastry and catering in France. He revolutionized patisserie with his airy mousses and pastry cream, reducing sugar and flour and created a look you now see everywhere. He created his signature Gâteau Opéra in the 60’s, and opened his school for pastry chefs in l971 in the town of Plasir. When celebrity chefs first hit the jet streams in Nouvelle Cuisine times, the catering king often accompanied Paul Bocuse on promotional jaunts. He cooked at the Four Seasons with Bocuse and in the air for TWA. Click here to read More Confessions of a Sensualist: The Dinner For Women, from New York January 28, 1974.
The opening of Lenôtre’s catering and pastry shop in Manhattan near Bloomingdale’s was a newsmaking event with a cow parked at the curb outside to entice the papparazzi. Bocuse stopped to milk it. Lenôtre, New York was not the success the master patissier hoped it would be. I remember thinking he hadn’t done his research when he decided catering would close on Sunday, a favored day for Jewish weddings.
***
***
It was so moving to see the tears of joy at Obama’s swearing-in. I wept, too, for Michelle in that ridiculous getup. The press has already anointed her our own Jacqueline Kennedy. Couldn’t one of her seriously chic pals from Chicago tell her that was a cocktail outfit she wore to her guy’s ascendance? The girls were perfect. I especially loved that sophisticated play of pink and tangerine on Sasha.
“Her outfit was ‘ridiculous’?” one reader shot back. “Are you a fashion icon? No wonder you got booted off NYM; Boot me off your email list please, your emails have been boring me anyway.”
“That’s unnecessarily vicious about Michelle; don’t you know the old rules have changed?”
another asked.
An “over-the-top-dresser” took me to task as well.
“I do disagree with you, Gael, on her citron coat and dress yesterday. I thought her outfit was a wonderful choice in cut, color and textures. Citron, beaded lace with a satin tie called for sunnier times for this country, a look of a new day in Washington.
“Lace has been liberated to daytime wear and especially with beading. It might have screamed ‘cocktail’ in some quarters, but it was more of a ‘festive purr’ than a scream. And festive was the day yesterday. When have we had so many people of color on the Mall celebrating a swearing in of an American president?
“Michelle is a black lady and they don’t dress like most white ladies. Like Aretha’s hat, bow it up sister, wear a LARGE bow! Renée Fleming didn’t glam it up like the Queen of Soul, nor would she. Check out Michelle’s dress she wore to the prayer service this morning in the New York Times. I don’t think Laura Bush ever in her whole life wore as colorful a dress as this one.
“In my book Michelle doesn’t need any advice from anyone, she is all the chic she needs.”
A lone reader seconded my plaint.
“I loved your description of Michelle’s outfit. I am a big Obama fan, but we called it a coronation, not an inauguration – some news commentator said she looked regal. I don’t know if it is him or the country, but it’s time we get back to our lives. We only have a short window… but I do have high hopes for what he can do for this country.”
I expect this is only one of thousands of notes you’ve received in the days since ‘the magazine whose name dare not be spoken’ dismissed you. Bad enough that they reduced your presence years ago, but now, this? Inexcusable. Simply no way to treat the woman who introduced the word ‘supernal’ to my vocab.
Well, at least we have you still on the internet. Please insist that the Road Food Warrior goes above and beyond the call of duty, and makes this transition as luxe and swell for you as current market conditions allow. And also insist that The Dismissers grant you rights to publish all your columns in a single volume, to be produced by Rizzoli.
When Fred Deutsch complained at l’Ami Louis in Paris that the recipe for pommes béarnaise in his favorite Patricia Welles cook book produced nothing like the real thing – a lush, rich, crispy potato cake with a ton of chopped raw garlic and parsley sprinkled on top, he got the answer.
Deutsch writes:
Peel and slice not too thin, say 3/8" thick. Don’t bother soaking.
Sauté the potatoes in about 2 cups of goose fat (I had to settle for duck fat) until they’re golden and some are a bit more done. The chef uses a rounded bottom sauce pan wok-like for a lot of shaking and rotating.
Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and arrange them in an 8" non-stick heavy copper pot compressed together filling the pot with layers to form the right shape.
Put the pot in an oven pre-heated to 400 F for 15 to 20 minutes.
Turn the pot over onto a plate and dress with chopped raw garlic and minced parsley and you’re done. 9-25-08
My husband knew Le Bernardin in France and it was my absolute NY swanky favorite for highest end meals – ala
s… You don’t agree?I miss Gage and Tollner…
Leave a Reply