Agenda: 5/19 to 5/25
1. Dine Around Downtown, sampling of foods from downtown restaurants, Wednesday, May 19, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at Chase Manhattan Plaza (between Liberty and Pine and Nassau and William Streets).
2. Taste of the Nation, food and wine tasting benefiting City Harvest, Share our Strength, and other anti-hunger organizations, Wednesday, May 19, 7:30 p.m., at Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street. $250-$1,000/person (1.866.TASTENY).
3. Taste of Tribeca, outdoor street fair featuring sampling of foods from over 50 Tribeca restaurants, Saturday, May 22, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Duane Street between Greenwich and Hudson. $35/advance, $40/day of the event.
4. Brooklyn Pig Fest, featuring slow-smoked ribs, pulled pork, and chicken, Saturday, May 22, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at Brooklyn Brewery, 79 North 11th Street, Brooklyn. $60/person (718-486-7422 x107).
5. Wine Enthusiast Magazine Toast of the Town, tasting and food sampling, Monday, May 24, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, 64th Street and Broadway. $125/advance, $135/at the door (800.847.5949).
Ongoing Events:
1. Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, a special exhibition of the utensils developed to serve these products when they were introduced through trade in the 17th century, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. The exhibition closes July 11, 2004 (212.535.7710).
2. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
3. Beer Garden at the Brooklyn Historical Society, every Friday, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., through September, at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn. Free with admission (718.222.4111).
Shopping List: Ommegang Witte Ale
Introduced on May 1, Ommegang Witte is the latest addition to Brewery Ommegang's stable of American-made Belgian-style beers. Witte, a variation on wit, Flemish for "white," is an inexact reference to the pale yellow (not exactly white) color of witbier, a Belgian-style unfiltered wheat beer. Think of Witbier, or white beer, as comparable to a German HefeWiesse infused with citrus and spices.
“We’ve created a crisp Belgian-style wheat ale with whispers of sweet orange and a touch of tart lemon,” says Brewery Ommegang Brewmaster Randy Thiel. “It’s the ultimate summertime beer; however, for those who prefer a captivating, yet approachable Belgian-style beer, it’s superb for drinking year-round."
The ale, which contains orange peel and coriander, is brewed from a blend of unmalted and malted wheat, as well as Belgian pilsner malt.
Brewery Ommegang has been holding a series of parties throughout May at bars and restaurants in the Northeast to celebrate the release of Ommegang Witte. A call to Brooklyn's Bierkraft indicated that bottles of the stuff should arrive in "the next week of so." Until then, you can quench your summer thirst by purchasing a case directly from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York.
Ommegang Witte is $55 for a case (12 750 m.l bottles)/$28 for a half case (6 750 ml. bottles) at the Brewery Ommegang online store.
Image: Brewery Ommegang.
Agenda: 5/12 to 5/18
1. Ruth Reichl with Leonard Lopate, Wednesday, May 12, 8:00 p.m., at the 92nd Street Y, 92nd Street at Lexington Avenue. $25/person (212.415.5500).
2. Burger Nation, a dance performance inspired by Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, "exploring the physicality of burger to bun, flying fries and other 'Happy Meal' moments," May 13, 14, and 15 at 7:00 p.m. and May 15 and 16 at 3:00 p.m., at the Flea Theater, 41 White Street between Church and Broadway. $15/ticket (212.352.3101).
3. Slow Food Crawfish Boil, featuring crawfish, gumbo, shrimp, and other Cajun specialties, benefiting Slow Food USA, Saturday, May 15, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., at South Street Seaport, Pier 17 Building, 3rd floor atrium. $75/Slow Food members, $85/non-members (212.965.5640).
4. Ninth Avenue International Food Festival, annual street festival runs Saturday, May 15, and Sunday, May 16, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
5. First Annual Bud Break Excursion, a tour of Long Island vineyard Castello di Borghese, Saturday, May 15, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The tour departs from Columbus Bakery (957 First Avenue, between 52nd & 53rd Streets). $95/person (212.289.3543).
Ongoing Events:
1. A Distant View, an exhibition of photographs by Martha Carroll of the Parisian market Les Halles, March 29 through May 14 at La Maison Francaise, New York University, 16 Washington Mews (212.998.8750).
2. Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, a special exhibition of the utensils developed to serve these products when they were introduced through trade in the 17th century, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. The exhibition closes July 11, 2004 (212.535.7710).
3. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
2004 James Beard Foundation Awards
The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion won the prize for KitchenAid Cookbook of the Year at the the 2004 James Beard Foundation Awards, held on Monday, May 10, at the New York Marriott Marquis. More than 60 awards were presented, honoring cookbooks, chefs, and restaurants. Below are some highlights:
» S. Pellegrino Outstanding Restaurant Award: Chanterelle.
» All-Clad Cookware Outstanding Chef Award: Judy Rodgers, Zuni Café.
» Illy Best New Restaurant: Bradley Ogden.
» Gallo of Sonoma Rising Star Chef of the Year: Allison Vines-Rushing, Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar.
» American Express Best Chef: New York: David Pasternack, Esca.
Awards were presented to food journalists in a separate ceremony on May 7. The Kansas City Star was named Best Newspaper Food Section (with circulation under 300,000) and The San Francisco Chronicle was named Best Newspaper Food Section (with 300,000 circulation and above). Julie Powell, of Julie/Julia fame, won the prize for Magazine Feature Writing Without Recipes for her article, “People and Places: Julia Knows Best” (Bon Appétit).
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Faux Substitutes Are No Substitute
I was recently invited to salon.com to take part in a tasting of "faux-carb" products--packaged and mix-and-serve foods that use carbohydrate substitutes, mainly soy. These items, meant to resemble various starchy foods such as mashed potatoes, noodles, and chips, tasted universally bad.
New York Times writer Mark Bittman, author of "The Minimalist" columns and cookbooks, offered the following assessment:
What are we saying? It's not going to make you puke? That's our highest praise: If it's four in the afternoon and you haven't had anything to eat all day and you're plotzing, you would eat this!
"Faux-carb taste test" [salon.com]
Shopping List: Luxury Granola
Luxury granola sounds like an oxymoron. After all, the association of granola and hippiedom is so ingrained that the term "crunchy-granola" has made it into the The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (fourth edition):
crunchy-granola (crunch·y-gra·no·la): adjective, slang, displaying liberal social attitudes and lifestyles associated with the 1960s: “There's a distinct crunchy-granola flavor to much of the area, with macrobiotic restaurants, earring vendors on the street. . .”
Despite its baggage, a number of gourmet granolas have emerged which threaten to wrest granola's identity away from the hacky sack-playing hordes. These high-end granolas, with premium ingredients and high prices, are the caviar of cereal society. If you are willing to splurge on a luxury breakfast, Alice Waters' Cafe Fanny produces an excellent granola, as does Nancy Silverton's La Brea Bakery (link).
Now, I'm not trying to start another East Coast-West Coast battle, but one of the best gourmet granolas of the bunch comes not from California, but from local bakery Sweet Melissa Patisserie in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. The granola from Sweet Melissa, pictured above, combines oats and rye flakes with almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, currants, green and golden raisins, dried cherries, honey, and spices.
Sweet Melissa's granola is $7.95 for a one pound bag at Sweet Melissa Patisserie, 276 Court Street, Brooklyn, New York (718.855.3410).
Agenda: 5/5 to 5/11
1. A Wine Tour of The Loire Valley, a tasting of Loire Valley wines, benefiting Share Our Strength, Thursday, May 6, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th Street (between 6th & 7th Avenues). $35/person (212.244.0800).
2. Sustainability, Health, and Meat, a tasting and panel discussion on sustainability and meat production presented by The Baum Forum on Food & Farming and City University of New York Graduate Center, including Dr. Marion Nestle, Peter Hoffman, Steffen Schneider, Bill Niman, Hilary Baum, and producers from Niman Ranch, Wolfe’s Neck Farm, and Organic Valley Meat Co., Saturday, May 8, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Avenue. $45/ticket (212.817.8215).
3. Fourteenth Annual James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Reception, Monday, May 10, at the New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway. $250/members, $300/general public (212.367.9490).
4. An Evening in Piedmont and Tuscany, dinner with the wines of Chiarlo and Folonari, Monday, May 10, 6:30 p.m., at Naples 45, The MetLife Building, 200 Park Avenue. $39/person (212.682.4726).
5. New York City's Greenmarkets: A History and Inside View, a panel discussion presented by the Culinary Historians of New York, including Richard Ruben, chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education and author of The Farmer's Market Cookbook, Barry Benepe, founder of Greenmarket, Amy Nicholson, farmer, Red Jacket Orchards, and Dan Barber, chef/owner Blue Hill Restaurant, Tuesday, May 11, 6:30 p.m. reception/7:00 pm program, at the Earth Pledge Foundation, The Carriage House, 149 East 38 Street. Members/$25, Guests/$30 (212.334.4175).
6. A Taste of Calabria: Peperoncino, a three-day culinary program presented collaboratively by the Region of Calabria, the Development Oriented Calabrian Cooperative, the Universite della Calabria, and the Italian Culinary Institute, begins with a session on Tuesday, May 11, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at Stony Brook-Manhattan, 401 Park Avenue South, 2nd Floor (631.632.7444).
7. Cooking in Provence, a conversation with authors Patricia Wells and Alexandra Leaf on the food, restaurants, markets, and vineyards of Provence, Tuesday, May 11, 8:00 p.m., at the 92nd Street Y, 92nd Street at Lexington Avenue. $25/person (212.415.5500).
Ongoing Events:
1. A Distant View, an exhibition of photographs by Martha Carroll of the Parisian market Les Halles, March 29 through May 14 at La Maison Francaise, New York University, 16 Washington Mews (212.998.8750).
2. Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, a special exhibition of the utensils developed to serve these products when they were introduced through trade in the 17th century, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. The exhibition closes July 11, 2004 (212.535.7710).
3. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
