Agenda: Chocolate, Bacon, and Cheese

COMING UP

Chocolate Show
The 10th anniversary edition of the annual Chocolate Show will kick off with an opening night preview and fashion show on Thursday, November 8, 6:30 to 10:30 p.m., followed by the main event from Friday, November 9, to Sunday, November 11,  at the Metropolitan Pavillion & Altman Building, 125 West 18th Street. Tickets to the opening night festivities are $200 and admission to the show is $29/day (212.307.7171).

Skyr Scores

Skyr looks and tastes like yogurt, but it's actually a non-fat fresh cheese from Iceland. The ultra-thick consistency bears a particular resemblance to Total, the strained Greek yogurt. Each six ounce container packs a walloping 16 grams of protein. While plain Skyr was a bit pasty for my taste, I liked the vanilla version, which was lightly sweetened and studded with bits of real vanilla bean. $1.69 at my local Whole Foods.

Agenda: "Pop-Up" Restaurant, Beer Fest, and a Cheesy Field Trip

FEATURED EVENT

Bon Appétit Supper Club & Cafe
Bon Appétit magazine will launch a "pop-up" restaurant on Thursday, October 25, at the former Hard Rock Cafe space at 221 W. 57th Street. The temporary eatery (closing on November 3) is designed by the Rockwell Group (see rendering below) and will feature cooking demonstrations, tastings, and book signings with celebrity chefs. Lunch will be served daily to the public and a series of private dinners will be held featuring menus by Emeril Lagasse, Will Goldfarb, Cat Cora, Michael Mina, Govind Armstrong, Claudia Fleming, Michel Richard, and Giada De Laurentiis. For reservations, call 888.877.1035.

Lost in Translation

VEGAS, BUBALA? Above, the original Canter's in Los Angeles, and at top, the Vegas version.

A few years ago, Jessica of Ritz Bites tipped me off to the weirder than weird news that Canter's Delicatessen, the Los Angeles institution, had expanded to open a branch in Las Vegas. On one level, this made a certain kind of sense: You can have anything in Las Vegas, from a scaled down Eiffel Tower and Brooklyn Bridge to restaurants serving the culinary creations of Thomas Keller, Joel Robuchon, and Daniel Boulud, so . . . why not a Jewish deli? On the other hand: Whaaa?

The Spanish Spoon

Will Phaidon have as big a hit on its hands this year with 1080 Recipes as it did in 2005 with its English translation of The Silver Spoon, the so-called Italian The Joy of Cooking? First published more than 30 years ago by Simone and Ines Ortega, this enormous, best-selling collection of recipes (900 pages plus) is being billed as the "bible" of Spanish cuisine. I found copies of 1080 Recipes for sale at Anthropologie, but the book is also available for pre-order ($26.37) at amazon.com.

Crush Groove

Step on its foot pedal, and the Ecopod crushes plastic and aluminum containers and stores them in a plastic pod for curbside recycling. The unit also contains pods for newspapers, glass bottles, and plastic bags. $328 at Williams-Sonoma. [via shelterrific]

The Food Section: Now "Jersey Fresh!"

So, after a summer sabbatical from publishing, we've resurfaced to post a brief update from our new home in Maplewood, New Jersey. The town (about 35 minutes from Manhattan by train) is sort of a suburban Park Slope-in-exile, with colonial houses instead of brownstones.

We're slowly acclimating to our new surroundings, enjoying the weekly farmer's market (whose small, but impressive bounty can be seen in the snaps below), and facing the typical ordeals of first-time homeowners, from a broken dishwasher and leaky faucets to tackling landscaping . . . speaking of which, any idea what kind of herb Anya is sniffing above (which has overtaken a good chunk of our garden)? It looks and smells like mint, but tastes awful.

We're picking up and leaving soon for a quick trip to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Upon our return, The Food Section will return to its regular diet of postings, including the occasional foray into the wilds of the Garden State.