New Books for Cooks

Probably you don’t have enough cookbooks.

We can remedy that.

Read more …

Philly: Want extra surly with that?

It’s been cheese-steak this and cheese-steak that ever since The Really Honorable Ed Rendell came to Harrisburg … and all the cheese steak places here come with a lot of attitude.

Apparently the NYT sent Frank Bruni to Philadelphia to analyse the Surly/Steak connection.

“Does such an establishment actually cultivate a mild surliness as a way of instilling in customers a sense that they’re lucky to be there? Or as a way of saying: what we serve is so rare and distinctive we don’t need to bother with courtesy? Or is the surliness a consequence of the adulation bestowed upon it?

“Either way, we’re talking about a gruffness and aloofness that recall the soup Nazi from “Seinfeld,” a kind of figure I feel I’m seeing more and more often. Though sometimes it’s the pizza Nazi. Or, at other times, the cheese steak Nazi …”

(Read More … registration probably required, but it’s free. And worth it.)

How to eat a moose

The Inquirer’s Joseph Gambardello married into a Viking family, Danish Americans. Game is not rare on the dinner table, but moose is something special.

“The roast itself was provided by 86-year-old great-uncle Eric Pedersen, who got the moose on a hunting expedition in Newfoundland a few months earlier.

“He said that it was a young moose – about 600 pounds – and that he had shot it at a distance of 125 yards. (Not bad for an octogenarian.)

“He shipped home only 165 pounds of the meat, at some cost, and gave the rest to his guide.

“I had wanted to watch Marianne’s 88-year-old grandmother, Anne, prepare the roast …

Read more …

Food styling

Did you ever order a Happy Meal and get something that looked considerably unlike the picture of the Happy Meal that was on the wall?

That’s called food styling.

It’s a whole sorta kinda culinary career path based on making food look more appetizing in an ad or a food magazine feature than it will look when you make the dish or buy it.

Some guy named Jeff Kay in Scranton, Pa., did a whole web page of photos showing the ad version next to the real deal. Sometimes, it really isn’t pretty.

I don’t think I’ll ever be tempted again by the KFC Famous Bowl.

Drink up

Remember Fresca?

The Coca-Cola Company has revamped the brand in cooperation with the Culinary Institute of America, and sales were up 21 percent last year, according to the 2006 Soft Drink Report.

Most soft drinks were down, but Fresca was juiced up for foodservice as Fresca Pomegranate. It’s a Fresca base with Seagram’s Club Soda and Odwalla PomaGrand juice added.

Coke also came out with its own foodservice flavor, Coca-Cola Hot Tamale. That’s Coke combined with Worchestershire sauce, hot sauce, fresh lime and black pepper.

The two flavors were marketed only to restaurants at first, but may show up on supermarket shelves.

A New Sue Review

The continuing adventures of Sue Gleiter, Food Writer.

Friends & Family Pizza opens

Fiesta Mexico, spawn of El Rodeo

10 Checkers Drive-ins planned here

Rock Bass Grill at former Catalano’s

Seafood and steak house takes over Wormleysburg lounge

T.J. Rockwell’s opens next to Ashcombe Farm & Greenhouses

Cornerstone at TecPort sold

Bayou changes hours (again)

Rock N Brew opens

… ESPN Zone meets adult-friendly Chuck E. Cheese

The area’s first LongHorn Steakhouse has turned on the grills

Dessert First at the Broad Street Market

Another coffeehouse joins downtown scene

Java’s Brewin’ opens at 240 N. Third St

Nonna’s Deli Sioso will move to 263 Reily St.

Second Euro-style chocolate shop opens, 6500 Carlisle Pike

Best of PennLive

From the Food & Drink forum

Some of you might find this interesting:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/AmericanRegionalFoods/RegionalAmericanIndex.htm

–jenmil

Bangkok Wok

Over off of Carlisle Pike, behind the Bob Evans and Friendly’s (down the street from PetsMart and Home Depot, Lowe’s). Great place for authentic Thai food. Pad Thai and drunken noodles were unbelievable. Best in the area by far. We have gone to every other Thai restaurant in the area and the service and food were the best at Bangkok Wok. Will visit again.

Caution: If you ask for spicy, expect spicy enough to make you tear up.

–mygreenbird

Amy’s in Carlisle has Bangkok Wok beat… they have an authentic Thai buffet. This isn’t like a Chinese food buffet, this is the real deal; Pad Thai, multiple curries, rice, noodles, soups, and other Thai foods. They also have a full menu but the buffet was only offered once a month and it got so crowded then, that they started offering it all the time.

I highly recommend it.

–Coppermine

James Cafe on Market, and then some

We didn’t know much about James Cafe, except for Sue Gleiter’s take on Chef James Carpenter and his local, seasonal approach to ingredients. We went there with friends and a New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

My wife and I split a warm salad starter — scallop and bacon on greens with small-dice potatoes. It was lovely, tasty and actually divided for two plates by the kitchen. Nice touch. Not only did they not fuss about splitting an appetizer, they made it easy. Service points for that. In fact, great service all around. If Carpenter did indeed grab the waitrons at Parev and haul them over to Camp Hill, it was a good grab.

She had salmon on wild rice as a main plat. I don’t know what qualifies as wild rice, exactly, but this was dark and well seasoned. I had the steak frites. I think it was flank steak, medium rare, a vibrant red center against the gray brown of the cooked edge. Excellent. Frites were good … could have done without the cheese sauce.

There was enough steak that we had takeaway, and our Saturday supper was steak and eggs on tomatoes and romaine lettuce with vinaigrette.

Oh, and I have to mention Easter Sunday. Made a garlicky pork roast and a broccoli recipe by NYT minimalist cook/columnist Mark Bittman: broccoli steam sauteed with anchovies and garlic. (If you don’t like garlic, don’t come to my house for dinner.) Anchovies could become my new secret ingredient.

Great weekend. Hope you had one too.