All’s Fair

So where do you fit in on the State Fair Love It–Hate It meter? I love it, I worship it, I swim in its glory . . . but I have some likes and dislikes, too. You know me—always have to go sweet AND sour.

What I love:
Gizmo sandwiches
Footlongs at Speedy's on the northeast corner of the DNR booth
Sausages by Cynthia
Giggles Northwoods Campground
Cini-minnies
Lamb on a stick with homemade mint jelly
The animal barns
People-watching
Riding the Skyride and the Space Needle
Hitting Little Farmhands with my wife and our son
French fries
Nitro ice cream
West Indies Soul
Smelt at the Walleye-on-a-Stick booth in the food building
Curds
Mini-donuts
1919 root beer

What I don't:
Drunken carnies reeking of booze helping my kid in and out of the rides on the Kid Way.

The lack of safe, sanitary practices and safe food-handling in many food booths that I frequent.

The idea that folks like Marjorie Johnson won't be allowed to compete next year in the food competitions because she has a book coming out this year and would therefore be considered a professional, the same way they 86ed John Michael Lerma. What's next? Tell Barb Schaller she can't compete because she wins too much???

What I know:
That the first two items on my "don't like" agenda are problems that keep getting better, functions of inspection and training mechanisms that are improving each year. I'll be patient. They are better now than they were.

But the idea that the blue-ribbon State Fair food competitions aren't an open-entry pro-am, for lack of a better phrase, is just idiocy. I entered product one year (BBQ sauce) that was FANTASTIC and came in dead last. And it was fun for me and for all the folks who clobbered me. It's a juried competition, so David gets to beat Goliath! The more rules applied to this wonderful tradition, the worse off we all are and the greater the chance that it will go the way of the horse and buggy.

And how do they define professional? Isn't a winner of a cash prize or a gift-in-kind prize just as much a pro as Marjorie? Who is going to inspect her books to see if she makes money from her recipes collection? Entertaining the complaints from a few fringe lunatics about fairness and a level playing field re: the participation of so called "pros" in the contest is validating an argument without merit. Eliminating people like Marjorie from the competition is "fixing" something that isn't broken.

Hey Fair folks, cut out the rules! Let it be a pro-am—won't it be easier to manage? If anyone can think of a reasonable argument that convinces me otherwise, I will buy them a Hotdish-on-a-Stick!

And lastly, is it just me or is every animal born at the CHS Miracle of Birth absolutely fascinating to stare at for hours? It's amazing, and it’s one of my fave booths. What’s odd to me is that I spent the better part of last year eating them up in copious quantities in far-flung corners of the world. The baby pig and lamb in Spain—the younger the better—is one of my fave meals. Strange world.

Floods, Then Funnies

The pictures and stories out of southeastern Minnesota are heartbreaking and awe-inspiring at the same time. We all need to help out with this, especially those of us in the food biz. So after much talk from many quarters about helping out the Winona County flood relief efforts, here is what I know from Scott Pampuch at Corner Table and J. D. Fratzke from Muffuletta, two guys who are mobilizing all their resources. Way to go, fellas. And after all that, we'll need a laugh or two, so enjoy.

1. The biggest thing that people can do, now more than ever, is support the restaurants, supermarkets, and co-ops who buy local product.

2. These two are working on an online auction for gift certificates and "packages" that will raise money for the Red Cross Winona Chapter that is the hub for relief efforts in Rushford, Stockton, Minnesota City, etc.

3. Stay tuned to these pages about the September 8 citywide night-out restaurant event. The idea is that you go out to eat at a participating restaurant on that night and a portion of the proceeds benefits the Red Cross in Winona County.

4. Scottt and J. D. are talking with Lori Callister at Farm in the Market about doing something at Midtown Global Market.

So if you want to help, or have ideas, call or email these guys at their restaurants. You can also network with other like-minded people here on these pages.

Now the news of the weird . . .

First there was the spilled McDonald’s coffee, then the Wendy’s finger-in-the-chili incident, now comes this tale . . . a complete waste of time and money. A twelve-year-old boy has charges for assault dropped. The original charge? He threw a sausage. A cocktail wiener, to be exact.

And speaking of the Golden Arches, the Big Mac turned forty years old . . .

And speaking of fast food, those folks have known for years about how smell works to entice patrons to buy certain products. Realtors know the power of cookies baking in a prospective home’s oven. Now from Canada comes tales of a liquor store that uses the smell of fresh cut grass to sell beer, baguettes to sell wine, and coconuts to sell rum.

From NYC comes the news of the Acatemy . . . and yes, it’s a mighty stretch to assume anyone cares about cats and their diets, but our cat Belle Zimmern could use something like this . . . and my buddy Cat Cora was there cooking.

They are now selling a fork that encourages dieting. I kid you not. But what if you use your hands?

Leave it to the Japanese to chime in first and loudest on increasing beer consumption in China, where they're raising a few billion pints to their own success.

Would you like some Hepatitis A with your Jamba Juice? 

And finally, for anyone who thinks I treat food (like snakes) differently than other people treat food, check this out . . .

On a personal note I am doing the Today show on October 1. Fun.

Peaches and Dreams

OK, so in the current issue of the magazine we have a piece I wrote about Colorado peaches, one of my fave fruits, and right now there are cases and cases of them piled high in the produce section of most supermarkets. Buying them by the case is my style, simply because I like to make quarts of the compote (see magazine) and pies by the score (see below). This recipe came about six or so years ago when I was making a video for a cooking how-to series that never went anywhere—one of them was on pie-making. I love this pie, and as pies go, it’s pretty foolproof. I serve it with vanilla ice cream or crème fraiche, seasoned with a few teaspoons of brown sugar.

Peach Streusel Pie

Streusel
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. sliced almonds
5 T. butter, melted and cooled

Filling
6 c. peeled and sliced peaches (about 3 lbs.)
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. almond extract . . . use the natural stuff!
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. instant tapioca
2 t. grated fresh ginger

Crust
1 disc of the classic pastry (see below) . . . for this pie, use the half
     lard/half butter option

Make streusel. Place flour, 1/3 c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. sugar, and almonds in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse to combine. Set aside.

Heat oven to 400. Toss peaches with lemon juice and almond extract in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. sugar, tapioca, and ginger. Stir into peaches. Let rest while preparing crust.

Roll out crust into 11-inch circle on lightly floured surface. Line 9-inch glass pie pan with dough; crimp edges. Add peaches, top with streusel, and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 45–60 minutes or until bubbly and thickened. Let cool on wire rack. Makes 8 servings.

CLASSIC PASTRY
2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. salt
14 T. chilled lard, vegetable shortening, or butter
OR
1/2 c. lard or vegetable shortening and 6 T. butter
6–8 T. ice water

Combine flour and salt in medium mixing bowl. Cut lard, shortening, or butter into 1/2-inch cubes and work into flour with fingertips or pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-sized pieces of fat remaining. Toss with 6 T. of water and, with fingertips, draw together in a ball, sprinkling with enough remaining water, if necessary, to gather together. Divide in two; flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to firm. Makes two 9-inch crusts.

Washed Out, But Not Washed Up!

I wanted to pass-on parts of a couple of e-mails I received from J. D. Fratzke, the chef at Muffuletta in St. Paul. He got these messages from Lisa Klein at Hidden Streams and Pam Benike from the Southeast Minnesota Food Network. J.D. told me that for Winona guys like Scott Pampuch, Peter Boettcher, Matt Schoeller, and himself, the storms last weekend hit particularly close to home. For the rest of the local-fresh-best cooking and dining community in the metro (Brenda, Lenny, Alex, Tracy, etc.), it could affect a lot of supply at what is supposed to be peak season. 

J.D. notes that:

Commercial ramifications aside, the flooded areas are filled with the friends that we've all made over the past five and ten years. We've built our livelihoods and reputations on their hard work and dedication to an ethic important to all of us. If anyone should find a way to lead the charge and step in to help, it's chefs like us. When the water recedes and all the damage is tallied, we'll have a better idea of what kind of aid will be needed, how quickly, and where it most needs to go. My cousin is a sheriff's deputy in Wabasha, and he tells me that between, federal, county, military, and volunteers, they're currently tripping over each other trying to get help out to people. However, I would like to start laying the groundwork for some kind of long-term, chef-led relief effort now.

Count me in, and as soon as J.D. has more info on what we as a food community will be doing, I will let you know on these pages. The e-mails J.D. received are below:

Thanks for the e-mail and checking in. We received 10" as best as we can tell. All the water went down the waterways and left us alone. Whitewater and Hill and Vale are both fine. Our friend Eric Hoiland who raises turkeys finally called last nite and said that he and his family lost everything. He had his entire crop of 2000 turkey for thanksgiving get washed away in Rushford. He sounded very confused and disoriented. All we can do is what until they ask for our help. Another young farmer in Houston her parents had a mudslide come through their house and 6 inches from where her mom and dad were sleeping. Fortunatly, they built their house out of concrete, otherwise they wouldn't be here today. We are going to take their 3-week-old chickens and raise them on our farm for them. She said their cattle and horses are somewhere in the woods. Once we can corral them we will most likely bring them here as well.  — Lisa Klein

We are still assessing damage and have not been able to contact all our producers yet.  Most of our farms are wet, but not washed away. Our sad news this afternoon is that the body of a nephew of JoAnn and Merlin Burt, the family who does most of our beef processing, was found this afternoon. He had been missing since Sunday. We will be sending out info to our customers so those that wish to do so can extend their sympathies to the family. We also found out that Eric Hoiland, a former network member, lost his home and all his turkeys. Thanks for the offer of assistance. Once we hear from everyone, we will be able to let everyone know if there is anything that needs to be done. Thanks again. — Pam Benike

On a happier note . . .

I spent the last few days with some old (Cat Cora) and some new (Gavin Kaysen) chef friends. Cat and Gavin are both being pretty close-lipped about the upcoming season of Next Iron Chef, the one where eight chefs compete for a coveted fifth Iron Chef spot. Cat was in town for Glamorama, and Gavin was in town for a benefit dinner he was cooking for his high school alma mater. Gavin spent last Friday evening at Corner Table after eating dinner with his folks, and he loved it.

On Thursday, September 20, 2007, Tria Restaurant will be hosting a dinner with Mark Brownstein from Food Hunter. Brownstein and Tria executive chef Shelagh Connolly will be preparing a multi-course dinner, paired with wines, blah blah blah. But here’s the cool part: Brownstein travels through remote areas of Asia to search for old, forgotten, or unknown dishes, foods, and flavors in order to sell those foods to creative chefs around the world. He is a food hunter, a real one. Brownstein became well-known in Germany and France as the “Food Hunter” after an hour-long documentary aired there in 2005, and six new Food Hunter episodes will be coming this fall. More info soon from Tria.

Convenient, Fast, Too Convenient, Too Fast

I fell in love with vending machines after spending time in Japan. On every street corner, in every neighborhood, in every large shop, there are vending machines. They sell hot noodle soup, beer, sake, BBQ, and mochi out of these state-of-the-art, twenty-second-century machines. Now comes Hot Nosh, a Kosher vending machine that is available 24/6 (that’s right—got to observe the Sabbath, bubbelah!). Why aren’t vending machines as popular in our country as they are in others? Entitlement and culture, that’s why. What do you think?

In local news, a truck drove up and into and onto the Cliquot Cafe patio, injuring thirteen. Apparently the driver of the vehicle was headed there to retrieve a “to-go” order and passed out as the car neared the restaurant. The driver then lost control, and the results, I think, everyone knows by now. What were the odds of that happening? So here is the big question, do restaurants now need to vet the sobriety of customers headed to their businesses to grab and go?

I've brought up the water-bottle issue before, and now I bring you more solid numbers from Time magazine. In this market, the only large food company to step up and say NO MORE BOTTLED WATER is Big Bowl. I am 100% for supporting local, independently owned and operated restaurants—they are the lifeblood of our community—but I think people sometimes decry the chain restaurants like lemmings. Here is a great example of a chain leading by example.

From Cool News and Reveries, one of my fave websites for marketing and PR, comes this jewel. For those of us who have been screaming about scratch cooking and its values, it makes a great case for why people like Sandra Lee at Food Network don’t have a leg to stand on when they say convenience trumps scratch cooking.

As it turns out, it takes most people about the same amount of time to prepare meals using "pre-packaged convenience food" as it does to cook a meal from scratch, reports Tara Parker-Pope in The Wall Street Journal (8/7/07). Reason is, when we cook from scratch we keep things simple. When we use convenience foods, we tend to get a bit more elaborate. That's according to an ethnographic study (abstract here) by UCLA researchers, who "videotaped the cooking habits of 32 middle-class Los Angeles families with two working parents . . . The study showed that meals with little or no convenience foods took 26 to 93 minutes to prepare. Meals that used a lot of convenience foods took 25 to 73 minutes to prepare."

"When people use convenience foods, they are ramping up expectations for how elaborate a dinner should be," says anthropologist Margaret Beck. For example: "One family made a simple meal of sandwiches and edamame, using bread, cheese, greens, salmon, and tomatoes. Another family had a six-dish convenience-food meal of microwave barbecued ribs, macaroni and cheese, prebagged salad, bagged dinner rolls and a cookies and ice-cream dessert." Both meals took a half-hour to prepare." A key difference, obviously, is that the first family didn't consume nearly as much in the way of "preservatives, unhealthy fats and sodium."

The issue is, "parents often justify using the less-healthful convenience foods because they feel the time saved in cooking can be used to help kids with homework or play at the end of a busy day." Health experts hope that if it takes just as long to prepare a "convenient" meal, more people might "opt for simpler, healthier fare." As Margaret Beck puts it: "People should give themselves a break . . . It's OK to put a simple meal on the table."

Clamtastic

Not everyone loves big fat Atlantic surf clams. Salty, chewy, and briny in the extreme, there is nothing better eaten raw, though very few are sold for that purpose in this part of the country. I like to take fresh large cherrystone clams about 2 inches high and about 3 inches across and shuck them, serving them on the half shell with buttered toast and a sturdy cocktail sauce, a big pile of sliced lemons at my elbow. I use smaller clams for pasta (the smaller size are called littlenecks) and every once in a while I crave a good stuffie. Stuffies are what New Englanders call these fabulous baked clams that are the end result of the recipe below. Heaven.

Baked Clams

Clams
3 T. minced garlic
2 T. minced parsley
1/4 c. minced shallots
3 T. olive oil
1 c. white wine
36 large cherrystone clams, scrubbed and cleaned

Sweat garlic, parsley, and shallots in oil, add wine and, when boiling, add clams. Steam to open in the white wine court bouillon. Strain and reserve liquid, then discard top shells of clams and set aside clams in their ‘bottom’ shells. Serves 4-6 as an appetizer or small dinner course.

Stuffing
1/4 c. olive oil
1 t. Spanish paprika
2 T. minced garlic
2 T. minced parsley
1 T. fresh thyme
4 T. minced bacon
1/2 c. each minced red pepper, onion, celery
1/4 c. fresh clam juice (reserved juices from above work great)
1/2 c. fresh breadcrumbs, or more as needed
2 T. melted butter
2 T. lemon juice

Place oil in a large pan over high heat and add herbs, spices, seasonings, bacon, and vegetables. Sauté until cooked through and add fresh clam juice. Cook until pan is nearly dry. Toss vegetable mix with breadcrumbs, butter, and lemon juice. Stuff on top of clams and bake/broil until crispy. Serve.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Here is a really good article from The Washington Post on the problems with Chinese imports. Am I the only person waiting for the shoe to drop on imports of edibles? We only look at about 5% of the containers that come into this country, at best. When is the food-borne illness outbreak going to occur?

Speaking of dangerous, my old buddy Giada De Laurentiis is the official sex symbol of the Food Network, and she makes a nice scungilli! She is also the first signee to be a roving reporter for the newly expanded Today Show.

This guy has a book coming out soon, and I can’t wait.  Many of this blog's readers have worked in the food-service industry, so I thought you might enjoy reading through the archives.

The Great Minnesota Get Together starts in a week . . . and I am giddy with excitement. The new foods this year do nothing for me, but the hunger I have built up over the last 350 days for a Gizmo sandwich, a footlong, a Cynthia sausage, a lemonade, some cheese curds at The Original Cheese Curds on the exterior of the food building, some fried green tomatoes, a scoop of Nitro Ice Cream dropped into a vat of root beer, some mini donuts, come Cini-Minnis, a brat at Ben’s, and—of course—some French fries is threatening to overwhelm me. Bad news, I am not going to be at Fox this year every day, but I am going to do a segment or two for them on new foods. Good news, we are shooting for my Travel Channel show out there and including the fair footage in our third show of season two. And of course, each weekday I will be up on Machinery Hill from 1–3 p.m. at the FM107 booth.

Body Count: Here are the body counts for three restaurants. All of them are (relatively) new eateries. For the equivocators out there, Via was two-thirds full, Harry’s under half full, and Landmarc about 15% full. All counts taken at exactly 7:30 p.m. sharp on Wednesday.

Via – 198 and rocking

Landmarc – 11, not including the oversized popovers

Harry’s – 89 and hopping

For the curious, and I get emails about this issue all the time, Via is the new brainchild of Anoush Ansari and his partners, the folks behind Atlas, Kebobi, and Mission. Landmarc is Michael Morse’s bistro (my old boss from the first incarnation of Café Un Deux Trois fifteen years ago) in the Normandy Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, and Harry’s is the remade gastro– burger bar in the old Nochee space where Steven Brown is in residence.

Airforce Nutrisoda is sponsoring a Sodalicious Recipe Contest, inviting entrants to submit a recipe that incorporates Nutrisoda as one of the ingredients. According to their flack:

“Good chefs love the Good Soda for providing a deliciously healthy way to elevate the dining experience,” says Joe Heron, founder and CEO of Ardea Beverage Company. “In fact, raves from star chefs like Marc Murphy of Landmarc in New York City, Rick Tramanto of Tru in Chicago and Matt Zubrod of Dish in Aspen, inspired the competition.”

Finalist’s recipes will be re-created by Nutrisoda’s world-class chef advisors, and judged on originality, creative use, and integration into a recipe. All submissions must be accompanied by a photo. Those who feel particularly inspired can also submit a video demonstrating their skills, as well as their ability to be the next TV celebrity chef. Specially priced Nutrisoda is available for contest entrants.

One grand-prize winner will receive a trip to New York City to attend the May 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards. The prize includes airfare courtesy of American Airlines, two nights at the W Hotel, VIP access to all events and parties, and spa treatment at the Nutrisoda Chef Oasis, attended only by James Beard Foundation Award nominees. Second and third prize winners will receive a twenty-four-can Rainbow Pack of Nutrisoda each month for a year. Contestants are invited to register and upload their recipes and videos now through Dec. 31, 2007. Ten finalists will be selected on Jan. 10, 2008. Winners—judged by Nutrisoda’s panel of chefs—will be announced on Feb. 15, 2008.

Flattery Will Get You . . .

I love the vitriol on this blog's comments page—nothing like real discourse on real issues. It is rare that someone’s post inspires me to respond within the context of the blog itself but a loyal community member took time from his day to ask me why I occasionally slip into political chat and made the point of looking elsewhere when I don't stick 100 percent to food fodder on this page. Look elsewhere, my friend. And a small reminder . . . a famous man once said all politics is local, and since we all grow where we are planted and we all eat where we live, and since all of our collective wisdom would say that we generally can agree that politics touches what we eat every day, I would say this is the best place to talk about real issues, even political ones. From who gets licensed to operate a restaurant, to who gets subsidized to grow corn, from minimum livable wages for single moms waitressing three shifts a week for extra dough to feed their kids to the import restrictions on unpasteurized cheese . . . need I go on?

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Today the website that I run, AndrewZimmern.com, debuts its newest feature, the Kitchen Table. I love it, let me know what you think.

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Mike Smith, the director of programming at KSTP, e-mailed me last week to see if I was interested in co-hosting the new Good Company–style TV show that KSTP-TV is producing. The 3 p.m. TV show for women “is about life and living in Minnesota. Not just the fashion, fun, and food. But, also, something to take away from it about money, or education, or politics, etc . . .” is how Mike described it to me. Did anyone go to the cattle-call auditions at Mall of America last month for this venture? What do you think about the revival of the old Steve and Sharon goldmine? I was on that show in 1992, and always thought it was the perfect vehicle for this market. Thoughts?

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Anyone heard of watermelon steak?  I love this kind of dish.

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In our police-blotter quip of the day, the New York Post reports that: "Last month's felony convictions could mean last call for the Ciprianis. The family could be forced to sell off crown jewels in their fine-dining and party empire after family corporations that run the Rainbow Room and the Ciprianis' downtown and Grand Central hot spots pleaded guilty to tax evasion."

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Also from the NYP: Kitchen Nightmares (the BBC version) is my fave food-related TV show. Based on Gordon Ramsay's current popularity, it seems that these days the measure of success you derive is directly proportional to the number of lawsuits you have pending against you.

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And speaking of Ramsay, how disappointing was last night’s Hell’s Kitchen finale? Neither one of these characters can run their own kitchen in the sense that the show intimates. One look at the winners from the last two seasons will show you where Rock is headed. I love this show for the train wreck of the personalities that collide each week, not to be told in the season’s conclusion that these two are ‘great chefs’ . . . annoying. I think for next season—and based on the boffo ratings there will be one—they need to pick the craziest kitchen psychopaths with the most talent. Sort of merge their content with the Top Chef concept and make everyone happy.

Tomato Heads 101, Part Two

My mother went to college in San Francisco, and her first college boyfriend turned her on to cioppino back in the 1940s. Growing up, summertime meant cioppino time. Friday night was reserved for black-and-blue grilled sirloin, corn, and tomato salad. Saturday was either striped bass grilled over an open fire on the beach or a cioppino dinner. I love the simplicity of this recipe. The other dish is a tad complex with quite a few moving parts, but it is awesome and relatively easy once you make your way through it the first time. Also, plenty of the pieces can be done ahead of time. Essentially, it is a more highly evolved version of poached shrimp, served over cold tomato gazpacho, and worth every minute spent on it.

San Francisco Lobster and Clam Cioppino
1 c. dry white wine
1 qt. fresh tomato sauce (remember last week's recipe?)
1/2 c. diced shallots
1/4 t. red chile flakes
1 sprig fresh basil
1/2 t. dried oregano, or more to taste . . . I find a little goes a long way.
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 c. olive oil
2 small lobsters, each weighing roughly 1-1/4 lbs.
3 dozen cherrystone clams, scrubbed and rinsed

Place the olive oil in a large pot over high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and herbs. Cook briefly and add the white wine. It will begin boiling almost right away. Count to 30 and add the tomato sauce.

Kill the lobsters by plunging a knife through their carapace 1 inch behind their eyes. Split them lengthwise, reserving the roe or tomalley if it falls out of the shell.

When sauce is boiling again add the clams, lobsters, and lobster bits. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or so, tossing the pot once to promote even cookery. Serve when the clams are open. If you like, you can add mussels, calamari, crab, or fin fish pieces about halfway through, but I like the lobster and clam version on its own.

Sprinkle with a hefty amount of chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper and serve in wide, low bowls with plenty of crusty bread

Fresh Tomato Cocktails with Soused Shrimp and Iced Aquavit

Make the shrimp ahead of time, then make the tomato puree and refrigerate briefly before composing the cocktails.

The Cocktails
3 lbs. green zebra tomatoes
1 t. sea salt
1 t. Crystal hot sauce
2 t. Worcester sauce
1 t. ground cumin
1 T. lemon juice

Peel and gently seed the tomatoes. Pulse in a food processor, or put through a food mill, and season with the remaining ingredients.

Divide into 4 or 6 large, wide glasses, rimmed with seasoned caraway salt, then add a few of the shrimp and serve, drizzling with iced aquavit if you care to.

The Shrimp
2 lbs. medium sized shrimp (about 15 per pound)
1 bay leaf
1 T. crushed peppercorns
1 lemon in quarters
3 ears sweet corn kernels, cut from the cob
1 c. shaved scallions
1 lemon thinly sliced
2 fresh hot green chiles, split
5 sprigs fresh marjoram

The Sauce
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
3 T. minced dill
3 T. white vinegar
2 T. sugar
1/2 c. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan, place the shrimp in just enough water to cover. Add the bay leaf, peppercorns, and the quartered lemon, squeezed. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add the corn, marjoram, chile and stir once. Remove from heat. Drain and turn into a serving bowl. Remove the lemon and bay leaf. Fold in the scallions and lemon slices. Pour the vinaigrette over the corn/shrimp. Let stand for 20 minutes, tossing occasionally, and it’s ready to go.

Thursday Traffic Jam

So much stuff in the news and notes folder in my computer that I am barely able to contain myself. It’s a jihad against information clutter . . . so here we go.

Vegansexual?? Why does everything have to go there? Although I find the notion quite charming.

Just off the top of my head, Daniel Boulud was sued last year, and locally, Chino got hit with litigation earlier in the year. Now JGV is sued . . . AGAIN. Yes, this is slightly older news, but hey, I am cleaning out the proverbial e-drawer here. These issues are not going away. They will only increase, locally as well as nationally, as we continue to bifurcate our wage-earners into a classist structure of haves and have-nots, where low-end wage earners are consistently taken advantage of because the majority of them have no legal clout in this country.

Bottled water is the next sacrificial lamb in the ongoing efforts to have us clean up our environment and purge our souls of all the guilt that has accumulated over the last few generations of excess, ignorance, and wanton disregard for how our actions affect our planet and those around us. Check out these great articles by Frank Bruni and the NYT editorial board.

McDonald's runs taste trials with kids . . . over and over and over again. I'm hoping Noah doesn't succumb to what study author Dr. Tom Robinson said about the kids' perception of taste being "physically altered by the branding." But based on everything I know about this subject, it is too late for us all.

Here are photos from wd-50, Wylie Dufrense's restaurant in NYC. I love his food and go there almost every time I am in NYC. Hers is the question, do you think this looks appetizing? Does the idea of eating there excite you? Please chime in.

Nat Decants is one of my fave wine e-zines, and Ms. Maclean is a wonderful wino. She has a way cool wine matcher on her site that I really like for novice grape heads. And once again I will state emphatically that if it didn’t get you buzzed, very few people would drink it. NOWHERE WILL YOU EVER SEE A WINE WRITER SAY THAT!

Body Count from 7:30 p.m. last night, Wednesday, August 8:

Masa – 82 out of 180 available seats

Fugaise – 22 out of 60

My Burger in Chisago – 12, just standing around, eating burgers

Watershed Moment

I read other food writing in town. I do. And many of us (food scribes) have the same thoughts and the same takes on what is happening in our food world. And we look at the same evidence and draw many of the same conclusions. Sometimes we have subtle shades of gray that separate our ideas from each other. Here is one great example.

Dara wrote a great piece the other week in the CP about the Flicker-Brown-Woodman renaissance, playing off of her column from seven months ago about the opposite side of the same issue. BTW, am I the only one ready to say out loud that what she has written over the last year is better than her previous material? She gets better all the time as a writer. But I digress . . . .

Well actually, let me digress further by saying that so often food writers never admit in print who they read or why. It always seemed odd to me, but whatever . . . only first-time readers of this blog won’t know that I am a big fan of hers, and of Rick’s as well.

OK, back to my point. I had the idea for a similar piece—the "Destry Rides Again" theme is a familiar notion—but after reading all the stuff in print and online, I am oddly uncomfy with the idea that all is well in our food-land future. I feel better about it than I did six months ago, but Flicker and Brown are not cooking with all of their skill-set available to them, and they are cooking in kitchens that are not 100 percent theirs. They are both cooking within a genre, and although right now they seem content 'doing the job’ that’s in front of them, they are 'in between projects,' as it were. I’ve been there myself. No one in our business is immune to the slings and arrows of the taste-whims of the general public, and they are taking a breather from making art by indulging in commerce. But I think they’ll try art again soon.

With the Woodmans looking like they are finally going to open their own restaurant, I am optimistic in the main about our food scene, but I think the jury is still out on whether or not in three years our town will be bursting at the seams with unique and interesting places to dine at several price levels, or whether we will be eternally opening and closing smaller venues while keeping larger and less compelling restaurants like Bank or Crave in business for years. I will say this: If the Woodmans' restaurant is successful, and I think it will be the perfect venue for them, look for more restaurants like it to open in the neighborhoods where the customers are living. The new Bon Appetit mag has a great piece on small restaurants that presages this idea coming true here. Think of 112’s success. I think that chefs opening multi-million-dollar restaurants with loads of risk are a thing of the past in our town, at least for the foreseeable future. Smaller, more focused eateries, where they have to put less skin in the game, are going to flourish. When Solera opened, I saw it as a grand temperature-taking moment. At the time, I wrote that if it was embraced, it would mark a watershed moment in our city’s food life, inspiring a new generation of good and great eateries to open and flourish. It was, and that happened. I think the same thing will happen with the Woodman place, inspiring smaller chef-driven personal restaurants to pop up left and right. And mark my words, despite whatever you read from Flicker and Brown in the press (and I should say that I am making a guess here—I have talked to neither of them in ages), these two will be inexorably drawn back to doing their own thing at some point.

I have been away for weeks and weeks, has anyone eaten at Landmarc yet? Harry’s? And for the record, the new Niver-Johnson project in St. Paul sounds fabulous, does it not? St. Paul needs more of that.

Tomato Heads 101, Part One

Tomatoes are flooding into markets, so the next few weeks, I’ll try to focus on this, my favorite of all foods, fresh tomatoes. It’s a big honkin’ food-writing cliché to wax poetic and drone on and on about the glories of sliced, fresh tomatoes on thin toast with mayonnaise, or tomatoes from the garden drizzled with olive oil, or tomatoes eaten out-of-hand like an apple . . . but they are all true. I had a version of the dish below (roasted cherry tomatoes with lobster salad and tarragon) at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants a few months ago, and I was reminded to dig out my fave tomato salad, incorporating small roasted tomatoes still on the vine. The idea is to roast them slowly enough so that they shrivel and intensify with flavor, but stay on the stems. It is a beautiful-looking dish, and the oven does all the work for you. The other recipe is for a wonderful and simple home-style tomato sauce that can be a master recipe for inclusion in any dish. Next week, I’ll dig up something for you to use it with.

Hot and Cold Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes and Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella Salad
1 lb. mozzarella di buffalo (or a bit more, if you have a hankerin’)
4 pints Sweet 100 or cherry tomatoes . . . Yellow, red, and gold ones make a great plate, but you’ll want some of them to be ‘stem on.’ If you are using stem-on tomatoes, it’s hard to measure pints, so just use what you would feel comfy eating.
2 T. olive oil
6 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. minced shallots
2 T. red wine vinegar
Basil chiffonade (thinly cut ribbons) to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 275. Toss half the tomatoes in the olive oil to barely coat, then season and place on a baking sheet fitted with a no-stick liner or baking paper. Roast until blistered and shriveled. This will take a few hours depending on the size of the tomatoes, and it can be done in advance. My tomatoes take about 3–4 hours, just keep an eye on yours. You can also do this at 500 degrees for 7–10 minutes but you have to be more mindful of exploding tomatoes.

Cut the remaining raw tomatoes in half. Cool the cooked ones, and arrange both the cooked and raw tomatoes on thin slices of the cheese, divided onto 6 plates. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar, then sprinkle with the basil, salt, and pepper.

Season and serve. Serves 4–6 as a first course.

Perfect Tomato Sauce for Anything
10–12 lbs. mixed red tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
1/4 c. minced yellow onion
3 sprigs basil
2 sprigs oregano
2 sprigs parsley
2 t. sea salt
4 oz. extra virgin olive oil
6 oz. dry white wine

Peel and seed the tomatoes, then crush them in a food mill.

Place half the oil in a large, wide, well-insulated, non-reactive pot over low-medium heat. Add the garlic, onions, salt, and the herb sprigs tied together. Cook until aromatic and onions are translucent. Do not let the garlic burn.

Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the tomatoes. Bring to a slow boil and lower heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook for about an hour or until the watery liquids have for the most part cooked off. You do not want a watery sauce.

Discard the herb bouquet. Add the balance of the oil. Simmer for another 5 minutes and cool. Adjust seasoning.

Use as needed or freeze. Makes roughly 3 quarts.

The Wake-Up Call

My FM107 cohost Colleen Kruse has a message for everyone about the recent collapse of the bridge spanning the Mississippi. For all the people in Minnesota, around our country, and abroad who have been making contact with friends and loved ones here, or for anyone wondering about the power of human experience and the ability to make a difference, check this out. The music in this video is by Minneapolis singer/songwriter Karen Paurus. You can check out Colleen's blog regularly on FM1071.com . . .

This Just In

La Belle Vie honcho Tim McKee and his partners have hired Michelle Gayer to be the new executive pastry chef, overseeing the dessert menus of both La Belle Vie and Solera.

Michelle, besides being one of my favorite folks in our town's food world, is the most critically acclaimed pastry chef in the Twin Cities. She's a James Beard “Best Chef” nominee, and the editors of Bon Appétit magazine named her the “Best Pastry Chef" in America in 2002. Michelle is an alum of Charlie Trotter’s and Trotter’s To Go in Chicago, having cowritten Charlie Trotter’s Desserts with the acclaimed super-chef. In 2005, she came to Minneapolis to run the pastry world at Franklin Street Bakery.

And what of Adrienne Odom, a woman who should have received several James Beard nods of her own for any of the last five years? She's off to NYC to take over the pastry kitchens at Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit and Scandinavia House restaurants in New York City. In an e-mail to me on Monday, Tim told me that:

Adrienne is going back to New York to be the Executive Pastry Chef for all of Marcus Samuelsson's restaurants, there are a few more in the works. It is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I couldn't be more happy for her, although we will certainly miss her.

All of these people are class acts, and it's a quad win: Marcus, Michelle, Adrienne, and Tim are all coming out on the plus side of this equation. Nice.

Trade Talk

The collapse of the 35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis is one of the most horrific local news stories in recent memory. Here at Chow & Again, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone whose lives have been touched by this tragedy. It's too soon to start asking certain types of questions, but road and highway safety continues to be a major concern for all Americans as our local and national surface-transport infrastructure ages. Be safe. Moving on . . .

Rumors flew last week that there would be a major shake-up in the local pastry world. If you know what I am talking about, good. If not, I feel your pain. Look to this page again tomorrow morning for the news that I learned on Monday and had to swear to secrecy over. Suffice to say that all parties and restaurants involved are going to be very happy . . . and that this tidbit involves the two most talented and awarded pastry queens in the Twin Cities. I am biting my lip I am so eager to spill this one . . . but a promise is a promise. Check back over coffee Friday morning—this one is bigger than the Wolves-Celtics deal.

Two weeks ago, I am on a plane flying back from LA with my wife, and who is sitting behind us but Wolves guard Ricky Davis? I am a huge sports geek, but I don’t recognize him. Despite his bigger-than-average size, guards are small, and so I don’t notice him on the plane, except that the flight attendants are making a big deal out of the dude, and he’s singing hip-hop tunes the whole flight home. I figure he’s a huge music star . . . besides the great voice, the fella’s wearing a ton of real diamonds and a killer watch. At one point, he leans between the seats and taps me on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me for interrupting you, but I am a huge fan, and we watch you all the time at my house. How did you eat that fish in Trinidad?”

Well, I flipped out when he introduced himself to Rishia and I, and then, when I asked him if the team would ever trade KG, he emphatically said no way, insisting that no team would be stupid enough to trade an NBA player of Kevin’s caliber without getting equal value in return. Guess Ricky forgot about Kevin McHale and Glenn Taylor’s deficient gene pool in the smarts department. How is it that Boston comes out looking like the team to beat in the East and the Wolves look like they are starting over again . . . for the ninth time? Ugh.

Hot stove-talk from the world of food TV . . . . The Next Iron Chef is a new series premiering October 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network. Here’s the skinny: Food Network is looking to add one more Iron Chef America to the world’s most exclusive culinary club of Bobby, Mori, Mario, and Cat. But the contestants/finalists will each have at least ten years of culinary experience, including a minimum of five years at an executive chef level. Taping at a secret, decked-out “Chairman’s Lair” at the Culinary Institute of America, contestants will go head to head for the title of the Next Iron Chef through a series of battles determined by the Chairman to measure their culinary abilities. The six-part series will premiere October 7, with the first battle for the newly crowned Iron Chef premiering November 18 at 9 p.m. I am going to be interviewing the "loser" of the previous week’s show about his or her experience, what it was like competing against such a distinguished group of chefs, etc., as well as doing a series of interviews with the Chairman himself and host Alton Brown, highlighting the week’s events and the participating chef-competitors. Look for news on this as the months pass by.

The eight contestants include:

– John Besh (New Orleans, LA) Executive Chef, Restaurant August, Besh Steak, Lüke, and La Provence

– Chris Cosentino (San Francisco, CA) Executive Chef, Incanto

– Jill Davie (Santa Monica, CA) Executive Chef, JOSIE

– Traci Des Jardins (San Francisco, CA) Executive Chef & Co-owner, Jardinière, Mijita, and Acme Chophouse

– Gavin Kaysen (San Diego, CA) Chef de Cuisine, El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn

– Morou Ouattara (Washington, DC) Executive Chef & Owner, Farrah Olivia

– Aarón Sánchez (New York, NY) Executive Chef & Owner, Centrico and Paladar

– Michael Symon (Cleveland, OH) Executive Chef & Owner, Lola and Lolita

Here’s my take, the two chefs with the best chance of winning are Besh and Symon, both of whom have the skills and the personalities to handle the competition. Anyone local that you think could handle the Iron Chef pressure cooker and emerge victorious? I like Jack Reibel’s chances in stuff like this—a great cook and tough as a sledgehammer.