Leftovers!
Posted by Lee Zalben, February 8, 2012 at 4:15 PM
[Photographs: Lee Zalben]
I grew up in Philadelphia, home to many delicious things—soft pretzels, cheesesteaks, water ice, Tastycakes, and more. During the holidays, the de facto hostess gift for any party was always Whitman's Sampler, that iconic, cross-stitch-looking box which for many years was made exclusively in the City of Brotherly Love.
Whitman's is now owned by Russell Stover, and my taste buds have since come to appreciate more artisanal chocolates, but imagine my glee, as your nut columnist, when I spotted this all-peanut butter version of the classic assortment.
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From A Hamburger Today
Posted by Damon Gambuto, February 8, 2012 at 4:00 PM
[Photographs: Damon Gambuto]
Pier Burger
330 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica CA 90401 (map); 310-587-2747; pierburger.com
Cooking Method: Griddled
Short Order: A new Shake Shack-esque burger restaurant makes some burgers that match up to the original
Want Fries with That? Oh, yes! These skinny-cut fries are fantastic!
Prices: Pier Burger (w/ cheese), $4.50 (single), $6.50 (double)
If you're an Angeleno and anything like me you probably avoid The Santa Monica Pier like the plague. Don't get me wrong, I love an old-school pier—the all day fishers and ocean breezes never fail to evoke the best memories of my youth—but the Santa Monica Pier is nothing like the authentic piers of my memory. Rather, it's a self-styled tourist trap that literalizes the amusement park metaphor; that is to say, there really is a small amusement park aloft the pier that affords roller coaster views of the breakers.
But as tourist traps go, things could be much worse. Route 66 dips into the Santa Monica Bay, which stretches out for miles around you as the mild air floats between pleasant and meteorological perfection.
A recent visit from some out-of-town friends prompted revisiting the Santa Monica Pier. As expected, there were throngs of tourists crushing for room for a view. As you'd imagine, there was little fun to be had for me on this visit until I spotted a friendly sign: Pier Burger. Delightful. A new burger to try with my guests made the visit less the exercise in patience I'd expected it would be. In fact, the burger itself was attraction enough.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, February 8, 2012 at 3:30 PM
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
Though it kind of looks like a regular bowl of pasta, this fascinating Mexican recipe from Doña Tomás differs from most Italian versions in two dramatic ways. Instead of being simply cooked in boiling water, the nests of dried angel hair pasta are first fried in oil. Once drained, they are tossed in a tomato sauce, where they slowly soften and absorb the sauce. The strands finish with a variety of different textures—some become tender while others remain slightly crispy—and give off a wonderful nutty aroma.
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From Drinks
Posted by Michael J. Neff, February 8, 2012 at 3:00 PM
About the Author: You may have seen Michael Neff behind the bar at New York's Ward III and The Rum House. He stops by on Wednesdays to share insights on cocktails and the life of a barman.
[Photograph: Jessica Leibowitz]
What I'm Drinking:
Bols Barrel-Aged Genever (neat)
Racer 5 IPA (half-pint)
I was in line at the bank the other day, and thought about what it would be like if a bank were a bar. I've been in this line countless times, and the tellers know my face. Still, I have to hand over my driver's license and give them my account number. Regardless of how many times I come to this bank, they have rules to follow, and the fact that I come here on a regular basis gets me exactly zero when it comes to normalizing the transactions I have on a regular basis.
Bars are different. At a bar, you are accorded special privileges by being a regular customer. If a bartender knows your face (let alone your name), your drink tends to skip ahead in the line. David, an old and good friend who is in my bar three or four times a week, drinks Palm Belgian Amber. If I see him walk in to the building, I will pull him that pint, regardless of whatever else I have going on at the moment. I know what he wants, and we get to skip the step that necessitates him telling me what that is. The general benefit of "regular" status is, I'll pour it; you'll drink it, and we'll all go home.
Things get complicated when you factor in one of the major tools that bartenders use to connect to their clientele: the buy-back.
Buy-back, comp, promo; call it what you will. In every bar, there is a certain budget that allows for giving a customer a drink that they do not have to pay for. For those of us who work behind bars, the buy-back is a double-edged sword.
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From Sweets
Posted by Caroline Russock, February 8, 2012 at 2:45 PM
[Photograph: Ellen Silverman]
These pocket sized Coconut Cream Jar Pies from Handheld Pies are not exactly like the slice you'd find at your local diner, and the fact that it comes in a jar is only the beginning.
Sarah Billingsley and Rachel Wharton have crafted a take on classic coconut cream that feels updated and even a little elegant. Beginning with a flaky butter crust with just the right amount of salt, the custard that's spooned into the shells is intensely coconutty with chewy-tender shreds of unsweetened coconut and coconut milk and finished with a dollop of barely sweet whipped cream and a sprinkle of toasted coconut. Not exactly like the one you're going to find in your local diner's dessert case, but chances are they're not serving pies in jars either.
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Posted by Marisa McClellan, February 8, 2012 at 2:15 PM
[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]
In the early days of my parents' marriage, they teamed up with five other couples and bought a cow. They got about 75 pounds of meat from the deal and were thrilled to fill their freezer with locally raised beef. Unfortunately, as soon as they cooked up the first steak, they knew there was a problem with their purchase. The meat tasted strongly of licorice.
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Posted by Will Gordon, February 8, 2012 at 1:30 PM
"Qdoba gumbo is essentially a burrito emptied out into a bowl of underdeveloped broth."
[PhotographL Will Gordon]
Californians never tire of reminding me that because I live on the East Coast I do not have access to proper burritos, and I suppose I have no reason to doubt them. I've been to California a couple times without sampling the burritos, but it seems reasonable that the Mexican and Mexican-influenced foods of the West Coast are better than my options. Lucky for them, then, because I'm so satisfied with the New England knock-offs that I can't imagine how a burrito could be improved.
Even though Bostonians are deprived of real Californian Mexican food, we still have enough Mex-run taquerias and burriterias around that I've never felt the urge to go to Qdoba. I haven't avoided Qdoba on purpose, I've just never trained the fast-food-chain-shopping part of my brain to sync up with the burrito-eating part: I've never been to Chipotle, either. But I found a reason to try Qdoba last week when I saw a poster for their Mexican gumbo.
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From Drinks
Posted by Maggie Hoffman, February 8, 2012 at 1:00 PM
[Photographs: Alice Gao]
I'm pretty likely to love a drink called the Stay Up Late for the name alone, but this simple cocktail is totally delicious, too. This variation on the Tom Collins appeared in the 1946 Stork Club Bar Book by Lucius Beebe. Fresh lemon and soda make it tart and refreshing, but this cocktail is rounder than the Tom Collins due to the addition of a half-ounce of cognac, which balances the herbal flavor of the gin.
"People often forget about texture in cocktails," says Theo Lieberman, head bartender at Lantern's Keep in the Iroquois Hotel in Manhattan. (You can also catch him downtown at Milk & Honey.) Adding a little cognac to the cocktail not only adds flavor, but also contributes richness and body to the drink. "Mouthfeel should always be considered when making a cocktail," says Lieberman, "a drink can be balanced in flavor but still incomplete if it doesn't have the right texture."
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From Sweets
Posted by Yvonne Ruperti, February 8, 2012 at 12:45 PM
Diner style delight [Photograph: Yvonne Ruperti]
When I was in my early twenties (just a few years back...sort of), weekend nights with my hometown buds were built on Fuzzy Navels, White Russians, and throwing down some sweet moves at a club called Let's Dance in Poughkeepsie, NY. After hours of drinking and sweating it out, some serious munchies were in order. We'd hit up one of the few spots in the area that was still serving. We'd sometimes land at Denny's, where I'd slide a greasy Grand Slam Breakfast down my pie hole and sip burnt Bunn-o-matic coffee from the thick ceramic mugs. If there was too much of a line, we'd head over to the 84 Diner, set off a highway and a popular spot with the truckers. The atlas-sized menu spanned the cuisine of the world, but I only had eyes for one thing: the bright red cherry cheesecake that was spinning around in the revolving pastry case. The massive slice of sweet cream cheese, canned-cherry-topped, graham cracker-y goodness hit the spot and readied me right for bed.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, February 8, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Working with Sriracha for a month, you'd think I'd be sick of the stuff, but quite the contrary. With my remaining fresnos and red jalapenos, I just wanted to make more. Since I had the "rooster-style" of this garlicky hot sauce down, I turned to the more authentic Thai version.
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From A Hamburger Today
Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, February 8, 2012 at 11:15 AM
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
America may be the home of McDonald's, but Japan is where its hamburgers go to spread their wings and take off into flights of fancy, combining flavors that no American would dare combing, stacking to unusually great heights, dousing themselves in ever-more obscure sauces, and, of course, all coming with a side of genuine smiles and service. Seriously. You see those smiling faces on the tray liner under the burger in the photo above? That's really what every McDonald's employee in Japan looks like.
We've seen McDonald's Japan tackle Korean flavors with the KBQ—two beef patties topped with sweet & spicy bulgogi and gochujang. We've seen its mechanically-recovered meat tread where no mechanically-recovered meat has trod before with its double-stacked, Big Mac meet Little Tokyo Mega Teriyaki Burger. It's even put its stamp on the ol' U.S. of A. with it's Big America burger series last year and the year before.
Well hey, looks like Big America is back this year with four all-new burgers in their lineup, each one available for a few weeks at a time.
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Posted by Chris P. Beycon, February 8, 2012 at 10:45 AM
I am not a morning person. I have a case of the Mondays almost every day of the week, especially on Sundays, when I have to get up an hour earlier to get to The Restaurant.
My alarm rings at 6:15 a.m., and I am so comfortable in a womb of blankets that I become irrationally angry when I finally peel myself out of bed and lumber to the bathroom. I've been starting at 8 a.m., which means out the door by 7 a.m. Weekend trains always seem to shift through the bowels of the earth at a crawl.
When I arrive at The Restaurant, I grab a set of whites from the linen shelf and get changed in the women's lockers, which double as a boiler room on most days. Rarely is there a full uniform in my size left on the shelves. I don't know why.
There is always a preponderance of clean, starched and folded uniforms when I leave. With a bigger jacket, I can fudge it a little: it doesn't need to be fitted, so all I have to do is roll up my sleeves another turn. Things can get tricky with bottoms: when they are too big, I button them up all the way (all the pants are kind of high-waisted, a wardrobe phenomenon I haven't cared to experience since grade school) and then roll down the waist once or twice to tighten things off. If they're still too long, I cuff the hems once or twice as well.
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From Drinks
Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, February 8, 2012 at 10:00 AM
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Winter might be halfway over, but round these parts it seems like things are just beginning to get really cold. We love our hot drinks around here, and if you're feeling really lazy (who isn't on a cold winter's day?), you can do worse than snuggling up with a cup of boiling water, a packet of Swiss Miss, and a bottle of rum. Go ahead and do it—we won't judge you.
But if you feel like fancying things up a bit, here are a baker's half dozen easy ways to spike your hot chocolate, complete with fancy-pants garnishes and measurements to boot!
Click through the slideshow above to check out each drink, or just jump straight to the recipes with the links below, then tell us: How do you like to spike your hot chocolate?
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From Chicago
Posted by Kate Bernot, February 8, 2012 at 9:30 AM
[Photographs: Kate Bernot]
Nothing against Mr. Russell Stover, but if your Valentine this year happens to be a gourmand, you might want to invest in a package of chocolates that you didn't pick up at CVS alongside a loofah and some DD batteries. So-called for their resemblance to the fungus, chocolate truffles have other characteristics in common with their mushroom namesake: they're rare, indulgent, and yes, often expensive. A truffle is characterized by its spherical shape, which traditionally guards a rich, cocoa-coated center of chocolate ganache, liqueur, nougat, toffee, or nuts.
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From Slice
Posted by Meredith Smith, February 8, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Those plugged into the pizza blog scene may already know Michael Berman from his own project, Pizzacentric. Now let's see what makes this pizza-loving man tick. —MS
Name: Michael Berman
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Photographer, Writer
URL(s): Twitter @michaelberman; seriouseats.com/MichaelBerman; pizzacentric.com; msbphotography.com
What type of pizza do you prefer?
It depends. For a benchmark, I like to try plain tomato and mozzarella, and I usually prefer the quality of fresh mozzarella to that of low-moisture mozzarella. But plenty of places have toppings or combinations that stand out above and beyond plain.
The Pizza Cognition Theory states that "the first slice of pizza a child sees and tastes ... becomes, for him, pizza." Do you remember your first slice? Where was it from, is the place still around, and if so, does it hold up? On that note, has your taste in pizza evolved over time?
I don't remember my first slice. But growing up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, there were two pizzerias that I had often: Pizza Oven, in Rockville; and the Pines of Rome, in Bethesda. I'm pretty sure Pizza Oven is gone (they made rectangular pies with thin crust and elevated edges), but the Pines of Rome is still there—and still making great pizza, I should add. (If you go to the Pines of Rome, try both the red and the white pizzas.)
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