Posted by Robyn Lee, August 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Photograph of Duff Goldman from Wikipedia; Photograph of action figure from Action Figure Insider
Duff Goldman, star of Food Network's Ace of Cakes and head baker at Baltimore's Charm City Cakes, can now add "immortalized as an action figure" to his list of accomplishments. This isn't your run-of-the-mill action figure modeled after a baker—Duff's accessories include "two of the shop’s signature cakes, a drill-powered mixer, a chainsaw, wooden spoon, spatula, guitar and flame-thrower!" The action figure made by Diamond Select Toys will be available through Charm City Cakes this fall. [via Food Network Addict]
Posted by Ed Levine, July 6, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Editor's note: Occasionally what looks at first glance to be a conventional guidebook transcends the genre in surprising ways. John T. Edge's Southern Belly is just such a read, which is why I'm pleased that he has allowed us to excerpt selected items from it on Serious Eats, where they appear every other week. —Ed Levine
By John T. Edge | Shauna Anderson wants to be your chitlin vendor of choice. "Selling chitlins is all about trust," she tells me when I visit the suburban Cape Cod home she has transformed into a combination restaurant and commissary for chitlin deliveries. "Chitlins are very personal. A good cook knows that clean chitlins are where it all starts," she says of the laborious process of scouring pig intestines, a skill she learned from her grandmother.
Anderson opened her chitlin business in 1995. At the time, she was working as an accountant. Her idea was simple. Cleaned chitlins were hard to come by. And tax season only lasted a few months. She would clean chitlins during her downtime. It was an idea whose time had evidently come, for consumers, wary of the tlow-rent white buckets of chitlins available at traditional groceries, bought every hog intestine that Anderson and her compatriots could clean.
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"Florida has the key lime pie, Massachusetts has the Boston cream pie and, hopefully, Maryland will have the Smith Island Cake": The iconic multi-layered cake made of flour, butter, eggs and chocolate could soon become Maryland's official dessert. Originally brought over by the settlers who came to Smith Island in the 17th century, the cake originally consisted of four layers but has gradually grown in size to around eight or 10 layers, with filling variations depending on who you got your recipe from. The Maryland Senate voted 44-1 in favor of the cake – all that's left now is approval from the House... [photo via On the Record]
Posted by Ed Levine, March 3, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Editor's note: New York Times best-selling novelist Laura Lippman, author of the upcoming Another Thing to Fall, is passionate about all aspects of Baltimore life, including food. In fact, having read all her books, I can tell you that her characters eat in all the best places in Baltimore. So when I asked Laura to become a Serious Eats Baltimore correspondent, she graciously agreed. Laura travels frequently promoting her books, so I have a feeling she might be filing dispatches from all over the globe. —Ed Levine
WORDS BY LAURA LIPPMAN | I've had some reason to think about reviews lately. A good friend, one with a palate far superior to mine, didn't like Cinghiale, the latest addition to Cindy Wolfe's burgeoning empire in Baltimore. But I had a hunch that I would love it—if I ate in the bar, Enoteca.
The fact is, much of my dining out is centered on Baltimore's bars—Nasu Blanca, Mezze, Tapas Teatro—because I live in a household where the only reservations we have tend to center on our own characters. I also love small plates because I like lots of variety in a meal.
I've been to Cinghiale three times in the past month and loved everything I've tried—the green salad, the tonno with poached quail egg, the grilled calamari. I've taken bites of a couple of pasta dishes and antipasti as well. It's just my kind of place, where the bartenders are happy to recommend wines by the glass, and there's cheese for dessert. My only criticism is of the bread, which I found a little blah, but that simply means I don't waste time eating it. Maybe one day I'll make it into the main restaurant, but I'm not sure why I'd need to.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 20, 2007 at 5:30 PM
Before we return you to our regularly scheduled programming, we wanted to introduce you to Erin Zimmer, who will be checking in weekly with notes and news from the greater D.C. area. Welcome, Erin! We're looking forward to your dispatches from the nation's capital. —The Serious Eats Team
So maybe Tasti D-Lite isn't always as mouthwatering as the flavor names insinuate. But every once in a while, the ten-calorie-per-ounce fluffiness is Godlike. So why can't cities like Washington be part of the fro-yo fun?
Oh wait. Here's a little known fact—even to longtime D.C. residents. We kinda are. Tasti D-Lite actually has a long-lost cousin in College Park, Maryland, at the center of the University of Maryland's campus. It opened in 2005 and is just a few Metro stops from D.C. proper. The location is so enigmatic, though, that a Google search isn't much help, and even Tasti D-Lite's corporate website doesn't mention it.
The story gets stranger. The store temporarily closed earlier this summer, during prime time fro-yo season. Apparently the loss of full-time UMD students hurt business and it plans to reopen once the academic year begins.
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