Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, June 16, 2008 at 3:30 PM
There is now more food than I can eat. Last Market Scene in the Midwest was paltry at best, but now the produce is piled high and shopping requires a little bit of restraint. This time the fiancée and I had to be even more careful—while we normally just head over a few blocks to the North Market in downtown Columbus for our weekly dose of fresh vegetables, this time we biked five miles up to the Clintonville Farmers' Market and were limited to only buying what out backs would fit and support for the ride home. It wasn't quite the harvest, but the difference in selection between a month ago and now is striking. (It wasn’t until we took off our helmets that we realized that we had also forgotten the camera, and since the market closed in an hour, we were limited to some grainy camera phone pictures of the actual market.)
First and foremost, the most exciting find was the enormous piles of strawberries—they seemed to pour out of every stall. Many looked fine, but Folck Family Farm just northeast of Springfield looked the best. They pick all their berries by hand, believing machines tend to bruise the fruit. The strawberries were definitely worth the care. They were bright and loaded with flavor—miles away from the grocery store version. The hardest decision was how many to buy.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, May 19, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Compared to our West Coast brethren, the fresh picks in the Midwest still look slim. Sure, we have the odd morel (expensive!) and asparagus a-plenty, but compared to the West Coast’s plethora of spring greens and fava beans and the East Coast's odd eggs, we’re still waiting for something to get really excited about.
And that’s when you can find an open market. In Columbus, Ohio many of the markets I relied on last year haven’t even opened yet (most open next week, I’ve heard). Of the ones that are, I had the most luck at the Saturday morning Farmer’s Market at the North Market. Even though half of the market was filled with potted plants and loads of flowers, I was able to pick up a few gems and create a truly wonderful lunch.
Wishwell Farms in Bellefontaine, Ohio had an assortment of hydroponic tomatoes, but the real find was the massive and very beautiful asparagus for $4.99 a pound. That’s a steal. They were still extremely tender, and roasted up beautifully in the oven when I got home.
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Gourmet profiles the Warther Museum and Knife Factory, a maker of high-carbon steel kitchen knives for 106 years located in Dover, Ohio. They're one of the last companies that still grinds the knives by hand.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 11, 2007 at 3:30 PM
Well, it's one way to achieve some sort of sandwich-based immortality.
The mayor's errant ceremonial first pitch on baseball's opening day has inspired a sandwich with a fitting name: The Mark Mallory Screwball.
The ingredients for the sandwich at Izzy's deli will be "any two meats tossed in the general direction of a bun or two pieces of bread."
But Mallory has a good sense of humor about it: "This is wonderful," he said. "Who wouldn't want a sandwich named for them?"
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 28, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Chuck Martin of the Cincinnati Enquirer, on local radio host Marilyn Harris, his city's own Martha Stewart:
"Several years ago at a conference in San Francisco, someone at the dinner table had the gall to ask Marilyn Harris what she did for living. Before she could answer, a friend piped up:
"Marilyn's in charge of food in Cincinnati."
Everyone laughed, but it is pretty much an accurate job description. Restaurant critics, food writers and trendy chefs come and go, but no one wields as much power on the local food scene as the host of the weekly radio program, "Cooking with Marilyn," 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday on WKRC-AM (550). This year, Harris marks her 20th year behind the microphone, serving cooking tips, recipes and restaurant recommendations."
The Mississippi-born former teen beauty queen and high school valedictorian learned to cook at Le Cordon Bleu, moved to Cincinnati for her husband's teaching job, and got her big break when a secretary at the radio station who'd taken one of her cooking classes at a market recommended her to replace the outgoing cooking show host: "She auditioned live, without cookbooks or other references as backup. 'I told them that you can't look anything up live on the radio,' she says. 'I said that day, you either have to know it, or you have to say you don't know it.'"
Harris still does her show live and out on location, writes a newspaper column and has published four cookbooks.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 28, 2007 at 9:43 AM
"For the third time in four years, the town of Montpelier, Ohio, can claim bragging rights to the world's tastiest tap water. Bosnian waters also performed well, winning four of the five top spots for sparkling water." Who knew?
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 26, 2007 at 11:14 AM
"In 1962, Lou Groen was desperate to save his floundering hamburger restaurant, the first McDonald's in the Cincinnati area. His problem: His clientele was heavily Roman Catholic. In those days, most Catholics abstained from meat every Friday, as well as during Lent, the 40-day period of repentance that begins this week with Ash Wednesday. His solution: He created the Filet-O-Fish — a sandwich that saved his restaurant and eventually would be consumed at a rate of 300 million a year."
I've never really given much thought to the classic items on the McDonald's menu so it was a trip to discover that the Filet-O-Fish was invented by a franchise owner and not headquarters—the same is true of the Big Mac and the Egg McMuffin, as it turns out! And while it seems like a no brainer to me that Hawaii leads the US in weekly Filet-O-Fish consumption, I'm kind of surprised that Ohio comes in at number two, even if it is the Filet-O-Fish's home state!
Posted by From Roadfood.com, January 15, 2007 at 7:00 AM
We asked our friends Jane and Michael Stern over at Roadfood.com to give us their top five chili picks. Here are their choices, with tasting notes.
DOT'S | 3 West Main Street, Wilmington VT 05363 [map]
Year after year Dot's takes the People's Choice First Prize in the New England chili cook-off; and while Southwest chiliheads wouldn't even recognize it as their beloved bowl of red, this true Yankee chili is terrific. It is listed on the menu as "Jailhouse Chili," but it's most respectable. Beefy, thick with beans, spicy but not ferocious, it comes as a cup or bowl under a mantle of melted cheese. Originally reviewed by Michael Stern on Roadfood.com
REAL CHILI | 419 East Wells Street, Milwaukee WI 53202 [map]. 414-271-4042
Real Chili serves bowls of chili mild, medium, or hot, with spaghetti or beans, or spaghetti and beans. The full and complete arrangement is known as the Marquette Special. (The original Real Chili parlor has long been a favorite of Marquette University students.) The degree of heat is determined by the amount of meat; i.e. more meat equals more heat. The meat is ground fine, brilliantly spiced, and deliciously oily. It goes atop layers of noodles and beans; and on top of the meat is piled a large fistful of shredded cheese (melting from the heat). You can also get sour cream and raw onions as a garnish. Every bowl comes with a side dish of oyster crackers to crumble on top or to eat as a sort of palate-cleanser between bites of chili.
This true downtown chili parlor (of which the original branch is at 1625 West Wells Street, 414-342-6955) is the sort of beanery once fairly common in big cities throughout the region. With the exception of Cincinnati, where chili has remained a bona fide mania, most of the Midwest has forgotten its chili passions; and old-time chili parlors are a rarity. That is one reason we are so enamored of Real Chili.
Granted, heartland chili gets little respect from gastronomes who prefer the southwestern kinds, but even for the Texas-style chili purist, Real Chili is an inspiring and enjoyable adventure in declasse dining. Sit at a counter or at one of two communal tables with backless stools and accompany your chili with beer or cherry Coke. A super-fast, friendly staff dole out second helpings at half price of the first, and if you need a bumper sticker for your car, there is always a stack of them at the cash register. A while ago, we got one that said, "REAL CHILI: IT'S NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST ANYMORE." Recently, the bumper stickers have proclaimed Real Chili "A MILWAUKEE LEGEND." Originally reviewed by Michael Stern on Roadfood.com
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