Digest
Our favorite products, gadgets, restaurants, bars, wine, beer, and food websites and blogs.
The Mission’s new wood-fired pizza joint Flour + Water is up and rolling, and the first reports are in.
“The pizza is thin crust style but it held up nicely [with] just the right amount of give,” says Senor Popusa. Carciofi pizza (artichokes and new onions, pecorino, and capers) was also good with an egg added to it.
“Tortelli pasta with mortadella and peas was a standout,” says absc. “Service at the bar was excellent with good wine suggestions.”
“The pork cheeks looked fantastic and will be mine next time!” says tvham, while Foodnut8 says the dish “had good amounts of tender braised pork on top of a bed of beans with a slight bit of chard. Flavors on the pork could have been more aggressive.”
Flour + Water [Mission]
2401 Harrison Street, San Francisco
415-826-7000
Board Link: Flour + Water = hot, hot, hot
Posted
on Friday, May 29th, 2009
by Roxanne Webber in San Francisco Bay Area Digest |
More like this: flour + water, flour and water, pasta, pizza, Restaurants and Bars, san francisco bay area
Lush Gelato in Oakland serves boldly flavored “helado” (Argentine gelato) that are “perhaps the best” rworange has ever tried. Varieties include: basil, milk chocolate, dulce de leche, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, brown sugar, bourbon pecan, mint chocolate chip, strawberry, and almond.
It’s “the perfect texture, great flavor, and, for $2.50 a scoop, a nicely priced treat,” says JasmineG.
Lush Gelato [East Bay]
4184 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland
510-547-1299
Board Link: Oakland: Lush Gelato - Argentine “helado” … Wow, seriously, wow
Posted
on Friday, May 29th, 2009
by Roxanne Webber in San Francisco Bay Area Digest |
More like this: argentine, dessert, helado, ice cream, lush gelato, Restaurants and Bars, san francisco bay area
rccola says that Hopkins Street Bakery in Berkeley is test-driving fresh “home/handmade” jelly doughnuts, that aren’t your “average made-from-a-commercial-mix” doughnut. The raspberry-filled treats have “good yeasty pull, nice outside with sugar, delicious high-class jelly.” There are also glazed lemon-filled doughnuts and custard-filled bombolinos, although the latter need a touch more vanilla flavor, says rccola—that, or some rum.
Hopkins Street Bakery [East Bay]
1584 Hopkins Street, Berkeley
510-526-8188
Board Links: Lemon custard donut, too!
Handmade donuts at Hopkins Street Bakery
Posted
on Friday, May 29th, 2009
by Roxanne Webber in San Francisco Bay Area Digest |
More like this: donuts, doughnuts, hopkins street bakery, jelly donuts, jelly doughnuts, Restaurants and Bars, san francisco bay area
Similar to peaches, rhubarb has a striking, unmatched flavor and an achingly short season. So in springtime when it’s ripe, those who love it gorge on it. As well as old standbys like strawberry-rhubarb pie and rhubarb crisp, hounds find ways to use rhubarb in ways both savory and sweet.
Rhubarb is of course a classic dessert ingredient. Candy is crazy for millefoglie with grappa cream and rhubarb, an Italian version of the classic French pastry mille-feuille. Other hounds make upside-down cakes with rhubarb instead of pineapple, or rhubarb custard pies without a strawberry in sight.
On the savory side, todao uses rhubarb in a rhubarb-garlic quick bread that is reportedly “heavenly” toasted for sandwiches, and kaaris loves this stuffed butternut squash, with rhubarb and Italian sausage.
Rhubarb makes wonderful drinks too: “Rhubarb syrup + Pellegrino = a refreshing soda not unlike a natural, homemade Ting!” says kattyeyes. Here’s a rhubarb syrup recipe that includes rosewater, a common rhubarb pairing in some parts of the world, or berbadeerface just makes it with a quart of water and a cup of sugar for each pound of rhubarb. Bring to a boil, simmer for an hour, strain, chill, and mix with vodka.
Board Link: What is your favorite rhubarb recipe?
Posted
on Thursday, May 28th, 2009
by Joyce Slaton in Home Cooking Digest |
More like this: bread, Food and Cooking, Home Cooking Digest, pie, recipes, rhubarb, syrup
Everyone knows the old saw about not bothering to cook with a wine that you wouldn’t drink, but ipsedixit wants to know its converse: When is a wine too precious to go in the pan?
Opinions diverged wildly, of course. Some hounds say that wine quality makes a major difference (rebs ruined a perfectly good coq au vin using Two Buck Chuck instead of a nice $35 bottle of Burgundy), while others reckon they can’t tell much of a difference either way.
Sallie breaks down her reasoning most convincingly: It’s not price that matters, it’s the character of the wine. “Something with a lower alcohol content, minimal oak, higher acidity = good for a braise,” she says. Think Chianti, Pinot Noir, Côtes du Rhône. When using whites, she advises, similarly avoid oaky tasting wine like Chablis or Chardonnay. “A lot of cheap Chards have fake oak flavoring put into them which is extremely weird tasting in a pan sauce,” she says. A better inexpensive option, she says, is Chenin Blanc, which is very neutral.
Board Link: When is a wine too good to cook with?
Posted
on Thursday, May 28th, 2009
by Joyce Slaton in Home Cooking Digest |
More like this: alcohol, cooking with wine, Food and Cooking, Home Cooking Digest, Wine and Drinks
zeprosnepsid wants to use “something natural” to wrap fish in for baking. Blanched lettuce leaves came to mind, but there were none in the house. What else can one use?
Chowhounds had lots of ideas, including:
• banana leaves
• corn husks: let them dry in a low oven or in the sun and then re-hydrate in hot water, says Sam Fujisaka
• grape leaves
• lotus leaves: “If you use dried lotus leaves, soak them in warm water first for about half an hour,” says Sam D
• cabbage
• kale
• Swiss chard
• fresh herbs like mint or basil
• spinach
Board Link: What can I wrap fish in to bake it that is natural?
Posted
on Thursday, May 28th, 2009
by Joyce Slaton in Home Cooking Digest |
More like this: baking fish, banana leaves, cabbage, chard, corn husks, en papillote, Food and Cooking, herbs, Home Cooking Digest, kale, leaves, lotus leaves, parchment, spinach
Is all club soda the same? And is it different from seltzer water? Absolutely, says danieljdwyer. Seltzer water is just plain carbonated water; club soda has mineral salts added. “The difference is minor when one drinks them plain, but it can become noticeable when those mineral salts react with various types of alcohol,” says danieljdwyer. Some kinds of alcohol get a strange, metallic taste from the mineral salts; others benefit from them.
Different brands of club soda use varying blends of minerals, and even before the mineral blends go in, the flavor profile of the water depends on the water supply local to the brand. Confusing things still further, soda can be carbonated to different degrees. For instance, “I always found Canada Dry to be very carbonated, with very large bubbles, but also that it went flat very quickly,” says danieljdwyer. BarmyFotheringayPhipps drinks a lot of seltzer, and can definitely tell the difference between the two locally available brands: “Polar seems considerably fizzier, while Adirondack has less pronounced bubbles but a notably more mineral edge,” he says.
If you don’t find any brands to your liking, you can always make your own carbonated water. “You can also use higher quality water than the bottlers do, and still spend a tenth what it costs to buy a bottle,” says danieljdwyer. “And making it yourself allows you to customize how carbonated the water is.” He uses the seltzer maker from Soda-Club and finds it to be very economical. (CHOW likes the Soda-Club as well.)
Board Link: Is all club soda alike?
Posted
on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
by Sarah Perry in General Topics Digest |
More like this: bubbly water, carbonated water, club soda, fizzy water, Food and Cooking, General Topics Digest, seltzer, soda club, soda water, Wine and Drinks
What’s the best thing to do with leftover stew? Don’t think twice: Freeze it, says Quine. “Trust me, one night, you will have had a HORRIBLE day, be extra frazzled, and need good comfort food for dinner in under 30 minutes.”
If you also make a batch of biscuits, even canned biscuits, and simmer the dough on top of the stew and then finish the whole thing in the oven, you have a generous and comforting meal, says Will Owen. It’s a laid-back version of pot pie.
For a different sort of pie experience, wrap leftover stew in pizza dough and make “hand pies (or one big roll, which we call a ‘calzone’ even though it’s really not),” says Pia. “My favorite thing to do with leftovers.”
Board Link: what to do with leftovers of stew?
Posted
on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
by Sarah Perry in General Topics Digest |
More like this: Food and Cooking, General Topics Digest, leftover, leftovers, recipes, stew
Cheese on pastrami is kind of like corn on pizza, asserts Mr Taster: “Many people do it. It might even taste good. But is it right?” The fact that pastrami has roots in kosher Jewish cuisine makes adding cheese seem a little bit dirty. Of course, what is normal and what is disgusting on a particular dish varies hugely by region. “Recently we got some Vito’s pizza for a friend visiting from Vietnam, and she insisted on putting ketchup on it,” says Mr Taster. “She wouldn’t even taste it without the ketchup!”
How about corn on pizza? It’s a fairly common topping in Asia. “Roasted corn on certain pizzas is ok, but I would not call it a ‘pizza’ anymore,” says stricken. linguafood delivered pizza in college and loved a pie that was half corn, onion, and tuna, and half ham, mushrooms, and spinach. “In Germany, pizza deliveries will not shy away from putting asparagus, speck, and hollandaise, or ground beef, bbq sauce, and beans on pizza. Ugh. Think Chinese chop suey pizza,” linguafood says. A popular pizza available from Domino’s in Tokyo is the Mayo Jaga: mayonnaise, potato, crispy bacon, paprika, onion, and corn. “And the mayonnaise was always in the criss-cross pattern,” says valerie. Wrong or not, eat whatever you like—even pastrami pizza!
Board Link: Cheese on pastrami is kind of like corn on pizza
Posted
on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
by Sarah Perry in General Topics Digest |
More like this: cheese, corn, Food and Cooking, General Topics Digest, mayonnaise, pastrami, pizza, toppings, weird toppings
The nonstaurant trend continues to burgeon in Boston with the rolling out (get it?) of new food cart Jack and the Bean Bowl in Copley Square. “Delicious vegetarian bowls of beans, brown rice and other toppings. Cupcakes and Italian sodas too,” says heathermb. C. Hamster agrees: “The chipotle lime sauce is really tasty and the ‘fixins’ help elevate what could be a bland combo to something pretty near craveable for those like me that already love rice and beans.”
The cart offers a selection of hot sauces; C. Hamster liked the habanero sauce, and says the couple running the cart “couldn’t have been nicer.”
Jack and the Bean Bowl [Back Bay]
Across the street from the CVS at 587 Boylston Street, Boston
No phone available
Board Link: Jack and the Bean Bowl–Copley Sq
Posted
on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
by Joyce Slaton in Boston Digest |
More like this: beans, Boston Digest, copley square, food cart, food truck, jack and the bean bowl, lunch, nonstaurant, Restaurants and Bars, vegetarian
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