The CHOW Blog

Insights, tips, and restaurant reports from CHOW editors and Chowhound.

Schnitzel on Wheels

A new entry in New York’s fleet of mobile eateries is Schnitzel & Things, which fries up Austrian-inspired meat and fish cutlets to order. Hounds who’ve caught up with this truck on its rounds around Brooklyn and Manhattan report thin, crisp, deftly fried chicken and cod (the other schnitzel option is pork). Beyond schnitzel, billhill has sampled a first-rate bratwurst sandwich with ’kraut.

bergengirl says her excellent chicken schnitzel got a lift from lemon juice and Sriracha mayonnaise, a not-so-Austrian addition heartily endorsed by the guys in the truck. This $9 platter was a generous meal that could almost have fed two, she adds. missmodular endorses the cod schnitzel and a delicious potato salad with scallions. bigjeff didn’t do so well with other side dishes; he complains of greasy, underflavored ’kraut and vegetable salads. His take-home lesson: “if it’s a schnitzel truck, just stick with the schnitzel.”

Schnitzel & Things [Citywide]
347-772-7341

Board Link: Schnitzel truck spotted in Cobble Hill

Edit Post / Posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Try the Wine That’s Banned in ‘Bama!

Few statements have the marketing allure of “Banned in Alabama”; in a tiny little three-word nutshell, it says: “Hey! A bunch of intolerant rednecks can’t handle this, so you just know that it’s gotta be cool!”

So it goes with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board telling stores and restaurants in the state to stop serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of the offensive label. The board cites nudity as its justification. But the truly shocking thing about the art nouveau label is how completely innocuous it is; if you’ve ever been to a museum and seen, well, anything even vaguely related to the human form, you’d write this off as charming but ultimately forgettable. The side boob and rear endage involved would garner a PG-13 from Hollywood.

The AP reports: “Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Soledad, Calif., said Thursday that visits to the company’s Web site have increased tenfold since news of the ban broke late last week, and callers from across the country have been asking where they can buy the wine.

“Because of the interest, he’s developing store displays that say ‘Banned in Bama’ and ‘Taste What They Can’t Have in Alabama.’”

Edit Post / Posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009

New York

Now Arriving Near Grand Central: Delicious Dosas

The lamentable dearth of dosas around Grand Central is a thing of the past, scary_dog reports. Grill 44, a shape-shifting deli that recently transformed from Middle Eastern to Indian, rolls a fine one, he says: a crisp, tasty crêpe enclosing a delicious potato-onion masala. The cilantro and coconut chutneys and sambar that come on the side are “perfection,” scary_dog adds.

Grill 44 [Midtown East]
160 E. 44th Street (between Third and Lexington avenues), Manhattan
212-949-0245

Board Link: Dosas near Grand Central!!

Edit Post / Posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009

By Calling It “Name Our Holes” You Were Asking for It

The “Name Our Holes” biscuit holes ad campaign may be backfiring for the Hardee’s chain of restaurants. While no doubt highly effective in communicating the company’s core values to backward-hat-wearing fraternity initiates and sports hooligans, the a-holes/b-holes/bisticles discussion seems to have annoyed just about everyone else.

That includes Hardee’s largest franchisee, Ben Mayo Boddie, who runs 350 of the restaurants. Slate runs down the two sides of the story (put briefly: “We have to shock people in order to sell food” and “Good Lord, you’re destroying our brand”).

Edit Post / Posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Nagging Question

Is It Better to Salt Intermittently While Cooking or Just Once?

There's more than one way to go. READ MORE

Edit Post / Posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009

New Finds

New Finds: Killer Sour Cherry Beer from Oregon

The fruity, dry, crisp, pleasantly-sour kriek ale from Cascade Brewing knocks the socks off that Lindemans you’ve been drinking. It’s reddish-copper, and tastes pleasantly of cherries without being sweet. There are very few krieks made in the States, which makes it even more special. This one starts out as a Belgian Flanders-style red ale, then gets refermented with fresh whole Northwest cherries and aged six months in French oak wine barrels. It might be hard to find retail, but going to Cascade’s brewpub sounds fun: It serves meat loaf and has magic shows once a week.

Cascade Kriek, $15.99

Edit Post / Posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009

San Francisco Bay Area

Cane Rosso’s Meaty Lunch Options

High-quality sandwiches make Cane Rosso, a new rotisserie-centric place opened by Coi’s Daniel Patterson, a great bet for a Ferry Building lunch.

The beef brisket sandwich uses “tender, flavorful beef brisket with a tangy and sweet tomato conserva and dandelion greens for a nice bitter edge,” says Morton the Mousse.

The PLT one-ups a classic with pancetta, lettuce, and tomato on buttered brioche. There isn’t a lot of pancetta, notes Pei, but that’s kind of the point: “You eat a small piece of perfectly smoked meat, and it’s enough to flavor the whole sandwich.”

RichInMV tried Cane Rosso the first day it was open, and enjoyed a sandwich of tender, flavorful pork shoulder au jus with baby mustard greens.

Sandwiches are mostly $9, compared with $5 at Acme Bread nearby.

Also worth trying is the bacon-caramel popcorn. It’s a great balance of sweet, salty, and crunchy, says Morton the Mousse, with “just the right amount of bacon to make it work.”

Cane Rosso [Embarcadero]
1 Ferry Plaza, San Francisco
415-391-7599

Board Links: Cane Rosso - Open in Ferry Building
Cane Rosso Report

Edit Post / Posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009

San Francisco Bay Area

The Double Life of Dohatsuten

Palo Alto’s new Dohatsuten does double duty as a noodle joint by day and an izakaya, or Japanese-style pub, by night.

At lunch, the emphasis is on ramen and mini donburi (rice bowls), plus a few sushi rolls. There’s basic shio (salt) and shoyu (soy sauce) ramen, but “when I asked the waitress for her recommendation of shio vs shoyu, she said shio was better without batting an eye,” K K reports. The broth’s kombu seaweed base brings out the best in the delicious chashu (roasted) pork; there’s some fluffy-textured ground pork scattered in the bowl, plus bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and chives.

A new specialty is yuzu miso ramen. It’s intricate in subtle ways, says Melanie Wong with citrus notes from the yuzu and some red chile heat overlying the meaty chicken-and-pork broth. It comes topped with bamboo, chashu, chopped cabbage, and corn. The cold ramen, though, “can’t hold a candle” to Ryowa or Maru Ichi.”

Most bowls of ramen at lunch are $8; mini donburi are $3. Rice bowls and sushi rolls both use brown rice.

The small plates at lunch are more of a draw, Melanie Wong says. Hotate (scallop) cream croquette falls apart too easily, but the panko-crusted, deep-fried croquette is a lovely blend of sweet scallop and corn kernels in cream sauce. Nagoya teba sake are a Japanese take on chicken wings, slit through the skin so they fry up extra crispy. There’s also chicken kara age, which is something like popcorn chicken made with juicy boneless, skinless thigh meat in a gingery marinade, lightly battered and fried to a delicate crisp.

No word yet on desserts, but they should be a lot like those at Gochi, where the chef/owner used to work.

Dohatsuten [Peninsula]
799 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto
650-493-2878

Board Link: Dohatsuten - new ramen soju tapas place in Palo Alto

Edit Post / Posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009

San Francisco Bay Area

Cuban Sandwich with a Homemade Touch

Don’t be fooled by the guacamole and chips or the (housemade) tortillas at the new Havana Sol in Vallejo: This place is a real Cuban joint, and foremost among its offerings is a standout Cuban sandwich on housemade bread, available only at lunch.

The fluffy roll gets perfectly compressed in the sandwich press, says rworange, wrapped around flavorful roast pork, ham, and housemade pickles with just the right amount of Swiss cheese to round it out. A citrusy slaw and crisp, greaseless plantain chips come on the side.

Dinner entrées aren’t as impressive yet, although there’s water bread, with a citrus-like aroma, from a family recipe, rworange says. There’s also a nice escarole salad with roasted chiles and garlic-cumin dressing, says Dan Wodarcyk.

Decor is modern and tasteful; it would be a good place for a date—on weekends they have live music on the grand piano in back. Happy hour (Monday to Friday, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) brings $4 mojitos, $3 well drinks, and $2 draft beers.

Havana Sol [Solano County]
326 Virginia Street, Vallejo
707-554-3777

Board Link: Vallejo: Havana Sol - finding the holy grill at last … Authentic Cubanos with house-made Cuban bread

Edit Post / Posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009

CHOW Tip