Yellow-fleshed watermelons are “totally legit,” says schrutefarms, who got one by accident. It turned out to be “the JUICIEST watermelon in the world, to the point that it dripped all over my kitchen cabinets and floor.” They’re also “really, really sweet,” with a fleshier texture than their pink cousins. “The yellow watermelons I’ve had have a more muted / delicate flavor and thinner rind than the red watermelons I usually buy in the states,” says cimui.
CDouglas likes a watermelon variety with orange flesh called OrangeGlo: “The flesh tastes almost like tropical orange sherbet. Truly amazing.”
The sound of a nearby ice cream truck can set anyone’s heart aflutter. But with truck treats now running in the $3 range, says bearzie, a cheaper source would be nice.
Convenience stores and supermarkets sell frozen treats of course, but tweetie has the answer: a trip to Rosev Dairy Foods. “You will feel like Charlie in Wonka’s factory. This is where the trucks load up and it’s open to the public.”
The dairy’s website even plays a memorably creepy and discordant ice-cream-truck-like song.
Rosev Dairy Foods [Chelsea]
220 Second Street, Chelsea
617-896-6884
Recycled paper place mats from Greenergrassdesign were inspired by children’s pop-up books. Part of the place mat can be punched out and folded up, functioning as a spot where you can write somebody’s name.
The wedding-cake-themed ones would be great for (duh) a wedding. Maybe not so much for a “Congratulations on Your Divorce” party.
I’m supposed to go to the movies tonight, and I’m waffling on what to see. Should I go see Food, Inc., the latest anti–Big Ag cinematic screed? Since I’m up on the horrors of factory farms and the creeping menace of GMO foods, I wonder if rather than teaching me anything, it will just bum me out. A food-fan friend of mine saw it the other night and gave me this two-word review: “Bring tissues.”
Any thoughts? It does look interesting, I’ll say that for it. Horror-movie music combined with prosaic imagery always gives me the willies.
Sometimes you run across a dish that haunts you like a stalker. You think about it. You dream about it. You count the days until you can return to that restaurant and order it again. StriperGuy had that experience recently at Great Taste Bakery, where he ordered “the best $6 meal in Boston”: the spicy fried pork rib rice plate.
“It took a little while to come out. It was obviously made upon ordering: Big meaty pork ribs perfectly deep fried, very crispy outside, meaty and juicy inside, the fried ribs were covered with a nice scattering of fried garlic, red dried chilis, and fresh green chilis,” drools StriperGuy. “Frankly, the execution was spot on perfect. The work of a talented chef, delicious!”
StriperGuy isn’t the only Great Taste fan on the boards. Luther says it has one of the best price/quality ratios in town, particularly the bakery items and the drinks. The hot milk tea is the best Luther’s had, including Hong Kong versions. And StriperGuy also favors the sticky rice in lotus leaf with pork, peanuts, and Chinese sausage.
If you go for dim sum, the cart offerings aren’t bad, but the off-the-menu buns are better. galleygirl loved the shrimp and chive dumplings, “very fresh and chivey tasting, very pink shrimp”; and the hom sui gok, oval fried dumplings filled with pork, are universally popular.
Great Taste Bakery and Restaurant [Chinatown]
61-63 Beach Street, Boston
617-426-8899
It turns out the debate about exporting horses for slaughter is pretty far from simple. Salon lays it out: On one side are those who argue that it’s cruel and terrifying for the horses involved. The other side: If you can’t slaughter the 100,000 unwanted horses that pop up annually, how do you dispose of them humanely and economically? Slaughter allows for a whole range of useful activities:
“Horse meat is eaten in France, Belgium, Italy, Japan and many other countries. Most every part of a horse is used: hides for leather; intestines for sausage casings; tails for paint brushes; hooves for glue. Historically horse byproducts went into pet food in the U.S.; even now, several zoos here import horse meat to feed their lions and tigers.”
Sounds good. On the other hand:
“Nancy Perry, the Humane Society’s vice president of government affairs, explains that unlike cows, chickens and pigs, horses live and work closely with people. They’re also flighty, fractious and easily frightened. These traits make them ill-suited for industrialized slaughter.”
Overall, a fascinating read that is more likely to leave you on the fence about horse slaughter than on either side of the issue.
The MoMA store has the cutest tumblers on sale right now; they would make great summer cocktail glasses. Each one is cut glass with a different pattern. Since they’re all clear, they match nicely, but since each has a different pattern, perhaps your guests will be able to tell their drinks apart.
Das Ubergeek has been quietly yearning for a little Ethiopian deliciousness in Orange County, to match the insane Ethiopian greatness way up on Fairfax. In 2007 he found his spot, Tana Ethiopian, and recently updated his old post with the news that Tana has expanded its menu.
Das Ubergeek’s new favorites include boiled potatoes with niter kebbeh, gingery, garlicky, spicy clarified butter, as well as biscuits made from chickpea flour, “buried in a pile of meltingly soft, sweet, caramelized spiced onions. It tasted like dessert,” says Das Ubergeek. They are “sweet oniony cookies, fantastic, unbelievable.”
But the best of the new items is a meat dish, quanta firfir: injera cooked with awaze, the spicy red pepper of Ethiopia, so it’s soft and lightly spicy and mellow, and with quanta, Ethiopian beef jerky. The quanta is so dry it’s crunchy, says Das Ubergeek.
Das Ubergeek also tried green beans cooked with onions until they were almost singed. “These were so good that my wife ate green beans willingly for the first time in two decades,” says Das Ubergeek. Collards have some crumbly cheese, which makes them very savory. And red lentils have “a smoky, rich, almost mole-like quality to them that just drove me wild,” says Das Ubergeek. You can order them all on the veggie platter, “a veritable mountain of food,” for a mere $10.
Tana Ethiopian [Orange County]
2622 W. La Palma Avenue, Anaheim
714-229-1719
The best shaved ice, snow cone, or raspados experience ever is not from some magical cart. It’s from hipster ice cream bar MILK, says TimToyGeek. There are tons of flavors to choose from, including classic (lemon, lychee) and otherwise (espresso, Mojito, tamarind with chile).
Coconut shaved ice is very fresh, with lots of crispy coconut shreds; the milk is sweet but not cloying. Dulce de leche with strawberry comes with buttery, obviously homemade dulce de leche and fresh strawberries. “The milk helped tie everything together, so you had less of a snow cone with watery flavors and more of an icy creamy treat,” says TimToyGeek.
MILK [Mid-City]
7290 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles
323-939-6455
The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s artful online magazine/website, is a study of celebrity fascination, political punditry, and the sex lives of powerful people. Its food channel, Hungry Beast, just launched, and it’s a study of celebrity fascination, food punditry, and the sex lives of food-oriented people. It’s fun! And I don’t just say that because it’s linking to CHOW at the bottom of the page.
Hungry Beast will be updating features weekly, and the Cheat Sheet links to smart stuff that other people are writing.
The stories for this week include Gael Greene on the sex lives of chefs (she’s saddened by monogamy and by the prospect that today’s young, randy chefs aren’t getting enough action) and an assessment of Robert De Niro’s prospects as a restaurateur (they’re better than those of his now-shuttered Ago).
