AbeFroman's Profile
Hell's Kitchen contestant from Nashua, NH?
Welcome to CH sway, that's quite a first post. In the two-hour premiere, I actually thought Jim came across as a nice guy, both intelligent and affable. Perhaps that's an easy achievement amidst such a group of crazies, but I'll be pulling for him until he proves otherwise.
His signature dish (Seared ahi, soy-ginger vinaigrette), however, was a prime example of the quintessential Sparks entrée, replete with dumbed-down "ethnic" elements that have already been focus-grouped to death and served up by national restaurant chains. Tasty, as Ramsay said, but also IMO a total bore. But, I'm sure it keeps the soccer moms coming in droves. We personally grew tired of the unoriginal-masquerading-as-exotic routine with the food and beverage at Sparks long before moving to Boston last year. Then again, there's no shortage of places down here catering to the MetroWest weekend crowd that pay the bills by using the same playbook. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to wash down this plate of Kobe sliders with a pomegranate mojito...
Hell's Kitchen contestant from Nashua, NH?
According to this tweet, the contestant is from C.R. Sparks:
http://twitter.com/seanfrederick/statuses/2751445337
It is remarkable that there's been no (Googleable) publicity surrounding this. Andy Husbands has been having a field day with it here in Boston; he's hosting a party for tonight's season premiere and HK dinners every Tuesday thereafter, for as long as he's on the show.
IIRC, C.R. Sparks was due to close/relocate this year... anything to do with that?
Hell's Kitchen contestant from Nashua, NH?
Also of local* note: Andy Husbands of Boston's Tremont 647 is in this season's cast as well, a somewhat unorthodox choice (for him), given he's a well-established restauranteur. Though it must've been a no-brainer for the casting director - Andy is no shrinking violet.
* CH Mods: please don't move this to the Boston board. Contrary to the structure of the message boards, the Berlin Wall does not run along Rt. 128.
Hell's Kitchen contestant from Nashua, NH?
According to a preview piece for the soon-to-premiere 6th season of the program, there is a 34-year old contestant named Jim, a Sous Chef from Nashua. Does anyone know where he works? Do we have a hometown favorite to cheer on, as Gordon Ramsay showers him with expletives for undercooking a piece of John Dory?
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/2009-Summer-TV-Preview-Hell-s-Kitchen-18302.html?
Craft vs. Craftbar
PDT = Please Don't Tell
http://www.pdtnyc.com/
http://www.chow.com/stories/10783/2
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Please Don't Tell
113 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009
Muscovado sugar in Boston?
Thanks Molly. I'm hoping to hear of somewhere closer to Boston, but I'll keep your tip tucked away in case I don't have better luck on here!
Craft vs. Craftbar
I think you'd enjoy genuine craft cocktails rather than "Craft" cocktails. If you go to the flagship, why not make a reservation at PDT for pre/post dinner drinking?
Muscovado sugar in Boston?
Any Chowhounders know (for sure) where I can find it within Boston proper, Somerville, or Cambridge?
My only guesses were Chirstina's in Inman Sq, or a baking supply shop that I don't yet know about...
HELP!!! Name of tiny, cabiny, restaurant serving very local food in NH or VT?
The Herb Lyceum in Groton, MA?
http://www.gilsonslyceum.com/
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Gilson's Herb Lyceum
368 Main St, Groton, MA
The Library, Portsmouth
NH Seacoast? Nowhere.
That is, if you're going by my strict-bastard definition of including orange bitters. 555 in Portland might have them on the bar. The only place in NH I could think of that has them on the menu is White Mtn. Cider Co. up in the North Country.
But to relent a bit, and relax the definition of a well-made martini, I'll ask myself the following:
Where on the seacoast will...
• a bar have a good selection of gins, including Plymouth, London Dry, and if you're really lucky, Old Tom?
• a bar stock fresh dry vermouth? (Vermouth, dry or sweet, is an aromatized, very lightly fortified white wine that spoils if left open at room temp... all the moreso if dispensed only a 1/4 oz. at a time and the bar never turns through its product. It needs to be refrigerated.)
• an establishment have a well-trained bar staff that knows how to build the drink? Measuring their pours, portioning the ingredients in a classic dry martini ratio, STIRRING the drink with cold, fresh ice (not the wet stuff that's been melting for hours at most bars) for up to 20-30 sec, and straining into a pre-chilled cocktail glass?
• a bartender know how to prepare a proper twist; cutting a slice of lemon peel to order, expelling the oil on the surface of the drink and rim of the glass?
I'd say the best place on the NH Seacoast the get a "real martini" would be at home.
Noilly Prat to Change Formula for U.S. Market
The same WSJ article turned up on the New England board. Here's my take.
I think Eric Felten's Chicken Little act over the "loss" of the Noilly Prat that Americans have known for the past 50 years is completely off-the-mark.
In fact, that Maugham quote he runs up the flagpole -- "Noilly Prat is a necessary component of a dry martini." -- was penned in the late 50's, while Maugham was in France, according to cocktail historian Gary Regan. Thus, this sacrosanct quote is likely extolling the virtues of the very same European-formula bottling now making its return to the U.S. market, not the one departing us.
Cocktail enthusiasts are giddy about this new release.
• Here's Regan's taste-test and commentary, in his Buy-Back column:
http://ardentspirits.com/newsletterpost.aspx?PostID=543
I'd note that he points out the newly released NP dry vermouth DOES demand that you pair it with a ballsy, juniper-forward Gin. Anchor Steam's Junipero is named as an example.
Also... one bit of consolation for any home-mixologists who are wringing their hands over the loss of their favorite vermouth, but have never refrigerated it: Worry not, you're already used to drinking bad vermouth.
Conway NH area: White Mountain Cider, Glen NH
I have indeed. However, I think Eric Felten's Chicken Little act over the "loss" of the Noilly Prat that Americans have known for the past 50 years is completely off-the-mark.
In fact, that Maugham quote he runs up the flagpole -- "Noilly Prat is a necessary component of a dry martini." -- was penned in the late 50's, while Maugham was in France, according to cocktail historian Gary Regan. Thus, this sacrosanct quote is likely extolling the virtues of the very same European-formula bottling now making its return to the U.S. market, not the one departing us.
Cocktail enthusiasts are giddy about this new release.
• Here's Regan's taste-test and commentary, in his Buy-Back column:
http://ardentspirits.com/newsletterpost.aspx?PostID=543
• a discussion of the new NP on the Spirits Board:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/596078
• a discussion on the Boston Board about the availability of Dolin vermouth (the whole line is fantastic, I've got the Dry and the Rouge in my fridge at home):
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/596845
The Library, Portsmouth
True, it's the restaurant itself that mentions "martinis". And, I've yet to be proven wrong on this... if an establishment calls their specialty drinks "martinis", they aren't the place you'll find skillfully-prepared cocktails.
Having that many vodkas on the shelf leads to this formula: [Unflavored/Flavored Vodka + Artificially Flavored Schnapps/Liqueur + Fruit Juice/Muddled Fruit] = [ ____-"tini"].
The fact that they're a self-styled steakhouse of sorts makes it all the more ironic that they don't have the ingredients or know-how to prepare two chophouse staples: a well-made Martini (gin, dry vermouth, and orange bitters please), and a Rye Manhattan.
Conway NH area: White Mountain Cider, Glen NH
(This was in reply to a post stating that the Cider Co.'s cocktail list was unimpressive, due to a limited selection of vodkas. The comments must've been deleted, but I'll let my soapbox bluster live on for those who might be interested.)
The only thing distinguishes most vodkas from one another is marketing and hype. There are a small handful of exceptions, artisanally-crafted products that walk the walk in terms of what goes into their production. But in the end, even the "honest" companies are striving to craft a product that is by definition odorless and colorless, regardless of potato/wheat, organic or purchased from an agribusiness conglomerate like ADM. Anyone who actually thinks the measure of a great cocktail bar is the presence of three feet of frosted glass bottles that all essentially contain the same bland contents (don't get me started on the phony flavored vodkas.) is a marketer's dream. Or in less-euphemistic terms, a rube.
Here's some much better-articulated reading on the subject:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118859310163314946.html?mod=2_1165_1
http://drinkboston.com/2006/07/20/vodka-rip-part-1/
Cheers.
Conway NH area: White Mountain Cider, Glen NH
You bet Abe Froman is interested in the cocktails menu; I've been ogling it for months.
Here's a post about their bar manager, Jeff:
http://drinkboston.com/2008/10/07/drink-nh/
Erbaluce Redux - 2/15/09
We dined at Erbaluce the same night as the OP.
If our "hand-rolled fusilli" dish (w/ an arrabiata sauce and fresh ricotta) was any indication, the pastas here are indeed show-stoppers. Purportedly all housemade, you could really taste the difference. This is the one dish where things really began to click for us, and I began to understand what has been written about the chef's style - simple ingredients, intricate spicing, complex layers of flavor.
However, what I've regretted since is that I didn't opt for the potato gnocchi and wild boar ragout as my entrée. Having decided I was hell-bent on doing boar one way or the other for dinner, I ordered the wild boar rack to see if it met expectations. In this instance, it didn't. Ordered medium rare (the house sugggestion), one chop was cooked perfectly and the other was practically raw. I'm talking wildly out of sync in temperature, with one chop being a complete chore to eat, and the other showing flashes of what the dish could've been. If you're more savvy than I am, you would've sent it back to be corrected. Instead I chose to soldier through it. I enjoyed the concord grape musto, but the bitter mustard greens fell a little flat for me, probably because I was already being "challenged" by something else on the plate.
The nebbiolo ($12/glass) suggested for me was beautiful; tannic and tobacco-ey, it was a perfect foil for the protein and fat of the boar. (In fact, if anyone knows the producer, I'd love to track it down for home.)
Please don't let my belaboring of the boar SNAFU stop you from going there. Perhaps I'm airing it at length with the hope someone (either staff or guest) will be reading this and ensure it doesn't happen again.
Our service was excellent, even on a busy evening. As noted above, Chef Draghi was very present on the floor, and touched our table too, delivering our pasta. Our server (Irena, I believe) was very patient with us, considering we're neophytes to the Piedmont style and relatively clueless about Italian wine. Her wine suggestions were spot-on, and she ably guided us through some of the more foreign terminology on the menu. 2 apps, 1 split pasta mid-course, 2 entrées, 2 glasses of wine = $120 + tip.
I liked the room. Might try the bar sometime too, which looked lovely. We'll most definitely be back, but probably with more of an eye toward the pastas.
The Library, Portsmouth
Rubbish. I will guarantee you that any place that boasts of specializing in 96 "martinis", doesn't know how to serve a well-prepared Martini (the name of a particular gin cocktail, not a beverage category).
Also laughable: carrying 120 vodkas that are all by definition colorless and odorless, but not one solitary bottle of straight rye to make a real Manhattan, which is the least you'd expect to be available in an old boy's club atmosphere.
Boston-area retail sources for Dolin vermouth?
Brix has Hayman's Old Tom too, I think at both the South End and Broad St. locations. Fixed my first homemade Old Tom cocktail with it a few nights ago: a Martinez with Hayman's and the Dolin sweet vermouth. Splendid.
Come to think of it, my inaugural drink @ Drink was a Hayman's-based Collins. It really is worth picking up a bottle to try Old Tom in just about every canonical recipe you can put it in. Still waiting to make a Ramos with it; supposedly it elevates the drink to another level.
Boston-area retail sources for Dolin vermouth?
Brix South End indeed carries both the Dolin Dry and Rouge (sweet). They're fantastic, and a relative bargain when sitting on the shelf next to Vya. Both are $15 per 750 ml, though I think there may be smaller format bottles (375ml) being rolled out too. The Dolin sweet has even (momentarily) dulled my desire to go to ridiculous lengths for a bottle of Carpano Antica. Same for the Dolin Dry and the reformulated N.P.
However, Slim, you best post right here when you find out the cheapest way to get either of those to Boston. Who wants in on a case?
Help! Bored with routine in Manchester, NH
For the record, Rose's lime cordial* is absolute crap, and is no substitute for lime juice.
Don't misconstrue this as hating on the 'hound here; I'm just hating on the game. With very few exceptions, NH is still in the cocktail Dark Ages, resplendent with powdered sour mix, Rose's "lime", #4-red maraschino "cherries", and blue curaçao/Sour Apple Pucker galore -- all of which have been relegated to the dust bin of history at the growing # of establishments that have learned to take their drinks as seriously as their food.
Ask for fresh lime juice (this does NOT come out of a Rose's bottle or green plastic lime) in your next marg; there's no good reason why they shouldn't have it, unless they take their clientele for fools. Ask them plainly what they have on-hand, and strap on your BS detector to evaluate the staff's response. If a bar trumpeting their cocktails doesn't squeeze their own juices daily, they're just lazy and/or complacent with passing off an inferior product at a ridiculous markup, and IMO don't deserve your cocktail business.
* As for Rose's, there's only one drink that it conceivably belongs in, the Gimlet. But even that's tenuous: it's only historically accurate, not necessarily better tasting. (The Rose's product was created to withstand transatlantic passage with the British Royal Navy, served with government-issued Plymouth Gin. (The booze was the "spoonful of sugar" to help their scurvy medicine go down.)
Help! Bored with routine in Manchester, NH
YouYou is decent, but multiple co-workers (long-time Nashuans) always told me Takumi wins out between the two, though I never got a chance to visit before we moved.
As for places we used to visit regularly and STILL do when I'm back home, Z is our favorite in Manchester. The comment on their menu being static doesn't square with our experience at all; I've spotted something different on the menu on almost every visit I can recount. A server told us once that aside from a limited handful of dishes (I distinctly remember he called them "sacred cows", ha!), Tom (chef-owner) likes to keep things as seasonal as possible.
New Restaurant in Manchester, NH ?
The website is: www.fireflynh.com ... Unfortunately, there's no menu up yet, just some teasers. Definitely waiting on early reports before investing a visit during my next visit to my fair Queen City.
I too hope to hear that they're a nice addition to the dining scene... the city wouldn't suffer to see more sophisticated chef-owned spots like Richard's and Z - where you can enjoy a good meal without the glow of oversized plasma screen TVs playing SportsCenter.
P.S. I can't be the only Chowhounder who isn't a *little* wary of the Black Brimmer connection mentioned in the UL, right? I mean butchering experience would be one thing to admire in a new restaurant owner, but running a "meat market" is a whole 'nother... ;)
Best Negroni in Boston?
So much for keeping it hush-hush DoubleMan; this is why we can't have nice things!
Like Eastern Standard (for Sunday night)...
I'd add that you might see a familiar face behind the stick at Craigie. Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli (formerly of ES) is their bar manager.
Manhattan on Pearl morphs into Stella Blu (Nashua NH)
Interesting bit of news. While, anything, ANYTHING replacing MOP should be an improvement, color me skeptical about the cocktails. The fact that they're calling it a "martini list" doesn't usually bode well: a conical glass with sweet ingredients does not a martini make. Furthermore, If this is the same person responsible for the "Unums" list -- which I just checked out for the first time -- tutti fruiti and overpriced "-tinis" that IMO are the current scourge of NH bars might turn out to be their specialty. But I digress, I should withhold my judgement until I see a menu (theirs isn't up yet) or hear early reports.
Oh, and as an aside: what's with the pattern of NH nightspots ripping off Blue/Blu-suffix names from other locales? Upon googling "Stella Blu", a well-established resto in Philly was the top result. Isn't that a problem? In Manchester, there was a nightclub that opened its doors as "Whiskey Blue" a few years ago and were subsequently forced to change their name when faced with a lawsuit by the owners of the name... who were already operating bars of the same moniker in W Hotels. Though the name "Stella Blu" isn't all that catchy, let's hope they don't have to change it to "SB's"! ; )-
New Chocolate Shop in the South End
Choco Choco was the previous tenant -- whose owner has reportedly returned to focus on work for Dali and Cuchi Cuchi.
ChocoLee opened last February at the same address.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/chowder/2008/02/07/new-sweet-shop-perfect-for-your-sweetheart/
New menu at Z Food&Drink, Manchester NH
Well, Joanie, you've done good research; If I were recommending a sit-down dinner in Manchester to a Boston chowhounder, Richard's and Z would be my top two picks.
But your specific circumstances make it an easy decision... For flying solo, Z gets my nod. They've got a small (5-6) seat bar that I'd imagine would be a inviting for a solo diner, while Richard's -- while excellent -- seems like it would come across as a bit of a colder environment... plus, I'm not sure if they even have a "bar", rather than a service bar where drinks are assembled.
Moreover, if you appreciate a good cocktail you might be in for a pleasant surprise at Z. The last time I spied the bar there, they had some telltale signs of good cocktail making: baby Sazerac rye, a really solid selection of gins, and even multiple bottles of assorted bitters... not sure what they've been doing with them, as I didn't see them on the drink list. But, if you go, please let us know if there's finally a place north of Boston that "gets it" when it comes to making a mean drink; I'll have to make it back post-haste when I'm back during Thanksgiving weekend!
P.S. The next time you're headed for the Queen City, bring a friend or three to help you tackle the legendary bread basket at Richards!
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Z Food & Drink
860 Elm St, Manchester, NH 03101
Richard's Bistro
36 Lowell St Ste 1, Manchester, NH 03101
Cotton, Manchester NH
Cotton's been a very mixed bag for me too during recent visits. I do agree that the your best bet for service there is at the bar. The drinks themselves, though, leave much to be desired. I'll take a pass on the flavored vodka candy-tinis. In fact, I've only heard about ONE place in the Granite State that offers proper cocktails, but it's up in the White Mountains. Unfortunately, that's a bit of a drive.
New menu at Z Food&Drink, Manchester NH
Mmmm... pork belly...
I'm a big fan of Z, can't wait to get back -- the SO and I have been trying to hash out where to dine out next time we're in town. Due to job relo, we don't dine out in Manchester as often as we once did. Thanks whs, this bulletin should make things easier!
