Prepping for Columbus Day

This week I was in San Francisco. Amidst the work and regularly planned tasty I was able to squeak in a visit to a place where dreams are made. Perhaps better said, a place where dreams are cased up, aged, hung dry, intensified and then sliced for your eating pleasure. It’s no secret I am obsessed with sausage both wet and dry so it should come as no surprise that a pitstop to one of San Francisco’s best Salame shops was my detour. My new friend Amy took me through Columbus’ entire salumi making process from the chop to the slice. My favorite part had to be the cacciatore and chorizo salumi drying room. The smell inside sent chills from nose to toe. Here we stand below their Finocchiona Gigante, a soft textured, fennel induced artisan speciality. Sliced thin it can substitute for any prosciutto wrapped around a piece of melon. Aside from the smells and tastes I learned an immense amount about salumi making peeking my own curiosity to try it myself. I am not sure hanging meat in the spare room will fly with the Canadian. For now, I’ll have to settle for Amy’s tried and true selections. This Columbus Day you better believe the Anello’s antipasti will be centered around a nice selection of salume so I can show off my new knowledge.

Bizarro Brooklyn in Portlandia

That’s how they like it too. I recently took my first real vacation in over a year since starting Manifold. I was ready for the break and excited about where my wife and I decided to spend it. When asked by Portlanders why I chose their sleepy town as the destination for seemingly such a needed break, my answer was simple. I came to eat.

My last brush with the city of Roses was more than a decade ago. Although it was a 24 hour visit, the vibe and food made a lasting impression. In the years separating that visit and this one, the food culture grew and began to make national noise. Hipsters making artisanal food stuffs in tiny Hawthorne back rooms and new Pearl District restaurants seemed to pop up in publications everywhere I turned. Pictures of these mustache wearing, food tattoo ridden, 1920’s dress sporting, 20 somethings accompanied many of the articles. At the time, I didn’t see the parallels but I was about to discover the Bizarro Brooklyn…

Italian Woman Shows Me The Ropes

Forking Tasty – On a Farm Outside Rome from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

I took a tour and explored the catacombs just outside the city of Rome and after they brought us to a farm for some cooking lessons. We were making Gnocchi that day and the eatin was good. I had a lot of fun watching this Italian women make Gnocchi for us all. She eventually had a few of the guests come up to help out. I wanted to join but there was no more room at the table. When it was asked who would like to help make Gnocchi (she didn’t ask because she did not speak a lick of english) I was busy stuffing my face and missed out. Maybe next time.

TABLE FULL-REEL TASTY: The Three Amigos

Saturday, October 8th at 6:30pm. This is as close to a western as we may ever get. Here’s the skinny on the fat.

Starts: 6:30pm (cocktails and appetizers)
Ends: 11pm (really, when the film is over)
Donation: $60 (make a reservation below)
Movie: The Three Amigos

Let’s ride! A song filled, dance inducing, joke a minute, slapstick comedy, anchored by three amazing comedians has us counting the minutes until the 24th. Join us to fight the Evil El Guapo and eat some tasty, cheesy, crispy, spicy, hearty, hot, sweet, salty, luscious, peppery, juicy food. I suppose we could have just said delicious but then again, we are not writing a telegram. Bring your little buttercup and stay a while, while. Ok, we promise to try and tone down the movie quotes once we finish writing this.

Menu

We are putting together a plethora of delicious Mexican specialties. Yes, you read correctly. A plethora. We are playing with all sorts of variations on roast pork and stewed chicken. Beans are already on their way from an amazing heirloom distributor out west. The rest will fall into place in the coming weeks after our test kitchens pushes out a few possibilities. Of course we couldn’t show this movie without Tequila. You know Tequila? Uhhh…It’s like beer.

TABLE FULL-Reservations

Reservations are required. Space is limited to 20 people. In the note section let us know if there are any food restrictions anyone in your party has. Location and directions will be sent to guests one day before the event.

More on Reel Tasty:

Jason and Aimee pair a 5 course gourmet meal for 20 friends, some new and some old on a HUGE deck in Brooklyn. As the name implies, we will be screening a movie during the meal. Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of time pre-entree to mingle, catchup and meet some new friends. Once the sun goes down we will role the film in all its two story high glory. This is an experiment, so we are not sure how much silence or chatting will go on. That’s for you to decide. We hope you will come out and enjoy yourselves with us this summer. See you on the deck.

You can check out pics from our last dinner here.

If you can’t make this dinner but want us to send you an invite to the next one, jump on the list.

RECAP-REEL TASTY: Escape from New York

photo credit: Kun Kim

The great escape finally happened.

When hurricane Irene blew in we didn’t know if this dinner would ever happen and we never thought a “true” escape from New York would be necessary. Luckily we got it back on the calendar ironically a day before perhaps the most somber escape from New York ever. On September 10, we filled a table of 20 to celebrate NY, it’s food and the sci-fi, 80′s cult classic Escape from New York.

For those who are unfamiliar with our dinners, Reel Tasty is…

Portland’s Pods

Exploring a city is arguably one of my most favorite pastimes. I was recently in Portland, Oregon for the first time in just over a decade. A crime because Portland is awesome. Although, if the old saying about NYC applies; Every decade the city looks completely different, it was the perfect time for a visit. Next weeks post will contain lots of details, food choices and insights on the Rose city particularly in contrast to my current home town, Brooklyn.

For now I wanted to share a small piece from just one of the many adventures I had during the trip. On my first day in town I passed a parking lot full of food carts and trailers. Each morning I’d go for a bike ride to another part of the city. Sure enough, as I explored each new ‘hood I found a new food pod. Everywhere I rode their were these small, and sometimes large, lots of specialty food carts containing everything from dumplings to chai tea. My explorations took me around the globe through the cuisine inspiring me to create this video chronicling the adventure.

Cookie Control

It was our second visit in two days to an out of the way industrial park on the outskirts of Cambria, California. We meandered our rental car down side streets and through alleys following a well marked trail to the Red Moose Cookie Company where we poked our heads through a screened door to meet Caren. She was just finishing up a batch of pumpkin cookies and dropped what she was doing to give “The Canadian” a huge hug. “Look at you!” she said, enthralled by The Canadian’s beauty. “You’re like a movie star.”, she squealed, keeping “The Canadian” in a tight embrace. From the back came Roger to break the moment. We had never met Caren before but we had met Roger the day before on our first trip to the aluminum sided warehouse with the butter based surprise inside. He picked up right where we left him, bringing…

It Was So Close To Anello

Forking Tasty – Da Nello – Santa Marghrita Italy from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

A couple buddies and I were walking around Santa Marghrita looking for the perfect stop for some lunch. We literally walked around for at least an hour or two. Santa Marghrita is so small that’s all the time it took to walk the town. We stumbled upon a place called Da Nello. It was so close to my last name we had to try it out. We had an old lady that really did not know much english show us to our table which was right on the beach. I guess we are in her country, we really did not know enough Italian. She ended up being our waitress as well. After finding out that the two things we wanted on the menu they ran out of, she gave us some suggestions.
Great view of the water and what will eventually turn out to be a fantastic lunch. I’m still thinking about those mussels. Not one mussels I ate tasted fishy, they were perfect. I could have dipped bread in that wine and olive oil at the bottom of the bowel all day.

My L.A. Blondie

On one of my all too frequent cross country commutes I was bit by the sugar fairy. I know what you are thinking, sugar fairy’s don’t bite. Well mine does and she leaves a mark. I had a little extra time in LA one afternoon and decided to make a Candyland like journey to a small shop with a simple name. MILK sits at the corner of Beverly Blvd. and Poinsettia Place in what, by all visible cues, is the hasidic ghetto.

It’s not the place you’d expect to find a progressive, trend setting ice cream bakery. Perhaps that’s part of what keeps MILK an LA secret but then again…