Forking Tasty

Been Picklin’

OK, that’s a big lie.

That really only took a day and it’s been 30 since our last post. We’ve been busy. Who hasn’t? It’s no excuse but it is the unfortunate reality of the current thing we call “life”. I don’t want to get too deep here so let me back out into why I am writing this post. Last year we tweaked our stories a bit bringing you more of our travel adventures than our strictly food finds. You seemed to like that and we have been thinking about what it means for the future. In fact it straight up stopped us from posting with our normal frequency.

We’ve been busy thinking. With this new approach we’ve planned a bit of a relaunch to Forking Tasty. Dinners will continue but with a little less frequency and a little more collaboration from the people we’ve met over the years on our travels. The longer form stories about travel will continue. We’ll talk food, places and the people we met giving you mini travel and tour guides to our favorite spots. We’ll bring back the P.I.E. With series. (People I Eat With). You see a pattern here I’m sure. This blog was started to capture our food adventures. Our supper club started so we could share great food and conversation the way our family did throughout our childhood. 50% of a meal is the food. The other 50% is the people. With that, we’re going to bring the latter 50% back into the fold. Somewhere along the line we lost a little of the “who” when showing you the “what”. Remember, our mission is to bring back Dinner Time which requires food and people. Along with the longer form stories I mentioned earlier, we’ll introduce a few new short form posts. Some will focus mostly on the people we eat with. Others will focus on a single item we ate because of a person or place we visited.

All this new stuff will make it’s debut in June as we officially mini-relaunch. Apologies to you all for the inconsistency and our lack of focus lately. Damn the day job (not really) and winter (really). In the mean time check out the minute-to-minute on our Instagram @forkingtasty.

Plaj • San Francisco

Not Noma and not IKEA but someplace in the middle. Scandinavian food is tricky. Albeit a bit of a sleeper food trend right now, the cuisine is definitely not for the main stream type BUT then again, when have we ever been mainstream. We plunged right in identifying the game meats immediately. The above rare and tender saddle of venison medallions sat in a rich and smooth sauce that had both a sweet and earthy taste simultaneously. The slow roasted cipollini onions contrasted well with the meat and the sauce making for a nice full bite. It’s always a good sign when you are looking for a piece of bread to smear across the plate once you finish the big stuff.

A small identity crisis gave the ambiance a weird feel as this restaurant is in the back of a boutique hotel that is decorated both in the modern, urban, industrial feel and the 80′s white table cloth motif. More of a topic of conversation than a draw back. The end of the night came with one small disappointment. Traditional Swedish coffee, a more strong and burnt taste, was removed from the menu because American palettes couldn’t handle it. A shame because if you’re going to try something different, and Nordic cuisine definitely is, go all the way. Hopefully Plaj brings it back for those of us looking for the full scano-experience.

Easter Braise

Easter was the perfect opportunity to try a long awaited meat dish. For some reason I’ve been looking for the time to make braised lamb shanks for about a year. After doing my recipe research I settled on a braising liquid of red wine and beef stock. I started the pot with the standard carrots, celery and onion but added in some lemon zest and marjoram for a little freshness. Before I sent the shanks to braise I seared them off with some salt, pepper and spanish paprika hoping that smoked flavor would come through just a touch in the meat once done. Three hours later I had fall off the bone (Almost. You don’t actually want the meat to fall off the bone for aesthetics and portioning.) shanks ready to be devoured. The final step was the orzo and sauce. I split the braising liquid in half. The first half was reduced down to make up the sauce. The other half was used to hydrate the orzo. The result was an epic-ly awesome, rich like Helú, tender like Elvis, lamb shank mixed with a flavorful and soft orzo. Thank you easter bunny. Bock. Bock.

Top 10 Gastropubs for St. Patrick’s Day

As many of you know, I live in New York City and to say the least this town turns into a green t-shirt, stumble walking, puke corner, train rowdy, loud voice hell on earth by 11am on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve never been quite sure when this holiday got so ridiculously out of control. How it turned into an excuse to get hammered before noon on a weekday I can’t seem to understand. I guess I’ll chalk that up to the overzealous, freedom fancying, American spirit. Give us a centimeter and we’ll take a yard. The fact it falls on a Sunday this year will only make matters worse. So, to combat this foolishness, we thought we’d bring some food options into the mix.

We’re not saying don’t go get drunk. By all means start the day with two Irish car bombs and a Guiness, vomit on yourself before the work day ends and blackout on the late train home waking up in Ronkonkoma at 3am. Good luck in your Monday morning meeting. You all know, having a little something in your stomach while you imbibe copious amounts of alcohol buffers the spinning room by at least a few hours. We think there’s no reason why that food shouldn’t be better than most of your weeknight dinners. Hell it’s a holiday after all, treat yourself. With the rise in popularity of the Gastropub we didn’t have a hard time finding some watering holes that also gave your tastebuds a workout. Below you’ll find our top 10 picks for our favorite gastropubs in America. We’ll first drop our fav 5 in NYC and then complete the list with 5 out of state gems that are always on our hit list when traveling. Enjoy the list and this year practice some chewing instead of practicing how to keep that flap in your throat open while pouring beer down it.

Eating Barcelona

I could live here.

That’s what I thought after my first visit to this city. Each subsequent visit always reenforces this desire. Barcelona’s bright culture, food, architecture and people can’t help but become infectious. In Barcelona the creativity is loose, curvy, spontaneous, random and risky. Spain as a whole is creative, partially a bi-product of a country that’s seen it’s share of strife and hardship, with everything they do. With a different flair than Italy and a slightly less structured approach than the Dutch, the Spanish have cultivated a culture that emanates energy, passion and excitement for life. Barcelona is the modern Spanish city that best allows visitors to embrace and experience this. I recently spent a solid week in Barcelona enjoying the 60 degree December weather, eating the freshest seafood around and finding creative inspiration in every building, museum or meal…

Bread and Water

Sometimes bread and water is all you need. Ok, perform the water-to-wine trick and now we’re set. The simple things are often the most rewarding. At a recent trip to Flour+Water (which I will post about in more detail later) I was reminded of this simple fact. It inspires my personal cooking style and satiates my craving for anything too complex. This fresh bread dipped simply into the accompanying olive oil was so fresh and pure I didn’t need to move through the 5 courses that awaited me. A crusty exterior and a light but soft interior gave me texture and oil absorption perfecting every delectable bite.

Top 5 Valentine’s Day Food Dates

This is the list for guys to step up the game and really impress their ladies. Below are our top five epic guy moves for 2013 Valentine’s Day dates. Whether your married, in a “long term” or just starting to court, here are five experiences that will make you legend in the “girl” circles regardless of how the relationship turns out…

Top 10 Food Trends for 2013

According to us of course! It occurred to me last week that Forking Tasty has never jumped on the top 10 list or the trends of year  thing. I thought this year is the year we do both so without further preamble here’s what the whole Tasty family thinks you should look out for in 2013…

Eating Philadelphia

Ohh brother…ly love!

Philly is a bit of a second home to us. It’s been that way ever since DJ RubyRube took up residence in the late 90’s and started summoning us down for his epic parties and subsequent eating adventures. This is back in the day when Steven Starr had only two restaurants, Buddakan and the Continental. Looking back, that was the beginning of his empire and a food revolution in Philly that would make the cheesesteak shake in its bun. Through the decade we’ve taken the 100 mile drive south to party, escape the NYC madness, celebrate couples, visit babies, visit grandparents and execute projects. With every trip we’ve left Philly with a full stomach and happy tastebuds. Philly over-delivers on tasty and history. Breakout your patriotic, stretchy sweater for a multi century, time-warp through gastronomy and historical moments.

Eating Detroit

Detroit Lives!

You probably thought Detroit was dead or in coma BUT that’s the farthest thing from the truth. I landed at DTW with a few hours to spare before a meeting scheduled in Lansing. I decided to zoom into the city center and explore bit before heading out to the sticks. With in minutes of exiting the highway and turning onto Michigan Ave I fell in love. In love with a place that looked deserted but felt and smelt ready to boil over. As I stood on the corner of Michigan Ave and 14th St. with Slow’s BBQ to my left and the abandoned central train station to my right, the buildings of downtown beckoned me just a few miles down the road to come explore. I spent the next 4 hours pecking around the city from Corktown to Downtown to Eastern Market to Hiedelsberg St. In that afternoon I felt, saw and tasted the potential of Detroit. It’s ready to roar back. 2013 will be a big year as they continue to gain momentum for this rebirth.