Forking Tasty

No Frills

When I was ten years old part of my weekly adventure was accompanying my mother to the food store. In 1984, on Long Island, the major supermarket was Pathmark. At the time, I had no idea I wanted to be a designer. I had no idea I would come to love great advertising and marketing because of the emotional reach it could have. I had no idea great design could subconciously change peoples behavior. What I did know is that I loved the NO FRILLS aisle. The NO FRILLS aisle amalgamated all supermarket items from canned spaghetti to laundry detergent into one simplistic, typographically genius, less-is-more designed, perfectly merchandised  row. At a time of “new and improved”, “extra-strength” and “free prize inside” package design the NO FRILLS aisle was way ahead of it’s time in both aesthetics as well as convenience. Think Apple Store and Muji. Years later, I now realize what I felt and my behavior in the NO FRILLS aisle were the catalyst for my entire career. In particular, my focus on the power of behavioral science in my designs, marketing and communication with consumers stems from this aha moment.

Sadly, the NO FRILLS aisle no longer exists. On a recent trip to Canada my Mother-in-Law took me to Loblaws, one of Canada’s largest supermarkets, for a special surprise…

Lobster 7 Ways

This story is all about the challenge to out do last years dinner. Before we get into that there are a few things I’ll quickly clear up so you’re up to speed. Italian Christmas Eve is traditionally referred to as “The Feast of the Seven Fishes”. To understand the history of this Italian tradition and its origins, read this. To understand the Anello’s bastardized version of this yearly feast, review this or this. Now that that’s out of the way let’s get to the meat of the post, or should I say “the crustacean”.

Taking the seven potential fish dishes and focusing them on one fish done seven ways was a formidable challenge. It was first proposed back in September by my Uncle Brian, the ring leader of Anello/Nardone over-indulgence. Taking the challenge under consideration he and I began swapping recipes to attempt a sort of coup de grace Christmas Eve feast. The jury is still out whether we succeeded. Never-the-less, the next page has all the dishes and stories from the front range (electric BTW) on what worked, broke, surprised and wowed…

Merry Christmas

I think our wine choices explains the general feel of all the men and woman in our house today. We hope you all are having a great, tasty, over-filling day.

Southern Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving I headed down south with the southerner. We hopped into the car and made the normally 7 hour trip to Yorktown VA, in 9 hours. Can not believe how many accidents were on the road. We got caught in every one of them. Lucky us!

Thanksgiving in Canada

I bet yesterday was a rough day back. I hope you all had as amazing and as restful a Thanksgiving weekend as I did. I clocked in with an average of 8.5 hours of sleep per night. That’s unheard of in this family. Well rested and well fed I share with you a few of the delicious, authentic, fresh and traditional goodie’s my amazing mother-in-law whipped up for our London, Ontario Thanksgiving weekend starting with the above channa masala.

To set the tone here’s a little video of…

Bullet to Bratwurst

Last week I had the unique opportunity to partake in an ancient ritual that in modern days has come under quite a lot of scrutiny. I’ll let the video speak for itself, mostly. I will say, I love meat. I think our industrial food chain is a disturbing mess but at the root, eating meat is a pleasure that I will not willingly give up. The recent advent of smaller farms providing better living conditions, feed and slaughter practices have thankfully given me an alternative to funding these disastrous factory farms and “processing” plants through my meat habit. I am conscious of where I by my meat from. How they were raised and how they were killed are just as important as what they taste like. In fact the two go hand in hand. That said it is very difficult to buy meat from these sources all the time. Not to mention expensive. I hope, over time, these smaller farms become the norm and the availability and usage increase to become the norm. The video above chronicles my very personal experience on the road to this goal. Enjoy.

If you are looking for more, my friend Liza does a great job telling a bovine story.

Dinner for 88 VIP’s

The past two weeks I’ve been a bit busy to say the least. Those of you eagerly awaiting the REEL TASTY season finally recap, I promise it will be up next week. The delay is not without good excuse. Another example of how my Manifold world overlaps with my food world, I was called out to Vegas by LinkedIn to orchestrate 10 super high end experiences with a gastronomic twist for their top VIP clients. These days Las Vegas is a new Mecca for amazing dining experiences. It’s not just the TV chefs that have restaurants popping up either. International chef’s like Pierre Gagnaire and Joel Robuchon have built beautiful restaurants tucked into some discrete corners of the biggest casinos on the strip.

To create these incredible, unique and delicious dinners we…

Fried Chicken Breakfast

Not exactly. I just couldn’t bring myself to whack down a chicken and waffles plate at 9am on a Thursday. Although the rainy New York morning gave me a good excuse, the Bikram Yoga class planned for tonight won the short synapse battle. There could be nothing worse than trying to sweat out molasses and waffle while in standing-head-to-knee pose. What I opted for instead was more of a breakfast than the aforementioned dinner-breakie mash up. Above is the Eggs Armadillo, a poached egg on top of a buttermilk biscuit, covered in sausage gravy. It’s not exactly the morning fuel Slim Goodbody preached to me as a kid but pretty damn satisfying. It’s been a very quiet secret that I’ve been holding lunch meetings and late night snack fixes at the 50′s style tables of Hill Country Chicken for the last 5 months. So, I am no stranger to the finer, fattier side of their menu. When they announced breakfast a few months ago I instantly started looking for the opportunity to blow up the morning with some of their delights. The menu fills out well with fatty pastries, donuts and a set of sides that could outshine your main event. Take a peek and schedule a visit. I’ll most likely be at the back table holding a leg.

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…

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.