Forking Tasty

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.

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…

Fifth taste burger

Forgive the silence. I’ve been traveling and tasting for the last 10 days. Amongst my travels, without my macbook, (sigh, a nice break from my normal techno strapped reality) I landed in L.A. for one day. Having used all four of the standard tastes at excess in the proceeding travel locations, I thought it was time to explore the fifth, and somewhat new, taste at the aptly named Umami Burger. Ranked number three in the laist list of best gourmet burger in Los Angeles, I figured this would be…

REEL TASTY Testing

In preparation for our August dinner I started playing around with some New York classics. Last night I took our city’s name sake steak and tried a new cooking method I recently read about. The cast iron gives a nice even heat without any flare ups which usually cause those burnt, charred ends of meat. Although the single portion was a success, I am not sure this will work for 20 guests. To accompany this I worked up a gorgonzola cream sauce. It rather nicely with the medium rare beef eaten slowly in a perfectly chilled air conditioned room. Although, it may be a little heavy for a mid-summer, outdoor dinner. I am thinking about cutting it with some horseradish. If that doesn’t satisfy I might need to start over with a bearnaise base. Rest assured this preparation has another secret twist that I have purposely left absent. You’ll just have to visit the deck to find out how the testing turns out.

Solar Pop!

Six weeks ago I pitched a solar powered ice pop truck to my client, Sungevity, I didn’t think I’d be standing in Rockefeller Center yesterday basking in the orange solar glow of a push-button, auto-articulating, air ride equipped, natural ice pop dispensing, ex-postal step van. Nor did I think I’d be watching the 30 person line double in size by the minute with happy NYers grabbing their hibiscus mint or Mango flavored all natural ice pops. But I was. And today I am doing the same thing at Grand Central and Bryant Park. From NYC this baby heads to Boston and then Jersey and maybe even as far as Maryland.

What’s on board are…

Five Minute Canoli

Ok…sooo…I really like Food Network Magazine. Even though it’s based on bubble gum, celebrity TV chef’s and their individually contrived “schtick’s”, the content is good. Maybe even great. I know, bold statement. As a brand guy I think the magazine was a brilliant move. The cookware products even smarter. Giving America a chance to touch and feel their favorite TV chef is tough to do. Short of sleeping with Guy Fieri you can now tear out a quirky response to a reader question and pin it to your wall. It’s probably not the same but it fills a need. I digress and forgive me for the back handed Food Network compliments, I’ve been reading a lot of Bourdain lately. In short, it may be the second best food magazine out there. First being Cook’s Illustrated. Yes, 1 and 2 are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum but we like the stark contrast here at FT. It keeps us on our toes.

In the June issue of Food Network Magazine there was a section on fast desserts. Running a 20-seat monthly supperclub keeps us looking for new, quick dessert ideas all the time. The above image is my favorite from the lot. A canoli lover by birth, this was an easy choice. The work part of making canoli’s is the shell. It’s a long process and a smelly one too. Take that out of the equation and you can make a plate of these in under 5 minutes. Canoli cream is easy when you 86 the candied citrus. Personally I am a purist. The best ricotta and some confectioners sugar is all you need. A quick mix and then pipe or spoon into the sugar cone. Crunch! Eat! Done!

But …there is more. The Canadian has been on a bit of a Nutella binge lately and she decided to line a cone in this Italian, hazelnut flavored, cupboard mainstay. We then topped it with the canoli cream. “Madonna mia”, as one less than fluent Brooklyn, Italian kid shouted. (me). Try it yourself this weekend. Make your own concoction and share it with us. We’d love to have some new fillings to try for next weeks pack of sugar cones. Yes. We are addicted.