Celebrating the multi-cultural flavors of National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates many countries and many cultures. I explore the culinary contributions of chefs from those different backgrounds in my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

It seems every day, week or month on the calendar is designated as National (insert topic here) Day/Week/Month. But few are as delicious to celebrate as National Hispanic Heritage Month. Spanning two months, from September 15 through October 15, it recognizes the histories, cultures and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the US population; since 2000, our Hispanic population has grown by 43%. And lucky for us, they brought their cooking pots with them. Continue reading “Celebrating the multi-cultural flavors of National Hispanic Heritage Month” →

Small Bites: The other Grant Achatz bakes pies in Michigan and Food Day urges us to eat real

Chicago chef Grant Achatz’s dad, a renowned pie maker also named Grant Achatz, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And Food Day promotes eating healthy, eating real.

There are countless stories about kids of famous people and the pressure they must feel to live up to their parents’ wonderfulness. But what happens when the kid’s the famous one? Chicago’s own Grant Achatz is rightly revered for his groundbreaking molecular gastronomy at Alinea—and for his courageous battle against tongue cancer. Little is made of the fact, though, that he learned his chops and exhibited his extraordinary talent as a young boy in his dad’s restaurant kitchen. Continue reading “Small Bites: The other Grant Achatz bakes pies in Michigan and Food Day urges us to eat real” →

No. 246 takes a less meat-centric approach to Southern cooking

A new Decatur, Georgia restaurant focusing on pasta, pizza, seafood and farm-fresh produce is the subject of a recent USA Character Approved Blog post.

I remember a Southern Sunday dinner years ago, at my Aunt Veta’s house in Mississippi. I can’t even recall now why we were visiting, but I remember the meal. It was mid-afternoon, and there were more than a dozen of us crowded around a long, oilcloth-covered table on her screened in back porch. And there were three kinds of meat!

Fried chicken, barbecued pork chops and a ham all vied for my attention—and all got it, in turn. I was in carnivore heaven. Much of Southern cuisine still reflects this meat-focused view, especially with the farm-to-table movement and its emphasis on nose-to-tail eating driving a lot of restaurant kitchens. But a pair of chefs just outside Atlanta are taking a less meat-centric approach at their new restaurant, No. 246. Continue reading “No. 246 takes a less meat-centric approach to Southern cooking” →

Medium Rare: Well done steaks and wine in DC

A neighborhood restaurant that lets you choose your wine, but not your dinner, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

One of life’s most exquisite little pleasures for me is a neighborhood bistro with steak frites on the menu. Unfortunately, such bistros will often have duck confit, lamb shanks or other alluring carnivorous delights on the menu as well. And then I’m sunk decisionwise. I think I may need to move to our nation’s capital. Medium Rare opened there this spring with a single entree choice on its menu. Continue reading “Medium Rare: Well done steaks and wine in DC” →

No-fry zone: These Korean Style Chicken Wings are roasted, not fried

Korean hot pepper paste, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger make oven roasted Korean Style Chicken Wings a flavorful appetizer, main course or bar snack. Recipe below.

The first time we had Korean fried chicken wings, we were at a rooftop bar in Manhattan. It was the Mé Bar on the 14th floor of the La Quinta Manhattan in Koreatown, with the Empire State Building rising high above us just a block away. And it was a single wing, generously pressed upon us by a table of enterprising New Yorkers who’d had them delivered to the bar (New Yorkers seem to be able to get just about anything delivered just about anywhere). We had smelled something spicy and delicious and asked what it was. They insisted we sample one.

The next day, we headed to the source for lunch—Kyochon Chicken, at Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street. Continue reading “No-fry zone: These Korean Style Chicken Wings are roasted, not fried” →

Brew with a view: Eataly opens a 15th floor rooftop brewery, Birreria

Birreria, Eataly’s new rooftop brewery and brew pub, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

One thing I love about New York is how the city makes use of every square inch of outdoor public space. And how the city’s residents embrace this space. The recently expanded High Line, abandoned elevated railroad tracks turned into a park and immediately (and perhaps obsessively) loved by New Yorkers, is an obvious example. But so too are smaller, quieter spaces. On the Upper West Side, the Broadway Mall Association maintains gardenlike median strips with benches at each cross street. Those benches are almost always populated by people enjoying a morning coffee, a bit of sunshine or just being outside.

So I was a little surprised that it took New York, perhaps the most vertical city in the world, so long to discover its rooftops. Continue reading “Brew with a view: Eataly opens a 15th floor rooftop brewery, Birreria” →

For The Greenhouse Tavern, green isn’t just on the plate, it’s in the building

For chefs and restaurateurs, green continues to be the new black. Organically raised, locally sourced ingredients grace plates, menus and servers’ nightly recitals of specials. Nose-to-tail cooking ensures that little of any humanely raised animal is wasted. When Jonathon Sawyer and his wife Amelia returned to Cleveland to open a restaurant, Sawyer decided to take green a step further. The Greenhouse Tavern is Ohio’s first nationally certified green restaurant.

Sustainable food is one part of green restaurant certification, but only one. Sustainable furnishings and building materials, waste reduction and recycling, water and energy efficiency and pollution reduction all are measured. And all represented big challenges. Continue reading “For The Greenhouse Tavern, green isn’t just on the plate, it’s in the building” →

Small bites: Professional foragers for the home cook and great food for a good cause

A new USA Character Approved Blog post and women chefs raise money for the Greater Chicago Food Depository at the 15th annual Girl Food Dinner.

We occasionally pick up mushrooms at our local farmers market. Often when we do, we learn that they had been growing somewhere in the woods until earlier that very morning. Welcome to the world of professional foraging. As chefs and restaurants get more locavore and more adventurous, ingredients gathered from forests and meadows are turning up on more and more menus. And a whole new job title is springing up on resumes—professional forager.

Well, not so new for some. Connie Green (pictured above), founder of Wine Forest Wild Foods, started gathering wild chanterelles for leading San Francisco Bay Area restaurants back in 1979. And recently, she’s started offering home cooks access to some of her wild bounty. Continue reading “Small bites: Professional foragers for the home cook and great food for a good cause” →

What’s “Next” for Grant Achatz? Paris 1906 (for now, that is)

Award-winning Chef Achatz’s new restaurant Next will take on a different cuisine and a different era every three months. This adventurous undertaking is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

Grant Achatz has set himself one tough act to follow. On Monday, his acclaimed molecular gastronomy restaurant Alinea moved from seventh place to sixth on the S. Pellegrino “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list. Gourmet magazine had named the Chicago restaurant the best in America in 2006, the second year it was open. In 2008, the James Beard Foundation called Achatz the “Best Chef in the United States.”

Small wonder that USA Network chose Achatz as their 2011 USA Character Approved Honoree for food. And even smaller wonder that his highly anticipated new restaurant Next is almost completely booked through the end of June, as far out as they’re currently booking. But what exactly is Next? Continue reading “What’s “Next” for Grant Achatz? Paris 1906 (for now, that is)” →

Small bites: “Best chef memoir ever” and serious wine without all the seriousness

Gabrielle Hamilton’s best selling Blood, Bones & Butter and a San Francisco wine bar that makes serious wine, well, fun are the subjects of a pair of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts.

I first heard about Gabrielle Hamilton when I read about a bacon marmalade sandwich she serves at her New York City restaurant, Prune. Armed with only the vaguest description of the sandwich in a back issue of New York magazine, I made my own version. And I decided if mine was that good, I definitely had to get to Prune to try the real deal. I haven’t, of course. And now, with the huge success of her new memoir, getting in Hamilton’s already wildly popular East Village bistro will be that much harder. Continue reading “Small bites: “Best chef memoir ever” and serious wine without all the seriousness” →