Joe Ray

Monday, November 16, 2009

Hot Pan. Hot Oil.

BARCELONA

When I die, I’m sending friends to scatter my ashes in a couple of my favorite places around the world. Barcelona’s La Boqueria food market will be one of those spots.

I’ve said it before: I’d trade a meal at the market’s Pinotxo food ‘kiosk’ for many a three-star meal in a heartbeat. The world hums at a happier frequency whenever I’m there.

That said, I’ll make sure they keep my ashes on Pinotxo’s side of the market when the time comes.

We checked out Kiosko Universal a while back and though it felt a bit like I was dining with the enemy, a friend had sung its praises and I wanted to see for myself.

One of the wonderful things about the kiosks is how it’s all there for you to see. You sit at the bar and watch the cooks cook up the best the market has to offer. Look left - there’s someone selling fish! Look right - there’s someone cooking fish! There’s flash and bang and life everywhere and there you are in the middle of it all with a glass of Cava to celebrate. If you can’t draw inspiration from a space like this, check your pulse.

You also see when it all goes wrong.

At Kiosko Universal, we ordered Cava and immediately watched somebody’s fresh-cooked lunch get cold on the counter for five minutes before being delivered once a cook finally remembered it. Then we watched a cook work on our mushrooms by sautéing a big batch in a wok. It’s a great idea: blast something fresh with heat and serve it up quick, but there simple rules to sautéing that should be observed, most notably, as a chef once barked at me, “Hot pan. Hot oil.” Heat the pan, then heat the oil and then (and only then) add whatever you’re cooking. Flub up and need more oil? Send a trickle down the side of the pan so it heats up before it hits your food.

Cold oil on cold product leads to mush.

Here, however, we watch the cook pour an extra dose of cooking oil right on the mushrooms.

The cook looks bad, the chef looks worse and we lose our appetite…

…almost. We repent with coffee and dessert at Pinotxo.

Count on about 10-20 euros.

Kiosko Universal - MAP
La Boqueria
La Rambla 91
Barcelona

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Monks At The Table

MANHATTAN

There’s a lot to notice when we arrive at WD-50. The most outstanding is a booth of guys who look like they could be fraternity brothers, yet they’re silent as monks, paying close attention to what they’re eating; the antennae are up, they love the challenge.

You have to be up for the ride. Chef Wylie Dufresne bristles at the thought of preparing anything leaning toward making standard bistro fare for his customers. He’s just not interested.

What would he rather do? Stuff like floating plump scallops and pine needle udon in a bowl of grapefruit dashi. He deconstructs eggs benedict. He chars avocado. (?!?!) Even if his family is in the business you have to wonder how he thinks of this stuff, but when you put bites in your mouth, the combinations and preparations will stand hairs on end and leave you wondering how no one thought of it before.

Daniel Boulud’s kitchen at Daniel has a beautiful wall of spices sourced from around the world while Dufrene’s wall has pectins, starches and syrups. Yet the adjectives Dufresne cuisine inspires are words like ‘clean’ and ‘clear’ – you leave feeling like you’ve eaten a healthy Japanese dinner. His parsnip tart somehow makes me rethink my understanding of the vegetable. Parsnips!

Some argue the validity of this type of experimental cuisine - they should eat here to join the converted.

Finally, all hail Dufresne for having the confidence to keep and highlight the work of pastry chef Alex Stupak. Instead of a clash of egos (that would usually lead to the latter getting dumped), you just sit there and say ‘wow’ all meal long.

Count on about $65 plus drinks if you go à la carte. The tasting menu runs $140 plus $75 for wine pairing.

WD-50 – MAP
50 Clinton Street
New York
+1-212-477-2900
www.wd-50.com

Full disclosure: I ate at the restaurant while working on an upcoming story about Dufresne and his collaboration with chef Daniel Boulud. That said, Dufresne didn’t realize we were in the restaurant for dinner until dessert was over and the check was paid.

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Sunday, November 08, 2009

Fork Slapping Goodness?

MANHATTAN
I lied. I said there was ‘one’ NYC restaurant I’d really like to go back to eat in and, well, like I said…

Even at brunch a short while back, you could tell the new Le Pescadeux is a spot to watch: there’s a perfect smoked trout omelette and a steak and eggs that might stop your heart for multiple reasons at prices that won’t. And that’s not even counting Champagne and chats with Chuck.

Dinner’s what I’d really like to try, preferably with a partner for footsie. The restaurant’s fish-focused Quebec cuisine (harking back to owner Charles Perelmutter’s origins) is on display – and he’s breaking his new chef’s back to please by offering dinner ‘duets’ - a pair of half-sized portions – a great way to showcase what you can do and get a good new restaurant’s good name out there. Perelmutter chalks it up to “culinary A.D.D.”

I checked in with Perelmutter to find out about a chef change – the impressive Matthew Ridgway left and has been replaced by Adriano Ricco (clever poaching on Chuck’s part as Ricco’s done stints at BLT Fish and Tabla) – here’s what Chuck had to say about the ‘duet’ concept.

Even if I am in a great Seafood restaurant I get bored with my fish halfway through, and look to see what I can ‘mooch’ from others, usually with no success (people don’t share anymore). I decided I would not be bored again and now I, and my guests, can enjoy 2 different half orders of fish prepared 2 different ways without getting their reaching fork slapped away.

Note the capitalization of Seafood.

Right now, I’d take the grilled octopus and Wild Rock bass with a little neck nage … kick the tires on a fun concept and see what the new chef can do.

Le Pescadeux - MAP
90 Thompson St
New York
212-966-0021
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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Friday, November 06, 2009

Egging for More

Now that I’m back home and typing up a bushel of NYC blogs, the one place I really want to go back to is Brooklyn’s Fort Defiance. Not only are the drinks top notch, chef Sam Filloramo wowed me while, thanks to some sort of new restaurant timing/shipping glitches, he was still working from a half-empty* kitchen.

His deviled eggs were so good, I went home and told my mom about them and if that wasn’t enough to get me to want to go back, the ever-changing menu they now post on their Web site does: rabbit and chorizo hash, oysters Rockefeller, pan-fried catfish … my word.

Apparently, they even do breakfast and all I can do is imagine the possibilities.

I’m interested to see how the combination of a serious drinks bar combined with chef who’s making his mark pans out. It can only be good.

Fort Defiance - MAP
365 Van Brunt St
Brooklyn, NY
+1 347-453-6672
www.fortdefiancebrooklyn.com

*Apparently, in mid-September, after the equipment arrived, a health inspector stopped in to check the kitchen and found gas equipment without gas service - like a car with an empty gas tank - and decided the restaurant would be better off closed for the week until they got the pipes hooked up… go figure.

Click here to see my Boston Globe Travel story, “Small Wonders” - featuring an interview with Fort Defiance owner and drinks expert St. John Frizell.

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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Eye Food

BROOKLYN

They could serve Spam in the can here and I’d still come back. With a view this good, it really doesn’t matter what you eat. At Alma, it’s all about the view of southern Manhattan from the roof.

I joined friends of mine here - they were nibbling away on sturdy Mexican food - and accidentally figured out a peculiar system that allows you to bypass the restaurant’s Mexican-themed drink offerings, get a tasty microbrew at the b61 bar downstairs (try the Sixpoint Ale), then walk it topside and enjoy it with your guacamole and fish tacos.

“It’s almost winter!” you cry?

No worries - the roof deck is still open on the weekend and imagine it to be just as blissful watching an autumn sunset or when the snow flies.

Alma - MAP
187 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
+1.718.643.5400

www.almarestaurant.com

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Sunday, November 01, 2009

Blink and You’ll Miss It

The Food Leprechaun strikes again.

We found SoHo’s 10-seat Snack by walking in front of it - all three paces of the facade’s width. The name is odd for a sit-down Greek restaurant, but it’s a perfect lunch spot: the hummus is deep-flavored, brightened by lemon and there’s a fish roe spread that’s pure sea-salty goodness.

Two doors down, there’s an even tinier establishment – Porto Rico Importing – a four-seat coffee shop with three beautiful ladies holding court on a bench out front. We sit with them, sip an espresso and watch the world go by.

Snack - MAP
105 Thompson St, NYC
+1 (212) 925-1040

Porto Rico Importing
107 Thompson St. NYC

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Friday, October 30, 2009

Taking off The Cuffs

Chef Daniel Boulud recently picked up a third Michelin star for his restaurant, Daniel, only a few weeks after I spent an hour interviewing him for a Centurion Magazine story.

I was impressed by his attachment to the city – at this point, he’s more New Yorker than Frenchman and when I asked what was most ‘New York’ about Daniel, he replied with a bit of native French impishness: “Moi.”

…and???

“Service – it’s unique to NYC,” he says. “Europeans always find something in the gentilesse of the people here.”

Clearly, this Frenchman has lost his way, giving up his Gallic roots and praising service.

What turns out to be most impressive about Boulud is his openness to outside influences – he is a big fan of experimental chef Wylie Dufresne of NYC’s WD-50 and Basque chef Juan Mari Arzak.

For my story, Boulud works to create a tasting menu with Dufresne, and there’s a huge Asian influence in one of the plates he suggests, pairing scallops with miro, miso and black garlic.

My brow arches.

“Nothing to do with French,” he says flatly.

It’s like he’s cut off the cuffs.

Three stars, indeed.

…

For a little bit of back and forth between Francois Simon and the New York Times, check out their differing reviews of Boulud’s new restaurant, DBDB.

FS said:
http://francoissimon.typepad.fr/english/2009/10/daniel-boulud.html

NYT…
http://events.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/dining/reviews/14rest.html?scp=3&sq=boulud&st=cse

Courtesy photo by T. Schauer

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

New York City Burger Attack - Part II

MANHATTAN

Our gang watched late-summer jazz in Madison Square Park, but eyes rolled when we saw the line at the Shake Shack. It snaked hundreds of feet from the order window out through the park gates.

“What about the secret burger place?” said Maria.

We all stared and she smiled and dragged her toe in the dirt like she might not share her secret. It was rather sexy.

We got her to spill the beans and six of us bolted uptown by bike and subway to the … Parker Meridien. A burger joint in one of the city’s fanciest hotels? Hard to figure.

The lobby was everything you’d expect: high ceilings, artwork and fancy bars and restaurants … but it smelled like burgers.

Sure enough. A David Lynch-esque floor-to-ceiling curtain juts out into the lobby concealing the secret space. Approach and you’ll notice a skinny corridor with a neon-sign hamburger and a right-pointing arrow at the end.

Inside, it’s night and day; the space looks like a cross between Arnold’s Drive-In from “Happy Days” and my fraternity house basement. The burgers are great -you get to choose the cooking temperature and usually, you can elbow your way to a just-opened table right when they call your order number.

A good burger joint in one of the city’s fanciest hotels. Go figure.

Count on around $15-20.

Burger Joint – MAP
119 W 56th St
New York, NY
+1 212-708-7414

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Kill Soup Dumpling!!!

NEW YORK CITY

Years ago, when I cooked at the Left Coast’s Betelnut, a hidden army of wizened Chinese men would come in to roll dumplings in the basement. These quiet, artistic men were lost in their craft, turning dough into flat discs that, with a twist of the fingers, would encase whatever filling they put inside them: crustaceans, meat, vegetables, love.

They would make what seemed like thousands at a time and, unlike the other cooks in the kitchen, once that task was done, so were they.

Lucky bastards.

My first visit to Joe’s Shanghai was part of a get-to-know-you weekend with a former sweetie’s parents a decade ago. Then as now, there’s a reason the grease-splattered walls are festooned with pictures of mayors and glitterati with their arms swung around the owners: Joe’s dumplings are the bomb.

Instead of searing something (like a steak) and hoping all the tasty juices stay inside, here, the pork and crab goodness is held neatly inside the dumpling.

Skewer one with a chopstick and sip the juice that fills the spoon, or take a bite and blush as it runs down your chin.

Shudder with happiness as you swallow.

Joe’s Shanghai
http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/ - while on their site, do not miss the “Kill Soup Dumpling” video.

Three Locations – I went to Chinatown - MAP
9 Pell Street
New York, New York 10013
+1-212-233-8888

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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of The Year

Holy cow.

I won the Society of American Travel Writers’ “Grand Award” – The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year.

“At least you did something,” quipped my Republican-leaning father referring to a certain recent Nobel Peace Prize winner.

I took it as a compliment.

In any case, it’s fantastic news and a huge honor. There is an incredible list of winners that reads like a Who’s Who of travel writing – including several for the Boston Globe’s Travel section. There’s also a video of the awards that includes a photo of me in a cheche and another where I’m slurping an oyster with my buddy Ethan - start at around 17:40.

Here are links to the stories in my entry – most with a serious food bent – broken down by where they were published.

BOSTON GLOBE - TRAVEL
Heart of The Hills - Valparaiso
Sampling the Motherland – Sicily
Loving Lisbon
Desert Rules – The Algerian Sahara
Some Tips to Help Make Your Dollars Stretch in Europe

CENTURION & PLATINUM MAGAZINES – Asia & Australia Editions
The Road goes Ever On – Patagonia’s Route 40
The Centurion Menu – Santi Santamaria & Carme Ruscalleda

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION - TRAVEL
In Lyon, old food styles and new exist happily side by side - Photo gallery

Finally, my ‘simulcasted’ blogging trio rounded out my entry.
Simon Says! - with French food critic, Francois Simon
The Boston Globe’s Travel Blog, Globe-trotting
…and, of course, right here on Eating The Motherland!

More to come! Stay tuned…

Photo courtesy Joel Scheitler in Luxembourg.

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