http://www.joe-ray.com/work/ Published work of food writer and photographer Joe Ray en joearay@gmail.com Copyright 2012 2012-04-15T02:30:47+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/globe_paris_cheese/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/globe_paris_cheese/#When:02:30:47Z I am famous for my cheese nights. An invitation goes out about a week or two in advance reading, “Bring a friend, bring wine, and bring a hunk of good cheese.” Even in France, where I have lived on and off for 10 years, I am famous . . . at least among my friends. Cheese night started when I lived in Seattle as a way to connect to France, where I wanted to make my home. The tradition continued and grew exponentially at my apartments in the City of Light, where tables would be mounded with cheese and wine. At one of the first of these gatherings, a friend popped a bite of baguette laden with a wonderfully runny Vacherin Mont d’Or and proclaimed, “This tastes like I’m licking a cow’s rear end!” before going on to eat the rest of the wheel himself. ...Read the rest here in The Boston Globe Travel. 2012-04-15T02:30:47+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_sherry/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_sherry/#When:03:02:43Z At Brooklyn’s Palo Cortado tapas bar, owner Alessandro Piliego was speaking his native Italian on the phone. Apparently, a native Roman slinging 20 sherries by the glass in the bowels of Brooklyn is what it takes to help kick-start a trend. “Sherry isn’t popular and Spanish restaurants in the United States haven’t done a good job at promoting it. It’s like going to an Italian restaurant and not finding grappa,” he said. But sherry, the once-fusty Spanish wine, is enjoying a budding new regard stateside. ... read the rest here in The Daily. 2012-03-17T03:02:43+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/prime_meats_bk/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/prime_meats_bk/#When:15:28:47Z I stretched my birthday a bit. Last Monday’s 2012-03-13T15:28:47+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/robertas_bk/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/robertas_bk/#When:16:54:43Z Cue the rock music, throw on a cool T-shirt and hop in the L train to Williamsburg – Roberta’s cures what ails you. While the possibility of a lamb dish worthy of a spot in Daniel next to a pizza might sound a bit schizophrenic, here it works just fine. With its woodsy feel and merry, multicolored light garlands on the walls, Roberta’s, est. 2008, has a feeling of a saloon that sits not too far from the 49th parallel – one that hits full swing by 7 and stays that way till the last tippler is pushed into the Brooklyn night at closing time. I was invited by my sweetheart, Elisabeth, who’d picked up on some very strong hints on where I’d like to celebrate my birthday and we were not let down. These guys, particularly chef Carlo Mirachi, have some serous friends in the food sourcing business. ‘Beef Carpaccio’ shows up with the marbling of something noteworthy and turns out to be Wagyu from a farm on a big, flat state out west. A drizzle of stellar olive oil creates a dreamy, one-two-three-four adagio progression between vegetal freshness, slick vegetable fat, beefy meatiness and Wagyu fat. I got as much pleasure nibbling away at it as watching Elisabeth enjoy it – something she readily encouraged. One plate over, tiny bay scallops with crispy bits of trout skin, Meyer lemon and poppies snuggled in a bowl, reminding me of not one but two childhood favorites – Mom’s broiled scallops, and, thanks to the poppies and the almost bread-y flavor to the broth they waded in, the frozen Pepperidge Farm rolls she’d make in the oven when I was little. The big gun, however, was the lamb breast main course, cooked sous-vide for a long time then sizzled for a short time to create a crispy/melting combination that recalls the textures of a savory crème brulée. Nearby, a comma of yogurt, dollops of a light mint aspic and gently-braised leaves of, I believe, radicchio and Swiss chard provided punctuation marks of acidity, bitterness and a faint sweetness. Any three-star restaurant would be proud to serve the dish at three times the price. Next to the lamb, we’d ordered a pizza – this is a pizzeria, after all – and maybe because it was next to something so spectacular, our pie was the evening’s only relative whiff. The ‘Tracy Patty’ pie features tasty mozzarella, ricotta, lip-smacking boquerones (vinegar-drenched anchovies), garlic and savoy cabbage, but it lacked some juicy agent like tomatoes or more of that amazing olive oil to shuttle each slice it to its final home. No matter. Next time we go, we’ll likely try another pie. Perhaps the ‘Voltron’ – it’s got sopressata. While some crow that the bar-like atmosphere is an odd or uncomfortable place for food this sophisticated, we could have cared less. This is the kind of spot where you want to grab good friend or three on your birthday and have one of the best nights of the year, fussiness be damned. Mirachi’s created an American doppelganger of Sicilian chef Francesco Cassarino’s wonderful Pizzeria Caravanserraglio. On the subway and once nibbling some of Elisabeth’s fantastic birthday cake at home, we got talking about the best dishes we’d ever had. Rare are the meals that engender that sort of conversation. “What were the tens?” Elisabeth asked, a question that brought us around the world and back to the meal still in our bellies. Our lamb, we agreed, was a 9 ½, the scallops a scarce point and a half behind. “What about the Wagyu carpaccio?” I asked. “A solid eight?” She responded without hesitation. “That was a ten.” Roberta’s 261 Moore St. Brooklyn (718) 417-1118 www.robertaspizza.com (Editor’s note: No reservations at Roberta’s - go early or wait in line.) Follow me on Twitter: @joe_diner and on Facebook. 2012-03-07T16:54:43+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/lobene_wing_recipe/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/lobene_wing_recipe/#When:21:31:51Z New wing story bonus #2! You’ll have to go to DBGB to try chef Kevin Lobene’s smoked BBQ wings, but I got him to share his sriracha hot sauce recipe… WINGS 20-30 wings, cut into flats and drumettes SAUCE ¼ lb. (one stick) melted butter 2 cups sriracha hot sauce ½ cup honey crushed red pepper 1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds BLUE CHEESE DRESSING 2 cups sour cream 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup blue cheese crumbles ¼ cup red wine vinegar ½ cup lemon juice Celery & Carrots, cut into sticks. Combine melted butter, sriracha, honey and a pinch of crushed red pepper in a saucepan and set aside. Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Bring 1.5 qt of canola oil to 350 degrees in a wok or Dutch oven and lower wings in with a metal skimmer or strainer. Fry, stirring occasionally for 13-15 minutes. Dry wings on a paper towel, then transfer to a metal mixing bowl. Coat wings with hot sauce and serve in a bowl, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Serve with a side of blue cheese dressing, carrots and celery. 2012-02-04T21:31:51+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/buffalo_if_go/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/buffalo_if_go/#When:21:06:50Z As a little bonus for my chicken wing story in The Daily, here are a few of favorite places to visit for wings in Buffalo. To avoid fights, I’ll just say here that this is neither an exhaustive list, nor a top ten, but they’re all good! Anchor Bar 1047 Main Street Buffalo, New York anchorbar.com Kelly’s Korner 2526 Delaware Ave. (716) 877-9466 Papa Jake’s 1672 Elmwood Ave. (716) 874-3878 Casa di Pizza 477 Elmwood Ave. (716) 883-8200 casadipizza.com Gabriel’s Gate 145 Allen Street (716) 886-0602 DBGB 253 Allen St. (716) 240-9359 dukesbohemiangrovebar.com And when you can take no more… Allen Street Hardware 245 Allen St. (716) 882-8843 allenstreethardware.com 2012-02-04T21:06:50+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_buffalo_wings/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_buffalo_wings/#When:02:52:11Z The last time I was in Buffalo, N.Y., my hair caught fire in a botched effort to down a flaming Dr Pepper shot at Mulligan’s Brick Bar. The only other thing I remember from that weekend is the chicken wings: flaming hot and particularly good with cheap beer. But what makes this quintessential football food so important to its hometown? Andy Denne, chef at Allen Street Hardware, a rather perfect bar and restaurant in the historic Allentown district, had a few answers. Denne is a Buffalo native and a journeyman chef, but only on special occasions does he whip up wings, making him a neutral insider in the wing wars. I called him to ask if it was worth making a winter trek to his city for Buffalo wings. “First of all, we just call them wings, and I wouldn’t eat wings anywhere outside of western New York state,” he said. “C’mon up, man!” ... read the rest here in The Daily. 2012-02-04T02:52:11+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/is_paris_the_world_champion_of_gastronomy/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/is_paris_the_world_champion_of_gastronomy/#When:17:16:39Z That’s the question French food critic Francois Simon posed to a little panel: Nick Lander, Carlo Petrini, Ken Hom, Anissa Helou, Yumiko Inukai and…yours truly. For a recent article in Le Figaro’s magazine, Figaroscope. Here’s my response in Version Originale… World capital? That’s loaded question. Twenty years – even 10 – ago, the question was bandied about for fun but we already knew the answer, but now, just using the places I know well, it’s a legitimate debate. Barcelona combines an unquenchable curiosity and solid base to keep themselves on cuisine’s front edge. Sicily combines incredible raw ingredients with solid value and New York could win on sheer numbers yet it is Paris’ equal in quality and exponentially more diverse. India is a time machine whose cuisine never ages. Plus, in Paris, coffee is awful and the beer second rate. It’s also pricey. That said, you forget all problems instantly when the former butcher who can hold four bottles of wine in one hand and owns Le Severo puts a côte de boeuf aged 40 days under your nose. You forget it when Pierre Gagnaire boils down a great vat of red wine to make a tiny component of a sauce. You forget it when Laetitia at Le Bistro Paul Bert greets you with a smile, seats you at your favorite table and gifts you with a glass of wine and when it comes to choosing a bottle of wine doesn’t foist something you can’t afford on you. You forget it when three bottles, two glasses of Calvados and one conversation into a meal, you realize with a start that it’s 5 a.m. and you’ve been at the table for nine hours. Undeniable world champ? Not anymore. However, the French exception still reigns. Let’s call Paris first among equals. Follow me on Twitter: @joe_diner and on Facebook. 2012-01-26T17:16:39+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_icewine/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_icewine/#When:02:44:00Z There we were, freezing our keisters off in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The mercury had dropped well below zero, and the wind flung the snow so far sideways, it occasionally blew up at our faces from below the vines. We were a tiny group of harvesters, there to pick grapes in the name of Canada’s best gift to the winemaking world: ice wine. We filled a few dozen bins with the brown frozen clusters of grapes, dumped them in the wine press and hit the switch. We peered in, waiting for the juice to appear between the wood slats and flow into the inch of snow that had accumulated at the bottom of the press. Nothing happened. It was a small amount of grapes, so we reconfigured the press and squeezed again. Still, not a drop. ... read the rest here in The Daily. 2012-01-21T02:44:00+00:00 http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_diners/ http://www.joe-ray.com/site/daily_diners/#When:05:40:09Z Walking into Vancouver’s Red Wagon, I spied one of the largest men I’ve ever seen. He had a twinkle in his eye, as if the waitress had just served him his favorite dish. Ever. Under his nose, a mound of buttermilk pancakes rose from an oval plate, interspersed with layer upon thick layer of pulled pork. Pinned to the side of the mound with a toothpick was a pair of butter pats. If a customer so wishes, he can also have a pair of eggs, sunny side up or over easy, atop it all for good measure. The man at the table certainly did. Whether they have been around for a while, or are new spots simply conjuring an older ethos, a handful of diners across North America are shaking things up, putting smarter, better food on the Formica while keeping prices within reach. ... read the rest here in The Daily. 2011-12-31T05:40:09+00:00