SEEKING PEEKYTOE

Peekytoe crab is so Maine that I had to reach out and call someone I know in area code 207 as soon as I saw the words here yesterday. "How's the peekytoe up there?'' I asked, and was given an on-target Maine answer: "Heading down your way, I suppose.''

A poster asked about local seafood markets and, specifically, where to find peekytoe crab, which is a lovely, sweet-meat crab from Maine that used to be known only by its original names: rock crab and sand crab. The stuff never sold. After a Maine-based fishmonger slapped the moniker "peekytoe'' on the crab that'd been dubbed "picked-toe'' by locals for its pointed claw (in Maine, "picked'' is slang for pointed), chefs started buying the crab. Peekytoe sounds cute on menus, apparently. It tastes great in salads, that's for sure.

Anyway, knowing Doug Douty's Lusty Lobster, on Bay Avenue in Highlands, is all about Maine, I gave Lusty a call. They can get peekytoe, no problem, the folks there told me; just give them a call: 732. 291. 4100. Since Lusty Lobster, also a wholesaler, supplies seafood to a number of other fish markets, including Jody's Fishery, on Route 35 in Neptune, there's a good chance following their chain of distribution will reward you with peekytoe crab, too.

Please check it out and let me know how you do, oh peekytoe-seeker.

cheers,
Andy
1.31.07

ALTERNATIVES TO PINOT GRIGIO

I remember my first taste of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. It was in 1977 and I'd bought the bottle at the urging of Dick Phillips, owner of Phillips Fine Wines in Stockton, a pretty town on the Delaware in Hunterdon County. My, it was delicious. And just under $5. It became my house white.

How the mighty have fallen. Santa Margherita's pinot grigio today tastes factory-made to me, utterly without personality. In fact, as I tasted a batch of Italian pinot grigios to find a couple I could recommend to a poster on this blog, I only could come up with two reasonably priced bottles I could say were not bad at all: Kris and Zemmer. They're nice.

But if what you like is what pinot grigio used to be, there are other white-wine grapes out there in the $10-to-$20 price range that I bet will satisfy your quaffing needs. From Italy, look for the grapes malvasia (particularly from Friuli), verdicchio, vernaccia and greco di tufo; from Sardinia and Corsica, look for vermentino. From Spain, look for whites made from the albarino grape. If you're looking for a kick-off wine for a dinner party, consider trying prosecco, a light, vivacious bubbly from northern Italy. Prosecco producers to seek out: Bisol, Bortolotti.

From my tasting for our blog buddy, I heartily recommend the Naia, Burgans and Martin Codax albarinos. Absolutely fabulous, and a terrific sub for pinot grigio, is the Macchalupa Greco di Tufo. Consider, too, the Campo al Mare Vermentino and the Terruzi & Puthod Vernaccia. If I can move any of you on to something ever so slightly fuller in body, I'm a huge fan of the Domaine Champalou Vouvray. That's French, however, and something of a different animal. But it's fun.

So, Mr. Pinot Grigio fan, swirl, sip and learn about a new grape or two. There's more to white wines than a varietal that got hugely popular -- and stopped being worth its suddenly inflated price.

Cheers,
Andy
1.30.07

UPDATE: BLACK BEAN SOUP AND WINE

To those desirous of my black bean with orange soup recipe: Since I'd never really written down that recipe, this afternoon I barricaded myself in my kitchen with a notebook, made a big batch and wrote down the recipe. Look for it this coming Wednesday (Jan. 31) in the Jersey Life/Food section of the Press. It should run in my Foraging column.

To mister pinot grigio drinker: Hey, I'm testing, I'm testing! Trouble is, pinot grigios have just bottomed out in terms of quality - plonk city. Anyway, I think I have some suggestions in the white-wine category that will suit your drinking needs. I'll finish sampling Monday night. Tune back right here Tuesday or Wednesday for my findings. Then you and your guests can sip and see for yourselves.

cheers,
Andy
1.28.07

MORE IN NEW YORK: ELEVEN MADISON PARK

Of all the Danny Meyer-owned restaurants in New York City (Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, Tabla, Blue Smoke et al), Eleven Madison Park always seemed to me to be the one least talked-about, the one without a true buzz. That changed last year when an import from the West Coast, chef Daniel Humm, took charge of the kitchen.

The stately space that segues from bar to a series of elegant dining areas was packed past prime-eating-time last Friday night. Diners looked radiant and inclined to linger, not to leave this suddenly happening place. The Eleven Madison welcome crew was poised and graceful, the floor staff a little less so. I would have enjoyed more commanding commentary on the exceptional and wildly diverse wine list from the vino monitors, better elucidation on individual dishes as they were presented.

Many of the plates had a gripping vitality about them: Suckling pig confit could challenge the best Carolina barbecue for pure delicious flavor, while sturgeon, smoky and alluring with caviar, potatoes and egg, made me wish there was more of this fish around to enjoy. Marinated hamachi, plated with butternut squash and a splash of pumpkin seed oil, sets a new standard for the buttery fish. Humm also does a mean foie gras with Venezuelan cocoa and quince.

And so we stayed, our little party of five, with the rest of the flock at Eleven Madison Park, way past the witching hour. The specs: Eleven Madison Park, 11 Madison Ave. at 24th St., New York. 212. 889. 0905.

Now, please tell me where you're dining out or what you're cooking this weekend.

cheers, Andy
1.26.07

A QUESTION FOR RESTAURANT CHEFS

Restaurant chefs: Are you featuring boar/wild boar in any dishes on your menus this winter?

Reason I ask: I'm thinking about doing an Eat Out column (the one that appears on Fridays) to toast Chinese New Year (this year, it's the Year of the Boar) and I thought it might be cool to point out where folks could try boar.

If you are working with boar, please post right here in this blog and tell me about it.

thanks very much!
Andy
1.25.07

NEW IN NEW YORK: THAI AND MEXICAN

Off-the-beaten track, "even for the Lower East Side,'' as one of my chow pals noted, is a new northern Thai spot called Sticky Rice. Since there's a dearth of Thai restaurants in these parts, and not one I can think of that goes so far as to specialize in northern Thai dishes, we didn't think twice about wandering down that, frankly, not-so-lonesome stretch of Orchard Street.

Slender, atmospheric and decidedly chic, Sticky Rice is very LES cutting-edge. Its best dishes are the salads: tingly shredded duck washed in a chile vinaigrette and studded with apples, cashews and pineapple; bamboo shoots lavished with lime, hints of mint and cilantro, then merged with the signature pan-roasted sticky rice; cabbage slaw with shards of pork cracklings and bursts of more lime. I also dug the basil noodles and the homemade bacon, but would pass next time on the spindly, tough short ribs. Four of us ate till our bellies were full for a little more than $100, tax and tip included. BYOB, for now.

Crema, in Chelsea, is a nuevos Mexican find from up-and-coming chef Julieta Ballesteros. (One of my dining companions pegged her as a Penelope Cruz look-alike. Bingo.) Ostrich tostadas? Have you ever heard of them, let alone eaten them? Rosy-pink slices of ostrich layered with pink beans, a lick of goat cheese and sassy guave-chile glaze made this the best Mexican bite I've had in light years. Go, too, with the huitlacoche empanadas (Huh on huitlacoche? It's corn fungus, but thought of as Mexican "truffles"), sided by zuke fideos, some 'shrooms and goat cheese. We had the requisite comfy-food dish, too, pastel Azteca, a tortilla pie of beans, juicy shredded chicken, corn, cheese and salsa verde. Fair prices, with entrees from $19 to $28.

And Crema's so pretty, warm-toned with splashes of art and a lanky bar at which Ballesteros herself was having a post-rush solo dinner. It's close enough to the Theater District to warrant a pre-show look-see.

STICKY RICE: 85 Orchard St., New York. 212. 274. 8208.

CREMA: 111 W. 17th St., New York. 212. 691. 4477.

More NYC to come later this week. Y'all come back now, promise?

cheers, Andy
1.24.07

EATING FOR A MIDWESTERN SUPER BOWL

Calling all football fans with a streak of the Midwest running through your veins:

Are you living in Monmouth or Ocean counties, but find your heart's still in the Heartland, where you were born, raised or spent a good spell of time? Are you a diehard Bears backer or are you crazy for the Colts?

With a Midwestern Super Bowl on tap Feb. 4, I'm looking for ideas on what to eat to toast the biggest gridiron game of the year. Football is synonymous with feedings, so please tell me for my story on what's right to eat on Super Bowl Sunday what YOU plan to eat on that big-game day.

Is there an eatery back home in the Chicago or Indianapolis environs that serves forth Super Bowl-worthy vittles? Is there a dish your family or friends prepare as part of the game-day ritual? Is there something you must eat to cheer your Bears or your Colts on to victory?

Please tell me, and right away. E-mail me at clurfeld@app.com by 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 26 with your Midwestern Super Bowl eating plan. Put the word MIDWEST EATS in the guidefield and include your full name, where you live and your daytime phone number so I can check in with you.

thanks!
Andy
1.23.07

FANCY PANTS AND BLUE JEANS

Humble, humble, haute, haute, humble. That's how my dining went during a few-day excursion to New York. And that last humble was start-to-finish sheer deliciousness.

I'll talk about all my NYC dining adventures during the course of this week, right here in this blog.

This was the lineup: Thursday night, first at Sticky Rice, a new-new northern Thai restaurant on the Lower East Side, then at Crema, a nuevo Mexican spot in Chelsea. Friday night, a four-hour feeding at Eleven Madison Park, in the Madison Park 'hood. Saturday night, starting at Gordon Ramsay, in the West 50s, segueing to a non-food interlude at Milk & Honey on the LES, then, spontaneously, scooting to Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village.

Lots of amazing food, particularly at Ssam Bar. Right now, that might be the most original restaurant in New York City. Lots of silly service gaffes at Gordon Ramsay, which doesn't have the food power to make me able to ignore dirty silverware being taken from dirty plates and SET ON A FUSSY SILVERWARE HOLDER, to be used for the next course. It doesn't have the culinary consistency to allow me to forgive dishes being auctioned off tableside or the lack of wine knowledge on the part of the staff.

But more to come. Where/what did you eat this past weekend?

cheers, Andy
1.21.07

DINING OUT-OUT

I'm just about to leave for a few days in New York. It's much ado about restaurants and eating. I do this pretty regularly, in both NYC and Philly. Sometimes I think it's all a world apart from our dining choices here at the Shore; sometimes I think there's little need to make a trip. No matter; it's always educational and enlightening.

Do you dine out in those cities across the rivers Hudson and Delaware? If so, where? If not, what restaurants keep you happy and sated here?

I'll let you know how the eating goes after I get back.

cheers, Andy
1.18.07

SPICING RIGHT

I don't so much cook from cookbooks as I do read them. I read them, and then I feel like cooking.

I read how someone has partnered, oh, shrimp with mustard seeds, and I think about that combo for days ... until I face the stove and do something with shrimp and mustard seeds. I never really follow recipes, but I am inspired by them.

Inspiration comes quickly and easily when reading Floyd Cardoz's "One Spice, Two Spice" (published by William Morrow). Cardoz is the chef at
one of New York's most celebrated restaurants, Tabla. I guess I'd call Tabla nouveau Indian: It's about Cardoz's interpretations of Indian dishes, and the menu lets his imagination and experiences roam.

"One Spice, Two Spice" takes that exciting winding path, too. I've been letting Cardoz's knowledge of Indian flavors riff through my cooking for a couple months now. I've been eating pretty well because of it.

What cookbooks inspire you? Are you a recipe-follower or a reader-renegade?

cheers, Andy
1.17.07

THE YOUTHFUL PALATE

Not being a person who enjoys the bar scene, I often find myself spending a lot of time with single-digits. I'm forever engaged by their comments about food. They're definitive, forceful, never wishy-washy about their taste preferences. I like this.

But I stall when one of my single-digit chums claims they don't like a food without trying that food.

"No,'' I invariably say. "You cannot hate a food without trying it. Not allowed.''

So we try. We try hummus, which doesn't look appealing, but tastes ""yummy,'' according to a pair of my just-learning-to-read pals. We try oven-dried tomatoes, which are squishy in texture, but taste richly sweet. We try things most adults can't even pronounce, like confit of duck. (Confit equals con-fee.) Duck confit, it turns out, is a certain 7-year-old's favorite food.

Parents who claim their kid's diet consists of mac-and-cheese, chicken nuggets, pasta and fast-food choices may be short-changing their kids. A friend with a trio of grade-schoolers told me her pediatrician says that's all 7-year-olds like; their taste buds aren't developed enough to like anything more complicated.

Really?

Hmm. Somehow I don't think a 7-year-old in Japan or India or Brazil exists on a daily diet of mac-and-cheese and chicken nuggets. I think kids have more potential.

Don't you? What do your kids eat? How do you encourage them to try new foods?

cheers, Andy
1.16.07

CREMA OF THE CROP

I woke up this morning and marched to the fridge, where I quickly found what I’d hidden behind a carton of juice: My container of Mexican cultured sour cream.

I’d scored this a couple of nights ago in Bradley Beach. The first night, I used it to top a multi-layered concoction of jalapeno-corn tostadas, scrambled eggs with queso and souped-up black beans (with salsa, cilantro, onion). By last night, I was mainlining the Crema Pura Mexicana. Day three, and it’s my waking thought. This is some habit.

OK. It’s tangy and super-creamy, desirably sour and yet there’s a hint of sweetness to it. It’s far more complex than American sour cream. That’s probably why it tasted so terrific on my tostada thing: It didn’t serve as a smothering condiment, but rather as an enhancing ingredient to the other elements.

I got it at the Latino grocery, Abuelita, at 408 Main St. You’ll read more about this little market and its cookin’ customers a week from Wednesday in the Food section.

Meanwhile: Are you eating out this weekend? If so, where? Are you cooking in? If so, what?

Cheers, Andy
1.12.07

SIT, AND EAT

Locavorism, really good noodles, overcharging at the supermarket, service without a smile but with ample attitude, stuck-in-neutral diners vs. stuck-in-neutral chefs, shopping obsessions, football cooking, New York vs. Philly (and I don't mean Giants vs. Eagles this time), "cheese sandwiches,'' what sushi says, how kids taste.
My boss Kathy Dzielak asked me last Friday if I knew what I was going to write about for Day One Blog, and I said I had 11 ideas. I lied. Yes, I had those 11 ideas I listed above, but I had 1,111 in the back of my mind, including 600 wine ideas. It weighed on me all weekend, as I reveled in the Romo rumble (sorry for being snarky, but in the long run that could be the best thing that ever happened to that cocky-kid QB), mourned the passing of the season for my Giants and Jets, waffled on the Favre retirement issue, and cooked a huge vat of black bean soup (scented with orange; black beans and orange: a beautiful friendship). Topic One is still weighing on me.
I want to talk with you about all things food, but for those of you who read The Dining Companion on Sundays and Eat Out on Fridays in good old Asbury Park Press newsprint form, be forewarned: I won't be tipping my hand on upcoming reviews. If you want to holler at me for past preferences or be reminded about the soup dumplings I had in Matawan a year-and-a-half ago, fire away. I'll listen to your rants and I'll try to answer your queries. I'll also encourage all of you who join in the discussion here to offer your own suggestions. Talk about your food experiences, the food experiences that take place in your kitchens or out at restaurants. A food forum we'll have, I hope.
You see, what I'd really like to talk about is eating. Tasting, cooking, trying and experimenting. While I eat out religiously and with relish, I also cook obsessively. I shop nearly daily. I'm sure you've bumped into me picking through the lemons at Delicious Orchards. Just last Sunday, as I was wrist-deep in a bin of them, holding them, hand-weighing them, checking their skins for thickness/thinness, a perfectly nice gentleman asked me if there was a way to pick lemons. I was so rude to him, I'm ashamed: Jets' kickoff was nigh and I was running late, so I sloughed off his question with a, "Nah, they're all the same.'' My stomach has been aching over this. Heavier lemons have more juice, so if you're looking to juice the lemons, go for weight. If you're looking for lots of zest, look for clean, unspotted, thicker skins, not sponge-y lemons. I never buy sponge-y lemons … they're all nasty white pith.
Anyway. And another anyway. I'm going to get to those 11 topics and even those 1,111 topics, if you'll let me. But I do want to ask you all something first: What's not here at the Shore that you want to eat? What are we missing here, be it in terms of ingredients or restaurants or wines or something else? It all starts, after all, with what we want to eat right now.

cheers, Andy
1.9.07