RECEIPTS, NOT RECIPES TODAY

OK, I'm going to complain. Because I'm mad and wish I didn't have to take it any more. But I have to, and so do you, I'm afraid.

I routinely get overcharged for items I buy in the market. All the time. Recently, I was overcharged more than $27 -- that came on top of being overcharged $12-and-change the week before at the same supermarket. Last week, another market tried to charge me more than double for an item I regularly buy. The store manager got involved, he claimed the item in question absolutely was double the amount I usually pay, I challenged him, but I ended up asking to have the item put back and the charge refunded. This inconvenienced everyone in line behind me, embarrassed me and made me doubt how well the store is run.

The kicker? Since my name is on the bank card I use to pay for my purchases there, the folks know that I'm the gal who writes about food here at the Press. Well, today I read an e-mail from that same manager who tried to overcharge me, apologizing and correcting himself: I was right about the price and he was wrong. I wish he'd've said he was sorry to the poor folks who were forced to cool their heels behind me.

At least he apologized. When I have time to bring my store receipts back to try and prove I was overcharged, there are rarely any apologies. I'm made to feel as if I'm wasting someone's time. But I've been charged for 10 items when I bought only one, making a $2.99 purchase $29.99, had basic produce rung up as something far more expensive and fancy-pants, and had items I bought because they were on sale rung up as something definitely not on sale.

OK. Rant over. But I'll add one thing: Should I ever be undercharged for anything I buy, something that's happened a few times in my long food-shopping career, I always, but always return to the store to pay the difference. You know? My money's never been turned away.

Sigh,
Andy
2.27.07

BEAUTIFUL BABIES

I shun tomatoes at this time of year, with one exception and for once purpose: I buy baby plum tomatoes and I roast them.

Wash them, slice them in half and lay them out, cut side up, on a baking sheet lined with foil. Nestle them in nicely, now. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil. Then sprinkle good sea salt over them, maybe Maldon or Hawaiian pink or Balinese. Bake in a preheated oven, set at about 350 degrees, for about 90 minutes, then check on them: The tomatoes’ juices should be bubbling, the tops should be lightly browned and, perhaps, even a smidgen charred in spots. If your baby plums aren’t there yet, give them a little more time in the oven.

Roasting intensifies and sweetens their flavor. By the time you’ve let them cool enough to handle, in 10 or 15 minutes, you won’t be able to resist eating them. Kids, I find, adore them as a pre-dinner snack. If you have any left after you and yours nibble on them straight, as is, toss them with cooked pasta, olive oil and some chopped herbs or use them to make a pizza. Do they work on an hors d’oeuvre platter? You bet.

If you want to store them, simply place them in a glass jar, cover with olive oil, close the jar with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate. Bring to room temp before eating.

Cheers,
Andy
2.25.07

YOUR Qs, A'd

First, to the restaurant chef who took the time to post a totally smart, totally informed must-read comment under the FISH STORIES entry below: THANK YOU, GRAZIE, MERCI, GRACIAS. I hope everyone who cares even a smidgen about what they eat, at home or at any type of restaurant, reads this spot-on post. The point this chef makes about buying local seafood and produce is one we all need to consider: By doing so, you not only get the freshest product at the best cost, you're supporting our local economy. And P.S. to this savvy chef: Your point about tasteless farmed salmon is also excellent; I don't know why folks adore the stuff. Can any farmed-salmon-eater enlighten us?

Next, to the anonymous poster who prefers locally owned restaurants to chain eateries: Can you hear my applause? Yup, they serve the masses. Their food reflects that.

To the poster interested in eating the authentic fare at West Lake Seafood, a Chinese fish specialist in Matawan: Do not give up. My advice is to call ahead and ask when West Lake will be getting in live shrimp (the season usually starts in March), then immediately make a reservation for that day. As soon as you are seated, order a pound or two of live shrimp, steamed. (Figure on a third of a pound of live shrimp per person.) It's a phenomenal experience; you'll be eating shrimp that taste like shrimp, not pink-tinged cardboard, not something frozen and defrosted and water-logged. Tell your server you only wish to eat authentic Chinese dishes, that you do not like Americanized Chinese fare. West Lake's management says there is only one menu - authentic Chinese for all. Some of the dishes I regularly order at West Lake are: seafood king chowder, a hot pot of eggplant, chicken and saltfish, fried bean curd with conch, prawns and chicken with black bean sauce and snow pea leaves with preserved eggs. Since I've found West Lake, I've not had to trek into New York to score my live shrimp, steamed, at Fuleen in Chinatown when the craving strikes.

Last, but hardly least, to Al/Anonymous, who wanted to know about a cool, casual place I love in Philly: I'm pretty sure you mean Standard Tap, in the Northern Liberties neighborhood. It's a true-blue gastropub, with hand-pulled beers and classic French bistro fare (get the duck confit, the mussels with house-made sausage, the extraordinary pate). It's got an urban-rustic setting both upstairs and down and, when the weather's right, there's no place in Philly better to kick back than the rooftop dining area. Standard Tap rocks.

So, where are y'all eating out this weekend? Or what are you cooking at home?

cheers,
Andy
2.23.07

REDUCTION DEDUCTIONS

We were straining canned tomatoes the other evening, separating out the diced stuff to layer atop a couple of pizza crusts, but not willing to waste those good cut-up-tomato juices. I put the juices in a small pot, set it on the stove top and, stirring from time to time, reduced the liquids over high heat. That rendered them thick and syrupy and very proper for dappling over a vegetable-strewn pizza. Tomato juice became a kind of intense tomato glaze that allowed the pizza to stay crisp and not get soggy.

I do some silly-sounding things like that. For example, one pressed-for-time night I strained the liquids out of a couple of cans of Muir Glen Southwestern Black Bean Soup and reduced them in a pot. When the bean liquid thickened, I stirred in some broken-up spicy sausage meat and a little ground beef. Meanwhile, I warmed the black beans in a separate pot. After the meat-liquid mixture was heated through, I stirred it into the beans and added a shake of ancho and jalapeno chile powders. Near-instant chili.

That's my kind of fast food.

cheers,
Andy
2.21.07

FISH STORIES

As veteran fishmonger Don Takash was telling me about monkfish being a by-product of scallop-fishing, we segued into restaurant chatter. That subject, inevitably, is a by-product of any food-related conversation I have.

Takash, who owns Sally's Seafood, a wholesale operation, and Ahearn's Fish Market, a retail shop, both on Route 532 in Waretown, is one of the best-informed fish guys at the Shore. So when he mentioned Bonefish Grill, a seafood-oriented restaurant chain with a new branch on Van Zile Road in Brick, my ears perked up. I'd just been to Bonefish and got the company line from the servers on how the folks behind the scenes (Bonefish is part of the Outback empire) source seafood from all waters of the world. Interestingly enough, according to the servers I queried at the Brick Bonefish, there's not any seafood from Jersey Shore fishermen on the local menu.

Takash told me that Bonefish buys corporately. They're looking, he noted, for a "uniform product.''

He also offered another observation: "You'll notice there aren't chain restaurants in the beach towns.'' Chains succeed where there's volume, and there's just not the year-round population in most of our beach communities to support the economic needs of the major chains, he explained. Locally owned restaurants are the chow centers of our coast.

Hmm, I thought. How true that is; how hard it is for local restaurants in beach towns to keep going through the winter, to make that year-round run. Outback, Chili's, Longhorn, Panera, Applebee's, TGIFriday's and the rest of the chains do seem to settle in the Bricks, Toms Rivers, Middletowns and Freeholds of the suburban world, not your Sea Brights, Sea Girts and Seaside Parks.

But there is a small, steadily growing local chain that did get its start in our beach towns: Surf Taco, which was born in Point Beach, then expanded in Manasquan, Seaside and Belmar. Of course, it now is finding its sea legs in suburban Silverton and Jackson.

Chain vs. local: Where do you eat? And why? Restaurant chefs: Do you buy your fish from local wholesalers who source from local fishermen?

Cheers,
Andy
2.20.07
P.S. There's more fish talk from Don Takash and other fish-minded folks coming in tomorrow's Food section in the Press.

REAL MEX AND MORE

Lisa offered an interesting comment in a post earlier this week: She's been finding more dining satisfaction in the little taquerias popping up in many Shore towns than in the "Tex-Mex''-style places she enjoyed patronizing once upon a time.

Si, si. There's a new generation of authentic Mexican eateries supplementing the Mexi-merican restaurants in our midst, and these authentic Mexicans are the places to go if you're looking for the real tamal, so to speak. Lisa's smart comments reminded me that what we're experiencing in the Mexican realm is not unlike what generations past experienced when the first Italian and Chinese restaurants opened during earlier waves of immigration.

Those early Italian and Chinese restaurants sported dishes dotted with American ingredients. Not all foods from the old countries could be found here, so those ethnic-restaurant pioneers improvised as they re-created their classics. The dishes they devised became our beloved standards. Will you find exact replicas in Italy or China? No, not likely. But they're here to stay, on this side of the ponds. As the global marketplace expanded, along with our palates and our knowledge, and as highly trained, highly skilled chefs took charge, more authentic Italian and Chinese restaurants opened. Choices, galore.

I see similar things happening today with Mexican restaurants. In addition to Mexi-merican places, we now have Mexico Lindo on Burnt Tavern Road in Brick, with its home-cooked memelitas, huaraches and signature poblano burrito, and Aby's, on Main Street in Matawan, with its luscious trademark sauces rousing all manner of meats and fishes. What you favor -Mexi-merican or the more authentic Mexican dishes - is a matter of personal taste preference. There's no right, no wrong.

But Lisa's thoughts have me wondering: Which do you prefer? What are your favorite Mexican and Mexi-merican restaurants?

And, further, are you eating out this weekend or cooking in? Where/what?

One more thing: Do you celebrate Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday is this Tuesday, Feb. 20)? If so, where/how?

Cheers,
Andy
2.16.07

VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE?

I heard this morning about the mass layoffs at Chrysler. It's being called the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre.''

I can imagine chefs and restaurateurs today are feeling rather smacked in the teeth themselves: Next to Mother's Day, Valentine's Day is the busiest restaurant holiday of the year, an economic bump during the slow winter season. But with power outages blipping life here at the Shore and transit treacherous, it's likely more than a few lovebirds will be changing their plans from going out tonight to nesting at home.

So chefs and restaurateurs, how are you handling Mother Nature's cruelty? Are you going to offer Val Day specials tomorrow? Diners: Are you changing plans and staying home? Or will you persevere and not let the weather ruin your dinner-for-two?

Sigh,
Andy
2.14.07

DARK SIDE OF DESSERTS

Last night, as I ate the last of the puffy little pastries made by my friend Maureen, I realized my sweet tooth hadn't been the victim of a phantom root canal, just of badly made restaurant desserts.

Indeed, my sweet tooth was alive and very well, and most eager to eat and enjoy the custard-filled, light and buttery-textured squares Maureen had so graciously packed up for me. My, they were wonderful, very French in style and size, bitsy bites of ethereal pastry with a central swoosh of well-made eggy custard. Why can't a restaurant make pastries like these, I thought, instead of importing hulking boxes of the dread Dark Side of the Moon cake?

That's the pre-fabricated confection that did me in, you know. It was everywhere for the longest time and after I'd been served my 200th slice, I got spitting mad. I've pretty much been mad at commercially prepared desserts served in otherwise fine restaurants ever since.

Too bad Maureen isn't a restaurant pastry chef. But lovely for me she's such a generous friend.

What restaurant features made-in-house pastries and desserts that you admire?

cheers,
Andy
2.13.07

WINES FOR SUSHI

For Mike and Marli and the rest of you sushi-loving folks:

Even though sake, which is Japanese rice wine, is the spirit of choice with sushi in Japan, folks here tend to favor beer or, increasingly, wine when sushi is on the docket for dinner.

If a connoisseur of the highest level paired your sushi with a beverage, that drink most likely would be green tea. Make that the top green tea, sencha – and make that sencha, straight, no accents. If you try sencha with sushi, you’ll understand why it’s the perfect companion.

But you want to know about wine with sushi. Fair enough. One of the best sushi-spirit partnerships I ever had came at Masa, that temple of sublime sushi at the Time-Warner building in New York. I was dining with Jim Peterson, who not only writes the most technically precise cookbooks in print, he’s got one Olympic-caliber palate. He suggested we have a bottle of sparkling wine from the Loire Valley in France with our sushi. Its mineral-y characteristics, he said, cleanse and refresh. He was right.

Though it’s not always easy to find Loire Valley sparklers, some light, mineral-y proseccos from northern Italy serve a similar purpose. So if you’re doing a range of sushi, various rolls, various fishes, try one of the widely available prosecco around – from the producers Bortolotti, Bisol, Zardetto, Mionetto. I also favor albarinos, a dry, also mineral-y white wine , from Spain. Look for Burgans, Ducado de Altan, Martin Codax.

Now, if you’re like a lot of enthusiastic sushi-eaters, you’re big into the multi-faceted rolls with lots of spicy, big-flavor elements. If that’s your ticket, you might want a wine with a little extra fruit: Try the Casata Montfort Traminer from Trentino, Italy; the Marquis Philips Holly’s Blend (a mix of white-wine grapes) from southeastern Australia; the Domaine Bott-Geyl Pinot D’Alsace from Alsace, France; the Selbach “Fish Label” Dry Riesling from Germany.

That’s a good selection of starter-sushi wines. (All these bottles, by the way, are under $20.) Now all you sushi fanatics out there: Tell me what you drink with sushi. Wine? If so, what do you favor? Beer? Get specific, too.

Cheers,
Andy
2.11.07

MAZI UPDATE

Patrons of the much-loved Mazi, a Mediterranean restaurant on Main Street in Bradley Beach, have been understandably bereaved since the restaurant closed … and most anxious for information about the future of the charming, congenial place. Mazi's chefs and owners Peter Mantas and Leslie Feingold touched the hearts and palates of many with their rustic and earthy savory dishes (Peter) and elegant, delectable and unfailingly seasonal desserts (Leslie).

Well, Mazi fans, please book a moment to spend with Peter and Leslie on the Food cover of the Press this coming Wednesday, Feb. 14. They share not only their own love story, but offer a gift from the heart for all those who connected with the peerless food at Mazi.

P.S.: Press photographer Tanya Breen's photos are making me desperately hungry right now.

P.S.S. Thanks to all those who reached out to me for information on Mazi, Peter and Leslie; you inspired this story.

cheers,
Andy
2.9.07

REPLY TO A SEASONAL CHEF

To Anonymous Chef:

Thanks so much for your great post (below, under comments for Chilling News, Heart-Warming Chefs) and all the key info you’re providing the public by speaking out. I wish I knew the name of your restaurant so I could dine there and help eat up all those collards! Love 'em. (And everything else you mention you’re cooking up.)

Once harvest starts with the first of spring’s berries, asparagus, rhubarb, herbs, lettuces and peas, I’m hopeful farmers will be posting here, to let chefs and others know what’s in its prime. That way, both pro cooks and home cooks can seek out local produce in peak season. One thing you might consider this spring/summer/fall, Anonymous Chef, is doing some of your produce-shopping right at local farm stands and farmers’ markets so you can buy exactly how much you will use, and not suffer losses from any surpluses. (That IS dispiriting.) As soon as harvesting starts in the spring, I’ll be out visiting farms and reporting in with my finds, both here in this blog and in my Foraging column (which appears on Wednesdays, in the Food section). Please feel free to join in with your peak-season finds – and also ask me where you might be able to find, say, English peas or lemon cucumbers. Whatever I find, I’ll gladly share.

Meanwhile, thanks again to this chef-poster for the info – and I hope more pro chefs use this blog to spread the word about what they’re cooking up at their restaurants.

P.S. A parting thought: Chefs, if there are ingredients you'd like to use in your cooking, are there local farmers willing to grow them for you - in a cooperative effort? And, farmers, do you find reaching out to local chefs worthwhile? What can be done to make a chef-farmer collaboration easier and more effective?

Cheers,
Andy
2.8.07

CHILLING NEWS, WARM-HEARTED CHEFS

The extreme freeze that hit California last month is affecting produce in our local markets. Quantities are lower, prices are higher. Some citrus I've purchased very recently isn't of the greatest quality; some citrus I want to purchase simply isn't around for the buying.

But it's California's farmers who are truly suffering. According to ag officials there, as crops fall to the effects of the freeze, farmers' losses could exceed more than $1 billion statewide. Indeed, restaurant chefs who partner with farmers in California to fashion their ever-changing, intensely seasonal menus, also are feeling the fallout. And they're pitching in to do something about the losses their culinary collaborators are facing.

Even as they've worked to change menus to adapt to what's suddenly not available, a host of big-name California chefs are holding special fund-raising dinners at their restaurants in the next week to benefit their farmer friends. It's a very cool thing to do ... in answer to times that got way, way too cool.

The California chef-farmer connection got me wondering how Shore chefs are doing this winter: Has the California freeze affected your menu-writing? Where do you source your produce? Are you working now, or planning to work with this coming season, any local farmers? Is the chef-farmer collaboration so vital to chefs in many big cities something you believe in or seek to achieve?

Speak out, please, and if you're running any specials that shout winter, tell us all about it, right here.

cheers,
Andy
2.7.07

SUDDENLY, SOUP

The first time I cooked a bunch of vegetables in stock, then pureed the whole mess of 'em in the food processor was something of a revelation to me: Plain old vegetable soup was transformed into a thick, creamy, extremely substantive dish that I could dress up with garnishes and call a very satisfying supper.

I thought about this yesterday as I spooned a few quarts of pureed vegetables, a.k.a. soup, into a pot for warming. A friend watched and asked, "What's in that?" Broccoli, mostly, some spinach, tomatoes, onions, carrots, chives and other herbs, and vegetable broth, I replied. Cook it all down in a cauldron, whirl in batches in the old processor, then re-heat. Season along the way. In the end, you can pump it up by sprinkling, oh, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or perhaps Gruyere on it, stripping across the top some roasted red peppers, or a adding big squirt of fresh lemon juice. If you're looking for a recipe, you're poking around in the wrong kitchen. Saute your veggies, add some broth, simmer till all's soft, then puree. That's it.

Everyone's always thinking there's cream in them thar veggie soups of mine. Nope. But it does taste creamy.

What's your favorite wintertime soup?

SAYING CHEESE, AGAIN

Brett Favre is coming back to play another season for the Pack. He gave the scoop not to ESPN or SI or one of the networks, but to a local reporter at a paper in Biloxi, Miss., not far from where he was born. Score one for the millionaire who prefers shorts and a tattered old baseball cap to chic, slick duds.

Yes, this is the Eating blog. Sorry if I'm disappointing anyone who thought they might be reading about a terrific new cheese I've sampled, but this is big news in my life. I'm a Cheesehead. Why it took me so long to come to the only team in pro sports with cheese as its mascot is something that shames me; cheese, after all, might be my favorite food.

I realize this is a seriously minority viewpoint, but I've grown even fonder of the Packers as Favre has grown older, more introspective and less able to leap menacing linebackers in a single bound. I realize that, as we watch a Bears' Super Bowl this weekend and as Solider Field's denizens emerge in force, I myself might have to learn to leap menacing readers in less than a single bound.

OK. I'm going back to writing Wednesday's (Feb. 7) food cover stories. (Delicious foodstuffs at an Asian market and great tips from a great cook in Middletown will help you celebrate Chinese New Year's in style!) But I'm writing with a smile: The crazy-boy quarterback who we've watched mature into a pretty cool man is coming back. Can't wait to see him in September.

cheers,
Andy
2.2.07

ORANGES AND OLIVES

A few weeks ago, I wrote a recipe in the Press for sour – a.k.a. bitter, or Seville – oranges. Apparently, one reader can’t get enough of the slightly puckering variety of orange and, in an earnest phone message, asked me for more tips about using them.

Well, for Sour Orange Fan and the rest of you looking to make the most of oranges this winter, try this salad, best made not from a strict recipe but with your own amounts, in accordance with your own tastes.

Section a few sour oranges and one sweet orange, such as a Cara Cara (which has a pinkish interior). Make sure you remove the bitter pith. Slice the segments in half. Place the oranges in a bowl, then add pitted and halved black olives (such as Kalamatas), to taste. Do not use canned olives, but get high-quality olives. Take a small red onion and finely mince as much of the onion as you’d like, then toss that in, too. Now, squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over the orange-olive mixture, then dapple some extra-virgin olive oil and coarse sea salt over the salad.

You can eat this as is or play with it: Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes or chile pepper, some cumin, maybe, or add some finely chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley or mint. Before you eat the orange-olive salad, taste and adjust the seasonings.

How are you using the season’s citrus fruits?

cheers,
Andy
2.1.07