"EATING" GETS A BLOG SITTER
A blog is a living thing and like all living things, it must be fed.
Especially a blog about food and spirits and eating.
So while I'm on vacation north by northeast, I'm entrusting the care and feeding of this blog to Press staff writer Shannon Mullen.
Here's why:
Shannon is my friend. We've been friends for 20 years.
I could stop there, because I think that's good reason enough, but there's more. Shannon used to write a microbrew column for the Press Food section. It was called, depending on the era, The Beer Keeper or Mug Shots. He knows a bunch about beer; I know nothing about beer. So those of you who have beer queries should take this chance to fire away.
He's also eaten out with me (Dining Companion, Eat Out) countless times and endured years of my own personal recipes/kitchen mishaps/failed experiments. He's also been forced through proximity of our desks to listen to me chat with a nonstop stream of food-centric folks over the years. So I figure he's got the stomach for the job of blog-sitting "Eating.''
I've left Shannon several posts and he'll file them periodically while I'm away. He'll also moderate your discussions and answer whatever questions he chooses. I think you'll like him.
cheers,
Andy
8.10.07
P.S. I'll talk to you on or about Aug. 29. Meanwhile, field food marshals, please keep me posted on what's happening on the farms and what's new on the restaurant scene.
Especially a blog about food and spirits and eating.
So while I'm on vacation north by northeast, I'm entrusting the care and feeding of this blog to Press staff writer Shannon Mullen.
Here's why:
Shannon is my friend. We've been friends for 20 years.
I could stop there, because I think that's good reason enough, but there's more. Shannon used to write a microbrew column for the Press Food section. It was called, depending on the era, The Beer Keeper or Mug Shots. He knows a bunch about beer; I know nothing about beer. So those of you who have beer queries should take this chance to fire away.
He's also eaten out with me (Dining Companion, Eat Out) countless times and endured years of my own personal recipes/kitchen mishaps/failed experiments. He's also been forced through proximity of our desks to listen to me chat with a nonstop stream of food-centric folks over the years. So I figure he's got the stomach for the job of blog-sitting "Eating.''
I've left Shannon several posts and he'll file them periodically while I'm away. He'll also moderate your discussions and answer whatever questions he chooses. I think you'll like him.
cheers,
Andy
8.10.07
P.S. I'll talk to you on or about Aug. 29. Meanwhile, field food marshals, please keep me posted on what's happening on the farms and what's new on the restaurant scene.
posted by Andrea Clurfeld at 11:20 AM
7 Comments:
Shannon, tell us about your favorite eats in terms of types of food and your favorite dining out with AC story...
Welcome to our blog, Shannon. I used to read your beer articles and enjoyed them. Will you be doing more beer articles some day?
I have two questions for you.
One is what wines does a beer drinker enjoy? (I reason that if you eat with Andrea, you drink wine, too.)
Two, is Andrea a good cook? I enjoy her recipes, so I have to figure she is, but I'd like to know from someone who eats what she cooks.
I would also like to know a favorite dining with Andrea story.
Will look for your replies and try to keep you amused!
I recently had lunch at Brickwall Tavern in Asbury Park and the check was $10.70 The server "rounded up" the check and gave me change from $11 keeping the 30 cents. It's the second time this happened there - a different server the first time. Is this now a common practice at restaurants? I like the Brickwall - the food and service are generally good - unlike their neighbor Market in the Middle. Andrea's review of that place was right on. I also dislike it when a server asks "do you need change" when you pay. If I don't need change and the tip is included in my payment, Ill tell them..
why didn't you bring it to the management's attention if it was the second time? call them and tell them - that's not the only thing they're stealing I bet...
I guess I've got to get my toes wet in the blogosphere...
Hello everyone. To answer your question about my wine tastes, jason, I'm a big fan of Gewürztraminer, which Andy introduced me to some years back. I also like prosecco, especially this time of year.
To answer your other question, Andy isn't a good cook, she's a great cook. She is constantly experimenting and improvising, so I wonder if she ever makes the same dish twice. If I stay on her good side, I can usually guilt her into cooking me up some short ribs come football season, though I think she was so engrossed in following the Packers saga last year that she forgot. Her crab cakes, which probably cost her about $50 a piece to make, are a rarer treat, but they've spoiled me to the point where I don't even bother ordering them out anymore.
I'd describe her food as hearty, intensely focused on whatever's in season, always brilliantly spiced, and very (and perhaps surprisingly)down-to-earth. Another memorable Andy dish, which I'm sure she'll be serving in the next two weeks, is a BLT (bacon, LOBSTER and tomato) served on a certain kind of "top-loading" hot dog bun that probably can only be found in an obscure bakery in coastal Maine every other fourth Thursday of the month, provided you know the secret password.(They could be from Shop Rite in Bricktown for all I know, but they sure taste special.)
In answer to anonymous' question about favorite dining out tales . . . I'll have to give that more thought, though on several occasions it's been really amusing to hear the server or owner go on about how the Press' dining critic gave the place a great write-up. I'm definitely on the B team, however, as far as her dining companions go; my wife gets to go with her to all the really good places. Two Philly experiences with Andy, at Vetri and Standard Tap, are probably my all-time favorites.
What wine would a beer drinker enjoy? Jason, that is a great question! Coming from a wine background, it is actually easier, at least for me, to think of a beer that a wine drinker will enjoy. There's a gamut of bocks and ales - especially lambics, that comes to mind. But a wine that a beer drinker will enjoy??? Hmmm, maybe a prequalifying question first - what kind of beer do you enjoy? - lagers? ales (or bocks, for that matter)? stouts? porters?
Maybe a low acid, low tannin, robust wine like zinfadel. Or on the lighter side of reds, an inexpensive california pinot noir. Value priced shiraz from Australia are good candidates as well. On the whites, maybe a chardonnay from California, Australia, South America or whites from Southern France. The key is stay away from high tannin and high acid wines.
But if you like strong, bitter hop flavors, a sauvignon blanc might suit you.
FREEHOLD - It just may be the end of an era, one that included ice cream sundaes on hot summer nights and hot dogs after a Little League baseball game.
Customers of the Jersey Freeze ice cream stand and restaurant at Route 9 and Manalapan Avenue may have to switch their appetite from ice cream and grilled food to a plate of pasta and a side order of garlic bread.
On Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Borough Hall, the Freehold Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment is scheduled to hear an application filed by Chesapeake Companies Diversified Group LLC, of Minnesota, seeking a use variance to build an Olive Garden Italian restaurant on the property where Jersey Freeze now sits.
In order to complete the project, Jersey Freeze will have to go.
The property where Jersey Freeze sits is in Freehold Borough and Freehold Township. It is owned by Bruce Blackmore, who has run Jersey Freeze since 1980. Blackmore's father founded the business as a seasonal ice cream stand in the early 1950s. It eventually became a year-round restaurant.
Blackmore said he wanted to keep Jersey Freeze where it is and is disappointed that he is not able to do that. He said the Olive Garden representatives wanted the restaurant to be able to be seen from the highway and that means Jersey Freeze has to be demolished.
He said the Olive Garden must be built where it is proposed on the property because the liquor license for it must remain in Freehold Borough. Blackmore said he will seek a new location for Jersey Freeze.
For some people, Jersey Freeze is more than just a place to buy ice cream. It is a place that holds wonderful memories. Many people who have been customers for years now have their grandchildren in tow as they pull up to the restaurant.
Over the past few years Blackmore has negotiated with representatives of Ruby Tuesday and the Outback in an effort to bring a restaurant to the site. Those negotiations did not pan out. In furtherance of developing the site, Blackmore demolished a vacant home on the property in 2006 that had served as a real estate office for years.
Attorney William Mehr, of Freehold, will represent the applicant before the zoning board.
Mehr said the parcel of land in Freehold Borough is in a residential zone and requires a use variance in order for a restaurant to be built in that location. He said if the Zoning Board approves the use variance, the applicant will return to seek site plan approval.
The application that is scheduled to be heard on Aug. 28 states that the current use of the property is Jersey Freeze restaurant and ice cream storage building, residential house and parking.
The document also states that the applicant proposes to remove the present uses and construct a 7,762-square-foot restaurant and a 3,669-square-foot bank with a drive-up window. The application also calls for landscaping, lighting, parking areas and stormwater management.
Scheduled to testify on behalf of the applicant are a representative from Bohler Engineering, Warren, and the applicant's planner, Allison Coffin, of James W. Higgins Associates, Ocean.
Mehr said additional details about the plan will be presented at the Aug. 28 Zoning Board meeting.
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