Return To The Gilded Age

 It was bound to happen. Blame it on the popular HBO series "The Gilded Age" or Trump's tarting out the White House to resemble a gaudy Newport summer home. What is this trend?Restaurants offering glitzy and lush dishes in a time when most are struggling.

Regular contributor and chef ,herself, Julia Moskin wrote about this in Wednesday's New York Times Food section.Despite the economic downturn and food struggles of a very large portion of Americans,Manhattan eateries are featuring recipes that would be very in place in Julian Fellowes HBO series about the real life Astors s and Vanderbilts and the fictional Van Rhijn family. Silver paplates across the city are suddenly discovering the lush and sometimes delicate flavors of foie gras, Dover sole and seafood towers, the last chock full of the Gilded Age favorite  - oysters,flanked by shrimp and lobster. There are also towers featuring hipper tastes like crudo)seafood drenched with olive oil and citrus juice like ceviche)toro fatty bluefin and the best cut of the fish and uni - sea urchins. The restaurant Le Grande Boucherie is offering a suckling costing $600 (!!!!). The Waldorf Astoria's refurbished restaurant Lex is offering a sixty-eight dollar lobster covered with caviar and truffles.

There have always been rich people spending exorbitant amounts of cash on food yet today that spending is reaching dizzying heights.Expensive places to eat just aren't in Manhattan anymore. Travel to  Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami and Aspen and order truffles or  Wagyu beef. Parc in Aspen offers celebrities and millionaires offers the last at $120 a plate while a simple dish of polenta with oyster mushrooms and afarm egg(??) is twenty-eight dollars.It seems lesser prices restaurants are jumping on this trend too.Some are pairing caviar with potato chips or even chicken nuggets at Cocodaq, an innovative Korean restaurant in Manhattan's Flatiron district.  This last sold the combo for one hundred bucks a box!!! last summer at the US Open. It's no secret that most of the country can barely afford groceries let alone expensive nuggets. EConomists are calling it "K shaped economy with two tren likes diverging in opposite directions. Income and net worth have risen rapidly for the one percent, namely those working in the tech business. The less affluent are the victims of a stagnant economy and inflation. Yet offering high priced meals with extravagant ingredients are the only way to stay afloat according to pastry chef and partial owner of Manhattan restaurant Contra, Fabian Von Hauske Valtiera.

There will always be be the rich. They need to eat too. Yet they do it in disregard to what is happening around them.It seems eateries are for them these days.not the hardworking American.

Deconstructing Carbone

 Carbone is a popular New York City restaurant. It has branches all over the world and their food has a reputation. Yet is the overly expensive restaurant worth all the hype and money? 

Regular contributor Priya Krishna answered the question in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. She toured all of them and discerned if they 're worth the good press.The chain is sort of like a Disneyland or another splashy New York eatery of long ago - Mama Leone's. Like MamaLeone's that closed in 1984, Carbone's attracts celebrities like Kim Kardashion and has the cache of expensive saucy dishes.Ms Krishna wanted to examine the mystique behind this chain. People either love it or hate it.s he wanted to know why and went on an American tour of the branches.The restaurant goes for fanfare, presenting diners with salami, bread, cauliflower salad and even a hunk of Parmesan cheese. Yet the food at the New York Carbone is just so so with some dishes, How was the MIami one. It seems only the desserts stood out, including the chilled rainbow cookies that every table receives/ The main meals were horrible / The shrimp was too rubbery and buttery tasting.The linguini vungole was  too oily to eat.

The Dallas Carbone had some bright spots. The crisp top on the lasagna Verde gave way to flavorful pesto and bechamel sauce. Their Negronis were well made Yet it stops there. The veal Parmigian crust, like its' Manhattan counterpart was tasteless. The broccoli was flaccid .The waiters were so schmaltzy that Ms Kirshna and her family has t  leave(after a waiter joked was her father on the cover of GQ) It did appeal to the rich tony types of the city but that was it. The Las Vegas one fared much better due in part to the owner Mario Carbone being in the kitchen. The shrimp cocktail had been upgraded to a lobster one.It was delicious. The sauces tasted homemade , as if they had been simmered on a stove all day .The vonglole was finally briny tasting. The best part it seems was the complimentary hunk of cheese. This Parmesan actually came from Parma and not Wisconsin. It seemed the Las Vegas Carbone was the best and miost authemticto Italian cooking.

Should you go to Carbone/s if one is nearby? If you want expensive so so Italain food ,yes. Keep in  mind that there are better restaurant to eat at in any of these cities.

Dallas The Next Big Foodie Town

 Dallas has always been known for rich oilmena nd luxury stores. Now this always thriving Texas city is beginning to be known for its' food scene. The city is hosting a wide and unique varity of restaurants catering to the next generation.

Regular contributor Priya Krishna wrote about the city 's thriving food scene in today's New York Times. dallas has become a magnet thanks to new development and new money. Not only that the population increased by a whopping 122,000 residients in the Dallas - Fort Worth area.Another plus is that Dallas households spent more on eating out than ones in the bigger cities of New York and San Francisco. even though the area does have it's share of poverty. (around 17.7 of the population lives in poverty) Yet fancy restaurant chains are wanting in The famed Sadelle's has been there for a year , having diners making reservations three months in advance. The owner of the wildly expensive Las Vegas based Neta Cocina y Lounge Ryan Labble prefers Dallas. he feels that people go to restaurants for the experience where in Las Vegas an eatery is just a quick stop to a casino or show.

Dallas wasn;t always on some  restauranteurs radars. Eugene Remm had to be convinced to see what was happening and was surprised to see packed dining room and guests spending money. He now plans to open an upscale seafood restaurant Catch in the city's fast growing Uptown neighborhood. He's surprised that the city is much like his native Manhattan. There are member;s club as well as famed designer stores like Dior and Gucci. even bakery chains are joining the thriving scene. Sprinkles  Cubcake creator Candace Nelson opened  a Dallas branch as early as 2007 and recently opened up a branch of the Los Angeles Pizzana. She observes that  it's exciting for residents to have a place that they've visited come to their city. There are prpblems with the influx of these big corporate owned places. the chain restaurant Carbone's was sued by Julian Barotti the owner of a smaller Dallas restuarant  also named Carbone's. erinn willis owner of the french restrauranr RM 12.20 Bistro had to close. Her custoemrs were stolen by larger , glitzier french restaurants.

Dallas is getting on the culinary map. it may be the destination city to go to for a good meal instead of being known for cattle and oil fields. It will draw money and food lovers.

A Very Helpful Thanksgiving Guide

Once more the New York Times  Food section has a helpful Thanksgiving guide for tomorrow and even the days afterwards. It's a good issue to have, especially if you need help with the bird or the leftovers.There's also a great article on how to set the table, with help from designers and just ordinary families.  Take a look and take from it what you can.

One of the best pieces is about how to set a lovely, meaningful table. One of the most interesting is from Peter Shire, a painter, sculptor and furniture designer in Los Angeles. His table is graced with cactus shaped candle holders or cact-o-labras, The tablecloth is a brightly cherry red and white striped Mexican oil cloth supporting  handmade plates and gelato bowls. Other hosts such as Agustin Hernandez of Portland, Oregon has beautifully handmade doilies in all different colors on his table. Abbye Churchill, another artist, out of Brooklyn, New York also has her own hand crafted woven place mats from cotton handspun from dead stock textile waste and hand crafted ceramics. The most elegant settings come from Dr. Guna Raj of Dallas and Kerry Moody of New Orleans. Dr. Raj's table is the showpiece.It was shipped to Chicago where she lived in 1983, this wedding gift is inlaid with semiprecious stones by descendants of the artisans who built the Taj Mahal. Of course it also has her wedding china, from Noritake too. Mr. Moody has elegant antiques on his table, from belle epoque damask napkins to 1790's silverware. The Syrian immigrant family, the Rawas Family of Richmond California decorate their table simply with a lace tablecloth and a lovely tea/coffee set.

Of course there are articles about food. One of the most interesting is the Butterball Hotline one, written by Kim Severson. She visited the center where America has been calling since 1981. From November 1st until Christmas , fifty Butterball experts answer questions through live calls, emails, and live chats about everything turkey. One of the men first hired in 2013, Bill Nolan talked a newly widowed man through his first Thanksgiving cooking alone. He spent half an hour coaching the man, the day before the holiday  recounting the story with tears in his eyes. If you do need help you can reach Butterball through the hotline, website and even Alexa! (The New York Times has something similar and you can call in and possibly get advice from Melissa Clark!!) Another article features the ubiquitous Thanksgiving must have Jello. Julia Moskin wrote this interesting article about the history of gelatins in the US - we have Tom Jefferson to thank for them. There's also a recipe for a cherry lemon cream mold that features the likely or unlikely pairing of Jello and sour cream. Consider it a retro dish. Then there are the leftovers. Melissa Clark's column, A Good Appetite, is devoted to what to do on Friday. You can make turkey barbecue sandwiches or stuff pita with the meat. Add cucumbers, and tahini for a Middle Eastern vibe and halved cherry tomatoes for color. Then there's the turkey Cubano, a riff on the classic Cuban ham sandwich , complete with Swiss cheese and deli ham or prosciutto. Mayo, mustard and melted butter along with pepperoncino peppers round it out.

This Food section is a the perfect one to keep. You can get ideas for tomorrow's and even Christmas's tables, along with Jello and leftover ideas. It's a good guide for this holiday season and beyond.

The Sweet Side Of Vinegar

Vinegar is a kitchen staple. everyone has a bottle of either red wine, apple cider or balsamic. Thanks to the fermentation craze, home chefs are making it at home. This complex ingredient is actually the easiest to create. It just takes wine, cider or time.

It fascinated famed chef and regular contributor , Tejal Rao in today's issue of the New York Times Food section.There is a steadily growing  swath of enthusiasts , from professional chefs to home ones who are creating bottles of their own. Vinegar's name , come from  the French vin aigre - sour wine yet it can be made from fruits,vegetables (!)grains and syrups. Th earliest ones were probably made from leftover wines and bumper crops, Ancient kitchens between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were the first to try the process.Before refrigeration there was absolutely no way to stop fermentation. Ripe fruit produced alcohol. It changed to the fermented liquid during the warmer months.It was not just a preservative but a flavoring agent according to Michael Harlan Turkell, a writer and maker of honey vinegars. He is the author of Acid Trip, his 2017 cookbook devoted to all things vinegar. it also formed the base of dipping sauces.Once it made it' leap it persisted into modern times. Like wine it was made in different ways all over the world.Coconut and nipa palms provided sap that could be mixed with water and sap  Saki produced rice vinegar.

Is vinegar hard to make at home? No. At its' most basic it's just fermented wine..It just requires oxygen, bacteria and alcohol.Anyone can start with ready made alcohol, a bottle of wine you had lying around, or even hard cider or saki.Homemade alcohol can be made with fermented fruit such as peaches and water. Enthusiasts also buy pH meters to read acidity, but the only other items necessary are a wide mouthed jar and a cheesecloth for straining. There is also a starter or mother that Amazon sells for around ten dollars. It 's a clear disc of acetobacteria and cellulose that forms naturally on the top of vinegar. Once mastered you can create almost any flavor. Chef Misti Norris of the Dallas pop-up restaurant Petra and the Beast, creates all sorts of acidic concoctions from local mustang grapes mixed with passion fruit, peony flowers and figs Her apartment is full of glass containers and covered oak barrels. she plans on selling them later this year. Other restaurant owners such as Jori Jayne Ende, of  Lady Jayne/s Alchemy and fish  & Game in Chatham, New York uses leftovers from carrots and tomatoes to brown bread and even tomato. and sour cherry.  Her barrels contain everything from pith and seeds to  cores and peels. . They are left to ferment in a wine base to create vinegars that she'll use in a variety of dishes such as snails.

Fermenting is the hottest culinary trend right now. Start with creating a vinegar with any favorite wine or cider. it'll be a nice addition to the kitchen pantry.