The NY Times Restaurant Issue

Fall in New York means a lot of things. It's the start of the new theater, ballet and opera season. Fashion Week reigns supreme in Bryant Park. Best of all restaurants, new and old roll out their menus with a variety of tasty main dishes and desserts. Luckily there is the New York Times restaurant issue to guide us.

Today's Times Food section is a cornucopia of reviews, stretching from Manhattan to even California. This is a great guide for those looking for a new favorite or for those spending a romantic fall weekend in the city. The Food section's most revered writers, Julia Moskin, jeff Gordonier, Eric Asimov Pete Wells, Florence Fabricant and Eric Asimov all offered reviews on some Manhattan's trendiest and most beloved eateries. The big news is about the Union Square Cafe moving to its' new location at 19th street and Park Avenue South.David Rockwell, known as the "restaurant whisperer" who also won a Tony for the musical "She Loves Me" has to extract the DNA from the original eatery and transfuse it into the new one.The move had to take place. The original building was deteriorating. Faucets leaked, The wiring was first installed during the Truman administration, over sixty years ago.It wasn't cost efficient to invest in repairs. A new location had to be found. It turned out to be a light, airy space with a mezzanine along with two (!) bars. The menu will remain the same with delicious appetizers and different pastas. The fans will follow along with the curious who will want to eat at this famed eatery.

Other famed Manhattan restaurants received their due as well. Chumley's that Village staple, once a Prohibition speakeasy is also reviewed.It's known for their cocktails but also  for their hamburgers. Chef Victoria Blamey, once the chef at such restaurants as Atera, Corton and Upland is now creating such flavorful dishes as a burger topped with bone marrow,a retuned version of her fried chicken along with a vanilla ice cream with parsnip puree. Florence Fabricant who reviewed it also reported that there will also be sixteen taps for beer, along with creative cocktails.She also reported on a slew of restaurants opening up around the Flatiron District and the Nomad neighborhood, One is Nur, run by Israeli celebrity chef, Meir Adoni and it will offer modern Middle Eastern food in a brasserie setting. Famed super chef, Wolfgang Puck is also opening a brand new restaurant, Cut,  which offers ten different kinds of steak, The issue stretches to the West Coast with Pete Wells review of famed Santa Monica eatery Cassia,It features Vietnamese thanks to Bryant Ng.His lamb breast is legendary, thanks to his spicing it with cumin seeds and Szechuan peppercorns.There's also a salute to the country's colonial French era with the iles flottante and a dark chocolate tart with bananas.

Fall is coming and with it new restaurants and revamped menus. It's a time of good eating - on both coasts. Go try them, and their amazing dishes.

Hurricane Readiness

Like it or not  September heralds in the hurricane season.It means power outages , frenzied trips to the grocery store and evacuating hearth and home.It also means feeding yourself and your family under the most dire of circumstances. Don't panic. Just be ready foodwise.

Blackouts are almost common as flooding and heavy winds during  a storm outage.  A closed fridge will stay cold for four hours while a freezer lasts up to two full days.Cook the perishables first. If you don't have the use of your oven or microwave, use the grill Surprisingly enough you can even grill meat loaf. Water can also be heated over coals but just be careful with this. Coffee can also be heated up on the grill along with milk (don't try this with baby formula. Try to find a microwave for this last). The hot water can also be used for washing too It does pay to have any kind of portable freezer just in case the electricity is knocked out. Put the meats , eggs ,egg  based foods like mayo and dairy in it first. Fruit and vegetables are fine without the cold Even juice and sold can be drunk warm - as vile as that sounds. Cook the meats first.Make it fun. Spiralize hot dogs which is easy to do, thanks to a skewer and a knife, and wrap in bacon. Hamburgers can get spiced up with any dry spice. You can even use pizza sauce to create a pizza burger. The sauce can be cooked separately on another part of the grill .Use a small pan to do so. Get rid of any chicken. Again use spices to create a tasty dry rub.

What happens in case of an evacuation? Take your food along with your animal companion's foods. The ideal situation is staying with family or friends. There , you'll know you receive hot meals in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Sometimes that's not always the case. If you have to stay at a motel or hotel, get one where the room has a mini fridge and see if you can bring in  a hot plate . The alternative is eating out . Bring cereal, and rolls along with butter and margarine to store in your temporary digs.   and the kids can have a cold breakfast and you can  save money by eating in. Bring in cold cuts cheese. and fruit too, if the mini fridge can hold them. You can have lunch or dinner in too, Some motels have  microwaves in their vending machine nook, You'll have to share but it's a small price to pay for a hot meal.It'll be great for heating up soups and sandwiches too . Don't be averse to taking care packages from relatives.It's comforting for the family to share a lasagna or casserole from grandma or a favorite aunt. Also have a cache of microwave plates and utensils from home. Bring a small bottle of dish soap too,because you can wash everything in the bathroom sink. Have water and food bowls too for your animal companions as well as their favorite snacks and treats.

Hurricane season doesn't have to be fear inducing to home chefs. Be practical and pragmatic.it'll make dealing with nature  that much more easier.

Labor Day All Year Round

Happy labor Day to all my American readers home and abroad. It is a day of relaxation from work and in some areas the first week of school. Just remember that the people who grow and pick your food labor hard all year long. Many don't have the benefits or perks you have. Some are living below the poverty line.

Remember too that your servers and restaurant chefs and cooks work doubly as hard , almost never taking breaks or vacations. They work ten  - eleven  hour days creating all sorts of dishes, serving all sorts of dishes . Give them generous tips and reviews.. They rely on them for a living.

It may be your Labor Day just for the day but it's food worker's every day  of the year

Feast Season

One of the best things about September is the many festivals and feasts that occur. These are a foodie's dream with local and ethnic specialties on sale.They're a fun way to celebrate and to experience local specialties.

The month is harvest time in Italy and many southern Italian immigrants brought harvest fests with them. This is apparent in North Jersey where I am. For the last one hundred years St. Joseph's Church in  nearby Lodi designates the Labor Day weekend to celebrate both the church and the St. Joseph Society,it is a multi block celebration. Parishioners donate time and food to create the same memorable dishes that their parents, grandparents and great grandparents made. There is homemade pizza  and sausage and peppers. In past years there was zucchini au gratin, a tasty squash casserole ith a thick layer of Parmesan cheese. The festival also features zeppoli , the fried dough balls that are dredged in a thick coating of confectioner's sugar. This Neopolitan treat is a staple there as is both regular and iced cappuccino. There are also stands that sell fresh torrone, the almond studded nougat popular through out the Italian Republic along with dried and salted chickpeas call ceces (pronounced cheechees). The same stand has my favorite - fresh biscotti. There's nothing like them, double in size than the regular ones, perfect with a swipe of butter on it.

One of the biggest Italian feasts San Gennaro is also this month.It has been held annually since 1926  and is going into its' ninetieth year. It was started by immigrant families living on Mulberry Street. along with shop owners. Funds raised were given to needy families. The festival grew from a few days to eleven days.There's also one in the Italian section in the Bronx with much of the same food.It also spread to Las Vegas while Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla brought it to Los Angeles in 2003 where it's been a staple since.Not only is there pizzas and sausage and peppers , There are also calzones, those ricotta cheese and filled little sacks of pizza dough that are dipped in pizza sauce. The San Gennaro festival was usually the first place that many tourists first tasted gelati and Italian ice. The festival is still known for its' flavorful lemon and orange ices as well as ice cream that has strong echoes of gelaterie in Rome. Not to be outdone, there are also German festivals too, mainly to celebrate Steuben Day, named after one of the architects of the American Revolution General Von Steuben. There are also celebrations that have hock and bratwurst as well as weissebier and jaegermeister.

September is the time for festivals and food. Celebrate with fun festival foods and traditions. It's a great way  to honor saints and harvest times.

Sharing The Harvest

September is the time of harvests.It should also be a time of sharing those harvests with soup kitchens and food pantries. It's time to open the gardens for those who need the benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Many home gardeners wind up with a bumper crop of various veggies this time of year. Tomatoes of all sorts and sizes abound .Instead of giving them to friends and relatives , try the pantries instead.There are many families who would appreciate them in salads, sauces or even as a snack. The same is true is true with any zucchini or squash. Again these can be turned into tasty nutritious savory dishes or baked into sweet breads.Some home gardeners get a bit too enthusiastic about various forms of lettuce.  What to do with the extra?Of course, donate. Once in a while a home gardeners decides to  grow corn. As we all know you can't just plant one stalk. A small plot of land may be used but the result is dozens of ears of corn that look like they came from an acre. These will be truly appreciated because not only are they good eaten  roasted or boiled, served with butter, they can also be used in making rich chowders or healthy succotash. Herbs too can be donated. As anyone who grows basil will tell you, the plants have hundreds of leaves that will wither if not picked. Fresh basil is a luxury to many and can be a life saver in creating home made tomato sauces or revitalizing blah leftovers. You could also type up and copy a pesto recipe to be given out.

Other veggies are also coming into maturity right now. Home gardeners probably have an abundance of eggplants right now. These are so versatile,from being breaded to being an important ingredient in ratatouille. If you're growing wild garlic now, give the mature bulbs to your local pantry. Again garlic is so versatile.It can be used as a natural alternative to salt in flavoring meats and vegetables, a fact that should be stressed  somehow at the pantries. Onions are always a fun veggie to grow but you can only eat so much bowls of  onion soup and rings. Donate the extras. Onions can be saved to be used as flavorings in stocks and sauces.Many home gardens have a cucumber patch that is bursting with overage. These can be donated and made into bread and butter pickles for late season barbecues. Fruits are also coming into their on right now. Don't hesitate to bring apples and pears as well, along with recipes for tarts, baked apples and poached pears.Gardeners may also have extra melons at this time. Don't relegate them to the compost heap. They will be greatly appreciated as well, making a nice breakfast or dessert.Plums too, are in their last bloom and as everyone knows are in abundance. These, too, can be given to food pantries, making great after school snacks or desserts

Don't toss out any of your overage. There are food pantries that need your extra fruit and veggies. Share your harvest..It's the best part of being a gardener.

Go to Humbleseed.com to check where the food pantries are in your town and neighborhood.

The Bounties of Summer

It's still summer despite the fact that many are falling forward in time. We can still grill outdoors. We still can enjoy fresh veggies. This is the time to take advantage of both in flavorful exotic dishes..

Both Melissa Clark and David Tanis did just so in their individual columns in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Ms. Clark wrote about Mexican street corn in her A Good Appetite column. This is a great recipe for those ho love corn but are tired of the traditional boiled then slathered with butter or margarine. The corn is first grilled for only seven to ten minutes, giving it a subtle smoky flavor.The ears can be grilled longer for a deeper, almost charred flavor.It also increases the crunch. They're then slathered with a mixture of mayonnaise blended with lime zest, ancho chili powder salt and pepper. You could sub in butter for the mayo if you want or to appease those purists. The Mexican cotija cheese is then crumbled over it .Feta or ricotta salata cheese can be subbed in if the first can't be found .(although Amazon and Walmart do carry it. also look in any nearby Latin American grocery).Chopped cilantro is also sprinkled on. Ms. Clark suggests that guests slather on their own mayo and toppings, adjusting the recipe to individual tastesThe kernels can also be sliced off and served in a bowl with the spiced mayo and toppings.

It's not just corn that's in abundance right now.There are still tomatoes and peppers along with squash and okra. David Tanis turns to North Africa in his A City Kitchen column, He actually adds corn to couscous along with butter and saffron,cinnamon and turmeric. The stew is a tasty melange of the traditional such as chickpeas,along with two kinds of onions, the red and the small yellow kind. Zucchini,  okra, tomatoes and a variety of different peppers round it out.Home chefs can use any kind , from the colorful bells, cubanelle, gypsy or corno del toro. Cumin and coriander are added as well as paprika and pepper flakes to give it a Moroccan flair,There is also a non traditional  pesto to be drizzled on later. It's not basil but chopped cilantro mixed with serrano chiles also spiced with more cumin and garlic cloves. Lime juice is added for some more zing,The trick to a tasty couscous is cooking it slowly, until they're soft to eat with a spoon, It's cooked in a Dutch oven for fifteen minutes which give home chefs time to create the pesto. Mr. Tanis recommends serving in large wide bowls or deep plates. Have a rose alongside this exotic dish or for more authenticity iced mint tea.

It may be September but it's still summer, ripe with harvests. Take advantage of what the garden and farmer's markets have to offer.They can be turned into exotic and delicious dishes.

The Veggie Burger Rethought

Faux burgers have always had a bad rap.Even restaurants can't quite capture the juiciness and color of the real thing. That's all changing.The veggie burger is having a renaissance right now and home chefs should take notice.It's not that blah blob anymore but an actual burger, juicy and delicious

Erik Piepenburg who usually writes about the arts for the New York Times,penned this article for the newspaper's Food section. As we all know restaurant veggie burgers are usually a God awful mush , tasting mainly of peas.Some do have good ones, such as Jake's  Wayback where the burger has a nice crisp outside and a chewy inside. However these are mass produced like the Morningstar Farms ones  in the supermarket. They're a cut above the old kind as as well as over some homemade creations. Fake burgers were always a challenge for even the most experienced of chefs and were thus relegated to the fringes of a restaurant's menu. That's all changing thanks to a new generation of chefs. There's also a plant based "meat" being made by Impossible Foods and it consists of  wheat, coconut oil,potato protein and heme, the last an iron molecule that's not only abundant in meat but also in such plants as Swiss chard and collard greens.It's also found in vegan staples , soy and tofu along with black beans and chickpeas. Impossible Food's burger looks exactly like a true blue beef burger and is now being served at Momufuku Nishi in Chelsea.It is just as good as the real thing, albeit a bit pricey at $12.

Other chefs are taking the more creative route. Brooks Headley, formerly a pastry chef at the famed Del Posto in lower Manhattan has created his own version of the veggie burger at his new restaurant,
Superiority Burger.It is one of the most acclaimed ones in the city.(It was awarded two stars by Pete Wells). How did it get to be so good? Chef Headley approaches the recipe the way the way Italian restaurants approach their meatball recipes - with different meats and seasonings.He tries to use everything in his culinary arsenal.There's fresh veggies,grains and beans,along with a potato starch slurry. This last acts as a binder when it's heated to 180 degrees Farenheit. It gelatinizes the mixture which results in a nice, firm burger that doesn't fall apart on the grill or plate.Some chefs go the mushroom route. Jillian CameraCo-chef at Toad Style, a vegan comfort food eatery in Bedford-Stuyvesant, makes her vegan cheeseburger with cremini mushrooms,red onions and green lentils. She also puts in steel cut oats chia seeds and garlic too for texture and flavor.Spices are also added before the burger is formed and then topped off with almond cheese.Any home chef can recreate these along with the dozens of veggie burgers recipes on line.It's just trial and error until home chefs get the right taste and texture.

Veggie burgers are going through a renaissance right now.They're not those mushy patties with a bad rep and even worst taste. They are juicy, mouth watering burgers that are right up with the real thing.