Fat Guy

I've cooked at a Beard House event. A few years ago, I was invited to participate in a latke competition there. I had to prepare latkes for 70 people. There were three professional chefs and three amateur contestants. (Incidentally, mine were voted best overall by the people in attendance!) After the latke competition, a dinner was prepared by the kitchen team from Shallots, an upscale kosher restaurant. Anyway, just as the Beard Foundation was recently the subject of scandal for its failure to devote a serious portion of its millions to its scholarship program, it should come as no surprise that the money also hasn't been directed towards creating a decent kitchen. The Beard House kitchen is a disgrace by the standards of the contemporary upscale restaurants the Foundation seeks to represent at its events. The equipment is second-rate, the design is poor and it's extremely difficult to work cleanly and efficiently. It would have been much easier to produce latkes for 70 in my mediocre kitchen at home than it was in the Beard House's disaster of a kitchen. And yes, it is very expensive, especially for out-of-town restaurants, to present dinners at the Beard House. Not only do they have to pay for all the food and transportation, but also they are typically expected to purchase a table's worth of seats. I for example have never paid to attend any of the dozen or so Beard House dinners I've been to, because the restaurants often invite media to fill the tables they have to buy. I've had some good and some bad dinners at the Beard House. Mostly mediocre to bad. Some chefs can pull it off. But, you might ask, why do they bother? Well, there seems to be a widespread belief out there that if you put on a Beard House dinner two things will happen: 1) You will curry favor with the Beard organization and therefore be more eligible for a James Beard Award, and 2) You will score publicity points with a hardcore foodie audience, which will help your restaurant build buzz among those who matter. I can't speak factually to point number 1. To the extent it's ever possible to believe anything anyone at the Beard Foundation says, the awards are not affected by participation in the dinner program. These days, it may actually be true because those who administer the awards have taken a big step away from the Foundation's general activities. But until the awards are administered by a truly independent body, a cloud will hang over them. With respect to point number 2, it's nonsense. The attendees at Beard House dinners are not some magical distillation of the tastemaker class. Indeed, whenever I've been to Beard House dinners, I've looked around and said, "Who the hell are these people?" They seem mostly to be secretaries and assistants from companies that support the organization, rounded out by a group of older folks whose primary distinction seems to be that they go to a lot of Beard House dinners. The journalists who attend are mostly second-tier people (like me!) and they almost never write about the dinners (I've written about a few, which is probably a world record). In my opinion, a restaurant would be better served by doing a New York dinner somewhere else. Many local restaurants here are happy to host out-of-town chefs for special events. I've been to several such dinners, at restaurants ranging from Tabla to San Domenico, and at pretty much every level they are much more successful than Beard House dinners. It would be great if there was an organization that could pair local restaurants with visiting chefs and promote those events in the gourmet community. Maybe someday we'll have the resources to do such a thing here.

I received a note today from the Ducasse organization saying, "Alain Ducasse of Groupe Alain Ducasse and Jeffrey Chodorow of China Grill Management announce that on Saturday, August 13, 2005 they will be closing Francesco at MIX in New York, which opened in early September 2003." The reason cited is that "the restaurant has not been performing financially at a level they find acceptable."

A photo Ellen took in a subway station in Singapore:

See I'm in favor of Ugli Fruit -- I think it's a fun, almost self-effacing name (to the extent a fruit can be self-effacing by having a name given to it by others). I would be much more repelled by something like Pretty Fruit as a name.

Quorn is pretty bad.

Florida harvests a lot of citrus, but not in July. The Florida citrus harvest occurs mostly from November through May. Some things come in as early as September or as late as June, but I know of nothing that gets harvested commercially in July or August. At least, that's the case for oranges and grapefruits. Presumably lemons and limes are on a similar schedule (though they are I think specialty crops in Florida, with the emphasis on Meyer lemons, key limes, etc.). Not that local, seasonal produce is even relevant to most supermarket chains. But even the organic food co-op (as if such a thing exists in that area) isn't likely to have a Florida orange in July.

The New York Times regularly devotes space to Op-Ed pieces about food. Jacques Pepin had the "Howard Johnson's, Adieu" piece in April. The Zagats had at least two Op-Eds in the Times in 2004. There was the "Dining with the Enemy" piece, recommending restaurants to Republican National Convention delegates, and the "Eating Our Way to New Frontiers" piece, which was a trends/observations piece about New York's dining culture. Ian Kelly had the "Hamburger Helper" piece about the end of the era of classic French restaurants in New York. Julie Powell and Dan Barber were mentioned above. Jeffrey Steingarten had a wonderful Op-Ed a few years ago, "Food Is Not the Enemy," about food scares and fearmongering (apparently it is common to use "Enemy" in food-related Op-Ed headlines). In June 2005 alone, two "editorial observer" pieces were devoted to food: one on barbecue and one on foie gras. These are just a few. They come around regularly.

I have one of those single-burner tabletop catering stoves. Would be happy to bring it or get it to the Perlows before the event. It runs on Butane cartridges. I think I have a few of those too.

A couple of follow-up notes: - I had a very positive interaction with the folks from Renaissance Acres Organic Herb Farm while at the farmers market. I checked out all the purveyors of herbs, Renaissance had the most fragrant herbs and the most interesting choices -- several varieties of thyme, basil, etc. They're online at the following very easy to remember web address: http://www.provide.net/~raohf/ - I'd like to post the recipe for the tempura squash blossoms stuffed with caramelized zucchini in the RecipeGullet system, but I'm going to need some help because I was only marginally involved in the actual cooking. I also have the instructions from Katsuya for the Cafe Atlantico original version of the recipe, but am reluctant to post them because I've not actually cooked or tried the dish. Happy to provide my notes to someone who wants to take a stab at it, though.

Andy, is there nothing you won't eat, e.g., other people? I mean, I would surely not have a problem with eating other people were I stranded on a mountain in the Andes with nothing else to eat, and it seems rather silly to me that enough people consider this enough of a moral conundrum to support books and movies about the decision. But I think in the normal course of events it feels wrong to eat one's mates.

Ellen and I are going to try our darndest to come, but will have to hold off on the formal RSVP until early September. We're expecting a new arrival at the end of August, so with an anticipated very small person on our hands it's a little hard to predict our level of mobility. But if all goes well in terms of health, etc., we'll be there, and we should know for sure in early September. If it's okay, I'll hold off on specifying what we'll be bringing until then -- that way we can act as utility infielders, taking up some of the slack if there's a need for more dessert, paper products, soft drinks, whatever. Hope we'll see you all there.

A few things that I think cut against the aforementioned reasoning: 1. A restaurant, to succeed, does not have to appeal to everyone. It needs to appeal to enough people so that it can make enough money to stay in business. The same is true of chains. You can find a thousand eGullet Society members to say how bad McDonald's is, yet McDonald's is probably the most successful restaurant chain in the history of the world. Likewise, no matter how successful Starwich is, you will find people whose preferences don't align with what Starwich is selling. Indeed, the attempt to appeal to everyone -- to be all things to all people -- can be a fatal flaw in a business plan. Instead, Starwich's strategy is extremely clear about its contemplated audience. 2. Starwich is not so much inventing as it is improving. All those generations of culinary education that European chefs have undergone? Starwich is taking advantage of that information. The premise of using top-quality ingredients is not a complex or radical one. It's just one that hasn't been applied all that well in the sandwich chain business. While there are some creative sandwiches on the short list of available predetermined sandwiches, those are most certainly not the emphasis. Rather, the emphasis is on the sandwiches people design themselves. So you might design a BLT for yourself, and what you could be sure of at Starwich is that it will be made with excellent B, L, T, bread and mayonnaise as opposed to the inferior ingredients you'd get at Quizno's. Thick-cut high-quality crispy bacon at Starwich; limp skinny soggy crap bacon at Quizno's. Likewise, real thick-sliced roast turkey breast at Starwich; processed crap turkey at Subway. Take your pick. Obviously, a large percentage of consumers will choose crap if there's more of it and it's cheaper. Starwich is simply hoping that some percentage -- enough for the company to make money -- will choose to pay a few dollars more for less and better. 3. So far, I'm pretty sure that 100% of Starwich doubters I've convinced to go to Starwich have begged forgiveness after tasting the sandwiches. They are excellent. I'm sure at some point someone who has actually gone to Starwich will tell me it sucks, but so far everybody has said that Starwich's sandwiches are superb. And I've taken some of those trained French chefs to Starwich. The reactions have been extremely positive. I've been so enthusiastic about the place since before it opened that my editor had to cut a whole bunch of the Starwich material from the manuscript because it would have been a whole chapter. I've pushed all my media contacts to go to Starwich, and am having the media preview party for my book there primarily because I want to get reporters in there to try the sandwiches so they'll write about it and spread the word. A place that inspires that kind of championing isn't likely to be all bad. 4. With respect to food literature versus instruction, both are available, but it's worth bearing in mind that food literature is an extremely small part of the culinary publishing whole. Nor is it a zero sum game: food literature can, at its best, cause more people to become interested in food, thus increasing the demand for cookbooks and other practical guides. The other thing I would point out is that, while I enjoy food literature for its own sake, I tried to write a book that would at once be entertaining and practical. The materials that were chosen for excerpts here are mostly literary in nature, but the book itself contains plenty of instructional material on how to get hard-to-get reservations, how to get better service, etc. -- advice that can improve one's dining experience at any restaurant above the level of a McDonald's.

I get varying reactions when I tell people about Starwich's price point. Some folks are scandalized by the idea of a $9 sandwich, regardless of what's in it. Others think $9 for a sandwich made from top-quality ingredients is not only acceptable but also a good value. Then there are the folks who think in terms of bigger-is-better: "How big is it? If it's big like Carnegie's, then it's worth it." Having eaten quite a few Starwich sandwiches now, what I can say is this: if you compare apples to apples (in other words, we're not talking about cheesesteaks here) you're not going to find a better sandwich for less money, and it's not easy to find a better sandwich for more money.

And with Starwich, I think you have a significant portion of sales coming from the catering and group-delivery end of things. So you're talking about offices where they've got ten people they need to feed in a conference room at lunchtime, and it's pretty much irrelevant to them whether it costs $150 or $250 to do that. They just want it to be simple.

Found these knives at Century 21 downtown: Yes, that's right, they are marked down to $1.49 It's a pretty good quality bread knife. I mean, it's not Wusthof, and at 7" it's a tad short, but for $1.49 it could be your bread knife for a couple of decades. Lifetime warranty. Made in Massachusetts as far as I can tell. My mother and I bought 14 of them, but there are still plenty left.

We've been to Blacksburg several times to visit a friend who's a professor at Tech, and she always takes us to Gillies. I've always found the food decent, in a crunchy granola seventies throwback sort of way. Now that I have this intel, though, next time we'll be branching out.

Doc, there's a pretty wide range of prices. You can eat anywhere from cheaply to moderately. The Cuban sandwich -- a satisfying lunch -- is $7 (and it's not made from processed crap -- it's real ham, real cheese, good pork, etc.). There are quite a few appetizers and small plates under $10. Entrees range from the low teens to the mid-twenties -- the only thing that was climbing up there was the paella, but I think that's supposed to serve a couple of people. The last time I went, there were four of us, two of us had alcoholic beverages and the other two had soft drinks, and we ate enough food to feel disgusting. The check was $120 pre-tip. I should add, this is a new restaurant. The first time I went there, which was only about a month ago, they were still putting up the mirrors, posters and signage. It will take some time for the place to hit its full stride, especially on the service front (though there is one very good server we dealt with). Still, I've done very well there and it looks like everything is headed in the right direction. Pan, I grew up on 69th and Columbus so I've got quite a few Victor's memories. Unfortunately, the place went into decline when I was still a teenager. I think the whole Cuban food thing (at anything above the level of cheap eats) took a real nosedive in the '80s. I hope we'll see a revival.

There's a new restaurant on my short list of mid-priced favorites. That's a very short list, because like most serious diners I know I tend to gravitate towards the extremes of, on the one hand, fine dining and, on the other hand, cheap eats. I can't stand spending $40+ per person for food I could cook better at home. Sometimes it feels like the economic deck is simply stacked against anybody who wants to provide good food in the mid-priced category. The new Havana Central (West 46th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues) is a telling exception to the mid-priced problem. It has got to be the most welcome addition to the Times Square/Theater District restaurant scene in ages. The food is terrific, the menu prices are gentle, the place has great energy and the portions are very satisfying. It's proof positive that there's no reason mid-priced restaurants have to suck. This is a much more ambitious operation than the original Havana on East 17th Street. The Times Square Havana Central is a split-level space, 235 seats, with multi-story-high ceilings. Giant etched mirrors decorate the bar, a counter opposite the bar is made from cigar-rolling table replicas, and another wall has huge old Cuba posters. Based on the advance press materials, I imagined a glitzy theme-restaurant type of feel, but the place feels very real; they've captured a Caribbean aesthetic without tripping over into parody. And why not? There used to be a thriving Cuban restaurant community in New York, and Havana Central is the present-day realization of that tradition. The décor was inspired by Sloppy Joe’s in Havana (which Hemingway frequented) but is not slavish to it. The owner, Jeremy Merrin, is a Cuban food and culture fanatic and for good reason: As the story runs, he was infatuated with a Cuban girl in high school and acquired the taste for Cuban food. He then ran into her at their 25th high school reunion and told her he was a Cuban food aficionado, and she invited him to try some of her mother's cooking, which was at a much higher level than what he had been eating. Thus, he concluded, there were no good Cuban restaurants in town and he needed to open one. The chef is a very earnest and charming guy named Stanley Licairac, exactly the sort of chef I don't expect to see at mid-priced restaurants. He's very serious about the cuisine and he and Merrin are fanatical about researching and testing all the recipes. He comes from a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother, and grew up in Brooklyn working at the family deli, which he later bought. He's not Cuban, but that appears not to be a handicap at all. I haven't made it through the entire menu, but I've tried quite a few good things so far. One problem I've had is that some of the items I tried on my first visit were so good that I felt compelled to reorder them, so I didn't make as much subsequent progress as I could have. The standout item has got to be the empanadas. I've not had better. Apparently these ones are made with yuca flour, and they're made by hand at the restaurant daily. The best is the picadillo-stuffed empanada. It's hard to move on to anything else. Needless to say, it follows that the picadillo is also my favorite entree so far. For those who aren't familiar with Cuban picadillo, it's ground beef with onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, various herbs and spices, olives and raisins. It's just about the most unattractive dish imaginable, but it's a thing of beauty on the palate. All the little touches are done well too, for example the rice and beans are exceptional. Other good things: There's this corn on the cob encrusted with an herb and cheese mixture that's very nice if a bit shocking; it's the most over-the-top piece of corn I've ever eaten. The roast pork is juicy and a lot better than what most barbecue places are serving. Even the salmon and shrimp, ordered by a non-fan of red meat, were quite good: not overcooked, of good quality and certainly not treated as an afterthought. Some of the bar drinks are the best of their kind that I've had: the mojitos are superior, the sangria is dangerous (especially the variant made with port!) and the fruit shakes are a tasty non-alcoholic option. Also, on the dessert front, the tres leches is the best I've had, not too sweet (though pretty sweet) and with not too grainy a texture. And then there's the Cuban sandwich. Not that I've been to Cuba, but I've at least been to Florida quite a few times, and I think this is a very high quality Cuban sandwich. And it's only $7. I haven't had a better one in New York and I've maybe had better in Florida but not by much. There's also a version available on a brioche-like bread; I forget the name. The upstairs balcony, by the way, is a great space for a private event. I'm thinking I might try to have a birthday party or something there at some point. Maybe a bris. Who knows?

The first store opened late last year, and the other two stores opened early this year, I think. I don't think there's a problem with capital. I think the holdup has been real estate. Starwich has been very picky about locations. My understanding is that two additional locations are to open in Manhattan within the next few months (Upper West Side and Midtown), and that Boston, Newark Liberty Airport and Dulles Airport are supposed to happen this winter. I don't know that there's a projected timeline for Philadelphia or Providence. I don't know whether Philadelphia has a stronger indigenous sandwich culture than New York. Maybe it's more monolithic. My concern about the viability of Starwich in Philadelphia isn't so much the style as it is the price point. Then again, if they're planning to open smack in the middle of the white-collar professional area, they probably won't experience all that much resistance to $9 sandwiches.

I've never understood the attraction of putting the information on the chip. It's makes so much more sense to me to put nothing on the card and everything on the centralized computer system, especially given the convenience of being able to access one's account, preferences, etc., online. But what do I know?

Of course, the problem with smart cards is that if every business uses them everybody will have to carry around a hundred different smart cards. So eventually there will have to be consolidation. I imagine what will (or at least should) happen is that the credit card companies will integrate smart-card-like functionality into their centralized systems, so that you can have, for example, all your Starwich profile data stored in a database that associates that information with your Visa card. I don't know if Starwich has rolled out the smart cards yet, and at which locations. I know they didn't launch the smart cards at the same time they opened -- they were going to wait before implementing the technology. The smart card is heavily touted on the Starwich website, as is the elaborate online ordering system, but I don't know how much of that is up and running and how much is prospective.

Assume you need to eat 365 days a year, and that you live somewhere with a production season of 200 days a year. That means you will not eat for 165 days (in a row) unless you preserve food. Now let's say that during those 200 days of production you produce enough food for 330 days of consumption, assuming you preserve judiciously. Great, now you will only starve for 35 days a year. Excess indeed.

The two best BLTs I've had recently were at Starwich and Blue Ribbon Bakery. Both were excellent -- as good as I'd be able to make without going to extraordinary measures and investing a heck of a lot of shopping time.

To expand upon Russ's point about organic not meaning local or seasonal, the last time I went to Whole Foods I didn't see much local, seasonal produce at all. What I saw was organic produce, but out of season and grown far away -- not necessarily even on this continent. At that point, the designation "organic" is more about marketing than about doing any good for personal well-being or the planet. Because in most every respect, you and the world are better off for eating a locally produced non-organic apple (that maybe was treated with some fungicide because you live in a wet climate where you can't reliably grow organic apples) than for eating an organic one grown 6,000 miles away in Argentina.

My favorite veal cuts are all the ones that, in beef terms, would be the tougher cuts for braising or thin-slicing. These tend to have the most flavor, yet they're more tender than their beef counterparts. I think my favorite has got to be veal breast.