sarmasarma123

After that last posting, I just realized that I actually referenced that same Benazuza dinner in the book... and said some potentially controversial things about Anthony Bourdain in the same section. I swear, I was overworked and delirious when I wrote them! One of my fantasies? To get both Bourdain and Jeffrey Steingarten (LOVE him madly... not sure why so madly considering I have never met him) to eat with me at Pure Food and Wine.

I'm back to say that they butchered the spelling of my last name in that little bit quoted here. Not really. They did, but that's not why I'm back. It has just been a VERY BUSY few months for me... when I logged in I think it said the last time I was on the site was November! The restaurant is busy... lots of things have changed, but it's a beautiful night in the garden, book is out, and I'm busier than ever before. Though something reminded me of egullet and I thought I'd check back. Our chef Amanda, who has taken over the place like the creative and sweet little dictator that she is, takes good care of things while we work on ancillary projects, about which I'm very excited. Don't know what else to say... feel silly assuming that anyone cares about anything I have to say, though am having to work hard at forcing myself to get over it. See my latest project and it will be clear why. SO... what can I say? Favorite newest dish at the restaurant? Squash Blossoms... with herbed macadamia cheese filling, zucchini pasta, pecans and red pepper sauce. It's yummy AND pretty. And Coffee Cocoa Chip ice cream, as well as Almond Butter Cup... both better than anything we've had before. Lots of new desserts. Selling packaged products at Whole Foods now. We try. And hopefully get better and better. Latest pet project: oneluckyduck.com - it's meant to make the whole thing fun. Almost forgot... went to Spain last winter, (for one of those all expenses paid - do nothing but eat and talk about food with other food people - food trips), was at Hacienda Benazuza and had a 26 course tasting menu. Yes, I will eat non-raw food having any such unusually worthwhile opportunity. I asked them for a long strip of register tape on which I wrote notes on every single extremely interesting and thought provoking course... it was amazing and I had grand delusions of writing a long and mouth watering description on egullet of the entire experience when I returned. Oh well! Though I still have that crumpled register tape somewhere... ←

OH my... I just wrote a really LONG post and then LOST it... i'm going to go bang my head on the wall till it bleeds now. Will repost soon, I promise, but I'm too upset now. Wrote ALL about our new fall dishes, about new stuff at the takeaway, about our cool new kitchen with glass storefront, about a recent dinner at kittichai, about the new book am writing (which is why have not been posting at all) and lots of other stuff you all never wanted to know..... I am such a dork that I lost it. :( Will be back when I recover from my own stupidity. Sarma

Hi Emily... what a nice posting!! I've been away for too long... am glad you like the ice creams! DO say hello - i'm there MOST of the time... except for now - I escaped with Matthew to our little cottage in Maine - my first (and probably only) time away this summer. So while all you fools are sweating back there in the city... we just lit a fire b/c it's so CHILLY here on the ocean! LOVE the fire in wood cabin smell. So, to make this posting relevant to those obsessed w/ food... a big part of what we love up here is the most AMAZING produce that we get froom a place calle d Chase's Daily... they pick everythign from their farm in the early AM and bring it to their store by 10am - the most amazign salad greens one could imagine.. makes our own nyc greenmarket seem like some moldy Gristede's crap in comparison. OK, not really like that. I feel bad saying that now. HOpe they still sell to us! It's just different. Butter lettuces that are so crisp you would think they would squirt rain water when you bite into them. So, yes... we rawfoodists CHEATED a bit tonight - Chase's Daily serves dinner one night per week - they are vegetarian and serve breakfast and lunch most days, but dinner only one night. IT's the kind of place that really OUGHT to be profiled in Saveur, but you can tell they have no ambitions for such press. They ought to be written about everywhere, but I'm glad they are not... their taste is amazing... antique bar stools, very charming mix and match antique-y dishware, high ceilings, wood floors, the most amazing bread that they bake right there - kitchen is on the same floor. So yes, we had (aside from quite a bit of a very good NZ sauvignon blanc) beautiful salads and then i ordered a mezze plate that had, among other things, grilled halloumi (did i spell that right?) - YUMYUM SALTY YUM... it was good. other than that - we ate just vegetables. OH... except the desserts we tried. A strawberry granita - very nice and not too sweet, probably had jsut a WEE bit of that nasty refined sugar we try to shield ourselves from. But the chocolate "sunken" cake w/ coffee ice cream and a drizzle of caramel - served in a shallow bowl that looked like it came from the back of your mother's cupboard - was better than any dessert I can remember having in any big city by any big name chef. It was crispy and light and rich and (to my horror) buttery! These occasional detours off the raw trail which we blaze are well worth it, in my opinion. Really, this place would blow away anyone, but it's tucked away in Belfast, Maine - so genuine and lovely - run by the CHase family. We'll be getting there by 10am when their little truck arrives to get the best heirloom tomatoes we've ever had, crispy little cucumbers, fresh herbs... radishes - if only we could cart this stuff back with us - maybe we will after labor day? Being away from the restaurant for the first time is hard!! IT's like a mother leaving her baby... ? I had half hoped that it would rain and that it would be a quiet weekend, just so we wouldn't have to worry as much, but alas, despite the reportedly gnarly humid icky weather there right now, it's very busy. We resist the urge to call every five minutes, but so far hear that everything is going well in our absence. I'm still scared. Since we opened, it'st he first time that we have both not been there at the same time. But we figured, late August in the city is as good a time as any to get away... aside from maybe labor day, we'll be back there every night again as usual - can't wait for the fall and can't wait to try different dishes for the cooler weather. Up here we can actually think a bit more creatively. Working on a laptop sitting in a butterfly chair on a wooden dock on the water with a chipmunk eating almonds from my lap (which I put there for him - I have photos to prove it - they love us... we fed them almonds for the last three summers and now they are all over us like affectionate puppies) - so where was I? yes, working on menus and such on a laptop by the ocean is REALLY REALLY NIce. Stepping away is good for a bit - have tons of ideas to implement at the restaurant and the takeaway... if we can find hte time when we get back... will find it. I miss being there - it's like home. Such a pathetically long post... MK has passed out on the little 70's patterned couch by the fire. Like a sweet puppy. Will probably be mortified if he reads my post tomorrow, as will I surely. On that note... LATER for all you food loving egulleters... i love food too - just not always how it makes me feel... and that's why we do what we do, and I love it. CHEERS from chilly maine... (where I had the most AMAZING teeny wild blackberries today - i can't stop myself... love it here) goodnight!!

It HAS been a long day, and mine's only like one third over... anyway... i'm just happy someone appreciates the baby ducks... i love them! the original duck picture in the restaurant was printed in Gourmet mag about 8 months ago - i loved it so much for some reason - just seemed like the duck had a very cool expression on his face. So I tracked down the photographer - turns out he lives right nearby on East 4th St. and I ended up getting the series of three ducks, plus the baby ducks from him. And then because of that we ended up getting the ducks in our logo graphics. He's a great photographer - Francesco Lagnese. Does nice food pixies too. I need to change that shake named after me - one of our staff came up with it - it has wheatgrass in it - which I have to admit is not the tastiest stuff in the world, even though I love drinking it. And with all the pineapple and other stuff in the shake, it looks cool. The Clockwork Orange is my favorite... mango, oranges and fresh tumeric, which gives it a spicy kick and makes it really intensely orange colored, and tumeric is insanely good for you. And it has vanilla and agave nectar in it too to make it extra tasty. OK... i'm off to return a few calls while lying on a bench in our garden... cannot believe it's august and so cool out. amazingly beautiful... hope it lasts. We're opening for lunch on Monday... again, all you egullet junkies out there... ask for me if/when you come in and I'll be happy to send out extras and samplers etc. QUACK Sarma :)

We just opened Pure Juice and Takeaway today, in the space that was formerly Bar Demi, on 17th.... and to answer your question about the ice creams, we will be selling them by the pint - coconut, chocolate, pistachio, almond brittle and greenmarket flavors that vary daily, like sugarplum or gooseberry. All are non-dairy with no refined sugar. YUM. :)

We were out yesterday, but we're getting more at the market today! (sugarplums) We also missed the sour cherries the last couple days, but got these amazing tiny little wild raspberries instead... they were really cute and so pretty. But I prefer the sour cherries in the tart... Debbie keeps them in the dehydrator during service, so they are nice and warm on the tart when served. Hopefully we'll get more today. And regarding the last posting... love Anderson Copper too! But then again... I've always had an odd sort of crush on Jeffrey Steingarten too... Don't think Matthew is getting too worried, though. Even though I would get completely flustered and go weak in the knees if I ever met Mr. Steingarten - and I know how he feels about vegetables...

yes... kind of embarassing now that i pointed out the CNN thing... after seeing it, I was suprised too and how completely short it was. And yes, that was me. After spending two and a half hours w/ them through the interview, filming all the dishes and the garden, I was rather bummed and suprised that they didn't even name the restaurant, (although shocked that they pronounced my name right) and from the way the segment was going... it made it seem like the restaurant was in Los Angeles. And the whole focus was on the "diet" part of it... OH WELL!!! And regarding the above.. the greens are actually collards! "Collard" just sounds not so great, but they taste great and work amazingly well for wraps, when the stem is cut out and they are marinated a bit. And one last thing... in my previous posting... I did not mean to call Debbie a "pasty" sous chef! Sorry Debbie! Clearly... a pastRy sous chef she is. ;) and a good one at that!

BTW... forgot to mention, if anyone is interested, Pure Food and Wine will be on CNN tonight at 7pm - Anderson Cooper's show "360" - they came and interviewed us about the restaurant and about raw food and took footage of a lot of the food in the garden as well as some of the prep in the kitchen. The show focuses on celebrity lifestyles I think, so they fit it into that context somehow. :)

Thank you! Very glad you enjoyed it!! Hope you'll say hello next time you come by! Regarding the garden in the rain... I have become a weather.com junkie... Unfortunately, when it rains we have to keep the garden closed, which is not so bad, as I love our cozy dining room, and a few people can always sit in that little outdoor covered area that has the built in bench and pillows. If it's only going to drizzle, we have plenty of umbrellas to cover the area. Some nights it's a judgement call... whether we think we're going to get a thundershower. Furthermore, it gets very complicated with staffing, as you can imagine. We'll keep it open throughout the early fall as well, with those area heaters for when it gets chilly. Regarding some of the previous postings: I think Lauren asked about one of the newer dishes on the menu - it's a White Corn Tamale with Raw Cacao Mole Sauce, Marinated Mushrooms and Green Tomato Salsa. :) Also... regarding the expense - we do use very high quality ingredients and the preparation is very labor intensive. For example, we use young thai coconuts in many of the ice creams (and other dishes as well), which each need to be whacked open with a cleaver and then the white 'meat' (what else do I call it?? :)) needs to be pulled out and any bits of the outer shell scraped off... each pint of coconut ice cream probably has at least three of these coconuts, in addition to whole vanilla bean, and agave nectar, which is also really costly compared to refined white sugar. That's just one example. Not to mention, the greenmarket is no bargain! We have sugarplum ice cream on the menu tonight... sugarplums and sour cherries from the greenmarket - our pasty sous chef Debbie came up with a really yummy sour cherry and almond tart w/ sugarplum ice cream. Matthew and I are so busy that it's so nice when our staff gets inspired to work on new dishes as well! I also always go overboard buying too many cool herbs like lime basil and others when I stop at the market...

I would soak the rice for at least 8 hours, and then rinse it well and put it in a mesh collander over a bowl and let it sprout for a couple days, thoroughly rinsing it at least two or three times each day. The grains should split and become uniformly soft. Leaving it in the same murky water for days sounds kind of gnarly... :) I just read a really nice (and funny) review from the "carnivores" at the following site: http://www.killthebird.com/mt/blog/archives/000930.html "A site for those whose interests include but are not limited to public drunkeness, lewd behavior, debauchery, donkey humping, and the occasional glimpse into life in New York City."

yes, and play some ambient music and dim the lights...

We soak and sprout nuts, seeds and some grains so that their enzymes, vitamins and minerals remain intact, so it's for reasons beyond taste, although I've eaten sprouted wild rice and I think it's quite comparable in taste to boiled rice, although it's of course room temperature rather than hot, which is fine with me. Anyway... I eagerly await sarcastic replies!

Sarma, with all due respect, that seems to me to be positively barking mad. Do a search on google... "Wild rice is a coarse aquatic grass with short roots that are easily pulled up. It lives only one year but bears such quantities of seed that, in spite of what the Indians gathered and what was eaten by huge flocks of wild geese, ducks, and blackbirds, it was plentiful. It is a stately graceful plant with a few long, rather broad, pointed leaves on a stalk that grows to be from 4 to 12 feet tall and from 1/2 inch to 2 inches in diameter. At the top is a long flower cluster with spreading lower branches from which dangle many pollen-bearing flowers, and erect broom-like upper branches with the seed-bearing flowers. The slender awl-shaped seed, or rice grain, is almost black, about 3/4 inch long, in a husk with a long bristle at the tip. These grains fall very quickly after they ripen in midsummer and early autumn, especially on a windy day." Am I crazy? I don't think so...

Yes! Of course, our ingredients will change depending on what is available - that's what I love about printing menus every day - we can adjust it depending on what we get in house. During the fall and winter of last year, Matthew and I were researching and working on menus, so our intial drafts have some more wintery dishes, which we'll be working on to develop further when the time comes. Butternut squash, for example, is great when julienned and tossed with a little olive oil, maple or agave nectar, cumin, lemon, sea salt - and then put in the dehydrator... it's like VERY sloooooooow roasting. Last year we made "sun-charged" sweet potatoes.. tossing them in same ingredients and literally putting out in a bowl in the sun all day with a mesh screen over it (we were in Maine, though!). I want to use a lot of citrus too... made a citrus cous cous with different herbs and spices and dried fruits. The cous cous is made much like we make our sushi rice (jicama and other ingredients), except chopped up finer and without the sushi rice seasonings. We can also serve things warmed... right now our white corn tamales served warm. And while our soups are all chilled now for summer, we can serve whatever soups we are doing then warmed as well. Some dishes on the menu will probably always stay... the most popular being the Spicy Thai Lettuce Wraps with Tamarind Chile Sauce... and the Lasagna as well, except we won't be able to use Green Zebra or other heirlooms then. Wild rice is an ingredient I'm excited to use... real wild rice is, I believe, actually a seed. I'll look into it further, but I know there are types of wild 'rice' that I have had at a raw dinner once... when soaked long enough, it gets plump and tender, like rice. Would be nice with dried cranberries and pecans as part of some dish. I am just thinking out loud now. I'd love to experiment with chestnuts too. Matthew just mentioned chestnuts... spinach gnocchi with chestnut cream? And I can't wait for pomegranate seeds, which I love. The question every one asked us last year is if we missed hot food in the winter, and I can honestly say... no! We had feared ourselves that eating only this way would be challenging in the winter, but last winter I didn't even think about it unless someone specifically asked me. Of course, I wasn't skiing in Austria or snow shoe-ing in Canada, but then again, it got pretty cold here in the city! But honestly, I really didn't miss hot foods. I'm writing this from the kitchen again... keep stopping and starting to do other things and the music just got too loud and a bunch of tables just sat at once... so I have to go! Anyway... hope I answered your questions! Sarma :)