Bar snacks, like them?

[LaurieB]

From Katie Loeb:

"sesame cracker-like lumpy things"

I want a recipe for that -- just for the name alone. Anyone have one, or do I have to make one up?

[raxelita]

Eje, I think you aren't searching low enough:

-Li Po's has bottomless bowls of "Asian sesame snack mix" that go nicely with their chinese whiskey.

-The Phone Booth has that wonderfully stale and salty popcorn to go with the five-fingered neat pours.

-Of course there's the Tonga Room free happy hour fried thingy assortment.

-And--perhaps a stretch--but the Gold Dust bartenders have never failed to slip me Hershey's kisses throughout the night (maybe a girls-only bar snack?)

I'll have to look for more when I return to SF in a few weeks.

[eje]

Eje, I think you aren't searching low enough:

[...]

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Ok, there used to be an all you can eat make your own veggie sushi night at the Odeon. Though, given what I have since heard about Chicken John's philosophies of venue management, I doubt even vegetarian was really all that safe to eat.

There're also some nice latino women who travel the mission at night selling home made tamales in various bars.

To me, though, you gotta be able to eat bar food with your fingers.

I do love patatas bravas. Crunchy fried potato chunks served with a spicy paprika sauce.

Mmm...

[Megan Blocker]

At Cafe D'Alsace on the Upper East Side, the bar snack is hard-boiled eggs. With salt, of course. Ahem, mais oui.

[jeroen_kb]

My favorite bar snack are the great bitterballen. World famous in Holland.

And when you want to go fancy you order the mixed deep fried snacks, including off course bitterballen but also other meatlike things like little frikandellen and nasi / bami snacks.

[ZenKimchi]

In Korea, the basic bar snacks consist of dried seaweed, corn-based styrofoam crunchies, and the infamous ojingeo (dried cuttlefish). I need something with FAT in it -- HELP!

Anyway, here's a video about the ojingeo experience.

[mbrowley]

My favorite bar snack are the great bitterballen. World famous in Holland.

And when you want to go fancy you order the mixed deep fried snacks, including off course bitterballen but also other meatlike things like little frikandellen and nasi / bami snacks.

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Man, I am with you on the bitterballen, Jeroen. In fact, I've got a batch in my freezer right now after pigging out on way too many earlier when I was indulging in some California jenever/genever. I know I'm a little late with a response, but if you're hankering for some I've posted the recipe here (Rowley's Bitterballen).

Cheaper than a flight to Amsterdam, but not quite as fun...

[edited for typos]

Edited May 8, 2008 by mbrowley (log)

[Marlene]

These walnuts are great bar snacks. I used to sell them to a couple of local bars.

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I'll vouch for these, except I do them with pecans as well. These are highly highly addictive.

I'd also second homemade potato chips drizzled with truffle oil and dusted with parmesan.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Marlene (log)

[prasantrin]

Chicharron with a bit of fat and meat still attached (Vietnamese grocery stores sometimes have as, as do Filipino).

Anchovies and Bugles (served on the same plate, but not mixed though meant to be eaten together).

Sesame sticks.

[mbrowley]

I visited with William Burroughs occasionally when we both lived in Lawrence, Kansas. He was a mischievous old man when I knew him—still stocked with guns, blackjacks, and a mysterious spray that kept cats off surfaces—but happy hour at his place always included vodka with (intentionally) flat Coke and often anchovies on Triscuits.

Salty, fatty, crunchy ~ would have been perfect in any low-rent bar.

Let's not forget pickled bar eggs...

[crouching tyler]

Some of my favorite bar snacks (including the home bar):

Cheese Straws, in small sizes.

Dates stuffed with cheese

Olives, of course

and don't forget the Homemade Chex Mix.

[Mayur]

In order for me:

Marcona almonds

Cheese straws

Potato chips with blue-cheesy dip (Blue Smoke in NY has my favorite example of these)

Deviled eggs

...but preferably all of the above. My fantasy bar would have all of the above laid out in discreet little plates along with rolled-up, toothpicked slices of bellota and truly fabulous olives.

Really, the problem that I have with any good bar snack is that one ends up skipping a nutritious dinner in favor of scarfing these down. When I do parties, I almost always lay on real food for precisely this reason; while the deviled eggs, chips, and fried stuff (cocktail samosas, pakoras, and other Indian snacky goodness) go fast, it's nice for someone to be able to put themselves together a little plate of actually healthy finger food (crudites, grilled vegetables/chicken/fish, soup in shot glasses, etc.).

[mbrowley]

In order for me:

Marcona almonds

Cheese straws

Potato chips with blue-cheesy dip (Blue Smoke in NY has my favorite example of these)

Deviled eggs

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I'll see your Marcona almonds (delicious in their own right) and raise you a plate of boudin balls. Maybe throw in some boiled peanuts.

Mmmmm....boiled peanuts. Perfect for having with beers or less fancy cocktails. Used to have no problem finding green peanuts for boiling back east where I'd make a gallon or more at a time, but here in California they seem to be all roasted already. Sigh...

[haresfur]

Perogies (deep fried) and sour cream - a favorite in Manitoba pubs. At home I like to eat them with mango chutney.

Never developed a taste for dulse and beer - Nova Scotia style, but I love the idea.

We were really popular in Yellowknife NWT when we showed up at the bar with insanely salty Dall-sheep jerky.

[judiu]

Perogies (deep fried) and sour cream - a favorite in Manitoba pubs.  At home I like to eat them with mango chutney.

Never developed a taste for dulse and beer - Nova Scotia style, but I love the idea.

We were really popular in Yellowknife NWT when we showed up at the bar with insanely salty Dall-sheep jerky.

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Goddess forgive me, but I make a mix my Mom called "Clutter and Stuff" her's had Cheerios and Kix; mine has Crispex, ff onion rings (canned), potato stix, mixed nuts no peanuts, bacon crumbles, bacon grease, butter, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, Chinese noodles, and other crunchies to taste. Mix it all in a huge bowl, toast at 250 degrees for an hour, tossing every 15 min. Whoa!

[KatieLoeb]

...Dates stuffed with cheese...

We have Valdeon blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon on the menu at my bar. They're sinful. Salty, sweet, smoky and creamy all at once. More deliciousness per square inch than any other food item I can think of.

[Snowy is dead]

"You would be my hero if you brought the pickled egg back as a bar snack. When done well, a pickled egg is fantastic. Tangy, salty, big mouthfeel, and substantial enough to be a real-live snack rather than a 'nibble' or whatever we call it now."

The B-Side Lounge in Cambridge MA has eggs on the bar. Can't remember if they're pickled or deviled though. Buck a piece I think.

Edited June 7, 2008 by Snowy is dead (log)

[tikibars]

From my Japan journal (got home a few days ago):

"Did I mention yet that my policy towards food in Japan is: if I cannot identify it, I must therefore go out of my way to eat it? I ate a whole lot of things in the land of the rising sun that I absolutley could not even classify as animal, vegetable, or mineral. Or for that matter, I didn’t even know if some of them were person, place, or thing. The two most questionabe delicacies were both fed to me by Emi. Tonight, she ordered a bowl of ika. Ika is squid. I have had calamari before, and I like tako, which is sushi or sashimi made of rather pretty prurple, maroon, and white octopus tentacles, but this ika was something else entriely.

Baby squids, whole, not processed or seasoned or cut or otherwise prepared.

A bowlful of them.

Right from the sea and into this little ceramic bowl.

Maybe three inches long, and maybe six or eight of them neatly laid out for inspection.

I did not hesitate.

These were freaking bar snacks, and I have never turned down a bar snack.

Manipulating my chopsticks (or so I thought) like a native (except for that I am left handed and used my chopsticks that way, which - as I learned after arriving home - made me seem to be essentially a retard with no manners or hygiene), I plucked a lil’ squiddly diddly from the bowl and bravely popped it into my mouth.

Hmmmmm....

Fishy.

Salty.

Rubbery.

So far so good.

Crunch.

Crunch?

What part of a baby squid goes “crunch”?

Just one - the little tiny speck-sized black eyeball.

It did not give e a satisfying pop like a yummy salmon egg served up over rice, it was a hard crunchy crunch, like a little piece of coal or something.

Emi only ate one.

I wondered if she was seeing how far I would take this.

Before my second pot of sake was gone, I had polished off the school of squid.

Bring it."

[judiu]

From my Japan journal (got home a few days ago):

"Did I mention yet that my policy towards food in Japan is: if I cannot identify it, I must therefore go out of my way to eat it?  I ate a whole lot of things in the land of the rising sun that I absolutley could not even classify as animal, vegetable, or mineral.  Or for that matter, I didn’t even know if some of them were person, place, or thing.  The two most questionabe delicacies were both fed to me by Emi.  Tonight, she ordered a bowl of ika.  Ika is squid.  I have had calamari before, and I like tako, which is sushi or sashimi made of rather pretty prurple, maroon, and white octopus tentacles, but this ika was something else entriely.

Baby squids, whole, not processed or seasoned or cut or otherwise prepared.

A bowlful of them.

Right from the sea and into this little ceramic bowl.

Maybe three inches long, and maybe six or eight of them neatly laid out for inspection.

I did not hesitate. 

These were freaking bar snacks, and I have never turned down a bar snack.

Manipulating my chopsticks (or so I thought) like a native (except for that I am left handed and used my chopsticks that way, which  - as I learned after arriving home - made me seem to be essentially a retard with no manners or hygiene), I plucked a lil’ squiddly diddly from the bowl and bravely popped it into my mouth.

Hmmmmm....

Fishy.

Salty.

Rubbery.

So far so good.

Crunch.

Crunch?

What part of a baby squid goes “crunch”?

Just one - the little tiny speck-sized black eyeball.

It did not give e a satisfying pop like a yummy salmon egg served up over rice, it was a hard crunchy crunch, like a little piece of coal or something.

Emi only ate one.

I wondered if she was seeing how far I would take this.

Before my second pot of sake was gone, I had polished off the school of squid.

Bring it."

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Maybe that would have been the beak, or mouthpart, that's generally removed when the little beasties are cleaned?

[mbanu]

Good olives and smoked oysters.