Restaurants

Every aspiring curd nerd yearns to embiggen their knowledge base about the dairy darlings they adore. The most learned way to do this is to consume cheese. Of course, it’s not just as simple as cramming cheese in your craw, but carefully looking at cheese and analyzing its rind and paste. Feeling the texture on your fingers and palate. Examining the wet stone smell of a young goat cheese or noticing how the caramel-brandy aromas of a well-aged Gouda intensify when you crack it under your nose. Of course, there is always the savoring in through taste. However, there are a LOT of cheeses out there and to address that issue there are plenty of books to help you gain a better understanding of them. Below are a few good places to start when it comes to getting your learn on. The most innovative cheese catalogue you’ve ever read. Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese: A Guide to Wedges, Recipes, and Pairings You may know Tenaya Darlington from her blog, Madame Fromage, where she looks at all things cheese. Darlington’s secret identity is that of a writing professor at Saint Joseph’s University and seasoned journalist. This highly literate skill set is demonstrated through Darlington’s eloquent and quirky descriptions of cheese that are as endearing as they are apropos. Take Harbison, for example. It’s a cow’s milk cheese from Vermont made in a Brie-style and wrapped in tree bark. It’s extremely gooey inside and tastes like butter, vanilla, and perhaps a bit of pine. Darlington describe this cheese’s personality as, “A sexy librarian’s cheese — all horns rims and whispers.” Spanish Leonora, a fine goat cheese with a citrus tang, is considered as, “A head-turning blonde on a lemon cake bender.” Imaginative to say the least, but she goes on to describe the history, culture, and flavor profiles of the cheeses with surprising breadth in brevity. She then offers various matches for a possible cheese plate that go far beyond jam and nuts to options like kiwis, boiled potatoes and cumin seeds, and biscotti. The book is peppered with clever and engaging recipes that are easy to put together. Some recipes utilize the cheeses in the book such as the Swiss Fondue and the Grilled Peaches with Quadrello Di Bufala. Others are designed to be paired with cheeses like the sweet and sour rhubarb refrigerator jam. (Can I get a, “Hell, yes!” up in here?) Each entry is wrapped up with various wine, beer, and spirit pairings that you should truly take to heart. They’re rather clever and sometimes unexpected, which leads to rather jaunty discoveries you’ll be eager to share with friends. The book was written in tandem with the historical and celebrated Di Bruno Brothers, whose cheese selection is both glorious and varied. Get in the kitchen and start cooking your cheese! The Cheesemonger’s Kitchen: Celebrating Cheese in 90 Recipes Chester Hastings’ book came out a year or two ago amid little fanfare or notice, which makes me sad. For any cheese enthusiast this book is a must have. Forget fondue and grilled cheese (though, fear not, there is an excellent Castelmagno and Hazelnut Fondue that doesn’t so much taste like sex, but tastes like great sex where you and your partner both orgasm simultaneously). This book isn’t too in-depth with the cheese education, a few history or tasting lessons here and there but don’t expect a lot of help with your thesis. Instead, Hasting urges you to go out and topple the pillar that cheese so vaingloriously sits on as instructed by hardcore cheese purists. Cheese — great, artisanal cheese — can and should be used in the kitchen. Recipes such as zucchini with goat Gouda fritters, golden eggplant with creamy feta and croutons, and lasagna with asparagus and burrata are just some of the awe-inspiring dishes that grace the pages. Salads, fruit, meat, fish, and dessert are all given a fair address in the pages to ensure you do not leave wanting. Joseph De Leo provides the photography in the book. T

Toad-in-the-hole, in the Slope. The nearly two-year-old Park Slope cheese shop Valley Shepherd Creamery, which sells the entire line of raw milk and cave-aged beauties Eran Wajswol produces on his 120-acre farm in Morris County, is set to open a Brooklyn branch of its Philadelphia-based grilled cheese shop Melt Kraft in the 9th Street space formerly occupied by Almondine. You may remember that the French bakery closed shortly after Hurricane Sandy destroyed Hervé Poussot's production kitchen in Dumbo last fall; he's since reopened on Water Street and is again producing great croissants, but he left a certain corner of Park Slope bereft of butter and carbs. Let's talk grilled cheese. There's no word on when Melt Kraft might open and start melting everything, but Wajswol has applied for a license to sell beer at the shop, which will presumably feature the same roster of eight or so cheese sandwiches sold in Philly, including the "Melter Skelter," made with Valley Shepherd's cheese of the same name, plus pickled green tomatoes, jalapeños, BBQ chips, and watercress. Earlier: Almondine in Park Slope Is for Rent Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: coming soon, grilled cheese, melt kraft, valley shepherd creamery

While Japanese noodle fanatics have been gawking over artisanal ramen joints, another type of noodle business has been growing, albeit at a much quieter pace, within Los Angeles. The noodle of ...

Words & Photography by Felicity SpectorHolland Street, W8, is one of those roads where everything is just so: a branch of Ottolenghi. A rather smart gallery. A cobbled, winding pathway leading to a small mews, strewn with climbing roses. And now, a new neighbourhood restaurant; itself so bijou and beautifully turned out it could have come straight from the pages of Vogue Living.The Terrace on Holland Street has been transformed by Leith’s graduate Sara Adams – the cooking talent behind the highly regarded Kensington Square Kitchen – and her husband Chris Hodgkinson, a former chartered surveyor who has clearly had a big hand in the stylish refurb.Image courtesy of The TerraceThe kitchen is run by head chef James Kelly, who is aiming to put together a small but seasonal menu of “British inspired” dishes – it will change frequently, although customer demand seems to mean there will always be a place for a properly done steak and chips.There are just 20 covers at The Terrace, although if there is any warm weather there’ll be double that, thanks to a rather lovely outside terrace. Chris told me there had been one outside lunch service so far, on the single day the sun managed to drag the temperatures to more springlike levels.But on the night we visited, on the invitation of The Terrace team, it was definitely a night for sitting indoors. Everything was very comfortable, the decor a tasteful dove grey, and as I arrived, slightly late, my niece was happily enjoying a glass of sauvignon blanc. “This place is lovely!”As we looked over the menu a waiter arrived with some slices of warm treacle soda bread, with some deliciously creamy butter: one of the best breads I’ve had for ages. A very good start indeed.The starters all looked so tempting I decided to have two instead of a main: asparagus with an eggs mimosa style topping, followed by seared mackerel fillet with a smoked mackerel bonbon (and who could resist one of those?) with a little beetroot and blood orange salad.My niece went for the crab on toast, with a twist of apple and fennel salad, and then sea bass with asparagus and crushed potato, mainly because she liked the sound of the blood orange hollandaise it came with.I loved the asparagus: cooked just right, with a scattering of chopped roasted hazelnuts on top of the finely diced egg, to add a bit of texture. The crab on toast was just right, generous without being too rich.When my mackerel arrived I wished I had taken up the waiter’s offer to upsize it to a main course portion. It was really well balanced, with a sharp tangle of beetroot and orange to cut through the oily fish, and as for the bonbon, soft, fluffy in a crunchy crumb – if only all fishcakes were as well made.My niece made short work of the sea bass and especially loved the much-anticipated blood orange hollandaise, resolving to try making it herself at home.I couldn’t resist a chocolate fondant for pudding, which came with a ginger creme anglaise and some honeycomb, although I prefer my chocolate pure and simple, so I asked for the fondant on its own.There is that moment, when a fondant arrives, when you wonder if this is one of the ones which works: will there be that essential ooze when you cut into it? This one certainly didn’t disappoint: the centre spilled out onto the plate in a reassuringly liquid pool, the chocolate was dark and rich. My niece, who fancies herself a bit of a cocktail maven, asked for an Old Fashioned instead of dessert, which kept her happy.The team take great care sourcing the best produce, much of it from local suppliers – and as much attention goes into the wine list, which they promise will be updated regularly.All evening, we were surrounded by a sort of contented hum: the other customers, many of them locals, seemed more than happy with their new neighbourhood gaff. Service was friendly and relaxed, and prices seem reasonable for the area.I normally only head for High Street Ken to hang out at the big Whole Foods Market down th

The urban explorers behind Wanderlust Projects really went for it with their latest effort, an invitation-only speakeasy constructed in a watertower on top of an abandoned building in the heart of Chelsea. The bar was named The Night Heron and operated for six weeks, with guests meeting on a street corner at the right hour and then going down a dark hallway, across from a fire escape into a building that is slated for redevelopment. The guests then climbed 12 flights of stairs and squeezed through a trap door to find a "candlelit wooden cylinder outfitted with a bar, drink tables, and chandelier, all made from upright piano parts." The construction took about two months to pull off, and the only way to get in was to be offered the pocket watches that the organizers used to control the event. No tweeting, no pictures, and a once in a lifetime chance to risk life and limb for a cocktail and a view. It seems pretty intense for a few cocktails but got rave reviews. Would you do it? · Into the Water Tower, With Flair [Atlantic Cities] · Night Heron Speakeasy [Official Site] · A New York City Water Tower Doubles As A Hidden Speakeasy [Curbed NY] · Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~] [Photo]

Would you call this heaven or hell for a wine lover? Getting forty-three Cabernets to taste but not drink, 27 Viogniers to sample and spit out -- and so on, through some 3,200 entries in this y...

Restaurant critic Tejal Rao announces her departure from the Village Voice today. This new comes just three days after veteran critic Robert Sietsema was unceremoniously shitcanned from the weekly. Ms. Rao started writing restaurant reviews and blogs posts for the Village Voice just over a year ago, and she earned a James Beard Award for her work earlier this month. Now the Voice has no resident restaurant critic, but the weekly is looking for more food writers ASAP. Tejal Rao has not announced any future plans yet. · @tejalrao [Twitter] · All Coverage of Tejal Rao [~ENY~]

Follow Me Foodie to Surrey Restaurant Week! The 1st Annual Surrey Restaurant Week May 24 – June 2! Enter to win $100! Bet you didn’t see that one coming! I didn’t, but I’m happy to. I flip flop with these “Dine Out” events because often I find they don’t represent the restaurant on a regular night, but I do like the fact that it gives people incentive to support the restaurant industry. I have a soft spot for restaurants in the suburbs because they get overlooked. I’ve found some hidden gems and excellent restaurants and some of my favourite places for Japanese, Indian and Latin food is in fact in the suburbs. Downtown Vancouver has excellent eats, but the ethnic eateries in the suburbs are fantastic to explore. Surrey Restaurant Week is May 24 to June 2 (10 days) and is presented by BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA) and Tourism Surrey. Restaurants are offering 3 course set menus at $20, $30 and $40. Over 40 restaurants in the Guildford, Whalley & Surrey City Centre, Fleetwood, Newton, South Surrey, and Cloverdale neighbourhoods will be participating and the dining options are diverse. I took a look at the participating restaurants and I was ecstatic to see Tokachi (amazing gomaae and sashimi), Taste of Punjab, and McJac’s Roadhouse Grille (get a sourdough loaf to go) participating. Those are some local favs in Surrey, and I hope this gives you incentive to make the trip out and visit them. If you’re already in the neighbourhood, than I’m jealous. Those restaurants can rival restaurants in Metro Vancouver. I’m also really curious about Pachamami Sabor Latino and Morgans Restaurant & Wine Bar as well as a couple others. See  the full list of participating restaurants and menus here. Follow Me Foodie’s Surrey Restaurant Week Contest! I’m giving away a $100 worth of gift certificates to a restaurant of your choice participating in Surrey Restaurant Week. Please see here for participating restaurants and their menus. The gift certificate does not have to be used during Surrey Restaurant Week. How to enter: 1) Comment on this post with which restaurant you would like to try in Surrey Restaurant Week. or 2) Tweet: Follow & RT to enter! I entered to win $100 to dine out during Surrey Restaurant Week from @followmefoodie –> http://bit.ly/14IF55N CONTEST CLOSES FRIDAY May 23 AT 11:59PM. Terms & Conditions: 1. Contest open to Canadian residents. 2. FollowMeFoodie.com and BCRFA retain the right to approve entries. 3. Prize not negotiable, cannot be exchanged or taken as cash. 4. Allow 15 days for prize delivery. 5. If winner does not respond within 30 days of the closing date of the contest another winner will be selected.

If there is one thing I’ve learned about writing it is this: writing may be a solitary pursuits, but having a writing career requires community, it requires support, you cannot do it alone. One of the best things for my writing life this past year has been getting involved with other writers here in Seattle. This is entirely thanks to my friend Erica Bauermeister, who invited me into her writing group and suggested me as a new member for a non-profit collective of Northwest authors, Seattle7Writers. This is how I met Jennie Shortridge. Jennie is someone who understands how important it is for writers to have community. She is co-founder of Seattle7Writers, a great supporter of local booksellers and a beautiful writer herself. Every two weeks Jennie and Erica and I meet another writer, Randy Sue Coburn, to go over what we’ve been working on. I cannot tell you how helpful it is to have both mini submission deadlines and also the critical and honest eye of three good writers on your work. If my new book is light-years better than my first one (and I know that it is), it will be in large part due to these three women. It was Jennie who, when she saw me struggling early in the process, suggested we get together and talk about how to structure a book. We meet for lunch and she told me what she had learned over writing her five books and by the end of it I had some big-picture clarity I never would have found on my own. She’s that sort of friend. Jennie has a new book out this spring, one she had finished before I joined our  group, so it was all new to me when I sat down to read it. I admit I was a little nervous—when you really like a person you want to like their artwork and what if I didn’t? There was no cause for alarm, however, I read through the book in a day and a half. It was lovely, compelling, fascinating. It’s the sort of story that stays with you. Jennie’s inspiration process is fascinating as well. Her novels start in the real world—a news story, an article in the paper. In this case she read about a man who had woken up in Colorado having lost his memory, and his fiancée who came from Oregon to take him home, even though he had no memory of her or their life together. From that kernel Jennie crafted the story that is Love Water Memory. She changes the details, and researches, and creates a whole world around this idea. In her book Lucie Walker finds herself standing knee-deep in the San Francisco Bay, with no idea of who she is or how she got there (the technical term is dissociative fugue). Lucie’s fiancée Grady comes to take her home to Seattle—to a life she doesn’t remember, with a man she cannot recall but apparently loved. The more she learns about the woman she was, however, the less she wants to be her. And what caused her break with memory? It is often the result of deep trauma. As I said, it was fascinating. Jennie is on book tour in California this week—with our fellow writing group member Erica Bauermeister. She has events all over the Bay Area, then back in Washington next month. A link to all her readings is here. Book Passage tonight, Rakestraw, Keplers. If you get a chance to meet her in person, you are in for a treat. And because it’s important to support your writing friends I purchased a copy of Jennie’s book, which she then signed, and want to send it out to one of you. If you leave a comment here I’ll pick one person through a random number generator and put it in the mail for you. This is the perfect book for this time of year—full of water and cool blues and greens. I think you will enjoy it. I found myself missing the characters of Lucie and Grady afterwards, and still occasionally think of them, hoping things are going well. That’s high praise for a novel. I also wanted to share the kale salad that Jennie made for a recent writing group meeting. It’s the other thing I can’t stop thinking about: a simple mix of curly kale, garbanzo beans, red pepper (I might have added that myself), with

Rao joined the foundering newspaper last April. The bad news just keeps coming for the Village Voice: After longtime critic Robert Sietsema, among others, was fired last week, current Voice critic Tejal Rao announced on Twitter today that she's leaving the paper as well. I've resigned from my post at the Voice. Thanks to the writers and editors who made working here a dream come true.— Tejal Rao (@tejalrao) May 20, 2013 Rao started as Voice restaurant critic in April 2012 and quickly made a name for herself: In December, Rao was named one of Forbes's "30 Under 30," and earlier this month she received the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review award from the James Beard Foundation. Of course, Voice Media, the parent company of the once-esteemed, now-beleaguered 58-year-old downtown newspaper, fired three of its longest-serving writers on Friday: legendary gossip columnist Michael Musto, influential theater critic Michael Feingold, and the venerated Sietsema, whose profound impact on the city's food culture in the last twenty years was immediately noted by fellow critics Adam Platt, Pete Wells, and more. Editor-in-chief Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig walked out of the foundering newspaper on May 9 after they were asked to fire five members of the editorial team. "When I was brought in here, I was explicitly told that the bloodletting had come to an end," Bourne told the Times. After Sietsema was fired, the paper announced a "restructuring," adding that former Denver Westword critic Laura Shunk, who's been working in restaurant PR for the last several months, had signed on to coordinate "an expansion and reinvigoration" of its food coverage — a task that looks even more improbable now that the paper has lost both of its critics in less than a week. Earlier: Village Voice Fires Twenty-Year Veteran Restaurant Critic Robert Sietsema Read more posts by Alan SytsmaFiled Under: critical move, james beard awards, restaurant critics, robert sietsema, tejal rao, village voice