Spoon Food and Wine

Viking Range Corporation Introduces 3-Ply Cookware Line

2011-12-07T16:39:08Z

In honor of its 10th Anniversary in the Culinary Products arena, Viking Range Corporation is pleased to introduce a new line of 3-ply cookware. Featuring the most advanced combination of stainless steel and aluminum alloys in the world today, Viking 3-ply cookware offers a lighter-weight cookware alternative that conducts heat evenly and quickly for optimum results.

Viking 3-ply cookware is suitable for all cooking surfaces including gas, electric, halogen, ceramic and induction. The Viking exclusive multi-ply construction features three layers with an 18/10 stainless steel cooking surface, aluminum alloy core and magnetic stainless steel exterior. The line of Viking 3-ply cookware offers a Viking Design exclusive ergonomic stainless steel handle that stays cool and rolled edge vessel for easy pouring. Additionally, this product line is oven-safe up to 600 degrees F, dishwasher-safe and backed by a lifetime warranty.

"The new Viking 3-ply cookware is an extension of our already successful product offerings," said Richard Beattie, Director of Sales - Culinary Products, Viking Range Corporation. "For ten years, we have been dedicated to designing more culinary product choices for the home chef who wants professional-caliber equipment."

Viking 3-ply cookware is available as individual pieces such as fry pans, saute pans, and sauce pans or as complete five-, seven-, or 10-piece sets. Select pieces from the 3-ply line are priced from approximately $105 and are available through select retailers.

Allowing culinary mavens to further expand their collection of kitchen tools, consumers can take advantage of significant cookware and cutlery savings with Viking's 10th Anniversary Sale. Available through December 24, this promotion offers 30 to 44 percent off all Viking 7-ply cookware and professional cutlery. Visit a local dealer for further details. For more information on the Viking product line or to find a local dealer, visit www.vikingrange.com.

The Official Royal Wedding Champagne

2011-04-22T19:34:25Z

It has been announced that Pol Roger is the official Champagne of the Royal Wedding! It will be served before the sit-down meal prepared by Anton Mosimann and hosted by Prince Charles. It seems the Brits favor Pol Roger, since it was Winston Churchill's favorite. And the Champagne house even has a special cuvee named after him (Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill).

If you care to celebrate the Royal Wedding in the same style, pop open a bottle of the Pol Roger Brut Reserve NV, it typically sells for between $35 and $43 a bottle. "A beautifully gold straw yellow hue, fine bubbles, a bouquet of floral and fruity aromas, ripe and thirst-quenching on the palate, with a superb taste of brioche."

New York's Sherry-Lehmann in midtown Manhattan has it for $39.95.

It is interesting to note that traditionally, Pol Roger has not been served at royal weddings. Queen Victoria issued a royal warrant to Bollinger in 1884, and Prince Charles chose it both for his stag party and for his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Royal Wedding Sunrise Breakfast at the NY Palace

2011-04-12T20:21:23Z

Royal Watchers in New York, will be pleased to know that they can watch the big event on Friday April 29th in style at the New York Palace Hotel!

Guests will view the Wedding Ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton on flatscreen TVs in the Drawing Room while enjoying a traditional English breakfast, including scones with marmalade, scrambled eggs with Devonshire cream, and breakfast bangers.

Those in attendance will enjoy an experience that is reflective of a wedding event with traditional celebratory frills, including personalized place cards, elegant floral arrangements, "In Honour Of" printed menus, and commemorative wedding "favors" (scented glass candles with an embossed crown logo). To best ensure that early risers are well taken care of it, all attendees will receive keepsake Palace slippers, and pillows and blankets will be available throughout the breakfast to ensure the "coziest" of dining experiences.

The Drawing Room is housed in the renowned Villard Mansion at The New York Palace. With its motifs from 15th-century Italian cathedrals that reflects Gilded Age grandeur, The Drawing Room features exquisite carved wood paneling and twin fireplaces.

The event, priced at $150 per person inclusive, will commence at 5:30 AM with coffee and tea service. At 6 AM, breakfast service will begin to correspond with the 11 AM wedding start time in London, and will conclude at 8 am with a champagne toast.

It starts really early, thanks to the time difference, so one could even book a room at the hotel for the night before!

More information here. Cheers to William and Kate!

Sherry-Lehmann's Spring Unsung Heroes Wine Sampler

2011-03-25T22:00:35Z

Sherry-Lehmann has released their Unsung Heroes of Bordeaux Spring Sampler. For decades they have sought out the smaller lesser-known properties of Bordeaux that consistently excel in their quality-to-price ratio... these are the Unsung Heroes and they release a new sampler each season! I love trying these wines because they are tasty and affordable! Many are Merlot forward so they're quite approachable and easy drinking with nice medium body and fruit.

It includes:
* Chateau Beynat 2006
* Chateau Jouanin Cuvee Prestige 2006
* Chateau Labatut-Bouchard 2008
* Chateau Lascaux 2005
* Chateau Maison Neuve 2006
* Chateau Mayne Vieil 2006
* Chateau Peyraud 2005
* Chateau Puynard 2007
* Chateau Roland La Garde 2006
* Chateau Roquefort 2005
* Chateau Thebot 2005
* Chateau Vieux Dominique 2006

The case of 12 is $159.95.

Frozen Heaven from 16 Handles

2011-02-16T19:04:13Z

A couple months ago 16 Handles frozen yogurt opened its first Upper East Side store at 1569 2nd Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets I was SO excited because I love Pinkberry (on the same block) but get frustrated by the super slow and dim-witted service there. 16 Handles is great because you get to make your own, and combine as many flavors as you like. They also have a huge topping bar, that is also self service. Nearly all of the flavors are non-fat. The only wait can be for the topping line and to pay sometimes, but so far, I guess since it's Winter, it hasn't been that bad.

The flavors are great - 16 of them - but I only like the "tart" flavors which limits me to about 4. They had been Original Tart, Euro Tart, Pomegranate and Pina Colada. Last night when I went in, they had swiched out Pomegranate and Pina Colada for Green Tea and Apple. I was ecstatic to see the Green Tea... and it is FABULOUS!

Here is the full flavor list from their website. You can check daily flavors on their facebook page.

I love it so much, I actually have this for dinner sometimes... you know, dessert as dinner, and a hot tea for dessert (to help warm up). I'm afraid come warm weather time the secret will be out and it will be a madhouse!

Monday Night at Todd English's Plaza Food Hall

2011-02-01T22:53:36Z

To keep up the culinary excitement, Monday I went to the new Food Hall at the Plaza. It's been open for a few months now, and I've been dying to go! Even though it was a Monday night it was almost full around 8 pm. The space is beautiful with white marble bar tops, dark wood and mosaic tile floors. It definitely has the European flair that they were looking for!

The space is divided up into different sections, each with their own bar area: wine bar, grill, pizza, dumpling bar, sushi bar, ocean grill & oyster bar, bakery, cheese & charcuterie. You can sit anywhere and still order from any of the sections.

Here is the pizza bar:

And the wine bar:

Both of the two things I sampled were fantastic! From the tapas menu, the chermoula marinated shrimp ($8) with smoked paprika, cilantro and cumin was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The tapas portion is 2 shrimps with a little bit of shaved fennel salad. I could have eaten 4 portions it was so good! Then from the pizza menu, the spit roasted chicken pizza ($14) with carmelized onions, aged provolone and arugula pesto... it was larger than expected - a nice long oval size that they cut into 8 pieces. I was sitting at the pizza bar so I got to watch him make it. The oven is seriously impressive, at over 700 degrees it cooks really fast and with the perfect char and crisp crust. The combination of flavors was incredible, I think it was the arugula pesto that really made it! I paired these food items with the Chianti Rufina from the wines by the glass menu ($9). All in all, it was splendid and I can't wait to go back! Also, very reasonably priced... especially considering it is the Plaza after all!

Take a look at the full menu here, and wine menu here.

The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English, Fifth Avenue at Central Park South, enter on the 59th street side facing the Park and take the escalator down to the basement.

Sunday Night at ABC Kitchen

2011-01-31T22:21:46Z

On Sunday night I finally made it to Jean George's new and very popular ABC Kitchen (35 East 18th Street between Broadway & Park Avenue). The concept is organic, local, market table sort of thing... from their website: "abc kitchen has a committed focus to local, sustainable and organic seasonal produce that does not use pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, insecticides or GMOs; meat, fish and dairy   that is locally sourced where possible, from humanely treated pasture-fed animals free of antibiotics   and hormones; teas, coffees, spices, organic wines, juices and elixirs that are organically cultivated on fair trade cooperatives celebrating and honoring sustainability, artistry and our global diversity.  "

The vibe is barn meets South Beach... with rustic barn beams contrasted by white plastic chairs and white tables. The tableware is quirky with unmatched china bread plates and vintage mixed flatware. The food is all brought out on interesting handmade white porcelain plates and bowls with unique shapes (they sell these at ABC Carpet, porcelain dinnerware by jan burtz).

We started with the crab toast ($15) which had a nice quantity of peekytoe crab with lemon aioli on a toasted rustic bread. It was very fresh and tasty.

I had the black sea bass ($27) with chilis, herbs, baby potatoes, spinach and lemon confit. It was in a very light broth and not spicy at all, kind of "spa food". The spinach was beautiful, obviously super fresh. I had hoped the dish might be a bit more spicy because of the chilis and have more flavor in general... but, while it was good, I was underwhelmed. Maybe I caught the dish on an off night?

I have to say what really blew me away was the extraordinary salted caramel ice cream on the dessert menu. The flavor was amazing! Just what you'd expect of a Jean Georges restaurant, so I definitely finished off the meal right!

A Halloween Treat

2010-10-26T18:45:51Z

Here's a great Halloween gift (for adults of course): Crystal Head Vodka. It's a quadruple distilled and filtered three times through charcoal followed by triple filtration over polished crystals (aka Herkimer diamonds). It's made in Newfoundland, Canada. The most amazing part though is the skull bottle! It's made by master artisans at Milan's Bruni Glass Company.

Here's a link to their where to buy page. Prices in the marketplace vary greatly from $40 to $65 so it might be worth calling a few places. It seems that most places sell if for $49.99.

Michelin Designates 29 New 'Bib Gourmand' Restaurants in San Francisco

2010-10-22T18:02:16Z

On Oct. 26, Michelin will formally introduce its complete selection for the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011, the company's fifth Bay Area edition. To whet the appetite of Bay Area residents, Michelin has announced its list of 74 "Bib Gourmand" restaurants in its 2011 guide. Also known as the "Inspectors' Favorites for Good Value," Bib Gourmand restaurants offer two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less (tax and gratuity not included). Introduced in the 1997 editions of the MICHELIN Guides in Europe, Bib Gourmand restaurants are identified in the guide by a red symbol depicting the head of Bibendum, the Michelin Man.

This year, 29 new restaurants have earned the Bib Gourmand designation. San Francisco boasts 74 Bib Gourmand restaurants in total. The full list of San Francisco Bib Gourmands appears below. The volume of Bib Gourmand restaurants in San Francisco makes the city a global leader in culinary value. No city of comparable size offers as many Bib Gourmands.

The MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 covers a wider geographic region than most of its peers, stretching from Los Gatos in the south to Geyserville in the north. Over the past year, Michelin inspectors have analyzed restaurants throughout Northern California, always anonymously. At the end of their investigative process, they gather to debate the region's restaurants in full, determining which restaurants should be retained in the selection, and which merit one, two or three stars. The inspectors also give a special nod to restaurants that deliver exceptional value. Those restaurants are designated as Bib Gourmands. These restaurants often reflect neighborhood favorites and overlooked gems, and are of particular interest to the full-time residents of a given city.

A full list of Bib Gourmand restaurants can be found here: www.facebook.com/MichelinGuides.

The Bib Gourmand selection includes:

(* denotes new selection for 2011)



A 16	Bistro 29*	C Casa*
BarBersQ	Bottega*	Chapeau! *
Bay Wolf	Brown Sugar Kitchen	Chevalier
Bellanico	Burma Superstar	Chu*
Betelnut	Cafe des Amis*	Coa*
Bistro Aix*	Cafe Gibraltar	Colibri
Bistro Jeanty*	Camino	Cook St. Helena
Corso	Kitchen (The)	Sauce
Crouching Tiger	K & L Bistro	Slanted Door (The)
Cucina Paradiso	Kokkari Estiatorio	Slow Club
Delarosa*	La Costanera*	Sociale
Delfina	Laurus*	Sons & Daughters*
Domo*	Le Charm	SPQR*
Dosa	Mamacita	Starbelly*
eVe*	Marinitas	Sumika*
FIVE	Market	Sushi Ran*
flour + water	Monti's Rotisserie	Tavern at Lark Creek
Gather*	Nopa	Thai House*
Hachi Ju Hachi*	Oenotri*	the girl & the fig
Henry's Hunan	Perbacco	Troya*
Hibiscus*	Pican	Vanessa's Bistro
Hong Kong Flower Lounge	Risibisi	Willi's Wine Bar
Incanto	Rivoli*	Wood Tavern*
Insalata's	Sakae	Yank Sing
Kabab & Curry's*	Santi*

"You can stretch your dining dollar in San Francisco, perhaps more than in any other city in the world," says Jean-Luc Naret, director of the MICHELIN Guides. "Starred restaurants earn an outsized share of the attention every year, but those restaurants only represent 10 percent of those included in our guides. The Bib Gourmands deliver everyday excellence at a reasonable price. And they can be found throughout this entire region."

To celebrate its fifth year in San Francisco, readers can start enjoying the MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmands in advance of the Oct. 27 on-sale date. The San Francisco Bib Gourmand selections can be found online at www.facebook.com/MichelinGuides. Michelin inspectors also share insider secrets via Twitter at @MichelinGuideSF and can be seen in a video interview for the first time ever online.

Thanks to a rigorous selection process that is applied independently and consistently around the 23 countries by the MICHELIN Guide, the MICHELIN Guide has become an international benchmark in gourmet dining. The selection is made by anonymous, professional inspectors who are Michelin employees and is based on the same working methods in all countries. They pay all their bills in full. This guarantees a total independence of the Guide regarding the hospitality industry.

The MICHELIN Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country 2011 goes on sale Wed., Oct. 27 at $18.99.

Dinner at Maya

2010-10-15T19:59:00Z

I recently went to Maya for dinner after not having been in several years. I got a great deal from Open Table, which was a $50 for $25 coupon. I have to imagine that things are slow or that they want to drum up new customers for them to do that...

Maya in on First Avenue on the Upper East Side between 64th and 65th Streets.

I didn't realize that Maya is actually part of a mini restaurant empire. The chef, Richard Sandoval, has 6 other restaurants with some of them being multi location. Like Maya, for example, there is another one in Dubai of all places!

We started dinner with the Maya Margarita which adds tamarind to jazz it up. Good! The appetizers were so compelling we ended up not being able to decide so we shared three and split one entree. For appetizers, we went with: Tostados de Atun (seared tuna on plantain chips with pineapple salsa), Tacos de Puntas de Filete (soft tacos with organic filet mignon) and Chile Relleno (pepper stuffed with shrimp, scallops, calamari). For entree the Huachinango a la Veracruzana (red snapper with tomato, olive, caper sauce and plantain mash). For wine, to be different (for us anyway), we got a Tempranillo from Spain.

The tostadas had perfectly seared tuna of beautiful quality and were presented in an artistic fashion on the plate. The tacos kind of blew me away because I hardly ever eat meat - - the filet was cooked medium/rare, just how I'd want it, and was a nice amount (not stingy) it paired nicely with the salsa, cilantro, avocado etc. Wow, I wanted to order seconds of that! The Chile was a HUGE pepper with the seafood, black beans, a chili sauce, cheese etc. I had never had this before and it was quite interesting, in a good way. The flavor of the pepper itself was really nice. After all that, the snapper was almost not needed... but we love snapper so we braved on. The sauce had a unique flavor that I can't place, like there was a secret ingredient in addition to the tomatoes, olives and capers. It was good and the plantain mash was a nice accompaniment. No room for dessert, that's for sure! Which is too bad because they looked good. I am a sucker for anything that's served with cinnamon ice cream and that's what comes with their Mexican chocolate tart.. oh well, next time!

MICHELIN Guide New York City 2011 Results are Out

2010-10-08T16:24:06Z

Michelin has released its Guide for New York 2011. At Amazon you can get it for $12.81, regular price is $18.99.

Here are the results:

THREE STARS
Daniel
Jean Georges
Le Bernardin
Masa
Per Se

TWO STARS
Alto
Chef Table at Brooklyn Fare NEW
Corton
Gilt
Gordon Ramsay at The London
Kajitsu GAINS A STAR Marea GAINS A STAR
Momofuku Ko
Picholine
Soto GAINS A STAR

ONE STAR
Adour
Aldea NEW
Annisa
Anthos (closed)
Aureole
A Voce Columbus
A Voce Madison NEW
Blue Hill
Bouley
Breslin (The) NEW
Café Boulud
Casa Mono
Convivio
Danny Brown Wine Bar & Kitchen NEW
Del Posto
Dovetail NEW
Dressler
Eleven Madison Park
Gotham Bar and Grill
Gramercy Tavern
Jewel Bako
Kyo Ya
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
Laut NEW
Marc Forgione
Minetta Tavern
Modern (The)
Oceana
Peter Luger
Public
River Café
Rouge Tomate
Saul
Seäsonal
Shalezeh NEW
SHO
Shaun
Hergatt
Spotted Pig
Sushi Azabu
Sushi of Gari
Veritas (currently closed)
Wallsé
wd~50

The latest edition of the guide for New York includes 95 Bib Gourmand restaurants - more than any other city in the world. The Bib Gourmand category is known as the "inspectors' favorites," and delivers everyday excellence at a reasonable price. There were 21 new Bib Gourmand selections in the 2011 guide. The MICHELIN Guide New York City 2011 also features a broad range of quality restaurants under $25. There are 17 new under-$25 restaurants in the 2011 edition, and 127 in total.

Fifty-seven New York City restaurants earned one or more stars in the MICHELIN Guide New York City 2011. MICHELIN stars are the highest honor the guide can bestow. Having a star means that not only is a restaurant among the best in its city, but also in the world. It is a mark of consistent excellence across all categories and it is based solely on the quality of the food.

Only 86 restaurants in the world currently hold three stars. Of them, five are in New York City. In the MICHELIN Guide New York City 2011, five restaurants earned three stars, 10 restaurants earned two stars and 42 restaurants earned a single star. Ten new NYC restaurants earned stars over the past year. While "starred" restaurants have made the MICHELIN guide famous around the world, they account for just 10 percent of the total selection.

Inclusion in the MICHELIN guide is a sign of excellence no matter what the star tally or category. In fact, 715 restaurants were selected for inclusion this year. Among them, MICHELIN inspectors included 55 different types of cuisine. The MICHELIN Guide New York City 2011 also added 29 restaurants to its new "Small Plates" category. Restaurants in this category offer a unique menu, ambience and service.

New on the Upper East Side: Carpe Diem

2010-09-30T19:06:44Z

I was walking by the address of one of my favorite restaurants that sadly closed (Bandol) last night and found that finally a new place has opened in the space. It's called Carpe Diem and it looks great! They don't seem to have a website yet. It's at 181 East 78th Street, between Lex and Third on the North side of the street closer to Third Ave.

It looks like they've spruced up the inside a bit.

The menu is more Italian. I will miss the wonderful French bistro classics that they had at Bandol, but am always happy to try something new too. I will report back after I've had a chance to try it.

New Burger Concept: 4food

2010-09-16T20:15:56Z

A new concept in burgers has come onto the midtown New York scene with the opening of 4food at the northwest corner of Madison Ave. and 40th Street. How can there possibly be a new concept for a burger you wonder, well how about a hole in the middle! All of the patties have holes in the middle to facilitate even cooking. The patties available are: beef, breakfast pork, egg, lamb, pork, salmon, turkey and vegi... so it's really more than just your basic burger joint.

You get to create your own burger by choosing the bun, addons, condiments, cheese, slice (of pancetta for example), scoop (to fill the hole in the patty) and the patty type! Wow, now that's a customized burger! The offerings are very high-end too like in cheeses, they offer gruyere, manchego, fontina etc. The "scoops" that are available are numerous and include: edamame and sea salt, avocado and chili mango, baked beans, mac and cheese, winter slaw, spinach and pinenuts and many more. It's really rather incredible! I hope they do well.

Yum - Siggi's Icelandic Style Yogurt

2010-09-08T21:02:37Z

I am a huge fan of Greek style yogurt, preferable Fage nonfat plain. I love the thick texture and that it's not slimy like many regular U.S. yogurts tend to be. So I've been seeing Siggi's Icelandic style yogurt around lately and decided to try it.

It is similar to Greek style - it is strained so it gets a thick texture. All varieties are non-fat and the flavored ones are sweetened only with agave syrup and the fruit. I have never been a fan of fruit yogurts because I find them too sweet and the texture to be gross, well thank goodness for Siggi's! The blueberry flavor I tried was WONDERFUL. It's not over-sweet at all, has a nice tang and subtle blueberry flavor. A six ounce potion has 120 calories, 16 grams of protein and 10 grams of sugar. I'm looking forward to trying the other flavors!

Lunch at The Standard Grill

2010-08-31T18:53:39Z

The Standard Grill at Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel in NYC's meatpacking district was one of the hottest restaurant openings of 2009. Things have calmed down a bit, but one certainly still needs to plan in advance for a dinner reservation or even weekend brunch.

The outside and front section of the restaurant have a fresh, bright bistro look with bentwood chairs and medium tone wood.

The dining room in back has a darker, kind of '50s steakhouse look with leather banquettes and casual linen dish cloth tablecloths. Somehow it works though, in a retro chic way.

The tables in the back room come appointed with Peugeot pepper mills and little wooden bowls of fleur de sel. (bonus points for this!) The menu is reasonably priced but portions tend to be on the smaller size. Here is a link to the lunch menu, most items range from $10 to $20. The roasted beet salad ($10) features baby arugula, panko crusted goat cheese and pickled red onion. It was quite tasty although the red onion in rather short supply. A tasting portion of the Jamon Iberico ($14) was fine, the meat quite flavorful and a bit fatty, but that's jamon for you. It came with 2 green olives. The main course of pan roasted sea scallops ($16) came with frisee, shaved endive, grapefruit and black olives. The scallops were perfect - nicely browned, cooked correctly and super tasty! The accompaniment was mostly frisee which was surprising since it's not even mentioned on the menu as being in the dish. There were just a few slices of fennel and very few black olives. None the less it's a good dish. The size is what many would consider an appetizer size, which is probably why the price is so reasonable.

The wine list offers a good degree of diversity and prices. Bottles range from $34 to $5000+. France is favored on the wine list, but there are tons of other offerings too - Spain, Italy, Australia, CA, Oregon, etc.

If dessert had been in order, I would have tried the strawberry rhubarb crumble served with buttermilk ice cream. I'm a sucker for rhubarb! The dessert menu also offers some other interesting things like baked alaska and blueberry galette. Here is the dessert menu.

Unlike many very popular restaurants, they do take reservations via Open Table which makes it a lot easier to get a reservation!