viCARIous

Madrid

2012-01-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

Our Spanish adventure ended where it began. In culinary terms, our trip had come full circle. We had spanned time and geography, eating classic dishes like tortilla and jamon that are found in nearly every city in Spain. We had also looked to the future with modern interpretations of these classics and dishes that drew inspiration from around the globe.

Madrid is a microcosm of all this. It has classic restaurants and those that harness the genius of today’s forward-thinking Spanish gastronomists.

The Mercado de San Miguel is as good a place as any to catch a glimpse of the ingredients that go into crafting classic Spanish dishes.

Nestled among the tall buildings is this glass pantheon to Spanish cuisine: hams swinging, the smell of frying croquetas and pimientos de Padron, groups of men and women drinking skinny glasses of beer well before most Americans would think it appropriate.

Most stalls are selling items to take home: bulk dried beans the size of your thumb, thick slices of jamon Serrano, cheeses and vegetables and seafood and olives and pickled peppers.

And many of these stalls are cooking their ingredients for you to sit down and eat at their counters. We settled into a cozy spot next to some Italian tourists, ordered a beer (when in Rome) and ordered an early lunch. First up: deep-fried pimientos de Padron topped with big chunks of sea salt. Most of these bright green peppers are sweet and mild but every once in awhile you’ll get lucky and find the one spicy pepper in the bunch – some people call this Spanish Roulette!

We also had a few montaditos (open-faced sandwiches) with fresh cheese, tomato, smoked salmon and pepper relish.

And tortilla de patatas – my ultimate favorite comfort food. Essentially tortilla is a thick potato omelette made with onions and plenty of olive oil. I could eat it every day.

After resting our eyes for a few hours we headed to La Latina. This neighborhood is known as Madrid’s tapas zone and indeed, every other door in the area was open to hanging jamon and bars serving little scrumptious plates of classic Spanish dishes and those influenced by cuisines from about the world.

We chose a very classic-looking place and sat outside so we could watch the beautiful people stroll by. Our beers came with potato chips which lifted up and floated away in the windy afternoon. The place served dishes you’d find at any straight-up tapas joint: croquetas de jamon (ham croquettes). Montado con jamon y queso (ham and cheese sandwich). Provoleta con tomate (grilled provolone cheese with slices of warm tomato). Chorizo on bread. Lomo (pork sandwich with jamon Serrano and roasted green pepper).

We continued the theme of traditional Spanish fare that night at the Chocolateria de San Gines, happily only a few stumbling blocks from our hotel.

San Gines is a local institution and is the best known place in the city to order chocolate con churros. Our midnight arrival announced we were tourists as real Madrileños stop by on their way home from the clubs around 6:00am.

Chocolate con churros isn’t a sugar bomb in Spain. The chocolate was too thick to be drinkable and only very slightly sweet. We dipped the piping hot churros into it and scooped the rest up with a spoon.

That’s how we left Madrid before exploring the northern reaches of Spain: classic tapas and churros con chocolate. When we came back to spend one more day in Madrid at the end of our trip we capped off two weeks of memorable cuisine in a very fitting way – at Estado Puro in the Prado. Spanish cuisine comes full circle here – extremely modern, creative interpretations of all the classic dishes cooked up by an acolyte of Ferran Adria.

The tortilla siglo XXI is perhaps the best example of the creativity of Estado Puro’s chef. It was an uber-modern take on the classic tortilla, served by the glass instead of by the slab. We were instructed to eat from the bottom up so as to enjoy a bit of caramelized onions and egg and potato foam in each bite.

Boquerones al limon were a light take on fried anchovies with lemon.

Bombas de carne, literally “meat bombs,” were croquettes stuffed with pulled beef in a sweet and smoky BBQ sauce.

For the mollete de tortilla our tortilla was served inside a little roll instead of perched on top of bread as is traditional.

The berenjanas con miel, or fried eggplant with honey, were shaped like French fries in served in a ceramic fry bag – a novel presentation of a very classic dish.

The oxtail meat in our caldero de rabo de toro was plucked from the bone for an elegant presentation and served with toothsome, short-grained rice in personal Staub pots. It all spoke to the big, boney hunks of bull’s tail you might find in Pamplona during San Fermín but it was updated with clean flavors and a modern presentation.

Instead of a sloppy mess of fried potatoes, mayonnaise and sauce, here the patatas bravas were composed packets of elegance with all the traditional flavors. Tiny new potatoes were roasted to a salty crust, hollowed and stuffed with little dollops of mayo and a spicy sauce.

So ended our trip. But my adventures in Spanish cuisine don’t end there…

Barcelona

2012-01-02T09:00:00.002-05:00

After San Sebastian we hopped an early train to Barcelona. Our apartment was in the Barri Gotic neighborhood and we decided to stick close to home for our first meal out.

Just a few blocks away was L’Antic Bocoi del Gotic, a stylish candlelit restaurant that specializes in sweet and savory coques. Coques are a Catalonian regional specialty of a doughy base topped with all manner of ingredients, from vegetables to fish to bacon and every cheese imaginable. Sound like pizza? It kinda is.

Before we got to our coques we started with olives and a platter of local cheeses.

See that bread in the background? That’s pa amb tomaquet which translates to “bread with tomato.” It’s bread rubbed with garlic and ripe tomatoes then doused in olive oil. Sounds simple, but pa amb tomaquet is the essence of Catalonia and it’s served at pretty much every restaurant. It’s difficult to replicate anywhere outside this region as the bread just doesn’t have as many nooks and crannies, the tomatoes just aren’t as sweet and the olive oil isn’t nearly as fruity and fresh.

The version at L’Antic Bocoi del Gotic was one of the best we had during our five days in Barcelona.

We also shared a plate of beef carpaccio with foie, arugula and parmesan.

We each ordered a plate of coques and shared. There were coques recapte topped with smoked bacon, dates and cheese and coques with camembert, arugula and nuts.

And my favorite, the coques with escalivada, tender cod and whipped garlic sauce. Escalivada is a typical Catalonian combination of roasted eggplant, red pepper and onion.

One afternoon we wandered out to the beach.

While the girls sunbathed I scoped out the dining scene in La Barceloneta and settled on Can Majó. As with every meal in Barcelona, we started with pa amb tomaquet and a bottle of cava.

I ordered a big plate of razor clams…

… and we shared a shellfish paella with langoustines, mussels, prawns and mini scallops.

My favorite neighborhood we visited in Barcelona was El Born in La Ribera. Such great energy and lots of independent shops and restaurants. We stopped at Casa Delfin for a snack and ended up staying for a full meal.

Guess what we started with! We also had patatas bravas (fried potatoes topped with spicy aioli), alcachofas fritas con salsa romesco (fried artichokes with romesco sauce) and pimientos de Padron (fried Padron peppers sprinkled with big salt flakes).

I especially enjoyed the ensalada de arugula con Marconas fritas, queso fresco and dulce de membrillo (arugula salad with fried Marcona almonds, fresh cheese and squares of quince paste)…

… the sesos (lambs brains fried in egg and flour batter) with spicy sauce…

… and the suquet de rape (monkfish, potato, garlic and tomato stew).

That stew inspired us to take a visit to La Boqueria the next morning to shop for ingredients for our own homemade suquet.

La Boqueria is one of the best markets I’ve ever visited and is a must-do for any visitor to the city – food lover or not! You can find every imaginable cheese, sausage or fish…

But you’ll have more fun seeking out exotic ingredients like emu and ostrich eggs or lamb’s heads and cow hooves.

Back at our apartment we made a nice conservative meal of pa amb tomaquet and suquet de vegetales (tomato bread and vegetable stew).

Any good visitor to Barcelona will spend a day or two seeking out Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces. Except for the inevitable crowds, Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia never disappoint.

After detouring to see Casa Battló we walked a few more blocks to Tapac 24 in the L’Eixample ‘hood of Barcelona.

A lot of buzz has surrounded Tapac 24. It’s run by an alum of El Bulli and fittingly the dishes are traditional Spanish tapas with playful, creative twists.

It’s an obviously hip place with high top tables you share with other diners and an open kitchen that quickly churns out small tapas plates.

The trendy atmosphere carries over to the food. Starting with the menu, which is printed on a paper bag that holds your cutlery.

The pa amb tomaquet here was the best we tried during our whole trip – impossibly sweet ripe tomatoes on perfectly crisp bread finished with a healthy glug of olive oil.

One of Tapac 24’s signature dishes is the bikini, a toasted sandwich with cured ham and cheese and truffles.

Other dishes we tried were tempura vegetables with allioli.

Patatas bravas (fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and garlicky aioli).

Huevos estrellados with chorizo (“broken” eggs with sausage).

Arros negre de sipia (squid ink black rice).

And finally, xocolata amb pa, sal i oli (balls of chocolate in olive oil with salt and wafer).

Ñam ñam indeed!

Txikiteo in San Sebastian

2011-12-26T09:00:00.001-05:00

The most epic food adventure of the trip took us to three of San Sebastian’s most well-reviewed pintxos bars. They showed us why San Sebastian is regarded as the culinary capital of the Iberian peninsula, how the local cuisine holds on to tradition while not being limited by it, takes inspiration from the sea and the mountains, looks forward and abroad for inspiration but manages to remain undeniably Basque.

Although not easy to find, you’ll know you’ve reached La Cuchara de San Telmo by the buzzing crowd of locals and tourists. You’ll feel the anticipation in the air and you’ll feel it too as you squeeze through the narrow bar to secure a spot.

La Cuchara de San Telmo takes traditional Basque dishes and elevates them to new heights, cooks them how they should be cooked and throws in a few surprising elements for good measure.

We started with a classic Basque dish of kokotxas de bacalao al pil-pil: delicate cod cheeks cooked with olive oil, garlic and parsley. Sounds simple but a seemingly magical transformation produces the sauce when the slow-cooked fish releases its natural gelatin to produce a rich, almost creamy sauce.

My favorite of the night was tako de buey Argentina con tximi-txurri: braised Argentine beef with chimichurri over potato puree.

Risotto cremoso de queso de cabra (creamy goat cheese risotto) was next.

And last: carrillera de ternera al vino tinto (red wine-braised veal cheeks).

We were so impressed with the small pintxo-sized portions we returned for dinner next night and tried goat cheese stuffed with vegetables, a sirloin dish and canelones. All were spectacular!

Just down the block was our next stop. A Fuego Negro is an eatery that re-interprets Basque dishes in an extremely modern and creative way.

We all started with txacoli, a slightly sparkling dry white wine produced in the Basque Country.

The meal at A Fuego Negro was a revelation. We asked the guy behind the bar to surprise us with his favorite dishes and he started us off with ensalada sucia con vegetales a la plancha (“dirty salad” with grilled vegetables). The “dirty” part of the salad was a dressing of olive oil pureed with black sesame seed and the vegetables were purple potato, zucchini, squash, eggplant and onion.

Next was a warm layered cup with a tomato base, mussels, béchamel foam and a chicharron topping. We didn’t know what to expect when this arrived the but the flavors played so well off one another.

We all enjoyed the kevap de cordero (sliced lamb nestled in warm flatbread) with pickled jicama and yogurt.

And the risotto was spiced with garam masala and chile powder and topped with puffed rice and fresh herbs. Such amazingly creative flavor and texture combinations!

The last stop of our txikiteo was Astelana.

As soon as I saw the menu I was stoked about this place… lots of options and diversity and foie gras in like half of the dishes!

We started with a local cidra (cider).

The first dish that came to us was something I am going to try my darndest to recreate at home: a pistachio croquette. Pistachios were pureed with potato and fresh cheese for the inside of the croquette and it was rolled in crushed pistachios before going into the fryer. Oh. My.

The rest of the dishes were… duck ravioli topped with a foie gras sauce, drizzled with balsamic and served with a cinnamon raison crispbread.

Revuelto de hongos (mushrooms cooked with eggs) topped with quail egg.

Txipiron a la plancha (grilled squid) with roasted Padron peppers, onion confit, parsley sauce and a spicy pepper sauce.

And solomillo a la plancha (grilled sirloin) with big salt flakes, currants, apples and kataifi (shredded phyllo).

And now… now you know why San Sebastian is my favorite place in the world.

Pais Vasco

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

And now we get to the good stuff. Sure, the entire trip to Spain was good stuff, but the Basque Country has held a special place in my heart since I lived in the heart of San Sebastian during college. Ever since I have dreamed of the day I could return to elegant pedestrian avenues, tranquil bays and most important, the Parte Vieja, my old neighborhood that boasts more restaurants and bars per square meter than anywhere else in the entire world.

The Basque Country has long been regarded as having the best cuisine in Spain and some even say all of Europe. I studied the resurgence and reinvention of Basque cuisine in gastronomy school and have been itching to go back. So this part of the trip was very exciting for me!!

San Sebastian was the destination but we rented a car so we could visit more of the Basque Country on the way. It’s an impossibly beautiful land of mountains, forests, beaches, seaside fishing villages and remote mountain towns. First we detoured to Elantxobe, a fishing village precariously hugging a cliff in the northern reaches of Spain.

We kept along the Basque coast en route to San Sebastian, visiting seaside villages where tourists seldom venture. Lekeitio is bigger and more visited than most and we stopped here to have a coffee and gaze out over the beaches and fishing boats at the ocean view.

Then the highway widened, the cars sped up and San Sebastian’s elegant bay and cosmopolitan buildings unfolded before us.

Our apartment for the next few days was smack dab in the middle of the Parte Vieja, just a few blocks from my old place on Plaza Sarriegui. Here’s the view from our balcony.

San Sebastian is something of a mecca for food-lovers. The city boasts more Michelin stars per capita than any other city and in the Parte Vieja there’s a pintxo bar in seemingly every storefront. You’ll notice Basque words on signs all over town. It’s a frustratingly strange language with unknown origins and no relation at all to the romance languages of which the king’s Spanish is a part. Basque is a tangle of x’s and k’s and z’s and you’re not likely to pick up much if you stay for only a short time. But, if you learn only one Basque word while visiting this part of the world, the word to learn is pintxo (pronounced “peencho”). Pintxo = tapa.

Most any pintxo joint you choose in San Seba has so much food displayed on the bar you’re likely to think you’ve died and gone to the best possible version of heaven, a land where succulent chorizos-tortillas-croquetas are available at every turn. But there’s a secret to dining in San Sebastian. Before dinner locals embark on what’s called a txikiteo, or tapas crawl, grazing on small pintxos along the way and enjoying a glass of txacoli (a local white fizzy wine), red wine or hard cider at each place they visit. Mastering the txikiteo is not as easy as you may think when you consider that every other first floor space in the Parte Vieja is occupied by a food establishment of one sort or another.

You must do your homework, or inspect closely before you commit to a place. The best eateries don’t have hot finished pintxos laid out on the bar. Rather, the displayed items are usually dishes that can be eaten at room temperature (like tortilla or olives) or raw items the chefs will prepare to order (like uncooked croquetas or raw pimientos de Padron).

Especially beware the joints with fake lacquered food on the bar. *Shudder.*

Heaping displays of prepared foods are surely arranged in order to lure unsophisticated tourists, especially those who aren’t confident ordering off a Spanish or Basque menu. These are the people who just want to point and chew. Please do not be one of those people.

So how does this all work? Without you even knowing it, the bartenders will be keeping track, slyly watching your every move, counting every olive you raise to your lips, every anchovy that slides off a baguette into your throat. When you’re ready to pay just grab a bartender’s attention and he’ll ring you up. To be safe, you might want to save your toothpicks and show them to the bar keep when you want to pay. He’ll count ‘em up for you and charge you per toothpick.

On to the food! Just next to our flat was Bar Zeruko, where the creatively displayed items hint at the creative, molecularly gastronomic bent practiced by chefs here.

There was tuna stacked like dominoes, things floating in aspic, gulas and pepitas and cornichons…

… and it was here that we encountered one of the first… but certainly not the last… not even close… shall we call it, meat mishap? My vegetarian traveling companion had been warned that the Spanish may not understand her lifestyle and dietary choice. So far – and I’m talking on her first night in Salamanca – she had been offered a “vegetarian” salad full of krab (fake crab meat) and gulas (the “krab” version of angulas). At Bar Zeruko, which was certainly more sophisticated than the hearty meat-and-potatoes eateries of Salamanca, her sandwich “vegetariano” was stacked with cheese, pimientos de padron… and ham. And… tuna. When we asked the guy behind the bar what the deal was, instead of apologizing he faulted my friend for being vegetarian and suggested she should learn to eat meat. Pretty indicative of the general Spanish attitude towards vegetarianism.

Those of us who consume creatures enjoyed poached lobster with parsley chimichurri and a mayonnaisy crab salad wrapped in ribbons of zucchini.

Stay tuned for photos from the most epic txikiteo ever!

Dinosaur toes and crispy piglets

2011-12-12T09:00:00.003-05:00

You may have learned in elementary school that dinosaurs no longer roam the earth. That they have been extinct for millions of years. But I have proof to the contrary because I ate dinosaur toes in Salamanca this year.

Okay. You’re right. Maybe they’re not actually dinosaur toes. But how else can you describe the appearance of percebes, with their knotted leathery elephantesque skin and distinct pre-Cambrian toenails? Percebes were on my “must-try” list and I found them at Casa Paca in Salamanca our second night in town. These curious little barnacles are quite the delicacy in Spain. Apparently it’s somewhat of an ordeal to harvest them. The season must be right and the tide must be just so and you must recruit the bravest of gentlemen who are willing to rappel down the side of treacherous ocean cliffs to pluck these ancient creatures from the rocky, watery depths.

This tiny pile of the expensive little buggers cost us 44 euros... that’s like $60 US. Ouch. But it was worth it! The texture and taste reminded me of a razor clam.

Here's me eating the percebes and talking about the perils involved with harvesting them.

At Casa Paca I also knocked out another food on my “must-try” list! Angulas!

I know it doesn’t look like much but tucked inside this filet of hake is one Spain’s most sought-after delicacies: teensy tiny baby eels.

This article goes into much more depth about angulas than I ever could but long story short, newborn eels embark on a three year, four thousand mile journey from the Americas to Spain, where they must be captured on a moonless night in a short timeframe during the winter months; because they can breathe out of water they must be killed by plunging them into water that has been deoxygenated with an infusion of tobacoo. Perhaps you’re not surprised that angulas are one of the most expensive delicacies on earth.

The rest of our meal at Casa Paca was less memorable but equally expensive (!). Chuletillas de cabrito a la brasa volcanico were tiny goat chops grilled over volcanic wood. They came with fried potatoes and a few fried pimientos de Padron. Lindsay’s lomo de merluza en salsa verde was a fresh take on hake swimming in an herbaceous green sauce.

Next morning we were up bright and early to embark on a road trip in Sierra del Francia. The act of renting the car was perhaps the biggest adventure of the day but once we were seatbelted with our trusty GPS in working order we were on our way to explore the far reaches of Castilla y Leon.
We stopped for lunch in Ciudad Rodrigo, a walled medieval town not far from the Portuguese border. Our vow to be thrifty after the wallet-busting meal of the night before let us to a budget-friendly option on the main square, where we had patatas al roquefort (shredded potatoes in a Roquefort cheese sauce); ensalada rusa (diced potatoes, red peppers and onions in a thick mayonnaise sauce); pulpo a la vinagreta (marinated octupus); tortilla; and pimiento relleno (a piquillo pepper stuffed with ground beef and baked in a cheesy sauce). Total price for lunch for all three of us? Around 10 euros.

This is the heart of Spain’s embutido (pork and sausage) country. It’s known as producing some of the best jamon and chorizo and it seems that every other door opens into a shop festooned with dozens of hams swinging from the ceilings.

We picked up some sausage souvenirs that I successfully smuggled back into the States: farinato iberico from Ibericos Felipe Hernandez, a sausage that’s unique to this region, and some chorizo made with jamon iberico de bellota, the most highly-regarded Spanish ham that’s made with the meat of free-range pigs who graze on acorns throughout their lives. They love their meat around these parts.

The rest of the day was spent navigating extremely narrow mountain roads in a land that until recently was entirely inaccessible to all but the most determined travelers. The villages seem to be stuck in time: La Alberca, with one of the most picturesque Plaza Mayors anywhere...

San Martin del Castanar, a medieval town perched on the mountainside with narrow streets and window boxes overflowing with lush flowers...

And Mogarraz, a long, narrow and seemingly deserted town whose most interesting inhabitant was a filthy, wallowing pig.

Because we were soon to be joined by a vegetarian in one of the most staunchly non-vegetarian parts of the world, once back in Salamanca we were determined to squeeze in one last porcine extravaganza at the aptly named Meson el Jamon.

Now I understand this may seem barbaric to all my vegetarian friends but the toston, or cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig), is an honored local tradition. We had frantically been seeking out a toston around Salamanca, to no avail. Sensing defeat the night before our last day in town we asked the gracious folks at the front desk of our residence, Hotel el Toboso, if they had any suggestions.

A single toston takes three days advance notice to prepare! said our hotelier’s restaurateur friend. But we need it tomorrow before we leave town! we cried. Do these girls know what they are asking?! he countered, exasperated. (At least I’m assuming that’s how the conversation went down since I was upstairs snuggled cozily in my bed enjoying a pre-bedtime siesta. We were in Spain, after all.)

Thus at 1:00pm the next day we walked into Meson el Jamon, three girls on a mission to eat a meal that usually feeds six, and sat down to a crispy-skinned suckling pig that none of us is soon to forget.

And then, at 5:00pm, the vegetarian arrived.

Rutas de Tapeos in Salamanca

2011-12-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

How do you start to write about a two-week trip filled with seemingly endless epic meals?

This summer I went with four girlfriends to one of my very favorite countries: Spain. During college I lived in San Sebastian, in the Spanish Basque Country, for a time and the country was tops on my list to re-visit!
We planned a tour of the northern half of Spain, flying into Madrid and circling around through Castilla y Leon, Basque Country and Barcelona before closing the loop in Madrid. For me, food is obviously the whole point of traveling so suffice it to say we had more than our fair share of memorable dining experiences throughout the trip.
I suppose I have to start somewhere. So let’s begin in Salamanca.

We embarked on two memorable tapeos, or tapas crawls, here. The first was with my good amiga Asha, who was my best friend back in my Spain days and just happened to be living in Salamanca at the same time as this trip.
It’s always best to travel with someone who knows the place you’re visiting and our first night in town Asha took us on a tapeo on Calle van Dyck. Since this street is well outside the main historic center of Salamanca it’s off the radar of most tourists, although it was only about a 20 minute walk from the central Plaza Mayor. We were rewarded with fresh, tasty and classic tapas that cost between .80 and 1 euro each (! a COMPLETE steal in Spain!) and a lively atmosphere that didn’t feel touristy and contrived.
First stop was the rustic Barbacoa La Encina. Asha took the lead here and ordered us a runny fried egg with potatoes cooked in olive oil. Breakfast for dinner? I won’t argue with that.

Next up was a wedge of tortilla, another egg-and-potato-based superstar of Spanish cuisine.

Meson Don Mario was the next eatery on our tapas crawl. One of my favorite dishes of the night was pulpo a la vinagreta, sliced ceviche-style octopus tossed with onions, red bell peppers and tomatoes in a piquant vinegary sauce.

Gambas al ajillo came next. Shrimp sizzling in hot, garlicky olive oil is always a winner in my book.

Don Mario introduced us to what was to become my traveling companions’ drink of choice through the remainder of the trip: tinto de verano. Let me give you some advice. If you go to Spain, don’t order sangria. That’s what tourists do. Order a tinto de verano, which is essentially the same thing: red wine, sangria mix, liquor, soda water with a squeeze of lime over ice. Here it is with a plate of piping hot croquetas de jamon.

Despite crinkled noses from my friends I ordered boquerones fritos con limon. The anchovies in Spain are some of the best in the world and in my opinion are best simply prepared: fried, with a squeeze of lemon.

At this point I was more than a few glasses of red wine in so the names of the eateries are lost in time. Just a few steps away was our next stop. Yes, you’re reading the menu prices correctly: .70 or .80 euros per tapa!

And these were good ones. Big, meaty champinones simmered in olive oil...

...and a fried egg with chorizo...

...cooked up by one lone sweaty bartender in a tiny postage stamp of a kitchen. This is also where Asha taught us how to manipulate the standard papery napkins you find in every bar in Spain into a dirty message.

A little further down the road we parked at a bar staffed by flirtatious (read: annoying) gentlemen who served us mejillones con salsa bechamel: big nuggets of mussel meat cooked in a bechamel sauce, stuffed back into their shells, breaded and fried to a pretty golden brown.

The specialty of this particular bar seemed to be “stuff stuffed with stuff cooked in bechamel” so we went for it and got a chunk of tortilla rellena de champinones en una salsa bechamel. The cook had made a thick tortilla, cut it in half horizontally and stuffed it with mushrooms in a bechamel sauce. Good thing we had that 20-minute walk home to work off all those potatoes and eggs and breads and bechamels.

A couple nights later Asha invited us along with her friends on another tapeo around the center of Salamanca, starting at Casa Paca, one of the most historic restaurants in town.

We started the night with carrilleras: pork cheeks slow-cooked in a rich red wine sauce.

The crew then moved to Asador Mauro on the Plaza Mayor.

I enjoyed the poached shrimp nestled in a bath of mayo...

… and the pinchos morunos (pork brochettes with peppers)...

… but the morcilla de Burgos was one of the best dishes I tried on the whole trip. Some folks are squeamish about blood sausage but this version from Burgos is a good way to make a baby step into the world of blood sausage. It is mixed with rice and heavily spiced with cumin, something that’s quite unusual in Spanish cuisine. The sweet caramelized onions were a perfect complement to the salty, spicy sausage.

Meson Cervantes occupies a prime location on the Plaza. Although that also means it’s located in a prime touristy location, I was happy to see a number of locals crowded around the upstairs bar. The food here was by no means elegant - just hearty, classic Spanish tapas.

We took over a long table in the dining area and started with chorizo con patatas (chorizo with chunks of fried potatoes).

Anchovies and olives came next.

And finally, broken eggs with potatoes and chorizo. Remember when I said the food here was hearty?

After this we were led to a place called Bambu just off the Plaza. We were hoping to end the night with something light-ish but instead were offered bread topped with thick slabs of fried fatty bacon and chorizo. I thought I could hang with the Spanish... but...

Debbie & Don's Herradura double barrel tequila dinner at TacoLu

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

A five course tequila-pairing dinner. On a Monday night. Sound like a bad idea?

Nah. Pretty genius, actually. In November I had a girls’ night out to get a lesson in tequila at TacoLu. Debbie and Don of The Lu were introducing their extra super special Debbie and Don’s Herradura Double Barrel Reposado, a one-of-a-kind tequila from an exclusive barrel program that had taken them to Guadalajara and back.

Rueben Aceves Vidrio came to TacoLu all the way from Guadalajara to present Debbie and Don’s Herradura Double Barrel Reposado and to teach us Yankees a little something about a spirit called tequila. We’re not talking about the toilet water with the worm at the bottom or the copper-colored blended swill that made us all sick a time or two in college. We’re talkin’ pure, 100% blue agave tequila here, folks.

Herradura is an institution in Mexico. The company’s El Jimador is the #1 selling brand of tequila in the country and accounts for 40% of the entire spirits industry of Mexico! Plus it’s the only tequila in the country that can call itself 100% natural. It’s kind of a big deal.

We tried it in many forms that evening. Upon arrival we enjoyed a champagne cocktail with mango puree and Herradura Silver tequila while we made our way to the table.

The first course was ceviche verde with sheepshead, serrano chile and avocado. Paired with Herradura Silver (the only white tequila aged in oak barrels for 45 days – smooth and clean).

Next: creamy corn soup. Don described it as the liquid version of their Mexican street corn. Which I TOTALLY love. The soup was topped with a huitlacoche crema reduction with lime juice and had a spicy kick at the end. Paired with Herradura Reposado (aged for 11 months, five times the norm, in white oak barrels – notes of oak, orange zest, vanilla).

Third was tortas ahogadas, Debbie and Don’s version of a classic Mexican dish they ate frequently on their trip to Guadalajara. It’s a pork carnitas sandwich doused in spicy tomato sauce. Served with a tamarind margarita with a hint of lime.

It came with avocado fries!

Somewhere in there we tried a true gem of a tequila: Herradura Seleccion Suprema. Herradura’s was the first Extra Añejo in the industry and is the true pride of the company as it was tested for over 20 years to get it juuuust right. It’s aged for over FOUR YEARS and is the most complex tequila in the world.

Finally it was time to sample Debbie and Don’s exclusive Double Barrel tequila. To accompany it we were served a fancy mushroom taco. Fancy, indeed, as it included caramelized red onion, manchego, cilantro and huitlacoche, a Mexican delicacy that Don euphemized as “a mushroom that grows on corn.” Wikipedia calls it “corn smut.” Obviously I prefer the Wikipedia description. Sorry Don.

The taco was served with Debbie and Don’s Herradura Double Barrel Reposado (aged for 11 months then moved to a different barrel to age for one month more, giving it a new dimension in flavor – very caramel-y and smooth with hints of butterscotch, vanilla, cinnamon). A true treat!

The night ended with the TacoLu choco-taco: chocolate tortilla, “Don’s nearly famous” pepita ice cream, candied chiles and cinnamon sugar. Served with jalapeño blackberry Herradura Añejo margarita with a sugared chocolate rim.

If you hurry you can try Debbie and Don’s Herradura Double Barrel Reposado at the bar at TacoLu but act quickly because this one-of-a-kind tequila won’t last long. Salud!

Autumn in the Park

2011-11-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

Early this month I had the pleasure of attending the second annual Autumn in the Park farm-to-table dinner to benefit the San Marco Preservation Society.

This year’s meal was highly anticipated due to the success of last year’s event and it sold out well in advance.

Autumn in the Park was easily one of the most memorable food events I attended in Jax last year and planner Anita Morrill outdid herself yet again. Anita was inspired by Outstanding in the Field events she’s attended around the country. They’re all about local food and local settings. A hallmark of Outstanding in the Field meals is a single long table – a setup that’s perfectly suited to San Marco’s tree-lined Davin Park.

Trad’s Garden Center provided herb plants for guests to take home as mementos from the meal.

When we arrived we enjoyed the cool tunes of the Just Jazz Quintet…

… while enjoying appetizers made from local meats, cheeses and veggies created by Chef Kathy Collins of Café NOLA in the MOCA.

Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill and Bradley’s grits cakes served with Twinn Bridges pepper jelly.

Twinn Bridges roasted vegetable skewers served with thyme vinaigrette.

Bradley’s sausage topped with Sweet Grass Dairy Lil Moo and mustards made with Intuition Ale Works brews.

That’s Chef Kathy on the left!

Ben Davis from Intuition Ale Works served Knothead Alt during the reception. It’s a malty, sweetish German brew (Chef Kathy used in to great success one of her mustards!) that’s perfect for a crisp autumn afternoon.

Chef Tom Gray from Bistro Aix and Sam Efron from Taverna listen as we all learn about Slow Food First Coast and Huguenot Cellars which provided our wine pairings for the evening.

And then the chefs went through the menu and told us about the purveyors and farmers who provided the ingredients for the meal.

When we sat down I was stoked to be across from Denise and Tom from Twinn Bridges farm in Macclenny. They’re incredibly locally-minded yet worldly in their food knowledge – they shared tips and stories about pomegranate molasses and angulas and Cuban foodways and the exact method for ensuring a perfectly crisp skin on a whole roasted pig. Plus they’re a lot of fun. And their veggies kick butt.

The first course was Twinn Bridges and Black Hog Farm butternut squash soup garnished with crème fraiche, Eden Farms bacon, Granny Smith apple, fried sage and pomegranate molasses. Chef Sam said one of his customers described it as autumn in a cup. It was served with Huguenot Cellars Cuvee de Blanc 2009, San Ynez Valley.

Olive oil-poached local striped bass was served family style with Twinn Bridges fairy tale eggplant and marinated piquillo peppers. Paired with Huguenot Cellars Cuvee de Rouge 2007, San Ynez Valley.

And the pièce de résistance: a whole pig roasted low and slow in a Caja China.

He was easily the most photographed guest of the evening.

The pork was carved and served with rutabaga-apple puree, Twinn Bridges and Black Hog Farm roasted autumn vegetables and braised greens. Paired with Revenge by Allora Vineyards 2009, Napa Valley.

Dessert was panna cotta with bruleed citrus and lemon-ricotta cookies. Served with La Gioiosa Moscato, Veneto Italy.

This is one of my favorite food events in Jax – don’t miss it next autumn!

My favorite meal... in photos

2011-11-14T09:00:00.003-05:00

Nowadays I don’t have much time to write long blog posts (has it really been since APRIL?). Probably because I got one of those j-o-b things. But I am going to make an effort to post photos and (short!) stories about meals I’m lucky to share with the great friends I’ve made since moving to Jacksonville almost exactly two years ago.

Figured I’d start with my favorite meal yet! Earlier this year, friends invited Phil and me to a privately-catered 12 course dinner by Chef Brian Siebenschuh of Restaurant Orsay. Yeah. I know.

The menu went a little something like this:

Ahi tuna topped with University of Georgia Siberian sturgeon caviar and a sliver of red onion.

Raw bar with a variety of oysters, mussels and shrimp.

Salmon tartar on potato crisps.

Country ham with heirloom tomatoes.

Delish roasted fish over awesome veggies (sorry, memory not so good!)

Thai-inspired soup.

Poached egg and asparagus salad.

Foi gras, berry compote, challah.

Roast salmon over lentils.

Duck confit over field peas.

Cheese. Honey.

Melon sorbet with prosciutto.

Bacon and chocolate.

You know it’s good when you end with bacon dipped in chocolate.

Best. Meal. Ever. Thanks friends! :)

Slow Food First Coast Tour de Farm

2011-04-08T12:10:00.000-04:00

Join me this Sunday at the Slow Food First Coast Tour de Farm!

Over twenty local farms in St. John’s, Baker, Bradford, Duval and Putnam Counties are opening their gates to the community for this free event. What better way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon than to chat with farmers, pet baby pigs, watch cooking demonstrations from some of the area’s best chefs, pick produce straight from the farm, and sample artisan foods.

If you’re a food-lover you definitely need to check out Slow Food First Coast. The organization is making great strides in fostering a collaborative, sustainable, pleasurable food system here in Northeast Florida. You may have seen the Snail of Approval emblems scattered about town. The Snail is awarded to local food businesses that espouse the ideals of the organization – read more about the Snail of Approval here and take the time to nominate local food businesses that fit the bill.

I’ll be at Black Hog Farm in East Palatka from 1 to 5 on Sunday, so come and say hi! I’ll be wearing two hats. As a newly elected Board member for Slow Food First Coast, I’ll be there to represent the organization and answer any questions folks might have about the Tour.

There will also be a delicious farm-fresh meal served throughout the day. It’ll be catered by Chef Sean Irwin of Chew Restaurant – can you say, yum? Grilled homemade heritage pork sausages… fresh-from-the-farm barbecued pulled pork… new potato salad… Hastings cabbage coleslaw. You know you want some. Make a reservation for the meal by calling Chew.

Intuition Ale – my other hat! – will be pairing our Longleaf Amber Ale with the meal. In the words of Boss Ben the brewer, the Longleaf is an American-style amber ale with pine and citrus aromas and a smooth malt backbone. It’s brewed with chocolate, caramel and honey malts and dry-hopped with primarily Chinook hops. In the words of me, it’s freaking delicious. All proceeds from the sale of beer will go to Slow Food First Coast.

Photo courtesy of my friend Jeannie Greenwald over at atlanticbeachlife.com

Chef Brian Siebenschuh of Restaurant Orsay will also be greeting guests at Black Hog Farm. So, yeah. My favorite local food people, all in one place!

As a side note, Black Hog Farm operates their Jacksonville CSA out of the brewery so I’ve gotten to know them well. One day they brought a day-old runt baby pig to the brewery because her siblings wouldn’t let her feed from mama. The Black Hog crew were feeding her out of a bottle like a human baby until she could re-join her family. They’ve also given me surplus locally-grown veggies from their CSA. They’re good folks and you really should come out and meet them!

There’s lots of good stuff going on at other farms, too. Check out the Tour de Farm booklet at www.slowfoodfirstcoast.com/tourdefarm.html. It has maps and all the details you’ll need to help plan your Tour itinerary.

Some of Northeast Florida’s best chefs are participating in the Tour. Chef Tom Gray from Bistro Aix will be serving a farm-fresh lunch at Twinn Bridges Farm in Macclenny. What’s on the menu? Chicken salad featuring Black Hog Farm pulled roasted chicken over farm fresh lettuce & creme fraiche dressing… chopped farm salad featuring Twinn Bridges lettuce, cucumbers, tomato, spring onion, carrots, radishes, basil and red wine vinaigrette… Bistro Aix crispy chips... and a fresh-baked Bistro Aix chocolate chip cookie.

Sweet Grass Dairy will also be at Twinn Bridges offering their cheeses for sample and for sale! These are the best cheeses produced in our region. My favorites are the Asher Bleu, Lumiere, chevre and their Camembert-style Green Hill.

Other highlights?

Chef Genie Kepner of St. Augustine’s The Floridian cooking up local potatoes at Blue Sky Farm and Chef David Scalise of the Sawgrass Marriott offering cooking demonstrations at KYV Farms.

Chef Scotty Schwartz from 29 South in Fernandina Beach will be at the Arlington Community Garden preparing tastings of farm-raised heritage pork from DelKat Farm served over an oyster leek ragu and drizzled with smoked paprika oil. Demonstrations are at 1:30 and 3:30pm.

Chef Jean-Stephane Poinard of St. Augustine’s Bistro de Leon will be demonstrating farm-fresh salads at 1:30 and 2:30pm at Fresh Start Hydroponic Farm. There will also be datil pepper products and Minorcan clam chowder for sale at the farm!

Chef David Bearl from First Coast Technical College will be making datil dogs and "slaw" and will be serving them at St. Johns Oaks Vineyard.

Artisans will also be selling handcrafted locally-produced foods at various locations during the Tour de Farm. PJ from Seacow Confections will offer a free scoop of his delicious homemade sorbet at Terk’s Acres Goat Farm. Seacow Confections parks outside Intuition Ale on Friday and Saturday nights so if you miss him on Sunday make sure to come and try his amazing sorbets, popsicles and candies at the brewery!

See you Sunday.

Intuition Ale Works beer dinner at Chew

2011-02-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

It’s taken me forever to write this, but I really can’t NOT post about the Intuition Ale Works beer-pairing dinner I attended at Chew Restaurant a few weeks ago.

The dinner was well over 90% locally sourced! That’s not often accomplished at fancy dinners here in Northeast Florida since the growing seasons are wonky and we don’t have much of a, ahem, wine industry here. But for this dinner at Chew, the brews were locally produced at Intuition Ale... the produce was sourced from East Palatka’s Fresh Harvest Farm… and the meat was from Fresh Harvest’s sister Black Hog Farm… triple yay.

Chew’s chefs reviewed the menu with guests and talked about how the beers guided the dishes on offer.

Luke, a representative of the farm, talked about their new Farm to Door memberships - fresh produce, eggs, and meats delivered to your door! More info here.

We also got to hear Brewer Ben Davis of Intuition Ale talk about the brews on offer.

The dinner started with a light and sophisticated trio of local seafood. I worked from left to right across my plate, first savoring the cured St. Augustine snapper. The snapper was impeccably fresh and accented by cracked coriander seeds and citrus zest. The citrus-smoked Appalachicola oyster provided a nice counterpoint to the lightness of the other seafood on the plate; it was briny and smoky and topped with a mini dollop of pureed kimchi. I finished the plate with a spoonful of Mayport shrimp ceviche, cauliflower, apple and cilantro leaves. Although the preparations were quite diverse, all three seafood selections paired brilliantly with Willow Branch Wheat.

The next dish was my favorite of the night: oeufs en meurette. Because it was poached in red wine, the farm egg took on a purplish sheen that was punctuated by a bright orange yolk when I punctured it with my fork. The yolk oozed all over the potato confit and frisee and mingled perfectly with the slightly bitter Shotgun Shack vinaigrette and salty, lightly house-cured Black Hog Farms ham. Paired with – of course – Shotgun Shack Black Rye Ale. The Shotgun Shack is dark in color but surprisingly light on the palate, making it an excellent beer for pairing with food. And at only 5.5% ABV it’s eminently drinkable.

Or wait a minute… maybe the Black Hog Farm pork belly was my favorite dish of the night. This was no ordinary pork. This pork had a name – Pickles – and he was a very spoiled little piggy. He was lovingly cured overnight in salt and sugar then roasted until he was caramelized and oh-so-tender. He was served with house-made sauerkraut that had cured in the kitchen for five weeks. Pickles was topped with pickled (?!) mustard seeds and was resting in a delicate candied apple gastrique. Pickles was a pig that had it all. He had sweet, he had sour, he had salty. He had me at hello. Jonathan Insetta said the beers really guided the direction of the meal and this Alsatian-inspired dish was a great example of that. The juniper berries in the sauerkraut and the slightly sour fresh apple cubes accenting the dish paired impeccably with the People’s Pale Ale.

The last savory dish was a creative take on chicken. It was a chicken sandwich. But not the kind of chicken sandwich you’re thinking of. The chefs has sandwiched a boneless piece of Black Hog Farms chicken thigh between two pieces of chicken breast meat. They used an enzyme called Activa which apparently has a nickname of “meat glue.” Mmmm, meat glue. Playing with this molecular gastronomy stuff is something Chew doesn’t normally do so I was happy when I bit into the chicken and was greeted by a tender, homey piece of meat. They didn’t used Activa to be gimmicky – it held the pieces of dark and light meat together so I could get the best of both worlds in every bite. The chicken was served with roasted Brussels sprouts, house made bacon lardons, and pickled and pureed cauliflower. Another favorite, perhaps? Just how am I supposed to choose? Plus this dish was paired with my favorite Intuition Ale brew: I-10 IPA.

Another reason I loved the oeufs and chicken dishes so much is because there’s a fun little circle of life involved. You see, Black Hog Farms uses the spent grain from Intuition Ale’s brewing process to supplement the feed for their chickens. And we were being served those very chickens and their eggs for dinner. No wonder they paired so well with the beer!

Chew ended the meal with a King Street Stout panna cotta with stout chocolate sauce. Chocolate and stout is a classic pairing for a reason. This was a killer dessert.

One of my favorite things about the menu was the kitchen’s ability to integrate a huge variety of textures and flavors into each and every dish. They weren’t afraid to use pungent spices like coriander and juniper berries in unexpected ways, and accents like pickled mustard seeds and pureed kimchi took each dish to the next level. That attention to detail, willingness to experiment, and understanding of the way flavors interact with one another is what makes the difference between a great restaurant and an excellent one.

This was the first beer dinner associated with Intuition Ale. Many of you probably know I work at Intuition Ale and I can only hope our future dinners live up to the impeccably paired feast created by Chew!

Cooking in Season

2011-01-23T12:07:00.000-05:00

Florida’s growing seasons sometimes doesn’t make sense to ‘town’s Executive Chef Scott Ostrander, who grew up on a farm in New York. But you won’t hear him complain about the availability of heirloom tomatoes in winter. Chef Scott celebrated the area’s wintertime agricultural bounty at the first Cooking in Season class last Saturday at his restaurant in Avondale. It was the first in a series of four classes organized by Sustainable Springfield to honor the growing seasons of Northeast Florida. Classes will include cooking demonstrations and culinary tips from the some of the area’s top chefs.

Participants clustered around ‘town’s open kitchen for this sold-out class and listened attentively as Chef Scott spoke about selecting and preparing winter ingredients. Guests received a list of local farmers’ markets that feature fresh, local produce and the chef talked about his favorite local farmers and fish markets. Did you know that much of the landscaping in front of ‘town is edible? Rosemary and mint and kumquat trees…

The real fun began when the chef demonstrated a few recipes using seasonal ingredients. First up was an heirloom cherry tomato salad with a snow pea shoot and arugula salad. The sweet multi-colored tomatoes were tossed in a white balsamic vinaigrette with shallot and parsley then allowed to marinate for thirty minutes before being served with the fresh greens.

He then demonstrated a recipe for coq au vin. Chef Scott marinated chicken in an aromatic red wine concoction, and flames danced high in the air as he seared the chicken and then transferred it to the oven to slowly braise. Guests sampled the tomato salad, coq au vin, and collard green “chips” –young collard greens that turned crisp and translucent when fried.

We were then sent off with recipes and inspiration for preparing Northeast Florida’s abundance of fresh produce at home.

Future classes take place on Saturday mornings:
April 16, 2011: Executive Chef Scotty Schwartz of 29 South
July 9, 2011: Executive Chef Brian Siebenschuh of Restaurant Orsay
October 15, 2011: Executive Chef David Bearl, Director of First Coast Technical College's Culinary Arts Program.

Each class costs $40. Visit sustainablespringfield.net to reserve your spot for the spring class!

Local food gifts for the holidays

2010-12-19T11:15:00.000-05:00

Local is better. Especially when it comes to food.

This holiday season skip the mall and get your gifts from one of Jacksonville’s locally-owned, locally-operated food businesses. Besides impressing your friends and family with the tastiest treats in town, you’ll contribute to the local economy and help support the unique places that make our city such a great place to live.

Inspired by the GoLo (Go Local) initiative launched by Riverside Avondale Preservation, Downtown Vision Inc, Springfield Restoration and Revitalization, and the San Marco Merchants Association, here are my top GoLo food picks for 2010:

1. Beer swag from Intuition Ale Works

So yeah… maybe I’m biased. But a gallon growler from Jacksonville’s newest craft brewery is a gift that anyone would love to receive. Present the glass growler with a gift certificate for a fill and an Intuition-branded T-shirt, hoodie, or sticker… or even better, give that special someone a year-long membership to the Intuition Ale Works Mug Club. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

2. Membership to the Veggie Bin

Another gift that keeps giving… a bin of fresh, local, sustainably-grown vegetables delivered to your door every week during the growing season. So far this year the Veggie Bin has delivered an awesome variety of produce and has kept me culinarily stimulated week after week. Expect lots of greens like kale and mustard greens in the autumn and winter, with optional add-ons like bushels of citrus or local honey.

3. Sustainable Springfield Cooking in Season classes

Wondering what to do with all of that local, seasonal produce? Sustainable Springfield has planned cooking classes for 2011 with some of the area’s best chefs. At the start of each season the Executive Chefs from ‘town, 29 South, Restaurant Orsay, and the First Coast Technical College’s Culinary Arts Program will teach participants about upcoming local produce and how to cook with it. Buy all four classes before the end of 2010 and get a big discount.

4. Bold Bean Coffee

We all know that Bold Bean Coffee’s small-batch, artisanal approach to roasting beans makes their coffee is the best in town. But Bold Bean Coffee also makes a stellar coffee rub and sells some branded swag like coffee cups and baseball caps. Go for the Community Connections Rise-n-Shine or St. John’s Riverkeeper Roast and your caffeine addiction will benefit a good cause.

5. Sweet Grass Dairy cheeses and Five Points Honey

This is the party season, so give a gift of local cheeses and honey to the host of your next holiday soiree. Grassroots Natural Market in Five Points sells Sweet Grass Dairy’s heavenly concoctions. My favorites are the Asher Bleu and the Green Hill camembert, but really you can’t go wrong with any of their cheeses.

Pop over to Five Points Coffee and Spice to pick up a jar of Five Points Honey. It’s crafted from an apiary right here in the neighborhood.

6. Datil peppers

Food artisans from Saint Augustine feature the locally-grown datil pepper in spice blends, jams, jellies, and even mustards. Search the endless rows of spices at The Spice and Tea Exchange for blends that incorporate the native pepper, like the Pirate’s Bite spice grinder or Spiced Cocoa Mix. (You can consult with Colleen, the friendly shopkeeper, if you’re pressed for time.)

Minorcan Datil Pepper Products sells a range of products made from the local pepper. Go for their chutneys, barbecue sauces, garlic-datil mayonnaise, or award-winning piquant Minorcan Datil Pepper Mustard. Dried whole datils make a great gift for food-lovers who enjoy experimenting in their own kitchens.

7. Seacow Confections

Besides his delicious artisan, hand-crafted sorbets, PJ from Seacow Confections sells candies and brittles and other holiday-appropriate treats from his bicycle-drawn cart. He’s usually parked outside of Intuition Ale Works on Friday and Saturday nights, but visit the Seacow Confections website to place a special order for goodies like chocolatey spiced nuts, candied citrus peel, or pepita brittle.

8. Jacksonville apron from the Cummer

You don’t see many Jacksonville-themed holiday items out there… making this apron from the Cummer's gift shop that much more special.

9. Homemade treats

Crafty in the kitchen? It’s citrus season in Northeast Florida, so take advantage of the abundance of satsumas and red navel oranges and can your own citrus marmalades and jams. Novices should head to the Jacksonville Canning Center for a primer.

If you’re REALLY crafty in the kitchen, whip up a batch of homemade sausages like these Thanksgiving-themed ones from my friend Jodi at Eat Jax. Hers contain turkey, pork belly, nuts, cranberries, and holiday spices, but be creative and come up with your own. Even better: order a pig share from DelKat Family Farm and use the fresh, all-natural local meat in your sausages. thisisthepigfarmer@hotmail.com

10. Baked goods from your favorite local bakery

Jacksonville is swarming with excellent bakeries, and most offer special baked goods around the holiday season. Bakery Moderne on Stockton in Riverside makes stellar cakes and pies, Let Them Eat Cake in Avondale whips up a mean almond croissant, and the new New Broadway Square in Five Points bakes up something different every day.

11. Swag and gift certificates from your favorite food spot

Most bars, restaurants, food vendors, and farmers markets have cool swag that make great holiday gifts. Gift certificates to your favorite locally-owned and operated restaurant are always welcome, and T-shirts are both stylish and a great way to help advertise your favorite spots.

Happy Holidays!

Caring Chefs

2010-11-01T17:30:00.001-04:00

They call it “a feast to warm your heart.”

Caring Chefs is an annual food-tasting fundraising event organized by the Children’s Home Society of Florida. This year the event celebrated its 27th anniversary with food provided by more than 50 of Northeast Florida’s top restaurants and chefs and a sell-out crowd of over 2,000 hungry guests. All ticket proceeds go to Children’s Home Society and the event has raised over $2.2 million in the last quarter of a century! All that money towards embracing children and inspiring lives… it really is a feast to warm your heart.

This year Caring Chef was held at the Avenues Mall, which is a great venue for a food event of this scale. Food vendors were set up throughout the mall on both levels, and even with over 2,000 guests scrambling to try a little bit of everything it didn’t feel overcrowded or claustrophobic at all.

I was invited by the Children’s Home Society to attend the VIP reception and learned that event organizers begin planning Caring Chefs in January or February of each year in preparation for the October event. Multiple committees are formed and many people are responsible for ensuring the event is a sell-out each and every year.

Let’s go on a photographic journey of the [many!] dishes I tasted at Caring Chefs. I never knew supporting a good cause could taste so good!

Avilés, a restaurant housed in St. Augustine’s Hilton, served shrimp, olive, and tomato threaded on skewers.

Azurea at One Ocean Resort in Atlantic Beach had one of the most thoughtfully presented tables of the evening and provided a variety of cupcakes, including the perfectly autumnal pumpkin-spiced cupcake with buttercream frosting.

bb’s’ braised pork with pomegranate seeds was, in my opinion, one of the best dishes I tried.

Biscotti’s never fails to disappoint with their desserts!

Another of my favorite dishes was the risotto with duck confit and butternut squash puree from Bistro Aix. They topped the risotto with pepitas to provide a little crunch, and a sprinkling of basil for freshness.

Blue Bamboo presented their noodles in cute little box.

Café NOLA, the eatery on the ground floor of the Museum of Contemporary Arts, provided more options than most of the other restaurants and was one of my favorite tables of the night. Options included shrimp, braised pork belly, and macaroni and cheese with chorizo.

Enza’s Italian Restaurant set out plates of a number of dishes available on their menu and provided meatballs and cheese tortellini for guests to sample.

The table of the Florida State College at Jacksonville was full of a variety of dishes, including smoked duck breast and vegetable terrine.

The shepherd’s pie from Fionn MacCool’s was tasty and very hearty.

Galangal Thai Cuisine provided two winning dishes. The chicken yum-yum salad had glass noodles, bell peppers, carrots, and onions in a chili-lime dressing, and the lemongrass-crusted chilean sea bass was served with a green curry reduction on a bed of jasmine rice.

The Grape’s New Zealand lamb chops with a port-cherry reduction was my favorite lamb dish of the night (sorry about the photo – sometimes meat can be tricky to shoot!).

I went back for seconds and thirds of Havana Jax Cuban Café’s minty cuba libre.

The International Culinary School at the Art Institutes was a popular table, with good reason. The chocolate mousse and pumpkin mousse with pomegranate seeds was the best dessert I tried, and the little cones with ham and cheddar cornbread balls topped with braised pork, bbq sauce, and fresh salsa weren’t too shabby, either.

Juliette’s Bistro located in the Omni Hotel in downtown Jacksonville served macaroni and cheese with shallots and roasted garlic.

Karma served chicken vindaloo.

I loved the freshness of Native Sun’s salmon and veggie salad.

North Beach Bistro served a tasty Mayport shrimp and grilled polenta with chorizo sausage and gorgonzola fondue.

Peterbrooke Chocolatier gave guests a basket full of chocolaty goodness: chocolate-dipped strawberries, chocolate-covered pretzels, peppermint bark, and more.

The macaroni and cheese from the Soul Food Bistro at Potter’s House is my favorite in all of Jacksonville – they didn’t disappoint with their offering at Caring Chefs!

I didn’t have a chance to try the dish from Pusser’s but the staff working their table were very engaging and charismatic.

Saint Augustine’s The Reef served an excellent zarzuela - Spanish bouillabaisse stew – chock-full of shrimp and mussels in a flavorful tomato broth.

Roy’s lobster potstickers were cooked to order and a huge hit.

The prime rib sandwich with horseradish sauce from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse was enough for a meal in itself.

Sawgrass Country Club got all fancy and futuristic by serving sous-vide lamb loin with truffle-corn pudding, basil oil, pine nuts and onions.

How can you go wrong with Sticky Fingers’ pulled pork sandwiches?

Sweet Pete’s had a full operation going with a cotton candy machine and an assortment of sweets. I love their salted caramel.

The braised beef tacos are one of my favorite items on Taco Lu’s menu, so I was very glad to see them at Caring Chefs.

Taverna’s table was classy and clean, and the two dishes they served really stood out from the pack: butternut squash soup with sage crème fraiche, and lamb ragu with Israeli couscous.

The Times Grill served nachos with a cheesy bean dip.

Trellises at the Hyatt had a delicious and light seared ahi tuna over jicama, avocado, and tomato salad with cilantro vinaigrette.

Urban Flats offered up basil pesto and sundried tomato hummus, as well as a seared tuna dish.

Zaitoon’s curry braised lamb with rice pilaf and okra chips was another excellent lamb dish.

500 South presented seared tuna on a crisp baguette with wakame and an orange glaze.

Along with ALL that food, there were also booths serving beer and wine. $60 for all that food and drink is a steal, and knowing that your attendance helps guarantee that every child is safe, healthy, and prepared for life is absolutely priceless. Thanks for a night filled with delicious food from some of Jacksonville's greatest culinary talents!

For more information about Children’s Home Society, visit www.chsfl.org.

Apples in autumn

2010-10-23T18:59:00.000-04:00

Autumn is easily my favorite season in New England: changing leaves, crisp days, chilly nights, cozy sweaters, and… warm, sugar-dipped apple cider donuts.

I think I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. But I just couldn’t wait to tell you about those donuts, which I devoured at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, Massachusetts. Phil and I spent a few days in Boston visiting friends, and my best college buddy Jackie organized a day of apple and pear picking on a sunny, perfect New England fall day.

There’s a quaint little shop where you can purchase jellies, jams, preserves, butters, and sauces made from produce grown at Honey Pot Hill. That’s also where you get the donuts…

…and honey sticks. Which are quite literally sticks filled with honey.

There were also fresh ears of late-summer sweet corn available when I visited.

And some random farm weaponry.

If you wanted, you could purchase heavy bags of pre-picked apples. But why would you do that? Doesn’t that take all the fun out of apple-picking? If the apples are already picked?

Luscious Cortlands and Empires and Royal Galas and Spartans… such regal names, for such an unpretentious fruit. We ate ourselves silly on apples but made room when we came to the pears.

It was just a rollicking good time. Dogs, pumpkins, pigs, goats, hayrides, and warm sugar-dipped apple cider donuts.

We spent some time in Boston, eating dinner on a friend’s roof deck and rambling around our old neighborhood.

We always loved to do breakfast and brunch at Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe, which really is more a diner than a sandwich shop. The place is a real local gem and has been around for ages. Since 1927, to be exact. Rumor has it that Sammy Davis, Jr. used to tap dance in front of the restaurant for change when he was a kid. There are no bathrooms at Charlie’s, and they still use wooden refrigerators purchased the year they opened.

We parked at the counter and I started the day out strong with Charlie’s famous turkey hash topped with a runny fried egg.

Later, Phil and I slurped oysters from the cold New England shores. Wellfleet, Pemaquid, Wianno…

Trips like this really make me miss Boston. But on my flight back to Jacksonville I remembered the snow drifts and the dirty slush and the gray days and the biting winds that would all begin soon and last more than half the year up there… Know what? I’ll take palm trees any day.

Eataly and Union Square Greenmarket

2010-10-19T10:00:00.003-04:00

Say your flight to JFK is severely delayed and it turns out you only have four hours in Manhattan. What to do? Go to Eataly. Then stop by the Union Square Greenmarket.

This post mainly offers jealousy-inducing photos of my time spent browsing around Eataly, the new mega food extravaganza created by culinary superstars Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The place is part specialty food mart, part greengrocer, part bakery, part restaurant, part deli, part import market, part espresso bar, part cheesemaker, part seafood market, part gelateria... You get the point. The place is huge and it is where you can find anything and everything that is Italian and that is delicious.

Lots of folks complain that Eataly is crowded and there are too many tourists and it’s expensive and the wait for tables and food is ridiculously long. I say, shut up, folks. Really. Quit complaining about having access to the highest quality Italian tomatoes and pastas and meats. Don’t whine that the wait for your hand-made mozzarella cheese was over twenty minutes, or that your razor clams were too expensive, or that a stupid tourist bumped your elbow while you were sipping on a perfect, frothy espresso. I am not sympathetic. If you don’t like crowds or tourists or high prices, you shouldn’t live in Manhattan. Okay. I feel better now.

I was there on a Friday morning at ten, just when the market opened. The place was nearly empty so while the restaurants had yet to open for lunch, I had free reign of the market.

So I did some intense browsing. At the seafood.

At the meat.

At the vegetables…

… like sea beans and zucchini flowers…

I stopped in my tracks at the cheese case.

That’s when Phil and I decided to scoop up some meats and cold cuts. We chose a hunk of caciotta mista (a semi-soft cow and sheep milk cheese from Toscana). We grabbed some freshly sliced meat, a loaf of bread, and a couple bottles of fancy Italian sodas.

And we had ourselves a picnic across the street in Madison Square Park.

Phil laid out our meal while I soaked up the Manhattan vibe. It was a sunny day, so the park was bustling with activity: a meditation circle, a good amount of camera-touting tourists, some kids splashing around in a fountain.

But soon I was focused on my lunch.

Mortadella flecked with pistachio and Parma black label ham, both from Emilia Romagna. With cheese. On a baguette with a shatteringly crisp crust and chewy interior. I could get used to this.

We then strolled down Broadway, to Union Square. To meats, cheeses, jams, and honeys.

To heirloom tomatoes displayed like jewels, and piles of bright summer produce.

Yeah. I could get used to this.

Northeast Ohio & Cleveland's West Side Market

2010-10-15T12:54:00.000-04:00

During my visit to Ohio, my Ma and Pa planned a trip to Cleveland’s century-old West Side Market, a temple to all things delicious. It’s a vibrant, bustling place, with a sense of purpose: seek out the juiciest plum, pick out the prettiest cut of marbled beef, find the most towering cake.

As with all food markets, the West Side Market tells a story about Cleveland, about the history of the area and the culture of the people who call this city home. Owing to the large population of northeast Ohioans who can trace their family lineages back to Central and Eastern Europe, you’ll find sausages of all sizes and persuasions: white bratwurst, smoked Slovenian sausage, Hungarian kielbasa, German sausages and cured meats. You’ll also find endless varieties of pierogi, Amish cheeses, bacon. Other culinary influences are thrown in; a Mediterranean grocer, a European bakery, a Middle Eastern foods vendor, a creperie, Cambodian and Mexican stalls.

And you can’t ignore the piles of fresh red meat beckoning from every other stall.

When we arrived, my parents made a beeline for Czuchraj Meats. They’d learned about Czuchraj’s locally famous smoked meats on the Food Network, when Michael Symon declared their beef jerky “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.”

Czuchraj’s stall was loaded with not only jerky in a multitude of flavors but also other smoked stuff like Amish bacon, smokies (meat sticks), kielbasa, and sausages. We ordered paper-wrapped sacks of honey-smoked jerky and smokies and made our way to the outer edge of the market. There, we climbed a staircase to an elevated space where we munched on jerky and watched the bustling world of the market below.

After we made our way back down to the main floor of the market, we spotted a crepe stand called Crepes De Luxe near the stairwell. My parents had never had a stuffed crepe before, so I ordered one with chevre, spinach, and tomato.

With a swift and circular turn of the wrist, the crepe guy spread a thin layer of batter on the crepe griddle. He then sprinkled the batter with chevre, tossed a handful of spinach and tomatoes on top, and covered the griddle with a wide dome to allow the spinach to wilt and the tomato and chevre to warm through. After a practiced amount of time, he removed the lid with a flourish and folded the crepe into a crisp triangular pocket.

In the same aisle as the creperie is Judy’s Oasis, a stand that specializes in the foods of Syria and Lebanon.

This kind of food is also foreign to my parents, so we picked up an assortment of items so they could get a sampling of Middle Eastern treats: spiced hummus, warm globes of falafel, and a spinach and feta pie pinched into the shape of a tricorn hat.

While my parents enjoyed trying something new, spinach and chickpeas aren’t enough to fill up a big guy like my dad. Thank goodness for Frank’s Bratwurst.

Frank’s has been slinging brats out of the same stand since 1970 and is run by the third generation of the Austrian Ratschki family.

Whenever I visit Ohio I always try to get in my pierogi fix. Descendents of Polish immigrants to the region craft some of the best savory dumplings I have ever eaten, and while I usually go for the traditional potato and cheese filling there is no limit to the combination of ingredients cooks devise to stuff into pierogi. Here at the West Side Market, the pierogi goes global with eclectic fillings such as Italian sausage, kraut with bratwurst, reuben, cream cheese and garlic, pork with tomato lime sauce, eggplant parmesan, Texas BBQ beef, refried beans with chillies, bacon double cheeseburger, and roast beef with horseradish.

We also poked around Mediterranean Imported Foods, a grocery store packed to the rafters with specialty ingredients like pickled herring, coffees, spices, breads, canned goods…

…and CHEESES. Lots of cheeses.

I’m not one for desserts but I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the bright colors and creativity exhibited by Vera’s Bakery: gooey, coconut-topped German chocolate brownies… towering red velvet cake… rich blueberry and cheese crostata… fluorescent orange Dreamsicle cheesecake…

My parents loaded up a box with dainty clothespins, a few slices of key lime cheesecake, and a German chocolate brownie or two. For later.

Back at home an or so south of Cleveland, my parents’ vegetable garden was heavy with red ripe tomatoes, glistening purple eggplants, peppers of all colors and varieties, cucumbers, and a variety of herbs.

We harvested a colorful basketful of sweet and spicy peppers, sliced them into rounds, sautéed them in olive oil with a smattering of garlic, and used them throughout the week on sandwiches and pizzas and whatever else made us happy.

BLTs made an appearance. Juicy garden tomatoes and local bacon squished between slices of toasted ciabatta we’d bought at Mediterra Bakehouse in the West Side Market. And you see that sweet corn in the background? I know I’ve talked about it before, so I won’t go into it too much, but the summertime sweet corn in Ohio really has no equal.

Home-cooked meals during my visits to Ohio are all about familiar comfort food. For Labor Day, my dad grilled his famous barbecue ribs and I tried my best to fit them on a plate already overflowing with macaroni salad, baked beans, cheesy potato casserole, turkey, and Puerto Rican rice (which happily makes an appearance on almost all of our holiday plates).

The Sanchez clan gathered for a Puerto Rican feast of epic proportions. My cousin Celeste was in town from Tejas and she woke at the crack of dawn so she could slow-roast a garlicky pork shoulder. She cooked a pot of rice and beans while my Aunt Katie fried tostones.

A Puerto Rican dinner wouldn’t be complete without pasteles, little labor-intensive packets of love. Pasteles are one of the most beloved Puerto Rican dishes and they contain braised pork shoulder and olives tucked into a dough of grated green bananas, green plantains, and calabazas. My family used to have pastel-making parties where everyone would gather and be given a duty: grate the plantains, braise the pork, mix the dough, assemble the pasteles. Hand-grating the plantains and bananas was guaranteed to give at least one person a bloody knuckle or two, and even with the whole family involved it would take at least an entire day to finish a batch. Nowadays, Mimi purchases her pasteles from a Puerto Rican lady who sells them out of her kitchen. If anyone knows of a source for pasteles in Jacksonville, please let me know! I spend a lot of time cooking, but I don’t have THAT much time.

My grandma on my Mom’s side is also keeping alive a culinary tradition her family practiced when she was growing up in West Virginia: air-drying shuck beans.

Back in the day, my grandma’s family (she was one of twelve siblings!) would grow huge quantities of green beans during the summer. To preserve them for the winter, they would string the beans onto long lines of thread and hang them outside to dehydrate in the sun. Once the beans were dry, they were gathered and used throughout the colder months. My grandma also calls shuck beans “leather britches.” I totally love that. Because she didn’t have a huge quantity to dry this summer, she instead opted to spread the beans on drying racks. To cook them, she soaks them overnight, drains them, adds fresh water and boils them with salt pork until they are very tender.

Other memorable meals? German food and beer at Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh…

… and sipping beers from mason jars and gobbling up hearty fare from the Iron Bridge Inn in Mercer, Pennsylvania.

Next stop: Manhattan.

All-American in the Adirondacks

2010-10-04T09:00:00.002-04:00

When the sun started sizzling in May here in Jacksonville, I started planning my escape. This summer I meandered around the northeast visiting friends and family in the Adirondacks, around northeast Ohio, in Manhattan, along the Jersey shore, and in Boston. Thought I’d share some photos and quick stories about the meals I ate along the way.

When I heard my Australian flatmate Madi was coming to stay with me at my in-law’s place in the Adirondacks, I immediately began planning a week-long menu that incorporated as much Americanness as possible. When we lived together in Adelaide, Madi shared her family recipes and food stories with me and introduced me to many Australian eating customs. She always had a gallon-sized jar of Vegemite in the cupboard. She taught me how to make lamingtons and how to eat them with black tea. I wanted to return the favor when she came to visit. And that meant greeting her arrival with grilled hamburgers, hotdogs with mustard, macaroni salad, and, of course, corn on the cob.

It was the height of summer, so I had to make Madi my favorite American summertime meal. Tender grilled ribs slathered in my sweet-smoky barbecue sauce… slow-cooked baked beans flavored with molasses… gooey macaroni and cheese with a crisp and buttery breadcrumb topping… moist, sweet cornbread (Madi’s favorite)… and my mother-in-law Laurie’s perfect potato salad. We all ate in silence, licking sauce and crumbs off our sticky fingers before we sat back and carefully peeled the paper back from a box of ice cream sandwiches.

We had grilled chicken tacos another night. You don’t get much Mexican-inspired fare in Australia, so I threw together some garlicky, lemony guacamole and a batch of salsa using tomatoes at the peak of their summer ripeness. Surprisingly, I came across a basket full of gleaming poblano peppers at the tiny local market. I blackened them on the grill, chopped them, and stirred them into a bowl of lime-and-garlic-scented rice.

For lunch one sunny day we sat at pink gingham tablecloth-covered picnic tables on the banks of Long Lake and noshed on Jewish deli fare at the Lakeside Knoshery. One thing I missed most when living in Australia were American sandwiches. Especially those piled high so high with pastrami or corned beef that you could barely fit them in your mouth. The reubens at Lakeside Knoshery are fat and messy and classic and delicious. A potato knish with plenty of deli mustard and a trio of potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce rounded out a time-honored American lunch.

We also lunched in Lake Placid, cozying up with glasses of California wine in an outdoor room overlooking Mirror Lake.

Madi ate bison for the first time. In the form of an open-faced sandwich topped with sweet, caramelized Vidalia onions and tomato-laced béarnaise.

And since we all know American lobster is the best lobster in the world, I ordered big meaty hunks of it with strips of salty bacon, chunks of avocado, and a lemon olive oil aioli on a brioche bun.

After a memorable lunch at the Brown Dog Deli and Wine Bar, we slowly made our way down Main Street, peeking in the shops and finally ending at a Sugar Shack that had freshly-baked key lime cupcakes perched prettily under the counter.

Our time together in the Adirondacks involved more than American food. Because my girlfriend Melissa brought me a bag heavy with orange-scented mate and sugared Spanish crispbreads from her favorite store in Hoboken. And Madi toted Maggie Beer’s cabernet sauce, nutty dukkah, my favorite brand of Thai red curry paste, Murray River salt flakes, chocolate-covered macadamias, and a stellar Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon all the way from Australia. She also brought a box of chocolates from Haigh’s. Each shiny little morsel was filled with a native Australia surprise: glaced quandong, wattle seed, macadamia nuts, lemon myrtle. I think that one was my favorite. The lemon myrtle.

And she even brought a precious bag of dried wild quandongs, a tiny, tart native Australian peach.

We rehydrated them with water and plenty of sugar and carefully stuffed them into biscuits, using a handwritten recipe from Madi’s grandmother.

At dusk on one of Madi’s last nights, a group of us hopped into kayaks and canoes and paddled out into the middle of Long Lake. We tied our kayaks together, drank wine and beer as we gently swayed with the waves, and laughed and laughed until the sun starting dipping behind the mountains and we had to glide back to shore.

I saw Madi off to New York City, and I flew the opposite direction, to Ohio. To visit my family. I’ll tell you about that next.

Azurea at One Ocean Resort

2010-09-30T15:57:00.001-04:00

Drive to Azurea. You’ve reached the edge of the continent. You can’t drive any further without sinking (unless you drive one of those land-and-sea duck tour tanks). Step out of your car (did you tip the valet?), enter the beautifully appointed lobby of One Ocean Resort, and walk through an aqueous blue tunnel that officially symbolizes your passing from a terrestrial world to one ruled by the sea.

Now take a deep breath and enjoy the view. The folks who decorated this restaurant at the water’s edge appropriately drew inspiration from the vasty deep. Witness: lots of deep blues and greens and wavy lines and big white-edged picture windows that frame the ocean dunes and let in an abundance of natural light. And the restaurant’s name, Azurea, which conjures images of a vivid blue underwater world.

Azurea feels fancy, but not uptown-chic fancy. It’s beachy fancy, which means I got away with wearing khakis, a sparkly shirt, and fancy sandals for a recent Friday dinner. I like that the people who created the atmosphere at Azurea paid attention to potential local clientele and the vibe at the beach, where most folks don’t wear shirts or shoes for five months out of the year. A lot of times these fancy hotel restaurants can get pretty prim and stodgy and dull. Although the high-backed semi-circle booth we sat in was constructed of opulent and textural fabrics and the overall feel of the dining area is that of an upscale hotel, there’s not a white tablecloth in sight and the warm and friendly staff throw any potential stuffiness right out one of those dune-framing picture windows.

Ah, the staff. I can’t say enough good things about The TJ. He attended to our table throughout the evening and by dessert, I felt like we’d been friends for years. He was young, which obviously contributed a youthful and un-stuffy vibe to the experience, yet he really knew his stuff. Wine pairings, the historical lineage of kurobota pork, any question I threw his way about the menu. You could tell he has a real passion for food, wine, and pleasing his customers.

Chef Ted Peters has cooked around the globe - London, France, the Caribbean, Miami, Texas, Boston - and you see glimpses of these global influences in Azurea’s menu. It changes with the seasons, which is a good thing for those who appreciate seasonal fare and for repeat visitors to Azurea. But it’s a bad thing if you head to the restaurant expecting to see a specific below-described dish on the menu. I like the look of the autumn line-up – you can find it here. If you’ve got the cash for it, I’d suggest trying the Adventurous Palate tasting menu. Chef Ted Peters and his sous chefs will construct a menu based on your personal preferences, what’s fresh and in-season, and the whimsy and creativity of the cooking team.

Our first taste of Azurea was an amuse bouche that evoked summer like no other dish can: a tiny tomato, a single leaf of basil, and a slice of mozzarella strung on a dainty little stick and anchored by a square of olive oil and balsamic-soaked bread.

Could have perhaps been a bit more creative or artfully presented but, like I said, it tasted like summer. I like summer.

The wine list at Azurea is as thick as a phone book, and TJ seemed to be intimately familiar with the entire selection. Phil and I each ordered a glass of citrusy Handley Gewurtztraminer to accompany our appetizers and bread course. Bread course, you ask? Azurea presents all guests with an impressively well-though-out bread service: a basket of assorted breads with four spreads presented on a long, transparent blue plate that echoes the aquatic theme of the restaurant. It’s even brought out by a separate waiter, so it feels extra special.

The sundried tomato and kalamata olive tapenade had an incredible depth of flavor and complexity. It was my favorite spread by far and displayed an admirable balance between the saltiness of the olives and the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes. Also delicious were the creamy elephant garlic confit with Maldon sea salt and the parsley-sprinkled Vermont Butter and Cheese Company European-style butter. The butter tasted fresh and its sweetness reminded me of the butter I used to devour by the stick in Switzerland. The bread service also included your standard olive oil and balsamic vinegar combination. We had fun trying each spread on different types of bread.

For his appetizer, Phil went with the cast iron-seared jumbo blue crab cake. The cake was served on a bed of apple cider-braised collard greens and surrounded by charred red and green heirloom tomatoes and a round of crisp pancetta. According to Phil, it was the best crab cake he can remember eating and he particularly enjoyed the salty and textural elements contributed by the crisp pancetta. I thought there might have been a bit much going on, but I really appreciated the Southerness of the dish and agree with Phil that the crab cake itself was an exemplar of its kind. (George Singletary, Jacksonville’s Fine Dining Examiner, agrees with Phil that this is the best appetizer in Jacksonville. It made it onto the autumn menu, so make sure to try it when you visit.)

I chose the caramelized Vidalia onion tarte tatin with melted mini heirloom tomatoes, cured Niçoise olives, and Indian River lime emulsion. The Chef really respected the onion, know what I mean? The caramelization brought out the natural sweetness of the Vidalia and instead of falling apart in a limp and soggy heap, the onion retained its texture. Serving it with the caramelized side up made for a nice presentation and although I wished for some sort of element to tie the onion with the pastry crust underneath – maybe a sauce or some other juicy element to penetrate the dryness of the pastry? – I happily drug the onion tart through the sweet lime emulsion and alternated bites of the warm, juicy, squirty tomatoes with the onion. The lime emulsion also served to dress the salad of watercress, herbs, and crunchy strips of jicama.

Phil and I had a tricky time deciding on our mains. TJ recommended the hand cut Wagyu beef tenderloin and the Spice Island duo of Caribbean pork and grilled scallops. But, probably because we had just passed through that tunnel into the underwater world, and seeing as we were surrounded by such an undeniably aquatic atmosphere, it felt appropriate to order seafood.

Hence Phil’s grilled Atlantic snapper with pineapple lime salsa. The fish was firm, moist, and flaky and well-complemented by the sweet fruit salsa. However, Phil was disappointed in the bleu cheese “cheesecake” served with the snapper. It was the side of the day and the heavy, custardy texture and intensely rich flavor overpowered the mild fish and delicate sweetness of the fruit. Phil doesn’t particularly like bleu cheese in the first place, and he wasn’t given a choice of sides, nor was he informed of the side until the plate arrived to the table. I love bleu cheese and this side would have gone well with a richer protein. Like that hand-cut Wagyu. But with the snapper, not so much.

TJ paired Phil’s snapper with a glass of DR Loosen Riesling. Again, good choice for the fish but not for the bleu cheese cake.

I also took the seafaring route and ordered the Fresh Catch, Three Ways. It was just like it sounds: the catch-of-the-day – grouper – prepared three different ways and propped up on puffs of creamy mashed potatoes.

Let’s look at each fish preparation, starting from the right and heading to left. The grilled fish with a tropical fruit salpicon was immensely refreshing and a perfect summertime preparation. I wished I’d eaten the beignet battered grouper with smoked Vidalia onion remoulade first, since as with any fried food it got a bit soggy as it sat. However, I’m a sucker for fried stuff and I loved the light batter. Overall the remoulade was tasty and a good choice for the battered fish, but I found myself wishing the onions had caramelized and softened a bit more. I wanted them to melt into the remoulade but they were still too raw and bitey for my liking.

Of the three preparations, my favorite was the bronzed fish with a citrus butter emulsion.

I love that term – bronzed. It was lighter on the spices than a blackened preparation and the subtleness of the seasoning really allowed the freshness of the fish to shine through. Plus, the word “bronze” reminds me of summer days at the beach slathering myself with Hawaiian Tropic. Good times, good times.

TJ paired this dish with a bright and crisp Sonoma Cutrer Russian River chardonnay. It was a good choice for pairing with an array of preparations, and I liked that it was well-balanced and not too oaky.

In the interest of research, Phil and I also ordered a side dish of four cheese baked macaroni. It was totally unnecessary. Unlike some upscale eateries, the portion sizes at Azurea are more than ample to satisfy a hungry person. But, hey, I’m only human for being unable to pass up a cheesy mixture of asiago, cheddar, parmigiano, and manchego tossed with curly pasta and topped with crunchy breadcrumbs. Cellentani pasta really is a superior choice for macaroni and cheese. Its curves and nooks and crannies catch all that cheesy béchamel, and the fresh breadcrumb and parmigiano topping allowed for a bit of crispness in every bite.

Also unnecessary but impossible to pass up was the bittersweet chocolate soufflé with vanilla crème anglaise. Apparently Nancy, the pastry chef at Azurea, was the food stylist for the Horse Whisperer and has baked her way around the globe. The soufflé required advance notice and as such arrived warm, straight from the oven to our table, with a decadent, gooey center and a little pitcher of extra crème anglaise to drizzle in the center once we’d scooped out a few spoonfuls of silken chocolateyness. A couple shots of espresso rounded out a very enjoyable dining experience.

So here’s where it needs to be said that Phil and I didn’t… well… we didn’t pay a cent for the meal. We were invited by the restaurant. I was initially uneasy about accepting free stuff – expensive free stuff, to boot – but I’m only human and I’d really been wanting to eat at Azurea and to meet Chef Ted Peters in person. I think his involvement with the James Beard Foundation has the potential to bring national exposure to Jacksonville and the First Coast. And hopefully his relationship with other local chefs (he’s invited a few of my favorites to cook for a big James Beard dinner in the spring) is another step towards creating a culinary identity for our city.

Chef Ted came out and spoke with Phil and me after each course, and his passion for food and fine dining was inspiring. But… I couldn’t help notice that, on a Friday evening, there were only two other tables of diners. I’ve heard a similar story from other friends who’ve dined at Azurea: the restaurant is beautiful, the food is good, but often, tables are empty. Why?

I think partly it’s because the economy isn’t going so great, in case you didn’t hear, and fine dining is one of the first and easiest things to cut out of a tight budget. And it’s not just that the prices of entrees hover in the upper $20 to lower $30 range; I think it’s also the simple fact that Azurea is a restaurant inside a fancy hotel, and as beachy-chic and locally-oriented as they try to be, there’s no denying that. I do have to say that the dishes were presented like… like… hotel dishes. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not for everyone.

Another issue I’ve heard about Azurea relates to consistency. I’ve told friends about my great experience dining there and they didn’t seem to have received the same attention and quality as Phil and I did. I know food and dining is a subjective, personal experience, but it’s worth pointing out, especially since we were invited guests. A friend shared a photo with me of a disappointing macaroni and cheese they were served at Azurea. It didn’t look nearly as cheesy as mine, nor did it have as much of that delicious breadcrumb topping.

I urge you to dine at Azurea and form your own opinion based on your experience with the food and service. For most of us, it’s a special occasion kind of deal. I think it would be very difficult to walk out of there without spending less than $100 for dinner. But think of the breezes, and of the ocean view – sadly, a rare thing offered by restaurants in our city by the sea. For some, that view is priceless.

Azurea at One Ocean Resort

http://www.oneoceanresort.com/dining/

One Ocean Boulevard, Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 (904)249-7402

The Canfield Fair

2010-09-07T11:00:00.001-04:00

The Canfield Fair. Largest county fair in the state of Ohio. Harbinger of autumn and the beginning of the school year. Best place to slurp Lemon Shake-Ups, munch fresh-cut fries, and tackle giant corndogs. Showcase of the heartland’s agricultural abundance and continuing farmland traditions. Familiar faces, community spirit, family values. The Canfield Fair: America at its very best.

Lucky me. I grew up just down the road from the Canfield Fair and went at the end of the summer nearly every year in my youth. In high school I was surely more concerned with scoping out those cute corn-fed boys than I was in the myriad varieties of tomatoes and prized gourds in the agricultural barns. But a visit this Labor Day weekend to the fair reminded me just how lucky I am to have grown up in America’s heartland. Today, my parents live even closer to the fair and my fair visit has been one of the highlights of my time here.

This year marked the fair’s 164th anniversary and it’s common to see generations of families milking cows, grooming horses, serving apple cider, and attending the demolition derby together.

Let’s go on a tour of the 2010 Canfield Fair. And let’s, of course, start with the food. At over 350 acres the fair is massive, and much of the space is occupied by concessions. Over 1,000 concessions, according to the fair’s website. Me, first thing I do is go straight for the fresh-cut fries when I go to the Canfield Fair. My mom says there are two brands that vie for the title of best fries: Richardson’s and Hoover’s. Each brand operates multiple stands on different midways. In the interest of research (!), I tried both. First up was Richardson’s.

The perfect fair fry: thicker than a shoestring but definitely not fat, skin-on, soft on the inside and crisp at the edges, bendy, just a tad greasy… the perfect formula for sopping up globs of ketchup and sprays of vinegar. Richardson’s is serious about their fries; they even come in paper cups branded with the company logo. Know what my favorite part of eating fries out of cups is? Those last few stragglers soaked with the tang of ketchup and vinegar hiding down there at the bottom. Go on, fish ‘em outta there, get your fingers and hands greasy and sticky all the way up to your wrist. You only get this once a year.

It was virtually impossible to choose a favorite between Richardson’s and Hoover’s. Hoover’s enjoyed all the same traits of the perfect fry as did the potatoes from Richardson’s.

I suppose I do prefer the glass bottles of vinegar at Hoover’s to Richardson’s spray bottles. I really like a lot of vinegar on my fries, and it takes a lot of spraying to get them to my liking. Richardson’s, though, has an extra size option. At Hoover’s, you choose between small, large, and a bucket. Richardson’s has a tiny little small cup. So, if you’re like me and want to sample as many different fair foods as possible, the small size at Richardson’s will give you a taste without taking up too much room in your stomach.

But I’m splitting hairs here. Richardson’s or Hoover’s – you can’t go wrong.

While Richardson’s is single-mindedly focused on serving the perfect fry, Hoover’s also sells Lemon Shake-Ups, a perennial fair favorite. Glasses full of juiced lemon halves and sugar are lined up along the counter, with bright paper lemonade cups as hats. When you place your order, the vendor adds ice and water and applies a few good, firm shakes. Nothing quenches your thirst better, or serves as a better accompaniment to fries.

Another treat that brings me back to my youth and just screams YOU’RE AT THE FAIR! is a DiRusso’s Italian sausage sandwich topped with peppers, onions, and tomato sauce. This Youngstown-based company gained street-cred by selling its sausage sandwiches at fairs and festivals and is now the best-selling sausage in the area. DiRusso’s is over 50 years old and still uses family recipes that have been handed down for three generations. You can purchase their frozen products at a number of area grocery stores. But it’s only when I eat one of their sausages sandwiches outdoors, surrounded by the atmosphere of the fair, that it take me back to when I was a kid.

You can smell the distinctive aroma of DiRusso’s sausage and peppers before you actually see the concession stand. Their sausage isn’t shy on the spices. You can choose your heat level, but all of them include a good amount of fennel. The soft bun soaks up the tomato sauce and juices from the meat… mmm…

When I go to the Canfield Fair, I usually pick up a fried cheese at the Antone’s booth near the grandstand.

Antone’s is a small local chain of Italian restaurants that has been around since the 1960s. The restaurants serve up Italian classics, of which fried cheese was always my favorite when I was growing up. Antone’s doesn’t bother to cut their cheese into wimpy little batons, like most other places. Oh no. They bread and fry a nice square hunk of mozzarella and top it with a healthy dose of their spaghetti sauce. This isn’t finger food; cut into the square and the cheese oozes out, leaving a trail of stringy goodness all the way to your mouth.

There are a few food items that you just have to order at any fair you visit. Like a corndog.

But just any corndog won’t do at the Canfield Fair. How about a giant corndog? Double the dog, double the size. My dad’s hand is HUGE. This corndog was HUGE. Three of us couldn’t even eat half of it.

The Canfield Fair, like many fairs, is big on the meat. This year a two-pound $17 hamburger made headlines, as did a concession serving chocolate-covered bacon. You can always find piles of grilled turkey haunches, Philly cheesesteaks, and barbecued ribs.

Then there’s the creativity involved with desserts. I spotted a stand advertising deep-fried Pop Tarts. The thought of that makes me nauseous, but warm blackberry cobbler a-la-mode certainly does not.

I also tried a sip of cherri cider that tasted like a cherry Lifesavers and was sweet enough to be dessert.

Other than the concessions selling ready-made fries and sausages and cheeses and meats and desserts, the Canfield Fair is a place where we can connect with the source of our food and the traditions that have inspired Northeast Ohio’s down-home food culture for generations. I particularly enjoyed poking around the poultry barn and watching the cows getting milked. Guess I'm officially a city girl.

The agricultural barns not only display the pride of local farmers and the bounty of the area, but also serve as a colorful reminder of the beauty of the harvest. Many of the produce displays could have easily been mistaken for works of art.

I learned about the multitude of varieties of tomatoes and peppers that are grown locally. They have charismatic names like Fat ‘n’ Sassy, Golden Jubilee, Better Boy, Early Girl, and Green Magic.

My mine was boggled by all the different fruits and vegetables and meats that can be canned (kohlrabi! buffalo?!).

The display of canned items completely fascinated me, with whimsical names (dilly beans), unfamiliar ingredients (sassafras), and a good dose of REALLY?!ness (bison and ground chuck patties).

Did you know there were so many different varieties and colors of apples?!

Or that you could have SO much fun with squash?! Prizes were awarded for fattest zucchini, longest zucchini, heaviest zucchini, prettiest zucchini, and my favorite, curviest zucchini.

The veggie fun didn’t stop there. I think I enjoyed the “Vegetable Oddities” display a little too much. Eggplants with XXX-rated protuberances, convoluted bell peppers, potatoes in unnatural shapes.

I think next year I should enter the vegetable decorating contest. Look up “good, clean fun” in the dictionary and this is the photo you’ll see.

One of my favorite barns has always been the one displaying giant pumpkins. This year, a hefty 1,244-pounder took home the prize.

My ma, pa, and I spent four hours eating and looking at vegetables and canned foods, but there is much more entertainment to be had at the Canfield Fair. Apart from country music concerts and watching the cows being milked, you can also pet baby pygmy goats and watch any number of animal shows.

There are rock bands and Appalachian folk music, too. Just like my grandma and her family probably sang when they lived in a coal-mining camp in West Virginia.

The Canfield Fair is a place where traditions stay alive. Where the past is as relevant as the present, and more valuable than the future.

Canfield Fair

http://www.canfieldfair.com/

7265 Columbiana-Canfield Rd.
Canfield, OH 44406

(330)533-4107

Breezy eating at the beach

2010-09-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

This time of year is my favorite time of year to play –and eat – and drink – at the beach. Just when I start thinking, Hey! alright, it’s September, fall’s coming soon… then BAM! I leave the cool confines of my AC’d apartment and quickly remember that, in Jacksonville, summer lasts until November. So. I’m infinitely grateful for the ocean breezes that, like most of my friends who live at the beach, never seem to venture further inland than the intracoastal. Lucky for me I’m not a geographic elitist. I may not be one for sand and surf, but I do love the laid-back, no-worries vibe found at many restaurants and eateries near Jacksonville’s coast. Here’s an overview of my favorite breezy, beachy restaurants and bars in Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, and Neptune Beach.

SALT LIFE FOOD SHACK

Salt Life is a singular lifestyle brand that is trying its very best to singlehandedly embody Jacksonville’s beach culture… and I have to say, they’re doing a pretty good job. T-shirts, bumper stickers, koozies – you see them all over the place. Salt Life Food Shack is a relatively recent addition to the brand and to the Jax Beach dining scene. It occupies the spot where Harry's used to be for years, but they've knocked down all the inside walls to make a huge, bright, airy, oceany open space, with the main dining area separated from a bar area simply by a huge aquarium. The brick walls have all been painted white or sky blue and the ceilings were left exposed. There are all these cool montages of beach life paintings hung on the walls. Plus they created a covered outdoor patio. Harry's was so dark and claustrophobic - Salt Life is the total opposite of that.

You get a beach vibe the second you step into Salt Life, and that oceany feel carries over to the menu. Seafood is the name of the game, although they do have a rockin' beer can chicken which I'll tell you more about in a sec. There's a raw bar and sushi section, and a bunch of salads, sandwiches, and seafood entrees. Lots of simple preparations to highlight the freshness of the ingredients. All the waitresses I saw were young and bubbly and gorgeous and ours was extremely competent and friendly, so double score for that.

To be honest, I really wanted to hate this place before I ate there. I had tried to do dinner at Salt Life twice before sitting down to lunch but never made it inside due to hour and a half waits on Friday and Saturday nights. !! The eatery was crawling with tan, cutesie beach people both times. Blech. Plus, the whole concept is so cha. A restaurant piggybacking off the cheesy Salt Life bumper sticker craze? I was thinking the place would be all like, Duuuuude, Salt Life isn't a restaurant, it's a state of miiiiiiind, bro. I mean, I even hate the font they use for that Salt Life stuff. But my experience wasn't like that at all.

I had been hearing about this poke bowl from seemingly every person who lives out at the beach so I definitely had to try and it see what all the buzz was about. A friend had given me a really hot tip: order the Hawaiian Shrimp Bowl, but substitute ahi tuna for the shrimp. Boy was she right - when the waitress brought me the dish she said all the cooks in the kitchen were really excited about it. And so was I! A big bowl of sticky Japanese-style short grain rice topped with diced, stir-fried squash, zucchini, onions, red bell peppers, and pineapple all cooked in a ginger-soy glaze, then topped with spinach, avocado, and raw ahi tuna slices sprinkled with sesame seeds. All the ingredients were so fresh and the rice was perfectly cooked and they served it with chopsticks and it was just so darn good. It was filling without being at all heavy and I can't tell you how much it hit the spot.

One of my girlfriends ordered the beer can chicken. Salt Life offers daily specials and beer can chicken was up for Sunday. The chicken was ridiculously tender and had a glaze on the outside that made the skin salty and flavorful. It was served with an ear of grilled corn with a spicy mayo dressing drizzled on top. A really hearty and well-prepared meal for just nine bucks. She took half of it home.

My other friend got the East Coast shrimp roll: poached shrimp tossed in a light mayonnaise dressing with celery in a toasted roll. The shrimp salad was refreshing and the light dressing allowed the flavor of the shrimp to really come through. However, we really could have done without the melted cheese on top of the roll. If I were you, I'd ask for no cheese - unnecessary and not traditional. The roll came with thick seasoned fries.

Salt Life Food Shack would be perfect if only they took dinner reservations on the weekends. The parking lot is a nightmare, but they do have valet so I can't really hold their popularity against them. If you have friends or family visiting from out of town, bring them to Salt Life! It’s Jacksonville’s beach scene and coastal food culture at its best. 1018 Third Street North, Jacksonville. (904) 372-4456. http://www.saltlifefoodshack.com/

MELLOW MUSHROOM

Mellow Mushroom is a pizza joint that has enjoyed great success in northern Florida. This new-ish location on 3rd Street in Jacksonville Beach seems to have been a smash hit from the start. The restaurant shares a wall with Salt Life Food Shack, so if you’re wondering where all the tan young thangs eat dinner on the weekends, well, now you know where to find them! (Advice: car pool if you can. The shared parking lot will test your nerves.)

This is a hip place that attracts a fun crowd. When you enter Mellow Mushroom you immediately notice the retro-funk décor and psychedelic motif.

They have a decent selection of domestic and import brews on tap. The menu ranges from standard to experimental, as the creative mindset of the restaurant's owners steers Mellow Mushroom in directions that make this place different from all the other pizza houses in town. You'll see lots of hippie-inspired pizza names like Kosmic Karma, Magical Mystery Tour, and the Philosopher, and this vibe and sense of humor extend to all aspects of dining at the Mellow Mushroom.

I’d recommend dining outside on Mellow Mushroom's patio if the weather is cooperating. You get breezes out here at the beach that don’t reach us city dwellers, and the tone is relaxed – dare I say, mellow? – with lights casually strung about overhead and lots of sunburnt, rowdy young people hanging out in large groups. I've never come here for the bar scene before, but the giant bar inside the restaurant combined with the festive mood on the patio made me think it would be a fun night. Plus, they have a pretty decent selection of bottled and draft brews.

I really like the pizza here, and according to my beach-residing friends it competes for the unofficial title of best slice in town. Last time I visited my date ordered a 10" pizza with some pretty standard toppings - pepperoni, green peppers, extra cheese. I had a slice and we both agreed that the crust at Mellow Mushroom is some of the best in town - it holds up well to the toppings and the thick outer border was chewy and almost had a sourdough-like tang. I was glad we ordered extra cheese and I'll do the same when I return.

My dish was less successful, mostly because it was cold when it was supposed to be hot. Serves me right for ordering something semi-healthy at a pizza joint. I got the portobello mushroom stuffed with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, feta and spinach… topped with mozzarella, baked in the oven and served over a salad. It was an appetizer dish, so we speculated that they threw it in the oven thinking we wanted it to come out before the pizza, then it just sat around until the pizza was done. It had potential, though. But it needed more artichokes.

The service was really slow outside on the deck because it was so busy, so don't expect to come here for a quick meal on the weekends. Our waitress was really nice and she was doing her best - it was just packed. But hey - it's still way better than the two hour wait next door at Salt Life! 1018 3rd Street North, Jacksonville Beach. (904) 372-4456.

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TACOLU BAJA MEXICANA

Tacolu is another fun, casual, energetic place out at the beach. On the weekends it’s always crawling with taco-hungry folks willing to wait up to an hour for a table. Luckily Tacolu has a happenin’ bar area and the best tequila selection in town to help bide the time.

The restaurant bills itself as serving Baja-style tacos, and that’s what I always get when I go. You order tacos individually – three tacos and a side fill me up, especially with all the munching on chips and salsa and queso and guacamole. Last time I went, I ordered a Baja fish taco, Chingona chicken taco, and brisket taco. They’re my favorites. The Baja fish taco was the biggest of the bunch, with big hunks of beer-battered mahi, cabbage, pico, chipotle crema, and cilantro stuffed into a homemade corn tortilla. The chingona chicken is tender, full of flavor, and slightly spicy from the tomatillo-chile de arbol salsa drizzled on top. And the brisket taco is rich and filling. The beef is slow-roasted in Dos Equis Amber beer and served on a soft flour tortilla with homemade Ranchera sauce, poblano peppers, cotija cheese, diced onion and cilantro. Don’t forget to squeeze lime over everything.

Phil’s Tacolu verde taco was a less spicy version of the Chingona chicken taco, but equally delicious.

My favorite side is an ear of Mexican street corn. It’s topped with cotija cheese, chipotle crema, chile powder, and a squeeze of lime.

I like that Tacolu exercises creative license with their taco fillings. While you won’t find a cheeseburger taco, lamb taco with feta sauce, or Asian-inspired bangin' shrimp taco in Baja, I really appreciate that the restaurant isn’t bound by a notion of authenticity. They like to have fun. So do I. Their enchiladas are also different from what we’re used to, cuz they’re stacked instead of rolled. I tried the enchilada roja the other day: freshly made corn tortillas layered with slow-roasted beef brisket smothered in homemade ranchera sauce and Mexican cheese. Mexican lasagna. Yum. My mom-in-law ordered it with cilantro-spinach rice.

I was very happy to see the Aperol Skinny Margarita on the cocktail list. Tacolu’s Irene entered the drink in the Jacksonville Mixology Competition at Orsay a couple months back and took home the second place prize! Irene was very proud of the fact that the Skinny Margarita uses all natural ingredients, and I was just stoked that it tasted so fresh and clean and citrusy. The drink contains Corazon blanco, Aperol, organic cucumber liqueur, fresh-squeeze lime juice and agave nectar. The night I visited Tacolu there were some Cuervo promo girls passing around free shots of Cuervo silver. Si.

Taco Lu gets packed on weekends, when parking can be a bit of a headache. Best to go during the week or early or late on Friday or Saturday to avoid the dinner rush. If that’s not possible, well, there’s always that wall full of tequila at the bar! 1183 Beach Boulevard, Jacksonville Beach, FL. (904) 249-8226. http://tacolu.com/

SINGLETON’S SEAFOOD SHACK

Singleton's is a seafood shack of the highest order. The eatery is in a rambling old wooden building right over the water on the Intracoastal, in the Mayport area of Atlantic Beach. It looks like it could fall into the water at any moment. That's why it's called a shack, I suppose.

If the waterfront location and fishing boats parked in front of the restaurant aren't clues enough, you'll know exactly what you're getting into the minute you walk into Singleton's. There's a display of fresh seafood hanging out on ice right by the door, and the kitchen is immediately behind this display. You can watch the cooks grab a fillet of triggerfish, or sheepshead, or some crab legs, or a soft-shelled crab... turn around... and cook it. Right there. Pretty fresh.

We went on Saturday night at prime dinner time and were told there would be a pretty sizeable wait, but our table was ready within twenty minutes. Perfect amount of time to walk around outside, take a stroll down the docks, admire the boats, take some sunset photos. Look at the wooden boat replicas and local art in the back room. Grab a beer at the bar.

We were seated in the indoor area that's A/C'd, but honestly the temperature was no different inside than it was outside with the breeze coming off the water and all. Our waitress was exceedingly friendly and nice. I think I'd get sick of slinging the same fried seafood day after day, but she showed not a single sign of jadedness. We started with conch fritters. Like everything else we ordered, they arrived hot hot hot to our table, fresh outta the fryer.

I went with fried sheepshead (a local fish) and shrimp. Others at the table had Cajun-fried triggerfish, fried scallops, and grilled shrimp and triggerfish. I'm glad I tried the sheepshead since I’ve only seen it available here in Northeast Florida. But I definitely preferred the triggerfish, another local option - it's more meaty and moist and flaky. My favorite preparation was Cajun-fried so I'll get that next time! As far as sides are concerned - get the collards. They're well-seasoned and tasty. We also had fries, baked potatoes, rice and beans, and coleslaw floating around, and they were all pretty standard. Everything's served with plastic cutlery on Styrofoam plates. I wouldn't have it any other way.

It seems that the right thing to do here is to get your seafood fried. But my mother-in-law ordered her shrimp and triggerfish grilled and I actually preferred it that way. Bonus for my waistline!

I don't think Singleton's is cheap necessarily - mains are pushing $20. But if you realize that you're getting enough food on one plate for three people, then you begin to see just how reasonably priced the food is here. We took enough food home for at least another meal.
Singleton's makes me wish I grew up in Jacksonville. My husband grew up in Atlantic Beach and this is the food he ate when he was a kid. Now I understand why he was incredulous when I told him that I'd never eaten seafood before we met. There's no ocean in Ohio. Boy am I happy to live in Florida now.
Don't listen to the reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon telling you to steer clear of Singleton's. This place is what northeast Florida is all about. It’s a great example of our seafood culture and the casual atmosphere that permeates nearly all of our most-loved local eating establishments. Any a self-respecting food snob will love this place - awesome views, lived-in feel, the freshest local catch imaginable paired with well-prepared regional favorites like hushpuppies and coleslaw and smoked fish dip? Local color at its finest. (Watch out for a future post covering more of Jacksonville’s fish camps.) 4728 Ocean Street, Atlantic Beach. (904) 246-4442.

CARIBBEE KEY

When I lived in Boston and came down to Jacksonville for Christmas or spring break to visit Phil’s family, the first place I wanted to go was Caribbee Key. With an upstairs bar open to the breezes of the ocean, affordable beers, and unmistakably Floridian fare, this eatery embodies the laid-back, casual surfer vibe of the beach.

Their conch fritters are some of the best around - moist, well-browned, and always fresh and hot.

I had a cup of roasted corn and crab chowder once and was less impressed, but generally their seafood offerings are fresh, simply prepared, and filling. I can definitely recommend the sweet potato fries and the peel-n-eat Caribbee shrimp. Phil usually gets the Mahi2 sandwich, blackened.

The place really gets bopping at night, when it becomes difficult to fight your way to the bar on the upstairs level. There’s often an island-y reggae type band playing downstairs, and a good mix of just-turned-21 and just-turned-30 folks. I only go out at the beach like twice a year, and it seems everyone who's out on the weekends comes through Caribbee Key for at least a drink. So, the place is definitely a fixture in my going-out-at-the-beach rotation. It's like a high-school reunion, only less awkward and only the cool people were invited.

Know what you should drink at Caribbee Key? The Lemon Drop Martini. It’s the absolute perfect after-dinner drink. Kind of like a limoncello, only girlier cuz it's served in a martini glass with a cute little curly lemon peel. It's really strong - just one should do the trick. They'll make a "guy" version too, if you ask - all that means is that they put it in a plastic solo cup instead of a martini glass, and they skip the lemon peel.

I like the slogan on the website: Dine, Dance, and Find Romance. I'm sure more than one beach bum, full of conch and Corona, has waltzed out of Caribbee Key with a one-night romance on a hot summer night. (Tip: Please oh please do not forget your ID when you head to Caribbee Key. They don't mess around here and the bouncers won't accept a smile and a flirt in lieu of a drivers license.) 100 1st Street, Neptune Beach, FL. (904) 270-8940. http://caribbeekey.com/

CASA MARINA

Casa Marina is a stunning colonial building situated right on the ocean. I think it must be the classiest spot in Jax Beach. A long walkway leads you over the dunes and drops you directly onto the sandy beach.

The Casa Marina is a popular venue for intimate cool-weather weddings in the courtyard. I attended a wedding here and got to try the brunch buffet. It included many items from the regular Sunday brunch menu and a good mix of sweet and savory options. Most were quite good, but I can't say I'd be willing to spend $26.95 of my own money to have brunch here. To me, brunch just wouldn't be brunch without a mimosa or bloody Mary, so figure in the cost of tax, tip, and a drink and you're easily looking at $80 for brunch for two. Maybe for a special occasion. But maybe not.

What I can recommend without hesitation are the unparalleled ocean views from the Penthouse Lounge on the top floor. Enter through the side of the Casa Marina and wind your way up some gorgeous wooden stairs to the top floor. When you reach the lounge, the first thing you'll see is a very cool wooden bar lit by pendant lamps dangling from the ceiling. The main lounge area is straight ahead. It's a circular room with floor-to-ceiling windows on nearly all sides so you have an amazing ocean view from almost every single inside table.

It was drizzling so we didn't sit outside. However, most of the outdoor deck is covered by a permanent tent so it really wouldn't have been a problem for us to sit under the tent. Also great for providing shade from the sun!
The lounge has an extensive cocktail menu with tasty-sounding martinis like a blueberry lemon drop, bikinitini, and Caribbean cosmo. Girls get specials on the drinks every Friday. Our waitress was extremely friendly and recommended a key lime martini that wasn't listed on the menu - she had the bartender make it especially for our table. It was frothy and creamy and tasted just like key lime pie.

We also ordered bleu chips and crab cakes. The bleu chips are housemade potato chips topped with warm crumbled bleu cheese and a rich rosemary balsamic reduction. And the crab cake was crisp and full of crab and came with two sauces: whole grain mustard and sweet chili.

If you have out-of-town guests, take them to the Penthouse Lounge at the Casa Marina! The view, the Spanish colonial style, the locally-themed martinis, the tasty snacks... you can't go wrong. 691 1st St
Jacksonville Beach. (904) 270-0025. http://www.casamarinahotel.com/

SUN DOG DINER

Sun Dog is one of the signature restaurants found in the Neptune Beach/Atlantic Beach Town Center. The casual menu, service and atmosphere have been satisfying the tastes of beach locals for generations. Many people come into Sun Dog straight from the beach with sunburnt necks and sandy flip flops.

The first thing you do when you get to Sun Dog is order is a beer. They have Bold City on tap. Go for it.
This diner prides itself on being unpretentious and the bar can get pretty rowdy as the night goes on, especially on the weekends. They often have a variety of live music going in the corner, and the crowd is typically a bit older than some of the other bars at the beach.

Used to be that I only went to Sun Dog to drink. A lot. But I recently stepped outside the box and went with a big group of friends for dinner. Luckily we scored a big round booth in the back corner that perfectly accommodated our big party. Unfortunately the AC didn't really reach the back corner and we didn't have a ceiling fan directly overhead so we pretty much had a thin layer of sweat the entire night. That's cool, contributes to the seedy vibe of the place, just wish I hadn't gotten all dolled up before. (Mental note: not necessary to get dolled up to go to Sun Dog.)
We started off with chips and salsa and some of their delicious lobster parmesan dip. The salsa was fresh and the dip was definitely the best dish of the night - rich and full of lobster and really an enormous portion for the price. It easily served as an appetizer for all seven of us. Too bad the tortilla chips were REALLY stale.

Someone in the group had a hankering for fried shrimp but they were out of shrimp (?!) so here's what we ordered: crab cakes, crab cake sandwich with fries, blackened mahi sandwich with fries, ahi tuna provencal salad, chili, blackened mahi with bleu cheese, and scallops with pineapple salsa and spinach. The mahi and scallop entrees also looked really good but I'm not sure I'm down with paying nearly $20 for a main dish at a diner. I could pay that and get something way better somewhere else.

The best dish was the ahi tuna salad, and I thought it was fairly priced at $10.

So final verdict: come to Sun Dog for lunch or drinks and a snack or two. Sandwiches are good and standard and the prices are reasonable, but main course dinner entrees are too expensive for what you get. It's not a place to get dressed up for, obviously, so I think Sun Dog will remain my casual beachy grab-a-beer-at-a-cool-bar joint. 207 Atlantic Boulevard, Atlantic Beach. (904) 241-8221. http://www.sundogjax.com/

SLIDERS SEAFOOD GRILLE

Sliders is a Neptune Beach staple. The eatery has been serving casual but quality seafood for, like, ever... and should continue to do so for years to come. There's seating both indoors and out and the place is normally the busiest in the late afternoon to early evening, when folks come stumbling inland from the beach.

Up until last week, I only ever went straight for the advertised specialty: oysters. Raw, steamed, casino, whatever, they're delicious and if they're in season, they can be earth-shattering.

Get ‘em steamed and you get to shuck ‘em yourself. Play with your food! Come on, it’s fun!

So last week I went with Phil and the in-laws and we all went for non-oyster entrees. First time ever! Plus… we sat inside. First time ever?

We started with smoked fish dip. It was aight. Not as good as Chowder Ted’s (you need to go there, by the way). It needed a bit more time sitting at room temperature to make it easier to spread, and there weren’t any hunks of fish in it, just lots of shreds mixed with cream cheese and some spices.

Then we got: blackened cobia topped with fresh tomatillo salsa verde and a Southwest corn aioli; grilled jerk marinated wahoo over coconut rice and topped with Island red curry sauce; and grouper baked with a crust of herb-seasoned breadcrumbs and buttered pecans. All entrees came with the same tasty veggie medley of edamame, red bell peppers, snow peas, zucchini, carrots and corn. All the plates look the same. Yeah. You get the idea, though.

The atmosphere at Slider's is a huge part of the restaurant's appeal. It's right across from Pete's Bar, so combine the two experiences and you'll get a pretty massive - if not overwhelming - dose of beaches local color. Sometimes it's too much for a townie such as myself to handle. But slurping down some oysters at a picnic table outside is a pretty awesome way to sample a way of life that us townies often dream of - surf, sand, sun, no shirts, no shoes, no problems, bro. 218 1st Street, Neptune Beach. (904) 246-0881.

PETE’S BAR

I first went to Pete's about a decade ago, when Phil and I started dating and I came to visit his family for the first time. The in-laws have been going for a decade longer than that. It would seem that not a lot has changed with Pete's during my lifetime - and that's exactly how I like it.

The place that Pete's holds in the hearts and minds of beach locals is virtually unmatched by any other establishment. The laid-back clientele you'll encounter on nearly every night at the bar offers perhaps the best example of the state of mind and lifestyle that characterize life at the beach... a combination of Southern attitude and surf-n-sun casualness that has defined the Neptune/Atlantic beach neighborhood for years.

Beer and/or dark liquor drinks are generally the norm. Fruity cocktails imbibed by men or women will earn suspicious glares from the regulars. My mother-in-law certainly betrayed herself as an inexperienced patron when she asked for details about the "house red" - oops. Don’t do that.

Besides being the local dive bar for casual drinks, Pete's is also the most popular pool hall at the beach. At a practically prehistoric 25 cents per game, the bar attracts some extremely enthusiastic competition, and each table holds its own unique history for those who've been playing for years.

The bar also has a ping-pong table and a foosball table spread out over the bar's three main rooms, so the atmosphere is one of friendly interaction where strangers or dates have a natural way to get to know each other. Oh, and there’s also the Galaga arcade game. Try not to let your date see that if you want him to pay any attention to you for the rest of the night.

The mystique and history of the bar have attracted the attention of several noteworthy men and women, including John Grisham who made Pete's a vital setting in his novel "The Bretheren." I think Hemingway hung around once or twice, too. Check out the history page of their website for some interesting Prohibition-era stories.
Listen, Pete's isn’t for everyone, and some “classy” people are probably downright horrified by the conversations they overhear in the bathroom. But if you're looking for a raucous time on a Friday night, or you simply find yourself at the corner after a day at the beach, Pete's bar is a fantastic place to get your cold beer fix and a dose of real local flavor. 117 1st Street, Neptune Beach. (904) 249-9158. http://www.petesbar.net

LEMON BAR

The Lemon Bar offers a glimpse into everything that is good about life in Jacksonville's beaches. Located on the beach in the nexus of the Atlantic Beach-Neptune Beach town center, The Lemon Bar offers a drinking experience like few others in the area. Because it's closed during the winter months, the seasonal opening of the Lemon Bar really gets you excited about the arrival of warmer weather. The excitement fades rather quickly as “warmer” weather turns into scorchingly-hot-and-humid weather, but at least you have some ocean breezes and big umbrellas to shade the sun at Lemon Bar. The bar itself is extensive and stocked with just about everything you would expect... so no surprises there. It's the atmosphere that makes The Lemon Bar so special. Grab a seat on the back patio area with a cocktail and take in the seaside view.

There are not many bars that afford such a stunning view of the sea dunes and manage to achieve a balance between both beachy casual and dressy chic. You can wear your cover-up, or you can wear heels, and you'll be appropriately dressed either way. There's a nice mix of locals and tourists with a common desire to have a laid-back time on the First Coast. The bar is part of the Seahorse Oceanfront Inn, so if you’re visiting from out of town you might want to consider this extremely affordable beachfront option.

The Lemon Bar is popular on weekend afternoons when the sun's out, and in the evenings things get considerably livelier as singles make it a stop on their evening out at the "corner." One of my favorite things to do at the beach! 120 Atlantic Blvd, Neptune Beach. http://www.seahorseoceanfrontinn.com/

FLY’S TIE IRISH PUB

Fly's Tie is the most charming bar in Atlantic Beach. It's well off the beaten path on Sailfish Drive, about a mile from the ocean… away from all those popular drunken beachy spots. Fly's Tie is an Irish pub and it manages a much more authentic feel than most of the other bars that bill themselves in similar ways. The inside is quite small with a comfortable capacity of perhaps, oh, 30 people. There are dart boards and a stage - open mike night has been a popular event with locals for years.

There is something about Fly's Tie that just feels… right. The crowd is subdued and mature and people go there to hold real conversations and enjoy a responsible night of drinking instead of getting plastered at nntcha nntcha poser bars closer to the water. There is absolutely no pretension about the place. You’ll definitely have to have Fly's Tie in mind specifically as a destination because you are unlikely to stumble upon it by accident. I would be enthusiastic to bring out-of-town guests - anyone from my parents to my college friends - to Fly's Tie on practically any night of the week. 177 Sailfish Drive East, Atlantic Beach, FL. (904) 246-4293 http://www.flystie.com/

AL’S

Al’s may be a local chain, but I’ve been to this one on the beach more than any of the others. It’s light-filled, casual, airy, and affordable. Servers are young and tan with big smiles and bubbly personalities. It's been a local staple for awhile but the reputation seems to have declined in recent years. Not sure why, though. I mean, it is what it is. It's still a go-to spot for my friends who live out at the beach and we often grab lunch there on the weekends if I'm out thataway.

Al's serves up pretty standard pizzas and pastas and subs and Italian-American entrees. I quite like the tomato sauce they serve on pastas and dishes like the eggplant parm. It's bright and tangy and you can tell they haven't cooked the tomatoes to death.

And, there's something about that house salad at Al's. Nothing special, really, just lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, shredded carrots and cabbage, and mozzarella cheese. But the ingredients are always fresh and well-proportioned and the mozzarella is grated in-house.

I don't know - I always get the salad when I go to Al's. With oil and vinegar. It's perfectly American and I love it... kind of like Al's itself. 303 Atlantic Boulevard, Atlantic Beach. (904) 249-0002. http://www.alspizza.com/

Well, there you have it. My go-to beach spots. It’s not a comprehensive list of beach eateries and bars, and there are some fancy places that I’ve had on my wish list since I moved here in December: Dwight’s Bistro, Azurea at One Ocean, and 11 South… plus newcomers The Brasserie and Engine 15 Brewing Company. And keep an eye out in November for Nipper’s, a restaurant owned by none other than Top Chef season seven’s Kenny Gilbert!