The #11: Sometimes hot really means hot.
So many Asian restaurants seem to be closed on Mondays, and I always seem to fall into this trap again and again. Today, I had driven down to Berkeley on another ramen mission, this time to Norikonoko on Telegraph, which is catty-corner from one of Berkeley’s best used book shops, Shakespeare & Company Books. I found a killer parking spot just off of the main drag, fed the meter full of coinage, and soon found out that Norikonoko was closed. Fortunately, Berkeley offers a target-rich environment when it comes to Asian [... read more ...]
Set adrift on butter, brown sugar, and rum bliss.
Although Bananas Foster is widely known as a New Orleans recipe, I never had any experience with this particular dish while I was cooking in the Crescent City. I dealt with plenty of bread pudding recipes, and I had an occasional hand in the hyper-decadent sweet potato-and-pecan pies at K-Paul’s, but Bananas Foster was never part of my repertoire. However, when I was attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY, I did have the opportunity to whip up several batches of Bananas Foster while I was [... read more ...]
Almost famous.
Only in New Orleans could a sandwich as glorious as the muffaletta take a backseat to the po-boy. In just about any other city in the United States, the muffaletta would certainly rank as a culinary claim-to-fame, earning a mention alongside the cheesesteaks of Philly or the towering deli pastramis of New York City. But even in the shadow of the more famous po-boy, the muffaletta of New Orleans boasts a loyal legion of followers (after all, one cannot exist on po-boys alone). With its roots at the Central Grocery in the French Quarter, the [... read more ...]
In New Orleans, po-boys are very serious business, and while I was cooking professionally in the Crescent City a few years back, I had the envious opportunity of sampling sandwiches from all of the city’s most legendary spots, from Mandina’s down on Canal Street to Gene’s over on Elysian Fields Avenue. I tasted them all, and then I revisited these restaurants many times over, especially as out-of-town guests would stop through to visit. As most New Orleans locals will tell you, the foundation of any authentic po-boy is a signature Leidenheimer Baking Company roll. Founded in 1896, the Leidenheimer [... read more ...]
C'est bon: Creole red beans, garnished with andouille sausage, parsley, and a sieved egg. Pictured in the BG: Crystal Extra Hot.
If I’m going to spend a Monday afternoon making a big pot of red beans, then I want them to be New Orleans red beans, like so many versions I tasted when I was living and cooking in the Crescent City. And just so you realize that I take these matters very seriously, I should point out that this recipe took some considerable time and effort, and not just on my part. The very foundation [... read more ...]
