2012 Food and Dining Predictions #5 {Cloud Eating and cooking}

Let me show you how we make this

Welcome to CB.com's 2012 food and dining predictions. I've always loved postulating about where food and food culture is headed. Sometimes I'm spot on, and other times I've failed miserably. We feel that we have a pretty good pulse on this industry and want to look into that crystal ball and lay out some educated guesses on what the food retail industry may look like like in 2012 without any of the Nicholas Cage Mayan calendar nonsense.

Let's continue with our educated guessing!

Coming in at number five on our countdown is Cloud Eating. What is Cloud Eating you say? Well, it's the open book and source for anything and everything for food, recipes, techniques and long lasting secrets once held onto by pretentious chefs and lab techs prior to the onset of technology. Cloud eating is being able to recreate and produce anything, from anywhere. Outside of the original Coke recipe, pretty much any of your favorite food and snacks are floating somewhere out on the intertubes -or- Cloud.

Websites such as Yummly and Epicurious have created a virtual hub for anything you've ever wanted to put in your body. The ability for someone to master a niche craft right from their computer has never been so accessible. If you have a kitchen, tools and a computer - you can master the french skills that were once held for the esteemed culinary schools around the world. All it takes is imagination and ingenuity. Culinary schools are expensive, and they do not necessarily prepare you for the real world like many offset degrees. Big or small, the education is generally the same and the cooking skills don’t change much.  As with most colleges the name of the school will only get her in the door. 

 As the Internet continues to process, collect and host applicable information, some of the remedial skills we once inherited from schools and universities can be now done through alternative outlets. Would I want a Brain Surgeon to learn how to cut my skull open from a blog site, no. You understand the point though - I hope.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions:

#10 - The inconvenience of Food 

#9 - Personal Investment and Ownership

#8 - Minimal is the new black

#7 - The fusion of family style meals and belittlement

#6 - Beer is King, not the King of Beer

Coffee Roasting 101 - Da Truth about the Roast and Taste

Getting your "Crack" on.

As many of you know, I love good coffee. I've been known to act eradicable and inappropriate for a certain amount of money to get my cuppa Joe. Most of us don't realize what the roast means in terms of getting the flavor you want out of the bean.  Given a good-quality bean, roasting is probably the single most important factor influencing the flavor of coffee. The most significant variable is degree, or darkness, of roast. The longer the coffee is held in the roaster and/or the higher the roasting temperature, the darker the bean. The darker the bean, the more tangy and bittersweet the flavor.

Returning to terminology, coffee drinkers are so habitual that entire nations march from coffee initiation to grave knowing only one style of roast. This uniformity accounts for the popular terminology for describing roasts: French roast, usually the darkest; Italian roast, a little less dark; and Viennese or light French, only slightly darker than the traditional American norm.

This assigning of national names to coffee roasts is a bit arbitrary, but has some basis in fact. French roasters, particularly those in parts of Northern France, do roast coffee very darkly, justifying the epithet French for the very darkest roast style. And, very generally, southern Europeans roast their coffee darker than northern Europeans. I will leave the question of whether darkness of roast correlates to the relative intensity of nocturnal habits among the various nations of coffee drinkers to those who may want to consider the issue over their second cup of dark-roast coffee.

However, the "standard" roast against which the French and Italian roasts of America are implicitly measured varies both by region and by roaster. Berkeley-based Peet's Coffee & Tea, which initiated the current American fashion for very dark roasting, brings all of its coffee to an extremely dark degree of roast. Consequently, the "regular" Peet's roast is far darker than many other roasters' French roasts. Traditionally, the American West Coast prefers a darker roast standard than the East Coast, with the Midwest appropriately somewhere between. Some of the darkest roasting in the world goes on in the American Southwest.

The success of Starbucks with its darker roast style has, in part, altered this regional pattern. Many newer roasting companies, regardless of region, are now attempting to imitate the original Starbucks dark-roasting style. Unfortunately, many of these newcomers tend to be clumsy in their imitation, resulting in dried-out, burned coffees. Meanwhile, Starbucks itself has pulled back from its original dark-roasting position. And, being Starbucks, has come up with its own copyrighted terms for various degrees of roast as they interact with the coffees being roasted. In Starbucks-speak, 2000 edition, a traditional American medium roast is Milder Dimensions; a slightly darker roast Lively Impressions; a moderately dark roast Rich Traditions, and a dark roast Bold Expressions.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has gone in the opposite naming direction from the fanciful route taken by the Starbucks' publicists. The SCAA has promulgated a straightforward, no-nonsense set of terminology for roast and related that terminology to objective, instrument-determined criteria for degree of roast. The SCAA terminology, which is as practical as a Volvo station wagon (and about as exciting), runs from Light Brown for the lightest roast, through Medium Brown for the middle of the range, to Very Dark Brown for the darkest, with various intermediate stages defined by inspiring terms like Light-Medium Brown and Moderately Dark Brown. Despite its blunt simplicity, the SCAA system probably gives the specialty coffee buyer the clearest available set of guidelines for describing roast.

The only way to really understand roast is to associate flavor with the color and appearance of the bean rather than with name alone. Don't play that name game. 'Nuff Said.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions #6 {Beer is King, not the King of Beer}

Welcome to CB.com's 2012 food and dining predictions. I've always loved postulating about where food and food culture is headed. Sometimes I'm spot on, and other times I've failed miserably. We feel that we have a pretty good pulse on this industry and want to look into that crystal ball and lay out some educated guesses on what the food retail industry may look like like in 2012 without any of the Nicholas Cage Mayan calendar nonsense.

Let's continue with our educated guessing!

Coming in at number six on our countdown is beer. Good beer has been that hyperactive cousin to wine for many when it comes to formal dinner pairings and understanding the nuances of what good craft beer represents.Wine has been the "Go To" receiver in crunch time and it's had a great run. Well done Vino.

America has been duped by commodity beer flavored water for too long. Beverage conglomerates such as Coors, Anheuser Busch (InBev) and Miller Brewing Company have led the charge with tasteless malt punch for the past 35 years. Fortunately we're in the midst of a craft beer renaissance.

All you have to do is look at this graph to understand. I love logistics.

The big boys are scared, and they have good reason. Beer has unfolded in a way where many could not have predicted. Chefs turned brewers have infused eclectic flavors and production methods to churn out a new style of craft beers. Restaurants like The Publican in Chicago have proved that pairing great beer with food can be a recipe for success. Beer is as versatile as it is diverse, providing both complementary and contrasting experiences when paired with food. Also, the piece of mind of drinking a crafted pint versus a bottle of Bud has given place to a social culture hierarchy. (Don't tell Nascar that)

Beer: It's just not for pretzels anymore

The range of pairings, many food experts agree, is as diverse as it's wine counterpart. Examples I like are a great Cornish Lobster Salad -  Paired with Lagunitas Brewing Company Pils and Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Pale Ale. Or take your favorite selection of British cheeses and pair with Victory Brewing Company Storm King Stout and Green Flash Brewing Co.'s IPA. You can be over simplistic or as complex as your taste buds will allow you.

We believe Craft beer will push the context of beverages the same way the wine boom did in the late 70's and early 80's. More and more people are realizing good beer is nothing to sniff at, and as more Americans realize they don’t have to drink watered down lagers, we expect huge growth in the wildly diverse craft sector to just keep growing – unless, politicians like Scott Walker have their way.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions:

#10 - The inconvenience of Food 

#9 - Personal Investment and Ownership

#8 - Minimal is the new black

#7 - The fusion of family style meals and belittlement

2012 Food and Dining Predictions: #7 {The fusion of Family Style meals and Belittlement}

"We believe in treating our customers like part of the family," manager Dean Friesz said during Friday's grand opening of a new Ernie's location on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City. "That's why Ernie's offers, free with every Old-Fashioned Super-Duper Ernie's Entree, accusations, belittlement, and other barely disguised expressions of bitterness, despair and sour regret that typify American family interaction. (via: The Onion)

*Where would society be without The Onion?

Welcome to CB.com's 2012 food and dining predictions. I've always loved postulating about where food and food culture is headed. Sometimes I'm spot on, and other times I've failed miserably. We feel that we have a pretty good pulse on this industry and want to look into that crystal ball and lay out some educated guesses on what the food retail industry may look like like in 2012 without any of the Nicholas Cage Mayan calendar nonsense.

Let's continue with our educated guessing!

Coming in at number seven in our countdown is a slightly altered return to family style dining in 2012. Most of us know family dining as casual dining restaurants where food is often served on platters and the diners serve themselves. Most of us know this concept within the Italian dining format. I can see a model that works within any categorized construct, including QSR, fine dining, modern Bistro and even the bakery-cafe segment. Many of us enjoy the ability to share conversation and food together, and to date this has mostly been relegated to traditional Italian.

With the onset of farm to table concepts, I'm starting to see a unique revival of community and sharing. Many communal table restaurants are slowly migrating towards a family style application. Restaurants are starting to hold weekly family style dinner nights that deviates from their traditional model to embrace this ever popular trend. I'm curious to see what type of adaptation this can bring to more non-traditional venues such as counter service and fast casual concepts. This style of eating has been tough to win over some folks. Many see it as conforming and often that they have to compromise to the group as a whole. Both are valid points, but I see a new breed of this model that can help facilitate the diners ability to choose appropriately within boundaries. The Buca Di Beppo's of the world have held the covenant flame for stewarding family style, which has made it unappealing for many. Eating this way has been seen as a "once a year" meal for family and friends and has deterred frequent visits.

With a little creative menu ingenuity and individual touch, family style dining will make us rethink about "how" we eat out in the future.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions:

#10 - The inconvenience of Food 

#9 - Personal Investment and Ownership

#8 - Minimal is the new black

12 Beers, Christmas, Tom Selleck and a baby {Consolidated Preeminent Booze Review}

I'm Judge Dredd

We figured it's time to get back to our roots here at Chopbiscuit and continue the reviews of The World's Best draughts. We're often seen walking our pints throughout town and cuddling with our favorite Belgium's at the Cinema. Beer is our canvas and we paint that canvas by drinking more beer. We have poked fun at our favorite canned beers in the past, but ultimately we love the best in craft beer brewing. Whether it's a Belgium White, American Brown Ale, Japanese Rice lager or an oatmeal stout - We enjoy a good beer and a firm hand shake. So, let's continue the exposition with our reviews.

*Special Honorary Review*

Outside of my normal day job, I like to think that I'm the luminary of craft beer tasting. Even though I know I'm not at that level yet, I'm bound and determined to go down as the "Super taster of all Super tasters".

A few days ago I participated in The Local Pub and Tea house's - 12 Beers of Christmas. Since I was in town and thirsty, I figured it was common courtesy to grace this establishment and perform the 12 Beer written exam. I was ready, both mentally and physically. I've felt as if I've been prepared for this my entire life. Everything I've done prior - has led me to these shot glasses.

If I pass, I can get into a Private Beer School

The script was easy - just drink 12 beers from lightest to darkest and rate them. Easy enough. They made the evening extremely non cerebral by giving the folks a nice little beer list (seen above). To make this much easier in terms of reviewing, I'm going to create the list below and tell you what I thought.

The Twelve Beers of Christmas

Ridgeway Bad Elf - Shelton Brothers, England.

Light Golden Color with mild malt and hop flavors and a biscuity citrus nose.
Beer: English IPA  
Rating: 2 Biscuits 
Review: A nice mild malt. Not enough citrus or acidity notes.

Clipper City Yule Tide - Clipper City Brewing, Baltimore, MD
Clear Golden Ale with grassy flavored aromas and fruity notes
Beer: Tripple Belgium Ale    
Rating: 3 Biscuits 
Review: I believed I wouldn't like this Tripel. I was proved wrong.I loved the subtle fruit and mouth feel. I will bath in this Ale relatively soon.

Abita Christmas Brown Ale - Abita Springs, LA
Medium body with hints of toffee and roasted dark malts with a dry finish
Beer: Brown Ale    
Rating: 2 Biscuits 
Review: Meh. I'm a big fan of their Purple Haze, but this one is very ordinary.

Full Sail Wreck the Halls - Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, OR 
Dark Amber with piney citrus scent and a spiced bitter finish
Beer: American IPA 
Rating: 2 Biscuits 
Review: A nice spiced IPA. That's it.

Rogue Mogul Madness - Rogue Ales, Newport, OR 
Dark Ruby Ale with sweet pine and malty notes with a bitter hop finish
Beer: Winter Ale 
Rating: 3 Biscuits 
Review: In standard Rogue fashion, a hoppy, full aroma ale. I'm a Rogue fan.

Breckenridge Christmas - Breckenridge Brewery, Denver, CO
Medium Brown with yeasty spiciness, warm malts and mild bitterness 
Beer: American Style Strong Ale 
Rating: 2 Biscuits 
Review: I liked the yeast notes and had a good malt structure. Full and strong - like Serbian woman.

Jenlain Noel - Duyck, France
Deep Amber with sweet honey and clover. Malty and sweet.
Beer: Amber Ale 
Rating:1 Biscuit
Review: No Sir, I didn't like it.


Hoppin Frog Frosted Frog - Hoppin' Frog Brewery, Akron, OH
Medium bodied rub-brown ale with hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and clove. 
Beer: Winter Warmer 
Rating: 4 Biscuits 
Review: Best Christmas beer in America right now.  If you like Winter warmer's - this is your beer. It has bold Xmas spices to get your groove on under the mistle toe.

St. Peter's Cream Stout - St. Peter's Brewery, England
Dark black stout with milk chocolate, coffee nose and slightly sweet finish
Beer: Milk/Sweet Stout 
Rating: 2 Biscuits 
Review: I was picking up a lot of hops and was wondering why it's called a cream stout. But, that's apparently the old benchmark for those mates across the pond

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale - Belgium
Dark brown with yeasty toffee aromas, bittersweet chocolate and mild hops
Beer: Belgium Strong Dark Ale 
Rating: 3 biscuits 
Review: This bastard had a huge mouth. 10% ABV will surely get you there. Nice coffee, chocolate overtones and finish.

Victory Storm King - Victory Brewery , Dowington, PA
Jet black stout with coffee notes, smokiness and strong hop bitterness
Beer: Russian Imperial Stout 
Rating: 1 biscuit 
Review: Not my "thang". A bit smoky and I didn't like the bitterness. I'm a fan of Victory though, just didn't like this stout.

Sierra Nevada Life & Limb - Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, NV
Full bodied collaboration between Sierra Nevada and Dogfish 
Beer: Strong. Strong. Strong. Beer. 
Rating: 4 biscuits 
Review: This is a one and done beer. Nice maple and birch flavor with a huge punch. No funnels here kids.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions: #8 {Minimal is the new black}

Just a few years ago, many food concepts were still caught up with being big and cheeky. The more colors, wall ornaments, splattered slogans and flare - the better. The bigger the entree, the louder the apron and the "never-ending" soup or salad bowl caught the eye of many future diabetes and obesity applicants. The restaurant industry in the 90's and early 21st century was about getting the most out of each customer - both mentally and financially. Before small plates and tapas options were rightly pushed into the mainstream, we were all on the Texas bandwagon. Why have a mid-size (Toyota Camry) cut of beef when you could go Monster Truck size for a few bucks extra. If you want a 1/2 gallon of high fructose corn syrup infused soda, we'll be glad to oblige that request. Hell, we even bought more house than we actually needed and some stay at home mom's in Miami decided that they must frolic about town in their new gigantic Hummer. I never really understood that one.

So, after the economic recession of '08 and a slight re-adjustment of what food and materials mean to the most of us, we're starting to come back around. Some of us down sized into a more moderate home and started to really think about what those "things" mean to us. Food is a prime example of culture and the experience of food will follow this trend into 2012. If you look at some independent concepts such as Commis and Benu in San Francisco, they've seem to do "more" with "less". They've left out all the ancillary messaging and sparkle and created their concepts around the people,  food and conversation.

In the months ahead when you eat out, you can expect to see less description about each dish and more single words spaced far apart often all in lower case letters. You can expect to see simple surroundings and recognizable offerings being featured. You will see staff that have no flare and are dressed as if they were over to your house for a dinner party. For most diners, a cleaner, sustainable approach to this model seems to have an elevated and less pretentious mood. If you start seeing concepts moving in this direction, you can tell them that this lil' blog called it out. I will let you know where they can send the checks - payable to "Money Laundering".

2012 Food and Dining Predictions:

#10 - The inconvenience of Food 

#9 - Personal Investment and Ownership

Chopbiscuit preeminent booze review: Rogue - Dead Guy Ale

We figured it's time to get back to our roots here at Chopbiscuit and continue the reviews of The World's Best draughts. We're often seen walking our pints throughout town and cuddling with our favorite Belgium's at the Cinema. Beer is our canvas and we paint that canvas by drinking more beer. We have poked fun at our favorite canned beers in the past, but ultimately we love the best in craft beer brewing. Whether it's a Belgium White, American Brown Ale, Japanese Rice lager or an oatmeal stout - We enjoy a good beer and a firm hand shake. So, let's continue the exposition with our reviews.

Get your hippie drinking on

Brewery: Rogue Ales, Newport, OR
Beer: Dead Guy Ale
Beer style description: German Maibock
Color: Light Gold
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 40

Rogue Ales are consistently known for their innovation and detailed process of brewing American hand crafted ales. They've won just about every award imaginable for their lineups of great American draughts. I've unfortunately never been out to their brewery, but it's on my bucket list of booze stops before I kick the bucket. Dead Guy Ale is a bock blend that put them on the map across the country. In the early 1990s Dead Guy Ale was created by Rogue as a private tap sticker to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead (November 1st, All Souls Day) for Casa U Betcha in Portland, Oregon. Pretty Cheeky eh? The Dead Guy design proved so popular with consumers and especially Grateful Dead fans, they made it the label for their Maierbock ale.

I've dranken plenty of Dead Guy Ale's before and often wondered if it was part of the bock family.  The Ale Pours a golden amber with about an inch of fluffy white head that lasted for awhile. I tasted some grassy and herbaly hops that quickly moved into some biscuity malts and a slight touch of sweetness. I was waiting for the sweetness to render some more characteristics, but it never progressed. Overall it had a little stringent mouth feel on the back of my tongue. A very drinkable beer for the ABV and would be a great starter beer for the commodity beer drinker.

Two out of four Biscuits

Chopbiscuit on the road: Celebrating with the Niman Ranch Family

Who's cuter, me or the baby pig?

There are far too few of us that take a dream and make it a reality. This is exactly what Paul Willis did over 40 years ago. Back in 1970 Paul saw the way farmers were beginning to raise hogs in his native state of Iowa and he soon realized this was not in the best interest for the hogs or the environment. He decided that if this was the future of farming, then he would no longer farm. This was a big statement considering he comes from generations of hog farmers, but Paul knew that Confined Animal Feeding Operations tore apart everything that he believed farming to be. So, he kept farming the only way he knew how and that was "free range."

A couple of folks like Paul seem to have taken credit for the free range labeling, but as he will tell you it was just called farming back when he was a kid. Free Range Pork (HOGS) are given the opportunity to live in open pastures, or in deeply bedded pens when the sows are farrowing (Farrowing means to give birth to piglets like the one day old one I'm holding in the picture above) and allowed to run, play, eat, and roll in mud and do naturally what pigs do. Paul also felt an obligation to be a steward of the land that included farming multiple crop rotations and keeping the pastures fertilized between crops. Paul ran his dream farm and yes, there is a really large red barn on the farm called the dream farm and it's featured on his cookbook that he co-wrote with Bill Niman. The dinners in that ole big barn are legendary but I'm getting away from an important point - the problem with the way Paul was farming was the huge cost and having no real way to tell the great story of how different his hogs were treated and cared for. If you have ever eaten and Niman pork you know exactly what I mean.

The way the pork commodity system was currently set up it seemed as if the business model was stacked against how Paul was farming. The other issue was the price of his pork. Paul had to get a higher dollar amount for his end product, but if folks didn't understand why his pork was more expensive most were not willing to pay the price. In the mid 90's Paul met a man that would change his life forever and for me personally, it would change the way I would eat for the rest of my life. Paul met fellow rancher Bill Niman who had been raising beef in Bolinas, CA since the late 60's under the name Niman Ranch. Bill was also moving towards a natural state of raising animals on his farm.

Shortly after the Niman Ranch Pork Co was created, I began reading about Niman Ranch and at every chance I could.  The most obvious thing to me is that it tasted like beef and pork from my youth and I was hooked. I was hooked on the product, hooked on the culture that these hero's of the animals have created and I knew that from this day forward I would "vote by proxy" or by fork from here on out. Unfortunately there's been a dark turn. I will never ever eat Niman Ranch Beef again under any circumstances.  The reason for me is simple. In 2007 Bill was basically forced to sell all of his shares and give up all of the cattle he had been breeding for 37 years. This is truly unfortunate. As I previously mentioned, these farmers and ranchers are hero's in my mind and it was both a career high and a personal high meeting both and staying in contact over the years. Last Janurary I took a couple of friends out to walk the famous Bolina's Ranch,  (another personal and career high) and I've also had the chance to attend the Niman Ranch Annual Hog Farmers Appreciation Dinner  a few times. Once as a guest and another a guest chef.

Paul and I recently chatted and I told him what has happened brings tears to my eyes. On my second visit as a guest chef at the Hog Farmers dinner, a chef from Denver and I snuck out to the dining room to get a glimse of the farmers and their families enjoying our food when this little girl pulls on Chris' apron and whispered to him, "thank you for saving my daddies farm, he loves his farm very much." It was a heartening moment for us both.  There are certain events in your life that change you for the better and if you live long enough and have an open mind, you'll get to enjoy these moments knowing that what you do and what you buy makes a big impact to so many people.

Be Well, Eat Well and Live Well

~Mark

Chopbiscuit on the road dining review: Skipjack's, Foxborough, MA

Welcome (again) to another delightful ad hoc Chopbiscuit inspection of some of the USA's most frequented saloons, dining halls, dive bars, food trucks, in-room dining and high end bistro's. At least one of your humble contributors is on the road virtually every week and luckily have the opportunity to dine at some of the finest institutions and loathsome watering holes known to man. Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, some deity would permit us to be pirates and savage our nutriment.

We like eating. It fascinates us. We sit and look at the food for hours. We often eat while laying down in my hotel room with a bib in my lap and my outlook calendar open. Eating is our tweeting, except it's much cooler. Food is often made into the celebrity of carnage, which makes us appear to be pompous and scarce in regards to the act of eating itself. You eat because you fuel. We eat because we're hungry. We eat because it's our job. We go out to these establishments to consume their lineups with arrogance.

I then judge it. (Poncho Sinatra style)

Skipjack's
Patriot Place-Foxborough Skipjack's

226 Patriot Place

Foxborough, Ma

Hey folks, it's been a few months since I posted a restaurant review. Outside of the whole "kid" thing, I've been working pretty close to home so I've been dormant on the food review scene. This past week I was in Boston for a work meeting and we collectively decided to give Skipjack's seafood emporium a trial run. Ironically I was with our product development team - so blogging about the experience was less on my mind since it was "work" associated. This was my first time to Patriot Place, a gargantuan lifestyle center surrounding Gillette stadium in Foxborough, MA. As a Giants fan I was in enemy territory, but it was a pretty creative display of retail space.

What I Ingested

As the picture above denotes I decided to go with their Rhode Island Calamari which is fried calamari tossed with garlic butter and spicy peppers. The key to great fried calamari is the breading and how it holds up with any flavors that are rendered in. It should have a nice, golden crisp which denotes the often rubbery texture of the squid. The breading was decent and the cherry peppers added some nice heat. For my entree I chose the fish tacos with grilled pepper–spiced Mahi Mahi, chipotle slaw and avocado mango salsa. Again, decent flavor but could have had some better notes of pepper flavored fish from the seasoning.

One of the elements I did like here was an award winning wine list, which included many decent wines by the glass.  Their schematic was to emphasize on American vintages Skipjack's has been bestowed the prestigious “Award of Excellence” for more than 25 years in a row by Wine Spectator Magazine. Nice job there.

The space was of a typical Big Box food retailer model with huge, scenic environment cues with a glass wine room and slightly open kitchen space. It had a cookie cutter approach to their menu and service that gave it a standard casual dining feel. It felt like a slight upgrade to standard bar seafood fare. Understandably since the restaurant was adjacent from the entrance to Gillette Stadium. A good safe place for the folks that want the 72 inch flat screen blasting your favorite sports team in action while you eat your Lobster Bisque soup. Meh.

1 out of 4 Biscuits

Chopbiscuit on the road: Getting Dirty in the Big Easy

Most of my city food tours and business trips begin the same way. Fortunately, my first trip to New Orleans would begin quite different for me, because this time I would travel and eat with family. This past summer I flew into St. Louis early in the day to catch up with a great friend and local restaurateur, Craig Stenson. Craig and his chefs have created a couple of great restaurants beginning with award winning Onesto and their newsest concept, Mad Tomato in Clayton, MO. While seated in Craig's office, we chowed on homemade cured meats, olives and hummus served on wood planks straight out of the oven. (My kind of office food) After catching up on old times including great restaurant stories and a tour of the newly remodeled kitchen, I hit the road to Sikeston, MO. to pick up my father.

The McDonough's have always been early morning road warriors and this trip would follow that same tradition. We woke around 4:30 making coffee, showering and loading the road trippin' snacks and food intangibles. 

We picked up my cousin Tommy just outside of Memphis and fueled ourselves up at Cracker Barrel (yes, I said Cracker Barrel - I'm a southern gentleman) in true road trip fashion.  Marianne, Tommy's wife, joined us for breakfast. Unfortunately she could not join the road trip because of a breast cancer fundraiser. We're hoping she will join us for the next trip. Now that we had filled our bellies and said our good-byes, we were off to New Orleans.  I haven’t spent much time with my cousin Tommy over the last twenty years, except for a week in Jamaica that I don't need to send out into the blogosphere.  I was really excited to catch-up wih Tommy and more importantly I was ready to hear the great stories, tales and craziness that only he can tell. Hour after hour Tommy had us laughing and cracking up with stories that can only be explained as pure redneck fun.

Our first stop in New Orleans was a great Boho coffee house.  I  just wanted coffee at this point and was pleasantly surprised at what we found. We also visited the famous Rue De La Course  which uses the traditional  cold brewing method for their iced coffee.  Dear mother of Juan Valdez we hit the jack pot on this stop. Two iced coffees and a vanilla latte and we were off to some sight seeing.  My father and his wife Liz are in New Orleans several times a year and my father was excited to show me his favorite streets lined with great big ass oak trees which are really old and majestically beautiful. He also could not wait to take me to eat his favorite Po-Boy.  After an hour or so we were ready to get out of the Jeep, check in to the hotel and do some meandering on foot. There are few things better than great hook ups and this trip was an exception because it was filled with family hook-ups. I felt, for the first time in a while, at the mercy of my family for filling the trip with great food and accommodations. I’m not by any means a control freak,  but when it comes to traveling, eating and fun I have a tendency not to leave things to chance. I spend way too much time researching and planning and finding out the behind the scene stories about places and people in the cities I travel to. I vote with my dollar and are very careful where I spend my money and try to only support folks that get the whole picture. Folks like Mike & Liz at The Cupcake Lab in Saratoga Springs, NY.,  Bill & Nic of BN Ranch in Bolinas, CA. and so on.

I did little to no research on New Orleans and given that I have never visited this city, I was very proud of myself. I have wanted to visit Cochon for several years now and that would be my one vote if allowed.  I might have had a break through in my culinary control issues, because New Orleans has an incredible food scene and the art and music is non stop. Tommy hooked us up with accommodations at the Historical Chateau Lemoyne in the famous French Quarter . The hotel is ran by Kathleen Young, a family friend who is the salt of the earth and truly a N'awlins girl who loves her city with pride only a fellow Southerner can understand. We checked and then went walking down all of the major streets in the French Quarter. There were great art shops and boutiques tucked into every nook of every building.  I was really blown away and felt like a kid with A.D.H.D. that hasn't taken his Adderall for the day.

Another amazing thing about N'awlins is that my step-bro Chris has lived there for over 14 years and has managed to meet and know a lot of good folks that run some of the best spots. So, my only request of him was get us into Cochon and to my surprise he was able to.  I really didn't think that we had a chance of getting in mainly because of my last minute request followed by the International Food Blogging Convention in the city at the same time as our visit. Totally coincidental, but the good thing was that a great foodie friend that blogs was in town.

As I walked through the door I was immediately was drawn to the draft of wood firing in the oven tinted with roasting goodness.  I'm really big on aroma and can leave a place very quickly if I'm not feelin' the whole scent factor. A big kudo for Cochon's commitment to local southern fare using lots of local farmers, but also to their commitment to quality and using folks that put sustainability above all else.

Our first course began with a side of cracklings with molasses, smoked ribs w/ pickled watermelon rinds, Spicy boiled peanuts, Oysters and Smoked ham hocks over red beans and rice. The cracklings were actually chicharrons and they were perfect in every way. We dipped them in molasses it really added a sweetness to the airy crunchiness like I have never had before. The smoked ribs had the perfect amount of smoke but could have been a touch more tender. The pickled watermelon rinds stole the show. The boiled peanuts were spicy and took me personally back to when I was a kid driving through Georgia and Alabama on vacation to the Florida panhandle.

We had three entrees but for the life of me I can only remember two because they were not memorable. The Braised briske was melt in your mouth good and we were devouring it like someone was going to take it away from me. The Ham hocks were the best I have ever eaten, but little can be written about the disappointing red beans and rice.  Now, if you know me well you don't need to ask if I ordered dessert. Tommy Leaunx sent out the biggest plate of desserts in Louisiana and we were congratulated by the waitstaff on our success.  Overall Cochon was amazing, but the food is where the experience stopped because too many times when great chefs open restaurants they seem to get a little relaxed on the service. Our server was nice and funny, but not a well trained young lady.

I never unstood the real draw to N'awlins but now after spending a couple of days there I will be back. Come back soon for another recap on my Big Easy Adventure

Chopbiscuit Preeminent Booze Review: Lagunitas Pale Ale {New Dog Town}

We figured it's time to get back to our roots here at Chopbiscuit and continue the reviews of The World's Best draughts. We're often seen walking our pints throughout town and cuddling with our favorite Belgium's at the Cinema. Beer is our canvas and we paint that canvas by drinking more beer. We have poked fun at our favorite canned beers in the past, but ultimately we love the best in craft beer brewing. Whether it's a Belgium White, American Brown Ale, Japanese Rice lager or an oatmeal stout - We enjoy a good beer and a firm hand shake.  So, let's continue the exposition with our reviews.

Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company - Petaluma, CA
Beer:  Pale Ale  
Beer style description: American Pale Ale
Color: Light Gold
ABV: 6.2%

I'm going to get right to it. This is one F****** tremendous Pale Ale. I've sifted about 20-30 APA's in the last few months and this run shoots right to the top. I've always been a fan of Lagunitas Brewery and their staples of delicious draughts.  They do a great job promoting their brand with a pinch of sarcasm at every pint. Many of my drinking buddies tell me this beer is more of an IPA than a Pale Ale. The taste is juicy and hop forward. Your palate first fills with grapefruit then moves on the aftertaste to a drying pine sense in the finish.

So, yes it is an overall  hop forward Pale Ale,  but it's not too dominating. Some people would probably also prefer more malt backbone on this - but they are the same people that are supporting Rick Perry. You know those right?

2012 Food and Dining Predictions: #9 {Personal Investment and Ownership}

Have you ever wanted to own a restaurant? What if you could invest in a concept and a minimal rate and hold shareholder rights? Think of it as a community investment that holds conceptual power for menu development, design, PR and operating structure? We believe that the movement to a non-conventional approach in the food service future is necessary, potentially more profitable and inevitable. However, the mindset of people and behaviors are hard to change in this industry, and when they do change it is usually in an incremental and uneven pattern that is difficult to change. As a participant in the movement to a new world of food, many entrepreneurs are leading by example within the context that we know best: Real food and natural products, and innovative and progressive business practices.

You have to admit, it's a 2.0 world and people want to have as much control over their interests as possible. We are living in a downtrodden economy and many innovators and entrepreneurs are going to search for more viable and plausible methods for financing and concept design. Due to intense competition, restaurateurs must look for ways to differentiate their place of business in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage. We realize this through years of competitive scoping. The fact that many restaurants are beginning to leverage this concept presents a window of opportunity and an entrance into a profitable niche in the market place.Similar models have proven it's worth, including CSA's and Grocer Coop's. The ability for customers to have membership and ownership rights offers a point of valued loyalty that no other preferred program could touch. A financial investment and commitment will provide a sense of ownership at unparalleled levels.

A  partnership with other local restaurants, chefs, bloggers, writers and critics to pay homage to food culture and transient eating could propel concepts to extraordinary levels of commutative participation from it's customers. Also, promotion of food swapping at a retail level will allow guests to walk out with recipes of the food they’ve just sampled and communicate with the chef {proprietor}. This type of responsibility and collective wisdom is a way to advance an idea in our industry in a very strategic and innovating manner.

2012 Food and Dining Predictions

#10 - The inconvenience of Food

Chopbiscuit Preeminent Booze Review: Long Trail IPA

We figured it's time to get back to our roots here at Chopbiscuit and continue the reviews of The World's Best draughts. We have poked fun at our favorite canned beers in the past, but ultimately we love the best in craft beer brewing. Whether it's a Belgium White, American Brown Ale, Japanese Rice lager or an oatmeal stout - We enjoy a good beer and a firm hand shake.

So, let's continue the exposition with our reviews.

Brewery: Long Trail - Bridgewater Corners, VT 
Beer: India Pale Ale  
Beer style description: English India Pale Ale
Color: Light Gold
ABV: 5.9%

If you've ever rented a Suburu and traveled throughout the Green State - I'm hoping you had enough wherewithal to stop in Bridgewater Corner at Long Trail Brewery. I had the chance to visit the brewery last summer and fell in love with some of it's beers. I recently cracked a couple Long Trail IPA's open and savored them watching Syracuse's crushing defeat against Pittsburgh. Boo.

This IPA pours a nice,clear gold body with a crema like head. The head burrows down a bit but still leaves nice big chunks that stick to the glass. This is usually a good sign of a decent IPA. The smell is dominated by hops - another good sign. It has some malt after tones and  nice fruity citrus kick as well, A good bitter bite in the finish.  The mouth feel is incredibly smooth and almost creamy and is well carbonated. This is a solid IPA for anyone that's not selling fraudulent mortgage back securities. They only drink shit scotch.

2012 food and dining predictions: #10 {The Inconvenience of food}

Welcome to CB.com's 2012 food and dining predictions. I've always loved postulating about where food and food culture is headed. Sometimes I'm spot on, and other times I've failed miserably. We feel that we have a pretty good pulse on this industry and want to look into that crystal ball and lay out some educated guesses on what the food retail industry may look like like in 2012 without any of the Nicholas Cage Mayan calendar nonsense.

Let's get these predictions started!


#10 - The Inconvenience of food

For many years, the goal of food retail was to create a centralized, painless process of food distribution from the manufacturers all the way to the guests plate. We've been so focused on making everything we do as simple and manageable as possible. The more dumbed down, the better.

The word convenience has resonated with people that have busy lives and just don't have the time or energy for anything of added appreciation. The more automated, the better. The quicker, the better.The more efficient, the better. It's a mobile 4G world now - I completely understand. But, something is starting to resonate with food and the intrinsic principles on how we harvest, serve and eat. There's starting to be a heightened awareness around foods sustainability, de-commoditized and grass rooted approach. People are willing to spend a little more money and wait a little longer for the well being of what they are putting into their mouths. The inconvenience real food offers is becoming it's selling point.

The pleasure of eating and knowing the animal welfare of some of our favorite staples is starting to win the battle over the mass produced farm convenience at your local grocer. The efficient and accelerated service you receive at most fast food outlets will hopefully lose some market share to business models that are built on doing the right thing instead of being the fastest and cheapest. With the world around us being connected and moving at the speed of light - diners and food engagement will slowly turn in the opposite direction towards a holistic approach around the food that has a deeper connection. It's no longer ap pro po to have everything, everywhere and at all times. People and business's that are crossing that line are starting to see the benefit at many levels. I often buy my meat from my local farmer's market or local farms and drive or walk by many outlets and retailers that offer the same product. It's an inconvenience that is now part of my DNA. It's this type of disruption that will work for food retailing in 2012.

Chopbiscuit Interview: Meet Joanne from Fifteen Spatulas

Editor's note: This is a series of food related interviews with industry professionals, writers, bloggers, executives, farmers and folks who have made a positive impact on the food cosmos.

As an industry professional that's incredibly curious about the landscape of food development, I've been drawn to a few folks online that have been making a mark with their food blogs. Joanne over at Fifteen Spatulus is one those innovative thinkers.  She has a very eclectic staple of recipes that we've made and were often blown away by the taste profile and minimalistic approach she uses. I recently had the chance to ask Joanne a few questions about her passion and how food blogs are influencing the landscape of the online culinary underbelly.

Tell me about how Fifteen Spatulas came about?

I was about to start work at a finance company and quickly realized that it wasn’t right for me.  It was one of those things that seemed right on paper given my education, but didn’t excite me at all.  I wanted a life devoted to cooking and food, so I started the blog as a first step into the food world and as the beginning of a career in food. I had no idea what to expect when I started, but the experience has been nothing at all like I imagined.  It’s easily one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done.

You obviously have a creative side that comes out through your recipes. Was starting a food blog an avenue for you to release this?
 

Absolutely! The food blog has not only been a great place to share my recipes, but the whole blogging experience has only made me more creative over time.  You start to gain a following and you want to excite your readers every day they come by to read, so you play around more and take more risks. Food blogging has also helped me discover who I am as a food personality, and what I stand for.  If the dish is good enough, I believe in plate scraping and licking, societal norms be darned!

  

How do you see social media impacting the world of food innovation?

 

Not too long ago it seemed that many recipes were “top secret,” not just restaurant recipes but also family recipes.  You see it sometimes watching certain food shows featuring a restaurant, where they’ll say, “Now I’m going to add the secret ingredient, but I can’t tell you what it is.”  I think that’s totally lame.  The secrecy seems to be gone now for the most part, and I think it’s social media that we have to thank.  People want to share their creations and recipes with others, and I think that’s how it should be.  Food bloggers generally have an immense desire to help people make tasty food at home and provide any tips they have.

  

You had an opportunity recently to film a series at the Food Network studios. Describe that experience to us?

The Cooking Channel flew me up to the NYC Food Network studios to film my Potato Bacon and Caramelized Leek Stuffed Puff Pastry and do a short demo, and it was probably the coolest food world experience I’ve had yet.  You watch these cooking shows on TV but you don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes, and you realize that it’s quite a production.  Right next to the studio they had a prep kitchen that looked just like the one Bobby Flay uses on Throwdown, and there were several cooks prepping various stages of my recipe. You should have SEEN the hundreds upon hundreds of pots and pans in that room.  I’m glad I wasn’t doing the dishes.  Rachael Ray was in the other studio filming a new season of 30 Minute Meals, which was really cool too!  The energy in the entire place is buzzing.

Are you still as creative with only 14 spatulus?

 

I’ve found I’m about 7% less efficient with 14 spatulas.  Haha I kid, but 15 is really the minimum in my kitchen, and broken spatulas are immediately replaced. Sometimes people ask me, “Why so many spatulas?”  And to be honest, I’m always dumbfounded by the question because I really do use them all pretty frequently.  The food I make is so good that I can’t leave any behind in the bowl.  I’ve become quite skilled at scraping!

 *Make sure you watch all of Joanne's videos here!