Archive for December, 2006
December 21, 2006 at 6:27 am · Filed under Brooklyn
I’ve heard great things about Gorilla Coffee, the independently owned and operated Brooklyn micro-roastery and coffee shop. However, none of my coffee-guzzling Brooklynite co-workers had ever tried it. So I went to my office where we replaced our usual organic fair trade coffee with Gorilla Coffee.
One drinker responded, “I was looking for a bit more. There was nothing as distinct as I would like. Usually with Sumatra, there’s more. It’s a very respectable coffee, but it doesn’t stand out.” Tough crowd! But most drinkers felt the same way Read the rest of this entry »
December 20, 2006 at 7:06 am · Filed under Brooklyn
In the Caribbean, the regional fast food is the roti, a flour pancake of Indian origin traditionally wrapped around a meat, chick pea and potato curry. West Indian roti is often a kind of “dhalpouri”, which includes a flavorful ground lentil flour mixed into the layers of the roti. I stopped into the amiable In Between Eatery & Pastry Place for a curried goat roti to go. Their roti wrap is moist and lighter than a tortilla. It’s filled with a big, dense helping of curried goat (still on the bone) with potatoes and chick peas that’s messy, savory and delicious. Read the rest of this entry »
December 19, 2006 at 7:06 am · Filed under Brooklyn
There are two ways to smoke a fish. Cold smoking (no heat applied) involves brining the fish and keeping it at a cold temperature for many hours, resulting in a silky-textured product that is usually sold in slices. Lox is an example of cold-smoked salmon. You can cold-smoke all kinds of things from fish to game as well as cheese. The other method, hot smoking, also takes many hours but with temperatures reaching as high as 185 degrees. Typically using wood smoke, the process yields a flaky fish texture, more similar to that of a standard cooked fish. The ideal hot smoked fish balances salt, smoke and herbs with the Read the rest of this entry »
December 11, 2006 at 7:46 am · Filed under Brooklyn
Thanks to the devoted gumshoes on Chowhound, I learned that an annex of Ostrovitsky’s Bakery in Midwood is located a few short blocks from my apartment. The shop is nestled into a gas station and offers challah, bagels, coffee, candies as well as a hot buffet, mostly catering to a gas-and-go crowd. Business was brisk on a sunny Sunday winter morning when I walked over. I left with challah rolls and a devastatingly good kokosh cake, a chocolate-filled rolled pastry with a consistency similar to challah. Read the rest of this entry »
December 6, 2006 at 10:15 am · Filed under Brooklyn
Wade through the sacks of beans, nuts and flour, past the olives, dried fruit and cookware, to the back of the welcoming Oriental Pastry and Grocery, and you might find a tray of fresh baklava still warm from the oven. Baklava’s ingredients of spices, nuts and honey once made it an exclusive treat for only the wealthiest of sultans. Now it’s enjoyed by many in more than one-fifth of the world’s countries. Its golden brown layers of phyllo dough with a sweetened nut filling is baked and sometimes sprinkled with pistachios. A spiced honey syrup is poured over the warm pastry and allowed to soak into the layers. The melt-in-your-mouth version at Oriental Pastry is divine - light, crispy, buttery and neither too sweet, nor too sticky. This isn’t surprising for a shop whose owners are known for their generosity, knowledge and passion for food. Read the rest of this entry »
December 1, 2006 at 6:35 am · Filed under Brooklyn
This past summer, a wonderfully thoughtful friend gave me My Life in France, a memoir of Julia Child written by her grand-nephew, author and Brooklyn resident Alex Prud’homme. While much of my own reading centers on food these days, this book stands out as one of my all-time favorites. It’s the charming and captivating story of Paul and Julia Child and their years spent in Paris, Marseille and Provence in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Julia Child’s embracing of her surroundings, her ability to transform herself, her endless curiousity about cooking, and tireless efforts on her series Mastering the Art of French Cooking are truly inspiring - not to mention the humor, humility and bumbling grace she brought to everything she did. Prud’homme compiled interviews and letters into a beautiful narrative that is an infectious tribute to the beloved chef and author. Read the rest of this entry »
