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Announcing the Bon Appetit Grub Crawl in Brooklyn, New Orleans, and L.A.
Back in the day, before having two kids and "acting responsibly" became
my reality, I dedicated all of my free time to eating and drinking my
way through NYC. I'd draw tiny pocket maps of neighborhoods--say the
West Village or Lower East Side--and mark a dozen or so new restaurants
or bars that I wanted to check out. Any given night my then girlfriend (now wife) and I
would hop from one spot to the next, having a cocktail here, an
appetizer there, until we could walk, for one reason or another, no
more. It made me the relentless eater and curious restaurant editor I am
today.
So when team BA told me they were planning to
throw a series of on-the-go food events open to the public, I gave them a high five--I
also recommended neighborhoods, a few restaurants, and asked if I could
tag along.
Today, we're announcing the launch of the Bon Appetit Grub Crawl presented by Belvedere Vodka and Chase Sapphire. Think of it
like any other pub crawl, but with better food and one-of-a-kind VIP
experiences. If you've had your fill of those huge food festivals where
everyone is spilling wine on each other and fighting for tiny plate of
seared tuna, well, the BAGrub Crawl is for you.
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Ask the Foodist: What Are the Most Annoying Things About Travel?
 Dear Foodist: You travel a lot. Something tells me you must have some hotel-related
pet peeves. Care to share?
For the record, I love hotels. I love any place where they pick up after me and I can order a club sandwich at 2:00 a.m. And I love lobby bars, with their chatty vibe and mix of languages. But there are a few things even the best hotels could work on. Here's my open letter to the industry.
Dear Mr. Hotel:
* This is 2012, not 1996. Internet access should be free. End of story. How much is
it costing you per guest, two cents? And you want to charge me $14.95 for 12 hours
of access? Replace that underwhelming free "Continental" breakfast with free Wi-Fi.
* While we're on the tech topic, most guests like to plug in lots of stuff. So why are the outlets so hard to access? The only place you could put them was behind the bed? Not everyone can reach back there.
* I fully understand how hard it is to keep an order of fries crispy while getting it
from the basement to the 33rd floor. But, Mr. Hotel, there's no excuse for under-seasoned food, especially when something as simple as an omelet costs $14.99. Salt and pepper, please! (Oh, and don't forget to remove dining carts and trays from the hallway. No one likes seeing what his neighbor ate the night before.)
* Clean sheets usually aren't an issue, but can we talk about that comforter that inevitably ends up on the floor? How often does that thing get washed? Wait, never mind; I don't want to know.
* I get that I need to be out of the room by noon. But not being able to check in until 3:00 p.m. seems a bit inhospitable, especially after an overnight flight. Yes, I'm looking at you, Mr. European Hotel.
--Andrew Knowlton
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The Foodist's Ultimate Carry-On Bag
As our annual travel issue hits newsstands, we'll share highlights here on The Feed Photograph by Diane Fields
The "Oliver" wax overnight bag by Ernest Alexander ($355) is my new favorite travel companion. It's been to San Francisco, Atlanta, and China and hasn't let me down. It's even survived the NYC subway. The bag's big enough to hold a few nights' worth of clothing for a quick restaurant-scouting weekend but small enough to fit in the overhead bin or underneath the seat. And when I'm not on the road, it fits all those free canvas totes that I used to pack with. ernestalexander.com
--Andrew Knowtlon
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Ask the Foodist: What Food Are You Embarrassed to Like?
 Photograph by Diane Fields
Q: Dear Foodist: What's one food you're embarrassed to like?
A: I used to hide my love of cottage cheese, only eating it at home. What
was I afraid of, that people would think I was on the pineapple-and-
cottage-cheese diet? (Chefs must feel the same way, as you never see it on restaurant menus--though New York's Northern Spy Food Co. now makes it in-house.) But I've recently come to join the ranks of the curd lovers, proud and strong. I'll eat pretty much any brand, but the artisanal, organic offerings from Cowgirl Creamery and Traders Point Creamery are favorites. Another confession: My ideal way to eat it is with potato chips. Don't believe it's the next great food pairing? Click here for a horseradish-and-cottage-cheese dip and prepare to be convinced. --Andrew Knowlton
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Ask the Foodist: How Do I Avoid the Worst Table in a Restaurant?
 Photograph by Bettmann/Corbis
Dear Foodist: It took me three weeks to get a reservation at a certain award-winning restaurant in San Francisco. On the big night, we were seated at the worst table in the house, right next to the bathroom. Why me?
You, my friend, were seated in what the restaurant world calls Siberia. It could
be the table next to the
busy waiters' station, or the lonely two-top in
the far back corner. Every restaurant, no matter what famous designer did the interior, is crammed with as many tables as it can hold, meaning there's always a bad seat or two in the house. We've all
sat there, and it doesn't
make for a fun night out.
Don't take it personally,
though: It's not because of the way you're
dressed; it's usually just the result of a host
or general manager's attempt to balance various waiters' sections. (Why the least-desirable tables are sometimes
the first ones to be seated is still beyond me.)
So how do you avoid exile? If you've been to the restaurant before, specify a particular area or table when making
the reservation. If you're seated at a bad spot, don't wait until your appetizers arrive to ask
if you can move; do it immediately after sitting down. Get up and talk to the manager or someone who looks like she's in charge so as to avoid
a discussion in front of
your tablemates. Don't shout or make a fuss, just politely ask if there might be another table available. (If you've had a reservation for three weeks,
tell her that as well.)
Nine times out of ten, a restaurant will accommodate your request. But if you're a walk-in on a busy Saturday night, I'm
afraid you might have to bring along a scented candle or simply eat at the bar (which, of course, has a Siberia of its own). --Andrew Knowlton
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It's Zork, Not Cork, Sirs
If you've been in a wine store in the past decade, you may have noticed that things are getting a little unpredictable at the tops of bottles. As wineries phase out traditional cork stoppers--and their potential to ruin the wine they're supposed to keep fresh--we're going through an experimental phase: plastic stoppers, screwtops, and even beer-bottlish crown caps.
The other day a new cork alternative popped up (sorry for the pun) from a bottle delivered to my office, and it may have some staying power: the Zork. To open it, peel off the curlicue of plastic (like a slightly fancier milk jug top) and then pop out the stopper, which is made of synthetic rubber and looks a lot like the stopper you'd see on a nice bottle of scotch (and can be used to reseal the bottle in the same way).
While I'd still miss the ceremony of cutting foil and tangling with a corkscrew, peeling off the Zork's plastic strip still feels better than simply unscrewing a metal top (plus it offers a satisfying, corky noise when you unplug the bottle). For now, you'll find it mostly on Australian wines (the Zork company is based in Adelaide), like Yellow Tail's Bubbles sparkling wine, Dog Ridge, and Red Knot. I can't vouch for the wine that the Zork's keeping fresh, but I have a hunch it will pop up in make its way to your local wine store soon enough. --Andrew Knowlton with Sam Dean
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5 Surprising Things You'll Find in The Foodist's Pantry
Photograph by Levi Brown
Q: Dear Foodist,
I imagine you get a lot of free products on the job. What do you actually pay for?
A: You know how some people can't use the bathroom at a party without checking out the host's medicine cabinet? I confess: I can't leave without opening the fridge and pantry, looking for weird pork products, foreign condiments, and esoteric spices. So, just to be fair, I'll give everyone a peek at a few unusual suspects that always have a place on my shelves--and my credit-card statement.
1. Japanese Tea
It's been almost a year since I gave up coffee, and I'm still alive! I've had help, though: from tea. Especially the tea from Ippodo, a Kyoto-based company that's been around since 1717. I love their matcha (powdered green tea) and other green teas. In warmer months, I ice their barley tea and drink it nonstop. Prices vary; tortoisegeneralstore.com
2. Pumpkin Seed Oil
What do Arnold Schwarzenegger and pumpkin seed oil have in common? Both hail from Graz, Austria, where people drizzle the deeply nutty oil on just about everything--salad, spaetzle, even dessert. I can't go a week without a Bibb lettuce salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and a bit of the oil. My daughter likes it on ice cream. Note: It's highly perishable and extremely powerful--a little goes a long way. $17 for 8.5 oz.; latourangelle.com
3. Brown Cheese
After marrying a Norwegian, I've had to buy into a few questionable maxims: Cross-country skiing is a better spectator sport than American football, a-ha had hits other than "Take on Me," and a block of brunost (brown cheese) is a kitchen essential. When it comes to brunost at least, I'm a believer. Somewhere between cheese and fudge in taste, it has a satisfyingly sweet and salty flavor. Breakfast at home usually involves a few slices on top of toast (you'll need a cheese plane, something Norwegian babies are born holding). It's sold in the U.S. as gjetost under the Ski Queen brand. $7 for 9 oz.; amazon.com
4. Yuzu Pao
Like most Americans, I have several bottles of hot sauce crammed into my refrigerator door. Lately I've been returning to Yuzu Pao. It combines two of-the-moment flavors, yuzu citrus and Sriracha chili sauce. The result is slightly sweet, with welcome floral notes from the yuzu and just the right amount of heat. I use it with abandon on eggs, rice dishes, and soups, as well as in marinades. $6 for 8 oz.; earthy.com
5. Canned Fish
If you're used to eating canned tuna, the new four-star stuff will be
a wake-up call for your palate. I stock tins of smoked wild mackerel, Portuguese sardines,
and apple-smoked rainbow trout from Cole's, which supports sustainable fishing practices. $6.50 each for 4.4-oz. tins; shoporganic.com
--Andrew Knowlton
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5 Foods That Taste Better in the South
 Photograph by Barb Pardue, Signs/Alamy
Dear Foodist:
Now that grits have hit the big time from L.A. to New York, what quintessential foods are still worth seeking out in the South?
I was raised in Atlanta on a steady diet of pimiento cheese sandwiches and Hoppin' John.
I never gave the unique foods of my youth much thought until I moved North. Thankfully, I can get great fried chicken near my apartment in Brooklyn. Ditto for braised collard greens. But there are still things that just don't translate. When I go back home, here's what (and where) I eat:
Pork Rinds
They're basically fried pork skin--and they're delicious: crunchy, fluffy, and slightly greasy, with a funky porcine flavor. Right now, my favorite brand is Hickory Ridge from Bartlett, Tennessee.
Sweet Tea
In the South, people drink it in the morning, at lunch, and at dinner all year long. They like it so sweet, you feel like the enamel on your teeth is about to come off. Only outsiders order it unsweetened. I'm actually more of a half-sweet, half-unsweetened guy. Just don't tell my people.
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A Day in the Life of Salumi at Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
As promised, here's a point-by-point illustrated rundown of how the salumi is made at Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria. For those who missed the last post, the Alimentari & Vineria is a shop and restaurant in lower Manhattan that recently rebooted its salumi program, with help from chef and salumiere Christopher Lee (a Chez Panisse veteran who's now working on the Pop-Up General Store in Oakland).
And a word of warning: A pig gets butchered in these photos (shot by photographer William Hereford). We still recommend checking them out. The pigs at Il Buco are sourced from three separate farms that owner
Donna Lennard has been working with for years--EcoFriendly Food's
Starling Farm and Cane Creek Farm, both in North Carolina, and upstate
New York's Flying Pigs Farm.
 The breakdown begins Christopher Lee demonstrating how to split two legs to make prosciutto. "This is a process with a long history, and tradition behind it. It's an honor, really, to do this." Chef Lee calls Bernardo Flores (pictured here), who has been running Il Buco's charcuterie program for years, "the real artist" of the team. Chef Flores, in turn, shakes his head and calls Lee "The real teacher." Chef Flores gets the rest of the pig (hams removed) in position on the table to break down into smaller cuts. When the pair was working overtime to get the program started last summer, Chefs Lee and Flores went down to a farm in Virginia and butchered eight 300-pound pigs in one six-hour day. In other words, they are good at this. The salumiere only use the saw to cut through the biggest bones, preferring to slice along the pig's natural curves for most cuts.
 A front leg, before further butchering. This hog is smaller than what they'd normally use for salumi, but they were nice enough to use it to demonstrate for us. The older hogs, especially the ossabaw breed that Chef Lee loves, develop a richer, firmer flesh that's perfect for curing. The keys to the processing and curing room. The pig keychain lights up and oinks. Pig in a box, waiting to be further processed later on. And one last pig note: all the pork in the salumi program is raised naturally, without antibiotics and the like. Organic pigs are really difficult to come by, just because of the sheer volume of organic feed they need. A mix of shoulder meat and backfat (all pork) makes its way through the grinder. Il Buco may take a shot at making bresaola (a cured beef) in the future, but it's all pigs for the moment (as is most of Italian salumi). Chef Flores adds spices to the mix. To make sure that nothing goes wrong in the curing process, they mix in a tiny bit of lactobacillus to kickstart the fermentation/curing, and a little bit of nitrate to avoid botulism contamination early on in the process (the nitrates dissolve out by the time the sausages are cured).  Mixing not only gets the spices in the meat, but improves its consistency, ensuring a good, solid sausage. A hand-cranked press pushes the filling out into casings made of beef intestine Donna Lennard, owner of Il Buco, watches through a window as Chef Lee makes a finocchiono, or fennel salume, which is really, very delicious (we got to try some finished product upstairs). The aging rack: First, the fresh sausages spend a few days (up to a week) in the "bloom room," the first of two temperature- and humidity-controlled curing chambers, where temperatures in the 70s kick fermentation into high gear. Then, the salumi are moved to the aging room, where they'll stay for months (or years, in the case of prosciutto), slowly drying out and intensifying in flavor.
Photographs by William Hereford
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Made in Manhattan: In-House Everything at Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
From its facade, Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria doesn't look too different from other downtown NYC Italian joints. But don't be fooled. The three-month-old offshoot of NoHo institution Il Buco is home to one of the city's most impressive kitchen setups--an expansive, white subway-tiled basement space that was custom built to house a village-worth of food-makers, from baker to pasta maker to butcher. In it, the staff can turn out house-made bread, gelato, olive oils, and aged cheese. But the star of the show is a charcuterie program that's not only turning out incredible meat--it's also legal (a true feat given NYC's over-the-top regulations).
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Let the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach Show You How to Eat Like a Rock Star in Nashville
 Click to see a larger image
Get in the truck: You don't want to miss a trip to Nashville, where the music is hot, the chicken is hotter, and a rock star is riding shotgun.
 That rock star happens to be Dan Auerbach, singer-guitarist for the grammy-winning band the Black Keys. He's lived in Nashville for a year and already has opinions on everything from where to find the best pho to who makes a "proper" cortado. But it's not just food (and drink!) that's making Nashville the South's City of the Moment (according to us at least, in our February issue). Watch the video below then and read the full story on why we named Nashville the coolest, tastiest city in the South.
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The Best Charcuterie for Your Holiday Party
Ready to move beyond the cheese board at your next dinner party? Give guests their choice of America's best charcuterie--in a mix of flavors and textures--and save the cooking for later
 Photograph by Diane Fields
Cured Meats
1. Speck: Olli Salumeria, Manakin, VA
Imagine prosciutto that took a trip to Northern Italy, spent a few hours in a smokehouse, and got dusted with pepper. $11 for 4 oz., sliced; murrayscheese.com
2. Mocetta (Bresaola Piccola): Creminelli Prime Meats, Salt Lake City
Think of bresaola--paper-thin air-dried beef--as jerky with an Italian accent.
$75 for 2.2 lb.; creminelli.com
Pate
3. House-Made Rabbit Pate: Formaggio Kitchen, Cambridge, MA
It's hard not to like rabbit when it's combined with pancetta, Madeira, and pistachios
and then wrapped in prosciutto. $13 for 1/2 lb.; formaggiokitchen.com
Cured Sausage
4. Chorizo Navarre: Olympic Provisions, Portland, OR
Spanish chorizo (don't confuse it with the fresh Mexican variety) gets its fiery red
color from smoked paprika and cayenne. $10 for about 6 oz.; olympicprovisions.com
5. Finochietta: Salumeria Biellese, NYC
Classic Tuscan salami (flavored with both fennel seed and fennel pollen) from a legendary maker. $15 for 1 lb.; salumeriabiellese.com
Spreads
6. Nduja: Boccalone, San Francisco
The idea of soft, spicy salami may sound odd, but slathered on warm bread, this Calabrian-style paste will no doubt become your latest addiction. $24 for about 8 oz.; boccalone.com
7. Iowa White Spread: La Quercia, Norwalk, IA
An unctuous blend of cured prosciutto fat, ground coriander, rosemary, and bay leaf. If butter went to heaven, this is what it would taste like. $10 for 1 lb.; laquercia.us
The Oddball
8. Coffee Lomo: Salt & Time, Austin, TX
One of the crowning achievements of America's recent charcuterie boom: Spanish-style pork loin rubbed with wood-roasted coffee, chile, and cumin, then cured for four months.
$7 for 2 oz., sliced; saltandtime.com
--Andrew Knowlton
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A Pimento-y Project Worth Checking Out
As you all (or y'all) may know, I'm a big booster of my family's particular pimento cheese recipe, but I love the stuff in general, too. So when I found out about this movie project on Kickstarter called "Pimento Cheese, Please!," I knew it was my duty as a lover of the slightly spicy spread to chip in. I just got the DVD in the mail, along with a tote bag (just in time to become my NYT-approved status symbol) and a little booklet of "recipes submitted by enthusiasts."
Happily, my Grandma Knowlton's recipe made the cut, nestled right between the recipes for Linda's Fancy and Tara Cassidy's. Filmmakers Nicole Lang Key and Christophile Konstas made the video, and Ted Lee (of Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts fame) and Lisa "The Homesick Texan" Fain make cameo appearances, all singing the praises of the oddly satisfying glop. --Andrew Knowlton with Sam Dean
[via Pimento Cheese, Please!]
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Top 5 Hottest Restaurant Openings in America in 2012
 The Foodist's 2007 restaurant notebook
Photograph by Peggy Gertner
I keep a running list of soon-to-open restaurants I must check out in a composition book (yes, like the black-and-white ones from grade school). I've filled over 30 of them in ten years. Here's a peek at where I'll be eating in 2012.
Little Goat, Chicago
Stephanie Izard's neo-diner will feature such indulgences as a pulled-pork sandwich on a pork-fat dough-nut and a beef-cheek French dip sandwich.
To open April 2012
The Sycamore Kitchen, Los Angeles
The main draw at this breakfast and lunch spot, brought to you by the married duo behind nearby Hatfield's, has got to be the baked goods: salted-caramel pecan rolls, quinoa muffins, and brioche fritters.
To open March 2012
Underbelly, Houston
How serious is chef Chris Shepherd's new meat restaurant? In-house charcuterie, on-premises butcher shop, and fresh cuts of goat, lamb, veal, and--of course--pork from his own herds.
To open January 2012
Central Kitchen, San Francisco
The Flour + Water gang branches out with two new spots nearby in the
Mission: the more formal Central Kitchen and the sandwich and cured-meat shop Salumeria.
To open February 2012
Pok Pok NY, Brooklyn
The Portland, OR, favorite brings its hard-core traditional Thai cooking to the somewhat-out-of-the-way Red Hook neighborhood. Expect long lines anyway.
To open January 2012
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Ask the Foodist: Is It Rude to Skip a Holiday Toast?
 Nixon, never one to follow the rules
Photograph courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Executive Office of the President
Dear Foodist: I'm hosting a big holiday dinner for family and friends for the first time. Is a toast mandatory?
Dear Toasted: In my book, definitely. It may confound my food-obsessed friends to learn that my favorite part of a holiday meal is rarely the country ham, scalloped potatoes, or coconut cake(s).
It's the toast: that fleeting moment when everyone is gathered around the table and the host stands to say a few welcoming words of appreciation. Call me old-fashioned, but I live to hear everyone's glasses come together in one harmonious clink. Here are some Foodist rules to help make your glass-raising memorable.
1. Traditionally, the host should be the first to make a toast. If he or she hasn't done it by the time dessert is served, a guest should step up to the plate.
2. You're not Winston Churchill. Keep it short and simple.
3. Giving a toast after you've had a few cocktails is okay, but if crude jokes are the first thing to cross your mind, let someone else do the talking. And remember: It's a toast, not a roast.
4. Water is a perfectly acceptable replacement for wine or spirits. Just make sure everyone's glass is filled with something.
5. When clinking glasses with tablemates, make sure you look them in the eye.
--Andrew Knowlton
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