Cheese of the Month

Malinda recently signed us up for a cheese-of-the-month club. The idea was very appealing. Who doesn’t want a fresh supply of interesting and "new" cheeses delivered to your door every month?

We got three very different cheeses in our first month’s delivery and discovered an incredible goat cheese. It's called Buche de Chevre and is a goat's milk cheese from Poitou in the loire Valley. It was sharp and tangy near the rind and got progressively richer and creamier toward the center. The other two cheeses were just OK. They were really nothing special. The next month, well, we don’t really know. We sort of overdosed on cheese and we haven’t been able to break into the second month. This is a problem as we're expecting our third month's delivery any day now.

If you don’t think an endless supply of cheese is a problem and it’s a problem you wish you had, visit igourmet.com. Their cheese of the month is one of the cheaper of-the-month clubs I’ve seen. The good thing about their cheese-of-the-month club is that you can choose three, six or twelve months. We’re signed up for six months. Oh cheeses!

SmirnoffSource

On one of those very rare occasions that we were not watching something previously recorded, my wife and I caught a commercial for SmirnoffSource. For some reason, we both listened to the commercial and didn’t get it. We actually went back and watched it again. I don’t know what it was about the commercial that actually got us to listen but it worked. Well, it kinda worked. I was convinced it was a commercial for a new “spring” water, a la Pepsi/Aqua Fina or Coke/Desani, with a Smirnoff label. Considering America’s fascination with bottled water, I didn’t think it was absurd. However, the ad was for a new beverage that is promoted as spring water with alcohol. Hmmmm. You would assume that the “alcohol” mentioned is vodka considering the brand name, but you’d be wrong. The alcohol in question is malt-based alcohol, just like all Smirnoff’s other “alcopops.”

Why would you buy this beverage? Is the spring water enough of a draw to get people to buy watered down malt-based alcohol? The Smirnoff site claims the beverage is lightly carbonated, has a slight citrus flavor and is meant to be a beer alternative or “an ultra-premium alternative to domestic beer.” Really? Have we been brainwashed enough to believe that we should buy this beverage because it has spring water? After all, that is what makes it “ultra-premium,” because it certainly isn’t the malt-based alcohol. Oh, the other thing is that it has a low alcohol content with only 3.5%. The press release explains the lower alcohol as a “response to consumer demand” and claims it to be “the first lower-alcohol flavored malt beverage on the market that fits modern lifestyles and offers adult consumers sophisticated new drinking experiences.”
So why are these Smirnoff beverages not mixed with vodka?

Turn Up the Heat - It's Chili

If you're one of those people that has 23 different bottles of hot sauce in your refrigerator and/or cabinets and Sriracha from Huy Fong Foods is not one of them, you're missing out. I discovered this sauce after ordering the Sri Ra Cha Pasta dish from Tip Top Thai located on Broadway in Somerville, Massachusetts. I loved the flavor of the sauce and wondered what was in it. The dish description said it was made with the chef's own Sri Ra Cha chili sauce. Well, what is Sri Ra Cha? It turns out it is a sauce named after a seaside town in Thailand (Si Racha) and is a sauce made from sun-ripened chili peppers, garlic, vinegar, sugar and salt.

Unlike sauces like Tabasco, Sriracha does not have a vinegary taste. The sauce is slightly sweet due to the use of sun-ripened chilies and well, sugar and it has a good amount of garlic flavor. Of all the hot sauces I've tried, this one is my favorite because of it's flavor rather than its heat. Actually, as far as heat goes, it only has a Scoville rating of 2,000 so it's pretty mild for a hot sauce. If you seek out hot sauces for their intense heat, this isn't for you. Instead I recommend using this sauce in combination with a hot sauce. Some of the really hot sauces are lacking in flavor and are just out for the shock effect.

The Huy Fong brand is hard to find in supermarkets, though it is the most well-known brand. I searched for a long time before I found it in, of all places, Target. You'll know the bottle from the green cap and the rooster on the front. There are some copy-cat brands out there and they lack the great flavor balance offered in Huy Fong's brand. I threw my bottle of the copy-cat stuff out once I found the Huy Fong brand.

Absinthe: Is that Absent with a Lisp?

There is a lot of mystique and intrigue around Absinthe. The spirit was banned in the United States at some point in the early 1900s due to its apparent effects on the mind. The chemical thujone was thought to be to blame for the hallucinogenic effects on heavy Absinthe drinkers but recent studies found only large amounts of the chemical caused a physical reaction and even then, no hallucinations. I don't think it was the Absinthe that was the problem. The clue there is heavy drinkers. Jack Daniels has the same effect.

My guess is that Absinthe was branded as a hallucinogen because it was favored among creative types. They claimed to create and think differently while intoxicated. These folks are naturally prone to thinking outside the box when sober. Absinthe just happened to be their drink of choice.

I'm sure there are die-hard fans of Absinthe out there that would disagree with my opinion. The reason for disagreement would probably come from the desire to protect Absinthe's mystique. I don't blame them for wanting to protect its history and reputation. Drinking Absinthe is an experience. After all, Absinthe has its own specially designed glass, artistically designed slotted spoons and step-by-step processes and recipes that are all part of the intrigue that is the Absinthe experience. Because of the steps involved with preparing the drink, it has a ritualistic feel that only adds to its mystique and magnetic effect on those who are susceptible to enjoying ritualistic encounters.

For those of us who are just plain curious about Absinthe, its flavor and mixing possibilities, Viridian LLC released a brand of Absinthe with a dose of thujone that is low enough to pass US requirements bringing authentic Absinthe back to the US for the first time in almost 95 years. Currently, it is in limited supply in New York with plans for more significant quantities throughout the summer as well as online sales.

Shubies

If you live, work, or play anywhere near Marblehead, MA, stop by Shubies on Atlantic Avenue. My wife and I were driving through Marblehead one day and decided to stop at a nearby pub for a quick lunch when we noticed the "Best of Boston" sign in the window of a very plain looking building. Normally, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to investigate but something was calling my name. After closer inspection, I realized my name was being called by the contents of this amazing store. You enter the store directly into the very well-stocked wine section and continue toward the food section which starts with an unbelievable display of cheeses from all around the world. As it is with any respectable cheese shop, they let you try before you buy. The difference with the incredible staff at Shubies is that they don't wait to be asked. They are very eager to suggest cheeses, open them up and serve you a slice. It's a great marketing tactic due to our purchasing of several cheeses I would not have considered buying or trying. This tactic works well for their prepared food section as well. We tried all sorts of chicken, potato and tuna salads, grilled shrimp and a number of other things. Needless to say, we didn't eat at the pub. We chose a sampling of our favorites and sat down at one of only three tables at the window. After lunch we continued our tour. We only made it half way though the store. The rest of the store consists of a very small but very well-stocked deli display, an excellent collection of desserts and breads, a coffee and tea section, lots of packaged goods which were all available for sampling and last but not least a kitchen gadget section. A lot is packed into this space. I highly recommend you visit the fine folks at Shubies. Just make sure you do so on your way home as you'll need to refrigerate your purchases.

A Purrfect Fit

Chef Rocco DiSpirito, of the reality show The Restaurant, had potential to be a celebrity chef. His downfall was getting into bed with Jeffrey Chodorow or maybe it was his ego. You can hardly blame him for spiraling out of control. He was a young, well-known chef and had his own TV show. He became more concerned with being a celebrity and he forgot the reason why he was popular, his food. Well, I thought he would be able to crawl out of the pit and redeem himself over time but it appears that his latest work is not fit for human consumption. Rocco was hired to represent Fancy Feast® Elegant Medleys™ at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. This is the first time a cat food has been showcased at this event. At least he's working.

Food Critics and Egomaniacs

Some of you might remember Jeffrey Chodorow from his restaurant reality show, The Restaurant, starring the young and talented publicity whore Rocco DiSpirito. You might even know him as a restaurateur. After all, he has over 20 restaurants. Recently, he received a poor review from The New York Times' food critic, Frank Bruni, for his new restaurant Kobe Club. Chodorow fought back, in classic sore looser fashion, with an obnoxious ad in the Times about how great his restaurant is and how the other critics loved it. He spent a lot of money telling the readers of The New York Times that Bruni was wrong and that his restaurant is great. The ad was well worth the money. He's getting a ton of publicity from it, good and bad. There is such a thing as bad publicity when it comes to restaurants. I can understand his frustration. His restaurant that took over the space that used to house Rocco's on 22nd Street suffered from Rocco's Curse and harsh criticism that could have been residual distaste for Rocco's. Frankly, I believe some of its demise was in the name, Caviar and Banana. What the F!

The main point of Mr. Chodorow's ad/letter was that Bruni has no food experience and hence is not qualified to be a food critic. This brings two issues to mind. One, Jeffrey Chodorow is an egomaniac. If you watched The Restaurant you would come to the same conclusion. Of course he thinks his restaurant is great. He has now gone so far as to create his own blog, giving himself the title of food critic. He claims that he plans to post only positive experiences. That's realistic! Bad restaurants do exist and if you want to be a critic you have to report on the negative experiences too. If not, you're not a food critic but rather a reporter of good restaurants. After being criticized for censoring the comments that were streaming in to his blog, the decision was made to let them all through. There are some harsh words to Mr. Chodorow in those comments. How can he bare it? On his own blog? How dare they! At least it won't cost tens of thousands of dollars in ad fees to respond to those opinions.

The second issue that came from all of this is the topic of food critics. Frank Bruni does not have a background in food, except for an eater of it. I believe he's been eating all of his life. I'll have to check on that fact though. Commonly, food critics are snobbish when it comes to food. I am in no way a food expert. I love pub food and beer as much as I love fine dining and a great wine. I just love food. I do, however, know a good experience when I have one. I'm even more aware of a bad experience when I have one.

A little story:
My wife and I went to the Chart House, located at 60 Long Wharf in Boston, which is part of Landry's Restaurants, Inc.. The Chart House in Boston is one of 26 in the country. More about these upscale chain restaurants at a later date.

We had a great meal. However, something that happened that night would have completely given a food critic the red ass. The first problem we had was our waitress in the lounge. She was slow to take our cocktail order, slow to bring the bill and generally slow all around. After being seated, everything went very smoothly until it was time to clear the table. The waitress piled our plates on a tray, turned around and something happened. I can only explain this as a glitch in the gravitational pull or maybe a drop in atmospheric pressure. I just don't know what happened. The waitress didn't just loose her hold of the tray but somehow managed to violently toss the contents. My wife and I were covered in rice, fish and lemons halves with the little seed condoms on them. The very subtle Australian gentleman behind us screamed "WOW I've never seen that before". I'm telling you, it was something to see. I felt very bad for the waitress. She was extremely upset but she kept her composure enough to promptly move us to another table and offer us free dessert. It was an accident. It clearly made an impression on me though. I can see past that though and tell you that the food, atmosphere and even our server were all great. I can only imagine the horror of a food critic wiping rice from his lapel and picking fish shrapnel from his wife's hair. I'm thinking that would not be a pleasant review. It was a bruise to the ego, for sure. I deserve nothing short of flawless service and food. Supernatural phenomena is no excuse.

I think social networking, mainly blogs, will have a big effect on these types of things. Everyone will become a critic. The challenge is to write about your good experiences as well as your bad. We are tempted to only tell people about the bad experiences we have. That has to change. I don't have a problem with Frank Bruni being a food critic. He's a regular guy. So am I. He doesn't have a background in food. Neither do I. It does, however, matter to those who get bad reviews from him. You don't hear complaints when three stars are awarded, unless you're Mario Batali. Nobody likes to be criticized, especially egomaniacs.