Poll of the Week - 10.12.2009

Happy Columbus Day, everyone! For some of you, this means time off work or time off school, and for most people.... it's just another Monday - lucky for you this means Little Scarlet is posting another poll of the week!

Little Scarlet’s “wedding season” ended this past weekend with the marriage of my sister’s best friend from college. It was a beautiful day with a ceremony to match, and wonderful food. But what wedding would be complete without cake? This weekend’s happy couple had an amazing cake (beautiful, moist, and not too sweet!), and so this week’s “Poll of the Week” asks what is your favorite kind of wedding cake?


I’ve been noticing a rising popularity in cupcakes and dessert tables at weddings lately, in lieu of the traditional cake, and Little Scarlet wants to hear your thoughts in the Comments section!

And congratulations to Kristine and James!

Gourmet Magazine to Close at Year’s End

Today, true tragedy strikes both print media and food lovers everywhere - the end of 2009 will lighten coffee tables across America as publication of Gourmet magazine ends.  Almost 70 years after its creation in 1941, a decline in circulation and magazine advertising has been cited for the magazine’s closing. Condé Nast will instead focus its efforts on Bon Appétit, although Gourmet recipes will still appear on Epicurious.com.  As part of a company-wide review of Condé Nast’s magazines, parenting magazine Cookie will also close, along with wedding magazines Elegant Bride and Modern Bride.

The closing of Gourmet magazine comes as a great disappointment (although, sadly, less of a shock) to Little Scarlet. Gourmet could always be counted on for accessible, yet impressively elegant, meals and was a wonderful resource for entertaining. Through its expert prose, accomplished home cooks were able to elevate making dinner into a kind of craftsmanship, and beautifully photographed holiday spreads inspired both beginners and unsuccessful veterans to enter the kitchen and try to turn out a masterpiece.

It’s hard not to hear the death-rattle of print media with the fall of this once-great giant, and I’m sure the rest of the food-loving community - chefs, writers, home cooks, and eaters alike - will join me in raising a glass, and hoping that Bon Appétit will meet with greater success.

The full internal Condé Nast memo appears after the jump, courtesy of Gawker.

**update** - For a look at Condé Nast's very first issue of Gourmet, click here (from “Serious Eats”).

Poll of the Week - 10.5.2009

Today’s “Poll of the Week” is inspired by yesterday's review of Luke’s Lobster. As the weather gets colder and people start digging sweaters out of their summer hiding places, I always think of the leaves turning in New England - and who can think of New England without thinking of lobster and other shellfish?

This week’s “Poll of the Week” asks what is your favorite shellfish?


I’d love to hear more - tell me how you like to eat your favorite shellfish in the Comments section!

Luke’s Lobster - 7th St & 1st Ave

Luke’s Lobster
$$
**
212.387.8487
93 East 7th St
http://www.lukeslobster.com/

On a recent visit to Caracas, I noticed that the empty retail space in between Caracas-Take Out and Caracas-Dine In had been papered over and “Luke’s Lobster”, a new lobster joint, was moving in soon. I didn’t think much of it until Tasting Table and Thrillist began reporting on some fantastic lobster shack soon to open in the East Village, where the lobster rolls would be sold at a price about half that of New York’s other lobster rolls - already Luke’s was shaping up to be more than just your average hole-in-the-wall seafood dive. As if the price wasn’t attractive enough, Luke’s gives Red Hook Lobster Pound some competition for freshest seafood, as their lobster is brought in directly from Maine in a matter of hours and the meat can be traced back to the harbor where it was caught.

Luke’s is a walk-in establishment with only a few bar stools and a steady line out the door once the afternoon hits. Behind the counter, the walls are stacked high with top-split buns and Cape Cod potato chips, and a staff of three piles giant pieces of claw and tail meat into the toasted, buttery rolls.

“A Taste of Maine” platter: Lobster, crab, and shrimp rolls, a pair of Empress crab claws, chips, and drinks.

Luke’s lobster roll - sitting proud and pretty, with large, identifiable hunks of claw, knuckle, & tail meat!

These aren’t so much “lobster rolls” as piles of lobster loaded into a roll. The cool, sweet lobster meat sits on top of a warm roll with just a smear of mayonnaise - the lobster itself is seasoned only with a light sprinkling of oregano, celery salt, and thyme, in lieu of the traditional mayonnaise, diced celery, and lemon juice. With their late hours, and at $14/4-oz roll, this is a fantastic deal - perfect for those late night cravings where you need a little piece of Maine!

(open 11 am - midnight, Sunday-Wednesday; 11 am - 2 am, Thursday-Saturday)

Locanda Verde - Greenwich St & N. Moore St

Locanda Verde
$$$
***
212.925.3797
377 Greenwich St
http://locandaverdenyc.com/

Almost three years ago, I had the ricotta cheese at A Voce, and still haven’t been able to get it out of my head. When news broke that Andrew Carmellini had left his chef position at A Voce, I was worried that he’d take the recipe with him and I might never be able to enjoy it again, that I’d missed my chance!

Carmellini did take this recipe with him, but fortunately for me, he’s back in the kitchen at Robert De Niro’s new restaurant, Locanda Verde, and he brought his amazing ricotta with him! Situated in the same space where former disaster Ago was located, Locanda Verde is a family-style restaurant in TriBeCa that is more “dark wood and fire”-Italian than “checked tablecloths”-Italian, with a menu that’s truly built for sharing. Salty focaccia topped with fresh tomatoes and herbs is served in lieu of a bread basket, and tastes even better with a little ricotta spread on top!

I’ve mentioned this ricotta three times now, so I think it deserves some description - a sheep’s milk ricotta with sea salt and herbs, this amazingly light, fresh cheese is fantastic when sprinkled with just a little olive oil and thickly spread over slabs of grilled country bread. If Locanda Verde were closer to home, I might stop in and eat this every day!

The menu reflects Locanda Verde’s heavy Italian influence, with many dishes listed in Italian and the menu broken up into cicchetti (appetizers), antipasti (first course), pasta, secondi (second course), and contorni (sides). Particularly notable appetizers include the lamb meatball sliders and (of course!) the ricotta, but the grilled octopus appetizer is cooked perfectly (no rubbery calamari tendrils here!) and an order of lightly fried artichoke hearts is well complemented by a side of yoghurt and mint.

Carmellini’s hearty and passionate cooking has helped to earn him his well-deserved reputation as a pasta genius. His maltagliati, a roughly-cut, flat pasta, is served with pesto, heirloom tomatoes, and olives, and is finished with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. It is so fresh and the colors are so vibrant, eating this dish really tastes like walking through a garden.

Maltagliati with pesto and parmigiano-reggiano

The extra-wide pappardelle noodles with lamb Bolognese are topped with a generous portion of ricotta, and the gigantone (huge, thick, al dente tubes of pasta) is drenched in “Sunday night ragù”, thick with stick-to-your-ribs pork.

Left: Pappardelle with lamb Bolognese, mint, and sheep’s milk ricotta; Right: Gigantone with Sunday night ragù and provolone picante

Secondi plates are seafood dishes like halibut and scallops, and meat dishes like duck, veal cheeks, and porchetta. The fire-roasted garlic chicken for two is the real stand-out, though - it’s a whole roasted bird with crispy skin and loads of garlic and herbs. The table next to ours ordered this and the wonderful smell of sweet, roasted garlic turned the heads of every diner it passed on its way out of the kitchen!

Desserts here are not to be overlooked - pastry chef Karen Demasco has crafted a wonderful menu, void of cliché tiramisus and full of beautifully rustic desserts like almond semifreddo, chocolate torta, and a pistachio brown butter cake with seasonal fruits and pistachio gelato.

Pistachio brown butter cake, with plums and nectarines, and pistachio gelato

Locanda Verde has a strong selection of cheeses, but the waitstaff should be more knowledgeable about them - when asked for a recommendation for a semi-soft, earthy cheese or “anything that’s not blue cheese”, they pointed us toward the Gorgonzola Cremificato and the Blue di Moncenisio... two blue cheeses. We made a lucky guess, though, and stumbled across a fantastic cheese that was exactly what we were looking for.

Meadow Creek Dairy Grayson, a washed-rind, semi-soft cheese, with sweet and nutty tones - served with raw honey, spicy nuts, and fruit-and-nut bread

A visit to Locanda Verde is like eating with your Italian grandmother - you’re served more food than you can possibly eat, but you find yourself devouring every last bite. I can’t wait to be back!