Not just coffee

Posts Tagged Dining

Support the Little Guy

Feb 27

Posted by admin in food universe, life

The wind is howling. The snow is still piled up, but the little guy is hanging out there waiting for you.

Not every restaurant has the high rent problem. Some have solved the dilemma by getting a food truck. Remember this was a strong trend at the end of the decade and continues to be an ever-present one, regardless of the weather.  IMG00761

Some cities are lined with food carts, and you quickly learn who’s got what and where to find the best hot meal. No matter the competition, the goal is the same: Quality food at affordable prices. Even with a smile!

Time to get onto Twitter and find where some of the mobile ones are hanging out.

These are the little businesses that need our loyalty even if the snow is still piled high along the street.

BTW, the falafel is excellent!

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Round Up: Food News To Use

Jan 24

Posted by admin in food universe, news

So many leftovers. Time to consolidate all that information.

Yes, this was definitely the week that was; as in you were warned by Starbucks that prices would increase. They did. You may not have noticed the 5 cents here and there and some drinks jumped more than that, but it’s the caffeine that counts, right?

At the same time they got hit for the price jump, albeit with warning, they continued to tweak their healthy menu items. A few simple adjustments on your latte orders, like switching to nonfat milk, can keep the calorie count down. Actually they have lots of company in the new calorie-posting lifestyle. Look at Applebee’s new healthy choice list with the long title: “Unbelievably Great Tasting & Under 550 Calories.” That’s a mouthful.

Grocers continue to parade around their value-pricing deals and low-calorie combinations. FreshDirect, the online grocer in New York, touts its 500-calorie meals which they create in-house and have available for delivery.siteaccess_farms_02

Results are in that people do pay attention to calorie postings, but they are being questioned for their exactness. Several reports have questioned the validity of the numbers. Think this is where commonsense has to rein. If it looks too good to be true…Guess what the triple burger might actually have more than 100 calories! I see more fruit options as commonsense sides to accompany main courses.

Celebrity Food Shows have been touting the combination of waffles and fried chicken. Now that has become a menu buzz. Do you get two separate plates so they syrup does not run all over the crispy chicken? This is what we call a fad; not a trend!

As the weather continues lashing out at us with a full deck of impossibilities, (tornadoes in CA?), it’s time to begin the magical pre-spring daydream: Seed catalogs. This is the time of year to leaf through them and find the best possibilities for your eventual garden. Time to order and begin the slow sprout. So many catalogs and so many new veggie and fruit possibilities. This is your year to rotate and bring on some new choices. Skip the all-traditional garden and go for some of the newcomers–all well marked. Just verify the growing zone so CA crops do not sit idle in your mid-Atlantic garden! Can one really have too many tomatoes?

Always a few more food recalls to focus our attention. This week it was cheese logs, smoked beef brisket, and additional burger items. With the appointment of the new FDA deputy commissioner in charge of upgrading food safety, maybe, just maybe, we can start to see better focused attention and action.

Speaking of burgers: Here’s a new burger bar prototype to consider: Burger King and Budweiser have teamed up to open a Whopper Bar by mid-February in South Florida. If it works there…the rest is history: Tourist areas get ready to open a cold one! It’s a success in Germany and new one is planned for Spain.

Oatmeal continues to be everyone’s favorite bowl game. McDonald’s, Caribou, Starbucks, and Jamba Juice are all tripping over each other with the flavor possibilities and price wars. What happened to good Old Quaker at home–OK, the one minute kind in a to-go cup–even less expensive!

Rest up a new week in food is ready to entice.

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Breakfast: The Most Important Meal

Jan 8

Posted by admin in Economy, coffee, dining out

For years nutritionists have been saying kick your metabolism into gear by having breaksfast. Start your day with fuel and the rest of the day will move along nicely. Puns intended.

Plenty of restaurants and quick-service spots have obviously heard the rallying cry–it translates as Ka-Ching as dollars are going into the register with record speed as breakfast has become a bigger stop than just for the all-mighty cup of coffee. The examples speak volumes.

–Chick-Fil-A: They just introduced a new breakfast menu with with a low-calorie yogurt parfait (Theyogurtparfaity quickly decided this item would be a popular all-day choice so its availability extends beyond 10:30AM) and mini nuggets–(Chick-n-Minis)–you know, a hand-held slider. Judging by the early morning drive-thru line, the concept must already be working.

–IHOP: Breakfast anytime is their concept as they move into the new year with the return of the All-You-Can Eat Buttermilk Pancakes starting at $4.99. It’s not just a plate of pancakes on this special as the combo accompaniments of eggs, hash browns, and meat are part of round one. Pancakes can keep on coming until it’s time to roll yourself out the door.

–McDonald’s: They  took on the breakfast brigade with the national rollout of the $1 menu (sausage biscuit, burrito, or McMuffin, and, of course, hashbrowns).

–Sonic Drive-In has several breakfast choices on the dollar menu including the Junior Breakfast Burrito with Sausage. They subscribe to the breakfast anytime motto.

All-Day Breakfast and price-competitive menus seem to be the theme starting the New Year. That, of course, and the big shout out about new, better grinds for truly enjoyable coffee!

With all the drive-n-go or eat ‘n run options, is anybody really focused on the Breakfast Metabolism starter or just finding filling food at affordable prices?

A little less food; a better cup of coffee.

Thank you.

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Gluten-Free Universe

Nov 21

Posted by admin in health, news

When you decide you’ve had enough of ingredients that are unpronounceable so they couldn’t possibly be good for you, you might consider fewer ingredients and a return to the basics. For many people, when they make this decision, they also decide to take out the wheat, rye, or  barley as a first step. There are so many processed foods that our digestive systems are questioning what is entering and how it is affecting us. Simple may be best.

Grocers have heard the cry that more consumers are looking for gluten-free products and often publish an easily available list of their products that meet the gluten-free guidelines. What was once a savage search in numerous aisles has become less of a hunt for quality tastes. Two caveats before you go down the road to digestive health. You need to find the basics and do a lot of your own in-house baking. The minute a manufacturer attaches a gluten-free label to a new item, it seems costs far exceed products with so many unnecessary ingredients. Hardly logical!

As for cereals, the Chex family has numerous solutions to make shopping easy and less focused on how many changes are necessary. They list products and offer recipes. Several blogs including the “Gluten Free Goddess” are devoted to the issue and provide suggestions and approaches to healthier living. Look at her roasted acorn squash risotto recipe, and you’ll understand following the GF lifestyle is not that difficult. For those with a classified health issue such as Celiac Disease, The Celiac Foundation offers extensive lifestyle advice.

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It’s not that difficult to be gluten-free. It just means paying better attention to ingredients in purchased products and adjusting your cooking strategies. With the web, there are plenty of opportunities to find resources to help educate and make shopping a less painful outing.

Stay with the basics.

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Watching Food

Nov 6

Posted by admin in life

Some people like to watch paint dry. I, on the other hand, have a fascination with food.

If sushi chefs taught us anything, it was that customers love to watch their food being made. It somehow conveys a freshness not otherwise exhibited when one buys a plasticized food container. Yes, someone made that item somewhere, but when and where?

When we go to a Mexican restaurant and someone is manning the tortilla machine we get that warm, cuddly, freshness feel. Yes, tortillas somehow taste better when we see the machine in action!

We like to watch. (I’m not talking about high-end restaurants where the magic is delicately performed at stations in the kitchen). I’m talking about a different food tier. We feel comfortable ordering what we see being prepared. That’s why grocers have expanded their takeaway sections with meals you can put together for a set price. You make the selection based on what you see. It feels far cleaner and fresher than the salad bar approach to dining.

How about a machine that makes fresh rice cakes while you watch! First off, the concept is fun, and the flavor means you’ll forgo the packaged products forever. Hello, CocoPop Machine. individual rice cake Yes, these circular gems literally pop out of the machine and into the individual order. You’ll question the packaged rice cakes you’ve been snacking on for years.

If you see the machine in action, like I did today at a brand, spanking new Wegmans, you’ll be hooked on the lightness of the taste. If they are doing samples, try it with the organic jam. Now we’re talking a pairing! This type of interactive food display makes shopping fun again. Trust me: No cardboard aftertaste!

Seeing food being prepared can enhance the palate.

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Top Home Chef

Oct 23

Posted by admin in Gadgetry, cooking, lifestyle

With all the efforts at cutting back on expensive restaurant meals and being better grocery shoppers, it is only fitting that everything that has been available to the restaurant chef has slowly worked its way into the home kitchen. With the preponderance of chef supplies, cookbooks, and specialty novelties at kitchen stores, it is no wonder that cooks look at the television chef and fantasize about their own creative talents.

We’ve already purchased the special accouterments such as immersion blenders, poultry thermometers, mandolines, and specialty knives. Restaurant quality pots and pans were a natural addition to complement white dinnerware of all shapes and sizes to showcase the specialty preparations. Appliances have not suffered from lack of attention with Viking Ranges making major inroads into the home kitchen, and barista-style coffee makers comfortably supporting the caffeine habit that lends itself nicely to the creativity high.

Now we can do better planning with the first sous vide appliance designed for the home chef. Let’s backtrack a little. Sous vide has been around for a long time, especially in France, and in the US it has gone under the microscopic lens of fears of health and food safety. The water-bath, vacuum-sealed method of steady,keller book low cooking maintains flavors and textures.

After it received passing marks, many chefs joined its original US superstars such as Thomas Keller (French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon) who has even written a book on the subject with what are fairly technical recipes.  Now it is our turn to use the water bath method of cooking and lock in flavors naturally and emulate the masters. With the new piece of equipment, many of these recipes are now within reach!

It just gets easier and more fun sousvideto be the creative home chef.

Happy cooking.

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So Delicious; Can’t Wait to See

Jul 12

Posted by admin in cooking, lifestyle, news

I remember the evening we saw the movie “Big Night” and went home to try to recreate the centerpiece entree, the timbale. Then there was “Tortilla Soup” which became a winter staple in my house–click the link for the recipe. Another favorite was  “Ratatouille” where we practiced our French and laughed ourselves silly at every restaurant menu trying to create its own garden version of this popular dish. Just a few of the many great food movies!

This summer promises a delicious event, great food fun as Meryl StreepMV5BMTM0NjMxMzk1MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDkzOTI2Mg@@._V1._SX94_SY140_ literally becomes Julia Child in the movie “Julie & Julia” based on the book by a cooking novice who decided she could duplicate the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. One a day wouldn’t be that hard is what she thought. The book and the movie tell a more interesting, fun tale of harried days and long nights and impressive success.

The cast includes Stanley Tucci who we remember so fondly from Big Night and Amy Adams as the young woman trying to master the Master.

Trust me: The trailer looks great as we await the August opening.

Some people look forward to the next “Harry Potter” (this week); me, I await the food movie.

Delish.

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A Good Eating Month

Jul 1

Posted by admin in coffee, food, news

img00453If you ask enough associations, you’ll get a food a month to celebrate. July covers a lot of tastes.

So today, the 1st of July, is a good time to get on the bandwagon and start celebrating National Ice Cream Month. You don’t want to miss a day of this event. The industry is happy to accommodate with all kinds of new flavors and ingredient combinations. Haagen Dazs simplified the rules a little with its “five” product line–just 5 ingredients for the purity of taste. Trust me on this: Try the five Coffee. If you have ultimate discipline, then celebrate just one day of the month: July 19th, National Ice Cream Day.

For the fruit lovers this is a good month as it is National Blueberry Month. When they are plentiful, the blues bring on the smiles. If you can’t get enough of them, they are easy to freeze and bring cereals to life in the dead of winter! Of course, there’s the whole health discussion and the top marks the blues earn in the antioxidant life-saving category. That makes them extra tasty!

July is also National Hot Dog Month and this coming 4th of July tips the scales with record volume expected of over 150 million hot dogs! That little factoid should have the bakers baking and the relish makers making. Even the mustard people should ready themselves!

These three celebrations set the mood for the month.

Don’t waste a second; get started.

There’s a lot to celebrate.

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They Keep On Coming

Jun 2

Posted by admin in Economy, dining out, news, restaurants

mini_dessert_tnI love the promos that have a short time window. As if they know something no one else knows. Like we are just giving you a 2-week boost because we know things will be better in 3! Ha! Doesn’t work like that.

Yes, there is a little optimism in the air. You can see it with the increased crowds at neighborhood places. You can follow it with people taking an extra day for a long weekend. It is summer after all, and everyone seems to be enjoying the extra hours of daylight by being outside and doing more.

So in the promo world, let me entice you one more time. After all, Two-Buck Chuck may be more popular than expense account meals!

The half-off bottle wine promo for The Palm has been extended until the end of August. No surprise.

Denny’s had an amazingly successful breakfast promo this spring. Now for the month of June, it’s an all-day everyday value slam. Whaddya think–maybe longer?

Happy Hours have returned to their roots–not just lower priced drinks but many with respectable food choices. In Washington DC one of the better buys for an after-work respite is at Vidalia’s. Definitely worth the stop.

Consumer Reports just rated over 100 chain restaurants and listed the good deals and what to look for. There’s even some room for negotiation. Some of the restaurants rated highest for exceptional value include: Black-eyed Pea, Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ, Azteca Mexican Restaurant, Cheddar’s Casual Cafe, and First Watch. Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, Joe’s Crab Shack, and Friendly’s did not have such positive feedback!

Don’t forget the usual suspects that give out coupons; they’re still actively working for your restaurant dollars.

Opportunities exist. Take some time.

Help yourself and the economy through the bright lights of summer.

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Empowerment

May 27

Posted by admin in dining out, life

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The best servers are those who understand they can make a difference in an experience. That’s the scenario at the Lounge at Bourbon Steak in DC’s Four Season Hotel: Empowerment.

When the diner asks, “can we,” and the server does not look flummoxed but responds,”I think we can make it happen,” you know that training has won the game.

The customer wanted something crunchy from the bar menu to go with the tuna tartare. Instead of saying sorry we have nothing like that, the server began an exploratory option guess–how about truffle rolls? No, too fattening.

Want oyster crackers?  No, I eat no shellfish. That was quickly remedied with an analogy drawn from the lore of Saltines. If you smashed a number of saltines and used a circle machine, you would have the basis of an oyster cracker. Close enough.

Nuts?  No, that won’t work. 

Then, the bright light hit. After a quick consult with another server, he came back and said, “sure we can do almost anything, we are a restaurant in a hotel. We have an extensive room service menu. “

We could get chips. Would that work?

All handled with polite sweetness and no charge for the thinking and clever solution!

Ingenuity, the mother of invention, and good training.

The perfect combo!

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