pretentious foodie post

I've been meaning to write this post since December, but every time I started it it just sounded like a dreaded foodie post. So now I'm just sucking it up and writing a foodie post.

But it really can't be too much of a foodie post because pretty much all I'm going to talk about is bacon. And I've loved bacon my entire life, even when I refused to eat most foods. Now, many kids don't eat their vegetables (and I didn't) but I also did not eat macaroni and cheese or most other forms of cheese, a childhood staple. I downed bacon, though. I didn't (and still don't really) eat eggs, so bacon and grits was my favorite breakfast. (Oh, hello. Forgot I'm from the South?)

So my love of bacon + increasing willingness to eat new foods= Husk, my new favorite restaurant. Anywhere. I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Charleston, SC, except maybe my vegetarian friends. There is too much bacon to leave still vegetarian.

Husk sources its ingredients locally and lists where each item is from on a large sign in the entrance, whether it's the bacon, benne seeds or clams. They say, "If it doesn’t come from the South, it’s not coming through the door." The focus is on Southern ingredients in Southern, particularly Low Country, recipes. All food is sourced fresh and the kitchen preserves, smokes and pickles the abundance. The menu changes daily. Sure, they list the source of most items on the menu, a common complaint of "foodie"-haters, but our waitress couldn't be described any way other than friendly and chill.

[Local food]

Our meal started with rolls with a bacon butter that I will never be able to recreate but somehow the smooth butter tasted like smoked bacon, perhaps due to bacon fat in the butter. To start we ordered a sampling of cured ham and housemade pickles, as well as fried chicken skins with a spicy honey dipping sauce, and wood fired clams with sausage, peppers and tomatoes and crispy bread.

[We ate every bit of the broth.]

[Due of pork. Pork belly and tenderloin, with parsnips, apples and granola.]

[Due of beef- filet mignon with bok choy and carrots.]

[Due of beef, other side. Ragu and mashed potatoes.]

Husk Restaurant, Charleston, SC.

banh mi throwdown

Monday night was the notorious banh mi throwdown at Cafe Gutenberg. If you live in RVA but missed the hype, check out here and here. In short, Patrick of Boka Truck claimed to have the best banh mi and was challenged RVAFoodie, aka Jason, who found a competitor to take on Boka Truck. Cafe Gutenberg's chefs Jen and Garrett agreed to both put their skills to the test and host the event and Jason pulled together a full event that included official judging and audience taste-testing of a pork banh mi and vegan banh mi. The decision of the judges? Both were delicious but Cafe Gutenberg won both categories. I agreed with the judges- Gutenberg's pork banh mi had better balance and their vegan option actually made me want to eat tofu (though Boka was at a serious disadvantage trying to get me to eat mushrooms, sorry.)

The best part of the event was just bringing so many people together. The crowd of 50-some people were packed together, trying to see the demonstration from the chefs and grabbing sandwiches to try. I made new friends by sharing napkins with strangers and stealing bites of sandwiches from people I had just met.

The event also benefited to great charities- Chefs Move to Schools and Lunch Boxes 4 Life; both organizations promote healthy foods in schools.

Judges (left to right):
Robey Martin of Style Weekly, An Mekong of Mekong,
Chef Ellie Basch of Savor and Jason of RVAFoodie

Cafe Gutenberg's vegan tofu banh mi

Boka Truck's pork banh mi

Patrick, of Boka Truck fame, passing out sandwiches

The competitors: Garret, Jen, Patrick

Surprise ending:
Cupcakes from Pearl Cupcakes for Jason's birthday

I tried to include links and photos of all the wonderful people and businesses that contributed to this amazing event, but somehow I can't seem to find my pictures of the macaroons from Petites Bouchees! They were my first ever and the texture of the macaroons was much lighter and crunchier than I imagined without actually being hard. Thanks to all who contributed, I had a great time and this type of event is what makes Richmond such a vibrant city!

bon appetit steals my cravings

I swear Bon Appetit wrote this month's issue just for me. Grabbed it at the local drugstore before I even read the cover and was delighted to see the headlines. I should treat myself to a subscribtion, but I can borrow copies from my mom and grandmother (and use epicurious.com to find them too.) I'm glad I'll have a hard copy of this month.

Healthy winter salads fit in my resolution to eat healthy plus my love of salad and quick food. Chocolate and pasta are obvious favorites, as is my love of meat and potatoes (I am my father's little girl, after all.) Potato risotto sounds amazing, even if after reading I realized it has no actual risotto. And the sandwich on the front makes my mouth water.

Also inside (and online) are 15 (!) recipes for mac and cheese. I've been craving mac and cheese for months all the time (see my recipe here) and fell in love with the version at Eatonville in DC. I want to try to make a creamy version with the massive amount of various cheese I recently purchased at Trader Joes.

Plus, I just signed up for weekly emails with recipes and more. Bon Appetit has a nice balance of relatively easy recipes and harder, more complex recipes with instructions that make it possible for me to attempt them.

ciao bella

How have I not written about Ciao Bella before? I'm glad I haven't because until recently I thought Ciao Bella was good just for delectable fruit sorbets. An independent on-campus eatery started stocking single serving cups of Ciao Bella Mango Sorbet. The ingredient list? Mango, Water, Sugar and Lemon Juice.

After graduation, I found Ciao Bella in a few grocery stores, mostly more high end like my boyfriend's coop in Berkeley where I picked up the Blood Orange Sorbet. I was in Target picking up a few holiday gifts and found a whole new world of Ciao Bella... Maple Ginger Snap Gelato.

The perfect winter treat, it does taste just like a soft ginger cookie (there is no snap, but I'm glad for the smooth, creamy texture.) The maple flavor is subtle and ties together the cream and sugar-ginger. Luckily, despite the seasonal feel, it is not one of the four 'seasonal' flavors for Ciao Bella. Though come summer, I know I'll be back to downing the Mango Sorbet!

end of an era?

I'm not old enough to have made too many recipes from Gourmet, but I remember growing up reading every issue and 'suggesting' to my mom things that looked particularly delicious. Most of them involved chocolate, of course. The pictures also tempted me to consider dishes with ingredients I refused to eat at the time- I was rather picky as a child- so I typically just ignored those and stuck to chocolate.

At first, I was shocked to hear the Gourmet is closing, but once I remembered the Bon Appetit is also owned by Conde Nast and since the two magazines are basically competition for each other, closing one does make sense (good call, McKinsey!) According to the New York Times, most insiders suspected Bon Appetit since Gourmet has a 'richer history' but I think the choice makes sense. To my casual readership, Bon Appetit has done a better job at staying fresh and relevant. The layout and typography is less intimidating and also one to be a foodie without feeling over the top or being intimidated. As I've started to cook, I've attempted a few Gourmet recipes, most that I found on Epicurious so I'm glad to hear the recipes will still be available there. I hope that the editorial staff of the two magazines will bring together the best of each.

Checking out the Gourmet website for details on their imminent closure, there is still an advertisment for a subscription special which I recommend skipping because who knows what replacement magazine you'll get. On the website, I did find an interesting column written by W. Hodding Carter. [Fun fact: I am somehow related to this man, though it's because he is related to my uncle's wife so it's more that our family trees form a canopy together, and less that we're actually related.] The column details Hodding's attempts to live frugally with his family, including a month where they spent no money but eat only what they could grow or barter. Very interesting and definitely a bit motivating to be a bit more mindful of my expenditures.