Pepperoni Rolls

Pepperoni rolls are mighty popular in northern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. In this region of the country, it wouldn't be a "party" without at least one large plate of pepperoni rolls. In this article, today's N.Y. Times explores the love affair that people in this region have with pepperoni rolls.

According to the article:

At BFS convenience stores, where they’re sold alongside Hot Pockets and other nationally distributed grab-and-go foods, shift workers warm pepperoni rolls in microwave ovens and dip them in packets of marinara sauce.

At the Ritzy Lunch, a venerable diner in Clarksburg (WV), grill cooks dress split rolls with chili and cheese. Country club barkeepers sell pepperoni rolls as ballast to beer-drinking golfers. They’re a breakfast food for glass-plant laborers, peddled at doughnut shops.

Instant Coffee at Starbucks?

You heard correctly. Starbucks is launching a new instant coffee, hoping to appeal to recession-scarred Americans and Canadians who are counting their pennies. According to the Wall St. Journal:

The Seattle-based coffee giant on Tuesday is planning to roll out Via to Starbucks stores across the U.S. and Canada after having tested it in Seattle, Chicago and London for several months.

. . . Via will be available in stores such as sporting-goods retailer REI and Office Depot Inc. On Tuesday, all customers on domestic United Airlines flights longer than two hours will get free packets of Via . . .

"We recognize there's a very large opportunity in the grocery aisle," Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said during a conference call with reporters.

In traditional supermarkets, Starbucks will go up against industry giant Nestlé SA, maker of Nescafe Taster's Choice, which already is running ads attacking Via.

The Toronto Star reports:

Priced around $1 a cup, Schultz said he thinks consumers will see Starbucks "Via" as good value. But the proof will be in the drinking, marketing expert David Dunne said.

"It's got to taste significantly better than existing instant coffees and pretty close to a ground coffee from Starbucks," said Dunne, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. "I think it's a risky move if you don't have a clearly better product."

I agree with Dunne. Besides, introducing an instant coffee will compete with Starbucks' existing house brew. If I were Schultz, I'd be concerned that such a move might cause many consumers to buy-down -- i.e., to shift from buying Starbucks house coffee to buying Via. This shift would cut into the coffee chain's profits.

A marketing expert might question Starbucks' decision from a different standpoint: does a brand that has built its image around premium coffee cheapen that brand by sinking into a Sanka world?

I guess that question will be answered over the next year or two.

When a Host Is the Guest-of-Honor

Lucullus, the Roman general who lived primarily during the first century B.C., was a true foodie. He is credited with bringing the cherry to Western Europe (from Armenia). He also hosted lavish dinners where no expense was spared for his guests.

One evening, his servants were informed that Lucullus would be dining alone -- an unusual circumstance. But the general made it clear that the food and service must remain stellar.

"On those days when I am dining alone," he reportedly told his servants, "you must make a special effort, for that is when Lucullus dines with Lucullus."

Artie's: A Worthy Destination

Artie's is a restaurant tucked in a strip mall on Old Lee Highway, about a mile of Interstate 66 in northern Virginia. For those of us from the city, it's an off-putting location. Not a place where one expects to get a good meal. But my concerns were soon put to rest when we ate there Sunday night.

The food at Artie's was excellent. The baby back ribs, the crab cakes and everything else was very tasty. If you happen to be in the area, it's worth a dining stop.

If you like nautical themes, boat models and murals, then you have an extra reason to go to Artie's -- see the photo -- as these items are prominently displayed among the booths and tables.

Berlin's "War of the Wursts"

From a recent article in the N.Y. Times:

Jürgen Stiller regularly stands outside Berlin’s historic Friedrichstrasse train station with a four-pound canister of flammable propane strapped to his back. But if a police officer approaches him, it is only to buy one of the hot bratwurst sizzling on the flaming grill suspended from his shoulders.

Mr. Stiller works as a Grillwalker, a one-man mobile sausage-cooking machine. He and his colleagues can be seen around the capital, turning their browning bratwursts with tongs and tempting pedestrians with the scent of cooking meat wafting from their grills.

The itinerant sausage salesman is so successful here that copycats have sprung up, leading local newspapers to talk of a “War of the Wursts,” at locations like the famous Alexanderplatz, heavy with foot traffic and therefore potential customers, where they compete head to head.

It is also a sign of how seriously Germans still take their sausages, in a country where records show the Thuringian bratwurst dates from at least 1432, and in a city where an entire museum opened in August dedicated to the other local favorite, the spicy Currywurst.

They are a hit with local commuters thanks to the low price — an inexpensive $1.75 for a bratwurst in a roll with mustard or ketchup.

Tourists unaccustomed to seeing a kitchen stroll around on two feet gawk, gape and take pictures. Mr. Stiller estimated that he is photographed more than 30 times a day.

10 Dirty Little Restaurant Secrets

Is the recession encouraging some unscrupulous restaurant and tavern owners to cut corners on cleanliness and basic standards for food preparation?

After reading this disturbing article from Slashfood, I'm guessing that the answer is "yes." It's an article in which Slashfood's Ben Widdicombe presents 10 ways that restaurants serve dirty, stale or adulterated food and drink to their customers.

Read #4 and you may never again order your steak "well done."

I Can Practically Smell It

Fall is an ideal time to prepare a hearty dish like Bolognese

The food portal Epicurious has posted the latest episode in its video series called "Around the World in 80 Dishes." In this new video, a chef named Joseph W. DiPerri demonstrates his recipe for Pasta Bolognese.

He essentially caramelizes the different meats (beef, veal and pork) by browning them in olive oil and the fat left over from cooking diced pancetta. Browning is important, he says -- "color is flavor."

It makes me want to prepare a Bolognese this weekend.

A Hypocritical Food Nanny

I've written posts about this issue before. I am a big believer that Americans should read ingredient labels, avoid a lot of processed foods and make other smart dining choices. And I believe the government should pressure food producers to fully and accurately disclose calorie and ingredient info.

However, I am uncomfortable with the government behaving like a food nanny -- i.e., using bans on foie gras, trans-fats or other foods to essentially dictate what we eat.

If I want to eat a chocolate cupcake, damnit, then that's what I'll do. (Frankly, the government's farm subsidies bear part of the responsibility for encouraging the country's less than ideal eating habits.)

It also bothers me that city governments that struggle to provide basic services like garbage pickup and police protection have decided to play the role of nutritional nannies.

This recent N.Y. Times article not only reminds us that N.Y. City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of those food nannies; he is also a hypocrite. According to the article:

He dumps salt on almost everything, even saltine crackers. He devours burnt bacon and peanut butter sandwiches. He has a weakness for hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken, washing them down with a glass of merlot.

And his snack of choice? Cheez-Its.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has become New York City’s nutritional nag, banning the use of trans fats, forcing chain restaurants to post calorie counts and exhorting diners to consume less salt. Now he is at it again, directing his wrath at sugary drinks in a new series of arresting advertisements that ask subway riders: “Are you pouring on the pounds?”

But an examination of what enters the mayoral mouth reveals that Mr. Bloomberg is an omnivore with his own glaring indulgences, many of them at odds with his own policies.

And so I say to the mayor: "Physician, heal thyself."

Bristling at Broccoli

Let me put my cards right on the table.

I have never been a fan of broccoli. I'm willing to eat it, but I prefer it doused with something like a Hollandaise sauce or stir-fried in an olive oil-curry mixture.

I guess that defeats the point if the goal is to eat broccoli because it's so healthy and rich in vitamins.

I'm reminded of the New Yorker cartoon from many decades ago. A mother urges her child to eat the broccoli on his plate. "It's broccoli, dear," she explains.

The boy's reply: "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it."

Ironically, spinach is a green veggie that I'm quite fond of.

How Not to Poach Salmon

Last night on TV, I watched an interesting episode of America's Test Kitchen. The topic was preparing poached salmon. They talked about why the typical method used for poaching tends to dry out a salmon filet.

Letting salmon poach in a pool of water drains the flavorful liquid out of the filet largely because the temperature gets too high. The staff at ATK took another approach -- substituting standard poaching for a water-free version of poaching. Here is the recipe they used.

Why Complicate a Good Drink?

I don't look down on people who drink Cosmopolitans or other flavored martinis. In fact, I've enjoyed them several times in my life. But, all in all, I belong to the "less is more" school when it comes to cocktails.

A few good beverage ingredients should be enough. My feeling was reinforced when I read this recent article from the N.Y. Times. The article is about trends in wedding reception drinks, and it refers to a Maine restaurant whose bartender

... devised a cocktail in which gin is shaken with red currant sorbet and cocoa-infused simple syrup, then served in a glass rimmed with cocoa powder.

There's just too much goin' on in that drink. Whatever happened to drinking champagne at a wedding reception?

Cinnamon Roll Cake: Plan B

This past weekend, I tried this recipe for Cinnamon Roll Cake. It came from Abby Sweets' food blog.

She raved about it in her post. On the whole, I would give this cake a "thumbs up" as well, but there are three things I plan to change the next time I make this recipe.

1. I will add either chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter. I just think it would add a nice element to it. (Some people don't like nuts so maybe I will add them to only one half of the baking pan.)

2. I found this cake a little too sweet. For that reason, I would reduce the brown sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup.

3. Last but not least, the icing needs some work. It was bland. Two people who tried the cake (and who liked it overall) agreed with me that the icing was the weak link. I will do some web-searching and see if I can come up with something that's more interesting than the standard powdered sugar-and-milk icing.

This recipe is a keeper. I like the fact that it can be made very quickly because its foundation is a yellow cake mix. With a few tweaks, I think this cake can go from a B+ to an A.

Smoked Salmon Appetizers

Spork or Foon is one of my favorite food blogs. The photos alone make this blog a pleasant destination. Courtesy of this food blog, I want to bring a recipe to your attention that looks really yummy.

The recipe is for an appetizer called Smoked Salmon "Tartare" on New Potato Slices.

I haven't tried to make it yet, but it's on my list.

I found a similar recipe here -- this one places the diced salmon atop a slice of radish. This appetizer is the one in the photo above.