Archive for February 2015
The Tasting Table at Glen’s Garden Market: One of the Finest in Washington, DC
Lofty statement? The seasonal and locally-sourced dinner cooked by Chef Travis Olson twice a month at Glen’s Garden Market made me appreciate the true meaning of “table” and why this chef’s table (at the popular grocery store in Washington, DC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, which focuses on local foods) is one of the finest.
The table itself is a large wooden square set for ten placed in front of the market’s cold case. I’ll admit I wasn’t so sure about the communal dining setup after some awkward experiences dining with strangers in other settings. I should not have worried. It seemed the table had been snatched from a countryside villa in Provence, complete with a feeling of congeniality.
Gathering around the table reminded me of the moment in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version) when the lucky finders of a Golden Ticket gather to enter his wonderland. Chef Olson, the inviting host and a gifted chef, was as excited to share his Technicolor world of local foods as we were to try it. And like a Golden Ticket, seats at this table are rare. Only 200 diners will get to share this experience this year.
Opening Chef Olson’s opus was an oyster: a Choptank oyster raised by Marinetics (a.k.a. The Choptank Oyster Company) in the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Choptank River. The Choptank Oyster Company is the only privately-funded oyster hatchery in Maryland and has a deep dedication to preserving the Bay . . . and a delicious way to do it! The oyster on the half-shell was graced with a bit of damson plum pickled in gin, a pluches of dill, and my favorite part: sauerkraut ice which ensured a well-chilled dish with a bit of brine to balance the sweet oyster.
The culinary expertise and dedication to local foods of Chef Olson was certainly reinforced during his time with René Redzepi at Noma and was on full display in all nine courses. The second course was a vibrantly red dry-aged beef tartare from Roseda Black Angus Farm topped by kettle corn dusted with powdered morels. The use of the Pennsylvania-grown popcorn as a garnish was something I was eager to see because popcorn can do so much more than just be eaten out-of-hand.
This was followed by an inspired bread basket. Chef Olson hand-milled the Maryland-grown Turkey Red wheat and hand-churned the butter that was served in its buttermilk. Not hand-crafted enough? He hand-whittled the boards on which both were served.
The soup course consisted of a rich mushroom broth, slices of radish nukazuke (an incredible Japanese-style pickle created by fermenting vegetables in a rice bran mixture), lobes of Pennsylvania oyster mushroom, and a slow poached duck egg from Happy Hens with a rich creamy yolk. Following these perfect spoonfuls of soup with a morsel of the crunchy crust from the bread with a healthy dollop of the luscious butter. . . culinary heaven.
Next came the scrapple, a Pennsylvania Dutch dish made from the scraps leftover from butchering using everything from the pig except the squeal. This pig was raised on Maryland’s Eastern Shore by the Langenfelder family, now in their sixth generation of farmers. In the hands of Chef Olson, this scrapple was the best “breakfast for dinner” I’ve ever had. Served with a maple syrup aged in rye barrels, the beautifully seared scrapple was adorned with a fingerling sweet potato whose size perfectly matched the tranche of scrapple allowing eaters many perfectly balanced bites.
The next course centered on something more commonly associated with Thanksgiving decorations rather than dinner – Indian corn. Chef Olson used the corn (officially known as calico corn) from the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative as the base of a tamale. In place of the traditional banana leaf or corn husk, lacinato kale served as an edible wrapper. The tamales were served with a puree of butternut squash so silky smooth, that it left me, a trained chef, jealous of the texture.
It wouldn’t be the last dish that piqued my culinary envy. The crescendo of the savory courses was a fork-tender lamb’s neck imbued with rosemary and glorious streaks of fat as soft as butter. Elevating this oft overlooked and challenging cut is the mark of an expert chef. The sous-vide cooking method matched with this lovingly raised lamb from Elysian Fields Farm (Thomas Keller sources his lamb from here) was certainly a show-stopper.
The dessert course was a goat cheese ice cream served with a quenelle of plum sorbet set on an oat crumble. A closer look at the ice cream made from locally-sourced FarmFriend goat milk revealed small spherical voids. These were from making the ice cream with a flash freezing and vacuuming process that gave the ice cream a very light and delicate texture. The dish was garnished with cracked spice berry that the chef had gathered himself from the indigenous spicebush. Used by Native Americans, the dried berries have a peppery flavor with a hint of allspice. While I had gathered some myself from Rock Creek Park, this was the first time I had seen them used in a restaurant.
Chef Olson completed the dinner with shortbread cookies resembling thumbprint cookies that were dotted with a dollop of a jam made from foraged beach plums. Finishing the dinner with a few of these one-bite cookies was a great final movement to end this culinary symphony. Its simplicity gave me the space to meditate on the meal and appreciate my experience at this table.
The people who cooked and served the meal absolutely completed the experience. Danielle Vogel, the force behind Glen’s Garden Market, started the dinner by welcoming us and expressing her excitement to have us at her table (how often does the owner attend to every detail of service?). Chef Olson’s wife, Anne, a great cook in her own right, assisted him in the kitchen and four servers (with chef as a fifth) provided seamless service for the 10 diners. This level of hospitality, service, exceptional food, and great company is what made this table a table.
[Glen’s Garden Market, 2001 S Street NW (Between Connecticut Ave NW & 20th ST NW), 202.588.5698, Coffee Bar/Sandwiches/Salads/Soups: Daily 10:00AM-10:00PM (click on website for info/dates of special tasting table dinners) http://glensgardenmarket.com]
[Mark von Topel, 2/26/15]
Fast Food Worth Eating in Pricey Manhattan
Ten dollars for a hearty dinner of tasty and fast “real food” in pricey Manhattan is a tribute to Dig Inn Seasonal Market, with its ten locations spread around one of the most densely populated areas on our planet (estimated at 170,000 people per square mile on a typical business day). Farm to counter Dig Inn appears to be on the successful path established by the Food With Integrity fast food operation Chipotle, which in 2014 had reached nearly 1800 locations in the United States from just over 700 in 2007.
At home in upstate Albany, fast food is not a part of my diet though I will admit to an occasional quick meal at the Honest Weight Food Co-op’s Cafe or a Chipotle burrito. “Cook for yourself” has become a guiding principle (Michael Pollan’s Rule 82: Cook) and, for a meal out, my focus is on restaurants with a commitment to local food sources and chefs who need to know that the ingredients included in their dishes were grown and produced with care for our planet’s health.
But on a recent trip to the Big Apple to see the restaging of the highly-praised (Chicago-based) Goodman Theater’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) with Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy (whose memorable performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman a few years ago prompted this trip), a couple of quick inexpensive meals to augment the brown bag of good food from home was an appealing option given the nearly five hour length of the performance (with 3 intermissions) and the cost of the trip (with train fare and hotel lodging to foot). It turned out to be a great decision to eat dinner before the play at a Dig Inn location in lower Manatttan and to lunch at the small chain’s midtown location near MOMA during the next day’s round of museum going (including three stimulating exhibits at the New York Historical Society, Freedom Journey 1965, photographs of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march taken by the photographer, New Yorker Stephen Somerstein; Annie Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage photographs; and an eye-opening exhibit on the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants to New York and the U.S. in the 19th and most of the 20th centuries, Chinese Americans: Exclusion/Inclusion).
On the way to the Harvey Theater at BAM in Brooklyn for the evening performance, a stop for a quick meal at Dig Inn’s lower Manhattan location at 80 Pine Street, not far from the South Street Seaport (and only a couple of blocks from a subway station), was a great decision. I’ve now seen from the outside four or five Dig Inn restaurants around Manhattan, and this Pine Street spot must be one of the chain’s larger restaurants, with a good number of tables available to dine-in at the restaurant, which does a rip-roaring take-out business.
The menu offers a choice of five Marketplates: lemon herb chicken (small $7.35, large $9.41), spicy meatballs (small $7.58, large $10.10), Mom’s braised beef (small $8.04, large $10.33), wild salmon salad (small $8.04, large $10.10), or veggie plate (small $5.51, large $7.81). Given the high volume of take-away meals served at Dig Inn’s locations, the unusual pricing, ending in cents for the Marketplates, must be set with NYC sales tax in mind and the ease to make quick change.
All of the Marketplates are served on “a bed of grains” and my choice of the hearty, large plate of lemon herb chicken was served on perfectly prepared brown rice. Included in the price of the lemon herb chicken choice is one hot side and one cold side (with additional sides available a la carte for $2.76 each). With my generous portion of tender lemon herb chicken, spiced just right with just a little curry heat, I chose two hot sides of delicious (i) roasted brussels sprouts and spicy sunflower seeds and (ii) curried carrots and butternut squash and a cold side of surprisingly tasty and satisfying organic tofu salad with nicely chilled tofu, fresh green beans, grated carrots, and dried cranberries. Simply put: what a fantastic meal of real food for $10.00, in pricey Manhattan of all places.
When I travel, I always carry a personal water bottle of Albany City tap water since my hometown’s praiseworthy public water supply comes from a reservoir in the northern reaches of the Catskills Mountains. Of late, I’ve been attempting to increase my water consumption while cutting down on other beverages, so no splurging this time around on a Dig Inn raw and cold pressed in-house juice ($8.51) or a shake made from fresh and whole fruits only ($4.59).
During the next day’s round of museum going in Manhattan, Dig Inn’s location at 40 West 55th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, around the corner from MOMA, was a terrific option after the earlier satisfying meal. This small location, however, is mostly take-out, with only five or six spots at counters to dine-in. Luckily, I was able to enjoy another Dig Inn Marketplate at the shop’s counter overlooking the street; with a satisfying lunch complemented by some midtown-Manhattan people-watching. My lunchtime choice was easy to make after dinner the evening before. A large veggie Marketplate ($7.81) consisted of two servings of the organic tofu salad over a bed of brown rice, with a hot side of roasted sweet potatoes and a cold side of couscous with local butternut squash. Wow. Once again, it was somewhat hard to believe that in pricey Manhattan delicious real food for less than $10.00.
The reasonable pricing can be explained by the high volume take-out business, the fast food dining atmosphere, and the use of a central kitchen at Hunts Point for food preparation with distribution of the prepared food to the various Dig Inn locations in Manhattan. (A couple of the locations, including one near Columbia University on the upper westside, have the ability to prepare food rather than merely reheating.) For this visitor on a budget, Dig Inn provided two satisfying and hearty meals.
Dig Inn Seasonal Market (Ten locations in Manhattan), (1) 2884 Broadway (between 112th & 113th Streets on upper Westside), 212.776.4047, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Sun 11:00AM-10:00PM; (2) 275 Madison Avenue (between 39th & 40th Streets in Midtown), 212.697.7867, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Fri 11:00AM-9:00PM; (3) 40 W 55th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues in Midtown), 212.246.6844, Lunch & Dinner: Sun-Fri 11:00AM-9:00PM, Sat 11:00AM-8:00PM; (4) 150 East 52nd Street (between Lexington & 3rd Avenues on upper Eastside), 212.421.3055, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Fri 11:00AM-9:00PM, Sat 12:00AM-8:00PM, Sun 12:00PM-9:00PM; (5) 1178 Broadway (at 28th Street in NOMAD), 212.335.2010, Lunch & Dinner: (pick-up only) Mon-Fri 11:00AM-11:00PM, Sat & Sun 11:00AM-10:00PM; (6) 17 East 17th Street (between Broadway & 5th Avenue), 212.253-7676, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Fri 11:00AM-10:00PM, Sat 11:00AM-8:00PM, Sun 11:00AM-9:00PM; (7) 350 Hudson Street (between King & Charlton Streets in West Village), 917.720.1205, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Sun 11:00AM-9:00PM; (8) 80 Pine Street (at corner of Pearl Street in lower Manhattan), 212.785.1110, Lunch & Dinner: Mon-Sun 11:00AM-9:00PM; (9) 80 Broad Street (between Stone & Marketfield Streets in lower Manhattan), 212.776.4052, Lunch & Dinner: (pick-up only) Mon-Fri 11:00AM-9:00PM; (10) 225 Liberty Street (in lower Manhattan at Hudson Eats), 212.776.4051, Lunch & Dinner: (pick-up only) Mon-Sat 10:00AM-9:00PM, Sun 11:00AM-7:00PM
www.diginn.com
(Frank W. Barrie, 2/17/15)
Low Regard for Animal Welfare at Taxpayer Funded U.S. Meat Animal Research Center
Michael Moss, the New York Times reporter who won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on contaminated hamburger, has now shined a light on the failure of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure adequate oversight of animal research at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, “a complex of laboratories and pastures that sprawls over 55 square miles” in Clay Center, Nebraska that has housed 580,000 animals since 1985. At any one time, the center has about 30,000 animals, tended by about 44 scientists, 73 technicians and other support workers.
Journalist Moss’s investigative report, In Quest for More Meat Profits, U.S. Lab Lets Animals Suffer (1/20/15), was prompted by Dr. James Keen, a veterinarian and scientist, currently employed as a professor of epidemiology by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Great Plains Veterinary Education Center, who worked at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center for 24 years. Dr. Keen contacted The Times a year ago with his concerns about animal mistreatment at the research center. The newspaper’s investigation included interviews of two dozen current and former employees of the center and a review of “thousands of pages of internal records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.”
Reporter Moss’s report focuses on three “meat animal” research projects involving cows, pigs and lambs: (1) cows, which usually have one calf at a time, “retooled” to have twins and triplets; (2) pigs “improved” to reproduce up to 14 piglets instead of the usual eight; and (3) developing ewes capable of producing “easy care” lambs that are born “unaided” in open fields, without costly shelters or shepherds. These “endeavors” (since the 1980s), according to the report in The Times, “have come at a steep cost to the center’s animals.”
Twin cows and “easy care” lambs have been dying at high rates, and increasing the litter size of piglets is “a major contributor” to the problem of piglets crushed by their mothers. According to pig-production experts cited in Moss’s investigative report, 10 million piglets are crushed by their mothers each year, and studies have pointed to bigger litters as a major contributor.
Scientists at the center did succeed in increasing the genetic odds of cows producing twins from the normal three sets of twins in every 100 births to 55 in every 100 births, but side effects and consequences are excruciating to contemplate: “Some 95 percent of the females born with male siblings had deformed vaginas. Many of the twins died during birth as their eight legs became tangled . . . . And the breeding increasingly yielded triplets, with 12 legs to get tangled.”
The consequences from the attempt by the center’s scientists to “take domesticated sheep, which are dependent on human help, and create a breed that can survive on its own” are little better. According to one report from an individual assigned to gather dead lambs in the open pastures, “Some days 30 to 40 percent of the lambs were dead, and some of those still alive were in bad condition, separated from the moms, and they would be dead the next morning.”
This stunning investigative report has prompted much reaction from readers of The Times with, in particular, five articulate and passionate letters to the editor, including a letter from President & Chief Executive of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, who wrote: The grotesque and inhumane experiments performed on pigs, sheep and other farm animals at an obscure and secluded Agriculture Department research facility in Nebraska demonstrate the unholy collusion between government and industry in driving production on factory farms and in the process treating animals like machines and throwaway objects.
Of some small comfort, The Times in a subsequent editorial, Farming Science, Without the Conscience (1/26/15), noted that “Reuters has reported that the secretary of agriculture, in the wake of Mr. Moss’s article, has directed the agency to create a new animal welfare plan, which will involve employee training and a review of research practices.” Better yet would be a requirement that the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (as suggested in Michael Moss’s report) “do what many universities and companies do: appoint a review committee that holds regular meetings, keeps minutes and approves or rejects each experiment after carefully evaluating animal safety.” Consider adding your own voice for immediate change to end this animal cruelty by contacting the USDA, your federal Representatives and Senators as well as the White House.
(Frank W. Barrie, 2/1/15)
