December 2009


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Bi Bim Bapping

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It all started in childhood with Nature’s Best Market in Downers Grove, IL. My mom would take me to that tiny family-run Greek grocery store and even then, I knew we were some place special. The produce section took up half the store and I encountered many fruits and vegetables for the first time in my young life. It was after trips there that I first savored the juice of lychee, crunched on jicama and sampled fresh-made tomatillo salsa. After the produce section, we navigated our way to the deli counter, where the man behind the counter sliced us off a block of fresh feta cheese. The whole goats hanging from the ceiling intimidated me, but the olive salad was worth the trip all by itself. On the way home, we would stop at a chain grocery store for peanut butter and paper towels., canned tuna and pasta sauce. Even to my young self, it was anticlimactic in comparison to the jam-packed riches we had just left behind.

Since that day, I have always sought out tiny ethnic grocery stores for my produce needs. My dream is to someday only go to Giant for toilet paper. Which is why when I visited Korean Korner last week, I knew I was in love. The produce is varied, the aisles wide enough for a cart to slide easily down, and the meat section is vast. If I knew what to do with a whole fish, I probably would have bought one of those in addition to some goat meat, beef and seasoned pork.

The pork had me most excited because it was one of two necessary-but-hard-to-find ingredients in bi bim bap, the other being kimchi. For those of you unaware, kimchi is a Korean standby — a pickled, spiced cabbage concoction. It is served as a side dish but is essential to the Korean dining experience. Once you acquire these two ingredients, bi bim bap is very easy to make. The only other ingredient that can be tricky to find at the regular grocery is bean sprouts, but I am sure that WF (I refuse to call that paycheck black hole by its full name) carries them. After you get that, the rest is all about seasoning and presentation.

Easy Bi Bim Bap (Serves 4):

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in Eggs / Pig / Recipe 3 comments
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Playing with Perfection: Cilantro Latkes with Cranberry Miso Dip

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I’m sure I’m not alone in sometimes feeling that the best things about Hanukkah are the potato latkes (even better than the gifts or the gelt)!  Is there anything more perfect than the pairing of starchy crispy fried goodness of a hot-from-the-pan potato latke and the sweet cooling fruitiness of applesauce? Is there? This is the question I set out to answer on the second night of Hanukkah 2009.  After all, what good is the culinary part of the commemoration of a struggle against oppression if we feel our creativity is chained by the bondage of how things have always been done?

Okay… really, to be absolutely truthful, I didn’t set out to make a political statement with my cooking this Hanukkah.  It was actually Gansie who inspired me to play with the traditional Hanukkah fare:  When I told Gansie that I was going to my parents’ house to make potato latkes, her first reaction was, “Any interesting dipping sauces you’re going to try?”

Well… I hadn’t thought on that… because why mess with perfection?  But this is ES, and at ES we are nothing if not experimenters (and no, I wasn’t tempted to throw a fried egg on them, eat latkes ala Gansie and call it a day).

As Hanukkah came early this year, and Thanksgiving was still very much at the tip of my palate, I thought to inject the holiday with something slightly reminiscent of T-day flavor.

Enter cranberries, a fruit I believe we use all too seldom in non T-day festivities, and one I love to experiment with.

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in Holiday / Recipe / Veggie 6 comments
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Turning Gross into Dip

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80P and I attended a latke themed Chanukah party this weekend. Like most Saturdays, we were still hungover well after the sun set and therefore arrived at the open house party in its last hour. We were starving. In the car ride over I lusted after the idea of greasy potatoes. When we got to the party there was ONE latke left. Sure, I’ll take that as a Chanukah miracle, but one just wasn’t going to cut it.

80 and I stayed at the party for a while, chatting with old coworkers about lobbying for the banking industry, receiving health insurance through organized labor, and gushing over Annise Parker‘s pending victory as Houston’s mayor. Yes, I know. It’s so very DC.

The party landed 80 and I in the unfamiliar chain-filled land of Northern Virginia. We asked for a dinner recommendation and settled on Silver Diner. Obviously I chose breakfast for dinner in the form of pancakes, scrambled eggs and a biscuit (which was a sub for bacon/sausage.) 80 ordered a meat-heavy sandwich on buttered sourdough featuring chicken, ham and bacon. The sandwich came with fries and this eerily green-tinted cole slaw. I stole a few fries from 80 but we both refused to try the cole slaw, citing our mutual dislike for the side, especially a green tinted one.

The next morning 80 woke up dedicating his stomach to vegetables. I obliged.

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in Recipe / Veggie 7 comments
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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– To straw or not to straw? Looks like gansie has hit a nerve, with more than a few of you admitting to drinking alcohol through a straw. Scott:

Just a few weeks ago I sat at the bar of a pizza joint next to a beer straw practitioner. Her reasoning was that it got her intoxicated more quickly. She also covered her beer glass with a napkin when she went out for a smoke to keep it “fresher” and to also keep people from fucking with her beer.

These are all very rational thoughts.

Not that it should matter but this woman was a truck driver from West Virginia on disability due to back problems. Not one to judge I inserted a long black plastic straw into a bottle of Budweiser. I found my mouth full of froth and foam and looked across the bar to see a guy shake his head at me. I’m sticking to bottles.

And Karen writes in with a fantastic tip:

I have to agree with you, everything is better with a straw.  Have you ever been to Madison Square Garden (of course you have)?  Well, next time you’re there, buy beer!  I’m serious! They put a lid on it and you can use a straw.  It’s amazing!  MSG is to beer what McDonald’s is to soda (they have the best fountain in the world…it’s a fact).

– Not so surprised that everyone has their own favorite to add to the Top 10 Jersey Shore Foods. KeepingitKlassy:

I take issue with the philly shore bent to this Top 10! That aside, I would respectfully like to add some trashy Seaside flavor with the ol’ Pork Roll, the classic, if not obvious, sausage and peppers hero(a la “the situation”), and the oil and vinegar drench on every hero.

Tim:

Great article, but…

No cheesesteaks? They’re a true staple of any NJ boardwalk and the good ones will stand up to the best Philly has to offer.

And let’s not forget another gem from the original Jersey Shore, which was a single episode of True Life. “WHERES MY F*CKIN CHEESEBALLS?!”

A Klassy Klassic (see above).

in Cheese / Drinks 1 comments
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ES Local: Manhattan’s Top Chef Restaurants

View Top Chef Manhattan Map in a larger map

Yesterday I posed a burning question to the latest Top Chef winner, asking why Bravo, despite all the product placement, can’t give the show’s champs enough money to actually open their own restaurant. This year they upped the award from $100,000 to $125,000, but the winner admitted that’s only a fraction of what it would take to open a restaurant in a major market. Since most of the former chef-testants have yet to even drop that “sous” from their titles, let alone open their own places, we decided to take a look at the few Manhattan restaurants where former Top Chef-ers (winners and others) are actually helming the kitchen (whether they own the place or not).

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in TV 2 comments
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