Gotham Gal

Havens Kitchen....and Kirsten Gillibrand

I was invited to a small gathering of women to hear Kirsten Gillibrand speak.  It was held at Havens Kitchen.  Havens Kitchen is a fabulous new store that not only has specialty food products to purchase, they have cooking classes, a sweet event space and a nice big kitchen.  The people behind Havens Kitchen have done a great job and I hope they hit one out of the ball park.  Great concept.

I came to the event because my friend invited me and for her I came.  I lost my interest in getting behind candidates a few years back because of the money, the game, the whole shooting match.  I wrote about my experience awhile ago.  Yet for the first time in awhile I liked what Kirsten said.  She gets the issues that important to women.  Healthcare, childcare, birth control, issues around obesity, education and jobs. You would think all senators would care about those issues and try to reach over the table and work together to get funding and bills that are proactive instead of reactive but unfortunately it is never that easy.  What I like is that she is working with all the women in congress, regardless of their party affiliation to pass bills that are important to all of them and to work together.  That is what I want to hear.  We can agree to disagree with lets get something passed that makes us all happy.  Really enjoyed listening to her and the other women in the room having a free flowing conversation.  Kirsten has really grown into the job over the past three years. 

Back to Havens Kitchen...here are the pics.  This is the check out area.

Here is a small table set up with a few wares.

Classes available.

More product.

Stairwell en route to the event space. 

So do I see myself getting back into the world of raising money for politicians?  Never say never but I will absolutely support Kirsten...and Havens Kitchen going forward.

 

 

Cacao Prieto Valentines Day Pop-up Shop

Valentines Day is around the corner.  Chocolates are in order. 

Cacao Prieto, a company that I am personally invested in will be opening a pop-up shop in collaboration with ER Butler at 55 Prince between Lafayette and Mulberry on February 10th.  The store will open on February 10th and remain open until February 14th (for the last minute shopper). 

The chocolates are amazing and if not for a gift then treat yourself.  Other makers at the pop-up shop will include Jewelry by Maria Beaulieu; Candlesticks by Ted Muehling; Nymphenburg Porcelain; Lobmeyr Crystal; Kiki De Montparnasse; and The Soap and Paper Factor. 

I will definitely be stocking up on Cacao Prieto.

 

a morning in red hook

Emily and I decided to spend a few hours together the other morning and we drove out to Red Hook.  Always fun to explore a new neighborhood.  There is something about Red Hook.  It feels like a deserted beach town at this time of the year but there is a serious strong community. We actually have an investment in Red Hook, Cacao Prietro so I know Red Hook. 

We started out at Fort Defiance for a cappuccino.  Super cute cafe with old school flowers on the table for decor.

I have to say I am a huge fan of irish soda bread.  The rye seeds really made it. We also had a scone.

Afterward we walked around the few blocks that most of the stores are on.  Baked is the key to the area.  What an amazing bakery.  Not only are their baked goods out of this world but they sell homemade granola, chocolates and other goodies.  Love this place.

The two places we wanted to check out were not open.  Pelle Designs had really cool lights and I did check out their website when we got back. They sell on Etsy too!

We drove over to the Key Lime pie place.  They only make key lime pies.  You have to love that.

Total Mexican vibe in the pie place.

We brought back a serious amount of goodies.  How can any one keep a slim figure in this house?

Mouth Foods

Craig Kanarick was major part of the first round of web 1.0 in NYC.  He was the founder of Razorfish and he is an artist too.  So when we connected a few months back to talk about his latest venture with his partner, Sam Murray, I couldn't help but get excited.  Also, Craig said something to me that has truly resonated, he said "food is the new black."  I love it....and he is so right. 

Mouth Foods is currently just doing New York Mouth which is the place to find the best artisinal food products in NY (eventually the country).  An aggregation of a variety of interesting products from maple syrup to cracker to coffee beans to tomato sauces to jams and honeys.  They are not only buying the products for their ecommerce site they are creating relationships with the food makers and trying to help them grow.

I have thought a lot about what the opportunities are here. Sam and Craig are seasoned business men, understand how to build companies on the web, are very creative and they LOVE food. 

The packaging is clever. 


Here is the Snack Mouth Taster.  A wonderful treat...and a great gift for someone. 

Sign up...check it out!

 

SCRATCHbread

It was quite late when we walked into SCRATCHbread and you just knew that Matthew Tilden, the brilliant baker behind SCRATCHbread was just getting his day started. 

The smells of freshly baked bread incorporated with the rising yeasts is indescribably good.  This man can bake.  He is also charming and part of the local flavor of Bedford Stuyvesant making sure to wave to the local drunk who knocked at his door while we were there. 

Matthew grew up in Orange Country California.  His parents weren't entrepreneurs and that into food but he found himself at the Culinary Institute in upstate NYC eventually landing in Brooklyn to bake bread after a few stints in the restaurant world. 

He is a one man operation with visions of creating more products, giving classes and he does dinner parties too.  He said to me that bread is one of those things that you can just feel, it isn't an exact science.  His sourdough starter is something he takes pride in as that has been a work in progress.  

We went home with the parm loaf that is a white olive oil bread crusted with Parmesan, fennel and black pepper.  A bourbon wheat loaf that is a brown bread filled with toasted pecans, currants and raisins.  The breads are insanely good. 

Oh, yes and the shortbread. The shortbread is light yet dense and buttery all at the same time. Those hands are Matthews.  Sublime.  

He took over an old pizza place with a wood burning oven.  He just moved in painting over the menu signs on the wall. He serves food including breads, sandwiches, scones and more out of a tiny window around the back. 

We left soon letting Matthew get back to his baking.  He blew me away.  A serious one man band who is all about the bread and his bread is seriously out of this world.  Read his website...it kind of defines his brilliance. 

 

a romp through carroll gardens and boerum hill

Brooklyn is quite amazing.  An incredible transformation of a borough.  Each area is just screaming out community, community, community.  I love it. 

Emily and I spent the day in the area of Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill.  Just a few places we wanted to check out.  I particularly wanted to go see Bien Cuit, a bakery at 120 Smith Street.  Before we got to Bien Cuit we walked into One Girl Cookies which is like walking back in time.  An adorable store with tiny cookies all made fresh daily.  We tried four. 

Orange coconut, chocolate coffee caramel, ginger bread and cinnamon cookies with a chocolate filling in the middle.  All delicious.  Love the size.  I particularly loved the orange cookie.  Small like a Mexican wedding cookie topped with shredded coconut.  Cookbook coming...

Just a little background here on Bien Cuit where we went next.  I met with the owners, Kate and Zach about a year and a half ago if my memory serves anything.  They are married.  Zach has quite the baking resume.  They were ready to open up their own bakery and ended up getting to me through of all people, my lawyer, to get some advice.  BTW, I love my lawyer. I never tasted their wares but the pictures looked amazing.  They had saved a pretty decent amount of cash, enough to not have to take anyones money but still in need of maybe another $20/30K tops to do what they needed to do.  We talked location, we talked construction and we talked about running a bakery. They were brand new to NYC.  I introduced them to a few people who knew these topics better than I did.  I also pointed them in the direction of a city loan so they didn't need to take anyone elses cash.  If they were still short, I recommended putting what they needed on a credit card because if they were successful quickly they could pay off that debt with no reprecussions easier on a credit card than with a loan.  Bottom line, they sent a few emails now and then and then they opened.  The bakery is called Bien Cuit.  I finally got out there to visit with Emily.  The place had a line the entire time we were there.  They were understaffed but it could have been the day.  They are in desperate need of music because the place is eerily quiet.  But let's get down to it, the pastries, the bread and the iced tea are out of this world.  It was like eating a pastry in one of the top patisseries in Paris, that good.  The one above is an artichoke goat cheese pastry.

This is the pear apple open faced croissant.  The bread is out of this world on both of the pastries.  Perfectly browned, savory yet sweet at the same time, just down right omg.  Congrats to both Kate and Zach.

BTW, they sell Christine Ferber jams there, straight from Paris.  Check out the breads!

Our next stop was Bird.  A womans clothing store on Smith Street but they have 2 other stores, one in Park Slope and the other in Williamsburg where they carry mens clothes too.  They do a really good job.

We also stopped in a store that only carries items made in Brooklyn, store name By Brooklyn.  Anything from bitters to chocolate to clothing.  It kind of defines what is happening in the borough.

Jumped into Smith + Butler before moving farther down the street.  A super groovy store that can outfit anyone who is looking for that hipster Brooklyn look, particularly the men.

Em wanted to go to Court Street Market.  Another walk in to the past.  They even carry Durkee sauce, something I grew up with and of course had to buy. 

This was one of the sweets in the front of the store.  I figured out what it was the second I saw it.  Quisp cereal being substituted for Rice Krispies in a treat.  I grew up on Quisp.  Cap'n Crunch in a different shape.

The store has a bunch of great singular products....really well curated.  I bought a variety of crackers.  Emily and I had the turkey club for lunch.  They make the sandwiches right there and then you can sit down in the back.  Wow.  Just perfect.  We added a little hot sauce but otherwise quite a treat.

Here is the sign for the club.  Love this place.

Many more places to come back to.  I wish Bien Cuit could deliver fresh croissants to my door daily! 

wrapping up some time in Utah

First of all after an epic year of snow last winter, this year is off to an absymal start...and there is not a lot of snow in the forecast.  So we are doing a snow dance up here.

The key to being up in the Canyons is cooking at home.  Bo ssam was a big hit one night.  Picture above. 

There are two places we ate at in the Canyons.  We had dinner one night at the Slopes which is located in the Waldorf Astoria.  Terrible.  One more dinner (in one of the shopping areas) was at Ghidottis.  Beyond bad. We also had dinner at the Farm.  I spoke to them 3 times.  Once to make the reservation, once to confirm and then another time when they called me to confirm again.  We got there and they had no record of our reservation.  10 people do not just show up for dinner.  They gave us free appetizers and truly tried to accomodate us.  Corn dog above filled with pulled pork.    

Small pastry pie filled with beef.  Unfortunately because of the laws here we could not all go eat in the bar which is what I would recommend to just order a few appetizers.  21 and older only.  After moving things around they finally seated us an hour later.  The food..not so good and insanely rich.  Alas.

Had lunch one day at Cafe Terigo.  Actually not bad.  Pizzas ( which came out later ), salads and sandwiches.  Our other lunch was at Highwest Distillery which was pretty good.  Our best lunch was at the bottom of the Tombstone Express where they do a great assortment of BBQ.  Another noteable is the Windy Ridge Bakery.  Amazing baked goods.  Get there early.  They also have savory salads and quiches. 

I know up in Deer Valley there are some good restaurants but honestly from where we are that could be a 40 minute drive which doesn't do it for us. It takes us just 15 minutes to get down to the main road. 

In conclusion, coming here will be relaxing, eating at home, lounging around after a day of skiing and perhaps if we are seriously motivated going down into town to pick up some chocolate covered gummy bears.  BTW, I knew all of that before we got there but I had to confirm what I already knew. 

Highwest Distillery, Park City, Utah

Living in NYC you become incredibly spoiled when it comes to food.  There are few places in the world where you can pretty much be guaranteed a good meal at every turn and it doesn't take a lot of effort.  So when we find outselves in ski towns, we consistently find that the food is mediocre at best.  Even the finer restaurants are disappointing.  As Josh said, why don't you just cook at home every night where we know we will get a good meal. Good question but we are on vacation.

One day this week I spent the day with a few of us running errands and such.  We ventured into the Highwest Distillery for lunch as my niece was hankering for a french onion soup.  Did some quick research on my phone and the Highwest Distillery was the place to go. 

Loved how they put the place together.  Old and new.  This entire wall is devoted to Kerr bottles.  Underneath they have lit up the bottles filled with water for glow.

The beams of the ceiling has the warmth of the barn and the round ceiling lamps give you the feeling of new.

Three of us had the french onion soup which was super rich and not sure why they felt the need to put pieces of garlic in it.  Luckily I found them before consuming them. 

A sour dough pretzel to split.

Salty fries for the table.

Shisito peppers, two ways.  Nicely done.

One of us had the grilled Caesar salad with salmon on the side. 

The food was fine and the burgers that were coming out of the kitchen looked good.  Definitely a place to return.  What was amazing is that they are a distillery too. In Utah, that is shocking.  All the liquor is state controlled.  They use the spirits in basically every dish they make which is a nice touch. 

Here are the spirits we purchased.  One of them is what whiskey looks like before it is barreled and it almost tastes like a tequilla, the silver one.  There is a vodka, an aged whiskey and a barreled Manhattan which I need to bring back to a bartender to make something really good with this.

I love how more and more people are getting into the artisinal brewing business.  As people return to their roots particularly in the food business from ketchup to jellies to pickles, there are people all over the country getting licenses to distill liquor.  I know because I am an investor in one of those businesses located in Red Hook, Brooklyn called Cacao Prietro.  We are only selling our chocolates now. Still waiting for the approval of our label and recipe but looking forward to watch that business grow.  Truly one of the most amazing rums ever and I am not a rum drinker. 

 

Last day on Abbott Kinney

More new stores and places to eat on Abbott Kinney.  You really can't go wrong walking the long street.  We do it every time we come to Los Angeles and enjoy how much it has evolved into a really incredible spot.  We began breakfast at 3 Squares.  It was good not great. 

As we continued to walk down the street I might have stopped in the New Cafe for granola instead. 

Here is the granola.

Nothing opened until 11 so Josh and I just walked until we hit Gjelinas new take-out place next door to the restaurant.  Everything looked so good.  Natural sodas are big out there and Josh really got into the ginger ale.  I had a limeade which was seriously tart.

I hooked up with Emily and Jess before doing some damage once the stores opened.  Josh and Fred took off for another area to do damage in another part of town.  Last stop was Intelligentsia which is a sweet coffee shop. 

We drove back to Santa Monica stopping at Tender Greens to have lunch.  I wish there were more places like this in NYC.  All fresh ingredients.  You can order the salads they make or make one up on your own. 

I had the Santa Monica farmers market raw salad with steak on top and a balsamic vinegar on the side.  Really excellent.

Fred and I drove over to Brentwood to the Country Market hoping we would find stuff to pick up for dinner but it is just a grouping of cute stores and eateries.  We ended up going to Whole Foods and then back to the hotel for a drink to watch the sunset before heading over to my brothers for dinner.

Such a great couple of days in Los Angeles.  I really love it out there. 

 

Thanksgiving...looking back at the dishes

My brother brined one of the turkeys with lemon, onions, carrots and thyme.  This one was stuffed with stuffing and roasted in the oven.  The other turkey we put on the grill outside on the rotisserie.  We learned alot. 

Here is the finished product on the rotisserie.  It was perfect.  The turkey cooks evenly throughout.  I really prefer this method.  I like the whole concept of putting anything on the rotisserie.

Here is the turkey we roasted in the oven.  Here is what we learned and hope to recall next year when we do it again.  Stuffing the turkey is beautiful but it doesn't allow the turkey to cook evenly.  At one point you have to be willing to put up with some parts dry or others just not done yet.  There needs to be a compromise.  Although the stuffing is incredible tasting after being pulled from the turkey, you could pour a little drippings over it and mix to get the same effect.  Next year, no stuffing in the turkey.  We will bake the stuffing in a separate bowl and leave the turkeys to roast by themselves.

We separated the turkey by plate.  One said brined, one said rotisserie.  The taste was absolutely different.  You could taste the lemon thyme flavor in the brined turkey.  Interesting.

We even separated the stuffings.  The brined stuffing definitely had a lemonish flavor.  Bottom line, all stuffing is good.

Brussel sprouts could have been a little more burnt but lots of food for many people with 2 ovens is an effort in itself.  We served these brussel sprouts with sauteed leeks and pancetta.  We shaved a little bit of lemon rind over the top before serving.

This is one of my all time favorite cranberry chutneys.  Recipe here.

Roasted carrots with thyme and olive oil.  Warmed them up in a pan before serving with pistachio nuts, fresh thyme, drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In the background was corn pudding that someone brought.  Yum.

Sliced purple, orange and white yams that were so sweet and good.  I would have liked them a little crispier but again, only so many places to cook.  We topped them with drizzled maple syrup and pomegranite seeds.

There were pumpkin pies from a budding young chef.

Apple pies.

I made two bourbon pecan pies.  A once a year treat.

A beautiful table.  Lots of family and extended family.  A really nice day, an over the top meal and the perfect way to celebrate Thanksgiving.