Category Archives: Great Finds

In the Mood For Hot Buttered Rum

A new love affair with an old favorite.
A new love affair with an old favorite.

Pardon me while I lounge in front of this roaring fire.

With a plush throw wrapped around me.

And my feet snuggled inside way-too-cute, furry white bunny slippers with the floppiest ears.

OK, maybe not. But sipping this soothing warm drink sure makes me feel as if I’m doing all of that.

When’s the last time you had a “Hot Buttered Rum”?

Me? I can’t even remember.

What a shame that is. Because once you take a sip, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been enjoying more of these regularly.

I thank Toni Tipton-Martin and her new book, “Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy, for reminding me of the pleasures of this cozy drink.

The culinary journalist and editor-in-chief of Cook’s Country magazine has used her expertise and passion for historic research to write a book that pays homage to Black drinking culture through the ages by spotlighting its hospitality, creativity, and longevity.

You’ll be thirsting to make everything from “Strawberry Wine,” “Coffee Liqueur,” and “Pomegranate-Demerara Rum Punch” to “Pineapple-Lemon Highball,” “Absinthe Frappe,” and the clever, non-alcoholic “Cosmockpolitan.”

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Michael Symon’s Throwback American Goulash

Michael Symon's homemade version of Hamburger Helper.
Michael Symon’s homemade version of Hamburger Helper.

One taste of this one-pot dish sends me back to my elementary school days.

When my best friend and I would feel so grown-up whenever we had the rare chance to cook dinner for ourselves when our parents were out.

We’d grab wooden spoons like microphones and pretend we were stars in our own cooking show.

As we hungrily and proudly dug into the comforting dish we had put together with our own wit,

Granted, Hamburger Helper wasn’t the most ambitious dinner to make. But we didn’t care. We loved the taste and the sense of freedom it gave us.

“American Goulash” is a fresher, homemade version of that nostalgic store-bought product that is just about as fast and easy to make, too.

Only this version is by Michael Symon, the James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur, and Emmy-winning television personality known his Food Network shows and co-hosting ABC’s “The Chew.” I also had the distinct pleasure of helping judge a cookie baking contest in San Francisco with him many years ago, and he is a hoot to be around.

This recipe is featured in his latest cookbook, “Simply Symon Suppers” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy. This is his eighth cookbook.

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Eric Ripert’s Halibut-Mushroom Casserole

An elegant halibut dish fit for a restaurant but so easy to make at home.
An elegant halibut dish fit for a restaurant but so easy to make at home.

If there was ever anyone qualified to write a masterful cookbook on seafood, it is Eric Ripert.

After all, the renowned chef is co-owner of Le Bernardin in New York City, the absolute mecca of seafood that holds three Michelin stars and has held four stars from the New York Times for more than three decades.

What’s incredibly refreshing about his “Seafood Simple” (Random House, 2023), of which I received a review copy, is how easy and doable these recipes are.

These recipes are absolutely made for the home cook, with many of them calling for little more than a handful of ingredients and only one page of instruction. Try your hand at “Tuna Carpaccio with Ginger-Lime Mayonnaise” (made with store-bought mayo and ginger juice that only requires grating it, then squeezing out the juice); “Salmon Wrapped in Collard Greens with Beurre Rouge” (a sauce that’s simply red wine reduced, then swirled with butter); “Fish Fingers” (a favorite of his son’s that is breaded in panko and served with ketchup); and “Shrimp Skewers with Green Curry Sauce” (with the shrimp skewered with pineapple chunks and grilled).

There’s also expert advice, as well as detailed photos, on how to skin a fish, clean shrimp, split a lobster, shuck an oyster, and remove pin bones from salmon.

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My Top 10 Eats of 2023

(Wallpaper by @mydarlin_bk)
(Wallpaper by @mydarlin_bk)

This was the year I returned to mostly indoor dining. That in itself was a triumph after doing nothing but takeout through fraught 2020 and opting for outdoor dining primarily in skittish 2021 and 2022. How wonderful to lean ever closer to “normalcy” again.

This is my annual list of the most memorable bites or dishes I enjoyed in 2023. It pained me to leave off a few places that have since closed (San Francisco’s Afici that will forever spoil me for its clever use of Chinese scallion pancakes instead of the usual blini for caviar service) or tragically were destroyed in the devastating Maui wildfires (Pacifico On the Beach for its imaginative mahi mahi Wellington, and Papa’aina’s dazzling and so intentional tropical fruit plate).

It’s an important reminder to really savor and appreciate the restaurants, bakeries, and other establishments that enrich our lives so much. Without further adieu, here is my Top 10, in no particular order:

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Experiencing the New Sushi by Scratch in Healdsburg

Chef de Cuisine Willer Larreal Perez presides over the 10-seat Sushi by Scratch inside The Matheson.
Chef de Cuisine Willer Larreal Perez presides over the 10-seat Sushi by Scratch inside The Matheson.

Hidden behind a door in what was once a private dining room at The Matheson in downtown Healdsburg sits a restaurant within a restaurant.

It is all of 10 seats, situated around a u-shaped sushi bar, behind which three chefs slice, form, dollop, and blow-torch seafood into precious morsels of nigiri.

We’ve all had sushi that’s been decimated by cream cheese, mayonnaise, and gloppy sweet sauces. Sushi by Scratch is not that, even if the pristine fish does get finished with what at first may seem unlikely adornments. Instead, the effect here is far more finessed.

Opened in December, this is the first location of the reservation-only, omakase restaurant that started in Los Angeles in 2017 and has quickly spread to include outposts around the country, as well as in Montreal. Chef Philip Frankland Lee, who competed on “Top Chef” and his wife, Pastry Chef Margarita Kallas-Lee, founded the restaurant. A favorite of a bevy of celebrities, it held a Michelin star in 2021 and 2022.

I had a chance to try the experience last week, when I was invited in as a guest of Sushi by Scratch.

Bluefin tartare cannoli -- that you'll only receive if you show up 30 minutes before your reservation.
Bluefin tartare cannoli — that you’ll only receive if you show up 30 minutes before your reservation.

Dinner is 17 courses of nigiri at $185 per person. A word to the wise when booking: You will note that the reservation invites you to arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled reservation for a complimentary welcome cocktail. You might be tempted to blow this off if you’re not interested in a cocktail or don’t want to be bothered with arriving early. This would be a major mistake.

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