Category Archives: New Products

Ad Hoc BBQ Goodies

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When it carries the name, Ad Hoc, synonymous with the high-quality famous at Thomas Keller’s lauded, family-style Yountville restaurant, you know it will come with good taste and a high premium.

Such is the case with the new Ad Hoc Apple Bacon BBQ Sauce and Ad Hoc Sweet & Spicy BBQ Rub, both sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma.

Recently, I got a chance to try out samples of both — the 13-ounce jar of barbecue sauce, which sells for $16; and the 3-ounce canister of rub, which is $12.

The hubby, aka Meat Boy, smeared the rub on racks of ribs, then brushed on the sauce after they came off the grill.

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New Starbucks Flavored Coffees & Food Gal Contest for Coffee Lovers

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Over the years, many flavored coffees have left me feeling much like I do about yesterday’s grounds — wondering why they were still around and hadn’t been thrown out or used as compost yet.

You’ve probably experienced the same — coffee flavored like Christmas or your favorite ice cream sundae topping, where you couldn’t taste the coffee at all, and instead were left with this way too strong, rather artificial taste in your mouth.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by the new Starbucks Natural Fusions. The three new coffees come in Vanilla, Caramel and Cinnamon flavors.

I hesitantly tried the samples I received, only to find myself smiling at what was in my cup. These flavored ground coffees are made with real-deal ingredients — ground vanilla bean and Indian sarsaparilla root in the Vanilla; cinnamon, orange peel and nutmeg in the Cinnamon; and licorice root, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg in the Caramel.

The flavors are subtle, which is nice because you can still taste the robust coffee, which is what we, true coffee lovers, want anyway, right? The Cinnamon has the strongest fragrance, hitting you the moment the hot water meets the grounds. It has a nice added warmth on the back of your throat from the spices. The Vanilla and Caramel are more elusive. They don’t taste like you’ve stirred in vanilla extract or caramel syrup into your coffee cup. It’s more as if you’d just nibbled on a vanilla cookie or sucked on a caramel candy, then taken a sip of coffee afterward.

The Natural Fusions sell for $8.99 per 11-ounce bag at Target stores. But they won’t be widely available at more retailers until September.

Contest: Five lucky Food Gal readers will get a chance to win one bag of each of the three new coffee flavors, along with a nifty French press. Contest is open only to those of you in the continental United States. Deadline to enter is the end of the day on July 31. Winners will be announced Aug. 2.

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Whole Foods Showcases Sustainable Swordfish & A “Next Iron Chef” Contestant

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Through August or until supplies last, Whole Foods Markets are selling fresh, harpoon-caught Novia Scotia swordfish that have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable.

Whole Foods is the only major grocery store selling the MSC-certified swordfish, which retails for $18.99 per pound.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Seafood Watch Guide” lists harpoon-caught swordfish as a “best choice.”

Instead of being caught in giant gillnets, which can be destructive to ocean  habitats and capture unwanted fish, these swordfish are captured in a very primitive, time-honored method. Fishermen use harpoons to target individual, mature fish one by one. The fishing boats, many family-owned, usually return to shore within 72 hours, ensuring that swordfish arrive at stores within 48 hours.

The Canadian government also has worked to limit the fishing season to three, five-day intervals, to help maintain the swordfish population.

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Fish Tacos Still Rule

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With all the hub-bub lately about the spicy Korean short rib taco craze, you might think fish tacos have gone passé.

Not so.

In fact, two San Francisco Bay Area spots have rolled out new, inventive versions just in time for summer.

First up, Gott’s Roadside (the restaurant formerly known as Taylor’s Automatic Refresher) is serving up fish tacos — poke-style. Yes, three crispy tacos ($13.99) are filled with Hawaiian-style raw, marinated ahi tuna cubes, avocado, green cabbage, cilantro and spicy mayo.

Gott’s also features a new “B-Side” menu — sly, you-have-to-ask-for-it selections on a special list that you have to specifically request at the counter or follow @gottsroadside on Twitter for updates on that particular menu.

A few of the recent secret menu items have included the “Big Tasty” (buttermilk fried chicken with house-made ranch dressing, aioli, melted Swiss cheese and bacon on a butter-toasted egg bun) and the “Fish Royale Sandwich” (fresh mahi-mahi, tartar sauce, Romaine, and American cheese on a toasted bun).

The “B-Side” items are meant to showcase fresh-picked ingredients from Gott’s new garden in St. Helena, which will be used at all Gott’s locations. Those include heirloom tomatoes, herbs, shallots, squashes, potatoes and peppers.

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Down Under in the Land of Olives

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VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA — Kangaroos, koalas, award-winning wines, and the breathtaking Sydney Opera House. That’s usually what comes to mind when we think of Australia.

Extra virgin olive oil?

Not so much.

Yet an olive oil revolution is taking place Down Under. In much the same way that Australia turned the wine world upside-down with its outstanding, New World Shiraz wines, it is now doing the same with New World extra virgin olive oils.

Boundary Bend Ltd., Australia’s leading vertically integrated olive company, which controls every production process from growing its own olives to pressing the oil to bottling, has been a pioneer in this new industry Down Under. It is now the largest olive oil producer in Australia, and the top-selling brand there.

This spring, I had a chance to see first-hand how it all came to be, when Boundary Bend flew me and a couple of other journalists to north Victoria state in southern Australia to tour its facilities and expansive groves planted with an astounding 2.5 million olive trees.

It is those trees, bearing 14 different olive varieties, which form the foundation for Boundary Bend’s award-winning Cobram Estate extra virgin olive oils. The brand, launched in 2001, is now exported worldwide. The olive oils can be found on supermarket shelves in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and yes, the United States, where they are sold at Nob Hill, Raley’s, Bel-Air, Lucky, Andronico’s, Winn-Dixie, Fairway Markets and SaveMart (starting at the end of July) for about $6.99 per 375ml bottle.

Boundary Bend hopes to distinguish its Cobram Estate extra virgin olive oils in two ways. First, it touts its freshness. After its olives are harvested, they are pressed in less than six hours. The resulting oil makes it to market only two to 12 months later.

Second, it stresses the strict testing its oils go through. At a time when fraud is reportedly rife in the olive oil industry — as documented in a superb 2007 New Yorker piece detailing how a significant percentage of Italian so-called “extra virgin” olive oil is actually adulterated with cheaper oils such as canola –- Boundary Bend is working with Australian government officials to strengthen standards for extra virgin olive oil made both domestically and imported into its country.

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