If you haven’t yet found a copy of the new winter issue of Edible Brooklyn, you always can read the whole issue right here online. (Though don’t forget that should you choose to subscribe, not only is the print version delivered right to your door, you also get the free Edible app.) As usual, we’ve also got a few extras here in the digital sphere, which we think you’ll like. The recipe for Judge Mike Pesce’s Limoncello, from a story (“The Lure of Limoncello”) on his annual making of the bright-yellow Italian digestif. And from our profile of One Girl Cookies in Cobble Hill (“Cookie Monsters”) recipes for two of their incredible sweets–Spiced Ginger Oatmeal Drops and Fresh Pumpkin Pie with Salty Roasted Pepitas.
Congratulations to chef Jason Weiner of Almond restaurant–there’s one in both Bridgehampton in Long Island and on East 22nd Street in Manhattan–who won last night’s Edible Brooklyn/Great Performances latke fest and cook-off at BAM. We’re especially pleased that Weiner’s latke, a last-minute entry, was topped with smoked bluefish caught by one of his Long Island staffers, and that it was mama Weiner’s recipe: An Edible-minded creation if there ever was one.
Tonight we’ll be co-hosting the sold-out third annual Latke Cook-off at BAM, where 15 chefs and Dori Fern, the talented Edible Brooklyn reader who won our amateur recipe contest, will compete in the contest to crown the greatest Hanukah potato pancake of all. If you’re missing out, don’t worry, the Daily News did a preview piece on the event yesterday, and scored not just the recipe for Fern’s “Double-Happiness Latkes topped with Five-Spice Duck Confit” but those of a few of her fellow contestants, too.
For all those headed out there in the next few days to hunt down one last gift for your holiday list, we’ve got a few ideas. In fact, last-minute gifts are practically the only kind we give. So here goes… 1. Buy a couple of Ball or Mason jars from your local hardware/kitchenware store and any of the canning, pickling and preserving books cataloged here by the Punk Domestics, a very modern DIY site dedicated to preserving traditional foodways. (We must admit our favorite is Tart & Sweet, by Brooklynite Kelly Geary, whom we’ve lauded countless times on these digital pages ourselves.)
Brewed Awakening—the new book chronicling America’s growing craft beer movement—was penned by Joshua Bernstein, a Brooklynite, beer brainiac and occasional Edible contributor: In fact, he’s working on a profile of Chelsea Brewing Company for Edible Manhattan January Drinks issue right now. The book is one of the top hits on our holiday gift list, so given his knowledge of craft beer, we asked Bernstein to belly up at three surprising best of class bars in Manhattan for our weekly NY1 segment. (Surprising because everyone knows that Brooklyn is the borough leading the call to great craft beer.) His sudsy trip through lower Manhattan airs today and Sunday. Can’t catch his picks on the small screen? No worries, you can find out where he goes on an even smaller one right here.
While researching the next edition of Edible Manhattan–the annual Alcohol Issue that arrives January 1–we had the pleasure of hanging out with the founder of Compass Box at the 12th annual WhiskyFest, which took over the Marriott Marquis last month. John Glaser is an American-born maker of Scotch, which is rare enough already. But more importantly, he’s perhaps the only man in Scotch focused on mixing handcrafted boutique blends from single malt and high quality grain whiskies from other Scottish sources, rather than distilling them himself.
Those bemoaning the loss of Smorgasberg, Williamsburg’s Sunday food frenzy by the sea, will find…
If you’ve gotten your hands on our current issue, you probably want to a) hit the Bushwick Farmers’ Market’s Winter Solstice Feast and b) encourage the spread of hydroponic gardening by Bushwick master Lee Mandell, who runs Boswyck Farms in the nabe. The Winter Solstice Feast this year–it’s this Friday, December 16; RSVP today–will support all of the above.
We’re just back from a trip to Spuyten Duyvil Grocery–the Williamsburg beer store in the mini-mall on Bedford Avenue at North Sixth Street–and stumbled across this beauty of a brew from Evil Twin Brewers in Denmark. We’re just sad we didn’t stumble in time for it be part of our annual Alcohol Issue, which just hit the streets.
We probably don’t have to tell readers with tendencies toward procrastination that a great last-minute holiday gift is a few of any of the products we cover in our pages. This year that’s even easier courtesy Depanneur, the specialty foods, corner store and sandwich shop on the corner of Wythe Avenue and North Third Street in Williamsburg. The place (it’s kind of like a gourmet bodega) assembled a few not-your-grandma’s gift baskets made up of mainly locally made goods in cool old wire-frame boxes we wouldn’t mind keeping around.
Edible Brooklyn isn’t affiliated with the Brooklyn Edible Social Club, but after experiencing the year-old…
In case you missed it last Thursday, we just wanted to point your attention to a brand-new national diner’s guide–but unlike those from Zagat or Michelin, when this one considers the staff, it’s not thinking of service. Instead, the new National Diners’ Guide 2012: A Consumer Guide on the Working Conditions of America’s Restaurants evaluates whether 150 of popular restaurants around the country provide paid sick days, pay at least $9 per hour to non-tipped workers and at least $5 to tipped workers, and provide opportunities for workers to advance. The guide, from the non-profit restaurant worker group called Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (or ROC), is available free online right here.
