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Cover Story: BEST FOOD BOOKS FOR THE SUMMER by John Mariani

New York Corner: August by John Mariani

Quick Bytes

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Best Food Books for the Summer by John Mariani

So far, 2004 hasn't been a great year for books on food, wine, and drink, but a few stand out and make for both good reading and cooking this summer.

Beyond the Ice Cream Cone by Pamela J. Vaccaro (Enid Press, $23.95)--A fascinating, marvelously researched history of the foods and innovations that first appeared at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and went on to become American favorites. She shatters myths, provides nostalgia, and discusses the importance of these fairs to the growth of an American food culture. Delightful archival photos throughout. Every food historian needs to have this book.

The Da Fiore Cookbook by Damiano Martin (Morrow, $34.95)--No one perusing this beautifully photographed cookbook from Venice's finest restaurant will ever again swallow the foolish notion that Venetian food and restaurants are not on a par with the best in Italy. Classic recipes like bigoli in salsa and risotto con seppie vie with Da Fiore's signature items like butternut squash risotto with balsamico and red mullet with fresh figs and mint.

The Chinese Chicken Cookbook by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo (Simon & Schuster, $24)--Any new book by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo makes Chinese food aficionados salivate, and this is one of her best. Open any page and try to resist rushing to the kitchen wok to make dishes like lemon noodles with chicken, Sichuan hot bean curd with chicken, and something called "Concubine Chicken," supposedly named after a mistress of the emperor of Chang'an.

Chocolate American Style by Lora Brody (Potter, $35)--Let's face it: The French may have perfected chocolate desserts, but Americans revel in them, and Lora Brody wallows with the best in this superb evocation of American choco-philia in sweets like her white chocolate-coconut milk crème brûlée, Rocky Road cake, and Zelda's Chocolate Demons. Great photos by Webb Chappell.

Retro Food Fiascos by Kathy Casey (Collectors Press, $16.95)--Yet another in this nostalgic series of foods and fads of the post-war era, this volume is hilarious until you realize how ubiqutious and highly promoted dishes like "Ring-Around-the-Tuna" Jell-O mold, "Lemony Salmon Tower," and a "Crown Roast of Frankfurters" really were at a time when convenience and savvy marketing won out over good taste. A cultural artifact that truly indicates we are what we eat.

Rick Stein's Complete Seafood by Rick Stein (Ten Speed Press, $40)--A beautifully illustrated and straightforward approach to seafood through 150 delectable recipes, and step-by-step photos that will convince anyone can skin a whole flatfish, poach fish in oil, bake fish "en papillote," and tenderize an octopus. The word "Complete" is pretty close to the mark.

Sirio: The Story of My Life and Le Cirque by Sirio Maccioni and Peter J. Elliot (Wiley, $29.95)--The master of NYC's posh restaurant Le Cirque has revealed himself with candor and self-deprecation while proving yet again how a very tough immigrant's life can be mined for advancement within the American Dream. It is a fascinating series of revelations that shows just how tough and often unfair the restaurant business once was and still is.

A Meal Observed by Andrew by Andrew Todhunter (Knopf, $23)--Fine food writing is such a rarity that when one comes upon it, one is gripped as if by a novelist in the story, in this case Mr. Todhunter's education at one of Paris' most respected restaurants, Taillevant, where we all learn what it takes to stay at the top of haute cuisine in a world increasingly indifferent to it.

A Culinary Journey in Gascony by Kate Hill (Ten Speed, $17.95)--Gascony remains for most people something of a mystery; now Kate Hill, who has long led wonderful barge trips on the Canal Lateral à la Garonne, opens up this marvelous region, introduces you to its people and landscape and shows that its cooking is some of the lustiest and best in France.

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NEW YORK CORNER
by John Mariani

AUGUST
359 Bleecker Street
212-929-4774

Were I ever to choose to live in New York City, it would be in the neighborhood called the West Village, the region in question being Greenwich Village, west of Fifth Avenue, where the streets seem to go any which way they choose, paying no attention to the city's rigid grid system. In a sense the West Village seems completely out of character with the rest of Manhattan (even with the rest of Greenwich Village) by virtue of its small scale, 19th century buildings, its greenery, and its remarkable quiet. That its size is all out of proportion to the numbers of literary and artistic figures who lived there--e.e. cummings, Theodore Dreiser, John Reed, Padraic Colum, Jane Bowles, Djuna Barnes, Edna St, Vincent Millay, and Patrick Dennis, to name a few--and while one would have to be a very rich bohemian indeed to live here, you still get a sense that this is a world apart that doesn't always play by NYC's rules.
The West Village is also home to many quaint and darling restaurants, like the Portuguese Alfama, the Austrian Wallsé, Mary's Fish Camp, John's Pizzeria, Ye Waverly Inn (opened in 1840), the Pink Tea Cup, and a new 30-seat charmer, August, owned by Jason Hennings and Andrew Chapman. aug

The room (below) is warm, inviting, bustling, crowded, with dramatically distressed cement walls and lovely lighting. There is also a patio that seats 35, just past the big wood-burning oven from which comes much of the delicious Franco-Mediterranean food served here with unabashed pride. Blessedly, the ceiling is lined with cork, which cuts down considerably on the noise in this small space, so that conversation is still impossible and the buoyant joviality of people who are clearly happy to be here is palpable.
       You almost know you're going to have a good meal as soon as you see good bread at a restaurant, and August's, baked on the premises, is fabulous, so you have to catch yourself from eating every slice presented to you, slicked with olive oil. The little bar (below) is a place you can park for a while, nibble on that bread and some Spanish ham with a glass of wine.
     You're also going to want to try everything on the menu, perhaps beginning with Serrano ham croquettes and salt cod bolinohos, which are definitely as addictive as the bread. Equally delectable is a plate of spinach "malfatti," which means "badly made" in Italian and refers to the deliberately lumpy appearance of spinach-and-cheese dumplings without a pasta wrapping, served with nothing more than sizzling brown butter and marjoram. Spaghetti with ramps and mushrooms was a fine pasta, and grilled Portuguese octopus with marinated chickpeas, red onion, oregano and a squish of lemon were as tender and flavorful as any in town.

Hawaiian-born Chef Tony Liu, who's worked with Daniel Boulud at Daniel, Floyd Cardoza at Tabla, Mario Batali at Babbo and Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria, Spain, has obviously absorbed lessons from them all, aiming for deceptively simple food cooked with respect for the ingredients. He has a flair for such food, evident in his Alsatian tarte flambé with onion and bacon, lavished with crème fraîche. Very good indeed is his crisp roast chicken Grand Mére, with new potatoes, green garlic, and wild mushrooms, everything as succulent as you'd wish. Grilled wild boar with fennel marmellata and polenta is a good, hearty entree, though boar is never going to be the tastiest meat. Soft shell crabs came with a classic sauté of brown butter and capers and with tangy lemon and haricots verts. The very best of all I tasted was a superbly rendered carbonnade flamande, the beloved Belgian beef stew braised in beer--a dish so good it makes you wonder why it is not more available all over town. A side order of potatoes gratin à la Dauphinoise falls into the same category of dishes to sigh for--cheese rich and creamy, bubbling and browned.
    Except for a so-so crema catalana, the desserts all lived up to what preceded them, including chocolate pot de crème, and panna cotta with rhubarb, poached pear beignets, and profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce and crème anglaise. There is also an assortment of artisinal cheeses.
       August's wine list is small, but the selections change constantly: When they run out of case of, say, Domaine Miguel Syrah, they find a Marques de Riscal Tempranillo to replace it. Prices are very fair minded.
         The lovableness of this new West Village restaurant should be factored together with remarkably modest prices--$7-$11 for generous appetizers, $14-$24 for hearty entrees. It is a place critics are reluctant to tell everyone about, except that I couldn't forgive myself for not doing so. August is a bright little gem everyone should savor.

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WELL, AT LEAST WHILE GEORGE W. BUSH IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

"Ask a Pacific islander, and he will tell you that the meanest, toughest, scariest islander is the drunk I-Kiribati. There is even a word for what happens when an I'Kiribati man loses his mind and any semblance of restraint: koko--a word that I think nicely captures that state of lunacy caused by drink among I-Kiribati men. . . . kiri

Despite the excesses though, I found I quite liked the easygoing, anything goes, why-not-have-another-beer air of Tarawa. It was refreshingly different from the prissiness that characterizes life in the Northwest quadrant of Washington D.C."--J. Maarten Troots, The Sex Lives of Cannibals (Broadway Books, 2004).

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HEY, MAYBE THEY IMPROVED THE TASTE OF THE FOOD

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Two workers at a Wendy’s in Advance, NC, were caught taking a bath in the restaurant’s pot washing sink after they took photos of each other and had them developed at a local CVS Pharmacy, whose manager handed them over to the county sheriff.

* From now until Labor Day NYC Midtown restaurants are presenting a summer lobster celebration. Locations include: Brasserie, Brasserie 8 ½, Café Centro, Cucina & Co. MetLife, Naples 45, Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse & Bar, Rock Center Café, The Sea Grill, and Tropica. Many of the participating restaurants will offer a signature dish featuring two, one-and-a-quarter pound lobsters for $29. For a complete listing of all specialty lobster dishes served during the celebration or for more information on the participating restaurants, visit www.restaurantassociates.com. Recipes are available upon request.

* The Partridge Inn in Augusta, GA, begins its "Best Chefs of the South" culinary series. Each month between May and October, a visiting celebrity chef will prepare a 4-course meal of signature items from their own restaurant, accompanied by wines and hors d'ouevres by The Inn’s Executive Chef Philippe Chin. The scheduled appearances are as follows: June 17 --Chris Bolton, Glen Ella Springs Inn, Clarkesville, GA; July 15--Hugh Acheson, Five & Ten, Athens, GA; Aug. 19--Michael Kramer, McCrady’s, Charleston, SC; Sept. 16--Michael Tuohy, Woodfire Grill, Atlanta, GA; Oct. 20--Kelly Yambor, Elizabeth on 37^th, Savannah, GA; $69 pp; all 6 dinners for $375. Call 706-737-8888 or visit www.partridgeinn.com

* Starting June 21 NYC's Four Seasons Restaurant celebrates its 45th anniversary with an historical men priced at $19.59 for 2 courses, inspired by the meal JFK had here for his birthday. Book a reservation and receive a copy of the book The Four Seasons, and at dinner receive a complimentary slice of flaming Fancy Cake. And for anyone dressing up like architect Mies van der Rohe, Marilyn Monroe, or Four Seasons' co-owners Julian Niccolini or Alex von Bidder, dinner is on the house. Call 212-754-9494.

* On June 20 & 21 the Fifth International Bar Show, featuring the largest assortment of house wines ever assembled, will be held at NYC’s Jacob Javits Center. For info call Ron Kapon at 212-799-6311 or write Ron@tastersguildny.com

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This newsletter is also available on the very comprehensive food site www.sautewednesday.com
which has dozens of other links to food articles from around the world. New York Corner reviews are also available at
www.nycvisit.com/johnmariani

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani, Naomi Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press). To purchase from amazon.com, click on the image below.