North Country Rambler: 03

Welcome to our list of favorite dining destinations in New York's Hudson Valley and Adirondack regions. We visit restaurants, wineries, barbecues, and a smattering of off the beaten path culinary destinations like maple sugar shacks and fromageries. My friends and I have been dining out together weekly for over twenty years. The locations we write about are our favorite destinations. We are not claiming they are the best, just our favorites. The posts are not "reviews" in the classic sense. - we offer only our picks, not pans. We will leave the criticism to others. We are a happy blog. We much prefer a good bistro to "haute cuisine", especially if they also have a nice bar. We prefer a crock of cassoulet and a bottle of Beaujolais to just about anything else. If you enjoy simple home style rustic cooking with a decent (but not too expensive) bottle of wine, then pull up a chair and join us.

Monday, March 29, 2010

How to make a proper Martini

A proper martini, with just enough freeboard for trembles.

Last weekend I heard a guest on NPR speaking about martinis, and discussing the many variations that are now available on cocktail menus – espresso martinis, chocolate martinis, apple-tinis. The commentator was Bonnie Wolf, who did not appreciate the current proliferation of martini wannabe’s. I totally agree. A martini is quite simple – gin (or vodka if you prefer), dry vermouth, ice, and an olive or twist for garnish. Period. No chocolate, no apples, no cherry liquor. You do not tamper with perfection. If you like apple flavored vodka be my guest, but it’s not a martini.

The origins of the martini cocktail are as cloudy as an afternoon after a three martini lunch. Most agree that Martini & Rossi vermouth has something to do with the name, but others attribute an early 1900’s San Francisco drink – the Martinez cocktail - as the genesis of the drink that we now know. A Martinez had similar components, but with added sweeteners. I prefer to think that Nick Charles’s Thin Man thought it up to impress Nora. Lord knows Nick perfected the art of making them. Or was it Hawk-Eye? In any event it is an elegant drink, certainly one of the most popular cocktails of all time. It is also one of my favorite cocktails. Actually not one of - it is my favorite, period.

The NPR commentary last week referred to the martini as an urban drink, which I suppose has some validity. I don’t see too many martinis being drunk while sitting on a tailgate at the fish and game club, but it is certainly not unheard of. I suspect that most martinis are consumed while wearing a suit, which might account for the drinks popularity. When you are wearing a suit you need some relief. By the way, there is no latent sexism in the suit comment, for most martini drinkers are men. I have met a few women martini drinkers and they can certainly be a lot fun. Or not. I suspect that one of the reasons that martinis are an “urban” drink is that most city dwellers don’t have to drive home after a few martinis at cocktail hour. They walk or take the train. They have to. Martinis have a habit of doing that. A friend states that every really stupid thing he has ever done can be traced directly to a martini. Fair warning.

The ingredients in a martini are easy enough to come by. The preparation is also easy to master, but for some reason there are a lot of really bad martinis being served out there. Having made a few thousand in my lifetime, I will offer the “Idiot’s Guide to Making a Proper Martini”. I apologize if there is actually a book out with the same title.

First you must have all of the components in place, ready to go, before you start.

You will need:

A bottle of gin or vodka of your choosing. It should be room temperature, not frozen! More on this later. You will need a reasonably fresh bottle of dry vermouth (the green one). Vermouth has a short shelf life. Just because you store it next to the gin bottle in the closet does not mean it will last six years. A few months is OK. You will need a proper martini glass. It should be large enough to hold at least six ounces of liquid, plus a few olives, and still have a half inch of free board for trembles. There is something about the anticipation of an ice cold martini that makes grown men tremble. I like an eight ounce glass. For preparation you will need a cocktail shaker, a strainer, a shot glass if you need to measure, and a stirring spoon. You should have a good supply of ice cubes, and some decent olives. Here too, people go off in many directions with all different types and sizes of olives - stuffed with garlic, cheese, or pimento. I really enjoy a good large fresh pitted green olive in my martini. I buy mine at Zabar’s. If I want to be fancy I use caper berries. I avoid olives cured in a lot of oil, or stuffed with anything oily. I think oil floating on the surface spoils the crisp clean look of a good martini. They don’t use the expression “gin – clear” for nothing. An alternative is a twist – not a slice – of lemon. Only the lemon rind is used, twisted to release the lemon oil. Think espresso.

When you are ready to start preparing the drink you must first chill the glass. Fill the glass with ice cubes, then fill the glass with cold water, almost to the top. As it sits for a few minutes while you are making the drink it will get nice and frosty. Now on to the drink. Much is made of the amount of vermouth that goes into a martini. Too much will ruin the drink, but you do need some vermouth or the drink will not taste at all like a martini. Too many bartenders assume that “very dry” means no vermouth, which is most definitely not the case. If you use no vermouth you have a gin or vodka on the rocks, not a martini. Some will use a perfume mister, or wave the cork over the glass, or some other silly stuff. The fool proof method is as follows. Old timers will remember it as an “in and out” martini, served “up” as opposed to “on the rocks”.

Fill the cocktail shaker almost to the top with ice cubes. Now, using a circular motion, poor in an ounce or two of vermouth all over the ice into the shaker. (Too much is OK; too little is not.) Cover the shaker with the strainer, and pour all of the vermouth out. What remains, just coating the ice, is the proper amount of vermouth. Now take the gin or vodka and pour three ounces over the ice. Stir the martini. If James Bond is in the room and he insists on shaking it, fine, but you will notice that a shaken martini gets very cloudy. You also get lots of ice chips in the drink. I prefer my martinis stirred – thirty times. Thirty stirs will do two things – it will thoroughly mix everything up, but much more importantly it will melt some ice. A proper martini is one quarter water. If you don’t stir the drink enough you will not release enough water from the ice. In addition, if you freeze your gin or vodka it will not allow the ice to melt so don’t put your booze in the freezer if you are going to make martinis!!

At this point you will have (A) a shaker of martini, and (B) a frosted glass filled with ice cubes and water. Discard the ice water, pour A into B, add two olives, or a twist, and Voila! The proper martini. Enjoy.

PS - The best martini in the North Country? The Owl at Twilight, Olmsteadville, NY

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Babycakes Cafe, Poughkeepsie, NY

Babycakes Café

1-3 Collegeview Avenue

Poughkeepsie, NY

845-485-8411

Hours:

Tues – Wed 8 AM till 9 PM

Thurs – Sat. 8 AM – 10 PM

Sunday 8 AM – 4 PM

Closed Monday

Babycakes first opened, as a bakery, in 2002. Over the years they have added to the menu, serving breakfast, then lunch, and now dinner. The menu is expansive, offering dozens of choices for each meal. The hours are ambitious to say the least. Diners keep the doors open for all three meals, but it is unique to see a restaurant of this caliber keeping the kitchen going from before dawn (pastry chefs start really early) through dinner. Its location across the street from the Vassar College campus provides a steady stream of customers. Babycakes does a land-office take out business, in addition to catering, the original bakery business, and a full service dining room.

It is hard to describe the atmosphere at Babycakes. It is very casual. There is a smallish bar near the entrance with a half dozen seats. At first glance it looks like a large service bar, but they offer a full complement of tap beers, liquor and wine. The walls are covered with very large blackboards which list the daily offerings at the bakery, in addition to breakfast and luncheon specials. Behind the bar you will probably find Gary, our new favorite barkeep. He instantly recognized us on our second visit for Wednesday Boyz Dinner (and I don’t think – or at least I am hopeful – that we didn’t do anything particularly memorable on our first visit). He also remembered what we liked in the way of wine, and offered us “our usual” Pinot Grigio as we collected at the bar. As you might expect, the place is usually full of students, especially on Friday and Saturday nights when they offer live entertainment. Last Wednesday they had a band for St. Patrick’s Day, which was a nice touch for everyone else in the dining room, but a disappointment for most of my party who would rather focus on the food and the conversation. (Actually I just don’t like my punchlines being drowned out by a chorus of “Whiskey in the Jar”.) Gary arranged for a table in the “back” dining room, where we could be seated away from the band. One of the few issues we have with Babycakes is the seating plan. The front dining room is usually busy with foot traffic – students coming and going with take out or bakery purchases. The back dining room is much quieter, but the narrow foot print makes rearranging tables for any parties larger than four problematic. The standard seating plan is all four tops.

This all might sound more like a campus hang out rather than a dining destination, but Babycakes has become very much the dining destination. I am told the kitchen crew – or at least part of it - came over from the immensely popular Busy Bee when they closed last year. The preparations of some of the dishes are carryovers from the Busy Bee.

The ala carte menu usually starts with a dozen or so appetizers in addition to a few daily specials. Over the last few months I think we have tried most of them. Greek Sliders ($7) are patties of ground lamb, sautéed with rosemary, garlic, onions, and served with spinach and feta cheese. Pancetta wrapped shrimp ($9) are served with an avocado and chili pepper sauce. Last Wednesday I had one of my favorite apps – macaroni and cheese. Know what’s better than Mac & Cheese? Fried Mac & Cheese! Here they take the traditional preparation and fold it into a fritter batter. Wonderful stuff!

Asian meatballs ($6) are made with ground chicken, then drizzled with a reduction of Alsatian Gewürztraminer and sesame. Eggplant chips ($7) are a tempura style sliced eggplant. A salad worth trying is the toasted quinoa (a South American grain) salad, tossed with almonds, feta cheese, sautéed onion, and cilantro in a vinaigrette dressing ($7). The menu offers a few pasta selections which can be ordered as an entrée, or also as a half order for an appetizer or pasta course. A scallop risotto is also offered in full or half orders ($18 / $13). The fettuccine ($16 / $11) is tossed with spinach in a bacon cream sauce. The ravioli and tagliatelle are made on the premises. The ravioli ($16 / $10) is stuffed with a maple infused butternut squash, tossed in brown butter and sage with cranberries. The tagliatelle ($17) is tossed with shaved fennel, and roasted garlic in a basil broth. I ordered short ribs last Wednesday night as this dish usually disappears from menus in the spring. It was very well prepared, braised in an apple miso stock, served off the bone with mashed potatoes. It will hold me till next winter. I’ve also tried the baked codfish ($17), and the baked steelhead (rainbow) trout ($16), which were also very well prepared.

Babycakes genesis was a bakery, and the pastry chef will tempt you with display cases full of the day’s offerings as you enter the ding room. At least leave room for biscotti with your espresso, offered plain or dipped in chocolate ($2). If you still think of Babycakes as a bakery or sandwich shop, you really need to try it again for dinner. From a marketing standpoint I think the owners would have been better off changing the name when they expanded the dining room, as Babycakes has definitely outgrown its bakery beginnings. It’s not just for breakfast anymore!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

New York City Bistros

We spent last weekend in New York City in a whirlwind (literally and figuratively) of dining out, with brief digestifs of theater. The rain kept the NY taxi fleet busy, and the wind produced a sea of discarded umbrellas on every sidewalk. We only get to visit the city a few times each year, and take advantage of the opportunity to visit favorite haunts and try a few new ones. As is our inclination, we favor neighborhood bistro style restaurants, but also enjoy ethnic delicacies of pretty much any persuasion. We found time to grab a bowl of noodles at Mechanko-Tei on East 45^th Street, a breakfast of lox and bagels at Russ and Daughters on Houston, and some sandwich material for the ride back - corned beef, pastrami and a salami - from Katz’s right down the block. The “official” dinners were scheduled for Solera, a favorite tapas bar on east 53^rd, and Le Veau D’Or, the iconic French bistro on East 60^th.

LeVeau D’Or traces its lineage to the thirties, although the exact date is a matter of some debate. The current owner, Robert Treboux, a/k/a/ Monsieur Robert, who bought the restaurant in 1985, told me that LeVeau D’Or opened its doors in 1937, which predates the fabled LePavillon, which Henri Soule opened in 1941. The two restaurants were both French, but could not have been more different. Soule’s focus was on the haute cuisine that his crew (including Pierre Franey) brought to the states at the 1939 World’s Fair at the French Pavilion. LeVeau D’or was one of many French bistros in New York that served up rustic favorites – cassoulet and marrow bones, beef bourguignon and kidneys, sweetbreads, and tripe.

Monsieur Robert first earned his spurs working under Henri Soule at Le Pavillon, then bought and sold two other French restaurants before settling in at Le Veau D’Or twenty five years ago. He still greets every customer, but he shuffles now more than he walks as he shows you to your table. The place looks every bit of its seventy five years, and the menu is, I suspect, exactly as it appeared in 1937. To change anything would be sacrilegious. A simple wine list offers a few classics – a Chateau Talbot, a Gevrey Chambertin, and of course a Chateau Simard, the house wine at the French pavilion in 1939, and at Le Pavillon when it opened in 1941. The reason, according to Soule, was that he wanted a wine that his customers could pronounce without embarrassing themselves. So much for marketing studies.

Le Veau D’Or and Monsieur Robert would still be enjoying a well deserved slow and steady semi - retirement pace, hidden away on East 60^th Street, were it not for their being “discovered” – again – by Anthony Bordain, who wrote about the place in Nasty Bits in 2006, and then featured them on his show. Monsieur Robert’s daughter Kathy was pressed into service to help run the place, and Le Veau D’or is now enjoying a new generation of fans.

Over the years we have sought out these wonderful neighborhood bistros, offering up traditional French family fare at reasonable prices. I highly recommend the following:

LeVeau D’Or, 129 East 60^th (btwn Park & Lex), 212 838-8133

Gascogne, 158 Eighth Ave. (btwn 17^th & 18^th) 212-675-6564

La Mediterranee, 947 2^nd Avenue, (btwn 50^th & 51^st) 212-755-4155

La Mirabelle, 102 West 86^th, (near Columbus) 212-496-0458

Demarchelier, 50 East 86^th, (btwn Madison & Park), 212-249-6300

Café D’Alsace, 1695 2^nd Ave, (btwn 87^th & 88^th), 212-722-5133

Les Halles, 411 Park Avenue (btwn 28th & 29th) 212-679-4111

“My Favorites” are not “the Best”

Why a restaurant reviewer’s “stars” mislead readers.

I’m still having a difficult time trying to explain the difference between “the best”, and “my favorites”. It gets even more complicated when I am asked to “rate” a restaurant with stars. Lets start there. Last week I was posting a comment about a restaurant on ChowHound, and the template I filled out requested that I assign a star rating to the restaurant. I really cannot see how you can compare all of the restaurants on a national stage using the same rating criteria. If you are comparing all restaurants in one town I suppose it makes some sense, but how could you compare a four star restaurant from New York City, or any large city, to just about any small town venue. The typical New York four star restaurant has a million dollar wine cellar, a million dollar payroll and the owners or backers spent many millions of dollars to build out the space. How do you compare that space to a typical small town restaurant?

I like to “grade on a curve”, but the class has to be restricted to similar places. For example, one of my favorite new restaurants is Bistro Tallulah in Glen Falls, NY. It is most certainly one of the better new restaurants in the area. How would it be judged in New York City? I think the Times might give it one star. But if I was a local reviewer, and gave it one star, the owners would be disappointed, if not angry, and the local readers would most certainly be misled. How many stars do you give one of the best restaurants in Glens Falls? Grading on a curve – three? four? On a national stage like Chowhound, or in any national journal, how do you compare Talulah’s to Daniel or Le Bernardin? You can’t.

More importantly, I think that it is important to differentiate between “the best” and “favorite” restaurants. None of my favorite restaurants have been awarded lots of stars by The Times or Michelin. My favorites are what this blog is all about. How much fun can you have in a four star restaurant? Think about it. Great food – yes. Great bottle of wine – yes. Over the top, professional service – yes. Fun? I don’t think so. My most enjoyable meals have invariably been in neighborhood bistro style restaurants with a solid kitchen and friendly wait staff. Give me a crock of cassoulet with some crusty peasant bread, a bottle of Beaujolais, and a table full of friends to swap stories with and now I’m having fun. You can’t picture that setting in a four star restaurant. It doesn't happen.

If you’re like me you collect restaurant recommendations. I have a file of restaurants from different cities that have been mentioned somewhere that I file away for future reference. When the opportunity arises, I browse the files to decide where to eat. I very deliberately do not save reviews of “four star” restaurants. I go out of my way to visit bistro style restaurants that have been given one or two stars in the NY Times. Many remain on my list of favorites. None of my favorites are four star restaurants. Not even close. But that’s just me.