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David Lebovitz Archives: June 2007 Is American Food Better Than French? June 30, 2007 |
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I simply can't recall the last time in Paris that I was ate French Fries that were actually made with real, freshly-cut potatoes. And served crisp, cooked like someone cared about how they tasted. Nor can I think of anytime in the recent past when I've been served fresh, seasonal tomatoes in a salad. Last week I ate at Nopa, a shockingly-good restaurant located in an off-center location in San Francisco with wonderful cooking by a youthful, vibrant staff. From the opening plate of very crispy French Fries served with Maldon salt, to a thick, crusty, moist pork chop cut from locally-raised pork served with pan-fried peas whose brilliant-green flesh and taste assured me they were shucked no later than that afternoon. The food revolution that's taken place in the past few decades in America has meant a number of excellent restaurants have opened everywhere, not just in San Francisco, and it's pretty amazing the quality of products that are available in America nowadays.
 The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market
In lieu of promoting freshness and cuisine du terrior, the current trend in Paris is le verrine: a little glass layered with a dice and/or puree of various foods. While the concept is fun, like 'foams', we've seen it and done it. And while it's a cool idea, that's the only innovation I've seen in the past few years in Paris. Still, I'd prefer to have food that simply tastes good; vegetables sourced from a local farm and sautéed briefly with a knob of good Breton butter or a really good, tangy lemon tart, made with freshly-squeezed lemon juice, perhaps from Corsican lemons, in a homemade buttery crust. Made with Breton butter, bien sûr. Perhaps I'm thinking along these lines since I just finished reading The United States of Arugula by David Kamp. In spite of the silly title, this excellent book unwittingly tells the story of how America beat the French at their own game; namely cooking. While the French were resting on their well-earned laurels, garnered from mastering cooking techniques and developing various repertoires during the last few centuries, the Americans embraced the concept of cuisine du marché and took it to the next level by giving the ingredients more prominence than the techniques used to prepare them. Both ideas have their merits, I suppose, but I don't need to tell you which I prefer.
 Pluots—A Plum Crossed with An Apricot
Continue reading "Is American Food Better Than French?" »
Chocolate & Gelato Weekend in Tuscany June 29, 2007 |
Comments (6)
Although I've been enjoying lots (and I mean lots) of all-American ice cream on my trip, there's just no substitute for lapping up real Italian gelato. I've been fortunate to sample gelati up and down Italy and will be heading back this fall to Florence, the culinary capital of Tuscany.
 True Italian Gelato
Private demonstrations from the top chocolatiers in town as well as visits to local enotecas, pastry shops, and a very special excursion to meet famed Dante-quoting butcher Dario Cecchini are just some of the fun we'll have during this three-day adventure, September 14-16, 2007. For more information, visit La Dolce Vita: Chocolate & Gelato Weekend in Florence for the rest of the scoop.
June 26, 2007 |
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Thanks to everyone who came to the ice cream tasting and booksigning at Ici last weekend. In French, Ici means 'here'...and although by now I should say I was definitely 'there', it was nice to meet so many of you nonetheless and glad you all got your licks in!
 
Appreciate the big turnout at Ici, and for those of you who live in the Seattle area, I'll be heading up there this coming weekend teaching classes at Sur La Table on Friday and Saturday, as well as conducting a booksigning and chocolate-tasting on Saturday afternoon at Theo chocolate. See you there!
June 24, 2007 |
Comments (45)
You know when you're invited to a large family gathering and you're filled with a bit of dread. Lots of cheek-pinching and stories told about how you wet your pants in the third-grade when you had to give an oral book report in front of your entire class. But there's always some wacky, gravel-voiced relative who doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. So you spend most of your time with her, since she's the most fun person in the room and you never know what will tumble out of her mouth. And you want to be there when all the choice nuggets do. I don't ever watch Food Network since it's not on television in France so I don't know the cast of characters. But I hear about them, so I spent an afternoon watching it the other day just to catch up. And while I quickly got tired of the wide-eyed, pendulous Giada, shuddered at the skin-crawling 'charms' of Bobby Flay and wondered aloud if it's just me or if the ever-popular Rachel Ray is looking more and more like an NFL linebacker these days. I did find someone worth-watching amongst the dreck: Paula Deen. Let me tell you, that girl's a hoot. Watching her, I was reminded of that favorite aunt, who doesn't care what anyone thinks of her, who will say or do, or eat, anything. Watching Paula traipsing about London and Paris on her hour-long special, here's this southern woman, all wide-eyed and big-haired, visiting one of the handlebar-mustached butchers at my market. Looking her up and down, he proclaims her breasts "Les Guns of Navarone"...and once that was translated for her, what did she do? Continue reading "My New Favorite Aunt" »
June 23, 2007 |
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 Merci beaucoup to the swarm of folks that showed up for my booksigning and ice cream tasting at Fog City News yesterday. I hadn't been in the store in some time and was not only thrilled to see the most unusual and creative selection of chocolate tablets that's ever been collected in one place, but it was great to meet those of you who stopped by for a scoop and to have your book inscribed by yours truly. I left with a nice selection of bars myself, including a few from local favorites E. Guittard and some unusual tastes to sample as well. How about a chocolate bar seasoned with pink Himalayan salt and caramel and another one with bananas and ginger, both from Coppeneur in Germany? Can't wait to try those. And in case you missed my class at Draeger's yesterday evening, Brian over at Chocolate Gourmand posted a terrific write-up of the chocolate-filled event. (Although I don't know who that goofy-looking guy in the photos is...)
San Francisco Bay Area Events This Week June 20, 2007 |
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Here are some of the places you'll find me this week, teaching classes and at booksignings in the Bay Area. Hope to meet many of you there!
Friday, June 22: Noon-1pm Sunday, June 24: 5-6:30pm
Friday, June 22 Tuesday, June 26 Wednesday, June 27
As Good A Reason As Any, I Suppose June 19, 2007 |
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June 19, 2007 |
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Before I high-tail it outta Austin, I thought I'd share a few things I ate while here. The tour of ice cream shops around town will have to wait until I'm back home, but there were plenty of other things to sample....
  Austin is the hip town...or city, in Texas. I say 'town' because it feels more like a big town than the capital of the state. There's lot of quirky people here; tattoos, piercings, and general goofiness seems to be the norm and celebrated by all. No complaints from me either! Of course, there's also some mighty fine Tex-Mex food, including unending bowls of chips and salsa, which are dangerous when heaped in front of me. I can't resist polishing off the entire basket. And if there's a margarita (or two) involved, all bets are off on how many I'll pound down. (That's baskets of the chips, not the margaritas. Those I need to limit myself to one or two of. Unless they're really, really good. Then I can perhaps manage an extra one, just to be polite.)
  Migas, a lively scramble of eggs and crispy corn tortillas is my breakfast of choice (hmmm...crisp corn tortillas...anyone else see a trend?) I like mine sitting at the counter at Las Manitas, one of the last diner-style restaurants left in town. It seems almost all of Austin converges here for their hearty breakfasts, accompanied by endless amounts of the all-American bottomless mug of coffee, a habit I quickly reverted back to. Continue reading "Austin, Texas II" »
June 17, 2007 |
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Normally I'm not very good at taking direction. But when someone hands you a big, fluffy white bathrobe and a pair of slippers, and tells you that you don't need to take them off until you leave (even to eat), no further prodding is necessary.
Am I a bad influence or what? After a couple of weeks of a my steady diet of Mexican food and Texas Bar-B-Q, though, I'm a good candidate for a few meals of spa cuisine myself. In between eating some seriously healthy (and delicious, I might add) food, I'm taking advantage of the warm southern sunshine, lounging by the lake, drinking copious amounts of ice herbal tea...and enjoying a heapin' dose of Texas hospitality.
June 16, 2007 |
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June 14, 2007 |
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One of the keys on my laptop keeps falling off. It's the '5' key. I never realized how often I typed the number 5 until every time I tapped that little plastic square, hot damn if that méchant little digit didn't hop right off my keyboard. Since I'm in the US, I thought I'd head over to one of the Apple stores to see if they could fix it for me. Within a few minutes, the cheery salesperson diagnosed the problem, returned with a new key, and popped that little dickens into place. For free! Then he said something really odd to me, something I haven't heard in a long time. And it kinda freaked me out. Continue reading "The Free 5" »
June 13, 2007 |
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You probably know what a sous chef is. It's the person who's second in command in a professional kitchen under the chef. In French, sous also means 'drunk'. But even though he's Le Président, he could also be called le sous Président...
Chocolate Class Weekend In Texas June 13, 2007 |
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This weekend I'll be continuing my classes here in Texas at Central Market stores across the state, which I'm having a blast teaching at. I love working with their staff and strolling the aisles of this unbelievable, enormous food market. Also, Williams-Sonoma stores (which I call Sonoma-Williams, for reasons I should explain here someday...) is featuring The Perfect Scoop in a specially-priced paperback edition—just in time for summer ice cream churning...
June 12, 2007 |
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Jessica's ode to ice cream. Elise pops up homemade popsicles. Françoise's strawberry soirée. Taking the icy rhubarb-raspberry route. Matt's plum crazy. Exploring her sweet (not savory) side. Derrick rocks with Hot Fudge Sauce. Adam sings for his scoop.
June 10, 2007 |
Comments (17)
In a full about-face, I've left fog-bound San Francisco and this morning I woke up in super-sunny Texas. This week I'll be teaching classes in ice cream making with recipes from my book, The Perfect Scoop, and sharing recipes for my favorite Parisian chocolate desserts at Central Market stores across Texas.
Come to the class...then jump in the hot tub with me afterwards!
Hey...it's a Pledge Break!
Funds raised as of 6/10: $20
3 San Francisco Ethnic Eateries June 9, 2007 |
Comments (15)
You can find good Vietnamese food in Paris, and there's a couple of nice addresses for Chinese food as well, but if there's a good Korean bbq in the City of Light, that kalbi has yet to singe my lips. When I come back to San Francisco, people ask me if I'm interested in trying the newest, hottest, most au courant restaurants in town. In general, I bypass those places and make a beeline for the ethnic joints when in town. And one of the best Korean bbq's in San Francisco is located across from the Japan Center: Korea House.
Continue reading "3 San Francisco Ethnic Eateries" »
June 8, 2007 |
Comments (28)
I am not a good traveler and I get whiny and irritable when I'm the least bit uncomfortable. There's nothing I like better than tucking into my own bed every night and arranging the jumble of pillows just-so in my own very-special configuration. So unlike the rest of America, I sympathize with Paris Hilton and am not keen on sleeping in strange places or being cooped-up either. But unlike Ms. Hilton, when I'm not comfortable, I don't have any fancy lawyers to call so I have to fend for myself. Since summer travel season is revving up, I thought I'd share my top five travel items that I find indispensable for sleeping and keeping yourself in the best shape possible on your journey to Paris, or wherever else you might be heading.
If you're a light sleeper, chances are just the slightest amount of light will wake you up. There's lot of flimsy eyemasks on people's faces out there, but they don't fit very well and if you're like me, any morning light entering can jolt you into an early-morning reality that you might not be reluctant to deal with. The Tempur-Pedic Eye Mask is made out of that fancy memory foam and after wearing them for a minute or so, they conform to your face and block out every single itty-bitty morsel of light. If you're trying to block out the world and get some sleep, to adjust quickly to the local time, get yourself a pair of these. Pronto.
While they're yet to come up with a model that will eradicate the noise of all those people screaming into their cell phone at the airport, strap these over your head and prepare to sink into a world of bliss. You never realize how loud those airplane engines are until you switch on these headsets, and most annoying noises (the airplane engines, not the jerks on their cell phones) simply disappear. Continue reading "My Five Favorite Travel Items" »
June 6, 2007 |
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I won't tell you who, but years back, someone with a thriving restaurant on 18th Street in San Francisco alerted me to a great business opportunity nearby. Food-related, of course. I passed, and now the area is the culinary destination in the Bay Area. (Aside from the taqueria on Church Street across from the Afeway...) Although I missed the proverbial boat, I'm glad to see the smart folks at Bi-Rite Creamery scooping up some excellent ice cream in that neighborhood. I sampled just about all of them, from the fruity Cherry-Almond to the most curious Soy Chocolate. There's a seductive Salted Caramel and a Butter Pecan as well. But my absolute, hands-down favorite scoop was the Mint Chip. Flavored with organic mint oil, it's a big dose of refreshingly cool mint with big, honkin' chunks of housemade chocolate chards. Think the best kind of Girl Scout cookies all mashed together and piled in a cone. Yum! There's plenty of toppings to choose from at Bi-Rite Creamery, but where there's salty little grains of fleur de sel enrobed in dark chocolate from Michael Recchiuti, why order anything else?
June 5, 2007 |
Comments (27)
When I moved away from San Francisco, my biggest worry wasn't having to learn an entirely new language. Nor was I concerned about the challenges certain to be encountered adapting to a foreign culture. No. My greatest concern was—What was I going to do without burritos? If you're not from San Francisco, you probably have little idea how important to life a burrito is. Yes, you can now find burritos in Mexican restaurant chains in the US. Although curiously, I've only rarely seen them actually in Mexico. We San Franciscans, though, wear our burritos like a log-shaped, foil-wrapped bulging badge of pride.
Continue reading "The Burrito King" »
June 4, 2007 |
Comments (14)
June 1, 2007 |
Comments (18)
If anyone of you has been planning to go to Portugal, I'd say "Don't walk...run!" to get there. Except that's perhaps only possible if you live in Spain. And in which case, you'd probably take the train. Since I live in Paris, I took an airplane from Charles de Gaulle Airport and every time I head out there, I panic days before since it's undoubtedly the worst airport in the world. Broken elevators, directional signs that lead to nowhere, and a dearth of bathrooms, especially for United patrons: There's no rest rooms once you pass security, so you need to exit the waiting area if you need to go, then re-pass through the security line. Anyhow, enough from Monsieur Grouchy-pants. But we took EasyJet, which leaves from de Gaulle's nifty Terminal 3, which is clean, modern and a snap to navigate. (Whose roof hasn't collapsed yet...) And they're even kind enough to let you take knives and long, sharp objects on the plane. When we unpacked in Lisbon, we realized we'd carried a 7-inch razor-sharp box cutter on the plane with us, which came in handy for slicing some of the delicious charcutaria we sampled. Merci!
  Since I'm leaving soon for my book tour in the states, here's some various and sundry impressions and images from my trip. Apologies to any Portuguese folks for mangling their language. And thanks to the readers who offered ideas for places to go and things to eat. I would agree that Lisbon is a terrific place to spend a few days, but if you go, it's worth either renting a car or taking the train to explore some of the beaches and small towns outside of the city. And if you don't learn any other word in Portuguese, the most important word in the language is churrasquiera....or 'barbeque'.
  What I love most about Lisbon is that there's still plenty of relics from the decades of the recent past, namely bits and pieces of art nouveau and art deco everywhere. And the tilework, which you can find all around the city is marvelous, constantly surprising and very colorful. Equally marvelous, and edible to boot, are natas; small custard-based tartlets meant to be consumed en masse. Believe me, if I could've fit all three into my mouth at once I would have. No one is shy in Lisbon: you simply belly-up to the counter and order a plateful.
  Although they vary in quality from place to place in Lisbon, some of the best natas and other pastries are at Pastelaria Versailles.
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