Friday, February 28th, 2020
Buster Holmes. Mario Andretti. Mr. Ed. Culatello. Italian Daube. Vitamin C. Alice.
Legendary Local Chefs
Buster Holmes, whose restaurant on the corner of Burgundy and Orleans was the apotheosis of the New Orleans soul food kitchen, died on this date in 1994.
Wine And Cars
Mario Andretti, the famous former racecar driver, was born on this date in 1940. He owns a winery in Napa now.
Dining Across America
After a hundred seven years serving German food and beer to Chicagoans in the Loop, the venerable Berghoff restaurant closed today in 2006. This was tantamount to Galatoire's or Antoine's closing here. People at first speculated that the management just wanted to create a groundswell of interest in a reopening and that they'd oblige but at prices much higher than the Berghoff's legendary lowball menu numbers. What happened was that a much smaller cafe was opened in part of the gigantic building, with the rest now used for private events and catering. But it doesn't seem like the Berghoff to me, a restaurant that was the essence of Chicago.
Rarely-Eaten Animals
This is the day in 1979 when Mr. Ed, the talking horse (not Ed McIntyre, who owns Mr. Ed's restaurant in Bucktown), went to that great pasture in the sky. Horsemeat, while commonly eaten in parts of Europe, has never been so much as tried here. At least not in a restaurant. We eat everything else; why not? I'd sample it if it came my way.
culatello, n., Italian--A variation on dry-cured ham made in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, culatello translates as "little butt." That's literally what it is. The rearmost part of a pig's leg is separated out from the rest of the fresh ham. It's salted and dry-cured for many months, during which a mold sometimes grows on the outside. Ultimately, the culatello is trimmed and tied with three others of its kind in a tight bundle. To an American, it tastes like prosciutto, with good reason: this very piece of meat is part of a whole prosciutto. But in an Italian salumi shop, you'd be told that the flavor of culatello is distinct and special. It is very good, with a certain delicacy. It's not often seen in this country, but worth trying if you do encounter it.
Ticker Tape Of Taste
Boiled beef brisket with vegetables, Luke, 83. . . Grilled redfish with tasso and potatoes meuniere 91. . . Bananas Foster, 88. . . Wedge salad, Acme Oyster House, 86. . .
Food Calendar
It is National Chocolate Souffle Day, sez a few dozen web sites. Chocolate souffle can be made hot or cold, but the really exciting ones are the former. Since serving hot souffle involves having a special oven and a special cook to make them, few restaurants offer them. Commander’s Palace has the best of these.
Our own calendar tells us that it's Italian Beef Daube Day. That's a thorough blend of Creole and Italian cooking as you're likely to find. Daube is a French method of cooking beef (usually tough cuts) that renders it tender to the point that it almost falls apart. In New Orleans Italian cooking, the beef is sliced after being pot-roasted and then simmered some more in a Sicilian-style tomato ragu. All that's served with spaghetti. It was once widely served around New Orleans but has become a rarity in restaurants. In homes, it's mostly the older generations that still cook it. I like it because it gives a use for eye of round, a beautiful-looking cut of beef that needs all the tenderizing it can get.
Delicious-Sounding Places
Dauberville, Pennsylvania is on the Schuylkill River in the eastern part of the state, between Allentown and Harrisburg, in rolling farmland. It's about ten miles northwest of Reading. If any restaurant in the area serves daube, it would probably be Andali's Family Restaurant, a mile away.
Vitamin Corner
It's the birth date on 1901 of Linus Pauling, twice a Nobel Prize winner, but better known for his championing of Vitamin C. Pauling believed that colds and perhaps even cancer could be prevented by large doses of Vitamin C. His theory has been proven wrong in scientific testing. However, I choose to believe it anyway and pop Vitamin C regularly if I feel a cold coming on.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez: If you feel a cold coming on, eat a whole bunch of parsley. It's loaded with Vitamin C, but in case that doesn't work, at least your sneezes will smell sweet.
Food Namesakes
Film actor Stanley Baker was born today in 1927. . . College football coach Hayden Fry kicked off his life today in 1927. . . New Jersey Congressman Richard Roe was sworn into the world today in 1924. . . Physicist Steven Chu was born today in 1948. His most famous work involved trapping moving atoms with lasers, which he called "optical molasses."
Words To Eat By
"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good."--Alice May Brock, owner of the Alice's Restaurant of the Arlo Guthrie song. She was born today in 1941.
"A man should not so much respect what he eats, as with whom he eats."--Michel de Montaigne, French writer, born today in 155
