Where in the World (is the Lonely Anchovy)?

Good afternoon, food nerds and friends (or morning, depending where you are on the globe)!

I am excited to report that the next two weeks of scintillating Lonely Anchovy entries will be coming to you from the diverse and fascinating country of New Zealand. 13 days, 7 cities (no checked bags) and lots of good munchies and sips to look forward to.

I am currently sitting in Auckland at the Hilton on the Wharf, peering out onto a glassy, cold bay and a grey-blue sky, breathing in some of the loveliest sea air I've found in awhile.

Stay tuned for all the hijicks, big and small...

Restaurant Alert: Father's Office, Santa Monica

Father's Office on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica reminds me quite a bit of the Delachaise in New Orleans. Just a lot more clean. And smoke-less. 

You can't miss this spot: the exterior roof is topped like a birthday cake with a 60s era neon sign complete with an arrow pointing to the entrance. Walk in to a narrow, wood paneled room lined with low tables filled with chattering Los Angelenos, sipping on obscure and tasty beers and nibbling on organic yum yums from the kitchen. Hip but not overdone tunes jammed in the background, and people stood around the L-shaped bar under chalkboard menus, eagerly weighing their options of a Bruery Black Orchard Ale versus a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA. Of course they have a wine selection, but the real treasure at Father's Office is the beers. Their motto, in fact, is Beer Makes You Strong. 

The Big and Small plates offer something for almost every palate. Picky eaters beware though; the menu specifically states that no substitutions, modifications, alterations or deletions will be indulged. Yes. Really. Sobrasoda come out with heaps of manchego alongside plates of white anchovies (lonely no more!) and spicy lamb skewers. The organic beet salad burst with complementary ingredients, including a healthy serving of Cabrales Blue cheese and a kickin' Jerez vinaigrette. 

The most talked-about dish on the menu is The Office Burger. Looking around at tables filled with slim and pretty men and women (this is LA), you might not expect to see too many plates of ground beef and a carb-load. Au contraire, my friends. On nearly every table sat a happy burger, and McDonald's this was not: on a thick (French bread?) bun with crunchy bits of Arugula sticking out from every angle, a thick patty sat medium rare on the inside and covered in caramelized onions, delightful bits of bacon, and nibbles of Gruyere and Maytag Blue. Is my envy showing through the computer screen yet?

Cannot wait to find myself in LA again, if only to nibble on that Burger. Yum yum yum. 

Foodie Quote of the Day

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.

~M.F.K. Fisher

Foodie Quote of the Day

If all of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

~J.R.R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)

Kitschy New Invention: ToastaBags!

Yet another reason I love DailyCandy: they have turned me on to a product that might single-handedly change the way we make a classic American staple -- the grilled cheese sandwich.

ToastaBags are truly for the lazy gourmet. This little pocket of love holds your bread slices, cheese in between, and slips them effortlessly into an upright toaster for an un-messy fromage-laden treat. Oh, the possibilities of all the grilled cheese sammies I could make! Havarti, manchego, aged cheddar -- yum yum yum!!

Image from DailyCandy

Foodie Quote of the Day

If junk food is the devil, then a sweet orange is as scripture.  

~Audrey Foris

New Useful Website Alert: RegionalBest.com

Finding good regional produce is difficult in Southern California, certainly much for difficult than in Northern California. I am well aware that this may sound insane, that the Central Valley is just north of us. The thing is, these crops are meant to sustain a good percentage of the food for the entire population of the United States, i.e., much of it is "treated" to keep the apples and cucumbers shiny and whole upon arrival in Wichita. Locavores have a pretty difficult time down here.

Typical grocery stores here in Orange County don't have any higher quality or fresher product than a store in a non-agricultural area. There are a few exceptions, including Farm to Market in San Juan Capistrano, but on the whole, very few people get access to great regional food stuffs. 

RegionalBest.com is a cool new site I've discovered that organized its wares not only by type of product (cheeses, grains, seafood, etc.) but it breaks offerings down by region for good local feast. Happy hunting for good regional items!!

Image from RegionalBest.com

Quote of the Day

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients

-Julia Child (1912 - 2004)

Fish Goes Eco-Conscious

MSN recently did an article on piscine choices that are eco-friendly. Many people may want to purchase and support environmentally friendly fish, but have a tough (if a little fishy) time finding fish that meets those confines. 

This article from MSN offers some good material for anyone looking to green up. Many of these may not be the most popular little fishies, but I'm excited to expand my palate, and I hope you might do the same!

Your Daily Yum Yum: Banana Bread

 I am the first to admit that while my cooking skills may be formidable, I rarely use them for the good of mankind (or my tummy). I learned through osmosis while at Commander's Palace; Tory McPhail was working on his fabulous new book, "Commander's Wild Side" and I did my duty as proofer, assistant stylist and (my favorite part) taster.

Along the lines of my earlier post (half of the world's food supply is wasted every year), I decided to make lemonade out of lemons. Rather, I made banana bread out of overripe bananas. A quick search on Food and Wine (my favorite monthly of mine) found this recipe from Lisa Ritter, which turned out just as they claimed: crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. Really scrumptious, if I do say so myself. 

Old-Fashioned Banana Bread

•  MAKE-AHEAD
•  VEGETARIAN

ACTIVE TIME: 20 MIN 
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 30 MIN 
ONE 9-BY-5-INCH LOAF

This extraordinarily simple and tasty banana bread (with a moist center and crispy crust) is a Ritter family heirloom. “The recipe has been in our family for generations,” Lisa Ritter says.

INGREDIENTS

• Unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large, very ripe bananas, mashed
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 1/4 cups of flour with the baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil, sugar and mashed bananas. Stir the banana mixture into the dry ingredients.
2. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for about 50 minutes, until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the bread out onto the rack and let cool completely. Dust the top with confectioners’ sugar, cut into slices and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The bread can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Brennan's of Houston Burns to the Ground

I started my professional career at Commander's Palace, a grand-dame restaurant in New Orleans owned and operated by the Brennan family. While there, I became well-acquainted with the family and deeply involved with each restaurant the group owned. I still consider Ti Martin and Lally Brennan as the two women who helped shape me into who I am today.

I was surprised and saddened this morning to learn that Brennan's of Houston, their beautiful downtown Houston restaurant, burned to the ground early this morning in the throes of Hurricane Ike. That family has already dealt with so much tragedy; Commander's Palace was closed for 13 months after Hurricane Katrina, and the renovation of it and the city of New Orleans was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting.

I'm not sure what path the Brennan's will take with the Houston location, but it will no doubt be an exacting one. 

Brennan's Restaurant, revered Midtown landmark, destroyed by fire

By BRADLEY OLSON AND MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Sept. 13, 2008, 5:24AM

Three people were severely injured and a Houston culinary landmark was left in ashes early Saturday by a fire that erupted as Hurricane Ike began to barrel into town.

Brennan's Restaurant, a Midtown institution famous for its turtle soup and bananas foster and a time-honored eatery among local society, was ruined by the blaze. A 45-year-old man and his 4-year-old daughter, along with a third man who was not related to them, were taking refuge from the storm inside the brick structure.

The father and daughter were taken to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center with burn injuries, Assistant Fire Chief Omero Longoria said. Both were listed in critical condition early today, a hospital spokesperson said. The other man was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he is listed in fair condition.

The cause of the fire and whether it is connected to the storm was not yet known.

Firefighters struggled in vain for hours to contain the fire, which was whipped by ever gusting winds that blew from all directions. With no hope for the restaurant, fire officials concentrated on keeping the fire from reaching nearby buildings. An old two-story apartment building sits directly across from the restaurant.

The task of containment grew even more daunting as the winds increased. Dangerous debris — felled trees and limbs, unhinged stoplights, awnings, road signs, shopping carts — skittered through the streets, with nearby taller buildings funneling gusts directly toward the flames.

The fire was reported around midnight, and at 1 a.m. flames which darting skyward, hardly diminished by a stream of water from a firehose. But by 2:30 a.m., all that could be viewed from a few blocks away — as a legion of emergency vehicles blocked roads around the restaurant — was an orange glow.

Reached on his cellular phone, Alex Brennan-Martin, Brennan's co-owner and part of a family of famed New Orleans restaurateurs, declined to comment, apparently too emotional to speak.

Fire officials said personnel would continue their efforts as long as conditions were safe, though remaining in a 'defensive' posture' Longoria said, meaning they were not inside the building.

In 2005, Houston Chronicle restaurant reviewer Alison Cook included a personal note that rang true with many who grew up with Brennan's as a touchstone for a fancy night out.

'I have a long and mostly happy history with this restaurant, which opened in the former Junior League building in 1967,' Cook wrote. 'Through my post-college jobs, Brennan's was a place where I got comfortable with fine dining, where I discovered the joys of Meursault wines, learned to eat grillade and grits, and decided that 'brunch' was a word to be welcomed instead of feared.

'I have a vivid memory,' Cook went on, 'of sitting with my college-age sister at a small table against the back wall of the stately main dining room, eating turtle soup and mustardy steak Diane — a period piece long since banished from the menu — that seemed absolutely thrilling. Our waiter, who doted on us, knew perfectly well we couldn't afford it. He didn't care. We were queens for an evening, and the feeling of welcome and occasion that he exuded — and which endures — has always been one of my favorite things about this restaurant.'

Although Cook sadly noted what she perceived as a later demise in its offerings, she was happy to report that it had bounced back with new Chef Randy Evans, who has headed the kitchen since 2003.

'Brennan's food these days has a profound, Southern soulfulness to it,' she wrote.

The restaurant had a previous brush with hurricane disaster, albeit indirectly. When Katrina pounded New Orleans in 2005, much of the staff of Commander's Palace, which is owned by the Brennan family, came to work temporarily at the Houston outpost.

Brennan-Martin, then head of the local chapter of the Council of Independent Restaurants, also hosted fundraisers for Katrina victims and led efforts to find work for displaced restaurant employees.

Brennan's traces its history to a New Orleans restaurant of the same name opened in 1946 by Owen Edward Brennan. The son of a local shipyard worker, Brennan had already staked a claim on the local landscape when he acquired the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street three years earlier.

The Absinthe House was built in 1798 and was known to be pirate Jean Lafitte's secret hangout, and after buying it, Brennan staged lifelike mannequins of the notorious Lafitte and Andrew Jackson in what he called the 'Secret Room' — the room in which a pact was supposedly made to assist in New Orleans' defense against the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

Brennan became one of the French Quarter's best known hosts at 'the oldest saloon in America,' with pianist Fats Pichon adding to its appeal with tunes ranging from Bach to boogie. But he didn't made his mark in the culinary community until he opened Owen Brennan's French & Creole Restaurant across the street.

After a dispute over his lease a few years later, Brennan moved the restaurant to a new location on Royal Street. However, Brennan died shortly before the official opening in 1956. It fell to one of his sisters, Ella, to manage the new operation, which became more successful than the old.

As time passed, Ella, who is Brennan-Martin's mother, expanded operations, first by acquiring a restaurant in Biloxi, Miss., and then moving on to Houston, Dallas and a New Orleans suburb. Brennan's Restaurant of Houston, as it was formally known, opened in 1967. Jimmy Brennan, one of Owen's sons, moved to Houston to manage the eatery. Jimmy had been formally trained in the restaurant business at École Hôtelière de la S.S.H. in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Ensuing disputes over money, the quality of the restaurants and more ambitious expansion plans brought the family and the restaurant group to the brink of disaster before a settlement was reached. The original Brennan family — Owen's three sons — now operates only the New Orleans restaurant bearing its name and Commander's Palace, an established restaurant it acquired in 1969.

Chronicle writers Cindy George and Shelby Hodge contributed.

 mike.tolson@chron.com

bradley.olson@chron.com

Amazon Gets into Wine

Wild. Absolutely wild. 

Quote of the Day

My favorite animal is steak

~Fran Lebowitz 

Quote of the Day

After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps.  

~Miss Piggy

Quote of the Day

High-tech tomatoes.  Mysterious milk.  Supersquash.  Are we supposed to eat this stuff?  Or is it going to eat us? 

~Annita Manning

In-N-Out makes me happy

I had the distinct pleasure of taking a tasty detour to the only fast food I will ever consider, California's own In-N-Out Burger.

If you have ever eaten at In-N-Out Burger, you know that there are few burgers that can substitute this dietary staple. Fresh produce, meat and dairy make for a tasty if indulgent meal I only spring for every once in awhile. 

My friend Tom and I stopped in for a yummy treat last week and ordered the works: cheeseburgers with onions, fresh cut french fries and chocolate milkshakes. 

Americana at its finest. Yum yum yum!

Slow Food Nation in San Francisco

Sunday, Day 4 of my Sonoma Showcase Weekend and Slow Food Nation Tour was devoted to a day at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center. 

My intrepid tour guide and rock star cheesemaker friend Sheana Davis drove us into the city around 8:00 am to get prime parking (exit strategy in place). We met a new friend Susan Roth for early breakfast at Greens Restaurant -- they made me a truly de

licious and real Chai tea that hit that early morning hankering for me. 

We sauntered in to the Slow Food Nation staging area in the beautiful Fort Mason on the Marina. Slow Food Nation is meant to the birth of a broad and inclusive food movement to build an American system that is sustainable, just and delicious.

Sheana's cheese Delice de la Vallee was on showcase in the Cheese section of the event among 60 other artisanal fromage varieties. Sheana, with the help of Susan, offered 5000 samples of her cheese to people walking through the cheese section. Excited delights of 'Yum!" and "Wow, what is that goodness?!" 

       

Sheana's friends from Cheese School of San Francisco stopped by and the picture below is by far my favorite: the baby, eating cheese and looking as happy as a mini clam. So cute!

Sonoma Showcase Weekend -- Saturday August 30

The cheese and the weekend has finally digested -- what a time I had in Sonoma over Labor Day weekend, drinking the best beers and wines in the country and sampling some of the best food goodies of my life. 

MacMurray Ranch was the scene of the Sonoma Showcase. This beautiful ranch is set about 15 minutes west of the town of Healdsburg. Driving down the winding road between lush vineyards and simple homesteads, I felt transported back in time; this scene does not exist in mainstream America anymore. MacMurray Ranch was purchased by Hollywood actor Fred MacMurray in 1941, and sold to the Gallo family many years later. They have kept the ranch on it's original charming state, and you couldn't have asked for a more beautiful setting for the Sonoma Showcase Weekend. 

Saturday, August 30th started out as a very early morning; Sheana and I had to arrive at MacMurray Ranch sometime around 7:00am. Sheana's assistant Alexis arrived around 9:30 to serve 1000s of samples of fresh Sonoma cheeses to the happy attendees. 

Alexis manned the Epicurean Connection table in the center of the Sonoma tent. She served Delice de la Vallee to 1500 cheery folks on lovely fresh bread topped with a drizzle of saba, a super yummy concoction imported into the States made of concentrated, reduced grape juice. Wow. The Delice de la Vallee certainly pops on its own, and the saba adds that extra zing. The other cheese on the table was Franklin's Teleme, a rich complement to the Delice, indeed. The table was decorated with Mason jars full of culinary harvest items and even Mardi Gras beads, a tribute to New Orleans for the careful observers. 

Quote of the Day

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.

-- Frank Zappa

Banksy Strikes New Orleans

This post isn't really related to food; rather, it is an image of graffiti by Banksy in New Orleans. 

See more here

Cheese School of San Francisco

I had the delight and pleasure of accompanying my friend Sheana Davis to the Cheese School of San Francisco on Friday, August 29 to serve her amazing Delice de la Vallee and mingle with fabulous friends from San Francisco. A fantastic and energized crowd of 200 attended the soiree -- from giddy, civilian foodies to professional fromage gurus -- all tucked nicely into the Cheese School of SF's cozy space in North Beach. 

Sheana's Delice de la Vallee was one of 6 cheeses served that evening to a sold-out crowd, and we ran into a few folks who knew Sheana from her classes there. Sheana teaches at Cheese School SF about 4 times a year, and from what I gather has quite the fan base! Our new foodie friend Matt even made it a point to come meet us at Slow Food later in the weekend. We hope to see you next time too!

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend and Slow Food Nation

Or, Two Gals in a Suburu.

I didn't make this post earlier in the week because there was so much commotion about New Orleans. Thankfully, that storm has passed and I can relax again. 

I spent this past extended weekend up in Sonoma County and San Francisco with my good friend and ally Sheana Davis. Sheana is quickly becoming the hottest new cheesemaker on the scene, and signed up for all the glorious foodie madness for the weekend. 

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, a showcase of sorts that celebrates the best the county has to offer, and Slow Food Nation, a conglomeration of slow products from around the country, were scheduled for the same weekend, causing many small producers in Sonoma County to choose between the two. Not so for Sheana Davis and her intrepid sidekick Josie!

We shuttled between Sonoma and San Francisco many times in those 4 days, and what an adventure we had!  I'll give you the quick overview here, because each event deserves an entry of it's own. 

We delivered wine and cheese to the Cheese School of San Francisco for Friday evening's artisanal cheese showcase, we shuttled out to Healdsburg to MacMurray Ranch (a beautiful property owned by Gina Gallo -- wow), served 1000s of portions of Delice de la Vallee at the Sonoma County Showcase, served even more 1000s of portions of Delice de la Vallee at Slow Food Nation in Fort Mason, served a delightful cheese course as the coup-de-gras of the Sonoma County Wine Auction, met new friends, drank fabulous wines, worried over New Orleans and our friends who stayed, and generally had a spectacular time. 

MFK Fisher, at home in Sonoma

The New York Times just published a nice little article on MFK Fisher's final home in Sonoma, and after spending an amazing weekend there, I cannot imagine any other place more fitting. 

Read the article here for a little treat.