Page 2 The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017 The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017 Page 3 Easy spaghetti dinner

By Michael Austin in 1/4 cup olivada (aka notes of herbs and olives, Chicago Tribune tapenade, aka olive paste); plus ripe red fruit. The savory (TNS) top with 1/2 cup Gorgonzola aromas will boost the savory When a dish has plenty cheese crumbles. Makes: 6 elements of the olives and of richness of its own, such servings cheese in the dish, and the as this pasta with olives and combination of fruit and Gorgonzola, take care to pick DRINK THIS herbs will enhance the dish’s a wine without too much Pairings by sommelier richness. The wine’s lovely richness — such as this novel Alan Beasey of The Purple acidity will tie everything white from Italy, a rare red Pig, as told to Michael Aus- together. from Greece and a classic red tin: 2014 Altesino Rosso di from Italy. All of them will 2013 Velenosi Villa Altesino, Tuscany, Italy: stand up to the dish without Angela Pecorino, Marche, This quintessential Tuscan pushing the flavors over the Italy: Made of 100 percent blend of sangiovese, merlot top. pecorino (yes, it’s a grape and and cabernet sauvignon ——— a cheese), this white wine has silky tannins and a rich MAKE THIS SPAGHETTI has aromas of yellow flowers, texture, plus ripe, plummy WITH OLIVADA AND stone fruit and subtle herbs, fruit tempered with subtle GORGONZOLA plus a crisp brininess that will earthiness and tangy acidity. Cook 1 pound spaghetti accentuate the salty, savory It will showcase the flavors of in a large pot of well-salted olivada and cheeses. Flavors savory olives and rich cheese boiling water until al dente; of ripe golden apple and in the dish, without being too drain. Return pasta to pot. apricots will also contribute heavy. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons balance. ——— extra-virgin olive oil; toss. 2014 Douloufakis Dafnios, ©2017 Chicago Tribune Sprinkle with 1/2 cup grated Crete, Greece: This powerful When the food is rich, pick a wine that’s not too rich itself. Parmesan cheese; toss. Stir yet elegant red wine offers (Dreamstime/TNS Page 4 The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017 FDA takes ‘love’ out Farm to table grows of bakery’s granola in popularity Farm-to-table is a movement establishments can benefit the By David J. Neal that promotes serving local planet, but consumers should Miami Herald products, preferably food and know that there are additional beverages acquired directly advantages to patronizing such (TNS) – Among the myriad problems the FDA listed after in- from a producer. businesses. specting Nashoba Brook Bakery’s manufacturing facility: Love in Farm-to-table eateries source • Support for local businesses: the granola. Deep in a Sept. 22 warning letter by Food and Drug ingredients locally as much Local restaurateurs who Administration to the Concord, Massachusetts, manufacturer is as possible, and diners are in- embrace farm-to-table can sup- this admonishment: “Your Nashoba Granola label lists ingredient creasingly expressing a prefer- port and promote other local ‘Love.’ Ingredients required to be declared on the label or labeling ence for these establishments. operations. Restaurants can of food must be listed by their common or usual name [21 CFR According to the National Res- help farmers by purchasing taurant Association’s “What’s excess crops or simply provid- 101.4(a)(1). Hot in 2015” survey, locally ing the demand for farmers’ ‘Love’ is not a common or usual name of an ingredient, and is sourced meats and seafood, products. considered to be intervening material because it is not part of the locally grown produce, envi- • Greater control over ingredi- common or usual name of the ingredient. ronmental sustainability, and ents: In some instances, chefs Nashoba Chief Executive Officer John Gates told Bloomberg natural ingredients/minimally can travel to nearby farms dur- that particular part of the FDA’s letter “just felt so George Or- processed foods were among ing harvest to personally select w e l l .” the most popular food trends. items for their restaurants, “I really like that we list ‘love’ in the granola,” Gates told Farm-to-table establishments ensuring excellent quality. Bloomberg on Tuesday. “People ask us what makes it so good. reduce carbon footprints by • Better taste and quality: It’s kind of nice that this artisan bakery can say there’s love in it cutting back on the amount of Fresh food is picked at its peak and it puts a smile on people’s face. Situations like that where the resources necessary to get food instead of being forced to ripen government is telling you you can’t list ‘love’ as an ingredient, from the farm to the restaurant. during a long journey. This because it might be deceptive, just feels so silly.” The farm-to-table movement typically translates to more (c)2017 Miami Herald began as a countermeasure to flavorful foods. big agriculture and chemically • Evolving and updated menus: controlled produce. Although Because farm-to-table means there is no hard data on just sourcing in-season ingredients, how many restaurants can be restaurants must have fluid considered farm-to-table, or- menus that change based on ganic farming in general is big the availability of ingredients business. In its 2014 Organic and fishing and harvesting Survey, the U.S Department of quotas. This can lead to greater Agriculture’s National Agricul- variety and prevent menus ture Statistics Service reported from becoming dated or overly that sales of organic products familiar. increased by 72 percent since Hyper-local sourcing that 2008. California, Washington, fuels farm-to-table operations Pennsylvania, Oregon, and continues to be an in-demand Wisconsin were the top five restaurant trend. Diners can states for organic farming, ac- rest easy knowing that patron- counting for 78 percent of or- izing such establishments ganic sales in the United States benefits both the environment at the time of the survey. and the local economy. Supporting farm-to-table The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017 Page 5 Cuban restaurant returns after hurricane

By Mimi Whitefield a hellish week after Irma passed. buy another in a store, it’s very the beach resort of Varadero was Miami Herald Irma’s winds weren’t that strong expensive. They’ve lost furniture, open for business. Despite some HAVANA (TNS) – Stretches in the capital but the water began sound systems,” said an electrical technical difficulties, a young of the famed Malecon boulevard rising Sept. 9 and pushed about linesman. “What we have recov- man riding on an open-top tour- are still closed for repairs and a third of a mile inland into ered are electricity, telephone ism bus pointed out the beach, seaside businesses show the scars low-lying neighborhoods and service, but I think there are the turquoise water, the sun of 30-foot waves that crashed adjoining towns. other countries and Puerto Rico and other attractions that have through the seawall during Hur- There was no electricity, that are worse off than we are. reopened. ricane Irma. scarcely any cooking gas, water We’re more or less.” But Havana and Varadero But tourists have returned shortages and businesses whose Within a week of the storm, didn’t feel the brunt of Irma’s to the capital, even as areas hit interiors floated away. The Fifth power and telephone service fiercest winds. The hurricane hard by the storm continue to Avenue tunnel was completely resumed in Havana. And tourists made landfall along Cuba’s north struggle. flooded, neighborhood streets are starting to trickle back in. central coast in Cayo Romano In the seaside town of Jai- were coated with a mixture Evidence of a potential come- as a Category 5 storm and it manitas, west of Havana, three of mud and sand, and many back for the tourism industry tore through Cayo Coco and Niuris Higueras Martinez gives her daughter, Ysabella Cabeiro vintage red convertibles dropped buildings had a strange mottled was apparent in recent days. the Jardines del Rey area where appearance where the water had Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Nor- beachside resorts attract interna- Higueras a big hug inside their Havana restaurant, Atelier. The res- a group of tourists at the fanciful taurant suffered some wind damage and minor flooding from the mosaic-encrusted home of artist washed away layers of paint. wegian Sky was in port, a group tional visitors. It took two days for the water of Europeans on an island bike About 5,000 tourists, as well wind and storm surge from Hurricane Irma’s outer bands. Atelier Jose Fuster and merchants on reopened two weeks after the storm. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/TNS) the block sold coconut water, to recede, but then the govern- tour pedaled down the Malecon as the dolphins from a local wooden statues and other sou- ment authorities, along with unimpeded by traffic and guests attraction, were evacuated from venirs. residents and business owners, were back at the lobby bar of the the northern keys. In all, 1.7 taxi drivers to private restaurant Wave). Just blocks away, 53-year-old hit the streets. They cleaned, san- waterfront Melia Cohiba hotel. million Cubans were evacuated owners, were eager for things to “A senora called Irma came Alberto Sanchez Borges stood itized and repainted. Entrances The high water never reached and there were 10 storm-related get back to normal. and that was the end of it. She in the shell of his home. Irma to tunnels that looked like swim- the 5-star Gran Hotel Manzana deaths reported. Along the Malecon, both took the windows and the walls,” smashed a retaining wall and ming pools were pumped out Kempinski near Old Havana or Despite extensive damage to neighbors and workers, were said Dulce Maria Corujo as she washed away the front of his and reopened. the luxury shops on the ground resorts in the northern cays, the busy pumping out buildings and passed the Coppelita shop in the waterfront home. Soldiers and Ministry of Inte- floor selling Mont Blanc pens government has an ambitious repairing large holes that had Cayo Hueso neighborhood. But “I’ve been here nearly 40 years rior personnel manned equip- and designer clothes. target of completing repairs at opened up in the highway. Pieces less than a block away, an agro and I’ve never seen anything like ment to shovel up the muck in Other than a few detours most hotels there by Nov. 1 and of a wall and large boulders from market was open, where she this,” he said. “The house is not the Vedado neighborhood that because of the Malecon closures, at the few remaining ones by the sea were scattered around a picked up what she needed to habitable. The water was chest- was hard hit by flooding. And getting from Jose Marti Inter- Nov. 15. Malecon ice cream shop with the make a salad for lunch. high when it came through.” neighbors themselves got out national Airport into the city’s But it will take far longer to prophetic name Hola Ola (Hello Hurricane debris littered the and scrubbed, residents said. tourist areas is easy. recover from other damages nearby beach, small fishing boats In grittier Centro Habana, Before Irma hit, the Ministry inflicted during the more than were tossed like toys against meanwhile, people sat on door- of Tourism hoped to welcome a 72 hours that Irma lashed the some homes and other houses steps to repair furniture dam- record 4.7 million foreign visi- northern Cuban coast. A United showed gaping holes in their aged in the flood or hung damp tors to the island by year’s end. Nations report says between roofs, but neighbors tried their mattresses out to dry. Some With tourism such an important 210,000 and 220,000 homes were best to get back to their routines, of the homes were already so source of revenue, the cash- severely damaged, agricultural casting nets for sardines and decrepit it was hard to tell three strapped government was quick crops and livestock hit hard, hanging clothes to dry in ruins weeks later whether they had to announce that it was making and 14 municipalities from the of homes. been damaged by Irma or were the recuperation of tourism northern coast of Villa Clara Closer to Havana in Cojimar, like that before the storm. facilities a priority. province east to Camaguey criti- the town where author Ernest “It is going to be really hard The Ministry of Tourism cally impacted. Hemingway kept his fishing boat for some people to recover. If even took to Facebook Live to But those who make their and where the fisherman be- they’ve lost a TV and have to communicate the message that living catering to visitors, from lieved to have inspired “The Old Man and the Sea” used to live, dozens of homes abutting the sea were damaged. “The water came through the bedroom, destroyed the mat- tress, and then washed away the front door on its way out,” said Tamara Valdes, who lives in the coastal town. She and her husband returned the day after the storm surge to clean up. But what worries her most now are the damp walls and ceilings and the home sitting above hers. Since the storm, the precariously sagging ceiling in her front room has been rein- forced by boards. Glancing overhead she said, “I’m afraid the ceiling could fall.” In Havana, residents described Page 6 The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017 Writer explains how to make perfect pie crust By Noelle Carter and catering jobs and a few from heritage pigs specifically I’ll usually substitute shortening winner of KCRW-FM’s Good — the closer you get to the rim, Los Angeles Times hundred pies later, my skills bred for their fat. “In certain for lard, or even bacon, goose Food Pie Contest. “Once you the more likely you are to roll (TNS) – When I tell people have improved — though they points in our history, lard was or duck fat, which lends great remove a certain amount of fat, the pin off the edges, flattening I grew up in a family of pie still don’t quite match those of actually more expensive than savory flavor and rich coloring you’re forming more of a bread them and making the dough bakers, it’s easy to imagine I’m my mother or grandmother. But pork,” says Miller. Never mind to the crust.) or biscuit dough.” uneven. Rotate the dough a bragging. My mother’s pies are I’ve learned a lot and continue the cost of butter. “You wouldn’t Although my grandmother When it comes to flour, some quarter-turn each time you roll. legendary — rich, velvety cus- to pick up tips. Recently, I spoke be using butter for baking un- and mother preferred shorten- experts swear by all-purpose, To keep the dough from tard fillings or mounded fruit with some experts and tested less you were wealthy.” ing, they would often brush the others by lower-protein pastry sticking and absorbing too pies, each cradled in an ornately more than a dozen combina- Miller notes that shorten- formed crust with butter, and flour and still others by a host of much flour, roll it between light- decorated crust, golden and tions of fats, flours, ingredients ing, with the introduction of occasionally dust with sugar, custom blends, all in the name ly floured sheets of plastic wrap with the most delicate layers. and tricks. Here are my results. Crisco in 1911, was created to before baking, for added flavor of making a tender but flaky or parchment or wax paper. And don’t get me started on my CHOOSING THE RIGHT FAT mimic the effects of lard, but and color. crust. After you’ve formed the crust, grandmother; in her day, she Passionate pie bakers tend to at a fraction of the price. “An And lard is making a come- If she’s using all-purpose flour chill it. I freeze my formed was known as the “Pie Baker of have a religious zeal about what all-Crisco crust will give you the back. Occasionally, you can find Beranbaum finds that adding a crusts for 20 to 30 minutes, Villa Park,” a small suburb west type of fat goes into their crusts, best border,” notes Rose Levy lard from heritage pigs, such touch of sugar works to tender- which allows the crust to hold of Chicago. and not without good reason. Beranbaum, author of “The Pie as Manga-litza, as well as from ize the dough, mimicking the its shape and any designs while When I went to start baking “Fats and shortenings are and Pastry Bible,” “but I don’t specific parts of the animal, results she normally gets using it bakes. my own pies, I didn’t think absolutely critical to pies,” says use shortening, because there’s such as leaf lard, which is valued pastry flour. (This is a trick BLIND-BAKING, PAR- much about it. Pie-making was Ernest Miller, research and n o fl av or.” by bakers for its delicate flavor. she’ll be adding to her new book BAKING AND FINISHING something my family took for development chef at Coast As people began shunning Coast Packing is currently on baking basics, due out next THE PIE granted. But then I sliced into Packing Co., a major supplier shortening for health reasons, testing a treated lard and tallow year.) Blind-baking, or par-baking, that first homemade pie — it of animal fats and shortenings bakers looked for alternatives blend, not yet on the market, Rucker also uses the sugar a crust is common when you’re was pumpkin, brought to a for cooking, baking and frying such as butter, even oil. Over the that mimics leaf lard; in my trick in her dough, though she using a filling that doesn’t need work potluck — and found to based in Vernon. The type of fat years, I’ve taken to making my tests, I could barely tell the dif- goes an extra step by dissolving to be baked or when the crust my horror not a perfect take- determines flavor and can influ- crust using a ratio of two-thirds ference from the real thing. the sugar in water before she needs to bake longer than the for-granted pie, but a bubble of ence the final texture and color butter to one-third shortening. Flour, other ingredients adds it, ensuring that it’s evenly filling, such as with pumpkin raw dough beneath the layer of of the crust. Bakers tend to use I’ve found, particularly when I Fat and its ratio to other absorbed by the flour and mak- and other custard pies. (Both filling. There are some mistakes one of three kinds — butter, keep the fats cold until the crust ingredients, particularly flour, is ing for a uniformly tender crust. flaky pie and short tart crusts not even a truckload of whipped shortening or lard — or a com- goes in the oven, I get some of integral to a great pie. “I think Another trick is adding apple need to be weighted before bak- cream can cover. bination. But which, and why? the benefits of shortening in my too little fat is not a pie crust,” cider vinegar, which also helps ing so the pastry doesn’t puff on A dozen or so years later, a Lard is among the most tradi- detailed borders, along with the says Los Angeles baker and pie to tenderize or “shorten” the the bottom or slip on the sides.) career change, several restaurant tional of kitchen fats, once made flavor of butter. (For savory pies, specialist Nicole Rucker, a past crust. (You might smell it as you To blind-bake a crust, line the make and roll out the dough, chilled dough with parchment but the vinegar will evaporate or a large coffee filter, then fill it as the pie bakes and shouldn’t with weights. If you don’t have affect the taste of the crust.) store-bought ceramic or metal MIXING THE DOUGH weights, use dried rice or beans. When combining the ingredi- Finally, watch the pie as it ents, it’s important to keep them bakes. Most ovens heat from the cold — particularly your fat. If bottom, so adjust the pie if nec- the fat, especially butter, softens essary, moving up or down in and begins to melt, the flour the oven as needed. And cover will absorb it, creating a tough the top or edges of the crust dough. I actually take the extra with foil if they’re browning too step of chilling everything — much. fat, flour, water, vinegar — even A PRIMER ON FATS the bowl and food processor Butter adds flavor to a crust, blades. along with color due to the milk And though some purists solids in the fat. However, over- may argue, making pie dough in mixing the butter can make the a food processor is wonderfully crust tough and crunchy. simple and easy. Just be sure not Shortening has a high melt- to over-process it; use the pulse ing point, which will give you a feature and your dough will be light and flaky crust and allow tender as if mixed by hand. for creative decorations, but it Rolling out the dough lacks the flavor found with but- After you’ve made the dough, ter or lard. flatten it into a disk, cover and Lard makes a light and flaky chill it before you roll it out. crust. Leaf lard and rendered To keep the dough even, caul fat (another fat preferred by work the rolling pin in the cen- many bakers) have the benefits ter of the dough and don’t roll of lard with less flavor, perfect all the way to the edges. You’ll for dessert pies. have greater control over the Oil results in a crust that is thickness of the dough if you generally more mealy in texture, keep the pin toward the center though certain fruity oils, such The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017 Page 7 Page 8 The Exponent, Fall Restaurant Guide, Thursday, October 19, 2017