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Stories from 2010
Green with Envy
(First Posted in the St. Augustine Record on 2 December, 2010)
When I tell people that my family is from Spain, they immediately conjure up images of bullfighting and flamenco dancing, two Spanish traditions better associated with the southern Spanish region of Andalucía. I gently inform them that my family is from Galicia, a small region in the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula that bears little resemblance to the hot and arid south. Tucked away between the Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, Portugal, and the rest of Spain, Galicia is unlike any other region in the country.
Its rocky coasts and salty air have beckoned countless men to the sea in search of the region’s famed seafood, returning time and time again with nets brimming with prized fish such as tuna, hake, cod, monkfish, mackerel, and sardines, as well as lobster, clams, oysters, scallops, razor clams, cockles, prawns and all manner of other shellfish. Workers cling precariously to the coastal cliffs and boulders, waves pounding their untethered bodies, risking their lives as generations have before them in search of percebes, or goose barnacles—odd looking sea specimens that are so rare they are almost worth their weight in gold. And let’s not forget about octopus, the centerpiece of what is perhaps the region’s most famous dish, pulpo a feira. Simply boiled and cut into pieces and served on a wooden plate, it is typically eaten outdoors with friends and family at a local fair or festival, its purple tentacles doused with olive oil, and a sprinkling of sea salt and smoky pimentón, or Spanish paprika. Go to any restaurant, anywhere in the region, and the menu will spill over with the sea’s bounty. Tables packed with merry figures laughing loudly, everyone washes the seafood fete down with chilled bottles of apple cider and refreshing Albariño wine, made from local grapes that offer crisp hints of apples, peaches, and citrus aromas that pair so well with shellfish. These are young wines made to be enjoyed immediately, and enjoyed they are indeed. These days, one can even find a number of good bottles of the variety stateside.
Galicia’s inland farms are just as highly regarded for their high quality grass fed beef and dairy products, as well as an incredible array of produce from small family farms. Galicia’s rolling hills glow green from innumerable days of precipitation—so much so that its residents have an optimistic saying that claims that “La lluvia es arte,” or “Rain is art!” Indeed, many would take one look at the landscape and swear one was in Ireland. (The fact that the Celts settled the area centuries ago and that the most traditional instrument still played regionally is the bagpipe help perpetuate the Gaelic image.) Yet this falling rain and hovering mist create a stunning backdrop of verdant productivity that feeds its people with all manner of fruits and vegetables. None is more loved than grelos, or flowering greens similar to turnip greens that one can find in every home kitchen and restaurant in the region. It is the basis for two of Galicia’s most notable dishes—caldo gallego (a hearty Galician soup of potatoes, greens, and white beans) and lacón con grelos (the front ham of a pig, slow cooked with greens and potatoes). Both will warm you even on the coldest, wettest of days.
In autumn, chestnut trees, like expectant mothers relieved that the due date has finally arrived, drop their sweet treasures from above, foretelling the coming of colder days. Truckloads of chestnuts are sold in markets and on roadsides and roasted on sidewalks everywhere, a tradition that dates back to ancient times. Chestnuts may have been introduced to Europe by the Romans, but the Spanish are particularly fond of them and nowhere more than in Galicia, where kids grow up eating hot chestnut porridge as a winter breakfast treat. I have feasted on more than one occasion on a satisfying dessert of roasted chestnuts served with a generous drizzle of melted semiweet chocolate and freshly whipped cream—a most comforting ending to meals that linger often for hours over good conversation and fresh, local ingredients that capture the flavor of the season. In the Recipes section of the website you'll find two simple recipes inspired by autumn in Galicia that I like to make at home--Revuelto de Grelos con Gambas and Flan de Castanas. If I close my eyes, with each bite I can see those green hills rolling and feel the raindrops falling. Or maybe it’s just the Albariño talking.
A Sunshine State of Mind
Dear Readers,
This is the 11th installment in a series called "Kitchen Conversations" in which you can read excerpts of discussions I have had with people who are changing the way we eat and think about food on the First Coast. This month's story focuses on one of the most distinct eateries in downtown St. Augustine.
Filled with fresh, youthful energy and an optimistic vision to match, The Floridian opened its doors in early September to a crowd that spilled out onto the Cordova Street sidewalks. The restaurant used no advertising, relying instead on social media and old-fashioned word of mouth, yet it quickly became the toast of the town. It features a seasonally changing menu heavy on local ingredients sourced from our region's farms, pastures and waterways and a decor that blurs the line between kitschy and cool (the rowboat dangling from the ceiling is quite a conversation piece!).
The Floridian lives up to its motto of serving "Innovative Southern Fare for Omnivores, Herbivores and Locavores." Almost every dish on the menu can be prepared in a vegetarian manner, yet there's something for everyone, including what is likely St. Johns County's only grass-fed beef hamburger, not to mention a pecan pie that is outrageously good. Best of all, perhaps, is the community support that has already developed -- local artists helped decorate the place, and it's not uncommon to see a farmer dropping off produce.
"The locals have found out what we are trying to create here. And that's the ultimate compliment," chef and co-owner Genie Kepner told me.
It's a place, much like its young owners, with boundless potential that will give us lots to talk about for years.
Q; Why open a restaurant in this down economy?
A: Is the economy down? It's perspective, I think. At some point you have to pay specific attention to where you are in your life, ignore the naysayers and seize an opportunity when it comes.
Q: Why did you choose downtown St. Augustine as the spot for your eatery?
A: Downtown is a great choice and has already been really good to us. It is the focal point for the town, as well as the place where the tourists gather to spend their hard-earned and much-needed dollars, and it is the place toward where, like it or not, locals head to satisfy their need for culture and entertainment.
Q: Why are local ingredients so important to you?
A: Local ingredients make sense on a multitude of levels and from many different directions. Food and food production are the backbone of culture and economy. Even if we are to set aside the obvious environmental benefits (e.g. local food requiring less fuel for transportation, environmental accountability on the part of small local farmers, etc.), our goal is to present to the public the most fresh and regionally authentic cuisine possible.
Q: What cuisines or cooking styles do you draw from?
A: We love the South and its rich gastronomic history. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' "Cross Creek Cookery" and "The American Beach Cookbook" come to mind. Food that comes from the region for the region. At the same time, we love the exotic herbs and spices that flavor the rest of the world: cilantro from Hispanic cuisine, ginger and coconut milk from Southeast Asia, and of course the cornucopia that is the sun-drenched Mediterranean.
Q: What's your favorite thing to make at home?
A: Cocktails. And breakfast.
Q: How do you see the future of the North Florida food scene? What are we missing? What do we have too much of?
A: I believe most restaurants will soon be switching to using mostly local and organic ingredients. In the first place, it is a popular trend. In the second, ethos are coming back to the forefront of business practices, as we realize that it's possible to be both profitable and supportive of the land and people around you. For now, we are missing that movement to the degree that it's being supported in other areas of the country. We seem inundated with generic "bar and grill" type places that forgo creativity for a more homogeneous and conforming formula.
Q: What's your favorite menu item?
A: The "Grit Cakes". Pan fried cheesy polenta cakes topped with roasted corn and poblano salsa and goat's cheese. Definitely not our healthiest option, but Lord are they tasty.
Q: What's your favorite comfort food from your childhood?
A: Ironically enough, hamburgers. Straight up. After that phase I became a vegetarian for about 14 years, and greatly broadened my food horizons. To my parents great surprise, there's now not a vegetable that I don't love.
Q: What is the significance of the name of your restaurant?
A: "The Floridian," in its simplicity, says most of the complicated things that what we would like to say about ourselves, our food and our atmosphere.
Q: What's the most pleasing thing about your job?
A: The people and the sense of community we've managed to create for not just our employees, but hopefully for everyone who walks through the door.
Of Taters and Tots
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record on 23 September, 2010)
Class is back in session and something is sprouting in school cafeterias all across the nation. Long associated more with serving mystery meat than for providing nutritious meals, more and more school lunchrooms are making meaningful changes to the menus that serve over 21 million students across the country. The U.S. Senate recently passed a new version of the National School Lunch Program that would tighten the regulations over what can and cannot be sold in school cafeterias and vending machines, while at the same time expanding funding for the purchase of higher quality fruits and vegetables, updating nutritional standards, and throwing more support behind Farm to School programs. Not only is providing school meals to millions of underprivileged children a moral imperative, several studies have shown a strong link between child nutrition and academic achievement, giving extra impetus for passing such legislation. The Senate bill must be reconciled with a House version that has yet to pass, so the nutritional fate of the nation’s school children has not yet been determined.
Still, the discussion over healthier school lunches has even reached the Pentagon. The military’s top brass has come out in support of school food reform, claiming in a recent study that low quality school food was in part to blame for the obesity epidemic that has left the Armed Forces rejecting over a quarter of its applicants between the ages of 17 and 24 for being overweight. The report went as far as calling it a threat to national security. Indeed the statistics are alarming—over half of our children are now overweight and if trends continue, fully one third will develop Type 2 diabetes in the coming years.
The current economic crisis has exacerbated the situation, forcing many families (and schools) to forsake nutrition and turn to cheaper processed foods. As usual, the debate centers more around dollars than “sense.” After paying labor and overhead costs, most school cafeterias have about $2 to spend per child on lunch food. You can imagine the low nutritional quality of food that is purchased at that funding level. Try making a healthy meal at home with fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis for $2 per serving. All told, school cafeterias, which in many states like Florida are self-funded and therefore must turn a profit, are forced to buy less wholesome foods and sell a la carte items such as processed foods and beverages full of high fructose corn syrup because they are cheaper and will bring in higher profit margins.
Fortunately, there are encouraging signs that better school food is on the minds of kids, parents, and school administrators everywhere. Here in St. Johns County, the School District recently made changes to the cafeteria menus, including removing Little Debbie snacks, eliminating sweetened fountain beverages and replacing them with low or zero calorie beverages, and reducing the size of other beverages, such as Gatorade, sold in schools. School District Food Service Director Elizabeth Binninger has met with local agricultural officials to explore the purchase of a number of local fruits and vegetables that could be served in our county’s schools. It would be a remarkable first step in establishing a true Farm to School program that would benefit both our local children and the area’s farming community. In a twist of irony, South Woods Elementary School sits facing the fertile farm fields of Hastings and yet inside the cafeteria, it is worlds away. In a most bizarre arrangement, local farmers send their children to school at South Woods, yet the kids are served food that has been trucked thousands of miles from unknown pastures. Some farming families, such as the Barnes Family of Hastings, have donated melons and cucumbers to South Woods, simply out of goodwill and concern for students’ health.
Despite these challenges, a growing awareness of the benefits of supporting local agriculture and serving fresh fruits and vegetables to our students is taking hold. In the Ponte Vedra and Fruit Cove area schools, an energetic group of moms and PTO members is providing free fruit to students as a reward for good behavior while stressing the importance of making healthy eating choices and exercise part of students’ daily routines. Their innovative program, dubbed “Fresh Fruit Fridays,” is meant simply to expose kids to new fruits and vegetables and get the children to try healthy foods they might otherwise not. It offers an excellent model for other schools where parents or other groups might be able to provide such “tasting experiences” in a fun, non-threatening way to kids.
The non-profit organization I founded, Slow Food First Coast (www.slowfoodfirstcoast.com), has partnered with local business sponsors such as Restaurant Orsay, Bozard Ford, and Chipotle Mexican Grill, to offer grants to St. Johns County teachers to assist them in establishing school gardens that will be integrated into the curriculum, teaching students not only valuable lessons about nutrition, but also incorporating math, science, social studies, and language arts skills that correlate with the Florida Sunshine State Standards.
Last spring, Julington Creek Elementary School teacher Joan Deloney was awarded one of the three SFFC school garden grants and organized a dinner for both students and parents which featured items from the class garden. It was a meal that the families will remember for years, but more importantly it laid the foundation for her students’ lifelong healthy habits. "My students from last year took home the plants and grew them all summer. I had at least 5 students who put in their own garden at home,” she says. “It truly was a great experience and I am looking forward to doing it again this year. My 2010-2011 students are just as excited to get started."
Over at R. B. Hunt Elementary School, first grade teacher Christine Skipp has been gardening with her classes for years, even winning statewide awards for her efforts. “Garden-based lessons, which incorporate all areas of the curriculum, generate enthusiasm and curiosity as children make meaningful connections with science and nature. Children thrive in the rich environment of our outdoor classroom where they work with their hands, caring for the Earth and their own health by cultivating delicious produce from seed to table,” she notes.
At Timberlin Creek Elementary School, cafeteria manager Kathleen Damiano is taking school gardening to another level, converting her campus into an edible schoolyard. With the help of volunteers, she kept busy all summer planting blueberry bushes and fruit trees and is currently building a tool shed and laying soil for this season’s crops, which she hopes to integrate into the cafeteria’s menu. The school’s children will play an important role in maintaining the garden and will be the main beneficiaries of its bounty. Damiano comments that "Kids need to get back to times when pre-packaged foods weren't so convenient. The school garden will help the students feel connected to what the farmer's job is like and how this act is a life-thread to good health.”
While we’re still far from where we need to be, we are making progress thanks to people like Deloney, Skipp, Damiano, and a determined band of parents and teachers that have created a grassroots movement to bring better food to a school near you. And your child will be healthier for it.
For an exclusive recipe of my favorite snack from my youth, visit the Recipes section and find one for "Back to School Banana Bread."
Ned's Back!
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record on 19 August, 2010)
This is the 10th installment in a series called "Kitchen Conversations" in which you can read excerpts of discussions I have had with people who are changing the way we eat and think about food on the First Coast.
Times have certainly changed since the 1980s, but one thing has remained constant around here: Ned Pollack has been cooking up delicious food somewhere in our fine city for three decades now. A native of Englewood, N.J., Pollack grew up dining and working at old-school Greek diners and decided early that's what he hoped to do on his own.
"I wanted to open up a low-key kind of place where I could cook and watch TV in the kitchen," he confessed.
His first restaurant was a place called Chicalini's Pasta Palace in Athens, Ohio, which he opened in 1975. After immediate success in 1979 with his first venture in St. Augustine, the Malaga Street Depot, Pollack took the town by storm when he opened the now-landmark restaurant Gypsy Cab Co. After selling the eatery a few years ago and taking a well-deserved break, Pollack is back with Ned's Southside Kitchen at 2450 U.S. South.
The restaurant is basically a continuation of all the things that we love about Pollack's cooking and restaurant style -- classic comfort food, very affordable prices, hearty portions and good service. Like his past businesses, this is a no-frills joint that aims for both your heart and your gut with a menu that's all over the map and offers something for everyone: Southern fried shrimp, Italian-inspired pasta and panini sandwiches, Mexican-influenced dishes like brisket tacos, Mediterranean-style seafood dishes like flounder Provencal, old-fashioned deli sandwiches like Reubens and lots of homemade desserts. This eclectic mix of dishes offers something for everyone, but above all, it's the consistency and great value that keeps bringing the regulars back, time and time again.
A few questions
Q: What's the concept you were going for when you opened Ned's Southside Kitchen?
A: I wanted to open a place with good prices where people could eat regularly during these difficult economic times.
Q: What's the trick to running a successful eatery?
A: Satisfy your guests, give them good food for good value, and offer good service. Make the place look alive and fill the seats.
Q: How has St. Augustine changed (food-wise) since the Malaga Street Depot days in the 1980s?
A: Great question. I wish I had a musical soundtrack of the time span. The Raintree and Barnacle Bill's weren't open yet when I first started the Depot. Barrancatto's on Vilano was there before all of us. The Ponce de Leon Lodge was my first job in town, and it was the heavy hitter of the time for banquets, buffet and a golf country club. Salt Water Cowboys was always around, and it was a big deal to go there.
The town was so much smaller then, but that was my universe. Shiver's was always good for a great pulled pork sandwich, and Bono's was a legend in Jacksonville. We had a Holiday House restaurant for great leg of lamb, and for liver and onions there was Morrison's Cafeteria. If I remember correctly the only Chinese restaurants were one on the beach and another one on the bay front. We went to Jacksonville Beach to King Wu, I think it was called. Now we have strip malls everywhere, with bars, Thai food, pizzerias, Chinese buffets and takeouts, all over the county. A lot of them are good. I have only been around here for 31 years but I am so fortunate to have had the career I've had with all the memories of my peers in the restaurant business. Some of us even remember different pieces of kitchen equipment that we all owned at different times. Times were different back then. I was lucky to be around for them.
Q: What's the most memorable meal you have ever had?
A: Lobster Fra Diavolo, "Leon's," New Haven, Conn., June, 1973. It was one of those old fashioned Italian restaurants, family run, in one of the worst neighborhoods in New Haven, around 1972-73. It was kind of fancy, but not uncommon for that era. They never left the old neighborhood. What was so memorable was the dish I ordered -- Lobster Fra Diavolo -- it was a platter of lobster (whole) with clams, mussels, and shrimp over linguine. It looked beautiful and tasted even better. The company was good also -- my closest friends, and it was one of their birthdays -- that is why I knew that it was in June.
Q: When it comes to cooking, are you a traditionalist or an innovator?
A: I am a traditionalist probably because of all of my years in the business -- customers first, quality first. I am not a "bottom line" first business man. I keep doing full service restaurants with large staffs. I guess that is some kind of traditionalist. As far as an innovator, mixing up different cuisines used to be innovative -- maybe it still is, I don't know.
Q: What is your first food memory?
A: Friday night dinner as a kid in New Jersey: Roast chicken and chicken noodle soup.
Q: What would be your last meal?
A: I love a good hot dog. I have to find a better bun for this new place, so I can have it there. A good noodle dish in Chinatown would work also.
Q: What's the most pleasing thing about your job?
A: People seem to like the new place and they come back. I have had some of the same customers for years -- some of them go three, even four, generations. I have a customer who used to eat at Chicalini's in Ohio and has been a regular at the Depot, Gypsy, and now this place. That is what careers are all about -- years of friendship with the customers, staff and community. This is as good as it gets.
Once You Pop, You Just Can´t Stop
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record, 15 July 2010)
Dear Readers,
This is the ninth installment in a series called "Kitchen Conversations" in which excerpts of discussions I have had with people who are changing the way we eat and think about food on the First Coast are published.
I am very excited about a fantastic new place in downtown St. Augustine filled with youth, vitality, and creativity.
The Hyppo, a new popsicle emporium on Hypolita Street run by wunderkind Stephen DiMare, is exactly the type of place we need more of--simple and focused on flavor and quality.
Like the wonderful paleta shacks of Mexico, The Hyppo offers an incredible assortment of homemade popsicles created on site using the freshest ingredients possible.
These are not your typical supermarket popsicles filled with Red Number 2 and high fructose corn syrup. No sir, these are hand-crafted beauties made of real fruit.
The menu changes daily to accommodate seasonal availability, but the quality, originality and variety of the popsicles on the menu are a constant.
DiMare, equal parts brilliance and humility, brings a lifetime of recreational kitchen tinkering to his new business and his creativity really shines in flavors like Datil Strawberry (with a subtle heat that sneaks up on you) and Pineapple Cilantro, a new twist on a tropical favorite that will leave you licking your lips, fingers, and whatever else it drips on.
But purists will love the shear burst of flavor in such classics as watermelon, champagne mango, and Key lime.
The hardest part of visiting The Hyppo might be having to decide on which popsicle to choose from on a blackboard of unbelievably refreshing flavors that entice you the more you read.
I may sacrifice in the name of research and go on a summer popsicle diet and try them all. Anything for my readers.
1. Why popsicles?
I heard about paletas, or real fruit pops, a few months ago. I was fascinated by some of the flavors I read about so I started making them at home for fun. When they turned out so delicious, and so different from anything I had eaten before, I decided St. Augustine might like to try them, too -- so I set out to open The Hyppo.
2. Will popsicles be the next rage like cupcakes have been in the past few years?
The articles and blogs I've read say that they will -- if pops become half as popular here as they are in places like Brazil, then I think they're right. Pop shops are popping up in cities all over the country at present -- New Orleans, Nashville, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York -- just to name a few.
3. Why are local and fresh ingredients so important to you?
Freshness is always crucial to achieving a good taste, but it is especially important with popsicles because they have the long-standing stigma of artificial syrups and food dyes to deal with. The flavor from fresh and local fruits is the key to transforming popsicles into a healthy and delicious treat.
4. Aside from popsicles, what other experience do you have in the world of food?
I've grown up around great cooking -- my family and friends have always loved meeting around the table with good food in between. Aside from potlucks, I've also spent a lot of time cooking for tailgates in Gainesville.
My friends and I would camp out all night next to a wood-fired smoker as it slowly prepared the next day's meal
5. Besides your own place, where is a special place where you like to dine?
Casa Maya - One of my favorites for a long time- it's hard to beat them for freshness and quality of ingredients. I'm so happy to have moved in right next door!.
6. What's your favorite thing to make at home?
Fried brown rice with ginger and haba
7. What's the most memorable meal you have ever had?
I was in Seward Island, New Zealand with my parents and we came upon a street vendor who was grilling skewers of green-lipped mussels wrapped in bacon down by the docks -- we almost got sick we ate so many, but they were just perfect.
8.What role do you think businesses should play in educating the public about foods that are good for diners' health, have a positive impact on the health of the planet, and are respectful and fair to those that produce them?
Many of the types of foods and products that achieve these goals are able to be sold as a result of the education that businesses afford. This shows that a demand for things like direct-trade coffee and organic produce does exist, but only after the public knows what these terms mean. Because commerce drives so much of how the world functions, it is crucial for businesses to be constantly looking for ways to join with consumers in working toward these goals.
9. When traveling, what is your favorite food city?
I love what we have here in St. Augustine, but New Orleans is like an amusement park for foodies...
10. How do you see the future of the North Florida food scene? What are we missing? What do we have too much of?
We've got a great burgeoning scene here. If we're lacking anything, I suppose it would be some high quality street food -- I'm a sucker for tamales and belgian waffles and they taste so good when you're standing. We could probably do without another middle-of-the road burger joint.
11. What is one food that you tried and would never eat again?
Durian. I ate a pretty good bit of one once, and I would be quite content if I never ate any again.
12. What's your favorite comfort food from your childhood?
My mom's oatmeal cookies -- outstanding!.
13. What would be your last meal?
A hot lobster curry made with ghost chilis.
14. What's the most pleasing thing about your job?
Getting to experience the joy of popsicle-making with such good friends, family, and support from my hometown.
15. Who are three people from the past or present you would love to have over for dinner and why?
Gosh I really couldn't decide. Probably just a group of average people from any pre-industrial age that lived in a tropical country -- popsicles would be a huge hit!
Turkish Delight
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record on June 17, 2010)
It's been a year now since my lovely bride and I honeymooned for 10 magical days in Turkey and our lives have not been the same since. And I'm not just talking about the art of marriage, the dance of love, the skill of negotiation, living happily ever after, and all that very important stuff. I'm talking about the suitcases of wonderful new spices, teas, and foods we brought back from the exotic markets and bazaars we visited in Turkey that are now a part of our kitchen arsenal.
Though often under appreciated and overlooked, we were instantly captivated by one of the world's oldest and greatest cuisines. For centuries, Turkey has been the crossroads of Europe and Asia and generations of travelers and traders left the Turkish pantry filled with mesmerizing fragrances and flavors that have uniquely combined to create a pan-cultural cuisine. Istanbul, the only city in the world to straddle two continents, may not be the capital of the nation -- Ankara holds that distinction -- but it is certainly the extraordinary heart of Turkey's culture and gastronomy. The spellbinding scent of freshly baked breads and honey-kissed pastries baked in the early morning fill the city streets at dawn, beckoning you to pause for a bite of breakfast, while vendors can be found on every corner peddling a dizzying assortment of snacks and heartier fare from their food carts -- roasted chestnuts and corn, kofte (rectangular little meat balls), hot tea, unusually gooey ice cream, sesame covered pretzel-like breads, boreck (spinach and cheese filled pastries), seasonal fruits picked at their peak, and of course, the ubiquitous doner kebab (lamb, beef, or chicken meat grilled on a vertical rotisserie).
Though often under appreciated and overlooked, we were instantly captivated by one of the world's oldest and greatest cuisines. For centuries, Turkey has been the crossroads of Europe and Asia and generations of travelers and traders left the Turkish pantry filled with mesmerizing fragrances and flavors that have uniquely combined to create a pan-cultural cuisine. Istanbul, the only city in the world to straddle two continents, may not be the capital of the nation -- Ankara holds that distinction -- but it is certainly the extraordinary heart of Turkey's culture and gastronomy. The spellbinding scent of freshly baked breads and honey-kissed pastries baked in the early morning fill the city streets at dawn, beckoning you to pause for a bite of breakfast, while vendors can be found on every corner peddling a dizzying assortment of snacks and heartier fare from their food carts -- roasted chestnuts and corn, kofte (rectangular little meat balls), hot tea, unusually gooey ice cream, sesame covered pretzel-like breads, boreck (spinach and cheese filled pastries), seasonal fruits picked at their peak, and of course, the ubiquitous doner kebab (lamb, beef, or chicken meat grilled on a vertical rotisserie).
It was here that we sampled incredibly flavorful dried fruits and nuts -- our favorite a combination of dried apricots and carrots coated with roasted pistachios -- as well as countless towering mounds of bright and pungent spices that season the Turkish table. We brought back home sackfuls of Marash pepper flakes, an astonishing condiment full of character and piquancy found on many Turkish dishes, sometimes simply sprinkled on salads and bean dishes, other times adding depth and a little heat to stews and tomato pastes. Marash pepper flakes, so much more flavorful than any red pepper flakes you'd find in the supermarket, are processed by hand as they have been for centuries in small villages across Turkey, with women carefully drying and crushing them by hand. It's a tedious job, but one that leaves the flakes intensely soulful and sharp. Months later, stressing as I began running low on my supply, I was fortunate to find some online at Zingermans.com. You too can purchase some and see for yourself how transformative good pepper flakes can be for one's cooking.
Perhaps most impressive were the array of vegetables we feasted on, always just a day or even hours from the farms that dot the landscape surrounding Istanbul. Upon tasting our first of many superlatively sweet tomatoes, my wife marveled: "Now I know why a tomato is really a fruit."
Simple Turkish salads, consisting of nothing more than fresh lettuce, white beans and tomatoes lightly bathed in fruity olive oil and vinegar and accompanied only by a piece of crusty bread, proved that ingredients this fresh need nothing more than to be handled with respect and restraint.
And then there was eggplant. Turks will tell you that they have more than 300 ways to prepare eggplant and judging by our 10-day sampling, it would be hard to dispute that figure. Grilled eggplant, eggplant battered and fried, roasted eggplant puree, eggplant baked in a clay pot, eggplant, tomato, and mint salad -- we tried them all with great satisfaction, each time eagerly wondering how we would next discover it on a menu.
And so, with the arrival of my first anniversary and in honor of my sweet wife, I thought it would be fitting to mark the event with one of Turkey's most renowned eggplant dishes -- imam bayildi, which roughly translates as "the imam fainted." Legend has it that this dish, which perfectly captures the flavors of the Turkish summer, is so enchanting that upon trying his wife's version, the imam fainted with pleasure. Though I don't wish you or your spouse the same fate as the imam, I do hope you will enjoy this dish in the company of your loved one. Serife! Cheers!
Please see the Recipes section for complete details on how to prepare Imam Bayildi at home.
Parting with Pomar's
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record on May 20, 2010)
Dear Readers,
In the last few months I've reported on exciting new happenings in Crescent Beach -- the first Community Supported Fisheries (CSF) project in Florida, in which subscribers receive a monthly order of local, sustainably harvested seafood from Genung's Fish Camp, as well as the opening of Stephen's Fine Foods, a new restaurant that serves generous portions of gracious hospitality and extraordinarily fresh food daily.
But today I want to take you back to when Crescent Beach was a sleepy beach village -- a place with only two homes and sandy roads. For many, the recent closing of Pomar's was the end of an era in Crescent Beach. The no-frills, come-as-you-are burger joint and beach bar was for decades a Crescent Beach institution and many locals are still mourning the loss, while pondering what other changes might be in store. This column pays tribute to a bygone era -- a time when Pomar's was the neighborhood store, fishing was a way of life, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was catching gopher turtles to stew with the neighbors.
The following is a fascinating oral history by Wayne Brown, former Crescent Beach resident and co-owner of Pomar's, and I have left it unedited and unaltered for your reading pleasure:
"I arrived in St. Augustine, Florida in the Spring of 1943 from Manhatten Beach, N. Y. I was a first class petty officer in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Coast Guard.
I was billeted in the Ponce de Leon Hotel [now Flagler College], which the Coast Guard had taken over as they did many of the larger motels in St. Augustine.
"The Ponce was used for a training station of the Coast Guard recruits. The motels were used for training of the officers stationed there.
"I met my future wife, June Pomar while on duty at the Flagler Hospital, where she was also working. We were married in 1944. We had two children -- Trudy in 1945, and Sandy in 1946.
"After I got out of service we lived on State Road 206, on which our home fronted. At that time there was very little traffic on the road, and the road at that time was just a sand road from Crescent Beach to State Road 207. I pulled many cars out of the sand on this road that had gotten stuck. My two girls, when small, played on this road with their sand buckets. This would have been impossible later because of the heavy traffic.
The wooden bridge had planks and when a car set across the bridge you could hear it until it got over to the road.
"When I got out of service I was going to go back to college at Iowa State, where I attended for 2 ½ years before going into service. I changed my mind and returned to Crescent Beach and went into business with my father-in-law, Mr Harold Pomar at Pomar's Store.
"Mrs. Pomar (Dorothy) was a Middleton before her marriage, and her grandfather had homesteaded 40 acres of land on Crescent Beach. This later became the Middleton Subdivision. This area ran from the Intracoastal Waterway to the beach.
"When Mr. Pomar was a young man he helped clear the right-of-way from Crescent Beach to St. Augustine. Later when they relocated A1A, the store was sitting to close to the highway, and we moved back and we added to the building on the North side.
"We had a family-type store. We sold groceries, beer, soft drinks, ice cream and sandwiches. Coffee was 5 cents, drinks 5 cents, our sandwiches were made at home, and they were 30 cents. We sold Sinclair Gasoline, and later changed to Gulf Oil Company. Gas at one time was 27 cents a gallon. We sold Sinclair Gas and even fixed tires.
Mr. Pomar, Charlie Preston (the bridge tender) and I caught bait shrimp from the river and sold live bait for 2 cents apiece. Back in the 40's and 50's there was no limit on fish. I have caught, by myself, over 100 bass and 100 trout at one time. Fishing was very good, and I fished for part of my living. Bass sold for 15 cents a pound, and trout were 20 cents a pound.
"During the last 40's and 50's the guys from Palatka and Hastings would catch mullet and have a big fish fry. Some of the guys would hang out in the store, and sometimes some one would come into the store and holler "mullet on the beach." The only ones left in the store would be my wife and Mrs. Pomar.
"On Wednesday night the Pabst Blue Ribbon fights were on TV and a lot of the men would come to watch the fights as we had the TV.
"The first pay phone was outside in front of the store. It cost 25 cents for about 5 years to place a call to DuPont Center.
"Many of the homes were owned by people from Hastings, Palatka and also Gainesville.
I was a real estate salesman, starting in 1960. I sold 100 foot wide ocean front lots, running to the state road and then to the river, for $6,000. Just South of the Crescent Bridgei purchased a 60 foot wide lot on the on the river for $3,000. And sold it for $6,000 one year later.
"When I moved to Crescent Beach there were two homes on the oceanfront, approximately one mile south of the store. I sold one of the homes for Frances Yelverton from Palatka for $12,000, on land running from the ocean to the Inland Waterway.
"There was one large building about 2 miles south of the store that was owned by the Rotary Club and it was used for a Boy Scout Camp. They owned from ocean to river. This is where the Tradewinds Condo is now located.
There were two motels on the beachside in the late 1960's -- one just adjoining the Crescent Beach ramp and it had a gift shop called the Donkey Gift Shop. And there was one about ½ south of there called Marine Beach Cottages.
"We formed a fire department at Crescent Beach in about the 60's. We had a 500 gallon water tank on the trailer. The guys were: Waiman Parker, Bob Middleton, Phil Roseman Everett Fifield and myself. We did save a few homes.
"Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings moved to the beach north of the store, and lived there until she passed away. She was some lady. She knew I liked gophers [turtles] for a good stew. She called me one day to come and get one she had. When I got there she had it in her bath tub. Every Christmas she would give Mrs. Pomar a potted poinsettia and gave me a $5 bill. "Her husband had the restaurant and lounge at Marineland. Mr. Baskin (and his friend Sen. Verle Pope) were good friends of mine.
"I live now in The Villages, which is between Leesburg and Ocala. It is a retirement community and has over 75,000 people. We have everything--stores, doctor offices, banks and about twelve 18 hole championship golf courses. I still go up to Crescent Beach and St. Augustine a couple of times a month to fish with Elery Price and Don Tully. I sure do miss that fishing. I am now 89 years old and in pretty good health."
-- Wayne J. Brown, The Villages.
Mighty Fine, Indeed
(First published in the St. Augustine Record on April 15, 2010)
Follow the smoke to get to the fire...
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record on March 18, 2010)
This is the eighth installment in a series called “Kitchen Conversations” in which you can read excerpts of discussions I have had with people who are changing the way we eat and think about food on the First Coast.
Driving home from work recently, I had a mean hankering for a pork sandwich — one of those cravings when nothing else will do. So I made my usual pilgrimage to Smokin’ D Bar-B-Que on the corner of U.S. 1 and State Road 206.
With smoke billowing from the chimney of the business, I pulled into the parking lot, got out of my car, and greeted Bacon, the big, pink pig that guards the entrance to the restaurant.
Actually, I should correct myself, because as owner Daryl Perritt adamantly puts it, “We are not a restaurant — no tables, no chairs, no credit cards, no closing time. We are a smokehouse that serves lunches and dinners. We close when the meat’s gone!”
That’s my kind of place, call it whatever you’d like. Daryl doesn’t have to provide tables and chairs because customers like me are quite content to scurry back to our cars and devour our meals in complete privacy with no need for table manners.
Some folks try naively to drive away and hold off till they get home, but you can usually find those same poor fools pulled over just down the road with BBQ sauce on their sheepish faces. But who can blame them?
With a saliva-inducing selection of slow-smoked brisket, pork shoulder, chicken, turkey and ribs, all ready to be cut in the amount the customer desires, plus excellent coleslaw, outstanding baked beans, and an astounding array of homemade BBQ sauces (served on the side for you to decide how much or how little), it’s futile to resist such ‘carnal’ pleasures.
The meat here is smoked patiently (between 6 and 15 hours, depending on the meat, or until, as pit master Michael Lynch puts it, it reaches its “perfect moment”). Smokin’ D is that perfect confluence of attitude and authenticity, craft and commerce, meat and smoke.
Q: How did you learn your craft?
A: I am the only “Rednuck” you will ever meet! Daddy was a Redneck, Momma was a Canuck (Canadian). I spent half of my childhood in the Deep South and the other half in western Canada. I learned a great deal about smoking food from the people of the west coast, particularly salmon and other fish.
Q: What’s your favorite item on your menu?
A: Probably “The Bucket” — it’s a full pint with a layer of yellow rice and beans, topped with your choice of pork, brisket, or turkey. Any one of our five different sauces enables you to create a different taste every day. But the top-selling item is the pork sandwich, baked beans, and sweet tea combo we call “The Classic.”
Q: Tell us about the sauces you offer. Are they homemade? Which is your favorite?
A: Yes, they are homemade, some more so than others. Each starts with a base, and we add ingredients to bring out what we want from the sauce. For instance, the Carolina Vinegar is about 80 percent apple cider vinegar, with a touch of tomato sauce and spices. My favorite, no doubt, is the house sauce. It’s a classic, but hard to find, Georgia mustard style sauce. You always love what you grew up with.
Q: What kind of wood do you use? Does it matter?
A: Fruit or nut primarily. Cherry, hickory, or pecan. Everything matters when it comes to smoking: wood size, when it was cut, outside temperature, even the direction of the wind.
Q: What sets your BBQ apart from the competition?
A: Lots of things — spices, we have real pit masters, but most importantly, we do not sell yesterday’s meat. We cook to sell out and although a few customers at the end of the night will be disappointed, I’ll have given over 100 customers perfect BBQ, many for the first time.
Q: Is BBQ an art?
A: My pit master’s job is to s-l-o-w-l-y, over several hours, increase the internal temperature of five different meats using only smoke. Each piece of meat is different and each piece of wood burns at a different rate.
The air coming into the pit changes—on several days last week it went from freezing to 68 degrees in one shift! Art? Hell, sometimes I think it’s magic. On the other hand, Michael likes to joke that if it weren’t for BBQ, he’d just be an arsonist!
Q: When it comes to BBQ, are you a traditionalist or an innovator?
A: If it’s not traditional, it’s not BBQ. You can change the sauces; you can change the spices; but NEVER change the process.
Q: Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, the Carolinas — who’s got the best BBQ style?
A: No way I’m touching that one, but what I have done is taken each one of those styles and placed them in one location. You want Texas Brisket? We’ve got it.
You want a pork sandwich Carolina Style (with coleslaw on it)? We’ve got it, and it’s the same with the others, plus a little bit of our own style thrown in. As Michael says, “Arthur Bryant’s in KC has done well with getting sitting Presidents to dine there, but nobody sits in here — president or not.”
Q: What’s the most pleasing thing about your job?
A: The shock on people’s faces when they try perfect BBQ — most for the first time. We had one guy buy a half Alabama Chicken and then get back in line to buy the other half. He didn’t make it out of the parking lot!
The New French Revolution
(First Published in the St. Augustine Record, 18 Feb, 2010)
This is the seventh installment in a series called "Kitchen Conversations" in which you can read excerpts of discussions I have had with people who are changing the way we eat and think about food on the First Coast. Recently, I sat down with Chef Jean-Stephane Poinard, owner and creative mastermind behind Bistro de Leon, located in downtown St. Augustine. His restaurant, which has been open for a year and a half, added sophistication and authenticity to a dining scene that often caters to tourists.
Poinard, an energetic, charismatic chef originally from Lyon, France, and his wife Valerie, a former wine maker, aspire to make French food accessible to locals with their Old World hospitality and impeccable culinary talents. Poinard has been cooking for 23 years professionally and is a fifth generation chef, learning his skills from his father, who studied under Poinard's grandfather and so on. "Cooking is more than just preparing food, it is a lifestyle," Poinard told me.
"I want people to come to my restaurant and take their time, enjoy good food, enjoy the present moment, and realize that time is the ultimate luxury." It's that very philosophy -- and his incredible seasonal cooking using the freshest local ingredients -- that beckons diners to linger for another glass of wine or a second dish to share when eating at his restaurant. His homemade sausage on a bed of lentils is satisfying French country food at its best and his crusty, daily-baked baguettes help mop up his flavorful sauces.
And then there are pastries -- glorious pastries -- to round out a luxurious meal at the Bistro. If only there were a corner to nap afterwards, I might never leave. Lately, Poinard has been busy building a network of local farms to source the ingredients for his comforting French dishes, but the underlying attitude that guides him is the simple pleasure of eating well and sharing meals with others, as well as the importance of taking the time to slow down.
Q. How would you describe your style of cooking?
A. It's all about flavor, balance, and seasonality. If it doesn't taste good, why serve it?
Q. How do you incorporate seasonal and local ingredients into your menu? A. I have met with a number of local farmers who now provide me with fresh ingredients, such as mesclun mix for my salads and the free range turkeys I served for Thanksgiving. My menu changes to reflect the seasons and whatever is at its peak.
Q. When you don't eat in your own restaurant, what's a special place where you like to dine?
A. I really like 13 Gypsies in Jacksonville and The Present Moment Cafe here in St. Augustine.
Q. What's your favorite thing to make at home?
A. Sushi! Fresh tuna is so good. I also like to make my own sausages and charcuterie.
Q. What's the most memorable meal you have ever had?
A. I love wild mushrooms and I had a 16 course meal at an inn in Central France that focused on wild, locally foraged mushrooms. We feasted on dishes like prawns with a porcini emulsion and a tart with escargot and chanterelles. It was magical.
Q. What role do you think chefs should play in educating the public about foods that are good for diners' health, have a positive impact on the health of the planet, and are respectful and fair to those that produce them?
A. We must transmit our knowledge through flavor to customers and teach the next generation of chefs to respect ingredients, but also respect the people that grow our food, and to let each ingredient shine on its own--the product is the star.
Q. How do you see the future of the North Florida food scene?
A. What we are seeing is the beginning of a revolution and the end of junk food. As more people become educated about where their food comes from and how it is prepared, people's tastes change for the better. That's what I really admire about Americans -- when they start something, they follow through. And they are quick learners.
Q. If you weren't a chef, what would you be?
A. A diplomat. Already now, I am a food ambassador.
Q. What's your favorite comfort food from your childhood?
A. Green peas, bacon, and pearl onions -- I serve it at my restaurant as a side dish.
Q. What type of restaurant, market, or products are we desperately missing in North Florida?
A. We need an old fashioned farmers' market here in downtown St. Augustine. We have a great plaza for it. Why not once a week open it up for a farmers' market?
Q. Who has had the biggest influence on your cooking style and why? A. Both of my parents were chefs. I get my inspiration for the exotic spices I use from my mother, while my father taught me everything about sauces and educated my palate. They both showed me that cooking is simply a way to make other people happy.
Q. Who are three people from the past or present you would love to have over for dinner and why?
A. Fernand Point, one of the creators of modern French cuisine, would be there. Ben Franklin would be invited because that guy really knew how to live and enjoy life. I am sure he was a foodie. And finally, my grandfather because I never got to cook for him and it would bring me great pleasure.
This is the sixth installment in an occasional series called "Kitchen Conversations" in which you can read excerpts of discussions I have with people who are changing the way we eat and think about food on the First Coast.
I've written about this month's featured guest before, but my good friend Johnny Barnes has embarked on a new adventure, and I knew I needed to tell you all about it.
After opening Johnny's Kitchen in Hastings and turning the eatery into the most successful farm-to-table restaurant in the county (for evidence, just stop by any Wednesday and fight the crowds there to feast on his famous fried chicken), he sold the business and took over management of Genung's Fish Camp (www.genungsfishcamp.com) in Crescent Beach and embarked on a new adventure, including launching a seafood community-supported agriculture (CSA) project.
I caught up with him recently and asked him about his new endeavor.
* Why did you sell such a popular eatery like Johnny's Kitchen?
I'm 58 years old and I'm tired. That type of business is very hard work. But I still go every morning and help them get their day going, teach them how to make some of my old dishes, and just keep an eye on the place.
* Will there be any big changes at Johnny's Kitchen now that you sold it?
No big changes. The new owner, Vincent, understands what's going on. You don't mess with a good thing. People should expect the same good food.
* What are you most proud of when you look back at what you did with Johnny's Kitchen?
The fact that I provided local jobs and bought all of my product from local people, which provided even more local jobs.
* Why buy a fish camp?
I've always wanted one, and the one I got is really cool. When I was a teenager, there were many fish camps on the St. Johns River, and they would have live bands playing and all-you-can-eat crabs and beer, and I always thought that was so cool. Now I have my own fish camp and people will have an old-fashioned place to enjoy those types of things. Plus, I've got a great view of the sunset each night.
* What is a seafood CSA?
Actually, I'm going to call it a CSF -- a community supported fisheries project -- where you can obtain fresh local seafood like shrimp off the boat, support local fisherman, and purchase it all at a good price. The key word is fresh, fresh, fresh. Customers will purchase a monthly subscription of the freshest local seafood possible.
* Why should someone join your CSF?
Because I am going to deliver to you a fantastic product. It's a win-win situation. All the seafood will be harvested locally and sustainably. In addition to that, I will be including my favorite homemade sauces, fish fry meal, recipes, etc. Also, I am going to sell local shrimp shares. The difference between getting my seafood and seafood from a market is the short time the seafood spends between the water and you. Freshness, supporting local fishermen, and price. It's that simple.
* Why should people care about where their fish comes from and how its population is managed?
People are eating imported stuff that is often farmed under unhealthy conditions, both for consumers and the environment. My program will help local fishermen and will only include seafood that is sustainably harvested. Look, I have two small granddaughters -- need I say more?
* How can someone join your CSF?
They can contact me at genungs@gmail.com or call 471-4144.
* Now that you aren't cooking for others, where is a special place where you like to dine?
Smoking D's BBQ at State Road 206 and U.S. 1. The smoked turkey and pork are out of this world.
* What's the most memorable meal you have ever had?
It was at the French Laundry in Napa Valley. You eat for about three hours -- simply the best.
* How do you see the future of the North Florida food scene?
I see it changing for the better. I have cousins in Hastings growing organic tomatoes for the local market and Slow Food First Coast is informing folks about the great local products that are available. It is very important that we support local producers of our food.
* If you weren't involved in the food industry, what else would you be doing?
Hanging out with [granddaughters] Grace and Sarah and teaching them how to make a pot of soup.
* What's your favorite comfort food from your childhood?
Almost anything my grandmother cooked. We ate what was in season and it was always fresh. We had lots of fresh hog meat. Maybe the homemade sausage was my favorite.
* What's the most pleasing thing about your new job?
I don't have to shave everyday.
* What's your favorite seafood?
Fresh local shrimp, boiled and eaten with a datil pepper red sauce.
* Who are three people from the past or present you would love to have over for dinner and why?
Loretta Smith of Hastings' Feeding the Masses; Cathy Brown from the Council on Aging; and Mary Alice Wolfe, my third grade school teacher who is now involved with the Hastings Meals on Wheels, because they are involved with programs that feed people that need feeding.
