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FORK PLAY October 20, 2010
Bully for El Bulli. ABC Kitchen. Low Country. Bill's Burgers. Dinosaur. Pure Gold. In the Beginning James.
Dear Friends and Family,
I've been stewing about Ferran Adria long distance for so long. Over the years of soapy foams aerated by chefs in  misguided homage, I have collected reports from people who've made the perilous drive to El Bulli in Roses, Spain, for a perilous 25 or 40 course meal. " Stunning." "Extraordinary." "Not anything you would want to eat ag
ain."
My most trusted foodie friends reported they were barely able to repress snickers when they were handed a vanilla bean to sniff while eating mashed potatoes. Still, I was sad to learn he was closing El Bulli before I made the trek.
No way could I resist a chance to see his new film, "A Day at El Bulli," on the giant screen mounted across from the lounge at Bar Basque, the legend himself presiding. Adria was introduced as "The Greatest Chef in the World." He began by saying he did not think he was the greatest chef in the world. I liked that humility, feigned or not, because I agree, though I am not sure whom I would choose. Maybe Michel Guérard. In New York, Jean-Georges. Certainly Adria is the greatest, most creative kitchen chemist in the world.
But the film, "from an idea by Ferran Adria," produced and directed by brother Alberto, is quite fabulous. Well, of course it was shot all in one day, and he was expecting the camera, so the chef himself is there - plotting 30 or more course tastings for each table, varying the menus for those with fears or allergies, for first timers and recidivists, switching gears as the day's deliveries arrive. Impressive indeed. It made me deeply sorry I had not made more of an effort to go. Still, I couldn't help notice how quickly the camera pulled away after focusing on a mouth as it popped an exotic morsel. Not enough time to catch a smile or an orgasmic sigh. Nor a gag or a spit. Click here to buy the book from Amazon.
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The grapes of Fall inspire our colors this week. ***
Autumn at ABC Kitchen
When I need a place I know fussy eaters will love, I go to ABC Kitchen. Jean-Georges was there when we arrived ten days ago. He and chef de cuisine Dan Kluger had been working on new dishes for fall, he s aid, but none of them were on the menu yet. Steven photographed him in front of the fall garden table. I didn't mind at all making do with a few last minute joys of summer. But then out of the kitchen came the chef's gift - deep fried battered rounds of delicata squash, looking exactly like onion rings, sprinkled with shredded aged goat cheese. A marvelous preview.
October means squash, of course. Besides those savory rings, you'll find kabocha squash with onion and cider vinegar on ricotta-spread toasts and spaghetti squash on spaghettini with mint, chilies and parmesan.
By November, when Steven and I go back for an early faux Thanksgiving with visiting family, there will be pumpkin, of course, fabulous citrus, celery root, turnips and chestnuts, I suppose. Maybe something savory with apples. Doesn't sound thrilling but I am certain it will be. (35 East 18th Street between Broadway and Park Ave South).
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Down Low
Low Country, with its rough-cut walls, exposed plywood and wall of vintage records is about as far from the sleek sophisticated chiaroscuro of Bar Blanc, the first concept owners Kiwon Standen and Didier Palange tried in this narrow space before the recession took its toll. Saturday night desperados pressed close. My eagerness to explore  Southern cooking faded in the squall of amplified din as I realized that reviving pimento cheese in a jar was cute but it wasn't much to eat even then, and stale-ish toasts didn't help. But I did love a small piece of fried chicken breast on a cheddar biscuit with Benton's ham and onion jam. At least they got the apple cobbler and the banana bread pudding right. I felt guilty that I'd subjected new friends to what felt like an exercise in condescension. (142 West 10th Street between Waverly Place and Greenwich Avenue.)
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Bill's Gets Midtown Manners
Bill's Bar & Burger, in its scruffy meatpacking cubby, looked like it could easily be lost in transition. Indeed, my first taste of the burger was so scarily ugly I thought I might have been tasting in an alternate univer se when I read the extravagant raves a week later. But no need to worry about the midtown Bill's Bar & Burger sprawling over 400 seats in 10,000 sq.ft. of Rockefeller Center. Steve Hanson has gussied up the menu with Bumblebee's Nicoise, Oysters Rockefeller (how could he
resist?) and tomato pizza soup in a hollowed out sourdough bread.
It's not the greatest burger in New York, much less the greatest burger in the world, as Citysearch twaddled. But it's juicy and good. If you order the 8 oz. original New York burger rare, you might get it rare. Don't miss the beer-battered onion rings or an over-the-top shake - Toffee Coffee with Heath Bar, butterscotch and chocolate crunchies should do it. Click here to find out about the cupcake tree. (16 West 51st Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.)
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Dinosaur Redux
After marvelous fried green tomatoes, mighty fine chili, Texas brisket and all those classic down-home sides, our foursome ju st couldn't finish the "Monster" rack of ribs.
"Shall I pack them to take home?" our server asks.
"Yes," says our astute financier companion.
"For you?" I ask."No, for you?"
"No. No. No," I protest.
"I dare not. Tomorrow is another day. Who knows what we'll be eating?"
Next morning as I ate my oatmeal, cursing my nutritional correctitude, all I could think was what a divine breakfast those ribs would have been. (700 West 125th Street at 12th Avenue.)
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Rozanne's Quick Fix
Fans of Rozanne Gold's "1,2,3" cookbook series will know at once there is nothing particularly radical about her new "Radically Simple: Brilliant Flavors with Breat htaking Ease." (Rodale $35). Here are 325 "restaurant worthy" dishes to do in 15 minutes or less. Why am I not surprised? The four-time winner of the James Beard Foundation cookbook award has been showing that less is more and fast is better all along. In this handsomely produced, deliciously photographed volume, her recipe instructions are streamlined for the Twitter age. All are conveyed in 140 words or fewer, the publisher notes. I didn't count but I'll take it on trust. Her one ingredient "Opinionated Way to Roast a Chicken" is offered as an example. I'll take the challenge. Looks like Pure Gold to me. Click here to buy it now from Amazon.
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In the beginning was Jim
I felt a shiver as I unpacked the new edition of James Beard's "American Cookery" (Little Brown $35), this big, fat, generous book, so like Jim himself. I just held it for a few minut es, remembering times in his kitchen, his big hand guiding mine in the motion of making mayonnaise with a fork. Remembering his laugh as he picked up a piece of fat from the cutting board of the steak we'd been tasting. "I'm just a fat boy." Recalling how revolutionary "American Cookery" was when it was first published in 1972, the dawn of America's food revolution. As Tom Colicchio notes in his foreword: "The beauty of this book is that it allows you to experience firsthand what made James Beard special and unique. His voice can be heard."
I can hear it. Here he is insisting that the club sandwich be included in the section on chicken because, "It's one of the great sandwiches of all time." And remembering a stuffed chicken leg dish from his childhood when he was taken to lunch at Marshall Field's. "At that time they had g reat dining rooms and exciting menus." Or following a recipe for Mrs. Lincoln's clam chowder with My Favorite Clam Chowder "with no bows to tradition whatever save those my mother created." That voice. It's there. It strikes me as timely that chefs who know only his image on a medal hung round their neck have this chance to see what James was cooking before they were born. Click here to buy it from Amazon.
By the way, I found an interview with his longtime personal editor John Ferrone that came inside the book to be so frank and amusing; I've posted it on my web site. Click here to read it.
***
Photographs of Jean-Georges at ABC Kitchen's fall garden table, of Low Country's tasting platter, Bill's Bar & Burger cuptake tree and Dinosaur BBQ's chile and fried green tomatoes may not be may not be used without permission from Steven Richter.
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Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2010.
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