Serious Eats

Redd Wood in Yountville: A Pizza Destination in Napa Valley

2012-05-16T14:15:00Z

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Redd Wood

6755 Washington Street, Yountville CA 94599 (map); 707-299-5030; redd-wood.com
Pizza style: Really its own thing; individual pies are Neapolitan-sized but with a much thinner crust, and a bit of semolina flour worked into it.
Oven type: Wood-fired
The skinny: Awesome and intelligently-topped pizzas from a Michelin-starred chef
Price: Large individual pies $10-27

When we editors are out on eating tours, like we did with Ford Escape in Napa a few weeks ago, we map out our own itineraries. But Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine does chime in with opinions from time to time—and when he does, they tend to be pretty spot-on.

"Redd Wood is Richard Reddington's new pizzeria," he emailed us. "I just met him [in Los Angeles] tonight. I had apps at his other restaurant in Yountville, Redd, and they were really good. I bet his pizza is pretty damn good. You should try it."

A few pies later, we decided that "pretty damn good" was indeed a correct assessment.

Redd Wood opened in late January to a great deal of anticipation, given how respected chef Reddington is in these parts—for his first restaurant, the Michelin-starred Redd down the street, as well as his work at Masa's and Jardiniere in San Francisco, and Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford.

San Francisco Chronicle critic Michael Bauer recently reviewed Redd Wood, declaring just about everything on the menu "superb," except the "mildly disappointing" pizza. But we're not quite agreed there, because the pizza we had was extraordinarily good.

It doesn't quite fit into any of our identified pizza-styles. It's served whole at around 10" in diameter, like a Neapolitan, and cooked in a wood-fired oven that chef Reddington estimates to burn at around 750°F. But it's much thinner and sturdier, almost closer to a New York-Neapolitan crust. No droopy middles or super-poofy edges here. We loved the crisp on the outside and the airy, chewy interior...

... as well as the substantial char on each of the pies, enough to flavor, but not overwhelm. But what really fascinated us was the dough itself, which is made with pizza gold standard 00 flour, but worked, stretched, and kneaded with half 00, half semolina flour. It adds a slightly nutty, slightly coarse element to the crust, almost like when pizzerias coat the bottom of their crusts with cornmeal—except nowhere near as heavy-handed. And it doesn't remotely interrupt the lightness of the end crusts. It's pretty awesome.

I grew up accustomed to a cornmeal dusting on the bottom of a crust, but usually it's just a layer of sandy grit to get through before the real pizza begins. Redd Wood's is the first time I've seen it done really well.

Pizza draped with lardo isn't what we'd usually order when sitting outside on a blistering hot April day, but the "lardo, mushroom, spinach, fontina" ($14) pie was good enough that we knocked it back without a thought. Thin ribbons of lardo, laid on after the pizza is fired, melt all over the roasted creminis and browned spinach, adding a layer of lush, unmistakable pigginess but without the strong competing flavors that another cured meat might contribute. (Redd Wood is curing their own lardo, too, reminding you that there's a lot of talent beyond pizzamaking in this kitchen.)

And the asparagus, prosciutto cotto, taleggio, red onion, farm egg ($17) was mighty tasty, too—particularly, of course, when that almost-orange yolk gets all over everything. (Redd Wood's pizzas are pre-cut; we loved how this one came cut party-style, into squares rather than wedges, with a big square around the egg in the middle so that it remains intact.) I was a little surprised at how little a role the Taleggio played, a cheese I love and wished I could've tasted more of. But there's no faulting asparagus with ham and egg yolk; an ideal spring brunch that happens to arrive on a pizza.

We preferred both to the satisfying, if not perfect meatball sub ($14) with tomato sauce and caciocavallo. The bread works well here; Redd Wood's roll (made in-house) looks a little soft, but it's crusty enough to crunch through, and thick enough to carry the load and not fall apart. The fresh-tasting sauce isn't quite what we associate with a meatball sub—it's a sort of bright California version rather than a stewed-down New York sub shop one; and I love caciocavallo, but could barely taste it here.

If you like tender meatballs, these aren't quite it—they're a little more densely packed—but the flavors of beef, pork, and veal, with added richness from salumi trimmings, made for a great bite. (And the herb-flecked fries are awesome.)

We enjoyed a strawberry Italian Ice for dessert, incredibly fine-grained and not gritty in the slightest; it's more sweet than tart, but as a refreshing end to a meal, that's okay with me.

You'd expect generally high quality from a Michelin-starred chef, of course, but you don't always expect them to nail pizzamaking straight off the bat. For a pizzeria just over two months old when we visited, we found Redd Wood incredibly impressive.

While I usually imagine dough-slingers with a flour-streaked Yankees or Mets cap, it does my hometown heart good to see a Giants cap on the guy making seriously awesome pizza. And it's only fair. Between Redd Wood and the first-rate Oenotri, plus great pizza-like "flatbreads" at The Kitchen Door and more-than-decent Neapolitan pies at Ca'Momi, Napa Valley's becoming a pretty pizza-rich place.

About the author: Carey Jones is the Senior Managing Editor of Serious Eats. Follow her on Twitter (@careyjones).

Ask A Bartender: What's The Best Tip You've Ever Gotten?

2012-05-16T14:00:00Z

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Ask A Bartender: What's The Best Tip You've Ever Gotten?

It's always nice when a customer slaps down an extra $20 at the end of the night, or when that cute girl scribbles her phone number on the coaster and leaves that, too. But tips, both monetary and not-so-monetary, get much crazier than that.

We asked 7 bartenders what their best tip ever was, and they range from a Wii to cash from George Clooney to the love of one bartender's life. Check out the answers!

About the author: Carey Jones is the Senior Managing Editor of Serious Eats. Follow her on Twitter (@careyjones).

AHT Giveaway: Case of Pat LaFrieda Burgers

2012-05-16T13:30:00Z

From A Hamburger Today

Inside the Pat LaFrieda facility. [Photograph: Nick Solares]

To celebrate National Burger Month, we're teaming up with famed New York City meat purveyor (and current stars of Food Network's Meat Men) Pat LaFrieda to give away a case of "AHT blend" burger patties (24 per case) each week for four weeks. Patties will be shipped fresh anywhere in the U.S. (sorry, international readers!), perfect for throwing a giant burger party or for cooking burger-centric meals at home. To enter this week's contest, just tell us in the comments section below: What's your best burger memory? (That doesn't necessarily have to involve the best burger you've ever eaten, but it could.)

Contest will end and comments will close at 12 p.m. ET, Monday, May 21, 2012. One entry per community member. Winners are limited to U.S. residents. Standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.

Taste Test: Bottled Ranch Dressing

2012-05-16T12:45:00Z

[Photographs: Robyn Lee]

The Winners!

Shelf Stable:

#1: Ken's Steakhouse Ranch
#2: Hidden Valley Ranch Dip
Refrigerated:

#1: Hidden Valley Ranch Mix
#2: Marie's

I'll be honest: I didn't grow up eating ranch dressing outside of the occasional bag of Cool Ranch Doritos (this was back before they were "Cooler"), and I've personally never developed much of a taste for it. That said, there's a reason why it's the number one selling flavor of bottled dressing in America. Creamy, fatty, and tangy, it coats even the dullest-tasting leaf of iceberg lettuce or the most underdeveloped pizza crust with a salty, herbal tang. Instant flavor, just shake, squeeze, eat, and repeat.

Either that, or we all just need an excuse to eat mayonnaise on everything.

The original ranch dressing was created in the mid-1950's when dude ranches—working or semi-working ranches in which city slickers could go visit for a few days to get a glimpse of the cowboy way—were all the rage. Hidden Valley Ranch, outside of Santa Barbara, CA is where the first ranch dressing was served to guests. The mixture of mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, herbs, and spices was so popular that it was offered by mail order delivery and eventually retail.

Since then, a number of other brands have entered the game. Most, including Hidden Valley, have developed shelf-stable versions of their dressing, while a few brands require refrigeration.

So which is the creamiest, tangiest, tastiest of the bunch?

We—gulp—tasted 13 different brands to find out. It was not an easy process and many a gag was induced, but we came away with a few answers, the most important one being: None of them. There wasn't a single dressing in the bunch that we'd heartily recommend, particularly not when a homemade Ranch Dressing or Buttermilk Ranch Dip is just a few ingredients and a whisk away.

But when you simply must use a bottle, read on.

The Contenders: Shelf Stable Category

Brand 1: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing
Brand 2: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Topping & Dip
Brand 3: Ken's Steakhouse Peppercorn Ranch Dressing
Brand 4: Ken's Steakhouse Ranch Dressing
Brand 5: Ken's Chef's Reserve Steakhouse Farmhouse Ranch With Buttermilk
Brand 6: Kraft Ranch Dressing and Dip
Brand 7: Newman's Own Ranch Dressing
Brand 8: Whole Foods (365 Brand) Organic Ranch Dressing
Brand 9: Wish-Bone Ranch Dressing

The Contenders: Refrigerated Category

Brand 1: Trader Joe's Parmesan Ranch Dressing
Brand 2: Marie's Creamy Ranch Dressing
Brand 3: Marzetti Ranch Veggie Dip
Brand 4: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing Mix

The Criteria

When tasting ranch dressing, we want tang without cloying sweetness. Creaminess without gloppiness or weird, chemically-thickened sliminess. A good ranch should taste primarily of buttermilk with richness from the eggs and oil in the mayonnaise. Garlic should taste fresh, not dry and stale. Herbs should taste like real herbs, not like dust or artificial flavoring.

When black pepper, paprika, or other spices are present, they should add a layer of flavor that complements the base ingredients but doesn't destroy them outright. While vinegary tang is a good thing, too much can make the dressing taste like bottled creamy Italian dressing.

The Results: Shelf-Stable Category

As I mentioned, not a single one of the brands broke through the 5.0/10, acceptable-but-not-so-great barrier. Here's where we ended up:

#1: Ken's Steakhouse Ranch Dressing (4.9/10)

Ken's Steakhouse brands placed in three out of the top four places in our shelf-stable category, and this is their plainest variety of ranch (the other two are jazzed up with peppercorns or extra-virgin olive oil). Not too thick and gloppy like some other brands, the nicest comment here was "This one is actually okay!" "Not too buttermilk-y" and "good amount of pepper," were common threads.

#2: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Topping & Dip (4.3/10)

A new product from Hidden Valley, this version of their dressing is thicker and creamier, and marketed as "The New Ketchup"—something you're expected to squirt on your burgers and fries. It gets its thickness mostly through the help of xanthan gum and modified food starch. Some called it "very greasy and thick," while others said "Synthetic texture. Very heavy."

#3: Ken's Chef's Reserve Steakhouse Farmhouse Ranch With Buttermilk (4.09/10)

More words on a bottle don't necessarily lead to better flavor. This one also boasted "made with buttermilk" and "made with extra virgin olive oil." And indeed, it is, though the EVOO comes pretty far down the ingredients list (and no tasters detected it). "Light on dried herb flavor, which is nice."

#4: Ken's Steakhouse Peppercorn Ranch Dressing (4.0/10)

"Good flavor balance and tang, but a little too much mayo," was a pretty general consensus. Tasters did appreciate the amped up black pepper flavor, but it wasn't enough to save the odd texture.

#5: Newman's Own Ranch Dressing (3.7/10)

Very sweet and tangy in a Miracle Whip-type way. It's not overwhelmed with dry herbs the way others are (the only one we could detect was chives). Best summed up as "enigmatic... in a terrible way."

#6: Wish-Bone Ranch Dressing (3.4/10)

An overwhelming chemical savoriness, likely due to the disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, two chemical flavor additives used in conjunction with monosodium glutamate (MSG) to enhance a sense of savoriness. In this case, they went overboard. Way, way overboard. Not as overboard as they went with the slimy thickeners, but overboard. "Fake chemical flavor and slimy texture, blech!"

#7: Kraft Ranch Dressing and Dip (3.4/10)

Kraft certainly knows how to stretch the value of its food cost. Amongst the only two dressings in which water is the very first ingredient (Wish-Bone was the other), it remained one of the thickest, creamiest, slimiest of the lot. Garlic makes an appearance in its flavor, but any herbs and spices are indistinguishable from the general "tangy and savory" background noise.

#8: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing (2.8/10)

The one that started it all, though we have a tough time believing that the original recipe included the triple chemical umami-punch of monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate. The flavor was quickly dismissed as terribly chemical tasting, with not much to redeem it.

#9: Whole Foods (365 Brand) Organic Ranch Dressing (2.1/10)

The bottom of the bad ranch barrel, the Whole Food's house brand was extremely runny, tasted mostly of apple cider vinegar (it's the third ingredient, before buttermilk), and not only had an overwhelming dried herb flavor, but actually contained hard, stick-in-your-teeth chunks of dried herbs that reminded some tasters of having a mouth full of sticks. Whole Foods pre-packaged goods have never fared well in our blind tastings, and products like this continue to prove why.

The Results: Refrigerated Category

Overall, our refrigerated dressings fared better than their shelf-stable counterparts. Indeed, it featured one contender that broke the 5.0/10 barrier, though admittedly, it was a bit of a cheat, since the Hidden Valley Original Ranch Mix requires you to add your own milk and mayonnaise. It was this fresh dairy flavor that propelled it to the top of the heap. Then again, if you're starting with fresh ingredients, why not make the whole thing from scratch?

I'll repeat: homemade Ranch Dressing or Buttermilk Ranch Dip is just a few ingredients and a whisk away.

#1: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing Mix (5.3/10)

While some tasters found the chemical savoriness of the mix to be a little strong (like with the bottled Hidden Valley Ranch), others praised it for reminding them of "dive bar food," or for its "garlicky, salty, smooth texture." In a pinch, this is the best dip/dressing you'll get from the store.

#2: Marie's Creamy Ranch Dressing (4.1/10)

A high-end brand made with, well, lots of real ingredients (oil, buttermilk, eggs), it nevertheless had problems, mainly in the consistency department. Many tasters declared (please read in best Obi-Wan Kenobi voice), "This is no dressing, this is for dip stations!"

#3: Marzetti Ranch Veggie Dip (3.7/10)

Another one closer to the dip category, Marzetti's Ranch is the only one based on sour cream, with no buttermilk in sight. It was also riddled with vegetables like peppers and carrots. When we read "veggie dip" on the container, we figured they meant "this is something to dip your veggies into," not "this is something that already has veggies in it for you to dip more veggies into." We appreciate the gesture, but really, it's not necessary!

#4: Trader Joe's Parmesan Ranch Dressing (3.6/10)

Thin and runny, the Trader Joe's Ranch was characterized by an overwhelming dried herb flavor, more so than any other brand. Oddly enough, the herbs used in it are basil and oregano—not typical ranch flavors. "Given its texture and extreme vinegariness, some tasters said it was "more like Italian dressing." "So herby ewwwww," one taster quipped. These tasting sheets really bring out the poet in us.

In case the point is not driven home yet, let me repeat a third time: homemade Ranch Dressing or Buttermilk Ranch Dip is just a few ingredients and a whisk away.

Our Tasting Methodology: All taste tests are conducted completely blind and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample 1 first, while taster B will taste sample 6 first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria that vary from sample to sample. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

Recipes!

Where to Drink Coffee in Michigan

2012-05-16T11:45:00Z

From Drinks

[Photos: Liz Clayton]

Once upon a time, the mitten-shaped state known as Michigan was not known for its coffee. Its bizarrely named "Coney Island" hot dogs and diners, its square-shaped pizzas, its death of industry...sure. But artisanal coffee? Not until recently did this pleasant peninsula begin to stand out, and cities across the state have begun to offer some of the best coffees roasted in the nation—and the mitten itself—at truly lovely cafes. Here are our very favorites.

Comet Coffee

In a city overrun by student-hangout chain cafes and gigantic submarine sandwiches, Comet's opening heralded a new concept in coffee to sweet little Ann Arbor. A coffee shop might be more than just a place to camp out with 100 med school textbooks—it might be a place to stop in for a sophisticated experience and taste amazing coffees from roasters around the country.

Area native Jim Saborio opened this shop in the curious Nickels Arcade as a place to experiment and showcase, and you'll find as wonderful coffees as anywhere, from roasters like Ritual, Terroir, 49th Parallel, and so on. Baristas constantly tinker with brew methods to make the geek factor high here, but are always approachable and friendly. If you get there soon, they might still make you a siphon.

Comet Coffee

16 Nickels Arcade, Ann Arbor MI 48104 (map)
734-222-0579; facebook page

Astro Coffee

In the shadows of the grand Michigan Central Station, the hollowed-out grand railway terminal that looms over Detroit's Corktown, is a quiet stretch of Michigan Ave revitalizing (there, I said it) up a storm. From pulled pork to prohibition cocktails to, yes, craft coffee, this block is the place to be if you're in Detroit for any reason other than to find the nearest casino. Astro provides not only a welcome, but beautiful, place to enjoy great coffee and espresso drinks (West coast roasters like Handsome and Ritual are among the features) alongside exquisite house baked goods. It's something special to find a coffee shop like this anywhere, but in a parched landscape like Detroit, it's a particular delight.

Astro Coffee

2124 Michigan Ave, Detroit MI 48216 (map)
(313) 638-2989; astrodetroit.com

Ugly Mug

Ugly Mug Cafe and Roastery

This longstanding roastery and neighborhood cafe has been going at it since 2004 down the road from Ann Arbor in picturesque Ypsilanti, Michigan. Now that smoking is no longer legal in food establishments, the only aromas here are the smells of fresh, on-site-roasted, no-nonsense, great coffee, like farm-sourced Guatemalan Finca Miraflores. The shop itself skews more down-to-earth hipster than gourmand...but that's what Ypsilanti is for, right? Stop in for an intense espresso drink and some people-watching. (There are also lots of books you can borrow and possibly a strategy game going on in the back.)

317 West Cross Street, Ypsilanti MI 48197 (map)
734-484-4684; uglymugcafeandroastery.com

MadCap Coffee

Last but not least, the leader of Michigan's "third coast" is MadCap coffee, a micro-roaster whose first cafe (their second will open in Washington, DC later this year) joined the reawakening of downtown Grand Rapids into a food-literate city and a destination in its own right. MadCap's broad selection of carefully sourced coffees win scads of awards, as do their baristas (like two-time regional champion and head roaster Ryan Knapp). The brilliantly sunny space is just the spot to convince yourself to linger just a little more over a delicately tingly cup of Burundi Kiryama or a rich cappuccino (made with MooVille milk!) These guys are the pride of Michigan coffee and you should make a point to visit if you're travelling anywhere up and down the Lake Michigan coastline this summer. Except for Sundays, that is—they're closed.

MadCap Coffee

98 Monroe Center NW, Grand Rapids MI 49503 (map)
616-242-9194; madcapcoffee.com

And while you're at it, don't forget to check out other great Southeast Michigan spots like Commonwealth Café in Birmingham, and the MOCAD Cafe featuring locally roasted Anthology coffee at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

About the author: Liz Clayton drinks, photographs and writes about coffee and tea all over the world, though she pretends to live in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently compiling photographs of the best coffee in the world to be published by Presspop later this year.

Laut: Michelin-Starred Malaysian Restaurant Delivers On Flavor

2012-05-16T02:00:00Z

From Serious Eats: New York

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Laut: Michelin-Starred Malaysian Restaurant Delivers On Flavor

[Photographs: Christine Tsai]

Laut

15 East 17th Street, New York NY 10003 (b/n 5th and Broadway; map); 212-206-8989; lautnyc.com
Service: Cheery and swift
Setting: Smartly decorated
Compare It To: Nyonya
Must-Haves: Char kuey teow (with shrimp and Chinese sausage), beef rendang, mee goreng
Cost: Can easily eat for $25/person
Grade: B+ (for the Malaysian dishes)

For the last few years I've felt sorry for Laut, a mostly-Malaysian restaurant just off Union Square, when the Michelin stars for New York restaurants are announced. Because they've held onto their single star for a few years now.

I mean, I'm happy for them—earning a Michelin star is a big deal. Owner Salil Mehta, who's operated the restaurant for a few years now, must surely be pleased. But the Internet chatter inevitably takes them down a few notches. "Laut?! Laut earned a Michelin star? While [Restaurant X] still doesn't have a Michelin star? Ridiculous!" It's tough being the unlikely member of a club that includes Del Posto and Gramercy Tavern. It seems like an afterthought, a "unique cuisine" tossed on by a critic who didn't really venture far beyond Manhattan.

So I'd long been curious about Laut; and tasting their food at events around the city had only made me more curious. But after a few visits, and after plenty of less impressive meals around Chinatown, I'm convinced it's my favorite Malaysian restaurant in Manhattan.

From formal critics to eager Yelpers, the food-obsessed often have a tendency to over-promote "hole in the wall" restaurants of various national origins, with the implication that only a crowded, minimally decorated storefront with a non-English menu can possibly deliver the "real" flavors of a given cuisine. Restaurants like Laut, a little more stylish and outside a neighborhood of its cuisine's ethnic concentration, are considered imposters.

The food, however, speaks for itself. At Laut, the cuisine's signature flavors, a balance of spicy and tart and powerfully savory, shine through; the funky fermented shrimp paste belachan, the richness of good coconut milk, the fragrance of lemongrass and turmeric and galangal: they're all there in full force.

Laut's long menu winds through pad thai and teriyaki bento boxes and grilled salmon; chef Tommy Lai, who has been running the kitchen for more than two years now, was born and raised in Malaysia, and is of Chinese/Malaysian descent, clearly likes to experiment with other Asian cuisines. But your order should primarily involve the Malaysian dishes.

Start with perhaps the most iconic, the roti canai ($7). It was the better of the two roti we tried, a sculpture of thin flatbread served with a rich and pleasantly spicy coconut-based curry. (Chicken curries are often served with roti canai, but out of respect to vegetarian customers, there's no meat here.) The roti has a butter flavory superior to any that I've had in Manhattan and a great crisp texture, though it was a little thin to my taste. The best ones are almost like flat croissants, with flaky, golden exteriors and a little stretch on the inside.

Still, it had the excellent crispness that the roti telur $8) lacked. We wanted the neat squares of egg- and scallion-wrapped flatbread to be a little less soft, though the flavor was spot-on and the steamy innards were delicious when dunked in that curry. Also better in flavor than texture were the sotong goreng ($9) , fried squid whose slightly sweet five-spice coating I liked but whose sriracha-flour batter was a bit gummy.

Many of the noodle dishes can be prepared with shrimp, beef, chicken, or vegetables; we went with shrimp, for the most part (we couldn't imagine chicken making anything better, and, er, beef in curry laksa? No). We were rewarded; across the board the shrimp were perfectly cooked, fresh and snappy and not mushy in the slightest.

They shone in the char kuey teow ($10, lunch portion shown), my favorite of Malaysian noodle dishes (and at this point, one of my favorite foods in general). The noodles got such heat from the wok it was visible, a dark brown rim around the pale strips; that signature wok-smoky wok hei flavor married with the soy-chili sauce and sweet, fatty crisped-up bits of Chinese sausage. The rice noodles were springy and firm, and while you've got your choice of meat, please don't order chicken here; their excellent shrimp plus sausage is the way to go. Equally strong was the mee goreng ($10, lunch portion shown), another classic street dish of wok-fried noodles. This time, they're thin and egg-based, tossed in a similar soy-chili sauce along with bean sprouts, tofu, tomato, and egg.

And while $19 is more than you'll pay for beef rendang at any other Malaysian restaurant in town, it's memorably good. Great beef rendang is bound with a coconut-based dry curry rich with warming spices and aromatics, cooked down so long that the braising liquid evaporates and only the coconut oil and spices remain. The beef actually fries in that spice-infused oil at the end. At most Chinatown Malaysian restaurants—and, frankly, at plenty of restaurants in Malaysia—the beef stays tough and untouched by its delicious surroundings, with a deeply spiced curry but unappealing meat. At Laut, though, it's fall-apart tender, meat and curry fused together. Full though our table was, we could easily have put back another bowl.

Looking for something on the cheaper end? Nasi lemak ($10, lunch portion shown) had rice that was slightly dry but properly suffused with coconut flavor, with all the usual accompaniments: peanuts, fried anchovies (ikan bilis), and the well-cooked, firm shrimp were doused in an incredibly shrimpy sambal that I couldn't get enough of—the funkiest, most powerful flavors of the meal. The pickled vegetables were almost their equal, and the cucumber offered a fresh bite to finish it off.

We wished the same powerful flavors has been present in the shrimp sambal ($10, lunch portion shown), which featured tasty, well-cooked shrimp in a reasonably spicy chili sambal that lacked the intense flavor of the shrimp hanging out with the nasi lemak. The peppers and onions were cut into rough chunks too large to really integrate.

The one letdown was the curry laksa ($15), whose coconut-based broth wasn't quite as silky as it could be, and whose thin egg noodles were a bit overcooked. Laksa's often served with lime on the side; a squirt over this dish would've brightened it up considerably.

Of the desserts, I loved the peanut pancake ($8.50, +$1 for ice cream). I was imagining something like apam balik, a dessert of pancakes often folded over a peanut filling; in Malaysia, they're generally either spongy like American pancakes, or thinner and closer to a crepe. But these were essentially the same structure as the roli telur, except with much crisper edges and a rough—but creamy and nicely salty—peanut butter. It didn't need the optional ice cream, but there's nothing wrong with it either. Mango sticky rice ($7) sounded promising, as it often does, but the almost crunchy-firm mango and rice so thick it needed substantial chewing weren't nearly as good as they can be. Better was the Pulut Hitam ($7), black sticky rice cooked into a pudding with coconut milk, sugar, and pandan leaves.

Do I think it's the equal of Del Posto, Cafe Boulud, or Gramercy Tavern, all of which also have one Michelin star? Of course not. Nor do I prefer it to Vandaag, Fedora, Kin Shop, ABC Kitchen, or Torrisi Italian Specialties, none of which have a star. But that's an indictment of the Michelin system, not of Laut. All it's seeking to be is a good Malaysian restaurant in Manhattan, which, in my mind, it's doing very well.

Next up: Brooklyn and Queens. Any recommendations there?

About the author: Carey Jones is the Senior Managing Editor of Serious Eats. Follow her on Twitter (@careyjones).

The Nasty Bits: Very Crispy Tongue

2012-05-15T21:00:00Z

I have never really believed that restaurant food is automatically better than home cooking because chefs use twice as much butter and oil as home cooks. That's presuming that cooks at home are stingy or careful with the oil, and not all cooks are. If restaurant food is better, it's because chefs on average know a lot more about, and work a lot more, with food than the people cooking at home.

But the other week I was eating at a restaurant and was served a dish of beef tongue that was extremely crisp and brown on the surface. Not to get technical, but the tongue was precisely one order of magnitude above the crispiness and brownness I am used to when I pan-fry tongue at home. Inside, the tongue was tender, fatty, and flavorful, and the contrast between the surface and the interior was really satisfying.

I didn't really care for anything else on the plate: the roasted beets, the blue cheese dressing, the wisps of micro greens loitering at the edges of the plate. The tongue itself was so wonderful, I could have eaten twice as much as I did (three very generous, very crispy slabs) and still had room for the various steaks that followed. Of course none of the steaks were as good as the tongue.

Eating the tongue had me thinking that maybe there is something to the credo that food tastes better when you use a lot of oil.

Naturally, the first thing I did the morning after my very beefy dinner was start the day with a breakfast of beef tongue.

I got out my cast iron skillet, cut a few slices of simmered pork tongue, which I just happened in my fridge, and pan-fried the tongue in twice as much oil I usually use. I put down about 3 tablespoons of oil for 5 or 6 slices of tongue. It was not deep-frying, but there was a discernible puddle of oil in the skillet.

I turned on the heat. The tongue sputtered and splattered. Then its surface began to brown and because of all the oil I put in the pan, the tongue achieved the same level of crispiness as that of the blessed tongue the evening before.

Except this time, it was even better. Being at home, I could season the tongue as I pleased. I got out my wok and dropped in lots of dried chili peppers—not so much for their heat as for their fragrance, and some whole Sichuan peppercorns. I added a spoonful of Sichuan chili bean paste, some soy sauce, some rice wine, and moved the tongue around and around in the pan. To finish, a drizzle of chili oil on top.

The method and the seasonings reminded me of what you'd do if you were dry-frying meat, a technique in Sichuanese cuisine. And as for what kind of animal tongue to use, Nasty Bits readers oughta know by now that cow, veal, pork, or lamb are all very tasty.

This was the best breakfast I'd made at home in a long time.

About the author: Chichi Wang took her degree in philosophy, but decided that writing about food would be much more fun than writing about Plato. She firmly believes in all things offal, the importance of reading great books, and the necessity of three-hour meals. If she were ever to get a tattoo, it would say "Fat is flavor." Visit her blog, The Offal Cook.

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Los Angeles Tacos: Komodo Truck's New Brick-and-Mortar Cafe on Pico

2012-05-15T20:30:00Z

[Photographs: Clay Larsen]

You've heard it in countless action flicks, any time the heat gets too intense: "We've got to get off the streets." Starting as early as 2010, that seemed to be the prevailing motto within the Los Angeles food truck scene. Get the truck, build the brand, and then run for the safety of four walls and a stationary kitchen.

One of the biggest names to ride the crashing food truck wave onto the shores of a Pico-Robertson storefront is Komodo. Their hook: Asian fusion with a Mexican bent. It isn't much of a pull in LA these days. Around here, the word "kalbi" gets tossed on menus next to all manner of tacos, burgers, pizzas and lord knows what else. So, with multiple trucks and a brick and mortar now in its second year, what makes Komodo so special? In short: simplicity.

The menu board at Komodo might seem daunting at first, but it's really no different than that burrito-or-taco-or-bowl chain place you hit up once a week for lunch. The "Classics" are a slight expansion on the original truck menu, with a little more breathing room to go along with their newfound square footage. There are standalone bowls that act as entrées or straight up salads, but there's nothing particularly interesting about Komodo's French Cobb salad. Stick with the classics, where unique twists and turns are everywhere.

The Komodo 2.0 taco (or burrito or bowl or... you get the idea) is the money-maker of the family. It's as popular now as it ever was on the truck, and for good reason. The seared sirloin is top quality, with plenty of juice to comingle with the hefty helping of the Southwest pepper / corn combination that overflows from the top. A creamy, spicy aioli provides a little bit of burn and a lot of flavor, helping this taco to cross the threshold from good to great.

The other big winner at Komodo is the fish and grapes, a unique twist on the traditional citrus that gets squeezed over the fish tacos at your local spot. Here, the chunks of cod are lightly fried, but don't rely on the delicate crunch of a heavy batter. Instead, the grapes work in a lot of their natural sweetness, and a tuft of greens with sliced almonds finish things off with some creamy dressing and a bit of crunch.

The stuff that doesn't work at Komodo (and there are a few items) usually relies too much on gimmick. The burgerrito is a sort of an Inception-style concept, putting Asian fusion inside a burger inside a taco. The result is a boring mess of ground beef and chopped up toppings that don't play together very nicely. Likewise, the limited Loko Modo special taco the café has been advertising is a lesson in starchy overindulgence, with tortillas and sticky white rice competing to see who can put me in a food coma first. All that, topped with a fried egg, but not in a good way like at Mexicali Taco.

Komodo the café has done well because it earned its stripes as Komodo the truck. By sticking with simple ingredients and understanding what their clientele was willing to stand in lines on the sidewalk for, they've been able to last in a restaurant market that is still showing signs of hurting. And while they certainly shouldn't be blamed for trying to branch out with some of their more inventive taco options, your taste buds will be happiest with the truly classic options on the classics side of the board.

Komodo

8809 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles (map)
Follow their trucks at Komodofood.com

Dinner Tonight: Shrimp Burgers with Roasted Garlic-Orange Aioli (via Food52)

2012-05-15T20:00:00Z

Editor's Note: We're teaming up with our friends over at Food52 to bring you even more easy weeknight recipes. Food52 recipes will appear on this site every Tuesday and Thursday, and are carefully curated by the Serious Eats team. Check back on Serious Eats every weekday afternoon for a new quick and easy weeknight dinner idea from our own test kitchens, or from the good folks at Food52.

This summer dinner replaces the usual beef and pork with a lighter option: shrimp. The thing that takes the most time is the aioli, but it's the most important part of the dish. It's not only used as a condiment, it also binds the shrimp together to form the burger. The patty is light, but the aioli provides the richness you'd expect from a good burger.

About the Author: Will Gibney is currently a summer intern here at Serious Eats and loves being around so much food. He recently found true love in a Jamón de Bellota in Spain

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Shrimp Burgers with Roasted Garlic-Orange Aioli »

More Sips from the Manhattan Cocktail Classic

2012-05-15T19:45:00Z

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: More Sips from the Manhattan Cocktail Classic

The festive opening night Gala that kicks off the Manhattan Cocktail Classic may be the biggest event in the MCC schedule, but the week offered tons of other opportunities to celebrate cocktails—seminars, dinners, and parties galore. In fact, these smaller-scale events impressed us even more than the grand Gala—it's great to get a chance to focus on just a few well-crafted cocktails, get to know a new spirit or drink-making technique, and enjoy a look behind the scenes without struggling against huge crowds.

While our livers wouldn't let us take advantage of everything on the schedule, highlights of the week included a rooftop British-themed party at The NoMad (complete with a great performance by The Crooners, a band whose members include WD-50 bar director Kevin Denton, formerly of the Gramercy Park Hotel.)

At Vandaag, we sampled a flight of cocktails from Aviation Gin, paired with a tasting menu that highlighted the bontaicals in the Portland-distilled spirit. Founders Christian Krogstad and Ryan Magarian were on hand to lead us through the drinks and share a bit of background on the company.

Dave Arnold and Tristan Willey of Booker & Dax led a seminar on bar techniques, emphasizing scientific strategies as a means to perfectly balanced cocktails. Their demonstrations included clarifying lime juice with a rotovap, chilling stemware with liquid nitrogen, and manipulating cocktails with fire via a red-hot poker, and there were also in-depth discussions on everything from carbonation to dilution and infusions.

On Monday night, Bowmore Scotch sponsored The Darkest Night, an evening at the performance-art-cum-Macbeth-athon Sleep No More at the Skylight at the McKittrick. One of the rooms from the performance became a lively '30s-era bar that served a special punch from David Wondrich, Scotch-kissed oysters, and other smoky scotchtails.

Terroir Tribeca offered a brief pause from the steady flow of cocktails with a focused look at the current state of American craft beer. Their Declaration of Beer Independence was a cross-country showcase that brought together flagship and limited edition brews from Captain Lawrence (East Coast), Two Brothers (Midwest), Left Hand (Colorado), and 21st Amendment (West Coast).

'International Influences on New Orleans Cuisine': NOLA History in Six Courses

2012-05-15T19:15:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: 'International Influences on New Orleans Cuisine': NOLA History in Six Courses

[Photos: Erin Zimmer]

"We want to tell a story with New Orleans cuisine," said chef John Currence, one of the men behind the phenomenal "International Influences on New Orleans Cuisine" dinner at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival.

"The story of the special crazy-ass gumbo that is that city."

Which means not only the French, Spanish, and modern American elements to the cuisine—but German, Sicilian, African, and Vietnamese, as well.

We talk about America as a melting pot, but in few cities does that ring so true as in New Orleans. So five Southern chefs with deep ties to (and an abiding love for) the city—John Besh (Restaurant August), Michael Gulotta (his chef de cuisine), John Currence (City Grocery), Brian Landry (Borgne), Alon Shaya (Domenica), and pastry chef Kelly Fields (Restaurant August)—put together a tribute to the many cultures and cuisines that've shaped the cuisine of New Orleans and evolved within its traditions.

John Currence frying cala on the balcony.

What did that mean, in one meal? Currence paid tribute to Leah Chase of NOLA's Dooky Chase—"one of the most culturally significant African-American restaurants in the country"—with a take on her green gumbo, served over a sweet potato salad rather than rice, "another gift to our cuisine from Africa."

Michael Gulotta, chef de cuisine of John Besh's Restaurant August, grew up in New Orleans "eating hogs-head cheese on a Triscuit," and took that idea in a German direction, from the starting point of a calves' head salad that Besh's culinary mentor served in the South Black Forest. (With lavash crackers because "uh, it's really hard to make Triscuits.") Brian Landry's hors d'oeuvres ranged from fried oysters Amandine to a nod to Italy, tuna over an Italian artichoke salad. Vietnam met New Orleans in a lemongrass-accented crawfish cavatelli.

Alon Shaya introduced me to a hybrid cuisine I didn't know existed—Sicilian–New Orleans Italian. And Kelly Fields brought together the city's Southern all-American roots and its fine dining tradition with the most sophisticated banana pudding I've ever seen.

Torching marshmallow for the banana pudding dessert.

The wines, poured by Stephen Satterfield (of the International Society of Africans in Wine), told their own story; all South African, that country's history reflected a cultural collision and racial struggle that Satterfield felt paralleled that of New Orleans, wines that "no one in America could drink before 1994, but are finally starting to play a role on the world scene."

Check out the slideshow for a look at the German, Vietnamese, Sicilian, African, and modern American takes on the rich cuisine of New Orleans.

Chain Reaction: Sonic

2012-05-15T19:00:00Z

From A Hamburger Today

[All photographs unless otherwise noted: Todd Brock]

Sonic

11105 Crabapple Road, Roswell GA 30075 (Map); 770-573-9775
3,500+ locations nationwide. Find one at sonicdrivein.com/locator
The Schtick: "America's Drive-In," where carhops deliver burgers, dogs, and such to your driver's side window, with almost 400,000 drink options
The Burger: Varieties don't stray too far from the classics. Typically unremarkable fast-food beef, overapplied veggie toppings, bonus points for good bacon
Want Fries With That? Ick. Go onion rings or chili cheese tots instead
Setting: The interior of your car, maybe a nearby picnic table
Price: Sonic Cheeseburger, $3.19; SuperSonic Double Bacon Cheeseburger, $4.59; Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster Sandwich, $4.69; French fries, $1.00/1.49/1.80; Onion rings, $1.69/1.99; Chili Cheese Tots, $1.99/2.59/2.99

Who knew there were so many hardcore Sonic fans out there? Not me, that's for sure. When I ranked the chain's onion rings last in AHT's Onion Ring Roundup last month, no one was more surprised than I was when Sonic apologists crawled out of the cyberwoodwork to defend "America's Drive-In." Most seemed to believe that the translucent puddle at the bottom of my bag and the extreme greasiness that soaked every ring across two orders was an anomaly, an exception to the rule, an unfortunate case of that particular location dropping the deep-fried ball.

Maybe they were right. I mean, it had certainly happened with my BK Chef's Choice experience. Maybe Sonic deserved another shot, I decided. And maybe, as long as I'm going, I should put the burger menu through its paces, too.

[Photo at left: Sonic; photo at right: Todd Brock]

My baseline Sonic Cheeseburger was a remarkably accurate replica of the official PR photo. The chain's standard quarter-pound patty wasn't dwarfed by a too-big bun, as is often the case with a fast food menu's base burger model. A decent melt on the American cheese, visible garden crops peeking out from underneath the beef—there was reason to hope here. While Sonic's menu says your cheeseburger will come with your choice of ketchup, mustard, or mayo, I wasn't asked for my preference. Whether or not mayo is the default or just what the kitchen crew felt like using that day, mayo is what I got. Fine.

The beef wasn't really juicy per se, but this burger had a nice proportion of beef-to-everything-else going on. I personally dislike shredded lettuce on a burger, as I typically end up with more shrapnel in my lap than lettuce in my mouth. And while I could neither see nor really taste the chopped onions theoretically hidden in the lettuce, this cheeseburger was far better than other fast-food value menu offerings, and it was worth the $3 price tag. Not a destination burger, but if you're near a Sonic with a slight burger jones and not much cash, this should fix you up nicely.

[Photo at left: Sonic; photo at right: Todd Brock]

The SuperSonic Double Bacon Cheeseburger wasn't as close a match to its company mug shot, but it was still a pretty darn tasty-looking lunch. I tend to gravitate toward double-meat burgers (much to my cardiologist's chagrin), and was totally digging the meat-to-bun ratio of this bad boy. Best of all, atop the twin individually-cheesed patties was some beautifully cooked bacon. Sonic does offer all-day breakfast, so getting bacon right is pretty much a non-negotiable dealbreaker in my book. Score one for Sonic. Not the flaccid, translucent baconesque substance foisted upon us by some chains, these strips were curled and meaty and definitely held their own inside this heavy-duty handful. The sheer height of this burger necessitated some squeezing, and that roughed up the lightweight bun considerably, but that was my only major complaint with this near-$5 burg.

[Photo at left: Sonic; photo at right: Todd Brock]

The third burger of my test drive, the Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster Sandwich compared favorably to its publicity still. Burgers served on Texas toast are often lost underneath, but this beef was prominently displayed. The lettuce, tomato, and pickle were playing hide-and-seek for the most part, but the bacon once again looked spot-on and even the onion ring was making a cameo appearance.

Granted, using just a single ring as a burger topping looks a little pathetic, and left the first and last bites completely ringless, but since I'm not a huge fan of onion-ring-topped burgers anyway, it was no huge loss.

The Toaster seemingly attempts to combat all that bread by overloading the veggies. Four pickle slices on one burger is probably excessive, and I wouldn't mind if Sonic dropped its tomato usage from two slices per burger to one. And as is almost always the case, the (hickory) barbecue sauce threatened to overpower everything else in sight.

Sonic's beef is pretty bland with that grey, industrial look so many fast-food patties suffer from; despite a pretty picture, I couldn't help but wonder if either a second meat disc or slightly-tweaked topping distribution wouldn't help the Toaster immensely.

Three burgers gave me three side opportunities. I started with the onion rings I had bashed just a few weeks earlier. Hooray for second chances; these were fantastic. Heavy in the hand for their size, there was no grease at all—not in the bag and not on the rings—a fine crumb coat covering a bready inner layer, and a noticeable sweetness to both the onion and the casing. It absolutely pops. These rings even had an audible crunch to them. Whether I got a bad batch before or the Sonic in Woodstock, Georgia, just doesn't know what it's doing, the Roswell store kicked its ass in the onion ring department. If these were what I'd sampled during April's roundup, they might have given BK a run for the top spot.

Thanks, AHT'ers, for convincing me to get in the ring with Sonic again. Time, budget, and gastronomic constraints don't allow us reviewers to try each and every item multiple times and at multiple locations as would be ideal, but I'm glad it worked out here.

Sonic's fries, however, have assumed the rings' former title of crappiest side I've had in a while. A thicker cut than McDonald's but not quite of the dimensions of Wendy's, these were well salted right out of the sleeve. Past the nice fry job, though, these spuds were overly starchy, unpleasantly dense, and just plain bland. I quit after three and never went back. Besides, now that I found a good ring, why eat bad fries?

But then again, when chili cheese tots are an option, I'll just skip the rings and fries. While not doused in a super-high-quality chili, this side was my favorite by far, with a tot itself that featured a lightly crisp shell and a fluffy interior. After a few minutes, the chili, cheese sauce, and tots had congealed into a single, tasty mass. Picking a single tot off the pile was no longer possible; I had to use a fork to pry off a meaty, cheesy, melty, fluffy, starchy wedge. And was happy to do so.

In the end, I'm not sure Sonic won me over enough that it vaults into my regular rotation of go-to fast-fooderies. Eating in your car while it's in motion is an occasional necessity. Eating in your car while it's parked? Why??? Maybe back in the golden age of the drive-in, when Richie and Fonzie and the T-Birds were showing off their carburetors, tailfins, and suicide doors with a doo-wop soundtrack blaring.

But whether it's my advanced age or my hopelessly uncool car, eating a burger while hunched over the steering wheel of a stationary automobile just doesn't sound like fun to me. Even with roller skating carhops. And yes, I know that most Sonics have picnic tables for out-of-car-body eating experiences, but if I'm now unbuckling my seatbelt to eat there, why choose Sonic over other fast-food chains? Not for the burgers alone; they're just not THAT good. For their Half-Price Happy Hour, when I can liquid lunch for less with 398,929 fountain drink and slush combinations? Possibly. And if I'm feeling peckish before crawling into a 44-ounce cherry limeade, I now know that I can find some halfway decent options here. Hell, maybe even onion rings.

About the author: Todd Brock lives the glamorous life of a stay-at-home freelance writer in the suburbs of Atlanta. Besides being paid to eat cheeseburgers for AHT and pizzas for Slice, he's written and produced over 1,000 hours of television and penned Building Chicken Coops for Dummies. When he grows up, he wants to be either the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys or the drummer for Hootie & the Blowfish. Or both.

Love hamburgers? Then you'll Like AHT on Facebook! And go follow us on Twitter while you're at it!

Gluten-Free Tuesday: How to Make Jalapeño Poppers

2012-05-15T18:45:00Z

[Photographs: Elizabeth Barbone]

One thing to know before making a batch of jalapeño poppers: they are slippery little buggers! So slippery, in fact, that prepping them for frying takes a little extra care so that in the end, you have jalapeño poppers and not jalapeño exploders.

First things first: You need peppers. This time of the year, I get mine at the grocery store. Later this summer, when my garden produces peppers faster than I can keep up, I pick them fresh.

No matter where you get your peppers, you want to look for two things: an intact stem that gives you something to hold onto while breading the peppers, and no holes! Any holes allow the filling to leak out during frying. I usually select small jalapeño peppers because I like serving finger food that can be eaten in two or three bites, but that's just preference.

Cut and Scrape

Jalapeño poppers are really just a delivery system for the cheese-bacon filling, right? Since it's a nightmare to fry a leaky jalapeño—think lots of hot oil "pops" while you deep fry—we want to keep all the filling inside the jalapeño until the first bite.

Instead of cutting the peppers fully in half, slice them only 3/4 of the way from base to stem. By not cutting the pepper completely, it won't separate during frying and make a mess.

After you cut all the peppers, use the back handle of a spoon to remove the rib and seeds, this is where the heat lives.

If you like spicy, leave a couple—really, just one or two—seeds in each cavity for a hotter popper. If you want your peppers hot but not fiery, take care to remove everything.

Fill 'Em

Getting the cream cheese filling into the peppers isn't hard but it's a little tricky. Don't just smear the filling into the pepper with a spoon—you'll make a mess. The peppers will split apart, and even when they don't, you can't fill them all the way to the top. And who wants an under-stuffed popper?

The pastry cook in me took one look at my problem and said, What are you doing?!? Grab a pastry bag. This allowed me to fill the entire pepper with no mess, and not one pepper split in half.

Freeze

As you fill the peppers, the cream cheese filling softens and gets a little warm. If the poppers are fried while the filling is warm, it can ooze out of even the best filled and sealed pepper.

To prevent this: pop the the peppers into the freezer for about 15 minutes. You don't want to freeze the peppers; you just want to chill the filling so it sets up.

Dredge

Thanks to the jalapeño's smooth skin, the breading on my first batch of peppers slide off in the fryer. This was easy to solve, I "double breaded" the next batch, just like I do with my gluten-free mozzarella sticks. By enrobing the jalapeños in egg and bread crumbs twice, a thicker coating encases the peppers that not only seals in the filling well but also keeps the coating on during frying.

First roll the pepper in seasoned white rice flour. This is where the stem comes in handy, use it to gently roll the pepper in flour.

Then dip in whisked eggs.

Roll in finely ground breadcrumbs. Try to avoid any bare spots. But try as you might, a few might sneak through. This is okay.

Return the pepper to the egg mixture. Again, use the stem as a handle.

Finally, return the pepper to bread crumbs for the last time.

Take care this time to cover any bare spots.

Freeze (Again) and Fry (Finally)!

Return the peppers to the freezer for about 10 minutes. (While the jalapeños firm up in the freezer, I heat my deep fryer.) Again, you don't want to freeze the peppers, you just want the filling to firm up and the coating to set.

Finally it's time to fry! Heat oil to 375°F degrees. This oil temperature gives the pepper a nice, crisp coating while cooking it until it's tender but not mushy. The pepper retains a pleasant crunch, even after frying.

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Jalapeño Poppers »

About the author: Elizabeth Barbone of GlutenFreeBaking.com joins us every Tuesday with a new gluten-free recipe. She is the author of Easy Gluten-Free Baking. and "How to Cook Gluten-Free".

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Behind the Scenes at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers with Head Brewer Kushal Hall

2012-05-15T17:00:00Z

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Behind the Scenes at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers with Head Brewer Kushal Hall

[Photographs: David Kover]

For most of us, the idea of working in a craft brewery sounds pretty cool. In reality, we just want to hang out with a pint in one hand. But is life in a brewery really like that?

"Generally, we're not just sitting around drinking, talking about beer. We're scrubbing drains and getting burned by caustic and all that good stuff," explains Kushal Hall. Hall learned this from experience. He started out at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers with a position on the bottling line, working his way up until, now, at the ripe old age of twenty-eight, he's the head brewer.

It's no small operation that Hall finds himself in charge of: last year, Speakeasy produced 13,000 barrels of beer, and they're aiming for 20,000 this year. The mischievous eyes that serve as Speakeasy's logo seem to appear on a tap handle in just about every bar around San Francisco, and their bottle distribution around the country grows every year.

Hall recently gave us a tour of Speakeasy's brewing facility, and then sat down to share his perspective on the world of craft brewing.

Building a Beer Career

Hall told us that in the period after he graduated from college, he had moved back home to Los Angeles where he ended up home-brewing every month with his father. He soon figured out that his future lay in beer, and so he moved to San Francisco with the idea of finding a job in a brewery.

After trying to find an internship, Hall realized that he just needed to get his foot in the door, and took a non-brewing job on Speakeasy's bottling line that he'd seen posted on Craigslist.

"I worked on the bottling line for about a year and half or so and slowly moved up to a position where I was helping train other employees on the bottling line," Hall explained. In the meantime, he would come in early to learn from the folks doing the actual brewing, and eventually got promoted to a job brewing beer. Last March, not yet four years into his tenure at the company, Hall was promoted all the way up the ladder to head brewer.

Mistakes Along the Way

Thinking that Hall's rise at Speakeasy must have been the result of an unblemished record of perfection, we wondered aloud whether he'd even made any mistakes along the way. Hall laughed, hard, when he heard this.

"So many! I've made a lot of mistakes," he said. "During my second or third week on the job, while I was on the packaging line, I opened the door to the mash tun thinking it was empty when it was full, and dumped an entire mash on the ground. I was sure I was gonna get fired. But, they were just like, 'Well, you're never gonna make that mistake again!'"

There was more. "Once," said Hall, "I managed to completely drain the CO2 system for the building, leaving it running over the weekend."

Just for good measure, he added one more story, even though this one wasn't actually his responsibility: "This was nobody's fault in particular, just a bad door on the fermenter, but the door actually tore off the fermenter. The entire tank of beer just spilled into the building. The whole place was full of foam. It took us two days to clean it out. There's nothing you could do to stop it, so we just stood there and watched it until it was done. And then it was like, 'Get some squeegees!' That was a nightmare."

Life as a Head Brewer

Hall admits that life as a head brewer is different than he imagined. "Being a head brewer involves a lot more doing paperwork on Excel, and making phone calls, and writing schedules, than actually brewing beer. I probably spend, at most, 20 percent of my day actually physically brewing beer now. I have shift brewers who do most of that work."

Not to take the bloom off the rose for all you aspiring head brewers out there, because Hall clearly loves what he does. "It's still very fulfilling. For me, the part of the job that I like the most is working on new recipes. Building recipes, tasting the beer, seeing those changes come about. That's something I'm definitely working on every week."

New Recipes

When talking about the flavors in Speakeasy's regular stable of beers—such as Big Daddy IPA and Prohibition Ale—Hall told us, "We don't want them boring. We want them strong and noticeable, and kind of poignant examples of the style they're meant to represent, but we also want them to be balanced and drinkable and generally something that you want to have a couple pints of. We call them West Coast sessions. They're all mid six-percent alcohol, but you can drink a few pints of them and it doesn't wreck your palate or anything."

In addition to these tried and true flagship offerings, Hall says Speakeasy usually has a couple of new recipes moving through the tanks every three months or so. Right now, they're focused on barrel-aged beers.

These barrel-aged brews will be pretty heavy duty. Take the imperial stout they're working on, which has a working name of Two Minutes to Midnight, and is currently aging in bourbon barrels. Hall envisions you drinking it out of a snifter. "It will be something that's heavy, it's boozy, it's chocolaty. You sip it and drink it slow." he explains.

Speakeasy also recently added a program to produce four seasonal beers each year which they sell in twenty-two ounce bottles. They hope beer drinkers will see this sizing as an excuse to try something new, maybe share a few sips with a friend, without having to commit to a six-pack of unknown beer. So far, the seasonal line has included their Betrayal Imperial Red, their Scarface Imperial Stout, and their Butchertown Black IPA. Next up is a beer called Vendetta, which Hall describes as a strong, citrusy IPA that they brew using Seville orange. It's an updated version of Agent Orange, a beer they produced for the five-year anniversary of local bottle shop City Beer Store.

The Future of Craft Brewing

We are always curious what beer professionals see in craft beer's future. Hall worries that the rush of new breweries opening up these days isn't completely sustainable. "I expect that there are a lot of breweries opening right now that aren't going to be around in five or ten years," he says.

He also talks about the growing sophistication of American beer drinkers and the diversity of beers that interest them. "There's going to be way more beers in many more different styles. That's the nice thing about the American beer scene. I mean, Belgian beers are great, but Belgians only brew Belgian beers. If there's a French beer that's coming out that's a whole new thing, we [American brewers] can steal it and brew it. (Laughs.) We can brew some Swedish beers, or whatever we can get our hands on. There's no end to what the American brewer has in their palate."

Want to sneak a peek behind the scenes at Speakeasy? Check out the brewery with us in the slideshow above.

Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

1195 Evans Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121 (map)
415-642-3371; goodbeer.com
Note: Most days, Speakeasy is a brewing-only operation, but it opens to the public on Friday and Saturday afternoons.

About the author: David Kover is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and food enthusiast. He occasionally gets his tweet on as @pizzakover.

Video: Behind the Cote de Boeuf at Abe & Arthur's

2012-05-15T16:45:00Z

From Serious Eats: New York

We're on the cusp of a wonderful time of year: barbecue season. Who doesn't love backyards filled with corn on the cob, fresh ripe watermelon, and grilled meat?

(My apologies to the veg-exclusive viewers; your video will come soon enough.)

Speaking of grilled meat, let's preemptively kick off the summer with a mouthwatering inspiration known as the cote de boeuf. A lot of love (and butter) goes into the 40-ounce ribeye, and we're all the happier for it. Special thanks to Abe & Arthur's Executive Chef Franklin Becker for letting us peek behind the scenes.

[Videography: Jessica Leibowitz]

This ribeye's admittedly not standard Memorial Day weekend barbecue fare. It's aged for 28 days and is sourced from Creekstone Farms via Pat LaFrieda. It's cooked in four stages: in an infrared 1,700 °F salamander, a regular oven, a clarified butter bath—and a quick return to the salamander to finish. If only my uncle could serve cote de boeuf at his annual MDW 'cue...

Serious Eats

Redd Wood in Yountville: A Pizza Destination in Napa Valley

Redd Wood

Ask A Bartender: What's The Best Tip You've Ever Gotten?

AHT Giveaway: Case of Pat LaFrieda Burgers

Taste Test: Bottled Ranch Dressing

The Winners!

The Contenders: Shelf Stable Category

The Contenders: Refrigerated Category

The Criteria

The Results: Shelf-Stable Category

#1: Ken's Steakhouse Ranch Dressing (4.9/10)

#2: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Topping & Dip (4.3/10)

#3: Ken's Chef's Reserve Steakhouse Farmhouse Ranch With Buttermilk (4.09/10)

#4: Ken's Steakhouse Peppercorn Ranch Dressing (4.0/10)

#5: Newman's Own Ranch Dressing (3.7/10)

#6: Wish-Bone Ranch Dressing (3.4/10)

#7: Kraft Ranch Dressing and Dip (3.4/10)

#8: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing (2.8/10)

#9: Whole Foods (365 Brand) Organic Ranch Dressing (2.1/10)

The Results: Refrigerated Category

#1: Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing Mix (5.3/10)

#2: Marie's Creamy Ranch Dressing (4.1/10)

#3: Marzetti Ranch Veggie Dip (3.7/10)

#4: Trader Joe's Parmesan Ranch Dressing (3.6/10)

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Cut and Scrape

Fill 'Em

Freeze

Dredge

Freeze (Again) and Fry (Finally)!

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Mistakes Along the Way

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The Future of Craft Brewing

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Video: Behind the Cote de Boeuf at Abe & Arthur's

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