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Viva La Molecular Gastronomy!

Tomorrow I take off for Chicago to engage in decadent acts of gastrotourism. First up Alinea--check out www.egullet.com to see what's in store for me there. I got a call from their reservationist today to see if I wanted the 8 or 10 courses or THE TOUR--over 20 courses. I asked her if people seem to be able to handle it, and she told me that an eight year old got through it! I'd like to meet the kid that's into avant garde cuisine. So I'm taking the whole tour! I doubt I can stay within my alotted Weight Watchers points ( 10 pounds so far), but hey, it's art.

The next night is Moto
which should be a similar experience.

In the meantime, I took delivery of a great wine from Page Cellars in Napa. The Cabs are big and rich, just how I like them and better yet, part of the money from the sale of some vintages goes to the American Cancer Society.

Posted by rforrest at 06:50 PM | Comments (0)

Endless Summer

I just got back from Wyoming where I dropped my 12 year old daughter off at Ranch camp for three weeks. I'm sure sadness and that empty nest feeling will set in soon, but in the meantime, I can go out to dinner every night if I want to!

She's so sweet. We dined with friends at a very swank restaurant in Jackson Hole--at the plush and wonderfully designed Amangani resort ($700 bucks a night--yee-haw!). The granddaughter (Vivian) of my friends is the same age as Avalon (my kid) but not nearly as adventurous about food. So she ordered penne with marinara from the dreaded KIDS menu (AAAAAAHHHHH) and so did my daughter. Later, Avalon said, "Mom, I really wanted to have the lamb chops with fennel pollen dusted on it, but I didn't want Vivian to feel bad." And a culinary empath is born.

The meal was good, but frankly we have better restaurants here in my opinion. I did not get to eat at a Chuckwagon place (maybe when I pick her up), but I did get some buffalo tenderloin which was just -eh--bland.

The kitchen at the camp was huge and gorgeous and they let the kids help out if they want. Avalon was happy about that.

The best night was dining at my friends' home right on a golf course with tomato and mozzarella salad, lamb loin on the grill and fresh green beans. Oh, and a nice Gundlach Bundschu Merlot. They pointed out where Dick Cheney's house is across the way.

So for the next three weeks I'll be off on many culinary adventures, including a trip to Chicago to try out Alinea, the new center of molecular gastronomy from Chef Grant Achatz. 24 courses! How about some pulled mastic (an aromatic resin of the mastic tree), with toasted pine nuts and rosemary blooms?

Check out Wine Me Dine Me the radio version with myself and Susan Tuveson tonight at 6 pm on WSCA-FM 106.1 We have Michael, the bar chef from 43 Degress on tonight!

Posted by rforrest at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

Me and my Truffle

5:30 on Saturday night and I was going out on a date. With a large pungent black truffle fresh from Tuscany.

Yep. Just me and my truffle. It deserved better than me with my pretty good but not expert culinary talents. So I called Chef Mark Segal at the 100 Club. "I have a truffle...can you make me something with it? I'll leave you the rest!" He sure could. He was excited about meeting my truffle and cooking with it. "How stinky is it?" he asked. It was plenty stinky.

I went over to Attrezzi and introduced my truffle to Rich Collins there. "We're going to dinner!" I was so proud.

Mark had already made homemade pasta for me and my truffle. Three courses...scallops with sherry viniagrette in a four-tier tower with shaved truffle between the layers. Fresh pasta in a Chardonnay cream sauce with truffle. Venison cooked rare sliced thinly with foie gras, truffled mashed potatoes and even more truffle.

We shared some wine, my truffle and I. But I didn't go home with it. I left the rest there for the crew. It would have been bad in a week and I was going away. I sure will miss it.

Posted by rforrest at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

Here's a list of everything I ate today......

In 2004, a guy in NY named Tucker Shaw photographed everything he ate, every single day for a whole year. Then he published it in a book called Everything I Ate: a Year in the Life of My Mouth. At first I thought, "This has gotta be a snoozefest." But actually it's strangely fascinating. You sort of see his moods through what he eats and he includes the people he ate with.

Ok, so that's what I'll do...every few days, I'll just list everything I ate! Ok, so this morning I ate a hard boiled egg sandwich on wheat bread with sea salt and pepper, and then I had a plum and then......

Don't worry, I'm not going to document everything I eat, every day. I think that would be a snoozefest!

But since I started writing about food for Seacoast Media Group about 2 and a half years ago, I've been totally immersed in the world of food here on the Seacoast and beyond and some things don't make it to the paper--there are so many tidbits of information and tastes out there and I'm always out and about finding them-- a particular local cheese at a wine dinner, a new way to use tomato in a cocktail, a visit to a Seacoast restaurant kitchen or just something that I saw on TV. Or something I think everyone simply must try.

Like.... hot dogs. Because it's July and national hot dog month I've been yet again researching and writing about hot dogs and hot dog joints, including a new one on Ocean Blvd. in Hampton Beach called Bucky's Weenie Wagon. They have a relish (or sauce you might call it) that is remarkably like Flo's hot dog sauce in Cape Neddick and even a dog with guacamole (the Greenie Weenie) with shredded lettuce. If you can brave the crowds, check it out.

In local restaurant news, I got my August issue of Bon Appetit and the bright happy faces of Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier of Arrows are there in full color holding a sign for their new Ogunquit place, MC. It's nice to see local restaurateurs in the big mags, but of course, they're famous. And The Dunaway Restaurant opened for lunch at Strawbery Banke. And Chef Kurt Holzweiss has left the Kiwi Grille in Newburyport. I'm eager to find out where he goes.

I also took a break from getting together all the stuff my daughter needs for three weeks of ranch camp in Wyoming (her biggest culinary challenge this week was getting a Slim Jim package open, although she did down two dozen mussels one night) to watch Hell's Kitchen (embarrassing) and a documentary called Hamburger America on the Sundance Channel. (jawdropping).

Every burger was wackier than the next. There are deep fried burgers in Memphis fried in 90 year old grease( they drain it) that had to have a police escort when the restaurant moved and my favorite, the butter burger, with about a quarter pound of soft butter spread on the bun before putting it on the burger. Butter was dripping down the diners' arms. If I didn't live a half an hour drive from Portsmouth I would have hightailed it to Gilley's (double cheese with ketchup and mayo) or Wild Willy's after that. One thing they all had in common is that they grind their own lean beef--all the owners were very insistant on that.

Which makes me wonder---what makes a great burger? The beef? The grease? The toppings? Where do you go for a great burger? Tell me!

Oh and be sure to check out Derek Sarno, chef and organic farmer on WSCA-FM 106.1 tonight at 6 pm. I'll be yakking to him about what came up in his garden.

So much for my first blog entry. Now I think I'll go have a five-variety heirloom tomato salad. No pictures.

Posted by rforrest at 08:29 AM | Comments (3)

About this Blog

We all know the restaurant and "foodie" scene on the Seacoast is hopping. New chefs bring new ideas, our local wine and cheese shops get the latest in artisan fare and suddenly Shiraz is out and sake is in. How to keep up with all the great new food and drink experiences cropping up daily? The Wine Me Dine Me blog gives you the latest in what's going on in the Seacoast food and drink scene and beyond. From Kennebunkport to Newburyport (with maybe a jaunt to Boston) "this just in" might be a new must try dish at a local bistro, a restaurant opening next month or a new vineyard's best vintage. Where can you go for a sushi class? What was great at that Old Vines Zinfandel wine dinner last week? When's the next Chowderfest? Are the Spring dug parsnips in season yet? And what do I do with them? What wine goes with them for that matter?

Wine Me Dine Me brings you all the latest food and drink trends and events arriving on the Seacoast every day. Rachel Forrest, the Portsmouth Herald's resident food writer, is out and about experiencing it all daily, and she'll let you know about her adventures in foodland and how you can find them too, from the latest in NH crafted cheese to new chefs to great recipes for the table. She'll even let you know about discoveries a bit further afield you might see any day now.

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Posted by admin at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)