shellfish

Banks Fish House throws some kind of birthday party

Banks Fish House throws some kind of birthday party

Posted on by Pat and David
It's been a harrowing couple of years in the restaurant trade here in Greater Boston. As we've been watching this summer on Hulu's ‶The Bear,″ small restaurants struggle to keep their heads above water in the best of times. During pandemic shutdowns, the waves got too choppy and many of them sank. One such casualty was the Post 390 chop house in Boston, a friendly spot with a great wine list and bar program that lasted for a decade. But last summer, the owners gave the space new life by opening The Banks Fish House (406 Stuart St, Boston, 617-399-0015, thebanksboston.com). For us, it became the new upscale answer to the question we receive most from out-of-towners: Where do I go for good fish in...Read More
Sophisticated plates pair with Goslings Rum cocktails

Sophisticated plates pair with Goslings Rum cocktails

Posted on by Pat and David
Located in the tiny downtown of Milford, New Hampshire, Greenleaf (bar above) is proof positive that farm-to-table fine dining can coexist in a region where pasta and cheese-intensive Greek and Italian restaurants otherwise rule. Chef Chris Viaud grew up in nearby Londonderry, studied at Johnson and Wales, and cut his teeth as part of the crew in Boston's modern French dining room, Deuxave (deuxave.com). Drawing on a slew of excellent local producers, Viaud normally serves an inventive and artfully articulated menu based on seasonal produce, meat, and fish. But the Goslings Rum Dinner was even a step above, as three of Viaud's fellow alumni from Top Chef Season 18 joined him in crafting a menu that would also showcase the many faces of Goslings Rum....Read More
Cail Bruich sets the bar high for Scottish cuisine

Cail Bruich sets the bar high for Scottish cuisine

Posted on by David
“We serve wild game and it may contain shot,” cautions a note at the bottom of the tasting menu at Cail Bruich (725 Great Western Rd., Glasgow; 0141 334 6265; cailbruich.co.uk). For those who like their meat nice and brown, the menu further advises, “Some ingredients are cooked sous vide.” With warnings like that, who could resist? (Against my mother's admonitions, I was always the child with beans in his ears.) It's a bit of a schlep from Glasgow central city out to this bohemian stretch of West Glasgow near the Botanic Gardens, but it's worth the pilgrimage. Now in its 10th year of serving elevated Scottish cuisine made with classical technique in a semi-casual setting, Cail Bruich (Gaelic for “Eat Well”) continues to amaze....Read More
A Dalí-ance in Catalan gastronomy

A Dalí-ance in Catalan gastronomy

Posted on by Pat and David
When we visited Salvador Dalí's home and studio in Port Lligat, Spain, late last year, we didn't know that the cookbook by the most surreal of Surrealist artists had been re-published in 2016. But we knew he loved to eat. Dalí and his wife and muse, Gala, spent a lot of time in their house-studio in the fishing cove of Port Lligat, about a mile away from Cadaqués near the Spanish border with France. The property began as a fisherman's shanty when Dalí bought it in 1930. Over the next 40 years, the house accreted new rooms and wings and gardens and statuary and.... Well, Dalí was prone to excess. That's a photo of the building at the top of this post. It perches above...Read More

Lincoln Inn emerges as Vermont’s gourmet destination

Posted on by Pat and David
The Lincoln Inn in Woodstock is among the most European of the little inns in Vermont, and not just because chef Jevgenija Saromova hails from Latvia. She and innkeeper partner Mara Mehlman describe the property as a “restaurant with rooms.” That's a model common in the European countryside, and often signals great dining. Think, for example, of Maison Troisgros, one of the pioneers of modern French cuisine. Woodstock isn't Roanne, of course, and Jevgenija Saromova (or Chef Saromova, as she prefers) isn't Jean or Pierre Troisgros. Not yet, anyway. But she has impressive classical culinary credentials and a personal style unique in northern New England. She worked in top restaurants in Italy, France, and England before joining Mehlman in Vermont. The two women have applied...Read More
Provisions provides pitch-perfect Boston bistro

Provisions provides pitch-perfect Boston bistro

Posted on by Pat and David
We wondered if the opening of State Street Provisions (255 State St., Boston; 617-863-8363; statestreetprovisions.com) during December's holiday blur was like Hollywood releasing its most promising films just before Christmas to make them eligible for award consideration. In that case, Provisions wins Best Boston Bistro of 2015. But that hardly makes the place out of date for 2016. Readers of HungryTravelers know we rarely write about our home turf, but Provisions seems so representative of dining trends we're seeing in Europe and the U.S. alike that we couldn't resist. Also, we expect a lot of visitors to Boston this year, and we're happy to send them to this waterfront bistro/gastropub where they'll get good value (and great food and drink) for their money. Executive chef...Read More

A prawn by any other name

Posted on by Pat and David
Few things are as quite as confusing as the wonderful array of crustaceans available in southern Spain. When we were in El Puerto de Santa María in February, we photographed some of them at the Romerijo fish market (www.romerijo.com). The same crustacean (per its Latin name) may have two or three different common names, depending on size and where it is caught. The six images here, for example, only show four different species. Here they are, from left to right, above: Camarón (Palaemon serratus) is the common rock shrimp (common prawn to the Brits) found in abundance at the mouth of the Río Guadalquivír. When they are small like this, they are comparatively inexpensive. In Andalucía, they are often fried up, shell and all, in...Read More

Winning shellfish dish in PEI chef cookoff

Posted on by David
Judging the final round of the Garland International Chef Challenge turned out to be a big deal. Instead of hiding in a back room while we tasted, Dominic Serio and I sat on the main stage while the two finalists cooked on the main floor of the hall in front of the stage. Chef Alain Bossé paced back and forth for an hour offering commentary and gently kidding both contestants. With $10,000 on the line, the two finalists gave us their hand-printed menus. Marc Lepine was preparing lobster poached in orange beurre blanc with crab meatballs, miso mayo, fennel sponge, wild rice crispies, and lobster jus. Ryan Morrison proposed “packed” lobster tail, oyster and crab hushpuppies, cauliflower purée, chanterelle and spearmint “salad,” and dill-pickled mustard...Read More

Making PEI mussels like the mussel master

Posted on by David
As a native Belgian and as the man who launched mussel aquaculture on Prince Edward Island (see post), Joel Van Den Bremt has eaten his share of mussels over the years. When I asked him how he preferred to cook them, he thought a bit and told me, “steamed, but with the vegetables soft enough to eat. I like the vegetables, too.” I agree with him. Some diners will pass the mussels to someone else at the table and just concentrate on the mussel-flavored broth. I prefer the three-bowl plan: one for the mussels, one of the spent shells, and a third for broth and vegetables. Although you can steam mussels in a dry pan, relying on their own juices, many people add raw vegetables...Read More

PEI folks give new meaning to foodies

Posted on by David
I can't say I've ever see an island where so many people make or gather or process wonderful food. Between judging duties at the International Shellfish Festival I had the chance yesterday to drive around the island a bit, heading up to the north shore to see a mussel processing operation (more on that later on), pay a visit to a potato farm, catch a picnic in the fields, and visit Raspberry Point oysters. That's Scott Linkletter at the top of this post, hauling a cage of oysters to show how they're grown using an Australian system of posts driven into the soft bottom of shallow waters. The cages are suspended on lines that hang on the posts. Every few days he and his staff...Read More