fish

Hawaiian food with a French twist

Posted on by Pat
Perhaps it's because he's French, but George Mavrothalassitis, known to everyone simply as Chef Mavro, is the most romantic of chefs. He's still recalls his first morning in Honolulu, looking over Waikiki Beach to Diamond Head at sunrise. “I fell in love at first sight,” he says. Almost thirty years later, the love affair continues. Born in Marseilles, Chef Mavro developed an early appreciation for fresh fish paired with the strong Provençal flavors of olive oil, garlic, fennel, rosemary, bay laurel, and other herbs. “I never worked with cream and butter in my life,” he says, noting that it was easy to translate his approach to cooking to using fresh ingredients from the Hawaiian archipelago. He first cooked at some top hotel restaurants on Oahu...Read More

Starting a day in paradise at the fish auction

Posted on by Pat
The sun was barely up when I arrived at Honolulu's commercial fishing port and headed to Pier 38 for the Honolulu Fish Auction. By standards of the 140-vessel fishing fleet, the day was far advanced. Boats start unloading the catch about 1 a.m. for the auction, which begins at 5:30 a.m. and lasts until every fish is sold—usually sometime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Whether in a fine restaurant or a beachside bar, I have never enjoyed tastier or fresher fish than in Hawaii. I was curious to get a glimpse at the only fresh tuna auction in the United States and thrilled when Chef Mavro, one of the island's top talents, asked me to join him on a visit. The United Fishing Agency...Read More
At Smithtown Seafood, ‘local’ is measured in feet

At Smithtown Seafood, ‘local’ is measured in feet

Posted on by Pat and David
Chef Ouita Michel, who calls Holly Hill Inn (www.hollyhillinn.com) in Midway, Kentucky, her home base, is completely on board with the vision of FoodChain (see previous post). She's so on board that she opened the little takeout seafood restaurant inside the Bread Box called Smithtown Seafood (smithtownseafood.com) and installed the immensely talented Jonathan Sanning as her chef de cuisine. (That's Jonathan below holding the fried fish.) Ouita (as everyone in Lexington seems to call her because everyone in Lexington who cares about food knows her) studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and took as her primary lesson the observation that the best French and Italian chefs create meals out of what they find around them. She's inculcated that same respect for...Read More

Lexington’s FoodChain redefines ‘local’

Posted on by Pat and David
A Saturday afternoon tour at FoodChain (foodchainlex.org) in Lexington's Bread Box complex might change the way you look at “local” food. At the very least, it can give you a peek into a somewhat promising food future where excess building space is converted into a living factory to produce vegetables and protein—or, more specifically, salad and microgreens and big plump tilapia. The brainchild of Rebecca Self, native Lexingtonian, MIT graduate, and spouse of Ben Self (see last post on West Sixth Brewing), FoodChain is a demonstration project of an “aquaponics” farm. The growing techniques are a hybrid of aquaculture and hydroponics, which have complementary strengths and weaknesses. Aquaculture is generally used to grow fish or crustaceans in closed tanks or ponds. Most cheap frozen tiger...Read More

Le Drunch targets Dublin Sunday late-risers

Posted on by Pat and David
Coming from Cambridge, Massachusetts, we felt right at home when we spent our last few nights in Dublin at The Marker Hotel, which sits on Grand Canal next to the architectural landmark Bord Gais Energy Theatre. (That's the hotel on the right and the theater on the left in the above photo.) This corner of Dublin is known as the Silicon Docks, thanks to the presence of Google, Facebook, Yahoo, PayPal, Etsy, Eventbrite, and others. For those who know Cambridge, the Silicon Docks might as well be Kendall Square minus the robotics firms. It's a stunningly modern part of Dublin, as this night shot of the Samuel Beckett Bridge suggests. (Santiago Calatrava's design is often likened to an Irish harp, but we think it looks...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

What a great thing to do with an egg!

Posted on by Pat and David
We've been lucky enough to visit Sevilla's Taberna del Alabardero every few years over the last few decades, but it's possible that our most recent meal was the best yet—even though it was off the modest bistrot menu instead of from the haute cuisine fine-dining menu. Now with sites in Madrid and in Washington, D.C., Taberna del Alabardero began as a social-work program launched by a priest to teach marketable skills to boys from the streets. It's evolved into one of the top hospitality schools in Spain. The original location in Sevilla near the bullring is the laboratory where all that hospitality training is put into practice. The townhouse mansion has fine dining rooms upstairs with a menu that would have made Escoffier smile. (The...Read More

One tapa with the entire taste of Spain

Posted on by Pat and David
While all the tourists are milling around the Mezquita and the Alcázar in Córdoba, the Córdobans are getting together over tapas at the first gastronomic market in southern Spain. Mercado Victoria (www.mercadovictoria.com) was installed in May 2013 in a feria pavilion in the Jardines de Victoria, just northwest of the Judería's Puerta de Almodóvar. The 30 food stalls cover all the bases of a conventional fresh food market—fish, meat, produce, baked goods, and beverages—but most also offer food for immediate consumption on the premises. There’s also a kitchen workshop for classes and demonstrations. By early evening, the entire glassed-in pavilion is jammed with people eating and drinking, making it one of the most lively tapas scenes in town. But we were especially amused to spot...Read More

Tapa to try at home – stuffed peppers

Posted on by Pat and David
We're in Sevilla at the moment, researching what's great and new for the new Frommer's Spain. Part of what's new is the completely re-done public market in Triana, just across the river from Sevilla proper. This tapa of sweet red peppers stuffed with king mackerel (melva, to the Spanish) was a bargain at 2.80 euros at La Casa Fundida (stall #46A). It's topped with mayonnaise and grated cheese and baked in a hot oven. It tasted as good as it looks. It's one in a list of tasty bites we hope to replicate when we get home. This was made with canned fish, which makes it even easier. It doesn't hurt that the Spanish make the best canned fish and shellfish in the world....

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