Seafood Archives - Hungry Travelers

Seafood

Icelandic lobster soup warms a chill evening

Posted on March 17, 2023March 9, 2023 by Pat and David

We had read that Iceland's famous ‶lobster soup″ was a special dish widely served at the winter holidays. Given that there's only about four hours of daylight at Christmas, Icelanders definitely need something to cheer them up. But during our Reykjavik visit in late August, lobster soup was ubiquitous on the city's menus. So much for seasonality — or don't believe everything you read on the Internet. According to Iceland Fisheries, the lobster season is April into September All of our research — including asking locals — pointed us to the Seabaron, or Sægreifinn in Icelandic (Geirsgata 101, Reykjavík; +354 553 1500; facebook.com/saegreifinn.seabaron). Everyone agreed that it was famed for lobster soup. The casual grill house squats at the harbor's edge in a lurid green...Read More

Sants Joan’s embodies Valencian market food

Posted on May 28, 2022May 28, 2022 by Pat and David

Living next door to Valencia's Mercat Central for a month, we often skipped going out to eat. That's not self-pity. We liked cooking fresh market produce at home. There was a real advantage to that, since we never made up a menu until we found out what was available. The same doesn't always work for restaurants unless they go entirely with a chalkboard plate of fare. Many of the restaurants around the market supplement a printed menu with an occasional special based on what's in season. But then a place across the square from the market on the ancient steps to the Lonja caught our eyes. Taberna Sants Joan's (c/Pere Compte, 5, Valencia; +34 963 913 134; facebook.com/Santsjoans) proudly proclaimed that all their ingredients came...Read More

Sophisticated plates pair with Goslings Rum cocktails

Posted on November 18, 2021November 17, 2021 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

World on a Plate: Tybee Island boils

Posted on October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 by Pat and David

Even the alligators eat well at The Crab Shack (40 Estill Hammock Road, Tybee Island, Georgia; 912-786-9857, thecrabshack.com). The casual eatery seems to have evolved from a casual marina and even more casual beer store on Tybee Island, the laid-back, barefoot suburb of genteel Savannah. A barrier island backed by a stunning salt marsh, Tybee Island is literally a crab shell's throw away from the South Carolina-Georgia state line that cleaves the main channel of the Savannah River. Subtropical waters lap Tybee's shores, making it warm enough to go fishing or kayaking in the middle of the winter. Or to feast on the deck of The Crab Shack. This is Low Country cooking par excellence. The cuisine has strong elements of African dishes, a lot...Read More

Gourmet pioneer Cafe Gandolfi a Glasgow must

Posted on May 2, 2018April 30, 2018 by Pat and David

Every city's gastronomic revolution has its pioneers, and one of the most important in Glasgow is probably Cafe Gandolfi (64 Albion St., 0141-552-6813, cafegandolfi.com). When photographer Iain Mackenzie opened the restaurant in 1979 in the city's old cheese market offices, he was running against the tide. Adventurous foodies would take a taxi from Central Station, about a 10-minute walk, because the old Trongate neighborhood was so shady. Now Gandolfi is one of several good restaurants in “Merchant City,” the newish moniker for the redeveloped district. The current owner, Seumas MacInnes, came to work as a kitchen hand in 1983 and took over the reins from Mackenzie in 1995. By all accounts, it was a seamless passing of the baton between two Gaels whose families hail...Read More

Tasting Mondavi whites with New England seafood

Posted on August 4, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

In our next lives we want to come back as Mondavis. Every American branch of the clan seems to have a purple thumb ever since Cesare and his sons Robert and Peter took over the Charles Krug winery in 1943. As one of two winemakers at the Michael Mondavi Family Estate (michaelmondavifamilyestate.com), Rob Mondavi Jr. has developed quite a reputation for his quality Napa Cabernets. So we wondered: What about the whites? In New England, where we live, summer means seafood. While we might sip a red with bluefish, we really need white wines for the kings of ocean: oysters and lobster. So we tossed a bottle each of 2015 Emblem Chardonnay Carneros and 2015 Animo Napa Valley Heritage Sauvignon Blanc into a cooler, placed...Read More

Harvest brings Battersby’s big tastes from small kitchen

Posted on July 2, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

A few times a year our neighborhood restaurant in Harvard Square, Harvest (harvestcambridge.com), holds a Sunday supper in its “The Book & the Cook Series.” These 6 p.m. suppers remind us of being back in Europe, gathering for a less than formal meal at the end of the weekend, often around a big table. Mind you, the meals are far more elegant than our Euro repasts. They invariably feature a cookbook author who is also a chef. With input from the author, Harvest's executive chef Tyler Kinnett (right) and pastry chef Joshua Livesay oversee a meal compiled (or sometimes adapted) from the cookbook. Their realizations are invariably spot-on. They demonstrate both the skill of the Harvest staff and their willingness to step into the background...Read More

Provisions provides pitch-perfect Boston bistro

Posted on January 12, 2016March 8, 2020 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

At Smithtown Seafood, ‘local’ is measured in feet

Posted on September 1, 2015January 16, 2020 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

CIA classes bridge to Latin cuisines

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Pat and David

There's nothing like a cooking class to build bridges across cultures, and the San Antonio branch of the Culinary Institute of America has a special interest in the cuisines of Latin America. Its spacious and modern campus opened in 2008 in some of the larger buildings of the former Pearl Brewery. It was a keystone in the development of the Pearl District, a lively area of restaurants and shops and site of a Saturday farmer's market. In addition to professional chef training, the CIA offers enthusiast classes for home cooks. During Culinaria in May, we joined a Latin Boot Camp class for a crash course in several styles of South American cooking. The class was led by Sergio Remolina, who hails from Mexico City and...Read More