Thursday, May 20, 2010

NY Times Review: Big Apple BBQ Glen Cove NY


Rustic Barbecue With a City Twist


Dave Sanders for The New York Times
DOWN HOME Big Apple BBQ, which opened in April, has Southern entrees and citified desserts. Left, the monster ribs.



THOUGH it has made strides in recent years, New York hardly qualifies as a barbecue Mecca on the order of, say, Kansas City or Memphis. Still, New York was the namesake chosen by the five co-owners of Big Apple BBQ, who include the executive chef, Roy Bruce, formerly of Rothmann’s Steakhouse in East Norwich. The rustic spot in Glen Cove opened in April in the quarters that were last home to Wild Harvest.
Dave Sanders for The New York Times
The monster ribs at Big Apple BBQ.
The restaurant has a split personality: half backwoods rusticity, half big-city good looks. The major components of the décor are left over from the previous occupants: an upside-down canoe over the bar, antler chandeliers, rough-hewn tables and chairs, a stone fireplace, wide-plank wood floors and a mounted moose head.
New York City is represented by sophisticated black and white photographs of the Chrysler Building, the Statue of Liberty and the Flatiron Building. Huge televisions are overhead, and the bar, though rustic, is backlighted with flashing colored lights.
Big Apple BBQ is child-friendly. There’s a children’s menu ($7.95 includes a choice of six entrees, a side dish, dessert and a beverage). The dining room is so loud your children won’t disturb anyone. And the décor will keep them amused: A toddler at the next table stared at the moose head through his whole meal.
Adults may not be as happy. The food is very uneven. One diner at our table was singing the praises of the ribs, while others were grousing about dry beef brisket and overcooked marinated skirt steak.
In general, the pork beat out the beef. The ribs, called monster ribs, were just that. The meat was tender to the point of falling off the bone. Pulled pork, though a bit stringy and dry, was also better than the beef selections.
The sandwiches got mixed reviews. I liked the devil dog, a giant Wagyu hot dog on a toasted bun, covered with chili and melted cheese. The juicy dog was even better on its own, once the toppings were scraped off. Avoid the barbecue meatloaf sandwich, which had a mushy texture and lots of filler.
Every meat entree comes with two sides, sandwiches with one. The best side dish was the large, crunchy onion rings. Other good selections included a refreshing cucumber-onion salad, creamy coleslaw and spicy shredded raw carrots.
Those choosing potato salad, macaroni and cheese, or French fries were disappointed. All were ordinary, especially the listless French fries; sweet potato fries were a better choice. Corn bread got mixed notices, with purists at our table complaining about its sweet cakelike texture, but I liked it. It was moist and studded with kernels of corn.
Appetizers were generally weak. The Caesar salad, while large, had a creamy rather than a classic dressing. The chopped salad with blue cheese dressing contained lots of iceberg lettuce and very little blue cheese.
Skip the onion soup, which contained chopped brisket and tasted like beef in thin gravy. The gumbo was a spirited, tasty brew with lots of andouille and chorizo but no discernible shrimp, which the menu mentioned as an ingredient.
Most of the food is down-home fare until dessert time. The sweets are brought in from Brooklyn and are strictly New York City-style, with offerings like an individual chocolate mousse cake, enrobed in chocolate, sitting on a plate drizzled with chocolate sauce. There was also a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and a citified strawberry shortcake with a base of white cake rather than the traditional biscuit. Though unexpected given the overall style of the food, the desserts were moist and appealing.
The menu at Big Apple BBQ can be a minefield. Though you might have a satisfying meal here with careful ordering, your dinner could easily be a dud.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Book release: Steak - One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef

A new book by author  Mark Schatztker all about one of all time favorites, steak!


A popular travel writer and humorist’s global adventures searching for the perfect steak and investigating the remarkable (and often bizarre) subcultures of its passionate aficionados.



STEAK:
One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef
______________________________________________________________________
According to Mark Schatzker’s no other meat “merits its own class structure.  There is no such place as a lamb house or pork house, but even a small town may have a steak house.” In his new book STEAK : One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece (Viking; ISBN: 9780670021819;  $25.95; On-Sale May 3, 2010),  he explores the almost lunatic lengths steak lovers will go to find – or raise – the perfect cut of beef, as well as debating corn-fed vs. grass-fed cattle, the best cuts of meat, and the best way to cook a steak.
Due out just in time for grilling season and father’s day, STEAK is a mouth-watering adventure of the culinary variety, combining everything from the science of flavor to the history of steak sauce in American cuisine. The book also includes a guide on “How to cook a steak in 15 easy steps” and includes a website, www.steakthebook.com , for a list of where or how to buy some of the steaks described in this book. It will delight steak lovers everywhere. 
Led by his tongue, Schatzker’s investigation takes him to Texas, where he witnesses a meat judging contest at Texas Tech University and makes a pilgrimage to the Big Texan Steakhouse, home of the “Texas King,” a 72-ounce piece of meat that beckons diners to finish it in its entirety in one hour. In France, he visits the famous cave paintings at Lascaux to witness the majestic but extinct Auroch, a type of huge wild cattle. In Scotland, he discovers that what gets sold in the US as Certified Angus Beef may not even come from Angus cows; in Italy, he tastes the much-praised Chianna at the largest steak festival in the world; and in Japan he learns of a rare brand of beef more exalted even than the fabled Kobe beef. Still craving perfection, Schatzker returns home and raises his own heifer, fattening her on apples, acorns and carrots, then grapples with ambivalence when it comes time to visit the abattoir. But it’s in Idaho where he indulges in the book’s last meal, a rib-eye prepared on an outdoor grill by a cowboy that outshines any of the other steaks he’s eaten.   
About the author

Mark Schatzker is a freelance magazine writer and frequent contributor to Condé Nast Traveler and a humor columnist for the Globe and Mail newspaper. He has been nominated for a James Beard journalism award and has received numerous magazine awards. He is best known for his Condé Nast Traveler story and widly popular blog that took him around the world in 80 days without ever taking a plane. (Not as easy as you’d think.) Steak has been a longtime obsession in Schatzker’s writing and a couple of years ago, after suffering one too many bland and over-priced strip loins, he decided that he’d finally had enough. Where, he wondered, can a person find a decent steak? Thus began another world odyssey, the culmination of which is, STEAK.


Please Visit www.penguin.com for more information


STEAK: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef
Viking; ISBN: 9780670021819
$25.95; On-Sale May 3, 2010

Thursday, May 6, 2010

New book by Adam Perry Lang BBQ 25:The World's Most Flavorful Recipes-Now Made Foolproof

I haven't even finished reading and trying recipes from Adam's last book and he releases a new one! I will be reviewing it in the near future. Here is the link to get the book at Amazon

BBQ 25: The World’s Most Flavorful Recipes
 – Now Made Foolproof
By Adam Perry Lang



Grilling master, barbecue chef and best-selling author Adam Perry Lang has spent his career perfecting what he calls “3D Flavor” for the barbecue.  Not satisfied with flat boring flavors, Adam has created an effortless method of layering flavors to get extraordinary results from your grill.  In his newest book,BBQ 25: The World’s Most Flavorful Now Made Foolproof (HarperStudio, May  11, 2010, $19.99/boardbook) Adam distills his vast knowledge and creates the “25 recipes that you will cook 95 percent of the time” and puts them into a format that’s a first for a cookbook.

His hyper-visual “BBQ survival guide” comes in a wind-proof, easy-to-clean board book built to withstand beer and barbecue sauce spills out at the grill. BBQ 25 is organized by type of meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish & miscellaneous) and cooking time (quick, medium, long). He begins every chapter with a short list of “Sourcing Tips” and then dives in.  Directions are split into “preparation” and “cooking method” and Adam communicates his 3D flavor-building techniques into easy-to-remember phrases including “season like rain,” and “glisten with oil.”In addition, each recipe is illustrated with full-color photographs of the process, a pictorial of the required tools, and ingredient lists for marinades, seasonings, and brines. And every dish can be done in 10 (or less) steps from preparation to table. 

Adam takes every opportunity available to build flavor by marinating in advance, basting during and saucing (sometimes right on the resting board) post-grilling. He prefers indirect heat and likes to keep things moving to ensure even cooking. Grilling is an active sport for Adam—and it’s not enough just to marinate OR slather with barbecue sauce. Adam employs both for a superlative result. Take his nine-step recipe for boneless chicken breasts as an example.  He begins with a wet marinade of herbs and spices and lemon juice which you “mix and crush with your hands” in a re-sealable bag. After you brine for at least an hour, dry them off and sear them in a cast-iron pan that’s been heating on your grill. While the chicken is cooking in the pan, make a glaze with herbs, honey, olive oil and lemon zest and place into foil pan on the grill.  Then start moving. Cook the chicken back and forth between the foil pan and straight on the grill. The flavors build as you cook. When the chicken has finished cooking and rests, boil the glaze down and pour it over the rested breasts for the most flavor infused chicken your guests have ever eaten.

More than half of the recipes in BBQ 25 are “Quick Cook” because as Adam writes in his introduction, “Sometimes all you want is instant gratification. Relax, have fun, embrace simple ingredients and make them into something spectacular. Enjoy the stuff that surrounds you, and cook while having a beer, hanging with your family or watching a game with your friends.  You want recipes that are straightforward, easy-to-follow and look really professional, with flavors that blow your mind.” What more is there to say?

#          #          #



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam Perry Lang graduated with distinction from the Culinary Institute of America and cooked at Daniel, Le Cirque, and Restaurant Guy Savoy. Tossing his pursuit of stars for pursuit of flavor, Adam became a pioneer in urban barbecue and opened a “rib shack”, the nationally acclaimed Daisy May’s BBQ U.S.A in New York City. Adam also left the bright lights of New York City kitchens for the competition barbecue circuit and has taken the prizes of Grand Champion honors at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa and a First Place victory for his Pork Shoulder at the Kansas City American Royal a.k.a. "The World Series of BBQ".  He also serves as meat maestro at Mario Batali’s Las Vegas Italian steakhouse,Carnevino, and is currently partnering with Jamie Oliver in Barbecoa, a restaurant scheduled to open in London in October 2010.

BBQ 25: The World’s Most Flavorful Recipes Now Made Foolproof
By Adam Perry Lang
Foreword by Jamie Oliver
Photographs by David Loftus
Price: $19.99 / Board book
Publication Date: May 11, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-199023-6

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Banners

If you are a competition bbq team chances are you need a banner. Heres a deal  for you:
Esigns Banner Sale!

Buy 1 banner, get 2 more identical banners for free.

Just enter the "may2freebanners" code during checkout, pay for 1 banner and receive 2 more identical banner copies at no additional charge.

Promotion starts May 5th, 2010 and ends May 21st, 2010. No limits - use it as often as needed for as many banners as needed. You can even buy 100 banners, enter the code, pay for 100, and receive 300 banners total.

Thank you,
www.Esigns.com
800-494-5850 x4

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Sledding and Que

Anthony Bourdain sledding to get some que up in Maine.  Two of my favorite hobbies mixed together. 

Here the info on the joint:

Spring Creek Bar-B-Q
26 Greenville Road
Monson, ME 04464
(207) 997-7025