Clark Wolf's Rants, Raves, Diatribes...and a few other Thoughts

Thanks for Giving it Back, Susan

Susan Ungaro, President of the James Beard Foundation, has returned the Distinguished Citizen Award she received from the Boy Scouts, and I’m a happy camper.

The group, well known for its anti-gay policies (they recently fired a den mother when they found out she was a lesbian), does in fact do a lot of things I support and feel good about. Heck, I was a cub scout, a weebalo (yeesh, what a word) and a boy scout, getting nearly to Eagle with a collection of merit badges I’ve misplaced along the way, and scarfing more than my share of Dinty Moore canned chili.

The fact is that Ungaro most likely had no intention of endorsing the sort of discriminatory activities most of us find abhorrent. Initially, she was simply acknowledging the connection between her own (and the Foundation’s) good works and those poverty and hunger fighting and other worthy programs the Scouts do regularly.

The problem is, she’s not just a concerned citizen. She’s the President of a well-known organization named for a man most consider the Dean of American food — and himself a gay man who was tossed out of Reed College in Oregon for just that reality. Turns out she has a higher position of public trust than she had perhaps considered. She has an obligation to think carefully about these sorts of things and the need (and opportunity) to take some enlightened stands when it feels appropriate.

Her receiving — and then giving back — this award represents the successful negotiation of the dilemma a lot of well known chefs and food folks face these days. With greater notoriety and public voice than ever before, we in the world of food have to think hard and long about any and all public associations.

I’m comfortable that she acted with traditional respect and generous intention. And I’m glad – with some help from the blogosphere – that she changed course and corrected her misstep. I’m sure James would have been pleased, too. He loved imperfection and humanity, especially with a happy ending.

Now if the Boy Scouts could just get it together to do the same…

Full article here

 

“Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics” a Book Talk, April 10th at NYU’s Fales Library

New York University's Fales Library, the home of one of the nation's largest and prestigious collection in food studies, and Clark Wolf, food and restaurant consultant, are hosting a book talk to celebrate the publication of Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics by Dr. Marion Nestle and Malden Nesheim, on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the Fales Library, third floor, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, (at LaGuardia Place). A reception and book signing will follow immediately after the talk. [Subways A,C,E, B,D,M to West 4th Street; 6 line to Astor Place; R train to 8th Street.].

Calories--too few or too many--are the source of health problems affecting billions of people in today's globalized world. Although calories are essential to human health and survival, they cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted.

The conversation, moderated by Clark Wolf, host of the Fales Library's "Critical Topics in Food Series," will center on the epic view of a calorie: what it is, where it came from, what it means, how and why we count them. Nestle and Nesheim, two of America's finest nutritionists, will help decode nutritional science into a commonsense language and situate calories in their place in the wider cultural and political context.

The public may RSVP to: rsvp.bobst@nyu.edu with your name and title/date of the event. For more information the public may call Elizabeth Wiest, 212 992 9744 or email liz.wiest@nyu.edu.

MEDIA ONLY: Reporters interested in covering or attending the event must contact Christopher James at 212-998-6876 or email christopher.james@nyu.edu.      

Full article here

 

So long, Charlie

If you aren’t interested in gastronomy, you probably haven’t heard of Charlie Trotter. If you are, you know that Trotter exploded onto the dining scene 25 years ago. His Chicago restaurant, Charlie Trotter’s, soon became one of the top – many said the top – dining destinations in America, known for groundbreaking cuisine as well as Chef Trotter’s driven, obsessive personality. And if you’re a chef or other food professional who’s had any association with Trotter, you’re sure to have opinions about him ranging anywhere from love to loathing.

Almost entirely self-taught, Trotter was just 27 when he opened his eponymous restaurant. After finishing a political science degree, Trotter traveled throughout Europe, dining only in fine restaurants. Returning to Chicago, he worked in a now-defunct restaurant for just a year before opening Charlie Trotter’s.

Then there was the foie gras flap. In 2002 Trotter quit serving foie gras for humanitarian reasons and was influential in the Chicago City Council briefly banning it in 2006. But the city’s move – and Trotter’s role in it – was controversial. “I’ll listen to what he says about bird care when I hear he’s nicer to his line cooks,” said radio food commentator Clark Wolf. And Trotter was less than humane in published comments about chefs who disagreed with him, especially the slightly hefty Rick Tramonto whose restaurant, Tru, was ranked as highly as Trotter’s: “Tramonto’s not the smartest guy on the block….We ought to have Rick’s liver for a little treat. It’s certainly fat enough.”

Full article here

Chez Panisse 40th Anniversary

 

 

How wonderful and magical to get to share a bit of the 40th Anniversary of Chez Panisse with Alice (Waters, natch) and Marian Burros.  From the Edible Schoolyard lunch (Michael Pollen, Carlo Petrini...) to the Berkeley Art Museum for Alice's photo portrait for the Smithsonian (I call her Joan of Arbor) to the swank dinner in the Berkeley Hills (yup, that's Jake Gyllenthaal welcoming us).

It was memorable, delicious and fun.  Oh, and just a little world changing.

 

 

 

An Homage to George Lang and Larry Bogdanow

In recent days we’ve lost a couple of dear people who worked hard and created possibilities for all of us.  Very different folks, they were both long standing members of the world of restaurant folk we can’t help thinking of as extended family.

 

In recent days we’ve lost a couple of dear people who worked hard and created possibilities for all of us.  Very different folks, they were both long standing members of the world of restaurant folk we can’t help thinking of as extended family.

Larry Bogdanow was one of the very first restaurant designers who was willing to work with any sort of materials and all manner of spaces, sometimes with minuscule budgets.  He had humor and warmth and accomplished some truly notable achievements in restaurant design, including the original work on the Union Square Café in New York City, the recently shuttered Savoy in Manhattan’s Soho and a whole lot more.  He was a thoughtful political activist, taking progressive positions, rather publicly at times, way ahead of the current curve towards responsible and sustainable food business.  He will be missed.

George Lang was a survivor, an original, and simply one of a kind.  He escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and made his way through the byzantine kitchens of New York’s 20^th Century.  He helped the legendary Joe Baum create restaurants like The Four Seasons for Restaurant Associates and created new life and major benchmarks at the (recently) late and lamented Café des Artistes.  He brought the old world grandeur back to Gundel in Budapest.

Full article here

How good press can happen, just by doing a good job

 

We snagged us a cover of a magazine!  A good one, too.  Travel + Leisure.  The Food issue.

This is the story of what is truly a favorite part of my professional life: Collaboration. It’s the story of a lot of good folks in a beautiful seaside town called Seaside, Florida. It’s the story of how success often happens when the sum of a number of people’s parts come together to make more than there was before.  A lot more. (Didn’t know where that was going, did you?)

I was brought to this beautiful town, an award-winning New Urbanist Design community perched on a near pristine stretch of sand at the Gulf of Mexico, by the visionary developer Robert Davis (who, it should be noted, spends a good deal of his time with wife Daryl living, working and eating in San Francisco). It’s the very town used as the setting for a surreal futuristic cautionary tale starring Jim Carrey called The Truman Show. Davis’ charge to me was to strategize and coach, conceive and corral, advise and support (with a little cajoling tossed in) institutions and practitioners of the town into making and offering better food and drink.

We’ve had some nice success.  A 9% jump up the first year, maybe 17% the second, in the happy neighborhood of 34% this next.  All through the Great Recession and the disastrous Oil Spill that have laid many low. The town is now heading towards $20 million in food and beverage sales, almost all of it really very good.

Full article here

The Big Cheese has left the building — and a heck of a treasure trove in his wake

 

The Robert Mondavi and James Beard of cheese-making has died.

Ig Vella, longtime crusty sweetheart of Sonoma (the town and county), mentor and friend to every honest food lover he ever met, and the greatest American cheese maker of the last couple of generations has left a heck of a legacy.

 

The man just had the magic, to which he added tenacious hard work and a kind and generous heart. He loved to teach, not just cheese-making but leadership, stewardship, and partnership as well.

We lost him, but he’ll always be with us — in his brilliant Dry Jack, in his father’s tart Oregon Blue (and its delicious progeny), in the zip of his raw milk Cheddar and in the milky sour of Mezzo Secco, and a whole lot more.

And in the tradition of good dairy and cheese and farm folks everywhere, he’ll be a benchmark and guidepost for us all.

Thank you Ig, for all you gave us, left us, and taught us. And for your crusty and tangy sweetness, full of warmth and sustenance.

Full article here

Local Boy Makes Good … Dinner

 

Over the Beardfest Awards weekend I got to have a meal with a dear friend at a cozy hot spot and had some stellar food I’d been missing since chef  Eric Korsh de-camped from his sweet garden roadside resto just outside Sebastopol –  the late and greatly lamented Eloise.

 

Eric is the new (well, a quick year it seems) chef at The Waverly Inn, owned (and strategically seated each evening by remote control) in part by Vanity Fair master editor Graydon Carter.

What a good choice for everyone.

The Waverly has been around forever but got brilliantly refreshed, with a kitchen launched by John Delucie (he of black truffle topped mac and cheese fame) who has gone on to his own equity at The Lion nearby.

That’s why Korsh, who is a bit deeper, nuanced and more classical in his style, is so perfect.

Faith Stewart-Gordon, long time owner of the legendary Russian Tea Room, used to say “you have to make the restaurant the way folks remember it – not simply as it was …” Which means better and deeper every time. She added braids on waiters’ jackets, mirrors and molding, to name some of my favorite flourishes.

Eric adds butter.

Well, clearly, that’s not all. He’s a wonderful cook with a broad range and delicate hand. His rabbit with tagliatelle is tender, rich and sweet. The burnt caramel panna cotta is shockingly delicious.

He’s got his head down, working hard. He’s glad to be back in his home town, feeding Manhattan swells with the scratch to support this totally down-to-earth but completely-worldly effort. We miss him in California, but delight in having spoiled him in the Sonoma sunshine for a while, filling his mouth and memory with true, clean tastes to which he can add a little New England butter in New York…

Full article here

Something's Stinky in here

I was in Brooklyn today, on Smith Street, helping a young couple plan their new bakery/cafe and we scoped out the neighbors. Wandered into what looked to be a locavore food spot that didn't seem to have a window sign.

I got ten feet in when I said "Hey, this really reminds me of that tiny cheese filled spot near here called Stinky!"

A very nice person behind a very full counter told me I was in fact in the center of the new, larger but still true Stinky shop.

Good job guys. I felt it before I smelled it before I shopped it. That's knowing who you are and what to do and how to do it your way, memorably. I'll be back - and so will the neighborhood.

Visit Stinky here

Distressing News

There was a fire in the ceiling of the old building on Guerneville Road that houses the beloved restaurant Zazu. No word yet about fixing - cause if the whole place needs to be redone they won't be able to be there when it's finished. 

So in the meantime, to help support them and, frankly help and please yourself, go at once and often to their wonderful cafe, bovolo,  at the back of Copperfield's bookstore on the square in Healdsburg.

I particularly love the sausage burger and the black pig bacon (their own) and egg sandwich - ok, and the gelato - but everything they make is stellar. Have a salad. It reminds you what a joyous and delicious meal foods built on greens can be.

 

UPDATE (3/31/2011)

Nice people, good people and crafts people seem to stick together.  The ceiling at the dear and wonderful roadhouse restaurant on the edge of Santa Rosa farmland is rewired and patched and the Saturday night fire is just a smokin memory.  Thanks to quick thinking (and complementary prosecco) and hard work the favored local spot is now reopened and rockin. 

Yet another reason to fall in love with their sweet staff and some great fire department stalwarts.  Local heroes make for quick and safe recovery.  They have a Farmers Plate and a Butchers Plate on the menu.  Maybe they need a Fire Brigade Special.