25 Jun 2013
by scolgin
in American Series, Food
Tags: Alice Waters, Betty Crocker, carne asada, cherry cobbler, Dodgers, Emeril Lagasse, Hollywood bowl, Saveur, summer, Tae Kwon Do
With summer comes all things American — baseball, barbecues, fireworks, hot dogs and burgers, corn on the cob, the beach. It seems as if summer is the quintessential American season — a time of sunny optimism, that most American trait.
Willa picking cherries
Each region of the country celebrates the season a little differently. We have our own unique summer traditions in Southern California — margaritas and mariachi, carne asada, Spanish rosé, tri tip on the grill, Dodger dogs and Hollywood Bowl picnics. One summer favorite I’ve always eyed with suspicion was cherry cobbler. Until recently, that is… More
05 Feb 2013
by scolgin
in American Series, Food, Humor
Tags: Champagne, Grand Central Station, Mark Helprin, oyster bar, oysters, Peter Lake, Walrus & Carpenter, Winter's Tale
“He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.” —Jonathan Swift
* * *
I found an article online, “The 10 Best Classic American Dishes and Where to Find Them.” Number 3 was New England clam chowder, and the place to get it was the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station in New York. Which got me thinking about oyster bars.
The Walrus & the Carpenter
If I had unlimited disposable income and could eat anywhere I wanted, at least one night a week would be spent at an oyster bar. More
27 Nov 2012
by scolgin
in American Series, Food, Humor, Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: Byck's Department Store, Dann Byck, Derby pie, dessert, Kentucky Derby, Kern's Kitchen, Kurt Vonnegut, Louisville, recipes, Robert Altman
I am fortunate to have not lost many friends over the years. There was a rash of deadly car crashes in high school, reckless kids gone almost before they began, but since then things have pretty much been quiet. With the exception, that is, of one of my dearest friends — a Southern gentleman named Dann Byck.
Dann at Byck’s Department Store in Louisville, 1977
Dann would bristle at that description of him, which is exactly why I use it. He had a good sense of humor. We met at a coffee joint on a snooty street in Santa Monica where we would both sometimes sit in the mornings and watch the beautiful Range Rover mothers push their babies past in Italian-made Peg Perego strollers. More
27 Apr 2012
by scolgin
in American Series, Recipes
Tags: Blue Bayou, bourbon, cajun, cocktail, Disneyland, Louisiana, mint julep, Pirates of the Caribbean, recipes, whisky
Our friend, Heather, invited us and a few friends recently to celebrate her birthday. She wanted to do a “Southern potluck.” I offered to bring gumbo, fried chicken, corn bread and a few other miscellaneous items. “You nut,” Heather responded. “It’s not a potluck if you make everything!”
Heather & her julep
Ultimately I settled on buttermilk fried chicken wings and mangalitsa lard-infused corn bread. And, to drink, mint juleps. More
20 Jan 2012
by scolgin
in American Series, Recipes
Tags: blue cheese, Buffalo wing, celery, chicken, Frank's Red Hot, Maytag, Point Reyes, recipe, Super Bowl
In the sacred domain of Sunday sports, the holiest day of them all is Super Bowl Sunday. And if there is a culinary sacrament most cherished by its practitioners, it would be the Buffalo wing.
Buffalos don’t have wings. But chickens do, and the story goes that a guy with a bar in Buffalo, New York stumbled upon the fabled recipe while either trying to stimulate his patrons to buy more drinks, or trying to use up a mistaken delivery of chicken wings. Whatever the truth, we say thank you.
You could veer from tradition and try this recipe with Tabasco or some other spicy red sauce rather than Frank’s Red Hot (available online or in most well-stocked grocery stores); you could use margarine or olive oil rather than butter, or bake your wings instead of frying them. People do all sorts of crazy things in life. More
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