Filipino food's greatest champion

The New York Times on Doreen Fernandez

Not surprised to see her written about so glowingly in The Paper of Record--frankly it's about time--but am surprised and delighted to learn she's inspiring a whole new generation of Filipino chefs remaking the American culinary landscape with their cooking (tried Bad Saint about a year back and it's impressive food).

Surprised most of all because I knew all this since college at least--she was my freshman English professor. Loved her class, lapped up everything she could teach about writing and critical reading, helped me develop my prose to the point I wasn't too embarrassed by what I wrote.

Hell I even know the kidney she received in a transplant--the donating nephew was a year or so ahead of me in that same college.
Her Lasa: A Guide to 100 Restaurants was my bible--tried to visit as many of the places as I could. Her column "In Good Taste" was my weekly reading ritual (every Tuesday if I remember right); whatever she wrote about was immediately added to my ever lengthening list of snacks or meals or places to visit before I die.

Her passing was a shock. Her column ran for some more weeks--she wrote that much in advance--then stopped, then I *really* started missing her.

Wish I kept in contact. Wish I kept that book. Wish I could talk to her again, or at least tell her of what I've eaten, what I've cooked, what I've learned of the cuisine we share and I've since grown to love.

Anything good in my writing is her small triumph I'd say; anything bad is failure on my part to listen. Which is far from everything I want to say about her but is what I needed to say at this moment.

Au Pied de Cochon (Martin Picard)

Pig out

I remember Martin Picard declaring to his friend Anthony Bourdain (in the Quebec episode of No Reservations): "Tonight I will keel you." To which Bourdain added: "these are words I don't take lightly." Picard proceeded to keel Bourdain with one spectacularly rich and extravagant dish after another, ending with the palate cleanser of a whole roasted suckling pig, bisected snout wrapped in 24 k gold leaf. "You can eat it and the day after you're shitting gold," Picard told his guest. I vowed ever since that someday somehow I would visit the scene of the massacre.

Thirteen years later and there I was. standing in front of Picard's Au Pied de Cochon, one of the pioneering restaurants that helped put Montreal on the international culinary map. A relatively quiet little joint: storefront of glass and wood folded aside to let in light and air; street deck with tables and--love this--planters full of herbs: rosemary, cilantro, so forth. Peered a little closer at the cilantro: some of the stems have been cut. They're not just decor, the herbs were being used. 

Junior (Jojo Flores, Toddy Flores, Bic Flores, Baba)

Home away

Junior isn't the only Filipino eatery in Montreal, but as all the others are clustered around the Cote-des-Neiges neighborhood it's the only one that chose to strike out for other pastures, establishing itself in 2014 in Griffintown, a former Irish immigrant community turned industrial area turned urban renewal experiment. 

A Filipino restaurant as part of the effort to revitalize an economically depressed community? Why not?

Old Market Day

Short but sweet

Chambersburg's Old Market Day last July 21 started out nicely ended--well let me tell you.

Au Pied de Cochon

Alternative Spring Break 

Transcribed from Snapchat

N: You did what?

C: Volunteer work

N: Where?

C: Montreal

N: Canada?

C: Last I checked 

N: For spring break?

C: Beats getting drunk in Ft Lauderdale

N: Lemme guess: you did it out of the purity of your heart and need for clean living?

C: Shuttup

N: So where is this?

C: Belvedere Kondiaronk observation deck Chalet du Mont Royal.

N: Nice view.

C: City worth looking @ 2

Eel Bibimbap

Sexual eeling

We hadn't visited Korean Bulgogi House in a while which is a pity--at one point we were ordering takeout so often Julie (the House proprietor) recognized who it was the moment she saw my number on her phone screen. "Hello Mr. Noel! The usual?" "You know it."

And we were glad to drop by--there were some new items we were eager to try.

Manhattan Mangia Mystery

Christmas time in Manhattan--we dreamed about it and talked about it and this year saved up and actually did something about it.

Chambersburg Icefest 2018

Chambersburg Icefest 2018 couldn't ask for a more gorgeous Saturday, with a near flawless sky (maybe a wisp or two of cloud here there).

Square 1

The prettiest seat in town

The little town of Chambersburg, PA is slowly but surely taking on a more multicultural nature, from the Korean stone-pot bibimbap dishes in Bulgogi House to the juicy drool-inducing roast chicken in Inka Kitchen (the same kind of roast chicken that causes traffic jams in Washington DC's suburbs).

Inka incidentally has been so successful it's spun off a second location, focused not on Peruvian but a kind of Pan-Latino cuisine. Square 1 located smack dab on the center of Chambersburg's downtown features what's arguably the most sophisticated take yet on Mexican/Puerto Rican/Dominican Republic cooking. It also (see pic above) has what's easily the loveliest table in town, with an unobstructed view of the town fountain, and the surrounding trees draped with Christmas lights.

Pre-Emptive Thanksgiving

Working again this Thanksgiving so in the spirit of making fresh lemonade out of this particularly sour batch of lemons we did our feast last Sunday, when the family was together.

Southern Fried Solar Eclipse

Southern fried solar eclipse

When the NASA interactive eclipse map combined with weather.com showed that the best places to watch the Aug. 21 solar eclipse were all west of the Carolinas--well what d'you think we did? 

Road trip!

Not on the Fourth of July

Not on the Fourth of July 

So for Fourth of July we went to Cowan's Gap, basically a small lake surrounded by lush pine forest, with a little sandy beach at one side, picnic tables, grills, a stand renting kayaks and paddle boats. 

O it's not the Fourth you say? Got me there--we went last June 25. But I haven't properly celebrated any holiday secular or religious in years, usually settled for the weekend before or weekend after (helps explain in part my antipathy towards Christmas); either Luz or I or both work that night. Comes with a job that demands 24/7 staffing, 365 days a year--you don't live a normal calendar.  

Bad Saint (Tom Cunanan, Genevieve Villamora, Nick Pimentel)

Devilishly good

First heard of Tom Cunanan, Genevieve Villamora, and Nick Pimentel's Bad Saint from Bon Appetit Magazine's rave piece back in August of last year, declaring the little cubbyhole the second best new restaurant in America. 

Filipino? Second best in the country? Aside from a chauvinistic kneejerk reaction (Only second best?) I was skeptical. Then almost three months later the Washington Post's Tom Sietsema harumphed about the Michelin Guide's inclusion of the eatery as one of D.C.'s nineteen Bib Gourmand restaurants of 2016--places of good value for 'dining off the clock,' or cheap eats. The food critic opined that the Guide's definition of what's cheap isn't the same as ours (basically two courses and dessert or a glass of wine for $40, minus tax and tip). "The place deserves better," he declared, describing the twenty-four seat no-reservations establishment as a "gem, as gracious as it is luscious," and adding "Outside of a home, I doubt if there's better Filipino cooking anywhere in the country." In November the New York Times' Pete Wells wrote "I have now spent roughly twice as many hours standing on the sidewalk outside Bad Saint as I have spent inside eating its Filipino food" which sounded like the prelude to a complaint so I braced myself: turns out he considered the waiting part of the experience.

Weekend in West Virgina

The place I belong

Spent the last weekend on a brief swing through West Virginia--why? Why not? Never been there, heard a lot bout the state, wanted to see for ourselves.

Rabbit Stew with Tarragon Biscuit Crust

My pot runneth over

Was looking at Scott Conant's recipe for Stewed Rabbit with Tarragon Biscuits reminding myself of all the reasons not to try making it: 1) It's not going to be easy. 2) I've never really baked before. 3) I don't have all the ingredients (Morels? Spring garlic?).

But wow it looked good and I had bought three frozen rabbits from Giant the month before so so so

ReINKArnated

ReINKArnated

Inka Kitchen on 1228 Lincoln Way East isn't exactly easy to spot. If you check the photo below, they have an unpretentious storefront with a small emblem above the door, a roadside sign you see when getting off I-81 to turn towards Gettysburg, and that's about it. Easiest way to remember their location? They're the place beside Kentucky Fried with chicken that tastes much much better.

Pennsylvania Farm Show 2016

Penn eats

Managed to go to this year's Pennsylvania Farm Show and other than the horrific traffic ('well-attended' doesn't quite describe it) it was an easy drive.

Not Another Christmas Dinner

Not another Christmas dinner

As with Thanksgiving I'm working Christmas Eve into Day and as with that other occasion the one silver lining in this dreary grey raincloud of a sitch is that I get to post my holiday meal before anyone else, so there!

Chic's Seafood

Blue crab blues

Officially blue crab season in Maryland starts April 1 (no foolin) and ends December 15, tomorrow. I hear best time for crabs is in autumn, when they start eating more to survive the long winter; I'd been meaning to drive down to Baltimore to try some.

Thanksgiving?

What Thanksgiving?

Working this holiday weekend as always so we had dinner on Sunday the 20th instead.

One genuinely silver lining in this crummy cloud--I get to post my pics before anyone else (and if anyone has already posted those are probably from last year or someone's cheating with a time machine).