Recent Episodes

 

Dwight Furrow, the author of American Foodie: Taste, Art, and the Cultural Revolution, talks about the philosophy of food. We discuss everything the impact of everything from automobile to Alice Waters to the Slow Food movement have shaped the way Americans think about food.
 
 
 
 

 

Inbal Baum, the Founder of Delicious Israel, joins us to talk about where foodies should eat when they travel to her country.

• Shakshouka is a popular dish in Israel
• Israeli Breakfast is a distinct and important meal
• The modern cherry tomato has roots in Israel
• Tel Aviv and Jerusalem top the list of cities you should visit
• Beach season runs from April to October
• Rosh Hashana is a great time to visit Israel
• When you visit Tel Aviv, go to the Carmel Market, the Levinsky Market
• Try the date syrup, Silan

 

 

Food for Thought

• Q: After pita bread, what is the most common food used to “wipe” humus?
• A: Raw onion.

 
 

Out of the Frying Pan

• Favorite Spot for Outdoor Dining: Milgo & Milbar
• Favorite Place to Buy Spices: Cafe Arma in Levinsky Market
• Herbs to Try: Za’atar and Hawaij (in Yemenite Coffee)
• Favorite Winery: Sphera
• Favorite Place for Dessert: The Malabia
• Favorite Food Experience for Kids: Max Brenner
• Chef to Watch: Eyal Shani
• Dish to Try at Different Places: Shakshouka and sabich

Bennet Jacobstein, author of The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine, talks to us about what foodies can find at different baseball stadiums around the country.

• Hot dogs and sausages are not the same thing.
• The quality of ballpark food was elevated in the 90s as new stadiums were built and food television shows took off.
• Stadiums have highlighted regional foods.
• Gordon Biersch‘s founder Dan Gordon introduced garlic fries at Candlestick Park in 1994.
• The song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was written in 1908.
• The Yankees replaced Cracker Jacks at one point, but brought it back after a public outcry.
• 

  San Francisco Giant Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries

  Veggie Happy spearheaded the movement to get veggie dogs sold at ballpark stadiums.

• Andrew Zimmern has a stand in the Minnesota ballpark.
• Rocky Mountain Oysters are bull testicles.
• “The Big Six” are the food companies that service the major ballparks.
• As you go from ballpark to ballpark, try the hot dogs at each to see how they’re done differently.
• Proceeds from Bennett’s book go to Second Harvest Food Bank.

 

Food for Thought

• Q: In what year were Cracker Jacks first served at a baseball game?
• A: 1896 in Atlantic City.

 

Out of the Frying Pan

Here’s what Bennet recommends you try at each ballpark:

• Yankees Stadium in New York City: Chicken and Waffles.
• Fenway Park in Boston: Lobster Roll and a cuban sandwich.
• Wrigley Field in Chicago: Chicago-style hot dog with Vienna beef.
• Turner Field in Atlanta: Boiled peanuts.
• Marlins Park in Miami: Cuban dishes.
• Safeco Field in Seattle: The Ivar’s hot dog (with fish) and cream cheese hot dog.
• Nationals Park in Washington D.C.: A cauliflower hot dog and presidential cupcakes.
• 

  Chicago White Sox Chicago-Style Hot Dog

  Busch Stadium in St. Louis: The BBQ.

• Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles: Tommy Lasorda Spumoni ice cream.
• AT&T Park in San Francisco: Crab salad, lamb sausages, and Gordon Biersch garlic fries.

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More in this City

Taste Trekkers owes it all to its Kickstarter campaign. So to give back, we like to shine a spotlight on other projects.
 
Meet Julia Kravets. A fashion model, certified skydiver and vegan baker, Julia grew up in Brooklyn. During her career as a model, Julia refused to give up decadent desserts in order to stay in shape, so she challenged herself to create the healthiest, most nutritiously dense desserts she could. She soon became vegan, and did anything she could to learn more about healthy eating.
 
She soon realized that opening Little Choc Apothecary would help her promote environmental and animal welfare; help local, organic farmers and businesses thrive; spread health, and make more vegan options readily available due to an ever-growing demand for them. It would also cultivate a fun and creative environment in the community. Everything she ever wanted!
 
 

1. Tell us the idea behind Little Choc Apothecary.

 

Little Choc Apothecary is a vegan bakery, crêperie, tearoom and juice bar. We are taking the café concept to a new level, with an exciting, creative approach to wellbeing!
 
We live in a culture that demonizes desserts, and aims to exclude them from a healthy diet. Eating a tasty treat is considered “cheating”, which attaches a negative stigma to dessert. This kind of restrictive association causes people to develop terrible relationships with food, and could lead to eating disorders. It’s hard to disagree though; with the amount of refined sugar, bleached, nutrient-free flour, coloring, preservatives, weird unpronounceables, and other unnatural ingredients that go into desserts these days, it’s easy to be terrified of them.
 
Our goal is to put health back into dessert, so people can enjoy delicious sweets while reaping real health benefits. All of our desserts are crafted with the most nutritionally dense ingredients; in place of bleached white flour and white cane sugar, we go for healthy date and coconut sugar, locally ground whole wheat, spelt and nut flours.
 
We keep it raw when possible, and try to avoid oil, but when we do use oil, it’s always richly-flavored, healthy extra virgin coconut oil. Nothing on the premises will ever have any animal products, preservatives, chemical binders, thickeners, colors, flavor enhancers, or other unpronouncables, just a truly one-of-a-kind taste!
 
Aside from nutrition, health depends largely on surrounding environmental factors, which is why we are determined to run our business on sustainable practices. We want to create minimal carbon footprint by sourcing as many of our ingredients as possible locally, decorating our space with air purifying plants, and even growing some of our own herbs!
 
We will remain cruelty-free by never using animal products, and ensuring that all of our imported goods (like acai berries) are fair trade.
 

RELATED: Where to eat in New York City.

 
 

2. Where do you plan to source your local ingredients?

 

We plan to work with Wholeshare for the bulk of our ingredients. They are a wholesale distributor that works with multiple local farmers to bring us fresh, seasonal ingredients.
 
For maple syrup, we have a small farm in Maine called F&A Farm, where we occasionally go to help collect sap during the sugaring season; I can’t say enough about the honesty, pureness, and quality of the hard work of the farmer that makes this syrup. The love alone that goes into this is enough to make any dessert heavenly!
 
Another option is Brooklyn Grange, a 2.5 acre organic vegetable farm that is located on a rooftop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard–a quick 8 minute drive from us! Their wholesale account spots fill up quickly, so we won’t be working with them when we open this season, but have high hopes for next year!
 

 
 

3. What is your favorite dessert that you serve?

 

This is a hard one! It may have to be a tie between the Peach, Ginger & Almond crumble, and the B12 Brownie.
 
The crumble is an instant hit; I just love the way the ginger caramelizes when baking, and gives off these wonderful flavor undertones. It’s also so delicious and sweet naturally, that all it needs is a small sprinkle of maple syrup for extra sweetness.
 
AND it’s oil-free, so there’s no extra fat consumption shenanigans going on here. All of the fat comes from whole almonds, which have complementing nutrients that help your body absorb and process it properly and efficiently.
 
The B12 Brownie is something I have nearly every morning. It’s completely raw, and made from organic pecans, hemp seeds, coconut, dates, and raw cacao. So not only is it a wonderful source of protein, but it’s also fortified with the essential vitamin B12, so instead of taking a B12 pill, you can have a brownie! It’s my favorite thing to have with my coconut milk cappuccino.
 
 

4. Why Brooklyn, NY for you location?

 

This is where I grew up! After winning the green card lottery in 1999, my family and I moved to South Brooklyn from Kiev, Ukraine. After spending my childhood here, I consider myself a Brooklyn girl.
 
While there isn’t much of a market for vegan dessert around the Midwood area at the moment, I think Williamsburg or Crown Heights is a great place to develop, and I plan to open a second location down there eventually!
 

RELATED: The Top 5 Desserts in Boston.

 
 

5. Tell us more about your juices and teas!

 

Our smoothies and juices are all made from organic produce, so instead of getting a concentrated cocktail of chemical pesticides and fertilizer in your drink, you know you’re putting nothing more than a nutritious blend of vitamins and minerals into your body. We also have fun “dessert” smoothies, like Apple Pie, Banana Split, and Pumpkin Pie; it’s like you’re drinking your favorite dessert, minus the bad parts.
 
As for tea, this is where “Apothecary” comes in in our name. We have over 100 different herbs, which will be combined to make customized, medicinal blends based on our patrons’ preferences.
 
If they like them, our visitors can buy these blends to enjoy at home, or get individual herbs by the oz. to make their own concoctions. So many possibilities!
 
Of course we don’t claim to cure any diseases, but based on research, my own experience, and that of my friends, herbs do a wonderful job at speeding up recovery from an illness, reducing cramps, preventing various infections, and keeping your belly happy and functional when it starts to act up.

Randy Rodriguez is trying to open Cabalito, an authentic El Salvadorian Restaurant in NYC that specializes in Pupusas, the traditional food of El Salvador. He was born in California and raised in Vermont with a strong El Salvadorian influence. He moved to New York City when he was 20 years old and has been working in the restaurant industry ever since. Currently, he is working toward his dream of opening an El Salvadorian restaurant to embrace my culture and inform the everyday New Yorker about eating affordable, authentic, and delicious pupusas. We asked him a few questions…
 
 

1. What is traditional Salvadorian food?

The pupusa is undeniably El Salvador’s claim to fame. A pupusa is a gluten-free corn masa tortilla traditionally stuffed with bean, cheese, and/or various meats, typically accompanied by a crunchy, savory side salad called curtido and a red salsa. Beside pupusas we have different traditional dishes such as Sopa de Res (beef soup), Panes con Pavo (turkey sandwich), and Plato Típico (breakfast plate).
 
 

2. How will your background and culture shape the restaurant?

My background is very different because my heritage, birthplace, childhood, and current city is all different. So I want to take a little bit of everything I learned in life into this restaurant. Without a doubt the decor will be very Salvadorian. I want to have traditional music playing and artwork from Latino artists. I also want to utilize all my knowledge from every restaurant I worked at in New York to shape the restaurant. I have worked in many different establishments that not only taught me a lot about the restaurant industry but also about business. I want to be a very smart operation but still be appealing to the customer. I think it’s important to have that balance. Being able to but yourself in both shoes is key. Working in a restaurant requires “wearing a lot of hats” and I feel that I have a closet full of them.
 

RELATED: Don’t Leave New York City Without Trying These Five Dishes.

 
 

3. What different special things will you find in a Salvadorian kitchen?

In the kitchen you will always find music. I hope that the culture from El Salvador will be carried on throughout the restaurant. I noticed that in El Salvador the cooks are always wearing handmade aprons. My friend who owns a pupusaria in Brooklyn always wears an apron from El Salvador which inspires me to keep that tradition.
 

 
 

4. What is the secret to a great Pupusa?

There are a few important keys to make a great pupusa. I think the most important is the masa. The masa has to be the right texture. Not too soft and not too firm. This was a huge challenge for me in my first batches of pupusas. Making the perfect curtido is very important because I’ve had many friends say that the side salad is what pulls the whole dish together. I believe in fermenting the curtido so is juicy and savory. I hate eat pupusas with dry curtido. I also really enjoy a pupusa when the cheese is leaking slightly outside the masa. That certainly adds an extra touch!
 

RELATED: Five New York City Restaurants Every Tourist Should Visit.

 
 

5. What ingredients will you use in the Cabalito kitchen?

Cabalito will without a doubt have fresh ingredient. The curtido will be made fresh daily. I want to also experiment will different ingredients to go inside the pupusa. There are fillings in El Salvador that are standard but I want to explore a little more. I want to keep traditional ingredients like chicharrón (pork), loroco (Salvadorian flower), and queso (cheese). I also want to see if we can use ingredients for the New York tongue. I am aware that people are conscience of what they put into there bodies. I would love to try tofu, veggie meat, and other vegetarian and vegan options. I also want to try pupusas will chorizo and chicken which are not typically eaten. I want the ingredients to be fresh and enjoyable for any customer.

 

In this episode of the Find Dining podcast, we talk to food blogger Liz Rueven of Kosher Like Me about the rules of kosher dining and her new Passover cookbook, 4 Bloggers Dish: Passover: Modern Twists on Traditional Flavors. We discuss the parallels between ancient kosher laws and the modern organic food movement, the questions to ask at your local farmer’s market, and tips for updating the traditional Passover menu.
 

• Check out Liz’s blog, Kosher Like Me
• Liz’s advice for sourcing kosher/organic foods when traveling is to go to local farmer’s market or take a walking food tour early in the trip and talk to people about where they shop and eat.
• Liz’s favorite farmer’s market is in her hometown of Westport, Connecticut
• When shopping at a farmers market, ask the vendors how much of the food is local and if they were grown without pesticides.
• Try the fried olives at Balaboosta
• Liz co-authored 4 Bloggers Dish: Passover: Modern Twists on Traditional Flavors with Amy Kritzer of What Jew Wanna Eat, Sarah Lasry of The Patchke Princess, and Whitney Fisch of Jew Hungry
• Find out how Mazon helps feed the hungry in Los Angeles and supports community services throughout the country.

 
Food for Thought:

• Q: Avocados are the second fattiest fruit. What is the first?
• A: Olives.

 
Out of the Frying Pan:

• Favorite Recipes from the book that Liz wrote: Slow Roasted Beet Relish
• Favorite Recipe from the book that one her partner’s wrote: Amy’s Mini Potato Kugel
• Favorite food tour:  Bend, OR
• Blogger to follow: Amy Kritzer, Sarah Lasry, and Whitney Fisch
• To get vegetarian or kosher food in New York City:  12 Chairs
• Favorite place to eat in or around Westport, CT:   The Schoolhouse