Harrington’s of Vermont is a venerable business (founded 1873). Their specialty is ham smoked over corn cobs. Wicked good, as they say in New England. The ham is a favorite of brilliant granddaughter Arianna R. (She has the mind of a Nobel physicist and face and form of an Italian movie star). HG/BSK,Lesley and Massimo R. managed to wrench the ham from Ms. A’s clutch and have a dinner of sliced ham and Lesley R.’s superior home made cole slaw and potato salad. Big variety of mustards and pickles on the table. HG made a special plea and gracious BSK constructed one of BSK’s incomparable cheese omelets (unctuous and creamy interior, lightly browned exterior). Flanked by many ham slices, it was devoured joyfully by HG as envious R. family looked on. The feasts keep marching on.
Final hotel stay at the upscale La Quinta in the Quail Springs Office Park, Oklahoma City. Short stroll to Kwan’s Kitchen, a spacious and beautiful Chinese restaurant. The food was sensational. On a par with New York, Vancouver, LA or San Francisco. Started with chicken (also available in duck) lettuce packages. The iceberg lettuce leaves were cold and crisp. The chicken mix was the best HG ever ate. Then, there was Mapo Tofu. HG/BSK murmured: “The best.” The tofu was slightly firm but silky. Very similar to the great tofu served with spinach at the Fortune Garden restaurant in Vancouver (first stop when HG/BSK used to arrive at their Mt. Pleasant loft). The Kwan Mapo Tofu sauce hit a very nice balance between fire and flavor. Another dish was sliced eggplant. The slices were dusted with rice flour and fried to a greaseless crisp and topped with sweet/sour chili sauce. Kitchen mastery. HG/BSK shared a sorbet for dessert. The meal’s pleasures were augmented by a good cold bottle of rose’. The check was modest. Go figure. One of USA’s best Chinese restaurants in Oklahoma. Few people in the restaurant on Saturday night. HG is worried about Kwan’s Oklahoma future.
Third night of travel, destination New Mexico, was spent in a La Quinta motel on the outskirts of St. Louis. HG doesn’t like the politics of Missouri (present day and pre-Civil War). But, the state features some excellent barbecue. Calvin Trillin swears by Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City. Others prefer St. Louis ribs and “burnt ends.” Fortunately, the La Quinta was adjacent to Smokehouse Barbecue. Big, friendly place with a wide variety of bar-b-q, sauces and side dishes. Famished HG/BSK drank local beer and over-ordered: Ribs, pulled pork, cole slaw, string beans and onions. And, for HG a big side dish of macaroni and cheese. Super generous portion. Sauces were great ranging from smoky sweet to raging hot. Plus, surprise, Carolina yellow mustard and vinegar. Beer and bar-b-q. Nice way to spend a St. Louis night.
Spent the second night of travel to New Mexico in an attractive Drury Inn located in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. HG enjoyed paddling in the indoor pool. Even though the dog friendly hotel offered an evening buffet dinner, HG/BSK opted for dinner in HG/BSK’s room. Good decision. That’s because HG/BSK stocked up on many good things at The Italian Corner in East Providence, R.I. This is a wonderful Italian grocery and soup and sandwich specialist. The pasta e fagioli is an HG favorite. BSK bought olive oil and other specialties for HG/BSK New Mexico pantry. The delicatessen counter provided the substance of the in room feast. Porchetta, mortadella, cooked prosciutto and prosciutto san daniele (the best). Plus bread, cheese and olives. Opened a bottle of red wine and had a jolly time.
Last meal in Rhode Island before setting off to Prince Edward Island. And, the finale was festive, full of culinary fireworks. The venue was Bristol Oyster Bar in the historic town of Bristol. They do a “buck a shuck” oyster night on Tuesday. Decided to do a reprise of the oyster feast HG/BSK (and Lesley R.) enjoyed during our Christmas season visit. Of course, this time HG overdid. Three dozen oysters, chilled, briny, nicely shucked. All from Rhode Island waters: Moonstones, Quonrie Rocks, Point Judith Salts and Aquidnacks. Then, on to a ceviche of fresh raw scallops with crispy potato chips, cucumber, lime, cilantro and ginger. Steamed “Drunken” little neck clams in a mind-blowing sauce of beer, onions, garlic (grilled bread to soak up the deliciousness). Cajun tuna (cooked rare) with potato crisps, parsnip chips, spicy New Orleans mayo and chimichurri cream. Mussels in a garlic and wine broth topped with salt and vinegar potato sticks gilded with a red pepper coulis. Fried oysters in a cornmeal crust with pickled red onions, lime and cilantro. Cajun pork belly confit on a bed of parsnip puree with an array of house made pickles. Fresh local green salad with goat cheese, parsnip chips and marinated vegetables. (Hey, don’t characterize us as gluttons. These are all modest small plate portions). To drink: Sancerre for BSK and Brilliant/Beautiful granddaughter Arianna R. Black and Tan (Guinness and IPA ale) for HG. Happy heads and tummies. Off to bed to get an early start on Canadian motoring.
This deli-bakery-grocery-sandwich shop (and restaurant on Saturday night) is an East Providence landmark. The Italian Corner features the best of everything Italian. Many varieties of prosciutto, porchetta, salume. Encyclopedic array of cheeses. Ravioli. Tortellini. Fresh house-made pasta plus the best of Italian dried pasta. Olive oil, vinegar, jarred condiments. Cookies, cakes, bread, etc. Huge list of sandwiches plus two soups, minestrone and tortellini in chicken broth. Everything can be consumed on the premises or brought home. For lunch, HG ordered a capicola, provolone and pepper sandwich. Plus a “cup” of minestrone. BSK chose a mozzarella and pepper. We specified the size of the sandwiches as “small”. Well, we got huge sandwiches. We presumed the “large” size consumed an entire baguette. The minestrone was almost a quart of goodness. Packed with fresh vegetable, beans and ditalini shape pasta. No room for the sandwich after the soup. BSK finished half of her sandwich. It was packed and put in the cooler for road dinner in Canada. BSK purchased olive oil, vinegar, amaretti cookie and other things for PEI consumption. Must get back to The Italian Corner for their Saturday night dinner. On the menu is octopus salad, linguine con vongole, zuppa of clams and mussels, zuppa de pesce. Plus rabbit, veal and chicken dishes. Due to a visit by Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, The Italian Corner is celebrated. Deservedly so.
This company is a Rhode Island star. State-wide polls reveal it to be one of the best places to work in Rhody. Very innovative. Not small. About 400 employees and 365 million in annual revenues. Blount sells a staggering variety of soups. Many versions of clam chowder (Rhode Island clear is the best). Everything is organic. There are all the standards (tomato, vegetable, pea) and some surprises like varieties of Vietnamese pho, an HG favorite. Blount soups can be found in many eastern United States groceries. Hey, Noo Yawkers and Brooklyn hipsters, you can find Blount at Fairway including SJ’s favored Red Hook location. The company also operates, on a seasonal basis, two “clam shacks”–one in Riverside, RI and the other in nearby Warren. They are very busy. Rightfully so, because the food they serve is way above standard roadside clam shack fare. Last night, BSK picked up a load of good things that were consumed on the scenic deck of the R. home. Watching boats glide by on Narragansett Bay, HG/BSK and Arianna R. dined on big, lush lobster rolls, fried cod sandwiches with sauce tartare, stuffies (clams stuffed with bits of chorizo nestled in a cornmeal mix), onion rings, French fries, cole slaw (among the best ever), pickles. Drank icy cold French rose’ and an Italian white. Dessert was Talenti Sea Salt Caramel gelato. Hey, Blount, send some of your good things to Whole Foods and Kaune’s in Santa Fe.
Prepared properly, kidneys are delectable. However, they have to be properly cleansed before cooking in order to get rid of any urinary undertones (Do some Google research to find cleansing techniques). On the other hand, Leopold Bloom (fictional hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses) famously stated that he liked kidneys for the faint trace of urine they left upon his palate. Kidneys (rognons) are on almost every French bistro menu. Prepared in a variety of ways. Mustard sauce. Wine and garlic. Tarragon and butter. HG had lamb kidneys seared on the exterior and pink inside at a pleasant bistro near the Eiffel Tower, Au Bon Accueil. The kidneys were served with ample, buttery potato puree. Mario Batalli, the colorful Italian chef, has a good recipe for fiery Kidneys a la Diabolo. Sardi’s, the New York theater district landmark, had tasty lamb chops accompanied by grilled kidneys (Caution: This was 50 years ago). Steak and kidney pie is an English standby, of course, and HG had a lush version at London’s Connaught Hotel. When Greenwich village residents, HG/BSK often picked up a container of kidneys in mustard sauce from the prepared foods section of Balducci’s, the wonderful Sixth Avenue grocer. Most Americans are suspicious of kidneys. They are missing a treat.
BSK has always excelled in improvisation. As a theater student at Ohio State University many decades ago, young BSK was a hit at campus coffee shops with a ventriloquist’s dummy, “Thelonious Monkey.” BSK did many “improvs” during New York acting classes with Lloyd Richards, Lee Strasberg and Michael Gazzo. But, BSK’s kitchen “improvs” are those that delight HG. Last night, BSK plucked a package of recently bought Trader Joe’s baby zucchini from the fridge. Found a package of Sardinian Fregola Sarda in the pantry. (Fregola Sarda is composed of toasted tiny balls of semolina flour. They taste like a cross between kasha and Israelia couscous. But, better). BSK cooked the Fregola in chicken stock, garlic, tomato paste, shallots, tarragon and parsley. Gave it all a hit of Aleppo pepper. When done, BSK topped the Fregola with zucchini and cherry tomatoes sizzled quickly in olive oil. Showered with grated parmigiano, this was comfort food at its best.
In HG’s post about carnivorous New York decades ago, HG forgot to mention a favorite red meat dish: Steak Tartare. Yes, spicily flavored chopped raw beef. It was a notable luncheon dish at the long closed German restaurant, Blue Ribbon, (in New York’s west 40’s). HG often ate the dish with the late New York Times journalist, Glenn Fowler, who shared HG’s passion for raw meat. The late Richard Lyman, a Herald-Tribune editor, looked at steak tartare with disdain. He called it “a police dog’s dinner.” Rivaling the Blue Ribbon masterpiece is the steak tartare served at HG’s favorite Paris brasserie, Le Stella (located in the posh 16th). It is accompanied by wonderful French fries. There are numerous recipes for flavoring steak tartare. When HG does it at home the process begins with chopping by hand a 1/2 pound of very lean tenderloin. It is mixed with some finely chopped onion, egg yolk, anchovies, Worcestershire sauce, ground pepper and a dash of ketchup and hot sauce. Accompanied by pumpernickel bread and Black and Tan (half Guinness stout and half IPA). Lusty dining.
