HUNGRY GERALD

Congee (Chinese rice porridge) is one of the world’s most comforting foods and is on the breakfast tables of millions and millions of Asians. HG likes congee any time of the day. When HG/BSK lived part of each year in a loft with spectacular views of Vancouver, BC’s mountains, rivers, bays and skyscrapers. (Vancouver is tops for food and fun.) HG would have a late breakfast/brunch at nearby Congee Noodle House on Broadway (Mt. Pleasant neighborhood). The meal began with congee, of course, enriched with sliced fish. Then there were shrimp rice rolls, pork rice rolls, wontons in fiery chile sauce, wontons in noodle soup (the thin skinned wontons were a world class treat). HG read the New York Times between nibbles and drank many cups of fragrant tea. Wonderful way to live and eat. Sadly, the always bustling restaurant is closed. Some years ago, the hill behind Congee Noodle House crumbled, sweeping away a parking lot and a few residences. The restaurant remained, perched on top of the hill. HG presumes a blizzard of lawsuits with Vancouver government, insurance companies, etc. has prevented any reopening. Last night, BSK cooked a delicious homage to Congee Noodle House. BSK served BSK’s creative riff on congee featuring much ginger, scallops, mushrooms. Perfect texture of rice. The accompaniment was steamed pork buns from Good Fortune, a huge Asian supermarket that sells every variety of har gow, dumplings, shumai; pork, chicken and vegetable buns; rice rolls, etc. The variety of dim sum edibles (fresh and frozen) is staggering. Be assured, HG/BSK’s freezer is well stocked.

Yes, BSK’s gumbo is the best. As noted in a previous post: “Better Than N’awlins”. A dark roux, file powder thickener, chock full of chicken, shrimp, sausage, okra, onions, garlic, tomatoes, etc. Tasty and comforting. Great cold weather fare. (HG would also eat it with pleasure on blistering summer nights). Visiting friends Peter Hellman; his wife, Susan Cohen;HG/BSK’s daughter Lesley R. and her husband, Massimo R., joined HG/BSK at the dinner table and gumbo reigned.  Small bit left over and Lesley took it home for Monday dinner (Monday is her super busy work day).The group drank a great Chablis brought by wine expert Peter. A wow!! Not to be outdone, Massimo brought an excellent wine. Happy table enriched by laughter and robust appetites. Gumbo glory.

Joy!! Peter Hellman and his splendid wife of many years of marriage, Susan Cohen, are resident (for two days) in the guest room of HG/BSK’s Central Falls, RI, loft–they are HG/BSK’s first overnight guests. They gave the guest room a thumbs up for comfy sleeping. Peter is an old friend of HG/BSK. Peter met HG many decades ago when Peter was a journalist researching a real estate story for New York Magazine. HG was a publicist specializing in the real estate and construction industries. The result of the meeting was many news tips from HG (plus New York mag cover stories). Friendship ensued (and has been maintained). Susan has had a distinguished career as a New York City agency official. (HG has written about Peter before. Check Oct. 18, 2017 archive for brief profile and May 20, 2011 for a partial list of Hellman books.) Dinner was BSK’s special penne in broccoli sauce (An HG pasta fave). Much red wine, laughter and lively conversation. Peter and Susan didn’t arrive in Rhody empty handed. They brought a big bag of breads, cookies, pastries and sweets from a bakery in Mystic, Conn. A cornucopia of pleasure. Today (Saturday) they are off to the renowned RISD museum. There will be a dinner feast tonight (Gumbo) as HG/BSK’s daughter, Lesley R. and husband, Massimo, will be at the loft for dinner. Fun is anticipated. 

Wow!! HG drank a lot in those years and didn’t get drunk, fall down or have silly mishaps. And, HG managed to do a coherent day’s work. As a publicist, HG lunched with journalists. A favorite place was Blue Ribbon, a German restaurant in Manhattan’s West 40’s. Meal started with a shrimp cocktail and two oversized dry martinis. Then a big platter of steak tartare (Better than Paris) and three mugs of dark German beer. Finished with a snifter of cognac. Another venue was the theater landmark, Sardi’s. Two martinis with lobster cocktail. Lamb chops with kidneys and French fries. Three quarters of a battle of Morgon (Left the remaining wine for the waiter). Vintage Port. Restaurant dinners were equally alcoholic. A favored restaurant was Fornos. The Spanish restaurant served exceptional Margaritas. They accompanied HG’s platter of pork chops and Spanish potatoes. (Counting the pre-food Margarita, HG managed to down at least three of the cocktails). No dessert. Instead, two banana daiquiris.  (HG must admit. HG was always tipsy after a Fornos feast). These days, HG’s favorite cocktail is the Pisco Sour served at two Rhode Island Peruvian restaurants… Sharks (Central Falls)…Los Andes (Providence). HG is a happy (Thanks to BSK) old (93) Rhody guy. HG is now cautious. One Pisco Sour (That’s right. Singular.) before dinner.

HG relished the food and fun of The Bronx many decades ago (see “Bronx Nostalgia”).  Huge changes (some catastrophic, some exemplary). One Bronx stalwart remains: Dominick’s Restaurant in the Arthur Avenue/Belmønt neighborhood. Arthur Avenue is visited by  hundreds of tourists and New York food lovers. With its big public market and surrounding shops, Arthur Avenue represents the pinnacle of Italian olive oil,charcuterie, baked goods, cheeses, condiments, etc. etc. HG wrote about Dominick’s seven years ago (check archive) so a revisit is in order. In that last post, HG noted there was no menu (“wudda want ?” asked the waiter). Payment was cash only. No paper bill or payment check. The waiter told you the amount (Modest prices). Now there’s a menu.  Don’t know the payment procedure has changed. The bare bones communal tables remain and the atmosphere is jolly and friendly, good setting for big appetites. If HG managed to eat there again HG would order the stuffed artichoke followed by linguine aglio e olio (olive oil and garlic). This is a simple pasta dish but few places get it right. Dominick’s version is soulful. Abundant lightly browned garlic. Keeps the vampires away. For BSK, there’s a generous, lush seafood linguine, May Dominick’s and Arthur Avenue remain unchanged. Viva Italia!!

Many decades ago, when HG was a youngster in The Bronx, the borough was renowned for Jewish-American and Italian -American food. HG looks back on it with nostalgia sharpened appetite. For food loving Jews it was heaven. Every main street in the West Bronx had an “appetizing” store (smoked salmon, sable, sturgeon, etc.); a delicatessen (pastrami, corned beef, knockwurst, franks, etc.); bakery (rye bread, pumpernickel, bialys, bagels, pletzels, etc.). Daitch Dairy had its start there (extraordinary cream cheese, butter, sour cream cottage cheese, pot cheese, roquefort, etc.). Fish? Citarella’s had its start on Kingsbridge Road before going on to national  fame in Manhattan. Fresh fruit and vegetables were the province of Italian farmers/greengrocers who brought it to their market stalls by horse and wagon (later by truck). The center of Italian food was  Arthur Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood. A vast public market with every variety of olive oil, prosciutto, parmesan, mozzarella, sausages, anchovies ad infinitum. Outstanding bakeries with great bread, cannolis and pignoli cookies. Lots of delightful pizzerias. Happily, Arthur Avenue is still going strong and lures hundreds of shoppers and tourists. Food is not splendid in the present day Bronx but there’s hope. Emigration has brought Africans to the borough and this has resulted in simple cafes that are favored by cab drivers wanting a taste of their homelands.

Sharks is a large Peruvian cuisine restaurant that recently opened near our Central Falls, RI, loft. Reviews have been good so a dinner time table for four was reserved–HG/BSK, daughter Lesley R. and her husband, Massimo R. The restaurant was jammed with happy families. A Peruvian musician was on stage with backup music provided by speakers and amplifiers. This was the loudest music ever. Conversation was impossible. We ordered with gestures. This was a Saturday night. Have to check if there’s music every night or only on weekends. Amid the din, our group enjoyed the food. We over ordered. Lots of cold shrimp in various mayonnaise based sauces. Giant platters of fresh fried food. The fried squid (lots of tentacles) was outstanding. HG/BSK will be back (if they have a quiet night). Surprisingly, there were no condiments except quartered lemons. Next time we’ll bring a bag of sriracha, remoulade and Frank’s hot sauce.

BSK found an unusual chicken dinner dish in The New York Times: “One-Pan Paprika Chicken With Lentils, Squash and Daqua”. (What is “Daqua”? It’s a mix of vinegar, cumin, salt, pepper and water.  Much used in Egyptian cooking).  BSK mixed chicken thighs with slices of squash, paprika (much) and salt. Set this aside and sauteed sliced onion, minced garlic in olive oil dusted with paprika and salt. Stirred in lentils with chicken stock after onions and garlic softened  (10 minutes cooking time but don’t let the garlic burn). Poured mix into pyrex baking dish and topped it with the chicken and squash slices. Roasted for 20 minutes. Then baked in a 350 degree oven for an additional 40 minutes (chicken will turn golden brown and squash will soften). BSK mixed sour cream with chopped dill and parsley, removed the chicken/squash dish from the oven and topped it with the sour cream mix and a splash of daqua. Added harissa (and nduja for HG) at the table. Fabulous eating. Drank Beaujolais Nouveau. Very happy that BSK made a double header amount of this dish. We’ll have it again tonight. Hooray!!

When HG was five or six years old, the little fellow spent a year in Athens, Georgia, before returning to the family apartment in the East Bronx. HG accompanied his grieving mother who was in Athens to help nurse my older brother, Bernard, whose right leg was amputated below the knee following a barnstorming airplane accident over the University of Georgia campus where he was in his junior year. Mother and HG lived in a boarding house. It was at the breakfast table there that HG had his first happy encounter with that southern staple–Grits. The jolly and ample Black woman cook served HG the best breakfast ever: Big bowl of grits flavored with ham gravy; fresh from the oven homemade buttered biscuits; large cup of hot milk darkened with a bit of coffee. Nicely nourished, HG was off to play in the backyard with his companions, the cook’s two sons and a daughter. Yes, it was a sad time at the Athens hospital but all was joyous for HG at the boarding house. Years passed and HG never tasted grits again until a business lunch in New Orleans with HG’s public relations client, The Sazerac Company (national distributor of wines, vodka, brandy, bitters and N’awlins specialties like Herbsaint). HG ordered shrimp and grits. Wow! A revelation. HG became a grits addict. When motoring cross country with HG’s beloved wife, BSK, at the wheel, HG always stopped at Waffle House locations for lunches of grits, scrambled eggs and waffles. Thankfully, BSK (and daughter Lesley R.) enjoy grits and cook them to creamy perfection (A chunk of cream cheese is added to the boiling grits, a maneuver learned from Lesley). Sometimes, BSK adds finely chopped cooked baby spinach to the grits that are flavored with parmesan and butter (or virgin olive oil). Last night, BSK cooked grits (stone ground and organic) and topped the grits with shrimp sizzled briefly in oil, garlic and herbs. Yes, BSK transported happy HG to the South.

Rhody is a small state with a big ocean shoreline. For good reason, it’s called “The Ocean State”. And, the seas (and shore) are filled with tasty fish, bivalves and crustaceans. Gifted` daughter Lesley R. and brilliant husband, Profesore Massimo (plus HG/BSK’s beautiful visiting granddaughter, Sofia) hosted HG/BSK to a true seafood feast at their Riverside, RI, home. It was a celebration of Massimo’s latest academic prize. The group toasted his new distinction with glasses of chilled Prosecco. Modest Massimo took a bow and got busy shucking local oysters (he is an expert shucker, a skill he learned at the family oceanfront home on Prince Edward Island). HG drank white wine and savored a dozen briny, flavorful oysters. Lesley was busy at the range frying flour dusted squid–tentacles and rings–for Rhode Island’s official state dish: Fried squid with piquant little peppers. Lesley cooked the dish perfectly–tender and greaseless squid. The feast was climaxed with Lesley’s codfish cakes. Supermarket or fish market prepared fish cakes? Fuhgeddabout it!!  These were big, juicy wonders composed of the right blalance of cod, potato and herbs. A lush and lovely and local feast. Lucky to be living in Rhode Island (in HG/BSK’s Central Falls loft, a quick drive to Riverside).