Regional Chefs Star at NYC's James Beard House

Dano Hutnik of Dano’s on Seneca and Hans Butler of Watercress just returned from producing an invitational dinner at Manhattan’s prestigious James Beard House. Titled “A Taste of the Finger Lakes,” it featured the exciting produce and wines of our region. The menu included collard greens with homemade tasso, as well as a bean spread, and Bergere Bleu cheese on artisanal breads, along with Dr. Frank’s sparkling wine; Dano’s wonderful sweet-and-tart to-die-for heirloom-tomato soup; his charcuterie board of house-made sausages, rillettes with foie gras, and pork belly, served with his own homemade mustard and pickles, accompanied by Shalestone Rose’; and for dessert, chocolate pumpernickel cake with blackcurrant sauce and pickled fruit, buoyed by Sheldrake Vineyards’ Cab Franc Ice Wine, and, of course, Gimme! Coffee. We wish we had been there, but, fortunately, we have both wonderful chefs much closer to home. Hoorah!

Dinner at Banfi's

Hotel dining facilities are notoriously middle-of-the-road, but when the hotel is also part of an Ivy League school of hotel administration, one expects better. And, we are happy to say, dining at Taverna Banfi pans out as a delightful experience, one befitting the “world’s premier hotel management school.” We’ve enjoyed several dinners here on our own dime, and happily report that it is, indeed a first-class white-linen restaurant, with comfortable furnishings, long views of the city twinkling below, careful and just-friendly-enough service, and the luxury of seating spaced for conversational privacy. As we perused the menu, our waiter set before us a basket of foccaccia, little flasks of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a plate of appeteasers – pitted Kalamata olives, a bit of grated asiago cheese, red pepper flakes, and a sprinkling of fresh dill. For starters, the Taverna Caesar salad was all that it should have been – crisp and lemony, topped with a blizzard of cheese shaved into airy wisps. A frito misto of calamari, shrimp, scallops, and tender-fleshed white fish, was light and crisp, its limoncello aioli dip creamy; crisp strips of marinated red pepper, celery, and onion provided a zingy counterpoint to all that richness. The pasta di giorno of linguini in a cream sauce was made interesting by a contrast: the tartness of cherry tomatoes with the sweetness of green peas, all topped with one meaty roasted shrimp. Another, a dusky sage butter sauce – more cream here -- enveloped triangular house-made ravioli which gave way to a smoothe sweet potato filling, which, had It been chocolate, might have been better than sex. All the same, it was pretty darned good. For main courses, a duck breast was well seasoned and sauteed to tender rareness, and apples, raisins, and sherry provided a pleasant acidic balance to the richness of an accompanying duck confit. A meaty braised lamb shank, with a red wine and veal demi-glace, was architectural in its presentation, and though we were told it had braised for six hours, rendering it fork-tender, it had a pleasing dark, caramelized coating. Gremolata, a dash of the lemon peel, garlic, and parsley seasoning, added further dimension to the dish’s flavor palette. Both entrees topped roasted asparagus and a sweet, comforting wintry mash of potatoes and parsnips. Other main-course options included salmon with a Cornell apple cider reduction; crab-stuffed polenta-crusted trout with red pepper stew and olive tapenade; and mushroom cannelloni with a white wine mushroom sauce. For those with lighter appetites, or those who fear drifting off during a post-prandial concert, Taverna Banfi also offers a selection of individual pizzas -- grilled vegetables, pesto, pine nuts, and New York State ricotta; pear, prosciutto, walnuts, Lively Run goat cheese among them -- colorful antipasti, and a hearty Tuscan soup, as well as a selection of salads. Since the Taverna is part of the School of Hotel Administration’s teaching program, a feature of the menu is a prix-fixe three-course menu created by students in the restaurant management course – a trio of crostini with a variety of colorful toppings, beef tenderloin with grilled asparagus and basil risotto, and a dessert of espresso cheesecake with Chantilly cream and honey pine-nut brittle ran $35. A vegetarian entrée is an option, as is a wine paired with each of the three courses for an additional $15. A comprehensive and well chosen wine list includes a good selection of half bottles. We chose Keuka Lake’s Ravines Cabernet Franc and a Willamette Valley Whole Cluster Pinot Noir from a wines-by-the-glass menu featuring more than two dozen wines from Italy, the West Coast, Australia, and the Finger Lakes among others, including both sparklers and dessert wines. For dessert, a large portion of chocolate tiramisu, enough for two, and a toffee cake with plump white raisins, a toffee sauce, vanilla gelato, and a buttery cookie with almonds and sesame seeds coupled with Taverna Banfi’s good coffee, had us thoroughly warmed up as we toddled – or should we say “waddled” – back out into the wintry, star-lit night. Yes, the staff pulled out all the stops for us as reviewers (we welcomed the opportunity to chat with Banfi’s management, to happily discover that Courtnay Paperna, most recently of Dijon, is the restaurant manager, and to glean cooking tips from gifted Chef Anthony Jordan), and our meals were top quality, but both food and service were equally sterling when we, as members of the general public, dashed in unannounced for a rushed dinner a few weeks before, and were probably our waiter’s nightly nightmare. It’s better to set aside the time to enjoy Banfi’s menu, wine list, and ambiance, and it’s definitely worth a hike up East Hill for same. Free valet parking for restaurant patrons (have your ticket stamped by your server) add to the pleasure of an evening of dinner and Cornell theater, or a music or sporting event. Taverna Banfi is located at 130 Statler Drive on the Cornell University campus. It is also open for breakfast, lunch, and a sumptuous Sunday brunch. For information and reservations, which are recommended for concert nights and parent-type weekends, call 607.254.2565. For menu and additional information, check out their Web site at www.statlerhotel.cornell.edu/dining/banfis_menus.html.

Got the Midnight Munchies?

If you’re driving around in the wee hours, the munchies strike, and your fevered mind can’t abide the thought of fluorescent diner lights, what can you do? If school’s in session, you can head to one of the food trucks – the Hot Truck or Louie’s Lunch parked near Cornell’s dormitories, place your order, then drive it home for peaceful, private consumption. Students stop by the trucks on study breaks, on late-night dates, returning from the library, or any time hunger pangs strike. But the pleasures of stand-up al fresco dining aren’t limited to students. Staffers, passers-by, townies and out-of-townies of every stripe follow their noses to the places whose sometimes-long lines have become campus traditions. You’ll find more than a cure for your hunger; in any weather, it’s a scene, with hungry folks clad in anything from formal wear to pajamas, from parkas to bikinis, waiting to fill at least one type of late-night emptiness. You’ll find the famous Hot Truck parked just below the new west campus dorms along Stewart Avenue, where the cognoscenti line up to order such treats as Suis, PMPs, MBCs, Shaggy – Hot and Heavies, and Guinea Pigs. Or try a HaHa, HeHe, or HoHo. With a brief visit to the Hot Truck’s Web site [http://people.cornell.edu/pages/smo9/hottruck], you, too, can become a cognoscentum in a matter of moments. Owner Albert Smith, a Cornell grad with a degree in agricultural economics, and proprietor of Ithaca’s Short Stop Deli, acquired the Hot Truck in the summer of 2000 when Bob and Sharon Petrillose, who had run it since 1960, retired. It had originally been the brainstorm of Petrillose’s father, John Petrillose, who’s landmark Collegetown bar, Johnny’s Big Red, closed at night, when all good bars close; but he knew there were still hungers out there to be addressed. Originally the truck served burgers, dogs, and pizza, but when the younger Petrillose realized that pizzas sold by the slice grew less appetizing as the evening wore on, he hit on the idea of slicing open loaves of French bread, loading them up with pizza ingredients, and popping them into the oven on demand. Voila! The PMP, or “poor man’s pizza” was born, soon to be poached (figuratively) by the folks from Stouffers for their frozen French bread pizzas. The Hot Truck menu evolved over the course of 40 years, and it continues to evolve today. Its menu credits sandwich inventors, the most recent additions being the Big Willie, created by Will Devine ’03, and the Super Slacker, co-authored by Brian Frankel and David MacLeon ’04. As an evening draws to a close, the red sauce and the acronyms begin to fly, along with orders for WGCs (wet garlic with cheese), MBCs (meatballs and mozzarella cheese), RBCs (roast beef with cheese), Ra-Ra’s (an RBC with pepperoni), Re-re’s (with sausage), and Ro-Ro’s (with mushrooms). Ravaging appetites might opt for the Little Sicilian, its French bread piled high with meatballs, sausage, cheese, and sauce, and topped with potato chips, or the ever popular Triple Suicide, or T-Sui, pronounced Tee Sooey, its garlic-doused bread loaded up with tomato sauce, mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, and a trio of homemade meatballs. Why “suicide?” We’ve heard it posited that the darned things have so much garlic, they’re a surefire recipe for social suicide, not to mention indigestion and peculiar dreams. But delicious they are, and a personal favorite of this writer. Albert Smith’s son, Mike, runs the truck, parked on Stewart Avenue’s 600-block from 10p.m. to 2a.m. during the week and from 11p.m. to 3a.m. and later on weekends. But that’s only half the business. The Smith’s own the Shortstop Deli on Seneca Street, and serve a partial Hot Truck menu there during the day, and the truck can meander about town, catering to teary-or-bleary-eyed alumni on Cornell’s Arts Quad during reunion weekends, where, according to Albert Smith, “Doctors, and lawyers, and educators from 25 to 85 wait in line, some for as long as 45 minutes,” to fill up on subs and relive Hot Truck memories, some recalling having met their spouses for the first time on a Hot Truck line. The truck also serves fraternities and sororities on their chefs’ nights off, and is available for parties and celebrations, which is how the business recently achieved national fame. Last year food writers Jane and Michael Stern, who write a much-beloved, down-to-earth “road food” column for Gourmet Magazine, have published a small library of food books, and have an NPR program on – what else? -- food, discovered the Hot Truck at a wedding they attended in Ithaca, where it showed up outside La Tourelle to provide after-hours subs for the entire wedding party and their guests. The Sterns loved it, and the rest is history. A segment on the truck has been aired on their radio show and they’ve asked us to look for an article on the Hot Truck in Gourmet this fall. But even without the formal publicity, thousands of Cornellians and former Ithacans carry late-night Hot Truck memories with them all over the world. A campus food truck with an even longer history is Louie’s Lunch, whose provenance dates back to sometime between 1916 and the early 1920s, when Louie Zounakos established his stand on Cornell’s North Campus. Louie, who was born in Sparta, Greece in 1885, originally emigrated to Brooklyn where, according to the Louie’s Lunch Web page [www.louieslunch.com], he made a living selling his mama’s bathtub gin during Prohibition. He eventually moved to Ithaca and is rumored to have begun his business peddling snacks at fraternities from a pushcart, eventually graduating to an old Ford truck and his spot in front of Risley. Zounakos, who was known for his generosity to starving students, retired in 1955, selling the business to Arthur and Thelma Machen, whose family ran it until 1997, when current owner Ron Beck took it on. In this writer’s day, in the early 60’s (yes, yes, I know, if you were there, you can’t remember them, but I do remember them) we called the truck Louie’s Lunch and Country Club, and its dogs and burgers held us through those winter nights when we could steal out of the dorms after curfew past our eagle-eyed housemothers. But this is another, and a better, day, and students can now call in orders from their cell phones (257-4649 is the number) on their walks back from the library, and find their Buffalo chicken wing wrap or Tully burger hot and waiting for them when they arrive. Cornell staff members take advantage of the phone service as well to order quick lunches to go. But on weekend nights the cooks are too frantic to take phone orders, and folks gather at the truck to give their orders and bask in the mobile kitchen’s friendly light and warm, foody fragrance. Beck came to the food truck business in 1991, in his days as a welder. He welded up his own rig and used it “to chase construction projects and do weekend jobs at auctions, horse shows, rabbit shows, fundraisers, and all kinds of parties,” he explains. “We’d cater backyard barbecues and company picnics.” When the owners were ready to sell Louie’s, he was ready to buy it. It’s hard work seven days a week for him, but with help from students, many of whom live in Risley, he seems to enjoy it and them, and is grateful that on a busy night students are willing to wait as long as half an hour for an order of Louie’s most popular side dish, Cajun fries. “People tell us we have the best fries anywhere,” Beck says. Other favorites are their chicken parm, Buffalo chicken wing, and Philly cheese steak subs, but variety is the watchword here, and there are chicken Caesar wraps, monster pizza subs with their six toppings, and a selection of breakfast sandwiches. For the indigent, grilled cheese sandwiches, egg and cheese sandwiches, burgers (ham- or veggie-) and dogs with a variety of toppings are among the items selling for two dollars or less, and there’s an entire page of vegetarian items on the Louie’s Lunch menu. The truck itself is a rugged 1965 rescue vehicle with plenty of little compartments, high ceilings, and ceiling fans, with only 16,000 original miles on the engine. While it spends most of its life parked at its own NYSEG utility pole on the corner of Thurston and Wait Avenues, Beck generally drives it home over winter break to repair it, and to take a well-deserved rest himself. The hours are long (weekdays from 11a.m. to 3a.m., Saturdays from noon to 3a.m., and Sundays from 6p.m. to midnight), but the rewards are many, and Beck realizes he is making his place in history. Waiting at Louie’s is “a social event with some lifelong friendships being formed.”

Breaking News: Latest Medical Word On Wine

ALCOHOL USE DISORDER (AUD), which essentially means drinking too much, may be significantly reduced when wine is more than 35% of total alcohol consumption, according to a recent Danish study. The research found that wine consumers were less likely to develop AUD than consumers of beer or spirits, which could be related to lifestyle differences or non-alcoholic substances in wine like polyphenols that may have some effect. Reacting to the study’s results, one prominent scientist suggested that the acids in wine, and especially tannins in red wine, make it difficult to consume a lot of wine by itself; and also make it more pleasant to have wine with food. When any alcoholic beverage is consumed with food, the blood alcohol leve l is much lower than without food, often by half. In other words, the inherent nature of wine does not lend itself to abuse. (Stolen unabashedly from the newsletter of the New York State Wine and Grape Foundation -- thanks, Jim.)

Fabulous Red Newt Winemakers’ Dinner

One of the things we enjoy most about our food and wine work is a meal in the company of other foodies and winefolk, and, presented with the opportunity to brown-bag it with winemakers at one of Red Newt Bistro’s winemaker’s dinners, we grab it. Winemaker Dave Whiting pairs the wines (everybody brings a bottle or two from their own cellars, recent production, or any interesting place in the world) with the courses, then bags and numbers them. As the evening unfolds, even he forgets what’s in those bags, and the guesses flow. It’s amazing what perceptive variation there is even in these well-schooled palates and sniffers. A recent dinner at the Newt began with an ooze of Brie en croute with apricots and pecans paired with a fruity Atwater Pinot Gris, the ghostliest of pinks and wonderfully refreshing, and Bellwether Cider’s bubbly, crisp King Baldwin, both new releases from those houses. Atwater’s Katy Marks beamed as the compliments flowed on the Pinot Gris, and the pairing worked well. A spicy arugula salad with lentils, breakfast radishes, and feta with a warmed orange vinaigrette (Chef Deb Whiting is a master of wine-friendly salad dressings) was perfectly paired with a brut Hosmer bubbly that elicited guesses of “France?” and a well balanced Plano (Texas!) Muscat Canelli. A 2006 Bedell Gallery – a blend – was most noteworthy for its long cork and bottle’s deep punt – but the wine didn’t live up to its sexy packaging. Unfortunately, winemaking fortunes have been built on less. A sushi-grade tuna with a hoisin-lime sauce was served suitably rare, with a side of locally grown asparagus, followed by a course of duck breast with a blueberry-red wine sauce and the creamiest of polentas, and at this point, the wine pairings begin to blur in my memory. I do remember a terrific Sauvignon Blanc from Morten and Lisa Halgren’s Ravines Wine Cellars on Keuka Lake, a slightly sweet, full-bodied, and rather rough Ca del Sola (56% Freisa, 44% Barbera, from raisined grapes) another experiment from the creative but not always on-target Randall Grahm’s Bonny Doon Vineyards, a delicious 2000 Pasa Robles Cabernet, and a disappointing Syrah Port from the Yakima Valley. A vanilla-y rhubarb dessert with vanilla ice cream was paired with the surprisingly dee-lish rhubarb equivalent of a late-harvest wine from Montezuma Winery, a small swig of brandy, and a gulp of coffee, and we called it a night – another night of good company, good conversation, good food, and good wine. We thank Dave and Deb for bringing the Finger Lakes wine community together for these dinners. From time to time they sponsor similar dinners for the public (Nine Wines Blind). To find out more about them, contact Red Newt Wine Cellars and Bistro at 607 546-4100. We salute the Newt. Cheers!

Sushi O Sake

Knowing little about Japanese food (except that Wegman’s sushi take-out is closest to the cashier, and a good, quick dinner), we brought along Nanci Trapani, who has spent time in Japan and knows lots more about the food and customs than we. She, of a librarianish persuasion, researched and printed for us a guide to Japanese foods that included basashi (horse sashimi), which had us wondering why we’d taken this assignment. Blessings multiply. We did not find basashi anywhere on the menu, and Sushi O Sake’s veteran head waiter, Sean, quickly set our qualms aside, suggesting we share a bottle of chilled sake and several selections of sushi before ordering our main courses. Delicate, tender slices of octopus, smoked eel, and a sweet, omelette-y egg custard arrived, elegantly draped over ovals of vinegared sushi rice, the custard secured with a girdle of nori, a paper-thin seaweed. The Japanese vegetable roll -- nori and rice wrapped around avocado, pickled radish, cucumber, squash, and pickled burdock -- combined the sweet creaminess of ripe avocado with the crunch of burdock and the sweetness and acidity of the pickled vegetables. An order of the futomaki roll combined many of the Japanese roll’s contents with egg, crabmeat, and shiitake mushroom. A dip in soy sauce spiked with hot wasabi, and extraordinarily crisp pickled ginger added zing to it all. Does the prospect of eating with chopsticks send you into an ohgoddon’tletmelooklikeajerk panic? Fear not – it’s perfectly acceptable to eat these with your fingers. For our first main course, we ordered shrimp and vegetable tempura, which was everything tempura should be – light, fresh, and nongreasy – and how do they get those shrimps to stand up so straight? A beef teriyaki bento box brought a tasting-menu selection including tempura, California roll, gyoza (fried pork dumplings), shumai (steamed shrimp dumplings), and chicken tatsuta age (small pieces of fried chicken), with two very different kinds of seaweed salad. Both entrees were served with delicate miso soup, soy in another of its amazing variations. Our third main was a pair of special rolls, the “Fashion,” a roll of crabmeat, avocado, and cucumber draped with creamy raw tuna, and the “Mermaid,” another study in textures: crunchy shrimp tempura and fresh asparagus, which protruded as the mermaid’s tailfins, and unctuous smoked eel, and an exquisitely laid-out wrapping of mosaic-ed strips of avocado. Among the most popular rolls, we were told, is the “007” – spicy tuna and avocado, the entirety deep-fried and served with two sauces and smelt roe. We are eager to try some of the other special rolls, many of them tuned to the Western palate, with names like Scooby Doo, American Dream, Philadelphia (it’s made with cream cheese and smoked salmon), and Out of Control. But there are so many unusual and delicious-sounding offerings on the menu, from appetizers and salads to dessert (do try the tempura-ed green-tea ice cream with chocolate sauce), as well as a tempting lunch menu, that we look forward to exploring it in future visits. Well lighted by a sparkling of intense little red-glass hanging lamps, Sushi O Sake is a lively place on a weekend night, with friendly service, and while the weather holds, plenty of seating outside as well as in. Inside, there’s always a show at the sushi bar, where two deft chefs ply their craft with enviable concentration, their focus and artistry demonstrated in platter after exquisite platter. The restaurant carries a small but good selection of beer and wine (including two Finger Lakes Rieslings, which would pair well with the delicate flavors of Japanese food), but the restaurant’s beverage focus is on a broad selection of chilled sakes, rated from sweet to dry. We tried a middle-of-the-road selection, found it refreshing, and hope to become better acquainted with chilled sakes. To refresh our memories, we also tried a warm sake, and it was as medicinal and yucky as we remember warm sake being. An offshoot of Collegetown’s popular Plum Tree restaurant, Sushi O Sake is located at 107 North Aurora Street. They don’t take reservations, but you can call 272-1200 for information.

Best Local Italian Restaurant

The Lucatelli’s facility has been an Ithaca culinary fixture since 1967, when it was founded as the Char Pit. These days, Giuliano Lucatelli holds forth cheerfully in the kitchen of Lucatelli’s Ristorante, as did his father for years before him, with his son, Carmen, working alongside him, producing heaping platters of fine, classic southern Italian food. It’s one of our favorite too-tired/hassled/crabby-to-cook, comfort food restaurants in the area. Low lighting, pervasive bonhomie, and a gracious host welcome guests. Tables are far enough apart to encourage private conversation, and a wall of windows faces out on a small fountain garden, taking guests’ minds away from the commercial clutter of old Route 13. While we usually eat in the main dining room, on review night we had the bar/lounge tables to ourselves. A painted mural depicting Roman architectural highlights covers most of one wall, along with portraits of the founders, and posters and photos of Italian-American heroes – crooner Frank Sinatra, and boxer Primo Carnera among them. An attractive young woman tended bar that night, to the apparent delight of three gentlemen enjoying dinner and a brandy at the bar in good company. Our waitress, professional and knowledgeable, proffered a wine list featuring a good selection of Italian potables, as well as some from California, Australia, and the Finger Lakes. We chose a Montepulciano from an offering of four Italian reds available by the glass, and were delighted with the choice. A loaf of warm bread and a small vat of butter made its way to our table before we made our way to the salad bar, one of the most interesting in the area, with freshly made soup, pickled vegetables and mushrooms, plenty of Gorgonzola to sprinkle on salads, and lots of other goodies. Back at our table, slices of fresh mozzarella flanked a platter of sweet, just-roasted peppers; a bowl of white beans and greens swam in a stock laced with plenty of garlic (begone, winter colds!); steamed mussels danced in a chunky tomato sauce. We looked longingly at the hot antipasto appetizer choice – clams, mussels, shrimp, peppers, and eggplant parmigiana – but realized we’d have to end the meal right there, and there were so many other dishes we wanted to try. On an ordinary night out, we generally opt for Giulli’s spiced-just-right eggplant parmigiana with homemade tomato sauce and his homemade gnocchi lunghi with Italian sausage. Gnocchi lunghi are nothing like the standard dumplingy potato gnocchi, which are also made right there in Lucatellis’ kitchen, but more like spaghetti on steroids. Abandon your Atkins diet, all ye who enter there! He makes his own ravioli and fettuccini as well. We’ve also enjoyed the restaurant’s homemade lasagna, manicotti, and cannelloni Florentine, the latter stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese, and absolutely delicious swimming in a well flavored white sauce. For the more Atkins-minded, there are three choices of prime rib portion, as well as New York strip and filet mignon, a good selection of veal, chicken, and pork chop dishes, shrimp, lobster, sole, and the house special, linguini a la peschatora, with fresh clams, mussels, shrimp, and scallops cooked in marinara sauce. This evening, however, we feasted upon veal rollatini, with prosciutto and fontina cheese, tender and nicely spiced, served with a full-meal-sized bowl of pasta in Lucatelli’s own tomato sauce. (The sides at Lucatelli’s are more than generous.) Pasta con quattro formaggio’s rigatoni swam in a bowl of cream sauce enriched with fontina, gruyere, gorgonzola and Romano – the Italian take on mac and cheese, satisfying to the nth degree. Its side dish was a veritable vat of just-cooked peas and portabella mushrooms. We paced ourselves, but the food seemed to be getting ahead of us, and we hadn’t begun to think of dessert. Our waitress, sensing our distress, offered to doggy-bag the leftovers and we took her up on it. A dessert cart featured a lemon-almond cake, and a dense chocolate confection. We were also offered the homemade tiramisu and spumoni, but opted instead for the over-the-top Tartuffo, a baseball-sized hunk of ice cream dipped in hardened dark chocolate and served with whipped cream and a cherry, and one of Lucatelli’s homemade cannolis. Perfect! Lucatelli’s also offers an after-dinner menu of espressos and cappuccinos. The restaurant, located at 205 Elmira Road, serves dinners from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week. For reservations and information, call 273-0777.