Poutine pizza, via Serious Eats

Poutine Pizza: What Is and What Should Never Be

Posted by Adam Kuban, April 7, 2010 at 8:25 AM

[Photographs: Foxtongue on Flickr]

I realize that I’m the guy who put Peeps on a pizza, so I don’t have much room to talk, but … poutine pizza? Really?

If you feel like combining the iconic Canadian treat with our favorite cheesy delight, you can find it at Brado Pizza in Vancouver, British Columbia. Flickr member Foxtongue and her friends ordered the thing and took photos.

Brado Pizza

1399 Commercial Drive, Vancouver BC V5L 3X5 (map)
604-251-7251
See the original article.

Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon—via Slashfood

Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon Bacon by Mark Ellwood

Photo: Dave77459, flickr

It’s undeniable that there’s something about bacon. Some foodies even refer to it as “meat candy,” and cooks agree it’s a surefire way to improve almost any recipe.

Over the last five years, bacon has become smoking hot at restaurants and stores and has found its crispy way into all kinds of surprising dishes. Chef Heston Blumenthal of England’s Fat Duck — regularly cited as one of the world’s most interesting restaurants — often produces bacon and egg ice cream for his tasting menu. Bacon cupcakes surfaced at bakeries across America. More, in Chicago, has a BLT recipe with cornmeal, tomato and plenty of rashers. In some locations of Texas gourmet grocery chainlet Central Market, there’s an extensive 15-strong bacon menu, featuring regional specials (Wisconsin, Iowa) or flavor twists (cherry-wood smoked, apple-cinnamon). The new restaurant Permanent Brunch in New York’s East Village serves exactly what it says: comfort brunch for lunch and dinner all week long. With that territory comes a menu highlighting an Artisanal Bacon Bar, serving Meacham Ham’s Country Bacon from Kentucky and Missouri’s sugar-cured Burger’s Smokehouse.

But why this newfound fascination? Heather Lauer, author of “Bacon: A Love Story”, and the blogger behind baconunwrapped.com, believes that bacon’s fatty goodness is a safe indulgence. “People put it on a mantel the way they don’t other foods,” she swoons. The recent vogue has several sources, she says. The floodgates were opened by the protein-championing Atkins diet, which “made it acceptable to eat excessive amounts of meat”. Fast food chain’s kept the momentum going by fetishizing of the strips as another cultural spotlight — from Wendy’s Baconator to Burger King’s Quad Stacker.

The artisanal smokeries that have sprung up, or been revived, country-wide have boosted bacon’s profile, and then there’s the Food Network. Clearly, the staff-training sessions there take place over BLTs. “You can’t watch that network for a whole day without several mentions of bacon. All the chefs use it all the time.”

If Food Network’s shows aren’t inspiration enough, the boys behind Bacon Salt and Baconnaise run a recipe-heavy rotation at baconsaltblog.com, while baconshow.blogspot.com and iheartbacon.com are also delicious resources. Until someone can find a way to lure Victoria’s Secret into mass-producing the bacon bra we’ve put together a list of our favorite bacon-related products for sale right now. Just don’t ask us to count the calories.

Vosge’s Mo’s Bacon Bar
Off-kilter chocolatiere Katrina Markoff is known for her adventurous hit-and-miss flavors. Her first attempt at combining bacon with milk chocolate didn’t gel, but her swapping out bitter dark to offset the applewood-smoked bacon and addition of alderwood-smoked salt chunks dotted inside produced amazing results. It’s now Vosges’s signature bar.
vosgeschocolate.com, $7.50

Bakon Vodka
In the Pacific Northwest, this brand new hooch brings a new twist to meat and potatoes: made from Idaho’s best, it’s infused with the taste of peppery rashers. Try it in a Bakon Mary, substituting this for plain vodka on a lazy Sunday morning, or slosh some steak in it as a marinade.
bakonvodka.com, $35.99

Sir Francis Bacon Peanut Brittle
The ideal mashup of salty and sweet, this brittle has shards of candy studded with smoked bacon and US-grown peanuts. The package is emblazoned with a cheeky tweaked portrait of the namesake explorer with a snout.
baconpeanutbrittle.com, $14.99

Maple-Bacon Lollipop
Get ready for breakfast on a stick. There are several rival labels jostling to be the Hersheys of maple-bacon lollipops. Das Foods wins for its brand name alone – Man Bait, perhaps the most honest label since Death Cigarettes – but Lollyphile’s organic, sustainable cured bacon swirled with pure Vermont Maple syrup’s a close second.
dasfoods.com, 50 cents/lollipop or lollyphile.com, 4 for $10

Bacon Salt
A pair of buddies came up with this idea at the urging of a vegetarian friend still wistful over her loss of bacon (no wonder it’s both kosher-certified and vegan-friendly).They used the $5,000 that one of their kid’s videos nabbed on a TV show to kickstart the company and now have three core flavors – Original, Hickory, Peppered – as well as limited edition specials like Jalapeno and Mesquite.
baconsalt.com, $4.49

Baconnaise
A customer request started the Bacon Salt boys on a new journey: making a spreadable, sandwich-enhancing goo, heavy on the meat and light on the mayo (More Baconnaise, less Mayocon). It recently launched in both regular and lite versions – though, really, hands up anyone who’s buying the lite?
baconsalt.com, $5.99

Bacon Mints
From Uncle Oinker, this rindless riffs on Altoids combine a mouth-tingling mint flavor with the taste of real bacon.
mcphee.com, $2.50

Bacon Gumballs
To tie in with the new animated movie, ‘Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs’ — about a town where it rains meatballs, among other things — big and little kid Wonkaland Dylan’s Candy Bar expanded its bacon-flavored range of candy with a new milk chocolate bar ($2.95), joining bacon gumballs ($4) and jelly beans ($6)
dylanscandybar.com

Squeez Bacon
Bacon-on-the-go, one-handed: this squeezable bacon is allegedly from Sweden and made from a patented process that keeps the condiment 100% meat. Whether that’s a porker or not, you can add it to burgers or douse a stick of celery or just eat it straight from the bottle. ThinkGeek.com, $7.99

Bacorn
Made from hull-less popcorn from a local farmer at New York’s Greenmarket in Union Square, this is a gourmet honey caramel popcorn studded with bacon chunks and chile pinon nuts. There’s also a homier but heartier riff on the same recipe from Nashville’s Loveless Café, ‘Piggy Popcorn & I Don’t Share!’ Roni-SueChocolate.com, $5; HamsandJams.com, $6.95

Pieroguys Bacon Pierogies
That pierogies are boiled stuffed dumplings, like Slavic dim sum, typically served by Jewish grandmothers across Eastern Europe didn’t stop this Kansas-based company from offering a non-kosher modern version filled with potato, cheddar and bacon. Pieroguys.com, $4.99 for six

Maple Bacon Morning Coffee
Forget Raspberry or Mocha – Florida-based Boca Java offers a sizzling flavored coffee that’s like an English breakfast in a steaming cup, using its classic A-grade Arabica bean base. Bocajava.com, $7.49 for 8 oz.

Royal Thai Orchids – aka my first Thai meal

I openly admit that I’m not really much of a foodie…yet In fact until I went to Japan this fall, I’d even say that I was pretty much a plain jane eater. I stuck with what I knew and with what I think most Americans eat, if something sounded or looked different or odd, I wouldn’t even try it. However, now I find myself curious to try new things and thanks to Chuti… I decided to try Thai food.

A few weeks ago, I told my officemate about my desire to try Thai food thanks to Chuti’s encouragement and she suggested a nearby place called the Royal Thai Orchids. She said it was not much of a place, just in a strip mall, no interesting or eclectic decor, but good and cheap Thai food. I was ready for it!

When we arrived it was POURING down rain so I couldn’t even snap a photo of the storefront, inside it was packed and to be honest, I felt awkward about snapping photos of the place, so I’m short on photos. The menu for lunch was simple with just a few things on it. I ordered the Pad Thai lunch special which came with a bowl of “Tom Yum” soup, which was full of mushrooms. This would not be a problem except… I’m allergic to mushrooms! I had the soup anyway… hives be damned. It was very tasty and a bit spicy, except for the allergic reaction I really liked it.

I also was served a vegetable spring roll. Nothing fancy but very tasty. It was a nice counter to the soup which was kinda spicy.

Last but not least was the Pad Thai. I’d never had Pad Thai before so I can’t tell you if this was good or bad, but I sure liked it. What’s not to like about chicken, noodles and peanuts! I was in heaven and scarfed it down!

For my first Thai food experience, the Royal Thai Orchids was perfect. Since then some folks at work have told me that it’s not the best place to get Thai food. I’m open to suggestions though… as I can’t wait to try some more Thai food!

What’s for Lunch—Yoki

After talking about Japanese food and sushi with JJ and Peter on the podcast today, it’s hard not to have a craving for some sushi, so I thought I would take this opportunity to review a sushi place near by in Everett, MA called “Yoki”

Yoki opened up about a year ago in a new development called “Station Landing” near the Wellington subway station. I’ve heard some positive buzz going around about just how good the place is so I had pretty solid expectations. The restaurant was clean and the staff was welcoming. Their menu had some pretty good selections for sushi and lots of creative rolls, however there weren’t many choices for the non-sushi eater.

I ordered a nigiri set, which included 10 pieces of sushi (chef’s choice) and a tuna roll with soup and salad. I also ordred an extra california roll for a filler. I’m happy to report the fish they used was very fresh and each piece was a decent size. Overall the quality was very good and the sushi chefs were very friendly. We had a conversation about uni and also white tuna. They even made a recommendation that next time we try the Red Sox maki. They do seem to cater to local sports fans… they told us there is a 15% discount on food and drinks on Sundays and Mondays if you’re wearing a Patriots or Red Sox jersey or hat!

Over all I think that Yoki is a good place and while it’s a little expensive for the area, they certainly made up for it with their quality. Perhaps it’s not as good as the sushi Peter talked about on our show, but it’s the best i can get for now!

62 Station Landing
Medford, MA 02155
(617) 381-6688
www.yokirestaurant.com

What’s for Lunch?—Hong Kong Eatery, Boston

I created a new section today called “What’s for Lunch?” since I do eat out at lunch a lot

One good thing about working in Boston is that there are lots of choices for lunch, especially when you work near Chinatown… quick and cheap good eats can be had by all. Today, I had a taste for some good Chinese BBQ and when I do, the Hong Kong Eatery is on the very top of my list.

We sat down with another group at the same table (since they try to fill all the chairs at lunch). It was kind of funny since across from me were 3 Thais who ordered exactly what I wanted but in a larger portion since they were sharing over gossip about their other friends. I ordered a BBQ combination plate of 3 different kinds of meat consisting of BBQ pork (Pork with crispy skin usually fatty but very good), roasted duck, and salt baked chicken served on a bed of rice with Bok Choy.

Boy, it really hit the spot. Everything was right on. Plus they usually serve it with a bowl of soup -today’s was lotus root with pork. All that combined with a few cups of hot tea was just enough to sent me to food bliss.

The place is very small but worth the effort it can take to get in, however some of the tables may be a little tight for larger patrons. Over all the food is decent and they have enough choices for people who don’t fancy BBQ meat.

www.hongkongeatery.com