Whole Foods

Where to Shop Now: Hard to Find Items like Leaf Lard, Veal, Green Peppercorns, Post Grape Nuts Cereal, Bleached Cake Flour and Other Esoterica

January 24, 2021 / / Baking & Desserts, Discoveries, Recipes

I’ve decided that Shaw’s is my least favorite supermarket of the Big Three (Whole Foods, Hannaford and Market Basket). My reasons were firmly planted after a visit to the Falmouth Route 1 Shaw’s recently where I went to buy two items: Hershey’s cocoa and Karo light syrup.   I’ve never done a complete shop at any Shaw’s. Though if you want to finish fast, the Shaw’s at Westgate Shopping Plaza in Portland is the best because hardly anyone is in there. But I was in Falmouth and it was convenient to go there.

Route 1 Shaw’s in Falmouth

 

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Whole Foods Markdowns After the Sale to Amazon: So Far There are Price Drops Here and There

September 3, 2017 / / Uncategorized

That it has remained the haven for the gold-bug class to the beat of inner city ennui, time will tell what  effect the Amazon purchase of Whole Foods  will have on us shoppers as it opts to change its whole paycheck image to a cut-rate store.  Will quality suffer?  And will we lose the cachet of shopping at Whole Foods where Vuitton bags on the arms of women shoppers are the norm in an otherwise diffident city?

The Portland Whole Foods Market

I visited the store on the day that the changeover occurred and was shocked to see a sign that read: “Air-chilled chickens, $1.79 per pound.”  Wow, this was big news in our community where farm chickens  run $5 to $6 per pound.  WF’s cut-rate bird is not a locally raised farm bird but respectfully natural with decent taste and texture.

As I toured the store that day and later in the week most products were priced without discount.  Take butter, both local and national brands. Kate’s is over $6 per pound at Whole Foods compared to around $4 at Hannaford (it’s since been raised to $5.25 there).

Notable price drops at WF

Hannaford, for example, was running a special on Casco Bay Butter at $3.99 per pound, compared to $7+ at Whole Foods.  I overheard the dairy guy at Hannaford say to a co-worker that they had to get rid of the CB Butter because the warehouse was overstocked. At the Forest Avenue store, it’s off the shelf.

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Random Notes: a bit of this and that add up to the usual fine dining experience easily found in Portland

April 29, 2016 / / Restaurants

Take a croissant, split it in half, lay it on a grill or flattop and heat all those wonderful buttery layers to unleash that moment of umami smoothness.   Then when you load the croissant with a seared crab cake, local, fresh arugula and spinach, a tomato slice, citrus mayonnaise and the final glory of a beautiful duck egg fried just right and you’ve just had one of the greatest morning breakfast sandwiches.

It was at the Salt Box Cafe where this gustatory revelation occurred.  On a perch along the Eastern Prom the truck is parked overlooking the water where owner/chef Matt Glatz holds court.  He built the kitchen cabin, which is on a flatbed hooked up to his truck.  His apt motto “tiny house, big taste” says it all.

Terrific croissant and crabcake sandwich

Terrific croissant and crabcake sandwich

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Firm Family Favorite: Country-Style Ribs

February 17, 2016 / / Uncategorized

The success rate of recipes from newspaper food sections, magazines and the internet don’t have a high success rate of enjoyment or deliciousness. Still, I clip many from the New York Times, which are generally reliable and occasionally keepers. Though I’m rarely seduced by recipes in our Portland Press Herald food page, which is more of a food section containing wire copy recipes than those that are home grown.  But I do look forward to the Saturday food section of the Wall Street Journal in the section called “Off-Duty,”which features articles on food, lifestyle, travel, cars and fashion.  It’s the food features especially that tantalize–and one recipe in particular that I have made was so good it’s become a firm family favorite.  (The overall section, however, is more like a fantasy sheet advising where to buy six-figure cars to items of clothing and accessories that cost thousands.)

The adapted recipe  is a robust preparation for country style pork ribs that are marinated in a spice rub overnight and slow-roasted in the oven for several hours.  It hails from chef Damon Menapace of the Philadelphia restaurant Kensington Quarters.  The restaurant is part of a butcher shop that practices whole animal butchery from local farms.  The adjacent restaurant is highly regarded by Philadelphians.  Click here for the link to the food feature.

Slow roasted spice rubbed ribs served with a puree of celery root and potato and sauteed spinach

Slow roasted spice rubbed ribs served with a puree of celery root and potato and sauteed spinach

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As American as the classic beef stew

February 10, 2016 / / Uncategorized

If you choose wisely, there’s a wealth of information on the internet for the home cook searching for recipes or ideas.  I refer to it all the time.  Several of my favorite sites include Food 52, Chef Steps and Serious Eats.  Their recipes are fully tested to be virtually foolproof, and at Chef Steps they offer instructional videos that are extremely helpful.

One that caught my attention recently was the recipe for beef stew from Serious Eats. It turned out to be the essence of heartiness, a perfect beef stew.   Several components, however, of the dish are unusual—certainly different from the typical methods used for this simple preparation.

All-American Beef Stew adapted from Serious Eats

All-American Beef Stew adapted from Serious Eats

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Act Three: Congress Squared’s new chefs are doing it so right with a sophisticated, highly conceived small-plate menu

February 5, 2016 / / Restaurants

This is not a traditional restaurant review  but rather it’s intended to report  on the newly invigorated menu at Congress Squared at the Westin Portland Harborview.  Last Thursday night  a dinner was prepared for press and industry folk  to sample the new dishes with chefs Brian Anderson (executive chef) and Elisha (pronounced Elijah) Irland (chef de cuisine) running the show.

Clockwise: C2"s banquettes; chef Brian Anderson (right) and attendees at the press and industry dinner

Clockwise: C2″s banquettes; chef Brian Anderson (right) and attendees at the press and industry dinner

Each dish—and there were many—were killer efforts that the kitchen team produced with suavity and assuredness.  The smoked duck breast, for example, over a cunningly devised puree of rosemary with dots of roasted grapes and garlic confit created an arsenal of flavor that put the whole chorus of fine cooking on a high note. The sweet-smoky duck breast soaking up the vivaciousness of the rosemary puree underneath was further complimented by the umami of  sweetly pungent pairing of grapes and garlic confit.

Smoked duck breast with rosemary

Smoked duck breast with rosemary

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Pork Cheeks, bourbon, ham and veal stock: navigating the territory of new cuts of meat made into a glorious dish

December 16, 2015 / / Baking & Desserts, Mains, Recipes

Pork cheeks are one of those cuts of meats gaining popularity with the growth of nose-to-tail butchery.  We have some excellent sources locally at such butcher shops as Rosemont, The Farm Stand, Maine MEat and Bleecker and Flam who get in whole animals that are carved onsite.

You’ll find recipes for these novel cuts in the new crop of cookbooks being written mostly by innovative restaurant chefs who either slaughter the animals for use in their kitchens or rely on local farms and producers who offer these esoteric finds.

For a Saturday night dinner party at home last weekend I labored through a fairly complicated menu that revolved around my stash of pork cheeks based on recipes from John Currence in his book “Pickles, Pigs and Whisky.”  He’s a James Beard award winner and has a group of restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi (see review).

Braised pork cheeks in bourbon veal and ham stock reduction over Anson Mills grits bourbon

Braised pork cheeks in bourbon, veal and ham stock reduction over Anson Mills grits

I say “stash” because they’re not in plentiful supply at the shops because a pig, after all, has only two cheeks.  And unless the butcher is cutting up several animals in the same week you need to order in advance.  For 6 people I needed 12 checks (about two pounds), which meant that the butcher needed to work on 6 carcasses.

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Where to shop now in Portland: What’s new at Hannaford, Shaw’s, Whole Foods, Portland Food Co-op, etcetera?

December 14, 2015 / / Discoveries

I wouldn’t give up your holiday dinner reservations at Fore Street, Back Bay Grill or any of our other great Portland restaurants.  Nor should you cancel your holiday catering orders from Aurora Provisions.  But for perfectly good basic prepared food,  take a look at the new Hannaford Kitchen at the Forest Avenue store where everything from full dinners, sandwiches, pizzas, pastries, sushi, stir fry and more are cooked onsite.

The various food stations at Forest Avenue Hannaford

The various food stations at Forest Avenue Hannaford

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The infinite pleasures of classic meatloaf, a comfort-food favorite

December 9, 2015 / / Recipes

In the great wide world of comfort food, classic meatloaf is most everyone’s favorite dish.  Of course one’s idea of what constitutes the perfect recipe is open to interpretation.  I’m always on the lookout for tasty if not different takes on the dish. My mother, who was rarely inspired in the kitchen, was determined to make great meatloaf.  She dried every kind that came along.  One misguided attempt was made with bread soaked in milk and added to the beef mixture; the loaf was baked in an early version of a tabletop rotisserie.  It was awful! As a family we went out to eat often.

Classic meatloaf in tomato glaze

Classic meatloaf in tomato glaze

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To brine or not to brine? Here we go again with that same old question about how to prepare the Thanksgiving turkey

November 18, 2015 / / Mains, Recipes

What would Julia (as in Child) do?  She’d just roast the bird, a little salt and pepper and call it a good turkey day.  But   modernist cooks like to keep things just a tad complicated and if you’re one, brining is for you.

turkey18JULIA2-blog427

For years I didn’t brine my bird.  I’d buy a good farm-raised local bird that had plenty of flavor all on its own.  My thought was it’s just a bit bigger than a large chicken so why go through such conniptions over this holiday-stoked bird?

Still, to brine or not to brine, that is the question that most of us ponder when it’s time to roast that darn turkey for a thoroughly American Thanksgiving dinner.  My simple answer is: Brine it! Read more…

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