The Lunch Break Chronicles

JACQUES PEPIN: AT STEW LEONARD’S, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 5-7 P.M.

10/30/2009

Jacques Pépin is the man.

Long before Top Chef and the Food Network, there was Pépin on PBS.

I’ve long admired his style and the way he handled Julia Child’s utter wackiness on screen. The chef will appear at Stew Leonard’s in Norwalk next Friday to promote his book, More Fast Food My Way with a book signing and cooking demonstration.

–CP

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ABOVE: 11-inch stainless steel Oxo balloon whisk. $6.99 at Marshall’s.

10/28/2009

I rarely get this excited about something like a balloon whisk – OK, actually I am a total kitchen gadget geek –but the Oxo 11″ balloon whisk I just picked up is totally blogworthy.

After leaving a whisk in New Hampshire, I was looking for a decent replacement and the Oxo solves a couple of problems, chiefly the annoying heavy handles that tend to tip the whisk out of a bowl when you set it down for a minute.

The handle itself is very short and has a rounded end which allows it to fit perfectly in the palm of your hand for an easier whisking motion.

Plus it was seven bucks.

–CP

COALHOUSE: 85 HIGH RIDGE ROAD, STAMFORD

ABOVE: A 12″ pie with bacon at Coalhouse.

A NOTE FROM THE LBC: In light of the Advocate’s review of Coalhouse which is up today, I am bumping this post up. I have been back to Coalhouse since my visit on opening day and still find the crust to be seriously lacking. A lot of folks disagree with me on this, but I just don’t get it…

10/27/2009

There has been a lot of speculation about what the new Coalhouse Pizza is going to contribute to the Stamford pizza scene. With its prominent neon sign on High Ridge road, it has created a little buzz in the months since the Stamford Pizza Tour declared its list of winners.

I was hopeful: the addition of a coal-fired brick oven in Stamford couldn’t possibly be bad.

For a week or so, it appeared to be ready to open, but the “coming soon” sign was still in the window. Until yesterday.

I dropped in on their soft opening with a couple of friends and the first thing I noticed was the decor, which has a blues theme maybe more suitable for a barbecue joint. My table was plastered with photos of R.L. Burnside, an ornery S.O.B. of a delta bluesman who recorded the greatest song even written about a murderous, foul-mouthed drunken monkey. Even the menu items are named after blues songs. Though, I am fairly certain Muddy Waters probably wouldn’t eat the baby yellow squash on his namesake Hoochie-Coochie Man pizza at Coalhouse, he was a meat a potatoes kind of guy.

The pizzas come in both 12 and 16-inch sizes and with a variety of toppings ranging from standard to a little more exotic (poblano peppers, shitake mushrooms, even kimchi).

We ordered a standard margherita-type pie and a similar pie with bacon and peppers, both very reasonably priced at $7.75. I would actually prefer a heftier pie for a little more money, but then again, this gives you the opportunity to order a salad first instead of gorging on pizza, which I am known to do (and for well under $15).

I was surprised at how thin the crust is, thinner than any other pizza I have ever had. Ever.

In order to fire a pie in just a couple of minutes at 700-800 degrees, it has to be thin, but I’m not sure this is the pie for me. However, the menu is well thought out and I will be back to try some of them like the Shake Your Money Maker (my favorite Elmore James cut) with cherry-stone clams, roasted garlic and bacon.

The macaroni and cheese, which at $4.75 is also a great deal, comes hot from the oven with a crispy panko bread crumb crust. My only objection is that it could use a touch of cream or a little more cheese, but it’s pretty good.

A panko crust is also employed on the chicken wings which were not only well-seasoned and very tender but won the approval of the Advocate’s resident – yet anonymous – Buffalo wing connoisseur. Coalhouse offers about 15 different sauces for the wings and are either served with a traditional blue cheese or cucumber dill sauce. I’m definitely trying the spiced Manchego sauce next time.

From the bar, Coalhouse has a reasonably decent beer list with Stone IPA on tap and a well-curated but not excessively large list of bottled beers (Dale’s Pale Ale, Lagunitas IPA, Allagash, etc.)

I totally see what Coalhouse is trying to do here and I’m glad they are trying to set themselves apart, but the crust might be a deal breaker for me. We’ll see, I’m more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, particularly if that means eating more pizza.

–CP

BELOW: The macaroni and cheese.

COALHOUSE  PIZZA: 85 HIGH RIDGE ROAD

10/26/2009

For those of you waiting for the new Coalhouse Pizza in Bull’s Head to open: it is.

The oven is fired up and they are serving pies as we speak during the first night of a soft opening. More later, I’ve got actual work to do.

–CP

ABOVE: The lamb kabob platter at Tabouli Grill Mediterranean Cuisine

10/15/2009

We headed over to the Tabouli Grill, one of the new restaurants in Bull’s Head after the mayoral debate today.

Tabouli replaced the Margot Café & Wine Bar in the strip mall which will soon also feature Coalhouse Pizza. The setup is pretty similar to Margot, with a casual atmosphere and colorful photography and decor.

Between the two of us, we figured we’d split the lamb kabob platter and also ordered a soup and the spinach and feta pie.

The lamb itself was very good, well seasoned and tender, and the salad was fresh and tasty but the portions fell below our expectations. For an $18 plate –at lunch, in Bull’s Head – I would have expected much more than the two candy bar sized kabobs with one side (in our case soggy-ish, though hand-cut French fries), a Mediterranean salad and half a piece of pita. The meal was preceded by a trio of pickled vegetables.

A similar dish at Layla’s Falafel downtown is not only less expensive but the portions are much larger – a dish you really must split.

BELOW: The spinach and feta pie.

–CP

10/15/2009

HABANA: 245 HOPE STREET, STAMFORD

ABOVE: Self explanatory. Quattro Regali moves to 401 Shippan. Habana, formerly of SoNo moves in.

Owner Lushe Gjuraj, whose family also owns Parkway Diner, Spazzio and Lushe’s SoNo Diner (located in the former Habana spot), said Habana should open next weekend and will feature the same menu as it did it Norwalk.

–CP

10/14/2009

Bill Taibe, of the spankin’ new Le Farm restaurant in Westport, sent me a note today saying he’s heading to NY tomorrow for a segment on the Today show.

WHATS COOKING: Pork belly. Yay.

–CP

L&G ITALIAN DELI: 425 WEST MAIN STREET

10/12/2009

I learned a couple of things about Julio from L&G Italian Deli during the bocce season.

ONE: You get close to the palino and he WILL knock your a– out.

TWO: The guy can cook.

I discovered Rio Murgia pasta here and now I’m hooked. At $3.29 a pound, it’s three times more expensive than that stuff I buy at Trader Joes, but you won’t regret it. Plus, their hot and sweet sausage is killer…totally worth the drive over to the West Side. As an added bonus he carries some other hard-to-find ingredients, like the Type 00 flour I was looking all over for to make pizza dough.

So the next time you are about to hand over a couple of bucks for that supermarket-chain Italian sausage, think again and take a ride over to L&G. Capisce?

–CP