SAXON HOTEL and recipes for MUSHROOM SAUCE, AVOCADO SALSA AND TOMATO GINGER CHUTNEY

What do Bill Clinton, Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey and Mick Jager have in common? All stayed at the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg and for good reason. The one-of-a-kind property epitomizes luxury, security, service and quite pizzazzy comfort.

The Saxon claims a pedigreed location, sequestered in the city’s upscale Sandhurst neighborhood. Grand estates, each and every one walled from street view, electronically gated and well guarded by private security, surround the hotel. The nearest city intrusion lies about three kilometers away in Nelson Mandela Square, a tony shopping/entertainment center.

Guests can, of course, hire Saxon drivers for all sorts of city excursions, but once encased, it’s hard to imagine leaving the 10-acre, garden-filled hotel enclave and it’s a perfect little world of privileged coziness.

Once a private home of insurance tycoon, Douw Steyn, the Saxon maintains a grand and intimate residential ambiance. Inside the security gates, staff greet guests with a warm, unobtrusive welcome.

Doors open to an opulent lobby with duel staircases curving under a domed ceiling.

From the reception desk, butlers accompany guests to their suites, strolling through hallways filled with pencil portraits of famous visitors and/or orchids slipped into slender vases.

The Saxon’s Egoli, Presidential and Nelson Mandela suites (Mandela lived on property when writing his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom), come in various sizes and configurations. All sport Afro-gorgeous decors with tranquil color schemes of browns, beiges and creams accented with confetti dots of red and black. Luxury linens, flattering lighting and state-of-the-art electronics add to the amenities.

My suite, 104, couldn’t have been lovelier or more restful. Notice the great big bed with marble bed posts:

Notice the bathroom, which has separate tub, shower and two sinks—all graced with full bottles of fragrant Molton Brown products.

Notice the dining area with a bucket holding chilled Champagne ready to pop.

Notice the sitting area with the large TV and the desk with a power panel geared to delight the most type A, technologically connected businessperson.

If guests feel compelled to leave their suite, the Saxon offers many pockets of pleasure, including:

An award-winning spa:

A quite heated pool:

An awesome unheated pool:

A Koi pond:

African-art filled seating areas:

Cocktail lounges:

And a choice of dining areas, lusciously overseen by Executive Chef David Higgs. I opted for a long and lingering lunch in the lovely Qunu Grill. This is the dining room where guests enjoy a Champagne breakfast buffet. This is a dining room to steal a gourmet’s heart.

Notice the garden wall backdrop and startling red-dressed tables:

Notice the table decor of orchids and African art:

Qunu waiters are an especially friendly sort. They walked me through the menu and decided I should order mussel soup as a first course (it was heaven) and springbok loin, an African specialty and one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, for the second course (it was divine).

Breakfast is, of course, elegant and elaborate, with fresh oysters and sushi among the buffet choices:

But my secret best meal pleasure came at midnight, when I suddenly craved a cheeseburger. As one would expect, the Saxon Burger (brought by the butler within 20 minutes of my call) was a masterpiece. It stood a towering four-inches tall and was dressed to the nines. French fries, fried onion rings and assorted condiments/sauces, including Avocado Salsa, Tomato Chutney and a rich, creamy Mushroom Sauce (recipes follow) added to the glory.

A Leading Hotel of the World, the Saxon identifies itself as a boutique hotel, and, indeed, has been called the “world’s best boutique hotel,” but the word “boutique” underplays the Saxon’s sophisticated, high style elegance. Suffice it to say that the Saxon remains THE single best Johannesburg hotel for the wealthy, head-of-state and super-star crowd, as well as for ordinary travelers who want to borrow the celebrity lifestyle—if only for a night or two.

SAXON BURGER ACCOMPANIMENTS

MUSHROOM SAUCE

Serve as a side dish or condiment for grilled and roasted meats.

Yield: 2 cups.

Butter or oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and pressed through a garlic press

Splash of brandy

1/4 cup beef jus or strong stock

1 pound button mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon thyme

1-1/2 cups cream

Melt butter in a skillet. Add onion and sauté until onion is almost translucent, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and stir-fry 1 minute. Pour brandy over mixture and ignite. When flame dies, add jus, mushrooms and thyme; boil gently, stirring often, until mushrooms release their liquid and liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes. Add cream and boil gently until sauce is thick and creamy, about 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

AVOCADO SALSA

Serve as a snack with tortilla chips or as a condiment for all sorts of sandwiches.

Yield: About 2 cups.

2 large, ripe avocado, coarsely chopped

1 small tomato, peeled, seeded and very finely chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped parsley

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice—or more to stabilize color

Salt to taste

Hot pepper sauce to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

TOMATO AND GINGER CHUTNEY

Serve as a condiment for grilled and roasted meats and a variety of cheese and egg dishes.

Yield: 4 cups.

Oil

1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely diced

1 cup vinegar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 star anise

4 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs thyme

2 tablespoons peeled and shredded ginger.

About 5 pounds plum tomatoes, each cut into 8 pieces (You will need about 4 cups of pieces.)

Coat the bottom of a 4-quart saucepan with a little oil. Add onion and sauté until the onion is tender, but not colored. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add vinegar, sugar, anise, cloves, cinnamon, bay, thyme and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring often until sugar dissolves. After sugar dissolves, boil mixture 1 to 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and gently boil until tomatoes are soft, 10 to 20 minutes (time depends on degree of ripeness.) Strain tomatoes from liquid, returning liquid to pan.

Remove anise, cloves, cinnamon, bay and thyme from tomatoes and discard. Set tomatoes aside.

Boil liquid in pan until it reduces and becomes thick and syrupy, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Gently stir hot syrup into tomatoes. Set chutney aside to cool at room temperature and then refrigerate in a covered container. Serve chutney chilled.

Johnny Cash Museum

“It was a long time coming.” The construction started in 2011 and slowly continued “one piece at a time.” But “cry cry cry” no more. As of May 30, 2013, one can “walk the line” straight to 119 Third Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee, and pay tribute to “the man in black,” because The Johnny Cash Museum is now officially open.

Conceived by Bill Miller, a fan, friend and avid collector of all things Johnny Cash, the museum tells the story of Johnny through a variety of interactive displays, music and mementos. Fans can listen to his music, watch movies in which he acted, and view a plethora of items from both his professional and private life. Museum memorabilia includes manuscripts, costumes and instruments as well as family photographs, childhood toys and, even the crucifix ring Johnny wore in his last video.

The new Johnny Cash endeavor focuses on cash in more ways than one. General entrance fee for the museum, which is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., runs $14 (with discounts for students, the military and others). In addition, shoppers can load up on Cash-related merchandise at the gift shop adjoining the museum.

What would Johnny think of the museum? All involved know that “he’ll understand and say well done, “ although his “flesh and blood,” sister Joanne Cash Yates, and brother Tommy Cash, said that he would be surprised and overwhelmed by the attention.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHXktSrKxUw[/youtube]

“Just thought you’d like to know” that those who feel “a thing called love” for Johnny—and even those who don’t know much about the “country boy,” should enjoy the museum, as it tells the story of a troubled, but gifted man who is considered one of the major influential musicians of the 20^th century.

¶ Posted 31 May 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § NASHVILLE § TENNESSEE § TRAVEL ‡ Comments Off °

TEQUILA BAR AND INFUSIONS

The name is quite a mouthful—JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. And the resort is quite a place, offering something above and beyond other JW Marriotts. It’s not the size that makes it so special, although this JW Marriott is the world’s largest, sitting on an area covering 600 acres. And it’s not the 1,002 rooms or 26,000-square-foot Lantana Spa with its 30 treatment rooms, or the 36-hole PGA Tour golf facility, or even the six-acre meandering water park with its multiple pools that gets me. And, as good as they are, it’s not even the resort’s restaurants (which serve fresh ingredients grown in the property’s 5,000-square-foot organic garden).

Entrance to Lantana Spa

Water Park

No, what wins my heart is the spirit of the place.

I am talking tequila here. Literally.

I love the concept of this JW Marriott’s tequila bar, which is part of the resort’s main restaurant, Cibolo Moon. The bar is “T” certified, the first in Texas to receive such an honor. To earn a “Distintivo T” certification from the Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico, a property must meet rigid criteria. Requirements include that the bar/restaurant offer a list of drinks and cocktails based on tequila, serve dishes in which one main ingredient is tequila, and train staff to have a thorough knowledge of every aspect of tequila, from production to taste.

Tequila Bar at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country

Cibola Moon’s Tequila Bar

When it comes to tequila—this JW Marriott rocks! The bar’s menu not only offers over 100 different tequilas and a staggering number of tequila-based drinks, but also a wide selection of tequila infusions that have been formulated by the resort’s tequila master.

The tequila bar along with the rest of the JW Marriott’s facilities, sit less than 20 minutes from San Antonio International Airport in the Texas Hill Country’s Cibolo Canyons community. For those who can’t get there fast enough, the resort was nice enough to offer their instructions for infusing tequila at home—an activity that suits me to a T!

Strawberry Jalapeno Margarita

Although strawberry-infused tequila hits the high note of popularity at the JW Marriott (and the bar’s strawberry and jalapeño margarita, alone, is enough to explain why Travel & Leisure named the resort among the 500 best in the world), one can infuse tequila with any number of fruits, vegetables and/or herbs.

It’s quite a mouthful to say, but here Sweet Leisure brings you the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa’s Cibolo Moon tequila bar’s tequila master’s instructions for infusing tequila. (Whew! I need a drink.)

HOW TO INFUSE TEQUILA

Strawberry Infused Tequila

1. Pick your base tequila. JW Marriott San Antonio suggests using 100-percent blue agave silver or blanco tequila. Blanco tequilas work particularly well, being unaged and thus the freshest with an ability to take on the most flavor.

2. Choose and prepare the infusing ingredient. The ingredient should be cleaned and cut to maximize flavor release. You can mix and match or go with one flavor. Here are some suggestions on how to prepare basic ingredients. To make a:

Herb infusion: wash herbs; use stem and all.

Pepper infusion: trim stems from peppers and either score them and leave whole, or halve peppers: remove seeds (for a mild flavor) or leave seeds attached (for extra kick).

Vanilla infusion: split a long, plump vanilla bean in half; use bean and seeds.

Mixed Fruit Infused Tequila

Berry infusion: wash berries well and remove stems; halve larger berries–leave small berries whole.

Fruit infusion (such as pineapple and mango): peel and cut flesh into chunks.

3. Place prepared infusing ingredient or ingredients in a clean, airtight jar (a quart size Mason jar works well). The amount you use depends on the intensity of flavor you wish to achieve. Fill the jar with tequila, completely covering infusing ingredients. Cover the jar tightly with a lid and shake a few times to help release ingredient’s flavor.

4. Set the jar in a cool, dark place. Shake the jar a few times a day for the duration of the infusion, which generally takes 3 to 5 days. Taste the tequila every few days until the flavors develop as you desire. (YES!)

5. Filter the tequila through fine strainer, paper coffee filter or cheesecloth into another clean jar, removing the infusing ingredients. The tequila is now ready to drink.

Enjoy infused tequila on the rocks and in cocktails and other drinks.

(Cooks can use it as a flavor enhancer in all sorts of dishes.)

Remember drink responsibly and choose a designated driver, which brings up another great point about the JW Marriott’s tequila bar; one can sample and savor to distraction and stay the night with complete ease. Salud!

¶ Posted 26 May 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § ACCOMMODATIONS § BEVERAGES § DRINKS § RESORTS § SAN ANTONIO § TEXAS § TRAVEL ‡ Comments Off °

COOMBS HOUSE INN and QUICHE

Connoisseurs consider the Coombs House Inn one of the best B & Bs in all of Florida and I know why. Her name is Lynn Wilson.

Lynn Wilson

Lynn, an architectural interior designer and decorator, discovered the house that would become the inn when vacationing in Apalachicola, Florida, in 1978. At that time, the mansion was uninhabited, boarded up and deteriorating. There was talk of condemnation.

Of course, it wasn’t always that way. When James N. Coombs, “the wealthiest businessman in Apalachicola,” built the mansion in 1905, he loaded it with luxuries, such as black-cypress paneling, ornate brass light fixtures, nine fireplaces, leaded glass windows and indoor plumbing. The local newspaper declared it “the most elegant house in town.” But the glory faded through the decades, first fueled by a fire in 1911, and then by various occupants who finally abandoned the property in the 1960s.

Neglected, dilapidated, decaying, the house enchanted Lynn Wilson, who with her airline executive husband, Bill Spohrer, couldn’t resist buying it.

With a resume that lists renovating and decorating luxury properties all over the world (client list includes Taj Hotels, King Hussein and Queen Noor, Donald Trump and Jackie and David Siegel—yes, the same featured in the documentary film “The Queen of Versailles”), Lynn not only restored the building, but also filled it with fine antiques, oriental carpets and original paintings. She also shocked locals by painting the exterior a sunny yellow, a daring deviation from the mosquito-repellent white of surrounding properties.

Coombs House Inn opened to guests in 1994.

As you can imagine, the inn’s reputation and popularity blossomed, encouraging Lynn and Bill to purchase another nearby Victorian mansion, which went through the renovation/decorating process to emerge as “Coombs Villas” in 1998. A third historic house, now called “Coombs Veranda Suites” joined the enclave in 2007.

Today the three houses that make up the Coombs Inn combine considerable turn-of-the-century charm with comfortable contemporary updates. Although each of the 23 rooms vary in size, decor and accoutrements, all boasts full baths, cable TV, Wi-Fi and Starbucks coffee for in-room coffee makers. Breakfast and afternoon tea greet diners in the gracious dining room and extras come in the form of bicycles as well as beach chairs and towels that guests can borrow for trips to the nearby sugary-sand beaches of St. George Island.

Bedrooms

Antiques

Bathrooms

In addition to individual travelers, the B & B accommodates groups, as its garden gazebo and Camellia Hall provide a lovely venue for weddings, meetings and all type of gatherings.

Gazebo and Camellia Hall

The Coombs Inn sits a few blocks from the heart of Apalachicola, with easy access to all that the quaint fishing-village has to offer. Guests can wile away their stay sitting on a genteel verandah with a good book and glass of wine or can partake in area activities such as biking, hiking, kayaking, fishing, sailing and swimming in the Gulf. And as icing on the Apalachicola cake, the inn is within walking distance to a treasure trove of good restaurants (click HERE for one great suggestion).

And while we are on the subject of food, the B & B serves ample breakfasts with specialties such as:

COOMBS INN SAUSAGE AND CHEESE QUICHE

Yield: 6 servings.

1 pie crust to fit a 9-inch pie plate

4 to 6 fully cooked pork sausage patties (Coombs Inn uses Jimmy Dean Original Hearty Pork Sausage)

4 eggs

1 cup half-and-half or milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pie crust.

Arrange sausage patties over bottom of pie crust.

Beat eggs with half and half, salt and pepper until well blended. Toss cheese with flour and stir into eggs. Pour mixture over sausage in crust.

Bake in a 350°F oven until filling is set and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. (If edges of crust brown too much, cover with strips of foil for last 15 minutes of baking.)

Remove quiche from oven and set aside for 5 minutes before slicing.

For more information about Apalachicola, St. George Island and other Franklin County delights, see http://www.saltyflorida.com/.

For Coombs House Inn information visit http://www.coombshouseinn.com/

¶ Posted 20 May 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § ACCOMMODATIONS § APALACHICOLA § BREAKFAST § BRUNCH § FLORIDA ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: APALACHICOLA, B & B, Coombs House Inn, Florida, quiche

BEST NASHVILLE RESTAURANTS

Nashville resident Nancy Vienneau describes herself as a self-trained chef and recovering caterer turned food writer and activist. Her background in fine arts included stained glass, painting and printmaking, but it is with good food that she made her mark in Nashville, running a full-service catering company. As she says, “twenty-five years and ten thousand cream cheese brownies” after opening A Matter of Taste, she sold the company, and today devotes her expertise to promoting local farmers, urban gardens, healthy affordable cooking and food security. She also writes about food for a variety of publications, produces a weekly restaurant column for The Tennessean and blogs (see the fabulous Good Food Matters). Her first cookbook, The Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook, is slated for spring 2014 publication by Thomas Nelson, a division of Harper Collins.

If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Nashville’s food scene, it’s Nancy, so it is with great pleasure that Sweet Leisure nabbed her to suggests a few of her favorite places to eat in the city. Here’s Nancy on Nashville’s best.

WHERE TO EAT IN NASHVILLE

by Nancy Vienneau

Nashville, Tennessee, has long been the creative mecca of music, beckoning songwriters and musicians from around the world. But when it comes to food, it’s been a sleepy two-chord town…until recently. The same kind of synergy that helped make us Music City has been coalescing in our local food scene. Entrepreneurial spirits, fueled with fine ingredients, and a love of cuisine—Southern or not– have converged, making their marks and putting Nashville on the culinary map. We have many great choices—too many to list here. I’ve assembled a round-up of some favorites you won’t want to miss when you pay us a visit.

The Silly Goose

1888 Eastland Avenue

615-915-0757

Chef Roderick Bailey just won best chef of the Southeast in Food and Wine’s people’s choice awards—richly deserved. He’s well loved for his serious good food served with a light-hearted spirit. At lunchtime, customers flock to this East Nashville eatery for his delectable couscous and sandwich combinations. At dinner, their focus turns to his sophisticated plates, such as grilled steelhead trout on a bed of green bamboo rice infused with coconut and ginger, dotted with tiny pineapple cubes, guacamole, sesame vinaigrette. Wow.

Legato Gelato

1200 Villa Place, #3

When she moved from Manhattan to Nashville, Terri-Ann Nichols missed this creamy-dreamy confection so much that she decided open her own gelateria. She studied with master gelato makers in Bologna Italy, imported some of the best machinery, and set to work. She uses fine local and organic ingredients, with milk from a family dairy as the foundation. Her myriad flavors of gelato and sorbetto are sublime–intense tastes and smooth textures. I especially love her affogatos—a scoop of gelato “drowned” in a cup of espresso. It is a sublime afternoon pick-me-up.

Etch

303 Demonbreun Street

615-522-6085

Set in the burgeoning SoBro part of downtown, this modern minimalist restaurant is the stunning backdrop for the food artistry of Chef Deb Paquette. Her plates of full of color, dimension, and flavor: sometimes startling, always gratifying. Consider her Ratatouille Crudo, or her Turkish spiced Cobia with brown buttered oranges, capers, olives, raisins, almond beignet, or Roasted Cauliflower with truffle pea pesto. Her pastry chef, Megan Williams, has amazing desserts to complement.

Rolf and Daughters

700 Taylor Street,

615-866-9897

The former boiler room of Werthan Factories has been repurposed into this cool, industrial space where Chef Philip Krajeck (a thrice nominated James Beard Best Chef) serves his self-proclaimed “modern peasant fare.” That might undersell it. His housemade pastas are extraordinary: Farro gemelli with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, Spaghetti carbonara, Squid ink canestri. Rustic bread , baked in house, is served with radishes and whipped seaweed butter. Compelling cocktails, too. The Cumberland Sour gets its twang from sorghum and apple cider vinegar.

Arnold’s

605 8^th Avenue South

615-256-4455

Arnold's & Meat (fish) and Three

Prince’s Hot Chicken

123 Ewing Drive

615-226-9442

Prince's and Hot Chicken

No Nashville tour would be complete without a visit to these two icons: Arnold’s, a country-style “meat and three” lunch cafe (which won a James Beard America’s Classics award in 2009) and Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack—which is home to our city’s now signature dish: Nashville Hot Chicken. What makes it Nashville Hot? It’s in the combination of the addictive fiery paste painted onto crispy southern-fried chicken, served on a mattress of white bread, and crowned with a few crinkle-cut pickles. Oh, my. (Prince’s will be presented a James Beard America’s Classics award on May 6!)

A couple of caveats: the fare at Arnold’s—carved to order roast beef, mashed potatoes, fried green tomatoes, collards, banana pudding— is rib-stickin’ fare. Come hungry, and know it will power you through the remainder of the day. At Prince’s, patience is a virtue. The chicken is fried to order. Approach the heat level with prudence: medium is supa-hot.

The Oak Bar in the Hermitage Hotel

231 6^th Avenue North

615-345-7116

If you can’t bask in the Beaux Arts elegance, dining at the Capitol Grille in our downtown 5 Star Hermitage Hotel, then slip into The Oak Bar, its premium watering hole. Enjoy a cocktail and a plate of Chef Tyler Brown’s cured meats, or a haute pimiento grilled cheese. Let the world pass by for a spell. Be sure to take a peek into the adjacent men’s room—it is the ultimate in jade-and-black art deco design.

Bella Nashville artisan wood-fired pizza

900 Rosa Parks Blvd

615-457-3863

Here, “Old World meets the New South” inside the food court of our Nashville Farmer’s Market. Dave Cuomo and Emma Berkey have a concise menu of terrific pizzas that follow Neapolitan tradition but use fresh, seasonal ingredients from the market. The Margarita is perfection: housemade mozzarella on crushed San Marzano-style tomatoes, fresh basil, a drizzle of olive oil, but others, with turnips greens and country ham, are just as delectable. Friday through Sunday, they have their artisanal sourdough bread available for purchase too. Fragrant and tangy—it is the best in the city.

¶ Posted 18 April 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § NASHVILLE § RESTAURANTS § TENNESSEE ‡ Comments Off °

SAN ANTONIO, BOILER HOUSE & S’MORES

San Antonio, the Texas city with south-of-the-border flair, offers gourmets much to love. Good restaurants cluster around town, accessorizing the River Walk like fine jewelry. But the shiniest, most-polished restaurants string around Pearl, the 22-acre food, entertainment and educational development on the site of the former Pearl Brewery.

Pearl boasts a treasure trove of food-related gems including the Culinary Institute of America and a year-around farmer’s market, but restaurants are jewels in the crown and new ones keep opening, winning Pearl the reputation of holding the “densest concentration of fine dining in San Antonio if not all of Texas.”

Boiler House Texas Grill & Wine Garden is one of the newest and largest restaurants in the Pearl complex—and a restaurant that illustrates how the old and historic perfectly combines with the chic and modern.

Boiler House occupies the space of the former brewery’s boiler house. The restaurant’s designers incorporated elements from the original 1890s building (door, boilers, high ceilings, window spaces), to create a super cool, contemporary two-story dining area.

The restaurant’s menu, which features Texas beers, wines from around the world and grilled foods sourced from nearby Texas farms and markets does the same—that is, presents classic fare with stylish updates. Menu items might wear old, familiar names, but dishes are as modern and sophisticated as the building itself.

Take S’Mores, for example. Boiler House makes it’s own “graham crackers”—which are more like really rich shortbread cookies—tops them with decorative marshmallow fluff and adds home-made hot fudge sauce. Sigh!

Word of warning: The restaurant specializes in small plates, ideal for sharing, but if you are lucky enough to dine at Boiler House, don’t go the sharing route when it comes to dessert. You’ll want every bite.

BOILER HOUSE S’MORES

Yield: About 28

Graham crackers (recipe follows)

Marshmallow fluff (recipe follows)

Hot fudge sauce (recipe follows)

Using a pastry bag, pipe marshmallow fluff over top of each Graham cracker.

Place marshmallow topped cookies on a baking sheet and set under a preheated broiler for a few seconds to brown topping. Serve warm with hot fudge sauce. (See NOTE.)

GRAHAM CRACKERS

Yield: About 28 square cookies or 56 triangles.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 pound (16 tablespoons) room temperature butter for dough plus 1 tablespoon melted butter for brushing on top of rolled dough

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling on rolled dough

1/4 cup honey

Sift flour, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon together into a medium bowl: set bowl aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer. Beat in sugars and honey and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the flour mixture and work with your hands to form a smooth dough.

Put the dough on a parchment paper-lined or ungreased baking sheet. Roll dough into a rectangle about 1/8” thick. Brush rolled dough with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar. With a sharp knife, score the dough into desired shapes.

Bake in a preheated 350°F oven until cookies are a nice golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Remove cookies from oven and set baking sheet on a rack to cool. While cookies are still warm, cut along score marks to separate into desired shape. Cool to room temperature.

MARSHMALLOW FLUFF

4 large egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put whites, sugar and cream of tarter into a metal mixing bowl. Set bowl in a saucepan above 2 inches of simmering water. (The bowl should be above the water, not touching it.)

Heat, whisking constantly, until whites are very warm to the touch (160°F on candy thermometer), about 4 minutes.

Remove whites from heat and start beating with an electric mixer set at low speed. Continue beating, slowly raising speed of beaters, until whites form stiff peaks, 6 to 8 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

Yield: about 2 cups.

6 tablespoons butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup whipping cream

Pinch salt

Stirring occasionally, melt the butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan set over very low heat. Stir in sugar, cream and salt. Raise heat to medium and, stirring often, cook the sauce until it is smooth and all the sugar has dissolved, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Stir in vanilla. Serve the sauce while it is warm or refrigerate sauce in a covered container until ready to serve and reheat before serving.

NOTE: The Graham crackers may be made a few days in advance. Marshmallow fluff is best if made the day of serving. The Graham crackers can be topped and browned several hours before serving and served at room temperature, but best is to top the Graham crackers in advance and set them under a broiler to brown for just a few seconds just before serving.

¶ Posted 11 April 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § CHOCOLATE § CONDIMENTS § DESSERTS § ENTERTAINING § RECIPES § RESTAURANTS § SAN ANTONIO § TEXAS § TRAVEL ‡ Comments Off °

ROSEMARY BEACH RESTAURANTS AND RECIPES

ROSEMARY BEACH is aptly named: “Beach” for the glorious sparkling white-quartz sand that hugs the Gulf of Mexico and “Rosemary” both for the flavorful herb and, by extension, the flavorful food that thrives in the northwest Florida beach community.

For a 107-acre town welcoming homeowners and vacationers—and an area where almost every rental accommodation sports a kitchen—Rosemary Beach boasts an unusual number of luscious dining options.

Town planners, who founded the community in 1995, filled Rosemary Beach with architecturally unique homes using natural materials and a palette of soft colors. They gave ample space to broad grassy grounds and green, garden-lined footpaths and boardwalks. They added tennis courts, fitness center and swimming pools. And they put restaurants in the bulls-eye center of everything.

As restaurants are literally and figuratively the centerpiece of the community, we created an itinerary for a two-day Rosemary Beach eating spree (with a few suggestions for killing time in-between meals). Consider the itinerary a speed-dating preview of Rosemary Beach restaurants highlights—an introduction from which to choose favorites and return for more.

And for those not lucky enough to be on location, we added recipes—tasty tidbits from a town where food shares vacation significance with sun, sand and sea.

TWO DAYS IN ROSEMARY BEACH

DAY 1

Start the morning at AMAVIDA COFFEE, a pet-friendly, neighbor-sociable, family-owned coffee shop in the center of town. Amavida provides a plethora of wake-up pleasure, including WIFI, newspapers, magazines and books, morning pastries, breakfast sandwiches and 100 percent natural Fair Trade coffee prepared every which way.

Off to the beach for a morning of sunshine.

Lunch at SUMMER KITCHEN CAFÉ, the first restaurant to open at Rosemary Beach and a breakfast/lunch hangout known for salads (recipe follows), wraps, sandwiches and other casual fare. Summer Kitchen also sports a more gourmet dinner menu, but patio dining is especially appealing in lunchtime sunshine.

Spend the afternoon on a bike, which can be rented from BAMBOO BICYCLE COMPANY located next door to Summer Kitchen. Ride along Scenic 30A, stopping at DEER LAKE STATE PARK (4 miles away) to catch the coastal dune lakes found in only two other parts of the world (Africa and Australia).

Return to Rosemary Beach, for mid-afternoon refresher at THE SUGAR SHAK, a candy land selling a cornucopia of the sweet stuff as well as ice cream concoctions, shaved ice refreshers and frozen yogurt.

Dinner time? Head to ONANO, a restaurant that bills itself as a NEIGHBORHOOD CAFE, which is right on the mark if the neighborhood is in the heart of Tuscany. Italian and Mediterranean flavors blend with Florida favorites and all come together in dishes such as the locally caught grouper served with spinach, gnocchi and a Tomato Olive Vinaigrette (recipe follows).

Sleep well. Rosemary Beach vacation rental accommodations are tucked into large homes, carriage houses, lofts, flats and inns, and all but the inn rooms come with equipped kitchens, washers and dryers, linens and TVs. Rentals run the gamut from multi-bedroom units to studios and all are unique.

The comforts of the Moreland Carriage House studio cottage, one of the simpler choices near the beach, include a big brass bed, shower only bathroom, fully equipped kitchen and little balcony to catch the morning sun as well as glimpses of the Gulf.

DAY 2

Having breakfast at COWGIRL KITCHEN is de rigueur for a Rosemary Beach stay. Although the café remains open for lunch and dinner, it’s the praline bacon waffle breakfast that lassos the crowds. (Recipe follows.)

More beach on the agenda—walking, swimming, lounging, until it’s time for lunch at the new, stylish and sophisticated AQUA COASTAL SUSHI. Chef Steve Kim packs his menu with an array of unusually delicious, unusually creative and unusually attractive Japanese-inspired dishes. And no matter what one orders, the Lobster Nests starter and Chocolate Sushi in Heaven dessert are must haves!

After lunch drive to EDEN GARDENS STATE PARK and wander the grounds graced with moss-draped live oaks and, in season, camellias, azaleas and roses. Visitors can tour WESLEY MANSION, a historic homestead with a collection of antiques that include, what is said to be, the second largest collection of Louis XVI furniture in the United States.

Head back to Rosemary Beach in time for a stop at LA CREMA TAPAS & CHOCOLATE. True to its name, the charming café, which is open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. (later on weekends), specializes in tapas and chocolate, so visitors are obligated to try both (YES!). Good choices: the fig tapas (recipe follows) with a glass of Spanish wine, followed by the luscious…well…the… luscious….well any of the desserts—all are fabulous.

Enjoy a sunset stroll on the beach before heading to the four-star RESTAURANT PARADIS for dinner. Start with the specialty martinis (recipe follows), move onto the seafood and steaks, and end with the luscious desserts. A WOW on all accounts.

RECIPES FROM ROSEMARY BEACH

PARADIS MARTINI from Restaurant Paradis

Yield: 1 serving.

3 ounces Pinnacle or Pearl Pomegranate Vodka

1/2 ounce white cranberry juice

1/2 ounce peach schnapps

4 ice cubes

1 Tea Forte lavender citrus infuser

Put vodka, juice and schnapps in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Serve with the infuser on the side. The imbiber dips the infuser into the martini until it is flavored as desired.

PRALINE BACON from Cowgirl Kitchen

Yield: 10 strips.

2 ounces dark brown sugar

5 ounces chopped pecans

10 slices extra thick bacon

Combine sugar and pecans in a food processor or blender and process until finely chopped and well blended.

Bake bacon strips in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes. Remove bacon from oven and generously coat each slice with sugar/pecan mixture (use about 1-1/2 tablespoons mixture for each slice). Return bacon to oven and bake for 5 minutes. Set bacon aside to cool.

To serve Praline Bacon Waffles as does Cowgirl Kitchen: chop some of the bacon and sprinkle pieces over cooked waffles. Garnish top of waffle with whole strips. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

QUINOA SALAD from Summer Kitchen Café

Quinoa

Juice from 1 medium lemon

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

About 1/4 cup olive oil

Finely chopped tomato

Coarsely grated carrots

3 to 4 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Arugula or salad greens

Prepare quinoa as directed on package. Cool completely.

Make dressing by combining lemon juice, garlic and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk in olive oil.

Mix quinoa with finely chopped tomatoes, carrots and basil and toss lightly with dressing.

Put a generous amount of arugula or your choice of greens on a plate. Drizzle with a little dressing. Top with quinoa mixture.

TOMATO OLIVE VINAIGRETTE from Onano

Yield: About 8 servings.

4 large ripe tomatoes, (peeled, seeded, and diced)

2 shallots, minced

1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and minced

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and set aside for 1 hour to let flavors blend.

Serve as desired.

(To serve Spinach & Gnocchi Grouper with Tomato Olive Vinaigrette as does Onano Neighborhood Cafe, sauté baby spinach leaves and potato gnocchi in browned butter and set on a plate. Add a piece of grilled grouper. Top fish with a large dollop of room-temperature Tomato Olive Vinaigrette.)

SERRANO WRAPPED FIGS from La Crema

Yields: 36 pieces.

36 figs

1/2 cup red wine

Sweetened Goat Cheese (recipe follows)

36 thin (3- by 1/2-inch) slices Serrano ham

Smoked paprika

Tupelo honey

Put figs in a bowl and add wine; set aside 30 minutes.

Cut off both ends of figs and create hole in the center with a large pastry tip. Fill hole with Sweetened Goat Cheese.

Wrap each fig with a slice of Serrano ham. Insert a toothpick in top. Serve on a plate sprinkled with paprika and drizzled with honey.

SWEETENED GOAT CHEESE

Yield: About 1-1/2 pounds.

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

8 ounces goat cheese, room temperature

Tupelo honey to taste

Beat cheeses together until well blended. Add honey as desired. Refrigerate until used.

¶ Posted 20 March 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § ACCOMMODATIONS § BEVERAGES § BREAKFAST § BRUNCH § COCKTAILS § ENTREES § FLORIDA § RECIPES § RESTAURANTS § ROSEMARY BEACH § SALADS § TRAVEL ‡ Comments Off °

DAVID DOWNIE DOES PARIS

We all have favorite books about favorite places. I happen to love Paris and my three favorite books illuminating the city are Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast, Gertrude Stein’s “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” and David Downie’s “Paris, Paris Journey into the City of Light.”

Although it is possible (and totally pleasurable) to explore 1920s Paris through Gertrude and Ernest, David is alive and well and living in Paris and writes about the present with such clarity that no tourist should venture fourth without his direction.

David’s views of Paris flow between the essential, quirky and shocking (I am never going to drink Paris tap water again after reading his description of the Seine). His writing is always fresh and his adventures, interesting, so Sweet Leisure is especially pleased to have David share a few of his favorite Paris jaunts and haunts. In his own words:

Discovering David Downie’s Paris, Paris

The Luxembourg: Sit, Stroll, Sip Coffee nearby

George Sand

It’s easy to guess why the Luxembourg Garden is my favorite park in town. That’s saying a lot in this city of fabulous gardens. Where else can you see George Sand, Charles Baudelaire and Frédéric Chopin – not to mention Alfred de Musset and Henri Murger of “La Bohème – striking poses as if resurrected from the dead? Mossy sculptures of my Romantic idols lurk amid the greenery of the garden’s meandering paths. I like to pay homage to them several times a week. Even after 26 years of living in Paris it’s a learning experience. In my book “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” the chapter about the Luxembourg Garden explores how Parisians – and visitors – often spend entire days lounging here. Watching ducks in a pool—or lovers sitting by the Médicis Fountain—can be as instructive as reading reams of history. Before or after a stroll I clock in at Café Rostand facing the park, to sip strong coffee and read the local papers. The coffee is not great but the atmosphere is. You can hear the ticks from the big round clock hanging from the ceiling: there’s no Wi-Fi, no corporate spiel, and no rush. The service is totally Parisian and un-subservient.

Discovering the Blvd Richard-Lenoir open market, Café de l’Industrie and Canal St-Martin

Every Thursday and Sunday morning you know where I’ll be: the open market on Boulevard Richard Lenoir abutting Place de la Bastille. It just happens to be Paris’s best. We buy housewares—from burner-top toasters to flexi-spigots—fruit, vegetables, range-raised poultry, fish, and cheese from family-run business with stands here, many of them certified organic. Even if I’m not going to shop I come to view the merchandise, enjoy an espresso at blissfully quiet, cozy Café de l’Industrie (one block east of the market), and then walk up the boulevard to the Canal Saint Martin. It runs underneath the central esplanade in the middle of Boulevard Richard Lenoir where the market is held. The underground canal emerges into a tiny park under spreading sycamores. That’s where the Quai de Jemmapes and Quai de Valmy begin. The first humpback bridge leaps over the canal about 100 yards further along. From there all the way to the edge of Paris you stroll by a series of tuneful locks, stretches of placid, greenish water, trees five stories high, plus nightclubs, restaurants, cafes and self-adoring Parisian trendies who are more fun to watch than tame peacocks. This is one of the city’s current hangouts for hipsters.

Cafe de l'Industrie

Breakfast coffee or aperitif at Ma Bourgogne on Place des Vosges

The sunny, western side of the Place des Vosges—the centerpiece of the fashionable Marais neighborhood—has long been colonized by the tables of Ma Bourgogne, a café-restaurant on the corner of the square. Several times a week I come here for a simple breakfast—coffee, croissants, a glass of water or juice. Some people swear the food is more than edible (that has not been my experience over the last decades). My advice is, stick to something simple and liquid like coffee or a glass of wine. The view takes in the arcades and pavilions of the famous, 400-year-old square, plus of course the comings and goings of the politicos and plutocrats who live here. One former minister happens to live practically next door to Ma Bourgogne, another bigwig embroiled in high-color sexual controversies hides out just a few pavilions down. Watching them slide smoothly from their dark-windowed limos into the entrances of their $10 million apartments is both amusing and instructive. You begin to understand why the French Revolution happened. The best views of the square are from on high—from those apartments—but nothing beats sitting on a bench under the clipped lindens and listening to the fountains. It’s entirely cost free.

Riding the #69 bus across town

Another cheap and cheery way to experience the Paris of Parisians is to ride the #69 bus from the esplanade facing the Eiffel Tower across the posh 7^th arrondissement and the edge of Saint Germain des Près to the quays of the Seine. After crossing to the Right Bank the bus trundles by City Hall, wends its way through the Marais to busy Place de la Bastille, then lumbers northeast along working-class Rue de la Roquette to Père Lachaise cemetery. From there it’s another few minutes to the top of the hill at the terminus on Place Gambetta in the 20^th arrondissement. For the cost of a single bus ticket in the space of an hour you see scores of monuments, churches, bridges, gorgeous cityscapes, the haunts of the super-rich and the dives of the destitute. An added benefit: listening in on conversations and watching the locals interact (shoving, arguing and doing all the things Parisians adore).

Place Gambetta

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Oscar Wilde's Tomb

Get off the #69 at the top of Rue de la Roquette and enter Paris’s biggest, most atmospheric graveyard. My office for 19 years was a block from Pere Lachaise, the most impressive and magical cemetery I know anywhere. It’s over 200 years old and filled with the often extraordinary tombs of about 1 million Frenchmen, women, children and a variety of mostly famous foreigners. There are 70,000 family tombs all told, most of them filled with multiple occupants. In “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” the chapter about Pere Lachaise and another chapter about the historic cemeteries of Paris tells the tale of how I became a habitué. It wasn’t just the proximity of my office to the cemetery. Even before I moved into that office I was always glad to visit my dearly departed literary and artistic friends—Delacroix, Abelard & Heloise, Balzac, Molière —plus a few of my enemies. What pleasure I still get from seeing the banal little tomb of the once-terrifying Baron Haussmann, who evicted over 300,000 Parisians and destroyed 25,000 buildings at the behest of Napoleon III! Respect is not what I pay him. Sometimes I pick up a sandwich at a nearby bakery in Place Auguste Métivier and eat on a bench—or seated on a comfy old tomb—under the towering trees that grow up out many a tomb. The dead don’t seem to mind. In fact more than once I’ve had the distinct impression Oscar (that’s Oscar Wild) wished me bon appétit.

In the Place Auguste Metivier

Paris- and Rome-based writer David Downie is the author of the critically acclaimed “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light” plus three books on Rome. His latest adventure travel memoir, “Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James” is published in April, 2013. Downie is also a guide, creating custom tours of Paris, Rome, Burgundy and the Italian Riviera for private clients. His websites are www.davidddownie.com, http://blog.davidddownie.com and www.parisparistours.com.

¶ Posted 02 March 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § FRANCE § PARIS § RESTAURANTS ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: Cafe de l'Industrie, Cafe Rostand, David Downie, George Sand, Luxembourg Garden, Ma Bourgogne, Paris Paris, Pere Lachaise Cemetery

BEST BREAKFASTS IN LOS ANGELES AND RECIPE FOR FABULOUS FRENCH TOAST

Most Los Angelenos are religious about dieting. With movie star focus on beautiful bodies, the savvy shun sugar, fat and all those awful carbohydrates. But when it comes to breakfast, the devil takes over the City of Angels and lures even stringent believers to abandon restraint for total decadence. Dieters tempted to indulge in forbidden fruit of sugar, fat and carbs can go wrong—divinely—at any one of the following:

THE GRIDDLE CAFÉ

7916 Sunset Blvd.

Hollywood

323-874-0377

It’s probably a combination of gigantic portions, reasonable prices and really tasty dishes that make The Griddle Café a perpetual favorite and THE L.A. breakfast hot spot for locals and visitors alike. It’s not unusual to find the bustling café packed from early morning to late afternoon, especially on weekends, when long lines form for entrance. The diner atmosphere with counter service adds to the casual charm and the menu overflows with goodies. Although most of the calorie-laden pancake combinations reach star status, the top seller is, as described on the menu, “Red Velvet panCAKE topped with swirls and swirls of cream cheese icing. (Love at first sight & bite) $8.95.”

DU-PAR’S

6333W. 3^RD ST

Farmers Market

323-933-8446

Du-Par’s catapulted to breakfast stardom when first opening in Los Angeles’s Farmer’s Market in 1938. Although changing hands in 2004 and expanding outlets to several locations in 2009, the original restaurant still sits as a cornerstone of the lively market, still stays open 24/7 and still serves its justly famous buttermilk hotcakes in an authentic 1930s-coffee shop atmosphere. Shown: a short stack of silver dollar hotcakes (not on the menu), served with the customary excess of clarified butter and maple-flavored syrup. $7.75.

HUGO’S RESTAURANT

8401 Santa Monica Blvd.

West Hollywood

323-654-3993

Hugo’s tagline reads, “Hugo’s for Healthy Living,” and indeed the restaurant focuses on healthful, organic (even the ketchup is organic) and unusually delicious foods that fit a number of diets including vegan and vegetarian. The Pumpkin Pancakes served with orange slices, currants and organic maple syrup ($9.50) has graced the menu since the restaurant first opened in 1980 and is, no doubt, partly responsible for Hugo’s great reputation. Although offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, Hugo’s is famed for serving “power” breakfasts to Hollywood heavyweights (no pun intended).

LARCHMONT BUNGALOW

108 N Larchmont Blvd.

Larchmont Village

323-461-1528

Larchmont Bungalow perfectly fits its quiet, upscale and quaint Larchmont Village neighborhood, being a homey, hip and family-happy place. One orders at a counter, and then sits on the outdoor patio or in a choice of different rooms, one with a comfy couch in front of a fireplace. Billed as an “Artisan Café’ Bakery & Brew,” the restaurant offers a breakfast-all-day menu filled with healthful choices (vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free). It also serves a variety of delicious and incredibly rich, sweet dishes along with house-roasted coffees and interesting teas. Shown is the Morning Starter on the children’s menu: one scrambled organic egg, tempe bacon, fresh fruit and a portion of the café’s famous Red Velvet Pancake ($8.95).

BLU JAM

7371 Melrose Avenue

Mid-City West

323-951-9191

Neighbors and assorted hipsters frequent Blu Jam for breakfast, brunch and lunch, sitting on the sidewalk “patio” or in the large, busy dining room. Although a wide range of items grace the menu, (many with European touches) the signature breakfast/brunch specialty is Crunchy French Toast, a pretty concoction made with egg-rich brioche, which is dipped in batter, rolled in crunchy corn flakes and grilled. The glory comes topped with fresh bananas and berries. Syrup or vanilla bean sauce sits on the side. $12.95. SIGH!

SQUARE ONE DINING

4854 Fountain Avenue

East Hollywood

323-661-1109

A light, bright dining room and garden patio make the perfect setting for Square One Dining’s food that includes organic, locally sourced (when possible) and meat products that are natural and hormone free. The lunch and breakfast menu sports a variety of pancakes and French toasts with creative toppings, among them, the thoroughly indulgent favorite as the menu describes, “four slices of brioche French toast served with bourbon-pecan topping and vanilla whipped cream” $14.25.

SUPER RICH FRENCH TOAST

Adapted from a recipe said to be adapted from Square One Dining.

Yield: 4 servings.

1-1/2 cups heavy cream, divided (or more if needed to thin batter)

1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise)

1/2 cup sugar

10 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon salt

Clarified butter (see note)

1 loaf brioche or other egg-rich bread, sliced into 1/2 -inch thick slices

Toppings, as desired

To make the batter, place 1 cup of cream in a medium saucepan and set saucepan over low heat. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the cream, and then drop in the bean shell. Stir in 1/4 cup of the sugar. Bring mixture just to a simmer, stirring often, and then remove the pan from the heat and let mixture sit until warm, but not hot.

Put yolks in a medium bowl and beat with a whisk until yolks become somewhat thick and lighter in color. Whisk in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and salt. Slowly add the warm cream to the egg yolks, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return the pan to low heat.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (take care to not over heat the mixture or it will curdle). When thickened, remove the mixture from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl, discarding any solids and the vanilla bean. Set bowl over an ice bath and whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup cream; continue whisking gently until mixture is cool.

Put batter in a covered container and refrigerate until ready to make toast. Batter can be refrigerated overnight. Stir well before using. If batter is too thick, thin it with a little cream.

To make French toast: Put a thin coat of clarified butter in a saute pan or griddle and heat over medium heat until hot. Dip bread, one slice at a time, into batter, coating both sides of bread and letting batter soak into bread slightly. Shake off excess batter and put bread in the hot pan.

Cook until bread slices are golden on both sides, about 4 minutes in all.

Transfer cooked toast to a warm plate. Serve, topped as desired.

NOTE–TO CLARIFY BUTTER Put unsalted butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Heat butter until it melts and foams. Set butter aside for a few moments; it will separate into three layers. Skim off the top white foam. Spoon off the clear middle layer (the clarified butter), and discard the milky residue on the bottom of the pan.

Eight tablespoons of butter should yield about six tablespoons clarified butter.

Refrigerate clarified butter in a covered container until ready to use.

For additional great places to eat in Los Angeles, click HERE

¶ Posted 22 February 2013 † Susan Manlin Katzman § BREAKFAST § BRUNCH § CALIFORNIA § LOS ANGELES § RECIPES § TRAVEL ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: Blu Jam, BREAKFAST, Du-Par's, Hugo's Restaurant, Larchmont Bungalow, Los Angeles, Square One Dining, The Griddle Cafe

BEST AIRPORT RESTAURANTS

Breathes there a cook with soul so dead who has never heard of Colman Andrews. Hard to imagine as Colman’s list of high-profile accomplishments have long dazzled those interested in food and beverage. Colman founded Saveur magazine and also served as an editor. He wowed us with a slew of prize winning cookbooks and guided us with his restaurant column in Gourmet magazine. At present he sheds his light as editorial director of The Daily Meal, a top food and beverage website. As a culinary superstar, Colman travels the world and seeks out the best of the best wherever he lands, including airports. Yes. Airports. Today Sweet Leisure brings you Colman’s favorite airport food outlets—culled from The Daily Meal’s list of the world’s best.

FAVORITE AIRPORT MEALS by Colman Andrews

There’s a wonderful old restaurant guide, first published in 1906, called The Gourmet’s Guide to Europe, written by a retired military officer and man-about-London who signed himself Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis. In his section on the northern French port city of Calais, the continental terminus of the boat train from Dover, across the English Channel, he begins a listing of the town’s more acceptable eating places by saying “If you are detained in Calais, and every young man is detained in Calais at least once in his life…”

I doubt that very many people get detained in Calais anymore, but plenty of us — young and old, men and women — get detained in airports all the time, and once you’ve stocked up on magazines you wouldn’t ordinarily be caught dead with and wandered idly through the duty free shop wondering if it’s worth lugging four extra pounds of dead weight in your carry-on just to save $7 on a magnum of Jack Daniels and maybe getting one of those neck massages right out there in public, what else is there to do but eat and drink?

That being the case, it always seemed curious to me that for many years airport dining around the world wasn’t a lot better than it was. Or maybe that was because once you were through security, you were pretty much a captive audience, so folks figured out that they could serve you any old thing (and charge you far too much for it) and you’d eat and pay and like it, because, hey, who wanted to go back outside just for a decent turkey sandwich or some Sichuan-style tofu if it meant you’d have to stand in line for another 45 minutes behind several dozen people who didn’t see why they couldn’t bring their Big Gulps through the x-ray machine then have to take off your belt and shoes and wiggle your laptop out of your bag yet again?

For whatever reason, for far too long, far too much airport eating meant limp salads and dried-out sandwiches and junk-food burgers and high-calorie so-called Italian food so bad that it probably ought to be considered an anti-Italian hate crime. Happily for travelers, and especially for those who are detained, things have gotten a lot better in recent years. Oh, there’s still plenty of rubbish, and plenty of street-level fast food (McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and all their kin). But now we’ve got famous chefs on the order of Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Dani Garcia, Rick Bayless, and Todd English with airport restaurants in various places, top-quality casual chains like Five Guys and Wolfgang Puck Express, local favorites like Gold Star Chili (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky) and Pink’s Hot Dogs (LAX), and a whole lot of quite reasonable delis and pizza emporiums and steakhouses and on and on.

At TheDailyMeal.com, we set out recently to discover the best airport restaurants in the world (http://www.thedailymeal.com/31-best-airport-restaurants-around-world). The results are admittedly subjective, but we think it’s a pretty good list. Here are four of my favorites from our selection, plus an outlier that I usually don’t admit to patronizing:

Sometimes you can have a really good sit-down meal at an airport. Altitude, at Geneva’s Cointrin International, is quite possibly one of the top five restaurants in Geneva, period. Chef Fabien Legon cooks assertively but with a sure hand, blending Mediterranean and Asian flavors with a French flair. His sautéed foie gras with lemon confit and Taggiasca olives, crab cannelloni with seaweed and crustacean emulsion, and marinated beef fillet with autumn vegetables, chanterelles, and pumpkin cream are memorable — and the dining room is sleek and cool and not very airporty at all.

Altitude

Down in Spain, two Michelin-starred chefs are making airport dining much better than it probably needs to be. Carles Gaig, who has a star for his restaurant Gaig (pronounced “gatch”) in Barcelona and also runs a popular traditional Catalan place called Fonda Gaig, brings his region’s soulful cooking to the new Terminal 1 at the city’s airport with Porta Gaig. Shredded salt cod salad, flatbread rubbed with tomato and served with good Spanish ham, butifarra sausage with white beans, the cabbage/bacon/potato cake called trinxat, and all kinds of other solid, satisfying local dishes are on the menu.

PortaGaig by Photographer © Carles Allende

Porta Gaig photo by Charles Allende

In Málaga, down the coast in Andalusia, Dani García — whose high-tech Calima restaurant in Marbella serves imaginative avant-garde cuisine (the chef sometimes seems to use more liquid nitrogen than olive oil) — has opened a branch of his La Moraga chain of modern tapas bars. The decor is sleek and airy and the food is traditional reinvented. The cherry gazpacho and the small oxtail burgers will brighten any airport layover.

La Moraga

Here in the U.S., I can rarely resist the brisket sandwiches at Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Austin’s Bergstrom Airport. Now, Salt Lick isn’t the best barbecue place in the Austin area, and of course the meats aren’t slow-smoked on airport premises, but Salt Lick isn’t bad, and barbecue actually keeps pretty well. And being able to enjoy a smoky taste of the Texas countryside on your way to Jet Blue Flight 1064 is pretty cool.

Salt Lick Bar-B-Que

Salt Lick's Brisket Sandwich

And then there’s my secret airport vice, my guilty en route pleasure… Auntie Anne’s pretzel stands are found in airports all over America. They all sell pretzel dogs. Some of them, for instance the one Dallas-Fort Worth, also offer a jalapeño cheese pretzel dog — a plump, juicy dog swaddled in buttery pretzel dough coated in cheese, with pickled jalapeño slices on top. A lowbrow treat, high in calories, fat, and sodium. Just delicious.