Thursday, September 27, 2007

McCormick & Schmick’s

September 26

Remember Zoë from the blog entry below? Turns out she’s an Australian and had no idea who Gilbert Gottfried was.
I learned that this evening, when I once again ran into Michael Park, whom I had not met until Monday.
And who was with him but good old Sara Bonisteel, who last appeared in this blog long ago, when she became editor-in-chief of the New York Resident.
It turns out she hasn’t had that job for a year-and-a-half and now works for Fox News’ web site.
We were all at McCormick and Schmick’s for an event celebrating National Seafood Month, which is in October.
The seafood chain’s publicists had attracted a good array of journalists, very few of whom I’d met before, except of course for Michael and Sara. Arlyn Blake was there, too, no-doubt introducing people whom she thought should know each other.
Oh, and Marian Betancourt was there, too. She had just written a book with San Antonio chef Scott Cohen.
Actually, Scott Cohen is from the Northeast, but he’s been in San Antonio for the past several years. I’ve been using him as a source for years, but we’d never met until recently, when he was in town to cook at the Beard House and stopped by our offices.
That was arranged by his publicists, who e-mailed me that I’d like Scott as he’s “a real down-home boy.”
I’m not sure why someone would think that I, a New York-based food writer, would be interested in meeting someone because he’s “down home.” But of more interest to me is the fact that I knew perfectly well that Scott was a northeasterner and just slightly more down-home than Leona Helmsley. Why would a publicist pretend otherwise? I mean if you’re going to lie, lie about something that matters.
But of course I met with him anyway. We had a nice chat.
I also re-met Kara Brisson, whom I last knew as the event coordinator of Hurapan Kitchen, where I had my 40th birthday party last April (I haven’t written a blog entry about it yet; I’m not sure why, but it was a good party). Now she’s the local McCormick & Schmick’s beverage director.
Part of the party was a presentation by one of McCormick & Schmick’s chefs about cooking seafood at home. It was a terrific presentation briefly interrupted by ignorant people repeating the scare-mongering of those who for reasons I will likely never understand (that means you, Pew Charitable Trust) like to make people nervous about mercury and PCBs and so on in fish without pointing out that the medical community generally concurs that the dangers of those contaminants for most people (with the possible, possible exception of nursing mothers, pregnant women and small children) is outweighed by the health benefits of eating fish.
One pompous, ignorant woman brought up that something was wrong with the feed in farm-raised salmon.
I think she was trying to remember the half-truth that the feed is dyed red. In fact, the added coloring is a pigment called astaxanthin, a healthful antioxidant — let me repeat that, a healthful antioxidant — that occurs naturally in the krill that wild salmon eat, giving their flesh that pink color.
I would not condemn this woman as an idiot if I hadn’t actually met her later on as I was reciting for someone a tasty and easy mussel recipe: moules marinières (sauté shallots in butter, add cleaned mussels, chopped parsley, black pepper and white wine, cover and steam until the mussels open).
She insisted fleur de sel must be added.
Okay, it’s seafood and so probably doesn’t need salt, but even if it did, fleur de sel would be a waste as it’s its texture that makes it different from regular cheap salt, and that would be lost in the steaming.
I didn’t argue with her, but she disagreed with the guy I was talking to that mussels and French fries were a common combination in Paris, where she says she lived for three years.
So that’s incorrect thing, number 2.
I asked her to repeat her name and she spelled it for me in French, which, I mean, you can’t be more pompous.
She also declared unbidden that she was as good a cook as anyone in the room.
I didn’t challenge her on any of these facts, because why bother? But I have found that when people say that they’re the best at something, it usually means that they’re worse than average.
She wandered off soon enough, which was nice, and I ended up talking to editors I didn’t know from magazines like Parenting who were collecting quick tips on cooking for consumers. Nice people.
I closed out the evening talking to McCormick and Schmick’s publicists. They’d thrown a good party.

Zarela turns 20

September 24

This evening I went to the 20th anniversary celebration of Zarela, a regional Mexican restaurant in Midtown East.
It was a bad night for parties in Midtown East, because today was also the opening day for the United Nations General Assembly, which also is in Midtown East. So nearby streets were closed as dignitaries’ motorcades zoomed by, sirens blazing, snarling traffic and annoying everybody.
It sounds cool to have the U.N. headquarters in your city, making it kind of the capital of the world, but in fact it’s mostly irritating. When major sessions are going on there the static can be felt in the air nearby (or maybe it’s just the traffic). People are on edge. It feels sort of like when you have an itch between the lower part of your shoulder blades that you can’t reach.
But it was a good party, packed with high-quality people.
I arrived early, but Gilbert Gottfried already was installed on a banquette along the southern wall, talking to an entourage.
I chatted with our hostess, Zarela Martinez, and managed to stick my foot in my mouth as I wondered aloud about the possibility of reproducing authentic food outside of where it originated.
She said it was most certainly possible and the only thing that can’t yet be imported from Mexico is the corn.
“Haven’t you read my books?” she asked.
I haven’t. She disapproved, but nicely.
I congratulated both of her sons separately on the anniversary.
“It’s my mother’s restaurant,” each one of them said.
“Just say thank you,” I said to her son Aaron Sanchez, who I think categorizes me as one of those people he’s pretty sure he’s supposed to know but can’t quite place. That’s fair, he’s a somewhat famous, fairly hot celebrity chef, and that means he has a lot of people to keep track of.
Still, I asked him how things were going at Centrico, the Tribeca restaurant where he’s chef.
Things are good, he said, owner Drew Nieporent’s a great boss. Now if they could just convince more people who live north of Canal Street that monsters don’t live south of Canal, they’d be all set.
Tiny Dr. Ruth Westheimer — you remember, the sex specialist from the 1980s — arrived shortly before the buffet opened. And I met Saveur founder and former editor-in-chief Coleman Andrews.
Zarela introduced me to him and I was reminded once again that meeting famous people is useless if you don’t have both the inclination and the opportunity to have meaningful conversation.
Still, it made it into my blog, didn’t it?
Mostly I hung out with people from Epicurious — Megan Steintrager, her colleague Sarah Kagan, Michael Park, a freelancer who works for them sometimes.
We camped near the buffet and I mostly chatted with Sarah about New England and how great it is (she grew up in Redding, which apparently is the most rural part of Fairfield County, Conn., and has family in that crazy state of Rhode Island).
Shortly after we sat down, we were joined by Michael’s friend Zoë.

What I ate:

Appetizers
Mariquitas con Salsa Macha
Green plantain chips with peanuts, chiltipín chiles, garlic and olive oil

Picada con Salsa Cruda
Corn tart with purée of avocado, tomatillo and chile serrano topped with Mexican
cream and queso fresco

Taquitos de Cabeza
Corn tortilla with shredded veal cheeks garnished with pickled onion and jalapeño.

Ensalada de Camarones
Shrimp salad of fresh shrimp, avocado, cilantro, jalapeño and onion.
Served with lime and oil vinaigrette.

Longaniza Verde
Green Mexican sausage with chile limón sauce

Platos Fuertes
Makúm de Repollo
Pork shoulder with white cabbage, tomato, habenero chile and sour orange

Pollo Con Chile Seco
Chicken drumettes with dried chile, fresh orange juice and flavored with vanilla

Casserola de Huitlacoche
Layered crepes with huitlacoche, Mexican cream and cheese.
Served with ranchero sauce.

Ensalada de Chayote
Mexican squash with cilantro, olive oil and chile Serrano

Arroz con Crema
Rice baked with sour cream, white cheddar cheese, poblanos and corn.