Category Archives: FOOD
Luzi Bombon – Madrid
Luzi Bombón in Madrid created by Barcelona-based Grupo Tragaluz. Luzi Bombón on Paseo de la Castellana offers madrileños Mediterranean brasserie food from early lunch in the garden to late-night drinks in the bar with live DJs.
Chocolate Solar System
Spray it. Don’t squeeze it.
Stem from Quirky.
“Spray it, don’t squeeze it! Stem is designed to allow a cook to spray juice directly from a citrus fruit. No longer do you have to cut and squeeze your fruit to get the juice out like a common cook. With only one finger you can now spray citrus juice on your favorite foods evenly. Let Stem add a little zest in your kitchen and on your food!”
Shipley & Halmos + Chocolate Editions Neapolitan Bars
Collaborating with Chocolate Editions, only 25 of these neapolitan bars were made. Each with unique, original artwork created by the Shipley & Halmos Art Department. No two are alike. A golden ticket has been placed inside one bar’s wrapper.
Sweet play by Elsa Lambinet
Sweet play by Elsa Lambinet from Dezeen on Vimeo.
Want more choice in your chocolate box? Mix and match fillings and toppings with these modular chocolates by French designer Elsa Lambinet.
Coke Can Glass
The People’s Supermaket
The People’s Supermarket is a supermarket Community launched in spring 2010 by the chef Arthur Potts-Dawson. Located in the heart of London this cooperative non-profit is unique. Managed and owned by the members, the shop operates on a membership system, it offers local and seasonal products for the lowest prices possible.
The studio Unreal handled the development of its branding , with the constraint the low budget of the cooperative.
The Mafia’s New York: Hideouts, Hangouts and Rubouts
Home of Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, 265 E. 10th St., between First Avenue and Avenue A
“The East Village was the who’s who of the mob scene from the 1930s to the ’90s,” says Ferrara. “Everyone thinks it was Mulberry Street, but really, it was Prince Street and the East Village.” Luciano, originally known as “Sal from 14th Street,” immigrated from Sicily when he was 10 years old and lived in this East Village walk-up. He grew up to be the first official boss of the Genovese family, and was instrumental in creating the Five Families “commission” that divided up NYC territories. His childhood home still stands, and the ground level storefront is the Middle Eastern eatery Moustache Pitza. (NYP)
Carmello’s, formerly at 1638 York Ave., between 86th and 87th streets
“In the ’70s, this dive bar was a watering hole for Upper East Side gangsters, who were infiltrated by undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone, a k a Donnie Brasco,” says Ferrara. “Pistone posed as a jewelry thief and made nice with members of the Bonanno family by slipping into backgammon games with regulars at Carmello’s.” Now the storefront houses a Bagel Bob’s. Johnny Depp played Donnie Brasco in the 1997 film. (NYP)
De Robertis, 176 First Ave., between 10th and 11th streets
This traditional Italian pastry shop, which opened in 1904, was a favorite haunt of Genovese and Gambino crews. Joseph “Piney” Armone, a Gambino capo, ran his operations out of the cafe in the ’50s. Three decades later, feds bugged the joint to track John “Handsome Jack” Giordano, one of John Gotti’s underbosses. The wire connected Handsome Jack to “everything from bookmaking, loan-sharking and gambling to illicit activities at the San Gennaro Festival,” says Ferrara. (NYP)
John’s Restaurant, 302 E. 12th St., between First and Second avenues
“This place is a neighborhood legend,”says Ferrara of the Italian eatery, which opened in 1908. It’s also where, in 1922, Morello family trigger man Umberto Rocco Valenti was killed three days after botching a hit on Genovese boss Giuseppe Masseria. Valenti was called to a “peace meeting” at John’s, but when he arrived at the restaurant,“ he was greeted by half a dozen gunmen.” (NYP)
Liz Christy Community Garden, Houston Street, between the Bowery and Second Avenue
One of the first community gardens in Manhattan was also a local favorite of mob boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante, who made headlines for his attempt to ward off prosecution by feigning mental illness. “He would walk around the neighborhood in his slippers and pajamas, mumbling to himself,” explains Ferrara. He also grew tomatoes on this plot of land and was often seen toting shopping bags full of the red fruit, passing them out to neighbors on his way home. (NYP)
“Black Hand Block,” Prince Street, between the Bowery and Elizabeth Street
“This corner was a hotbed of mob activity for nearly a century — it rivaled Mulberry Street,” says Ferrara. The Morello crime family, one of the very first Italian-American crime syndicates, was headquartered at Spaghetti Kitchen at 8 Prince St. (now the Clothing Warehouse, a vintage apparel store). This corner, often thought of as Little Sicily, was home to social clubs at 18 Prince St. and 21 Prince St., now the INA designer-clothing stores. (NYP)
Bari Restaurant Supply, 240 Bowery, between Prince and Houston streets
In 1983, the FBI bugged the car of Sal Avellino, a member of the Lucchese family, and tracked it to this unassuming Lower East Side location. Avellino was on his way to a meeting of the bosses of the Five Families. “This is a place people would never expect to be a mob meeting place,” says Ferrara. “People assume they met in secret crime dens, but really they were meeting in restaurant supply stores and the basement of wine stores.” Gambino boss Paul Castellano, Genovese chief Anthony Salerno and Lucchese head Anthony “Ducks” Corallo all fled the scene after an FBI agent was spotted peering through one of the windows. (NYP)
How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds
How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.
This is one of the coolest tips I’ve seen! I love garlic with everything but the amount of garlic I put into something depends on my patience that day for peeling garlic cloves. This useful tip takes that drama out of the equation! Watch and learn.
Daft Punk + Coca-Cola Limited Edition Box Set
Daft Punk and Coca-Cola align for another limited edition project. This time around, the techno duo and beverage giant produce a set of limited bottles featuring distinguished 925 silver and 18k gold logo branding, along with “Daft Punk” custom caps. The helmet-inspired bottles and packaging was designed by Daft Punk, with only 20 sets being offered worldwide. For those interested, they go on sale tomorrow at DaftCoke.com.
agnès b. FLEURISTE Hong Kong
Hong Kong is short of agnès b. stores and cafes. Accept this one has more of a Southern-France feel to it. With a boulangerie-cum-open-kitchen that makes freshly baked bread and various pastries, while serving diverse European dishes.
agnès b. FLEURISTE
Shop D, 1/F, Devon House, Taikoo Place
Quarry Bay
Hong Kong
p: 852.2284.4800
Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking
Modernist Cuisine Trailer from Modernist Cuisine on Vimeo.
A revolution is underway in the art of cooking. Just as French Impressionists upended centuries of tradition, Modernist cuisine has in recent years blown through the boundaries of the culinary arts. Borrowing techniques from the laboratory, pioneering chefs at world-renowned restaurants such as elBulli, The Fat Duck, Alinea, and wd~50 have incorporated a deeper understanding of science and advances in cooking technology into their culinary art.
(Click photos to view in HD – depends on your screen resolution).
In Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet–scientists, inventors, and accomplished cooks in their own right–have created a six-volume, 2,400-page set that reveals science-inspired techniques for preparing food that ranges from the otherworldly to the sublime. The authors and their 20-person team at The Cooking Lab have achieved astounding new flavors and textures by using tools such as water baths, homogenizers, centrifuges, and ingredients such as hydrocolloids, emulsifiers, and enzymes. It is a work destined to reinvent cooking.
How do you make an omelet light and tender on the outside, but rich and creamy inside? Or French fries with a light and fluffy interior and a delicate, crisp crust that doesn’t go soggy? Imagine being able to encase a mussel in a gelled sphere of its own sweet and briny juice. Or to create a silky-smooth pistachio cream made from nothing more than the nuts themselves. Modernist Cuisine offers step-by-step, illustrated instructions, as well as clear explanations of how these techniques work. Through thousands of original photographs and diagrams, the lavishly illustrated books make the science and technology of the culinary arts clear and engaging. Stunning new photographic techniques take the reader inside the food to see cooking in action all the way from microscopic meat fibers to an entire Weber grill in cross-section. You will view cooking and eating in a whole new light.
A sampling of what you’ll discover:
– why plunging food in ice water doesn’t stop the cooking process
– when boiling cooks faster than steaming
– why raising the grill doesn’t lower the heat
– how low-cost pots and pans can perform better than expensive ones
– why baking is mostly a drying process
– why deep-fried food tastes best and browns better when the oil is older
– how modern cooking techniques can achieve ideal results without the perfect timing or good luck that traditional methods demand
Many invaluable features include:
– insights into the surprising science behind traditional food preparation methods such as grilling, smoking, and stir-frying
– the most comprehensive guide yet published on cooking sous vide, including the best options for water baths, packaging materials, and sealing equipment; cooking strategies; and troubleshooting tips
– more than 256 pages on meat and seafood and 130 pages on fruits, vegetables, and grains, including hundreds of parametric recipes and step-by-step techniques
– extensive chapters explaining how to achieve amazing results by using modern thickeners, gels, emulsions, and foams, including example recipes and many formulas
– more than 300 pages of new recipes for plated dishes suitable for service at top-tier restaurants, plus recipes adapted from master chefs including Grant Achatz, Ferran Adrià , Heston Blumenthal, David Chang, Wylie Dufresne, David Kinch, and many others.
From the professional chef to the home cook, Modernist Cuisine is an indispensable guide for anyone who is passionate about the art and science of cooking.
Within a 4,000 square foot cooking lab (not kitchen, this is definitely a lab) tricked out with vacuum distillation machines, CVAP ovens, rotary evaporators, immersion circulators, and centrifuges, the Modernist Cuisine team experimented, played, and exhaustively documented what Myrhvold sees as a revolution in the art of cooking.
Palladium Presents Tokyo Rising feat. Pharrell Williams Trailer
Tokyo is truely my second home and I’m always excited to get back there since moving to Hong Kong. This looks like it’ll be a great watch as Pharrell Williams looks into Tokyo’s uprising movement from the recent nuclear tragedies. The full doco drops September 1st.