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August 31, 2010
 Photo Credit: Stephanie Canciello, Unali Artists Craig Newmark
Although I’ve never met Craig in person, we are from the same town in New Jersey. Our lives have intersected over the years through many people around here familiar to me. Craig Newmark, is the founder of Craigslist on the Internet. Craigslist is a laissez faire community of buyers, sellers and givers. It exists in nearly every country in the world. Craig went to high school with my dear friend and butcher, Steve Hoeffner- who initially facilitated our conversation. (Thanks Steve!)
Since I started working on creating this project called The Five Questions on Wild River Review, I’ve tried to reach out to the famous and the unknown for their unique and personal perspectives on food memories and how food/drink have influenced them in their everyday life.
We all eat, some of us eat then write about it, others taste a special wine and always remember it. Still others have told me that some foods that they prepare bring a tear to their eye. Being a good listener, I try to capture these thoughts and put them down on paper. My goal in the Five Questions is to share the passion of food, drink and life. They all intersect, thank you for permitting me to share my thoughts and my dreams.
1. Did you cook at home as a child? Who taught you how to cook? Mother? Father? Grandparents? Did you have a favorite meal when you were a child?
“I never cooked at home, just never learned. I do recall my mom making great Southern Fried Chicken.”
2. Do you have a favorite restaurant that you enjoy? What is their style of food? Do you have a favorite dish that they prepare?
“I have number of favorites, mostly Asian, like Soi Gow (Thai), Dragonfly (Vietnamese), Tasty Curry (Indian), Nanking Bistro and Andy’s Excellent Cuisine (Chinese.) These are near our offices in the Inner Sunset in SF. I live in Cole Valley, enjoy places like Grandeho’s (Japanese), Bambino’s (Italian), and Reverie (cafe food.) I really have no particular favorite dishes.”
3. Is there anything you cook at home which has a deeper significance to you? Does it bring a tear to your eye when you prepare this dish? Who does it remind you of?
“Well, I don’t cook, so …”
4. If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would that be? What would you eat when you got there- is it a restaurant? What wine or cocktail would you chose to wash down that perfect meal? ( I’m hoping you enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail!)
“Honestly, I’d like to stay at home, too much travel over coming three months, mostly to support veterans, cops, and government workers who never get credit for their contributions.”
5. Are there any foods that you are intrigued by, but have never enjoyed? I’m sure that you are trying new things all the time- but does anything stand out as “Why haven’t I tried this yet?”
“These days, well, my tastes grow conservative.”
Thank you Craig. I appreciate your time that you spend with us on Wild Table…Very much. wb
Craig can be followed on Twitter at craignewmark and on his blog at: http://cnewmark.com/
 Photo courtesy of Adam Seger
Adam Seger CCP Founder/Mixologist hum Spirits Company Cocktail Adviser
I met Adam Seger through the magic of the internet and the interconnections between like minded people. He is one of the “living legends” of mixology. Adam mentioned that he sometimes gets to NYC to share his passion for his craft.
Adam, when you read this, please let me tag along while you visit various cocktail bars. This would be the stuff that cocktail fueled dreams are made of! Thank you! wb
1. When was your first run-in with intoxicating liquors. How old were you? (where did you grow up?)
“I grew up in Wisconsin. My dad was in seminary at Nashota House in Nashota, Wisconsin. Episcopalian seminarians in the sticks in Wisconsin drink a lot of beer, so that is on of the words I heard a lot as a baby, so My first word was ‘beer’. Easy to say and it made everyone laugh, so I perfected it as my 1st word. My parents should have known I was going to make a living via adult beverages. We always had red wine at holidays and I always got a glass for as long as I remember. It was always Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Village. I loved it and always looked forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners for my glass of wine. My parents drank Gallo Chablis and Hearty Burgundy, so something French with a cork was a big deal. I remember going to the old Leinenkugel Brewery every summer in Chippewa Falls with my mom. I loved the smell of fermentation as a kid, long before I knew anything about beer. My parents drank whatever was on sale and in a can back then. Much has changed since, my dad now has a little wine cellar and my mom drinks ‘designer beers’. I did the usual wine coolers in the limo on the way to the prom and plenty of cheap kegged beer at my fraternity house, Delta Phi, but it was the wine class at Cornell Hotel School that I began my lifelong journey of taste and seeking beverage knowledge. I was a T.A. for wines every semester after that. We got paid minimum wage but got a mixed box of opened wines every week. So, I would take them to my fraternity house and we would drink these wines with burgers and pizza. I became the official house wine geek. From there I worked in France and spent as much time as I could cellar tasting in Alsace. From there, the next few years I got more and more into wine, then when living in Louisville got really into Bourbon, going to the distilleries and creating my own small batch blends. Fast forward, I passed the Advanced examination of the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2006 in NY.
I sat for the Masters exam as well.”
 Summer hummin' Photo: Angela Mick
2. Did you learn to be a mixologist from someone in particular? Was there a cocktail “hour” at your home when you were growing up? What was the cocktail of choice for your parents?
“My dad was a bartender in college. Growing up, I always thought that was cool. I learned to bar tend at Cornell by ‘Bud’ at The Statler Hotel, the teaching hotel of Cornell Hotel School. He taught me all the classics and once you have made a drink twice, you know it. Fast forward to me as Director of Restaurants at The Seelbach in Louisville. I used to go to this great place called Hassenour’s, a converted funeral home turned temple of Bourbon. This is where I went to Whiskey School with 3rd generation barman Max Allen Jr., basically tasting my way thru Bourbon history as I sat at Max’s bar and he passionately shared his knowledge. When Hassenour’s closed, I hired Max (and his boss Bill Altman) as my ‘Bartender Emeritus’ at the Seelbach. Max taught me everything. It was also thru the Seelbach that I made friends with Dale and Jill DeGroff. I got a six hour one on one tutelage by Dale after the 1999 Bourbon Ball. He and Jill had a 7 am flight, so we kept Max’s bar open until 6am and he instructed me on making his favorite classic cocktails. That’s where I learned the craft of Bartending.
Mixology was simply a very organic graduation of my Bartending knowledge, wine studies and passion for cooking and eating.”
3. Tell me about your HUM Hibiscus Liquor. I noticed it has cardamom in it. What is your inspiration for this elixir?
“Hum is my 70 proof, pot still rhum-based Hibiscus-Ginger Liqueur with Cardamom and Kaffir Lime. Think of it as an American Liqueur- like the Italian liqueur: Amaro. I knew I wanted to do a Rhum-based liqueur so I was drawn to Martinique and its delicious Rhum Agricoles. Putting on my wine geek hat I ran with the mantra ‘what grows together goes together’, so I researched al the indigenous botanicals and cuisine of Martinique for inspiration. Hibiscus is all over the island and has been one of my favorite cocktail ingredients long before it was cool. Ginger I added as hum’s peppery base note and cardamom, found in curries throughout the Caribbean, as its top note. The beautiful seductively fragrant Kaffir lime I added later upon the input of my mentor Francesco LaFranconi. Hum is a pure infusion just as I make at my bar. After the infusion, I balance the Botanicals with pure cane sugar and bottle it unfiltered at North Shore Distillery at a bold 70 proof.”
 Humito: Photo courtesy of Tuan Bui 4. Who taught you how to cook? Do you have an early memory of cooking and what was that memory?
“I learned to cook from watching Paul Prudhomme on TV. He taught me how to layer flavors and cook with love. My first dish was Kraft Macaroni & Cheese out of a box when I was 5. To start with a cardboard box and end up with a delicious dish had me hooked. I have loved to cook since. My career has taken me thru the Michelin Stared Chez Julien in Strasbourg, TRU and The French Laundry. This has guided my ‘cooking style’ in the glass. Serge Knapp at Chez Julien taught me uncompromising freshness, Rick Tramonto & Gale Gand playfulness with Haute Cuisine and Thomas Keller a religious devotion to ingredients and their care.”
5. Is there anything that you cook that reminds you of a person in your family (grandmother, mother, father, etc.) and whenever you prepare this dish or cocktail, does it bring a tear to your eye? Do you have any particular recipe you would consider sharing with my readers?
“My dad taught me how to make Gumbo. He is famous for his roux and gives it as gifts for Christmas. His secret is equal parts unbleached flour and bacon grease, cooked slowly on the stove in a Dutch Oven until it is dark nutty mahogany. Just before it burns you take it off the fire and add the Cajun Trinity, onions-celery-green peppers, plus garlic and loads of parsley. This stops the cooking and melts the vegetables. I make gallons of this every New Years Day with Pheasant my sister and brother-in-law shoot each fall. Called ‘She Kills It, He Cooks It’, my New Years Day Byo Bubbly Champagne party is THE Chicago industry party to start the year right. For a recipe, I like my coconut and lemongrass steamed mussels with Hum. The recipe is on the six minute cooking show segment I was in: http://livewellhd.com/video?id=7531870 If link does not work, Google Let’s dish Adam Seger and select Let’s Dish, the show on the Live Well HD Network, then select the episode ‘cooking with alcohol’ and my 6.5 minute segment ‘coconut steamed mussels’ Generation hum: innovation, sustainability, and education. hum is what happens when what’s in your glass changes how you drink. We are driven to imagine a new way to enjoy cocktails, utilizing creativity normally reserved for the great restaurant kitchens of the world. At the forefront of industry trends, we aim to reinvent the tippling experience with our craft spirits and an innovative fusion of the bar and kitchen. We present you with something new, something fresh. We present: Hum.
Inspired by the botanicals of the French Caribbean and modeled after the great amaros of Italy, celebrated mixologists Adam Seger, Chicago and London’s Joe McCanta infuse organic rum with fair trade hibiscus, organic ginger, green cardamom and kaffir lime to create the beautifully balanced spirit. How will you hum? At a bold 70 proof, Hum is best enjoyed on the rocks with lime and a splash of soda. As delicious as it is versatile, Hum can be mixed with tonic, ginger ale, or added to your favorite beer or sparking wine. Don’t stop there….replace sweet vermouth or orange liqueur with hum to kick up the classic negroni, manhattan or margarita. Cook with Hum like you would with brandy. Then, end your evening with your favorite ice cream drizzled with Hum. Mmmmm. The applications are only limited by your imagination. Did you hear? It’s time to get the world humming again. Today, the Green Movement is exploding and The Hum Spirits Company is doing its part to reduce its carbon footprint. We produce locally. We purchase fresh/natural ingredients. We are diligent and conscious of where we source our ingredients. Hum is all natural. It does not contain any artificial ingredients, colorings or chemicals. We purchase fair trade organic hibiscus, organic ginger, organic cardamom, as well as use locally distilled rum. Hum is bottled in 70% recycled glass, and the Company offers a bottle recycling program for all of its accounts. Our belief in sustainability has given us incredible exposure and coverage in beverage, food, industry, entertainment, as well as green press arenas. Hum out loud. We believe in a new way of doing business. To make our product known, we have a unique strategy: we have gone to the experts, the gurus, the ones who provide a lasting, culinary experience. We work from the inside out, building partnerships with chic restaurants and boutiques, with trend-blazing chefs and mixologists. Together, we invent drinks and dinner menus. We throw ‘Spirited Dinners’, hold tastings and cocktail classes. We have built a reputation from within the industry. In this way, we not only reach our intended markets, but we teach them about our product, how versatile it can be in the glass or on the plate.”
Adam said these were fun questions!
Thanks Adam for being so generous with your time! wb
 Mango-Ginger-Habanero Daiquiri Mango-Ginger-Habanero Daiquiri
Aka ‘Spice & Ice’
By Adam R. Seger CCP
2 Ounces 10 Cane Rum
1 Lime Fresh Squeezed
3/4 Ounce Ginger-Habanero Syrup
3/4 Ounce Mango Puree
Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled 10 ounce cocktail glass rimmed with Homemade 7 Spice (wet rim of chilled martini glass with a lime wedge, then dip rim in 7 spice)
-Homemade 7 Spice: equal parts cane sugar and spice blend. Spice Blend: 2 parts Cinnamon sticks,2 parts ground fennel, 3 parts Dried Ginger, 1.5 parts whole Szechuan Peppercorns, 1 part whole Cloves, 1 part star anise, 1 part green cardamom (inner pods-shells discarded). Place all in a Vita-Mix or high speed blender until sugar absorbs the spices. Keep in airtight container. Best to use within 3 weeks.
-Ginger-Habanero Syrup: 1 Cup Sugar, 1 Cup Water heated to just before boiling with 1 Seeded Habanero and 2 Ounces Sliced Fresh Ginger. Remove Habanero 5 minutes after taking off of heat. Cool and strain out ginger. Keeps sealed in the refrigerator for 3 weeks.
Ed Hamilton, Rum Educator-Tiki Bar Maven-Author, Sailor, Friend. Ministry of Rum Tasting Competition
 Ed Hamilton (The Ministry of Rum at Smuggler's Cove) I first met Ed Hamilton back in the early 1990’s. I was on a yacht owned by my step-father and Ed’s yacht was moored next to ours. Earlier that day, I attended a book signing that Ed held on one of the British Islands, maybe Tortola? Or it might have been at Foxy’s, on Jost Van Dyke- I’m not certain. There is a haze of Rum over a few years that still has not lifted.
I was immediately bitten by the rum bug. Here was a guy who lived on his own sailboat and he spoke about rum and drank it for a living! I still have the book named: The Rums of the Caribbean. Ed signed my first edition copy. Fast forward to 2010. I follow Ed’s Ministry of Rum website on the Internet. Through the magic of social networking and email I contacted him regarding his Ministry of Rum competition. The goal of this competition is to examine the art of fine rum, taste the rums blind and assign a numerical score. Then award the rums, Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. I asked Ed if I could be a judge at his event and he said yes. So I flew out to San Francisco and participated in the competition. We had a blast!
Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco was particularly generous by offering the First Night Event Party. Thanks to Martin Cate for being so generous with your time and a seat by the bar of your fantastic watering-hole.
El Dorado Rum.. Ed says that he has the remnants of some 20 year rum was running around his brain when I called. Nice stuff. The speed of the internet is really amazing. He tells me of his 80 year old uncle. This curmudgeon of a man used to build the equipment used to measure the magnetic fields of the earth. He could do anything he wanted to do and encouraged Ed to do the same. He tells Ed to be yourself. Do what you love.
1. When did you have your first taste of Sugar Cane juice Rum? How old were you? Did you know the difference the first time you tasted the different style of rum?
“I first tried Rum when I was 18 in Florida. That’s when 18 was the drinking age. My dad taught me to fix refrigeration systems on mega-yachts in the islands. At 5 oclock in the afternoon if you don’t have water or refrigeration, you have real problems on a huge boat. First, the galley will start smelling. Everything is down. If the generator is down you can get power at the dock, but if the refrigeration is down, there is no a/c, no way to keep the food cool, the freezers start to defrost. Bad. Very bad. My dad tinkered with things and he taught me to fix things. I can work anywhere in the world on yachts because I know how to make their essential systems run!
I lost my boat in Antigua. By then I’d invested six years in the Ministry of Rum. At this time water was five dollars a bottle and Cruzan was two dollars. Drinks were ¾ booze and ¼ fruit juice or whatever we had to mix it with, usually something to kill the taste of the (less expensive) rum.
Every distiller wants to tell you about the quality of their rum, so instead of just listening to the words, I drank the rum!
I quickly discerned a difference between the good stuff and the cheap stuff, but back then I quickly discerned a difference between the good stuff and the cheap stuff, but back then Bacardi Añejo was affordable.
Fast forward to about 1993 and I was in St. Pierre, Martinique. Ti Punch was the first time he had the stuff. Bernadette Canneterre. She descended from the island slaves. I can still picture the vision of her beauty .. the tasting room was open air thing. Conical roof. Built like an old horse mill. It was the anticipation of flavor. Lime, cane syrup and rum. So good and so simple. Nothing tastes the same as that day.”
2. You make your living traveling around the country singing the song of the islands favorite drink. Do you have a favorite way of enjoying your Rum?
“I Like my rum in a clean glass. I try not to get hung up on glassware. One of my favorite ways of enjoying rum is in a chilled coconut.
Biggest round-about in the world is in Trinidad. In the middle there is a huge park. It’s about 3 miles around. Embassy buildings to old houses to slums. At different points there are people with trucks with coconuts on ice. Energy is cheap. Ice cold coconut are everywhere. They machete the top off. Pour some rum in on top of it. Buy coconuts and get ½ gallon of coconut water. Make ice cubes out of it for the galley on a boat.
A glass with juice that is available and rum. They don’t serve cocktails, but they do serve rum. Champagne, mango juice and light rum? Cannot do all things and be responsible.”
3. Your rum competition brings together people who are interested in the CANE spirits. Do you have any other spirits you enjoy drinking? What are they?
I drink a bit of bourbon, gin, tequila. Every distribut0r wants me to taste things. Taste stuff continually. Four or five new spirits are tasted daily, sometimes more.”
4. Who taught you how to cook? Mother? Father? Grandparents? Do you have a recipe that brings a tear to your eye when you prepare it? What is it? Who does it remind you of?
“Mom. Mom was a meat and potatoes cook. We all develop our own styles. When I cook something spicy it reminds me of an old girlfriend. She loved cooking with hot peppers. Diced hot vegetables, pickled peppers etc. She loved them all. On day she got some scotch bonnets to make these pickled vegetables. We were just eating them. Knew the stuff in the jar was hot, little did we know that everything we touched was coated with the pepper oils. About 5 minutes later all parts of our bodies were just BURNING.. We jumped overboard and swam around and tried to get it off of us. The ocean water didn’t help much, but it sure was refreshing!”
 Smuggler's Cove 5. Who taught you how to sail? I remember meeting you in the Islands- I was on my families yacht, you were moored nearby, we shared an afternoon of conversation, Rum and good cheer…I remember at the time it was Cruzan and we mixed it with warm coca cola. Do you know how to navigate by the stars? Who taught you how to navigate?
 I drink the Rum 'til I can't see
A friend of my father’s had a Sunfish sailboat. I used to sail it off Ft. Meyers Beach. Come vacation time, I’d take my boat out and learned to sail.. I do know how to celestial navigate with a sextant. I can navigate with LORAN and radio directional finders. And basic celestial navigation of course. I learned from a guy who was a modern day rum-runner, except he wasn’t running rum. I don’t remember his real name and he probably doesn’t want it published anyway. He was a ship captain who had been running things into the region under foreign flagged ships. He taught me celestial navigation during a four month cruise from Taiwan to Singapore, but that’s another story. Don’t ask!”
 Smuggler's Cove! Just google: RUM for more information on Ed Hamilton and the Ministry of Rum. Join his blog!
Back in June I received this wonderful piece from Lynn Levin. Thanks for your patience with me Lynn!
Discovering the Sweet and Exotic Pawpaw:
It’s the Largest Edible Fruit Native to North America
by Lynn Levin
By a bend along the now placid Neshaminy Creek, on a patch of Bucks County, Pennsylvania flood plain, the pawpaw trees are sheltering their slowly ripening fruit. It is August when I visit, and the dark green, smooth-edged, oval leaves tip down, shading the clusters of pawpaws. These oblong treats, which mature in early fall, are celebrated in folk song but eaten by almost no one I know.
As I stroll through the rows of pawpaw trees with orchardist and pawpaw farmer Larry Rossi, I hear the gray catbirds wail their song of the opening and closing squeaky screen door. Cicadas rattle the air with their intermittent maraca shake. I peek through the foliage to see the clusters of pear-green, chubby, kidney-bean shaped fruits (they are technically berries), and the first thing that comes to mind is this: You can pick up pawpaws but you can’t put ‘em in your pocket. Not unless you happen to be a giant with giant-sized pockets. Nevertheless, I keep singing the bouncy tune to myself, getting nostalgic about the old Burl Ives recording of “Way down yonder in the Pawpaw Patch.” I step around a bit of ground ivy and burr cucumber, plants that thrive in the moist bottomland soil. A few tiger swallowtails float by.
By September or early October, I will be able to buy another batch of pawpaws from Larry Rossi as I did last year, and I will be able to savor this sweet, exotic, aromatic fruit. The pawpaw is the largest edible fruit indigenous to North America. When sliced open lengthwise, a single fruit spans most of a dinner plate. And pawpaws are heavy; a single fruit tips the scales at one-half to a full pound.
A slender bespectacled man with a quiet manner and an amazing knowledge of local fauna and flora, Larry Rossi has been tending his pawpaws, growing them by seed and scion wood grafting, for over a dozen years. In his orchard, some 750 pawpaw trees thrive in long, neat, north-south rows. The bushy, cone-shaped trees grow to a height of 15 to 30 feet.
In the wild, pawpaws, which are understory trees, tend to congregate on low-lying land near streams and creeks. Looking for a place to plant the newer, bigger, better-tasting varieties of pawpaws, Rossi found some land by a portion of the Neshaminy Creek that was well suited for the project. Not only was location right, but Rossi also had an emotional connection to the area. As a boy, he had often fished this creek and knew well its toads, snakes, and fish along with its trees, shrubs, and wild herbs. Better still, as flood plain, the area Rossi had selected was immune to development. To prepare the ground, this determined farmer had to mow down acres of multiflora rose, an invasive plant that spread over the land like bales of barbed wire. Rossi also had to clear out old flood debris: logs, old tires, piles of sand and gravel. He ordered pawpaw stock and began to cultivate pawpaws.
Larry Rossi tends his orchard with care. He stays on guard against deer nibbles and buck rubs. During dry spells, he pumps modest amounts of water from the creek and gives the thirsty trees sips via drip irrigation. Some years, there’s too much rain. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd wreaked havoc on the young trees. Back then Rossi had to untangle and, in places, chop out the black irrigation hoses that the rushing flood waters had swirled into impossible knots.
Pawpaws, exotic as they seem now, have a long American history. Chilled pawpaws were a favorite dessert of George Washington. Lewis and Clark and their men survived on them as William Clark, a great explorer but not a great speller, recorded in his journal entry of September 18, 1806:
[W]e have nothing but a fiew Buisquit to eate and are partly compelled to eate poppows … our party entirely out of provisions subsisting on poppaws. …the party appear perfectly contented and tell us that they can live very well on the pappaws.
Native Americans not only cultivated the pawpaw for food but also used the ground-up seeds as an anti-lice remedy. Nineteenth-century American farmers tended pawpaw orchards, and now, after a hiatus of many years, the science of pawpaw cultivation is enjoying a resurgence. The tree is native to twenty-six states, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan being the leading pawpaw producers. Regional names for the fruit include Kentucky banana, Indiana banana, Michigan banana, poor man’s banana, and American custard apple. And by the way, pawpaws are not papayas. It is supposed that the name was adapted because the two fruits, though completely unrelated, outwardly resemble each other.
The cut-open pawpaw reminds me of a cherimoya, a delicious South American fruit also known as custard apple. Both fruits have large seeds in similar arrangements and taste somewhat alike. Botanical cousins, the cherimoya and pawpaw both belong to the Annonaceae family, which also includes the atemoya, soursop, and other fruits that go by the name of custard apple. There are some eight different species of American pawpaw, but the one Larry Rossi cultivates is the Asimina triloba, the type that seems to be the best eating and the most scientifically studied.
Last year, I purchased about a dozen pawpaws and filled up the fridge with my prize. The ripe fruit keeps on the kitchen counter for only a few days but refrigerated will last a couple of weeks. The smooth pear-green skin can develop scratches and spots of brown and black fog, but this does not affect the taste of the fruit.
When you cut open a pawpaw, you have to steer around the flat, chestnut-brown seeds. I think the pebble-like lumps are large enough to choke a person, but you wouldn’t want to eat them anyway. They are a part of the pawpaw that contains the anti-lice compounds. Furthermore, they have emetic properties. My dog gobbled a few and promptly vomited.
Pawpaw pulp is opaque, a slightly deeper yellow hue than banana, more like the color of lemon meringue pie filling. Firmer than pudding, the texture of pawpaw pulp reminds me of flan or egg custard. Savoring a silky spoonful of pawpaw, I tasted banana and mango, and I also think I sensed hints of persimmon and nutmeg. I began to love the taste and took to eating my precious pawpaws for breakfast and dessert. They were especially delicious cold out of the fridge. Some spoonfuls of the flesh melted in my mouth; other bites were a little chewier, but just as satisfying. It was amazing to eat a custard you picked from a tree, that came in its own nice little serving boat. As for the big seeds, I ate around them, then spit them out. Also the seeds are jacketed in yucky, slimy, glaucous slipcovers. Perhaps nature’s way of warning you off.
Larry Rossi, told me that the pawpaw intrigues him for many reasons. And the huge size of the fruit is only part of the plant’s strange allure. First, pawpaws do not propagate through cuttings as do many other fruit trees. To cultivate pawpaws, Rossi has to grow seedlings and then graft scion wood from existing trees onto the seedlings. Rossi sometimes hikes through undeveloped areas near creeks and streams to find good new stock and notes that, in their natural state, pawpaws grow in close colonies similar to bamboo. The wild fruits are smaller than the varieties he grows. That’s why, in certain patches, you actually can pick up pawpaws and put ‘em in your pocket.
Then there is the matter of the unusual power of the pawpaw’s natural chemicals. As a professional orchardist, Rossi had been accustomed to tending to apple and peach trees, which he had to spray with pesticides. Rossi found you could grow the pawpaw trees without pesticides – a big plus for the organic grower. This is because Asimina triloba produces its own collection of compounds known as annonaceous acetogenins, and these chemicals have anti-viral, anti-fungal, and insecticidal properties that protect the health of the tree. The compounds (very little of which occur in the mature fruit) travel up the trees through the sap in the spring. The level of the annonaceous acetogenins peaks in May and is concentrated in the twigs.
Should you find yourself like Lewis and Clark and company low on rations in the wilderness in the month of September, the luscious pawpaw could sustain you. A fact sheet published by the Kentucky State University Pawpaw Research Program reveals that pawpaws have a higher protein and fat content than bananas, apples, and oranges. The pawpaw pulp teems with essential amino acids, vitamin C, and niacin, and it is packed with iron, magnesium, copper, and manganese. Kentucky State University’s pawpaw flier also provides a couple dozen recipes for pawpaw desserts, including pawpaw pie, pawpaw parfait, pawpaw preserves, pawpaw ice cream, cookies, cakes, and custard. But as for the custard: why add other ingredients, mix, and bake? All you need is a spoon. It’s already a custardy delight right off the tree.
Where to Buy Pawpaws
You may be able to buy pawpaws at farm stands (or find them way down yonder in the pawpaw patch). Through his Upacrik Farm, Larry Rossi sells and ships pawpaws to both individuals and restaurants. You can contact him at thepawpawguy@msn.com.
Poet, writer, and literary translator, Lynn Levin is the author of three collections of poems, Fair Creatures of an Hour, a 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist in poetry; Imaginarium, a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s 2005 Book of the Year Award; and A Few Questions about Paradise, all published by Loonfeather Press. Her essays have appeared in Alimentum, MoreIntelligentLife.com, Contemporary Poetry Review, and Michigan Quarterly Review.
Lynn Levin teaches at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Thanks Lynn. I hope Wild Table gives your delicious work even more flavor. Now we know that those strange looking fruits out there in the forest are edible! Cheers, wb
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Wild River Review/Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston- with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
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 wb eating oysters in SF
August 24, 2010
 A fine luncheon with Rabbi Joe Each week since Wild Table was founded, I’ve tried through my fingers on keys to give you a vision inside my head. For twenty years while working as an executive assistant, I should have been trying to discover more about other people. I was just in the wrong job. All the while on weekends and holidays I worked in the wine trade as a retail salesman and doing private chef work. My passion is food and photo journalism, talking about food and eating it.
Two weeks ago I was in San Francisco. The Ministry of Rum holds a Sugar Cane Rum Competition every year. It’s a masterfully run event. I’d never been to San Francisco prior to this trip.
 Forrest Cokely, Camper English, Martin Cate/shown in photo Strange. For a person, like myself – who has seen many countries and enjoyed many foods in those countries, how come I’d never been to SF? Well, I took public transportation everywhere and really got to know the city. All of this energy was building up in me though. How could I discover things about people? I’ve talked about the power of the Social Network. I had the opportunity to meet Jeff Pulver who is the founder of the #140conf which discusses the inter-connective nature of the universe. Pretty heady stuff. The Real Time Internet allows anyone to connect to (nearly) anyone in the world, in Real Time by using our Smart Phones. (iPhone, Blackberry-etc.)
For the last six months or so I’ve been writing a weekly column, trying to create a brand for myself and share my passion for reinvention with others. The organization known as My Path Builder discovered me through the Real Time internet. They did a digital video interview and it revealed the REAL Warren-the one I am most proud of.
Looking at this digital video gives me hope that something written in this new column on Wild Table will resonate with you.
Which brings me back to San Francisco. While tasting through fifty sugar cane juice rums, I had a flash of inspiration. I was on the Hydrofoil going across the bay from Oakland to San Francisco. There was what appeared to be a space ship coming into view. Outdoor Art is a fun thing in SF. This space ship, built from gleaming stainless steel is a prop from the upcoming Burning Man Festival in Nevada. I’ve never been to Burning Man, but seeing this space ship gave me a flash of inspiration.
 Raygun Rocket Ship in San Francisco What popped into my brain at that moment in time was a new vision of Wild Table. A Wild Table that attempts to discover and strip away the hidden thoughts of people when talking in the context of food, wine, liquors, memories and tears. Why tears? I believe that if we cook food, and truly enjoy what we eat enough, this energy or shared experience connects all people. We eat from day one and hopefully until the end game. I want to discover the very core level of human beings, like myself, who have a true passion for food and intoxicating liquors. Over the past few days I’ve contacted about two dozen or more people.
 Hog and Rocks/San Francisco. A cool place to eat We will be examining CEOs and cocktail personalities, Bourbon sippers and Rhum Explorers. There are famous cooks and less than famous people. All of them I find interesting. These folks all have a story to tell about food memories and the inter-connectivity of food to love and life. There are the authors, editors and food writers. The names astound me, that these people would expose their passions- they don’t know me, other than on Twitter or Facebook, a few in person, but the majority in the Real Time Internet.
So, what is the format of the Five Questions?
I try to create questions that resonate with me. I try to research the person and develop questions based on their personal experience. I’m interested in food and memories.
People, places and things that bring back thoughts and dreams of meals enjoyed, people who may not be here any longer and the stories that surround these experiences.
Yes, one of the questions regards “preparing foods that brings a tear to the eye.” This is a very intimate question. Most of my questions are usually different each time with each person. There are a few that repeat because of their intimacy with emotion. I like that. These interviews are not taped. I like to do telephone interviews- I’ve done email interviews and some in person ones. They all reveal things unexpected. That is the true meaning of life.
Thank you for listening to me run on. Your friend, wb
 Cake Fight photo courtesy of Christopher Martino Christopher Martino mixologist/blogger Washington, DC :
I met Chris through Twitter. I do a lot of cocktail writing for the online magazine named Served Raw in San Francisco. They are a magazine of cocktail/food culture. When you publish cocktail recipes on the Twitter, and millions of people read them on the time-line, people into mixology start to follow you. Chris found me in this manner.
He’s a friendly man on Twitter and no less friendly on the telephone. I think he was a bit surprised that I asked him to participate in this project.
Chris- I’m honored to have you join me on this journey.
1. If you could have any meal in the world what would it be? Where?
” I’m still young, no one place right now.. thus far the best meal Ps7’s DC, Cashion’s in DC“ I asked Chris about his experience in the restaurant business. “In order to manage anyone you have to know what to do and to start at the bottom and work your way up. You need to learn every aspect of it. I want to study Food and Beverage Management to become more proficient in my craft of being a Mixologist. I’m from Washington, DC and there are many opportunities for people like myself. DC is an International town. Unfortunately there is no great Greek food. I like Greek food and can’t find it in DC.”
2. What do you do currently? Do you have a cocktail recipe that you’d like to share with me?
“I’m a mixologist, A mixologist is sort of like a mad scientist, making alcoholic potions that inebriate and enhance life. I do the serving of food, I love bar-tending. Right now I’m trying to learn everything I can in the restaurant/bar business so I can do any job if necessary. In the restaurant business they call this being a key-player.”
This is a cocktail of my invention. It’s called the Honeysuckle Rose.
Honeysuckle Rose:
• Barbancourt Cinque Etoile (rum) 1.5 ounce
• Lime Juice .5 ounce
• Gran Marnier .25 ounce
• Honey Syrup (2:1) .25 ounce
• Rosewater 1 dash
• Flamed orange zest for garnish
To begin, in a chilled cocktail glass flame the orange over the empty glass and rub the peel around the interior and mouth. In a shaker filled with ice, add the rum and other remaining ingredients. Shake until well chilled and pour into seasoned glass, strain out any flecks of ice if desired/necessary. Recipe graciously Reprinted from:
3. Do you follow cocktails and food?
“Yes, I’m so out of the loop though.”
4. Who taught you how to cook?
I learned how to cook by reading ..watching tv. When I was 12 years old I made pasta from scratch! By junior high school I knew that I wanted to be a chef. I enjoy cooking as a hobby. But I would much rather do combination of things. Front of the house is my passion. I really a people person. Like to work by myself but get me out in front of people and I can really light up a room!”
5. What dish or experience brings a tear to your eye when you prepare it.
“Grandma passed when I was three or four, so I never knew her. Recently I had my cards read. What came out in the reading surprised me. The reader told me that my grandmother was a great cook. I always think of my grandmom when I cook. I write things down and take good notes.”
 El 6 de mayo which is Mezcal, cinnamon, lemon verbena, and strawberry rhubarb juice Thank you Chris for your time with me. Cheers, wb
 Hard at Work Catherine Reynolds
I met Catherine through the confluence of food, wine and the internet. How this happened exactly, I cannot say. But the friendship is most important to me. I’ve always learned from Catherine, she has much to teach about wine!
1. What is your favorite Spanish wine to go with grilled fish? It’s been unrelentingly hot here in NJ and I’m seeking wines work well in hot weather. What do you suggest?
“My favorite region of Spain thus far, is Galicia. With the sea to the western shore, Celtic culture intercepting with ancient pilgrimage routes, & some of the best seafood I’ve ever devoured… This is the land of Albarino. Albarino is a white grape varietal that grows a thick skin due to the cool NW climate of Spain & is richly aromatic, resonant of sea salt & wet stones. Absolutely brilliant with fish. One of my favorite pairings is with percebes or gooseneck barnacles, for which life & limb are risked, as they are plucked from the crashing waves against precipitous rocks amongst the dramatic shoreline of Galicia.”
 Mad in Paris 2. How do you feel about wines that are organic or biodynamic. What do you think about wines that speak clearly of the soil?
It’s funny because I’ve come to understand it, many smaller producers may not have the money to go through the organic certification process, but yet chemicals are expensive, so most small producers shun them in favor of natural methods. While things are changing in Spain like everywhere else in the world, I admire producers who look to sheep to fertilize & bees to pollinate their vineyards, or use sexual confusion techniques to elude harmful caterpillars rather than turning to pesticides.
“I was once asked to do a blind tasting of eight “Tempranillo” based wines from throughout Spain–I am proud to say I nailed where each was from. I put Tempranillo in quotation only because each area of Spain has their own name for the varietal & insists that it has attained its own identity in the specific region, adapting to climate & soil. Some argue that Tempranillo is a clone that has moved from region to region, while others argue it is unique to each area, carrying its own identity & characteristics. Knowing Tempranillo’s adaptations to climate & soil, one can begin to identify a Ribera del Duero from a Rioja for instance. And if a wine is made truly & genuinely from a region, the soil speaks loudly.”
 La Cote Dinner 3. If you were given a trip to Spain, where would you want to start the trip and why? What would you like to eat first and with which wine?
“There are Barcelona people & Madrid people, I think. To me, while Barcelona is glamorous & independent, Madrid feels like OLD Spain. In any given town in old Spain, I like to go to main square–or the Plaza Mayor (pla-tha Mai-your). That is the center of action in any true Spanish city, large or small. In Madrid, outside the Plaza Mayor, there is a wonderfully small tapas bar called Meson del Champinon. Behind the bar there is a bucket of sangria, a piano player in the back room, & a fixture behind the counter that looks like a Spanish Marty Feldman. Although I have been a vegetarian in the past, we enjoyed the fact that their famous champion (or mushroom) dish was made vegetarian by tossing the piece of chorizo off the toothpick, to the wind. A truly Spanish answer to making a dish vegetarian. For me, the mushrooms, the dish, & the experience, truly embody the spirit of Spain.”
 New Do! 4. Who taught you to cook? Your mother? father? grandparents? When you were a child did you cook for your family? Is there a recipe that brings a tear to your eye when you cook it.. What is it and why?
“This is such an interesting question. Compared to my Midwestern cousins, I certainly feel that my eyes were opened to different cuisines growing up in New York State. My absolute favorite event as a child was the Festival of Nations at the Schenectady Museum. I relished the weekend day of perusing tents for exotic cuisine from Africa to South America, walking amongst stands featuring colorful garb & thick accents, smoke & spice. My own soul food is Polish, thick pierogi pillowed with cabbage & mushrooms, which is my Northwest go to around the Easter holidays–a holiday I celebrate with family food traditions rather than religious spirit. The last time I cried over food was at my grandmother’s funeral at the White Eagle Hall outside of Chicago. The food is thick & soul-sticking & it brought us all together–a new generation of mixed Poles who understood what this cuisine has meant to our family, & we were all old enough to finally drink beer together.”
 Queso y Vino 5. You’ve accomplished a great deal through your use of social media. Do you have a strategy for the use of social media in your business? Does Facebook work better than Twitter for you?
Strategy? Are you kidding me? I miss people. It was absolutely the hardest thing to give up when I decided to start my own business & work from home.
My old boss accused me of being a “chatty Kathy” & it ultimately led to the demise of my relationship with __ , as folks had a working relationship with me, rather than the owner. I went from working at the Pike Place market to being at home–how different can you get?
And then I had an aneurysm?
When I was taken to a support group & people were just talking about their medical experiences, I knew Twitter & Facebook were for me. I just wanted to be myself–not just my “old self” but an un-categorized individual again, trying bravely to start a new business & my life again.
I hope my brain lets me write poems again some day. I used to be really good at that.”
Thank you Catherine, anytime you want to write poetry, I’ll be sure to publish you. cheers! wb
To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston- with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
Who owns the rights to work published in Wild River Review?
All work published in the pages of Wild River Review belongs to the magazine. For print publication, please contact: info@wildriverreview.com
We welcome online links, but you must be fully credited with a link back to the Wild River Review website.
 wb QR code
August 18, 2010
 Photo courtesy of Jon Ashton Chef Jon Ashton @chefjonashton (Twitter)
A few weeks ago I interviewed Andrew Zimmern for the Wild River Review’s Wild Table column. We had such a nice chat, albeit short. He was on an air break while taping a show and didn’t have much time for me to try to become his best friend in ten minutes. But I learned very quickly that developing a concept of “The Five Questions” could be something that interested people, not just culinarians, but the common man, woman or child. To dig a bit deeper is a gift. To find out what is not asked or told in your “usual” interview. I like to get the hidden stories, certainly not the popular culture stuff, written by faceless writers answered by others under the name of the luminary.
This concept has snowballed into a full fledged column within a column- and from there? Who knows. I will tell you that the response has been overwhelming and not in a bad way. In the past few days, I’ve secured interviews from several more chefs, cocktail luminaries and CEOs. How is this possible? I’m here somewhere in New Jersey, developing my craft, living my passion and then encouraging others to use Social Media to define themselves and their dreams. Through the use of social media, I’ve created my own brand. It is surprising and humorous (to me at least) from my humble perspective that people who don’t even know about my writing would be interested in baring their culinary/personal secrets to my readers.
Maybe it is the smile that I portray as part of my persona? I know this shines through, but not everyone in life gets this chance- perhaps this is the time to share my passion for good story-telling to quote Joy E. Stocke who is my editor, friend and mentor at the Wild River Review.
The other day, Chef Jon Ashton started following me on Twitter. I’d first heard of him after seeing him with Giada De Laurentis several years ago. He has an infectious smile, a lovely Liverpudlian accent (his patient, quiet voice reminded me of the Beatles music) Jon has the determination to follow his dreams through living his passion. What is his passion? I’ll let the questions and his answers speak clearly of this energy for humanity.
 All credit: Jon Ashton I replied back to Chef Jon that I’d like to interview him for Wild Table and I mentioned to him that Andrew Zimmern was my first person in this (hopefully) long series of interviews. We hit it off immediately, Facebook followed, then my request to have Jon answer the Five Questions. Each of the five questions that I ask are designed specifically for each person. I do the journalistic research, find out what I need to know from web-pages and the media and off I go- trying to discover that hidden persona. The person behind the public face. This is not always easy. When interacting with high profile individuals, one often has to go through PR agencies.
Chef Jon answers his own phone. He speaks with a smile and it shines through every word he speaks. Please let me explain. Not that PR agencies are bad, far from, they are the gate-keepers. It is nice to know that the person on the other end of the phone is real. (please forgive this sentence to all the wonderful PR agencies I work with!)
Jon and his ‘RECIPES FOR LIFE‘ make cooking synonymous with living life well. (from his website)
Without further delay, may I present the Five Questions.
Chef Jon: I see you use Twitter. You have an amazing self-made brand, and Twitter is the great playing field leveler. Chef Jon was heading for work in Australia when we spoke with a stop off in California. We spoke about food and life. It’s very obvious to me that he speaks with a huge smile… you can feel it over the telephone. Such enthusiasm burned a hole right through my iPhone. It put a huge smile on my face in return! Chef Jon spoke to me like a friend, not like another interviewer.
1. You started following me on Twitter. Why? How did you find me in the world of millions of food writers?
” I was at the airport. I travel a lot and it seems as if I spend much time going from here to there and back again. Sometimes I scan through Twitter to just look at the pictures of people and try to learn about their stories, I came across your photo and said, this chap looks interesting and I decided to follow you.”
2. You were born and raised in Liverpool. Your grandmother’s warm, cottage kitchen features immediately into your life. Who taught you to cook? Was it your mother or father? Was it your grandmother?
“My grandmum was a huge culinary influence. I have a brother who fancied himself as Kato in the Pink Panther movies. He would hide behind doors, behind furniture and suddenly launch himself at me… attacking me at every opportunity! It was all in good fun, but he did this all the time! My grandmum saw this aggressive activity and thought that I should take that energy that was used fighting with my brother and put it into something more useful, like cooking, helping in the kitchen. Grannie Ashton looked after the kids and she did a great job of it. One day in particular, my brother was hiding somewhere, popped up and was beating the living piss out of me. Granny came in and grabbed me by the ear (that got my attention immediately) and dragged me into the kitchen. I’d never really spent much time in the kitchen before. Certainly the kitchen was a place where I got the most attention from my grandmum. She showed me how to make Yeast Bread and my culinary journey started. I still make that recipe today- teaching it kids how to cook. It’s so easy, anyone can do it. I was bullied by many of my peers for wanting to take home economics classes- but my future passion was in my hands. I wanted to be a cook and share my passion for living with the world!”
3. Do you have a favorite food that you still prepare today that touches an emotional note (like bringing a tear to your eye) inside you whenever you prepare it? Who gave you the recipe?
“I love the yeast bread that Grannie Ashton taught me to make. She instilled an emotional key inside me with this simple recipe. I share this often and yes, it does bring a tear to my eye. Also, a place that has an emotional location in my culinary upbringing is Chan’s Chip Shop in Liverpool. It was not easy growing up in Liverpool. I was bullied and that has its own life-long effects. Chan’s shop was my place of solace. They were a beacon of light in my otherwise (at the time) bleak existence. Not that there was no love in my heart, just it was tough growing up. Chan’s is still in business today and although they still use the same delicious recipe, they don’t wrap their fish and chips in newspaper- too bad!”
4. From your website, you really portray “speaking with a smile” it’s infectious. What do you attribute your success? Your upbringing? Your passion and smile?
“I attribute my success to emotional success which is very hard to do, but I am able to do it. I teach people and try to influence kids to let your dreams become a reality. Food is fantastic in this regard. It involves respect for humans. Like wrapping fish and chips in newspaper, it connects us to the past, to our memories of food, family and friends. This feeling for making my dreams into reality started at an early age. I always had a passion for food. Not everyone shares in this passion but those who do can identify with me. If you have a passion for food, every day is a discovery. Food and life go hand in hand. From the day you are born to the day you die, food is part of your experience, food influences you from your head to your stomach.”
“I came to the USA with only two thousand dollars in my pocket. Not a whole lot of money these days or any day. I parlayed my passion for people with my passion for cooking. Who could resist my smile?”
5. Which of the “mother” sauces is your favorite?
“Interesting question.. no one has ever asked me that one before. According to the books and teachings of Auguste Escoffier, the mother sauces are the culinary basis for all further sauces. My favorite “mother” sauce of the five mother sauces, is the Sauce Espagnole. It is the culinary basis for so many other sauces, hence the name mother. In many ways preparing foods with the classical French influences reminds me of my own culinary experiences. It all started with me grandmum.”
We chatted for a bit longer about food, love, life and teaching. I did ask Chef Jon as an aside, if he enjoys bacon. Of course he does and he said it must be cooked low and slow in a cast iron pan. We share that love of food and the methods of cooking that go back to the very beginning of the craft.
Chef Jon brims with enthusiasm. I can feel his joy for humanity clearly and now know the secret to his success. In his words: “Food is fantastic, it involves respect for humans.”
Thank you Chef Jon for your enlightenment. Cheers to you, mate, let’s enjoy a pint of bitter next time you are in NYC.
Here is Chef Jon’s favorite Chip Shop in Liverpool, back in Great Britan.
http://www.yell.com/b/Chan’s+Fish+and+Chip+Shop-Fish+and+Chips-Liverpool-L140JF-5640607/index.html. We talked about food memories and this one played a huge role in his culinary upbringing. It’s my honor to you, Jon to be able to mention Chan’s Chip Shop, Fish & Chips in Liverpool- in your interview.
 ML Baking- Photograph courtesy of: Mario Stojanac Mary Luz Mejia @MaryLuzonfood (Twitter)
Mary Luz Mejia is a self professed (her words) cookbook nerd who was born in Colombia and raised by her parents in Toronto, Canada. I had a chance to learn some things from her yesterday that fit clearly into the Wild River Review’s philosophy of the Five Questions.
Mary Luz is an authority on Mezcal and Latin American foods, so it came as no surprise to her today that the New York Times would do an article on Mezcal in the Wednesday Food Section. We spoke for a time yesterday about food, memories of her childhood in Canada and being in love with food as a metaphor to living well. You can sense Mary Luz’s energetic smile on the phone. Clearly, Mary Luz is excited to talk about food and her memories of food while growing up. She has been called ““one of Toronto’s most dedicated and passionate food journalists” by Saveur Magazine’s James Oseland. Her passion for the joy of life and how food influences every portion of her life must be shared. Mary Luz writes with a smile. I can sense it. Her earliest memories surround foods of Medellín, Colombia, the place of her birth. I first met Mary Luz through following her on Twitter. Thank you Mary Luz for helping me find my passion for food and good story-telling.
1. When did you have your first run-in with Saucission? Not Salami from the supermarket, but the real thing that speaks clearly of its Terroir. Real cured sausages. How old were you?
“I was a little kid, perhaps five or six-maybe seven years old. It was the sausage of my homeland, Colombia that my father made for me. Colombian chorizo are different from Italian cured sausages because of the use of cumin. (cumino in Spanish) My mom and dad used to try to coax the flavors of Colombia into our home in Toronto. We had a tiny apartment and a smaller kitchen. My dad ground his own meats for this sausage and added the seasonings of our homeland to the mix. We washed the casings in water and filled the sausages by hand. I still have my father’s sausage grinder- and now that he is gone, it is a memory that brings me back to those days immediately whenever my husband makes sausages using my father’s grinder. As a child, we didn’t have the room in our tiny kitchen to make huge batches of this Colombian Chorizo, but we tried to make use of every little bit of space. My father hung the chorizo on jury rigged broom handles to cure. This created in our tiny kitchen a veritable forest of sausages. A mythical wonderland of fat, little chorizo, curing, waiting to be fried up in oil and served with scrambled eggs or however my father wanted to serve them. It was truly a wow moment, one that I will never forget. My father loved to make them. Bandeja Paisa was one of his favorite dishes to prepare. It is not health food in any way. White rice, beefsteak, fried eggs, beans, chorizo, fried plantains, and avocado- a veritable heart attack on a plate!”
2. Who taught you how to cook? Was it your mother? Father? Grandmother? Do you have a favored recipe that was passed down through your family? Are there any foods that bring a tear to your eye? In other words when you cook a specific food, does it remind you of someone who is gone? What is that dish?
“Father did most of the cooking, he had injured his back and was home a lot. He did most of the cooking at home. At the age of about seven I received a copy of the Betty Crocker Boy’s and Girl’s Cookbook from the library. It opened my young eyes and I started baking. The first things that I made were cookies- peanut butter, chocolate chip, etc. I graduated to French Toast and scrambled eggs. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment to be able to help out at home by cooking for my family. Over the years my passion for cooking developed and I went to Madrid, Spain to become a Spanish Foreign exchange student. I literally begged my mom to send me there. Spain is a magical place with a rich culinary history. Plus, speaking the language like a native didn’t hurt! I lived with a well-to-do family in Madrid. They encouraged me to eat and helped me develop my culinary prowess that follows me to this day. My favorite recipes are those of my father. He loved Chicken with Mustard and also Colombian Blood Sausages. He was an old-school Latin American man. I inherited his favorite meat grinder when he died. Here in Toronto we have an artisan maker of Slovenian Smoked Sausage. They are named Richard and Son’s. They make beautiful sausages that remind me of growing up and my memories of food as a child. One of my favorite foods is something from Latin America that is directly influenced by the foods of Europe. This dish reminds me of my grandmom. It is Schnitzel. In Latin America we eat Carne Milanesa. Every time I eat this dish I think of her. From the very way the dish is prepared, either with chicken or veal… or even with steak, the results are always delicious. Egg wash, breading, fried in butter with a wedge of lemon, this is a dish that does it all. We celebrate life with food and mourn death with food. It’s a universal glue that binds us together.
3. Are there any foods that you have yet to try that intrigue you? I know you adore the foods of Latin America.
There is so much to learn about Latin American food. The flavors of Africa, in Brazil, Arabic foods, Spain, Portugal, France, there are so many things I have yet to taste, to recreate in my own kitchen. I’m especially influenced by the book Seven Fires by Francis Malmann. It’s a favorite cookbook of mine. This book examines the cuisine of Argentina. Of grilling meat over open flames using Terracotta wood burning ovens. The flavor of the clay interspersed with the embers of the coals creates a very specific cooking medium. Cooking this way brings deeper flavors into focus. It is a way of cooking that is so rustic. I am forever amazed at all these flavors, many not yet discovered. Another Mole another Tostada and another sausage not yet tasted. This is what drives me. I am fascinated by the dish called Moqueca from Bahia in Brazil. *please click for a musical interlude* This is an Afro-Brazilian Fish Stew made with coconut milk. Beautiful tomatoes and onions. Pristine fish. Coupled with savory African flavors. Foods that are as simple and humble can be as good if not better than the fanciest of meals.”
4. Do you have a favorite Tequila and what is it?
“I love Tequila and I love Mezcal. For Tequila, I just adore the Clase Azul. It comes in a white “majolica” clay bottle. There are flavors of stone fruits, caramelized nuts and sunshine in every bottle. Each bottle is handcrafted and this tequila is produced using a blend of Bourbon, Cognac, and Sherry casks in the aging process.
5. Do you have a favorite Mezcal?
“For Mezcal, my favorite is Herenzia Del Mezcalero. The two year old is my favorite. It is reminds me of the smokiest single malt scotch I’ve ever tried. Even some people who love smoky scotch whiskey say that OMG this is too much!”
Thank you Mary Luz for spending some time with me today. I learned much from your words and will try to find a bottle of the Herenzia Del Mezcalero to try. When I sip (not shoot) this Mezcal, I’ll think of you and your father, grinding the pork, adding the spices and curing those fat little chorizo, then hanging them on brooms all around your tiny apartment. This image clearly has brought a tear to my eye- I must share that thought with you and my readers. Cheers to you! wb
San Francisco Photographic memories:
 Photo: Warren Bobrow  Photo: Warren Bobrow  Photo: Warren Bobrow  Photo: Warren Bobrow To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston- with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
Who owns the rights to work published in Wild River Review?All work published in the pages of Wild River Review belongs to the magazine. For print publication, please contact: info@wildriverreview.com
We welcome online links, but you must be fully credited with a link back to the Wild River Review website.
 wb in sf
August 11, 2010
 Sunrise at 40,000 feet -taken with my iPhone Cocktail Culture is alive and well in San Francisco. Please click on Tiki for the soundtrack to this piece.
First, a bit of background: I was asked by Ed Hamilton, the world renowned authority on Cane Spirits to be a judge in the “Ministry of Rum” tasting competition, held yearly in San Francisco. My background in rum tasting is honed by years spent sailing the islands of the French and English West Indies. To know about Rum, first you must drink Rum. The flavors run the gamut from deeply oaked (from used American Oak that held Bourbon Whiskey) to Spiced Rum, to the Rhum Agricole (from Martinique, aged in used French White Oak casks that once held aged Cognac) to the Rums of the New World, which use wood that may have held Scotch Whiskey, Sherry and Madeira. Which one is best? Good question. I seem to prefer the Rhum Agricole which comes from a specific AOC in Martinique.
What is an AOC? Appellation d’origine contrôlée simply means that the Rhum (Rum in French) comes from a specific place and is manufactured in a specific manner according to law. Martinique is most well-known for Rhum Agricole because French law allows for an “Appelation d’origine Controlée” of “rhum agricole AOC Martinique” for rums produced on the island of Martinique. In many ways the fine Rhum produced on Martinique is as important as the high end spirits and wines of France because of this “proof of production” for the specific place. The AOC determines the provenance and quality of the spirits contained in the bottle. It is, in many ways a statement of quality.
 Ministry of Rum Tasting line-up Fifty of the best Sugar Can rums of the world would pass through my lips over two days. Immediately this number seems like a lot of rum. Yes, to the unenlightened perhaps this is the case. But should you dig a bit deeper, the tasting of the rums was spread out over the two days in a most manageable fashion. First of all, you weren’t drinking the rums, unless you wanted to… Spit buckets were provided, after tasting through twenty five rums the first day alone, you don’t want to be drinking them.
 Tasting Notes Smell is as important as the taste. Sugar cane rum does not smell like the mass produced industrial rums that clog store shelves. Sugar Cane rums are as important to the liquor industry as expensive cognac. The flavors in sugar cane rum run the gamut from piercing acidity with earthy notes of the wood barrels, to floral almost perfumed spiciness. This spiciness comes from the “taste of the place” and from the flavor of the oak barrels used to age the rum.
 WB having a boozy good time  A partial line up  Dem Rhums How do you taste rum in a competition? Good Question. First, hold the glass up to the light. Swirl it to release the aromas. What do you smell? Roasted nuts? Caramel? Vanilla? Stone fruits? Earth? It’s all subjective. Some Agricole Rhum like the J. Bally is aged in both Bourbon and Scotch Whiskey oak barrels. Brown rhum agricole distilled from fermented fresh sugar cane. This is my favorite style of dark rum. You taste a very specific Terroir in this rum. How do you know? Intuition I think plays a big role in tasting rum. And after tasting through fifty over two days- I know my way around a liquor store a bit better.
What about palate fatigue? Another good question. We spaced out the tasting over two days. Two sessions each day. Twelve Rums per session. Six dark rums, six light rums. Light doesn’t necessarily mean light in flavor. Some of the light rums were every bit as complex as the darker varieties. You don’t EVER want to mix the light rums with anything but a splash of coconut water or in a pinch, a few drops of spring water.
Coca-Cola is not on the menu at a sugar cane rum tasting. But a trip to the Tiki Lounge is!
 Seems like alot of Rum Sprinkle a few drops of spring water over the top of the glass of rum. Swirl it around, sip, wash it around your mouth, breathe in the aroma, wash it around some more. Spit. What? Spit? Yes. If you don’t spit, you’re going to get drunk and there is no room at a tasting for a drunkard. This is serious work.
Ed Hamilton is the world authority on the topic of Cane Spirits. I first met Ed some thirty years ago. I was on my family’s sailboat in the British Virgin Islands. Ed was moored next to us. I had attended a book signing earlier in the day for his book called the Rums of the Caribbean. I have always sought out writers who are authorities of the spirits I enjoy drinking and Ed was no exception. He lived the life of a true sailor, following the wind and navigating by the stars on his wooden sailboat. Where the wind took him, he found rum and life. My step-father asked him on board our boat and a fine few hours ensued.
In the islands, water is very expensive- yet rum is very cheap. A fifth of Cruzan Rum costs about half of what a bottle of Evian costs. We drank a lot of rum that afternoon.
Whenever we found our way to a liquor store, I would seek out the exotic and the expensive. For over twenty years I’ve gathered Rhum Agricole from around the islands. My bar is filled with exotic shaped bottles.
 Exotic bottles in my Bourbon collection  Rums from our tasting  Partial Line-up  More of the line-up  My friend Robin Leventhal I asked my friend Robin Leventhal to join the group of judges. She accepted! We had a blast.
 Up in the Smuggler's Cove Tiki Lounge  More of the rums  My friend Shirley Copeland on left Editor of Served Raw Magazine Shirley Copeland was also able to attend. She is co-editor of Served Raw Magazine who kindly links back to Wild River Review. Having only worked for Shirley and her co-editor Stacy Baker on a virtual level, we’d never met prior, it was a thrill to put the name to the face! Thank you to Shirley and Stacy for being so good to me.
How would I forget the center of Tiki Lounge culture? Smuggler’s Cove orchestrated a very boozy time for the judges. What happened there will stay there. Right? Right?
 At Smuggler's Cove  Ed Hamilton raises his glass to all I learned something while in San Francisco drinking rum. Thank you Ed. You made my day. Here are the RESULTS of the competition.
 Janet Janet
While in San Francisco, traveled almost exclusively via public transportation. Janet was at the bus stop and I asked to take her picture. We started talking. She is born and raised in San Francisco. Of a certain age. Loves to cook. I asked her about food. She told me that she loved make peach pies. I asked if she used lard or shortening for the crust and she proceeded to show me exactly how much shortening to use.
“You gotta use two heaping tablespoons” How much is that, I asked. ” This much” and she showed me in the air. We should all be as elegant as Janet. Thank you Janet for letting me take your picture.
 3 Head
Three Head/Six Arm Buddha
Over by the library there is the sculpture of Three Head/Six Arm Buddha. What can be said? Anything more would create more questions.
 3 Head/Six Arm To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston- with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
I love cut-up music from William S. Burroughs.
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
 Who owns the rights to work published in Wild River Review?
All work published in the pages of Wild River Review belongs to the magazine. For print publication, please contact: info@wildriverreview.com We welcome online links, but you must be fully credited with a link back to the Wild River Review website.
Postscript: I used to live in Portland, Maine when trains rolled slowly down Commercial Street filled with fish for the fertilizer factory up near Bath. The smell on a hot summer’s day, coupled with the smoky rich smell of baked beans from the B&M baked bean company… and the paper mill up near Lewiston-Auburn (LA) made for a cassoulet of aromas for your nose, some good, some bad and some downright ugly.
August 3, 2010
 Sheep's Head at Meatopia (with eyes) Photo: Warren Bobrow Andrew Zimmern is coming to eat something bizarre at a restaurant near you. He won’t make you join him at his decidedly funky dinner table and he’s cool with that.
 All credit is: The Travel Channel. I asked Andrew some questions recently about growing up Jewish in NYC.
“NYC afforded me a culinary upbringing like no other. Every neighborhood has an around the world tour in only a few footsteps. There are foods from all over, everywhere I walked. When they call NYC a culinary melting pot, they were talking about a giant soup kettle of steaming ethnic foods.
 All credit is: The Travel Channel. “All of these foods gave me the culinary curiosity that follows me every day in my life and in my career.”
You grew up in NYC, do you have a favorite “growing up Jewish” food memory?
“Holidays at my grandmother’s house were always a treat. My grandmother was very well known on the Upper West Side of Manhattan- through her Synagogue. We couldn’t walk two feet without someone recognizing her. People would come up to her and shake her hand, she was that well known in the neighborhood. When we’d go to Zabar’s, I would always have the best of everything, oily belly lox, fatty corned beef, brisket, whatever, stuffed into my hand, then into my mouth.”
About being a Jew. It takes a certain amount of Chutzpah to eat the foods you seem to enjoy on your television show (Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel)
“We are a brave clan. (The Jews) We have curious appetites. When I was growing up it was certainly… Anything that I wanted to eat I would. There were no dietary laws in my parent’s home.
When in Rome do as the Romans do!”
 All credit is: The Travel Channel.
When did you first taste bacon? Did you have bacon in your home while growing up?
“I had my first run-in with bacon when I was about six years old. Before that there was no bacon in our home. I tried it first at a friend’s home. They enjoyed bacon and I ate bacon like it was the forbidden fruit.
Soon thereafter it was served in my home!”
What is your favorite Deli sandwich? Ingredients? From where?
“ My favorite Deli sandwich is hot pastrami. I adore the fatty end, served on rye with dark mustard- slaw on the side and pickles. When in NYC, I love Katz’s, Ben’s (Kosher) and have course the Carnegie Deli.
 Katz's Deli Photo: Warren Bobrow
“When in Philly, I love the Famous Fourth Street Deli. I love a combination of Pastrami and Brisket in Philly. It’s the bomb. The first time I go to a deli, I usually get a hot pastrami sandwich. The second time I go, the pastrami and brisket combo is my usual choice. These foods are my passion.”
 Katz's Photo: Warren Bobrow
Have you heard of Bragman’s in Newark, NJ?
Do you know about the Jack’s Special Sandwich?
It is the combination of Pastrami, chopped liver, Cole slaw and Russian dressing on Rye.
“No, I’ve never heard of Bragman’s, but that Jack’s sandwich sounds really amazing.”
Do you get a lot of ribbing over your diet from fellow Jews?
“I don’t get hassled a lot by the Rabbis, they just sort of shake their head. Reformed, Conservative, whatever. They don’t give me a hard time.
But there is always one nosy Kvetch that has to get his dig in on me. That is what I always find funny.”
Andrew Zimmern grew up Jewish in Manhattan. He is a trained chef, omnivore and television host on the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods Show. He has eaten Tuna Eyes, Putrified Baby Fish, Grilled Rat, Beetles (sauteed, steamed and fried) and of course the certainly non-kosher the congealed blood soup.
He didn’t grow up kosher, but no matter- bacon wasn’t served in his home until he was about six years old.
Andrew is still in love with Deli, even if it means eating some pretty strange things along the way.
From the Travel Channel:
Andrew knows that one man’s poison is another man’s delicacy, but he isn’t afraid to poke a little fun at the local fare or himself. Our energetic foodie infiltrates markets and restaurants taking viewers behind the scenes to savor the local cuisine — even if it means chewing on eggs with legs, gulping down a frog’s still-beating heart or polishing off a lamb’s eyeball.
Andrew is game for anything and knows the most interesting food is found closest to the source. So whether he’s chasing down large water rodents in the Louisiana bayou, fishing for piranha on the Amazon or flushing out cave bats in Malaysia, you can be sure the guy with the iron stomach will dish up the unimaginable.
 Sea Slugs...All credit is: The Travel Channel. Thanks Andrew for speaking to me today. Quite enlightening, although I’m not one for sea slugs! wb
Tomorrow, I fly to San Francisco to be a judge along with Robin Leventhal (Top Chef) at the Ministry of Rum Competition.
To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston- with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
He loves cut-up music from William S. Burroughs.
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
July 27, 2010
 Mile End in Brooklyn Take a trip out to Brooklyn, NY if you can. It’s not that far away if you live in the NY Metro area. What you will find is a vibrant, exciting scene. Diverse in residents- there are many different countries represented between here and there.
One of these divergent culinary adaptations if you will is on the classic theory of Canadian Style deli. Sure there is deli food on nearly every block. The really well known delis like Katz’s, Carnegie, 2nd Avenue Deli- they are the ones that tourists always remember. If you live in New Jersey you have the Morristown Deli, Bragman’s and Hobby’s in Newark and a slew of others statewide. Some are good, some great and some just fantastic. I was practically weaned on deli foods. It’s part of my social DNA. What I love most is corned beef and a cup of borscht.
I remember going to the Friar’s Club as a boy with my dad who was a member at the time. You could always get a hot corned beef sandwich, standing statuesque on a plate, adorned by only a fat as a baby’s fist- pickled green tomato. On the side there would be a cup of borscht. Often there was a boiled new potato in the cup, taking up most of the small space- the sweet beets competing with the earthy qualities of the potato made for a standoff of sorts.
The food at the Friar’s Club was never great and there always was something to find fault with on the menu. But a bowl of the borscht and a corned beef sandwich on rye? Perfection every time, at least as my memory serves me.
Mile End, Brooklyn
Standing just off the main drag, Mile End is not your typical Deli. Their menu is pared down. There are no eggs every style and every combination. This is not a burger joint. You don’t come here for fried fish sandwiches or oysters po boys.
(although an oyster po-boy does sound good at 10:00 in the morning)
Mile End Restaurant is a labor of love.
 Maybe it's the Homemade Mustard? What is Mile End? Well, for one it is a neighborhood in Montréal, Canada that is known for its artistic slant. Canadian expat- ex law student- Noah Bernamoff is the owner with his wife, Rae Cohen at the namesake restaurant in Boerum Hill, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.
If you should show up at opening in the morning, you can enjoy a Montréal Bagel. The Montréal Bagel is different than the Bagels of every fast food type bagel shop in America. It is compact- small in size, about 3 inches around and about 2 inches thick. The ingredients includes egg and honey. You often see them with sesame seeds or poppy seeds covering the reddish brown, pocket sized treat. The dough seems to be fermented longer than the American version. I’m sure they are hand rolled and I’m positive the bagels at Mile End are baked in a wood fired oven. And yes, they are from Montréal, which is something a bagel from your local deli can’t say.
Your local bagel has no provenance.
Smoked Meat. What is Smoked Meat? First of all it is not like the mild, lean corned beef that I’m accustomed to. The spice balance is closer in flavor to cured and smoked pastrami. Pickling spices are not scraped off of the Creekstone Farms house smoked organic Beef Brisket. They are part of the experience of eating here. Orwashers does the bread. They are one of the last artisan bakeries in NYC. The rye bread here is smaller in size than what is served in the usual NY Deli. You can get your hands around a sandwich here and never want to let go of it, but you should so others can assume your seat when you leave. You cannot order smoked meat before 12 noon. Sometimes they run out. Follow them on Twitter to find out the “real time” status of the smoked meat. You wouldn’t want to be disappointed. We didn’t wait long, but be prepared to wait.
The process to make smoked meat is complicated. Pickling takes 11 days, the meat is smoked for at least eight hours, steamed for four more, and then finally it is ready to be served. This product doesn’t come from an assembly line commissary style kitchen in “Jersey” nor is it pickled by some manufacturer of “Deli” style meats better known for their Kosher-style hot dogs. The meat is organic, topped with a healthy layer of flavorful fat and the meat shatters into little flavorful bits when chewed.
Mile End does slow deli. The flavors are spicy. This is not tourist food. Good strong mustard is ground in house and more of those mustard seeds are used to make the smoked meat.
They also do Borscht which just knocked my socks off. And their coffee from Stumptown, served iced- charms!
 The Borscht It is really the Borscht that caught my attention. A deep pink in color, served with a healthy dollop of sour cream and pinched dill sprigs- even after enjoying a heaping cup of this soup- I’m still dreaming about it.
On a hot Summer day, a cooling bowl of Borscht is mighty fine eating with very simple and inexpensive ingredients. I recommend frozen shots of RUSSIAN VODKA!
 First few bites... My great grandmother’s recipe for Borscht
Take 7 large grated beets. Add them to a large stainless steel pot. Peel and grate 2 large Spanish Onions. Add to the onions a bunch of carrots (about 5 or 6) also peeled and grated. Grate a head of red cabbage, add that to the pot. Add about 4-8 cups of vegetable stock. Add a cup of white wine. Simmer all the ingredients together for several hours. Puree in a food processor in small batches. Let sit overnight to combine the flavors in the fridge. Slice a few roasted beets and add them just before serving.
Garnish with a boiled new potato. Finish with a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle some freshly snipped dill on top. You can also serve this soup hot in the winter. Dark Rye bread with sweet butter and frozen Vodka shots are a common side dish for this meal in a bowl.
 Spoon and Borscht I ended up taking home a large container of the Borscht from Mile End. I enjoyed it the next day with some grilled smoked meat. That is perfection!
 At the Bottom  Towards the Remains of the Day  Heirloom Tomatoes at Mile End  It's a bit tight at Mile End, but it's DELICIOUS! To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
He loves cut-up music from William S. Burroughs.
This article is dedicated to the poetry and brilliant photography of Anniegotgun. Thanks again for the follow-back!
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
July 20, 2010
 Eric Kroll/Homage to Man Ray (photo on right) By Warren Bobrow/Wild River Review Culture Editor
New York and the art world collided this past week at the Steven Kasher Gallery in NYC. I was there to meet Eric Kroll, the world renowned photographer who had a photograph in the show. The Steven Kasher Gallery is a fantastic gallery, showing artists from Andy Warhol to National Geographic photographs.
A few weeks earlier, I had developed a cocktail for the magazine named Served Raw in San Francisco. This drink was named specifically for Eric Kroll. I call it Eric Kroll’s Naughty Sailor cocktail. It has along with a litany of fruit juices, a healthy portion of Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum and a good splash of a brand new spirit, USDA Certified Organic, named Snap. This combination of flavors is naughty- it only made sense to name it after one of my favorite photographers, Eric Kroll. The inspiration was instant. I was gazing at some of Eric’s photography and the name of the cocktail “snapped” into my consciousness. Hence the name.
Eric Kroll, was born in New York City in 1946. He has made his trade in the fetish end of the photographic market. Eric, for the lack of a better term is the “grandfather” of this genre of erotic art photography. He has several books in print. Some of which are blatantly explicit. Eric shares with me a love for intoxicating beverages. His favorite is Tequila, mixed with freshly frozen lime juice from Trader Joe’s near his home. I can’t think of a more refreshing cocktail. Tequila and lime. Over crushed ice? Perhaps.
In his words: “The point being that what I say and scan into my web page may offend and will probably offend some but one doesn’t have to read on. Fair warning. I deal in sexual matters in a sometimes humorous way with no apparent shyness.” – Eric Kroll
His website: http://www.fetish-usa.com/welcome/index.shtml, is mostly “password” protected, but the point is clear, Eric Kroll is not your usual art photographer. He is unique in the genre. And that is why I admire his work!
 Steven Kasher Gallery Another steamy night in NYC. There was an opening at the Steven Kasher Gallery located on 23rd street in Manhattan. I made plans to meet Eric Kroll at the opening. To pay homage to the man behind the photographs… I dedicate this writing to him for inspiring my creative juices.
 Eric Kroll from reverse angle This inspiration is in the form of a cocktail. Culture and cocktail culture mixed on a sizzling summer sidewalk in NYC.
 Abstract I haven’t been to many gallery openings in NYC lately. They usually happen mid-week when I’m working on other projects. This one in particular intrigued me. I had a chance to meet one of my inspirations. And to share my enthusiasm for his craft with him. We traded a few emails- he gave me his blessing on the name of the cocktail- naming it after him- not everyone want to be mentioned by name, especially in the context of a cocktail – so imagine my surprise when Eric said not only was he happy that I named the drink after him, he wanted me to come to his gallery opening in NYC to meet him in person!
 The Master Eric Kroll’s Naughty Sailor Cocktail
- 3 ounces Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
- 1 ounce Root (USDA Certified Organic root tea)
- Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
- Freshly squeezed orange juice
- Freshly pureed pineapple juice
- 3 good splashes of Fee Brothers Mint Bitters
- 1 good splash Q tonic water
- Combine juices and mint bitters, add to cocktail shaker with liquors.
- Add cracked ice. Shake well to blend.
- Serve in a tall glass filled with fresh ice. Top with splash of tonic to finish.
A scoop of root beer sherbet sure would make this cooling!
 Gallery Opening B&W  Gallery Opening The newly minted and the old guard tromp in to the Kasher Gallery. They all have their reasons for being here. The show- called Inspired attracts all types of people. From the jaded to the experienced and all in between.
 Gallery Culture means many things to people. From the correct dress (or suit) to the photograph of the minute. Art shows flesh out the neophytes from the collectors. A small photograph may cost thousands while the large (important) pieces may command prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 Eric Kroll and.... It’s fun to mix in with the in-set. You can be anything you like, from a newbie in the art world to an serious collector looking for the next great work to pop into the periphery.
 point taken
 At the Steven Kasher Gallery The author William Burroughs has infiltrated my dreams lately. Good thing there are hours of his reading and cut-ups available to listen to on Archive.org.
 Up on the High Line in NYC  You see things never seen prior
To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
He loves cut-up music.
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
A huge thank you to Stacy Baker at Served Raw Magazine in San Francisco for publishing and encouraging my cocktail musings!
July 13, 2010
 Meatopia! It should come as no surprise to readers of this column that I love meat. I’ve written about being a BLT Jew. Born with a BLT in my hand. Ever since my birth, I’ve craved pig meat. My earliest memories of growing up involved food- again no surprise there. My first tastes that I remembered were BBQ memories. There was always a BBQ going on somewhere on the farm.
Bringing you up to speed- I grew up on a working farm in Morristown, NJ. It’s still in my family and has been since the 1940s.
Estelle Ellis was my family’s cook. She was well versed in the standards of the Southern Vernacular cooking styles because she was from southern Georgia- where the living was NOT easy.
Got a cold? Potlikker. Got the flue? Chicken Soup with the feet. It’s hard to imagine a better upbringing by someone not related to me- somehow she did a better job than anyone else, my own mother included. Estelle (now gone) was very important to my culinary upbringing.
Meat in the form of roasts filled the dinner table up at my grandparent’s “Big House” sandwiches followed- I can still taste the flavor of aged beef, crusted with dried mustard, salt and pepper. Nothing more. There was also a roast turkey, crispy skinned and tantalizingly aromatic. The roast turkey stood out as my other favorite meal on a Saturday night.
My culinary background came up a circuitous route. After plundering many a wine cellar in my wild youth and traveling across Europe, Brazil and French West Africa-these travel experiences and flavors burned a fire inside of me that would not be extinguished. While other members of my family became prosperous and successful, doctors, lawyers, etc., I chose a different route. My passion and love came from deep within my stomach. I wanted to become a chef. After college for Film in Boston, I moved up to York Harbor, Maine. Took a job at the York Harbor Inn. This magnificent inn overlooks the outline of forlorn Boon Island lighthouse, where- it is said, cannibalism took place after a shipwreck in the 1700’s. (A different kind of meat-eating!)
I had the passion to become something different. Instead of filing papers in an office, (that would come later) I became a dish-dog, cleaning pots and pans, scrubbing out reach-in refrigerators and washing floors. It was at the time a romantic life as I knew to become a chef, you had to wash a lot of dishes, open a LOT of oysters and kill a bunch of lobsters. In France, where I spent much time while growing up, children would leave their parent’s home at age 14 or so and become kitchen slaves… at least I was getting paid for my hard work. One of the cooks on the line (I think he had a Ph.d in something like molecular engineering) said that I had talent and took me under his watchful eye. He let me cook the line. That didn’t last long because the dish sink would just fill up with pots and pans- someone had to do the work. Frustrated, I quit the York Harbor Inn and moved across the way to the luxurious Stage Neck Inn as a line cook. My love of food would take me to Portland, Maine- New York, to Charleston, SC- to Scottsdale, Arizona and to restaurants around the Bucks County area in Pennsylvania. Wherever I worked, BBQ was one of the major factors in my culinary upbringing. Martha Lou, from the Soul Food restaurant by the same name let me cook beside her for a few lunches in her restaurant located in Charleston, SC. This was an experience of my lifetime. It instilled within me a powerful hunger for all things BBQ. My family’s butcher in Morristown, NJ (Hoeffner’s Prime Meats)still sells local pork that is just sublime. I take a rack of ribs, brine them, and then marinate them in a mixture of Thai Fish Sauce, Black Soy, Ketchup, crushed garlic and hot chili peppers. This marinade sits on the meat for a few hours- just kissing the flesh-but not cooking it.
Onto a hard-wood charcoal fire they go. No, I never use a gas grill, don’t understand why anyone would. I use hard wood charcoal in an ancient Weber kettle BBQ grill, flavored by each BBQ meal that came before. Good BBQ takes time. Nothing is done quickly or without meaning. “Shut ‘em down boys” is commonly heard shouted by the pit master. This means in simple language, to shut down the vents on the BBQ grill so the meat can cook “low and slow” gently napped by the sweet smoke that swirls from smoldering hard wood chunks.
Liquid smoke? NEVER.
Meatopia is the brainchild of James Beard Award winning food journalist, Josh Ozersky, who along with Taste of Tribeca Co-Chair and Good Beer Month Founder, Jimmy Carbone and master pit master Robbie Richter of Fatty ‘Cue, featured a select group of 30 top chefs and BBQ teams barbecuing local and sustainable meats. Meatopia grew from a BBQ gathering amongst friends to a real event. One that thousands of people gather together in a relaxed fashion, enjoying Bluegrass music, under the trees.
A few weeks earlier, I attended the BBQ Block Party in Manhattan. As a stark contrast, the Block Party was attended by over one hundred thousand people. Meatopia is almost a private event held by friends for friends.
The best thing I had all day was the perfectly cooked Corned Beef Brisket from Mile End in Brooklyn. There, with hand picked Bluegrass tinkling in the background and the line stretching to one hour or more, the sweetly brined meat was being sliced to make little sandwiches. Each one brimming with crunch- it was chewy love in the form of hand brined- Corned Beef. I was in Corned Beef love. If I could whip off my clothes and spin around like at a Grateful Dead concert, it would not have turned many heads…’cause the emphasis was on meat and not on bare flesh.
 HOG  Mile End  Gods of Meat  Corned Beef Love They call it Smoked Meat. I call it softly seasoned-hand held love.
 A brief ferry ride/900 yards or less and you are there! Governor’s Island is a place of tranquility about a half of a mile or so from lower Manhattan. Time stands still on this island. A prison during the Civil War and an active fort in years prior, Governor’s Island is a place in many ways, untouched by time. You should come here. It’s all that with views to match.
 Federal Vernacular Architecture The island was turned over to the City of New York for a buck!
 Like a Southern Home In many ways the architecture on the island is meant to echo the old South. Which explains why officer level prisoners who were sent here during the Civil War were from the South. Even the architecture resembles the Southern way of designing homes.
 Southern Vernacular Back to the Meatopia!
 Real Girls DO Eat Meat These gals enjoyed a bit of BBQ at the Meatopia event. Nice t-shirts!
 Lamb on the spit. I adore lamb on the spit. There is something to be said for meat, revolving slowly over oak firewood for a long period of time. Again, it brings me to my knees.
 Spit Cooked Love Bacon and I have been friends for a very long time. I often say how good bacon is on the grill. The fat just drips off, leaving the meat- salty, crunchy good.
 Belly Bacon for the Grill  BBQ Heaven  Food on the Spit (just tastes mo' betta)  Grilled Chicken Meatballs  Pork Ribs w/Thai Basil and Mint  Charcoal Grilled...the only way  Remains of the Day  Ferry Terminal Manhattan calls out from just over yonder. So near, yet so far. What a view!
 View of Manhattan from Governor's Island Roast Beef with Mustard Crust
Top Round Prime Aged for at least 28 Days – (Suggestion: cook 15 minutes per pound)
Dried Mustard like Colemans
Plenty of Freshly Cracked Pepper
Plenty of Freshly ground Sea Salt
Rub the flesh of the meat with mustard, salt and pepper. Add a cup of dry sherry to the pan, slice some carrots, celery and onion to the pan. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Put the roast in the oven.
After an hour or so drop to 325 degrees F. This would be a good time to add the carrots and pearl onions.
Roast 15 minutes per pound, let rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing in a warm oven.
Slice and plate, reduce drippings in a sauce pan and spoon over slices of the Roast Beef.
The Roast Beef is better the next day with mayo on Russian (Black) Rye Bread.
Roast Carrots and Pearl Onions
Peel a few bunches of fresh carrots. Peel a pint container of pearl onions. Toss these with a glaze made with wildflower honey and white wine. How much should you use? Just enough to coat.
If you have some fresh Thyme, throw that in alongside the carrots/pearl onions without the wood stems.
Place in a shallow roasting pan and cook at 325 for about an hour. Serve alongside the Roast Beef.
Oven Roasted Potatoes
I like using all-purpose potatoes from Maine. They cook up firmer than the Idaho variety that cooks up too fluffy. Idaho ones are great for mashed potatoes but not so good for roasting.
Peel potatoes and place in a container of cool water that you have sliced some Spanish (the white kind) onions. Let soak overnight, discarding the liquid, but keeping the onions. Dry as well as possible and slice into chunks. Scatter potato and onion chunks in a shallow roasting dish and splash with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until done- about an hour or so.
To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
A fine cocktail, designed for BBQ.
July 7, 2010
 The Woods There should be a point in our lives that the infernal heat stops bothering us so much. When we go about our day to day lives without discomfort from the elements it is because of air-conditioning. This unfortunately has not taken place. Growing up on a farm there was always something to do in the hot weather. Mowing the fields was a job best left to the professionals. How they did it, in the relentless heat, back and forth without a care it seemed. It was part of the job.
The songs that were sung while cutting the fields may not have been the cheery ones that populated the radio dial. They had an inner meaning. Our household help came up from Slavery. From Southern Georgia. These songs that I grew up with made the time go by and the sweat flow.
There was a root cellar on the farm, cool from the soil that surrounded it, I found myself exploring the dark, damp low ceiling rooms as a child. The shelves that drooped off the walls were at one time filled to bursting with the bounty from the fields “put up” as we say, for the cold weather times that are always months away. Canning is something I’ve never done- no reason to with supermarket shelves offering the latest in “fresh picked” technology. On hot days like what we are enduring right now, this root cellar would be particularly inviting. It was always about 55 degrees in that root cellar. In retrospect- the root cellar would make an excellent wine cellar. 55 degrees year round, dark, without any road vibrations. This makes for wine that evolves instead of just aging.
A wonderful dream that would never take place.
In the dark of the root cellar I could be alone- away from my parents fighting as they always did. I would disappear for hours, reading by candlelight at the little wood table that I still have today, conjuring up visions of whatever children conjure up. The root cellar is mostly collapsed now.
The earth gives and the earth takes away is a phrase I’ve heard mentioned. The walls of the root cellar gave in to the pressure of the greater power and movement of the earth around it.
Acorns are dropping from the trees in a symphony of clatter. This is not supposed to happen in July. Last year, I commented that a cold winter was coming because the squirrels were going crazy in May. Somehow, growing up on a farm taught me about the natural rhythms of the earth, the planet and the solar system. Gazing up at the stars- I could see far off places- yet undiscovered. These visions of the undiscovered filled my heart with possibility. I consider myself lucky to have been able to not only see the night sky, but have the memories of looking to the stars for greater inspiration.
Peaches are coming into season. Yes, they are early this year. Sweet with ample juice- they are the best in recent memory. With the lack of rain, plants are stressed out. The sugars go to the fruit. They are delicious. Who knows what will happen to the trees after the harvest. We’d better get some rain soon.
As I grow older, the heat seems to cause my body all sorts of discomfort. Even a dip in the pool is not to drop the temperature, but to wash the sweat off. Our home is not air-conditioned so coming inside to escape the heat is an experience that is profoundly different than what exists for most other people. It’s always hotter inside than outside. I’ve closed most of the windows to regulate the flow of moist, hot air from outside. There will be no relief until the heat wave breaks.
In many ways, this heat wave is like growing up on the farm. Summers seem to last until they are done for the year. Things go s l o w e r.
Digging a root cellar might be a good thing to do. There, surrounded by the cool underground air, at least I can get some writing done.
If I lived down South, like my friend Annelle Williams, I’d be used to the heat by now. I offer her a cooling Mint Julep for this lovely piece she sent me. Thanks Annelle.
Closed on Tuesdays
We have a real treasure here in Carteret County, North Carolina. Along with the beautiful seacoast, balmy coastal weather, seaport history, and friendly genteel locals who are just as nice as they can be even to the visitors who come yearly to partake of the magic that surrounds the Crystal Coast—the secret treasure is Chef Charles Park.
There’s no shortage of delicious food in Carteret County, but Chef Park adds two special elements–locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, paired with appreciation for his family’s food history to produce the ‘wow’ factor. He says he realized the importance of these special elements after he finished his formal culinary education at the CIA in New York.
The ’secret’ may be out. Recently, Beaufort Grocery Company, one of Chef Park’s two restaurants, became a finalist in the North Carolina Best Dish, sponsored by NC Department of Agriculture. One of the important criteria for the contest is best use of products grown and processed here in North Carolina. I love the idea that Chef Park is way ahead of the ‘fresh and local’ curve. The winner will be announced in the October issue of Our State Magazine—which brings me to another honor recently bestowed on one of Chef Park’s creations—in the July issue of Our State Magazine, Beaufort Grocery’s Apple Granny Chicken Sandwich was listed as one of the 100 Foods You MUST Eat in 100 NC Counties (they must not have tasted his Tuna Napoleon, but that would have made it 101!).
Last Thursday morning Chef Park and I met for a cooking lesson—I’m trying to learn all I can about preparing some of this wonderful local seafood. We met at Chef Park’s other restaurant, Shephard’s Point, in Morehead City. And we met EARLY—at 8:00 AM, because that was the only free time he had this week. Hence, fish for breakfast—local grouper and local clams—two of my favorites. I’m being spoiled.
I’ve never met a less pretentious, more generous, friendly person. No secrets, he loves to teach and share. And at every turn he was anxious to give credit to others. This man is a realist who has most assuredly done his time, and while he is still working very, very hard, he is reaping tasty results.
First things first, fresh herbs from the raised bed herb garden just behind the restaurant. In Beaufort, the herbs grow right at the front door. He placed the clams in water just for a few minutes to allow them the opportunity to spit out a little sand. (No pork in this dish, so it’s acceptable to fishaterians/pescetarians—I didn’t miss it.) White wine, shallots, sliced garlic, cold butter, fresh basil, pepper and toasted baguette slices completed the ingredient list.
We shared a Mess o’Clams as soon as they were plated. It took just about the same amount of time to make the dish as it did to toast the bread. Chef Park showed me how he really likes to eat clams, piling some of the shallot and basil on the clam, filling the shell with wine broth, and then slurping it down, biting the clam loose with his teeth. He assured me that it was perfectly acceptable to eat oysters, clams, and mussels using fingers and slurping. Then he demonstrated soption, an original family word emerging from the verb ‘to sop’, which is also acceptable as well as necessary when eating anything with such a delicious broth. We vigorously participated in both soption and slurping.
Next dish was Pan Seared Grouper with Dijon Dill Sauce. I wondered if Chef Park even realized all the little details he was sharing as he cooked. Searing versus sautéing, using the oven to finish dishes, making pan sauce from the fond, using nonstick spray appropriately, when to salt, when not to salt, cold, cold butter added at the end to make a creamy sauce without cream, when to add fresh herbs, how to plate the dish for the best presentation. I tried to get it all down, but sometimes I was so busy eating, I forgot to write. Fortunately, as I think through the process, I’m remembering.
But good news for me, and anyone interested in learning more about Chef Park’s local dishes, all taken to a higher level: he has just released a new cookbook, appropriately named Closed on Tuesdays, since that’s the day Beaufort Grocery closes each week. Even the book gives off a sense of local pride, from the painting of the restaurant by a local artist adorning the front cover, the great local photography, and certainly the recipes, shared with love, right through to the little ‘you oughtas’ at the bottom of most pages—’you ought to do this’ tips he received from his brother.
I would gladly have paid the price of the book, Closed on Tuesdays, for my two favorite recipes, the Tuna Napoleon, featuring fresh yellowfin tuna, wasabi slaw, and crisply fried wontons; and Collard Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings and Slivers of Country Ham.
Chef Park has a twinkle in his eye at 8 o’clock in the morning in the already warm kitchen. I don’t believe he would have that sparkle if he weren’t very happy with what he’s doing. I do know he’s doing his work very well, and his work is putting contented smiles on lots of faces. He’s making this wonderful local bounty taste fabulous!
For more information on Chef Park, his restaurants and Closed on Tuesdays, visit www.BeaufortGrocery.com. I would also like to add that along with his restaurants, and a healthy catering business, Chef Park was invited to cook at the James Beard House in New York in 2008. His menu was beautiful, featuring North Carolina products. This is quite an honor in the culinary profession.
Recipe:
Mess o’ Clams
Server 4
48 fresh clams
One-half cup white wine
2 large shallots, chopped
2 T chopped garlic (Chef Park actually thinly sliced the garlic)
2 T cold butter, sliced
1 sprig fresh basil, chopped
pinch of pepper
1 loaf French bread, sliced and toasted
Wash the clams and place in a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the wine, shallots and garlic. Cook, covered, over high heat just until the clams open; do not overcook. Discard any clams that do not open.
Spoon the clams to a serving dish with a slotted spoon, taking care not to stir up the cooking liquid. Drain the liquid into a smaller saucepan, leaving any sand in the larger saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir in the butter gradually. Add the basil and pepper. Spoon the sauce over the clams and serve with the toasted bread. Garnish with sprigs of basil.
Enjoy with a cool, crisp Sauvignon Blanc from California.
 Closed on Tuesday  Mess o' Clams Bio for Annelle Williams:
Annelle Williams writes: I’m a retired pharmacist, turned cook. I’m a daughter, sister, wife, mom, and friend who loves to feed her friends and family. I grew up cooking with my grandmothers–good, traditional southern food–but I’ve always been interested in eating and then learning to cook new and different things. My idea of fun is a day in the kitchen preparing an old favorite, or working on a brand new recipe. I was finally able to go to Italy, precisely, the Chianti region of Tuscany, and cook with ‘Mamas’ there (Tutti-a-Tavola). It was a wonderful experience, and I’ve returned several times to learn more and share recipes with these wonderful women! I also write two monthly food columns for local papers.
I started a blog, Annelle’s Table, one year ago when I turned 60. It’s about tried and true recipes that will make your table a happy place to gather and share life…after all, we MUST eat to live, so let’s enjoy every single bite!
To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
June 30, 2010
 International Fancy Food Show  Olive Oil tasting  Espresso  Fine Italian Espresso Machine  Production By: Warren Bobrow, Editor- Wild Table
It’s just amazing how the perception of International foods has changed over the past decade. You used to be able to get maybe a couple of dozen gourmet items in your local supermarket. Stores just did not carry items that spelled g o u r m e t. International foods for many years were only available in ethnic neighborhoods. Our diet was weaned down to the very basic types of products. Our collective culinary history had gone the way of FAST FOOD. Certainly not where my palate was interested in traveling. I grew up surrounded by good food, prepared simply. My influences were from the American South and Germany. My family employed a couple from Southern Georgia and a nanny from Germany. These influences of culinary history percolated in my subconscious until today. Say the word pig and I salivate. Say the word “pig-skin” and I think cracklins’. Say cracklins’ and I get HUNGRY. This exploration of fine dining from an early age taught me not only to eat, but to savor.
Gertrude our nanny, cooked with simple ingredients. Veal was a staple at her table. Veal roasts were a Saturday night affair. Veal leftovers made a fine sandwich, with white asparagus, carrots and red onion slaw on the side. Her cooking involved the use of German sausages-usually purchased at Hoeffner’s Prime Meats in Morristown, NJ. Weisswurst was my favorite and still is. I made some of their hot dogs on the grill last night. All made with love and natural ingredients. When Marty Hoeffner makes Veal Sausage, my taste-memory jogs back to the first time I tasted the Veal Sausages as a boy. They are almost pure white in color. Natural casing surrounds the gently poached meat. I love to enjoy them with strong grainy mustard and steamed carrots. A hand held meal, even without a hot-dog roll. They are a living history of German craft and cooking.
The time may have changed, but the flavors have not. Home-made sauerkraut is still crisp and sharp from the natural vinegar that forms from fermenting cabbage over a winter season with salt and spices.
Sitting at Estelle Ellis’s knee, I watched how she prepared the lexicon of Southern heritage foods, collard greens, potlikker, fried chicken, fish or pork ribs. Estelle taught me to enjoy pig in many forms. Even today, at the food show- when I discovered the Italian Pavillion, my first thoughts were not of espresso or pasta, but of PIG SKIN. This spells out to me: Crunchy, crispy goodness. The flavor of crunchy pig skin drives me wild. Even more than the cured ham products or dare I say, cheese.
I’d seek out great products in New York City, never imagining that before long, those same products could be purchased at almost every grocery store in the Metro NY area. Cheeses are the most amazing. Even the most mundane restaurants now have cheese courses. Pretty fantastic times we live in – that you can purchase cheeses from around the world at your local supermarket.
Gourmet shops excite me, certainly more than going to buy a new suit of clothes.
 Fancy Food Show, NYC  Gourmet foods and Buddha  Gourmet Pizza Even the simplest producers of gourmet foods have chefs preparing items for 10,000 of their newest customers. There is food from all over the world at every turn. It can be rather overwhelming. The best plan is the simplest one. Come hungry, leave happy. Be open to new flavors and tastes. Enjoy yourself and listen to the multitude of stories from around the globe. After all, this is the International Fancy Food Show! Let your taste buds drive you to new experiences in flavor. Olive oils from around the world, each one unique from their own terroir. Single origin coffee is HOT, cheese was hot at this years show- there was even a cheese cave constructed with the correct humidity and temperature for the more delicate cheeses. Some cheeses were stinky, others bland and still others served as grilled cheese sandwiches. Barbecue sauce is always a hit at the food show. How much barbecue sauce can you eat at 10:00 in the morning?
Someone said to me that chocolate is best tasted first thing in the morning. I tend to agree.
My favorite flavor of the whole show was the lobster mac and cheese. Topped with panko breadcrumbs, there was the saline spark of the lobster combined with the panko breadcrumbs. This brought me immediately to Maine in the Summer.
 Cured  Lexion of Foods  Right here  A Small World of Olive Oil  Demo of New Flavors  Mixologists at Work  Hand Slicing  Single Origin Chocolates  Crunchy Good!  Pork Love  Cooking Demo  Tasting Table  Cheese, Please!  USDA Certified Organic Olive Oil from Italy  Hello Rice. 180,000 products found their way to the New York Fancy Food Show… Next year I promise not to taste every one of them.
 Demo  Strange Description  Turkish Pavilion  Sweets!  Slather Sauce! Great Name  Tasting  My Breakfast. Crunchy Piggy Goodness. To support our mission and passion for good storytelling, please help support my work and make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: Wild River Donation.
Wild River Review/ Wild Table editor, Warren Bobrow grew up on a farm in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Emerson College with a degree in Film, he spent his senior year of college as a research assistant in visual thinking. (CAVS @ MIT)
To learn more about Warren, click here: Wild River Review.
Please follow me on Twitter @WarrenBobrow1
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