curiouskitkatt

On 4/28/2015 at 9:25 PM, Pool Boy said:

We need to talk all of the markets people go to. Some of them are great, but all of them have their own weird vibes.

I could talk for days on all the Markets in Lancaster County. There are thousands of them.

On 8/13/2005 at 3:33 PM, MichelleW said:

Ok. I'm resurrecting this thread and turning it serious because my folks live in Lancaster and I've eaten a couple of really nice places up that way with them.
 

Skimmed several posts here.There are some delicious bits in this thread. 

On 7/19/2010 at 12:46 PM, Kibbee Nayee said:

Lancaster is a good 30 minutes out of the way of your route, but if you're looking for an interesting meal on the high end, I can recommend john.j.jeffries without hesitation....

http://www.johnjjeffries.com/

In fact, it's on the Old Harrisburg Pike, so it's a very direct 30 minutes out of your way.

I think, in all honesty, that this is one of the more interesting restaurants east of the Mississippi right now. It all starts with Lancaster County and its immediate environs, a somewhat undiscovered oasis of all that is good about growing produce and raising animals -- not because it's all-of-a-sudden trendy, but because they've done it that way for centuries and they don't know it's cool. You're going to get farm-to-table organic deliciousness with every bite.

I might add that this restaurant  is the Chez Panisse of Lancaster County. It was my first stop, and taste of Lancaster which led me on a path to find all of the culinary gems the city has available. Lancaster is certainly worth a trip if you happen to reside outside of Philadelphia, or are looking for a day trip in the Mid Atlantic region. I highly recommend it.

More than Amish,

kat

Wasn't sure what forum to post this in, so please move to appropriate one. People volunteer for several reasons.  I volunteer often for social causes that mean a lot of me. I also opt to volunteer for events that I can not afford to attend. The gratitude from agencies for their volunteers has often led to opportunities that would not otherwise materialize. There is a new trend developing, well it has  has already been around for years, voluntourism.  Are there agencies, or events in the greater Washington DC area that promote or offer trips in voluntourism?

In service,

kat

Since moving back home, I have gotten into a routine to just hop in my car and venture to places that I hope are interesting, and delicious. I try not to do to much research, cause I relish in the discovery of a new, and exciting spot. Easton Public Market  did not disappoint. My plan was to head toward Fishtown, but made a left and 77 miles later I landed in Easton. I knew there was a Crayola factory downtown, but I had no idea the abundance of gourmet gems. My first stop was at Bank St Creamery, located in the the alley way just around the corner of the public market. Bank St Creamery, once know as the Purple Cow Creamery, was started by a husband and wife team back in 1998. Their small batch, high quality ingredient of  rich ice creams serve traditional flavors like vanilla,  but have local favorites like Orange bergamot, and Easton bisque. I didn't try the Easton Bisque, but should have. I think it may be similar to the Old Bay Caramel at the Charmery in Hampden, Md. Next stop, the Public Market. 

Right inside the door to your left there is a ramen joint, and the the right a Fish monger.  As I walked deeper into the market, I knew I had landed in a delicious spot.  There was a kitchen space toward the end of the market that offered classes to which  I grabbed a flyer, and plan on revisiting and taking. I rounded the corner, and a wine bar was the perfect spot to rest and sample the offerings. Tolino Winery is a located in Bangor, Pa, and is family owned and operated. I had no idea there were an abundance of wineries in Pennsylvania. I learned that  Chambourcin is a varietal that is common to the Mid- Atlantic .After being poured a glass, I was able to roam the Market. I glided over to  Chocodiem. By far the best chocolates I have had to date. These Belgian chocolates have won numerous awards, and  is  endorsement by  Jacque Torres, the ever charming  Mr Chocolate himself. I recall Chocodiem recently opening an outpost in Clinton, NJ.  The chocolates are divine. 

I rounded out my tasteventure  with a stop at Scratch.  Scatch is a farm to table pizzeria and brewery. The  margherita pizza was amazing . Most of the ingredients they use are sourcedlocally, one of them being  Apple Ridge Farm in Saylorsburg, Pa. On their website they list where all of the ingredients come from, and  answers the calling to eating responsibly.  I didn't try the brews, or spirits on account I already was two glasses in with wine. This gives me an excuse to come back and try several more of the offerings Easton Public Market has to offer.  Overall, outstanding. 

Roaming gourmet,

kat

Lancaster Restaurant Week is to taking place from February 26th thru March 2nd. A few citizens  of York, also known as the White Rose city, has expressed a bit of shade in that it runs  parallel to theirs. I mean, seriously, there are enough opportunities to dine in either Lancaster City, the Red Rose city, over the week. Just map out where you will eat, like the rest of us do. The distance between the regions is comparable to Falls Church , and Georgetown. Completely doable. 

War of the Roses, 

kat

Downtown York Restaurant Week is returning Feburary 24th and running through March 3rd. This is a valiant effort to drive traffic into downtown. It was successful  last year, so hopeful this year the locals , as well as residents outside the city, will venture downtown for this tasty event! 

White rose,

kat

“Accidenti! Vieni! Pronto! Ora!”—Come! Quickly! Now!

This is what came to mind as soon as I learned that the famed butcher of Panzano was coming to our little town of York, Pa. I had learned of this legendary man citing verses of Dante's  Inferno, and play various tracks from AC/DC in his butcher shop while telling stories of his childhood, as well as his love for what he does.  My tickets were purchased in Oct, and the event was to happen in January. I am forever grateful I bought tickets.  A preface to what I am about to describe as the most entertaining,  sentimental Sunday afternoon deserves a reading of  Carnal Knowledge written by Bill Buford. 

Dario Cecchini needs very little introduction. I have both watched loads of culinary programming as well as  read  numerous  publications about culinary legends . Meeting a legend brings your appreciation of said legend to a whole new level. There are often times where you get your hopes up, and are let down on the account the legend may be a total jackass. This was not the case. 

The wife and husband team of Caputo Creamery, along with their adorable sons, came out on stage to introduce the famed butcher. They also expressed awe, and gratitude to the butcher, for coming to our little town of York. Back when the event was announced, there were skeptics that thought the event was not real. That it was going to feature footage, and clips from the visits to Panzano.  I followed up  by saying, it was real. 100 % Dario Cecchini in the flesh. 

Let the Meat opera commence...

The lights were dimmed , and a flood of blood red lights drape the stage. Two halves of a hog descended onto the stage,  as The Butcher walked out  to the tune of Hells Bells. With out so much a peep, he dives right into breaking down the pig.  The light brightens after a few cuts, and the Butcher makes his introduction. He speaks in the language of his provenance. Frankly, I would have enjoyed every word, even though I do  not speak a lick of Italian.  He apologizes for his lack of English, and gives introduction to his beautiful wife, who will interpret. 

The next two hours were filled with stories about how he became a butcher, to the  first taste of bistec on his 18th Birthday, to his love for his Nonna in creating goodness from trotters of the pig.  What I watched blew my mind. Watching him break down a pig like a Maestro conducting a symphony. There was care , and intent in each cut he made into the animal. He made a butter out of lard that I wanted to hop on stage with sour dough in hand, to try.  With other cuts, he made what I think was a porchetta. There were no fancy ingredients. All he had at hand were garlic, pepper, bee pollen,branches of rosemary, and Profumo di Chianti. The aroma of the salt  was intoxicating. It is a finely ground Tuscan sea salt infused with lavender and rosemary.  The herbs grow abundantly on the hillside of Chianti, and by adding it to the meat, it transports us to the region. The smell was delicious.

The most moving segment of the afternoon was near the end of his presentation. As he professes his thanks to a crowd of complete strangers, an intimate moment was captured. He thanked his wife. For without her, the guests, unless they were fluent in Italian, would not have  been able to follow the presentation. Although, as I have said before, I could have totally just listened to him without translation.  Through out the entire presentation, he looked over at his wife from time to time. We , the audience , would  occasionally catch either of them lose focus. It was like watching a conversation between lovers in the most innocent way.  One thing is for sure, passion was woven through the entire presentation. The stories Dario shared,  I will remember for days to come. His passion will reside with me for a lifetime. I feel that afternoon changed me in ways I have yet to discover, much like the goal Bill Buford had in becoming a Tuscan butcher.

Thank you Caputo Brothers Creamery for bringing Tuscany to York. 

CARNE!!!

kat

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Let us know how it was, Kat - it sounds like a terrific experience.

I want to gather my words to adequately describe what I saw on Sunday. I took several pictures, as well as videos of Dario’s story telling . I was moved to tears while watching a legend talk about his humble beginnings, and love for being a butcher. The advantage of sitting front row to watch a Maestro , was the aroma , along with watching his every expression in real life. I met a legend on Sunday, and it  surpassed my expectation. Dario is the real deal. 

I’ll have the post up shortly.

Not your salt bae,

kat

Rainbow dyes food. Ugh.

2 hours ago, DaveO said:

Frankly if there is an ig expert here I’d be interested in their comments 

Me too. I have already taken steps on reading as much as can on the metrics of Instagram. I am fascinated. Thank you for all of your suggestions.

R& D,

kat

Rynn Caputo of Caputo Creamery, leading Dario to the Luca in Lancaster, Pa. An extraordinary pre game prior to his presentation on Sunday at the Pullo Center. Luca is the sister outpost to Maison that I wrote about here. I imagine the feeling Taylor, the owner of Luca/Maison, is having, can be adequately described as meeting your ultimate mentor.  Sunday is gonna rock!! 

kat

1 hour ago, curls said:

Last time I went to Attmans I got a potato knish to go. Heated it at home and had it with a side of Gulden's mustard. It was one of the best knishes I have had in a long while. Kat, I am curious to hear your opinion of their knish (and other items).

I will report back after my field research.  This is fun, thanks for the feedback y’all.

Knish hunter,

kat

On 8/14/2013 at 8:46 PM, Cuddlyone said:

Forgive me Don if this is the wrong place to post this, but I needed to talk about our meal at Vin 909 in Annapolis. We thought we were lost when we got there because it's located in a residential neighborhood in what looks like somebody's house. When we saw all the people waiting on the lawn, we knew we were in the right place. It was just 6pm on Saturday night, but we waited about 45 minutes for a table. There's a pretty lawn with benches to wait for a table, so we ordered a bottle of wine and sat for a while. There are two small dining rooms inside and and a small patio out back. Also, there were two tables on the front porch that didn't look very comfortable. Oh yeah, the food. For starters I had the "Chesapeake farm raised clams" with wild mushrooms, grilled corn, scallions, garlic, smoked bacon, white wine, and cream. I think this was the best dish I ever had in my life. The clams were perfectly cooked, the bacon was thick and meaty, and the sauce was perfectly decadent. My SO, not as pro-cholesterol as I am, had the greens with blue cheese. SO loved it. Then we moved on to the pizza. Pizzas are sort of oval, pretty thin, but not soupy at all. Kind of Roman if you know what I mean. I had the Spotted Pig with spicy soppressata, wild boar meatballs, tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and provolone. SO had the Trip, wild mushrooms,taleggio and fontina cheeses. Pizzas were AMAZING. Perfectly balanced amounts of sauce, cheese and toppings. Service was friendly and efficient. Char was just right. When informed of a food allergy, the server checked with the chef for each dish we ordered. Sorry, no dessert report, too full.

I think this is the spot, a couple I ran into at Chiko, were raving about. I must find out for myself. Adding to short list.

off main st,

kat

16 hours ago, MarkS said:

I had catering from Edmart visiting friends nearby.  The appetizing fish was great and reminded me of living in NY.  I was told that they cook their own meats and may ever make Knishes, let me know what you find out.

I find most of my leads by approaching strangers. Luckily for me they are receptive to my obssessive curriosity to finding good food, a proper knish being one of them. I will report back if successful. 

In search of knish, 

kat

5 hours ago, DIShGo said:

Kat, I ventured upstairs when my kids were visiting me last month, and there is ample parlor seating up there. The upper level is spacious, nicely decorated and has a giant chalkboard for those who feel like expressing themselves. The first time I visited, I didn't even notice the stairway!

Thank you! I knew by posting someone would know the answer! 

Ice cream enthusiast,

kat

I am learning so much. Is there a crash course on how to measure the metrics of Instagram?

3 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

You can follow me if you'd like. My profile is set to Public so literally 99.999999999% of the content is publicly accessible.

Sweet! Ill check it out!

16 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

Just to be extra special clear:

There are food blogs like Kalyn's Kitchen (Kalyn Denny), Simply Recipes (Elise Bauer), Smitten Kitchen (Deb Perelman), and 101 Cookbooks (Heidi Swanson) who make their entire income off of their blogs and related content. As a result, social media is a necessity for them and they need to chase after numbers. They need to tailor their content for their readers. If their readers disappear or if their content isn't shared, then their revenue stream suffers. So social media serves not only as a way to increase readership/popularity or as another method to generate content, it's also a marketing tool.

And then there are food bloggers like me who use social media to blog. I stopped blogging on my blog a long time ago. My last post was in March of last year. Since then, I now blog full-time on Facebook and divide my time between Facebook and Twitter. Anytime I don't spend on social media, I spend it here or on eGullet. For me, foodblogging is a hobby and not a job. I suppose I could try to increase my number of followers but I feel that in doing so, I would need to make certain sacrifices along the way in order to increase my "social media market share". And I'm unwilling to do that, plus that's not where my interest lies.

Make sense?

Yes, makes complete sense. This forum, for me, serves as a means for me to connect to others that share a passion for food, along with creating dialogue about everything, including food. Creating a bridge between social media, and this forum.  I have never considered this forum to be a  part of social media, maybe I am wrong. I don't post in hopes that people will like my content, but rather it starts a conversation leading to discovering anything from restaurants, or the next game changer. By using Instagram, its a different way to connect. People that may have never heard of Donrockwell.com may peak at my feed, and jump into the conversation.  That makes me happy. Expanding the community .

I hope this makes sense. I am now curious, what is the name of your blog?

5 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

I think you misunderstood.

To me, the rat race isn't just Instagram, it's the entirety of social media. Getting what you want (i.e., #s of followers) and being happy (i.e., doing my own thing without the need to chase after numbers) are two entirely different things. I chose to be happy.

ahh, I get it, I think.  I think we are in agreement. I am answering your question about the point of Instagram. I think, I kinda answered it.

6 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

It's not just Instagram. It's also Pinterest, Google+, Snapchat and Tumblr.

Admittedly I don't make my living via foodblogging and food photography. If I did, I suspect I might have a different outlook.

It's good to know that food fora are not dead despite their having been written off since the early- to mid-aughts.

PS. Don, I recently followed the board on Twitter - let me know what, if anything, I can do to help.

There are countless social media outlets, but I find the interaction here, bar none,  is incomparable to anything anywhere.  The value this forum brings is incredible . I just wish more people would realize it. Rocks doesn't welcome the adoration, but he is the bee's knees. His palate, along with his index of knowledge is vast. He also leads with integrity, and truth. My hope one day is that this forum will be the leading guide for all things dining, and beyond.  

Determined,

kat

Adding to the thread about Attmans, what are everyone's thoughts on the Jewish delis in PIkesville?  I plan on doing a bit of field research on finding a proper knish. Corned beef, and pastrami seem to be the litmus for a good deli, but finding a good knish outside of Manhattan, now that is a challenge. Wish me luck!!

Oy,

kat

On 1/5/2018 at 7:36 PM, nelumbo said:

I'm looking for an ice cream parlor, similar to Farrell's  (I'm thinking of the one in Wheaton Plaza 30+ years ago), or maybe the old Giffords. The key here would be a selection of ice cream products, including sundaes, with a substantial amount of indoor seating. A Friendly's would be an acceptable distant second - ie a restaurant type establishment that has regular food but also serves a variety of ice creams. IHOP would not make the cut because the quality of the ice cream is too low and it is more of an afterthought to the main menu.

I was surprised to find that all the Friendly's around DC are gone, although there are still some up by Baltimore.  Friendly's isn't close enough to what I am looking for to make it worth driving to Baltimore.

The main issue with most of the ice cream/gelato/whatnot stores in the area is the lack of seating - if they have any seating at all, it is one or two tables in more of a "cafe" setting, and not what I think of as "ice cream parlor".  I had hopes for the new Retro Creamery at Tysons, but it sounds like 1) there is no seating and 2) they don't have their act together yet in terms of service/having ingredients on hand/etc.

I highly recommend Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream on 14th st in the District. They quality of the ingredients they use is of the highest quality, and they permit you to try just about any flavor you like. I recall visiting the shop a few months ago, and the seats were few on the first level, but there is an upstairs. I didn't venture to the second floor, but will ask around if there is  parlor seating. But if there is not, The scoop shop  is certainly worth the trip even though it may not fit what you are looking for in terms of seating. 

kat

9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

And this is in direct conflict with what I've been preaching for a dozen years or longer: Taste is only half the battle. (with the acknowledgement that I chose a bad example in 2005, but I didn't know it was going to have legs). I think most people still don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I have only myself to blame.

The image if skiing & eating pizza will take on a whole new visual for me 

8 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

 

I'm also not fazed by #s of followers. I'm enjoying myself too much generating content on Facebook and Twitter to have to worry about the rat race. It seems too much work for very little effect. Perhaps I'm not getting something.

---

*googles DCFoodPorn*

I often step into challeges that are foreign to me. What we have cultivated here on DR.com is unlike anything else on the interwebs. By entering the social media rat race, ie Instagram, my intent is not to compete with the likes of DCfoodporn, but to give us presence , market share if you will. 

DCfoodporn is junkfood while #donrockwelldotcom is brainfood.

I am extending the conversation. My hopes by adding the #’ we spark curiosity , and they follow my lead back to this forum. It’s an ambitious feat, but I’m up to the challenge.

Dutchess,

kat