Friday, February 27, 2009
Drinks / Events / News Start Wining: Red White And Food Declares Blog Day March 2
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 4:00 PM
If you think you should be able to buy wine in Tennessee grocery stores, shout it through the blogosphere on March 2. Red White and Food--a group lobbying on behalf of the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association--invites bloggers to get the word out that Tennessee's wine retail law is from another century.
To make your wine whining more effective, Red White and Food has set up an online media center with logos--like the one here--and videos by Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and others explaining the bills that would change the current arcane law. Here's your chance to raise your voice and raise your glass.
Drinks / Events Slow Wine at City House
Posted by Nicki Wood on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:17 PM
Slow Food Nashville has a spruced-up website -- a lot of that going around these days -- featuring a slate of fun activities for 2009, starting with its first-ever wine event.
Slow partners with Woodland Wine Merchants and Domaine Select wines March 9 to taste and discuss organic and biodynamic wines.
Tandy will be making small appetizers. There are 30 spaces and cost is $19 person. Call Woodland Wine Merchants to reserve a spot, 228-3311.
Open Thread Empty Plate: Our Weekly Open Thread Is Piping Hot
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Who's your ideal dinner guest? What's your biggest pet peeve about buffets? Have you tried anything out of the ordinary lately? Welcome to Bites' weekly open thread, where we employ a strict policy of BYOT--Bring Your Own Topic. The oven mitts are now in your hands.
Bites Taylor Swift Likes Pizza, but not Sushi
Posted by Steve Haruch on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 7:51 AM
When I talked to Taylor Swift for the Scene's People Issue, I mentioned that I had read somewhere that she and Miley Cyrus had eaten an entire pizza while rehearsing for the Grammys. "Yeah, we were talking 100 miles a minute," she said, "and so we didn't even realize that we were just completely eating an entire box of pizza." (I told her there's a Nashville band, Those Darlins, who have a song called "Whole Damn Thing," but that song's about a chicken, not a pizza. "I'll have to look that up!" she said.) Teenager, pizza: Makes sense.
Then I asked Swift to name some of her favorite Nashville restaurants, and she said, "I like Bricktop's a lot.... Bricktop's is cool. I went to Flyte once, have you ever been there?" I said I had been there, once. "It seemed really good," she replied. Seemed really good? But I think I know what she meant: Everything about the atmosphere of the place--the way the wait staff carry themselves and brush the crumbs off your table--makes the place seem good. But maybe that's another post. Anyway, pop star, fancy restaurant: Again, makes sense.
But remember when our own Nicki Wood asked the question: Eaten at the Old Spaghetti Factory latey? I guess I was a little surprised when Swift 'fessed up.
People Food People: Meet the Savarino's Sandwich Gang
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 6:48 AM
If you've ever wandered into Savarino's Cucina, the understated Italian eatery in Hillsboro Village, and felt like you stumbled into an alternate universe--one colored by nostalgia for cantankerous Brooklyn eateries and authentic Italian cuisine--then the following dialogue will shed some light on the situation.
For the Scene's inaugural People Issue, Jack Silverman, eavesdropped on the loquacious regulars at Corrado Savarino's store--the guys for whom the sandwiches are named. (They knew he was doing it, so it wasn't really eavesdropping.) An abridged version of the conversation appears in this week's Scene, but the full transcript appears after the jump and makes for some great (and slightly PG-13) reading.
Bites Cravings: Looking for the Best Fish and Chips in Town
Posted by Lee Stabert on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 6:33 AM
I really need to stop watching Food Network after 10 p.m. It leads to cravings. Last night, my man, my cat (hi Doug!) and I ended up watching an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay. It was a battle for fish and chips supremacy between Bobby and A Salt and Battery in the West Village. Needless to say, I found my mouth watering.
I know Scene editor Pete Kotz swears by the version at Dan McGuinness, but does anyone know of anywhere else in town with a solid version? Extra points for homemade tartar sauce.
Coffee Filter Iced Coffee Season Cometh
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 5:29 AM
I just tried to purchase an iced coffee at Panera. (Please hold your comments about Panera, I'm talking about iced coffee here, and we can discuss corporate chain bakeries later, and, anyway, it was for a friend. Jeez. By the way, have you tried Panera's Cobblestone muffin?)
Unfortunately, Panera does not sell iced coffee per se. Of course, you can purchase regular coffee and pour it over ice from the soda fountain, but this gesture of caffeinated MacGyvering only produces a drink I like to call Cold Water with Light Roast Flavoring.
While CWwLRF is not a good beverage, at least there's lots of it, because the ice melts instantly, leaving you with more insipid liquid than the average GI system can handle. In other words, it tastes like dishwater, but you can share it with someone. Neat.
But I digress. What I really meant to ask was who makes good iced coffee?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Bites / Foods / Good advice Let Me Guess: You Gave Up Radishes and Fermented Mare's Milk
Posted by Nicki Wood on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:14 AM
I gave up one of my vices for Lent, which I won't share. But I will say, if you see me at a party looking miserable, it's probably not an act.
I've also given up food for a couple of days. Yep. Doing the lemon cleanse. It's going okay so far. But I had forgotten how awesome food is. I miss it. Food come back! I promise not to misuse you anymore!
Please do not torment me by telling me what delicious thing you cooked last night, or ate this morning. Or join me in misery by telling me what you gave up for Lent, or the anti-festive season, to give it an ecumenical name.
Restaurants Bobbie's Reopening Says Winter May Really Be Over
Posted by Nicki Wood on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 9:11 AM
A sign posted in the order window of Bobbie's Dairy Dip, 5301 Charlotte, indicates that it will open this Friday, February 27, from 11-7. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy. Still, anyone up for lunch?
People Food People: Meet Hide Watanabe
Posted by Carrington Fox on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 6:30 AM
It's pure coincidence that the Scene's inaugural People Issue features a profile of banjo-playing sushi chef Hide Watanabe while this week's dining review highlights Watanabe Sushi & Asian Cuisine in East Nashville. But it's a lucky coincidence, because after reading Steve Haruch's profile of the unlikely bluegrass maven from Kobe, Japan, you'll want to know why Earl Scruggs will jam with Hide but not order his McGavock Pike Roll.
(Scruggs prefers the teriyaki chicken.)
