Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Conversation Bites / Restaurants In General, Injera is a Cottage Industry
Posted by Nicki Wood on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 7:52 AM
Takeout from Gojo Ethiopian on Thompson Lane is so not the same old thing. Gojo's food is exceptionally good, and Ethiopian food in general is a dramatic departure from the ordinary, both in flavor and in what experts call "the delivery method."
Tear off a piece of the springy, slightly sour injera flatbread and use it to pick up a bite of doro, a bite of tickel gomen, a little kitfo or misir. The tangy bread offsets the richly butter-drenched and spiced vegetables. The method can be off-putting at first for adults, but children cannot believe their luck in being allowed to eat with their hands.
Monday, November 23, 2009
News Rummage Through Your Pantries
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Tuesday, Nov. 24, is the last day of the Metro Public Library's "Food For Fines" program. If you've been holding onto that copy of The Lost Symbol for too long (and I know you have because I've been on the waiting list for a month), bring it back with a donation for the Second Harvest Food Bank and all is forgiven.
Details below:
Exchange canned goods and other foods for library overdue fines to support Mayor Karl Dean's campaign to help Second Harvest Food Bank during Food for Fines, Nov. 9-24 at Nashville Public Library.Library cardholders will get $1 in current fines* waived for each can or package of food donated during the drive, held at all Nashville Public Library locations.
Items especially needed include:
--peanut butter
--canned meats (tuna fish, beef stew)
--canned vegetables and fruit
--macaroni and cheese
--rice and pasta
Bring canned goods, or items in boxes or plastic bags or jars (no glass can be accepted) to the circulation desk at your library. Don't forget to bring your library card!
* Replacement fees for lost or damaged materials, fees for losses that are in billing or collection stages, and lost card fees are not included in the food drive.
Cheap Eats Black Friday--Rayburn Style
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Until Nov. 30, both establishments are offering gift cards at 30% off. Combine that with their frequent half-price wine and dinner options and you can hardly afford to eat at home. The only caveat for you extremely generous spenders is that they have placed a $5,000 maximum on gift card purchases. I think most of us can manage to stay under that.
Gift cards are good at either location and can be purchased in person or on the Sunset Grill website. If you really can't get your act together in time to buy them by the end of the month, fear not. Randy is still offering a 25% discount from Nov. 31-Jan. 11. He's good people that way.
Retail Dog of Nashville Snacks Chilling at Meharry
Posted by Nicki Wood on Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Eating options within walking distance of Fisk, Meharry and Metro General Hospital are so limited, and it's always seemed like a missed opportunity to the lazy-but-observant entrepreneur buried in my personality. Think of all those starving students and rushed hospital employees -- it's a captive audience if there ever was one.
The Dog of Nashville recently stepped in to help fill that demand with its "Dog of Nashville Chill" line of takeout sandwiches, sold from the coolers at the Meharry bookstore.
"We just launched it two weeks ago," says Dog owner Adam Deal. His marketing rep knew that Meharry was looking for product to sell from the bookstore.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Free Bites Win Free Tickets to the Guy Fieri Roadshow
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 3:47 PM
UPDATE: We have a winner of the much-desired tickets to Guy Fieri's extravaganza at TPAC. Nicole Masullo triumphs for "This is what happens when you Kross Guy's Krew." Honorable mention goes to Enigmawrap for "I'm vegan before 6." (That one earned no prize other than a hearty guffaw from Mr. Pink.) Thanks for playing!
Hey kids! Want to score two free tickets to the Ben-Hur of live cooking shows, the Guy Fieri Roadshow coming 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22 to TPAC's Jackson Hall? The highlights include bottle-flipping by Australia-based flair bartender Hayden "Woody" Wood and appearances by local chef Tully Wilson of Tully's Bistro in Hartsville and rising Food Network star Anne Burrell (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef), along with all the red-hot chef-on-chef cooking action you can take without TiVo. And of course there's the host: the Guy with the frostbite hair, the man who knows no fear when it comes to portion sizes.
There's just one little thing you have to do: Enter our Bites caption contest. Simply take a look at the image we've provided after the jump--no, it's not a photo of Guy Fieri--and post your best photo cutline below. Contest closes 10 a.m. Friday. Make sure we have your contact info so we can reach the winner shortly thereafter.
On your mark...get set...go!
Wine Wandering Wino: The New Phone Book's Here!
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Actually it's the Beaujolais Nouveau that has arrived. Like Navin R. Johnson in The Jerk waiting for the chance to see his name in the white pages, winos all over the world mark their calendars for the third Thursday of November and the release of the latest vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau.
And I do mean "Nouveau." Most Beaujolais is ready to drink within two months of harvest, meaning you either think it's like eating the freshest fish in Destin, or as Karen McNeill comments, it's like eating cookie dough that's not done baking yet. The Wine Chap has this and their other Thanksgiving-appropriate wines as well as a list of their inventory of wines from the Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2009 on their helpful website. Pop the cork over here for some good advice.
Restaurants Another Reason to Be All a-Twitter...tayst-y Lunch!
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 9:33 AM
The New York Times' love affair with Twitter is well-documented. We've managed to keep the shiny new tech toy fawning at a minimum here at Bites. (Read: we're a buncha newsprint-loving Luddites.) But we can hold off the juggernaut no more.
Now one of our favorite Nashville restaurants is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, and with an interesting twist. Jeremy Barlow of tayst Restaurant and Wine Bar has been Twittering as the_green_tayst for a while now, but mainly with just short entertaining nuggets of information about what's going on in his kitchen. Jeremy has realized that the time has come to turn the gas up on the marketing burner -- with lunch.
Bites / Open Thread Our Weekly Open Thread Can Support a Healthy Immune System*
Posted by Nicki Wood on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 9:04 AM
People leaving town. Restaurants arriving.
Did Chris Chamberlain speak for you when he said that margaritas make the meal, or make up for it, at many a Mexican place?
Have you dropped by Flyte recently? Carrington Fox did, and found grilled figs with rosemary ice cream, among other earthly delights.
And if you're one of the popular kids, you're hoping to go to the Guy Fieri Road Show.
*Not really proven, but might be true.
Bites / News An Apple for Several Seasons
Posted by Nicki Wood on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 8:04 AM
Apple researchers in Australia have found a way to extend the lives of apples with a gene that combats the black spot fungus.
The result of work by Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries is RS103-130, an apple variety that lasts for two weeks. Which I found a little confusing, since you can still find Washington apples in the supermarket until summer.
The test apple, though, can be picked ripe, unlike most varieties, which are picked slightly underripe and stashed to ripen. This yields a better flavor and texture quality.
Observers find lots of other promise in the variety, which is the result of conventional cross-breeding of fruit strains. Besides a longer freshness life, the new apple stores well and is disease resistant. It can save growers money that would be spent on sprays and cold storage, so it has a "greener" footprint. And it tastes good, besting four other varieties in a test.
First it needs a new name. Read more about it, here and suggest a name.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
News / Restaurants Provence Owners Going Back to Cali
Posted by Dana Kopp Franklin on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 8:29 PM
The owners of Provence Breads & Cafe are headed not for the south of France, but for Southern California. Happily, this doesn't spell the end of Provence in Nashville. Not only will the current business continue, Provence may open a sister cafe in Los Angeles.
Provence is owned by restaurateur Terry Carr-Hall and his life partner Brent Polk, a physician and researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical School. Polk has accepted a prestigious job as top physician and vice president at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which is affiliated with the University of Southern California. He'll also be chair of pediatrics at USC and a vice dean, and will serve as director of the Saban Research Institute.
