Magical Culinary Tour
Being the Food Dude has its perks, one of which is having to eat out for work. I’m no M.F.K Fisher, but we have some things in the works to expand our information about dining out. And we don’t waste time up here in the big, black building.
So last week I ate at three prominent fine dining restaurants: The Coach House on Thursday, Nonna’s on Friday and Red Prime Steakhouse on Saturday.
At Coach House, under the direction of Chef Kurt Fleischfresser, we were treated to an elegant, refined and artful eating experience. Chef Kurt is the Big Kahuna in Oklahoma. There are many great young chefs, but Kurt is sensei to many if not all of them in some way. I won’t go through each course, ingredient-by-ingredient, because what I loved about the meal was its intimacy and personality: Bright, inspired, refined, mature and restrained. When people talk about artful food, the initial assumption is that you’re talking about the presentation. While the presentation is artful at Coach House, I’m talking about the flavor. From prawns over a cheddar-corncake to a fennel salad to scallops and crab to Duck breast and confit to the palate-teasing amuse bouche, each dish is prepared the way Pavarotti carried a note, F. Scott Fitzgerald crafted a sentence or Renoir mixed his paints. This is not food set on the table to be casually consumed in between an exchange about the plight of world economy. This is poetry on a plate, and you’ll commit it to memory.
At Nonna’s, I was lucky enough to lunch with owner Avis Scaramucci. She assured me the fried mozzarella was the best I’d ever eat unless I stole her batter recipe and flew to New Jersey to get the cheese from her supplier. She was right. Fuggitaboutit, Danny Falcone, these are the best. The highlight for any meal at Nonna’s is bound to be the vegetables. They grow the vast majority their produce at Cedar Springs Farms and so the menu is a reflection of the freshest ingredients. I had a lightly breaded and sauteed tilapia in meuniere sauce, but the vegetables that surrounded piqued my palate the most. And that’s no bad reflection on the fish as it was great, but in our day-to-day lives we just don’t get to eat enough truly fresh produce. When you do, it’s a real treat. Not to mention, Avis has led an inspiring life and hearing her tell the tale should be on the menu.
Finally, there is Red Prime Steakhouse. In many ways, it’s the polar opposite of The Coach House, but there is no less precision in the food. Owner/chef Keith Paul and executive chef Robert Black have crafted an aggressive, bold menu. Start with dry-aged, prime beef. That’s all you need to know. Can’t lose.
But rather than leave it at that, they offer special rubs and sauces to accompany these precious cuts. My interest was piqued by the Wagyu skirt steak. Wagyu is cattle raised and fed in the Kobe tradition, leading to tender, buttery succelent beef. Skirt steak, traditionally, is either braised in chile or, in the case of fajitas, grilled to medium well as the muscle tissue is fierce. Even then, the meat must be cut across the grain to avoid a consistency reminiscent of taffy.
I chose the guajillo chile rub and homemade Worcestershire sauce. Assertive, piquant and unafraid. If Coach House is poetry, this was rock n roll. A young chef’s proclomation that he was in the kitchen, and in the kitchen to stay. Flash fried spinach was feather-light, but somehow buttery in flavor. Again, nothing classic about the dish but no less inspired or bathed in self-expression.
Oklahoma has an exciting restaurant scene as all three of these restaurants illustrate. The people behind them have great stories.
Space and time, a philosophical and scientific mystery to us all, present real-world constraints on my role as your humble Food Dude.
Stay tuned, and we’ll get these culinary tales told. In the meantime, visit any of these three when you get a chance.
Winemaker to the stars?
Edmond winemaker David Johndrow and his wife Maryann rubbed elbows with Hollywood’s elite at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and here’s the photos to prove it.
More great moments in food and film
In Wednesday’s Oklahoman we talked about seven great moments in food and film, in honor of Oscar’s big night.
Let’s recap, with links to the scenes. Fair warning, some of the are Rated R.
In “9-1/2 Weeks,” a pioneer in the straight-to-video softcore genre, Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger seem to have little else to do but get each other nekked. But the do find time to eat, and when they do it’s a memorable.
Without “The Public Enemy,” James Cagney was just some tap-dancing Yankee Doodle Dandy and the mob genre might never have gotten off the ground. When Cagney breaks up with his girlfriend via grapefruit, the women’s rights movement was born.
Before Pulp Fiction made the Royale with Cheese and Fatburgers household names, Quentin Tarantino was waxing poetic and profane over breakfast while Steve Buscemi gets on his soapbox over the unjust practice of tipping in “Reservoir Dogs.”
Jack Nicholson’s on-screen persona was born over breakfast in ”Five Easy Pieces.”
My ringtone for the last year came from “There Will Be Blood,” and drinking a milkshake will never be the same.
My son is named after Cool Hand Luke. Part of the reason Paul Newman’s portrayal, another part was the characters way with eggs.
The Godfather series is a cavalcade of food scenes and references, but a scene at an Italian Restaurant, and not the one Billy Joel sang about, is the best. Don’t order the linguni
But there are countless other scenes to remember. “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” gave us Jeff Spicoli who saw nothing wrong with ”a little snack on our time” in Mr. Hand’s class. And who can forget about All-American burger’s policy and shirt and shoes. Finally Phoebe Cates made this movie a box office smash with her exit from the swimming pool, but don’t forget about her bout with a carrot.
Rocky Balboa’s first big win came against a side of beef, despite being knocked down twice.
In American Pie, Jim gets his just desserts.
In Animal House, the cafeteria experience was changed forever when John Belushi slurped jello, ate a burger in a single bite and did a zit imitation before inciting a food fight. And here he does it in Italian.
I won’t even link you to “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life,” in which a man has one bit too many.
“When Harry Met Sally: put Katz’s Deli even more prominently on the map.
In “A Christmas Story,” duck is beheaded for smiling and Bumpass dogs kill Christmas dinner and Ralphie’s little brother shows why he’s momma’s little piggy.
In “American Beauty,” Kevin Spacey just wants someone to pass him the asparagus, but even that great scene was derived from dinner in “Ordinary People.”:
Ron Burgundy uses a burrito as a weapon and pays a price in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”
“Caddyshack” helped get Baby Ruth bars banned from swimming pools worldwide.
In “Swingers,” Vince Vaughn gives away a breakfast, proclaiming “I would never eat here.”
Thanks to Blazing Saddles beans will never work in Hollywood again.
Dinner with gramps in “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” isn’t what you might think.
Who can forget the popcorn scene in “Real Genius”? You did? Here it is.
While “Twister” might’ve been one of the 15 dumbest movies ever made, it did make me yearn for steak and eggs.
Has ‘Top Chef’ jumped the shark?
After completing our latest podcast for “Top Chef,” I’m left with the question: Is this show jumping the shark?
Seriously, how do you send home a competitor with a chance to win versus one who has no chance to win?
If Henry Winkler shows up as a guest judge, we’ll have our answer.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Red River Chili takes on Hitchin’ Post
Food Dude friend Paul “Ole Shep” Shepard entered his version of Red River Chili into a chili cookoff recently and took 4th. Here’s the note he sent me…
Hey Dave, Ole Shep here, Well a couple of weeks ago, I think it was the 22nd of January, that was the day it was like 78 degrees, set a state record, etc. I was out riding my motorcycle and rode up to Guthrie and then over to Kingfisher and stopped at a little place called “The Hitchin Post” to have a cool one, well anyway the bar maid was tellin me that they were going to have a chili cook-off the 31 of January, so I made your famous “Red River Chili” and went. I took 4th place out of 14 pots/crock-pots of chili. I also won 1st place for the hottest chili, I didn’t think it was hot. Lookin forward to next year, maybe I’ll do better. I had 4 pounds of rump roast and then doubled your recipe plus one tablespoon of ground cayenne pepper. I had fun, met several nice folks and came home with a cloth folding chair with Hitchin Post on it, Bud Light hat and tee shirt, a thermos, deck of Hithcin Post playing cards and a few other goodies, so I didn’t come home empty handed. Also I took 3 copies of your recipe and 3 people ask if I happen to bring the recipe, so your “Red River Chili” recipe is now up in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
Well have a great day, Ole Shep
