Pizza Sausage
If you haven’t been following the 2009 Tournament of Pizza at All Over Albany, shame on you. And I don’t just say that as a judge who by this point has eaten more pizza in a month than many people do in a year.
It’s just that pizza is a pretty big thing out here in Albany. This is an old town, with old habits, and deeply ingrained preferences that may have little to do with the current situation on the ground. And putting pizza places up against each other in a blind, systematic way is separating the history and hype from the product itself. It’s a big deal, and I’m proud to be a part of it.
But I am so glad that Round 2 – the sausage round – is finally over, because that means I can now freely talk about pizza sausage, without the risk of giving anything away or tilting my hand.
Burritos are Coming
Something very exciting is happening next week. A Chipotle is opening in Latham, less than ten minutes on the Northway from Albany.
This town needs a Chipotle. Badly. We also need a Trader Joe’s, but that is an entirely different subject. The most popular burrito joint by far is a disaster of a place called Bomber’s. And people love it. But it seems they mostly love it because they are drunk and/or stoned at the time.
I love Chipotle. Maybe that’s a bit too strong. Maybe not. Let me try it this way. I love what Chipotle tries to do. Especially the part about using happy meat.
Eggless
It must be very difficult being vegan in upstate New York. Besides the fact that few restaurants even offer vegetarian options, there seem to be a lot of people who would eat you, if given a chance.
Me, I’m no vegan. But I am watching my cholesterol, and I have a strange notion about what the word “moderation” means.
I love eggs. Oh, how I love them. I love them fried, poached, soft boiled, deviled, scrambled, as omelets and in French toast. And one can’t forget about the egg-in-the-hole-in-the-bread. One of the things I gave up in my self-imposed diet, to avoid medical intervention, was eggs.
And yes, I know that some people will claim that dietary cholesterol doesn’t translate to blood cholesterol. Or some might argue that eggs are good for you in moderation, blah blah blah. I am convinced nobody knows anything on the subject, and for now I am staying away.
Plus it’s not a very strict rule. When I was in California staying with ADS, I tried an egg laid from each of his chickens. And every now and again I’ll put one in a giant pan of fried rice.
Still, I miss them. Terribly. But when I indulge, I swear my abstinence has made the yolks taste even more luscious and divine than they might have otherwise.
More Than Just Pizza
There is nothing like sitting down to four different pizzas from four different pizzerias on a regular and ongoing basis to give one a deeper understanding of the form. As one of the judges from this year’s All Over Albany Tournament of Pizza, I have been lucky enough to have this opportunity. But that conversation will need to wait until the tournament is over.
Last week, there was an interesting face-off in the Albany bracket. The long-established and crowd favorite pub-style pizza from the Fountain went head to head with relative newcomer and last year’s TOP defending champ, Pasquale’s. The kicker is that these two pizzerias are in the same strip of New Scotland Avenue, just about a block away from each other.
Thankfully, the judging was blind. So while the judges knew we were tasting pizzas from Albany, we did not know for certain the gravitas of this showdown. Pasquale’s won handily. I cannot speak for the other judges, but you can see the results here.
The point is that despite Pasquale’s having better pizza, people prefer The Fountain. And those people include my wife, Mrs. Fussy.
Sometimes it’s about more than just pizza.
Sweating Over Wine
People keep telling me that they find the subject of wine intimidating. It’s a little bit frustrating, because I keep on trying to take the snobbery out of wine and make it less intimidating and accessible to anyone.
But then I stop and remember some of my first encounters with wine (which I touched on in the last wine post).
For years living in Northern California, I resisted getting into wine. I figured it would be a dangerous hobby for someone who likes to hoard foodstuffs. And I was right. But eventually my stance on wine softened as I got more and more into food. Getting into wine was a natural transition.
A block away from my apartment was a small wine store. It was a solid local place, filled with interesting bottles and a friendly knowledgeable staff. Wine lined the walls, and there were wine crates stacked throughout the store with more bottles of wine on top of them.
Whenever I walked into the store, quite literally, I would break out in a cold sweat. I’d never had this happen before or since. But I could feel it on the back of my neck.
The Unfussy Sazerac
I took this awesome cocktail class at a bar called Absinthe in San Francisco. The instructor was Jeff Hollinger, who would later go on to write The Art of the Bar. He was then, and continues to be, all about classic cocktails.
As the class went on, Jeff got a read on my tastes. Eventually it was time to go behind the bar and start making drinks. But what to make?
JH: Have you ever had a Sazerac?
DB: No.
JH: I think you are going to like it.
This is the secret of a good bartender. They can size you up, and get a sense of your preferences, and recommend something wonderful that you’ve never even considered. Jeff pegged me perfectly as an old man drunk.
By that I mean, someone who enjoys a stiff drink, without a lot of frills and fluff, or fruit. Someone who likes drinks that are brown, and short, and full bodied. Someone who likes drinks that most people will look at and say in disgust, “How can you drink that?”
Big in the Big Easy
The Hot Sauce Librarian was intended to be a weekly post. Then one week turned into two weeks. And two weeks turned into three weeks. Well, it’s time to get the train back onto the tracks. It’s time to right the ship. Otherwise, I’ll never get through my library of pepper sauces.
Since it has been so long, let me just take a minute to catch everyone up and refresh your memory about where we’ve been. I think it is important to keep a library of hot sauces. Each one is special and different, and different dishes call out for a specific kind of spicy.
We have been going through the ins and outs of the pepper sauces in the hot sauce library in order of volume consumed. They have been:
Read more…
Ask the Profussor – Welcome New Peeps
Not only has it been almost a month since the last AskTP but it has been a very busy month. There was the misguided Deli Days in which we picked up a few new and active readers. Most recently, I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in All Over Albany’s 2009 Tournament of Pizza as a judge. And it seems as if that announcement has brought a few new readers over to the FLB as well.
Welcome. I hope you all stick around for a while, and jump into the conversation wherever you see fit. Feel free to be as fussy as you like. You are among friends.
For those who are new, every so often I catch up on reader questions that for some reason or another were left unanswered. If you have a question, and no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can ask…the Profussor.
[Cue music and roll sequence of custom minivan driving through Albany]
How to Serve Vegans
My relationship to the vegan ideal is complex. On one hand, I couldn’t possibly be more against the very fiber of its being. On the other hand, I share more of an ethical framework with vegans than I care to admit (more on that some other day).
Luckily, I am very comfortable with guilt. Growing up Jewish helps.
Sometimes by accident I’ll make a vegan meal at home. Cuban black beans and rice with fried plantains is a good example. Once I made a sandwich designed by Michael Milken’s personal chef, that claimed to fool meat eaters into thinking they were eating a bona fide Reuben. I suppose that was vegan too.
But I had never cooked for an actual vegan before. And by “cooked” I mean, made a meal that was super tasty, that I was proud to serve, and more importantly that I could enjoy eating. In other words, something a bit more gussied up than rice and beans.
Recently I found myself in a position to do just this. Luckily for me, I had the internets.
Austin Again
I really do not want to be writing about Austin again.
The first time Austin popped up on my radar was when they were included in Bon Appétit’s 2009 Top 10 Best New Restaurants in America. And I wondered if Austin could get on that list, why couldn’t we?
The city briefly raised its head again when I discovered Pakistani-style Chinese food here in Albany. I thought for a brief moment that we might have a leg up over Austin on this cuisine. But I was wrong. Austin has it too. Sniff.
A few days ago a commenter at All Over Albany suggested that I would favor the pizza of Austin and San Francisco to that of my newly adopted Albany. And I was concerned that I was getting a bum rap.
So, I really do not want to be writing about Austin again.
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