Poké is the latest food trend sweeping New England, appearing on menus throughout the region and dedicated poké restaurants opening in Massachusetts and Connecticut. It makes sense, then, that foodie-focused Portland, Maine, would be the next place to jump aboard the poké train.

Jimmy and Samantha Liang, who previously owned a Chinese restaurant in Scarborough, opened Big Fin Poké in the Portland suburb of Westbrook in December 2016. Since then, the community’s response to the state’s first poké-only spot has been so great that they’re planning to expand the brand into a network of shops throughout the region.

Jimmy and Samantha Liang, owners of Big Fin Poke in Portland, Maine. Photo by Dominic Perri

Poké is the Hawaiian verb for “to section,” and that’s exactly what poké is: cut-up, deconstructed sushi. A traditional poké bowl consists of rice, furikake (a Japanese seasoning containing seaweed), poké (usually tuna or salmon), cucumbers, avocado, scallions, and sesame.

“I have always eaten sushi,” states Jimmy, “but it started to be a little boring . . . all wasabi and soy.” After trying poké with some Hawaiian friends in California, he “was amazed by the different flavors that were possible.” Once he got back to Maine, Jimmy started experimenting with the different sauces that now form the basis for the restaurant’s menu.

Photo by Dominic Perri

So what’s Big Fin Poké’s most popular poké bowl?

“It’s a toss-up,” says Jimmy, “between the Spicy Tuna and the Hawaiian Original,” the latter of which features tuna, sweet onion, green onion, chili flakes, sesame oil, seaweed, and Hawaiian sea salt.

With seven bowls to choose from—including meat and veggie options—and the ability to build your own, there’s decidedly nothing boring about this sushi.

Big Fin Poké – Jimmy and Samantha Liang, proprietors
Portland, Maine
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All photography by Dominic Perri

The post Quick Takes: Portland’s Poké Stop appeared first on Take Magazine.

CREATE Boston launched five years ago, just around when Fort Point, New England’s oldest and largest artist community, started to lose its identity to redevelopment. “With no city plan to assist the now-displaced artists, we wanted to find a way to foster them back into the community,” says CREATE’s founding chef, Louis DiBiccari.

DiBiccari and his partners decided to pair artists with chefs, creating an installation for a one-day event designed to bridge the gap between visual and culinary arts in the city of Boston. Now in its sixth year, CREATE remains a celebration of art, food, drink, and music, but it has also broadened since its inception. The event now pairs bartenders with artists and chefs, and the organizers have added DJs, live music performances, merchants, live installations, performance art, and more.

“It’s becoming more of a festival of sorts,” says DiBiccari. But while New England has lots of art events, food events, and plenty of music festivals, CREATE is unique because it establishes a level playing field for art, food, music, and drink. CREATE returns on April 7th as a part of BESPOKE, a weekend-long celebration of food, art, culture, and ideas in Boston’s historic SoWa neighborhood.

CREATE Boston, 2016 | Photo courtesy Natasha Moustache Photography

Boston is now years into the redevelopment of Fort Point, and, thankfully, more and more restaurants are trying to support local artisans—whether it’s through purchasing their pottery, art or photography, or by using local products specifically in the kitchen. “We’re seeing lots of chefs moving toward using small local producers for ingredients,” DiBiccari says. “That all falls under the umbrella of CREATE.”

DiBiccari led the way in this mindset with his restaurant Tavern Road, which he opened in 2013 with his brother Michael. Now, most of what you see at Tavern Road has a tie back to CREATE. “I don’t know what Tavern Road would look like without CREATE,” says DiBiccari. “Lots of our space is characterized by our relationships with CREATE artists.”CREATE’s long-term mission is to develop more opportunities for Boston’s artists. “I’m a lucky guy,” says DiBiccari. “I discovered I loved to cook and there were plenty of opportunities to make it my career. Artists need more opportunities here.”

Tickets to CREATE can be purchased here.

Chef Louis DiBiccari – founding chef, CREATE Boston
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The post CREATE-ing a Better Boston appeared first on Take Magazine.

During his time as CEO at Urban Farm Fermentory, Neil Spillane ran a collective of kitchens in East Bayside; this was his first experience running a quasi food hub. He ultimately realized the concept needed a full-time organization just to run the kitchens and coordinate collaborations. “That was the genesis for Fork Food Lab—a shared kitchen on steroids,” says Spillane.

Spillane and his partner, Eric Holstein, founded Fork Food Lab in July 2016 as a shared kitchen and tasting room. Located in Portland’s West Bayside neighborhood, Fork Food Lab is a community space that connects food makers with food lovers.

“We have 27 companies operating out of the incubator, the community forming is very tight and passionate, and our ticketed events have been selling out almost every time,” Spillane says. Fork Food Lab has hosted a wide range of events since opening, including a Friendsgiving feast, pop-up brunch, buyers market, and pig butchery class.

Fork Food Lab owners Neil Spillane and Eric Holstein 

“The community is very supportive of local food, there is always a pipeline of ambitious people looking to launch food businesses, and I was lucky enough to find a building close to downtown that was perfect,” Spillane says.

Fork’s member group is as diverse as there are types of carrots. Current members include specialty food producers, food trucks, bakeries, and catering companies. Between them, they produce products from kale chips to fried seafood to maple syrup and gluten-free bread. “It’s food with a story,” Spillane says. “That difference is huge in how diners are thinking about where to spend the cash.”

Apart from the commercial kitchen space, the tasting room has been another important factor in the Lab’s success. An event-driven flex space for members, as well as the community, to use, the tasting room has hosted pop-ups, private parties, classes, and marketplaces. Recently the Lab hosted a brunch in the tasting room; all four seatings were sold out. “The model is to use member products from Fork in all of the dishes,” Spillane says. “In this case, it was 10 different companies represented on the menu, with a couple even helping out on the line in the kitchen.

Fork Food Lab event 

Spillane has lived in Portland for five years now and says he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else (a common theme amongst Portlanders). When he was thinking about launching this concept, he knew it would be buoyed by the strong food industry in the area.

“I have grown up hearing people say the pace of life is slower here in Maine, and that is true,” says Spillane. “What I’ve come to learn is that the time people spend on work relative to play is different here and in New England as a whole. People really like to enrich their time on Earth here, and shape their behavior and work habits to match those ideals.”

Neil Spillane – Founder/CEO at Fork Food Lab
Portland, Maine
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The post Put A Fork (Food Lab) In It appeared first on Take Magazine.

Bryan Gibb’s parents instilled in him from a very young age foundational elements that have helped him throughout his life: creativity, hard work, generosity, and always to ask the question what if. . .

Gibb has since taken these elements and used them as the main ingredients in his two Providence-based businesses: Bolt Coffee Co. and Knead Doughnuts. What else is in his sweet sauce? Community, above all else.

Bolt started in 2012 as a side project for Gibb and his business partner and friend, Todd Mackey, while they were both working in coffee at the same company. With that what if ringing in his ear, Gibb and Mackey took a leap of faith, knowing they had a supportive community behind them.

Bolt Coffee at RISD

“We scraped together a little bit of money and bought some coffee equipment to cater espresso at weddings and do pop-ups on the weekends,” says Gibb. “I was 21 at the time, and two years in, I lost my job because of a conflict of interest with my then-current employer, and so I decided to pursue Bolt full time.”

Towards the end of 2013, some folks at The Dean Hotel approached Gibb and Mackey to see if they could set up a coffee bar in the hotel they were building, just another example of the ways in which Providence continues to be uber-supportive of startups. “I’ve always seen new businesses being supported in a way that doesn’t make much sense in New England, but people love to help new things take life here,” Gibb says.

Bolt Coffee bar at The Dean Hotel

Skip ahead to 2016. Bolt Coffee has tripled its staff and opened a second location at the RISD Museum, a feat that Gibb says could not have happened without the support of his wife, Rachel, and their two-year-old son, Beckham—in addition, of course, to the entire Bolt team.

“I’m not alone. I think that is the one thing that has brought me any success,” says Gibb.

To see how Knead Doughnuts works into the entrepreneurial storyline, we need to hop back to 2014.

“Knead Doughnuts started as an idea in 2012,” says Gibb, “and didn’t start to take shape more fully until 2014, when we brought in Adam Lastrina, who had worked for many years as the general manager of Seven Stars Bakery in Providence.”

With Lastrina taking the brunt of the load as managing partner, Knead opened in January 2017, and the response from Providence has been tremendous since day one. “We are selling coffee and doughnuts, but what we seek to provide is connection,” says Gibb.

Apart from fostering community building, Knead satisfies Providence folks’ need for sugar. Featuring inventive flavors such as Earl Grey, Passion Fruit, Peanut Butter & Jelly, and Brown Butter Toffee, Knead is the perfect spot for a Saturday sweet tooth fix.

“Our goal has always been to make spaces for people to connect,” Gibb says. “Coffee has always been for us a very relational thing, interpersonal and very human. First dates, catching up with friends, connecting with new people, talking life, etc.”

Both businesses cater everything from weddings to parties to weeklong events. Knead and Bolt also aim to provide community support through donations and sponsorships.

Bryan Gibb

“Our goal is to do good where we can, however we are able,” says Gibb.

“What I’m trying to do in life and business is bring people together, and build community and relationships. This is reflected in partnerships in my businesses, and is the driving force within them,” Gibb adds. “We don’t do it alone, and my hope is that we can, through our spaces, bring real people into real community.”

Gibb loves that he can foster this sort of environment in New England, a place he has called home his entire life. “There’s something about Providence and New England that loves the underdog,” says Gibb. “The creative community has been so supportive, and continues to foster the what if conversation.”

Bryan Gibb – owner at Bolt Coffee Co. & Knead Doughnuts
Providence, Rhode Island
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Knead Doughnuts
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All images c. Christian Harder Photography | 2017

The post Coffee, Doughnuts, and Community Building appeared first on Take Magazine.

This article originally appeared in our November 2015 print issue.

Celery root, also called celeriac, is like that weird-looking nerd you went to high school with: the one with the buck teeth who turned out to be a great beauty. Celery root is not the root of the celery plant (those tall, elegant green stalks are its cousin). Once you peel the skin off celeriac, you’ll find that the inside of this less-than-attractive root offers creamy-white flesh full of earthy, celery-like flavors with an undertone of parsley. It often seems to have a rich, nutty quality as well.

Speaking of peeling, your best way to get through the gnarly, uneven skin is to use a small, sharp knife; a serrated bread knife; or a wide vegetable peeler. Work your way around the root until all the skin is removed. Once peeled, the root is known to darken; to prevent this, soak peeled, cut celeriac briefly in water acidulated with a touch of lemon juice or white vinegar.

When shopping for celeriac (farmers’ markets are your best bet), choose roots that feel heavy in your hand and have no mush or soft flesh. A smooth root will be easier to peel, and if the root has green shoots growing on top, be sure they are fresh and bright green, not dried and wilted.

The texture of the flesh of celeriac is somewhat like a potato, and in fact, can be used as a substitute. Think mashed celery root, celery root gratin, celery root “fries,” grated celery root pancakes, or cream of celery root soup. It’s exceedingly versatile and can be eaten raw, steamed, mashed, roasted, or sautéed.

But the most famous moments of celeriac come in the classic French bistro dish céleri rémoulade, in which the root is grated or cut into very thin strips and tossed raw with (often homemade) mayonnaise, a touch of Dijon mustard, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Because it’s a root vegetable, celeriac keeps well for months, making for some great winter eating. Store it in a cool, dark spot—ideally a root cellar—or wrap it loosely in newspaper or plastic and store it in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Kathy Gunst – writer
Maine
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The post Take Root appeared first on Take Magazine.

This article originally appeared in our September 2015 print issue.

Rabelais is the finest culinary destination in Maine where there’s nothing to eat. This bookshop in Biddeford stocks the most up-to-date, most niche books on food and drink, as well as historical acquisitions that serve the cravings of scholars and food trends.

“Fermentation got hot, so I went looking for anything I could find on fermentation,” says co-owner Don Lindgren. “Before that, it was charcuterie.”

In addition to unusual books, Rabelais boasts collections of ephemera such as “Swinalia”—postcards and memorabilia of the late 1800s that feature pigs. The collection’s strength is in its mechanical postcards, many with cryptic political messages, including one depicting a sow continually issuing (via a paper wheel on a grommet) human babies into a Prussian’s helmet.

Don Lindgren | Photo by Cara Slifka

“The pig is giving birth to German imperialists or something,” says Lindgren, who, except for a stint in the ’90s as an A&R man for Sony Music International, has been in the book business for decades. He owns Rabelais with his wife, photo editor-turned-pastry-chef Samantha Hoyt Lindgren.

Less recognizably edible creatures populate The Market Assistant, an index to bygone food markets of the Northeast and what was in season in the mid-nineteenth century: terrapin, black bear, fancy rabbit, brilliant chub sucker, domesticated swan.

It’s part of a collection of early American cookbooks that looms over Rabelais’s space in a converted textile mill. There is ample evidence of the specialized texts that have characterized food publishing in the United States: recipes for industrious frontier orphans, recipes from the birth of southern cuisine, recipes to accommodate dietary restrictions. “All of the reform movements are represented in [American] cookbooks,” says Lindgren. “You look at French cookbooks [of that era], you don’t get any of this stuff.”

Women’s suffrage has its cuisine, and so do gold diggers—“social mobility” cookbooks or, as Lindgren puts it, “so, you’ve married a banker.” The intended audience of Quick Cooking: A Book of Culinary Heresies for the Busy Wives and Mothers of the Land may have been a less aspirational bride, intent on frying up some buckwheat cakes in a hurry, but its introduction reassures us that the purchaser could be fancy: “Even where there is a servant or two in the household the book should be a welcome acquisition, for time saved to the servant is help gained to the mistress.” If she ever needs to know when swan is in season, Rabelais has a book for that.

Rabelais Books – bookstore
Biddeford, Maine
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The post Culinary Heresies appeared first on Take Magazine.

This article originally appeared in our November 2015 print issue.

Because it only takes a few visits to this small taqueria in the Olneyville section of Providence, Rhode Island, to realize that Maria Meza—the Doña Maria in question—is this restaurant’s heart and soul. When Meza steps out of the kitchen, friends and regulars greet her with hugs and kisses as the littlest guests rush to her as if she is their abuelita. Meza may be slight of build, but in this world she is larger than life.

The restaurant itself is homey, with about 10 tables and a six-seat bar guaranteed to satisfy serious tequila and mezcal aficionados. The brightly colored room is adorned with a blend of art from Mexico, framed accolades from the local press, and a TV to ensure that no one misses a single Liga MX soccer match. The soundtrack is a who’s who of Mexican music, with hits like Vicente Fernández’s “Por Tu Maldito Amor” in regular rotation. And the taqueria is named after the title song of the classic 1936 Mexican film Allá en el Rancho Grande.

El Rancho Grande | Dominic Perri Photography

The smells of Mexico emanate from the kitchen. Hints of chocolate, cinnamon, chiles, and cilantro, and the rich aromas of the al pastor on the trompo are integral to Cocina Poblana—the cuisine of Meza’s native Puebla that is famous for its mole: a rich, spicy sauce tinged with chocolate and several types of hot peppers.

While the authentic food of El Rancho Grande has lured guests through the doors for eight years, it is the hospitality of the Meza family—led by the indomitable Maria—that has created a devoted legion of diehard fans. Maria is joined by her husband, Joaquin, and sons in running the business.

Meza had dreamed of starting a restaurant long before El Rancho Grande opened in 2007—a dream that seems fantastical given that initially she didn’t know how to cook Mexican food. Yes, members of her extended family owned fondas (small restaurants) during her upbringing in Puebla, but when she met her future husband in 1977, she didn’t know how to cook at all.

Maria tells the story during a break from the kitchen. Having recently returned to Puebla from a seven-year stint living with her sisters in New York City, she invited Joaquin to lunch and prepared the only specialty she knew: tuna fish sandwiches and Lipton soup made from packets she had brought back from the States. Joaquin reached into the cloth-wrapped basket on the table expecting the traditional tortillas, only to find the very nontraditional tuna fish sandwiches. To Maria’s dismay, Joaquin announced, “I’m sorry, but I don’t like tuna fish.” Joaquin summoned Maria’s younger brother and instructed him to retrieve lunch for four from the fonda down the street. Her brother returned shortly with two baskets loaded with traditional Mexican food. That day Maria said to herself, “That will never happen to me again,” and she set out to learn all she could about cooking from her aunts and friends.

El Rancho Grande | Dominic Perri Photography

Joaquin and Maria married the following year. In 1984, after finishing his military service, Joaquin moved to New York City to work. Maria remained in Puebla working as a hairdresser until 1992, when she and children Isobel, Joaquin Jr., Jose, and Marco moved to the States to join Joaquin. They followed other family members and settled in Providence, where Maria and Joaquin spent the next 14 years working in a casting factory that made jewelry.

During that time, Maria talked frequently about her desire to open “a little taco place.” When she and Joaquin lost their jobs in a factory layoff, they started the search for a spot to make that desire a reality. In 2005 Maria found a vacant space on the first floor of a house on Plainfield Street. However, the property was for sale, not for lease. The Mezas’ savings would never cover the price of the house as well as costly restaurant construction. That’s when Joaquin Jr. and his wife, Kimberly, agreed to help buy the place, putting their own dream of home ownership on hold to help Maria start her business.

It took the Mezas an arduous two years to renovate the space and get all the permits required to open a restaurant. They did everything themselves. Joaquin Jr. and his father-in-law, who worked in construction by day, spent their evenings building the restaurant with Joaquin Sr.’s help. Meanwhile, Maria navigated the red tape of the licensing process. Their permits were only days away from expiring when they finally opened El Rancho Grande on Cinco de Mayo 2007. After a celebratory day of a mayoral ribbon cutting, mariachis, and folk dancers, El Rancho Grande closed for the evening, having sold every morsel of food Maria had prepared.

El Rancho Grande’s connection to the community continues to this day. “Don Joaquin” rotates between helping in the kitchen dish pit and greeting regular guests tableside. Sons Joaquin Jr. and Marco, reticent participants in the restaurant at first, are now regular faces behind the bar. Marco, who at one time wanted to be a pastry chef, now finds his creative outlet through cocktails. Joaquin Jr. is quick to say that the restaurant has become a part of him.

El Rancho Grande | Dominic Perri Photography

Together with their mother, the brothers are considering the future of El Rancho Grande, including the possibilities of a second location and the bottling of Maria’s delicious mole. “We didn’t have a background in this business, but we knew we could learn,” says Joaquin Jr. “We always knew this would be a stepping stone to great things.”

Marco adds, “My mother cooks the food that she would make for you if you came to her home. Her greatest satisfaction comes from seeing people happy with the food she has prepared for them.”

El Rancho Grande – mexican restaurant
Olneyville, Rhode Island
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All photography by Dominic Perri Photography

The post A Little Taco Place appeared first on Take Magazine.

The idea works so well it almost seems obvious: a chef-centric butchershop, Prohibition-era bar, and European-style delicatessen. But for co-owners Crystal Maderia and Jules Guillemette, it was five years in the making.

BEAU is brand new on the Vermont eatery scene, and already making a splash—quite literally—with an ever-changing menu of unusually sourced cocktails being poured behind the bar.

“The decision of adding a bar to the butcher shop was to give our clientele a space to imbibe while discussing a good cut of meat,” explains Maderia.

Intended to start a conversation about the mission and purpose of BEAU, which is to relish the historical, the bar features classically vintage-inspired cocktails such as the “Heavy Weather”—a bourbon, rye, hazelnut, and egg cream combo named after the P.G. Wodehouse novel. Here at BEAU, it’s never too early for a cocktail.

Image courtesy Beau

“Because we have a bar in the butcher shop,” said Maderia, “it makes us think of a time when bars were hidden in obscure places.”

Prior to opening BEAU, Maderia was (and still remains) the chef-owner of Kismet, a Slow Food Certified farm-to-table restaurant in Montpelier. She is also the author of The New Seaweed Cookbook, and her recipes have been featured in Bon Appetit and The New York Times.

“Owning a business is a lot of work, my day never really ends,” says Maderia. “I am extremely fortunate that I have an amazing staff, and that the two businesses are both products of my own imagination and spirit. My staff and community help me more than I can articulate.”

Image courtesy Beau

Her biggest help with BEAU, obviously, is co-owner Jules Guillemette, who, after culinary school, spent seven years working under award-winning chefs in Seattle and traveling abroad in the French and Italian countryside.

“Jules returned to Vermont in 2012 with plans to take over the family farm and open a meat-processing facility there,” explains Maderia. “I hired Jules to run my charcuterie program at Kismet, shortly after they moved to Montpelier.”

Guillemette grew up in a very Québécois community and thus identifies with French flavors and techniques, many of which have found their way into the European style of BEAU.

“Traveling opened me up,” Guillemette says. “It compelled me to stay close to my French roots. It also showed me that things aren’t so complicated. There are beautiful, simple people making beautiful, simple food everywhere.”

Guillemette and Maderia are determined to bring that beautiful, simple idea of food and friends to the BEAU community through events like butcher and cocktail classes, wine tastings, and speakeasy pop-ups.

“I returned home for love and family,” says Guillemette. “Once home, I realized quickly that I would need to make my own work. It feels amazing to now work in the community I live in.”

Image courtesy Beau

Check out BEAU on its Website, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post Be My BEAU appeared first on Take Magazine.

El Corazon is the heartiest of winter food trucks. Parked in downtown Portland, Maine most work weeks for lunch, Chef Joe Urtuzuastegui, co-owner April Garcia, and their team of family members and employees serve up authentic Mexican favorites year-round. Tacos, of course, but also burritos, taquitos, and the fan favorite, tamale of the day. This hearty, masa-filled husk, which features seasoned meat or vegetables, can also be pre-ordered in bulk and conveniently picked up at the truck.

Corazon’s signature item is the classic Sonoran-style hot dog from southern Arizona. Not a dog for the faint of stomach, this is a bacon-wrapped meal with beans, melty cheese, guacamole, mustard (how does this work so well??!!!), and—wait for it—chipotle aioli. Past specials have included an assortment of empanadas, warming pozole, and a #badhombre burrito that garnered nationwide recognition from TMZ—so get it if you see it. John Pickford, executive chef of the Hilton in Old Port, hits it up for the classic: fish tacos. “It gives you both interior heat and exterior heat quickly,” he says, adding, “the twitter alerts are key. The other day they served menudo for the first time. Just outstanding.”

Sonoran-style hot dog from El Corazon

Since it gets bone-chillingly cold in Portland in the winter, El Corazon accepts text-ahead orders to help mitigate standing outside in line. But how does the crew in the truck survive? “It does get quite cold in the truck,” acknowledges co-owner April Garcia, “but nothing that layer after layer after layer can’t handle. Toe warmers are essential. Last winter season was great because it was quite mild; but the winter before that had us shoveling a spot for us to park.” As one of the best places for Mexican food in Portland, Maine, full stop, staying open year-round is a testament to their dedication to their fans. “Our plan was always to run a year-round food truck business,” says Garcia, “and we’ve been able to sustain [the winter] business through our loyal customer base.”

Chef Joe and April

El Corazon will be taking Christmas week off, so get those tamale orders in and grab one of their buzz-worthy salsas to go with. Even better, you can hire the whole truck for your next party, event, or catering need. It will snow, and it will be cold, but trust that El Corazon will dig out a spot on the street and serve up some ‘Mexican Food From The Heart’ to warm you. You just might make it.

Images courtesy of El Corazon. Call or text your order 207.200.4801 – to find out where they are and what’s on the menu see their Twitter and Instagram.

The post The El Corazon Truck Comes with Snow Tires, Standard. appeared first on Take Magazine.

Chef Charles Draghi opened Boston’s acclaimed Erbaluce in 2008. His cooking is inspired by the uniquely flavorful cuisine of northern Italy’s Piedmont region, where his family is from. His partner, Joan Johnson, presides over the front of the house and the all-Italian wine list. MC Slim JB is a Boston-based food writer with over 350 published articles and is the restaurant critic for the Improper Bostonian. During a recent conversation, the restaurateurs and the critic discussed food and wine, reviews and social media, and those fucking Yelpers.

On customers’ reaction to Erbaluce’s unusual cuisine and wines

Charles Draghi: We have a roasted cauliflower dish on the menu. It’s roasted cauliflower with a fondue of Robiola cheese on top and a dressing made with a little anchovies, some capers, and roasted garlic. When people try it they say, ‘This is Italian?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, actually it is.”

MC Slim JB: I would expect a lot of Bostonians would be sort of puzzled or nonplussed when they come in and look at your menu.

Photograph by Wayne E. Chinnock

Draghi: What’s funny is there are a lot of Italians who live in Boston. They get very disappointed in what [many locals] call “Italian food.” So we get a lot of Italians here. They look at the same dish that an American would look at and say ‘I’ve never heard of that before,’ but the Italians go, ‘Oh I know that dish.’ A good example in the winter time is Pizzoccheri—noodles kind of like pappardelle, but shorter, made from buckwheat. And they’re served with cabbage that’s braised with duck fat and white wine, and then some boiled potatoes. And then you grate Bitto cheese on top of that.

MC Slim JB: That’s almost Eastern European.

Draghi: Yeah it’s very Alpine, you know? Italians all over Italy know Pizzoccheri because it’s served in the skiing areas.

MC Slim JB: I’m always seeing something that’s quite unfamiliar to me every time I come in. Which kind of brings me to the notion of what you’re doing with the wine list.

Joan Johnson: It’s fun to find those little obscure winemakers and wineries that make unusual things, and that’s what we try to find. I train the staff to ask people very closely what it is they like to drink. [If] someone says sauvignon blanc, I ask them if it’s California sauvignon blanc or if it’s a Sancerre. California wine drinkers can be tough, because there’s not really equivalent [wines on the menu]. But there are things you can give them they’ll like.

Draghi: The core of the list is from this area of northern Lombardy called Valtellina. There’s a wine from this region called Sforzato. Basically what they’re doing is [the] Amarone process using nebbiolo, which is one of the greatest grapes, and what you wind up with is a wine that is like an aged merlot crossed with a nuanced Amarone. It’s one of the best wines in Italy.

On what restaurateurs think about Yelp

Draghi: It’s like when you have a busy night at the restaurant and you have two problem tables. You’ve had essentially four people that are causing a problem, but you’ve done 150 people who were great.

MC Slim JB: You can use the expression ‘fucking yelpers.’

Johnson: Yeah, fucking yelpers—Yelp is a very negative site. But also Yelp in particular blackmails you. They deny doing fake bad reviews, but they do them, and they admit doing fake good reviews for people who pay up.

Draghi: I think my interaction with them was something on the lines of, ‘You’re trying to extort me? I’m Italian. We fucking invented that.’

Chef Charles Draghi | Photo courtesy Erbaluce

On professional reviews versus social media

Draghi: With professional reviewers we do pretty well. But it’s hard in the new-media age to try to figure out who’s got a reliable opinion. And then you have to take into account all the things like Facebook. If I put a dish [on Facebook], we get more customers coming in for it then I would [after] a positive review in a local magazine or something. The larger media, the conventional media with real professional food writers is more of a long-term thing. You may not see an impact immediately, but your name is out there.

Johnson: [MC Slim JB], when you are out and about in restaurants and you’re writing reviews, do you ever have a situation where it’s really awful and you decline to write something?

MC Slim JB: I have written some pretty harsh reviews, but that’s usually a failure of reconnaissance. I’d frankly much rather draw attention to places that I like than to steer people away from places that didn’t impress me. I figure that mediocre places or places that I think are not good … tend to go away by themselves. Or they serve a niche that probably doesn’t give a rat’s ass about my opinion anyway.

THIS PIECE FIRST APPEARED OUR JUNE/JULY 2016 PRINT ISSUE AVAILABLE HERE

Erbaluce
69 Church St, Boston, MA
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MC Slim JB
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Top photo courtesy Erbaluce

The post Insider’s Take: This is Italian? appeared first on Take Magazine.