Projo Food Blog

The Hood New England Dairy Cook-Off will be at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence on Oct. 21 and the deadline for entries is fast approaching.

The recipe contest is open to all amateur cooks from the six New England states - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The Grand Prize winner will be awarded $10,000 and be featured in the 2012 New England Dairy Cook-Off recipe book.

The deadline for entry is Sept. 10.

Submitted recipes must be original and include at least one of these products: Hood Milk, Hood Simply Smart Milk, Hood Cream, Hood Sour Cream, Hood Cottage Cheese, Hood Country Creamer, Hood EggNog or Hood Calorie Countdown.

Contestants may enter one or more of five categories: breakfast/brunch; soups/chowders; appetizers/side dishes; lunch/dinner (entree); and dessert. Cooks can submit their recipe or find out more information by logging onto HoodCookOff.com.

The 2011 Grand Prize winner was Cranston native Dan Rinaldi, for his Surf and Turf Sliders with Maine Lobster Sauce. He was crowned in Portland, Maine, site of the contest until now.

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An annual fundraiser dinner for the Little Sisters of the Poor is Thursday, March 15, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at The Grist Mill, 390 Fall River Ave., Seekonk.

The corned beef and cabbage dinner includes soup, salad, dessert and a beverage. Tickets are $15, $7.50 for children and can be purchased by calling (401) 305-4001.

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The new "Kitchen Nightmares" episode airing Friday, Oct. 21 includes a return to DownCity Restaurant as chef Gordon Ramsay makes a follow-up visit to the Providence eatery he worked to makeover nearly a year ago.

The show airs at 8 p.m. on the Fox network, WNAC, Channel 64, and will feature two other restaurants made over last season.

The episode is billed as a return to the "restaurant whose lack of leadership and business savvy ignited into some of the most dramatic and emotional moments in 'Kitchen Nightmares' history."
That show was filled with drama as co-owner and general manager Abby Cabral refused to acknowledge problems made obvious by Ramsay. By the end, it was a love fest between the two.

Owners Rico Conforti and "Nightmares" star Cabral said they are excited about seeing the show in which Ramsay evaluates how well they have made out with the changes since the episode aired last spring.

I saw two clips for the episode on the Fox media site and I'd say results will be mixed. One clip shows what appears to be an immaculate walk-in freezer. This would be a dramatic improvement over what Ramsay saw the first time.

But the second clip reveals Conforti confiding in Ramsay that while Cabral no longer erupts against her employees; she is taking out her frustrations on him as co-owner.
She denied it in the clip.

The restaurant at 50 Weybosset St, is taking reservations and expects to be sold out for the viewing celebration tonight.

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Zombies are big, big, big these days and what better occasion than Halloween to bring them home. Only in a sweet way of course.

Dr. Dreadful Zombie Labs produce gross and gummy treats that kids (7-years-old and older) can create themselves while playing mad scientist at home.

With little fanfare, homemade slimy spiders, bubbling zombie brains, zombie skin, barf, ear wax, snot shots and more can be yours. (As a food writer, there are some words in there I never thought I'd write.)

Suggested retail price is $9.99-$24.99 and you can find the labs anywhere toys are sold, including Walmart, Target and Toys R Us.

GAIL CIAMPA

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Rachael Ray's magazine Every Day with Rachael Ray is being sold by the parent company of Reader's Digest to Meredith Corp., publisher of Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Parents and Fitness.

The January issue will be the magazine's first under Meredith. Readers will not see an interruption in their subscriptions.

Ray, in an email, called the change "a very happy transition."
"We couldn't be more excited to be partnering with Meredith," she said. "We are confident, with their focus on growth, Every Day with Rachael Ray will continue to evolve, expand and provide its loyal readers and subscribers with the award-winning content they love in print, digital, and lots of future opportunities."

The magazine is being sold by Reader's Digest Association as part of a larger realignment by that company.

Reader's Digest magazine, a fixture in many American homes for decades, has struggled to reinvent itself in the digital age. It hasn't seen the same precipitous declines in advertising that other magazines and newspapers have suffered, but its circulation has fallen. Still, it remains one of the world's most-read magazines, with an average circulation of 5.7 million in the first six months of this year, though that's a decline of 8 percent from a year earlier.

Reader's Digest Association sought bankruptcy protection in 2009 and emerged early last year after shedding some debt.

Every Day with Rachael Ray had a circulation of 1.7 million in the first half of 2011, an increase of 2 percent from the same period the year before.

Meredith National Media Group president Tom Harty said the acquisition of Every Day with Rachael Ray would extend the company's reach "in providing women with best-in-class food content."

The current editor-in-chief of Ray's magazine, Liz Vaccariello, will remain at Reader's Digest in a newly created position as chief content officer and editor-in-chief for the Reader's Digest community, the company said in a statement. Vaccariello's new position is designed to ensure "a unified creative voice for the Reader's Digest brand," the company said.

Reader's Digest Association also announced that Peggy Northrop would no longer be its global editor-in-chief but would remain at the company in an advisory role as international editor-at-large with a focus on the international magazine business.

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Do you know what Oct. 24 is? It's the first-ever "Food Day," being celebrated around the country and here in Rhode Island.

According to our nutrition expert, Gina M. Guiducci, Food Day's goal is "nothing less than to transform the American diet" towards more healthy, less processed foods. Events include the official launch of a Statewide Food Council in Rhode Island at the State House and a flash mob planned for Kennedy Plaza at 3 p.m.

We'll have more coverage, including Guiducci's column on the events, in an upcoming issue of Thrive. For more information, go to the Food Day RI Facebook page, or www.foodday.org.

PAMELA REINSEL COTTER

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Esquire magazine unveils its annual list of Best New Restaurants of 2011 in its November issue, on newsstands October 18. Esquire Food and Travel Correspondent John Mariani has named his 20 best new restaurants in America (plus another eight not-to-miss spots), including "Restaurant of the Year."

Here's the magazine's recap. Three are in Boston, New England's only ones on the list.

THE BEST NEW RESTAURANTS OF 2011 (by city):
Boston, MA
Legal Harborside - The rescue of the Boston waterfront from decrepitude now has an anchor: the three-story Legal Harborside at Liberty Wharf. The first level is simply a swankier version of the other 31 Legal Sea Foods houses - fish and chips, that kind of thing - but the elegant second floor is something way up the food chain.
Tico - In a big room of mismatched tables and a bar stocked with 124 different tequilas, chef Michael Schlow offers plates meant to be shared, which you will have a tough time doing when the sweet corn with bacon, chiles and basil arrives.
Towne Stove and Spirits - Two of the most important ingredients in any great restaurant are a passion for the project and attention to detail. Lifelong Bostonian Lydia Shire, chef at Towne, has plenty of both. Here are a few things she loves about her new place: the grand staircase, the bars (all three of them), the plates, and the lobster popover.

Austin, TX
Congress - A city as youthful, modern, and powerful as Austin has long needed the kind of fine-dining restaurant Rick Perry can brag about. Chef David Bull is no fanatical locavore, but he draws on the huge Texas cornucopia to create dishes like grilled sweetbreads with smoked poppy seeds in buttermilk crema, and beef tartare with fried oysters and truffles.

Chicago, IL
Chicago Cut Steakhouse - At Chicago Cut, two veterans of the steakhouse wars, David Flom and Matthew Moore, are doing something different. They buy great USDA Prime, they hired their own butcher, and they built their own dry-aging meat locker. Then, for the nonsteak dishes - usually an afterthought at most steakhouses - they brought in Chicago chef Jackie Shen to add items no other steakhouse in town is attempting, like Great Lakes whitefish with a clam vin blanc sauce and her signature dessert, the "Chocolate Bag," filled with white-chocolate mousse and berries.

Glenwood Springs, CO
The Pullman - A casual restaurant that sums up everything good about American omnivorism right now. Chef-owner Mark Fischer has come up with a menu on which there's nothing you won't want to try, including bacon beignets with a maple crema; pierogi with caramelized onions, truffled potato, and scallion crème fraiche; and Colorado lamb shoulder with lemon risotto and mint-almond gremolata. And the whoopie pie with cola ice cream.

Los Angeles, CA ­
Ray's & Stark Bar - Part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Ray's Stark & Bar (designed by Renzo Piano) is a slick production itself: Three glass sides face the museum across the plaza, and everywhere you look are lipstick-red seats. Chef Kris Morningstar puts a bright so-Cal spin on his food with more flair than anyone this decade. It's food with a frisky panache, clean tastes in splashes of color, as sensuously sunny as a David Hockney pool painting.

Sotto - Sotto is a pretension-free room of rough wood, old caged light bulbs, and an open kitchen. Back there work Steve Samson and Zach Pollack. Neither chef is full-blooded Italian-American, and for that they are doubly admirable for getting so close to the heart of southern Italian cooking. Their repertoire is culled from Puglia, Abruzzi, Campania, and Calabria, which becomes obvious upon your first bite of the roast friarelli peppers.

Miami Beach, FL
1500° - The management of the restored Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel wanted a first-rate steakhouse, but by hiring Brazilian-born chef Paula DaSilva they also gave the city its best new restaurant of any kind in years. DaSilva embraces the bounty of Florida farms and waters, so start off with a ceviche of local wahoo with peppers and onions. For a steak, go with the Brazilian cut of prime sirloin called picanha, which has a fat cap that melts over the muscle as it cooks, suffusing it with flavor.

New Orleans, LA
Dominique's on Magazine - Only this year can you feel that the rollicking spirit of New Orleans has been restored after Hurricane Katrina, and nowhere is it more evident than in the restaurants like Dominique's on Magazine that have opened and thrown light into dark neighborhoods. Chef Dominique Macquet is cooking at a personal-best level attempted too rarely in tradition-bound New Orleans. Flavors from memories of his childhood in Mauritius and his French training coalesce on a menu built almost entirely on Louisiana ingredients.

New York, NY
Ai Fiori - Chef Michael White is one of the finest interpreters of Italian food in America - this from a kid born in Wisconsin - and at the posh new Ai Fiori, he sums up everything he learned on long stints in Italy and the South of France, and adds a little bit of Wisconsin.

Boulud Sud - Any chef can have ideas, but Chef Daniel Boulud's inspirations are deeply personal and thus recognizably his, and that makes them exciting. He proves this at all of his restaurants from the ultradeluxe Daniel, to DBGB, where he elevates sausage to new heights. What's left to prove? That he is also one of the canniest interpreters of Provençal and Mediterranean food outside of Marseilles and Marrakesh, and he does just that at Boulud Sud.

Lincoln Ristorante - Part of Lincoln Center's grand restoration, Lincoln is a glittering wedge of glass suspended above the clamor of Manhattan street life, where chef Jonathan Benno creates vivid interpretations of la cucina italiana moderna. The menu changes every night, but recently, his terrine of octopus and pork belly, played off the tanginess of pickled vegetables, dazzled.

Millesime - Not since the opening of Balthazar in 1997 has New York seen a true brasserie like the enchanting Millesime, which exalts classic French seafood, but with an added American flair from chef Laurent Manrique.

Salinas - A casual place with a patio out back and a tapas bar up front, Salinas offers a menu that begins with slices of salty-sweet jamón Iberico, moves on to rosejat rápida - crispy noodles, chicken breast, chorizo, and cockles with saffron aioli - and culminates with porcella, a meltingly soft suckling pig with grilled peaches and a PX sherry reduction.

San Francisco, CA
Cotogna - Chef Michael Tusk's Cotogna is both rustic and downright chummy. Every bottle on the wine list is just $40, and the three-course fixed-price menu runs $24. The pastas are all radiant, from the most delicate fagotelli with ricotta and flowering blossoms to the triangoli with corn and chives.

Washington, D.C
Fiola - "I want to leave a part of Italian cuisine untouched and the other part a personal interpretation," said chef Fabio Trabocchi of his ambitions in the kitchen. At Fiola, he has gone retro, infusing classic Italian dishes with his own sense of the sublime.

ANOTHER EIGHT NEW RESTAURANTS NOT TO MISS:

Bondir - Cambridge, MA

Citizen Public House - Scottsdale, AZ

El Rey - Houston, TX

Husk - Charleston, SC

Lucia - Dallas, TX

Lyon - New York, NY

Manzo - New York, NY

Virtue Feed & Grain - Alexandria, VA

FOUR NEW CHEFS TO WATCH:
Tyler Brown, The Capital Grille, Nashville, TN - Brown shows how far southern cooking has come without losing what made it great in the first place.

Sachin Chopra, All Spice, San Mateo, CA - Chopra marries a northern-Cal sensibility to Indian food culture with dazzling, novel results.

Scott Anderson, Elements, Princeton, NJ - If Anderson had merely given Princeton its one great eatery, he'd be a hero, but he is in fact in the vanguard of modern global-American cuisine.

Todd Richards, Café at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, Atlanta - Following European masters at the Ritz, Richards, an American, shows his own sumptuous style in dishes like foie gras with huckleberry gastrique.

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