In the episode, they try Brooklyn’s Local 1, Local 2, and Black Ops, none of which I’ve tried.   (I do know a DC store that carries Local 1 and Local 2.  I’ll go pick them up. Ha.)

They also talk a lot about Garrett’s background and his passion for beer and pushing the boundaries of beer making.  Sounds like Garrett has done some really fascinating collaborations with outside groups to make beers that you wouldn’t normally be able to get.  From the interview, you get the impression that Garrett is a really dynamic guy and that he’d be fun to talk to.

One thing that stood out for me was how, on Friday nights, they transform the brewery into a town gathering place where everyone (young and old) gathers to celebrate the week.   He said it was very much alike to the notion of a beer garden in Germany.

Here’s the episode.  It’s so good.  As I was watching it on the subway today, I missed my stop because I was so engrossed in it…

I’m definitely a huge fan of cheese and I’ve been known to hit the cheese counter at our local market Eastern Market from time to time.

When it came time to storing my cheese, I’d always just thrown it in a plastic baggy and put it in the cheese drawer in my fridge.   Isn’t that what everyone does?

Well, according to a post in Serious Eats, there are best practices for storing cheese.

When I worked as a cheesemonger, we always advised our customers never to store their cheeses in direct contact with plastic, and not to wrap them too tightly.

(Photo by Joi)

The latest episode is a great example.  In it, Gary talks about the Banyuls region of France and their well known dessert wines.  It’s an area that I’m not familiar with and am anxious to try.

Check out the episode and let me know what you think.

Now, I have had some success with doing this by just wandering.  I remember when I was in NYC, I was looking for a cool indie non-Starbucks coffee shop.  I happened to find my way to Think Coffee in Greenwich Village.  I was very happy about this but it’s not easy to replicate.

Last weekend, I was in Boston, wasn’t meeting with friends that I could ask for recommendations for a few hours,  so I decided to use Yelp on my iPhone as a way to guide my noise.  I was looking for a good latte and a sandwich.

I found my way over to Cafe L’Aroma in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.  I was thrilled with the results.  Not only was I able to get a really quality latte, I was able to get a great sandwich.   It was a turkey sandwich with this cranberry bread.  Mmmmm…  It was about $12 all together, which isn’t bad considering.

I was impressed with how Yelp was able to steer me in the right direction.

Have you used it before to find new places? How has it worked for you?

Now that the Top Chef season is over, you’d assume that the Michael and Bryan Voltaggio would be working on a series for the Food Channel or working on a series of cookbooks.  Yes, they’ve been making the TV media tour, with stops at Conan, but in terms of long-term plans they’re working on ways to take their message directly to the people.

In the new year, the Voltaggio brothers are going to be doing on online video series for their recently launched Web site, which I think it’s a fantastic idea.  The brothers had a fun and competitive on-screen chemistry.  I hope they’ll bring this to their Web video series.

Also… hopefully the Voltaggio brothers will use the Web to not just get content to their fans but to allow their fans to communicate with them.

Here’s the teaser for the Web series…

At 9 PM on Christmas night, Cinderellawine.com will feature a special, very highly rated California Cabernet at a price of close to half off!  Yes that’s right, this is a $100 “type” wine, (our normal selling price is a little lower) that we will offer a tremendous price on. You’ve been asking for more from California so we went out and found…a big one!

Remember, this special offer will hit at 9 PM on December 25th on Cinderellawine.com. California Cabernet lovers get ready…this is our special holiday gift to all of you!!

If you watch the TV show Iron Chef on the Food Network, you’ve probably seen chef and food writer Michael Ruhlman.  Back in April of this year, he released a book entitled “Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.”

In the book, he talks about how a lot of the great recipes that we have for things like bread, sauces, batters, custards, and others are all based off of some pretty simple ratios.   For example,  for bread dough, you use 5 parts flour to 3 parts water.  For Mayo, you use 20 parts oil to 1 part liquid to 1 part egg yolk.

When you watch these food shows on TV, I’ve always wondered how chefs remember all these recipes.  Well, then I realize that it’s not about memorizing recipes it’s about memorizing ratios.   If you can memorize 3 parts meat to 1 part fat then you can make your own sausages.

I’m anxious to dive into more of the book and even try them out over the long holiday break.  I picked up the book for my Amazon Kindle.  I’ll let you all know how it goes.

One of the cool parts (Yes, I am  a nerd) is that you can get all the ratios in an iPhone app for just a couple of bucks.  It seems like it’s totally worth it.

Happy cooking!

We’ll examine the bigger questions of what food does, of what food is: Food is art. Food is practice. Food is work. Food is politics. But sanctimony is the world’s worst dinner guest, and so food should also be fun.

We’ll tell the stories behind the food, stories about cooks and eaters, about what happens between people at the table, especially if that table is really just a shelf bolted to the side of a taco truck.

I can already tell that their writer Francis Lam and I share the same philosophy about food.

Food is the thing that connects us, the thing that can give me and a man whose circumstances I will never understand a reason to stand together and share our lives for an hour. It’s the thing that reminds you, when you taste something new, or better yet when you taste something old again for the first time, how much bigger and better and more wonderful the world can be than we ever realize.

Salon Food, welcome to my RSS reader.

As I mentioned earlier, this week saw the launch of a new site from Wine Library TV star Gary Vaynerchuk, CinderellaWine.com. It’s kind of like woot for wine. They put up some kind of crazy deal but it only lasts while they still have inventory.

I thought I’d give a try and then a quick review so that you all know whether or not you should try it.

The first two deals were awesome but still pretty expensive. Yesterday’s came in around $20 off from $40.  I jumped on it and grabbed two bottles.   When I clicked the order button, it pulled me over to the Wine Library web site, where I could complete the order.  I’ve bought many bottles from Wine Library, so it had all my info and made ordering a snap.

Even though it says that you only get free shipping with 3 or more bottles, I didn’t get charged for shipping which is awesome.

Today’s deal was $10 regularly $22.  I almost jumped on it but I knew that if I kept getting pulled into these deals that I’d have no more money left for anything else.

If you’re looking to try something different or try a bottle that you normally wouldn’t get or be able to afford, it seems like CinderellaWine.com is a fantastic place to look.  Plus it comes with the amazing custom service & support of Wine Library, which is definitely a HUGE plus.