Month: December 2020

Album Reviews 20/12/03

Life in a Blender, Satsuma (Telegraph Harp Records)

So here’s this New York long-time quirk-rock guy, David Rauf, leading his band on their million-billionth release, a six-song EP that’s only slightly unpredictable (he’s not doing yelly punk or anything like that nowadays). The Rosetta stone here is anything David Byrne’s ever done (meaning everything), but I found this record to be slightly — I don’t know, comforting. Imagine Electric Six with NRBQ horns and you’re pretty much there, not that Rauf’s voice is Jello-Biafra-level crazy or anything like that, and the lyrics wouldn’t be conducive to that sort of thing anyway. On “Soul Deliverer,” for example, our hero yammers in a disaffected but volatile Byrne-like baritone about how he’s regretting drinking coffee at lunch (or whatever) and swearing to switch to water. But where was I — oh yes, comforting. I mean, I could picture these guys as a musical opening act for a comedian in Vegas, and not one of the unfunny ones like Jimmy Fallon or whatnot. No, I think Doug Stanhope would be a fit. A

Ilsa, Preyer (Relapse Records)

Sludge-doom metal isn’t my cup of tea unless it’s done really well and with some variation in speed, like, with Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality as its sentai. Kyuss is OK, for example, but Candlemass and St. Vitus aren’t, and Sleep is a bit too off-Broadway, if you get my drift. As with any genre, there are tons of others we could cover here, but this Washington, D.C., outfit reads like a tyrannosaur cage-match, relying on crazed, wounded bellowing on the vocal end, and not a lot of imagination with regard to the guitar riffing, which isn’t actually riffing but mostly four-chord mud ringouts (imagine Sunn(((O))) with a purpose in life). The subject matter is pretty dark even for my beloved homies at the Relapse imprint, and I’ll mercifully leave out the particulars in that regard. There are some straight-up black-metal passages that feel more like obligato checklist sign-offs, which isn’t to say there’s nothing at all innovative here, but, well, you know. B

Retro Playlist

As we await our Very Special Covid Christmas, let’s step into the Way-Back Machine and go over a few albums that may have been written about a little unintelligibly the first time around, and no, I don’t mean unintelligibly in the way that most of my stuff is written, I mean reviews that even confused me.

In February 2015 I unwisely took it upon myself to check out stoner band Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus and their Spirit Knife LP. This resulted in such run-on messes as “Alright, they’ve mostly been doing singles and comps, but what intrigues me is that they’re adamantly indie, using distributors like Carrot Top (local bands, you should really be taking notes if you’re releasing your own stuff) and AEC, all to push bands who are friends with owner Scott Hamilton, who is not the figure skater, in the same manner as no one in this band is the duckling-lipped actor you’re thinking about. Everybody lost? Cool.”

All I was saying there is that this capable-enough Boris-like outfit was using independent distributors. I’d have expounded further on the music, but it was pretty disposable, so I didn’t. Suffice to say that if you love metal, by all means, seek this one out, so that you can listen to it once and promptly forget you ever did so.

I’ve got a million of ’em, I tell ya. That same week, there was O Shudder, by the British quirk-prog crew Dutch Uncles. I actually liked that album, come to think of it, despite its indecisiveness over whether they wanted to rip off Vampire Weekend or Muse. It’s a weird but very good record, not that I probably enticed any of you nice folks by spitting takes like what I said about opening tune “Babymaking”: “…its winding, skeletal beat evoking Spandau Ballet after a marathon Orb listening bender.”

Pitchfork sort of liked them too, but I got over it. Meantime, I promise I’ll try to be less confusing in future. No guarantees, of course.

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

The new CD releases are coming hard and fast, looking for your holiday dollar — you should see all this stuff coming up! Now that we’ve dispensed with the worst Thanksgiving ever, which you mostly spent on the phone, trying to get Grandma to install the right video driver on her 2006 Windows XP computer so it could seize up while you tried to Zoom video her eating cranberry sauce, it’s down to the serious stuff, with the batch of new junk coming out on Dec. 4! For holiday gift-giving, I’d recommend the new White Stripes compilation, The White Stripes Greatest Hits, because it’s not horrible. OK, maybe it is, like, their fanboys will be all like “Why isn’t such-and-so song on here?” But who cares, because “Seven Nation Army” will probably be on there (the final tracklist hasn’t been released yet), and what else do ya need?

• Gahh, aside from the aforementioned greatest hits thing, the new release list is freaking full of live albums, comps, and rich musicians just asking for fans to send them beer money. Just looky there, it’s Arctic Monkeys, with their new album Live At The Royal Albert Hall, a title that also speaks for itself! Remember years ago when I was an Arctic Monkeys hater? You do, right? Well, whatever, if you like them, I can’t do anything about it, so like them all you want, with my Christmas blessings.

• OMG, even hipster-black-metal fraudsters Deafheaven are getting in on the live/comp gravy train, with their live collection, 10 Years Gone! Yes, there’s nothing I’d rather hear than a live version of this band’s typical songs, which always goes like this: blissy Sunn(((O))) part → metallically doomy Boris-or-Cannibal Corpse part → Bathory part. And now you know everything about Deafheaven and can brag about it to your little brother, who will be amazed by your cultural acumen.

• It turns out that not everything is old news and boring box sets or whatever, unfortunately for me! Depressing Icelandic hipster-dingbats Sigur Rós release their new studio album Odin’s Raven Magic this Friday! Now there’s an album title I can love; it sounds like the title of an episode of The Witcher, so it’s got to be cool! I couldn’t wait to hear what dreary hipster slop these crazy kids had cooked up for 2020, so off I went, first to discover that Odin’s Whatever is simply a recording of the band’s 2002 orchestra-accompanied tune, which is set to the Icelandic poem “Hrafnagaldr Óðins.” You guys know that one, right? It’s an anagram that spells “The Hamburglar Did It” sideways. As for the song, it’s just a slow, morose indie-rock joint comprising boring samples and a completely unnecessary orchestra, and it sounds like Vikings mourning an iPhone that got hacked by a bored troll from 4chan. Enjoy!

• Finally we have Tucson-based Tex-Mex-indie stalwarts Calexico, with their new LP, Seasonal Shift! Huh, how do you like that, it’s a holiday album! The first single is called “Hear The Bells,” in which the boy-eez sing about drinking mescal and selling something or other by the side of the road, I don’t know. Sounds like a cross between Everly Brothers and your least-favorite pop band from the 1980s, if that helps any.

Harpoon & Dunkin’

Coffee, doughnuts and beer together at last

Harpoon Brewery and Dunkin’ teamed up last year to bring the beer world the Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter. I thought it was a nice take on the coffee porter, featuring distinctive notes of roasted coffee and chocolate in a robust, malty package.

I suspect Starbucks fans disagree with me, so I just want to offer that qualifier right off the bat.

If you haven’t noticed, Harpoon and Dunkin’ decided to take things to another level this fall. I, as usual, am months behind, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a Harpoon-Dunkin’ mixed-pack during my pre-Thanksgiving run to the beer store. This was not your run-of-the-mill mixed-pack.

My wife requested pumpkin beer and I wanted a coffee-flavored brew, so the mixed-pack, which featured the Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter and a Pumpkin Spiced Latte Ale, caught my eye. The deal was sealed when I saw the mixed-pack included a Boston Kreme Stout and a Jelly Donut IPA. This is real.

Between Thanksgiving itself and the day after Thanksgiving, I enjoyed a pour of each one. What I enjoyed most and found most impressive about the entire foursome was that they held true to their pairings. The Coffee Porter truly tastes like the Dunkin’ original coffee blend and the Boston Kreme Stout tastes very much like a Boston Kreme doughnut, and so on.

I made my comment about Starbucks in jest but I suspect whether or not you like any of these Harpoon-Dunkin’ brews depends very much on whether or not you like Dunkin’ from both the doughnut and the coffee perspective. If you aren’t a fan of Dunkin’ coffee, nothing to see here.

I think the Coffee Porter was my favorite; I like the richness of the brew. That said, it’s not too heavy. I enjoyed it Thanksgiving afternoon as we finished up meal prep.

I can’t honestly say that I liked the Jelly Donut IPA, but my wife enjoyed it. I just didn’t think the sugary sweet jelly flavor paired well with the hops, but this legitimately tastes like a jelly doughnut. It’s worth giving it a shot as it may well be the most unique brew you’ve ever tasted.

The Pumpkin Spiced Latte Ale tastes so much like an actual pumpkin spiced latte that sometimes I forgot whether I was drinking a coffee or a beer. It’s sweet and features the combination of pumpkin, cinnamon and sugar you expect from this as a coffee — a tasty, seasonal treat. The pour is more or less the color of pumpkin, more orange-y than I expected.

The Boston Kreme Stout was excellent with notes of sweet chocolate and coffee and a smooth finish. This one was much lighter than expected, and because of that, I think this makes an excellent choice for someone who normally doesn’t like stouts.

A final note is that I feel that mixed-packs make excellent choices for holiday get-togethers, as they provide a variety of options and hopefully something for everyone. Now, I know we’re celebrating in smaller numbers this year so just go ahead and save that sage advice for next year.

Featured Photo: Courtesy photo.

In the kitchen with Carrie Williams

Carrie Williams of Contoocook is the owner and chef of the Flannel Tavern (345 Suncook Valley Road, Chichester, 406-1196, flanneltavern.com), a casual eatery on Route 28 that opened in April and offers scratch-made comfort foods. The menu features everything from burgers and sandwiches to appetizers, fresh salads, and plated entrees, like fish and chips, baked haddock, chicken fingers, lasagna rolls and macaroni and cheese. Beer and wine selections include both domestic and local options, with craft cocktails also available. Williams, who worked as a caterer for more than a decade, said the restaurant’s concept is based on many different types of comfort foods she grew up eating.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

I would be lost withoaut aluminum foil, and then obviously a chef’s knife. I have one that I use all the time, with an orange handle.

What would you have for your last meal?

Prime rib and mashed potatoes.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I would have to say the Lakehouse Tavern in Hopkinton. They are really good. A lot of times, I’ll get The Bird Man, which is a huge sandwich.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at your restaurant?

Someone I’ve always wanted to meet is Van Morrison. We listen to him in the kitchen all the time.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

The chicken bacon ranch sandwich. It [has] chicken tenders with mozzarella sticks, bacon and our homemade buttermilk ranch on a kaiser roll. It’s our No. 1 sandwich.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

What I’m seeing across the board, especially with so many restaurants that have been closing, is that people are more going back to home-cooked meals and things that are just really comforting during such a stressful time.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite things to put on. It’s always been a big deal in my family. We do turkey, boiled onions, sweet potatoes, my grandma’s cranberry relish and an apple sausage stuffing.

Carrie’s coconut cream pie
From the kitchen of Carrie Williams of the Flannel Tavern in Chichester
9-inch pie shell, baked and set aside
1 cup shredded coconut, toasted to golden brown (1 to 2 minutes at 450 degrees)
3 cups heavy whipping cream
½ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add heavy whipping cream, flour, sugar and eggs to a saucepan, turning on to medium heat and stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and add ¾ cup of the toasted coconut and vanilla. Add mixture from cream, flour, sugar and eggs to the pie shell and cool for two hours. Top with whipped cream and the last ¼ cup of coconut.

Featured Photo: Carrie Williams

New York eats

Sunny Side Up Deli now open in Nashua

A New York-style sandwich shop with a unique New England twist, Sunny Side Up Deli, now open in Nashua, features local and regional breads, vegetables, coffees and other items to complement a full line of Boar’s Head brand premium cold cuts, cheeses, soups and salads. The eatery opened its doors last month in the former space of the Beadles Bead Shop & Boutique on Amherst Street, according to manager Tristan Hoffler.

The Boar’s Head line, founded in New York City more than a century ago, was a must for Sunny Side Up Deli to carry, Hoffler said, due to its quality and connection to The Big Apple. All breakfast and lunch sandwiches are made to order with freshly sliced meats, nothing precut, and served on breads from Tripoli Bakery of Lawrence, Mass. Gluten-free breads, buns and wraps from other purveyors, like LaMarca Bakery of Malden, Mass., are currently being tested.

“Our sandwiches are all perfectly layered … with meat, cheese and veggies,” Hoffler said. “You go to Subway or any other place like that around and you won’t find sandwiches like ours.”

Most of Sunny Side Up Deli’s offerings are named after Nashua area streets or points of interest — the Central Street, for example, is a traditional panini-pressed Reuben with freshly sliced corned beef, melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing on rye bread, while the Mine Falls sandwich features turkey, roast beef, capocollo, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onions, sundried tomatoes and a basil mayonnaise.

All of the sandwiches come with a bag of chips, a pickle spear and a small serving of Boar’s Head salad, like coleslaw or tortellini salad. The menu also includes grab-and-go salads, as well as a few breakfast sandwich options that are available all day, like a traditional over-easy egg and cheese sandwich with either bacon, sausage, ham or turkey, and A Better Morning, which features egg, cheese, bacon, peppers and onions on a kaiser roll.

Hot coffee from Wicked Joe of Topsham, Maine, is made fresh daily, and the plan is for Sunny Side Up to eventually expand to iced coffees and espresso drinks.

“[Wicked Joe has] 100 percent organic fair-trade coffee beans,” Hoffler said. “We picked them because we wanted to make sure that our coffee came from a good source.”

The deli has made fresh desserts in house, like cookies and parfaits, and will soon be offering knishes, or Jewish deep-fried potato-filled snack foods that are popular in New York.

Sunny Side Up Deli
Where: 427 Amherst St., Unit 9, Nashua
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
More info: Visit sunnysideupnh.com, find them on Facebook @sunnysideupdelinh or call 417-7145

Featured photo:The Central Street: corned beef, melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing on rye. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

Coffee and community

McLaughlin’s Country Market opens in Concord

Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

While looking for a commercial property to start his own coffee roastery, David McLaughlin came across a vacant storefront in East Concord — the old Quality Cash Market, which closed more than two years ago. In July, he and partner Tiffani McIntosh decided to check out the space and see what they could do with it.

“One of our biggest visions … was that it needed to be a place for the locals, in a comfortable, neighborhood setting,” McIntosh said.

McLaughlin’s Country Market, which opened on Nov. 17, features fresh coffees roasted onsite, in addition to groceries, beer and wine, and a diverse selection of locally made products — and coming soon, a Nadeau’s sub shop. McLaughlin is a longtime friend of franchise owner Jeremy Nadeau, who has five other locations in the state.

McIntosh said the market has already had a tremendous amount of support.

“Even before we opened, people had been coming to the door and asking us when we are opening and what’s going to be here, so we’ve been developing relationships for two months,” she said.

Freshly roasted in house under the name Second Love Coffee, the coffees at the market are part of a passion project for McLaughlin. With varying flavors and degrees of sweetness and acidity, each blend is available for self-serve pouring, or you can get any of them as small batches of bean or ground coffee for home use, prepared fresh on the Java Master roaster in real time.

“You can generate all kinds of flavors out of one bean, just by roasting it differently,” said McLaughlin, who has been home-roasting on and off for several years and gets his green coffee beans from Colombia and Costa Rica. “The Java Master is nice because you can roast one to six pounds at a time, so you could come in and say, ‘Can I get three pounds of this bean,’ and then have it roasted while you’re waiting, or [you could] pick it up the next day.”

While McLaughlin’s doesn’t have a butcher shop like its predecessor, a variety of pre-packaged sliced meats are for sale out of the market’s grocery area, as well as basic items like milk, eggs, bread, cheeses, produce, snacks, sodas and pastries. There is also a special section dedicated to products made in New Hampshire — McIntosh has worked with local purveyors of barbecue sauces, doughnuts, maple syrups, goat milk soaps and other items to stock the shelves with.

You’ll find the new Nadeau’s order counter near the back of the building. While that is expected to be fully operational very soon, according to McIntosh, Nadeau’s in the meantime has provided the market with cold sandwiches for sale and is currently training employees at other shop locations to come work in Concord. She said plans will likely be in the works soon to arrange a joint takeout service of items between Nadeau’s and McLaughlin’s.

“Let’s say you’re out of milk, and you want to pick up a sub for dinner while you’re here. We can collaborate and you can get whatever grocery items you need,” she said.

McLaughlin said he and McIntosh have already seen their fair share of repeat customers in just a short period of time being open.

“It’s definitely more of a little shopping market for the neighborhood versus a lot of transient business coming and going and you might not see them again,” he said.

McLaughlin’s Country Market
Where: 11 Eastman St., Concord
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More info: Find them on Facebook @mclaughlinscountrymarket or email [email protected]

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 20/12/03

News from the local food scene

• More Greek eats to go: Join St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (1160 Bridge St., Manchester) for Lamb on the Run, a drive-thru pickup luncheon happening on Sunday, Dec. 6, from noon to 2 p.m. Meals are $20 and include baked leg of lamb au jus, served with rice pilaf, green beans in red sauce and a Greek salad. Pre-order by calling 925-2692 or emailing [email protected]. In Concord, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (68 N. State St.) will host its next drive-up Greek dinner to go on Sunday, Dec. 13, from noon to 1 p.m. (pre-ordering by Dec. 9 is required). That meal will feature lenten- or meat-stuffed grape leaves, Greek-style roasted vegetables and a dessert and is $15 per person. Call 953-3051 or email [email protected].

• Takeout every Tuesday: As a new initiative to support city restaurants throughout this upcoming winter season, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, in partnership with Intown Manchester and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, recently announced a social media campaign called Manchester Takeout Tuesdays, according to a press release. “With Manchester Takeout Tuesdays, our city can come together to safely support our restaurant community while also containing the spread of Covid-19,” Craig said in a statement.

• Bakery will challenge fine: A Bedford bakery is challenging a $500 fine it received last week from the state Attorney General’s office for an alleged coronavirus emergency order violation, according to a press release. Simply Delicious Baking Co. will receive financial support from the Mont Vernon-based Liberty Defense Fund of New Hampshire to fight the fine, which was issued following an alleged violation of Emergency Order No. 52, by not requiring customer service staff to wear masks or face-coverings when directly interacting with customers. The bakery, according to the violation letter, had until Nov. 30 to pay the $500 penalty. “We have taken a number of precautions to keep our space safe, including the recommended social distancing,” bakery owner Alexa Firman said in a statement. “The mask mandate goes against my inspiration for starting this business: to build a face-to-face community space … and I believe people who make the choice to come in and enjoy that environment should have the right to do so.”

• New local shrub release: Djinn Spirits (2 Townsend West, Suite 9, Nashua) recently announced the release of a new product, Winter Sun, a mango rosemary shrub, according to a press release. The third product in Djinn’s Codename series, Winter Sun became available at the distillery on Nov. 10. According to the release, shrubs are drinks that date back hundreds of years and typically pair a fruit with vinegar and other flavors. Winter Sun’s flavor profile features vinegar that is offset by the sweetness of the mango, and rosemary to build complexity with an aromatic savory note. Visit djinnspirits.com.

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