Category: Food

Steve Zyck

Steve Zyck of Mont Vernon is the owner and founder of Wood Stove Kitchen (woodstovekitchen.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @woodstovekitchen), a producer of all-natural drink mixes, including a mulling syrup and a hot toddy mix, as well as cocktail and mocktail mixers in a variety of flavors, like blueberry and lavender, strawberry and basil, and grapefruit and rosemary. Originally from Chicago, Zyck first came to New Hampshire as a student of Dartmouth College, later going on to hold multiple positions at humanitarian aid agencies and governments across Europe and the Middle East. He started Wood Stove Kitchen in 2017, making small-batch mixers for mulled wine, one of his favorite drinks, out of his own home. Today you can find his products at nearly every New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet statewide as well as at a number of small country stores and a few national retailers.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

For me, it’s a mason jar, hands down. I use my mason jars for pickling, as cocktail shakers, as measuring cups, as a glass. … There’s no single thing that is more useful in the kitchen.

What would you have for your last meal?

Gummy peaches and a white wine spritzer. Honestly, I’m still a kid at heart. I basically still have the core tastes that I did when I was 15 years old.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Al Basha Mediterranean Grill in Manchester. It’s a small place and they do a lot of takeout, especially over the past year, but they have absolutely wonderful baba ganoush, falafel and shawarma.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your products?

Steve Carell. I’m a big fan of The Office and his movies.

What is your favorite product that you offer?

My personal favorite is my blueberry and lavender mixer. For me it’s just the perfect flavor combination of being fruity and tart. … I would say 99 percent of my products are used for drinks, but people always find other creative ways. I once had an email from a customer who said she uses the mulling syrup in her kids’ pancake batter. Then there was a time when my local general store here in Mont Vernon made holiday-spiced cupcakes with it.

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

A lot of barbecue and a lot of smoking, not only in terms of meats but in other things. … I know so many people who bought high-end smokers and grills during the pandemic. I think this is going to be a great season for butchers.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

My favorite thing to make is a beet salad, usually with boiled or steamed beets. Then beyond that, all of the other ingredients can change a little, based on what I have. Usually I’ll add cucumber, or sometimes sweet onion or shallots. … It’s an amazingly versatile salad that you can whip up with whatever you have around the house.

Blueberry and lavender gin fizz
Courtesy of Steve Zyck of Wood Stove Kitchen, woodstovekitchen.com

2 ounces Wood Stove Kitchen blueberry and lavender cocktail/mocktail mixer
2 ounces Barr Hill gin
4 to 6 ounces seltzer or club soda
Lemon wedge, fresh lavender or herbs to garnish (optional)

Mix the gin and blueberry and lavender mixer together, then top off with as much seltzer or club soda as you like. The honey, lemon and lavender in the mixer gives the drink a perfect balance between sweet, tart and floral and herbal.

Food & Drink

Farmers markets

• Cole Gardens Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Cole Gardens (430 Loudon Road, Concord), now through Oct. 30. Visit colegardens.com.

• Concord Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, on Capitol Street in Concord (near the Statehouse), now through Oct. 30. Visit concordfarmersmarket.com.

• Contoocook Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to noon, at 896 Main Street in Contoocook (by the gazebo behind the train depot), now through October. Find them on Facebook @contoocookfarmersmarket.

• Exeter Farmers Market is Thursdays, from 2:15 to 5:30 p.m., at Swasey Park in Exeter, beginning May 6 and through Oct. 28. Visit seacoastgrowers.org.

• Francestown Community Market is Fridays, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the horse sheds near the Francestown Police Station (15 New Boston Road). Find them on Facebook @francestowncommunitymarket.

• Milford Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 300 Elm Street in Milford (across the street from the New Hampshire Antique Co-op), beginning May 8 and through Oct. 9. Visit milfordnhfarmersmarket.com.

• Peterborough Farmers Market is Wednesdays, from 3 to 6 p.m., on the lawn of the Peterborough Community Center (25 Elm St.), now through October. Find them on Facebook @peterboroughnhfarmersmarket.

• Portsmouth Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to noon, at Little Harbour Elementary School (50 Clough Drive, Portsmouth), now through Nov. 6. Visit seacoastgrowers.org.

• Salem Farmers Market is Sundays, from 10 a.m. to noon, inside the former Rockler Woodworking building (369 S. Broadway, Salem). Visit salemnhfarmersmarket.org.

• Wolfeboro Area Farmers Market is Thursdays, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., at Clark Park (233 S. Main St., Wolfeboro), beginning May 6 and through Oct. 28. Visit wolfeborofarmersmarket.com.

Featured photo: Steve Zyck

A fruitful expansion

LaBelle opening new restaurant, culinary market and sparkling wine barn in Derry

Nearly a decade after opening their flagship location in Amherst, LaBelle Winery co-owners Amy LaBelle and her husband Cesar Arboleda are expanding to a 45-acre property on Route 111 in Derry. The new space, opening in several phases over the coming weeks and months, will introduce a brand new restaurant concept, a retail market, and an onsite sparkling wine tasting barn, along with performance and event spaces and a nine-hole golf course.

A former attorney, LaBelle became inspired to pursue winemaking following a visit to a winery while on vacation in Nova Scotia in 2001. She founded LaBelle Winery in 2005 at Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole, later moving the operations to Amherst in late 2012. Last December, she and Arboleda closed on the former Brookstone Events & Golf space in Derry.

“We’ve been trying to expand the LaBelle brand for some time,” she said. “We came and toured this property … and just fell in love with it. It’s a beautiful spot.”

In addition to offering all new types of menu options out of the restaurant and market, LaBelle said a new line of sparkling wines will be produced out of the tasting barn, which will soon be built on a three-acre vineyard. Here’s a look at each core aspect of LaBelle Winery Derry.

Americus Restaurant

With nearly 300 seats inside and more than 100 others on an outdoor terrace overlooking an onsite pond, Americus Restaurant, due to open this month, is roughly four times the size of The Bistro at LaBelle Winery in Amherst. The name “Americus” was chosen as a tribute to the American Dream — Arboleda, LaBelle said, came to the United States with his family as a child from Medellin, Colombia, while her family also immigrated here just a few generations prior.

“We both have a strong belief in work ethic and a love for this country,” LaBelle said. “We also developed a wine in tribute to the American dream called Americus. … So we decided to name the restaurant after it, because I think it follows suit that we took this huge leap of faith.”

The interior space of Americus includes multiple round booths and high-top tables, a full bar with beers and wines on draft, and a 50-person private dining room separated by glass doors.

Unlike the restaurant in Amherst, which has a heavy focus on French bistro fare as well as a concept of pairing food with many of LaBelle’s wines, Americus will offer New England contemporary farm-to-table cuisine with “lots of international flair thrown in,” she said.

Former Bedford Village Inn executive chef Peter Agostinelli was recently brought on board as LaBelle Winery’s culinary director, overseeing all of the company’s food and beverage operations. Agostinelli is a longtime friend of LaBelle’s and an industry veteran who also spent a few years at the nationally acclaimed Grill 23 & Bar in Boston.

“Peter and I really wanted to create a menu that was approachable and familiar but incredibly elevated,” LaBelle said. “You can sit in the dining room and have a fancy anniversary dinner of a rib-eye for two with charred garlic and lemons … [or] you can have the most casual meal here after you play a round of golf with your buddies, … maybe some wings or some wood-fired pizza and beer on draft. It’s going to be one of those places where you’ll see everything.”

The kitchen is also much bigger than the one in Amherst, she said, and will similarly serve as a shared space for the restaurant and the event ballroom. Much of the bulk production of items like sauces, salad dressings and pastries will also be moving from Amherst to Derry.

Americus will be open for dinner to start, according to LaBelle, with plans to eventually expand to lunch on weekdays and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

LaBelle Market

Housed in the former pro shop of Brookstone’s golf course will be LaBelle Market, a retail space offering prepared and made-to-order foods that’s also due to open soon.

The market will feature menu items handwritten on chalkboards, as well as outdoor seating beneath a covered veranda and windows overlooking the golf course and vineyards. In addition to coffees and espresso drinks, food offerings will include everything from house pastries like croissants, muffins, Danishes and scones, to breakfast sandwiches, platters for catering, prepared entrees, artisanal cheeses and charcuterie, prime cuts of beef, marinated beef tips and chicken, house pastas, house ice cream flavors and wood-fired pizzas to go.

“You’ll be able to either grab something on site if you’re golfing … or take it for a picnic on the vineyard once it’s installed,” LaBelle said. “It will be great for people who don’t want to cook or are busy with family and saying, ‘Oh gosh, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?’ You can come here and grab everything you need. … There will be convenience items too, so good quality local milk, eggs, bread, things like that.”

Other items for sale will be from The Winemaker’s Kitchen, LaBelle’s line of artisan culinary products, which include jams, sauces, marinades, vinegars and cooking oils, as well as new offerings to be bottled, like a few new salad dressing flavors, a bloody mary mix and a triple citrus sour mix. The 2,400-square-foot building is also serving as the check-in spot for golfers.

“The pro shop that was here was mostly an empty building that was vastly under-utilized,” LaBelle said, “so now it’s really going to be brought to life.”

Vineyard visions

Directly to the east of LaBelle Market, in the area of what used to be Brookstone’s driving range, plans are currently underway to install three acres of vineyards, vegetable and flower gardens.

“It’s going to be awesome for picnicking and walking, and there will be a wedding ceremony space right in the middle of it,” LaBelle said. “So right in the middle, you’ll have this gorgeous ceremony space, and [couples] can get married among the vines. It’s going to be incredible.”

A sparkling wine tasting barn, a newly built structure for the property, is also coming soon. That will include a tasting room in the front, a production space in the back and wine storage in a basement. LaBelle’s dozens of wines will be available for sampling, plus a new line of red, white and rosé sparkling wines debuting with the space. Grape varieties set to be planted soon will take about two years to produce fruit for winemaking.

Across the parking lot from the vineyard is the newly renovated ballroom and onsite bar, which will be used for wedding receptions, baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties and other functions. LaBelle said the ballroom will also host a 15-show summer concert series, beginning on Thursday, May 27, with James Taylor tribute act JT Express.

“We’ll be doing wine tasting classes and cooking classes too,” LaBelle said. “We developed a kids’ cooking class in Amherst last summer that was a lot of fun, so we’ll do that here.”

LaBelle Winery Derry
Includes Americus Restaurant and LaBelle Market, as well as an onsite golf course, event spaces and a soon-to-be sparkling wine tasting barn
Where: 14 Route 111, Derry
More info: Visit labellewinery.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram, or call 672-9898

The Links at LaBelle Winery
LaBelle never had a dream of owning a golf course but said she realized it’s not unlike owning a restaurant, vineyard or market.
“To me, it’s hospitality,” she said. “I’m inviting you onto my property to have an experience, to have fun, [and] to make a great memory spending time with your friends.”
The Links at LaBelle Winery, a nine-hole par 3 golf course, and a miniature golf course called Mini Links, both opened to the public on May 1 following a restoration process. According to LaBelle, the entire nine-hole course can be played in roughly an hour and a half.
Memberships are available that include two wine tasting cards, unlimited golfing access, preferred tee times and advance booking. Beginning this summer, there will also be golf lessons for adults and golf camps designed for kids.

Feautred photo: Aerial shot of the new LaBelle property opening in Derry. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 21/05/06

News from the local food scene

• Return of the market: After canceling its winter season, the Milford Farmers Market will be returning outdoors one month earlier than normal, on Saturday, May 8, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to market manager Adrienne Colsia. This will be the town’s largest outdoor market yet, with between 17 and 20 vendors on the schedule each week selling a wide variety of products like meats, fish, vegetables, baked goods, wine and craft beer, coffee beans and personal care products. The market will continue outdoors, rain or shine, at 300 Elm St. in Milford (across the street from the New Hampshire Antique Co-op) through Oct. 9. Visit milfordnhfarmersmarket.com.

• Fresh catch: The Merrimack County Conservation District (10 Ferry St., Concord) is taking orders for a trout sale for fish lovers looking to restock their ponds, offering New Hampshire-raised disease-free rainbow and brook trout in 6- to 8-inch or 10- to 12-inch sizes. Orders are due by Tuesday, May 11 — bagged 6- to 8-inch trout can be picked up at the Conservation District’s Concord center on Sunday, May 16, from 1 to 1:30 p.m. The fish must then be released to your pond immediately. Larger trout will be directly delivered to your pond (you do not need to be a Merrimack County resident to participate). Visit merrimackccd.org to fill out an order form.

• Souvlaki to go: Join Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (68 N. State St., Concord) for its next boxed Greek dinner to go event on Sunday, May 16, from noon to 1 p.m. Now through May 12, orders are being accepted for boxed meals, featuring chicken souvlaki, rice pilaf, Greek salad and a dinner roll, for $15 per person. The event is drive-thru and takeout only — email ordermygreekfood@gmail.com or call 953-3051 to place your order. The church is also planning a similar event for June 13, when fresh gyro sandwiches will be available. Visit holytrinitynh.org.

• Shop (and eat) local: Nearly 40 local vendors will participate in the inaugural Henniker Handmade & Homegrown event, set for Saturday, May 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Henniker Community Center park (57 Main St.). Prepared food will be available on site from Abby’s Cafe, while the Country Spirit Restaurant will also be selling candied apples and other sweet treats. Other happenings will include live music performances from Walker Smith and Decatur Creek, as well as raffles and various items for sale like jewelry, pottery, soaps, body care products, candles and more. Admission is free — raffle tickets can be purchased at the event or in advance online. Email hennikercommunitymarket@gmail.com.

• Gate City Brewfest update: In lieu of its traditional beer festival and wing competition format, this year’s Gate City Brewfest will be pivoting to a live concert to be held at Holman Stadium in Nashua on Friday, Aug. 27. “After much deliberation and working within the city guidelines, it was simply not feasible to bring you the Gate City Brewfest beer festival model you are used to this year, but we do plan to return to that model in 2022,” reads a recent post on the event’s Facebook page. The live concert being planned in its place will offer both stadium and pod-style lawn seating on the field, plus an assortment of beer, non-alcoholic beverages and food options available, according to the post.

Jamie Mandra

Jamie Mandra and her husband Randy are the owners of JRM Catering (509-9080, jrmcateringllc.com, and on Facebook @jrmcateringllc), also known as The Traveling Foodie, a mobile food cart based in Nashua. Their menu changes all the time but will often include comfort or Southern-inspired options — the Love in a Cup, for instance, is a layered barbecue meal featuring pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, collard greens and cornbread all in one cup. Other featured items have been gourmet hot dogs and burgers, pulled pork sliders, macaroni and cheese and miniature doughnuts. The Traveling Foodie has several local public events booked for the month of May, including at the Hampstead Eats food truck festival on Saturday, May 1, from noon to 5 p.m., as well as Springlook Farm (112 Island Pond Road, Derry) on Saturday, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cart is also available to hire for private functions.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A really good quality chef’s knife. I could go without a lot of other things, but I have to have a good chef’s knife.

What would you have for your last meal?

A spicy tuna roll from Fuji Asian Bistro in Naples, Florida. We used to live down there. The sushi is so fresh and authentic. It’s out of this world!

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Bistro 603 [in Nashua]. The duck hash Benny with truffle fries is the way to go.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering something that you’ve made?

Julia Child. She is by far my biggest influence in the kitchen. I remember sitting in front of the TV as a child and it was like she was talking to me.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

The Love in a Cup. It’s by far the most popular … [and] it’s definitely a topic of conversation with people.

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

It’s hard with Covid, but I think people are looking for fun, over-the-top, picture-worthy food. People look for that experience of being wowed when they’re going out.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Any type of soup. I love creating new flavors [and] using fresh local ingredients.

Tomato bisque with cheese tortellini
From the kitchen of Jamie Mandra

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onions
Pinch of salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 32-ounce container chicken broth
1 28-ounce can crushed San Marzano tomatoes
½ teaspoon paprika
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste|
Pinch of cayenne pepper to taste
Cheese tortellini
½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves, divided
2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream, divided

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir onion with a pinch of salt until translucent (about 5 to 8 minutes). Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute). Pour chicken broth and tomatoes into onion mixture. Bring to a simmer and season with paprika, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Blend soup with an immersion blender in the pot until smooth. Whisk ½ cup of cream into soup and adjust levels of salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper and sugar. If the soup is too thick, add more broth; if it’s too thin, cook, stirring often, until reduced and slightly thickened (about 10 minutes). Add pre-cooked cheese tortellini. Ladle into warmed bowls, garnishing each bowl with a drizzle of cream and topping with about 1 teaspoon of chopped basil.

Featured photo: Jamie Mandra

Brews and beyond

New craft beer shop opens in Hudson

Cousins Jay Parajuli and Bik Basnet love trying new kinds of craft beers and had often talked about how to turn that hobby into a business. Then one weekend last fall, Parajuli said, he was en route to another cousin’s home in Hudson when he noticed construction of the town’s new Flagstone Crossing retail plaza.

“We saw the ‘for lease’ sign … and literally jumped into it right there,” he said. “I was working at a family business, a convenience store down in Massachusetts, and with Covid and everything it was tough to stay afloat. The overheads were high to maintain employees. … So we got out of that business and just kind of said this was the right time to get into something we like doing.”

Hudson Brews, which opened on April 16, is New Hampshire’s newest spot to get local and regional craft beers, ciders and hard seltzers, with a constantly rotating selection, Parajuli said, based on both seasonal supply and customer demand.

The shop’s interior is custom-built, featuring two sets of coolers near the front that are dedicated just to single-serve cans and bottles. Beer lovers who want to try single selections of more than one type of craft brew can also create their own custom four-pack carrier at a discount.

“I’m a buyer myself, and I will go to a store and try a four-pack if they don’t have singles … [but] I don’t want to end up spending $20 on something that I didn’t like,” Parajuli said. “So that was the concept. We put out singles of every possible thing that we have … so that people can try it, and if they like it, then they’ll go for the four-pack.”

Past the single selections are dozens of additional offerings in an aisle running near the back of the shop. Most of the coolers are labeled by their state of origin — beers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts make up several of them, including ones from popular local breweries like Concord Craft Brewing, Henniker Brewing Co. and 603 Brewery in Londonderry, as well as harder-to-find selections like from Coos Brewing Co. in Colebrook. Beers from other New England states are available, and there are coolers designated for regional and international options, and craft ciders and seltzers. In addition to its many beers, Hudson Brews sells a limited selection of glassware, canned cocktails and energy drinks, as well as cigars and CBD products.

Parajuli said he’s already had conversations with customers about what types of beers they want to see at the shop.

“We want to talk to people, [and] we want to get involved in the community,” he said. “It’s fantastic when you see people are happy that you have a product they are looking for.”

Hudson Brews
Where: 6 Flagstone Drive, Unit C, Hudson
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
More info: Find them on Facebook and Instagram @hudsonbrews, or call 417-5528

Featured photo: Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

Tastes of the trucks

Food truck festival to roll into Hampstead

After a lost festival year for local food truckers in 2020, a new event will bring more than half a dozen of them to Hampstead this weekend. The inaugural “Hampstead Eats” food truck festival will be held outside Hampstead Congregational Church on Main Street on Saturday, May 1, also featuring a full afternoon schedule of live music and a food drive to support the New Hampshire Food Bank.

Event coordinator Roxanne McGaffigan said attendees ages 5 and up pay an admission fee to gain entry to the event, with food selections then priced per item. The festival is being held in part as a fundraiser for the renovation and upkeep of the town’s Congregational Church.

“People can bring their own blanket or bring a chair … and hang out and listen to music, or go back to their car,” McGaffigan said. “We are following all of the CDC’s guidelines, so we are asking people to wear a mask or a face-covering when they’re not eating … [and] we’ll also have hand sanitizer stations.”

The trucks, McGaffigan said, will be diverse in their menu offerings. Each will be parked on the driveway just to the left of the church, with lots of open grass nearby for blankets and chairs.

For Christy and Nick Ortins of The Hungry Caterpillar, this will be their first food truck festival since launching their plant-based comfort concept last June. The couple’s original plan had been to secure bookings at festivals, but the pandemic caused them to pivot to contacting nearby business owners about potential parking spots. Their most prevalent location happens to be just a few miles away from the church, in the parking lot of Hampstead Health & Fitness.

Menu items from The Hungry Caterpillar, Christy Ortins said, will likely include Buffalo cauliflower bites, hand-cut french fries, and a sandwich known as the “Patty Mayonnaise,” which features homemade breaded seitan with lettuce, tomato and a plant-based mayo.

“This is very new for us and very exciting,” she said of the festival. “We’ve done a few busy events, but we haven’t had a chance to do a festival yet where we’re with other food trucks.”

Another local vendor that will appear at the festival, Chef Koz’s Crescent City Kitchen, offers scratch-made Cajun, Creole and Caribbean-inspired items. Owner and longtime chef Chris “Koz” Kozlowski, who will likely serve options like fish tacos and chicken jambalaya, only just pulled the 22-foot mobile trailer out of its winter hibernation last week.

“I took my first summer off in 31 years of cooking last year,” Kozlowski said. “Then we got a call for an event on Labor Day weekend, and so we decided we can’t be bogged down forever.”

Kozlowski would go on to generate more sales in three months from September to November than almost two-thirds of the year in 2019. With the help of his wife, he also ran Koz’s Haute Box, a second smaller food trailer serving New England regional comfort foods, in the winter.

This season, he said, he expects the food truck to continue to be mostly a family affair.

“It’s going to be a different structure,” he said. “Most of the gigs we have booked right now are days my wife has off, and I’ve got two kids that help out too.”

Kona Ice, which offers multiple flavors of tropical-themed shaved ice, will be providing free cup upgrades for festival-goers who bring an item to donate to the New Hampshire Food Bank. McGaffigan said the Food Bank will be accepting donations of nonperishable items.

Featured live performances throughout the afternoon will include Let’s Play Music from noon to 2 p.m., followed by The Sons of the Solstice from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., and Michael Wingate and Chris Cyrus of the band Slack Tide from 3:30 to 5 p.m. McGaffigan said church members and volunteers will also be selling flowers ahead of Mother’s Day.

“Hampstead Eats” food truck festival
When: Saturday, May 1, noon to 5 p.m.
Where: Hampstead Congregational Church, 61 Main St., Hampstead
Hours: $5 admission fee for ages 5 and up (cash or check only); foods are priced per item
More info: Search “Hampstead Eats” on Facebook, or call the church office at 329-6985
Event is rain or shine. CDC social distancing guidelines will be observed.

Participating vendors
Boogalows Island BBQ (boogalowsbbq.com)
Chef Koz’s Crescent City Kitchen (find them on Facebook @crescentcitykitchennh)
Chubb’s Fries & Dough (find them on Facebook @eddiemencis)
The Hungry Caterpillar (find them on Facebook @thehungrycaterpillarnh)
Kona Ice (kona-ice.com)
The Traveling Foodie Cart (jrmcateringllc.com)
The Whoo(pie) Wagon (thewhoopiewagon.com)

Feautred photo: The “Patty Mayonnaise” sandwich, featuring homemade breaded seitan with lettuce, tomato and plant-based mayo, from The Hungry Caterpillar plant-based food truck. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.