Category: Food

The Weekly Dish 24/12/19

News from the local food scene

• Goodbye to an institution: Bakolas Market (110 Spruce St., Manchester, 669-2941) will close this month, after almost 100 years. The market was the city’s last all-Greek market. According to a Dec. 8 article on Manchester Ink Link, the building containing the store and the apartments above it has been sold.

• Chocolatey Luxury: Luxury Travel Guide (ltgawards.com) has named Dancing Lion Chocolate (917 Elm St., Manchester, 625-4043, dancinglion.us/cacao) as its Confectionary Store of the Year for 2024-2025. In a Dec. 10 Facebook post Manchester’s Economic Development Office congratulated the chocolate shop: “Out of 90,000 global submissions, they rose to the top … Thank you to Richard Tango-Lowy (also President of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation) and the entire Dancing Lion Chocolate team for your incredible contributions to Manchester.”

• I’ll cashew at the wine tasting: Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, 244-3165, averillhousevineyard.com) is offering a pairing experience that is nuts. From Thursday, Dec.19, to Monday, Dec. 22, experience four bold, satisfying nuts chosen by one of Averill House’s associates to complement your choice of four wines. There will be 21 wines to choose from. Tickets are $27.

• Cheese and charcuterie: Vine 32 Wine and Graze Bar (Bedford Square, 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 935-8464, vinethirtytwo.com) will host a Holiday Charcuterie Board Workshop on Sunday, Dec. 22, from 1 to 3 p.m. Join Vine 32’s charcuterie experts to craft a charcuterie board. Register at vinethirtytwo.com/charcuterieclasses.

• Homemade cookies: There will be a cookie swap at the Rodgers Memorial Library (194 Derry Road, Hudson, 886-6030, rodgerslibrary.org) Saturday, Dec. 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Contribute four dozen (48) of your favorite homemade holiday cookies and take home a cookie assortment. Provide a recipe copy with your cookies. Registration is required.

Drinks with John Fladd

Cranberry Margarita

Everything was quiet, mostly.

Very few houses are actually quiet at night. Every time the wind blows, a house will usually flex a little, settling in one direction with a creak or a soft cracking noise. But around 2:30 this morning, everything briefly went completely quiet. If there had been anybody still awake, the sudden, complete silence might have startled them. That’s one of the things science fiction generally messes up on; if you’re dealing with a temporal anomaly — and how could you not be, if you’re trying to visit more than two billion houses in a night — sound doesn’t know how to work under those conditions.

The Old Man came down the chimney, set his bag to one side. He looked at the stockings waiting for him, but out of habit, looked for the traditional milk and cookies. Instead, his eyes fell on a waiting tray table. Laid out carefully, there was a small dish of cocktail peanuts, a cocktail shaker, an ice bucket and a martini glass. The Old Man’s eyes sparkled as he used the tongs that Rachel always left for him — always had, since she was a college student — and dropped three ice cubes into the shaker and shook himself a cocktail.

He carefully strained it into the waiting glass, helped himself to a few peanuts for the salt, then with a sigh, took a grateful sip of his margarita, and set to filling the stockings with his unencumbered hand.

Some parents just get it.

Cranberry Margarita

2 ounces Blanco tequila – I like Hornitos

1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice

¾ ounce homemade cranberry syrup (see below)

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker.

Shake this cocktail brutally, then strain into a coupé glass.

If you have something sweet and syrupy, you can almost certainly use it to make a pretty good margarita. Cranberry syrup takes things one step further, firmly into Delicious territory. Cranberry goes extremely well with lime. Both fruits are puckeringly sour and can stand up to the tequila’s assertiveness. The sweetness of the syrup mellows everything out and makes this smooth and very, very drinkable.

Cranberry Syrup Two Ways

Combine equal amounts (by weight) of frozen whole cranberries and white sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, crush berries, and allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain and bottle.

or

Combine equal amounts (by volume) of unsweetened cranberry juice and white sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Leave on a boil for 10 to 20 seconds to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat. Allow to cool, then bottle.

Either version will be delicious — like grenadine with a better personality. The whole-fruit version will be a bit thicker, due to the pectin in the berries. The juice version will be a little thinner and clearer.

In the kitchen with Edmond David Hood

Hood is a butcher and co-owner of Old Boy’s Butcher Shop (707 Route 101A, Merrimack, 699-8014). Dave Hood has been working a butcher counter since his teens.

“I worked in a grocery store — DeMoulas — since I was 15, and it was the department that paid the most. That’s how I fell into the profession,” he said. “I worked with Market Basket for 28 years. I was in management since I was 20 years old. We — my wife, Lindsey, [and I] — got out of the spotlight of corporate markets, and we figured we would do something on our own. We just opened up early June of this year. Old Boy’s Butcher Shop is a butcher shop and deli. We make sandwiches, but we specialize in our certified Angus beef program. … They’re free-range steer instead of quarantined. And they’re 100 percent grass-fed. If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it right. That’s kind of what sticks us out from the rest of the people. Just being around on a commercial basis and knowing what sells, people expect that consistency with quality. That’s why we decided to do the prime grades, even with our marinades.”

What would you have for your last meal?

Probably a rib-eye steak; it’s my favorite steak. It’s the flavor. It’s your most flavorful steak. It’s from one of the best locations of the animal. I love it.

What is your favorite local eatery?

Buckley’s in Merrimack. It’s the steakhouse with the best-quality meats. I order a rib-eye when I go there, every single time.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see eating in your restaurant?

Keanu Reeves. He is one of the actors in one of my favorite movies. He stars in The Matrix. He’s very humble. I’m always impressed when people can keep their humility.

What is your favorite cut of meat that you sell?

It’s not what we sell; it’s who we’re selling it to. We carry a lot of things in our store from small areas in New England. We support a lot of locally based products as well. We love seeing people come back. They’re not spending a lot of money like they do in other places. We’re trying to offer that quality meats at a reasonable price.

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

I see a lot of carnivore diets, which really helps us, people just eating meats. I have clients coming from all the way from Londonderry, Hollis, northern Massachusetts coming up because they do like our grass-fed line.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I love steak, but pizza is my second favorite. Everyone in my house likes their own. I’m a pepperoni type of person. My wife likes Hawaiian, and my son likes nothing on his pizza, just sauce and crust. He’s a purist.

As a meat expert, how would you recommend cooking a steak?

There’s a couple of ways. A lot of people like to cook with cast iron, which is a high-intensity heat; it pretty much sears the outside of a steak, so it prevents the juices from coming out of it. With a prime grade product the marbling keeps it juicy naturally. We also teach people to use cast iron to broil steaks. That involves the same key factors as grilling outside, despite the weather.

Compiled by John Fladd

Setting the scene – in chocolate

Chocolate bars serve as a canvas for edible art

Laurie Lowy sat at a small table in the corner of Dancing Lion Chocolate in downtown Manchester, bent over a 3- by 5-inch bar of chocolate, painting a winter scene. She dipped the tip of her paintbrush into one of the pigments resting in a warm-water bath just off to her right. Carefully, but without stress, she painted an olive green line on the chocolate in front of her, marking out the top of a small triangle. Another dip of the brush led to another, slightly larger triangle just below it, then another below that. All of us have tried to draw or paint a pine tree like this at some point, but when Lowy did it, a realistic-looking tree appeared on the chocolate.

“My background is art,” she said. “I went to the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida, but I’m here for a week on vacation, and I’ve been put to work.” Lowy is the mother of master chocolatier Richard Tango-Lowy, the owner of Dancing Lion. “I am painting chocolates here,” she said, “but I live in Florida.”

She looked up, smiled, switched brushes, then started to fill in her tree with a different shade of green. The brush put color on the chocolate less smoothly, adding texture to the tree.

“I mostly do mosaics now,” she said, “tables, backsplashes, that sort of thing. But these, for me, these are just fun. I mean, it’s creative, but it makes me pull for myself.”

One of the advantages to being the boss’s mother, she said, is a large amount of creative freedom. The chocolate bars she was working on this morning were all winter landscapes — one with a tiny, red-coated figure pulling a sled — but that was what she was in the mood for. “[I paint] whatever I choose to do,” she said. “When Richard and I talked before I got here, he said, ‘All right, Mom, what’s it going to be?’ And I said, ‘I think I’m doing trees.’ So that’s it; every single one of them I’ve done this time have had trees of some sort.”

Lowy switched brushes again, picking up one with a wider head, dipping it in white pigment, and started surrounding her tree with snow and dimpling the surface of the tree with small blobs of white. She cleaned the brush off, then dipped it into a completely different pigment, a muted gold color. With quick, smooth movements, she put gold highlights on the snow, and suddenly the scene was three-dimensional, and the light was the way it is on a late winter afternoon.

Lowy pointed to the jars of pigment in the water bath next to her. Although it makes sense to call what she does “chocolate painting,” she said, she doesn’t actually use paint. “It’s melted cocoa butter,” she said. Because it is a component of chocolate, it bonds easily to a chocolate bar, and is completely edible. “This,” she said, indicating the electric water bath, “keeps all these very melted. Because it’s chocolate. So, as soon as I turn this off, these harden, and then I can’t use them at all.”

She added some light gray tones to the snow in her tiny painting, and suddenly, there were snowbanks.

“The last time I did this — which was probably four years ago — we took pictures all over town,” Lowy said, reaching for a broad, feathered brush. “And I did pictures of buildings. It was very cool. But this time, I just wanted to go back to nature.”

Because Dancing Lion does not make chocolates from precise recipes, each batch is slightly different from any other, so each of these hand-painted chocolate bars is completely unique. “This is one-of-a-kind,” Lowy said. “A one-off. Every time I’m doing 12 and each one is entirely different.”

It’s hard to imagine someone actually eating one of these chocolate paintings, and Lowy said that sometimes people are reluctant to.

“That is a tendency,” she said. “But Richard always tries to explain, we create these things to eat.”

Chocolate art
Laurie Lowy’s hand-painted edible chocolate landscapes are available at Dancing Lion Chocolate (917 Elm St., Manchester, 625-4043, dancinglion.us/cacao) for $140 each.

Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach

  • 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup (66 g) sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter
  • ½ cup (half an 8-ounce package) cream cheese
  • 1 egg, separated
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 Tablespoons + 3 Tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
  • ¾ cup (4 ounces or 125 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped

Whisk the dry ingredients — the flour, salt and cocoa — together, and set aside.

Right now you might be asking, “If I’m whisking the dry ingredients together, why not the sugar?” Interestingly enough, because it melts into wet ingredients so easily, it is usually considered a wet ingredient.

With a mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. If your dairy is cold, it will cream up perfectly well, but clumps of it might stick in your mixer blade(s); knock it off with a rubber spatula, or turn up the speed and let centrifugal force do it for you. Attaining fluffiness should take two to three minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.

Mix in the dry ingredients a spoonful or two at a time. If you try to do it all at once, a cloud of flour will poof up into your face. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, and pat it into two slightly flattened disks on a floured countertop. Wrap the disks in waxed paper or plastic wrap, and leave it in your refrigerator to chill for an hour or so.

After your dough has had a chance to chill, preheat your oven to 350°F. Take one of the disks out of the fridge, flip it over and press it down on a floured countertop a couple of times to coat it with flour, so it won’t stick, then roll it out into a 10-inch circle. It’s useful to keep a tape measure for baking situations like this.

Slather the rugelach disk with three tablespoons of jam, and sprinkle half of the chopped chocolate over it. Cut it into eight to 10 slices, the way you would a pizza. Roll each of the triangles up, starting with the wide end. They should look a little like crescent rolls. Put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Repeat the process with the other disk of dough. Chill them in your refrigerator again for another half an hour or so, to discourage them from losing their shape as they bake.

Brush the rugelach with egg white, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, switching and rotating the pans halfway through. Cool for 15 minutes or so on the baking sheets, and dust them with powdered sugar, if that’s a thing you feel compelled to do.

Chocolate and raspberry are a classic combination, and a faint hint of sourness from the cream cheese makes these excellent holiday cookies.

Featured Photo: Bourbon-Cider Sour. Photo by John Fladd.

Going out for Christmas

Where to find holiday meals & meals on a holiday

Here are a few of the places offering special holiday meals and that are open on Tuesday, Dec. 24. Know of another Feast of Seven Fishes or kitchen serving up meals on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Let us know at [email protected] for inclusion in next week’s Weekly Dish.

Before Dec. 24

• Colby Hill Inn (33 The Oaks in Henniker, colbyhillinn.com) will hold a Christmas High Tea on Saturday, Dec. 14, and Sunday, Dec. 15, at 12:30 p.m. featuring teas and other beverages; salads and savories, such as mini beef Wellington, mini cucumber sandwiches and more, and sweets such as gingerbread scones, stollen, Christmas cookies and more.

• The Artisan Hotel at Tuscan Village (17 Via Toscana, Salem, tuscanbrands.com) will hold a Brunch with Santa on Sunday, Dec. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The food offerings include omelet and prime rib stations; a buffet with salads, breakfast items, vegetables, pan-seared chicken, baked haddock and meatballs; sweets including chocolate fondue and croquembouche, and beverages. The cost is $90 per person.

• The Artisan Hotel at Tuscan Village (17 Via Toscana, Salem, tuscanbrands.com ) will hold a Holiday Special Frank Sinatra Dinner with the Strictly Sinatra Band on Sunday, Dec. 15. Dinner featuring a five-course Italian-inspired meal is at 5 p.m., showtime at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $198.

• Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will host a Feast of the Seven Fishes on Monday, Dec. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. This traditional Italian celebration will feature a five-course plated seafood dinner with wine pairings. The cost for this 21+ event is $125 per person.

• Greenleaf(54 Nashua St., Milford, 213-5447, greenleafmilford.com) will host a Feast of Seven Fishes, Thursday, Dec. 19, beginning at 5:30 p.m., featuring six seafood courses as well as dessert. The cost is $145 per person, through Greenleaf’s website.

Christmas Eve

• Airport Diner (2280 Brown Ave., Manchester, 623-5040, thecman.com) is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Alan’s Restaurant (133 N. Main St., Boscawen, 753-6631, alansofboscawen. com) is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Angela’s Pasta, Cheese and Wine (815 Chestnut St., Manchester, 625-9544, angelaspastaandcheese.com) will close at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will also offer a three-course prix fixe menu on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 24, from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., followed by a Grand Dessert Buffet and cash bar in the Great Hall. It will cost $125 per adult, or $75 for each child 12 and under.

• Buckley’s Great Steaks (438 DW Highway, Merrimack, 424-0995, buckleysgreasteaks.com) is taking reservations for Christmas Eve.

• Chez Vachon (136 Kelley St., Manchester, 625-9660, chezvachon.com) will be open normal business hours on Christmas Eve — 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• CR’s The Restaurant (287 Exeter Road, Hampton, 929-7972, crstherestaurant.com) will be open from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

• The Derryfield Restaurant (625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-2880, thederryfield.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• The Farm Bar & Grille (1181 Elm St, Manchester, 641-3276, farmbargrille.com) will be open during regular business hours, noon to 11 p.m.

• Chen Yang Li (124 S. River Road, Bedford, 641-6922, chenyangli.com) is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will offer a special menu on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day — see the website.

• Chen Yang Li (379 Amherst St, Nashua, 578-9888, chenyanglinh.com) will be open 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

• Chen Yang Li (520 South St, Bow, 228-8508, chenyangli-bow.com) will be open Dec.24, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Wednesday, Dec.25, from 12 to 10 p.m

• The Common Man restaurants in Concord (1 Gulf St., 228-3463) and Merrimack (304 DW Highway, 429-3463) are open from 11:30 to 3 p.m. Windham (88 Range Road) is open for gift card sales only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. See thecman.com.

• Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677; 41 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033, copperdoor.com) is accepting reservations at its restaurants until 8 p.m. and will be open until 10 p.m.

• Epoch Gastropub (90 Front St., Exeter, 778-3762, epochrestaurant.com) will offer a special price-fixed menu, $70 per person, featuring starters, a main course and a dessert plus an intermezzo from 4 to 8 p.m.

• Flying Goose Brew Pub & Grille (40 Andover Road, New London, 526-6899, flyinggoose.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

• Foster’s Boiler Room (231 Main St., Plymouth, 536-2764, thecman.com) is open from 4 to 8 p.m.

• Fratello’s Italian Grille (155 Dow St, Manchester, 624-2022, fratellos.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Friendly Red’s Tavern (22 Haverhill Road, Route 111, Windham, 437-7251; 111 W Broadway, Derry, 404-6606, friendlyredstavern.net) is open until 8 p.m.

• Gauchos Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse (62 Lowell St., Manchester, 669-9460, auchosbraziliansteakhouse.com) will be open Christmas Eve at 4 p.m. with a final seating at 8 p.m. and on Christmas Day for brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Giorgio’s (707 Milford Road, Merrimack, 883-7333; 524 Nashua St., Milford, 673-3939; 270 Granite St., Manchester, 232-3323, giorgios.com) will be open from noon to 3 p.m. for dining and from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for pickup of pre-ordered (by Dec. 22) meals. See the website for details.

• La Caretta Mexican Restaurant (lacarretamex.com) will be open in the following locations on Christmas Eve, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.: Manchester (1875 S Willow St, Manchester, 623-7705), Manchester (Livingston Park, North End Shops at, 545 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 628-6899), and Portsmouth (172 Hanover St, Portsmouth, 427-8319). The Nashua location (139 DW Highway, Nashua, 891-0055) will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.. The Derry and Londonderry locations will be closed on Dec.24.

• Lakehouse Grille (281 DW Highway, Meredith, 279-5221, thecman.com/lakehouse-grille) is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• The Lucky Moose Casino & Tavern (16 Gusabel Ave., Nashua, 864-0175, luckymoosecasino.com) kitche is open until midnight on Dec. 24 and until 10 p.m. on Dec. 25.

• Mr. Mac’s Macaroni and Cheese (497 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 606-1760, mr-macs.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

• 900 Degrees (50 Dow St., Manchester, 641-0900, 900degrees.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Puerto Vallarta Mexican Grill (865 Second St, Manchester, 935-9182) and Nuevo Vallarta Mexican Restaurant (791 Second St, Manchester, 782-8762; vallartamexicannh.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

• Red Arrow Diner locations (112 Loudon Road, Concord, 415-0444; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091; 61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 149 DW Highway, Nashua, 204- 5088, redarrowdiner.com) are open 24 hours including on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

• Red Blazer (72 Manchester St., Concord, 224-4101, theredblazer.com) will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., when you can also pick up pre-ordered meals to go for Christmas.

• Second Brook Bar & Grill (1100 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 935-7456, secondbrook.com) will be open in the restaurant until 4 p.m. and at the bar until 5 p.m.

• Shorty’s (1050 Bicentennial Drive, Mancehster; 48 Gusabel Ave., Nashua; shortysmex.com) locations will be open 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

• Surf (207 Main St., Nashua, 595-9293, surfseafood.com/nashua) will be open on Tuesday, Dec. 24, at both its Nashua and Portsmouth (99 Bow St.) locations.

• T-Bones (25 S. River Road, Bedford, 641-6100; 404 Main St., Concord; 39 Crystal Ave., Derry, 434-3200; 77 Lowell Road, Hudson, 882-6677; 1182 Union Ave., Laconia; 311 S Broadway, Salem, greatnhrestaurants.com) closes at 5 p.m.

• Tilt’n Diner (61 Laconia Road, Tilton, thecman.com) is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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