Category: Food

The Weekly Dish 24/09/12

News from the local food scene

• New tiki bar: What The Pho! (836 Elm St. in Manchester), described on its website whatthephorestaurant.com as an “Asian Noodle Bar & Bamboo Tiki Bar,” had its ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 16. The food has an East Asian focus, including pho (a spicy Vietnamese noodle soup), noodle bowls, rice bowls and banh mi sandwiches. Beverages include tiki drinks, specialty craft cocktails, local craft beer and wine. Reservations and takeout orders can be placed over the phone; online ordering will be available soon, according to the website.

• Oktoberfest: To Share Brewing (720 Union St, Manchester, 836-6947, tosharebrewing.com) will hold its annual Oktoberfest Saturday, Sept. 14, from 1 to 9 p.m. Celebrate the release of To Share’s October Altbier, with special food, branded dimpled mugs and draft specials, a stein-holding competition and more.

• Ice cream and the arts: The Friends of the Audi will host their 34th annual season-opening Gala, Arts Fair and Ice Cream Social, Sunday, Sept. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St., Concord, 228-2793, theaudi.org). This will be a free, ticket-less, fun family event. Enjoy Arnie’s Ice Cream and visit displays of the area’s exciting arts groups, and don’t forget to take a chance on the $2,000 Gala raffle. Visit the Auditorium’s website.

• Old blue eyes: Fulchino Vineyard (187 Pine Hill Road, Hollis, 438-5984, fulchinovineyard.com) will host a five-course Sinatra Wine Pairing dinner, Sunday, Sept 15, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Chris Jason and Joelle Rhigetti and the nine-piece Sinatra Live Big Band perform classic favorites from Sinatra to Dean Martin and more. Tickets are $189 through the Vineyard’s website. Space is limited.

• Buzz buzz: Tuscan Market (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) will host a class Thursday, Sept. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m.: Espresso Martini, Coffee Cocktails & Dessert. Mixologist Anthony Pino will bring participants through cocktail basics while teaching how to make a classic espresso martini along with other coffee cocktails. A dessert will be paired with the martini. A server will be available to take orders from the full menu. Tickets are $85 and available through the Market’s website.

Hooked on flavor

Hampton Beach Seafood Festival celebrates 35 years

Lobster rolls, clam chowders, crab cakes, fish tacos and so much more — you name it, and you’ll likely find it at the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival. The end-of-summer Seacoast tradition is back for a milestone 35th year, returning to the shores of Ocean Boulevard on Hampton Beach for three days from Friday, Sept. 6, through Sunday, Sept. 8.

“We will see approximately 80,000 people come through over the course of the weekend, but that can be [as high as] 100,000 if the weather is beautiful,” said Colleen Westcott, Director of Events and Marketing for the Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival Committee. “We have people that are coming year after year and bringing their friends, and so we’ve been seeing the numbers just keep increasing.”

Westcott said the festival was started in 1989 by a group of business owners on the beach who were looking to extend the summer season. It was originally in the town’s 50-acre state park before moving to Ocean Boulevard, and has continued to grow in scale and popularity ever since. Today, the entire stretch of road is closed to traffic during all three days, transforming into a pedestrian mall for festival-goers to roam freely and peruse the event’s many offerings, from the food and beer tents to the dozens of crafters and local live entertainment acts on two stages.

Attendees can expect many favorites including The Old Salt Restaurant in Hampton to Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook and Rye Harbor Lobster Pound. Each will typically offer a smorgasbord of options ranging from menu staples to items created with the festival’s seafood theme in mind, like the 10-inch crab rangoon-inspired pizza from Deadproof Pizza Co. and the lobster empanadas from The Purple Urchin in Hampton.

For those who aren’t seafood lovers, there are plenty of alternative options to enjoy at the festival. Ronaldo’s Ristorante of North Hampton, for instance, will have meatball subs, fried ravioli and truffle Parmesan fries, while you’ll also be able to enjoy teriyaki steak skewers from Charlie’s Tap House and pulled pork sliders with homemade sweet coleslaw from The Big Bad Food Truck. Westcott added that the desserts and sweet treats are by no means an afterthought — those options will include apple crisp ice cream sundaes from Miss Bailey’s All American Kitchen, chocolate chip and Oreo fudge cannolis from Boston Cannoli Co. and doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies and whoopie pies from the Bearded Baking Co.

On Friday evening on the Seashell Stage, a panel of judges will select a series of “Best Of” awardees among the food vendors. New this year, there will also be a people’s choice option for festival attendees.

“Each vendor will have a QR code and people will be able to vote on their phone for who their favorite food vendor is,” Westcott said.

The crew from Wicked Bites, a television show on NESN focusing on unique food destinations across New England, will host live cooking demonstrations in the culinary tent on Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday’s festivities will also include two cornhole tournaments on the beach from noon to 4 p.m., as well as a fireworks display at 8:30 p.m. Panorama, a Cars tribute band, will perform on the Seashell Stage leading up to the fireworks.

The festival picks right back up early Sunday morning with a 5K road race along Ocean Boulevard organized by Millennium Running. New this year will be a military and first responder parade at 1 p.m., followed by a festival favorite on the Seashell Stage at 2 p.m. — the lobster roll eating contest. Westcott said the festival committee partners with McGuirk’s Ocean View Restaurant & Lounge to supply trays upon trays of lobster rolls for the contestants.

“People eat as many lobster rolls as they can in 10 minutes,” she said. “We have some contestants who [have] returned for the last couple of years and have gotten to know the Seacoast community, so they bring in their cheering squads. It’s a lot of fun to watch them try to beat the person next to them and win the trophy for this year.”

Courtesy of First Student, free shuttle services are available from a variety of parking locations within the festival’s vicinity, including the municipal parking lot on High Street, the old Town Hall parking lot on Winnacunnet Road, the Centre School on Winnacunnet Road, the Marston School on Marston Way and — new this year — The Brook casino on New Zealand Road in Seabrook.

“We’re excited about teaming up with the Brook casino this year because it’s a really nice way for folks to expand their fun in one day,” Westcott said, “whether they come up to the Seafood Fest, enjoy it and then go back to the Brook for some fun and games, or the other way around.”

A portion of event proceeds will be donated to area nonprofits that are providing volunteers to run the gates. Westcott added that the Ted Williams Foundation will be holding a 50/50 raffle for the weekend that will benefit the New Hampshire State Police Benevolent Association.

35th annual Hampton Beach Seafood Festival
When: Friday, Sept. 6, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 7, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 8, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach
Cost: $10 per person per day, or $30 per person for the entire weekend (free admission for children under 12 years old). Tickets are available online or on the day of the event. Foods are priced per item.
Visit: seafoodfestivalnh.com
Pets are not allowed into the festival. Free parking and shuttle services are available from several in-town satellite parking lots; go to seafoodfestivalnh.com/plan-your-visit for the full list.

Participating food and drink vendors

  • Bearded Baking Co.
  • The Big Bad Food Truck
  • Boston Cannoli Co.
  • The Boston Chowda Co.
  • Brown’s Lobster Pound
  • Charlie’s Tap House
  • Clyde’s Cupcakes
  • Deadproof Pizza Co.
  • Extreme Concessions
  • Flamingos Coffee Bar
  • JR’s Seafood
  • La Spiaggia
  • Let the Dough Roll
  • Lupe’s 55 Cantina
  • Miss Bailey’s All American Kitchen
  • The Old Salt Restaurant
  • The Purple Urchin Restaurant
  • Ray’s Seafood
  • Rockingham Rolling Kitchen
  • Ronaldo’s Ristorante
  • Rudy’s Bubble Tea
  • Rye Harbor Lobster Pound
  • Seashore Seafood
  • Sweet Bottom Boys
  • Swell Oyster Co.
  • Troop 177
  • Wing-itz of Hampton

Comfort in a crust

The Pot Pie Bar takes being flaky very seriously

Like many recent food businesses, The Pot Pie Bar (132 Bedford Center Road, Bedford, 432-1927, thepotpiebar.com) got its start during the Covid-19 lockdown. Caroline Arend, owner of the Pot Pie Bar as well as Caroline’s Fine Food (132 Bedford Center Road, Bedford, 637-1615, carolinesfood.com), a well-established catering company, explained, “I found that some very loyal patrons of Caroline’s wanted to help us because we were basically shut down because we couldn’t cater. So they started purchasing meals for first responders. We found ourselves making a lot of pot pies and in fact it became just insanity. We kind of made a joke out of it and said, ‘Oh, I bet we can make anything into a pot pie.’ And we started just developing recipes. That was the birth of it, I guess. And then we opened up the pot pie bar.”

The original thought was to take orders online and ship frozen pies throughout the Northeast, but that turned out to be impractical. “Our shipping carriers were not reliable,” Arend said, “and the cost of shipping was prohibitive. I had no control over those costs because we’re a small company. So we switched gears and we sell all of our pies frozen out of our storefront.” Now customers place orders, either online or over the phone, and pick up their pies in person.

Although pot pies are a classic comfort food, Arend said a lot of work is involved to make them to her standard.

“Everything in the pies is made from scratch,” she said. “For example, for our braised short ribs [pot pie], we take the ribs, we put them in a rondeau [a short, wide pan similar to a Dutch oven], we sear them, we take them out, then we put the mirepoix [a mixture of chopped onion, celery and carrots] in, we deglaze with red wine, bring that down, and then put the bones back in, and braise it in the oven for three hours. Then we pull the meat off the bones, we reduce the braising liquid, and we mix it in with the filling. The only thing we don’t make from scratch is the puff pastry. And each pie has a different little puff pastry logo on it. So, for example, the chicken pie has a cutout of a chicken. The beef stroganoff has a cutout of a cow. The veggie [pie] is a carrot. So they’re all different.”

Arend is a classically trained chef, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and a veteran of fine dining restaurants in the Boston area. She eventually branched off into high-end catering.

“And then I moved to New Hampshire,” she said. “I didn’t do it for a while and then I missed it.”

As of now, The Pot Pie Bar offers 14 different pies, from classic chicken or vegetable pot pies to more innovative choices such as a bratwurst, beer and cheddar pie, or a lobster pie made with whole lobster claws.

“We did a beef Wellington for the holidays,” Arend said. “It was delicious. It’s a duxelle [a French paste made from mushrooms, herbs and onions] in a thick layer on top of the beef. You have the puff pastry, then you have the duxelles, and you have the grainy mustard and the beef.” Arend said she and her team kept the beef from overcooking by just searing it before putting it in the pie. “And since it’s tenderloin, it’s not going to get too tough. It’s a center cut, muscle that’s not really exercised. It’s not like a shoulder.”

The Pot Pie Bar’s customer base has been surprising to Arend.

“I thought it was going to be primarily men because it’s like comfort food,” she said. “But it’s an older crowd. A bunch of people take them to dinner parties, which I didn’t even think of, but it makes sense. And one woman came in last week and she ordered four of them, [so she could have] people over for dinner at four different times.”

Arend has just purchased an existing restaurant in Goffstown and is hoping to move into it soon. “We’re currently looking into building out a USDA kitchen so that we can wholesale the pies,” she said.

The Pot Pie Bar
Orders for pot pies can be placed online at thepotpiebar.com or at 432-1927. Walk-in customers are welcome, but are advised to call ahead to find out what pies are in stock, as they sell out daily.

The Weekly Dish 24/09/05

News from the local food scene

• Sue’s is open: Sue’s Kimbap House (Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, 731-9085, Sueskimbaphouse.com) is officially open. Owner and chef Susan Chung will be Capitol Center for the Arts’ Culinary Artist in Residence for the next year. The new Korean street food-inspired restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The Kimbap House website will be up soon.

• Chocolate factory tour: Van Otis Chocolates (341 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotis.com) will host a tour of its chocolate factory Thursday, Sept. 5, from 11 a.m. to noon. Tours are approximately 45 minutes long and are recommended for ages 6+. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are $15 through eventbrite.com.

• Herbal tea class: Herbalist Maria Noël Groves will lead a class called “Make Your Own Herbal Teas for Flavor, Immunity and Digestion” at Bedrock Gardens (19 High Road, Lee, 659-2993, bedrockgardens.org) on Friday, Sept. 6, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for members, $35 for non-members. The cass includes a day pass to Bedrock Gardens that day. Visit eventbrite.com.

• Dinner in a barn: Sanborn Mills Farm (7097 Sanborn Road, Loudon, 435-7314, sanbornmills.org) will host a Farm to Table Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. The evening will include a cocktail hour on the terrace followed by dinner and dessert in Sanborn Barn. Email [email protected].

Watermelon Punch

Planteray Rum, rebranded from Plantation Rum and owned by Cognac Ferrand, makes an excellent rum. One of its most recent releases has been something called “Stiggins’ Fancy” Pineapple Rum, named after a Charles Dickens character who liked to drink a pineapple rum or three. Although this rum has been infused with pineapple in a couple different ways, it does not taste too fruity. It is sweet but not syrupy, and very smooth.

It goes very well with watermelon.

Watermelon Punch

  • 2 ounces rum of your choice — I recommend Planteray’s “Stiggins’ Fancy” Pineapple Rum (see above)
  • 3 ounces fresh watermelon juice (see below)
  • 3 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 ounce simple syrup

Juicing a watermelon

Choose a small, ripe, flavorful watermelon. It should have a pronounced pale spot where it used to rest on the ground when it was growing in the field. Try to find one with stripes spaced the width of two fingers across.

Cut the melon in half, and scoop its flesh into a blender with an ice cream scoop. Blend the melon thoroughly — slowly at first, then really put the spurs to it during the last few seconds. Watermelons are 92 percent water, so it should liquify beautifully. Strain it with a fine mesh strainer, and discard the small amount of pink pulp and seeds. It should last for about a week in your refrigerator.

Making the punch

Fill a mason jar halfway with ice, then add the rum, juices and syrup.

Screw the top on the jar, and shake thoroughly. Remove the lid, fill the jar the rest of the way up with ice, and add a straw.

How sweet and flavorful this punch is will depend largely on the quality of your watermelon. At worst this will be a refreshing take on pink lemonade, but at its best the lemon will take the lead in the front end, followed by a deep fruitiness from the melon.

Featured Photo: Photo by John Fladd.

Have a drink, play poker

United Way of Greater Nashua’s pub crawl is a night of fun for a good cause

The idea is pretty simple, at least in the beginning of the night.

Walk into a pub, drink a beer and get a playing card. Then move on to another pub and do the same thing all over again. After five pubs, five beers (or other beverage) and five playing cards, you will have a poker hand. When you and your fellow pub-crawlers have reached the final bar, you will compare poker hands. The crawler with the highest hand will win fabulous prizes.

The United Way of Greater Nashua (unitedwaynashua.org) is holding just such a Poker Pub Crawl, Saturday, Sept. 7, from 4 to 8 p.m. It is the brainchild of Samantha Cassista, the United Way’s Director of Corporate Partnerships. She is emphatic that nobody is under any obligation to drink five or more beers, or anything alcoholic at all, for that matter, to participate.

“You don’t have to purchase an alcoholic beverage,” she said. “You can do non-alcoholic the entire time.”

The United Way of Greater Manchester has a reputation for holding creative fundraisers, but this is the first time it has organized this particular event. Cassista said one of the most challenging aspects of pulling it together was finding enough bars on Main Street in Nashua that were within walking distance of each other and were willing to participate.

“It was not easy to get five bars to say yes to doing this,” she said. “Some of them said yes so quickly I was floored. Others gave me the silent treatment, and a few were flat-out ‘heck no.’ It was a long process to be able to find the five who were excited about it. So we’re very, very excited to show off these nice community partners and we appreciate them being able to support us by opening their doors and taking on something that might seem a little risky to others.”

Participants will start out at Kettlehead on Main (97 Main St.), where they will get their first playing card, and be broken into three groups.

“Our goal is to have about 100 people,” Cassista said. “The three groups will cycle between three different bars so as to not overwhelm the bars too much and allow for more bars to be able to participate. They don’t all have to have a 100-person capacity.”

Each group will be assigned a “captain” who will keep everyone organized and make sure they have a good time. Cassista said the captains will wear captains’ hats and will take photos of people throughout the evening.

“We’re going to have a Social Media Prize given to one of the three groups,” she said. “It’s like bartender’s choice, and to the group the bars think is the nicest group. It’s kind of a version of a Miss Congeniality Award.”

After starting at Kettlehead on Main, the groups will circulate between Penuche’s Ale House (4 Canal St.), Fody’s Tavern (9 Clinton St.) and Margaritas (1 Nashua Drive) before meeting at the final stop at Odd Fellows Brewing (124 Main St.). Participants will have to buy their own drinks at each stop, but all the participating bars will have special prices for them. “So we are supporting the local restaurants,” Cassista said, “but our people are getting special deals.”

Once everyone is together again, the pub-crawlers will compare their poker hands and the participant with the highest hand will win $150, while the other people will be entered in raffles to spread the luck around.

Cassista said events like this are a good way to introduce the charity to younger people who might not be familiar with it.

“A lot of people understand the United Way as sort of a name,” she said. “There’s a name recognition, but they don’t really know much about us. That’s OK, but this will help them to get a little more in touch with United Way, OK, so they do fundraising. I wonder why they do fundraising’. And hopefully that will bring on the next question.”

The Poker Hand Pub Crawl
Saturday, Sept. 7, from 4 to 8 p.m., starting at Kettlehead on Main Nashua (97 Main St.)
Participants can register online through the United Way’s event page. The $25 registration fee includes entry to the event, a map of participating venues, and a chance to win the grand cash prize and many raffle prizes. Proceeds go to support United Way of Greater Nashua.

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