Tag: 200827

Album Reviews 20/08/27

Rudresh Mahanthappa, Hero Trio (Whirlwind Recordings)

Jazz sax legend Charlie Parker is often referred to by his nickname “Bird,” which explains the title of this Princeton jazz director’s widely acclaimed 2015 album Bird Calls. If you’re familiar with Parker, you know he had the ability to dazzle with his bebop stylings, and so has Mahanthappa, who viewed this LP as an opportunity to pay rapt obeisance to Parker, his biggest and most obvious influence. But whatever, my goal here, as always, isn’t to lay out some eggheaded synonyms for the benefit of solemn aficionados whose record collections are 20-feet-wide end-to-end, but to rope in the odd stray who’s thinking of taking a dip in the depthless pool that is jazz. The long and short of this business here is that I can’t recommend this album highly enough if you’re wanting to be blown away by technical wizardry; most of its contents are extremely busy, effecting to cover the listener in bright musical glitter, but the touchstone knuckleball’s a beauty too, a rub of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” that plays with the modal subject like a dolphin with a beach ball. Nice one to have around. A-

The Milwaukees, The Calling (Mint 400 Records)

You can imagine how many times the great cosmic metaphorical Lucy van Pelt has pulled away the football just when I’m about to pronounce a straight-ahead rock record something special, leaving me tripping hilariously and landing on my duff, holding a half-written review that has to get sent to the recycle bin. It’s happened a lot. No, if your band wants to sound like Goo Goo Dolls with a side of Foo Fighters and get your local following of working stiffs to pay actual attention, this is what you want to sound like. As demonstrated here, decent guitar riffage is only one tool on hand, not the whole box; these guys prove that there’s still a place for non-indie hooks in our world, even if the most common place for hearing such stuff — sports bars — seems to be gone for good in the face of Covid. This is the sixth full-length from a crew of New Joisey die-hards who’ve worked their formula to the point that anyone would be convinced they were paper-trained by Bryan Adams. Some really catchy, heartfelt stuff here. A+

Retro Playlist
Eric W. Seager looks back at hip-hop.

Now that the Covid virus has left us all marooned on our own domestic desert islands, any elephant in the room is getting close examination. The elephant in the room regarding my 16-year-old column here is, of course, the fact that I don’t cover a lot of hip-hop. No reader has ever complained to me about it; I’ve posted the occasional Lil Wayne review and whatnot, but you and I both know I largely avoid the genre.

Fact is, I’m at the point where I find basically all corporate hip-hop quite tedious to write about. I was the first kid on my block to buy a Run-DMC cassette, I’ll have you know, and quite frankly, I decided that after Public Enemy’s 1990 masterpiece Fear of a Black Planet, there was nowhere to go but down for the entire genre.

I tell you, I’ve tried, and yeah, I’ll continue to. I paid some lip service to Swedish rapper Yung Lean’s recent LP Stranger, but now that we’re all friends here, lazily tossing peanuts at Dumbo, I can say that I think the guy just sucks. No, I was more hopeful about white-guy indie-rap in 2006, upon hearing Astronautalis’ The Mighty Ocean & Nine Dark Theaters (some truly immersive beats there), but to be honest, to me, if it isn’t Chuck D-level angry, I don’t have time for it. Same as I like DMX a hundred times more than Ludacris, I like Death Grips a hundred times more than Kendrick Lamar. Make sense?

One reason I mostly avoid corporate rap is because the reviews always end descending into reams of in-crowd nonsense about this or that tweet or Instagram beef. Gag me. As far as indie rap, I’m down, like I’d be big into giving some press love to a local artist who’s got some beats, if one even exists.

If you’re in a local band, now’s a great time to let me know about your EP, your single, whatever’s on your mind. Let me know how you’re holding yourself together without being able to play shows or jam with your homies. Send a recipe for keema matar. Email [email protected] for fastest response.

PLAYLIST
A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• One more round of new CDs for August comes at us on the 28th, and then it will be September, and I’m just going to shut up about what comes next, because surely nothing good will come of it, unless you are an abominable snowman or a ski buff, neither of which I’ve ever had an interesting conversation with. Self-taught musician Angel Olsen is from St. Louis, Missouri, and her deal is art-pop/indie folk. She received the most love for her 2016 album My Woman, because she successfully tried to get away from being pigeonholed as a lo-fi indie artist (pro tip for local musicians: Don’t play lo-fi indie if you want to avoid said pigeonhole). Pitchfork liked that one and, as usual, wrote way too many wordy words to indicate same (“congeal” was in there) but that’s Pitchfork for you, and the PopMatters review was poorly written, but that guy loved it too, all of which then presented a double-edged sword, because now all the hipsters were used to her not being a sad, privileged gloom-girl anymore, so all the critics hedged their bets on her next album, Phases, which covered songs from Bruce Springsteen and Roky Erickson, and gave it middling grades. That sort of brings us to now, and her new one, Whole New Mess, which comprises a bunch of songs from her 2018 album, All Mirrors, but supposedly these are more “intimate” versions, which tells me that if this stuff isn’t going to sound lo-fi and gloom-girl, I’m a monkey’s uncle in a striped suit. Yeah, yep, the title track is all gloomy, and I think one of her guitar strings is a little out of tune, which will bring joy to anyone who loves their music crappy. She’s a good singer, a little like k.d. lang, but gloomy and redundant. Come and get it, three-toed sloths.

• Toni Braxton is trapped in fame purgatory these days, now that she’s more of a reality show oddity than what she was originally, a cool bedroom-soul lady who was name-checked by a Spike Lee character in Do The Right Thing. Whatever nonsense is on her upcoming new album, Spell My Name, I’m sure it’s decent as long as she hasn’t switched over to doing Slim Whitman covers, but come on, isn’t there footage of her tripping over a Gucci bag and skinning her knee, or whatever happened on her reality show? Right, I’m supposed to take this seriously? Fine, I will, I’ll listen to her new single, “Dance,” and if I barf, it’s on you. Right, it isn’t bad, sort of like Sade but with more soul. Some gentle 1980s UFO bloops, a 1970s-radio orchestra section. Ha, now it’s getting all excitable toward the fadeout, and the overall effect is like a disco dance scene from The Love Boat. Let’s just forget this ever happened, fam, and move on to our next tale of terror.

• I know I’ve talked about Toots & the Maytals in the past, in this award-winning column, but I totally forget/don’t care what they do, so this’ll be like that movie where Drew Barrymore forgets where she is every day upon waking up. Wait, here we are, they’re a Jamaican ska/rocksteady band, maybe I was thinking of someone else. The band’s new album, Got to Be Tough, is coming, and the title track is pretty standard one-drop chill with a cool guitar part. The lyrics are about caring, which obviously nails the current zeitgeist.

• We’ll end this week’s parade of shame with another soul singer, Bettye LaVette, who, to her credit, doesn’t have a stupid reality show. Blackbirds is the new album, “I Hold No Grudge” the single. OK, now this is authentic and awesome, torchy soul, electric piano, and her voice is all croaky and old. Nice.

Local bands seeking album or EP reviews can message me on Twitter (@esaeger) or Facebook (eric.saeger.9).

Beach-time porters

Drink these beers now

Look, I know, when you think beach time and summertime, you don’t think about porters and stouts. I don’t either, except sometimes I do.

From May through September beer enthusiasts are drinking and talking about beers that are crisp, fresh, light and bright, and that’s great. I’m all for it. Most of the time in the summer, that’s what I want too.

You have to shake things up, though. You just do. Sometimes things just get a little too crisp and a little too bright, and nothing resets your palate in summer quite like a rich porter or stout.

Now, OK, I’m not suggesting that you crack open a Guinness at 1 p.m. on a blazing hot summer day at the beach. You’d regret that move. Not every day is a blazing, hot summer day at the beach, though. Especially in New England — though admittedly perhaps not this summer — you have plenty of days at the beach or at the lake or in the mountains where cool breezes stand out more than the fiery sun, so seize those moments and treat yourself to something a little richer.

Imagine taking in the summer sunset on a cool, clear New Hampshire evening with a decadent coffee stout. It’s truly hard for me to imagine something more relaxing and more satisfying than that. I want that experience right now and I think you should want it too.

This notion really came to me a week or so ago when I was on vacation enjoying a porter called “Portah” by Barnstable Brewing of Hyannis, Mass. The deep richness and complexity was unlike anything I’d drunk recently and it was invigorating as I, wait for it, took in the sunset at the beach.

Here are four stouts and porters you should try this summer.

Granite Stout by 603 Brewery (Londonderry)

This is big on chocolate and coffee and I really do think that’s what the doctor ordered. I think summertime is about enjoying something a little extra. Maybe you say yes to that ice cream run on a Tuesday night because it’s summer. Or maybe you have this decadent, delicious brew instead of the ice cream. (Or you have both.) At 8 percent ABV, this is one you can savor over the course of an evening.

Campfire by Throwback Brewery (North Hampton)

This is a smoked robust porter, which, yes, makes it the perfect accompaniment to a campfire or to hearty, grilled meats and barbecue, so says the brewery. This brew is in fact robust, but at 6.4 percent ABV this is much more palatable in terms of its heft than you might be thinking. You’ll pick up smoky notes for sure, along with pronounced rich malts, but again, neither is overpowering. In addition to grilled meats, I think this would pair well with a wide range of foods.

Draken Robust Porter by Kelsen Brewing Co. (Derry)

While the roasty, toasty malts are the defining characteristic here, I think you get a bit more sweetness on this one than you might expect. To that point, the brewery says, it has flavors of dark fruit and raisins, in addition to coffee, chocolate and caramel. This one has layers of complexity to appreciate and savor.

Black Cat Stout by Portsmouth Brewery (Portsmouth)

If you get this on tap, the brewery uses nitrogen, which produces a thick, rich, creamy brew boasting big flavors of chocolate and coffee. This one is pretty dry, and I mean that in a good way. I wouldn’t really refer to a stout as refreshing but this is very easy to drink and one I wouldn’t hesitate to order on a summer day or evening.

What’s in My Fridge
Things We Don’t Say by Wandering Soul Beer Co. (Beverly, Mass.) This was tremendous. Just one of those beers that makes you say, “Yup. That’s real good.” This is a “New England Double IPA brewed with flaked oats, white wheat, and aggressively dry hopped,” according to the brewery. It’s got the citrusy burst that you want, coupled with a balanced finish — and not overly bitter. Find this one for sure. Cheers!

Featured photo: Don’t overlook stouts and porters in summer. Courtesy photo.

In the kitchen with Steve Chase

Steve Chase of Belmont is the owner and founder of Steve’s Original Sauces (stevesoriginalsauces.com, find them on Facebook @stevesoriginalsauces), a small-batch producer of fresh barbecue sauces he launched in April 2018. The company was born out of the positive feedback Chase from friends and family for his Kentucky Barbecue sauce, which he’s been making for about 15 years. Along with that, Chase’s product line includes a New Hampshire maple syrup barbecue sauce, a honey Sriracha sauce and a teriyaki barbecue sauce. He also makes and bottles his own barbecue rub and seasoning. Chase participates in several farmers markets, like the Concord Farmers Market (Capitol Street) on Saturdays and the Canterbury Community Farmers Market (9 Center Road) twice a month on Wednesdays. You can find Chase’s products in dozens of specialty stores, like The Wine’ing Butcher (16 Sheep Davis Road, Pembroke), Mike’s Meat Shoppe (1009 Upper City Road, Pittsfield), the River Hill Market (189 Carter Hill Road, Concord) and the Temple Food Mart (121 Baker St., Manchester).

What is your must-have kitchen item?
I would say the things I mostly have in my hands are tasting spoons.

What would you have for your last meal?
A really nice thick Wagyu beef steak, with a baked potato and lots of sour cream and butter.

What is your favorite local restaurant?
The Beefside in Concord has really good roast beef. I love the ‘Super’ roast beef sandwich.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your sauces?
[TV chef and cookbook author] Emeril Lagasse.

What is your favorite sauce that you make?
It would have to be the Kentucky Barbecue. It’s a sweet sauce that I made up to almost mimic a mint julep. It’s got a nice oaky flavor to it with brown sugar and a hint of mint at the end.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
The whole plant-based food trend is still going strong.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?
I actually do a lot more baking when I’m at home. I like to do a lot of pies, or I’ll make some breakfast pastries for my wife to take to work.

New Hampshire maple-roasted chicken dinner
From the kitchen of Steve Chase of Steve’s Original Sauces

1 whole roast chicken
Steve’s Original Sauces New Hampshire maple syrup barbecue sauce
Salt
Pepper
Chili powder
Red tomatoes
Dried thyme
Granulated garlic
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse and clean chicken, patting dry with a paper towel. Brush with oil and season with salt, pepper and chili powder. Place in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Coat chicken with barbecue sauce and return to the oven for 60 minutes. Cut the potatoes into cubes and coat with oil. Season with thyme, salt, pepper and garlic and place on a sheet pan. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes. Slice chicken and serve with roasted potatoes and vegetable of choice.

May the best chef win

Fire & Fusion chef competition returns (virtually)

A friendly contest featuring local chefs who are asked to create their best dishes in under 30 minutes using “mystery” ingredients, the Fire & Fusion executive chef competition will be held virtually this year — and the winning chef will be chosen by viewers based on production and stage presence while making their dish rather than the taste of their dish.

“It became obvious that we wouldn’t be able to have an in-person event,” said Judy Kunz Porter, director of marketing, communications and development for the Nashua Senior Activity Center, which hosts the event, “but it’s also our biggest fundraiser of the year, so we knew we needed to find a way to have it.”

The competition, now in its eighth year, will feature Mike Morin of 106.3 Frank FM radio as the host. It has been professionally produced and will stream on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 7 p.m. on the Senior Activity Center’s Facebook and YouTube pages. A number of local public access television stations are also carrying the broadcast, including Channel 96 in Nashua, Channels 12 and 191 in Hollis, Channel 23 in Manchester and Channel 20 in Hudson. Channel 96 will then air the show every day for the following week.

“It’s kind of an interesting twist, because for the past five years we’ve sold out the event at 350 tickets,” Porter said. “So more people than ever before are going to get to enjoy it now.”

Throughout the last couple of weeks, Porter, along with a crew from Molloy Sound & Video, met with each of the six participating chefs to tape their segments, which were then returned to the studio and edited for production of the show.

As with previous competitions, the chefs are all from local assisted living or long-term care facilities, a feature that came along with the event’s conception. Rejean Sheehy of The Courville at Nashua, a previous Fire & Fusion champion, is returning this year, while a few new faces, like Bailey Fischer of Bridges by Epoch at Nashua and Joanne Johnston of Benchmark Senior Living at Nashua Crossings, are competing. Other contestants include Hilton Dottin of Bedford Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Dennis Hickey of The Courville at Nashua – Aynsley Place, and Guy Streitburger of The Arbors of Bedford.

Usually the chefs are not given their ingredients until the start of the 30 minutes to make their dish. But this year, Porter said, they were given out shortly before taping and will be revealed to the viewer at the top of the show when it airs. Each chef was required to utilize all of the ingredients that were given to them.

“They knew they had no more than 30 minutes to spend, and most of them took between 17 and 20 minutes to make their dish,” Porter said. “We were amazed, and I think viewers will be too, at the number of different ways they used the same ingredients. I think especially because people are cooking more in their homes, it may open their eyes to try and switch things up a little bit.”

The show, Porter said, is expected to run about an hour and a half, featuring each of the six chefs’ segments in succession. At the end, audience members will be able to vote for their favorite chef online at nashuaseniorcenter.org, on Facebook @nashuasac or by calling 889-6155. Voting will be open for one week following the event’s air date.

“That’s new this year,” she said. “People will get to vote for whoever they think had the best production and stage presence.”

The conclusion of the show will also feature a raffle of more than 50 items. For $35 you can be entered into the raffle for a chance to win prizes, like round-trip airline tickets, passes to Disney World, ski lift tickets, wine baskets, restaurant gift cards and more. The raffle will run through Sept. 15, with drawings to take place shortly after.

Featured Photo: Chef Hilton Dottin of Bedford Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. Photo courtesy of Virtual Fire & Fusion.

8th annual Fire & Fusion executive chef competition (virtual)
When: Wednesday, Sept. 2, 7 p.m.
How to watch: Stream the competition on the Nashua Senior Activity Center’s Facebook or YouTube pages, or on multiple local public access television channels, including Channel 96 (Nashua), Channels 12 and 191 (Hollis), Channel 23 (Manchester) and Channel 20 (Hudson).

Plant-based eats

Col’s Kitchen opens in downtown Concord

By Matt Ingersoll

[email protected]

Bow native Jordan Reynolds found out in June that Willow’s Plant-Based Eatery in Concord was closing permanently. Less than two months and countless hours of construction later, a new vegan restaurant has reopened in Willow’s place, with Reynolds and former Willow’s staff member Rob Ray at the helm.

“Willow [Mauck], who’s a friend of mine, called me up … to say that she decided to permanently close,” said Reynolds, who’s been vegan since the age of 17. “I’ve wanted to start a vegan company for a long time. I had planned on starting a food truck, but then all the gigs we had planned were getting canceled, so that ended up not happening. … So when Willow called, I just thought that maybe it was my time to get the torch passed.”

Col’s Kitchen, named after Reynolds’ nine-year-old pit bull, opened its doors on Aug. 12.

Despite the eatery’s quick turnaround, its concept — what Reynolds refers to as an “eclectic, all-American” approach to vegan foods — has been years in the making. Col’s Kitchen features a well-rounded menu of plant-based options, from appetizers and salads to entree-sized meals, desserts and brunch items on Sundays.

After signing a lease for the space in late July, Reynolds said, he spent 10 or more hours a day for nearly three weeks renovating the restaurant’s kitchen and dining space, all with the help of family members, friends and community members who volunteered their time. They put down a new hardwood floor with pine from a local sawmill, painted the walls and chairs that were donated to them, and even built their own tables out of wooden boards and gas pipes.

Col’s Kitchen’s opening day coincided with Restaurant Week, a program of Intown Concord’s Market Month. The eatery was so well-received on Day 1 that its staff ran out of food three times over the course of the day and had to repeatedly replenish its stock, according to Reynolds.

“We got killed, but you could call it a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how many people would come out during a pandemic, but they were more supportive than we imagined. … Vegans were certainly hungry after not having a place here for a few months.”

Reynolds said it was important not only to give vegan customers options they would not otherwise have, but also to make the menu accessible to everyone. Seitan (pronounced “SAY-tan”), for example, is a high-gluten wheat flour used as a protein in Col’s Kitchen’s stroganoff and Philly cheesesteaks in lieu of meat.

Other options include Buffalo cauliflower wings with ranch, Brussels sprouts with sweet garlic sauce, seared tofu pad Thai with rice noodles and veggies, various smoothies and milkshakes, and coffee from White Mountain Gourmet Coffee.

Some dessert items Col’s Kitchen has featured out of the gate have been macarons, pies and root beer floats. You can also get a “pie shake,” made with either apple or strawberry rhubarb pie.

“We put a piece of pie in a blender, crust and all, and then add a couple scoops of ice cream and a little dash of milk in and just blend it up,” Reynolds said. “It’s like pie à la mode, but in a glass.”

Currently the eatery is open for lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday, with brunch available on Sunday mornings. That menu features pancakes, Belgian waffles, tofu scrambles and “Scram Sammy” sandwiches with options like chili cheese and Buffalo seitan.

Reynolds said the plan is for Col’s Kitchen to be open seven days a week.

“We want to start bottling up our own sauces for sale. We make the Buffalo sauce, the ranch that goes with [the wings] and we make the Thai peanut sauce,” he said. “We’re also looking into making our own ice cream in the next couple of months.”

Buffalo Seitan Scram Sammy. Photo courtesy of Col’s Kitchen.

Col’s Kitchen
Where: 55 S. Main St., Concord
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. for brunch (hours may be subject to change)
Contact: Find them on Facebook and Instagram @colsplantbased, email [email protected] or call 227-6778

The Weekly Dish 20/08/27

• Apples to apples: Gov. Chris Sununu proclaimed Aug. 25 to be New Hampshire Apple Day to celebrate the Granite State’s annual apple harvest, according to a press release. He and Agriculture Commissioner Shawn Jasper made the ceremonial first pick of the season on Aug. 25 at Apple Hill Farm in Concord. On Sept. 4, Sununu and Jasper will visit Brookdale Fruit Farm in Hollis to continue the apple season celebration. In Milford, McLeod Bros. Orchards will kick off its 75th season of pick-your-own apples on Saturday, Aug. 29, featuring Paula Reds, a mildly tart early season variety. They’re usually followed by McIntosh, Cortland and Gala varieties around early September, and Mutsu, Jonagold and Roxbury Russet varieties later in the fall. Visit agriculture.nh.gov or nhfruitgrowers.org for more details on where to find New Hampshire-grown apples.

• Fresh food fast: The Common Man Roadside will open a new location this fall inside the Tru by Hilton Manchester Downtown hotel, at 135 Spring St., according to a press release from The Chhom Group, the local commercial real estate firm announcing the lease deal. The eatery will feature a cafe and coffee shop, as well as a 120-seat restaurant with a bar and outdoor patio. Similar to the locations in Hooksett, Plymouth and on South Willow Street in the Queen City, The Common Man Roadside’s newest location will feature made-to-order and grab-and-go items, with an emphasis on takeout and mobile and online ordering capabilities. Visit thecmanroadside.com for updates.

• Agave wine cocktails: The New Hampshire Liquor Commission recently rolled out a line of premixed agave wine cocktails, according to a press release. Agave wine is made by fermentation of agave sap, producing a tequila-like beverage but with lower alcohol. Available now are the Cold Brew Espresso and Cold Brew Salted Caramel agave wine cocktails from Cafe Agave; the baja lime and strawberry margarita bottled cocktails, both from Flybird; and the House Wine premixed canned cocktails made with wine, including a canned, ready-to-drink Paloma that is tart with a fresh grapefruit flavor, and a Casa-Rita featuring flavors of agave and lime. Visit liquorandwineoutlets.com or call your local store for details.

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