Tag: 210408

Album Reviews 21/04/01

Kill The Giants, “The Prophet” (Nub Records)

Test-drive title track from the upcoming fifth album from the Saint Albans, U.K.-based genre-mashing band, which is — and I’m told this actually means something — fronted by Mark Christopher Lee of The Pocket Gods. This was buzzed to me as a concoction of “beatbox, classical, world music, rock and EDM,” whereas Irish zine Hotpress said it mixed thrash metal, hip-hop, classical and world music. All told, it looked good on paper, so here we are, me with a little egg on my face. There are some interesting samples (a 1950s big-movie chorus, it sounds like; some sitar, etc.), but where I was expecting something really trippy and hard-ass along the lines of God Lives Underwater or even Pendulum, the choppy, rather amateurish guitar line sounded like something out of a Woodstock retrospective on C-tier warmup bands. So yeah, there are a few influences buzzing around, but they don’t come together to blow minds. I mean, it’s OK, but, you know, whatever. B-

Arthur King, Changing Landscapes [Isle of Eigg] (AKP Recordings)

A little inside baseball: I didn’t get along well with the last public relations person to pitch me albums on the Dangerbird Records label. This person got mad at me when I dismissed one of their stupid albums as “hipster oatmeal” or whatever I said, probably something rotten. That takes us to here, with a new PR guy (whom I really like) and an album from a Dangerbird imprint, AKP Recordings. The deal with the bracketed title is that Arthur King is a mixed-media aggregator who recruits artists, musicians and whatnot to put on immersive shows. The third such production in his Changing Landscapes series is this one, where “participants will enter a spatial interpretation of the Scottish Isle of Eigg,” viewing projected images and such while this soundtrack plays (loudly). Weirdness abounds, friends, yes, weirdness abounds, as first-up track “An Sgurr” combines jagged ear-test sound-age, random conversations and a crowing rooster. That would be fine, but the subwoofer-begging electronic percussion does become literally barf-inducing; it simply digs right into the eardrum and will surely make a few visitors bail on the exhibit. Elsewhere it’s more user-friendly: half-plugged guitars and soothing synth lines leading into Flaming Lips-ish reverb-electro on “Laig Beach,” near-danceable glitch on “Eigg Beach.” B

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• I actually have good news with regard to the collection of CDs that will be released on April 9, and it even revolves around one of those super-old bands that should have retired to do AARP commercials years ago. Yes, friends, I speak of 1970s half-joke-band Cheap Trick, whose new album, In Another World, is on the way! You may not know it, but those weirdos have been hanging around with none other than Ministry, helping Papa Al Satan make rebellious albums about smashing the state and whatnot, and guess what, Jello Biafra from Dead Kennedys was on one of those albums as well, all of which means that it’s so cool that your hand would instantly freeze if you touched the jewel case! This is a happy coincidence as well, because my favorite song over the last few weeks has been “Reach Out,” a totally demented tune Cheap Trick contributed to the Heavy Metal soundtrack album. You should go crank it right now, but in the meantime, I’ll go look for a single from this new album in the YouTube swamp, look, there’s one, I sure hope there aren’t 500 stupid commercials before I can dig on “Light Up The Fire!” OK, someone call an ambulance, this is awesome and I am dead, these guys are better than ever. There’s a twangy, bouncy, hard-rock guitar thing, and singer Robin Zander proves he still rules, and then there’s a sweet break in which they sound like Raspberries. How dare these guys be so old and yet so completely awesome.
• Fine, let’s get to the bit where I give up on music again today, as I look at the new Taylor Swift album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Guess what, all it is is a re-recorded version of the original Fearless album from 2008, but also with six tunes that had been cut from the original album. I would literally rather watch potatoes bake than deal with this, but here we are, you with an insatiable craving for pop culture and me with space to fill in this multiple award-winning column. So (burp) she redid “Love Story,” with ukuleles and whatever, and it’s instructive if nothing else; now I see that Tay-Tay is nothing more than a glorified version of Natalie Imbruglia. Aren’t you glad we did this, guys?
• Up next we have Montreal-based producer CFCF, with his new album Memoryland, in which he collaborates with Kero Kero Bonito frontwoman Sarah Bonito! The leadoff single “Life Is Perfecto” is actually pretty cool, an incomprehensible-but-danceable cross between Burial’s wingnut glitch-tech and neo-rave following in the footsteps of Aphex Twin or whatever. The 7-minute tune collects an interesting array of smart beats, and now that I have cursed it by recommending it, this CFCF guy will soon be working at Starbucks for the rest of his life.
• Last but not least, it’s another sure-to-be-underrated tech-oriented album, Cheap Dreams, from Small Black! This is a four-man band from Brooklyn, N.Y., but wait, they are not irritating, unless you really hate Wham! and/or Hall & Oates, because those are artists that the album’s intro single, “Duplex,” incorporates to some extent. I like it just fine; there’s a definite ’80s flavor to it, and their singing isn’t just another cheap imitation of Beach Boys, which means these guys know enough not to suck.

Retro Playlist

There’s not a more surefire way to get absolutely no Likes or Shares on your social media post than to post a YouTube video of an old song you like. It’s an instant fail, doomed to crickets chirping in response, the depleted uranium of social media. No one cares that you totawwy wuv some 50-year-old Pink Floyd song, much less that you spent five minutes humming into some stupid app to find out who sang a particular hair-metal ballad, like I did with that old 1983 stunner, “When I’m With You” (I’d had no luck finding it through conventional Googling because I didn’t know any of the lyrics aside from the “Bay-baaayyy” part. I thought it was either from the Raspberries or The Babys, but it was actually done by some obscure Canadian band called Sheriff, whose singer is definitely the Guinness World Record holder for eyebrow size).

There’s always a “but,” of course. Any boomer who posts a Beatles song will get a few Likes, guaranteed. Just my luck, the only Beatles song I can tolerate is “Paperback Writer,” and so I am a Facebook pariah when it comes to music (I’d never dream of revealing my power level on Twitter by linking a Ministry or Acumen Nation video, because it would just be pearls before politics-obsessed swine anyway). Anyhow, I got sick of my childhood buddy Dave posting The Who YouTubes, so I figured I’d try to lure him into the current millennium by turning him on to Minus The Bear, a Seattle band (sadly defunct as of 2018) that sounds like Asia with a slight Limp Bizkit edge. I reviewed their 2010 LP, Omni, when it first came out, and I still like it.

Of course, just because albums are from the Aughts or Aught-teens doesn’t automatically mean they’re good. One of the running jokes at this column’s previous home was that The Darkness’ 2003 album Permission to Land would never be unseated as the worst Led Zeppelin-wannabe album ever. The singer sounds like the guy from Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Must I expound further?

Dave, if you’re out there, go listen to the Minus The Bear tune “Secret Country” all the way through. I am here to help you.

Back of the fridge

What’s lurking behind the milk?

Do you ever just do a deep dive into your fridge? It’s full of surprises.

That tub of “homemade” tartar sauce from that time you made fish and chips back in ’18. A mystery plastic container full of a thick, black liquid that smells like soy sauce and other less definable stuff. Or a bottle of Worcestershire sauce that’s been in there for who knows how long.

The same thing happens with beer; sometimes, brews just get lost in there.

I opened my beer fridge in the basement, which is a perfect replica of the tiny fridge I had in my college dorm room, and discovered I was getting down to the bottom of the barrel, so to speak.

There were a number of seasonal brews that weren’t in season — at least not this year. There was a canned, ready-to-drink “Bellini” cocktail, several of my wife’s hard seltzers and just a bunch of other really, really random offerings. And also a Founder’s KBS? None of it made sense.

It made me think of the Saturday Night Live digital short with Bill Burr where he’s “sampling” Sam Adams Jack-O Pumpkin Ale and says, “This is the kind of beer somebody brings to a party at your house, and then it just sits in the fridge for, like, eight months….”

We all have those beers in our fridge, and sometimes those beers we’ve been passing over for months can pleasantly surprise you.

Here are three back-of-the-fridge beers that I ended up enjoying.

Merry Monks Belgian Style Tripel Ale by Weyerbacher Brewing Co. (Easton, Pa.)

I don’t know why I held off on drinking this one for so long and I don’t even want to think about how long this one has been in my fridge. I like Belgian tripels a lot so there was no real excuse for it but there’s just something about the labeling on this brew that made it really hard for me to take it seriously: There’s a couple of, you guessed it, monks carrying a barrel, and, I don’t know, you’ll have to make your own call. But I finally dove in and regretted waiting so long to get after this one. It’s incredibly flavorful — fruity, spicy, sweet and well-balanced, and full of warming alcohol. This style is just kind of exciting. This was perfect on a very chilly early spring day.

Blood Orange Wheat by Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers (Framingham, Mass.)

Crisp, refreshing and not overly “wheaty,” this is an excellent choice for a warmer day. I think I was scared of the blood orange but I needn’t have been; while you can definitely pick up the citrusy sweetness from the orange, it’s not overwhelming. I am still, admittedly, fearful of this style because I might have had too many Blue Moons back in college, if I’m being honest. This is clean, bright and easy.

Flannel Friday by Harpoon (Boston)

This is another one that has had a remarkable hold on the back of my fridge. This beer is entirely inoffensive. It’s a little hoppy but it’s got a little malt character too that catches you by surprise. This is like the coming together of a pale ale and maybe a red ale? You get some citrusy zip from the hops and then maybe a little caramel from the malts — not bad at all.

What’s in My Fridge
Weekend Plans by Mast Landing Brewing Co. (Portland, Maine)
“Oh yeah” was the first thing I said after taking a sip of this one. IPAs abound these days, as we all know, so when you grab one that jumps out at you as fantastic, you remember it. Mast Landing continues to grow on me with its array of quality offerings from stouts to IPAs. This is hazy and juicy and so easy to drink it’s full-on scary. It seems crazy-talk to refer to a single brew as the perfect IPA, but that declaration rang awfully true as I enjoyed this one on a relaxing late March Saturday afternoon with friends. Cheers!

Featured photo: Blood Orange Wheat by Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers. Photo courtesy of Jeff Mucciarone.

Rebecca Wheeler

Rebecca Wheeler is the owner of The Traveling Taco (rebeccascrazytacos@gmail.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @thetravelingtaconh), a food trailer specializing in multiple types of tacos, taco salads, nachos and soups that she runs with the help of her friend Olivia Turcotte. Since launching the trailer in December, Wheeler has dabbled in a variety of her own creative takes on tacos, from Jamaican jerk chicken to chipotle orange pulled pork and roasted sweet potato and black bean, in addition to those with more traditional fillings like seasoned ground beef. The Traveling Taco was a weekly mainstay at Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker throughout the winter season. In addition to being available for catering and private events, Wheeler is planning to participate in several events later this spring and summer, including Taco Tuesday nights at Lake Shore Village Resort in Weare, as well as at select shows at Northlands (formerly Drive-In Live) in Swanzey.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Hands down, it would have to be my knife.

What would you have for your last meal?

King crab legs and a delicious salad, probably an arugula salad with some kind of goat cheese and a balsamic drizzle.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Harlow’s Pub in Peterborough. I like the Blairwich sandwich. It’s a roast beef sandwich and it has pepper jack cheese, horseradish mayo and jalapeno peppers.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your food trailer?

The first person that came to mind was Snoop Dogg, so I’m going to go with him. … I feel like he’d be smiling and ready to eat some tacos.

What is your personal favorite menu item that you have offered?

My favorite … has been the black bean and sweet potato tacos, [which also] had guacamole and a drizzle of salsa verde.

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

Food trucks, especially now, because I feel like you can dine out from a food truck and it feels more normal … than when you go eat inside of a restaurant.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

One of our favorite meals in my family is surf and turf. A really nice grilled steak and then maybe crab or seared scallops to go with that.

Jalapeno tomato cheddar bisque
From the kitchen of Rebecca Wheeler of The Traveling Taco food truck

5 jalapenos (depending on size and spice level desired)
5 shallots
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
Splash of sherry
Sea salt and black pepper
Slice shallots and jalapenos and saute in a soup pot with a little olive oil. When they start to caramelize, add a splash of sherry and diced tomatoes, then simmer. When the flavors all come together, blend until smooth. Finish by adding heavy cream and cheddar cheese. Season with sea salt and black pepper.

Food & Drink
Farmers markets
• Cole Gardens Winter Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Cole Gardens (430 Loudon Road, Concord), now through April 17. Visit colegardens.com.
• Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to noon, at 20 S. Main Street in Concord, now through late April. Find them on Facebook @downtownconcordwinterfarmersmarket.
• Salem Farmers Market is Sundays, from 10 a.m. to noon, inside the former Rockler Woodworking building (369 S. Broadway, Salem). Visit salemnhfarmersmarket.org.

Featured photo: Rebecca Wheeler

Tastes of Puerto Rico

Empanellie’s opens in Nashua

Steps away from Main Street, a new eatery now open in downtown Nashua is serving up authentic Puerto Rican cuisine, including made-to-order hot pressed sandwiches, loaded french fries and an eclectic assortment of sweet and savory empanadas.

Empanellie’s, which arrived last month near the corner of Main and West Pearl streets, also features a daily Latin food buffet and a selection of locally sourced cold desserts. Owner Nelson Mercado, who was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and came to Nashua at the age of 6, said the restaurant gets its name by combining the word “empanada” with the name of his mother, Nellie, who is one of several celebrated cooks in his family.

Mercado, who also owns Made Men Barbershop & Lounge a few blocks down the same street, said talks to open an empanada restaurant originated last year with his clients as a great addition to the growing diversity in Nashua. He began renovating the empty storefront that would become Empanellie’s just before the onset of the pandemic, briefly pausing on the project for a few months before jumping back in.

The first things you may notice when you walk into Empanellie’s are its bright warm colors and vibrant aesthetics — Mercado said they represent the uplifting of cities and neighborhoods in Puerto Rico that were affected by recent natural disasters like Hurricane Maria. Much of the restaurant’s featured decor is also representative of different traditions on the island.

Empanellie’s general manager, Francisco “Franky” Arocho, who is also from Puerto Rico and has been in New Hampshire for nearly a decade, said the empanadas are among the top sellers. Each empanada shell is six inches wide when folded and a couple of inches thick, stuffed with anything from beef or chicken with cheese to all kinds of experimental fillings. One such option that has been popular lately, he said, has been the pastelón empanada.

“Pastelón is basically a lasagna, but made out of sweet plantains. If you’re Puerto Rican then you always ate that when you were a kid at home,” Arocho said. “We decided to incorporate that inside of an empanada, so it’s a mixture of beef, cheese and sweet plantains.”

A buffet offering various meats, rices, fruits, vegetables and more is also available with an always changing menu of items sold by the pound.

“I think if you grab a little bit of everything, the most you’ll pay is probably $14,” Arocho said. “It’s not a set menu either. It can change every day, but we try to have what sells the most.”

Other items are made to order, like the sandwiches — those options include a traditional Cubano with ham, pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard; a tripleta, or a three-meat blend of chicken, pork and steak that’s topped with potato sticks, cheese and a house sauce; and a jibarito, or a sandwich made with flattened plantains in place of the bread.

“The jibarito is a very famous sandwich from Puerto Rico,” Arocho said. “We smash the plantains, fry them up and then add lettuce, tomato, cheese and whatever meat you like.”

Empanellie’s also serves alcapurrias, a popular Puerto Rican fritter dish featuring mashed green bananas stuffed with meat and served with a house dipping sauce; and papas locas, or loaded french fries with chicken, pork, steak, barbecue sauce, cheese and hickory-smoked bacon. Similar dishes can be prepared with sweet plantains in place of the fries.

For dessert, you’ll find some flavors of sweet empanadas like strawberry and Nutella, apple pie, and guava and cream cheese, plus a collection of items sourced from Dulces Bakery of Manchester. The tres leches, for instance, are cakes soaked in three different types of milk, topped with homemade whipped cream and served in refrigerated single-portion cups. They come in a variety of flavors, from vanilla and salted caramel to Nutella, guava, pineapple, and dulce de leche.

Eventually, Arocho said, they hope to expand their menu offerings to include breakfast empanadas and sandwiches, and they’d like to feature live music.

Empanellie’s
Where: 83 W. Pearl St., Nashua
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. (hours may be subject to change)
More info: Follow them on Facebook and Instagram @empanellies or call 417-7875. A website is expected to be launched soon.

Feautred photo: Photo courtesy of The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery

Taking flight

Flight Center opening second location in Manchester, introducing speakeasy concept

When you walk inside The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery’s newest location in southern Manchester, on track to open later this month, you’ll be asked a simple question — are you here for your “flight” or are you here to “pick up your luggage?”

Depending on your answer, you’ll then be led to one of two uniquely different operations under one roof, or “a concept within a concept,” as Flight Center founder Seth Simonian coined. One side, featuring a dining room and bar with brick-oven pizzas, sandwiches, appetizers and more than 50 craft beers on tap, will look and feel familiar to patrons of the eatery’s Nashua counterpart. The other side, facing away from the main road, is home to a 1920s-inspired speakeasy-style bar, similar to others in New Hampshire, like CodeX Books. Antiques. Rarities. (B.A.R) in Nashua and Chuck’s BARbershop in Concord.

“All you’re going to see is a wall of suitcases, and it’s soundproof, so you’re not going to hear anything from the other side,” Simonian said. “You have to press the right suitcase to signal the host on the other side of the door to know that you’re there to let you in and greet you.”

Liu Vaine, one of Simonian’s partners, has helped build several of the other speakeasy-like spaces across New Hampshire after being inspired by the concept in New York City. Much like this one, the entrances to these “secret” bars are hidden behind some type of structured facade.

“Liu and I had been tossing around the idea of what The Flight Center and CodeX would look like in the same building,” said Simonian, who is also a managing partner in local eateries like the 1750 Taphouse in Bedford and Cheddar & Rye in Manchester. “[The speakeasy] will be called The Lost Luggage, [but] you’re not going to see that on a sign anywhere.”

Simonian said the group’s original plan was to pursue opening a brewery in the now-closed British Beer Co. location in Westford, Mass. When those plans fell through, they learned that the Massachusetts-based chain’s Manchester location had become available.

“We came into this space … and realized it was perfect for what we had been talking about,” Simonian said.

Several mainstays of The Flight Center’s food menu in Nashua — including the pretzels with house beer cheese, the chicken wings, the tater tot “totchos,” and the brick-oven pizzas — will all be on the menu in Manchester, along with some new items like house burgers, and entrees like steak and frites and shrimp and grits. New house desserts are in the works too, like Black Forest brownies and seasonal cheesecakes prepared with select types of beers or liquors.

In addition to the always rotating line of beers on tap, there will be a selection of bourbons, whiskeys and scotches, plus an expanded offering of wines.

The speakeasy side, which encompasses about a third of the building’s overall interior space, according to Simonian, features a craft cocktail menu of its own.

“The idea is that it’s a very high-end craft cocktail experience, where your bartenders have the ability to build a cocktail to your mood,” Simonian said. “At CodeX, there is a cocktail menu that you’re ordering 14 to 15 drinks from, and then they’ll also build you a cocktail based on your needs. You’ll see something very similar here.”

The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery
Featuring the in-house speakeasy-style bar The Lost Luggage. An opening date is expected in the coming weeks. Follow them on social media or email them for updates.
Where: 1071 S. Willow St., Manchester
Hours: TBA
More info: Find them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @flightcentermht, or send an email to info@flightcenterbc.com

Feautred photo: Photo courtesy of The Flight Center Taphouse & Eatery

The Weekly Dish 21/04/08

News from the local food scene

• Cheers to beers: Breweries all over the Granite State are celebrating New Hampshire Craft Beer Week, which kicked off on Wednesday, April 7, and will continue all the way through Saturday, April 17. Be sure to check in with your favorite breweries on their websites or social media channels — many will showcase special beer releases and host virtual or in-person trivia nights, live music performances and other events — or visit nhbrewers.org for the most up-to-date happenings. Our coverage of Craft Beer Week can also be found on page 30 of The Hippo’s April 1 edition.

• Spring into deliciousness: Local gourmet food products, cookbooks for sale and onsite food trucks will all be part of the Great New England Spring Specialty Foods & Artisan Show, a two-day rain or shine event happening on Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11, at the Hampshire Dome (34 Emerson Road, Milford). In addition to more than 100 booths featuring artisan and food vendors both indoors and outdoors, the show will feature live music, cash door prizes, raffles and more. Tickets are $5 per person (free for kids ages 14 and under) and are valid for both days — show times are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Visit gnecraftartisanshows.com.

• LaBelle Market coming soon: LaBelle Winery owners Amy LaBelle and her husband Cesar Arboleda recently announced the name of their new culinary market and gift shop coming soon to Derry. LaBelle Market, according to a press release, is scheduled to open by mid to late May in the space that formerly housed the onsite pro shop of Brookstone Events & Golf (14 Route 111, Derry). “The concept … came about after many years of traveling in the United States and abroad,” LaBelle said in a statement. “I often visited markets selling incredibly fresh, local and unique products, and always found shopping at them to be fun and inspiring.” According to the release, the market will feature prepared and made-to-order foods, including baked goods, specialty sandwiches, salads, grain bowls and wood-fired pizzas. Grocery items will include assorted breads, artisanal cheeses and prime cuts of beef. The market, which is adjacent to the new Americus Restaurant, will be open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., with both indoor and outdoor seating available. Visit labellewinerynh.com for updates on its opening.

• NOCA to introduce new flavors: Spiked still water company NOCA, launched in 2019 by University of New Hampshire graduates and friends Alex Febonio, Galen Hand and Richard Roy, has announced plans to move its production to the Granite State and will also be releasing new flavors in April, according to a press release. The original product line of NOCA, which stands for “no carbonation,” features three flavors of filtered water with a fermented cane sugar base: dragon fruit mango, watermelon lime and triple berry, all with an ABV of 4.5 percent, according to the NOCA website. The new flavors, which are expected to roll out this month, will include pineapple, cherry, peach, lime and lemon, according to the release.

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