Tag: 220120

Album Reviews 22/01/20

Bird Friend, Carolyn Know (self-released)

Fans of folk revivalists like Karen Dalton and Jackson C. Frank, Manchester local Geoff Himsel and his girlfriend and musical co-conspirator Carson Kennedy were covered before on this page back in June 2020, upon the release of their I Am The Hand album, which was a pretty trippy little joint, full of real-sounding samples of rain, train station sounds and thunderclaps. Thankfully the pair hasn’t lost their taste for weird-beardness; opening track “Will You Miss Me/A Brighton Beach Of The Body” begins with some sort of circa-1930s-sounding radio broadcast, which is charming on its own, and then the duo ease into some organic, vintage-sounding busking that evokes Dust Bowl sharecroppers on a deserted street corner. More old-time-radio chatter and happy desolation ensues, most agreeably on “Angel Was My Friend,” at which point you begin picturing unplugged Woodstock performances of old, things like this. Some courageous, warm-hearted stuff here. A+

Pete Malinverni, On The Town: Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts Recordings)

Well that makes two winners this week, this one more in the category of records to be listened to when you absolutely, positively must chill. Jazz pianist Malinverni has been a fixture in the New York scene for 40 years if I’m reading this right, and toward our purposes, one of the highlights of his career was meeting legendary composer Leonard Bernstein. For what it’s worth, I totally get that; the first rock star I met still evokes memories of encountering a being not of this earth, so I can understand why Malinverni felt the need to, well, commemorate that meeting at long last. And so our principal here settles in with bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Jeff Hamilton to deliver stunningly genial versions of such classics as “New York New York,” “Some Other Time” and “I Feel Pretty” with the utmost care; the renditions feel intimate, playful and absolutely spot-on. A+

PLAYLIST

• Yo homies, Jan. 21, is creepin’ up on us, bearing with it “gifts” of hot new albums, for you to buy, ignore or, in my case, see if they make me barf! These are the days that try men’s souls, nothing but frozen tundra, slush and Alaskan mountain blizzardry until July, when we switch over to baking ourselves like microwaved Hot Pockets just to get low-grade lattes! But our North Pole life isn’t our focus today; no, we’re supposed to be poking innocent fun at new albums. Say, do you remember when X-Files person David Duchovny made a couple of albums and I was super-nice to them here, except for the part where I said they kind of sucked? What about when Billy Mumy from the 1960s TV show Lost In Space made some albums, and they sucked because there was no Dr. Smith freaking out and screeching in fear? I wonder if any more overrated actors will ever dare to step in to my critical crosshairs, to risk everything to see if I can stomach what musical thing they’re attempting, oh wait, look, it’s none other than Kiefer Sutherland, former Lost Boys and 24 star and now de facto president of the United States, with an album of his own, called Bloor Street, due out Friday! Bloor Street is an actual place in Toronto, Canada, which is north of us, covered in snow and ice, a place where you always have to watch out for Grinches and Abominable Bumble monsters until the weather turns warm in — well, it never does, so maybe Kiefer’s album is about his boyhood times living in a Toronto igloo before his famous dad Donald let him come to live with him in Hollywood, I have no idea. I know, I know, let’s get this over with, there’s some dumb YouTube video for the title track of this album, I’m going to go and see if I can stand it right now! Whoopsy daisy, Kief, way to rip off the guitar part from Bob Seger’s “Against The Wind,” what are you even doing. I don’t know, I suppose the rest of it is OK, if you like bands like Train. I don’t, so so I’m just going to move on to our next tale of terror. Let’s go, folks.

• Yes, finally I catch a break, after no new albums to talk about for weeks, here they are, my favorite psychedelic-stoner-rock band, only because their name is super-long and fills up all sorts of column space, yes, it’s Australian boneheads King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, with their first album of 2022, Butterfly 3001! Mind you, this is a remix album, and — holy crow, look at the participants, DJ Shadow did a rewrite of “Black Hot Soup” and called it “My Own Reality,” but this might be a troll on King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s part, because I can’t find proof that DJ Shadow did anything with that Blind Melon-ish song, so forget it, but Canadian punker Peaches’ remix, “Neu Butterfly 3000,” is super cool, draped in a busy, pretty world-music fractal.

• Yikes, time for me to waddle out of my comfort zone and talk about Things Are Great, the new LP from Seattle folk-indie dweebs Band of Horses! I don’t wanna, but I’ll listen to the single “Crutch” only because you demand it. Yuck, as always, it sounds like a B-side from the ’70s band America, like it’s music to shear your sheep to, aren’t sheep so cute, get me out of here before I melt down completely.

• Last but not least, it’s pale and slightly edgy-looking Norwegian synthpop girl Aurora, whom I’ve never heard of, ever, with The Gods We Can Touch, her new album! Hmm, I actually like the single, “Giving In To The Love,” it’s got some big bouncy Blue Man Group-style drums, ABBA-pop hooks, some Zola Jesus edge, there’s nothing wrong here folks, great stuff.

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. Message me on Twitter (@esaeger) or Facebook (eric.saeger.9).

’68 Barracuda

The idea had been a solid one: walking around Boston’s North End, comparing the ricotta pie at as many Italian bakeries as possible.

Okay — I was comparing the ricotta pie. The rest of my party was comparing cannoli.

I get it — cannoli are good. Extremely good. But let’s face it. They’re no ricotta pie. I feel strongly about ricotta pie — to the extent that I fervently believe that if they held a Miss Greater Boston Italian Pastry beauty competition, an actual slice of ricotta pie would almost certainly win. Yes, the other girls would cry.

Until they ate the winner.

At any rate, we had taken a short break from pastry-eating and had stepped into an Italian deli to get warm. The rest of my group was oohing and ahhing over imported pasta and balsamic vinegar. I was looking at the olives in the deli case, when I accidentally made eye contact with the man behind the counter.

He gave me a half chin lift nod of recognition, then, seemingly recognizing something in me, he asked, “Are you an Olive Guy?”

As it happens, I am an olive guy.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to keep it cool, “I’m an Olive Guy.”

He looked briefly to each side, as if he might be overheard, then reached into the case and tapped a bin of small black olives. His voice dropped to just above a whisper.

“These, My Friend,” he confided in me, “these are the ’68 Barracuda of Olives.” He looked at me for my reaction.

I looked at the olives critically — I mean, it was already a foregone conclusion that I was going to buy the olives, but I didn’t want to look too easy. They were very small, about the size of black jelly beans, but darker. Much darker. The air around them almost shimmered as it was tugged at by their blackness.

“Yeah,” I said after a few seconds, “Gimme half a pound, please.”

My new friend didn’t move. He stood there, watching me impassively.

“Um, and another half a pound in another container,” I added.

He nodded very slightly with approval, and got me my olives.

They were extremely good olives.

’68 Barracuda

At this point, after that very olive-centric story, you could be excused for expecting an olive-based cocktail. And indeed there is a lot to be said for, and about, dirty martinis, the gold standard — the ’68 Barracuda, if you will — of olive-based cocktails, but that is a study for another time. No, this time, we’re going to go in the other direction — the Barracuda.

A Barracuda is a standard if not terribly well-known cocktail — very fruit-forward, and in spite of its name a fairly innocuous drink. Yes, it has a fairly lengthy list of ingredients, but it is a pleasant if not terribly memorable cocktail.

This is a tweak on the original.

Ingredients

  • ice
  • ⅔ ounce Galliano, an Italian, vanilla-forward liqueur, in a freakishly beautiful bottle
  • ⅓ ounce grenadine
  • 1 small Fresno pepper
  • ⅔ ounce white rum
  • ⅓ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • ⅔ ounce pineapple juice
  • sparkling wine — I used Cava.

Slice the pepper into a shaker, and muddle it thoroughly.

Add an ounce or so of white rum to the shaker, then “dry shake” it. This means to shake it without ice. (The capsaicin — the spicy compounds — of the pepper are alcohol-soluble, which means that the straight rum will extract them pretty well. They are not water-soluble, so the juices or ice would interfere with the process.)

Add everything but the sparkling wine to an ice-filled rocks glass, then top with the wine.

It’s up to you whether to stir, or not to stir.

The juices and grenadine give a dependable Tiki-like background flavor to a standard Barracuda. Regular white rum is happy to hide in the background, wrapped in a comfortable vanilla blanket of Galliano. The star of this show, singing out proudly like it’s ’80s Night at a Tiki karaoke, is the Fresno chile.

Why Fresno?

I’m glad you asked. For years my go-to chile has been a classic jalapeño. It’s got a great flavor. It’s hot, but not too hot. It’s been great.

But sadly, in recent years it’s let itself go. Eighty percent of the time it has no heat and even less flavor; it’s usually in lawn-clippings territory. The other 20 percent of the time it’s as if it’s sobered up and tries to make up for lost time, and blows the top of your head off. Fresnos are more dependable.

And, not for nothin’, they’re red, which suits this drink better anyway.

Featured photo: ’68 Barracuda. Photo by John Fladd.

What goes with football?

Pairing wines with NFL playoff chicken wings

It is the NFL playoff season and time to have those football-centered house parties. The mainstay of those parties is, of course, chicken wings! Deep-fried chicken wings have southern roots, but coating the wings in a spicy butter-based sauce reportedly has its roots in Buffalo, New York, the home of the Bills, who just halted the New England Patriots in their pursuit of advancing in the playoffs. Recipes for preparing those cherished wings can vary from a lemony-pepper sauce to a Sriracha-based sauce to a myriad of mustard- or vinegar-based sauces with varying amounts of sweetness and spice.

It goes without saying that beer certainly has a place at the table with all those wings, sour cream and celery, but there are several types of wine that can also be seated next to those revered wings, and we will explore a few of them. When considering which wine to serve, there should be a balance between the buttery sauce coating those wings and a slightly acidic wine that refreshes the palate.

Our first wine, the 2017 Château de Fesles Anjou Chenin Sec (originally priced at $59.99, and reduced to $21.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets), comes from the Anjou region of the Loire River Valley of France. The color of this chenin blanc is straw that somehow has a sparkle even though it is a still wine. It has a floral nose of citric blossoms that transform to the palate with dried fruit, honey and toasted bread. This slightly citric wine will clean the tongue of the rich, complex, sweet and spicy notes of those wings.

Our second wine, the 2017 La Grand Comtadine Premières Vendanges Vacqueyras (originally priced at $64.99, and reduced to $22.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets), is a classic Mediterranean Southern Rhone red wine. Produced as a blend of 50 percent grenache, 40 percent shiraz/syrah and 10 percent mourvedre, it offers texture and complexity with ripe fruit that works nicely with the warm, red sauces coating the wings. The color is a deep red with a nose of dried plums. To the tongue, the fruit recedes with good, strong tannins of leather. This is a wine with body that will complement those wings.

Our third wine, the 2020 Vigne Regali Rosa Regale Brachetto D’Acqui Sparkling Red Wine by Banfi (originally priced at $19.99, and reduced to $14.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets), is an interesting study of pairing the slight sweetness of this wine to a tomato, mustard, vinegar-based sauce. Castello Banfi is a family-owned vineyard estate and winery located in the Brunello region of Tuscany. Fermentation of 100 percent brachetto grapes takes place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats, with bottling immediately afterward. This careful attention to time and temperature results in its slight effervescence and a rich garnet color. To the nose it is full of raspberries and strawberries. To the tongue there is a slight delicate softness that settles to a clean, dry finish. While this wine is frequently paired to desserts, it holds up well to barbecue-style wings.

Our fourth wine, Comte de Saint Aignan Crémant de Loire Brut Première Étoile (originally priced at $28.99, reduced to $14.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets), is a blend of 60 percent chenin blanc, 35 percent chardonnay and 5 percent cabernet franc). The grapes for this sparkling wine come from the Crémant-de-Loire appellation of the Loire River Valley in central France, producing a color that is light gold (almost clear) with persistent but sparse bubbles. The nose is slightly nutty with notes of dark honey. To the mouth there are bold citric notes that will complement the freshness of a lemon-pepper sauce on your wings.

So, in settling in to watch your next almost favorite team roll through the playoff brackets, consider these alternatives to beer in pairing with those ubiquitous chicken wings.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Banana whoopie pies

Remember all that healthy eating I wrote about a couple weeks ago? Toss it out the window! I know, healthy eating is important, but so is an occasional dessert!

While chocolate may come to mind when you think of whoopie pies, these banana whoopie pies may just become your go-to version after you make a batch. Much like a typical whoopie pie, they are built around two tender, moist cakes filled with frosting. What makes these extra special are two things. One, they are filled with cream cheese frosting, which helps to balance the sweetness. Second, there is a small layer of walnuts or pecans that adds a nice bit of crunch.

This recipe is about as straightforward as a dessert recipe can be. There are no important ingredient or cooking notes. Just make a batch, and enjoy!

Banana whoopie pies
Makes 12

Cakes
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1½ cups mashed banana, about 3
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
1¾ cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup maple glazed walnut or pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat with paddle attachment on speed 2 until smooth.
Add egg, mixing until fully incorporated on speed 2.
Add banana, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mixing well on speed 2.
Use a spatula to scrape down the sides, and mix again.
Add flour, mixing on low; scrape sides with spatula and mix until fully blended.
Scoop approximately 1½ tablespoons batter, spaced evenly, onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until cakes spring back when touched.
Allow to cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet.
Transfer to a baking rack to cool completely.
To assemble:
In a stand mixer cream together the cream cheese and butter on speed 2 for about 4 minutes.
Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla; mix on low speed until combined.
Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting.
If using the pecan or walnuts, sprinkle a tablespoon on top of the frosting.
Top each with another cake.

Photo: Banana whoopie pies. Photo by Michele Pesula Kuegler

In the kitchen with Celine Costa

Celine Costa of Newton is the owner and head chef of Up Street Food Truck (upstreetfoodtruck.wixsite.com/upstreet, [email protected], and on Facebook and Instagram), which she runs with her partner, Scott Magnusson. Up Street gets its name from its “upscale street food” concept, offering a rotating menu of options like fish tacos, sandwiches, hand-breaded chicken tenders, Thai curry fries or tater tots, fried pickles and more. Since launching the 32- by 10-foot trailer last year, Costa and Magnusson have parked at several spots all over New Hampshire, including Lithermans Limited Brewery in Concord and North Country Hard Cider in Rollinsford, and have participated in local events. Up Street is also available to book for corporate events, weddings and private parties and gatherings.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Herbs are such a big part of our cooking, whether they’re in the dish or as a garnish. I like pairing herbs with different things that you wouldn’t think would necessarily go together.

What would you have for your last meal?

I would definitely do malai kofta from Gypsy Cafe in Lincoln. It’s a north Indian potato dish with vegetables, rolled into little balls in a tomato cream sauce, and they serve it with basmati rice. It’s so delicious.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Cafe El Camino in Plaistow. They’re right down the street from us and they’ve been really good friends. … I would say their beef empanadas are probably one of the best things on the menu, but they have a new guava and cheese empanada that is also really good.

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

Conan O’Brien, because he is my favorite. … I had a dream one time that Scott invited him to my birthday party, so now I just have this whole scene in my head of him showing up. … Scott said Adam Sandler would be pretty cool, too.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

We recently did a sandwich that we called One Hot Honey. It’s a hot honey fried chicken sandwich with a chile-infused hot honey and a spring mix. That’s probably my No. 1.

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

One thing that definitely comes to mind is charcuterie boards. I feel like everybody is doing their own version of their charcuterie board, or something to do with charcuterie. … There’s also an emphasis on buying local. I feel like I see that growing more and more, especially as we travel around.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I would say my grandmother’s cranberry chicken recipe. It just brings back good childhood memories and it’s wicked easy to make.

Beama’s cranberry chicken
From the kitchen of Celine Costa of Up Street Food Truck

8 chicken breasts (totaling 4 pounds)
1 16-ounce can whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 8-ounce bottle Catalina dressing
1 package onion soup mix

Place chicken breasts in a greased baking dish. Preheat the oven to 355 degrees. Combine all other ingredients in a pot and simmer on low heat, stirring until ingredients have combined well. Pour cranberry mixture over chicken and bake for roughly one hour, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. (Suggestion: serve with rice pilaf, grape goat cheese garden salad and cranberry gin and tonic with a sprig of burnt rosemary).

Featured photo: Celine Costa. Courtesy photo.

Hometown comfort

Hare of the Dawg Bar & Grill opens in Derry

For longtime Derry couple Kevin and Lesley Decker, the restaurant business is a new venture, but their vision was simple: a local bar and grill with comfort foods, craft beers and cocktails, where the atmosphere is laid back and everybody knows each other’s names, à la Cheers.

Hare of the Dawg — or “the Dawg,” if you prefer, as Kevin Decker said some are already calling it — opened Jan. 9 in downtown Derry. The Deckers took over the space last year that had long been occupied by the C & K Restaurant and quickly began renovations, which include a 24-seat custom bar built from the ground up by local woodworker Matt Daily of Dailydoes.

The eatery’s name, Kevin Decker said, is a play on the “hair of the dog that bit you,” an old expression commonly heard in bars. The logo features a big black Newfoundland dressed in flannel garb, holding a beer-filled stein with a rabbit (or a “hare”) poking its head out of the top.

“Hair of the dog just means having another drink the day after to cure a hangover, so in other words, having some of the ‘hair of the dog that bit you’ the night before,” Decker said. “We just thought it was a cool name, and we loved the play on words, so we had a lot of fun designing the logo. … The flannel shirt … represents the theme that we wanted, kind of a blue-collar bar. We’re not trying to be a high-end restaurant. We’re trying to be a place where the locals can gather at the end of the work day and have an affordable drink and meal.”

The Deckers recruited Alan Severance, a Manchester native and veteran chef of more than 20 years, to design and oversee the menu. Severance’s culinary resume includes stints at several other local eateries, from The Foundry Restaurant and Moe Joe’s Family Restaurant in Manchester to the former DRAE and CR Sparks restaurants in Derry and Bedford, respectively.

“Kevin and I really wanted a comfort food menu,” Lesley Decker said. “Nothing is pre-made here, so you’re not going to get a frozen spring roll or a frozen mozzarella cheese stick.”

With an opening during the middle of winter, she said warm options like soups, chowders, melts and shepherd’s pie are all part of the menu’s initial lineup of items. But additional colder options, including lighter salads and sandwiches, will likely be part of the menu by the spring or summer.

Appetizers include “Rib off the Hawg” dry-rubbed and slow-roasted St. Louis-style ribs; house-made truffle fries with a shaved Parmesan cheese; and multiple flavors of fried spring rolls, from a Grecian option with spinach, artichoke and feta cheese to a “Rollin Reuben” with slow-cooked corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a side of Thousand Island dressing for dipping.

There is also a build-your-own pizza option with nearly two dozen toppings to customize your pie with, as well as a few specialty flatbreads. The Arezzo flatbread, for instance, features a house mushroom prosecco cream sauce with sauteed spinach, mushroom, feta and mozzarella, while the “WaHuaGo” has a fig and balsamic glaze, caramelized pear, toasted crushed walnuts, and brie and honey goat cheeses. Burgers, sandwiches, sauteed plates and house entrees like meatloaf, fried haddock and beef tips round out the menu.

Hare of the Dawg’s bar features 12 tap lines of beer, and Kevin Decker said he’s aiming to have at least half of those always rotating out with local craft brew options.

“My hope is to bring in some smaller local brewers and do kind of like a craft brewers night, where we’d keep a tap open for them and people can come and sample their stuff,” he said.

A brunch menu of chef’s plates and a bloody mary bar is in the works to debut in the coming months. Lesley Decker added that a special food menu for dogs will be added once the weather is warm enough for them to open their outdoor patio.

“The doggie menu … will have a sweet potato burger that’s served on a Frisbee with our logo on it,” she said.

Hare of the Dawg Bar & Grill

Where: 3 E. Broadway, Derry
Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (closed on Tuesdays)
More info: Find them on Facebook @hareofthedawg (the website, hareofthedawgnh.com, will be live soon and will have an online ordering option) or call 552-3883

Featured photo: Rib off the Hawg (dry-rubbed slow-roasted St. Louis-style ribs). Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

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