Tag: 241017

Dining among the stars at the Taste of NH

Restaurants gather at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

The Taste of New Hampshire is a yearly opportunity for the public to spend an evening mingling, seeing and being seen, and trying food from dozens of local restaurants. It is also one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central and Northern New Hampshire.

Kamini Jorgensen is the Events Manager for the organization. She said Taste of New Hampshire is a big night for the capital area restaurant community. This year the event will be held at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord. Participating restaurants will be spread throughout the museum, and attendees will be able to travel from one station to another, enjoying the Discovery Center’s exhibits and trying samples from each restaurant.

“We’ll have a bunch of local restaurants downstairs,” Jorgensen said, “along with a couple upstairs where the big bar will be, which is with New Hampshire Distributors. They are spread out throughout the whole museum. Down the hallway [on the first floor] toward their planetarium there will be about five restaurants. We’ll have a bunch in the main area and then some upstairs as well.”

John Constant will be on the first floor. He is the owner of Constantly Pizza (39 S. Main St., Concord, 224-9366, constantlypizza.net). He said that in terms of catering jobs Taste of New Hampshire is pretty low-stress.

“I would say this is a medium-sized catering job,” Constant said. “This one’s just a really special job because we’re doing it to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club, so this is more of like enjoyment than actual work, you know?”

Constant will be presenting dishes from his catering menu. “We’re going to have our homemade macaroni and cheese,” he said. “We’re going to have a ravioli pasta dish, we’re going to have our calzone platters, and we’re going to be sampling our homemade meatballs.”

Devin Flanagan, the owner of Flanagan’s South Ender Deli Market (250 South St., Concord, 856-8020, flanaganssouthender.com), will be focusing on meat.

“We started a boutique butcher shop within our store,” Flanagan said, “so we will be showcasing our marinated chicken breast, our marinated steak tips and our pork tenderloin.”

Last year was Flanagan’s first time at Taste of New Hampshire, and he was impressed with the way the event’s organizers spaced out the restaurants.

“I really thought it was a great turnout last year,” he said, “and I really like how they separated all the restaurants in different rooms, so you could actually explore the area. You know, a lot of people had never been there before, and it’s just really thoughtfully laid out.”

Kamini Jorgensen said Taste of New Hampshire is a high point of her job. “I really enjoy seeing a bunch of new faces come in,” she said.

The Taste of New Hampshire
When: Tuesday, Oct. 22, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, 2 Institute Drive, Concord, 271-7827, starhop.com

Who’s there?
Participants at Taste of New Hampshire will include

110 Grill
70 North Kitchen
Alan’s Of Boscawen
The Barley House
Boys & Girls Clubs Of Central NH
CC Tomatoes
The Common Man
Concord Country Club
Constantly Pizza
Flag Hill Winery
Flanagan’s Southender
Granite State Candy
Hermanos Cocina Mexicana
M.S. Walker
New Hampshire Distributors
O Steaks And Seafood
Pats Peak Banquet Center
Red Arrow Diner
RNDC (previously known as Horizon Beverage)
Smokeshow Barbeque
The Brussel: Custom Catering & Events
The Wine’ing Butcher
Vinnie’s Pizza
Tandy’s Top Shelf

Featured Photo: Courtesy photo.

What the Pho! finds the balance

Traditional and fusion come together at Manchester restaurant

For Chris Caddy, owner of What The Pho!, a new noodle and tiki bar in Manchester, designing a menu is about striking balances — between sweet and sour, spicy and savory, fusion and authentic. It’s a lot to keep in mind. For instance, how many different flavors or textures should you include in a dish?

“I’m trying to get multiple layers of flavors,” Caddy said. “But when you get to more than three flavor profiles, everything gets muddied.” He used What the Pho!’s beef carpaccio as an example. Traditionally a carpaccio is an appetizer made of thinly sliced, often raw, meat or fish with a sauce. For a lot of restaurants a carpaccio’s simplicity can be a trap: Too much ornamentation or competing flavors will cover up the subtleties of the protein, but if it’s not complemented in some way, there’s a danger it will just sit there and slide into a single flavor profile that loses the eater’s attention after the first bite.

Caddy worked to keep each element on his carpaccio plate simple but to provide a bite or two of side dishes to give enough of a contrast to let the beef shine through. The beef is lightly seasoned.

“There’s a toasted sesame aioli and chili oil,” he said, “and then we finish it with Himalayan sea salt. In the center there’s a little salad of cucumber and sweet onions to offset it with something cool and tossed in our poke sauce. And then we’ve got some kettle chips on the side for crunch. You’ve got different mouthfeels, you’ve got different textures and different flavors.”

As a non-Asian chef, Caddy said perfecting a quintessentially Vietnamese dish like pho — a rich, spicy noodle soup, pronounced ‘fuh’ — involved a lot of trial and error.

“It was an intensive, every single day, multiple-hour learning curve,” he said, “just researching, researching, researching, buying different ingredients I was unfamiliar with, and just tons and tons of asking questions.” One of those questions was how authentic he wanted his pho to be.

“The thing is, we’re not a pho place,” Caddy said. “We’re an Asian fusion place. And pho, it’s in the name, and I want to draw people in with that. I’m addicted to pho myself. But what I wanted isn’t a perfectly traditional pho.” And the key to a great pho is in the broth. “Every time I’ve heard a Vietnamese person talk about pho, they go into how hard it is to get the broth right. Of course, if you’re from the Vietnamese culture, you’re carrying cultural expectations with you.” Because he wasn’t trying to be authentically Vietnamese, Caddy had a little more wiggle room in how he prepared his broth. “I roast the bones so we get a darker, richer flavor,” he said. “And all the usual suspects are there — the coriander, the ginger, the cinnamon, the cardamom, and all the charred onions and all that — but one of the things I wanted to do was give it more depth. Finally we reached the point where we said, ‘Let’s not do anything more with it.’ So we’re trying to stay in the ballpark, but I’m trying to elevate things slightly So it’s not, you know, it’s not the same exact [soup] as when you walk into like a little mom-and-pop Vietnamese place. It’s going to be a slightly different thing.”

For Caddy and his staff, the mission is to give the same level of attention to the food, their cocktails and the restaurant’s decor.

“When you can do that with the drinks,” Caddy said, “and with the food, the fun thing for me is when I watch people just enjoying everything we’ve created. It makes me really happy. That’s kind of the payoff for me.”

What The Pho!
836 Elm St., Manchester (next to Bookery and Cat Alley)
606-8769, whatthephorestaurant.com
Open seven days a week: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m to 9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m., and Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m.
Orders can be placed online for pickup.

Featured Photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 24/10/17

News from the local food scene

• German cooking for two: There will be an Oktoberfest-themed cooking class for couples on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com). Learn to make jägerschnitzel(pork schnitzel with mushroom gravy), Semmelknödel(bread dumplings) and German apple cake. Teams of two work together in this hands-on class. The cost is $165 per couple.

• Tableside tequila: Join The Birch on Elm (968 Elm St., Manchester, 836-1958, birchonelm.com) for a tequila dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. Experience a curated five-course meal with specially selected Don Julio Tequila alongside each course. Courses will feature butternut squash “steak,” seared scallops, fish tacos, carne asada al pastor, and classic tres leches. Tickets are $165 each through eventbrite.com.

• Gourmet Italian wine pairings: There will be a five-course Wine Dinnerin Trattoria Fondi at the Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) on Wednesday, Oct. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. This 21+ dinner will feature wine selections from the Ruffino wine portfolio. Each dish is paired with wines that showcase Ruffino’s offerings, beginning with a prosecco, followed by a crisp white and finished with bold reds. Tickets are $125+ per person through eventbrite.com and must be purchased in advance.

• A Brewfest in Goffstown: The Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest will take place Saturday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of Mountain Base Brewery, 553 Mast Road, No. 111, Goffstown (935-7132, mountainbasebrewery.com). Tickets are$35 in advance at workerbeefund.org/events, or $45 at the gate. All profits go to support the Worker Bee Fund, workerbeefund.org.

Treasure Hunt 24/10/17

Dear Donna,

Can you help me age this Mickey Mouse eraser? Is there any value to it?

Thank you.

Christine

Dear Christine,

I have seen many of these so I think I can help.

Your Mickey Mouse pencil top eraser was manufactured by the Diener Co. The owner was a good friend of Walt Disney. In the late 1950s he produced a line of Disney character erasers from his company. Along with Mickey there were many other Disney characters —Pinocchio, Goofy, Dumbo, Donald Duck etc. I believe yours, in the style it is, was from the late 1950s or 1960s. The value is in the range of $15 in good condition.

Christine, I hope this was helpful and thanks for a smile. How can you not when you see a Disney item?

Kiddie Pool 24/10/17

Family fun for whenever

Season of fun

Windham Recreation Department will hold its annual Harvest Fest on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Griffin Park. A Doggie Costume Parade will take place at 11 a.m. (check in at 10 a.m.) with judging in several categories, according to sarlnh.org, where you can register your pup in advance. The Fest itself will feature DJ Greg; Wildlife Encounters from 1 to 3 p.m.; a bubble performer from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.; a Kids’ Horrible Costume Parade with a 2:45 p.m. line-up, and Mr. Aaron’s Halloween show at 3:30 p.m. as well as games, crafts, pumpkin decorating and Halloween treats, according to windhamnh.gov.

It’s Touch A Tractor day at the Coppal House Farm (118 N. River Road in Lee; nhcornmaze.com) on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Get photo ops with large farm implements before exploring the corn maze, which is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the website. (The maze is also open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. — last admission is 4:30 p.m.) On Sunday, Oct. 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., catch Wildlife Encounters, which will bring their animals to the farm (see weecocenter.com), the website said. Admission to the corn maze costs $10 per person for ages 13+ and $8 for ages 5 to 12; kids age 4 and under get in for free, the website said.

On stage

Alice in Wonderland Jr. will be presented by the Peacock Players at Janice B. Streeter Theatre (14 Court St., Nashua) Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 27. Shows are 7 p.m. on Fridays, 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. TIckets cost $15 and $18 for adults; $12 and $15 for students and seniors.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid will be performed by the Manchester Community Theatre Players at The MCTP Theatre at North End Montessori School (698 Beech St., Manchester) Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 27. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. According to a press release from the Players, The Little Mermaid is musically directed by Christie Conticcio and directed by Trysran Stoffel who said, “Our production of The Little Mermaid is full of life, color and laughter.” Tickets to this family musical comedy cost $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and $10 for ages 18 and under. See mcpt.info.

Pumpkins of the Piscataquag

The Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Regatta returns

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, is the weekend of Goffstown’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Regatta.

Tina Lawton is a volunteer of the organization and is currently the president of the board of directors. “It’s a two-day event. It’s been around for a long time. This will be the 23rd year,” Lawton said.

How did it get started? “We had some giant pumpkin growers and one of them had a great idea: ‘What if we turn it into a boat and race it down the river?’ And so that’s what they did. It was very popular so it’s kept on year after year,” Lawton said. This year’s theme is Pirates of the Piscataquag River. The length of the race when scaled to pumpkins is quite the journey for these nautical gourds.

“They go from where the dam starts to the bridge. They’re going up the river and there are a bit of escapades that happen where we have, you know, somebody coming out to challenge them, shoot them with water, try and get them off course. So it stretches the race out a little bit so it’s more entertaining for the people that are just all over the place trying to see this race,” Lawton said.

“This year we’ll have six boats, and that’s plenty because there’s not a lot of room. One time we had nine and it was very challenging,” Lawton said.

These pumpkin vessels are large, weighing in at “close to, if not over, 1,000 pounds,” she said, usually hailing from New Hampshire or Vermont.

“We have a tremendous amount of vendors throughout the village of Goffstown from Elm to Depot street and all the businesses are open and it’s a great time to highlight the charm of the village and to highlight the businesses and help people understand that it’s important to support the small-business owners for what they get to the community,” Lawton said.

Other competitions include a pumpkin cook-off, a dog costume contest and a pie eating contest, Lawton said.

“Then we have a pumpkin decorating contest this year,” she added. “There is a scavenger hunt that we have in the village, and that’s again to sort of get people to explore and discover some of the businesses.”

Apples do make a brief cameo. “We have ‘apple slingshots,’ which is very popular. So there’s these giant slingshots that we set up and there’s usually a very long line for usually kids and sometimes dads to slingshot apples into the river and try and hit targets.”

Especially for the kids there will also be bounce houses and some vendors will offer face painting, Lawton said.

Attendees will see a first this year. “One of my board members wants to do a parade, they want to parade the final pumpkin. So the pumpkins come down, the very early part of the first day, the giant pumpkins arrive, it’s sort of like a whole thing, they sort of arrive, unload, they weigh them, and that’s a contest in itself. Once that’s all over they take pumpkins all the way down to the other end of Main Street where they’re going to be placed to turn into pumpkin boats. People like to see the giant pumpkins moving up the street.”

What happens to all the pumpkin insides that are taken out? “That’s a big DPW sort of thing. They have a big truck. We have lots of trash cans and flat loaders. As soon as the pumpkin drops and it’s safe, the kids will run out and try and get some of the big seeds that are from that pumpkin that dropped. And then one thing is important, when they are carving the big pumpkins at the boat, those seeds from that particular pumpkin, they go back to the grower so that they can grow them next year.”

Spellbound
When: Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20
Where: Goffstown
Info: goffstownmainstreet.org/pumpkin-regatta

Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 19
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Rummage Sale and Bake Sale St. Matthew’s (5 N. Mast St.)
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Goffstown Congregational Church Yard Sale (10 Main St.)
9 a.m. – giant pumpkins arrive at the Common
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Touch a Truck (Depot Street behind Citizens Bank)
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Friends Of GPL Library Book Sale at the Library (2 High St.)
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Apple Slingshots (Mill Street)
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. – vendor booths, concessions, bounce house, GMSP Scavenger Hunt (start at 4 Main St.), live music at Rotary Park
10 a.m. – giant pumpkin carving begins
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Art Show Off at Town Hall (16 Main St.)
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Annual Quilt Challenge voting at Night Owl Quilting (4 Main St.)
11 a.m. – Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at the Common
11 a.m. – Pet Costume Contest at Glen Lake Animal Hospital (15 Elm St.)
11:30 a.m. – Parading of the Pumpkin (starts at Elm & Main, ends at Main & Mill)
2:30 p.m. – Giant Pumpkin Boat Building on Mill Street; Pumpkin Cook-Off Contest (5 N. Mast St.)

Sunday, Oct. 20
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – pumpkin painting at Goffstown Ace Hardware
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – vendor booths, concessions, bounce house
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Art Show Off at Town Hall; Cars on Main (7 Main St.)
10:30 a.m. – Apple Slingshot on Mill Street (while supplies last); Pumpkin Decorating Contest judging (4 Main St.)
Noon – Giant Pumpkin Drop (Depot Street across from the USPS)
1 p.m. – Pie Eating Contest on Mill Street
2 p.m. – Mini Pumpkin Race for the 50/50 Raffle on the River
3 p.m. – Finale: Giant Pumpkin Regatta at the River

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

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