Tag: 250515

In the kitchen with Nick Provencher

Executive Chef at The Birch on Elm (968 Elm St., Manchester, 836-1958, birchonelm.com)

“I started by cooking in high school. It was just a part-time job at Nadeau’s sub shop, but I started there, learned a lot of speed, and did that for money,” Provencher said. “I played golf in college but when I came home for summers or ever needed to make money, I always worked in kitchens. It’s kind of my second love behind golf, and eventually after college I dove more into this industry because it’s fast-paced and kind of chaotic, which I like. I really threw myself into it, which started in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I worked for four to five years before coming out to Manchester to help my executive chef at the time open the Foundry. I met the ownership of Birch through that and we started that in 2016 and I’ve been there ever since,” he said.

“I think my philosophy is to keep food outwardly simple while simultaneously having a level of complexity that showcases whatever season we are in, using different techniques and flavors from all around the world.”

What is your must-have kitchen item?

I like a good set of plating spoons. No matter where I am, if I’m doing off-site cooking or at the restaurant, I always make sure I have a little versatile group of plating spoons that I can use. They’re like slightly larger than tablespoons, but you can maneuver them and get your plating just right. Some of them are slotted, in case you need to get rid of excess moisture or liquid.

What would you have for your last meal?

The last one ever would probably have to be like huge rib-eyes and lobster tails. Simple. If I’m going out, that’s probably what I’m going out with.

What is your favorite place other than The Birch to eat out at?

I think someone that has come in alongside of us and helped push the city’s [food scene] forward that I’m really impressed with is probably Evolution. I love what they’re doing there. We’re very happy to have them a block over and help us make this a food destination as much as possible.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see eating at The Birch?

Chef-wise, it would be hard to pass up getting either just shown out for Gordon Ramsay or, if you got yelled at by him, I feel like it would in some way be a weird honor. I came up in more cutthroat, old-school kitchens. I wouldn’t be new to getting chewed out a little.

What’s your favorite thing on your menu?

I’m really proud of our rabbit lasagna. We make all the pasta — well, we make everything in house — but pasta is one of my true loves when it comes to cooking. So we have handmade pasta sheets laid with a velouté that we make from the braising liquid of the rabbit we cook. Housemade ricotta’s layered in there and then a bunch of fresh-grated Parm and all of the braised rabbit meat layered up with our homemade pasta.

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

Honestly, it’d be hard to not say food trucks. I feel like every which way I look, people either I know or am associated with seem to be opening pop-up kitchens and food trucks. If they’re doing well, it’s almost like if they asked me, I’d be like, ‘Hey, keep the truck, man. Your overhead’s low, the variables are minimal. You can control everything.’ Once you get inside four walls, things get a little different.

What’s your favorite thing to cook at home?

If I’m cooking at home, if I have a whole day to cook, I’ll probably be simmering some type of sauce, braising some type of meat and making homemade pasta. I love it.

Featured Image: Nick Provencher. Courtesy photo.

Greek food summer kickoff

Nashua church festival brings gyros and more

By John Fladd

[email protected]

Saint Philip Greek Orthodox Church in Nashua will hold its annual Greek Food Festival this Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Expect classic Greek dishes as well as full meals, including dolmathes, spanakopita, pastitsio, gyros, roasted chicken and juicy marinated lamb and chicken-slow cooked over an open fire. In years past, there have been an entire range of Greek pastries, including baklava and loukoumades hot from the fryer. Everything is homemade using original family recipes.

Lamb shanks made their debut at last year’s Festival. Because shanks come from a hard-working part on a sheep — the calf and shin muscles — they are not flame-grilled like shish kebabs, which use more tender cuts of lamb. The shanks are stewed in tomato sauce for hours, until they are fall-off-the-bone tender. Think of them as a sort of Greek pot roast. Traditionally, gyros have also been a bestseller at the St. Philip Food Festival.

This event kicks off the area’s Greek and Mediterranean food festival season. For the St. Philip congregation it is the culmination of almost a year’s worth of preparation. Groups of parishoners put in weekends of work together throughout the year to make large batches of Greek dishes to be frozen and ready to be cooked this week.

“If we get enough people, we can usually finish up each dish in two days,” said co-chair of the event Marcy Mazur when she spoke to Hippo last year. “We have ample commercial freezer space, so we devote a weekend to making each dish. It’s time-consuming. There are 30 sheets of phyllo in each pan of spanakopita and I don’t even know how many pounds of spinach and feta.” Because making phyllo from scratch is incredibly difficult and time-intensive, even by Greek yia-yia standards, the St. Philip ladies use commercial phyllo. “We don’t make our own phyllo, and we don’t grow our own grape leaves,” Mazur said.

Vine 32 Wine and Graze Bar

Where: Bedford Square, 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 935-8464, vinethirtytwo.com
Hours: open Tuesdays through Thursdays 5 to 9 p.m., Fridays 4 to 10 p.m., Saturdays 2 to 10 p.m., and Sundays 2 to 6 p.m.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The DIY pour

Self-service might be the future of NH wine bars

By John Fladd

[email protected]

A bill is working its way through the state Senate and looks likely to head to the governor’s desk. SB79, introduced in March by Sen. Tim Lang, would enable “the use of self-pour automated systems by liquor commission licensees.” It would allow some bars and restaurants to serve beer and wine to customers using automated self-serve technology.

Vine 32 Wine and Graze Bar in Bedford already uses such a system. According to co-owner Tom Bellemore, Vine32’s system, which has been in place for three years, is currently the only one in operation in New Hampshire. He said that the State has been watching his wine-bar carefully.

“Three years ago, they allowed us to open with our concept and said that depending on how Vine 32 does … if it was successful or not, that would determine if they wanted to pass legislation or codify it into law,” Bellemore said.

While some new customers can be intimidated by using an automated system, Bellemore said, they quickly get comfortable using it.

“From a customer’s point of view,” he said, “you would walk into our establishment, you have the hostess stand to greet you. If you’ve been there before, great. If you haven’t, even better. We’ll kind of give you a rundown on how the machines work, a tutorial, and we’ll give you an RFID card, which it’s like a debit card. It’s got a little chip on it, and that’s what a customer would use to put in the machine. There is a wall of machines, and each machine has a key that you would put your debit card, wine card in. And from there, there’s 32 different rotating wines to select from, which you could choose as a customer. There are three increments to choose from on each wine: a [1-ounce] taste, half a glass [4 ounces], or a full [6-ounce] glass. A lot of people tend to congregate where the wine machines are, to explore and find the wines they like or don’t like. And then they would have a seat. We offer a small menu, kind of bite-sized appetizers, served on a charcuterie board.”

Vine32 has a sommelier, WSET Level 4-certified Genevieve Wolfe, to answer customers’ questions.

Being able to sample new wines and customize their pour-size is attractive to customers, but Bellemore said there are significant advantages for a wine-bar owner as well.

First, a wine-bar can serve a limited number of wines at a time and doesn’t have to keep a huge cellar with dozens of varieties. “Seasonally, we swap out all 32 wines we offer,” Bellemore said. “Every six weeks there are a couple of new ones, but certainly every season. Obviously, there’s more whites in the summer and more reds in the winter.”

Also, a self-serve system can unobtrusively provide a wealth of data. Bellemore can track exactly which wines are most popular and under what conditions, which helps him decide what to order. It also allows a customer to keep track of what wines they prefer. “We can look at every time every time you come in,” Bellamore said, “so a customer can tell us, ‘I really like that wine I was drinking that one time, but I don’t remember what it was.’ We can search your name, print out a receipt of all your activity, and give you a list of every wine you’ve drunk.”

And finally, the system sets a limit on how much wine a customer can buy using their card, which reduces conflict when a drinker gets cut off.

“If you pass a certain amount of volume for drinking,” Bellamore said, “it shuts you off. I’ve grown up in bars. I’ve seen a lot of ‘sober+’ people get upset. Here, we just say, ‘Hey, it’s the machines, right?’ Which kind of takes the emotion out of it. And every single time they’re just like, ‘Yeah, what can you do? It’s the machine, right?’”

SB79

To read original and amended versions of SB79, visit legiscan.com/NH/drafts/SB79/2025.

Vine 32 Wine and Graze Bar

Where: Bedford Square, 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 935-8464, vinethirtytwo.com
Hours: open Tuesdays through Thursdays 5 to 9 p.m., Fridays 4 to 10 p.m., Saturdays 2 to 10 p.m., and Sundays 2 to 6 p.m.

Featured photo: Photo by John Fladd.

Exposing gyros’ secrets

Sometimes lamb, sometimes pork

By John Fladd

[email protected]

Alex Lambroulis would like to clear up a couple of misconceptions about gyros.

Greek people pronounce gyros “YEE-rose” but most Americans pronounce it “JYE-rose.” Either way, it refers to spit-roasted meat served on pita bread with shredded lettuce, tomato, thin-sliced onion and cucumber, topped with a garlicky yogurt sauce called tzatziki.

Lambroulis is one of the owners of Karv Greek Kouzina in Windham.

“Traditionally, a common misconception,” he said, “is that a gyro is always made with lamb and beef. But growing up in Greece, every street corner has a gyro place and they’re all actually pork. We pretty much save lamb and beef or lamb in general for special occasions on the rotisserie and things like that. But that being said, we do offer it here [at Karv]. The lamb and beef is a good combination of how lamb can sometimes be an acquired taste for Americans and can be a little bit more on the gamey side if there’s too much of it. And also truthfully, obviously, the price point of it is important, too. Lamb is way, way, way more expensive, so in order to make it affordable for customers, [we use] layers of lamb and beef together.”

Another lamb-y misconception is how big a part it plays in a Greek diet.

“I think it’s just important to know that we don’t truly eat lamb all the time in Greece,” Lambroulis said. “It’s more reserved for special occasions. And also, the farmers like to save sheep for the milk that they produce.” Feta cheese is usually made from sheep’s milk, for example.

Another misconception Lambroulis would like to clear up is that gyros are not the same as shawarma, which also comes from the Mediterranean and is made with spit-roasted meat.

“The pita bread first off is different,” he explained. “Shawarma is more like a pocket pita and then they kind of roll it in it. Whereas gyro is a pocketless pita, it’s a little fluffier and it’s a little bit more round. And then the sauce, you know, the tzatziki versus whatever shawarma, which would be more tahini-ish. So there’s that and the flavor of the spices and the meat itself, you know, how we marinate it.”

Karv’s name comes from a play on words, Lambroulis said.

“The word ‘karvouno’ means charred or broiled or charcoal-cooked,” he explained. “We cook the meat on a rotisserie and it’s broiled. So that’s kind of like half of that word. Plus obviously, we actually carve the meat off the rotisserie.”

Lambroulis was one of the original owners of the Gyro Spot in Manchester.

“I originally opened the Gyro Spot on Elm Street back in 2012 with my mom,” he remembered. “And that was very successful for us. About three and a half years ago I sold it just because I needed a break; my wife and I had our first son and I wanted to be present for him, and him not growing up in the back of a restaurant. Now that he’s started day care I’ve partnered up with a business partner and we decided to do a similar concept as before but something a little bit more. [Karv] still has counter service, but we have runners bringing the food out, and it’s a little bit more of an expanded menu.” In addition to six types of gyros, the new menu includes Greek favorites like falafel, spanakopita (a spinach and feta dish made with phyllo dough), and a variety of main courses, bowls and sides.

“We have smoothies,” Lambroulis added. “We have a whole Greek bakery section, with pastries that are imported from Greece. Our pita bread is imported and it literally only has four ingredients, so that makes it a little bit more on the health-conscious side. Don’t get me wrong, we have french fries and we have fried dough balls and super fun stuff.”So it’s just, I don’t know, it’s fun being creative and coming up with these wacky kinds of twisted flavors.”

Karv Greek Kouzina

Where: 1 Delahunty Drive, Windham, 377-5278, karvgreek.com
Hours: open seven days a week, 11 a.m to 9 p.m. Eat in, or order takeout online over the phone or in person.

Featured photo: Three gyros. Photo courtesy of Karv Greek Kouzina.

The Weekly Dish 25/05/15

News from the local food scene

• Flowers, snacks, flowers, cocktails and flowers: Local Street Eats (112 W. Pearl St., Nashua, 402-4435, local-streeteats.com) has teamed up with Fortin Gage Flowers (86 W. Pearl St., Nashua, 882-3371, fortingage.com) for a Bloom-tastic Pop Up event Wednesday, May 21, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. You will be provided with everything you need to craft a bouquet, with expert guidance from Amber Morgan, owner of Fortin Gage. Also, enjoy a complimentary glass of prosecco. A menu will be available for purchase throughout the event. Tickets are $40.

• Dinner and foul play: LaBelle Winery Derry (14 Route 111, Derry, 672-9898, labellewinery.com/labelle-winery-derry) will host a murder mystery dinner party Saturday, May 17, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. called “Murder on Mount Olympus.” Enjoy a Greek-inspired chef-selected menu; then, after dinner, engage in clue-finding to figure out the murderer’s identity and motive. Prepare for a night full of comedy and mystery set in Ancient Greece and performed by professional actors. Tickets are $101.

• Mediterranean cooking: The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com) will hold a workshop called “Intro to the Mediterranean Diet” on Sunday, May 18. A registered dietitian and culinary instructor will teach students the health benefits of this time-tested lifestyle while they practice knife and cooking skills as they make three meals: Breakfast Egg Cups, Tuscan White Bean Kale Soup and​ ​Mediterranean Sheet Pan Salmon with Roasted Vegetables. Registration is $82.

• Homemade cheese: Learn “Cheesemaking at Home” Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center (928 White Oaks Road in Laconia; prescottfarm.org). The class is for ages 16 and up. Registration costs $35.

The next Saturday, May 24, learn “Foraging and Cooking Wild Dandelions” at Prescott Farm from 10 a.m. to noon. Registration costs $30.

Kiddie Pool 25/05/15

Family fun for whenever

STEM fun

• Family STEM Day, presented by Brian S. McCarthy Memorial Foundation, will showcase more than 25 local science, technology, engineering and math programs and organizations on Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at World Academy, 138 Spit Brook Road in Nashua, according to a press release. The day will feature hands-on exhibits, interactive demonstrations and more, the release said. The event is free to attend and also will also feature food trucks, the release said.

Fish fun

• The Amoskeag Fishways Learning & Visitor Center (4 Fletcher St. in Manchester; find them on Facebook) was slated to open for the season on May 12. See fish on the move Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.

Theater fun

• The Mo Willems book comes alive when Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus hits the stage at Stockbridge Theatre in Derry on Friday, May 16, at 10 a.m. Tickets cost $12. See stockbridgetheatre.showare.com

• The Emperor’s New Clothes is presented by the Majestic Academy Youth/Teens at the Majestic Theatre, 880 Page St., Manchester, majestictheatre.net, on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 17, at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m. at the Majestic Theatre (880 Page St. in Manchester; majestictheatre.net). Tickets cost $10 to $15.

• Disney’s Moana Jr. is presented by Bedford Youth Performing Company at the Goffstown High School Theatre on Saturday, May 17, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 18, at 1 p.m. Find the link to purchase tickets via BYPC’s Facebook page.

• The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical will be presented by Kids Coop Theatre (kctnh.org) at Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry) on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 17, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m. See derryoperahouse.org for links to tickets.

Book fun

• Calista Brill will discuss her new graphic novel Creaky Acres(written with and illustrated by Nilah Magruder)at the Barnes & Noble in Manchester (1741 S. Willow St., bn.com) on Saturday, May 17, from noon to 3 p.m. An excerpt of the novel was one of the books you might have picked up on Free Comic Book Day a few weeks ago. On to the Barnes & Noble website Creaky Acres is described as “[a] heartwarming graphic novel about being the new kid in middle school, making new friends, and learning to trust yourself through the power of horseback riding.”

• Children’s authors Kari Allen (whose latest book is Maddie and Mabel Make a Friend) and Carrie Kruck (whose latest book is Alfred Blooms) will attend a storytime on Sunday, May 18, at 1 p.m. at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St. in Concord; gibsonsbookstore.com). They will sign copies of their books after storytime.

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