Interiors >> Enoteca in Charleston, SC

Loving the looks of this new wine bar, Enoteca, designed by Angie Hranowsky.  The mix of rustic wood with the rich grey paneled walls, button-tufted banquette, luxurious curtains, and gold accents makes for an incredibly visually interesting environment.  I wouldn't mind having a glass or two here when the light gets low, would you?

[Angie Hranowsky]

Masters and Their Crafts >> Tartine

Tartine is one of my absolute favorite bakeries and a must every time I'm in San Francisco.  I actually am a little bit worried about what might happen once I move up there... I fear it could be habit-forming.  

Their bread is incredible, as are their sandwiches, desserts... pretty much everything.  It's a bakery, cafe, and even wine bar, and I love the vibe that comes from people opening up a bottle of white at lunch on a Saturday.  With the line almost always out the door, there's always a ton of energy, great people watching, and a cool European cafe-meets-San-Francisco,-specifically-the-Mission,-vibe.

Check out this video to see the owner and head baker, Chad Robertson, in his element.  Although I'll warn you, this is dangerous to watch if you're hungry.

[Tartine]

[Tartine cookbook]

[Kitsune Noir]

Favorite Cake Decorations Ever >> Bunting

Love these adorable cake buntings from Kiki La Ru.  Is that not the sweetest cake decoration you've ever seen? 

I'm not so much a perfectionist when it comes to icing things, so I love that the icing is done casually, and then the buntings give it a little flair.

Blog Love >> Tartelette

Loving the food blog Tartelette, by a French expat living in Charleston.  Yummy recipes and the photography and styling are pure eye candy.

Chocolate Hazelnut cake recipe here.

Summer Lovin >> Tomatoes. Tomatoes in a tart shell with herbs and goat cheese.

 This week, I've been freaking out with excitement over my two new (birthday present) kitchen gadgets: a Cuisinart food processor, and a Kitchenaid stand mixer.  Oh my gosh even writing that sentence, proclaiming myself as the owner of these two things, makes me feel giddy.   I feel like my kitchen (and thus moi) just went through a major rite of passage.  

I daydream about the ease and speed with which I will now be able to make dough, pesto (no more mortar and pestle!), fluffy whipped cream, perfectly smooth crepe batter, etc.  I imagine myself flitting around the kitchen in a cute apron doing other things, like making flower arrangements, while the machine works for me.  Even though I am generally cooking in sweaty running clothes topped by my dad's old oxford shirts, rather than a skirt and apron, and making a huge mess all the while.. not nearly so chic.  But that's why this is the daydream version.

ANYWAY, sorry, that is mostly irrelevant, except to explain why I was so excited to find this tomato tart recipe from the estimable David Lebovitz.  Well for one thing, I almost had a fit over how delicious the roasted tomatoes were that I made earlier this week for my pesto pasta and urgently wanted more things to do with the wonderful summer tomatoes, but for another, it gives me an excuse to use the food processor (for the tart shell)!

It is simply a tart shell, tomatoes, herbs, and goat cheese. YUUMMM.  It is basically a big party to show off the tomatoes. 

Also, if you read David's blog entry about making this with his friends in France, it all sounds so charming that you practically have to make it, just to try to relive some of that wonderment.  I'm going to serve this with rose over ice, just so I can try to recapture his experience.  No I'm not kidding.

Finally, can we just talk about how wonderful the packaging for the flour is in France??  I'm obsessed with it-- the two-color palette, the fonts, the Matisse-esque birds...

Recipe and story on David's blog here.

Georgia On My Mind >> Weaver D's

California is mighty wonderful, but you just can't get food like this out here.

NYT Wednesday Dining >> Dinner Co-ops

Similar to the community-helping/sharing themes of the NYT crop-mobs I posted back here, today's dining section has a great article on the growing trend of homemade dinner co-ops...  Check it out!

It's about time >> Gelato on a stick >> PopBar

PopBar, which just opened in the West Village, offers 25 rotating flavors of gelato on a stick, which are additionally offered dipped in all sorts of toppings from chocolate to pistachio to coconut. 

Sophisication and delicousness of gelato + nostalgia of ice cream on a stick = brilliant.

via Grub Street.

Summer Lovin >> Seasonal Baking

Do you read Smitten Kitchen?  If you don't, you should.  Deb, in addition to being a very funny and endearing food writer, has the best recipes and reading the blog will make you want to cook more. 

Recently, it's been making me want to bake more, which admittedly isn't very hard to do since I'll take any provocation to bake, but her summer dessert recipes are just too tempting, as they take perfect advantage of summer produce and flavors.

Above and below, this week's two escapades.  First, on Monday, I made this Raspberry Tart below, which I served to two people who claim not to like fruit desserts.  They both licked their plates.  That's only barely metaphorical.  One of the yummiest summer desserts I've ever made.

Then, last night I went for the Cherry Brown Butter Bars at top, and they might have topped the Raspberry Tart.  I get so excited when new things arrive at the farmers' market, and these bars were the perfect excuse to pick up some of the amazing cherries out there right now!

Next up, this Lime Yogurt Cake with Blackberry Sauce.  Dear friend Kristin, who I love to talk Smitten Kitchen with, made this one recently and said it rocked her world.  

Mast Brothers Chocolate

The Mast Brothers (who are actually brothers) do everything for their "American Craft Chocolate," from bean to packaging, at their Brooklyn "factory"-- a model not often seen in the chocolate industry.  And, there is no sugar or cocoa butter added-- the chocolate is purely what comes directly from the beans they grind and melt.

As such, their product has a great story, and I also happen to love their packaging and the look of their storefront/factory!

I love the combo of the beautifullly patterned and retro looking papers with the incredibly simple logo and modern font.  And it's awesome that their logo is a mast that also sort of looks like a crown, and the hand-drawn quality lends a homemade feel to the product and keeps it from looking like they take themselves too seriously.

Click through for more photos and a behind-the-scenes video at their Brooklyn storefront/factory...

Jidori Chicken: The New Kobe Beef

Have you heard about Jidori chicken?  It's like the kobe of beef, but for chicken, and the craze is sweeping LA and catching the eye of eating-local junkies.  

Check out this great article about a Jidori company in LA that is truly free-range, gets its birds from slaughter to table within 24 hours, and feeds them only vegetarian diets.  

They even manage to do the processing in a way that really doesn't have a gross-out factor.  Did you know that the "chilling systems used by many larger purveyors tend to fill the birds with so much water that they often become poultry-scented popsicles"???  Pretty gross, right?  Makes me only want to eat Jidori chickens, which don't get processed that way.

Fresh Pulp >> Canal House Cooking

I am loving this concept by Christopher Hersheimer and Melissa Hamilton.  They are producing these books, that are somewhere between a cooking magazine and a cookbook, three times a year -- a Winter/Spring edition, a Summer edition, and a Fall edition. 

You can buy them individually, or you can get a subscription for $50/year.  Wouldn't a subscription make a great gift?

As the Kitchn said, reading it is like flipping through a friend's recipe journal, complete with little personal notes. 

You can also preview the books at their website, which is where I pulled these images from.  The current issue is Volume III, Winter/Spring.  It opens as a full screen pdf and looks pretty even on a computer!

The Kitchn published their recipe for the Lemon and Sea Salt Focaccia shown above... It looks so good!  Click through below for the recipe...

the milk man + the ice cream truck = something more than the sum of its parts

MilkMade, in Manhattan, has combined the concepts of the milk man and the ice cream truck, along with a lot of other great ideas, and is delivering their dessert delights to doorsteps in select neighborhoods in Manhattan.

MilkMade is a membership-based service, and members receive one flavor a month.

 

 Using ingredients from the local farmers' markets, MilkMade creates unique flavors, like Maple Pancake, Peanut Butter and Brown Sugar, and Chocolate Five Spice.  Each of the flavors is only made once, so each month is something new.

  

  

And of course I love the packaging with its simple brown craft paper and handwritten label.

MilkMade was started by this cute lady in her kitchen.

  

After finishing the first batch, she wrapped each one in twine (the icing on the packaging cake) and loaded them up in her cooler.

And then set out to deliver them to the first 50 members!

I'm rooting for this girl.  Mostly because I hope someday it will be a nationwide service so we can get some ice cream love out here in Cali. 

Images are stills taken from this video on Food, Curated.

Summer's Comin...

And I can't wait to pick up blackberries, figs, and pears at the farmer's market to throw into these delightful little desserts. Not only do they look delish, but for whatever reason, guests are always impressed by individually-apportioned desserts in ramekins!

The recipe is by Lisa Wong Jackson at Design*Sponge.