Welcome, Bocuse!

A meat-and-potatoes dish at Escoffier in 2012.
The restaurant recently reopened as Bocuse.
Photo by Lori Korleski Richardson. 

One of the highlights of our trip to the Northeast last year was a dinner at Hyde Park. Not too long after we ate at Escoffier, the Culinary Institute of American closed it for renovation. We enjoyed the food, but the decor definitely harked to decades past, very dark except for a portal for guests to peek into the bright and beautiful kitchen. Now it has reopened with a new name, a new menu and a new look. I guess it's time for another trip!

A fine Valentine's

I am basking in contented satiate at the moment.

Our Valentine's Day meal, eaten at home, was Linguine with Calamari and Garlic; roasted asparagus; salad of romaine, bibb, baby lettuces, tomatoes, avocado and radishes, dressed with spices and olive oil. We enjoyed a Hendry Primativo, which burst forth with spells of wonder when we brought forth the dessert, the vegan chocolate mousse that was featured last week in the New York Times. 

And to make it all perfect, the love of my life took the day off. We're almost to our 24th anniversary, and I hope we'll have 24 more!

Linguine with Calamari and Garlic

Bon Appétit,  December 1996

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1/2 pound linguine

4 rolled anchovies with capers, from 2-ounce tin; anchovies crushed, oil reserved

1/2 pound cleaned calamari (squid), thinly sliced crosswise

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Instructions

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat reserved oil from anchovies (about 2 tablespoons) in large skillet over medium-high heat with garlic. Add calamari and toss just until opaque, about 1 minute. Add crushed red pepper and crushed anchovies with capers and stir 1 minute. Add white wine; boil until sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Mix in basil.

Add pasta to mixture in skillet. Toss until heated through and sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if pasta seems dry, about 2 minutes. Divide pasta and calamari between 2 pasta bowls and serve.

Where's the (chefs') beef?

David Chang and Anthony Bourdain scorched the earth of the food world at a panel last Friday. For those of you who don't appreciate the overriding profanity in professional kitchens, here is the scrubbed and condensed version of 10 things they hate about food trends and fellow celebrities, as picked up from Grub Street. Chang is the genius behind Momofuku Noodle Bar and Ko, and Anthony Bordain is the author of "Kitchen Confidential" and star of the TV show "No Reservations."

Ten Things They Hate About Food

1. Cupcakes.

2. San Francisco. "... every restaurant in San Francisco is just serving figs on a plate. Do something with your food," said Chang.

3. Overexposed foods. Pork bellies are the new tuna tartare, Chang asserted. That said, he passed on answering Bourdain's question: "Is bacon less cool because Paula Deen likes it, or is it always cool, like Orson Welles?" As for cheeseburgers on a Krispy Kreme doughnut, Bourdain called it "a war crime."

4. Guy Fieri.

5. Career-changers who want to start cooking professionally at 30. Cooking is “grueling physical labor,” said Chang, adding that he’d never seen anybody start “that late” in life and succeed.

6. "Hell’s Kitchen." “They’re shooting the wounded on that show,” said Bourdain. But he defended "Top Chef": “On that show, the worst chef that day goes home and the best chef that day wins.”

7. Alice Waters. While both men applauded “her message” and Chez Panisse’s game-changing cuisine, Bourdain likened her to a hippie who doesn't grasp that the poor can’t afford organic milk.

8. People who take pictures and notes on the food at Ko. “The food’s getting cold,” Chang observed.

9. Critic Alan Richman. His insistence that celebrity chefs actually cook in their own restaurants is ridiculous, the two concluded. Richman just wants chefs to “kiss his ring,” said Bourdain. “I’m going to Emeril’s restaurant — do I suddenly expect him to pop up and say 'Bam!'?”

10. The thing they hate most: "Gray Kunz and Christian Delouvrier, the two greatest chefs in New York, are still trying to make a living."