Hungry for More

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

Everyone's making plans for the summer, so if you're wondering what there is to eat on a given weekend, Buffalo Eats will help you visualizeyour options. Especially if you're not averse to eating standing up.

Sure, you know about the Italian Heritage Festival on Hertel, the Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival and Taste of Buffalo. But what about the Polish Harvest (Ag. 16) and Macedonian (July 12) festivals, and the Cuba Garlic Festival Sept. 21? Plus a bellyful of other options.

Here's the Buffalo Eats guide.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

Ben Tsujimoto of Buffalo.com explores the offerings of La Kueva (1260 Hertel Ave., 936-4933), the growing restaurant strip's newest opening. They offer several different kinds of plantains, including the sticky sweet ones that are my favorite, and roast pork with crunchy skin.

Check out his words and pictures here.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

Chef-owner Jim Guarino, of the Main Street Cajun-inflected Shango Bistro, (3260 Main St., shangobistro.com) will offer a menu of local-centric dishes May 29 as a fundraiser for Slow Food Buffalo Niagara.

His menu:

“SALAD - Poached Duck Egg, local greens with pork belly & pickled ramps

II. APPETIZER - Grilled Painted Meadow Quail with Andouille & green onion stuffing, spring pea mashed potatoes & a local fruit mustardo

III. ENTREE - Roasted Rack of Lamb with minted lentils, Oles Farm asparagus & lamb jus

IV. CHEESE COURSE with Blackman Farms preserves

V. DESSERT - Rhubarb Crisp with Ginger Basil Ice Cream”

It’s $65, including tax, tip and $5 to support the work of Slow Food Buffalo Niagara. 6 p.m. cash bar, 7 p.m. dinner. For reservations call 837-2326.

The local chapter of an international food lovers’ organization, Slow Food Buffalo Niagara aims to not only celebrate local food, but strengthen connections between farmers and their customers. 

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

Here's a passage from Sunday's front page story about New York's Swiss Chalet pilgrims, who cross an international border in search of sustenance.

Response to the story has been vociferous, and I'll be discussing the Swiss Chalet story on Shredd & Ragan (103.3 FM) tomorrow (Wednesday) at around 9:10 a.m. or thereafter, the radio boys say.

In the Montrose Road restaurant’s kitchen, the sauce is made pretty much like you’d do it at home. Powder is combined with water and simmered. The restaurant has invested in a steam jacketed stainless-steel kettle that holds gallons and will almost never scorch.

Beside the sauce kettle are the chicken cabinets, roasters holding rotating braces of seasoned birds. They’ll baste in their own fat jacket until the skin turns golden brown, in the way of all rotisserie chickens, and they meet the line cook’s machete-grade blade.

That fat, as it turns out, does more than keep the chicken moist. It’s the secret in the sauce, until you read the fine print. Chicken fat, in its powdered form, is fourth after cornstarch, salt and tomato powder. Anyone who’s transmuted pan drippings into a heart-stoppingly glorious gravy knows the truth: fat means flavor.

One American couple orders a soup bowl of it per person during their weekly visit, Hildebrand said. The sight of New Yorkers sipping from the sauce ramekin is no longer shocking.

Let's hear it for chicken fat, or is that too schmaltzy?

If you're still in denial, DO NOT SCROLL DOWN.

JUST DON'T.

OK, I warned you.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

Twitter: @BuffaloFood

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

La Kueva, a Puerto Rican restaurant, is set to open its doors Monday at 1260 Hertel Ave.

The restaurant will offer pernil (roast pork), mofongo (plantains with garlic, bacon and more) and other Puerto Rican specialties, said Jahaira Rivera.

Its phone number is 936-4933, and it'll be open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Wed., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sun.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

An assortment of area food trucks cater to customers in this 2012 file photo. (Charles Lewis / Buffalo News)

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

Sightseers to the Canalside area along Buffalo’s waterfront can expect to see an unusual sight indeed tomorrow: food trucks selling their wares to customers.

The city’s licensed food trucks, barred from the Canalside area in most times, will be allowed to park and sell food tomorrow for the opening date of Canalside Food Fight, a season-long cooking competition, said organizer Matt Carlucci.

From noon to 4 p.m., seven trucks will be serving paying customers, Carlucci said.

At 12:15 p.m., a “secret inspiration,” described as “anything from snow to steel,” will be revealed to the audience. The five food truck crews competing will have two hours to fashion a dish, working in their limited truck kitchens, that best reflects the inspiration. (Fans of Food Network’s “Sweet Genius” will find the inspiration part familiar.)

At 2:15, the competing food trucks will submit their work to a panel of judges, who will pick a winner. Food trucks will be allowed to serve until 4 p.m., as part of the Canalside Open House event.

It’ll be the first of four contest days where food trucks can gather and sell food at Canalside, Carlucci said. The others will be in July, September, and finale in December, when points that the food truck competitors earn during the four events will be added up to determine a winner, he said.

There’s more information at Carlucci’s website, http://www.buffalosoupfest.com/foodfight.html

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

After two years of saying no, I finally sat down with Donnie Burtless, who with his wife Alli Suriani runs BuffaloEats.org, Western New York's premier restaurant blog.

Donnie started as a guy who liked french fries, and had something to say about that. Since then Alli and he have eaten in more than 400 restaurants, and offered readers original reports on 387 of them. Usually there are lovely color photographs too. Alli's a better writer, but Donnie can eat more, so it's a team effort. His brother Tom runs the soundboard for recording sessions.

They added recorded interviews - podcasts - with people in Western New York with something to say about food. The show, called "Eat it Up," recorded 68 episodes before mine, including a who's who of the Buffalo food world. And me.

On listening I sound a touch whiny, but that's the way it goes. I sat down with Mr. Burtless because the Buffalo Eats staff is offering hungry readers flavorful, unique intelligence on how to feed their appetites in Western New York. They are working for free, so this is straight-up payback.

Check it out.

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

Here's a relatively simple recipe from "Have You Eaten?," featured in today's Buffalo News. Billy Law grew up in Malaysia, a home cooking recipe straight out of his mother's kitchen. Law, an Australian food blogger at A Table for Two and contestant on "MasterChef: Australia," calls it "my favorite dish of all time," one he asks for every time he comes home.

Mum’s Vinegar-Braised Pork Belly and Eggs

 2 litres (68 fl oz/8 cups) water

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pork spare ribs, chopped into 2.5–5 cm (1–2 inch) pieces (see note)

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pork belly, skin off, cut into 3 cm (1¼ inch) cubes

5 cm (2 inch) piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

1 garlic bulb

10 star anise

5 dried chillies (optional)

3 tablespoons white vinegar

3 tablespoons dark soy caramel, or dark soy sauce

100 ml (3½ fl oz) light soy sauce

220 g (7¾ oz/1 cup) sugar

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

(extra for the egg lovers)

Serves 4

1. Pour the water into a large non-stainless steel pot (such as a large Chinese claypot or enamelled cast-iron casserole dish), and bring to the boil over medium–high heat.

2. Add the pork ribs and pork belly to the boiling water, then add the ginger slices, the whole garlic bulb, star anise and chillies (if using), and bring back to the boil. Scoop out all the impurities floating on the surface.

3. Turn the heat down to a simmer, then add the vinegar, dark soy caramel, light soy sauce and sugar. Give it all a stir until the sugar has dissolved, then add the hard-boiled eggs. Braise the pork for at least 2 hours, or until the pork is meltingly tender, stirring occasionally.

4. When the sauce starts to thicken, have a taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly. If it is too sour or too salty, add a little more sugar. If it is too sweet, add more light soy sauce. Do not add more water unless it dries out too quickly. Serve hot with a bowl of steamed jasmine rice.

Note: You can usually buy pork spare ribs in major supermarkets. You might have to call a few butcher shops to find pork belly, and it's available in Asian markets. If possible, ask your butcher to cut up a whole piece of pork belly with bones left in.

Source: (c) Have You Eaten? By Billy Law, Hardie Grant, 2013.

BY ANDREW Z. GALARNEAU

If you're hungry to see what Western New York's heritage pork ninjas can conjure up with fine swine, check your dinner calendar for May 19.

The price tag is $150 a seat, and there aren't many at Bistro Europa (484 Elmwood Ave., 884-1100). That doesn't include tax or tip, but it does include beer and wine, supporting at least nine courses of "porcine perfection."

Europa's Steven Gedra, with Carmelo Raimondi and Bruce Wieszala of Carmelo's in Lewiston, have been fine-tuning their pork chops for a couple of years now. If you're a carnivore who's discovered the pleasures of dishes made from pigs that weren't factory farmed, it's a chance at a peak experience, not unlike the 1988 Monsters of Rock tour was for metalheads. Unlike Van Halen, Scorpions and Metallica, these guys are playing pigs.

email: agalarneau@buffnews.com

Chefs Steven Gedra, 

If the Monsters of Rock tour was about 

Fans of Bistro Europa and Carmelo's already have 

Here's a couple of recipes from ramp hunter David Grabowski, featured in an article about foraging in today's Buffalo News.

GRILLED RAMP & BACON DIP

24 whole ramps, trimmed, rinsed, and patted dry

2 teaspoons canola oil

16 ounces sour cream

8 ounces bacon, cooked and finely diced

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 teaspoons Frank’s RED HOT Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

1 teaspoon iodized sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

Cut leaves from ramps. Set aside. Toss ramp bulbs with oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. In a grill pan, cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes, turning every 2 minutes until the bulbs begin to brown and caramelize. Add the ramp leaves to the bulbs and grill until leaves are wilted. Cool until ramps are room temperature. Chop finely.

In a large glass bowl, whisk the cream cheese, sour cream, Frank’s RED HOT sauce and sea salt. Add chopped ramps and bacon. Stir to combine. Season with fresh cracked pepper.

Grilling mellows the bite of raw ramps and develops natural sugars. If more of an oniony bite is preferred, finely chop 2 to 4 whole raw ramps and fold a tablespoon at a time into the mixture. Put mixture in medium glass or ceramic bowl. Cover with Saran Wrap and refrigerate to allow flavors to develop. Adjust seasoning to taste before serving.

Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

RAMP, PANCETTA & PECORINO FRITTATA

8 ounces pancetta

12 whole ramps, trimmed, rinsed, and patted dry

1 tablespoon fat, reserved from rendering pancetta

9 extra large eggs, room temperature

1 cup Pecorino Romano, medium grated

½ cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated

1 teaspoon iodized sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Dice pancetta and cook in a large non-stick skillet 8 to 10 minutes over medium heat. Stir often. While pancetta is cooking, crack and whisk eggs, salt and pepper in a large glass bowl. When eggs are thoroughly mixed, add the cup of medium grated Pecorino Romano and whisk to combine. Set egg mixture aside. When pancetta is cooked, drain on paper towels. Pour most of reserved fat into small bowl. Wipe skillet clean with paper towel.

Chop ramps. Heat tablespoon reserved fat in skillet. Add chopped ramps. Season with pepper. Sauté over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes until leaves are wilted and bulbs are translucent but not yet browned. Add cooked pancetta to cooked ramps in skillet. Whisk egg mixture a second time. Pour egg mixture over ramps and pancetta. Use spatula to evenly distribute ramps and pancetta. Cook over medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes until eggs are set around outer third.

Place skillet in oven. Bake 20 minutes or until egg mixture in middle is just set. Remove skillet from oven. Turn on broiler. Sprinkle finely grated Pecorino Romano over top of frittata. Broil on rack in top position with oven door ajar for 2 minutes. Rotate skillet 90 degrees and broil for 1 to 2 more minutes or until cheese begins to brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with chevre spread on slices of crusty bread. Serves 6 to 8.