Articles on new and innovative food and beverage items trending across the independent restaurant landscape
Plus a sunflower-themed seafood dish, Peruvian octopus and a Purim-themed cocktail
The Jewish holiday of Purim is long past — Passover is this weekend, in fact — but every day is whatever Jewish holiday that Ziggy Gruber wants it to be at Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen Restaurant, which is actually located in Houston. Now that the restaurant, which recently moved, has a full bar, some Jewish-themed cocktails were in order and Gruber went with the prunes that often fill Hamantaschen, the three-cornered cookies eaten on the holiday in question, as his inspiration.
Hamantaschen are probably even more frequently filled with poppyseeds, but that’s an even more challenging cocktail.
Speaking of seeds, sunflower seeds are confited for a dish at Matsu in Oceanside, Calif., where chef William Eick explores the sunflower in detail as part of his four-course tasting menu.
At Nerai in New York City, chef Aaron Fitterman is dressing fluke in a variety of citrus, including grapefruit, julienne of kaffir lime leaf and bits of the astringent finger lime that’s native to Australia.
In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at Union Kitchen & Bar, chef and co-owner Christie Tenaud serves octopus with Peruvian huancaina sauce, and at Husk in Nashville chef Ben Norton makes a vegetarian dish of mushrooms and grits.
It’s vegetarian but not vegan: The grits have plenty of cheese in them.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
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