Happy New Year! Or as the Hmong say, Nyob zoo Xyoo Tshiab!

Every year, during this lull between Christmas and New Year's Day, thousands of Hmong families gather at the Fresno Fairgrounds in the Central Valley to celebrate their community's most important holiday. Traditionally, it's a time to rest after the harvest and to celebrate a new beginning. The Hmong New Year Festival lasts for a whole week. The American version now includes a Miss Hmong beauty contest, live pop music, and a meat-eater's delight...Hmong BBQ.

At the center of the Fairgrounds, lines of boys and girls in festive clothing toss balls back and forth playfully. In another time, the game pov pob was a way for young men and women in the highland villages to check each other out before getting married. The boys now tend to cluster at the edges and watch (a cultural shift adopted from high school dances perhaps?) while a few brave couples walk the fairgrounds hand-in-hand.

After taking in all the color and sparkle, you can move on to our main attraction...the food.

Follow the massive cloud of heavenly smoke to the food alley, where scores of grills line the thoroughfare on both sides.

The smallest grills were the size of beds.

Like a huge smoky, savory foosball game, this grill sported eight mega-skewers of sausage, pork and chicken that turned automatically with the help of a generator-powered crank and chain.

Waiting in line for favorite dishes.

Hand-lettered signs rule.

From the air, we have pigeons pressed flat for quick cooking, while from the water, there's fish stuffed with a generous amount of lemongrass and chiles. From the land, long cuts of pork rubbed with turmeric are the favorite meat.

But the best of all are the fatty, juicy, herbalicious sausages!

Lunch from The Master Grill, conveniently located at the food lane's cul-de-sac, includes red sticky rice, thick slices of sausage, half of a pigeon and an entire fish.

Ingredients for immensely popular papaya salad await each customer's order.

Stop at this family's booth for the absolute best Hmong-style papaya salad in California.

Oldest daughter Sandra adds papaya shreds and a few slices of tomato...

...squeezes in lots of fresh lime juice...

...then pours on the fish sauce. For the hardcore, shrimp paste added on request!

Mom prepares another batch for a second line of hungry customers.

Pickles seasoned with chile peppers appear at nearly every food vendors' booth. Behind these, you can see mangoes with spicy salt, but the tropical fruit were not nearly as popular as their distant dill-pickle cousins.

A stroll to the other side of the Fairgrounds leads to a long line for dessert: thick wedges of bananas that fry up crisp and sweet.

Modern gadgets for classic dishes.

Just a small sampling of the hundreds of dried roots, stems, buds, shoots, seeds, and flowers that are on display at the medicinal booths. Customers point to scratchy throats and sore backs; vendors share healing recipes and compare favorable effects.

Community love at the heart of the Fairgrounds.

The festivities will continue through January 1, 2007. For more information about Hmong New Year in Fresno, visit: http://www.hmongnewyear.us/
Click on "Agenda" for a complete listing of events over the 7 days of the festival.

To learn more about Hmong food and culture, check out these books and websites:

Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos, by Alan Davidson
(Prospect Books, 2003)
Land-locked Laos fortunately has the Mekong River to bring its people an abundance of fresh-water fish. Though it emphasizes the cooking of the low-land peoples, this cookbook also offers an introduction to the food of other communities in the country.

Hmong American Community, Inc.
For the over 1200 Hmong families farming in the Central Valley, a special USDA grant helps support research and development of organic vegetables for the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets. If you purchase wholesale, this site is a useful source of crop and price information. If you don't, you can still read up on what Hmong farmers are bringing to market.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998)
Now required reading in many medical and social service programs, this book tells the story of a Hmong family in Merced, California, and the doctors who struggled to understand and help them. Fadiman includes in her book detailed descriptions of daily life and festive celebrations, an excellent example of journalistic skills applied with an anthropological eye.

Hmong Arts, Books and Crafts
From history books to music CDs, embroidered story cloths to herbal remedies, this website includes a wide range of Hmong products.

Hmong Language
Written language is a relatively new development for the Hmong people, who relied on a rich oral tradition of storytelling for millennia. Learn about important cultural and religious words and listen to their pronunciation in the "Hmong Means Being Free" program.

Last year, a friend of mine mentioned he always serves Hoppin' John at his annual New Year's Day party. As an Orange County-raised son of non-Southern parents, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Hoppin' John?

Once he finished rolling his eyes at me, he explained that eating black-eyed peas (the primary ingredient of Hoppin' John) was considered lucky if eaten on New Year's Day. The act of eating them is supposed to ensure prosperity, since it was believed that, when cooked, these little legumes resemble coins. Apparently, collard greens are supposed to look like folded dollar bills, too. Southern people seem to have very active imaginations, which is probably why I have such a strong affection for them. I chalk it up to their near-starved state during the Civil War. Union soliders, in an effort to starve out the Confederates and make life generally unpleasant, took whatever food stuffs they could find for themselves, leaving crops like corn and black-eyed peas untouched because, at the time, they were considered pig fodder and, therefore, unfit for human consumption. Black-eyed peas are a symbol of resourcefulness, of survival.

My friend never did know where the name Hoppin' John came from. No one is in agreement as to the etymology of the dish. Some say it comes from a children's game, wherein the little tykes hop around the dinner table chanting and rhyming. Other's say it comes from a one-legged slave who created it. Other sources are suggested, but does it really matter? The dish is here and, hopefully, here to stay. We need all the luck we can find. If it can be found in a little cowpea from North Africa, then so be it. I'm willing to give it a try. It certainly cant hurt, unless I eat a large quantity of them uncooked.

I missed last year's New Year's Day party and the Hoppin' John. I ate Popeye's Fried Chicken instead. Not surprisingly, my year was not what I would consider remotely prosperous. This year I'm hedging my bets. I suggest you do, too.

Happy New Year.

Hoppin' John

There are countless variations of this recipe (I even found a recipe for Hip Hoppin' John), but the basics remain the same-- black-eyed peas, some sort of smoked pig product, onion and water. Everything else that might be included seems to be a matter of either taste, region or whatever one might think is lucky. Throw in a diced rabbit's foot or a horseshoe-- I doubt anyone would notice. Here's my version:

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 pound dried black-eyed peas
1/4 pound thick slab bacon, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 stalk of celery, finely diced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
about 10 shakes from a Tabasco Sauce bottle
roughly the same amount of shakes from a bottle of rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. In a large Dutch Oven, fry up bacon until browned.
2. Turn heat down to a lowish flame. Add celery, onion, garlic and red pepper flakes.
Cook until translucent (about two minutes).
3. Add beans and cover with water.
4. Add bay leaf, thyme and salt.
5. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about one hour or until al dente-- longer if you want them mushy as some people might insist upon.
6. When done. Add tabasco, vinegar and pepper. Adjust salt, if necessary.

Serve over rice. Throw in a side of greens for extra luck. Sit passively and wait the Publisher's Clearing House representative to arrive in his van with a bouquet of ballons and a gigantic check.

Check, Please! Bay Area is KQED's local series featuring regular people reviewing Bay Area restaurants.

Visit the Check, Please! Bay Area blog to experience local radio DJs Sylvia Chacon (Star 101.3), Marcus Osborne (98.1 Kiss FM), and Miranda Wilson (Smooth Jazz KKSF 103.7) dish with host, Leslie Sbrocco about these Season 1 restaurants:

1) Cha Cha Cha: | restaurant information | reviews

2) Ninna Restaurant: | restaurant information | reviews

3) Nob Hill Cafe: | restaurant information | reviews

Please feel free to join the discussion by posting comments about the show and your reviews of the featured restaurants!

You can watch all episodes online as well as subscribe to the Check, Please! video podcast in iTunes.

This season, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic will be blogging about what happens behind-the-scenes during the making of Check, Please! Bay Area.

You can also view the Check, Please! Bay Area photo gallery to view behind-the-scenes shots at many of the featured restaurants.

Aside from visiting farmers' markets, we had another foodie goal in mind when we went to Hawaii. Well, maybe this could be called a "drinkie" goal. You see, we were in search of the perfect Kona coffee. Having tasted Kona coffee in the sun-spattered morning kitchen of my in-laws some time ago, I knew what dark depths of delight could be found on this green and verdant island.

It's sort of hard to have a piece on Hawaii without indulging in hibiscus or plumeria porn.

After reading our guidebooks and consulting with friends and family, we were familiar with names like Bong Brothers and Holualoa Kona before we even got there, but that didn't stop us from pit-stopping at places like K'au Organic Fruit and Espresso Stand on Highway 11. While in the midst of a long drive from Volcanoes National Park to the southernmost tip of the United States to our final destination of Mauna Lani, we felt the need of caffeinated refreshment. Plus, at this point I was still hoping to run down some mangosteens and sort of insisted in examing every fruit stand that juiced across our path.

Of course the San Franciscans in us thrilled to see this sign prominently displayed

K'au enticed us with espresso and fruit but entranced us with jazz, low-slung hammocks, and mac nuts under the minimal shelter of a picturesque wooden lean-to. Let's face it, even when it rains in Hawaii, you never need much shelter. In fact, it's much nicer to have your newly burnished skin perfumed with warm tropical rains than to huddle. Standing at the cool granite-topped bar, we sipped paper cups of espresso and cracked mac nuts with this hardy device while we talked to the farmer about his jazz-oriented visits to the Bay Area.

Of course, while we reveled in the Hawaiian rains during our visit, Barney Frazier told us how recent heavier rains had all but wiped out his citrus crop. He had a few limes knocking about but not much else. Remembering the dangerous heavy rains that pelted the Bay Area last spring, I nodded in understanding.

Seems to me that living in Hawaii is all the therapy you'd need.

Right behind the little espresso lean-to is about ten acres of Barney's certified organic land. On this emerald patch, Barney and his wife, Elizabeth -- both San Francisco imports to Hawaii -- put out a large variety of citrus, apple bananas, coffee beans, home-roasted mac nuts, and honey. As various painted wooden signs around the area proved, Frazier and his wife cultivate a delicious sense of humor as well.

I'm sure you can guess this, but 'okole' means 'butt' in Hawaiian pidgin.

While we enjoyed hanging out and filling our tank with K'au's eye-popping espresso, we weren't quite done window sipping and had miles to go before we didn't sleep.

This year a number of cookbooks with Bay Area roots made their debuts. Here are a few from iconic cuisines, chefs, bartenders, restauranteurs, chocolatiers and a bakery.

Cuisines: Dona Tomas (Mexican)
Is it easy to get good Mexican food in the Bay Area or is it impossible. The ongoing debate never ends. But you can't talk about Mexican food anymore without talking about Dona Tomas, a restaurant that has reinvigorated what we think it's all about. No standard Tex-Mex fare or Taqueria, this is a restaurant that celebrates regional cuisine and uses the best ingredients possible to create something truly special.

Restauranteur: Big Small Plates (Cindy Pawlcyn)
Who doesn't love the food created by Cindy Pawlcyn? From Fog City Diner to Mustards Grill her recipes have always been about big bold flavors and twists on the classics. In this book Pawlcyn shares credit with two of her chefs who are also her restaurant co-owners. Dishes have a variety of influences and bright flavors--Mexican, French and Asian all find their way into signature dishes from Bix, and Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen as well.

Bartenders: The Art of the Bar (Absinthe bartenders)
The bartenders from Absinthe have created a gorgeous coffee table book on cocktails. Read about the history of your favorite drinks and ingredients, all mixed up by the chefs of the bar. Want to make your own bitters? Create syrups flavored with fruit and herbs? Or muddle a kaffir lime leaf? Then this is your book too.

Chef: Michael Mina
Our dual Michelin starred restaurant Michael Mina has produced a cookbook. Having only eaten there once, I was curious to understand what won over the Michelin inspectors. This book shares Mina's philosophy and artistry which focuses on multiple preparations of ingredients. This is involved restaurant cooking. But the book is written in such a manner that you can take a desired element and make it your own. It also makes a great souvenir of a memorable meal.

Chocolatier: The Essence of Chocolate (Scharffenberger)
A source of local pride, Scharffenberger makes some of the tastiest chocolate in America. In this book you get a chance to follow the journey of the chocolatiers and learn all about how chocolate is produced. The recipes are from some of the best chefs and pastry chefs around, David Lebovitz, Alice Medrich, Elizabeth Falkner, Stephen Durfee, Craig Stoll, Jacques Pepin, the list goes on and on. There are plenty of sweet treats here, but also savory uses for cocoa nibs, one of my favorite ingredients to play with.

Bakery: Tartine
Anyone who's been to Tartine knows how popular it is from experiencing the line out the door. Recipes are a cross between traditional French and classic American. The local influence is seen with an emphasis on fresh fruits and a more natural style. I haven't baked from this book yet, but the reports I've heard from home cooks and pastry chefs are good. The book has a retro old-is-new-again feel to it, with matte rather than glossy pages and binding that keeps it open during use. Nice.

I'll be honest: I'm not particularly sad to see 2006 go. However, looking back on the year, I had some wonderful new food experiences that I will hold on to going forward into 2007 and beyond. While some of these foods have been around for a long time, they are on my list because they are new tastes that I tried in 2006, and ones that stood out above all others. The top 10 is listed in chronological order because I couldn't choose a #1 among my favorites!

DOLSOT BIBIMBAP, My Tofu House (San Francisco, California). Bibimbap has been one of my favorite dishes to order in Korean restaurants for a while, but it wasn't until this year that I tasted the bibimbap at My Tofu House. It's served in a stone pot (dolsot) and comes to the table dangerously hot. I order the beef bibimbap, but have heard that the seafood version is good as well.

FRIED QUAIL, Rubicon (San Francisco, California). I had first heard of this dish from Fatemeh, and when I went to Rubicon for the first time in February I knew I had to taste it. The quail lived up to all expectations, and the entire meal was one of the most memorable of the year.

FRA' MANI SALAMI (San Francisco, California). All of it. Any of it. Any time, anywhere. 2006 will be remembered as the year that Paul Bertolli graced San Franciscans with this top-notch salami. It's available in several types, and can be found at many Bay Area stores including Cowgirl Creamery and the Pasta Shop.

CHARSHU PORK SHIO RAMEN, Santouka Ramen (Torrance, California). I first tried Santouka Ramen in August, and it was one of the 2006 tastes that has changed my culinary point of view. With the richness of the broth combined with the bite of the perfect ramen noodles, I have a new standard against which all future ramens will be compared.

BLACK RAZBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP FROZEN YOGURT, Kimball Farm (Westford, Mass). When in Massachusetts this summer, I had a taxing, difficult goal of eating a different ice cream every day. I'd heard that the Northeast had some of the best ice cream in the nation, and set out to find my favorite. I had ice creams in flavors ranging from local peach to green tea. But now, five months late, the flavor that I look back upon with the most fondness is not an ice cream at all -- it was a frozen yogurt.

GREYHOUND WITH PLYMOUTH GIN, The Hungry Cat (Hollywood, California). When I went to The Hungry Cat this year for my birthday, I expected to have delicious food. Among many memorable bites at that meal was my favorite drink this year -- a perfect Greyhound with freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice, Plymouth gin, and candied grapefruit peel. Perfection.

FRIED TOFU NUGGETS, Musha Restaurant (Torrance, California). Musha is a popular izakaya restaurant in Southern California that has a location in Torrance and one in Santa Monica. After trying it for the first time in August, I have been back several times. The tofu nuggets sound completely boring but are a revelation. The tofu seems to be mixed with seasoning and small vegetables before it is fried and brought straight to the table. Each bite of the nugget is full of flavor, and is complemented with a soy-based, vegan mayonnaise.

WILD BOAR RAGU, Oliveto Restaurant (Oakland, California). This ragu reminded me of all that is good about using a few perfect ingredients and cooking them well. Of all my tastes this year, this was the one that made me stop in my tracks and savor every single bite.

ROSEMARY CARAMEL by Shuna, private home (Oakland, California). We had a lovely holiday get-together with Bay Area Bites writers several weeks ago with great snacks and delicious wine. Shuna had taught a caramel making class that day, and brought a sample along with her. I spent most of the evening stealing bites on apples or crackers of this perfect caramel -- I couldn't get enough of it.

CREAM PUFFS, Patisserie Chantilly (Torrance, California). Patisserie Chantilly is a French-influenced Japanese bakery that I first heard about on a Good Food broadcast. Their specialty is a cream puff better than all others I have tried. If you ever take a trip to Southern California, it's worth a side-trip to try these out.

You can read my honorable mention list at my site, Life Begins at 30.

What were your top 2006 tastes? Whatever they were, I wish you many more wonderful tastes and sips in 2007.

I have recently completed a consulting job with Poulet, deli/restaurant with a humble, kitchy interior. Started by Marilyn Rinzler and the infamous Bruce Aidells, Poulet has stood in the same spot since 1979! With the hopes of providing honest, healthful food, with a chicken slant, it is still owned by Ms. Rinzler and manages to makes heaps more food than the diminutive kitchen implies.

A family friend, Ms. Rinzler asked me one day last Spring if I could look at some of their baked good recipes and help her out with advice and suggestions. I began baking 2-3 days a week alongside Lucila Hernandez, Poulet's long term kitchen manager, to test the recipes they had on hand, and re-work them to provide a more viable repertoire of baked goods for their clientele and kitchen staff.

"What is this consulting thing you speak of?"

I get this question a lot. The exact sort of consulting I do depends on what I've been hired to do. It depends on how much time the employer wants me there. Being the overachieving, A-type of employee that I am, I tend to give a little something extra. Throw in some extra information they might not even know to ask for.

At Poulet I tested all the recipes, tasted them with the staff and fixed what needed fixing. I trained and taught Lucila better baking skills and techniques. I created Excel spread sheets for keeping track of what we made, sold and tossed. Seasonal fruit was bought and recipes created around what was at it's seasonal best. "Cake mixes" were made well in advance, so getting a baked good in and out of the much used oven took less time. While spending time re-working recipes I got a feel for who did what when. I learned that if I did not get there before 7 am, the lunchtime dessert could not arrive until after lunch had begun.

At Poulet the most important item is the chicken. And with one oven working overtime, my sweet things stood in a very long line for hot box space!

Commercial cooking and baking is all about streamlining. It's about efficiency. As cooks we are constantly finding way to have our food be sent out of our respective workplaces in the fastest way possible. "What can be done in advance without hurting the end product," could be our tag-line.

Amid the costing-out, training, rewriting recipes, testing and re-testing, writing a newsletter, photographing, spreading the word and tasting, I was able to create some favorites. Because most of my training has been in restaurants, I've spent little time making pretty frosted cakes, pre-packaged puddings and tart slices. So, as many of you know, I had a lot of fun at Poulet creating these sorts of items.

Although right at the beginning I began working on the caramel cake. And because so many of you have requested the recipe, here it is. Of course if you took my if you took my caramel class, you own the recipe and watched it being made!

CARAMEL CAKE with Caramelized Butter Frosting

10 Tablespoons UNSALTED BUTTER, ROOM TEMP
1 1/4 Cups SUGAR
1/2 teaspoon KOSHER SALT
1/3 Cup CARAMEL SYRUP*
2 each EGGS, ROOM TEMP
splash VANILLA EXTRACT
2 Cups AP FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
1C MILK, ROOM TEMP

*Caramel syrup recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter one tall 9" cake pan.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth.
2. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl.
4. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
5. Sift flour and baking powder.
6. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dries.
7. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time.
8. Add another third of the dries, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dries. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, drry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
9. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds. making sure batter is uniform.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days unrefrigerated.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 Cups SUGAR
1/2 Cup WATER

1 Cup water for "stopping"

1. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.
2. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.
3. Turn on heat to highest flame.
4. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.
5. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and prepared to step back.
6. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons UNSALTED BUTTER
1 Pound CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR, SIFTED
4-6 Tablespoons HEAVY CREAM
2 teaspoons VANILLA EXTRACT
2-4 Tablespoons CARAMEL SYRUP
Kosher or sea salt to taste

1. Cook butter until brown.
2. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.
3. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.
4. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

The Caramel Cake is also wonderful on it's own. I've also been known to drizzle it with ganache, or serve it with whipped cream. You will be surprised how delicate the crumb is! The caramel not only adds flavor, it contributes to the cake's moist tenderness.

Enjoy!

On my last trip back to San Francisco for Thanksgiving, I made a brief detour through Atlanta for the opening of the latest, hottest, hippest joint in town. One of the owners is a former co-worker from a Very Large Software Company just down the road off 101. Not realizing that it takes the same amount of time to fly from Frankfurt to Atlanta as it does to fly from Frankfurt to San Francisco, I arrived in Atlanta bleary-eyed and exhausted but no rest for the weary. A quick stop at the drug store to replace my confiscated mascara and face lotion (I love flying!), a quick change at the hotel, and it was off to opening night.

Owner Rodney Wedge created the concept of this food-focused restaurant highlighting the flavors of the Old South in a hip, modern environment. He describes the menu as "Modern Southern" cuisine featuring southern dishes with a unique twist such as Redfish Niscoise, Rabbit Pot Pie, Pan Roasted Trout & Crab Cake and a new take on Surf and Turf with smoked catfish and seared foie gras, drizzled with sweet potato bourbon dressing. YUM! Some other unique dishes include Finger Lickin' Pickle Sickles, Fried Green Tomatoes with pimento cheese and blue crab fingers, Bluefin Tuna Cubes with smoked garlic aioli, cornflakes and sesame.

They spared no expense when designing the $2 million venue first by hiring the uber-celebrity interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn (from TBS's Movie and a Makeover) to add his signature look and unconventional color schemes to the Midtown destination. Flynn's whimsical interiors are known for juxtaposing mid-century modern with aged farmhouse design. The space is divided into two areas with the upstairs (Sweet) being the sophisticated wine dinner and premier event location and the downstairs (Lowdown) catering to the power lunch, happy hour and dinner theatre crowds.

Rodney Wedge, Founder & Owner, and his wife Tonya (my former co-worker)

When asked why he opened his third restaurant, Rodney replied "Isn't it the American Dream to own your own business?" Having started from humble beginnings as a dishwasher at 16, Rodney worked his way up to owner and founder of Atlanta's Fuego Spanish Grill. Fuego has been showered with accolades under Rodney's leadership including Top 50 Restaurants by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Top 10 Lunch Spots by Atlanta Magazine and a Zagat rating of Excellence. "Sweet Lowdown is unique in several areas: first and foremost the food. It will be southern comfort food blended with a little sophistication."

Carmen Cappello, Executive Chef

Chef Carmen Cappello brings years of experience from working with some of the most influential chefs on the East Coast such as Chef Georges Perrier (also famous for his kitchen tirades) and Francesco Martorella of Le Bec Fin and Brasserie Perrier, Master Chef Jack Shoop, Master Chef Alfonzo Constriani, Thomas Ryan, Phillippe Haddad and Scott Serpes of TWO.Urban Licks. Cappello is also the host of the radio show "Behind the Line With Chef Carmen Cappello", a chef-driven radio program that uncovers the realities of the restaurant business and chats one on one with some of Atlanta's top chefs. He was also named "the young chef to watch in Atlanta" by atlantacuisine.com.

Here are some of Rodney and Carmen's down home dishes we got down with on opening night...

Braised Pork Shank - Smothered, butterbean & charred corn ragout, spicy pork jus

Whole Fish of the Day - Chef's selection Sea Bass, roasted potatoes, charred corn, okra

Pan Roasted Bacon Steak and Seared Redfish - Aged cheddar mac and cheese, pickled okra

Mac and Cheese (the best I've ever had!)

Grilled 12oz NY Strip - Portabella quesadilla , horseradish cream, beef jus

Seared Scallop "Pirlau" - Rice, peas, sweet onions, tomato shellfish broth

Alabama Lemon Cheese Layer Cake - Tart lemon sherbert, raspberry marmalade (Rodney's favorite dessert on the menu!)

Deep South Pecan Pie - Dulce de Leche ice cream, bourbon caramel sauce

Praline Bread Budding - Bourbon Butter Pecan ice cream, pecan brittle

SL's Flight of Cheesecakes - Chef's daily selection with garnishes

Red Velvet Cake - Cream cheese icing, strawberry marmalade

Where all the action takes place...

Sweet Lowdown
942 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
404.207.1324
http://www.TheSweetLowdown.com

Years ago, while having dinner with my college roommate in New York, I smelled something odd. The smell, originating in the kitchen of Vucciria, had found its way onto Craig's plate and into my nostrils. "What the hell is that?" I asked. "It's bucatini with anchovy and fennel. Have a bite." At twenty-two years old, bucatini was, to me, as foreign as it sounds and anchovy was something to be avoided. Fennel? I doubt I had any real idea what fennel was. But, since Craig thought it was really good and, in the four years we lived together, never lied to me, I dropped and twirled my fork onto his plate and took a bite.

I nearly choked. Not from getting food caught in my windpipe nor because it was so distgusting my throat muscles refused it entry into my esophagus. It was because the moment it hit my mouth, I had a vision of my grandmom beating a baby octopus senseless against to porcelain of her kitchen sink. True, dead animals lack any sense, good or otherwise, but it was my fantasy. The mind plays tricks.

Craig's random menu choice released a lot of memories I never even knew I'd put in lockdown. His main course was the focal point of a very traditional meal I loathed as a small child-- Chrismas Eve dinner. I have now, sadly, managed to effectively wipe much of the meal from my memory. So has the rest of my surviving family. When trying to recreate the pasta dish I offer up today, my father couldn't remember much of what was in it. "I remember it had some crumbly, crunchy stuff on top." "You mean breadcrumbs?"I asked. "I think that's what it was, I never really liked it, so I don't remember. I guess Grandmom was just trying to keep a tradition alive." I don't remember the exact year my Grandmom finally gave up trying to force tradizione down the quarter-Sicilian throats of her grandchildren, but the Christmas Eve we smelled red sauce cooking in the kitchen, there was much inward rejoicing.

What I find amusing, if a bit sad, is that, as a thirty-seven year old man, I now love all the things that old broad made for us. The bucatini dish, the anise cookies, the braised octopus. I remember the terror of seeing her cleaning and beating the octopus in her sink, as previously mentioned. Unfortunately, I had recently seen a horror film one Sunday starring a giant octopus at my father's place, so I was not pleased to see my grandmother playing with monsters. I told her I would have none of it though, unlike in The Bride of the Monster, this octopus lost its wrestling match and ended up an unwelcomed first course. "Michael, you eat this every year and you're gonna eat it tonight. You told me last year you liked it and that's why I'm making it again-- for you." With the little sea creature in a stranglehold, she managed to pin me to the mat without even looking up. Neither of us was much of a match for her.

I am now nostalgic for those dinners I never thought I liked in the first place. But, like the U.S. savings bonds she placed under the Christmas tree every year, I matured and learned to appreciate.

Bucatini with Fennel and Anchovy

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
10 anchovy filets
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 bulb fennel, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 cup bread crumbs, finely ground and toasted
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 pound bucatini pasta (use whatever pasta you want, I'm not particular)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add anchovies, mashing them with a fork into the oil. Add fennel, onion, garlic and pepper flakes. Be careful how you heat this. Do it gently, or these bulbs will burn. Cook until tender, about five minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain and reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Add water and pasta to the cooked fennel mixture and toss, coating the bucatini well.

Combine bread crumbs and grated cheese. Transfer pasta to the serving platter of your choice. Sprinkle liberally with breadcrumb mixture, pine nuts and fennel fronds.. Serve immediately

Serves 4 adults or about 15 small children who won't eat it, no matter how much you threaten.

Check, Please! Bay Area is KQED's local series featuring regular people reviewing Bay Area restaurants.

Visit the Check, Please! Bay Area blog to experience Jacques Pépin and Leslie Sbrocco pairing wine with dishes from these Season 1 restaurants:

1) Incanto: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

2) Woodward's Garden: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe 1 | recipe 2

3) Chapeau!: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

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