Buffalo Rising Online

I was delighted and surprised when I discovered that my local Wegmans was carrying Vosges chocolate bars. Vosges is one of Chicago’s most exclusive chocolatiers. That is until they participated in the Fancy Foods Show, which introduces retailers from around the world to gourmet "artisan" goodies. Stacy’s Pita Chips, Bear Naked Granola, Pom drink, you name it, if a food item begins popping up on local shelves everywhere you go, you can bet it was discovered at the Fancy Food Show.

And we should be grateful. My mother, a helpless chocoholic, certainly couldn’t find high quality chocolate at the supermarket when I was a kid, especi…

...utters a grand word, which awakens erotic and gastronomic ideas." Jean Antheleme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 1825

Once upon a time, there was a restaurant called Tsunami that served the most amazing popcorn the world has ever seen. After a lot of begging, one of their former employees finally revealed the secret, the popcorn was tossed with…..truffle salt! I almost fell out of my seat when I heard this. I had been experimenting with truffle oil since the restaurant closed, but could never truly replicate the flavor. I adore truffles. Imagine, one little piece of fungus, growing in the dirt in France. Along comes a farmer with his 300-pound pig. Pigs sniffs truffle (although dogs can be trained to do this, as well). Pig finds truffle. Pig starts digging for truffle. Pig really wants to eat the truffle. Now imagine trying to w…

Last week, Beer in the City took a look at some of the hoppiest beers from the breweries that will be participating in the '07 Buffalo Brewfest. This week we'll look at a few premium high ABV beers- a style that can really show the true quality of a brewery.

A quick trip to Premier Gourmet can net you a nice “Brewfest preview” variety pack (note: they are not pre-packaged this way but easy enough to assemble yourself). Mine included a few brews that pack a heck of a punch, at around 10% ABV.

Each of the following ales will improve with age if stored properly, similar to wine. Each, in fact, is aged at least three months before distribution. The high alcohol content allows for the graceful aging process and also allows each beer to establish flavor characteristics different from its peers. Also, each is more malty than hoppy, producing a powerful punch of flavor and alc…

Sweetness, weight, acidity, tannin level, and silkiness are all terms often associated with wine tasting. They are now being applied to water. Balance, minerals, regional characteristics, flavor and bubble size (in the case of sparkling water), are also considerations. The process of identifying and classifying these elements in expensive, and most likely imported, water has become a phenomenon, even spawning a tasting service it seems that the privileged are even willing to pay for.

Most of the truly high end-waters like Iskilde or Antipodes are (to the best of my knowledge) not currently found in the Queen City. Most of our fine dining restaurants offer Pellegrino (sparkling) or the increasingly popular, acclaimed and relatively inexpensive Fiji (still). Perhaps the demand for presumably outstanding water is just not h…

Over 50 years ago, archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania discovered the tomb of the legendary King Midas. The burial chamber included the king’s remains along with the place settings for a banquet. Dated at around 700 BCE, these vessels represent “the most comprehensive Iron Age drinking set” ever found.

One of the most exciting discoveries made during this excavation was a set of three large vats used to hold the drink served at the feast. Each of these contained traces of the ancient brew, which were sent to UPenn for examination. At the time of discovery, the scientific methods were not yet advanced enough to determine much about the contents. Half a century later, however, Dr. Patrick McGovern was able to determine, with great certainty, the ingredients of the “Phrygian cocktail”.

Apparently, the drink of kings in Iron Age Turkey was a mixture of…