As close as we are to Manhattan, it can sometimes be daunting to choose a restaurant when heading into the city for an evening or, as happens often, out-of-towners send frantic pleas for recommendations on where to eat while they’re in town. It’s great, then, to have the chance to sample the artistry of NYC chefs right here in Jersey when they bring their show on the road. In the case of the Buick Discovery Tour, they’re quite literally doing just that.
Motoring through Morristown on a recent weekend, the Discovery Tour – co-hosted by Buick and Food & Wine magazine – featured celebrity and up-and-coming chefs, an irreverent wine expert, and delectable samples of food, drink, and drive (not necessarily in that order). It’s an interesting concept, pairing the foodie experience with that of test driving glossy new cars with heated steering wheels and less than 100 miles on the odometer. The goal of the sponsors is to create an experience and perhaps inspire an ah-ha moment next time you venture out to buy a car. The event promoted the theme of “new discoveries” and offered a great opportunity to learn about cooking techniques, specialty ingredients, flavor palettes, and the personal stories behind award-winning culinary stars.
Manhattan-based chefs Michael Psilakis, owner of several modern Greek restaurants—including Kefi and FISHTAG, both on the Upper West Side—and George Mendes, owner of Aldea, which puts a new-millennium twist on Portuguese cuisine, were on hand to demonstrate simple dishes that can easily translate to make-at-home meals you can present with flavor and flair. Here are the recipes they’ve shared with us at JerseyBites, courtesy of the Buick team:
Gyro Spiced Sliders, by Michael Psilakis
Make 1 dozen sliders
Ingredients:
12 2 oz. beef patties
6 oz. Tsatziki (recipe below)
12 slider potato rolls
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
12 cornichons (optional)
12 frilly toothpicks
Gyro slider spice mix:
12 tbsp. Cumin
2 tbsp. Coriander
8 tbsp. Yellow mustard seed
2 1/2 tsp. Cloves
2 tbsp. Black cardamom
4 tbsp. Fennel
2 tbsp. Cinnamon
Combine all spices in mixing bowl, transfer to airtight container.
Recipe:
1. Make gyro spice & set aside.
2. Make Tsatziki sauce & store in refrigerator until ready to use.
3. Preheat a large cast iron skillet on medium high heat and coat bottom of pan with
olive oil.
4. Season sliders on both sides with salt and pepper and dredge sliders in gyro
spice mixture.
5. In small batches of 3-4 patties sear sliders for approximately 1 minute per side. Allow to rest once cooked.
6. Remove excess grease with paper towel and repeat until all sliders are cooked.
7. To serve, place each slider on bottom of potato roll and top with dollop of Tsatziki
sauce and cover gently with bun top and cornichon. Spear with toothpick.
Tsatziki Sauce
Makes 1 pint:
1/2 English cucumber, peeled
5 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
2 shallots, thickly sliced
1/2 cup fresh dill
1 1/4 cups strained Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
1. Cut the cucumber into very small pieces, even dice. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
2. In a food processor, combine the garlic, vinegar, shallots, and dill. Pulse until finely
chopped, but not pureed.
3. Add the mixture to the cucumbers; add the yogurt. Fold together with a rubber
spatula, adding the olive oil and lemon juice.
4. Season liberally with kosher salt and pepper, starting off with 1 tablespoon salt.
5. You can store the Tsatziki in a covered, clean jar in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Salted Cod Scrambled with Egg, Crispy Potato and Black Olive, by George Mendes
Serves 4
Ingredients
¼ cup pitted Kalamata olives
Extra virgin olive oil as needed
¼ cup peeled shoestring, julienned Yukon gold potato
½ cup flaked desalted bacalao
4 large eggs
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ thinly sliced small onion
2 thinly sliced garlic clove
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
2 tbsp of chopped parsley leaves
¼ tsp fresh lemon juice
Preheat oven to 200°F. Place the olives on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan and bake until totally dried and easy to crumble. Alternatively, use a dehydrator set at 145°F. Cool completely, then mince. You should have 2 tablespoons.
Fill a small saucepan with canola oil to a depth of 2 inches. Heat to 375°F. Add the potatoes in batches to fry until golden brown and crisp, adjusting the heat to maintain the temperature and gently stirring to cook evenly. Drain on paper towels.
Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk until blended. Reserve.
Heat a medium nonstick pan over low heat and coat with the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sweat, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add the flaked cod and cook for 15 seconds, stirring, then add the beaten egg and a few strokes of white pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until just set but still wet. Fold in the parsley, lemon juice, add the olives and potatoes.
Serve immediately.
Meeting and sampling the work of these two chefs was a terrific new discovery, and visiting their restaurants for the full experience of each one’s updated takes on their culinary ethnic heritages is something I eagerly look forward to. Alas, I’ll be chugging into the city on a swaying NJTransit rust bucket rather than in a luxury sedan, but I’ll always have the delicious memories. Thanks, Buick!
For a full recap of the event, check out JerseyBites editor Veronique Deblois’ post over at foodandwinechickie.com.
FISHTAG
222 West 79th Street, between Broadway & Amsterdam
NYC
212-362-7470
Aldea Restaurant
31 West 17th Street
NYC
212-675-7223
Deanna Quinones is the Jersey Bites Regional Editor for Morris County. A freelance writer, blogger, and unrepentant chocolate addict, Deanna spent 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area where life was good and the burritos even better. She recently returned to the Garden State and now resides in Morristown, where she and her Texas-born/Jersey-raised/California-found husband are raising two wild and wonderful kids. An experienced book marketer, award-winning greeting card writer, and entertainment writing dabbler, Deanna can be reached at [email protected]. (photo credit Pete Genovese/The Star-Ledger)
April 5th: Jersey Shore Restaurant Week April 5-14 Spring Breaks at The Jersey Shore. Ten days, great deals, and fabulous meals!
April 8th: 2nd Annual Taste of Montclair, at The Conference Center, University Hall at Montclair State University. Enjoy the culinary delights of more than 30 chefs who will serve up tastes in an eclectic array of food to the approximately 500 people who will once again enjoy The Taste of Montclair. Freshly shucked oysters, Italian, Spanish, American, Fusion, barbecued chicken and ribs, French, Southern, and even good old fashioned American ice cream are some of the expected treats.
April 11th: Oyster Point Hotel’s “All Hands On Deck” Re-Opening in Red Bank, New Jersey from 6:00-9:00 PM. The opening will support The Boondock’s Fishery in Red Bank. The Navesink Business Group and Red Bank Flavour Restaurants have joined forces with The Oyster Point to help Boondocks’ owner Kelly Ryan rebuild her business.
April 14th-20th: Atlantic City: Tropicana Seafood Week will debut for the first time April! Celebrate everything under the sea with property wide seafood specials, drink specials and discounted retail shopping. Enjoy fresh seafood at FIN, shop nautical fashions and accessories in The Quarter, or even unwind with a sea salt scrub at bluemercury spa. Tropicana is serving up seafood every which way, and there are plenty of ways to get your fix with various specials throughout the week.
April 18th: Atlantic City: Chef Jose Garces Hosts “THE LATIN ROAD HOME” Multi-Course Meal
April 23rd: The 13th Annual Taste of Weehawken will be held on Tuesday, April 23 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Food Court at Lincoln Harbor. Proceeds from the event, which has historically been used to support Library programming, will instead be donated by the Library to the Weehawken & You Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.
April 29th: New York City: Taste of the Nation NYC
•chocolate w/chocolate covered matzo (matzo & shank bone)-This is a rich dark chocolate ice cream made with chocolate covered matzo pieces mixed throughout. It was sublime and a true chocolate fix, probably the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had. The broken matzo looks like bone pieces, which represent z’roa, the shank bone.
•green apple horseradish (maror)-The first thing I noticed about this ice cream was the horseradish aroma when the sample was passed over the counter. There is a little tart green apple at the beginning but then the fresh horseradish takes over. I’m glad I tried it last because the horseradish flavor is so strong; it lingered on my palate and in my sinuses for quite a while.
Victoria Hurley-Schubert
Mark also does a classic frisee salad, which was heavenly. Frisee lettuce with generous bacon lardons and bleu cheese, croutons, mustard vinaigrette, topped with a poached egg, which envelops the salad perfectly when pierced.
Kimmee Masi, 42, is a rocker who loves baking. The drummer and manager for the band Our Last Sin, married her love for music and sweets, opening Confections of a Rock$tar bake shop with co-owner Lisa Lasky, in August 2012. Offering custom cakes, cookies, cupcakes and other confections with a rockin’ sensibility and style, the bakery has developed a following from the shore and beyond.
Kimmee’s cupcakes (starting at $3.50) have rockin’ names to match their musical inspirations:
Confections of a Rock$tar’s other specialties include specialty cakes, custom occasion cakes, layer cakes, éclairs, tarts, cake pops, cake shots, brownies and gluten-free French macaroons, which are all baked fresh daily and from scratch. Quarter sheet cakes, which feed 15-25, start at $45.
SUSSEX COUNTY
March 23rd: Somerset Hills Education Foundations (SHEF) 10th Annual Chili Cook-Off. Come celebrate the 10th anniversary of delicious chili tasting, great music and dancing, western entertainment and a unique silent auction! This year’s event takes place at beautiful Tranquillity Farms in Chester, NJ. Attractions include a mechanical bull, Tito’s Handmade Vodka Bar, Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda Stand, Epicure Foods cheese displays, and over twenty chefs competing for awards. The VIP Chili Pepper Lounge is hosted in the Farm’s “Champion Circle” oak bar room and has additional catering and specialty drinks.
For the gluten intolerant, the world of craft beer is a foreign place. Up until now, it might as well have been on the moon. Brian Kulbacki and his upstart, 
Actually, it’s not that simple. Sorghum is used in place of traditional malt when brewing gluten free beer. Its intense sweetness is difficult to mask, but not impossible. Other grains that don’t contain gluten are corn, rice, buckwheat, millet and quinoa, but there aren’t any malted versions of any of those grains which are commercially available. So, if you are going to go gluten free, you’ll have to malt your own. Even then, you can end up with a thin and sour beer. Oh, and you also have to be careful about the yeast you use because some are cultured in a barley medium. In short, you’ll have to know a lot about brewing to produce a decent gluten free beer.
Successfully negotiating the American Brewer’s Guild 6 month Brewery in Planning course completed Brian Kulbacki’s brewing education. Even though he was already a home brewer, Brian found the course challenging. There’s a lot of engineering and microbiology involved with a little practical business advice thrown in at the end. Not that he needed that. A Boston College grad, Brian majored in Business and Finance. Appropriately enough, it was a tour of the Sam Adams brewery during those college years that introduced him to flavorful beer. Brian also helps run the family business, a funeral home (thus the “departed” part of Departed Soles), as well. Clearly he has the business and brewing chops.
Crystal Tavern and their Sous Vide Buffalo Short Rib Mac & Cheese with local artisinal cheese and bone marrow gratin.
Cielo Restaurant in Fairfield with his Hide & Seek Mac & Cheese
Tipperary Pub in Lakehurst with their Irish Mac & Cheese
Nicole’s 10 in Randolph with Chef Masey’s Lobster Mac & Cheese
After all the sipping and nibbling, the winner by popular vote was Nicole’s 10 with their Lobster Mac & Cheese. Here, Chef Masey is being presented with a magnum of Napa Cellars Chardonnay by Joe Shirley and Daniel Tindal, Regional Manager New Jersey, Trinchero Family Estates.
5 Passover Kosher Wines:
