TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Taste of The Stew

ADVERTISEMENT

By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 8, 2008

TABLE CONVERSATIONS: After a lengthy holiday hiatus, my Table Conversations food podcast is back. This week's guest: James Oseland, editor in chief of Saveur magazine. The January-February issue features the 10th annual Saveur 100 list, an eclectic collection of what it describes as "our favorite foods, restaurants, drinks, people, places and things."

An award-winning food writer, Oseland also is the author of the book "Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking From the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia."

The 100 list is to Saveur what the Dubious Achievement Awards are to Esquire or Men of the Year is to Gentlemen's Quarterly. I told Oseland that what I enjoy about the list each year is that it comes across as if someone not only ate the food they wrote about but also loved on it a little bit. There's a great intimacy about the list that gives the package the kind of vibe of an angler sharing his favorite fishing hole.

It also comes off as if lowbrow and highbrow are one and the same. The appreciation of food and the passion for the pleasure it provides are the common denominators.

That's by design, Oseland said.

"For us at the magazine, we see the world of food equally," he told me. "We get as excited about eating at a new three-star Michelin restaurant in Paris as we do eating a good taco in Austin, Texas. For us, it's all equal."

To listen to the podcast, go online to my blog, The Stew, at TBO.com, or download it from iTunes or Feedburner.

FAIR FARE: On the menu among the 200 food vendors during the upcoming Florida State Fair: garlic mashed potatoes on a stick, deep-fried bratwurst, deep-fried fruits and steamed clams. There also will be a Hispanic food court featuring such authentic Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisine as horchata, flan, empanadas, burritos, tropical ice creams in coconut shells and Brazilian churrasco. The fair runs Feb. 7 to 18 at the fairgrounds in Tampa.

Also on the schedule Feb. 7-9 is the International Wine & Grape Juice Competition. Last year's contest drew 1,578 entries from 33 states and 10 countries.

CORK IT: If you enjoy bringing your favorite bottle of wine to restaurants but hate the fees the servers charge to uncork it, Mondays are now corkage-free at Cafe Dufrain on Harbour Island. The usual corkage fee there is $15.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Right before New Year's, Bern's Steak House owner David Laxer named four chefs to guide the restaurant and its progressive South Tampa companion eatery, SideBern's. The previous executive chef, Jeannie Pierola, left the company in November.

Andy Minney, 36, and Habteab Hamde, 44, will share chef de cuisine, or head chef, duties for Bern's. Both previously were sous chefs, or second in command, at the restaurant.

Minney graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, S.C. Hamde, known as "Hab" at Bern's, attended the Swedish Culinary Institute in Sudan.

At SideBern's, Chad Johnson is the new executive chef, and Courtney Orwig is the chef de cuisine. Johnson, 28, studied at the French Culinary Institute in New York and previously worked at several restaurants in Manhattan. Orwig, 35, was recruited by Pierola.

Hungry for more? Read Jeff Houck's food blog, The Stew, at TBO.com, keyword: Stew.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT