Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Our Swedish hosts are practically family; several years ago their son lived with us for a school year as part of an exchange program. He became my Swedish son. We stayed in touch; they’ve visited us twice since Pete was with us. Our trip was a chance to see the places we’d heard about; his parents wanted to treat us to a surprise, in addition to graciously opening their home in Gothenburg and showing us the sites.
The surprise was a two-day trip to Stockholm topped off with a special dinner at Erik’s Gondolen, known for its 33-meter high view of the harbor and fine cuisine. Neither aspect disappointed. As previously noted, dining companions always add much to the experience.
The Pancetta Wrapped Hake was too difficult to resist. The mild, flakey fish wrapped in bacon featured soft-as-butter scallops floating in a pea and parsley cream surrounded by a subtle artichoke foam. It was almost too artistic to eat. Almost.
Gondolen’s Classic Fish and Shellfish Casserole was reminiscent of cioppino, a fish stew. Two orders of the Fried Rack of Lamb with Brisket Sausage completed our order. As much as enjoyed one another’s company, we spoke very little while eating. Our server recommended spot-on wines to pair with our dishes.
We easily could have left after finishing our entrees, but cloudberries called. These amber-colored, raspberry look-alikes were tart and nicely complimented by house-made vanilla ice cream.
The memories include the view, the food and the friendship.
Erik’s Gondolen
Five Plates
Stadsgården 6 (Slussen)
Stockholm 104 65
Sweden
Kent Haruf’s Plainsong is among my favorite books. I haven’t read any of his other works for fear, I think, I’d be disappointed. After reading Benediction, one of the author’s last works before his death in late 2014, I realize I had no cause for worry.
Set in the (fictional) rural town of Holt, Colo., this is an agreeably slow-moving, intimate portrait of the bonds between families and community. The first paragraph sets the tone: Dad Lewis, a long-time resident of Holt and owner of the hardware store, receives the news that he’s dying of cancer. In his dying days, his grown daughter returns home to help; longtime friends and neighbors drop in to visit; and a few flashbacks surface to help tell the story of an imperfect man, beloved by his wife and daughter, estranged from his son, who tried to do his best.
The beauty of Haruf’s writing is that he provides just enough detail to hold the reader’s attention without overwhelming the imagination. That is, situations appear with gaps of information like potholes on a dirt road. Eventually, they get filled.
Interactions with those Dad has known for years intersect with a few new residents to Holt: the preacher and his family, including an angry teenage son and an even angrier wife. The young granddaughter of the woman across the street is another significant character. It would be heavy handed to feature a new-born, but Haruf’s circle of life is gripping, lyrical and not at all mawkish.
Benediction
Four Bookmarks
Knopf, 2013
258 pages
Panoramic views of Gothenburg (on Sweden’s west coast) competed with high-wow factor platings at Heaven 23. The majority of the dishes coming out of the open kitchen featured the King Size Deluxe. This is a monster serving of shrimp piled tall on greens, hard boiled egg, slices of cucumbers all hiding what must have been a scoop of mayonnaise topped with dill. Oh yeah, this all sat on a thin piece of bread.
Four of the six at our table ordered this house specialty, which is a spin on the open-face shrimp sandwiches sold throughout the region. None of those versions come close to Heaven 23’s in size, presentation or flavor combination. According to our server, each serving contains 200 grams of the hand-peeled arctic shrimp; that’s almost half of pound! Ironically, the large portion was inspired by the U.S, where almost anything is available in a super size.
The menu describes the shrimp as prawns, but these are small, slightly sweet and remarkably tender. We had two renegades at our table: one ordered the risotto and the other the lamb. I tasted the former, which was chewy and rich with asparagus. The plate for the latter was in danger of being consumed because of the desire to eat every last bite.
Our experience was enhanced by the friends with whom we shared our meal. Good conversation tested our efforts to leave as little of the shrimp as possible. This was, indeed, quite a challenge, but a very tasty one.
Heaven 23
Four-and-a-half Plates
Gothia Tower
Massans Gata 24,
Gothenburg 412 51, Sweden
Maggie Rider’s self-deprecating humor and sharp intelligence as narrator of The Virus by Janelle Diller elevate this sky-is-falling novel about the increasing threat of diminishing privacy.
Maggie works for a tech company that requires a lot of travel. Her husband, Eddy, is a freelance web designer. He’s actually more tech savvy than his wife, which evolves as a significant characteristic.
The novel begins with a smallpox outbreak in Colorado. Maggie and Eddy live in Colorado Springs; the story settings also include the Bay Area and Nebraska. At first, vaccinations are scarce. The rush to meet demand is fueled by government regulations requiring all who travel, work in the health industry and /or attend school to receive inoculations. Thanks to her job, Maggie is among the first to be vaccinated; something she willingly, almost gratefully, accepts. Suddenly, the immunizations are plentiful. Meanwhile, Eddy isn’t buying. His skeptical nature makes him leery of the outbreak in general and the vaccination itself.
Thus begins a race-against-time as more deadlines surface requiring all U.S. residents to be inoculated within a short time span.
Part thriller, part subtle love story (Maggie and Eddy are happily married) and a lot of intrigue make Diller’s story engaging. There’s an element of Big Brother along with the vulnerability that comes from being active on social media.
In general, the novel maintains a fast-paced tempo. Although not necessarily new, Diller raises important issues for consideration regarding the government and the ease with which we all share information about ourselves.
The Virus
Four Bookmarks
WorldTrek Publishing, 2015
359 pages
FUDS: A Complete Encyclofoodia by Alfredo & Antonio Mizretti is neither for the weak of stomach nor the humorless. Let’s start with the fact it’s actually written by Kelly Hudson, Dan Klein and Arthur Meyer. This trio has taken the mystique and the occasional arrogance often associated with haute cuisine out of the kitchen and onto the equivalent of a culinary comedy stage.
The authors are irreverent, silly and occasionally gross in the manner of pre-adolescents. They’re also fun and creative. Although the book is “Dedicated to Food,” it could easily be earmarked for those who love food and don’t mind heavy-handed metaphorical flavoring.
The Mizretti personas assumed by the true authors are twin brothers who grew up in Denver eating Mama Mizretti’s homemade specialties, which, according to Alfredo and Antonio “was awful.” Eventually, they open a restaurant, FUDS, in Brooklyn with only three items on the menu.
The content is ridiculous, but for anyone interested in food, and not so full of him or herself that a good laugh can’t be appreciated, it’s entertaining.
The book is comprised of several chapters related to the Mizrettis’ background, food basics a la FUDS, satirical descriptions of kitchen tools and several chapters of recipes – the kind made up at summer camp or on a college campus. Some are, frankly, gross. All are absurd.
A little FUDS go a long way. Its 160 pages, of which many are illustrations, is just about the right length. Of course, it also lends itself to return reads.
FUDS: A Complete Encyclofoodia from Tickling Shrimp to Not Dying in a Restaurant
Four Bookmarks (0 plates)
Bloomsbury, 2015
160 pages
If you remember 1984 and Animal Farm from high school or college reading requirements, The Circle by Dave Eggers will sound familiar. It’s just that Eggers, who has nothing on George Orwell, offers a contemporary setting in a Googlesque-complex in Northern California. The concepts of Big Brother and following the pack are nearly the same.
Mae, short for Maybelline, has just been hired by the prestigious organization thanks to Annie, beloved by her work colleagues and Mae’s former college roommate. Landing a position not only gets Mae out of a dead-end job, it provides an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of social change.
The Circle, the company’s name, thrives on numbers in the form of clicks, responses to surveys, extracurricular activities and tracking followers that makes Twitter and Facebook look like make-believe social media.
Mae’s initial job is in customer service. Her employers, from lower management to the triumvirate who founded the Circle, manipulate through passive-aggression and let the numbers speak for themselves: the higher the percentage or score, the better – no matter at what cost.
The trouble is that Mae is not all that likeable. Annie is far more interesting, but it turns out that her role is not much than that of a door opener. A former boyfriend, Mercer, provides a dissenting voice, but he’s one-dimensional with little chance of being heard.
Privacy, transparency, friendship and trust are all addressed here. While these are important themes, the characters are not strong enough to bear their weight.
The Circle
Three Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2013
491 pages
On one side of Bombo Foods is a display case with fresh fish on ice. On the other is a small seating area looking directly into the kitchen of this food stall in Grand Central Market. Half a dozen stools are separated from the cooking area by a small counter, glass and a row of steam kettles.
Each time I visit the market, there’s a huge line for Egg Slut, another food stall. I haven’t wanted to wait, so I don’t know what the allure is, but I loved having a seat at Bombo, with my back to the line and my eyes on chef Mark Peel and his crew preparing food. At one point, Peel leaned over the glass to ask how everything tasted. I had food in my mouth, so I nodded with an enthusiastic thumbs up.
I opted not to have fish, but instead ordered fried chicken with steak fries. Fresh herbs augmented the impressively moist chicken beneath its crispy exterior. The fries were fine, and I liked the tart beet and cucumber salad, which, because of its size, was merely the suggestion of a side dish.
The steam kettles are attention grabbers. One of the cooks explained that steam is shot into the kettles from an opening in the bottom with no liquid added. These are widely used on the East coast.
I already know what I want on my next visits – of which I hope there will be many: the mussels, the short ribs, the clams, the ….
Bombo Foods
Four-and-a-half Plates
Grand Central Market
317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles
There’s a lot of hype surrounding Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train and I’m not quite sure why. Words like thrilling and unpredictable are used to describe it. I thought it was just OK; I finished it, but its grip was weak. Perhaps if I had cared more about the characters I’d have been more invested in the outcome.
The story is told from the viewpoints of Rachel, Megan and Anna. Rachel’s is the primary version conveyed. This title character’s life is dismal. She’s recently divorced and is an alcoholic. It’s no surprise these elements lead to a series of bad choices. It’s from Rachel’s vantage point on the daily commuter train that she imagines an idyllic life for the couple she names Jess and Jason. Then she sees something, or thinks she does.
Interspersed with Rachel’s account, thrown into question because of her drinking and poor emotional state, is Megan’s. She’s a tougher personality and cheats on her husband, Scott. When she goes missing, he’s the prime suspect.
Anna is married to Tom, who just happens to be Rachel’s ex. Although Anna is now living the life Rachel once had, she’s disdainful of Rachel. Anna and Tom live a few doors down from Megan and Scott.
The voices of the three women are distinct only by the experiences they share. Megan is definitely the most mysterious. Rachel’s self-pity and lack of self-control, while vividly described, make her unreliable and pathetic. In this regard, Hawkins’s writing is successful.
The Girl on the Train
Three Bookmarks
Riverhead Books, 2015
323 pages
Although the reason for gathering was sad, the lunch hosted by my cousins at El Cholo was, in fact, a celebration of my aunt’s life. I can’t help but think she was smiling, humming under her breath and enjoying her signature drink: a cold bottle of Coors while many of us enjoyed margaritas.
The menu features traditional Mexican fare ranging from tacos to carnitas and several creative variations. I was intrigued by the Green Corn Tamales. This is considered the restaurant’s signature dish. Until recently, it was only available from May to October. The tamales are now available year round. Fresh green corn is cut off the cob, which is mixed with the corn masa. The result is a slightly sweet corn meal that coats the corn husks and contrasts with the sharp cheddar cheese and green chile that’s wrapped inside, tied together and steamed. The standard rice and beans round out the plate.
An interesting thing about the El Cholo menu is that many dishes are identified by the year they were added to the restaurant’s repertoire. Those tamales appeared when the first El Cholo opened in 1923. The Sonora Style Enchilada is also a 1923 vintage recipe. This features layered chicken enchiladas topped with a puffy fried egg drizzled with sour cream. It’s not the most attractive plating, but given its longevity on the menu, it must have more personality than looks.
And though it was late in the meal, we all raised our glasses to my aunt.
El Cholo
Four Plates
8200 E. Santa Ana Canyon Rd.
Anaheim Hills, Calif.
A few weeks ago I reviewed Peter Heller’s The Painter. That was shortly after Station Eleven. While I enjoyed both books, I thought I’d wait before starting another work by Heller, and I certainly had no intention of being drawn into another novel about a post-apocalyptic world. Then I heard Heller talk. He shared his experiences as a freelance writer and told how he came to write fiction. He read some from The Painter and The Dog Stars. I really had no good excuse not to read the latter.
It takes a little time adjusting to Heller’s stream of consciousness style with no quotation marks and single word sentences. It’s a terse yet fitting approach for Hig, a pilot who’s survived a flu pandemic, to tell his story. He lives with his dog, Jasper, and Bangley, a weapons-hoarder-ask-questions-later neighbor on an abandoned airfield northeast of Denver.
They must constantly be on alert from human predators. Hig is the least vigilant of the trio. What’s left of the world is not a friendly place. Yet, despite his best efforts, given the losses he’s faced, Hig is an optimist. A chance static-riddled radio transmission three years earlier from western Colorado has made him restless. Against Bangley’s better judgment, Hig needs to know what and, more importantly, who may still be out there.
His discovery is beautiful and gut-wrenching. Like Hig, the reader comes to appreciate Bangley. Although it hardly seems possible, as the story progresses Hig’s sensitivity and humanity gain greater significance.
The Dog Stars
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
320 pages
The Blue Page Special 
