Beer and brats for breakfast in Davidson

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They're calling it "Breakfast of Champions," but luckily, the food tasting at the Davidson Farmers Market on Saturday morning/June 30 (as in, tomorrow morning) doesn't start until 10:30 a.m. Still . . . you can sample locally made sausages and local beers provided by Summit Coffee.

You still need to get up early, though: There are only 100 tickets and they go on sale at 8 a.m. Tickets are $10. Go early, stay cool, and come back later in the morning.

The Davidson Farmers Market is between Main and Jackson streets, behind Summit Coffee and its neighbors. You can usually find free parking in the lots on Jackson; look for the red farm truck signs.

Get in the holiday mood: True American 'cue

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Last year during this week, we posted a video and story on the art of producing true, wood-cooked Carolina barbecue. I thought Corey Lowenstein's video, featuring Bruce and Jeff Jones of the Skylight Inn in Ayden, was one of the finest pieces of work I've gotten to be a part of.

If you're staying inside to stay cool over the holiday, I thought you might enjoy another look:

Barbecue at the Skylight Inn.

If you want, here's my story that ran with it.

Still hungry? Take a look at this slide show, now available from Reuters, on Scott's BBQ in Hemingway, S.C.

A taste of Savory Spice Shop

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Getting away from my desk in these post-social media days sometimes means picking the lock on my ankle manacle. I managed it a week or so ago and galloped happily off down South Boulevard.

That's how I finally had a chance to stop into Savory Spice Shop at the Atherton Mill complex in South End, which opened last wwinter.

It took a few minutes to find it. Since the original announcements came in the Atherton Market newsletter, I thought it was a kiosk inside the market. Actually, Savory is in a storefront, around the corner from Zucca Pizza, facing on South and nearest to the end of the mill building by Tremont Avenue. (Sorry, that's the best description I can come up with.)

Savory is a franchise of a spice company based in Colorado. They stock more than 400 herbs and spices, most in glass jars so you can buy anything from a 1/2 ounce up. You're also encouraged to taste and smell samples and just brush them into the floor when you're done.

There's a staff-picks shelf with recipes (someone named Steven apparently really like mustard seeds) and they're doing wedding favors in tiny bags. Clever idea if you're looking for a party favor option. During the summer grilling season, it's also a good place to look for rubs for grilling.

The official address is 2000 South Blvd.; hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. There's also a location in Birkdale Village in Huntersville.

Find more about the shops (and maybe get a better idea on those directions) on Facebook; look for SavorySpiceShopCharlotteSouthend.

Origin of barbecue sauce: Is NC style the original?

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Food writer Robert Moss of Charleston has a fascinating blog post this morning up on the Southern Foodways Alliance site: Barbecue sauce before the 20th century.

He points out that all the various red and sweet sauces were really a 20th century development and may be have arisen from restaurants. Before that, slowly cooking meat was basted with . . . Well, we'll let you read it.

http://southernfoodways.blogspot.com/2012/07/secret-history-of-barbecue-sauce.html

One Great . . . gorgonzola salad

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Once upon a time, when I was a very young lass in West Palm Beach, Fla., there was a steak restaurant called Manero's. Fancy place, expensive steaks. And, most of the time, completely out of my financial league.

But in those long-ago days, there were things called "dates," when a young girl might be taken out for a nice meal. And so, very occasionally, I got to go to Manero's.

I don't recall a thing about the steaks. I can't remember all that much about most of those dates. None made an impression until I met the one I married in another town, many miles and a few years away.

But Manero's Gorgonzola salad? Now, that made an impression. It was really the reason people went to the restaurant: The cheesiest, most garlicky salad, tossed tableside in wooden bowls. A few years ago, paddling around on food web sites, I found a recipe that the Miami Herald apparently had begged from the original owners. The trick turned out to be garlic oil, rubbed into the wooden bowl before mixing the salad.

Garlic and Gorgonzola Salad
If you can't find gorgonzola, you could use blue cheese. The original directions call for freezing the cheese for 24 hours, so it's very firm and shreds well.

1 clove garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil, divided
1 head of iceberg lettuce (although romaine or something better would do)
1 green pepper, cored and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 ripe tomatoes, cored and diced
Salt and pepper
4 ounces Gorgonzola or blue cheese
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Combine the garlic clove and 1/2 cup oil in a blender and puree. Rub a wooden salad bowl well with the garlic oil. Refrigerate any leftover oil.

Break lettuce into bite-size pieces and place in the treated salad bowl. Add the green peper, celery and tomato. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Grate cheese over the top of the salad. Whisk together the vinegarand remaining cup of oil. Pour over the salad and toss well.
Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings.

もちもちの木 Mochi Mochi No Ki Ramen

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Before we left for Japan, our friend Rickmond aka Rameniac sent us an email with some of his favorite ramen spots in Tokyo. First on his list - Mochi Mochi No Ki. Rickmond described it as, "State of the art bonito-y fishy shoyu ramen sealed under a layer of oil. F*ckin' dope." Who can say no to bonito-laced ramen steaming under a layer of oil.



My favorite part of eating ramen is watching them turn over my ramen noodles. Such precision.





Mochi Mochi No Ki starts off with a vegetable, chicken and pork bone stock. Then they add bonito, mackerel, anchovies and kombu dashi to give their ramen broth that perfect amount of fishyness. Finally green onion oil and lard are added to seal in the beautiful ramen steam.



This bowl of ramen is a whole lot of wonderful.



Just say no.



Mochi Mochi No Ki
1-4-1, B1F Kitashinzyuku Armavir
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Phone (03) 3368-1751
11:30 am - 11:00 pm
http://www.mochimochinoki.com

牛の蔵 Ushi No Kura

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Say hello to Ushi No Kura.

Ushi No Kura literally means "Cow Collection" but this isn't just any cow collection. Ushi No Kura carries high-grade Wagyu beef from Kagoshima. The prices for Wagyu beef at Ushi No Kura is exceptionally lower than other Wagyu restaurants because the ranch owns the restaurant. Here are the lovely farmers showcased in their Akasaka lobby.



We weren't sure how much to order since we just came from slurping lard-ladened ramen at Mochi Mochi No Ki, so we decided to order a moderate platter of meat. For 5000yen (~$60USD) we devoured a plate of 極上カルビ (prime Kalbi), 極上ロース (prime roast), 極上�ラミステーキ (prime skirt steak), and ホルモン (horumon...pork offals)!












Horumonyaki. Pork offals!





For dessert, we finished the night off with a bowl of Kagoshima wagyu tail soup.



Peasu peasu from Ushi No Kura.

*Thanks to Rameniac for another delicious recommendation.

Ushi No Kura
Akasaka Building 7-9-1 Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo
TEL 03-5573-9062
Subway Chiyoda Line / 3 min walk from Akasaka Station, Exit 7 (exit number 4 after 10 pm) Subway Ginza line noise circle extension / 13 min walk from Akasaka Mitsuke
*Grab a taxi with a gps. This location is far from the station.
www.ushinokura.com