Last week I shared some of my favorite international products from the Fancy Food Show and now it's time for the American ones. Most of these products are brand new so keep your eyes open for them. A few of them I had tasted before but never mentioned here, they are noteworthy rather than new. To be honest, I haven't even tried all the samples I brought home, so I may be posting even more soon...


I am very late to the party when it comes to Lillie Belle Farms chocolate. They are rightfully famous for their blue cheese truffle rolled in almonds, which combines Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue cheese with chocolate. I know. It sounds awful, but you just have to try it to believe how good it is. It's creamy, rich, with a bit of a smoky bite. Divine. Honest. I wouldn't lead you astray about something as serious as chocolate.


Another beverage I liked was Ooba. It's made from hibiscus and being marketed for its health properties. For me, as always, it's really more about the taste. It reminded me of the sweet hibiscus drinks from Mexico. It uses a special hibiscus extract and would be terrific in mixed drinks. I am not a soda drinker, but this appealed to me. Go figure.


We get a lot of good goat cheese in the Bay Area, and frankly, I never met a goat cheese I didn't like. But the triple cream version from Coach Farm was something new for me. It tasted much more like the aged goat cheeses I tend to smuggle home from France. Sometimes triple creme cheeses can have a bitter edge but this was like pure butter, sweet and creamy with a firm chalky texture on the edge and softer in the middle.



I can't believe it, but looking back in my archives I have never actually mentioned Nueske's bacon before. Nueske's is a bit like the Platonic ideal when it comes to bacon. Slow smoked over applewood it tends not to shrink as much as conventional bacon. It has won tons of awards and was chosen best of the best at the Fancy Food Show in 2001. You don't have to be a bacon lover like me to adore this bacon. You can order it online if you can't find it in stores near you.


Based in the Central Valley, here in California, Nunes Farms sells almonds from their family ranch. They make the perfect healthy on-the-go snack. My favorite flavor is the Honey Cinnamon version. Always fresh, crisp and wonderfully satisfying it's packaged in convenient little 1.5 ounce packs. They now sell other newer flavors like Imperial Citrus too.


I'm not sure who steered my attention towards the Impressions Fine Foods booth, but thank you! Chocolate Mochi Krunch is another product that sounds like a mistake. It's tamari brown rice crackers covered in a thin layer of chocolate. But this Asian inspired snack is very high quality and positively addictive. If there is a better flavor combination than crunchy, sweet and salty I don't know what it is. You will just have to try this confection when you get the chance. Somehow they not only came up with a unique combination but got the balance just right. They also make a spicy ginger dark chocolate version but I liked the milk chocolate best.


I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I love the flavor of coffee in confections. I've always enjoyed munching on chocolate covered coffee beans. Javaz chocolate coffee beans are the best I've ever had, covered in a crunchy shell with a chocolate filling and tasty bits of Arabica coffee beans. If chocolate covered coffee beans are your thing, you'll love these.

In all likelihood you have noticed the frozen yogurt frenzy. Yes, frozen yogurt is back. This time around it's a tangy plain version that might or might not get some fruit added to it. I tried both the soft version at Straus Family Creamery and the gelato style version at Ciao Bella Gelato and wholeheartedly recommend them. The Straus product is very new but look for it soon. The Ciao Bella version combines labne yogurt from Lebanon and Sicilian lemon juice, it's a bit high in fat but a luscious indulgence. Neither are very sweet and retain that distinctive sour dairy tang you associate with yogurt.

Can't get enough round ups and recaps? Here are even more blog posts about the show:

Bunrabs

Italy in SF

Neococoa

Chomple

Blog Appetit

Joy the Baker

Well Fed

My good ideas post on Bay Area Bites

Michael Procopio's recap on Bay Area Bites

Is it EDible?

Regional Best

Like My Spoon-Chocolate Edition

If I've missed your blog post on the Fancy Food Show, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

This year I tried so many delicious things at the Winter Fancy Food Show, it's hard to know where to begin. Let me take you on a brief tour of highlights. Today I'm sharing some delicious international offerings and next week come on back for some of my favorite domestic bites and sips.


Sometimes it's the color of something that catches my eye. I don't think I've ever seen a strawberry jam quite so vibrant as the one at the show from Tunisia. Even though I was trying to limit myself to tasting savory things, I took a spoonful of Stifen's Strawberry Orange Blossom jam and was transported to a field of fruit and flowers. The bright color was matched by the bright flavors. I don't know exactly how they process fruit, I only know they are able to retain the freshest color and flavor.


It was both the color of these conserves and pestos plus the unusual flavors and combinations like asparagus and almond or squash blossom flower that attracted me to Tesori of Siciliy. Each one I tried was stunning. Incredible intense flavors, the essence of saffron, eggplant, almonds and more. The caponata was white, with no tomato, but I have never had a better or more sophisticated version. It was refined and delicate without the heavy sweet sour flavor I'm used to tasting. These sauces to use on bread or pasta are nothing short of spectacular.


Bottarga is Italian salted and dried grey mullet roe, and I appreciate it's briny, salty sea flavor. But I'd never had Greek Trikalinos bottarga, known as avgotaraho before. Imported by the The Rogers Collection, it's soft, less salty, bright apricot in color and rich with flavor. I loved it. I can imagine using it with pasta, salad, on bread. It's flavor is concentrated but has a sweetness as well that tempers the salt. Imagine a chewy thin slice of the clean sweet essence of the sea. It's a luxury product to be sure, but filled with nutrients and so dense that a little goes a long way.


I'm fascinated by the fact that guava can taste so different from one place to another. The color changes too, sometimes it is greenish, then pale or bright pink. This Mexican guava from Guayeco & Co was a dark golden raisin color. But the flavor was not like guava I've tried before. Sweet but with an almost citrus tang with tropical notes. It is available in paste, jam and marmalade and I could see using it on pastries, in sauces, glazes for fish or meat. It was like discovering a new fruit, I'm not even sure I would have realized it was guava. A really excellent product, easily the best guava marmalade I have ever tasted. Needless to say, I will seek out in the future.


There was so much rich luscious cheese at the show, it's hard to single out just one, but I'm going to anyway. The marinated feta from the Yarra Valley Dairy in Australia was one of the mildest, sweetest feta cheeses I have tasted in a long time. Scented with a thyme and garlic infused olive oil, it was creamy and fresh and left a lasting impression. Sometimes something simple and pure is even more impressive than a pungent, blue, triple creme, whatever.


I'm not generally speaking a soda drinker and even the supposedly "dry" styles have disappointed me, but I really liked Bionade, an organic drink from Germany. Made with malt, it is fermented and not very sweet. The malt sugar is not converted to alcohol, but into gluconic acid, which is also found in honey. It's lower in calories than other soft drinks and quite refreshing. The ginger and orange flavor in particular was my favorite. I could see pairing these with food. Flavors included herbs, lychee and elderberry. A very sophisticated and uniquely flavored drink, well worth seeking out if you want something non-alcoholic that is dry enough to enjoy with food.

Over at Bay Area Bites you'll find the products I hope indicate potential trends in the future.

What a treat it was to be asked what the "Change in Command" means to me in terms of food. Check out my featured response and leave a comment on what you think the change means, if you like.

Happy Inauguration Day! and a very Happy Birthday to my father-in-law as well!

Last week it was so cold I was desperate for recipes that would warm the kitchen and the house, so I made baked beans. It was a long slow recipe that took 7 hours of baking. I used salt pork, onions, molasses, brown sugar and spices. The beans were good, but I got tired of eating them plain, so I made my version of franks and beans.

I hesitate to post this recipe because, it is pure white trash cooking, not exactly my specialty. But the truth is, it's delicious! I've seen this recipe called something like "Hawaiian Beans" which is kind of interesting because of course pineapple comes from Hawaii, and beans are very popular in Hawaii, especially in Portuguese Bean Soup. But also because this recipe has frankfurters in it. All kinds of processed meat--specifically Spam and hot dogs are very common in Hawaii and make their way into fusion food like Spam musubi and hot dog maki sushi.

While my parents have very sophisticated tastes, I credit them with this very budget friendly recipe. They made it with Heinz vegetarian beans, probably kosher hot dogs and French's prepared mustard. But what I've discovered is that it works well with baked beans, any kind of sausage and any kind of mustard you like. It's really less of a recipe than a formula. Please, don't hate me for posting it! I promise I will get back to regular programming shortly!

Franks & Beans, "Hawaiian Style"
makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

4 cups canned or homemade beans, about 2 cans
4 hot dogs or sausages, any kind you like, sliced into bite sized chunks
1 cup canned pineapple chunks
3 Tablespoons ketchup
1 Tablespoon mustard, any kind you like

Instructions

Dump all of the ingredients into a large saucepan or dutch oven and gently heat through. Season to taste with additional mustard, ketchup, etc. Enjoy!

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There are so many great places to eat in Honolulu it's almost impossible to tell you about all of them. At the suggestion of a reader, I have created this interactive map of the places I like. Some restaurants I have reviewed others I haven't, but for each you'll find a note I've written about it and a link to my review, if there is one. I hope you find this helpful!

The folks at Blogs.com very kindly invited me to be a guest author and come up with a Top 10 list. My pick? You'll just have to visit to find out!

Ramen is not just that cheap instant noodle you ate in college. While I had eaten good, fresh ramen before both in the US and in Japan, I hadn't realized just how many types and variations there are, until this past trip to Hawaii. In Honolulu there are tons of ramen places and many of them offer different kinds of broth and noodles, as well as toppings. There is even a local noodle company, Sun Noodle, that supplies at least 40 different styles of ramen noodles to Honolulu restaurants. Really!

There are so many different types of ramen in Honolulu you'll just have to try some to to decide which you like best. Just scratching the surface, I only ate a few bowls of ramen and frankly, most of them were very good. I'll tell you a little about my top picks.


First off, Goma Tei in the Ward Center makes a phenomenal tan tan ramen. I ordered it with char siu. The normal bowl comes with one slice of pork but the char siu version comes with three slices. Take my advice and get the three pieces, it is so succulent and delicious! The rich toasted sesame broth is complex and savory with a bit of sesame oil on top. The pork is delicate and thick, rolled into a round. The noodles hold up well to the soup and the spinach adds some freshness. I would go back and eat this ramen in a heart beat.

Another noteworthy ramen I had was at a place called Menchanko Tei walking distance from Waikiki beach. Chanko is the stew that sumo wrestlers eat to bulk up. The version served here has thick noodles (not ramen) but is surprisingly light.

They also serve a very good tonkatsu that I highly recommend.


My favorite dish was the hakata ramen. The broth is made from tonkatsu pork bones, and it is very creamy. It comes with lots of toppings including some very spicy ginger that flavors the soup if you mix them in. The noodles here were a bit delicate which paired well with a lighter style broth.


I can understand why people line up to get the ramen at Tenkaippin. They make a special version called kotteri that has a super collagen rich chicken broth base. It is almost like chicken gravy or an intensely concentrated chicken stock. It's not very salty and at each table there's a container of fresh garlic and chilies you can add to your bowl to spice it up. It also comes with one or three slices of cha siu pork, depending upon how you order it. If you feel like you are coming down with a cold, this would be the most soothing bowl. It's also rumored to help prevent wrinkles...!


Like the other shops, Yotteko-Ya, which is part of a Kyoto-based chain, serves several types of ramen, but l liked the simple shoyu style best. It was not too salty and if you get there early enough you can get it with large blocks of marinated braised pork called kakuni. They only serve 20 portions available per day. This was the most basic style of ramen, but sometimes that's what you're in the mood for eating.

Goma Tei Ramen
1200 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu
808.591.9188

Menchanko-Tei
2255 Kuhio Ave Ste S
Honolulu
808.924.8366

Tenkaippin
2132 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu
808.926.1100

Yotteko-Ya
1960 Kapiolani Boulevard Suite 214, upstairs
Honolulu
808.946.2900

Ok it's time I reveal a secret. In addition to reading blogs and putting out requests for advice on Twitter, there are a couple of other ways I find good restaurants in Honolulu. One is on Yelp. You have to carefully evaluate each user submitted review, but if you can read between the lines, you can find some real gems. The other great source is the best restaurant listings from the local newspaper, the Honolulu Advertiser. Not once have I been steered astray with their top picks.

A little hole-in-the-wall I was curious to try because of numerous reviews in newspapers, blogs and on Yelp, was Dew Drop Inn. You may think the Dew Drop Inn is the classic Mobile, Alabama roadhouse that inspired the Jimmy Buffet song "Cheeseburger in Paradise" but that's not the only Dew Drop Inn.

Dew Drop Inn is located downtown just a block from the Honolulu Art Academy. It's such a great Chinese restaurant it made me even sadder than I already was to leave Honolulu, because I only got to try it on my last night in town. The menu is easy to navigate because there are pictures of every single dish. The owner and chef is Taiwanese but his family was originally from Shanghai and there are lots of Northern style recipes. We ordered wheat based dishes that were steamed, boiled, pan fried and baked and not one of them disappointed.

We tried two different kinds of dumplings, a fairly standard boiled dumpling which was very well executed, with a bit of a smoky flavor.


We also ordered pan fried dumplings which had a combination of a pork sausage and preserved turnip greens in it. These were very tender but crisp on the top. The order and the dumplings themselves were very large and even cold the next day they were delicious.


A most unusual dish was the thin and crunchy baked "sesame pockets" filled with a combination of shredded pork, pressed smoky tofu and vegetables. I loved this dish! It was a bit like a sandwich but with a most savory filling, even better than Mu Shu Pork.


Finally we ordered a special, the beef and green onions with steamed buns. Juicy and sweet onions were paired with tender and garlic flavored beef. I have never had a stir fry dish such as that with steamed buns, but it was great.
My advice? Dine with a group, order a lot of wheat based items, and go early in your trip, because after one meal, you will want to return!

Dew Drop Inn
1088 S Beretania St
Honolulu
808.526.9522