Interesting article from the owner of Polpo in Soho about the differences and opportunities that exist between New York and London restaurants. He cites all the right things – from the council’s prohbitive and draconian approaches to licensing, to the corporate owners, to the lack of kitchens in appartments… and to my most referred to difference: That eating out in New York (or drinking out for that matter) is an experience.

I dont think that the food is any better in New York than London. In fact I’d go as far as to say that every meal I’ve ever had out there suffered from seemingly either too much salt or too much sugar. Even the damned salads! However the atmosphere, the adventure, the very experience began to affect my opinion way before I’d even sat down to taste the food. New york restauranteurs understand that there’s more to affecting the “taste” of your food than simply the ingredients and preparation. They concentrate on the build up to the event as much as the event itself.

…the restaurant scene in New York has an excitement, energy and dynamism that give power to openings like an engine. And that energy sustains them too.

…New York is vibrant, London is flat. New York is fun, London is serious. In New York it is all about the experience, in London it is (too often) all about the chef… London’s restaurant scene is about ten years behind New York’s.

Let’s look at the reasons for this. Firstly, New York restaurateurs are more imaginative and, consequently, their restaurants more exciting. Jason and Jennifer Denton didn’t let a little thing like the absence of kitchen extract get in their way when opening ‘ino. New York chefs regularly cross boundaries of culture and cuisine with great results; Vietnamese and barbecue coming together in Fatty Cue in Williamsburg, for example.

Secondly, the physical make-up of New York, Manhattan in particular, means that there are many more neighbourhood restaurants operating for their loyal, local catchments. Small apartments with tiny or non-existent kitchens mean that dining out is more deeply ingrained in a New Yorker’s way-of-life. In London, we tend to go out to a restaurant for an ‘occasion’. In the Big Apple, they go out to eat.

Thirdly, New York is exciting for its restaurant design – edgy, urban, cool and thrilling. London, I am saddened to say, trails miserably with bland and limp design. Everything looks the same and no-one seems to be able to break away from the safe and ubiquitous David Collins-influenced standards. (Please, David. No more wallpaper. No more veneers…) Across the pond, you only have to look to Avroko (Stanton Social, Public) or Parts and Labor (Smith & Mills) to see these thrilling designers working in a variety of spaces using innovative techniques and materials. It really does make the scene here in London look weak and insipid.

There is also a problem in London with landlords and with the local authorities, mainly Westminster City Council. Landlords here are an unimaginative bunch who simply want to collect rent from reliable tenants. So you end up with Pizza Express, Nandos, Strada, Café Rouge and Prêt a Manger in places where, frankly, they shouldn’t be. Westminster Council has a rigid policy of granting absolutely no new restaurant planning consents and making existing businesses jump through all sorts of hoops to do the most basic licensable things, like serve a glass of wine. With these parochial, nanny-state constraints, London will struggle to ever be as vibrant and as exciting as New York.

So, what future for London? Well, there is some hope. Small operators such as Fernandez and Wells have shown London that imagination and originality pays off with their excellent charcuterie and wine shop on Lexington Street. The owners of Cay Tre are close to securing a West End site for their superb Shoreditch Vietnamese concept. Hawksmoor, also in the east, a restaurant with all the focus in the right places, is opening in Covent Garden soon. My own humble bacaro in Soho, Polpo, owes much to the places in downtown New York that partly inspired it, and soon Spuntino, also in Soho, will add a little scruffy honesty to the porn-shop alley it will occupy. We need restaurants, and operators, that are original, refreshing and fun if London is ever to get close to New York in terms of the success and vibrancy of its restaurant scene.

In London, as the large restaurant groups continue their corporate march we are in danger of ubiquity and blandness. Compare the titans of New York City: Danny Meyer, Keith McNally and Mario Batali with London’s top operators: Gordon Ramsay Holdings, D&D London and Caprice Holdings; Creative versus Corporate. And news that Caprice Holdings might (or might not) bring McNally’s Balthazar to London leaves me feeling slightly confused. There are lots of mixed messages in that proposition but none that are likely to get me frothy with excitement.

I tell you one thing for sure: I can’t wait to go back to New York.

Have a read of the full article here

Autumnal American brasserie fare from The Standard Grill.

The beauty of this dish is that it is actually three great recipes which can be used together or separately.  The cucumber salad can be made ahead of time and would work well on its own as a refreshing first course or would be great with grilled fish, maybe a tuna or swordfish?  Although almond oil is a little exotic, it’s worth looking for.  The yogurt dressing, thinned out with a little water, and with a little more lemon added would make a very good dressing for a crunchy green salad.

Cucumber and Poppy Seed Salad

1 Hot house cucumbers, halved, seeded, sliced ¼” thick

1 Mild red chili, halved, seeded, thinly sliced (use less if they are large, or very spicy)

2 tbs sliced coriander leaves

2 tbs moscato vinegar

3 tbs canola oil

1 tbs poppy seeds

1 tbs sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, massaging the seasoning into the cucumbers.  Taste and adjust sugar and salt.  Salad should be sweet and sour, almost like a pickle.

Almond—Yogurt Sauce

8 oz greek yogurt

½ lemon, juiced

Kosher salt to taste

½ tsp Aleppo pepper (similar to paprika) to taste

Toasted almond oil (substitute walnut or hazelnut oil if almond oil is not available)

Combine the yogurt, ½ the lemon juice, salt, and Aleppo in a large stainless bowl, whisk well to combine.

Slowly begin to whisk in the almond oil tasting as you go.  Adjust seasoning with salt, more lemon juice or Aleppo/paprika as needed.

Be careful that the sauce does not break.  If it looks like it might, whisk in a few tablespoons of cold water.

When finished the sauce should be nutty and yogurt tart, with a very slight kick from the Aleppo pepper.

Lamb Marinade

2 tbs Aleppo Pepper (similar to paprika)

2 tbs pureed, grilled red pepper

¼ cup tomato paste

½ cup blended oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Pinch ground cinnamon

Pinch ground allspice

¼ tsp each dried mint and oregano

Combine all ingredients but the oil in a blender and slowly drizzle in the oil.  Alternately the marinade can be made in a bowl (combine all but oil and then whisk in oil).  The blender will emulsify the marinade, the bowl will not.

Rub portions of boneless lamb loin, or chops with the marinade and let marinate at least an hour before seasoning with salt and pepper and grilling to desired doneness.

Serve the grilled lamb with almond yogurt sauce and a pile of the cucumber chili salad.

Top this off with a serving of Apple Cider? Why not.

The Geometry of Pasta from Amy Lines on Vimeo.

Great list from some of the UKs great chefs. I’ve always wondered what food these guys would be cooking at home, for their family. I can’t imagine that Heston whips up a quick bacon and eggs ice cream on a Saturday night to watch in front of X-Factor. Instead, he’d probably use one of these recipes.

Quick, simple, easy and damned tasty. Peach, tomato, basil salad… prawns, courgette and beans on toast…  red mullet with wilted lettuce and fresh peas… strawberries with almond creme anglaise… nachos….

The internet has plenty of great recipe sharing sites. Awesome, because we love food at TheScrapBook. Cutting data by blog, photo, ingredient, occasion, time of day… if you could be bothered I’m sure you’d have some truly awesome food sites.

Though neither of these quite do the potnetial justice, we tend to stick to Tastespotting and Open Source Food (who’ve now changed their name to “Nibbledish“, but frankly I always thought they should have been called “Open Sauce Food”…)

Another missed opportunity to be “punny” is DesignSponge’s occasional “In the Kitchen With” series. Not punny in the name of the section, but they could have suggested that each of their guests creates a “design sponge”. Perhaps a bit silly, but I think a rather cool brief.

Let us know what your favourite food aggregator sites are.

Grupo Hera, a Spanish waste management and consulting firm commissioned a sustainably designed cava gift box from Ciclus with the theme of turning waste into resources. This wine bottle package turns into a lamp with the small addition of a light bulb. I’m not sure that including the electrical components for the light with the package is the most sustainable way of doing this transformation, but it’s certainly an easy and convenient way to get into recycling. And that’s a significantly underestimated aspect of “green” marketing and design.

Via Treehugger

Do you like Peanut Butter? Make your own. Buy this machine below and experiment with different types of nutty butter. Cashew might be good.

I really liked the post about Open Source Food but the site I’ve been most inspired by for my own cooking has been Tastespotting. It’s gone through a couple of changes recently – I believe that it was set up by NotCot initially, but has since been taken over by someone else. It’s essentially a blog aggregator for recipes and articles about food, usually accompanied by great photography too, but one that has pushed me to create some great meals!

The Open Source Food site is just too good. I’m also really really hungry which makes it even better. though i may end up going to waitrose and spending a lot of money on specialist ingredients i will never use…

arrghhh i’m so hungry now!!!

when i have some spare time i’ll put up the cyclists flapjack recipe. it’s outrageous!

Super hungry this morning and got a hankering for some Kaviar. It may look a bit wrong – i don’t generally agree with food from tubes, but does anyone know where (other than IKEA) it is possible to buy Kalles Kaviar in the UK??? It’s seriously VERY good.

preferably mail order… i’ll even pay for postage from Sweden…