Perilla’s Farro Risotto
This neighborhood spot from Harold Dieterle, Top Chef Winner Season 1, has plenty in the way of whole grain options, from wheat berries served with Duck Breast, to a side of Quinoa Salad with Golden Beets or Creamy Polenta with the Pork Chop. But the best use of grains is the Farro Risotto, which breathes new life into traditional risotto. A firm grain similar to barley, the farro is cooked with creamy blend of artichoke confit and parmesan, and served with a chili-grape salad on top — perfect for...
Read More
Yonah Schimmel Knishery
This Lower East Side knishery has been cooking whole grains for over one hundred years now. Just what is a knishery exactly? It’s a place that peddles Jewish knishes, big, pudgy dumplings filled with anything and everything, and often stuffed with kasha, which refers to a large family of grains eaten in Slavic Europe (make it plural and you get Kashi, thus the name of the eponymous cereal and snack bar purveyor). The Kasha Knishes at Yonah Schimmel are round, baked shells of dough filled with a savory mixture of kasha and chopped onion. It doesn’t matter if you lack Eastern European roots – these knishes are undeniably...
Read More
Pates et Traditions’ Buckwheat Crepes
This charming Williamsburg creperie has over 24 savory crepe options, but what sets them apart from traditional, white-flour crepes is that they’re made with 100% organic buckwheat flour. That’s the way they make them in Breton, France, where they call them galettes. Ground from buckwheat seeds, they taste bold and slightly bitter, with a dark whisper of mushroom. We haven’t even gotten to fillings, like bacon, onions, eggplant, or potatoes. And with fall options like the Bergere Crepe with goat cheese, swiss, fig, honey, caramelized onions, and rosemary, we can pretty much guarantee you’ll find something to love. Perhaps Trois Fromages with potatoes, camembert, roquefort and goat, or the Sultan with chicken, bacon, cumin and cream. And there’s plenty of sweet buckwheat crepe offerings, so you can get your whole grains for dessert, too. Try the Bananas Flambe Crepe or Orange...
Read More
ABC Kitchen’s Kasha & Bowties
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s been singing the praises of obscure grains since the mid-90’s and now they’re not so obscure anymore. In fact, they’re collectively the “it” ingredient this fall. At ABC Kitchen, Vongerichten and his executive chef, Dan Kluger, deliver a cheeky spin on a Jewish dish called kasha varnishkes, with veal, oats and bowtie pasta. He swaps out veal for moist, mini veal meatballs delicious on their own and even better mingled with bowties and kasha grains. Want more grains? Sample one of their whole wheat...
Read More
Check out My Book – Try This
