FoodieBuddha.com

My readers are full of great info! Dianne Reinhardt and the folks behind the Magnolia Bread Company (website) have decided to launch their own food truck!  Aptly named “The Green Van,” the just launched website is chock full of good tidbits.

The truck will feature a short and sweet selection of sandwiches, seasonal salads, and desserts.  Joyfully enough, all of them will be constructed from organic goodness.  No word yet on exactly where they’ll try and set up  – but I suspect their twitter account will have the deets.

All Hail Stephanie – whomever you are!!!

When you strip away the fame and the talent, Wylie Dufresne is really just another boy with his toys.  Of course, it just so happens that Wylie is talented, famous, and really good with his toys.  Recently, the techies behind Gizmodo took a scamper down to wd~50 in New York City to visit Sir Dufresne.

Dufresne was nice enough to bring the guys back into the kitchen to talk a little bit about liquid nitrogen and to demonstrate how he prepares cookie-covered ice cream balls.  In addition, Adam Frucci has a series of videos he’ll get up this week.  In the meantime, here’s the transcript from the video as the sound recording wasn’t ideal:

What’s getting a lot of sway right now with urban chefs is liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen, much the same way you can a use hot oil to fry things at 375 degrees, with liquid nitrogen you can freeze things at about minus 275 degrees. And you know, people get excited because it’s so cold that when it’s exposed to the air it turns into a gas, which is a very Hollywood or rock and roll sort of thing.

[Pastry chef Alex] takes more or less sort of a cookie, he would kill me if I said this, but not all that far off from sort of an Oreo cookie, purees it, adds some fat to it, purees it into a liquid phase. Then they take ice cream, milk flavored ice cream. They pipe the milk ice cream into a bowl of liquid nitrogen. So it gets super frozen and from there they drop it into the liquid cookie and they roll it after that in cookie crumbs. And what happens is the ice cream is so cold it instantly sets a shell, even though its in a liquid, on the outside and then they can scoop it out and roll it in some crumbs. And then you get, you know, whatever they call those Dibs or Dabs that you get at the movies. This is a much better, much more high end version.

If you are a fan of molecular cooks, you might want to check out my post on the Art of Deconstructed Food.  I wrote it many moons ago, when I was just getting started.  It’s still one of my favorite posts to date.

[via Gizmodo]

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately.  I had family in from out of town; thus, my free time was pretty much usurped the past five days.  Luckily, we got in a couple of noteworthy food stops … no small feat with my little brother – the kid has a seriously restricted palate.  What the hell is up with that Shorty?

Anyway, I’m almost defiant in my love of savory foods.  To get my sweet tooth salivating, someone needs to really throw down.  Luckily, Morelli’s is just such a place.  Though it sits on the outskirts of East Atlanta, the place is all sparkly glowy.  You’ll find it on the corner of Ormewood and Moreland Ave – tucked in with a Little Azio and the new Spoon location.  I managed to wrangle the crowd up at the idea of Atlanta’s best ice cream.  Morelli’s didn’t let me down.

Part ice cream parlor, part hot dog stand (no seriously – they have ‘em!) … they put Howard Johnson’s Ice Cream Parlor to shame.  Who’s with me?  Anyway, the great thing about this place is their selection.  While I’m almost always a “less is more” type of guy – I am sold here on the plethora of options.  Morelli’s manages to offer something for the traditionalist and for the adventurist.  Case in point, my mother ordered a scoop of sweet potato pie ice cream.  It was seriously perfect.  They managed to capture the essence of a sweet potato pie without taking away from the main star: it’s ice cream.

I played both sides of the fence.  For my traditional flavor – I went with cookie dough.  To get out of my element, I went with a scoop of Dolce de Leche Chunk.  The flavors were pronounced and freaking delicious… I hear Homer Simpsons salivating over my shoulder.

Morelli’s keeps things fresh and will rotate some of their more adventurous flavors.  Their ice cream options will sometimes push the envelope; however, I have yet to be disappointed.  The sweet scoops always seem to hint at decadence while reminding you that you are eating something made from high quality ingredients.  I wish I could extrapolate on the mixtures a bit better … but ice cream ain’t usually my thang!  Oh yeah, according to the sign … show up after 6pm on a Monday … smooch your significant other … get a discount.  Sure … kick us single guys while we’re down.  Let’s get it on:

And now … for some sparkly glowy … just cus it’z awesome:

Atlanta Foodies On Morelli’s Gourmet Ice Cream & Desserts:

• Amy On Food On Morelli’s (03.16.09)
• Creative Loafing On Morelli’s (05.21.08)

Morelli’s Gourmet Ice Cream & Desserts Restaurant Address & Information:
749 Moreland Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316 // P: 404.622.0210 // Morelli’s Website

I’m a little late with the news on this, so I do apologize.  Between now and the 12th of March, all Godiva Chocolatier locations are serving up one free mini brownie to all visitors.  The catch?  You have to tell them what you would like to see dipped in chocolate.  A pretty stupid requirement, but I say suck it up and go get some chocolate.  It’s not valid in department stores, but I’m pretty sure all four locations sit outside of that area.  Find the nearest one to you on the Godiva website.

Until last night, I was shamefully ignorant to the tragic history of Violette restaurant.  The short of the long is that proprietor Guy Long, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, came to the United States after his mother passed.  In 1989, he met Stephanie Belcher and from that that meeting, a relationship flourished. Eventually, the two became both business partners and engaged to be married.

In 1995, the couple opened Violette on Clairmont Rd. Eight years later, a series of crimes left Luck dead, Belcher alone, and the restaurant in an awkward place [More reading on CL]. Five-years later, Belcher runs the show and the restaurant is alive and kicking. From what I understand, Belcher employs a head chef; and while the food was a disappointment, my hat is off to Ms. Belcher. More after the jump!

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If you’ve read my blog, you know I don’t care for desserts.  That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading about desserts.  Enter CackWrecks!  There isn’t just one post that “takes the cake” (HA! I said it … what do you have to say to that).  Instead, here are just a smattering of images to wet your appetite.  Be sure to spend some time over there.

As much as you may not want to admit it, there is a good chance you’ve popped a bottle or two and never quite seen the bottom.  A few days ago, I found myself in just such a predicament.  I am not much for sweets, but I did have some leftover bottles, some fresh fruit, and a bit of goat cheese calling my name.

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A recent article over at salon.com discusses the benefits of choosing pie (as opposed to cake) when selecting your dessert of choice.  I am not much of a desert man myself; however, this still begs the question: Why not both?  One adventurous user over at AllRecipes.com decided to offer up a recipe for Pumpkin Pie Cake!