Friday, March 07, 2008
It's Maple Sugaring Time
The ground is still covered in snow and ice. But things are starting to warm just a bit, and it's maple sugaring season - a great time in New England. Those with groves of sugar maples will be running taps, collecting the watery, slightly sweet sap in buckets through plastic lines running between the trees, as temperatures above freezing cause pressure that forces the liquid out. Producers bring the sap to sugar houses, with wood-fired kettles that will boil batches for 24 hours to develop the amber liquid you can easily grow to love.
Maple sugaring also means the opening of the seasonal restaurants attacked to some of the sugar houses: fluffy pancakes and round corn fritters, all soaked with maple syrup, and, at one, at least, even tiny cones of maple-flavored ice cream. The whole experience will last only six weeks. If you're anywhere near this part of the country, come by on a weekend, check one of the web sites for the locations of the restaurants, and get in early. Two hour waits are hardly unusual. In April, as people who have been coming for decades are leaving from their last breakfast of the season, you'll hear people say, "See you next year."
Maple sugaring also means the opening of the seasonal restaurants attacked to some of the sugar houses: fluffy pancakes and round corn fritters, all soaked with maple syrup, and, at one, at least, even tiny cones of maple-flavored ice cream. The whole experience will last only six weeks. If you're anywhere near this part of the country, come by on a weekend, check one of the web sites for the locations of the restaurants, and get in early. Two hour waits are hardly unusual. In April, as people who have been coming for decades are leaving from their last breakfast of the season, you'll hear people say, "See you next year."
Labels: maple syrup, restaurants, travel
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Restaurants Depend on Interet?
I was reading through a New York Times piece on restaurant front-of-the-house operations and how important they are. Paul Grieco, partner in a 23-table Manhattan restaurant called Insieme, made an interesting comment:
“I cannot afford to lose a single customer,” said Mr. Grieco, who opened Insieme more than five months ago and, with Mr. Canora, has owned Hearth in the East Village for nearly four years.It says a lot about changing dynamics in the industry. Web sites and blogs apparently have more actual influence than traditional reviewers. People who know about food, even if they do something else for a living, can develop audiences, and the Internet allows a single slip-up to become common knowledge in a matter of hours. Lose a customer, and that person could be a culinary Walter Winchell, broadcasting to Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea.
“It used to be that if something went wrong, you might lose a circle of family or friends. Now, half our reservations come from the Internet, and a negative experience on a blog can affect thousands of potential customers.”
Where first impressions mean much and can be spread instantly, there is a thriving market for hosts adept at managing image as well as business.
Labels: front-of-house, hosts, Internet, restaurants, reviewers
Friday, July 27, 2007
Mapping New York Cheap Eats
An article in the New York Times about people making maps on the web and annotating them with all sorts of information mentioned one for inexpensive but good (I hope) restaurants in Manhattan. I took a look at it and it's interesting. A knife and fork duo mark each establishment and the names appear to the left. Click on a restaurant name and a balloon, pointing to the spot, opens up, gives you the address, and offers directions. I'm waiting for an online map that can also deliver samples.
Labels: cheap, inexpensive, Manhattan, map, New York, restaurants
