In February 2004, Jonathan Reynolds wrote a travel piece for the New York Times about wintertime vacationing in the Berkshires at the posh Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox, Mass.
The article, headlined “Cuckoo for Cocoa,” lauded a chocolate-themed tasting menu by the hotel’s then-executive chef, J. Bryce Whittlesey.
“Whittlesey took over the kitchen two years ago, and the quality and imagination shot up directly,” Reynolds wrote.
The story explained how Whittlesey grew up in Latin America before moving to Florida. He later graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and trained in France before moving back to the United States.
Reynolds wondered if Whittlesey’s chocolate menu was a gimmick, or whether chocolate could, “enliven unsweetened dishes without contrivance.”
The writer went on to rave about the dinner, which he described as a culinary adventure worth a visit to the hotel to experience. The article helped establish the chef’s reputation in the region.
Fast forward four years. Whittlesey now owns Chez Bryce on Davis Islands, serving an eclectic menu for a devoted, growing customer base. I started eating there two years ago after the Plant High graduate returned to Tampa to open the restaurant.
On the Friday before Halloween, Whittlesey revisited the chocolate dinner idea with a night dedicated to a seven-course tasting menu.
He started with a spear-caught hog snapper crudo with caviar and tempura fried salad complemented by white chocolate, which has a high cocoa-butter content Whittlesey uses to balance the lean fish.
Later came pan-seared diver scallops and seared foie gras with blood orange vinaigrette and shaved fennel with cocoa nib nougatine.
Much moaning could be heard by patrons.
More were elicited by the butter-poached lobster with candied endive, orange and coriander with orange chocolate, which gave it a more subtle flavor than the traditional lemon dousing.
My favorite course: an applewood-smoked, bacon-wrapped venison loin with a coffee and spiced poached pear and celery root puree with 70 percent espresso chocolate. It was the best venison I’ve ever eaten.
For dessert, he presented “Textures in Chocolate”; White chocolate mousse, dark chocolate souffle & milk chocolate-espresso pot de creme served in an egg shell.
It was crazy delicious.
It also was extremely difficult for Whittlesey to replicate, mostly because he had difficulty finding commercial-quality venison locally. Finally, a purveyor in Orlando came through.
Whittlesey told me during the dinner that the tasting was a one-time event, but he plans to cycle some of the dishes through the regular menu.
Here’s a photo gallery I put together with photos from the outstanding evening:
For more than two decades, St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church has put on the Tampa Greek Festival during the first weekend of November. And for all that time, Mary Nenos has prepared the baked goodies.
A member of the church since 1956, Nenos, 82, was one of the women who started the festival.
“I recruited everyone,” she remembered. “I went to the parish council, who were all men, and they were afraid to do it. I hit the table. I said, ‘If you don’t do it, the women will do it.’ They said, ‘We can’t let the women embarrass us.’ So they did it.”
That first festival took place at Curtis Hixon Hall on the Hillsborough River. There was no school or gymnasium at St. John’s like there is today. The event was a huge success. Curtis Hixon is now gone, but the church has a school and a gymnasium and enough land to have the event on its property.
The festival, which draws thousands of visitors, begins at 11 a.m. today at the church on the corner of Swann and Armenia avenues and runs through Sunday. Proceeds will benefit LifePath Hospice.
Nenos and dozens of helpers started baking in early October to prepare for the onslaught of hungry patrons who will want to fill their bellies with tasty spanakopita spinach pastries, gyro lamb sandwiches, honey-dripped baklava and powdery kourambiedes butter cookies with almonds.
During one Monday in mid-October, Nenos was busy preparing hundreds of pounds of dough to make a spice cookie called melomakarona.
“You can call it phoenikia if you want,” she told a visitor. “It’s easier.”
As 13 women in an adjacent room rolled the dough she made, Nenos manhandled 25-pound bags of flour and sugar with a helper handing her two pounds of butter and a half-dozen eggs at a time to dump into a mixer. The four cups of Crisco for every batch? She scooped those herself. She also handled the few ounces of Henry McKenna sour mash straight bourbon whiskey that gives the cookies a caramel flavor.
“One tablespoon for the pot, one for the cook,” a helper joked.
“No, no, no,” Nenos said with a laugh before noting that all the alcohol burns off when you bake. She then asked a friend to remove a large pan of pastichio from the oven. Nenos cooks lunch for her helpers, too.
The favorite treat among festivalgoers is koulourakia twisted butter cookies.
“People like to dunk them in coffee,” Nenos explained.
What makes Greek pastries so good?
“Love,” she said with another hearty laugh. Nenos laughs a lot.
Need proof? Check out the end of this video:
The irony is that she never learned to cook before she got married.
“I didn’t even know how to boil water,” she said. “My sister told me, ‘When you get married, you’re going to call me to make breakfast for your husband.’ You know what happened? I made him cook. I was smart.”
Cooking for thousands doesn’t intimidate her. The first week of October, she and the parish women baked 6,100 koulourakia in one day
“People don’t have the guts to cook,” she said. “Me? If you spoil it one time, that’s alright. The next time will be okay.”
Here’s a gallery of photos I shot the day I visited Nenos and her co-horts:
IF YOU GO
WHAT: 2009 Tampa Greek Festival, with food, music, Greek dancing, outdoor shopping and kids’ activity area
WHEN: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. today and Saturday; 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: St. John Greek Orthodox Church, 2418 Swann Ave., Tampa
ADMISSION: $2 at the door; free for ages 12 and younger
It seems to have become something of a Dirt initiation rite: When someone new starts commenting here, we hound them for garden photos till they cough some up.
Showing excellent response to nagging, whiz kid agrigeek Eric Young emailed several great photos—along with information about what he’s got growing. Like Chip and Diane, he has quite the edible landscape.
I have never seen asparagus growing, and for good reason—it’s supposed to be very difficult to grow this far south. Not only does Eric have asparagus, he’s managed to harvest a few spears.
“It was really not enough to make a meal of,” he writes, but he expects more next spring.
“The other side of the asparagus. My papaya tree has a few fruits on it. Hoping to harvest them before the freezes. The beds below the tree have tomatoes, basil and strawberries.”
Those papayas are impressive!
“My HydroStacker (minus a few parts). These things are really convenient and take up about 1/5th of the space! They use a soil-less medium, perlite, so they are extremely light. You do have to fertilize them frequently but they are worth it! I grew so much basil/herbs on it last year I had more than I knew what to do with!”
Check out HydroStackers at www.hydrostacker.com.
“I just put in my sugarsnap peas a few weeks ago and they’re not doing so good. They seem to be drying out fast. Last year we picked a TON of them.”
“My family’s favorite citrus: the Pomelo. This large relative of the grapefruit has either white or pink flesh and has a much milder taste than the grapefruit.”
I’ve had pomelo and it’s really good. It can also sit around for months without rotting after it’s picked. (Correct, Eric? That’s what I was told—haven’t tested the theory!)
Delicious looking garden, Eric. I can’t wait till I reach Asparagus Level. I think I have a long way to go.
Mere’s At Last
http://www.atlastflyspray.com
Penny already has reported most of the details from our very fun (and very hot!) trip to Riverview Flower Farms. So I’m just going to post some of the photos I took during our tour.
Did we mention that it was hot?
I have to say, the group I toured with was unbelievably un-whiney. Die-hard gardeners, no doubt about it.
Ours was the last group to tour the farm, and we had to wait a bit to get going. Penny kept our guests entertained (that’s her in the center of the photo) and answered some questions.
And there was plenty to look at, even inside. The pre-tour buzz: How does Farmer Rick Brown keep his plants looking so great? And will they stay that way when we plant them? (More on that later.)
Rick’s lovely wife, Sydney Park Brown, showed guests how to make seed cups.
And Lois Kessler of Temple Terrace got her seed on …
I finally got to meet some of the best Friends of The Dirt, including Janna Begole and this group: Chip Fulp, center; Chip’s wife, Diane, left; and Janis Vogt, right. Chip and Janis are regular commenters and we LOVE them! It was good to put faces to names. (Diane said she’s a regular reader, but doesn’t always have time to comment.)
We also worked hard to recruit new Friends of The Dirt, including Eric Young, 14, whose posts you started seeing Saturday after the tour.
Rick showed us several plants that will thrive in our gardens – including a sterile type of Mexican petunia that isn’t on the market yet. It’s called Purple Showers and will grow anywhere, Rick says – but it won’t take over your garden. Crossandra Orange Marmalade got much love from fans. And Rick had a dwarf purple cone flower that blooms year-round. It’s a new must-have for my garden. We got to see row after row of gorgeous Florida Friendly plants, including these great petunias.
Rick also showed us a handy “pot in pot” irrigation system using “Little Tunias,” a new kind of petunia bred for winter’s short days. We all wanted to kidnap and take them home with us. (They went on sale at area Home Depot stores this week.)
Tour guests came from all over, and had questions very specific to their zones. A gentleman from Brooksville noted that their temps get much colder than most Tampa area gardens – 17 degrees last winter, he said. Eda Marman came with other members of the Bartow Garden Club. She took more notes than I did, and asked great questions.
Many thanks – again – to Rick and all the folks at Riverview Flower Farms. And to my fellow Dirty Girl, Penny, for arranging the whole thing. You guys are awesome.
The after-tour buzz: Everybody was heading to Home Depot to pick up plants!
Stylish humanitarians already know the benefit of Toms Shoes—with every pair purchased the brand gives a pair to a child in need. And fashionistas know how lightweight, comfortable and easy-to-pack these shoes are.
This month, Tom’s shoes is launching a collection of the classic slip-ons exclusively at Neiman Marcus stores nationwide.
The collection will feature designs with special linings, unique soles, brushed metal logos, limited-edition grosgrain, even a revamped shoe bag. The shoe collection is priced from $78 to $125 at Neiman Marcus stores.
So not only will you look great in these shoes; you’ll feel good, too.
I’ve made no secret of the fact I’ve been battling an addiction. I used to hide it, but it’s better to be open and honest about these things.
My high? Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster.
I love the stuff. Hit your garden with a hose-end sprayerful and WHOA! Flowers! It’s a giddy, 48-hour rush of floraspectacular.
But, oh, the big let-down bites. Those blooms fade. The droops set in. And all you can think about is your next hit. It’s a sad, sad way to live.
It took my yellowing yellow pear tomato plant to help me really (maybe) change my ways. The fruits are supposed to turn yellow, not the leaves, so I asked Marina D’Abreau at the Hillsborough Extension Service what might be the culprit.
There were many possibilities, but the most likely was lack of nitrogen. Being an organic veggie garden, it hadn’t gotten Bloom Booster — or any fertilizer. I was hoping it wouldn’t notice.
I know stinky fish emulsion is a recommended organic fertilizer (which explains why I wanted to skate by with compost). So off I went to Green Thumb nursery to pick up some. There, co-owner Steve Rey said — emphatically — that it’s the best fertilizer for all plants, unless you have a specific problem or deficiency to address. He even shared his personal fish emulsion testimonial about a post-transplant ligustrum yanked from mortal malaise after all else had failed.
The smell, he said, isn’t so bad. “Think of a dock in the Keys, where maybe some fish guts have been sitting around for a couple days.”
That sounded nice. I could even hear the gulls calling.
I bought a gallon jug and spent a good couple of hours diluting it by the pail full — two tablespoons per gallon of water — and splashing it all over the backyard.
I can say now, Steve was wrong. At least about the smell. Think fat flies, not seagulls. You won’t have to imagine them, either.
And the odor will waft through your house for hours, causing your husband to periodically sniff his armpits. (That’s actually pretty entertaining.)
I’m hoping fish emulsion proves to be the wonder fertilizer everyone says it is. It takes some effort. And there’s the smell. I expect a payoff.
If the only buzz I get is big black flies, it’s straight back to the Miracle-Crack for me.
Helen Ellis Memorial hospital, Tarpon Springs
Saturday, November 7th
Smoking Cessation: 10am-12noon
Weight Loss 1-3pm
Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton
Smoking Cessation: Thursday, November 19th 6:30-8:30pm
Weight Control: Wednesday, November 18th 6:30-8:30pm
University Community Hospital, Tampa
Weight Control: Monday, November 30th 6:30-8:30pm
Advertisement
