Bobby Flay meets some of his biggest fans from western Massachusetts.
After reading this post on AnnArbor.com yesterday (“Dear Bobby Flay, please stop”) I had to laugh. I like Bobby Flay, and I enjoy the “Throwdown” series where he sneak-attacks and challenges hometown chefs known for their iconic recipes. I like it better when the hometown people prevail, which they seem to about 90% of the time.
Flay is a brand by himself, opening restaurants all over the United States (two now in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun – Bobby’s Burger Palace and Bar Americain.) And when chef/personalities verge on overexposure, criticism builds. So I wasn’t surprised to see this blogger, John Moors, ripping on several Food Network stars. He put Flay on blast for his partiality to Southwestern ingredients. “Really Bobby? You’re going to add green chiles to this recipe? No way.”
Mercifully, the Courant copy editors are way more clever than me, and didn’t touch any of those awful puns when they wrote the headline for my latest story. It’s a look at how restaurants, local and national, are embracing social networking to promote business and interact with customers.
It should come as no surprise that I located and contacted all of my story sources for this article through social media platforms. To their credit, most of them responded to me within hours, if not minutes. Any journalist – particularly freelancers – can tell you how rare and refreshing that is!
And for some more exciting news: I am now contributing to the new Hartford Courant/ctnow.com dining blog, A La Carte. I’ll still be blogging here at FWC, of course, but definitely check it out. Food, food, food!
Honestly, she hadn't even taken a bite at this point. (Photo by Diana Guay)
What started out as another Sara’s Savory Adventure quickly evolved into the West Hartford edition of “Bizarre Foods.” Or, as someone at our table coined, “Boys vs. Food.” Either way, our Saturday visit to Pho Boston was hugely entertaining.
After Sara’s first foray into ethnic food (Fun With Curry), we thought Vietnamese would be a good choice for her next cuisine. Sure, the food has its exotic elements, but we thought we’d start her first on a bowl of pho, or bun with vermicelli (rice noodles) and grilled meats.
Yes, I’m sure some of you might remember this post in which I renewed my post-collegiate vow never to eat Domino’s Pizza again.
I blame my husband. A few weeks ago, he went to our gym on a night they were offering free pizza. (I know, that makes a whole lot of sense.) The pizza happened to be the new Domino’s recipe, and he wanted to see what the hype was all about. He came home talking about it. “It’s…better,” he reported. “Still not great.”
Domino’s chefs reportedly added red pepper and herbs to kick up the sauce, crafted a mozzarella/provolone cheese blend and brushed the crust with garlic butter to improve upon its old pie. Combine that with a series of persuasive ads (“Puffery” being the latest) and all right, fine, I was up for another taste test.
Leeanne Griffin is a freelance writer and food enthusiast.