Ample Hills Creamery Inc. is known around New York for its indulgent, over-the-top ice creams such as Salted Crack Caramel and Chocolate 3 Ways. Around the country, it’s recognized as the official ice cream of the Star Wars film franchise, and whose limited-edition Dark Side and Light Side flavors, released in conjunction with The Force Awakens, sold 40,000 pints online.
Read MoreIt’s a cold night in December and John Poiarkoff, the executive chef at The Pines in Gowanus, Brooklyn, takes me outside to their large walk-in refrigerator. Inside are cases of wine and five ducks hanging from their feet. I see their black eyes, their beaks, tiny holes below their heads. Underneath is a tray to catch drips of blood. Rusty pink and bumpy with raised dots, the ducks will age for two weeks before hitting the menu. Poiarkoff gets his ducks from John Fazio in the Hudson Valley. His ducks are not shot in flight and retrieved by a cute dog, but rather walk into a machine that loops their legs, flips them around, and shoots a bolt up into their neck and out through the back of their brain. I pull my eyes away from the birds and glance further into the walk-in.
Read MoreThe Brooklyn “party” brought together people who were so obsessed with the next beer thing that we were willing to stand outside in thirty-degree weather for two plus hours. Many sporting facial hair discussed past flavors, none of which sounded potable: blue cheese, pad Thai, Sriracha, pecan pie and, oh yeah, hog.
Read MoreLast Thursday I attended a dinner where every ingredient used to create the meal had been earmarked for the landfill. What am I talking about? Moldy grapes, floppy herbs, limp carrots, overripe peaches and eggplant scraps.
I wrote about the dinner for the Wall Street Journal, and you can read that here. One item that we weren't quite able to get up on their website in time were the tips the host, Josh Treuhaft, and his chef, Celia Lam, shared with me on ways to minimize your food waste.
