Food Wednesday @ the NY Times

[lsanderson]

A Tool for Every Treat
By JULIA MOSKIN

I HAVE seen dinner guests recoil from the offer of a silver fork, and object when said fork was later dispatched to the dishwasher. But I refuse to be afraid of using real silverware: silver is strong stuff, and even when it is slightly tarnished, I like its warmth and heft.

The Oyster Is His World
By R.W. APPLE Jr.

Seattle

A FOOTLOOSE young American named Jon Rowley sat in a down-at-the-heels room in Paris one day in the mid-1960's, reading "A Moveable Feast," Ernest Hemingway's posthumously published memoir of life in the city during the 1920's.

Out of the Winter and Into the Weeds
By KIM SEVERSON

I WAS living in Alaska the first time I stumbled upon a patch of fiddlehead ferns. Still bleary from eight months of snow and frozen mud, the promise of something wild and green had me in a frenzy.

Recipe: Fiddlehead Fern and Morel Salad
Recipe: Ramps and Potato Soup

Miso: Love at First Bite
By MARK BITTMAN

MISO, the Japanese condiment most people first taste in soup, is made from grain, soy, a bacterial culture and salt. It is increasingly easy to find in stores and keeps almost forever in the refrigerator. It is often organic, always inexpensive and has a flavor you can't forget.

Recipe: Grilled Lamb With Miso-Chili Sauce

Dinnerware With Corners, Making a Point
By OLIVER SCHWANER-ALBRIGHT

THE shift was so gradual and subtle, it hardly registered. Then the geometry of it all hit me at a recent meal.

At the start of a dinner at Perry St., the amuse-bouche, a celery root soup with a hidden layer of warm maple syrup, arrived in a square espresso cup on a square saucer. Then course after course appeared on square plates and in square bowls, and when I looked down at the sleek and boxy little ensemble I thought, When did this happen?

A Touch of the Left Bank in Williamsburg
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

There's a little corner of France in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Gribouille, 2 Hope Street (Roebling Street), occupies a lovely little whitewashed storefront with a bright room that has a tin ceiling, paper-covered tables and a display case.

The owner, Timothée Spitzer, a Parisian who came to New York in 2001 and worked in a few French restaurants, hired Jeanne Nievert, an American, to do the baking. He called on a few French friends to provide some guidance at first. The result? You do not have to search for a better croissant ($2). Moist almond muffins, classic éclairs, lemon tartlets and assorted quiches are some other specialties ($1.50 to $7.50). There are soups, salads and sandwiches, too; it is closed Mondays. Gribouille (the word means scribble and is pronounced gree-BOO-ee), is a French television cartoon character: (718) 384-3100.

A few short blocks from Gribouille is Cheeks Bakery, which opened about two months ago at 378 Metropolitan Avenue (Havemeyer Street). Melanie Schrimpe, above, its owner, worked at Baked in Red Hook and Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan, and her cakes and pastries reflect a homestyle approach. Wedges of either pear-butter cake or almond cake, a dense little chocolate-banana cake, crumbly scones and cookies (including an eye-opening salted espresso cookie, a decidedly grown-up treat) are $1 to $4. The bakery is closed on Mondays: (718) 599-3583.

Off the Menu
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Looking Ahead