Food Wednesday in the NY Times

[lsanderson]

Sharing in the Feast With Johnny Apple
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

THE restaurant was Spago, in Beverly Hills, and Johnny Apple was in the house.

And everyone knew it.

It started with the maître d’hôtel, who fawned over us — make that: who fawned over Johnny — the moment he spotted that large frame pushing through the door. He guided us to a table in the center of the dining room (with a view, as Johnny noted upon unfolding his napkin, of Esther Williams, the 1950’s Hollywood sensation, perched at the next table). It continued with the wine steward, who looked understandably intimidated as he came over to negotiate the wines we would be drinking that evening. Then, finally, Wolfgang Puck himself embraced Johnny as if he were the only person in his dining room, never mind that Spago was teeming with its usual roster of celebrities, along with the political crowd in town for the 2000 Democratic convention.

Johnny offered Mr. Puck a challenge — “We are in your hands,” are the words I recall — and thus began a four-hour blur of plates and platters and bottles of wine the likes of which I had never seen before, or since, at a Puck restaurant. Two hours into our bacchanal Mr. Puck proved that he knew his Apple: out from the kitchen came a plate of pig prepared four ways, precisely the kind of unpretentiously rustic and absurdly rich dish that could make Johnny literally rise from his chair and yelp in delight. That’s just what he did, before proceeding to correctly guess the farm in Pennsylvania where Mr. Puck had purchased his pork.

This was dinner with Johnny Apple, the New York Times correspondent, who died last Wednesday at age 71. Or, rather, one kind of dinner with Johnny Apple. More

Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You
By KIM SEVERSON

Ithaca, N.Y.

PEOPLE almost always think they are too smart for Prof. Brian Wansink’s quirky experiments in the psychology of overindulgence.

When it comes to the slippery issues of snacking and portion control, no one thinks he or she is the schmo who digs deep into the snack bowl without thinking, or orders dessert just because a restaurant plays a certain kind of music.

“To a person, people will swear they aren’t influenced by the size of a package or how much variety there is on a buffet or the fancy name on a can of beans, but they are,” Dr. Wansink said. “Every time.” More

The Chef: Giovanni Alfa
A Taste of the New Sicily, Without the Airfare
By MARIAN BURROS

FOR the last few years, Sicilian chefs have been taking the familiar flavors of their grandmothers’ kitchens in a lighter and more creative direction.

Through Saturday this new style can be sampled at Agata & Valentina Ristorante on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, giving diners here an opportunity to try the kinds of fascinating and improbable flavor combinations that delighted me in Sicily last year. More

Recipe: Rice Croquettes With Ragù and Fondue (Arancini)

A Fresh Splash of Japan to Add Zip to Fish
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Yuzu, a kind of citron, is essential in many Japanese dishes for its lime-and-mandarin flavor. Most home cooks have had to make do with bottled yuzu juice, which is somewhat harsh and contains additives.

But for the next couple of weeks, Whole Foods has fresh yuzu from California, $18.99 a pound (about six).

The mottled yellow and green fruits are the size of limes, are heavily studded with pits, and are best juiced with a reamer, either by hand or machine.

The juice is usually used uncooked and the zest is especially flavorful. They will give a rich new dimension when splashed on grilled or poached fish or in a ceviche.

Yuzu is closely related to the etrog, the big, bumpy oval citron used in the celebration of the Jewish harvest feast of Sukkot, which is being observed through Sunday. More

Cooking Defines Sephardic Jews at Sukkot
By JULIA MOSKIN

LIKE its trees, Brooklyn’s sukkahs sprout in unlikely places.

All over the borough, observant Jewish families spent the first week of October building sukkahs, outdoor rooms with open roofs, in preparation for the holiday of Sukkot, which began last Friday and ends this Friday. Perched on asphalt roofs and in concrete gardens, they will eat under the stars for a week to commemorate the Jews’ biblical wanderings in the desert.

For one food-loving community within Brooklyn’s sizable Jewish population, Sukkot has additional significance.

“We always cook a lot, but for Sukkot, we do even more,” said Aida Hasson, who grew up in Beirut and is part of Brooklyn’s tight-knit community of Middle Eastern Jews. More

Voyage to the Middle East
Recipe: Spiced Meat Pies (Lahmejun)
Recipe: Spinach Cheese Pies
Recipe: Veal Stew With Tomato, Allspice and Fried Potatoes (Sofrito Batatas)

Satan or Savior: Setting the Grape Standard
By ERIC ASIMOV

ENTER Michel Rolland, the world’s most famous wine consultant — perhaps the world’s only famous wine consultant. In his natty blue suit, close-trimmed gray beard, carrying a sleek leather briefcase, Mr. Rolland looked ready for the boardroom rather than the vineyard, the cellar or the airport, his usual milieu. More