Q & A WITH BKLYN LARDER

Q. Nearly every chef we speak with recommends Franny’s. Since Bklyn Larder has the same owners, are there philosophical similarities with the restaurant?

A. Yes, of course. At Bklyn Larder we believe in celebrating the best ingredients available to us, and food products in their peak season. This food-philosophy is what makes the food at Franny’s and at Bklyn Larder so deliciously simple… when a vegetable is at its peak, we want to showcase it and accent it. For example, right now in the case at Bklyn Larder we have the first of the season’s asparagus, and we are dressing it simply with preserved Meyer lemons and spring onions and Sicilian extra virgin olive oil… it’s one of my favorite things to eat in the world!

Besides the food, our store was designed with environmental responsibility in mind. The refrigeration was all designed to be as efficient as possible, even using a soy-based bio-foam for insulating the walls for 4 times the insulation factor of conventional walk-in refrigerators, and we use bio-compostable plates, flatware and drinking cups in the store. We have a water saving faucet and toilet installed and all of our excess oil from the kitchen goes to Tri-State Biodiesel.

Q. It seems to be a very exciting time in food with farmers markets and specialty stores becoming so popular, how do you think the food scene will evolve in the next one to five years?

A. I love to see more and more of my customers coming in and asking all the right questions - “what’s the difference between rendering the guanciale and the pancetta?” or “is this proper lard that I could use in my pie-crust?” or “these are this last season’s dry beans, right?”

People are more and more educated about where their food is coming from. Less than 5 years ago, everybody would have been scratching their heads asking “what are ramps?”. But the first batch we got in this spring went to making ramp butter, which we sold out of in 2 days… and it was mid-week!

I think that due to this constant customer education, more and more restaurants and provisions stores will have to ‘step up to the plate’, so to speak, in regards to the quality of the ingredients that they use, as well as seasonality. The answer to fixing our atrophied food system is in the consumers’ demand. The more people learn about where their food is coming from and question the restaurants serving tomato and basil salad in January, the more they are forcing the restaurants and ultimately the food chain to shop for their produce locally and seasonally. This is a big part of what is happening at the farmers markets and what a draw they are becoming… people are realizing how much better food tastes when it’s at its peak, and everybody wins!

Q. Where do you get your meat from?

A. Heritage Foods, which was formed as the sales and marketing arm for Slow Food USA. They only work with small farms, so you can trace the farm on the packaging. The animals are all well taken care of and we get our pork from them.

Fancy Meats of Vermont - amazing veal. They are the real deal, supporting small family dairy farms.

Q. How do you narrow down the products you feature in the store?

A. We constantly taste new products that producers or importers bring in as samples or that we find either out shopping, traveling or just out to dinner. We (Francine, Andrew and myself) will all taste it and discuss where it fits in to what we are doing. Some may argue that this is not the smartest strategy – most stores will buy ‘products that sell’ and not everything we have selected has been a hit!

Ultimately, we like to stick to foods that come from smaller, artisanal producers that share our own philosophies of sustainability and seasonality.

Q. What are the essentials for selecting your cheeses?

A. All the cheeses in the case at Bklyn Larder are farmstead – meaning the cheese is made right on the same dairy farm where the cows/sheep/goats/buffalo pasture and are milked.

Recommendations

Q. What are some noteworthy staples you recommend (mayo, mustard, ketchup)?

A. In my larder at home I always have the following staples:

Maldon Sea Salt – love the delicate flakes that you can break up smaller by simply sprinkling between your fingers, or leave as is for a little texture in your salad or on top of your fish… it has a really clean saltiness, too.

Some kind of beans from The Beanery in Maine… usually Sulfar or Cannelini. They cook up so evenly and creamy because they are always from the recent harvest, unlike most dry beans which are all mixed up and sitting around a warehouse – we try to get our hands on as many of them as we can, because her crops are small & limited.

Great quality dry pasta, like Rustichella d'Abruzzo, for the texture, and coarseness, so the sauce will cling.

Sriracha hot sauce. Ok, there is nothing artisanal or organic about this… it’s just delicious, and highly addictive.

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Q. Who are the cheese purveyors you think are creating unique products, what products, and why?

A. Casa Madaio, for raw sheep’s milk cheese from Sardinia. Calcagno is some of the best I’ve ever had. It’s made from the milk of animals that are sotto cielo (under the sky), which means they are outside grazing in the pasture.

Twig Farm, in West Cornwall, Vermont for raw milk goat cheeses, called Wheel, Tomme, and Square. The most perfectionist and talented domestic cheesemaker. They use a mixed herd of goats to make Catalan-style cheese.

Upland Farm, in Wisconsin for Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Arguably the most consistent cheese made since the 1980’s, Alpine style, really crystalized.

This makes Europeans mad that Americans make such a good cheese.

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Q. What other speciality markets do you think are providing outstanding products?

A. Murray’s Cheese. They do a great job. I would love to some day be as established as they are.

Bedford Cheese. Great selection, well-edited, well-curated.

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Q. What restaurants are worth checking out in Brooklyn?

A. Beer Table ( yes, the food, as well as the beer is terrific!) They serve beer snacks like butter beans on toast with braised bacon. It’s rich and delicious.

Café Le Gamin has a young talented chef serving classics like Steak Frites and doing it really well.

Vinegar Hill House for Brick Chicken and Double-cut Roasted Pork Chop.

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Q. What places have killer food, but won't break the bank?

A. Mimi’s Hummus – amazing, fresh, Mediterranean food. I have brought so many friends here, who I think were just coming along to shut me up because I wouldn’t shut up about it… and they are all now believers!

If Mimi’s was in my neighborhood, I would eat there 3-4 times a week…

And Bark Hot Dogs, right next door to Bklyn Larder!

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Q. Weird off-the-beaten track joints?

A. Lucky Eight – amazing Chinese food.

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Q. For food-focused travelers who visit the NY area, are there foods you recommend they should eat and where should they go for them?

A. Tacos in Sunset Park.

Tacos El Bronco. On the weekends, this truck serves pig’s ear tacos, tongue, chorizo and Carne Asada.

Taco Matamoros, some of the same like the chorizo and Carne Asada.

SriPraPhai for Thai food in Woodside. The crispy fried watercress salad is great. I think everybody in Gray Kunz’s kitchen was a SriPraPhai fan, and probably one of the chefs or sous chefs turned Chef Kunz onto it. Gray's cuisine has alot of Thai influence, so the strong, aggressive flavors of chillies, lime juice and fish sauce always appealed to all of our palates.

Bark Hot Dogs for a hot dog and disco fries. The owners of Bark Hot Dogs are two of the best cooks that I ever had the pleasure to work with. Josh Sharkey was the saucier at Cafe Gray when I was there and ended being Gray's Executive sous-chef by the time he left.  Brandon Gillis was the sous-chef at Franny's for the first few years they were open. They are completely committed to using/sourcing local, high-quality ingredients for everything they serve and prepare at Bark.

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Q. What restaurants do you think currently have a great cheese and cured meats program?

A. Brookvin. A wine bar with a great cheese program.

Casellula, they have a very aggressive cheese list for a place that size and they do a really great job with their pairings.

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Q. Who else in your field is doing things you think deserve more praise and why?

A. Formaggio Essex … an offshoot of Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge run by Ayse Gurdall, and offering the same selections of top quality, unique artisan cheeses and cured meats that her father, Ishan has been importing himself for years

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Q. Any markets around the world that you love to visit?

A. Volpetti in Rome is awesome. Such an abundance of food in a small space, done the way I wish we could in the U.S. They’re able to leave things unwrapped and presented so fresh.

Peck in Milan is almost more like Grace’s Market on the Upper East Side. It’s really big, with side by side Berkel slicers, huge pastry selection. It’s more chi chi, but very impressive.

Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, one of the best cheese stores in the country.

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Q. Great restaurants you’ve discovered on your own travels?

A. Osteria San Cesareo, near Frascati, 20 minutes outside Rome… best meal I ever had overseas… il quinto quarto course was to die for!

Milan - Trattoria de la Pesa. Classic breaded and fried foods.

Naples - Trattoria de Dora. Amazing seafood, beautifully prepared, really takes the cake.

London - St. John’s. Inspirational!

The late, great Bandol ( R.I.P.) in Portland, ME, and I am sure Erik Desjarlais’  new incarnation at Evangeline there is just as breathtaking, although I have not had the pleasure… yet!

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Recommendations

Details of Cheesemonger and co-owner Sergio Hernandez’s recommendations for food purveyors, markets, and restaurants in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Italy, and London.

Recipes

- Mayonnaise

- Olive Cake

- Caramel Bars