Food truck at Boston Festival

Food trucks are big news in the culinary world. Food cultists may think New York, LA, or even lately  Boston, have the trend covered. But last week, I stopped by the sparlingly clean truck parked in a shopping center lot in Dodge City, Kan. It’s there every day, and has been for years, selling tacos, tortas, and a few other specialties. No monster burritos, no orange cheese, no Americanized fast-food tcochkes.

The temperature was about 96 at 7 p.m. as I went up to the window. A teenager took my order for three tacos — al pastor, barbacoa and lengua. And, yes, they had tongue, he said, a little confused that I had to ask. “Do you want everything on it,” he inquired. That turned out to be onions and cilantro. Then he told me he’d bring it to me in the car. In Kansas, people seldom emerge from their cars in the heat, so I probably seemed deluded.

Two older men in cowboy hats and boots were talking in back of the truck, but I seemed to be the only customer. Up the street is a new Wendy’s, one of a string of fast-food places where there was a line of cars at the takeout window.

In a few minutes, the teen was back with my order, on a heavy paper plate, carefully wrapped with foil. The small tacos, each in several fresh corn tortillas, were beautiful, plenty of tender meat, adorned only with sprigs of fresh cilantro and chopped onions. The bill was $3.75. I gave him a $5 and told him to keep the rest. (And the tacos, with a little bottled salsa added, were delicious when I ate them later).

Amazed by this, he was even more dumbfounded when I told him that food trucks were the craze on the East Coast. “You’d be a hit in Boston,” I told him, as he walked away, shaking his head at the craziness.

Scallops with corn and creme fraiche potatoes

Opening a restaurant is difficult, and it’s terrifying to throw open the doors and hope that people come. It’s also nervewracking to go for the first time to a restaurant owned by people who you’re rooting for.

So a weekend visit to Local 50 in Kennebunk, Maine, was especially exciting — and gratifying. Merrilee Paul and David Ross, veterans of the Boston scene, opened their first restaurant in the downtown of this Maine hamlet (that is not Kennebunkport of the Bushes). David had been chef at Lucca and Sasso; Merrilee was manager at Great Bay, among other places.

Local 50 melds a cleverly urban look with lots of locavore elements. Even Paul’s grandmother gets into the act. Merrille says Grandma has more of a garden than a farm, but that the corn, greens and other vegetables are wonderful. I can attest to that.

The food was simple, beautifully executed, and delicious, from the scallops to the corn and clam chowder to the chocolate cake. And the place on a Saturday night was rocking — with a lot of locals. Just what you want to see.

Potato chips

The food industry has its tentacles around us all, with advertising, market research and trade associations galore. Which is why a snippet the other day caught my eye. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a piece saying that teens who snack were found to be less likely to be obese than other teens. The article sounded legit, and there is such a journal. But are we to believe that teen snacks are all healthy fruit and vegetables, or that the Snack Food Association, an international trade group, wasn’t somehow behind this? I’m asking nutritionist friends what they think, and looking for more data. Where’s Michael Pollan when you need him?

Ray Gillespie and me

Last Saturday, Raymond Gillespie, chef at Salumeria Italiana in the North End, and I sacrificed a perfect beach day to demonstrate Rubio Aged Balsamic at Shubie’s in Marblehead. Here we are (Ray is the cute one on the left).

Most of the customers were busy gathering provisions for boating excursions (lots of chips, takeout, beer, and cheeses). But plenty stopped by to sample Rubio over ice cream — even the skeptics were won over– straight up, and in a cocktail with vodka, bitters and soda water. Shubie’s is a beautiful store, and we had fun talking to people, changing their views about vinegar. Of course, there were some who’d recently been to Italy or were already customers of the North End store. Those we didn’t have to convince.

When the Highland Park Scotch tasting started in late afternoon (hard to compete with free Scotch), we packed up our recipes and brochures, and shopped for wine and French cheeses — a little cross-cultural exchange is always good in food.

Listening to Anthony Bourdain last night on Tom Ashbrook’s show, you would have thought that restaurant food had been in a steep decline until Top Chef, the Food Network, and of course, his road trip docudramas “No Reservations” came into being. All good, according to Bourdain, who seemed to have been defanged for the occasion. Isn’t nastiness his appeal? He sounded like he was chatting about new trends in Episcopalian religious services.

Now that regular folk have seen chefs vying to cook weird things in trumphed-up contests, everyone understands the finer points of cuisine, he seemed to believe.

This made me think of Patricia Yeo, chef of Ginger Park, telling me recently that she thinks food TV contests are ruining the work ethic of beginning chefs. They all think they do a short stint, get on TV, and make Bourdain’s bucks (he went on and on about the cushy, travel-filled life he leads). “Showing up for work,” Yeo says, isn’t on the agendas of this would-be stars.

Saturday evening I get an email from Gordon Hamersley. Would I like to blog about the Chefs Stand for Haiti dinner at Rialto the next night? This was not a difficult decision — the cause is so stellar, the chefs are so fantastic, the idea is so fun — no contest. So Sunday June 6, I drive through torrential rain to Rialto. There, the kitchen is full of some of the best and most celebrated chefs in Boston — Gordon, of course, and Jody Adams of Rialto, Frank McClelland of L’Espalier, Ken Oringer of Clio and Toro, Jamie Bissonette of Toro and Coppa, Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, Steven Brand and Susan Regis of Upstairs on the Square, Tim and Nancy Cushman of O Ya, Dante deMagistris of Dante and Il Casale, Louis DiBicarra of Sel de la Terre, Joanne Chang of Flour and Myers & Chang, Andy Husbands of Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel, Rich Valente of Legal Sea Foods, Peter Davis   of Henrietta’s Table, Patricia Yeo of Ginger Park, and Ron Abel and Nookie Postal  of Fenway Park.

The mood is jovial, the banter quick, the connections those close and vital ones that bind chefs together no matter how short the time or strong the competition. Jody Adams explains it best: “We didn’t quite expect them all to say yes,” she says. She, Gordon and Andy were contacted in the winter after the devastating earthquake in Haiti by Billy Shore of Share Our Strength and by Partners in Health. “Could the chefs help.” Chefs and restaurants are known for their charitable work. But this query was unusual because of the urgency and the dedication of those involved. And the response was immediate. So a winter tragedy led to an early summer feast.

Susan Regis works

The kitchen was humming with chefs working quickly against a tight deadline to feed 91 guests who had paid $1,000 a plate. But the conversation flowed, showing the tight bonds that bind Boston’s chef community. And the appetizers were gorgeous. Regis and Brand worked to on boudin blanc with topped with rhubarb from a friend’s Marblehead garden and garlic crisps. Maiden prepared hoe cakes to go with lamb crepinettes with a pistou of basil and black walnuts. Yeo fried foie gras and short rib dumplings to be served with a spicy chili sauce. Davis finished house-smoked duck with a rhubarb chutney on pumpkin bread. DeMagistris patiently pressed 200 servings of veal tonnato paninis, an irresistible Italianate version of grilled cheese.

There was urban gardening: Bissonnette’s green pea and sheep’s milk ricotta with lardo was garnished with sweet cicely from his garden next to Toro in the South End. And rural farming: All the greens for the dinner to follow (by the Rialto team) was from McClelland’s Hamilton farm. And he also provided beautiful French breakfast radishes with sweet butter and salt.

French breakfast radishes

Hamersley passed out succulent lamb chops with an apriot jam. Cushman stirred a spicy Thai tomato and chanterelle soup, musing that at O Ya, he might have added lobster. Oringer composes a delicate oyster Royale (oyster cream with coconut milk, sake, and thyme) on shrimp toasts. Abell passes around lobster rolls, quickly snapped up by the chefs “Only the Red Sox could afford lobster,” one quips.

As the chefs worked, guests begin to filter in, eager to meet them. “This is so much fun in here,” says one as the stainless-steel restaurant kitchen began to resemble a house party.

In Rialto’s bar, Jim Ansara, formerly of Shawmut Construction who has been working in Haiti as well as raising money, talks proudly of a Partners in Health teaching hospital that’s about to begin in construction. “This would be challenging here,” he says. In devastated Haiti, “it’s really challenging.”

Hamersley's lamb chops

As the guests take their seats, and begin to look at the Rialto menu of a light summer vegetable antipasto and organic chicken, nibbling on breads brought out in huge wooden baskets, Adams introduces the chefs. Then she gives a benediction of sorts, the reason that chefs came together to help others in a time of ongoing need.

Quoting Gandhi, she says: “There are people so hungry that they cannot see God except in the form of bread.”

Breaking bread together to help those in need: It’s a beautiful thing.

NEXT: An auction followed the dinner. Find out about the dream venues and the chef matchups, plus how much money was raised!

Chefs laugh in Rialto kitchen

Garden lettuces

It’s been such a fast and furious spring that the flip switch from scarcity to overload is hitting on Memorial Day. For the last 10 days, I’ve been harvesting a little arugula, some tiny snippets of lettuces, a small radish or two every evening. But I can tell that by the first days of June, the garden is going to be teeming with greens ready for eating. All at once, I’ll be looking for takers. Not everyone qualifies, though. My criteria is that the recipient handle with care — no bruising the leaves, no overloading the salad with too many ingredients, no heavy, sweet, or (horrors) bottled dressings.

I like my vinaigrettes on the spicy side — almost equal parts white wine vinegar and olive oil (my new favorite is Olio Carli from Liguria) with salt, pepper, and plenty of  tarragon or basil.  Drizzle lightly over arugula and other greens along with sliced radishes and those little Armenian cucumbers. The little black dress of salads.

And if you follow the rules,  you’re automatically in line for green beans –those skinny French filets — and black kale. We’ll see about the raspberries.

Austin skyline

Nothing like lists to spark interest. Trolling through the maze today, I noticed a WalletPop article listing Austin, Tex., as the top restaurant dining city in the country — more money is spent on eating out there than anywhere else in the US.  Who knew?

And Boston diners are No. 19, way under Irvine, Tex., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Nashville, Tenn.! Doesn’t anyone cook at home in those cities?

Is it because spring, early if fitful this year, has sprung? Or that the economy has stabilized a tiny bit? Or pent-up demand? Or cheap rents?  Whatever. There seem to be new restaurants bouncing up like pink tulips in my yard — just as freshly minted, just as hopeful.

Esti Parsons

Bergamot in Somerville, EVOO now in Cambridge plus ZA. Mumai Chopstix about to open on NewburyStreet. Chez Jacky late this month in Brighton. Towne Stove with Lydia Shire and Jasper White in Hynes Convention. A new restaurant, Sam’s Place,  in the new Louis in Seaport  area — reportedly with Esti Parsons in charge — we’ve missed her.

For an insufficiently-reformed restaurant junkie, it’s a little overwhelming: How to sample them all! I’ve just finally eaten at Coppa (great pork rillettes with a hit of Saba), sampled Mumbai Chopstix at friends and family (intriguing flavors and good hits of chilies and spices) and haven’t yet been to Barbara Lynch’s Menton. It should be a busy summer.

Maxibels are on order

With Michele Obama championing gardening, the weather suddenly turning (briefly) warm, and spring official, I finally got around to ordering seeds. It’s a gamble — not the seeds, really, but the balancing act that it takes to home garden. The unpredictable weather, my time, the right mix of plants, my back — will this be a good year for the garden? A bad one? Or, as is usually the case, mixed?

Hope springs eternal, every year, and I’ve sent in my order. Come by in late July for green beans and raspberries!!