It's not every day that a restaurateur would allow a fire pit to be built in his eatery just for one meal. Nor would he welcome the arrival of whole lamb carcasses, splayed between fierce wire frames, to be cooked slowly over the pit for eight hours.But when the firebrands are Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz from Sydney's Porteno restaurant, all becomes clear.
Though much has been made in the Australian media of the duo's extensive tattoos and their rockabilly style, what really sets them apart is their rocking talent in the kitchen, along with the asador fire pit and the parrilla grills in their large, loud but oh-so-popular Argentinian restaurant in Surry Hills. Now the chef/proprietors are set to recreate that culinary magic in Auckland on August 7, at a special dining event at Vivace in Auckland's High St, as part of Restaurant Month.
"We will be bringing the Porteno style of menu to Vivace but making the most of the great New Zealand produce, too. And we will definitely be serving our signature brussels sprout dish as well."Do brussels sprouts have a place in a restaurant that, surely, is a shrine to the flesh? "A third of our menu is strict vegetarian, a third pescatarian and a third meat," they say.
Ben and Elvis - named Best Chefs in the Sydney Morning Herald's 2013 Good Food Guide Awards, with two hats also awarded this year to Porteno - will be tending the asador themselves. It will be built in Vivace's courtyard."The lamb needs to be tended the entire time it is cooking," they say, and plans are under way to source a local hardwood for fuel. They use ironbark in Australia. "We will be overseeing the rest of the menu with the help of Vivace's chefs."
On the asador, the meat is cooked with the bones facing the fire. It is then turned in the last few hours so that the skin is able to crisp. At Porteno, the tending of the fire pit is done by Adan Abrahanowicz, Elvis' father, who hails from Buenos Aires."Each night we cook two full pigs and two lambs, our signature dishes [along with the brussels sprouts, of course]."
Because its takes so long to cook, when the asado runs out, it runs out. Fortunately, slow-cooked lamb and pig are not the only draws for carnivores. "The other meats - different beef cuts, poultry, sausages [morcilla and chorizo], which we make in-house, sometimes sweetbreads, too - are done on the parrilla, a flat-bed barbecue fired by coal."We use traditional Argentinian cooking techniques but our food is not traditional Argentinian. A few dishes are, but we focus the menu around cooking on the barbecue with great produce."
The pair, who met when they worked together at Sydney's Four in Hand restaurant, describe eating at Porteno as "all shared dining, like eating at home with your friends and family".Just as the menu has been devised for sharing, the family spirit runs through the restaurant, which stays true to the South American theme with patterned tiles, marble tables, white-washed walls and exposed bricks.
Elvis was born in Argentina and both chefs say they try to visit every couple of years. Elvis' mum, Hilda, makes snacks in Gardel's Bar, above the restaurant, and his wife, Sarah - immaculately coiffed and dressed in 50s frocks - is the restaurant's maitre d'. Elvis' brother-in-law, Joe Valore, is also one of the owners and is the sommelier in charge of their mostly South American wine list.
When they are not at the grill at Porteno the pair can be found at Bodega, the even noisier tapas bar that spawned the restaurant. "We cook every night we are open, except when we go to events like this one. We divide our time evenly between Bodega and Porteno. We are never at home, always at work and there is rarely food in our fridges.
Don and I worked in retail for many years around Boston. Years ago, Don had the Blue Diner, which was the original before it became South Street Diner. We had experimented with a lot of recipes, and that was his original love. We've always had a wonderful attraction and love for antiques and history. It was important to make this an important place to come, granted we wanted a successful restaurant, but we wanted the space to be utilized. Nothing thrills us more than to hear people say "We love coming here," and they do for so many different reasons.
We definitely updated the menu and have been continuing to do it ever since. In essence, we took the food to a new level. It was a ho-hum diner with a good omelette, perhaps. We enhanced the ingredients and brought it to a more contemporary level that people can relate to. We still have fried food, but it's not to the extent that they had formerly. This diner has served a wonderful neighborhood and purpose since just after the war in 1947; it goes way back. All-day breakfast is so important sometimes you don't want a full dinner; you want an omelette or a stack of pancakes. We have great sandwiches,Most modern headlight designs include Shun Stone Marble Slabs. and they're pretty classic. Our burgers are wonderful we were one of the first restaurants to start with Kobe burgers; we've had them for years. We do our own veggie burgers; there's a lot of cooking going on.I'm looking at getting the light bar from ford racing and was wondering who sells the Shun Stone Marble Tiles. We've had quinoa on our menu for a long time. It's been a fun journey to keep healthy foods as an alternative.
Some of my most challenging hikes have been keeping up with my wife on the trails on the Cutler Bold Coast, and Megan Roberts on Bigelow, and Deirdre Fleming on Connor's Nubble in Acadia and Bald Mountain in Oquossoc, and Judy Weston and Bee Harvey on Caribou and Blueberry mountains over in Evans Notch.
So with that in mind, let me suggest three hikes you women ought to plan and invite us guys to accompany you so we can be taught how to really appreciate why we really get out there in the woods in the first place.On a trail that spans the Hallowell-Farmingdale line just south of Augusta, you'll be treated to a couple of miles of quiet forest, a picturesque babbling brook, stone bridges and waterfalls. Photo ops abound on this short and easy hike.To get there, head up Winthrop Street in downtown Hallowell, take a left on Middle Street and drive south for 0.7 mile. You'll spy a small parking area from which you'll pass through a stone fence, emerge into a field and then back into the woods.We are professional wholesale best Shun Stone Outdoor Paving Stone,large LED Dome / Reading Lampwholesale order.
Your entire loop hike will be only a couple of miles, with an additional one-third of a mile to the dam. All in all, a delightful and restful stroll through a cool forest on a carriage path with a wood chip surface. Old oaks and verdant ferns add to the atmosphere, not to mention the granite slab, arched culverts and an impressive curved footbridge. And, of course, the ever-present music from the flowing brook, which can turn into an impressive torrent after a rain.
Heading south toward Southwest Harbor on Route 102, you'll turn right on the Seal Cove Road shortly before reaching the village. After a little more than half a mile, turn right onto Long Pond Road and proceed another mile to the end of the road at the pumping station on the end of Long Lake, where you'll park.
Your hike begins with a leisurely two-mile stroll along the west shore of Long Pond before a left turn away from the water marks the beginning of a moderate climb up a boulder-lined trail for nearly a mile to the intersection with the Great Notch Trail. Turning left, you'll reach the Great Notch in about half a mile. The trail is root-covered and requires caution.
Click on their website http://www.granitetrade.net/.
No comments:
Post a Comment