Five on Food: Articles from the Wednesday Dining Pages

1)  In Search of a Childhood Memory:  Lydia Shire is on a mission to recreate Bailey’s butterscotch sauce.  The Boston Globe.  I love the nostalgia of this piece and its teaser on food memory.  In an effort to recreate the butterscotch of the old Boston ice cream shops, the chef of Locke-Ober asks the Globe to help her find the recipe.  “Would anyone have the recipe for the original?”  she writes.  “Even with just the ingredients, I may just be able to replicate it.”  That she can remember flavors, days let alone years later, is impressive.

2) Hiding in Not So Plain Sight.  The New York Times.  Commentary from The Master:

Like the folks who market Pabst Blue Ribbon and Converse sneakers, the impresarios behind Freemans understood that the nexus of retro and downscale is a lucrative spot, so long as it’s packaged in the right, knowing way. And these men, William Tigertt and Taavo Somer, understood that a nook at the terminus of a tucked-away alley would be an equally lucrative location, given the way New Yorkers like to feel that they’re in on a secret.

3) Butterfield 9 Has Your Number.  The Washington Post. According to Eve Zibart, Michael Harr may be the best chef we’ve never heard of.

4) The Tipping Point.  The Chicago Tribune.  The Trib catches up with Waiterrant.net.  More important, it’s a piece on service, the alleged next big thing, according to Danny Meyer in Setting the Table:The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.

5) Counter Dining, Etc.  Michael Bauer’s Between Meals Blog.  San Francisco Chronicle.  It’s entertaining to read Bauer’s header that “counter dining spreads to New York,” considering it “spread” to New York, like, 30 years ago.  San Franciscans are the ones with space, remember?  Bauer also dishes on the trend’s spinoff, the downscaling of haute cuisine.