For Dinner, and then for School Lunch the next day. Apple Meatloaf: 2 Ways.

WHERE DID SUMMER GO? And as if to punctuate it's departure, it rained heavily, moment's after Labor Day ended.

My mother. Who's always on hand to offer quick recipes and deft kitchen advice, emailed me her Basic Apple Meatloaf recipe. Comfort on a rainy night! Great for my son's dinner, (the apple is a good way to sneak in additional fruit, kid's love the natural sweetness it adds, and it also helps keep the meat really moist). And the layers of cheese, melted inch-deep on top, seal the deal. (Who can resist the combination of apple and cheese?). This meatloaf is delicious with creamy garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Then the lunchbox dilemma is solved for the next day, by thick-slicing it, and putting it on fresh country loaf or brown bread, and adding pickle relish, yellow mustard—or just plain old ketchup.

I love it when one dish works two ways.

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FOR DINNER: Take one medium Onion and chop finely. Peel, and then grate: 1 Granny Smith Apple, 1 Medium Carrot, and 1 Medium Potato. Saute the chopped Onion, grated Apple, Carrot and Potato in Olive Oil, in a fry pan until tender. (About 10 minutes.) Season with Salt and Pepper. Put the sauteed vegies in a large mixing bowl. Add 1.1-ish lbs of Ground Pork. (If you can get a mixture of Pork, Veal and Beef, that would also work well too). Pulse 1 slice of brown bread in food processor, until it resembles breadcrumbs and add that to the bowl as well as 1 lightly beaten Egg, 3 tablespoons of Ketchup. Mix or squish everything together with your hands, (it will be warm at first from the sauteed vegies) then place the entire mixture in a loaf pan. Grate a handful of Medium/Sharp cheddar and place over the top. Bake in a 350 degree oven, for 45 minutes.

Serve meatloaf with Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes and steamed Broccoli, or Green Beans and more ketchup. 

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FOR SCHOOL LUNCH: After refrigerating over night, slice a wedge of the 'meatloaf', and place it inside 2 slices of fresh bread. Add Ketchup, Salt and Pepper— to taste. You can even grate some more cheddar, if you wish.

Wrap tightly in parchment paper or plastic wrap and place in a school lunch container, with crunchy potato chips, and apple slices. 

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NOTE: This sandwich would also work well as weekend lunch. Spread softened butter either side and grill the sandwich, in a hot pan, until the cheese melts. A meatloaf 'grilled cheese'. Serve with a small mug of warm tomato soup.

Preserving Summer; A Chutney-Making Party

Once a year,

Coconut Lemongrass Chicken with Housemade Peanut sauce

I'm addicted to this dish. I've got to be honest. I've been back 3 times, in 3 days. And all I can think about? Is going back tomorrow.

This place is kind of a 'hole in the wall'. Literally. But it's the Flat Iron district, so it's an upmarket kind of 'hole'. (If you will) Almost corporate looking. Don't eat in, though. You want to get your food 'to-go'. It's the Rhong-Tiam Express outpost, so you're meant to order, and then be on your merry way. Although there is an eclectic set of missed-matched chairs, eating there, might be akin to grabbing a bite in a small regional Bus Terminal. Not ideal.

So let's back up. You know when the New Yorker has written about this place, Michelin has given it one star, (in 2009), and one of the owners is connected to the Penang empire; that this is not your ordinary hole-in-the-wall food den. Not even close. The food is incredible.

I started to work my way down the menu, but I got kind of stuck on the Coconut Lemongrass Chicken with Housemade Peanut Sauce. It's chicken, in a very spicy coconut, peanut, lemongrass yellow curry, and it's minced. (Note: Good sauce-to-meat ratio). Everything about this dish is glorious. It's sweet, but hot. Big heat, but even bigger flavors. A proverbial Thai goodie basket; it also has a spring roll, and half a boiled egg tucked in there as well, with lettuce and carrots coated in a spicy orange dressing. All the flavors work really well together. You might want to try this dish with beer, though. (No well meaning Ginger Ale, no matter how authentic, will cut it).

What's next on the menu to try? Crispy Pork Belly in Basil, Tamarind Duck wrap, Kai Soi Chicken, Roti pancake in condensed milk with Milo, and finally, the Pork on Fire. (Roarrr!)

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Rhong-Tiam Express Gramercy 31 East 21st St, between Park Avenue South and Broadway Check out their website: Which includes their extensive menu, here 

TIP: Order ahead. Email or call them, and you will save time not having to wait on line.

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Rhong-Tiam 154 Orchard Street, NY NY http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/04/rhong-tiam-garden-now-open-at-154-orchard/ 

What Charlie Ate; Korv Och Potatismos

I love hanging out with kids. I love watching them handle and hold things, especially for the first time. The wonderment, and sheer amazement of the most simplest of things.

Welcome little Charlie! Going forward, I'll do some regular posts called "What Charlie Ate". These posts will incorporate the simplest recipes, with very few ingredients. Quick, and easy. (Yep—that even a small child can eat).

In this instalment, Charlie's mother Louise—who is Swedish-born, makes her Creme Fraiche Mashed Potatoes (served with a simple organic hotdog). The creaminess of the mash, with the bright burnished rust-colored dog, a juicy bite—with perfect snap. (Don't forget ketchup!)

Here's the very easy recipe:

KORV OCH POTATISMOS (Swedish for Sausage and Mashed Potatoes): Peel 4 freshly picked medium Yukon Gold potatoes, preferably from the farmer's market. Cut into quarters and rinse twice in cold water. Cover with cold water and keep at a boil for 15 min. Check with toothpick and once soft, empty out water and mash with fork. Add salt and pepper to taste, a little whole milk (around 3/4 cup-ish), around 2 tablespoons of Creme Fraiche and a quarter stick of butter. Heat up a Hebrew 100 percent kosher Beef or Applegate organic natural hot dog, in a warm pan. Serve with good quality Ketchup.

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To check out Ari Michelson's photographic work, click here.

Tepary Beans, Cholla Buds, Prickly Pear Glaze. (Native American food)

I've been struggling with this post—for what feels like years. Although it's only been a day and a half. But when is a food adventure, ever just about the food?

The Tohono O'odham, is a Native American reservation, wedged between the US border of Arizona and the Republic of Mexico. My dear friend Jennifer Smith, who's an incredible stylist based in New York, (LA, and Tucson), had heard interesting things about a café based on the Tohono reservation. So we drove 2 hours South from Tucson, eager to check it out.

It's called Desert Rain, and it's in a small town called Sells. To say that there is no poverty in this town, would be to lie. To see some of it, is very emotionally distressing. Lean-to's, deserted streets, tumbleweeds and stray, mangy dogs and children with dark deep pools for eyes. Boredom. And the stifling, unshifting heat.

To say that this trip went smoothly for us too; would also be a lie. (Thelma and Louise, we ain't!) which brings us to a Policeman— who couldn't decide whether to leave us in the desert, alone, without our vehicle, in 107 degree heat. Or the perfectly pleasant but adamant Border Patrol, who do mandatory stops. (This is border area, and if you are not American, note; you will need to carry appropriate docs).

At the end of the day, though, we were thankful for the opportunity to meet the clever Desert Rain folk, who were knowledgable and passionate about cooking with, and educating people on centuries old ingredients, and grateful to try cool new tastes.

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Top pic: PRICKLY PEAR GLAZED CHICKEN BREAST SANDWICH with CHOLLA BUD SALSA: The chicken breast is glazed with the ruby red fruit, found on the Prickly Pear Cactus. It's served on a simple, whole wheat roll. (The glaze tasted like Dijon with Pomegranate to my uneducated palette. Sweet but with a mustardy bite) The Cholla is a bud picked from the Buckhorn Cholla Cactus and is harvested by hand, in Spring. It's vibrant flavor is similar to an artichoke, or asparagus (which makes a bright, fresh tasting salsa).

To find out what a Cholla Bud is: Click here. 

To see pics of the Tohono picking the Cholla Buds: click here.

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Below pic: TEPARY BEAN and SHORT RIB STEW: Tepary beans are the most drought and heat proof bean in the world. They have a woody, natural flavor, and are hand picked from the farm. They are cooked in just water, not chicken stock, making the soup very unaffected, somewhat flat, but pure and earthy. It's served with corn bread which was hand made using whole sweet kernels of corn.

To find out what Tepary Beans are: Click here.

To order your own Tepary Beans, check out this great site called Rancho Gordo. They are a Napa, California based company with an impressive range of heirloom beans, as well as dried corn, chile's, grains, herbs and spices. Check out their story here.

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To learn more about the Tohono O'odham Native Americans, click here. To find directions to the Desert Rain Café, in Sells, Arizona, where we ate, check here.

Note: Desert Rain café is trying to open a outpost in Tucson. Please support them if you live in the region. (And do try the Mesquite Flour Cookies, they're amazing!)

Goat's Butter

Goat's butter is opaque white, and not yellow, like regular butter. It's tangy and has the tiniest hit of salt. I have to say; I was blown a way when I tried Goat's butter recently. It has a lower melting point, so it best served as a condiment, like smeared liberally on top of a hot currant scone, or melted onto into a warm caramel pancake. Throw it on the breakfast table to shift up your morning feast. And because Goat butter has a slight sour tang, it's great accompanied with sweet jams, like Apricot, Blackberry or even good Maple Syrup. I think it would be perfect melted on a warmed Apple muffin, or even crisp Belgium waffles, for instance.

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WHERE TO PURCHASE? You can get pure Goat Butter at Sprouts stores (Located in Arizona, California, Texas and Colorado). On the East coast, call your local specialty food store to see if they carry it. The one we tried was the Meyenberg, which was excellent but funnily enough, you can order a block of easily enough, from anywhere in the States, simply from Amazon.com. Click here. 

Los Guarachez de Don Shuy, Tucson, Arizona.

JAMAICA and WATERMELON drinks. (Agua fresca). The word Jamaica, (like the country), is the Spanish word for Hibiscus. 

GUARACHES CHORIZO: This dish at other places is called Huaraches, but here it's called Guaraches. It's basicly a fried masa base, the shape of a sandal, and (above)—topped with chorizo sausage, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream. 

Mmmm...! The base is a delicious fried masa 'cake', steeped in he oily juices of melted chorizo.

LOS GUARACHEZ DE DON SHUY: If you're looking to pawn your jewelry, or buy a gun, this is the area to be in. Just make sure you make time to eat lunch, as well.

Authentic food seekers of Tucson know that the South side is the go-to area for great food. (The Taqueria Pico de Gallo, for instance, also on S 6th Avenue, is just down the street from this place).

Los Guarachez de Don Shuy just opened. No one speaks English here, but the food is tasty and oh-so-cheap, and if you live in Tucson; you'll want to find this place immediately. We fell in love with the bright retro tablecloths and the sunflower seed dispensing machine. The chicken taco's and the Guaraches Chorizo were delicious!

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LOS GUARACHEZ DE DON SHUY 4547 S 6th Ave

Tucson, AZ 85714

(520) 229-7490

(Photographs Dimity Jones)

Madeleine's

I'm so pleased to present the beautiful Madeleine's shoot we shot this past June, for Martha Stewart Living magazine, with photographs from the incomparable Tara Donne.

Pick up the latest issue on newsstands right now, for a blow-by-blow breakdown of how to make these amazing little cakes, as well as the recipe.

(Update; the recipe for this shoot, now appears online, to get it, click here.)

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Photograph by Tara Donne, Art Direction: Dimity Jones, Food styling: Cindy Bearman.

Survival food. (Sierra Nevada)

Jeff Vallee started backpacking when he was 10 years old. Now he's grown, he's an occasional guide, who takes kids over the Sierra Nevada range, in the dead heat of Summer, like he used to do when he was a child. "There is very little restraint on the kids in the program" he says. (The program is called Poway Backpacking, it's been running for the last 35 years, and was named after the city in San Diego, where it originated ) "They can pretty much do whatever they want" he says, "as long as they don't hurt the wilderness, or each other".

As far as food goes, there is not really a ton to eat. By the end of the trip, when the food has started running low, there's a lof of bargaining and trading going on. It's about survival and the food is not always thrilling; Oatmeal and ramen are top staples, and there is also freeze dried meals. (Meats and mashed potatoes). The biggest hurdle with cooking in the mountains is you need to cook things fairly fast, because the longer things take, the more fuel you need, and fuel is very heavy for the kids to carry. Also, everyone needs to become experts in being able to clean up without soap and water, because to use it, obviously, would pollute the rivers and lakes.

PHOTO ABOVE: Is a freeze dried dessert. Called "Cherry Blast". It's basically a pie filling with granola on top. PHOTO AT TOP: A to-do list.

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With thanks to my friend, photographer JEFF VALLEE To check out his blog about his ride from Los Angeles to New York, on a bicycle, click here. To check out his main blog, check here. The Poway Backpacking for kids over the Sierra Nevada, has no website. The program is done mainly through word of mouth.

'No mayonnaise' Potato Salad (with Steak)

Looking for new heroes in an old kitchen; I spy a stick of chalk, that rolls off the counter and snaps clean in half, on the bare linoleum floor. Right next to a brown paper bag full of Potatoes. The Fingerling kind. Pale yellow, waxy, like the bulbous swollen fingers of a generous Great Aunt. I boil all of them. Then skin them, and dice, until they're all the size of a thick weighty coins. I wade the discs through a pool of herbaceous green sauce... swimming with Dijon, dotted with buoys of Cornichons, floating Dill Pickles and mashed, reedy Anchovies. Potato salad; upgraded. My new kitchen hero.

------- 'NO MAYONNAISE' POTATO SALAD: This potato salad contains plenty of thick Dijon Mustard, the best of Summer's herbs; fresh Dill, Basil and Cilantro, and the secret: a good glug of Dill Pickle juice. 

Take a big handful of fresh Dill, fresh Basil and fresh Cilantro and chop them all up finely. Plonk the herbs into a bowl. Add a heaped tablespoon of finely chopped Cornichons, (3 or 4 small ones), a heaped tablespoon of finely chopped Dill pickle spears (something like Kosher Dill Vlasic spears works well), and a good splash of dill pickle juice. Add 2 or 3 mashed Anchovies. A good teaspoon of kosher Salt and a grind of Pepper and a generous heaped tablespoon of Dijon Mustard. Pour in some good quality Olive Oil, and small amount of Red Wine Vinegar, (just under a tablespoon should do it). Mix.

Peel the skins off (about) a pound of still hot Fingerling potatoes that have been boiled till tender in salted water. Dice into quarter inch disks. Put the potatoes into the bowl with the sauce and mix through. Taste. These measurements are approximate. Add more Dijon, or Red Wine vinegar, to taste. Or Oil if it needs more lubrication.

Serve with a well seasoned Char grilled Steak. Some fresh grape tomatoes tossed in a little minced fresh garlic, Olive Oil and Salt and freshly ground pepper .

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NOTE: Use whatever potatoes you love. I like Fingerling but Yukon Gold is good, or plain yellow waxy potatoes will work just as well. The key is to make the potato pieces all the same size, and stick to the quarter-inch size rule. They need to be thin, some can even be mashed, so that the sauce really gets a chance to coat the potatoes. The salad is best made the day of, or even as close to eating it as possible. If your making it for a evening BBQ, make it late afternoon and then leave it out of the fridge until it's time to eat. Try not to refrigerate, unless you really need to... it really won't taste the same if you do. 

LEFTOVERS: Any leftover salad the next day can be chopped into finer pieces, and browned in a hot skillet with some butter to be made into a hash. Serve with a runny Fried Egg on top and some thick double smoked bacon on the side.

Hog Island Sweetwater Oysters

When photographer Colin Clark headed up to Hog Island Oyster Farm, (located around 50 miles North of San Francisco, in a estuary known as Tomales Bay), to report on the bivalves that everyone is raving about, the results were expected; Sweeter than regular oysters, (they are grown where the sweet river water meets the briny bay) And frankly—sublime. The Hog Island Sweetwater Oysters are served in a small dish of 'Hogwash'. ('Hogwash' being the Long Island take on a classic Mignonette, with an added kick of Cilantro, Jalapeno and Lime). They also have picnic tables where you can sit and eat; shuck your own—or buy them shucked from the shack. Colin reports that everyone seems to get really rowdy, and very drunk. (Get me there!) And to top it off, these oysters are on the 'super green sustainable seafood' list. Eat up; the world really is your oyster. Can't wait to get there!

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PHOTOGRAPH by COLIN CLARK

To learn more about the Hog Island Oyster Farm, how to get there, where to purchase, etc.  check here.

Red Hook Food Vendors

Enchilada, with pickled red cabbage and hard-boiled eggs.

Humberto, at Antojitos Chapines, makes incredible Guatemalan food. He's the third or fourth cart down from the corner, the smallest cart. One small cart, with a big heart. What a lovely man, and the best chicken tamales ever.

Rolled Taco's.

Arepas de Queso. (Fried Sweet Corn Meal Cakes with melted cheese tucked inside). Kind of like a South American version of Grilled Cheese. Yummy with fried eggs and hot salsa. Or by itself.

Chicharrones, or Fried Pork Skin, and Taco's.

Pupuseri y Taqueria Ouetzal. This man is in the white van at the end.

Roberta's Arugula, Gorgonzola and Black Currant Pizza, with Market Corn Salad

ROBERTA'S is a unique, incredible place that never stops evolving. It's more than just pizza (chewy, blistering, charred hot, from a bright red oven they imported from Italy, called Roberta), they make other dishes as well—like tripe, grass-fed steak and succulent octopus. They also have their own Greenhouse high, up above on their roof, where they grow some food for their restaurant, and this past June they put in another big wood fired oven, in one of their shipping containers that litter their backyard, and they hired an accomplished baker, to make their own bread (so they can serve it with their pre industrial hand-churned butter, silly). Have I mentioned they harvest their own honey from on-site bees?

This picture was taken by photographer Jen Causey, who I met during a food shoot for Martha Stewart Living. I love people who hail from Georgia! They have such a great appreciation for food, and they're always good company for new eating adventures. Check out Jen's inspiring breakfast blog, Simply Breakfast. And her visual blog Simply Photo.

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PHOTOGRAPH by JEN CAUSEY

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TO LEARN MORE about ROBERTA's, and to see some SAMPLE MENU'S  Click here. (The  "Cheeses Christ" pizza— (Great name) Which is Mozzarella, Taleggio, Parmigano, Heavy cream, and Black Pepper is also my favorite pizza right now) 

TO LEARN MORE about ROBERTA's GREENHOUSE, and their other green ways, click here. and here. To learn more about their bread and delicious loaves, check here.

TO CHECK OUT JEN CAUSEY'S WORK and WEBSITE  click here.

What Charlie Ate; Cereal

Sometimes it's just the simple things. Cheerio's. Milk. A big spoon, an eager palette and small, tight little fists. Ari Michelson's daughter Charlie, loves to eat whatever her father wants to eat, which is cereal, mainly, but on this particular day they had run out of Cheerio's, and so filled up the bowl with bright ruby red berries. Hence her need to dive to the bottom of the bowl to get every last one of them. Summer. Small moments, captured.

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I love Ari Michelson, and I've worked with him for years, to check out his amazing work, click here.

Salted Caramel Apple Pie, from "Four and Twenty Blackbirds"

The Salted Caramel Apple Pie, from Four and Twenty Blackbirds, in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

To make this delicious pie: Get the recipe here.

Or to go to the store, and try this pie, and other fantastic versions: Click here. 

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(Pic Dimity Jones)

Lucky Peach Magazine- Launches.

It's hot. I'm sticking to everything, and I don't mean that in a good way. It's August 1st. It's the dead of a New York Summer, and everyone looks like they've been punched in the head with 12 rounds of heat.

Broad-ish women, sit on the F train, wiping down their brows. Mad. And yet resigned. As if Summer were a big fiesty gorilla, with gloves. Punching them repeatedly, profoundly, with the slow smack of Summer heat—burnishing them right on their shiny kisser. (Who can actually talk in this heat?)

So David Chang launched a quarterly food magazine. Anyone who launches a magazine, right now, in this climate, in this world, should be sainted, receive a medal, or one thousand Hawaiian leis, or, (I don't know) a necklace made out of the meek sugary tears of shepherds who herd milk-fed baby yaks? I'm kidding... but only sort of. Bravo to a new food magazine. It's truly wonderful to hear of a new magazine launching!

It's on Ramen. The entire issue. Do you really need to read 174 pages just on Ramen? Possibly not, but to devote a whole magazine to one dish is really ballsy, because he then gets to cover the topic completely, from every single angle.

There is a quote in Lucky Peach, by David Chang that seems to sum up the philosophy of the magazine:

"One thing you need to understand about Japanese food culture is that you do one thing, in any given type of cuisine, and that's all you do. If you try and do anything else you're just a poser. Which is sometimes how I feel about myself"

I give him kudos; a new magazine; that aims to focus on just one thing. Go! David Chang!

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I love this chart, (p.136). It shows a "Sous vide adaptation" that Dave Arnold (Director of Technology at the French Culinary Institute, in NY) and others, assembled for their students at the school. (Being totally obsessed with runny eggs, this inspires me beyond belief).

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The photograph (above) is something I shot last weekend, it's not in the magazine. It's a picture of the Dip recipe that appears on p.78. That's where you use a packet of Ramen seasoning, and mix it into Sour Cream. Very much like the French Onion Soup Dip we scoffed as kids. (Delicious and addictive). 

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To read more about Lucky Peach magazine, check here.

To find out where you can purchase the first issue of Lucky Peach, anywhere in the country; check here.

To know more about Chef David Chang, check here.

Chilled Lettuce Soup with Cucumber 'Croutons'

Butter Lettuce, one of the simplest of Summer greens is pureed with chicken stock, low-fat ricotta cheese and tender potatoes. Then, rather than ordinary bread croutons, lighten things up with pure blocks of sliced cucumber, to act as a 'crouton'. Lower in calories, gluten-free and frankly more elegant.   

CHILLED LETTUCE SOUP with CUCUMBER 'CROUTONS': Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan, and add 6 scallions, white part only, finely sliced. Sauté until softened. Add 8 new potatoes, peeled and diced to pan, stir well, then add 7 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, 15 minutes. Add 1 pound of Boston or Butter lettuce to the pan, and stir until it is wilted. Remove from heat, and allow it to cool until no longer steaming. Using a blender and, working in batches, purée soup until it is smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl, and add 1/3 cup good quality low-fat ricotta and salt and pepper to taste. Stir until smooth, and adjust ricotta and salt as needed. If soup is to be served chilled (it may be served at room temperature), cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Serve with diced pieces of Cucumber 'croutons'. Serves 6-8.

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PHOTOGRAPH: Johnny Miller. PROPS: Carla Gonzalez-Hart. (Food concept/styling & Art Direction: Dimity Jones)

This recipe was inspired by a Nigella Lawson recipe that appeared in Australian Delicious magazine. (November 2006). 

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That's offaly sweet of you.

Soft, Milk Chocolate Candied Apple... or, Candied Bull's Testicle?

An Ice Cold Basil-infused Gin Lemonade

Just what you need. From El Quinto, in Chelsea. It's called a Pomada and it's a frozen, Basil-infused sweet Lemon slushie. With a hard smack of Gin. Order several, and bathe in them. (Especially when temps hit 103). Highly recommended.

3 (more) dishes I'm obsessed with right now.

THE SPICY WONTONS at M SHANGHAI BISTRO & DEN: I love you peanut, I really do. You held my hand, firmly, but gently, through my first foray into Asian food, in the late 70's as I gobbled down copious sticks of Chicken Satay in Peanut Sauce, proud that this adventure into (ultimately not very adventurous, or even spicy) food, was in my mind my first mastering of Asian cuisine.

Cut to now, and I still love you, and I'm firmly addicted to the succulent pork wontons, covered in a rich, smooth peanut sauce at M Shanghai Bistro and Den. A buttery, pure velvet stream of peanut silk, with a big hit of Chili Oil.

You know when you're heading home after work, and you start thinking of dinner, and a dish pops into your head— and you can't do anything but drive off the highway and head right there? This is one of those dishes. Have it with the Crispy Duck in Plum sauce, (it's called the Crispy Duck Erik Parker style) with Rice to soak up the sauces, and a cold glass of white. I'm convinced you could make this dish at home too... perhaps try melting down your favorite Peanut Butter... Add Chili Oil... Throw in your favorite dumpling... Toss! (I'm going to try it).

For more info on the M Shanghai Den, check here. 

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THE LOBSTER ROLL from RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: I'm not from Maine. Not even close. I have no idea what a traditional Maine lobster roll is meant to taste like. I hear it has Mayo, chives and a chiffonade of fresh Basil? So I call Scott DeSimon. He's a friend, a food writer and editor  (he works at Bon App), and he's from Maine. For me, I want to squeeze a tiny bit of fresh lemon on this lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound, and a tiny bit more mayo, but that's me. I'm not connected to Maine, at all. Clueless, really.

Scott tells me that there are traditionally two versions of roll from Maine. The first kind is the traditional Mayo “lobster salad” version. It generally just has Mayo…and that’s it. No veggies or chiffonade. (Remember, he points out, until about 10-15 years ago lobster rolls were not “fancy”. The fanciness has come in the last decade or so). The other version (the kind his mom loves) is one he remembers seeing more of as a kid. It’s essentially a bunch of lobster meat in a grilled bun, served with a side of melted butter that you dump all over the thing before you eat. Jesus! Sounds incredible! Both, however, are always served on split, New England-style hot dog rolls, buttered and grilled. Mayo-style Maine Lobster rolls generally get a sprinkle of paprika before serving. As does the Red Hook Lobster Pound roll and personally, I’d possibly flick the green (sliced scallions?) and scrape the red paprika stuff off the top, and have it without, but that’s just me. (Me, not from Maine). The bun though, Oh my god. Whatever young soul is responsible for crisply frying this blanket around the spongy pods of lobster, should be sainted. I think that’s the key with the Red Hook Lobster Pound roll; eat it whole. Resist the temptation to pick off the lobster chunks (like I did) and be left with the bun. All the combinations work best—together.

Eat the Lobster roll with the Maine Lemon Lime Root Beer also available from the truck. Wow. What a perfect combination!

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For info on how to get a Maine style Lobster roll from the Red Hook Pound Lobster Truck - check here. (Have I mentioned I'm now diligently following around the truck, and it's rolls, on Twitter?)

To read some of Scott DeSimon's work, check here. 

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THE BURGER, at DINER, STH WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN: With all due respect, when Killian Fox, from the Observer in London named Little Owl restaurant in New York as having the best burger in the world. I had to ask if he was possibly drunk, (or at least a bit tiddly?) Diligently though, I headed off to Little Owl and tried the burger. It was 16 bucks, it was raining outside, but it was way over-salted inside that burger and to add insult to injury it was covered with a slice of plastic yellow processed cheese. Barely melted. Deep yellow, cloying, the kind that sticks to the roof of your mouth.

It's true, I have not eaten every burger in the entire world. Not even close. (Although I'd surely like to!). But I'd hasten to add that if you want to try something that in my mind might come pretty close, it's the Burger at Diner, Williamsburg, in Brooklyn. The grass fed meat, the seasoning, the bun, the chips, the crunchy tangy pickled onions, the homemade Mayo and the melted cheese (a Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar). It's glorious! Sidle up to the bar, have Julia pull you a chilled local Beer and indulge. Then write a postcard to Killian (they give you a free postcard when you get your check), and let him know where you are, and what you're eating, (and that you're not even the slightest bit tiddly, and not even close to being drunk).

Info on Diner can be found here.