MARIANI’S

  February 20, 2005                                                         NEWSLETTER

EDITOR'S NOTE

NEWS UPDATE:  My web site's home page is now up and running, in which I will update food & travel information and help link readers to other first-rate travel & food sites. To see it, click on: home page

ACCESS TO ARCHIVE:  Readers may now access an Archive of all past newsletters--each annotated--dating back to July, 2003, by simply clicking on www.johnmariani.com/archive .

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BARBADOS by Suzanne Wright

NEW YORK CORNER: La Masseria

  BARBADOS
by Suzanne Wright

Barbados tourism got a boost with the recent nuptials of golfer Tiger Woods.  Not that the island needed to gloss its image.  Normally a bastion of civility, the island cuts loose during the Cropover Festival, an annual celebration in late July and early August that is the biggest event of the year.
    Bajans (also known as Barbadians) are fiercely proud of Cropover--the “sweet fuh days” in local parlance--and they liken their island to a “little England,” because of its well-oiled infrastructure. And yes, the island is quite civilized, even a bit prim and proper.
   A celebration of music, masquerade, art and food, Cropover is known to revelers who hopscotch from Trinidad’s Carnival, New Orleans’ Mardi Gras,  or Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival. Bajans insist this festival means more than the others. Cropover is a phrase that marks the end of the sugar cane harvest, dating to the 1780s, when Barbados was the foremost producer of sugar. Back then plantation slaves cut loose to celebrate a successful crop. The slave trade was abolished in 1807, and emancipation followed in 1834.
     The modern festival was resurrected in 1974, and today the merriment includes song and costume contests attended by locals, Caribbean citizens from nearby islands and returning Bajans, who often host family reunions during Cropover.

     Barbados has no high-rises or private beaches and few large branded hotel chains, but instead a number of small, unique proprieties.  Proud and prosperous, the year-round population of 270,000 is quietly affluent and includes a great many refugees from the U.K.  The easternmost Caribbean island, part of the Lesser Antilles, Barbados is 21 miles long and 14 miles wide, a pear-shaped coral island with a tropical climate.  The west and south coast beaches are palm-fringed with gentle waves; the Atlantic east coast possesses a rugged beauty with its limestone cliffs and wilder seas.
     The Barbadian government is stable, and the exchange rate of $2 Barbadian dollars to $1US is helpful when figuring prices.  Both tourists and residents enjoy golf, tennis, cricket, horse racing, diving, yachting, nightlife and the best windsurfing in the Caribbean.  The national dish is cou-cou and flying fish.  Cou-cou is made of cornmeal and okra; the silvery blue flying fish are plentiful in the waters around Barbados, so named because they leap from the water and glide through the air. They are delectable when simply grilled with lemon, pepper and butter.  The tap water is pure enough to drink when you aren’t indulging in a “dark and stormy”--ginger beer and Mount Gay dark rum made on the isle.
 
      Riding in from the airport, I noted that unlike many scrubby Caribbean islands, Barbados is verdant, lush and blindingly green; sugar cane lines both  sides of the road.   Passing a field, I see people clad in white playing cricket.
     Barbados has a wide range of facilities, but one of the finest is  Cobblers Cove, an English country house hotel with tropical character and a member of Relais & Châteaux. It has a secluded setting on the Northwest coast, 40 suites and a French-trained chef.  If money is no object, Sandy Lane (where Woods married) is the place to stay, but more on this later.
     One of the main ingredients in Cropover is calypso.  The Pic-0-de Crop finals are the culmination of several weeks of competition, showcasing singing artistry. Contestants are judged on lyrics, content, performance, melody and diction and it’s a great honor to be crowned.  There’s a full moon tonight.  As we enter the stadium, both the stands and field are packed with people of all ages dancing, waving their country flags and hoisting signs for their favorite calypso singer.  There are ten contestants, two of whom are women; each will sing two songs.  Many have political messages.
    The enormous crowd might intimidate a visitor, but the throngs are so sweet and joyous—there’s no pushing or shoving—it sets me at ease.  (I also realize how different this scene would be in the U.S.)  I turn to a middle-aged, dreadlocked woman from Jamaica and we discuss the crowd.  She says, “This island is very well-ordered.”  Later that night, when we leave, that proves true,  as the traffic out flows calmly and speedily.  After a couple of hours, the monarch is named.  It’s Kid Site, a former winner and crowd favorite; TC, one of the women, places third.

    The next night we attend the Cohobblopot, a local expression that means “stew of variety of ingredients.”  It’s a potpourri of local cultural events, from stilt walking to dance to music, including soca, gospel, folk singing and spouge, the rich and infectious music that is Barbados’ equivalent to Trinidad’s calypso.  Again, there’s a great vibe in the stadium. A parade of kings and queens appears onstage in fantastical, elaborate costumes with a meaning, like the devastation of marine life or the piracy of music.  There’s a certain homespun appeal to the festivities even though corporate sponsors have draped the stage in their logos.  When a group called popular Krosfyah takes the stage, they give a blazing performance, the highlight of which is asking the audience to brandish their cell phones.  The entire place glows in the dark and we’re all up on our feet, dancing and singing.
    The following morning, the Grand Kadooment caps off Cropover, which is broadcast on local television.  A procession of costumed revelers parade from the National Stadium to Spring Garden Highway dressed in distinctive—often eye-popping—dress, sashaying with a mixture of spunk and weariness (many of the participants are sleep-deprived during the festivities).
    What’s really delightful is the collision of a distinct, starched British affectation with the sheer effusiveness of the festival—an almost irresistible combination.  Cropover, like Mardi Gras or Carnival, is certainly an event to add to your vacation calendar.
      Behind manicured hedges is a Palladian-style façade of cream coral stone—Sandy Lane, the five-star, very proper resort favored by wealthy Brits when they want to tan in the Caribbean.   Plenty of celebrities (Oprah, famously) and power brokers sleep here. I’ve come for Sunday Brunch. 
     Can you swoon at a buffet?  Can food be swanky?  It is certainly among the most decadent spreads I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering.  Lavish is an apt description, as my eyes sweep the room where table after table is laden with enticing food.  I learn from executive chef Richard Ekkebus that the preparations for this feast take place over two days, with a team of 15 chefs, although all the actual cooking starts at 6 a.m. for the 12:30 p.m. debut each Sunday.  I can’t believe it when he tells me the setup only takes an hour.
     Ekkebus serves a mind-boggling amount of food for an average of 160 guests (the number sometimes swells to 250), which includes 120 pounds live spiny lobsters,  80 lbs. Tiger Prawns, 70 lbs. Certified Angus Rib Eye, 60 lbs. Certified Angus Sirloin, 60 chickens, 120 lbs. yellow fin tuna, 14 lbs. smoked Scottish salmon,  60 lbs. turkey, 3 glazed legs of ham, 4 suckling pigs, and 100 lbs. of potatoes.  
     The myriad white-linen dressed stations beckon with marinated salads, including penne with shrimp and ratatouille and lentil and ham; assorted lettuce and salad items, with spinach and feta and dried raisin and cole slaw; a Caesar salad corner; a sashimi and sushi table, with the soft fleshy glow of glistening tuna and salmon; dressings, cold sauces, condiments and olive oils and fine vinegars; smoked fish; seafood including mussels, lobsters and two types of shrimp; two carving stations, one with a whole suckling pig the size of some of the tykes in the room; barbecue including chicken, lamb, barracuda and blue marlin; Bajan ham and pea soup; hot items, including meat pie, West Indian mahi mahi  with spinach curry, gratinéed cauliflower and basmati rice; five kinds of bread;  and a cheese trolley with five varieties. 
     Then there are the desserts—24 of them to be exact.  Jean Luc Vila, Sandy Lane’s new pastry chef, honed his culinary skills in France, Switzerland, Mauritius and Dubai.  He developed an in-house bakery and chocolate room where he can produce chocolate on the premises and hold demonstrations and master classes.  On two (or is it three? My over stimulated brain has been reduced to a puddle) are poached fruits, fruit salads and compotes, flans, bread pudding, two chocolate desserts, mousses, cakes and numerous sauces.
  Where to sit and eat this glorious feast?  In the elegant dining room with fans languidly circling overhead or on the patio with its views of the ocean?  A stout, smiling server seats me outside under an umbrella for shade.  This is a good thing, for the strong Barbados sun combined with my dining manipulations will undoubtedly result in unbecoming perspiration.
     Everything is splendid, as expected.  Polishing off a plate, questions flood my mind.  Is it bad form to return to the table?  How can I do that discreetly?  How many times is acceptable versus gauche?  How can you not overindulge?   How long before I will be able to don a swimsuit after this meal?  And most important, how are all the impeccably dressed women here staying so rail thin?  Without any definitive answers, I make my way back food Mecca, threading my way through tables of businessmen, families, couples and seniors.
     It’s a privileged, heady experience and, of course, it doesn’t come cheap.  When asked (and I suspect many guest don’t ask the price—or need to—considering they are paying a minimum of $800 US a night per room, off season), I am blithely informed that the brunch is $160 Barbados or $80 US.  No doubt it’s an extravagance, but, as I waddle (and I do mean, waddle) back to my all-inclusive digs, I have a satisfied air, as though I were an heir. 

  All the best restaurants of every stripe are very personalized enterprises, with an individual or individuals whose stewardship is constant and whose style of cooking is his or her own.  Which is why I have not the slightest interest in the third, sixth, or twentieth restaurant opened by a chef or entrepreneur who has no intention of ever being at any of them more than a few days a year.
     La Masseria is the exact opposite.  If you don’t find Chef Pino Coladonato and partners Peppe Iuele and Enzo Ruggiero (below) on the premises whenever La Masseria is open, you’ve probably gone to the wrong address.  This commitment shows in every detail, from the charming rusticity of a room set in the Theater District to the cordial greetings and amiable service. And when you taste the food you know that Coladonato is not simply pandering to popular taste for some vaguely Italian-New York menu but to the fundamental taste of the man himself and the regions, Puglia and Capri, the partners comes from.
       La Masseria (which means "the farmhouse") is a beautiful restaurant done in a winning combination of  arched ceilings, farm utensils, photos and artwork, aged wood, and the modernity of iron sconces, stonework, and wine bins, all designed by Libby Langdon.  To the front is a good bar, windows overlook the street, and the main dining room (above) leads to a smaller party room.  Tables are well set and stemware of fine quality.  The service staff is professional and friendly, knowledgeable and always helpful, never intrusive but always there at a nod, led with affable spirit by Peppe and Enzo, boyhood friends from Capri.
    Do not pass up the extensive antipasti, which includes freshly made mozzarella and burrata (left), carpaccio of beef with arugula, Parmigiano, and hearts of palm, and marvelous eggplant stuffed with lightly smoked scamorza cheese.  The platter of grilled baby octopus and cuttlefish with broccoli rabe and a fava bean purée is a terrific starter, but best of all are the fried items--crisp zucchini and seafood--all impeccably golden and light within an ethereally  thin batter.

     Pastas are always the stars of good Italian restaurants, and Coladonato does a splendid array, from ravioli with caciotta cheese with a light tomato sauce alla caprese, and another dish from that gorgeous island, scialatielli quattro passo, with eggplant and smoked mozzarella. Orrechiette alla bari vecchia is an Apulian dish of ear-shaped pasta with broccoli rabe and sun-dried tomato, while bucatini vecchia roma is lusty with onions, pancetta, and lots of assertive pecorino.  The most interesting of the farinaceous dishes is granotto ai frutti di mare e fagioli (below), an Apulian grain with white beans and a mixed seafood sauce.
        Most fortunate is La Masseria's balance of main courses with what precedes them. You may go for a breaded, buttery costoletta di vitello alla milanese with arugula and tomato salad, or a perfect veal t-bone grilled to perfection. Also expertly grilled is the whole fish, perhaps orata or branzino, served with a gloss of olive oil and lemon on the side.  If you are lucky enough to be at La Masseria when they are doing a special of bollito misto, you will be gluttonously happy with the results: Thick slices of boiled veal, beef, chicken, and tongue come in a powerful broth of meat and vegetables, served with potatoes and the sweet chunks of preserved fruit called mostarda di cremona.
       Desserts like tiramisù and cheesecake are pro forma and nothing to get excited over but of good quality.
      The wine list is excellent, conceived to please and to sell, with fair prices in all categories, strongest in Italian reds. Don't leave without having a sip or two of that Caprese original, the intensely tangy-sweet limoncello liqueur.
       La Masseria adds measurably to the Theater District, to Manhattan, and to cucina italiana in America by doing things the way they should be done and with a brio exemplified by the generosity of spirit of the three fine Italians who run it for their guests' pleasure.

"[The chef's] millefeuille of dick foie gras and baby artichokes with a sprinkling of sesame was excellent as a starter."--John Mariani, "Paris High and Low," Mariani's Virtual Gourmet (Feb. 6, 2005)

FUNNY, THAT'S JUST WHAT BILL CLINTON SAID ABOUT MONICA LEWINSKY

LET ME TAKE YOU ON A SEA CRUISE

Dear Subscriber,

 I will be hosting a very special and, I think unique, cruise event this summer from June 4-16 on the  S. S. Crystal Serenity. I have chosen some of my favorite places in the whole world to visit and dine at, including Alain Ducasse’s illustrious three-star Louis XV restaurant in Monaco, and the enchanting Don Alfonso on the Amalfi Coast.  You will be treated to the finest these and other dedicated restaurateurs have to offer in their unique way.     I will be telling you everything worth knowing about the food and wines of the regions we visit—Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Monaco, Florence, St. Tropez, Sorrento, and Rome—including the best places to find haute cuisine to the most charming trattoria or the liveliest bistros and cafes.    
     My wife Galina, co-author with me of The Italian American Cookbook (which we’ll sign copies of), will also be giving an exclusive cooking lesson onboard I know you will enjoy.
    Between relaxing and enjoying yourselves onboard and coming with us to the loveliest sites and restaurants in the Mediterranean, you will have a unique and memorable trip and, I hope, become as familiar with these glorious places, cultures, and people as I am.     Galina and I look forward to seeing you onboard in June!    For details, go to http://www.festivalsafloat.com/html/mariani/letter.html
-- John Mariani

  

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly.  Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,  Naomi  Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson,  Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery,  Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

 John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).  

copyright John Mariani 2005