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A Taste of the World – Part 1

January 14, 2021 by Timna Nwokeji

Global Cuisine in the Merrimack Valley

Coco’s Cafe & Catering

Imagine that you are roaming the beach in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, famously known for its vibrant and incredibly aromatic kioskos (food stands), and you are suddenly hungry. You stop at one of the kioskos to decide if you want a pillowy pastelillo or some mofongo and immediately are transported to a savory foodie land, one that you can experience right here in the Merrimack Valley.

Pastelillos are fried meat patties, while mofongo is a creation made from green plantain, sweet plantain and chicharron (pork rinds).

When you enter Coco’s Cafe & Catering in Lawrence, you are greeted by the aromas of rich Dominican and Puerto Rican food. From delicious appetizers or “antojitos,” as they are called in Puerto Rico, to fresh fried foods or “frituras,” to full-size entrees like the Dominican mangu — a breakfast dish with mashed green plantain, egg, onions and salami — they have it all. Cathy, aka “Coco,” and Angel welcome you with open arms and treat you as they would family coming to their home to eat. As I sat there enjoying their food, I was reminded of one of the last times I sat in my grandmother’s kitchen eating her sopa de fideo. With the Cafe Bustelo always brewing and the welcoming environment, this is definitely a must visit.

Try the flancocho, a delicious fusion dessert of cake and flan. And if you love fried food, you’ll find many delicious options.

Check back for the next part of Timna’s series on global cuisine offerings in the MV!

 

Coco’s Cafe & Catering
Lawrence, Mass.
(978) 258-1605
CocoCafeAndCatering.com

Filed Under: Food & Drink Tagged With: cuisine, Dominican, foodie, friedfood, global, lawrence, mofongo, puertorico

It Came to Me in My Sleep

March 10, 2020 by Scott Plath

“… the music as part of the design is a great way to create the ‘multi-experiential environment’ we seek for the fun folks of Nashua …”

On most mornings, a thought is already finishing as my eyes ease open for the first time. Especially these days, as we prepare to open our next restaurant. Two hours before dawn and album-cover art has successfully bridged the gap between my unconscious mind and wakefulness. This sleep science phenomenon is well known to me — the work that our brains put in while our bodies slumber. And what better way to begin the day than dreaming of bringing people together with incredible food, drink and music while watching years of concepting brought to fruition by architects, designers, family and staff. The above interpretive phrase came from our restaurant consultant, Kealoha, the “how” now perpetually stuck in my head. How will we inspire a sense of community — an old idea, but with a fresh perspective? Your new, old haunt.

 

Slow food fast. These words on someone else’s sign represented one of many conceptual visions that have been formulating. The juxtaposition within the Manhattan restaurant’s tagline was humorous and intriguing. And why not merge the growing societal commitment to support local growers and once-upon-a-time’s natural farming practices with today’s speed of life. But how …

For the past five years we have searched for and researched, imagined and reimagined, future Stones. Our future industry. Our future future. The labor market is at an all-time low, costs at an all-time high. Boomers still boomin’ as their “kids” move beyond that ethical burrito and, so, what’s next? Devices always at hand, people’s dining habits evolving. “Globally inspired” becomes simply food, folks want to know what’s in each dish, the couchbound seek options beyond “pepperoni” or a dull box of pork fried rice, opportunities for genuine social interactions wane.

“… creative comfort food, yes, but open with a manageable menu for once in your life, Plath … create same sales with less bodies, better pay, happier people …”  

Predawn revelations a new normal. Doing more with less is restaurant destiny. The pressure’s on, adrenaline is coursing, and Lord only knows from whence it comes when it comes. It’s a gift to be grateful for. Rarely a toss or turn. When that first wave comes, I catch the ride to coffee beach. Navigating the dark, my hands seek the pen necessary to record what will likely be lost before the next breaker hits. Damn right I’m up.

Fine Food Fast. Not ironically, a former director of ours texted me the photo of similar words on a different restaurant sign, down Georgia way. He, too, was humored — the two of us having spent countless hours together plotting a model that would evolve our industry’s endangered casual sector. We had selected those very three as our own in developing the would-be Stones Kitchen. Less fuss, less expense, more fun. Is this possible? How …

“… at British taverns, when you step up and order your fish and chips at the bar, the locals spin on their stool and make conversation, passing along your pint. Be social, community … it works …”

There is no more mystical an hour than 4 a.m. The tidal in-between of each day’s final ebb and first flow. Any feet not sheeted are shuffling — either finally toward, or just away from sleep. Before the sun casts her first blues, I am percolating and plotting upon the lists to be navigated. Service model. Menu. Pay structure. Budget. Legal, design, builder, technology, staffing, the cocktails …

At The Rising Eagle in Melrose, across the street from their flagship restaurant, our friends and the owners of Turner’s Seafood opened an incredibly handsome “Publick House.” Complete with a deliciously essential Yankee pot roast, gracious hosts guide you through the initial queue to the bar-top register where food and beverage is ordered. There is no waitstaff, per se. You display your numbered wooden spoon, once you’ve found seats near the historic tavern’s roaring real-wood fireplace, and smiling team members deliver the goods. “Is there anything else you need?”

Years ago in Puerto Rico with the Turners, we collectively brainstormed a response to the challenges small business owners are facing in restaurants throughout Massachusetts and elsewhere.  Collectively, we are struggling to protect our businesses and our guest experience — while joining the just initiative to afford better for our valued employees, thereby securing the dignity that accompanies a livable wage. Indeed, the wee hours of morning call.

“… how must we evolve our model in maintaining standards, staffing levels, quality, morale …”    

 

Dear Readers,

We thank you so much for all your support for so long. As you read this, our incredible team will be close to launching Stones #1 Social in Nashua, New Hampshire, after years of obsessive contemplation and conversation. Please join us in embracing the ongoing story of restaurant evolution, in times like these. We are excited and hope you will be too. And then, perhaps, a nap …

 

 

 

Filed Under: Food & Drink Tagged With: Cobblestones of Lowell, global, idea, moonstones, Scott Plath, Travel

Craving More Feel-Good in 2020

January 10, 2020 by Scott Plath

Many moons ago while waiting for a table at a popular New Hampshire diner, I-spy numerous Hula-Hoops hanging from the host desk. Retro entertainment for the fun and restless. Love the kitsch. I was half-expecting our waitress’ name to be Trixie. I added this to my latest restaurant research-fixation list — the many ways we entertain you beyond expectations of great hospitality. Our people are fun.

For instance, the French-inspired amuse-bouche is the epitome of “surprise and delight,” an unexpected culinary gift to “amuse the mouth.” A recent shot of “squash bisque from the chef” provided bottomless warmth and welcome from my 3-ounce glass. It’s on the list.

We curate entertainment far and wide, from filleting to flambeing, Jenga to Jell-O shots. We stimulate your senses and imagination. We share our fascinations of the moment, from brick chicken to plank salmon to sous vide. We bring the heat in smoking this and sizzling that — as bartenders set orange peels alight and tantalize with a round, hot pepper-laced ice cube, a slow burn melting in a “Global Warming” riff on a margarita. (Thank you, Marmalade in Puerto Rico, for that genius!) 

 

If we can make you smile or bring tears to your eyes — with candles and the happy birthday song, or a round of wasabi roulette — bingo!  

At Napa Valley’s Brix, blowtorch caramelization atop a creme brulee summons cotton-candy joy as burnt sugar sweetens the dining room air. In Lower Manhattan, at a sultry ceviche lounge, Chef creates “smoke-kissed” oysters, blazing a gravity bong on the bar top … that waft no less intoxicating.

At Lowell’s Cavaleiro’s, you can sizzle slices of tender steak on a super-hot rock, and at Dracut’s Grazie Italian Restaurant, their Parma prosciutto magically cascades down to the beautiful antipasto below.  

It’s true that sometimes we find the simple, silly things more fun than a barrel of monkeys. We pay homage to pop culture: There is a Pop Rocks-rimmed drink in Oakland, a Fruity Pebbles infusion in Portland, and tasty Spam and eggs in Chicago. We honor classical traditions, too. I recall my very first busboy job and Greek Demetrius — my all-time favorite waiter still — joyous in his singsong intonation and with a mustachioed wink: “Watch this,” wheeling a cart tableside, where into a giant wooden bowl he would crack an egg, whisk in EVOO, Dijon mustard, anchovy, cheese … “Opa! Caesar salad for two.” He would then twirl his tongs like a drum major before piling each guest’s plate high — the drama all but cementing my destiny while discovering that iceberg wasn’t Earth’s only lettuce.

Other times he’d near-skip throughout the dining room, titillating with a frosty pina colada on his cocktail tray held low — the snow-white and frothy concoction swirled up and over its tall, curvaceous tulip glass, a bright slice of orange straddling the lip, a glistening red cherry on top. It wasn’t long before the unamused bartender was glaring at her blender, one frozen drink after another ordered, adding additional joy to the face of my mischievous mentor.

I do love tableside theater. From guacamole mixed in a stone molcajete (so fun to say-say) to whole fish deboned in Portugal, or pigeon in SoHo — and call it squab if it makes you feel better. What’s more fun than a bird’s-eye view of Chef’s knife skills!  

In analyzing our own two restaurants’ optics while planning our next Something-Stones (stay tuned!), I polled my favorite foodie peeps for fodder. My brother reminisced upon raucous Japanese teppanyaki — banging spatulas and shrimp flipped through the air, taking “fun” to the next level. Close friends recalled the endless parade of cowboy-attired, meat-carving gauchos at a Brazilian churrascaria, and also the spaghetti masterpiece at Aruba’s Italian-owned beachside Azzurro, where the gooey, cheesy ingredients are blended in a giant flaming wheel of melting Parmesan — a dish that our pasta-loving friend Cindi would proclaim: “Orgasmic!” One Happy Island, indeed.

A sentimental uncle emailed: “Doing tapas with family” — as this communal style of dining commonly conjures a celebratory mojo while revealing ongoing flavors and textures. “What’s next!”

  From a cousin: “Maryland crabs!” One never forgets their first crabs. Armed with a wooden mallet, the brown paper rolled across the picnic table, the continuous cracking of Old Bay-coated shells, we soothed tingling lips with the quintessential pitcher of beer. Not just fun. Damn fun.

But of all the giggle-worthy pupu platters and such, the memory that tickles me fancy the most occurred along the Mediterranean coast in the south of France in our own version of a European family vacation.

Following a day of self-guided discovery — driving from the Italian border and Monaco’s riches to the minimalist (nude!) beach-vibe of St.-Tropez (who knew!) — we happened, hungry, hot and weary, onto the cobblestone streets of Antibes, our three precious children in tow. Seated outside, the enchantment of strolling street musicians, a setting sun and the gregarious owner enhanced our most incredible bouillabaisse for two — my eldest daughter and I sharing a dented pot atop a glowing flame in the center of the table. In a glorious accent, he instructed us to rub the garlic clove across the crusty French bread, before spreading on the saffron aioli, before dunking the bread into the aromatic and roiling seafood broth … Aislyn’s eyes spellbound! I was drunk well before we finished the wine he had bought for us. “Welcome to France!” A joyous memory we will all treasure forever.  

If you have a fun and unique dining experience to share, we’d love to hear @ splath@moonstones110.com

Filed Under: Community, Food & Drink Tagged With: Cobblestones of Lowell, global, moonstones, Scott Plath, Travel

Thirsting, From London to Lisbon

November 9, 2019 by Scott Plath

On a typically gray afternoon, the sky “perpetually spitting” upon our heads, we rolled our bags from the Queen’s Road aboveground along the bumpy and narrow streets of Peckham Rye to our daughter’s flat. We had completed the initial leg of our journey. After a proper power nap and delighting in a favorite game of “What’s for dinner?” we were off again. Tara Plath M.A. guided the three of us onto the number 136 double-decker bus to the Camberwell district’s Zeret Kitchen — a clandestine Ethiopian restaurant, and a first for me. Carol, her Spanish friend of the past year, joined us before we all reveled in the homemade injera flatbread and the dipping, blending, folding and otherwise scooping up of the exotic flavors on the beautifully displayed platter — the evening a metaphor for our days ahead,  internationally-diverse London as backdrop. 

The inspiration for our trip was Tara’s dissertation — and those of her co-researcher classmates from Turkey, Italy, Lebanon, Portugal, Canada, Greece, Russia, England and beyond — this past year of globally-inspired projects culminating in a three-day themed: “Lines of Inquiry.” Tara presented “Smoke/Signals,” a workshop of “open source investigation practices” in order to document “conditions of border violence” and “the construction of (il)legality in undocumented migration” along the Mexico-Arizona border. Her thesis investigated the true intent of the 56 or so light beacons placed throughout Arizona’s desert. What are the results? What is legal vs. not in terms of humanitarian efforts to spare the lives of those who have been (mis)directed into the harshest of conditions? Conditions she witnessed in actual boots-on-the-ground exploration. She spent days accompanying humanitarian groups known as the Armadillos and No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, clothed head to toe in protection from triple-digit heat and the cactus-laden terrain, seeking human remains in one small area of over 20,000 square miles of desert — wanting to bring closure to families missing loved ones.

Yeah, “it’s a lot” — one phrase of many that I have gleaned from her over the years. Her Greek workshop partner, Dimitra Andritsou, performed a similar investigation in the Mediterranean, studying the anti-immigration political narrative relative to fires in Lesvos, Greece, where thousands of asylum seekers live in overcrowded, highly flammable tents with hopes of one day being granted the freedom to leave the containment of the detention camps. 

This one-of-a-kind international research program leaves me hopeful that our world might one day become better united in valuing people’s health and freedom ahead of profits and power. 

To say these three days were awe-inspiring would be an understatement, if that’s possible. The genesis and genius, the ethics — all so deep, so intense. The complexity was dizzying. They researched atrocities in the form of state-sponsored violence, dispossession in the quest for corporate profits in both the Amazon and Louisiana, traumas caused in a war-torn city’s reconstruction … a seemingly endless list of worldwide distress. The intensity rose to the level that one woman reported upon Russian colonialism while using an alias and wearing a mask in fear of government retribution.

Three days later, filled with pride and new perspectives on old global politics, we are back at Gatwick Airport, destination next: Portugal. 

With seat belt clasped, I continue this column from row 14 on a delayed British Airways 747, typing short-armed as we wait for a fog to lift over Porto’s airport. I can’t help but wonder if the weather relates to the Category 5 hurricane forming in the “easternmost location of the Atlantic on record,” which leads me further to ponder any possible connection to the overall deforestation and “land violence” that threatens indigenous populations in South America — recently learned realities now haunting my brain! We have just come from lunch at Persepolis — aka “Snackistan” — a tiny Persian vegetarian restaurant and Tara’s favorite during her master’s work in forensic architecture at Goldsmiths University. This one-of-a-kind international research program leaves me hopeful that our world might one day become better united in valuing people’s health and freedom ahead of profits and power. Our daughter? She’s less optimistic, but committed nonetheless — her circle of contemporaries shining beacons of hope.

We are thrilled that she is joining us for this final leg of travel with a lighter research agenda planned. Port wine and Portuguese preparations of coastal seafood topping the list.* “Tray tables up,” I close my eyes near giddy with happy thoughts as we transition to sunnier days ahead. For a few days, at least.   

*Should you be interested in reading about that perspective, please visit splath.com.    

Filed Under: Community, Food & Drink Tagged With: Cobblestones of Lowell, ethics, freedom, global, Health, Hope, Humanity, moonstones, Scott Plath, thesis, Travel

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