A month before the New York City Marathon, I clocked in a gluttonous seven-hour day of eating at NYC’s Eleven Madison Park (a leisurely lunch, followed by a lengthy dinner). A waiter overheard me speaking about the marathon, and soon, I found myself talking running strategies with a handful of staff members. I knew chef Daniel Humm was a serious runner, but it’s quite possible that Eleven Madison Park may have the most athletic staff in the city. While Humm had to
bow out of the 26.2-mile race due to an injury, wine captain Jordan Salcito did him proud by clocking in at 3:37:05, which qualified her for April’s Boston Marathon.

Here, Salcito’s highs and lows.

Low: “The walk to the UPS trucks after the finish line to pick up my things. At
that point, the adrenaline was gone and my legs had become cement blocks.”

High: ”My husband, wine guy Robert Bohr, sprinted out of nowhere with a bottle
of Clif Quench at mile 24. That, and 'Eye of the Tiger' on repeat, kept me
going strong those last two miles.”

After running my first New York City Marathon last Sunday, I’ve been swapping marathon highs and lows with fellow food-world runners. I had a freakishly great race and crossed the finish line in three hours and 21 minutes, with my only low being post-race muscle pain  (I’ve been recovering with a marathon week of eating and drinking). Others weren’t as lucky. Daniel Humm of NYC’s Eleven Madison Park had to pull out of the race due to a stress fracture. Here, some other tales from marathon newbies and vets:

Bobby Stuckey, sommelier of Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, CO
Stuckey, an insanely speedy runner,  hit up L’Artusi the Friday night before the race and was spotted eating at Marea on marathon eve.
Low: “Mile 23. My world just got really small and I knew that I needed to dig deep.”
High: “Looking up at the JumboTron and seeing an American wine almost brought me to tears.”
Finishing Time: 2:47:23

Joe Campanale, co-owner and sommelier of L’Artusi and Dell’anima, NYC
Not only did Campanale lose 15 pounds and three toenails while training, he also raised almost $14,000 for his charity, Team Hole in the Wall Gang.
Low: “I had a stomach virus that stayed with me for pretty much the whole race.”
High: “Coming off the 59th Street Bridge and running up 1st Avenue feels like walking onto the field in the middle of the World Series."  
Time: 4:49:29

Chef Olivier Muller, DB Bistro Moderne, NYC
The marathon newbie raised $12,000 for the charity Malaria No More.
Low: “At mile 22 I had a huge cramp. My left leg just stopped mid-stride.”
High: “After the race I had 15 friends waiting at my apartment to celebrate. We ate cheeses, charcuterie, beef short ribs, coq au vin and spaetzle and washed it down with red wine.”
Time: 3:38:57

Joe Bastianich, restaurateur and winemaker
After losing an astonishing amount of weight by running, Bastianich has become a marathon regular.
Low: “Running on Fifth Ave up the hill that you never knew existed, passing by the homes of every rich person in New York.”
High: “Floating over the Verrazano Bridge on pure adrenaline.”  
Time: 3:42:36

Scrounging for a last-minute Halloween costume? Get inspiration from some of our favorite chefs’ ensembles in F&W's "Dress Like a Chef" slideshow, like Mario Batali's now-iconic look: red wig pulled in a low ponytail, baggy shorts and his signature orange clogs from Crocs.

 

While my colleague Kate Krader is on a permanent sugar high this week from her pre-Halloween candy binge, I am overloading on carbs in preparation for the New York City Marathon. The race takes place this Sunday, the day after Halloween.  This year’s field of 40,000 runners, the largest in history, includes a number of food and wine world stars who’ve been juggling 20-mile training runs with kitchen duties and late-night pasta binges. Mark Bittman, the New York Times Minimalist columnist, has been swapping cooking tips for training tips with America’s fastest woman marathoner, Deena Kastor (rumor has it she’s shopping around a cookbook while in town for the race). F&W Best New Chef 2005 Daniel Humm of NYC’s Eleven Madison Park has been training with a running coach from Kenya to help him beat his insanely fast time from last year.

I’ve been following winemaker and restaurateur Joe Bastianich’s game plan, fueling myself with the complex-carb-heavy recipes he shared with F&W in our October issue and throwing back an occasional beer (for more carbs).

For more pre-marathon carbo-loading recipe ideas, click here.

The good news: The Breslin, the new restaurant in NYC's Ace Hotel from my Spotted Pig heroes Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield, was opening with a FergusStock dinner, followed the next day by FergusStock Hangover Brunch. (FergusStock, for the uninitiated, is an annual dinner featuring Fergus Henderson, the chef at London's St. John and author of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating; his pro-meat approach to cooking should be pretty clear.) The dilemma: Which meal to hit? The answer: Both. Friday night featured Fergus’s trotter, prune and rabbit pie (for one, two or four) and April’s roasted halibut with anchovies. No surprise, the kitchen also went through about 30 pigs, including their pot-roasted heads. Saturday’s aptly titled hangover brunch included ridiculously indulgent custard-filled sugar doughnuts and Cheddary-beery welsh rarebit. And both meals had my new favorite thing on the menu: April’s very crispy thrice-cooked chips. For even more highlights, the New York Times’s The Moment Blog has great descriptions, plus amazing illustrated photos (with even better pics here).

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my grandmothers more than I can say. Nanny Quinlan taught me to mix a perfect cocktail and Nanny McGrath could make a mean Irish soda bread. But sometimes I wished I had an Italian nonna to show me how to make flawless pasta from scratch or a rich meat ragù. My wish came true this past weekend, when Dora Marzovilla of Manhattan’s I Trulli did just that at a demo in which she showed how to prepare classic Pugliese dishes, like a moist focaccia with tomatoes and oregano and handmade cavatelli with broccoli rabe and almonds. But what I really can’t wait to make is the panzerrotti (fried dough filled with tomatoes and mozzarella). I think it would pair perfectly with one of Nanny’s cocktails!

If you also crave nonna-worthy recipes, try these Italian dishes from Food & Wine's recipe archives:

Cavatelli with Spicy Winter Squash
Orecchiette with Cauliflower, Anchovies and Pistachios
Pappardelle with Veal Ragù

 

As you may have already heard, last weekend’s New York City Wine & Food Festival featured two very high-profile Manhattan-based food stars sharing unflattering observations about San Francisco chefs. At a Times Talk, Anthony Bourdain called Alice Waters “Pol Pot in a muumuu.” And Momofuku’s David Chang—in another conversation with Bourdain entitled “I call BS”—said that “…every restaurant in San Francisco is serving figs on a plate with nothing on it.” Apparently some SF chefs aren’t happy with that characterization: The Asia Society cancelled a book signing event to promote Chang’s soon-to-be-out Momofuku cookbook because that comment irritated some participating cooks. For his part, Chang calls it a misunderstanding that he wants to clear up. On the other hand: "I'm never gonna open a place in San Francisco, " he says. Of course, at F&W, we love Chang unconditionally: He and his outstanding recipes for Thanksgiving leftovers are featured in our brand-new November issue.

I hate to miss a good party. Luckily, our superlative Vancouver stringer Rhonda May, editor of City Food Magazine, has all the details on the celebration at Araxi in nearby Whistler, British Columbia, for Dave Levey, winner of the sixth season of Hell’s Kitchen. Why was the party at Araxi? Because Dave will now spend the next year cooking there, just in time for Vancouver to host the Olympic Games in February 2010.

Here's Rhonda's report:

Last Tuesday night, Araxi hosted a little viewing party for the reality show’s sixth-season finale. Which meant that more than 300 partygoers withstood lightly falling snow in the long line outside the restaurant’s entrance to meet the show’s four final contestants: Tennille Middleton, Ariel Contreras, Kevin Cottle and Dave—all of whom affably shook hands, hugged grandmothers and posed for pictures.

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On a drizzly morning last week, I sat next to the Food Network’s Guy Fieri in a park near New York City's High Line to help the National Pork Board crown the Next Pork Personality. Judging the tastiest dish was easy: It was the German Cuban Reuben Pork Burger from chef Robert Burmeister of CHOW Gourmet on Staten Island.

 

First, he marinated pork shoulder with sweet pickle relish and mustard before grinding the meat and forming patties, which he then topped with a bacon-sauerkraut mixture, sliced Bratwurst and snappy rounds of dill pickle. But unfortunately, taste was not a factor in this competition, and each recipe's creativity only counted for so much; instead, the contestants' spiel about their dish was everything. Robert had that natural New York swagger and a thick accent to match—it was clear he loved pork, and not just from his pig tattoo. But it was tough to compete with actress and comedian (and former recipe contest winner) Kristina Vänni’s engaging routine. Although Kristina's "Spicy" Asian Pork Tenderloin, marinated and glazed with hoisin sauce spiked with five-spice powder—was not as impressive as Robert’s burger, she ultimately won the title and the $5,000 prize. But Robert might have received a better reward: Guy gushing about his burger during the awards ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of late, I’ve missed my Chicago hot dog. So last week, I made a pilgrimage to Hot Doug’s, Chicago’s most beloved encased-meat emporium. Well, sort of. I, along with dozens of other New York City devotees, attended “The Hot Doug’s Experience,” a tasting at Astor Center’s newest downtown venue, The Lounge. In a nod to the infamously long lines at Hot Doug’s, the evening’s attendees formed a queue (albeit while sipping lager and eating andouille pigs in a blanket). Owner Doug Sohn’s perfectly executed Chicago-style hot dog (mustard, neon-green relish, onion, tomato, pickle spear, hot peppers, celery salt and absolutely no ketchup) justified the wait. So did his departure from Second City tradition: a duck-and-Sauternes sausage topped with foie gras mousse and flaky gray salt. Served in a tender ciabatta-like roll with truffle aioli, it was one of the most pleasingly unctuous things I have ever tasted. Sadly, Sohn confirmed that he is not planning to open a Hot Doug's in NYC and, in fact, one Hot Doug’s is all the world can expect to see. Oh well, some things taste better when you have to wait for them.