Friday, November 16, 2007

Playing Friday Catch Up

I've been busy eating and not posting, so here's a little late week Friday catch up:


New Bar and Sushi at 757 Mass Ave: It's been no secret in the restaurant world that owners of the difficult to pronounce Beilouny, aka 757 Mass Ave, were looking for a restaurant for their street level space. Looks like they found one. Cory at Property Lines says the owner of the north side's Blu Martini is planning to open Forty Five Degrees, an upscale martini bar open seven nights a week for dinner. (Menu planned is "healthy and unique" whatever that means including sushi which, if good, will be an instant hit.) Right now, they have an ambitious January target for opening. This project will be an interesting one to watch. FYI, Gary at Advance Indiana has questions about parking on Mass Ave with all the new restaurants opening or re-opening in the case of Mass Ave Pub. My take? There's lots of space on that east end of Mass across College. Sometimes, it's not bad to park and walk a block or two.

Trader's Point Winter Market: Farmer's market season is over, but don't forget Saturdays at the Trader's Point Winter Market. They have a fairly robust selection of winter products heavy on the meat and dairy. Lots of organic and regional producers. 9 a.m.- noon, Saturdays through April in the Red Barn.

Only in Broad Ripple: Cory also reports downtown's (apparently) popular Wild Beaver Saloon will be opening a new location in Broad Ripple, ironically, right next to Hot Box Pizza (in the old Dick's Bodacious BBQ spot.) (Is it a requirement to have a suggestive business name to go on that block? It leaves me wondering what "Bakehouse" *really* means.)

Michael Symon Sunday Night: Happy about the Michael Symon win on Next Iron Chef? Well, you get to watch him compete for the first time Sunday Night. His first Iron Chef battle will air at 9:00 p.m. on Food Network. Via Symon's blog.

Cal Tech Olives: I meant to post this last week and it's one of the niftiest stories I've seen in a while. For a few years, Cal Tech students have been experimenting with curing olives from the many olive trees on campus. A challenge from the university president (who ran across a group of them picking olives one year), resulted in a classic Cal Tech rally behind technology. Not only did they get it down to a science (literally), but they've also now formed a campus wide Olive Harvest Festival with a substantial volunteer base and revenue. Photos via Serious Eats.

Quiz Answer: Dutch Process Cocoa has mineral salts/alkali added. In 1828, a Dutch baker discovered that adding alkali gave cocoa a richer color and made it less bitter. Both kinds of cocoa can be used for the same recipes, however, Dutch-process cocoa doesn't stir into cold milk as easily if you're making hot chocolate or chocolate milk. (It's more powdery.)

2 comments:

Kevin said...

Thank you for pointing out that parking isn't really a problem on or around Mass Ave. It's all in people's minds. A little walking doesn't hurt (and may help most people in this town). People expect there to be a huge open surface lot everywhere they go in the city, like it is in the suburbs. It's one of my pet peeves.

Anonymous said...

It is funny how incredulous some people get when there's not free, abundant parking on the very block of their destination.

The large open surface lots right off of Mass Ave (I'm thinking in particular of the one right by Yats) will tow vehicles without the appropriate hangtag in a heartbeat. 100+ dollars and a trip to a sketchy tow lot are not worth it, folks.