The National Culinary Review - July/August 2010

FLAVORS

Rockit Bar & Grill in Chicago adds a twist and extra value to its steak fries with a fondue of sautéed shiitake mushrooms and Brie.

the sandwich, beer-batters the entire thing and drops it in the fryer until it turns golden-brown. He serves it with sweet berry sauce—a sugar-sweetened strawberry, blackberry and raspberry reduction.

The Mushroom Council

He’s even made a sandwich out of lasagna. Called “The Godfather,” Fish layers three-cheese lasagna, using fresh fennel/oregano pasta sheets with spicy red sauce and provolone on garlic bread.

Pierogis are a classic comfort food in
Cleveland, where there is a large Polish
population. With the city of Parma, Ohio,
considered the capital of the Polish
community in that area, Fish has made
a sandwich out of pierogis and dubbed
it “The Parmageddon.” He pan-fries his
potato and cheese pierogis and includes
fresh napa vodka kraut, grilled onions and
sharp cheddar cheese. “It’s an enormous
sandwich, full of flavor,” he says.

of his new menu favorites is the Meatloaf Sandwich with Tomato Sofrito on Pullman White Bread. It’s a combination of equal parts beef and pork with a standard mirepoix, Worcestershire sauce, cream, egg, oatmeal and Applejack brandy. It’s made along the lines of a French pâté, in which cognac would be an ingredient, but Sullivan switches in American apple brandy. “It gives it that flavor with a bit of muscle or character to it,” he says. He lines a baking pan with smoked bacon, places the meat mixture on top and encloses it completely in the bacon before wrapping in foil and roasting at 350ºF.

What could have acceptably been a basic Philly cheese steak bar sandwich became something to talk about at Rockit Bar & Grill in Chicago when executive chef James Gottwald got to the kitchen one morning thinking about such a sandwich and saw he had leftover egg roll wrappers. He shoved the meat mixture (with caramelized onions and white American cheese) into the wrappers, folded and deep-fried them. Thus was born Rockit Pockets, with Heinz ketchup as dipping sauce. Gottwald is director of culinary operations for Rockit Ranch Productions Inc., Chicago, which operates four restaurants.

When Casey Sullivan joined Chicago’s The
Violet Hour bar as executive chef in the
spring, he set to work on a new county-fair-
style food menu. He added chili dogs, tater
tots and donuts with great success. But one
His meatloaf sauce is certainly no ketchup.
He pulses a basic mirepoix (including
fennel) in a processor and cooks it in oil
at a low temperature with salt, pepper and
a bit of sugar until it’s a caramelized dark
brown. He only adds tomatoes well into
the process so that they don’t completely
lose their color. “It takes five or six hours
altogether, and it smells like Thanksgiving in
the kitchen,” Sullivan says.

The pub at The Desmond Great Valley
Hotel and Conference Center needed
a turkey sandwich. To give it an upscale
twist, Macrina chose his pretzel roll as
the bread. The smoked turkey sandwich
includes Italico cheese, honey-Dijon
mustard, tomato, red onion and spinach.
He chose Italico cheese (a trademark of
Belgioioso Cheese Inc.) for its Brie-like
flavor. “It’s denser, like mozzarella, but it
tastes like Brie with a bit of a nutty flavor.
It goes well with turkey,” Macrina says.

PERENNIAL FAVORITES Opportunities abound to add imagination to American classic comfort bar-friendly food with french fries, tater tots, macaroni and cheese, pizza and franks and beans.