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Sweet Treats to Send Your Sweetheart on Valentine's Day

Filed under: Dining, Holiday Guides


For those of you who want to send a delicious delicacy to the one you love on Valentine's Day there are some great mail order options. Whether you like cookies or chocolates there is something for everyone.

We write about Dean & Deluca a lot here on Luxist in part because they consistently offer quality products for the discerning gourmand from various manufacturers around the world. Their offerings for Valentine's Day are no exception:
  • From Valerie Confections an artisinal confectioner in Los Angeles, come chocolates designated as Pour Elle and Pour Homme. Each box contains 3 large chocolate hearts and 8 small hearts with the "For Her" gift box having traces of edible rose petals and the "For Him" gift box is completed with caramel and toffee filled chocolates. Each set of 11 pieces retails for $30.00 a box.
  • Chocolat Moderne in New York city is represented with a red box filled with 12 hand painted chocolate hearts. The $36.00 box contains two each of six different flavors.
  • For those who like their sweets from France, the Pyramide des Tropiques from Francois Pralus, is a great choice for serious chocolate lovers who are more interested in the chocolate itself than cute Valentine wrapping. A stack of 10 individual bars each made with beans from a different part of the world and a 75% cocoa content for $12.00.
  • Eleni's specializes in selling hand iced cookies. There is an adorable box of pink and purple XO shaped cookies 18 for $50.00 If you go to Eleni's web-site there are just under 20 different designs from which you can pick the perfect option for your sweetie.
All of these purveyors have their own web-sites and it is up to you to decide whether you'd like to comparison shop quickly through Dean & Deluca or take your time and order individually from the different stores. Either way you will come away "smelling like roses" but "tasting like chocolate" a perfect combination for Valentine's Day.

The New American Sushi

Filed under: Dining, Celebrity Design

Delightful Tracy Griffith makes sushiChef Tracy Griffith (right -- and yes, she's the half sister of Melanie Grifftith) has created a whole new kind of sushi, Americana style. Think BLT and Cowboy rolls, and a vegetarian option served with fresh Green Goddess dressing.

Griffith, who has the distinction of being the first female graduate of the California Sushi Academy and one of the few female certified sushi chefs in the world, has compiled her creative new sushi recipes into a book called Sushi American Style. The delicious, raw fish-free fare is also available (as of Monday) in NYC Dean & Deluca stores, and is coming to the rest of the country in 2010.

So, what's it all about? We had a quick chat with Tracy at the New York Times building store and sampled all the sushi in the gallery below.

Luxist: So, Tracy, you developed all these rolls yourself, right?

Tracy Griffith: Yes, for my cookbook, Sushi American Style.

L: What was your inspiration?

TG: My inspiration was sushi customers in LA. I worked in a sushi bar and they always ordered California rolls, and I was like "Why?"

L: Why indeed!

TG: They said "I don't like raw fish." So many people are afraid of, or don't like, raw fish. So, being a chef, I had to start making something else besides California rolls. I started thinking, "What's good with white rice?" It's a very neutral base, like pasta or bread, so [I made the] BLT roll after my favorite sandwich, and Green Goddess, because it's so great with asparagus. Chicken Run has chili-garlic peanuts on it because I was in Bali, and in Bali they put chili-garlic peanuts on everything, and I thought, "Wouldn't that be good?" So, that's how it all started; it was for customers who don't eat raw fish.

L: What are people saying so far?

TG: Oh, they love it! Actually, it's kind of funny, because they walk in and look at me like "What?" and then they taste it and go "Oh, wow! That's great!"

Click through the gallery to see our tasting notes on all the new American sushi that you'll find at Dean & Deluca.




Dean & DeLuca Wins Readers' Choice Award for Best Online Gourmet Food

Filed under: Dining


Dean & DeLuca
is the winner of the Readers' Choice Award for Best Online Gourmet Food.

Though it's now one of America's finest online grocers -- offering a wide array of food, wine and even kitchenware --- the New York-based company got its start well before the information superhighway received its first coat of pavement.

In the 1970's, Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca traipsed around the world in search of artisan-produced foods that pleased their customers as well as themselves. They wanted products that fired their imaginations, challenged their tastes and turned dinner into a creative exercise.

When the partners opened the original Dean & DeLuca in Soho in September 1977, the neighborhood wasn't the hopelessly chic shopping enclave it is today; rather, it was an authentically gritty corner of the Big Apple. As such, founding partner, Jack Ceglic, designed the first store to evoke a turn-of-the-century food department. Beneath the whir of ceiling fans, high shelves brimmed with rare artisan foodstuffs from flavored salts to cured meats.

Joel and Giorgio continued to expand their operation, adding another New York shop with four times the space of the original in 1988. Boutiques throughout the city followed, as did locations in Charlotte, Kansas City and Washington, D.C. Demand for the grocer's goods even spawned a store in Tokyo.

Dean & DeLuca's wide array of gourmet offerings range from black truffle barbecue sauce, cilantro lime butter and tapas to Asian inspired delicacies such as green tea truffles, purple sweet potato vinegar and organic sushi rice. It also has an impressive selection of meats, seafood, pates, ready-to-serve appetizers, artisanal cheeses and sweets. In search of a Mediterranean sea salt? How about a Himalayan salt harvested from the beds of ancient seas? Look no further than Dean & DeLuca. The company has also launched a new wine division with knowledgeable staff who can recommend the best food and wine pairings for any event.

Today, website makes the grocer's trademark meats, fish, cheeses, herbs and spices available to those who aren't lucky enough to have a store nearby. Dean & DeLuca also markets its private label products to other retailers and wholesalers throughout the world.

Readers' Choice Award Nominees for Best in Food

Filed under: Dining, Services


Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall
The Readers Choice nominees for Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall include one that started out with a small store in Texas and today, has more than 270 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. An Ohio-based nominee is family-owned and operated that is recognized for its great food and service. Two nominees are New York institutions offering gourmet foods from around the world. Last, but not least, there's an opulent Food Hall in London that is known worldwide for the sheer volume and selection of its international goods all presented in breathtaking displays.

Dean & DeLuca
Dorothy Lane Market
Harrods Food Hall
Whole Foods
Zabar's

Best Online Gourmet Food
The Readers' Choice nominees for the Best Online Gourmet Food include a New York institution with a staff that travel the world in search of great artisan-produced foods. A Seattle-based nominee was launched by a group of passionate food-lovers committed to the best artisan-produced, sustainable foods while another nominee is a family-owned operation that originated from three generations of cheese importers. A Michigan-based nominee is a collection of local businesses, each with its own food specialty. Finally, the Philadelphia-based nominee celebrates the European roots of its two founders with a wide array of gourmet meats, cheeses, oils, and other goods from around the world.

ChefShop.com
Dean & DeLuca
Di Bruno Brothers
iGourmet.com
Zingerman's Mail Order

Best Caviar Retailer
The Readers' Choice nominees for Best Caviar Retailer include award-winning brands from Europe and the United States with each offering the highest of quality. Several offer some of the finest Russian caviar to be found, while one is a proponent of sustainably harvested roe with its own tank-farming system.

Caviarteria
Caviar House & Prunier
Caviar Russe
Petrossian
Tsar Nicoulai Caviar

Best Bread Bakery
The Readers' Choice nominees for Best Bread Bakery include companies that have been producing bread for decades. One opened more than 70 years ago and is now an institution in Paris, while another was launched in Belgium before expanding around the world. A Los Angeles-based nominee has developed more than 100 varieties of award-winning breads. The Philadelphia-based nominee features artisanal breads and the baked goods of the Ann Arbor-based nominee are known throughout the Midwest.

La Brea Bakery
Le Pain Quotidien
Max Poilaine
Metropolitan Bakery
Zingerman's Bakehouse

Best Cheese Shop
The Readers' Choice nominees are among the most respected shops in the world. These cheese shops, offer a full range of both international and domestic artisanal cheeses. They are the destinations for serious cheese lovers and chefs who are in search of the best.

Farmstead
Formaggio Kitchen
Murray's Cheese
Neal's Yard Dairy
Pastoral

Dean & DeLuca: Epicenters of Epicurean Excellence

Filed under: Dining, Services


Dean & DeLuca is a nominee for a Luxist Award in two categories: Best Online Gourmet Food and Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall.

Though it's now one of America's finest online grocers -- offering a wide array of food, wine and even kitchenware --- the New York-based company got its start well before the information superhighway received its first coat of pavement.

In the 1970's, Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca traipsed around the world in search of artisan-produced foods that pleased their customers as well as themselves. They wanted products that fired their imaginations, challenged their tastes and turned dinner into a creative exercise.

When the partners opened the original Dean & DeLuca in Soho in September 1977, the neighborhood wasn't the hopelessly chic shopping enclave it is today; rather, it was an authentically gritty corner of the Big Apple. As such, founding partner, Jack Ceglic, designed the first store to evoke a turn-of-the-century food department. Beneath the whir of ceiling fans, high shelves brimmed with rare artisan foodstuffs from flavored salts to cured meats.

Joel and Giorgio continued to expand their operation, adding another New York shop with four times the space of the original in 1988. Boutiques throughout the city followed, as did locations in Charlotte, Kansas City and Washington, D.C. Demand for the grocer's goods even spawned a store in Tokyo.

Dean & DeLuca's wide array of gourmet offerings range from black truffle barbecue sauce, cilantro lime butter and tapas to Asian inspired delicacies such as green tea truffles, purple sweet potato vinegar and organic sushi rice. It also has an impressive selection of meats, seafood, pates, ready-to-serve appetizers, artisanal cheeses and sweets. In search of a Mediterranean sea salt? How about a Himalayan salt harvested from the beds of ancient seas? Look no further than Dean & DeLuca. The company has also launched a new wine division with knowledgeable staff who can recommend the best food and wine pairings for any event.

Today, website makes the grocer's trademark meats, fish, cheeses, herbs and spices available to those who aren't lucky enough to have a store nearby. Dean & DeLuca also markets its private label products to other retailers and wholesalers throughout the world.

Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.

Karat Caviar, Outstanding Osetra from Israel

Filed under: Dining

karat caviar
Crystal Clear spring water from Mount Herman and the finest selection of many generations of pure Russian Sturgeon go into making Karat Caviar, a recently introduced aquacultured Osetra caviar from Israel that took 16 years to develop, with incredibly delicious results. Karat uses the same Russian Sturgeon species (Acipenser Gueldenstaedtii) found in the famed Caspian Sea, raised in the most natural settings under pristine conditions to produce an imperial grade product usually associated only with increasingly scarce wild sturgeon.

Karat Caviar is produced by Caviar Galilee, one of the longest running fish farms in Israel, which has been involved in aquaculture since 1939. The Caviar Galilee Farm began growing Russian Sturgeon in 1992, when the first fertilized eggs were imported directly from Russia. The Farm is located in close proximity to the main source of the Jordan River – the Dan Springs, which flow with crystal clear snow waters from the peaks of Mount Hermon. The natural flow of water which gravitates through the Farm enables fish breeding in water that is clear, pure and rich in oxygen.

The Russian Osetra is produced from ten to eleven year-old fish. During the production process, the caviar is produced separately from each single fish and is then packed separately ensuring the product's purity, without mixing caviar from different fish. Freshness, consistent high quality, large pearl size, fine taste and texture and sustainability are the watchwords of Karat, which aims to put the rest of the farmed caviar trade to shame. Karat's exclusive 100% pure Russian Osetra is now available at Dean & DeLuca under the Galilee label, as well as at Zabar's and Whole Foods in the Southeast.

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