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Dish briefs

Briefs and news of note from the world of food and drink.

Mad for Madhur

Madhur Jaffrey, star of film, stage, cooking shows and cookbooks, started teaching Americans to cook her way 25 years ago and made Indian dishes as popular as Merchant-Ivory films.

In a backstage interview in New York this month after her Invitation to Indian Cooking (1971) was admitted to the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, she admitted surprise that Indian food had spread so widely in the United States for cooks and diners. "You can get every ingredient now.''

Restaurants have multiplied too and a few have gone upmarket in New York, California and London, Jaffrey said, but almost always in some kind of fusion with New Asian or other cuisines. Her dream is for restaurants with gourmet presentation of traditional regional Indian food. "We are working toward that,'' in various restaurants, including Dawat, a sleek Manhattan restaurant where she is the muse.

Her personal menu is wide and not just Indian: "I love Italian.'' - CHRIS SHERMAN

Tampa Bay bouillabaisse

More Pappas. This time it's the Largo family of restaurateurs who converted a comfort food landmark to Grillmarks and sold it last year. Nick Pappas and father George have kept Cody's in Bellaire Bluffs and plan to open Trinity Grille in Pasco and Stone Flame, a casual upscale grille with Midwest trim, in Oldsmar. John Pappas and son Nick, who have Cody's in Spring Hill, will open Greek City Cafe nearby. Nicola and Dino Pappas have opened a gourmet wine and cheese shop Pappas' Corner (28909 U.S. 19 N, Clearwater).

CAFe society. Cafes have gone together with artists for a century, although few art museums in Tampa Bay have them. One place they do come together is the Palm Cafe at the Dunedin Fine Art Center (1143 Michigan Blvd.).

Gallery visitors, art students and teachers have four tables inside, an espresso bar and outdoor patio for morning fuel and sandwich and salad lunches.

Edible, potable artwork includes a curry chicken salad wrap and proprietary roast Artists' Blend coffee, available by the pound with labels by, of course, DFAC artists.

Italian cool. More gelato on the way to St. Petersburg's Beach Drive condo row from Paciugo, a fast-growth chain started by a Milanese couple who moved to Dallas and are now spreading out to upscale shopping areas. - CHRIS SHERMAN

ARGGH, ANOTHER M&M

One of last summer's biggest movie-candy promotional tie-ins was the resurgence of the Wonka Bar for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This summer, Johnny Depp returns to the candy aisle on the package of new white chocolate "Pirate Pearls" M&M's, a tie-in for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It has taken a long time for confectioners to develop a cheap, convenient, bite-size white chocolate snack. These Pirate Pearls deserve credit for being cocoa-butter creamy, yet not too messy, thanks to that famous M&M's candy shell.

The problem here, as with most white chocolates, is an overwhelming sweetness. You'll taste the candy long after the wrapper is gone and your teeth are brushed. The new M&M's are an intriguing novelty, but they fall far short of the standard set by last summer's dark chocolate peanut M&M's, a first-ballot hall of fame confection if ever there was one. - JAY CRIDLIN

Is this sauce for you?

The Budweiser name will soon be on a line of nonalcoholic barbecue sauces that rolls out in July. Anheuser-Busch Cos. hopes the sauces will strengthen the link between Budweiser and a favorite American cooking style, while heightening brand loyalty during the key "beer-selling season." (Isn't that year-round?)

Budweiser is a key ingredient in the sauces, but the production process eliminates the alcohol.

Though beer has long been used in grilling marinades or homemade barbecue sauces, distillers have been the ones branding them in recent years. - Knight Ridder Newspapers

Clarification

In a story on local vodka last week, Chris Sherman's recommendation of T&W Luxury Vodka from Empire Winery & Distillery described some sweet flavors as "hints of glycerol.''

The Empire distillery in New Port Richey does not use glycerol or glycerine in its products. Such forms of alcohol are illegal in vodka manufactured in the United States. Some overseas distillers do add such super-sweet alcohol to soften cheap, rough vodkas.

The term "glycerol'' is used in tastings to describe a pleasing natural component of wine that adds body, viscosity and sweetness. It was not meant to imply that Empire vodka had been made with glycerol or similar products.

[Last modified May 23, 2006, 09:53:50]