KIND: More Than a Granola Bar

KIND Fruit + Nut Bars are a delicious new product for the health and socially conscious set. Each one of the ten varieties of bars—Walnut+Date and Apricot+Almond being my favorites—is satisfyingly healthy. The bars have no preservatives and are wheat-, gluten-, and dairy-free. They are what an energy bar would be before mass production and before shelf life was a necessity—an all-natural blend of hearty ingredients.

When I picked up the KIND Fruit + Nut Bar a few weeks ago, I was delighted by the taste and the health benefits; I didn’t realize that I’d be supporting a wonderful socially conscious company, as well.

KIND is an affiliate of Peaceworks, a company that raises money for various causes via the development of environmentally conscious businesses. KIND gives 5% of its profits to Peaceworks One Voice Movement, which promotes peace with the Middle East. Eating a KIND Bar is not only good for you; it’s good for the world.

Enough Sushi for the ENTIRE Year.

My first meal of 2007 was at Todai, the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet that recently bought out Minado on 32nd Street. Minado was “the ultimate sushi buffet,” which started and operated solely on the East Coast. Todai is a larger sushi buffet chain, which started in California and now has 25 international locations.

With a larger restaurant, in this case, comes the be-all and end-all in stuff-your-gullet style sushi consumption. The buffet counter is 160 feet long and loaded with nearly everything. Below is a breakdown of the sections.

First, there is an assortment of nigiri and sushi rolls. These aren’t the rice-laden rolls that you’d expect at an all-you-can-fit-in-your-belly joint. These rolls are pretty; they are served on small plates and replenished frequently. Certainly a highlight for me was the salmon roe (ikura) nigiri, which came overflowing with the orange fish eggs.

After the rolls, there is a small section of sashimi, which always get nabbed the fastest, but if you hover around the section, the sashimi lady will get the gist and hook you up with a few pieces.

Following the impressive sushi selections is an array of Asian salads, including a delicious hijiki salad, a jicama salad, and a shitake and bok choy salad.

Your plate may be filled, but when you come back for seconds, you can pick up with a few shrimp off a massive cocktail display or grab a few giant oysters.

Or, you can skip to the hibachi where mackeral, jumbo shrimp, pork, chicken, and beef are all skewered onto bamboo sticks and grilled to perfection. Don’t miss the miso soup or the soba noodles directly after the grill station.

Third times a charm when you have spicy calamari, pork gyoza, beef teriyaki, and fried tofu from which to choose. Crab cakes, scallops, and a plethora of other hot entrees dot the never-ending buffet. And most of it is exceptionally worth devouring. At $25, you could eat enough sushi to last you all year.

Food Byte

Next time you want to make a fresh fruit salad, consider adding dried fruit to the mix. On a recent trip to Miami, both News Café and Big Pink sprinkled raisins on their editions of fruit salad. The raisins added a new element of taste and texture to the chunks of watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, bananas, and other tropical fruits. Speared with a piece of banana, a few raisins added the ideal chewy balance to the consistency of the fruit.

I also think that adding dried cranberries to a salad heavy on apples is a divine addition. The dried stuff is a hearty improvement to the light fruit, making the fruit salad more of a meal. And, for an extra twist, add sliced dried ginger strips to a mango salad to impress any houseguest.

Horseradish Vodka

I recently ate (and drank) at The Russian Vodka Room. Salmon roe and eggplant caviar were wonderful but I was most impressed by the horseradish-infused vodka. The spicy shot is ideal to accompany salty Beluga, Ossetra, and Sevruga.

Horseradish Vodka would also make a lovely Bloody Mary, adding an extra bit of punch into an already piquant elixir.

To infuse your own Horseradish Vodka, grate one cup of fresh horseradish root—it looks a lot like a ginger root and is more widely available at grocery stores than one would think—and add the shavings to one liter of vodka. Let the combination rest overnight and then strain and discard the horseradish from the liquid.

The process is simple and the results are delightful, but beware: to grate one cup of horseradish will make you cry harder than any amount of onion chopping. Consider taking a shot of the stuff at the Vodka Room before you get started on your own!

Blessing on Saint Marks Place

I must have walked passed the Holyland Market about a hundred times without realizing the gems that it has in store. I wasn’t aware of the unique and delicious food with which Israel is brimming. In the real Holy Land, I fell in love with halloumi cheese, labane cheese, bourekas (a savory puff pastry), and laffa (a big, thin pita bread) with zatar (a spice blend of sesame seeds, sumac, and thyme). These ingredients characterized the core that made up every meal during my Israeli adventure. The new flavors stuck with me.

Holyland Market provides East Villagers and Judea-ophiles with all these Israeli staples and more like Bissli—a snack that ranges in flavors from grill to falafel, Bamba—like a cheese puff but with peanut butter instead of cheese, and chocolate spread. Excellent rugelah—a chocolate pastry, classic Israeli brands for chocolate and cheese, and necessities like Turkish coffee and pickled vegetables can be found.

These flavors were all fairly new to me—the simple pleasure of a fresh pita bread was a taste experience I’d never encountered, let alone having the doughy bread pocket be filled with the creamiest hummus and sprinkled with such unique and delicate spices. The foods of Israel are a unique balance of intense flavor and sensational texture.

My tasting was a mere ten days—not nearly enough to taste everything, but certainly enough to whet my appetite. Back in Manhattan, I feel blessed to have Holyland Market, which has versions of all my favorite Sephardic and Ashkenazi basics.

Holyland also has an extensive range of Elite cow chocolate. Creamier than the dark chocolate so popular now in the states, para (Hebrew for cow) chocolate is a richer, sweeter form—a reminder that life should be sweet as can be. And, in Israel, it is.

Shakshuka

The final evening of my journey, I dined at a restaurant known for a Sephardic specialty, Shakshuka. Served piping hot in a fry pan, Shakshuka is a steaming mixture of stewed tomatoes, onion, and sunny-side up eggs. Paprika and chilis add kick to the dish and pita bread on the side operates as the ideal vessel for pan to gullet delivery.

The Hummus Place, an Israeli-owned mini-chain with an East Village, West Village, and Upper West Side location, serves a wonderful rendition of this delicious-anytime dish.

The Shakshuka is spot on in terms of authenticity and so is the hummus. The only frustration is the pita, which, though it is the best I’ve had in NYC, just doesn’t stand up to true Israeli pita.

Raisins-Tel Aviv to Dean and Deluca

The market in Tel Aviv is dotted with stands to purchase a variety of dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. The assortment is like nothing that I have seen before, and what surprised and delighted me the most was the array of golden raisins. From small and tart to inch-long juicy ones, I must have counted five kinds at a single stand.

I bought as many as I could, but nibbling on long bus rides and an even longer plane ride didn’t leave too many to share with my Manhattan friends.

Happily, Dean & Deluca has a fantastic type of golden raisin. It resembles—in taste and appearance—the longer, juicier Tel Aviv raisin. The D&D raisins hail from California, as most of ours do in America, but this variety will transcend you further than the West coast.

For me, sinking my teeth into a few as a snack, adding them to a stew, or sprinkling them on yogurt brings me to hustling streets of the Holy Land.