Copenhagen, Denmark: Europe’s Best Town for Foodies. The next generation of upstart restaurants is taking its lead from Noma and earning Copenhagen, Denmark, its place at the epicenter of the food world. Imagine you are a mushroom. What do you dream of? In the not- so- distant past, the lucky few would have been shipped off to France and pressed into the service of haute cuisine, minced into a dainty duxelles. Or perhaps would have gone out in style, drowned in cream and Cognac. But the world of fine dining has changed while you’ve been lazing in the shade, mushroom. You’re the main event now. A gnarled, noble, many- limbed and meaty beast, growing fat as an actual chicken on the cold Danish forest floor. Here comes a famous foraging chef to pluck you from obscurity, tote you gingerly back to his kitchen, age you like a steak, and make you a star. Two weeks of rest deepens your fungal funk. Now you’re ready to be pan- roasted and presented whole tableside. Shown off like some truffle- studded poulet de Bresse or the finest Dover sole. You sit on an inky pur. You’re adorned with a garland of shaved truffles and crunchy blades of wild sorrel. This is the life, baby. You ain’t just a salad or a side dish anymore! The crusading chef and ennobler of vegetables in question is, of course, Ren. His restaurant is Noma, in the dockside Christianshavn district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Redzepi has become well- known in the past few years for doing things like slowly saut. Or serving a plump and perfect shelled langoustine clinging to the face of a large, warm stone—as if it had just washed ashore on this rock dotted with barnacles made of emulsified oyster and parsley and dusted with toasted rye. You’d need to have been living under one of these beach stones to have missed the news: Noma is the best restaurant in the world. Actually, it works better if you shout it: THE BEST RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD! Then imagine an entire country of beaming Danes high- fiving each other from the upright seats of their fixed- gear bicycles, looking even more apple- cheeked, well- adjusted, and handsome than they normally do, while in other quarters of the Continent, the French shrug long- sufferingly and disgruntled Spaniards shake their fists and rattle their nitrous- oxide canisters, wondering who this northern upstart is that’s stolen their culinary limelight. For two years running, Noma has held the top ranking in the San Pellegrino World’s 5. Best Restaurants list, a poll of international opinion- shapers and professional food nerds (full disclosure: I vote in the thing). Redzepi’s trick is balancing rigorous austerity with freewheeling deliciousness. It’s fun and it’s weird and it’s never, even for a moment, dull or preachy in the way that restaurants with lofty goals (and loftier self- regard) often are. IFE 2017 will welcome around 1,350 suppliers and manufacturers of new and innovative food and drink products. TheINQUIRER publishes daily news, reviews on the latest gadgets and devices, and INQdepth articles for tech buffs and hobbyists. A woman begins an affair with her brother-in-law. The family finds out. Complications ensue. The leading information resource for the entertainment industry. Find industry contacts & talent representation. Manage your photos, credits, & more.
The beams in the spare dining room show their age; gray, mottled, and unadorned. The silverware fails to impress with its gleam or heft. In fact, a dozen small courses may pass before you’re presented with so much as a fork. There is a serenity here achieved without the benefit of velvety acres of plush carpeting. No gilded cheese trolley. No courtly waiters in dinner jackets. The chefs deliver the food they’ve made to the table themselves, introducing each dish with unscripted enthusiasm. At lunch recently, Redzepi came by the table to explain a little plate of battered and fried leek ends—roots and all. One man’s trash cooking is, after all, another man’s garbage. Still, what’s important is that Redzepi and his team have conjured up that honest rarity: the new thing that isn’t mere novelty. And they did it not by trying to appeal to the exacting standards of the Michelin inspector, not by making things ever more fancy and unapproachable, but by returning to the edible topography of Scandinavia and making something beautiful of the overlooked roots, sturdy weeds, and cold- water sea creatures he found there. In doing so he grabbed the attention of the gastro- tourists and wandering food writers and poll- takers alike. Praise and attention are heaped on the 3. More importantly, the success of Noma has inspired and challenged his fellow chefs—and changed the way the city eats. Now Redzepi’s cooks are spreading through town, opening places of their own and trying on new styles. The first flush of Noma imitators seems to have died down (there is only so much edible dirt people can eat). And outside forces such as the financial crisis have led some big- name chefs to close their ambitious expense- account dining rooms and open more casual, populist restaurants. Redzepi told me he’d seen wild ramson leaves in a Copenhagen supermarket, something unthinkable in Denmark a few years ago. I wouldn’t know a ramson if I stepped on it, but I got his point: the Nordic culinary revolution is real and ongoing. It’s an ideal time to visit what’s arguably the most exciting place to eat in Europe right now, a city enjoying its time in the spotlight and busy figuring out what comes next. The nicest way to reach the cobblestoned street of J. Grumpy Kierkegaard is buried here, as is the immortally smooth American saxophonist Ben Webster. More transient visitors sunbathe between the cherry trees. The place is, like the whole city, designed for civic enjoyment, practical cycling, and leisurely strolling. There’s a hand- painted sign pointing up and down J. Food and art this way, wine and ceramics over here. You could probably find the Coffee Collective without the sign. Look for the bikes parked out front and follow the strong smell of good coffee into the phone- booth- size space. They roast their own beans here (from Panama, Brazil, Guatemala, and Kenya). Sitting in the sun and sipping espresso at the picnic table outside, it’s hard to imagine this was once a derelict block run by hash dealers. It wasn’t until two ex- Noma guys Christian Puglisi and Kim Rossen opened a small place called Restaurant Rel. Locals jammed the place every night. Puglisi next opened Manfreds, a wine bar and casual all- day restaurant across the street, and now there was a place on the block to get a bottle of natural wine and stick around after dinner. Redzepi’s business partner, Claus Meyer, opened Meyers Bageri. The bakery, which makes bread and pastries from organic flour they produce themselves in the north of the country, stands opposite the Coffee Collective as a perfect breakfast counterpart: two very small places doing a narrow range of things remarkably well. You could easily justify a day of eating your way up and down J. Stop for espressos at the picnic table outside the Coffee Collective, cross the street for some knotty cinnamon rolls, cross back, repeat. Make some time to visit Keramiker Inge Vincents, whose diaphanous ceramics are used at Rel. The one thing you can’t get on the street anymore is hash. Last summer, city officials took notice of how much business the Noma diaspora was bringing to a formerly unkempt area. Dining trumped drugs and the cops chased the pushers off J. No hard feelings.)“Fuck what they’re doing in France,” Puglisi says. Except it’s hard to get across how affable and gentle he sounds as he says it. Puglisi is half Sicilian, half Norwegian, raised mostly in Denmark, and a model specimen of the current crop of Copenhagen restaurateurs: young, entrepreneurial, loyal to Redzepi but eager to blaze his own trail. What he learned at Noma, what he calls “the dogmatic Nordic approach,” was to create lighter dishes, use more vegetables, more acidity, less dependence on veal stock and other building blocks of classic fine dining. Not everyone has to forage and use sea buckthorn and pine needles. The point is to do something that other people don’t and make it what you want it to be.”For Puglisi that has meant cooking original food that doesn’t fit any particular label and having fun doing it. Johnny Cash is on the stereo. The tiny open kitchen is full of silent orchestrated mayhem. First on the vegetable menu is an orb of sheep’s- milk yogurt enveloping bites of turnip. Layered over the yogurt, stems up, is a covering of green nasturtium leaves. It’s all seemingly so simple, but then again it isn’t: the piquant yogurt whipped with a little cream into a supple mousse; the bright, surprising, peppery spice delivered by the nasturtium; the turnips mellowed by cooking but still retaining a welcome crunch. It’s a dish to make you love a vegetable menu, and one that exemplifies Puglisi’s dictum: for a small kitchen to turn out thoughtful, engaging food at a decent price, you have to think as much about the flavors and composition of a dish as you would at a restaurant like Noma—then find ways to make them dead simple to get on the plate. I want something crazy busy. I want it to be hammering.”I tried several times to make a dinner reservation at Radio but that wasn’t possible. I tried to make a lunch reservation but again, no luck. Finally the online reservation grid opened, though just a crack. Precisely one seat was available that week at 1 p. He explained that they intentionally limit the crowd at lunch. And it was true, he didn’t seem stressed at all. Today they’d decided to take just a dozen reservations. The other 1. 1 would be here shortly. Radio is small and wood- paneled and pleasant. Johnny Cash was on the stereo here, too, singing “Bridge over Troubled Water,” a song I’d never heard him cover. Maybe he only sings it in Danish restaurants, where it seems he is in eternal demand. Claus Meyer is a partner here, too, which explains the reach and undeniable popularity of what is, to all appearances, a tidy little neighborhood joint. The restaurant has a two- acre patch of organically farmed land outside the city that supplies most of its vegetables, and it sources wild meat directly from hunters on Lolland Island, in the Baltic Sea. The waiter delivered a wooden tray of crunchy- chewy little bits of fried Jerusalem artichokes with horseradish cream and a glass of good Morgon. Inside Elki . Little did I know my passion for the food world would be fulfilled by a company my father, Gunnar Lie, started “unintentionally” in 1. My father already had a successful kitchenware business, Norpro Inc., which he loved. He had no intention of starting another business until a couple of people from Scandinavia asked that he help them market their homemade, high quality preserves from Denmark. After tasting these special preserves, he agreed to take them to a gourmet products trade show. Little did he know, this little line of preserves would be a huge hit! Customer demand was so high they kept telling him to just send the preserves as soon as he got them in stock. You see, this line is manufactured in Denmark; however the fruit and berries in each jar come only from the very best regions of the world that have the perfect harvesting conditions for the best quality, best tasting fruit and berries. For instance, we use naval oranges from southern Spain and our lingonberries are hand- picked in Denmark and Finland. Our wild blueberries are special, small blueberries that grow in north Scandinavian forests close to the polar circle with 2. This is the same time honored tradition that you receive today in each jar of Scandinavian Delight Preserves. This quality and taste captured a following and ELKI WAS BORN! Looking back.. As a little girl, I was raised with a love of good food. This passion led to a love of entertaining and cooking as an adult. My family still jokes that I have my dinner planned before I’ve eaten breakfast. Growing up with a father in the kitchenware business, I had the opportunity to earn “fun” money or “candy” money by assembling kitchen tools for $. My mother also owned a beautiful kitchen store. My sister and I loved being there and serving hot cider during the holidays in our traditional Norwegian holiday dresses called Bunads. This industry has been in my blood since day one and I’m grateful for the joy of good food and entertaining. The story continues. He named the company ELKI after my sister and I. Years went by and the Scandinavian Delight Preserve sales grew and grew. During a summer break in college, I helped out at ELKI and realized I really wanted to be a part of this industry. In 1. 99. 5, fresh out of college with a degree in business administration and marketing, I began full- time work at ELKI. I have always laughed about the fact that I didn’t even have an inbox when I started, but I drove to work each day full of excitement and passion for gourmet foods, cooking and entertaining. I was excited to get started developing new product lines with innovative flavors. After a few incredible and fun years, I bought the company from my father in 2. It’s been an exciting and fun adventure from day one. I truly believe I have the best job in the world, working with incredible products, loyal customers and an amazing staff who make ELKI what it is today. There is hardly a week that goes by where ELKI doesn’t receive an email, letter or phone call stating that it’s great to know “customer service is still alive” or “everyone at ELKI is so positive and happy, are you all really like that?” The answer is YES! ELKI today. Today, ELKI has earned a solid reputation in the gourmet food industry. We have won several National Awards for our food products and beautiful packaging. ELKI sells to thousands of specialty shops, kitchen stores, delis, upscale grocery and gift basket companies across the United States and worldwide. Our mission is to continue introducing the finest gourmet foods while maintaining our reputation as one of the best in service. ELKI’s attitude toward customer service, backed by a commitment to create the finest products, has resulted in numerous product lines and a base of customers who are dedicated to ELKI and our products. Today we are both importing and creating original recipes domestically. ELKI has been exhibiting its products for 3. Fancy Food Shows, both in San Francisco and New York to industry buyers. We also exhibit at a variety of regional shows with our team of over 1. In 2. 01. 3 ELKI moved into a beautiful, new facility to accommodate more space for growth. ELKI continues to grow its product assortment, always remembering our core values and commitment to use high quality ingredients and create product lines with both classic and innovative flavors. Our goal has been to create foods with the perfect balance of texture, color and layering of flavors, resulting in products that you crave and can’t stop thinking about. We value our amazing employees, our incredible team of sales people and our wonderful, loyal customers who make our job exciting, motivating us to continue our passion every day. Sincerely,Elizabeth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |