Category Archives: Small Bites Radio

(The following is a special series on Bluejeanfoodcritic.com written by guest contributing writer William Knowles. He highlights his passions of of trying something new whenever the opportunity presents itself, or possibly something old, but new again since it has been a while. I hope you enjoy his very special perspective that I am sure many of you can relate to. Follow him on his exciting journey “Around Town”)

The Collingswood Grand Ballroom at the Scottish Rite Auditorium was the setting, on the night of August 20th, for the 2nd annual Bacon and Beer Festival.  This is an event that is held for a great cause and inspires local chefs to get creative with one of culinary’s finest offerings.

Over 15 local restaurants took part, some presenting more standard recipes while others used imagination to involve bacon in any way possible.  The Tortilla Press, located right down the road from the ballroom in Collingswood, put a twist on their normal fare with bacon flavored guacamole.  Local BBQ notable Famous Dave’s presented a barbecue burger wrapped in bacon and soaked in beer; another favorite, the Pop Shop, doled out bacon wrapped fried pickle.  The Robin’s Nest, located in Mount Holly, supplied some delicious potato, cheddar and bacon soup.  And Trattoria Figaro of Mount Laurel had an awesome desert prepared – chocolate cake with homemade buttercream and bacon on top.  Other local participants included Aunt Berta’s Kitchen, Bistro DiMarino, Braddocks Tavern, Kitchen 519 and Ott’s Tavern.

Beer, the other wonderful thing about this night’s party, was abundant with the presence of numerous local breweries.  Evil Genius, Flying Fish, Neshaminy Creek, Saucony Creek, Smuttynose, Troegs and Weyerbacher all had a nice selection of their craft suds to try.  Evil Genius previewed their Trick or Treat Chocolate Pumpkin Porter, a must try if you haven’t already…

The most important accolades for this event go to the job well done by Michael Snyder, the CEO of Crossroads Programs, and his team.  The non-profit organization frequently hosts fundraisers in Southern New Jersey to help run homeless shelters for abandoned and abused teenagers, and in turn try to provide them with a fulfilling life by finding them foster families.  The beer and bacon event is one of their biggest money makers, and I encourage you to visit their website atcrossroadsprograms.org to learn more about their fine work.

See you at the 3rd annual Bacon and Beer Festival next year, and much sooner than that “around town”…

I was invited to attend a preview press dinner at Lemongrass. The owner Danny Dang was very welcoming and he stated that this was a dream come true for him to open his own restaurant. I do not review previews, but what I can tell you is that I had a great time there. Below each course is a description from Danny of the dish.

1) To begin, we start with a Lobster Roll for each individual to show off our creativity, as well as presentation, since the Lobster Roll is our creation.

2) We will follow up the Lobster Roll with the world famous phở from the Vietnamese people. This is as traditional as it comes, and any chef who is competent in Vietnamese cuisine should be able to prepare a phở properly. The broth must be hearty with a nice balance of ginger and herbs. We are quite proud with our phở.

3) Banh Xeo. We choose this dish to display our finesse as it is very difficult to cook the Banh Xeo and keep it nice and crispy.

4) Basa Fillet is a recent hybrid of fish, and it is not French-influenced, but rather, American-influenced. We are, perhaps, the only restaurant that offers the Basa this way.

5) Flank Steak to demonstrate the French influence on Vietnamese cuisine.

6) Mì Quảng, which is a traditional tossed noodles bowl from Central Vietnam, where I come from. Mì Quảng is a meal, like phở, that properly demonstrates the traditional Vietnamese culture and values. And as with phở, Mì Quảng will test a chef with his or her patience, care, and dedication.

7) And to end on a lighter note, we serve our twist on the traditional dessert, Flan, to show off our creativity, and a rich and healthy tea to show our quality. As a tea-drinker, I have tried many, many teas. Some are quite expensive; however, we choose this particular tea because of its taste, quality, and aroma.