SCOOP A New Kind of Sichuan Restaurant for New York
Guan Fu Sichuan
Scoop says before I’d seen my first chile pepper at Guan Fu, it was already clear that it is a new kind of Sichuan restaurant for New York. To get there, you head to downtown Flushing, Queens, cross a courtyard off Prince Street and pass between the two stone lions under a small Chinese gabled roof, guarding the front door. Inside is a dignified dining room where polished wood panels stand next to weathered wooden screens under gilded, illuminated ceiling recesses. In the private rooms visible behind sliding doors, a few of the chairs look like small thrones. The ones in the main dining room are elaborate, cushioned and wide enough for two. The tables are set with dark wooden chopstick handles, wrapped in metal filigree at one end, with brushed steel tips at the other. To use them, you twist disposable bamboo tips into the steel ends. While you’re doing this, a server brings a party-size segmented wooden bowl holding sunflower seeds and roasted watermelon seeds for you to crack open while you page through the menu. Guan Fu Sichuan’s formality and rich interior detail are rare among this city’s Sichuan restaurants. Atmosphere doesn’t fill your stomach, of course, but when it’s done right, it can slow you down and wake your senses to the smells and tastes on the way. That is the case at Guan Fu, where the kitchen doesn’t always try to strafe your palate into submission with a hail of chiles. The flavors are potent, but they don’t get all of their force from their heat. Think of Sichuan boiled fish with pickled vegetables here the body and flavor of what is typically a rather thin sauce is broadened with a stock made from fish bones. Fresh green chiles provide a heat 20 • September 2017 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com
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held in thrilling check by the sourness. The kitchen gives mapo tofu, that old war horse, a new lease on life. Cabbage is fried with pork and fresh chiles, but the appeal of the dish is the way the invisible presence of Sichuan peppercorns sets your mouth and lips tingling. Not that the kitchen avoids spices. One reason to keep your wits about you while eating at Guan Fu is that you can’t always tell when extreme heat is about to rain down like Judgment Day. One of the hottest things on the menu, the Guan Fu-style cuttlefish salad, contains almost no red chiles. Its ability to shock and amaze comes from fresh green chiles that are roasted until black, skinned and made into a sauce that tastes almost Mexican. Barely cooked cuttlefish are scored with a knife so they twist up and look like little pine cones. That potent green sauce insinuates itself into every one of their crevices. This is one of many Guan Fu dishes that are rarely seen in New York, if ever.
‘Cake Boss’ Baker’s Mustache to Help Raise $25G for Kids
Buddy Valastro, Ralpha Attanasia And Danny Dragone Of “Cake Boss”
Scoop notes that Danny Dragone, a mustachioed employee of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken and regular on the TLC series “Cake Boss,” let his beloved facial hair be shaved off if fans donate $25,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the children’s charity announced. Dragone will let the boss himself, celebrity chef and Carlo’s owner Buddy Valastro, shave off the mustache with help from cake sculptor and “Cake Boss” regular Ralph Attanasia, MakeA-Wish said. Make-A-Wish set up a web page where
donors can make minimum contributions of $5, up to any amount they wish. The shave is to take place at the Samuel & Josephine Plumeri Wishing Place, the foundation’s New Jersey headquarters in Monroe Township. Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. Nationwide, the organization says a wish is granted every 34 minutes.
Ritz-Carlton Teams With Air China to Launch First Class In-Flight Menu for New York Passengers Scoop notes The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing recently announced its collaboration with Air China. The hotel’s Chef De Cuisine at their restaurant Barolo Amedeo Ferri will design a new first class in-flight menu for Air China routes from Beijing to the US. Chef Ferri will design four-course seasonal menus for guests from Beijing to the US, which will be served from August 1 to July 31, 2018. From August to October 2017, the dishes will be served to first class passengers onboard selected Air China flights departing from Beijing to New York, Newmark, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Washington and Houston. More routes will be added soon. Air China has long understood the importance its passengers place on in-flight dining and their catering company goes to great lengths to source high-quality food to suit every palate. Air China teams up with a celebrated chef from a luxury hotel for the first time in an effort to elevate the dining experience while in the air. “We are committed to providing an exceptional travel experience from the very moment our passengers book their flights with us through to their final destination and beyond,” said Huang Zongying, Air China’s general manager of Cabin Service Department. Chef Ferri comes from Umbria, Italy and has been appointed Chef De Cuisine of Barolo since June 2016. He spent the last 19 years perfecting his culinary skills at various renowned hotels and restaurants. He has designed a delicious menu for Air China with an inventive approach while staying true to the classic Italian flavors at heart. The menu includes a prawn salad with couscous, which is influenced by the south of Italy and combines the freshest ingre-
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