While others are excited by the holiday season, a few of us are excited by a whole different season: the olio novello season, the time of year when Italian new-harvest oil starts coming into the country.

When I was in Philly a week ago, I asked the owner of Claudio’s when its house-brand, new-harvest oil from Puglia would be arriving. He replied that it had just arrived that morning; it was in the back and, if I could wait 15 or 20 minutes, he’d get me a bottle.

My short wait was rewarded with a bottle of the full-bodied, almost translucent green ambrosia. “You’re the first person in the city to get this,” he said. “I haven’t even had the chance to have any.”

Read More “Forget the Holiday Season. Think Olio Novello Season Instead.” »

The Amy-eos at Dean & DeLuca

Or just visit your favorite bakery instead. Assuming you have one other than Teaism, that is.

Earlier this week, I asked the Y&H Nation, via my twitter account, where they might like to pick up a good cookie for National Cookie Day, which is tomorrow. The vast majority of the responses (OK, three of them) were the same: the salty oat cookie at Teaism, which no doubt explains its appearance on the D.C. Dish Hall of Fame leaderboard. Two folks even mentioned the salty oat at Marvelous Market, but I’m hoping that was just a case of simple confusion over the home of the real thing.

Others offered up more original choices:

• The rugelach at Marvelous Market (via grassfedmedia)
• The oatmeal cookie at Buzz (via robynwebb)
• The pignoli at Vaccaro’s (via mrf100)
• The cookies at Cafe Phillips (via isitdinneryet)
• ‘Bee Stings’ bars at Baked & Wired or the cookies at Castro’s Bakery for their childhood nostalgia (via HelenaHimm)

Y&H has a few to throw into the mix, too:

Read More “Tomorrow Is National Cookie Day, So Get Baking” »

For months now, if you wanted to get your hands on chef Stefano Frigerio’s creative jams, pastas, and sauces, you had to drag your ass to a local farmers market on the appropriate time and day. A lot easier said then done on most days.

But on Dec. 2 (or thereabouts, since you never know what gremlins could affect its launch), Frigerio will start selling his products online at www.copperpotfoodco.com. The site, at first, will carry only the chef’s jams and sauces but should, eventually, offer his pastas and ragus as well.

Even better, the site will hawk Frigerio’s new “jam trios.” Each collection will feature three, 4-oz jars of jams tied to a particular theme. The $15 themed collections include “Cheese Accoutrements” (white fig & balsamic, red beet & rhubarb, and quince cinnamon), “‘Spirit’ed Jams” (white peach & Prosecco ‘Bellini,’ nectarine & bourbon, and Concorde grape & grappa), and “Copper Pot Signature Jams” (strawberry & vanilla bean, blackberry ginger, and orchard-fresh apple).

Given the direction of the Copper Pot company, I had to ask Frigerio’s wife and publicist, Dusty Lockhart, if the former Mio chef still had any interest in taking a kitchen position. Last I heard, after all, he was interviewing for executive chef posts.

Read More “Just in Time for the Holidays: Copper Pot Jams and Sauces Online” »

After reading my take-down of Wagshal’s homemade Twinkies, Patricia Jinich, a cooking instructor and chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute, told me about these fancy Oreos available at Dean & DeLuca. She thought I might want to check them out, too.

The cookies are not produced in-house at D&D, but by Amy Berg, the freelance baker behind Amy’s Cookies in Brooklyn. Berg’s version of the Oreo — which some have dubbed the groanworthy Amy-eo — includes cookies made with Valrhona cocoa powder and a buttercream filling spiked with Kahlua.

So how are the Amy-eos?

Read More “Upscale Oreos: Can You Improve on a Good Thing?” »