Michael Harlan Turkell's PLOG

A NEW WEBSITE!

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:31:00 -0400

Thank you for visiting my PLOG, but due to the launch of my new website which incorporates a "blog", I will no longer be posting updates here (though it will be kept online as archives). Please visit harlanturk.com for all future work. See your there!

EDIBLE MANHATTAN, Issue 11, May/June 2010

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:50:00 -0400

May Day (in a good way) is upon us! Soon enough we'll see what those April showers have brought. In the meantime, why not sit back and relax with Edible Manhattan's 11th issue?

See the BACK OF THE HOUSE at Patsy's, Frank Sinatra's favorite restaurant (their mainstay meatballs grace our cover). See the shining lights of the Diamond District as we find their hidden dining gems. Come "In the Kitchen With" Michael Douglas as he praises his favorite Chinese takeout. Come to crave the king of pan fried chicken, Charles Gabriel's Harlem soul spot. Watch plates spin as Jono Pandolfi throws them look as light as a pillow. Sip some Dallis Coffee to fuel your eating spree. Heck, there's even some political banter between brothers (Congressman Anthony Weiner and Chef Jason Weiner of Almond restaurant), and see that it's not all black and white ... cookies at Glaser's that is ...

BACK OF THE HOUSE photographs @ Whole Foods Bowery NYC

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:32:00 -0400

A selection of my BACK OF THE HOUSE photographs are now on display at Whole Foods Bowery NYC, upstairs, past the conveyor belt sushi, in/around around the stadium seating area, from April - early/mid June 2010. Enjoy.

Let's Do Lunch! Photo Contest

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Mon, 5 Apr 2010 13:08:00 -0400

Happy to announce a winning entry in the Let's Do Lunch! Photo Contest presented by Photo Induced, placing in the Solo Category for my "Egg in Toast" photo (taken at egg in Brooklyn, NY. The great thing about this contest was that a percentage of all entry fees when to local food banks, as well as future proceeds from the sales of "Let's Do Lunch" book to be produced by Blurb.com.

EDIBLE BROOKLYN, Issue 17, Spring 2010

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:28:00 -0400

What says Spring in Brooklyn more than smoked meat, right? I don't just mean the open aired grilling variety, but those that grace the Polish Butchers of Greenpoint (as seen on Edible Brooklyn's Spring 2010 cover, photo by Dina Kantor). From one enclave to the next, we see diverse backgrounds influencing the ethnic foods we eat. The BACK OF THE HOUSE series stop by Dressler in Williamburg, who's chef, Polo Dobkin, comes from Austrian and Spanish roots to revitalizes stodgy old American bistro staples, into contemporary inflected masterpieces, exempli gratia "steak and short rib, with whipped potatoes, creamed spinach & sauce bordelaise".

From classics to coops, we explore the backyard chicken coop movement, look in the Fridge of WNYC Radio personality Leonard Lopate, sip some joe from nearly hundred year old Dallis Coffee, taste fresh baked macaroons, and watch locally foraged wood became a coffee table for our magazine to sit on. Enjoy!

EDIBLE MANHATTAN, Issue 10, March/April 2010

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Mon, 8 Mar 2010 10:56:00 -0500

Spring is in the air, and beginning to show in the food we eat. Edible Manhattan's 10th Issue (March/April 2010).

Passover, which commemorates an escape, but also marks an Exodus, in which Winter's bleak bounty begets a Spring cleaning, in which we'll celebrate by slicing lox and schmearing bagels in the BACK OF THE HOUSE of Russ and Daughters.

We're also toured around by superstar chef Marcus Samuelsson (of Aquavit) favorite spots by the man himself. We peak "In The Kitchen With" lauded economist Joseph Stiglitz, stop in for nostalgia in the form of a PB&J sandwich at Peanut Butter and Co, and bask in "This Organic Life" through Joan Gussow's earthmother education, with hopes that your garden may grow, and snow may go away.

Edible Manhattan BLOG: Prime (Lunch) Meats, Or, Happy Birthday Dad!

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Sat, 6 Mar 2010 11:13:00 -0500

Brooklyn Dispatch: Prime (Lunch) Meats, Or, Our Photo Editor Takes His Dad Out for a Memory-Filled Meal

“The specials today are pastrami and roast beef”.

“Wait, stop right there,” my father said after an eager glance at the menu. Often the mention of these (mostly mass-produced) cold cuts can leave people cold. But Prime Meats, the Germanic-influenced spin-off of Frankies Spuntino (profiled in Edible Brooklyn’s Summer 2007 issue ) on the corner of Court Street and Luquer Street, had just unleashed a lunchmeat program that is utmost prime! This comes on top of its already well-known revivalist sausages (bratwurst, knockwurst and weisswurst) and sauerbraten.

Growing up in Kensington on Ocean Ave, my father was within walking distance of the Prospect Park Parade Grounds. As documented in The Brooklyn Cookbook by Lyn Stallworth and Rod Kennedy Jr., he was weaned on the “hometown immigrant” foods like knishes and “sephardic vegetable pickles surrendered by Syrian Jews in Flatbush.” In the 1980s, my father moved less than an hour upstate with my mother to raise my brother and I, so we never benefited from the bounty of his Brooklyn heritage.

This Saturday is my father’s birthday. I attempted to make him a batch of my Grandmother’s Sweet and Sour meatballs, but as he corrected me with a pucker, “there’s a bit too much sour salt.” (Note to self: adjust recipe from 1T to 1t.)

It wasn’t until one afternoon, sitting in the sun-stroked banquets at Prime Meats–which are as dark-grained as the Bavarian pretzels they serve–that our collective and nuanced nostalgia set in. For my father, a time of watching the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field; for me, eating lunch at our kitchen table in Westchester listening to him reminisce about those very days.

The common ground was a carefully crafted sandwich, once thought of as the sodden contents of my brown paper bag during school recess, but now made, thanks to Prime Meat, with accoutrements like malolactic fermented dill pickles and sauerkraut. (Stressing that the devil is in the details.)

Who knew that this year, it would be with a sandwich, that I say, “Happy birthday, Dad.”

Food Lover's Guide to Brooklyn, cover photo

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:20:00 -0500

Provided the cover photo (and a few more select image for the website) for Globe Pequot Press' May 2010 release of the Food Lovers' Guide to Brooklyn. From Greenpoint to Gravesend, a big congrats to Sherri Eisenberg for authoring such an adventurous manual to munch your way through New York City's most populous borough.

Edible Manhattan BLOG: Boulud, Keller and Vongerichten Deliver to D’Artagnan, for a Change

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:29:00 -0500

D'Artagnan's 32-Star Dinner for it's 25th Anniversary

Last weekend, Ariane Daguin sat sated, quietly blissing out next to her parents. Her father André, a Michelin starred chef from Gascony, France, was the first to introduce Ariane to foie gras, which became the basis and tour de force of her gourmet foods business called D’Artagnan.

It was this very product that was attributable to last night’s Progressive Dinner festivities at Le Bernardin, in which culinary stars with a total of 32 of their own (either from the New York Times or Michelin) were in attendance. This was the last stop of a roster of meals that toured the elite kitchens of Daniel, Jean-Georges, and Per Se in honor of D’Artagnan’s 25th Anniversary.

But the final meal of the series was also an epiphany for me.

Edible Manhattan profiled Ariane in 2009 as a “Tastemaker,” but it wasn’t until seeing Ariane in action that I realized how her life’s work drew from a community of like-minded chefs whose origins are the land of Armagnac across the Atlantic Ocean. So New York chefs (or those considered to be by now) were paired with their Gascon compatriots; Daniel Boulud cooked with Jean Marie Gautier, Daniel Humm with Jacques Pourcel, Jean-Georges with Michel Bras, Thomas Keller with Helene Darroze, and Michael Laiskonis with Theirry Marx and Pauillac & Philippe Urraca.

To see all these chefs side by side, working with once-foreign, now familiar ingredients in Manhattan, made me realize that the term “local” may not only pertain to an ingredient’s distance from the source or role in traditional cuisine, but also to a cooperative spirit.

That, along with plenty of red and white costumes, was in evidence at Guastavino’s under the Queensborough Bridge last night, as a culinary crowd of revelers (including Tom Colicchio and Drew Neiporent, who were allowed to play along with the band) dressed in the colors of D’Artagnan came to toast Ariane’s accomplishments — in the same vein D’Artagnan himself did during the 17th century inception of the Company of Musketeers, one imagines. All for one, and foie (gras) for all!

BONUS PHOTO:

Can you name all these chefs?

Edible Manhattan BLOG: Boulud, Keller and Vongerichten Deliver to D’Artagnan, for a Change

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:16:00 -0500

Edible Manhattan BLOG: King & I, Over a Centenarian Sandwich

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:39:00 -0500

This week's entry on Edible Manhattan's BLOG: King & I, Over a Centenarian Sandwich, in which I met Chef King Phojanakong of the Lower East Side's Kuma Inn and Clinton Hill's Umi Nom, at Ferdinando's Focacceria in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn for some cultural fare.

As an added bonus, here is King's Guide to Chinatown:

Edible Manhattan BLOG: Tipsy Parson's sticky buns

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 12:17:00 -0500

My first entry for Edible Manhattan's BLOG, "The Breadth of Bread at Tipsy Parson: A Parker House Roll begets a Sticky Bun".

Keep up with both Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn, as we explore each borough's food culture, by periodically checking in with BLOG at, EdibleManhattan.com.

Edible Communities' 2010 Eddy Awards

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Wed, 3 Feb 2010 18:44:00 -0500

Happy to announce, that I was a finalist in two photography categories during the Edible Communities' 2010 Eddy Awards.

Best Cover
Edible Manhattan, July/Aug 2009, Gray's Papaya hot dogs (recession special)

Best Photography, Non-Cover
Edible Brooklyn Fall 2009, BACK OF THE HOUSE: Roberta's

As a whole, Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan had quite a good showing, with one WINNER ...

Best Editorial - Beverage Focus
Edible Manhattan, March/April 2009, "Through the Drinking-Glass, and What Del Found There" by St. John Frizell

... and a handful of other finalists ...

Best Editorial - Website
Edible Brooklyn

Best Editorial - Political or Social Issue
Edible Manhattan, Nov/Dec 2009, "The Slaugherhouse Problem" by Ann Monroe

Best Editorial - Historical
Edible Manhattan, March/April 2009, "Net Loss: Shad Swim Against the Tide of Time" by Peter Hoffman

Best Editorial - Food or Cooking
Edible Manhattan, July/Aug 2009, "Iconic Foods: The Hog Dog" by Robert Sietsema

Congrats to our staff and the Edible Communities as a whole for another wonderful year of Edible.

BACK OF THE HOUSE photographs at Whole Foods Union Square NYC

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:17:00 -0500

From January - March of 2010, a selection of my BACK OF THE HOUSE photographs will be on display in the upstairs cafe at the Whole Foods Union Square NYC.

EDIBLE MANHATTAN, Issue 9, Jan/Feb 2010

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:27:00 -0500

Cover photo "Subway Inn" by Micah Beree

Welcome to 2010! A new year, decade, and issue of Edible Manhattan (#9, Jan/Feb 2010)!.

We start off the year with a look inside the BACK OF THE HOUSE of Hearth and into the mind of Chef Marco Canora, who's unflinching Italian cooking and his 4 prized chef's seats sidled right up to the open kitchen, are some of the most sought after in NYC.

We trot the world a bit with a bus trip to a Japanese mega-mart, Mitsuwa, a visit to the Londoners' Myers of Keswick, Mastiha Shop's Mediterranean influences, and Scottish game hunting with Chef Terrance Brennan.

Also, the meat of the matter, chocolate dipped bacon at Roni Sue Chocolates, and Josh Ozersky's (aka Mr. Cutlets) look inside the family history of LaFrieda Meats.

EDIBLE BROOKLYN, Issue 16, Winter 2010

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:57:00 -0500

Right in time for the holiday stretch! Try not to pull those spirit muscles this year, and hopefully Edible Brooklyn's Winter 2010 Issue can assist with some cheer.

On the cover, Sugarbuilt's cast iron cookies (photo by Jacob Pritchard)

We visit the BACK OF THE HOUSE at Franny's and Brooklyn Larder, where it's not just about the pizza anymore.

Go "In the Kitchen With" one of my favorite local designers, Lotta Jansotter (Anderson).

Also, taste the beginnings of Scratch Bread, see how a Montreal transplant brings us smoked meat and poutine at Mile End Deli, plus more confections, proteins, and beverages to sate you through the New Year!

Cheers to 2010 in Brooklyn!

Newport Magazine, Chef Chris Cosentino "nose to tail" cooking

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:29:00 -0500

Cover shot for Newport Magazine, of Chef Chris Cosentino from Incanto in San Francisco, covering his "nose to tail" cooking philosophy.

Photos of Chef Chris Cosentino for Phaidon's COCO cookbook

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 13:58:00 -0500

Contributed photos of Chef Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco, for Phaidon's COCO cookbook. Chris was chosen by Fergus Henderson of the famed St. John Restaurant in London. It's an outstanding collection of 100 of the most influential chefs in the world. Check out the Phaidon pop-up store in Soho, NYC (and there's also one in London).

Photographs at De Gustibus Cooking School in Macy's

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 13:55:00 -0500

Thanks to Salvatore Rizzo, a selection of my BACK OF THE HOUSE photographs are hanging up at the De Gustibus Cooking School in Macy's Herald Square NYC location. Stop by for a peek, and stay for a class.

EDIBLE MANHATTAN, Issue 8, Nov/Dec 2009

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Tue, 3 Nov 2009 12:08:00 -0500

Edible Manhattan's 8th issue reminds me that Fall turns into winter quicker than we think, thankfully there's City Bakery's hot chocolate to warm us up (our latest BACK OF THE HOUSE). Oh, and definitely had a pretzel croissant or three.

Spent time with food writer and director of Southern Foodways Alliance. John T. Edge picking apart the fried chicken in Koreatown.

In The Kitchen with Adam Gopnik, a writer for The New Yorker, and a reason I hope to live in France someday sooner than not (read his book, Paris to the Moon, and you will too).

Not to meniton:
... homemade egg nog, Whole Food's Thanksgiving prep, sourcing local "meat", and Chef Eric Ripert's City Harvest initiatives ...

PICTURE MAGAZINE Sept/Oct 2009 interview on "food" photography

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 12:03:00 -0400

Interviewed as photo editor of Edible Manahttan for PICTURE Magazine's Sept/Oct 2009 issue along with Michael Balzano, art director of EatingWell and Darra Goldstein, editor-in-chief of Gastronomica, on our varied approaches to "food" photography.

EDIBLE BROOKLYN, Issue 15, Fall 2009

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:59:00 -0400

Out this week, Edible Brooklyn's Fall 2009 issue.

Covering the BACK OF THE HOUSE, of Roberta's pizzeria eden and more in Bushwick.

An underground cult favorite hot sauce at Waterfront Ale House.

High spirits at Tuthilltown Grist Mill, Hudson's own Whiskey being produced only a few hour train ride from Grand Central Station.

And a roundup of Brooklyn's coffee "bean scene", dumpling factory tour, ...

EDIBLE MANHATTAN, Issue 7, Sept/Oct 2009

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:07:00 -0400

Where did the summer go?

Well, here's to the almost autumnal Edible Manhattan, Issue 7, Sept/Oct 2009. (cover by Ramin Talaie)

Went photographic search of schmaltz in the BACK OF THE HOUSE at Sammy's Roumanian.

Found a Fruit and Vegetable Alphabet Wall.

Toured the director of NYC Opera, George Steel's fridge for "In the Kitchen With".

Took an upstate getaway at Tuthilltown Grist Mill, makers of Hudson Valley's finest whiskey, and local spirits.

Recanted Zagat's origins, surveying a history in voicing the public's taste(buds).

Also, met with Chefs in Schools, explored the new directions in Corporate Cafeterias, and visited Central Park to Forage with "Wildman" Steve Brill.

MHT Photo Shows: BOH @ James Beard House, edible @ Whole Foods

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 17:39:00 -0400

A solo show of the latest "mise en place" edition in my BACK OF THE HOUSE Project is on the walls at the James Beard House, 167 West 12th St (5/6 Aves), Sept - Oct 2009 . Visit here, http://jamesbeard.org/?q=node/1514 for more info.

Also, curated a show for Edible Brooklyn / East End / Manhattan (which includes a few of my own works) on the walls of Whole Foods Union Square location, in the 2nd Floor cafe. There will be an opening tea party on Wed. Sept 15th, from 10AM-1130AM. It's free, though you need to RSVP via this link, http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/unionsquare/storecalendar.php
It will run until Dec 2009.

To follow, is a solo MHT show from Jan. 2010 - March 2010 (also at Whole Foods).

Ted Kennedy, RIP

michael@harlanturk.com (Michael Harlan Turkell) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:17:00 -0400

A photo of Senator Ted Kennedy, taken during the 2004 DNC in Boston. RIP.