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The Hog Burger with a side of homemade applesauce at Quincy Street Bistro
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Choose from three different parfaits--Chocolate Turtle, Pina Colada, Strawberry Cheesecake--at Celebrating Life Cake Boutique, in Wildwood
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La Tourangelle's artisan oils, available at Parker's Table in Richmond Heights.
SLM contributor Byron Kerman weighs in on local food events, happenings, and dining news of note. Look for his wit, wisdom, and whimsy every other week in On the Burner.
Pig Out
Where do people in the restaurant industry eat on their nights off? One popular choice is Quincy Street Bistro, offering a menu of comfort foods that burst with flavor. First-timers should consider a signature dish, the Hog Burger. The blend of beef, pork, and house-cured bacon is seasoned with Creole spices, then topped with pimento cheese and caramelized onions. It’s like discovering the hamburger has an older—and cooler—brother.
Luscious Layers
Wildwood peeps can have a delicious time trying the new ice cream parfaits at the Celebrating Life Cake Boutique. Consider the strawberry cheesecake (strawberries, cheesecake ice cream, French vanilla cake, and graham cracker crumbs); pina colada (pineapple jam, pina colada ice cream, French vanilla cake, and toasted coconut), or chocolate turtle flavors (chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, toffee crunch, fudge, caramel, and pecans). All the ice cream as well as the cake is house-made.
Anoint Us, Already
The craziest and quite possibly the best use of pumpkin-seed oil is to drizzle it on vanilla ice cream. The sweet ice cream and smoky, nutty oil meld in taste and texture for an addictive combo. That’s not to say you can’t use the dark green oil to dress up traditional dishes, like pastas, rice and soup, or to mix with apple cider vinegar to make a puckish salad dressing. It’s so good, though, it seems to want to be the star of the show. Pour a few drops on a halved avocado and prepare to swoon. They just got a shipment of toasted pumpkin seed oil made by La Tourangelle of Woodland, Ca. at Parker’s Table wine shop in Richmond Heights. That’s one way to begin the experimentation.
