Baijiu (pronounced sort of like “bye Joe”), is an aggressive tasting Chinese spirit that is very slowly making inroads into the American cocktail scene. The chances of it hitting the mainstream are close to zero, but it does bring its distinctive personality to the Chinato, the house cocktail of a bar by that name that recently opened on New York City’s Lower East Side.
Uni, or sea urchin, is also not likely to show up on menu dessert menus, but it is in a panna cotta at Money Cat in Houston.
In Boulder, at Oak at Fourteenth, the northern Italian stuffed pasta called Scarpinocc is stuffed with rosemary scented fennel and onions, and in a completely different part of Colorado, Steamboat Springs, local trout is the star of an eggs benedict dish at Yampa Valley Kitchen
In Charleston, S.C., at Millers All Day, hushpuppies are turned into a rich appetizer with the addition of blue crabmeat and pimento cheese.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
