Desserts by David Glass Closing After 28 Years

After nearly 30 years of providing amazingly delicious desserts at both the wholesale and retail level, Desserts by David Glass is closing its doors, a victim of the economic downturn and the loss of its biggest wholesale customer.

Owner David Glass started creating his high-end cakes in a house on Sargent Street in Hartford before moving operations to the old Colt factory under the blue onion dome and, most recently, to a building on Blue Hills Avenue in Bloomfield.

For the past few years, the bakery has hosted tastings and direct retail sales to the public at the Bloomfield bakery. My family and I would stop in on occasional Saturday mornings to sample slices of heaven and buy a cake or two to bring home. We even had a tour of the bakery and operations area one Saturday morning. Now and again Mr. Glass would stroll through the retail area to chat with customers; the atmosphere was always friendly and relaxed and seemed more like a party than a sales event.

And although his desserts were treasured by local people, he had a wide following; his cakes were sold by Zabar's in NYC, by Whole Foods, and at Stew Leonard's, as well as in restaurants all over the Northeast.

They were also sold at Trader Joe's - nearly half of their business was done with the Trader Joe's account - and unfortunately that proved to be David Glass' undoing. Trader Joe's decided that they were paying too much for the desserts and tried to negotiate a wholesale price that was less than it cost Desserts by David Glass to produce the goods. Glass couldn't afford that kind of "deal" but Trader Joe's wouldn't budge. The relationship ended and it was the beginning of the end.

In an article about the closing published in the Hartford Courant, Glass said that he hopes to reopen as a smaller local bakery because he believes his desserts still have a local following.

He's right. They do. And I hope he lands on his feet.

Photo of David Glass from www.davidglass.com

Healthy Frozen Meals: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers - General Tso's Spicy Chicken

General Tso stood on a hill looking over the city of Shaoxing. Smoke rose from numerous fires behind the city walls, and his triumphant troops were bringing loads of looted treasure and supplies back to their lines. Soon, one of his lieutenants approached with a line of prisoners. The General eyed them coldly. It had been a long campaign, and these soldiers had cost the lives of many of his best men. He turned to the first of the prisoners and said, "I will spare your lives...if you cook me a chicken."

It's been a hundred and fifty years since that day. I wonder what General Tso would have thought of this Healthy Choice chicken meal bearing his name.

I guess I'll never know, but I'm not sure if he'd be pleased with it.

There were three little pieces of chicken inside the steam tray - about a third of a chicken tenderloin. It tasted slightly artificial, like it had been beefed up with something. Sure enough, there's hydrolyzed soy protein, flavoring added, and tenderizers added to it. It's not too bad, just a bit chewier than I expect my chicken to be.

The veggies in this one seem to be the same as last time: scallions (which were more or less nonexistant), and a giant helping of cubed carrot and red bell pepper. The scallions that were present in the meal were a bit tough, but the carrots and bell peppers were done so that they were still just a bit crunchy. The rice was done to perfection as well; not chewy, not crunchy, but damn there was a lot of it.

And the sauce was pretty good too. It had a well-rounded flavor that included soy, ginger, hot pepper, garlic, black pepper, and sake if you concentrate really hard. The hot pepper and ginger gave the sauce a nice mid- to tip-of-the-tongue heat without making it too spicy.

Overall, it was something that I'd get again if it was on sale, but its regular price ($3.59) is just too expensive for me to justify paying for what's really just carrots and rice in a bowl.

NUTRITIONAL BREAKDOWN:
Total Calories: 320
Calories From Fat: 40
Sodium: 500 mg; 21%

TOTAL PREP TIME: 5 minutes

Pepsi & Mountain Dew Throwback to Return

PepsiCo announced today that Pepsi-Cola Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback - "vintage" versions of Pepsi and Mtn Dew - will be returning for another limited engagement on December 28th, for an 8-week run. Mark your calendars! YEAH!!

Zevia All-Natural Sugar-Free Soda

Back in July, I reviewed Zevia Root Beer. I thought it was pretty decent, with a few reservations, but it was certainly something I would buy again if only I could find it around here.

Zevia is sweetened with Stevia rebaudiana, a plant native to South America, where it goes by the colloquial name "sweetleaf." It's been used for centuries there, and unlike some of the chemical cocktails that are used as artificial sweeteners, it's completely natural. Even though I'm not that much of a tree-hugger, that appeals to me. The other thing that appeals to me is that research on stevia indicates that it might have beneficial medical properties. For most people, though, what will matter most is how it tastes.

After I published that first review, I got a message from one of the founders of Zevia, Ian Eisenberg. He was concerned that I had gotten an older version of the root beer, and offered to send me fresh samples of each of Zevia's flavors for review. Over the past couple of weeks, my family and I have been enjoying all six of Zevia's flavors, and here's what I think of them.

Ginger Ale: Excellent! Light and refreshing, with a flavor that captures the essence of ginger's bouncy fruitiness. This is one of my all-time favorite flavors of any brand of soft drink - it tastes like freshly-grated ginger (though without ginger's "heat.")


Cola: Another refreshing and quenching flavor. Subtle overtones of citrus (especially lime) set Zevia's cola well apart from the Big 2 colas, both of which have "heavier" and more aggressive flavors (not necessarily a good thing.) So much better than the swill that Coca-Cola calls "Diet Coke" that it can't even be measured.

Twist: I'm sorry to say that I just can not enjoy Zevia's take on a lemon-lime soda. It's all natural, flavored with real citrus oils, and it should be delicious. But to me, it tastes like furniture polish. This was the only one of the bunch I didn't like.

Orange: Zevia Orange relies on natural citrus oils for its flavor, the same way that Twist does. But the Orange's flavor is much less overpowering, making the drink more enjoyable to me. My wife particularly enjoyed this flavor.

Root Beer: Delicious herbal notes with a hint of licorice on the palate. I still find the flavor to be a bit thin, but as I noted last time, that's not a reason for me to take points off. After ginger ale, this is my favorite variety.

Black Cherry: Deep and authentic black cherry flavor, with hints of grape and berry lingering after. This is the only flavor where we noticed any lingering "non-sugar bitterness" but it wasn't unpleasant or overpowering.

Overall, I really like Zevia soda, and I would buy it regularly if only it was available here in northern Connecticut. And so, I will have to content myself with picking up a couple of cases when I am visiting New York (there are several stores in the Greater NYC area that sell it.)

Link:

Zevia's website.

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Healthy Frozen Meals: Healthy Choice Sweet Asian Potstickers

For a while (and even now, when I think about it) Dave's been buying and trying frozen dinners and writing about them here. Not too long ago, someone left a comment about trying and writing up frozen meals by Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, and other "healthy" frozen meals. I thought that was a great idea, and took the project to do myself. (I'll leave the nasty and bizarre stuff to Dave.)

So every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'm going to try (and write about) a "healthy" frozen dinner.

And today I'm going to write about Healthy Choice's Sweet Asian Potstickers.

(I'm using the microwave instructions on this one because it's easier and I'm going to assume people are eating these at work.)

The package told me to cut slits in the plastic film and cook it for four minutes. After that, I had to the the film off partially, flip the potstickers over, and cook for an additional two.

The meal had three average sized potstickers on one side of the tray, and a small scoop of rice and mixed veggies on the other. Everything was sitting in a shallow pool of sweet-smelling sauce.

The wrappers on the potstickers were tough and leathery, but I kind of expected that, as dumplings are kind of hard to microwave without them getting rubbery. The insides of them, though, were awesome. A pleasingly spicy mix of cellophane noodles, cabbage, and baked tofu were a perfect compliment to the sweet sauce that they were sitting in. The spices in the potstickers wasn't overpowering, or too weak; it was perfectly seasoned.

The rice and veggies were equally as nice, but a bit on the bland side. The rice was perfectly done, medium-grain rice; it was neither tough or chewy, while the veggies (carrots and red bell pepper) were still firm without being underdone. The carrots even had a bit of that perfectly done carroty 'crunch' to them. There were also supposed to be water chestnts, but there were none in my tray, sadly. There ws also a scant amount of scallions, which were tough and grassy, but they still added a little bit of onionesue flavor.

Overall, the Sweet Asian Potstickers were pretty good. I might even consider getting them again if I see Healthy Choice meals on sale here.

NUTRITION BREAKDOWN:
Total Calories: 380
Calroies From Fat: 45
Sodium: 500 mg; 25% DV

TOTAL PREP TIME: 6 Minutes

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Gummies, Gooier Than Usual

It was a murderously hot and humid day yesterday. The digital thermometer across the street from the parking lot said 97 F. The car was closed up and locked and in the sun all day. Who knows how hot it got in the car?

The Gummies knew. Trapped together, shoulder to shoulder, rolled up in their plastic bag. They knew how hot it was in the car that day. They felt it. The temperature rose and the sugar slowly melted into their glistening skin, and their Gummi Grins turned into Nervous Uncomfortable Gummi Smiles as they found themselves first sticking to one another and then melting - fusing - flowing together as one! No! NOOOOOOOOO!!!

Their fear and horror and outrage were in vain, of course. No mere Gummi could withstand the wrath and fire of the angry star, and by the time help arrived it was too late. Their comfy plastic bag had become a coffin, sealed shut by the sticky mass of melted candy inside.

Don't leave a bag of gummies in a hot car.

Limited Edition Coconut M&Ms

Lynnafred's been keeping an eye open for Coconut M&Ms ever since she first found out that this new limited-edition flavor was being released. Last week, she finally found them for sale in a CVS in Salem MA. We gave them a try.

Dave says:

The picture on the front of the bag fooled me - I thought there would be chocolate inside, with a coconut around it, and then the famous M&M candy shell around that. But instead, we found otherwise-standard M&Ms loaded with artificial coconut flavor. No actual coconut at all.

Although artificial, they're not bad. The coconut flavor is strong and also rather delicious paired with the chocolate. I laughed when we poured out a handful of the candies, though. Unlike standard M&Ms, which are so uniformly sized you could base a system of measurment upon them, coconut M&Ms are all sort of random sizes, from the small lentil-shaped traditional size and shape up to big blobby-looking ones. They all have the "m" on them. Some of them have other decorations, too, like little palm trees and such.

Strange sizing aside, though, I'd buy them again. They're good and they deliver coconut flavor without filling my mouth with annoying shredded-coconut "hairs." I hate the texture of shredded coconut. It gets all over my tongue.

Lynnafred says:

When I finally found my delicious coconut M&Ms, I was pretty pleased. I've never seen them around here, and still haven't, but keep an active lookout for them.

Like Dave said above, there was no actual coconut in the M&Ms, and artificial flavor was actually the last ingredient on the list. (It was even behind the seemingly never-ending list of dyes that are used to color the candy shells!) That surprised me because the coconut flavor in them was pretty strong, and actually stronger than I expected.

But unlike Dave, I noticed two distinct layers of chocolate when I bit my first few M&Ms in half - a harder, more standard chocolate outer layer, and a softer, inner layer where I'm guessing the coconut flavor was hidden. (I noticed this because I always bite my M&Ms in half. Dave doesn't. He just pops the damn things in his mouth and OM NOM NOMs. When you do that, you miss the carefully constructed subtlety of the layers.)

All in all, though, these were pretty decent, and a refreshing addition to the M&Ms line. It's unfortunate that these are a limited time deal: if they were permanent and more widely distributed, I'd pick them up whenever I really wanted a chocolate fix.

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Lobster Cakes

Lobster prices are still on the low side, and here in New England they've been showing up on sale with some unusual frequency. Last week, Market Basket supermarkets on Massachusetts' North Shore were selling live lobsters for $3.99 a pound, and this weekend Shaw's supermarkets in Connecticut were featuring a 3-day special with live chicken lobsters (that is to say, 1½-pounders) for $4.88 a pound.

At any rate, they're cheap enough that instead of being an occasional treat, I'm able to use them as an ingredient in a way that hasn't been possible in years. We've been taking advantage of that recently. Last night, for example, we made lobster cakes.

If you're already familiar with my crab cake recipe, you already have the basics. But lobster and crab, despite their similarities, are very different in taste and texture, and call for a different mix of seasonings.

Lobster Cakes
Makes 6 cakes

1 egg
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lobster tomalley (if you don't have or don't like tomalley,
-- you may substitute another tablespoon of mayo for it.)
½ teaspoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon white wine or sake
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon (heaping) paprika
2 slices of white bread, grated to crumbs
4 cups of lobster meat (that's about what you'd get from 4
-- "chicken" lobsters - 1 ½ pounders)
Panko crumbs
Butter for frying

Whisk the egg, mayonnaise, tomalley, mustard, and sake together until smooth. Add coriander, salt, celery salt, and paprika, and whisk until smooth.

In a large bowl, toss the crumbs with the lobster meat until they are well-combined, then pour the egg mixture over all and stir until evenly moistened.

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper or baking parchment and sprinkle it well with panko crumbs.

Form the mixture into six patties, either by hand or by using a biscuit cutter as a form. As each patty is formed, place it on the panko crumbs on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle a little more panko on the top of each patty as well. Slide the cookie sheet into the fridge and chill for about an hour or so to let the cakes "set." (This prevents them from falling apart when you fry them.)

Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a hot frypan or griddle and brown the lobster cakes on both sides until they are a rich golden brown and heated all the way through. Serve with a garden salad and corn on the cob.

As delicious as these are for a summer supper, I was surprised at how good they are cold the next day - good enough that I would deliberately make them ahead, chill them, and serve them as a light lunch with fresh garden tomato wedges and cucumber slices on the side.


A note about lobster tomalley:

The tomalley is the soft greenish stuff up in the lobster body; it's the lobster's liver and it has a strong and unique flavor that many people (including me) consider to be a delicacy. Too much tomalley probably isn't good for you - the US Food & Drug Administration and Health Canada both advise against eating too much of it because after all, it's liver, and the liver's function in the body is to remove toxins - and therefore, those toxins tend to become concentrated in the liver.

In this recipe, the tomalley is used as a seasoning, and the amount works out to about half a teaspoon per lobster cake (far below the FDA or HC guidelines.) It gives the lobster cakes a richer, more satisfying flavor. But if you're fretful about eating tomalley, or you just think it's too gross to put in your food, feel free to omit it and add an extra tablespoon of mayonnaise.

For more information about lobsters and tomalley, visit The Lobster Queen.

Julie & Julia

I saw Julie & Julia last night with family and friends, and we really enjoyed it. Well, we really enjoyed half of it - the other half was kind of meh. As you probably know by now, the movie tells how Julia Child struggled on a decade-long path from diplomat's wife to culinary master who permanently changed the way America thought about food, juxtaposing it with the story of Julie Powell, a young woman in Queens who...uh...cooked her way through Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking and blogged about it.

Yeah, those two achievements are totally identical.

Meryl Streep presents us with a warm, funny, affectionate, and thoroughly enjoyable portrayal of Julia Child, capturing Ms. Child's mannerisms and joie de vivre with such accuracy that one almost forgets that it's not The Real Julia up there on the screen. Those scenes comprise the half of the movie we really liked, and they are so much fun, in fact, that by midway through the movie I found myself wishing for more Julia in Paris and less - much less - Julie in New York (guess you can figure out which half of the movie was rated "Meh.") Amy Adams' portrayal of Julie Powell just made Powell seem like a whiney, annoying, obsessive and rather unlikeable bint.

In spite of that, it was a fun film. I can't wait for it to come out on (fast-forwardable) DVD.

How To Kill Your Restaurant

There's only one place in town that makes a good Pizza Margherita. Problem is, their service is kind of inconsistent. If I walk in and order the pizza, I might have it within 20 minutes - or I might have to wait nearly an hour (even if I'm the only person in there.) The best way to deal with this is to order by phone: Call them up and place an order, show up at the restaurant half an hour later, and presto! the pizza's there waiting for me.

But even this method isn't infallable.

The other night was perfect for ordering out. Hot, muggy...just didn't feel like heating up the kitchen even more by cooking, so we figured the easy solution was pizza. I looked up the pizzaria's phone number and dialed.

The number rang once, then: "Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice messaging system." "Hi, it's K. I can't answer the phone right now, but leave a message and I'll get right back to you."

That's odd. That sounds like someone's personal voicemail, not a business. I double-checked the number against a menu we had magneted to the fridge, and it was correct. Okay, so maybe I misdialed.

I tried again. "Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice messaging system." "Hi, it's K. I can't answer the phone right now, but leave a message and -" CLICK. I hung up.

I gave it ten minutes, and then tried once more. "The subscriber you are trying to reach is unavailable or has traveled outside of the service area. Please try again la --" CLICK. Damn it. By then I'd had enough. I found a different pizzaria and placed my order with them instead.

This phone number I dialed is on every one of their internet listings. It's on their business cards. It's on their signs and their menus. Obviously, this is the phone number that they want me to call, and upon which they have hung their ability to conduct transactions. And it's their personal cellphone. This is no way to run a business that relies, at least partially, on phone orders for takeouts. Regardless of how you feel about "going wireless" for your personal phone, the fact of the matter is a traditional landline is still the right choice for a small business. It's not that expensive and landlines are pretty much 100% reliable - no dead zones, no fading, no dropped calls - and when your business hits it big you can put in a multi-line phone, add another number, and never worry about missing an order.

Or you can cheap out, use your personal cell phone and screw the pooch.