Quick Bites
Texas chef sees no Bush barbecue gain

Will Texas barbecue become the next food trend in America with a Texan as president? Not likely, according to Dean Fearing, executive chef of the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas. "I was hoping for a Texas barbecue push," said Fearing. "But they’re (George W. and Laura Bush) not foodies and not that interested in it."

Dean Fearing, executive chef of the Mansion on Turtle Creek restaurant in Dallas, Texas, attended a recent Maui food event. The Mansion on Turtle Creek

The James Beard Award-winning chef was featured at the Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel’s Food and Wine Masters event this past weekend on Maui, crafting spicy grilled lamb chops and scalloped potatoes with smoked garlic sauce. (Fearing’s entree was preceded by three courses by D.K. Kodama and Sean Kinoshita of Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar, an odd pairing of contemporary Japanese and southwestern flavors.)

Fearing noted that the Bushes like his tortilla soup, a classic of the Southwestern cuisine that he prepares at the Mansion. "In 1985 we put a stamp on Southwestern cuisine; it was a big step then, when French food was still safe and there were not many American restaurants," said Fearing, still speaking in the accent of his Kentucky roots. "Today, the restaurant is going strong, and people have acquired an addiction for spicy foods.

"We’ve gone back to our roots. There’s something to be said for the great classic foods of America: fried chicken, barbecue, meat loaf, pot roast. These foods will never go away."

Pancakes and malassadas

According to the Quaker Oats Co., maker of Aunt Jemima pancake mix, what we call Malassada Day (Fat Tuesday, on Feb. 27) is also Pancake Day, a.k.a. Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. This is the beginning of Lent, when Christians traditionally refrained from meat, and so it was, in earlier times, a day to use up animal products such as eggs and lard. Portuguese cooks made malassadas, others evidently made pancakes.

In an attempt to drum up business for its Aunt Jemima line, Quaker Oats has proclaimed Feb. 27 National Pancake Day and

Feb. 25-March 4 as Pancake Week. So flip a few flapjacks but don’t forget the malassadas.

California record in wine harvest set

Mild weather in 2000 was good for California wine growers: They harvested and crushed a record-setting 3.3 million tons of wine grape varieties last year, according to preliminary statistics from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. This represents a 27 percent increase over 1999 and surpasses the 1997 record of 2.9 million tons.

Chardonnay was the leading wine grape crushed, accounting for 20 percent, followed by French colombard (13 percent), zinfandel (12 percent), cabernet sauvignon (11 percent) and merlot (9 percent). Normal to a little above average yields and 32,000 new bearing acres that came into production this year contributed to the record tonnage.

Quick Bites appears every Wednesday in the Advertiser food section. Food Editor Joan Nam-koong welcomes tidbits of food news. Write to her c/o The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Call: 525-8069. E-mail islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.

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