I had some fabulous meals and some not-so-fabulous ones. Waitstaff ranged from the most attentive and courteous to the downright rude. There was one restaurant, though, that deserves special mention — due to their combination of superior customer service and fabulous food.

The restaurant is in the town of East Greenwich, RI. It’s a little Thai place, called Herbs and Spices. The ingredients were incredibly fresh, and I had a fabulous lunch.

But I’m getting ahead of of myself.

I have some crazy food allergies, and the craziest is an allergy to soy.  This often makes dining out somewhat of a challenge.

I love curry and I really love mangoes, so I was intrigued to try their signature dish of mango curry.  I don’t usually have issues with Thai curry, so I ordered with confidence and didn’t question whether there was soy in the dish.

The waitress (to whom I had mentioned my allergy upon arrival) went back to the kitchen, and took it upon herself to  examine every ingredient the chef would use!  She returned to the table carrying two unopened cans of curry paste – one yellow and one red.  She noted that the yellow paste appeared to have soy in it, whereas the red paste did not.  She offered to have the chef substitute red curry paste for the yellow, which I gratefully accepted.

All I can say on so many levels is, “wow!”  What great customer service!  It was a great catch on her part, and I learned something new about red and yellow curries.  As for the dish itself?  It was absolutely the best Thai curry I have eaten in recent memory.

If I were an official restaurant reviewer, I’d give Herbs and Spices five stars.  I can’t think of another thing they could have done to make our dining experience more pleasant.  I definitely plan to return for another meal the next time I visit RI. 

I met Jason Andelman a few years ago after reading an article in the Washingtonian magazine about his new venture, Artisan Confections. He was then a young pastry chef who was making small batches of handcrafted chocolates and selling them through local gourmet food and wine shops.

By mid-December of that year, all of the shops had sold out, and I was desperate to purchase these gorgeous chocolates for family and friends. I called Jason, and he let me know that he had just made a fresh batch, and offered to meet me outside a local grocery store to complete the transaction.

I was eternally grateful. So we met. We spoke a bit, I learned a little about his venture, and he gained a loyal customer due to his willingness to go the extra mile.

In those early days, each chocolate was individually decorated with a miniature reproduction of a famous painting. They were almost too beautiful to eat. The chocolates themselves were constructed with the freshest and finest ingredients available; and each bite was pure delight.

Business grew, and it wasn’t long before Artisan Confections launched a website and opened a storefront in Arlington, VA. They added new flavors and items, and even began offering group and private classes in chocolate-making!

Their tagline is appropriately “where art is chocolate and chocolate is art;” and you can see some of their current designs here. They offer collections of 15 pieces for $25; 30 pieces for $46; and smaller boxes of nine or four pieces for $17 and $8, respectively.

I’m a big fan of supporting independent business owners, especially when they produce a superior quality product, and I’m definitely planning my annual visit to stock up on gifts before the holidays.

If you have a chocolate lover on your list who appreciates great quality (and great beauty!), Artisan Confections will definitely make them smile. Note that Jason’s website states that all holiday orders must be placed no later than December 22nd.

I thought I’d take a little break from the heavy posts and interject a recipe for the best darned cheesecake on this planet. Another little thing to make you smile. At least if you like cheesecake!

Now while this isn’t a “heavy” post, I will warn you that this cheesecake is not the low-calorie kind. It uses a full 2.5 pounds of cream cheese!

I have found, though, that because it is so rich, even the teeniest forkful is incredibly satisfying, and you can get a lot of servings from one recipe.

So, without further ado – here it is:

New York Cheesecake

FILLING:
2 1/2 lbs cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 TBSP flour
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

CRUST:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon

Filling: Cream and soften cream cheese in mixer. Add sugar slowly as you’re creaming the cheese. Add eggs one at a time (Note: you may want to slow down the mixer a tad so you don’t beat too much air in; if you do, the cheesecake will rise very high and will fall when taken out of the oven). Add in remaining filling ingredients and mix until blended.

Crust: Mix together all three ingredients and press into a springform pan, pushing crust partway up the sides.

Pour filling into crust. Bake at 250 – 350 degrees for 1.5 to 2 hours. Cake is done when a knife stuck into the center shows that cake has the consistency of paste rather than liquid. Cool at room temperature for awhile before opening the pan, so the cake has the opportunity to settle.

I normally serve the cake plain as it has so much flavor, but you can top it with fruit, or mix together sour cream and confectionery sugar for icing.

Enjoy!

I wish you all safe travels this holiday, and a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

At the Spring Natural Products Expo this year, I was introduced to a company called sweetriot. At their booth they had samples of unique teeny “peaces” of chocolate — pieces of actual cacao beans (not coffee beans) covered in dark chocolate. Flavors range from the lighter 50, to the perfect dark 65, to the espresso-tinged ultra dark 70.

The peaces come in small tins, and are only a couple calories each – with a whole tin weighing in at a measly 140 calories!

What makes this company truly shine, in addition to their unique products, is their commitment to improving the world at large.

They use high-quality natural ingredients, promote fair trade practices, celebrate cultural diversity and showcase the works of various emerging artists on their tins. They also offer a recycling program for empties.

I usually manage to walk by the display at my local Whole Foods without succumbing to temptation, but occasionally I’ll give in. When I break open the package on the drive home, the experience borders on ecstasy; and before long, the entire tin is empty! Those few minutes of heaven are so worth the hives I know I’ll suffer afterwards.

Because I’m such a fan, the cool folks at sweetriot have offered the readers of unfown.com a 20% holiday discount on all sweetriot merchandise purchased online, excluding the riot club (already discounted), riot carbonfree, and gift certificates. Just visit www.sweetriot.com, place your order, and punch in the code unfrownriot when you check out. Pretty sweet, eh?

Once you try the peaces, let us know which flavor is your favorite by posting a comment! I’ll do an informal tally of results and will post the stats on a mid-December blog page.

Peace out for now.