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Posted by Danielle in Shops on 10 15th, 2009 | no responses Is it possible to increase profits and boost employee morale simply by changing a light bulb? As simple as it may sound, this is exactly what Green Pro Systems, a locally-based company, offers their clients. By utilizing a unique, American-made LED (light emitting diode) bulb, Green Pro has decreased energy consumption in numerous local and national businesses, including a recent retrofit for the Tahoe Truckee School District. Founded by Dr. Dave Mattocks, one of the original creators of “sustainable business practices,” Green Pro provides an almost immediate return on your investment. Unlike solar, which takes years to see a payback, LED lighting systems produce an almost immediate savings in energy costs, typically up to 30% in the first year and increasing yearly after that. In addition LED lighting has been proven to increase employee productivity because they see and feel better due to the healthier, full spectrum natural light. Dr. Mattocks, aka “Dr. Dave,” is a truly dedicated environmentalist, and it was his concern for a greener world that developed into Green Pro Systems. In a time when CEO’s and corporate leaders don’t necessarily “live” the company philosophy – think the CEO of Chrysler driving a Ferrari, not a Chrysler – Dave truly lives the “green dream.” After coining the term “sustainability” before it was even in the dictionary, Dave has made it his and his company’s goal. Prior to Green Pro, Dr. Dave worked for numerous organizations throughout the world, developing environmental systems and raising billions for environmental projects. Thanks to Green Pro, not only the Truckee Meadows, but the entire United States is becoming a greener more environmentally-friendly place, securing a healthy happy future for generations to come. To find out how to improve your home or workplace, please visit their website at www.greenprosystems.com. PO Box 1505 Truckee, CA 96160 530.550.8030 www.greenprosystems.com
11/30/2009 3:59 PM
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Utility and school districts team with local guru in lighting project BY GREYSON HOWARD SIERRA SUN,
TRUCKEE, Calif. — Tahoe Truckee Unified School District, the Truckee Donner Public Utility District and local lighting guru David Mattocks are taking on the next green technology — LEDs. The partnership has started small, installing the super-efficient lighting in a conference room at the district offices, the entry way at Alder Creek Middle School, and soon at the community Sierra Mountain Community Education Center gym. - Provided to the Sun
“The school district has a huge amount of lighting, and it's a big part of our energy costs,” said Anna Klovstad, project manager with the school district. And when Klovstad came to Scott Terrell, of the public utility district, Terrell said he thought of Mattocks, president of Green Pro Systems, who has been developing LED technology. “This is the next generation, this is our future,” Mattocks said. His LED tubes are the first to beat standard T8s (the fluorescent tube lights common in offices and schools) in light output while still being significantly more efficient and long-lasting, Mattocks said. “When David came to me and said ‘I have a four-foot LED tube,' I said ‘yeah right,'” Terrell said, echoing skepticism throughout the industry toward LED technology. But after seeing the lights first-hand, Terrell said the utility district teamed up with Mattocks and the school — the utility district providing the funding, Mattocks providing the technology and the school district providing the labor for the retrofits. At the Alder Creek Middle School entrance, the new lighting stands to save the district $88,784.41 in lighting costs over the 60,000-hour life span of the LEDs, along with 44,380 pounds of CO2 emissions from energy consumed, according to Mattocks' calculations. And if the school district continues to replace lights throughout the schools with LEDs, they could have another side effect — higher test scores, Klovstad said. Studies have shown that lights that better mimic natural lighting increase productivity, Klovstad said. “A school in Carson City (Nev.) did a retrofit, and test scores went up 26 percent,” Mattocks said. Other energy providers, like NV Energy, have started to pay attention to what the school district, utility district and Mattocks are doing with the LEDs, Terrell said. “This project is being watched,” Terrell said. Klovstad said the district will continue to look for places replacing lights with LEDs make sense, and may look to
11/30/2009 3:58 PM
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emergency lighting next, because they stay on all the time. The district will have to move slowly as they find funding, she said, and will probably work in the Truckee area rather than the lakeside because of the partnership the Truckee Donner Public Utility District can provide. About LEDs LEDs, or light emitting diodes, are generally small lights, known as light engines rather than light bulbs, Mattocks said. They are more energy efficient and have a longer lifespan than other light sources, he said, but because technology is still changing, much depends on the quality of the semiconductor chip and other parts. “LEDs produce a tremendous amount of light using very little energy. In some cases, we are reducing lighting costs by over 90 percent,� Mattocks said Unlike the popular compact fluorescent light bulbs, which provide greater efficiency and lifespan than a traditional incandescent bulb, LEDs have no hazardous materials to be disposed of and most of the materials can be recycled, Mattocks said. They're a lot more difficult to break too, with no moving parts or thin glass bulbs, he said. To learn more, go to www.GreenProSystems.com.
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http://www.newsreview.com/reno/PrintFriendly?oid=1318779
This article was printed from the Green Guide section of the Reno News & Review, originally published November 12, 2009. This article may be read online at: http://www.newsreview.com/reno/content?oid=1318779 Copyright ©2009 Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Printed on 2009-11-30.
By Kat Kerlin Before the word “sustainability” was in the dictionary or the phrase “triple bottom line” was coined, Dr. David Mattocks was pioneering projects that looked at benefiting the economy, environment and community at the same time. “The idea of the triple bottom line was you can’t develop a healthy community unless you really grow your economic capital, environmental assets and natural resource assets,” he says. To that end, the former program director with the Ford and Rockefeller foundations is now focused on buildings, which use more than 40 percent of the energy produced in the United States. As founder and president of GreenPro, Mattocks helps companies save between 30 to 60 percent on their energy bills, mainly through changing to LED (light emitting diode) lighting.
David Mattocks, founder of GreenPro, says buildings and lighting are keys to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. For more information, visit www.greenprosystems.com
“A lot of people think it’s trains, planes and automobiles that produce our biggest CO2 emissions, but in reality, it’s where we go to work, live, get healed—it’s our buildings,” he says. “It’s our schools, our hospitals, our businesses. Every time we flip on a light switch, turn on the water, we’re using fuel to fuel that, and the great majority of that power is produced by coal.” Truckee-based GreenPro has improved the energy efficiency of large buildings across the country, from warehouses and IMAX cinemas to schools and banks. For instance, they recently replaced 20 metal halo light bulbs at Alder Creek Middle School in Truckee with LED technology, saving the school $90,000. GreenPro is also helping Plumas Bank in Truckee with its goal to become the first 100 percent LED building on the West Coast.
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LED technology has yet to prove itself in some circles, and GreenPro was also wary of it, especially considering so much of what they tried turned out to have junky components. “It’s one thing to have a Ferrari,” says Mattocks. “But if you put on really bad tires, it won’t perform as well. So the same thing with these light engines.” GreenPro decided to create its own LED system. They developed commercial-grade LED, which Mattocks says has a high lumen output, the ability to withstand surges and lightning strikes, and are made with quality components. People often ask Mattocks why GreenPro doesn’t focus on solar or wind technologies. “The reality is if you’re going to invest in green technology, lighting is where you want to invest in it.” He says lighting provides the highest return on investment. He claims the kilowatt offset for $10,000 worth of solar and $20 worth of CFL light bulbs are exactly the same. Though when working with a client to make their building energy efficient, they look at operations and maintenance, lighting, heating and cooling, and may top it off with a renewable energy system. The focus is on low-cost or no-cost fixes. He mentions companies that still use incandescent lighting as an example. “The casinos running these 40 watt, 10 watt decorative bulbs, a lot of them don’t realize they can reduce that load by a significant amount. We have a bulb that’s 0.8 watts—a bulb that’s less than a watt. If you replaced 10,000 of your 40 watt bulbs with this, you’d save over a million dollars a year.” The 0.8-watt LED bulb costs more than the 40-watt incandescent (about $4.50 each compared to $1.25 each). However, Mattocks’ savings calculation is based not only on the cost of the bulb, but also the fact that the LED bulb will last about 30,000 hours and require fewer replacements than the incandescent, which last 500-750 hours.
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Food & drink
4E
reno Gazette-Journal/rGJ.CoM
WedneSdaY, FeBruarY 24, 2010
Cookbooks/Contain a history of the American home meal From 1E cookbooks, and advertising recipe booklets. Sometimes, Vingiello will modernize a dish (like a 1950s macaroni and cheese spiffed up with Shelburne Farms cave-aged cheddar); other times, students will follow original recipes as closely as possible. But the classes offer students more than adventures in tasting, Peckham said. “Changing social roles, ingredients, new products, new appliances and gadgets — as they develop, they are reflected in cookbooks. They are a snapshot of what people are eating. They give us a sense of time and place.”
dauphinois (basic scalloped potatoes) in “Mastering the Art” rings with Julia Child’s approachable, chatty sophistication. “Although some authorities on le vrai gratin dauphinois would violently disagree,” she writes, “you may omit the cheese. If you do so, add 2 more tablespoons of butter.” Don’t get me wrong. I love the earnest thoroughness of “America’s Test Kitchen,” but whatever happened to cook’s notes like that?
Group effort
The second class takes students from the authority of “Joy” and “Mastering the Art” to the quirky, “Joy” and Julia offbeat pages of regional and community cookbooks. The first session, “By and large, they were American classics, draws on fundraisers,” Peckham said recipes from two towering of the books. “Members cookbooks: a 1953 edition of groups contributed of “The Joy of Cooking” something from their sporting a taped spine own kitchen, whatever and occasional penciled everybody loved in their marginalia, and a 1966 family. These cookbooks are printing of “Mastering the charming, a labor of love, Art of French Cooking,’’ its fleur-de-lis beginning to fade and the artwork is often very interesting.” at cover’s edge. That’s the case with the “Certain books identify the whimsical engravings of trends in American cooking miners, marms, cowpokes, of the past 100 years,” imbibers and other Western Peckham said. “These are figures that populate “The two of them.” Virginia City Cook Book,” a Sautéed or fried chicken 1961 compilation of recipes Southern style from “Joy” delivers the book’s trademark from “residents, past and present, of Virginia City, alternation of ingredients Nevada, carefully compiled, with method. Like many edited and adapted to the use recipes from classic cookbooks, this one is shorter of present-day housewives” than the typical recipe today, (except for bartending and barbecue, classic cookbooks almost a form of shorthand. almost always assume their That’s because recipes once assumed users possessed users are female). Vingiello is choosing fundamental cooking skills that didn’t need to be stated; several recipes from “Virginia City,” including a sausage nowadays, recipes have to explain what “dredge” means salade — note the French or spell out that garlic cloves flourish — contributed by Jinny Smedsrud, “renowned should be peeled. chefess of the Bonanza Inn, A recipe for gratin
liz MarGeruM/rGJ
Brand booklets are popular cooking collectibles. These pork chops with stuffed onions come from a 1935 Carnation Milk booklet.
at Wally’s Hot Springs, not far from Virginia City,” the cookbook relates. “Jinny is known all the way from the Champs Elysées to Telegraph Hill for her FrenchScandinavian cookery.” The recipe calls for “raw frankfurters — as many as you need.” The “salade,” when tested, turns out to be more relish or spread, suitable for dipping crudités or swiping across crackers. “I don’t think we’re going to add it to the menu,” Vingiello said, “but this one stood out. It wasn’t bad. It’s going to be interesting to make it as close to the recipe as we possibly can.”
the order they’re presented (something de rigueur in modern volumes). You can almost see the flickering lantern light. Besides recipes, “Nevada” contains a miscellaneous section brimming with homemade tinctures, treatments and remedies. There’s that beef tallow for ingrown toenails, as well as a “cure for hard corns” (apply dissolved pearl), instructions to remove tar (rub with lard, then wash), and a “liniment (for man or beast)” involving turpentine, vinegar and egg. “A lot of early cookbooks had a broad definition of their concept,” Peckham said. “There were often chapters not directly related to food but to keeping a household. They are a history of housekeeping.”
and the StarKist books,” Vingiello said, “and a lot of little pamphlets from the store.” Over the years, Jell-O, Karo Corn Syrup, Dr Pepper and Clabber Girl all issued popular cookbooks, Peckham added. Product placements masquerading as recipes sometimes favor product over flavor (or sense), so the question had to be asked: How many dishes from vintage advertising booklets were any good? “I’m sure there were some great applications for the products,” Peckham said diplomatically, “and some that maybe were not. All of the brands were positioning themselves as experts on the domestic arts.”
Chip tale
Vingiello said he selected recipes for the final class that offered both vintage interest and the opportunity for updating. A chiffonade dressing from “The Heinz Book of Salads” of 1930 includes “5 tablespoonsful of Heinz Pure Vinegar” and “3/4 cupful Heinz Pure Olive Oil.” The sweet tangy dressing also incorporates beets, reflecting the popularity of the vegetable in the 1920s and 1930s. Chocolate crunch cookies from “Toll House Tried and Home remedy True Recipes” of 1939 — yes, the Toll House was a real inn The second class also — are probably the original features an even older Toll House cookies, but a cookbook, a commissioned version dating to just before reproduction of “The Nevada Nestle began packaging its Brand awareness Cook Book,” published in semi-sweet chocolate in 1887 and “compiled from chips. The series closes with a recipes contributed by ladies “The story goes that Ruth class on recipes from books from Carson City, Nevada.” Wakefield, who owned and booklets tied to specific Nevada corn cake is brands or products, a category the Toll House, ran out of rendered in the paragraph cooking chocolate one day, that thrives to this day. style of early cookbookery; “I remember my Mom had so she grabbed a semi-sweet punctuation is laissez-faire, bar, broke it into pieces and and ingredients aren’t used in the Philly Cream Cheese
‘Cooking With the Classics’
What: Classes on dishes from
vintage cookbooks provided by OldCookbooks.com Where: Bistro 7 restaurant, 7111 S. Virginia St. When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday April 3, April 17 and May 1 Schedule: April 3, Vintage American culinary classics April 17, Regional community and charity cookbooks May 1, Vintage advertising recipe booklets coSt: $70 each class; includes copy of “Antique Trader Collectible Cookbooks Price Guide” (2008, Krause) regiSter: 775-851-9463 on the Web: www. bistro7reno.com
OldCookbooks.Com
What: Retailer of used, vintage and rare cookbooks and replacement pages Where: 151 N. Sierra St., mezzanine level of Antiques and Treasures Building Phone: 775-624-8503 on the Web: www. oldcookbooks.com
dropped it into her recipe,” Peckham said. “The pieces didn’t completely melt, and everyone loved it.” Vingiello also is consulting the “Carnation Cook Book” from 1935. This beauty features matte early-color reproduction, horror vacui food styling that stuffs images to the frame, and Carnation Milk-friendly recipes ranging from Chinese eggs to noodle ring with creamed chicken, from hard sauce to lemon meatloaf. Even back in the day, it seems, people needed help using those cans in the cupboard.
SaMPlinG oF “CookinG WitH tHe ClaSSiCS” reCiPeS Editor’s note: Recipes are reproduced below in the style of the vintage publication from which they were drawn.
SAUTÉED OR FRIED CHICKEN SOUTHERN STYLE
Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (BobbsMerrill)
GRATIN DAUPHINOIS
Allow 3/4 pound per person Clean and cut into small pieces: A 2 1/2 lb. baking chicken Combine and beat: 1 egg 1/4 cup milk Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then in: Fine bread or cracker crumbs Melt in a skillet: 1/4 cup butter, lard or drippings When it is very hot, brown the chicken in it. Pour into the skillet: 1/4 cup boiling chicken stock or water Cover it closely and place it in a slow oven at 300°. Cook the chicken until it is tender. A 2 1/2 pound chicken calls for about 1 hour’s cooking time in all, 30 minutes on top of the stove and 30 minutes in the oven. Thicken the drippings, if desired, with: Flour Add if required: Chicken stock Cream Salt and paprika From a 1953 edition of “The
[Scalloped potatoes with Milk, Cheese and a Pinch of Garlic] There are as many “authentic” versions of gratin dauphinois as there are of bouillabaisse. Of them all, we prefer this one because it is fast, simple, and savory. It goes with roast or broiled chicken, turkey and veal. For 6 people Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 2 lbs. “boiling” potatoes (6 to 7 cups when sliced) Peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8 inch thick. Place in a basin of cold water. Drain when ready to use. A fireproof baking-serving dish about 10 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep (if recipe is increased, dish must be wider but no deeper) 1/2 clove unpeeled garlic 4 Tb butter 1 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 1 cup (4 ounces) grated Swiss cheese 1 cup boiling milk Rub the baking dish with the cut garlic. Smear the inside of the dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Drain the potatoes and dry them in a towel. Spread half of them in the bottom of the
dish. Divide over them half the salt, pepper, cheese, and butter. Arrange the remaining potatoes over the first layer, and season them. Spread on the rest of the cheese and divide the butter over it. Pour on the boiling milk. Set baking dish over heat and when simmering, set in upper third of preheated oven. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender, milk has been absorbed, and the top is nicely browned. (As the oven is hot, and the dish shallow, the potatoes cook quickly.) From a 1966 edition of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck (Knopf)
BONANZA INN SAUSAGE SALADE
This comes to us from Jinny Smedsrud, renowned chefess of Bonanza Inn, at Wally’s Hot Springs, not far from Virginia City. Jinny is known all the way from the Champs Elysées to Telegraph Hill for her French-Scandinavian cookery. On a clear day, you can hardly see the smörgåsbord for the smörgåsborders. Slice raw frankfurters into thin slices, using “as many as you need.” Make sauce: Cut 1 medium onion into chunks and put in Waring Blender. Add a generous handful of parsley; add 1 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of vinegar, 1 tablespoon each of mustard, black pepper, and salt, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Whirl
in your mixer for 1 minute. Mix well with sausages. Don’t eliminate the sugar! Good served on crackers with cocktails or with potato salad and tomatoes for an hors d’oeuvre course. And we found it delicious for a dunk for raw vegetables: Strips of celery, carrots, green peppers, zucchini, rounds of turnip, tiny raw artichokes, quartered, or tender stalks of raw asparagus. From a 1961 edition of “The Virginia City Cook Book: Authentic Recipes of the Old West” by Helen Evans Brown, Philip S. Brown, Katharine Best and Katharine Hillyer (Anderson & Ritchie)
From a commissioned reproduction of “The Nevada Cook Book/Cook Book of the Woman’s Art and Industrial Association of Nevada,” compiled from recipes contributed by ladies of Carson City, Nevada (1887, Appeal Steam Print) CHIFFONADE DRESSING—To foundation recipe add 2 tablespoonfuls chopped
STUFFED ONIONS
6 large onions, peeled 3 tablespoons chopped green peppers 1/2 cup finely chopped celery 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 12 butter crackers, finely
crumbled BOIL in salted water 5 minutes. Drain in cold water. Cut in half crosswise, simmer in more salted water until almost tender. Drain, remove centers and chop fine with remaining ingredients. Add crackers and stuff onions. Bake in covered baking pan 50 minutes in hot oven. From “Carnation Cook Book” by Mary Blake (1935, The Carnation Company) CHOCOLATE CRUNCH COOKIES Cream 1 cup butter, add 3/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 eggs beaten whole. Dissolve 1 tsp. soda in 1 tsp. hot water, and mix alternately with 2 1/4 cups flour sited with 1 tsp. salt. Lastly add 1 cup chopped nuts and 1 lb. Nestles yellow label chocolate, semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of a pea. Flavor with 1 tsp. vanilla and drop half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375° oven. Makes 100 cookies. From “Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes” by Ruth Graves Wakefield (1939, M. Barrows)
Thank you For 10 wonderful years of continued support and patronage
El Adobe Mexican Restaurant 10TH Anniversary
EL Adobe Mexican Restaurant
2 for 1
• Award Winning Restaurant
• Serving Delicious Mexican Food from authentic family recipes handed down through 3 generations • Full Bar with over 50 different Tequilas, Margaritas & other Cocktails 0000339145
www.eladobecafe.com 55 Arroyo St., Reno, NV • (775) 327-4422
FRENCH DRESSING
Foundation Recipe 1 teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful sugar 1/4 teaspoonful paprika 5 tablespoonfuls Heinz Pure Vinegar 3/4 cupful Heinz Pure Olive Oil Mix the salt, sugar and paprika together. Add vinegar and oil and beat thoroughly, or put all the ingredients into a glass jar, screw top on tightly and shake thoroughly. NEVADA CORN CAKE One pint of milk, one-half pint Note: Plain French Dressing is of Indian meal, four eggs, scant the only dressing in which we tablespoonful of butter, salt, and marinate salads. “To marinate” one teaspoonful of sugar. Pour means to mix the ingredients the milk, boiling, on the sifted in French dressing until every meal, when cold add the melted portion of them is well coated. butter, the salt, the sugar, the yolks of the eggs, and lastly the From “The Heinz Book of whites well beaten. Bake half an Salads” by H.J. Heinz Co. (1930, H.J. Heinz Co.) hour in a hot oven.
Come Celebrate
All Menu Items, Drinks & Cocktails Wednesday, February 24TH from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Reno’s Best Mexican Restaurant
parsley, 2 teaspoonfuls chopped onion, 1 hard-cooked egg, chopped, and 1/4 cupful chopped cooked beets well drained.
Reno’s Best Mexican Restaurant www.eladobecafe.com 55 Arroyo St., Reno, NV • (775) 327-4422
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CONTACT JOHNATHAN L. WRIGHT 775-327-6770 JWRIGHT@RGJ.COM
SECTION
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Heritage cookbook Main Street Gardnerville is creating a fundraising heritage cookbook containing recipes and other materials. Gardnerville residents or business owners for at least two generations may contribute. Contact Paula Lochridge at plochridge@ mainstreetgardnerville.org or 775-782-8027 with questions, ideas or to schedule an appointment. Main Street Gardnerville, 1407 Highway 395 N., Gardnerville, is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Details: www. mainstreetgardnerville.org.
GREY GOOSE Dinner: Beginning at 6 p.m. today, Sterling’s Seafood Steakhouse in the Silver Legacy Resort Casino, 407 N. Virginia St., is presenting a five-course dinner featuring Grey Goose vodkas. Cost of $85 includes tax and tip. Reservations: 775-329-4777.
u
RGJ.com
Your (antique) recipe box Michael Vingiello, left, executive chef of Bistro 7, and Peter Peckham of OldCookbooks.com, are presenting cooking classes at the restaurant in which students prepare dishes drawn from vintage cookbooks provided by Peckham.
Bistro 7 and OldCookbooks.com offer classes featuring vintage dishes; hello, Bonanza Inn sausage salade! BY JOHNATHAN L.WRIGHT jwright@rgj.com
M
WINE Classes: L’uva Bella Wine
Gallery, 13925 S. Virginia St., in the Summit, is offering classes in identifying the aromas and flavors of white and red wines through comparison tasting and smelling of fruits and other ingredients. “Essence of White Wine” begins at 6 p.m. March 3; “Essence of Red Wine” begins at 6 p.m. March 17. Cost: $25 each class. Details: www. luvabellawinegallery.com or 775-851-1110.
CAKE Celebrity: A wedding cake made by Josef’s Vienna Bakery, Café & Restaurant appears in the current film “It’s Complicated,” according to owner Sonja Pasa, in the scene in which a bride-to-be pages through a wedding cake book with her wedding planner. Pasa said the cake originally was shot a few years ago by a wedding photographer, whose images came to the attention of the film’s producers. Josef’s is at 933 W. Moana Lane, in the Moana West shopping center annex; call 775-825-0451.
PHOTOS BY LIZ MARGERUM/RGJ
Sausage salade is a kicky retro spread made with raw frankfurters. The recipe appears in “The Virginia City Cook Book.”
See more about “Cooking With the Classics” classes on 4E
DEALS o Branding Iron Café in the Bonanza Casino, 4720 N. Virginia St., is introducing a “value menu” (served all day, every day) that features 10 entrées, including breakfast skillet, crisp chicken wrap and pot roast melt. Prices: $2.95 to $5.95. The Café also is serving a $3.95 fried chicken dinner on Monday nights from 4 to 10 p.m. Details: www.bonanzacasino. com or 775-323-2724. o Smokin’ Gecko’s in Circus Circus Reno, 500 N. Sierra St., is offering $9.99 all-you-can-eat ribs from 5 p.m. Sunday through Friday. The ribs come with house salad, corn-on-the-cob, cornbread and one side. Details: www.circusreno.com or 775-329-0711. — Johnathan L. Wright,
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ichael Vingiello, executive chef of Bistro 7, sends out peppercorn-rubbed grilled quail, mushroom gnocchi dusted with nutmeg and house-brined, exceedingly tender Fulton Valley Farms organic chicken. So what in the name of microarugula was he doing perusing an 1887 edition of “The Nevada Cook Book,” a volume devoted to the possibilities of rump steak with oysters, Indian meal gruel and beef tallow as a cure for “ingrowing” toenails? Was he searching for inspiration? Well, yes, actually. Beginning in early April, Bistro 7 is presenting three hands-on classes featuring dishes taken from vintage cookbooks provided by OldCookbooks.com, a retailer and online seller of used, vintage and rare cookbooks with a store in the Antiques and Treasures Building on North Sierra Street. Peter Peckham, an owner of OldCookbooks, will discuss classics with students and supply them with copies of his “Antique Trader Collectible Cookbooks Price Guide” (2008, Krause). “When Peter made the suggestion, I thought it was a great idea,” Vingiello said of the classes, where he’ll be assisted by sous chef Jessica Marrufo. “Everybody has old cookbooks — from their Mom, their grandma — handed down to them. Anything we’ve learned as a chef is in them at one point or another.” Each class covers a category of cookbook collecting: American classics, regional and community SEE COOKBOOKS ON 4E
MAKE IT EASY
Lettuce wraps deliver texture and flavor collisions Lettuce wraps have become a favorite ethnic comfort food, a jumble of appealing textures and flavors. Jennifer Bushman makes a vegetarian version we think you’ll turn to again and again. To move the wraps into main-course territory, bulk them up with chopped and cooked tofu or with chopped leftover chicken. VEGETABLE AND NOODLE LETTUCE WRAPS 1/2 cup peeled and finely julienned carrots* 1 cup julienned red bell pepper 1 cup shredded napa cabbage 1/2 cup thinly sliced button mushrooms
On the Web
See Jennifer make the recipe at RGJ.com/ MakeItEasy
1 serrano chile, seeded and diced Rice noodles, immersed and softened in room temperature water about 1 hour, enough to
yield 1 cup** 3 tablespoons sesame oil 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 1/4 cup chopped cilantro Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 16 butter lettuce leaves Hoisin sauce, for dipping * To julienne an ingredient means to cut it into thin strips or matchsticks. ** Noodles should be softened and flexible but still firm. For results more quickly, pour boiling water over noodles and submerge until softened. In large bowl, combine carrots, bell pepper, cabbage, mushrooms, chile and noodles. Add sesame oil, olive oil, lime juice and cilantro to bowl and toss
RICHARD STOKES/RGJ
To move the wraps into main-course territory, bulk them up with chopped and cooked tofu or with chopped leftover chicken. to combine. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Allow mixture to stand 15 minutes. Flatten lettuce leaves and fill each with spoonful of vegetable mixture. Roll lettuce leaves to
close slightly. Place on platter and serve. For a more filling dish, add tofu, fish or chicken to mixture. Pass dish of hoisin sauce for dipping. Serves 5 to 6.
— Johnathan L. Wright, RGJ
food & drink
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reno Gazette-Journal/rGJ.CoM
WedneSdaY, deCeMBer 9, 2009
menu watch
The wood fire flickers at a newly appealing Bistro 7 would a regular oven, but it’s exciting that it’s being used,” Vingiello said. The wood-fire oven, Bushman added, “is the center of this restaurant.”
BY JOHNATHAN L.WRIGHT jwright@rgj.com
Bistro 7, which began life as Ciao, once practiced globe spinning cuisine. As in: Wherever a finger landed on a spinning globe, a dish using that country’s ingredient would seemingly be added to the menu. The former chef and co-owner harnessed together California sustainability, upscale cucina povera, Asian condiments, north African spices, comfort fare and more in varying combinations that were sometimes successful, but often left the restaurant with an unsettled identity. But no more. The days of dishes-by-digit are over. Although it’s too early for a formal review of the restaurant’s new menu, I can say this: Based on a recent tasting, Bistro 7 is back.
Consistent fire Dave Bogart is the sole remaining member of the restaurant’s founding troika, and that’s a good thing. Partnerships can fragment a restaurant’s visions. Bogart brought culinarian Jennifer Bushman on board to consult on the menu and chef Michael Vingiello to helm the kitchen. Bushman, of course, needs no introduction; Vingiello was once a sous chef to Mark Estee at the highly regarded Moody’s Bistro & Lounge in Truckee. Bistro 7’s wood-fire oven is helping to shape the restaurant’s new identity and create a new consistency. “We’re going back to what’s comfortable, and part of that is the fact that 90 percent of the foods here are touched at some point by the wood oven,” Bogart said. Organic Fulton Valley Farms chicken, brined in a bath of apple cider and salt, begins its journey in the fire and finishes in the regular oven. Crisp and moist, it was some of the most skillfully cooked chicken I’ve had all
Rustic take Smaller plates are appealing, too. As diners settle in, complimentary flatbreads arrive with ricotta cheese, olive oil and fresh herbs. I made a creamy, nutty mess of things and asked for seconds. Snacks might be a jumble of wood-fire roasted olives and Marcona almonds sprinkled with sea salt or crisp fried green beans with a sidecar of mustard sauce for dredging. “They’re little bites to tell you just how hungry you are,” Bushman said. Chopped chicken salad and barbecued pork sliders are fashioned from the brined poultry and pork chop entrées; previous administrations never seemed to practice this essential riChard StokeS/rGJ kitchen efficiency. Brined Fulton Valley Farms organic chicken is started in the wood-fire oven and finished in the regular oven. According to the folks at Bistro I weary of the stranglehold 7, 90 percent of the dishes on its new menu are touched by the wood-fire oven. ahi has on local menus, but Vingiello and Bushman If you go managed to make it What: Bistro 7 compelling again by shaping tuna, avocado, lime juice and Where: 7111 S. Virginia St. wasabi cream into pucks they Details: 775-851-9463 or pair with fried wonton skins. www.bistro7reno.com. The dish offers a wonderfully creamy pop! — and a rustic take, I later year. realize, on ahi poke. Brined pork chops also start out in the wood oven, Cake, disappeared but they finish on the grill. Alongside, potato galette, its The wood fire even flickers fine slices densely layered, on the dessert menu with was textbook Larousse. apple-pear galette built from Wood-fire salmon fillet was fruit soaked in white wine. swiped with Bushman’s pesto But the star was the olive oil enlivened by gusts of mint. cake made according to a recipe Bushman learned in Made to order culinary school in Italy. Lemon zest and Cointreau Seasonal vegetables also jabbed at the moist, dense issue from the wood oven, as cake. Bracing rosemary syrup well as the crisp, flatbread, On Bistro 7’s new menu, obligatory ahi is made more compelling by being fashioned into cakes with soaked its bottom. I’m not Roman-inspired pizzas that avocado, lime juice and wasabi cream. The dish is the restaurant’s take on ahi poke. a dessert guy, but I couldn’t Bistro 7 (and Ciao before it) put down my fork, and the have always done well. One gnocchi, each made to order, dusted with a last-minute admirably rich but needed cake disappeared as surely as specimen, smeared with goat grating of nutmeg. emerged from the flames heat for balancing (a tweak if consumed by the flames of cheese and topped with chives that’s in the works, I hear). “It takes practice to use swaddled in fromage blanc the wood-fire oven. and house-cured salmon, was the wood-fire oven as you béchamel (lightly tart) and A crock of bubbling
hanuKKah
On the SheLF
Squash latkes offer health, history Finding a book for every cook BY JIM ROMANOFF aSSoCiated PreSS
It can be a pleasant surprise when a food with butter in its name turns out to be good for you, as in the case of butternut squash. Along with other winter squashes such as acorn, delicata and pumpkin, butternut squash is loaded with vitamins A and C, plus potassium and fiber. It also is filling, has just 65 calories per cup, has almost no fat, and can have a rich flavor that justifies its name. Butternut squash also is versatile in the kitchen. The high and dry heat of roasting is particularly good at enhancing its flavor through caramelization of the natural sugars it contains. For a quick and easy side, toss seeded and cubed butternut squash in a bit of olive oil and roast at 400 F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until quite tender. Serve it seasoned with salt and pepper, or if you like, a drizzle of maple syrup or even balsamic vinegar. Butternut squash also sometimes can take the place of potatoes, as in these butternut squash and sage latkes for Hanukkah. The squash and onions can be shredded using a box grater or a food processor. Be sure to squeeze as much liquid out of the shredded onion as possible. Otherwise, your latkes will be too wet and fall apart in the pan. Latkes are a traditional part of the Hanukkah celebration because the oil they are fried in symbolizes the miracle of the small amount oil that burned for eight days when the temple was under siege. This recipe honors that story by using a few teaspoons of olive oil to brown the latkes in the pan before they are crisped to perfection in a hot oven. Serve with a dollop of sour
Pan fried till brown with a small amount of olive oil to honor the tradition of cooking with oil at Hanukkah, these butternut squash and sage latkes get finished in the oven. larrY CroWe aP
cream, applesauce or both. ButteRnut SQuaSh anD SaGe LatKeS
1 medium onion, shredded (to yield 3/4 cup) 3 cups shredded butternut squash (from about 1 small squash) 1/4 cup matzo meal 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage 1 large egg, lightly beaten 6 teaspoons olive oil, divided Heat the oven to 450 F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread the shredded onions between 2 sheets of paper towel and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Transfer the onions to a large bowl. Add the squash, matzo meal, salt, pepper and sage, then toss to coat. Add the egg and 2 teaspoons of the oil.
Toss to coat. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil. Working in batches, use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop the squash mixture into the skillet, leaving several inches between each mound. Use a spatula to flatten them into roughly 3-inch pancakes. Cook until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. With later batches, use remaining 2 teaspoons oil, if necessary. Transfer the latkes to the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the latkes are crisp and hot, about 10 minutes. Makes 12 servings.
Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 109 calories; 67 calories from fat; 7 g fat (1 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 15 mg cholesterol; 10 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 1 g fiber; 249 mg sodium.
BY MICHELE KAYAL aSSoCiated PreSS
Whether your holiday gift list is filled with gourmet chefs, television addicts or people who just love a good tale, this year’s crop of cookbooks and other food-related volumes offers some excellent gift choices. Here’s a guide to help you pick through the deluge.
Larousse-lite, a handy, accessible, countertop reference for more than 6,000 tools, techniques, ingredients and tips.
For memoir lovers
Julie Powell’s second book, “Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession” (Little, Brown, $24.99) fills out the ton of BlooMSBurY uSa food-related memoirs and Give “The Fat Duck Cookbook” For Food Network novels released this year. to your favorite chef groupie. junkies Anyone who loved “Julie & Julia” will want to follow the chef Heston Blumenthal memoirist into the butcher Can’t pry that friend/ would have paid $250 for shop as she struggles to cousin/husband/wife away the cookbook illuminating wield a cleaver and save her from the Food Network? his science-enabled cooking. marriage. Stash a copy of “Alton The recession-friendly Part cookbook, part family Brown’s Good Eats: The re-issue of “The Fat Duck” Early Years” (Stewart, cookbook clocks in at $50 and chronicle, Suzan Colon’s “Cherries in Winter: Tabori & Chang, $37.50) offers everything but the gilt My Family’s Recipe for under the tree. Brown’s (honest) and size (down to 5 wacky spunk drives pounds from 12). No one will Hope in Hard Times” (Doubleday, $21.95), tracks the episode-by-episode ever cook from it, but it is an three generations of women breakdown of his hit show’s extraordinary and beautiful who find comfort in their first six seasons. Complete monograph (Bloomsbury, kitchens. Colon begins her with 140 recipes and a fold$50). out poster! For the truly chef obsessed, quest after being laid off, making it a tale for today. “Ace of Cakes: Inside “Coco: 10 World-Leading the World of Charm Masters, 100 Contemporary For busy cooks City Cakes” (William Chefs” (Phaidon, Morrow, $35) offers a photo $49.95) tasks 10 chefs For harried cooks who album-scrapbook of life at — including Ferran Adria, nonetheless disdain fiveBaltimore’s Charm City Mario Batali and Alice ingredient cookbooks or Bakery, the birthplace of Waters — with critiquing 30-minute meal solutions, those spectacular towers 100 contemporaries in there is no better book than of fondant featured on the a cookbook-restaurant “Mark Bittman’s Kitchen show. guide-who’s who on the Express: 404 Inspired Or surprise your aspiring international food scene. Seasonal Dishes You Top Chef with “Top Chef: Can Make in 20 Minutes The Quickfire Cookbook” For food geeks or Less” (Simon and (Chronicle Books, $19.95), Schuster, $26). Filled with a collection of 75 recipes No serious cook can paragraph-long suggestions from the show plus advice on live without “Larousse for delicious, straightforward staging your own Quickfire Gastronomique,” the weeknight fare, Bittman Challenges at home. authoritative culinary ditches the traditional recipe encyclopedia that dates to format in favor of practical For chef groupies 1938. This 2009 revision ways to use what you’ve got (Clarkson Potter, $90) on hand. Know someone two steps includes cooking methods “Rachel Ray’s Book away from tattooing “I Love that have emerged since of 10: More than 300 Ramen” across their chest? the 2001 update, such as Recipes to Cook Every Give them “Momofuku” sous vide and molecular (Clarkson Potter, $40), gastronomy, new biographies Day” (Clarkson Potter, $20) offers recipes as simple as the super-chef David Chang’s of contemporary chefs such title. From Mediterranean spirited account of creating as Ferran Adria, and more chicken to stuffed cabbage his beloved and unlikely than 400 photographs. soup, Ray offers her top 10 group of New York Think of “The Deluxe recipes in categories from restaurants. Food Lover’s Companion” Family Faves to $10 Meals. Last year, devotees of British (Barron’s, $29.99) as
www.nnbw.com
NORTHERN NEVADA BUSINESS WEEKLY
MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010 • 7
Careful use of social media proves heady for Reno brewer BY JOHN SEELMEYER
PHOTO COURTESY OF ABBI PUBLIC RELATIONS
who will serve as the voice of their company in interactions on social media. Plenty of buzz surrounds the use of social media as a “You just can’t have any intern doing this,” she says. marketing tool, but a Reno company finds that social media Increasingly, Aguilar serves as the face, as well as the takes time and attention to be used effectively. voice, of Buckbean Brewery on social media. Buckbean Brewing Co. has “That made people feel very built its marketing efforts largely comfortable connecting with us,” on the use of social media — Whitaker says. Facebook, Twitter, blogs — since That’s a natural outgrowth of a the brewery was launched two role Aguilar took on during the years ago. earliest days of the brewery’s foray The marketing has drawn lots into social media. of attention to the company from Looking for a cost-effective way northern Nevada beer aficionados to build a reputation of authenticity as well as national bloggers. Just for the brewery’s distinctive craft last week, for instance, a beer blogbeers — they’re canned, rather ger for Forbes.com opined that than bottled — Abbi PR sought Buckbean redefines the meaning out bloggers who specialize in beer. of Reno for outsiders who’d previ- Constance Aguilar says she tracks social media conver“I had a very personal contact ously thought only of casinos and sations on Buckbean Brewing almost constantly. with the bloggers,” Aguilar says. “Reno 911.” “Within the beer world, we built a And on Facebook, the number of folks who say they like reputation. People were talking.” Buckbean stood at 2,582 last week. Closer to home, the brewery’s campaign uses Twitter — it Pretty heady stuff for a little company. has 1,500 followers — and Facebook to get the word about Constance Aguilar, who oversees Buckbean’s social media promotions at its tasting room on sponsorships such as its campaigns as an account executive for Abbi Public Relations deal with the Tour De Nez bicycle races. of Reno, says one of the secrets to the campaigns’ success has And a handful of videos posted by the company on been a high level of engagement between the company and YouTube detail its production processes. consumers. Aguilar says the brewery and Abbi PR increasingly are “We are looking at this every hour of every day,” Aguilar looking to build value to the social media efforts by widening says. She’s keeping track of the conversations on Facebook and the discussion to other craft-beer subjects rather than focusreviews on sites such as Yelp, and she’s jumping into the coning exclusively on Buckbean and its products. versation herself several times a day. That, the PR agency has said, helps with its goal of Abbi Holtom Whitaker, founder of the ad agency, says the developing a reputation for Reno as a good beer town — a high levels of engagement necessary to make social media reputation that would pay benefits for Buckbean as well as effective mean that business owners need to be mindful about other small brewers.
Regional conference on social media As many as 500 experts in social media and its uses are expected in the Reno-Sparks area for a major conference in December. Organizers hope the first SM@RT conference — that’s short for “Social Media at Reno-Tahoe” — will serve as the seed for an ongoing annual event. The conference is scheduled for Dec. 8-10 at John Ascuaga’s Nugget. It’s sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism, the College of Business Administration and Extended Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. Todd Felts, an assistant professor of journalism at UNR, said organizers hope to draw participants from markets within a one-hour airline journey from Reno as well as local practitioners in social media. About half of those attending the conference will be from out-of-state, Felts said. The marketing for SM@RT emphasizes winter recreational activities in the region as well as the educational opportunities in the conference. It’s being pitched to marketing professionals as well as executives of companies and nonprofits that want to use social media as a marketing tool. Speakers will include David Nour, author of “Relationship Economics,” and Scott Klosoky, former chief executive of Critical Technologies Inc., an Oklahoma City software company. SM@RT organizers have begun sponsorship sales to northern Nevada businesses. — NNBW staff