New pizza action
Roberta's in Brooklyn, Momofuku in Manhattan, and Chapter One in Dublin are guaranteed to draw attention to a chef's CV, and Joshua Plunkett, 26-year-old head chef at Ronan Ryan and Dave Kelleher's new Dublin venture, has worked at all three. He's also yet another Ballymaloe Cookery School graduate whose career trajectory is heading rapidly upwards, and has returned from New York to take up this position.
Pizza E Porchetta marks a return to The Malting Tower for Ryan, who opened Bridge Bar & Grill there in 2006. The new restaurant does just what it says: Neapolitan pizzas, created by in-house pizzaiolo Simone Morandi from Milan and cooked in a wood fire oven that is also used to finish cooking the tender pork joints known as porchetta. "The belly is cured in herbs and salt overnight and wrapped around the collar which has been brined for 24 hours. It is then roasted, and finished in the wood fire oven," Plunkett says.
There is also a selection of starters and salads and pasta dishes, among which the chargrilled squid with chilli and lemon juice, and the salt-baked beets with mozzarella, blood orange and bottarga are standouts. There are two communal tables in the bar area, perfect for a solo pitstop or a big get-together. pizzaeporchetta.com.
Top marks for innovation
Gareth Mullins, executive chef at the Marker Hotel in Dublin is a master of reinvention. While he may have to rename his croissant/doughnut hybrid pastries now that their creator, NY chef Dominique Ansel, has succeeded in trademarking the cronut, Mullins has another culinary trick up his sleeve. Lunchtime diners at the Grand Canal Dock hotel can pick up a nutritionally balanced, low calorie "Nutri-Box" containing a vegetable juice, a soup or broth, a salad and a protein, with a dark chocolate treat on the side, for €14.50. The lunchbox, designed to weigh in at 600 calories, was intended as a January offering but has proved so popular it is being continued and is available between noon and 2.30pm daily. The Nutri-Box (trademark, quick!) photographed has spinach, pomegranate, barley and goji berry salad, with steamed chicken and baby gem.
themarkerhoteldublin.ie
Designs on desire
If you've got something to say on the topic of "Cravings/Desire" you can submit a paper for consideration for second biennial Dublin Gastronomy Symposium which will take place at Dublin Institute of Technology, Cathal Brugha Street, on June 3rd and 4th. If you're more of a listener than a talker, audience tickets will be on sale, and booking information will be available in the next two weeks. See arrow.dit.ie/dgs.
Get cooking, kids
The Restaurants Association of Ireland is targeting the next generation of food lovers with a "Fine Dine at Mine" competition, open to students in secondary schools and Youthreach Centres. Entrants must cook a healthy main course for two, photograph it and submit the recipe to be in with a chance of getting to the cook-off at St Angela's College, Sligo on May 6th-7th, where the judges will include chef Paul Flynn of the Tannery in Dungarvan. To enter, see rai.ie/finedineatmine.
