Thanks to this gig as a freelance food writer and a real job as a travel editor, I get to eat at and write about a fair number of well-known restaurants throughout the state and across the country. But that just makes finding great, little-known places all the more exciting.
And now I have a new one to check out right here at home.
The new issue of Saveur magazine includes a seven-state, eight-day road trip that features a much-loved stop at Figaretti's, a "spaghetti house in the West Virginia town of Wheeling." I'd never heard of the place before, but will definitely check it out now.
Doing the driving and eating were none other than the magazine's editor-in-chief, James Oseland, and food editor, Todd Coleman.
They spent their last day in West Virginia. After eating everything from Czech fare in Chicago to fried chicken and pecan pies in Indiana and fried green tomatoes in Kentucky, Oseland and Coleman pulled into Figaretti's in Wheeling.
They bellied up to the bar and learned that five brothers started the place back in 1948 as Figaretti's Cricket Club, and it still draws a crowd of regulars some 60 years later. After sipping cocktails and nibbling on garlic bread, they dug into the Godfather II, described as a gorgeous plate of linguine tossed with shrimp, mussels, peppers, onions and tomatoes in a white wine-garlic sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese. They loved it, of course.
It's a nice little plug. Saveur is one of the swankier food magazines and the Figaretti's mention includes a recipe (which I've included) and multiple photos. This is the same publication that sang the praises of Tamarack's fine food court a few years ago, calling it one of the top 50 roadside food spots in the country. You can check out the magazine at www.saveur.com, and the
particular story that
mentions Figaretti's at http://www.saveur.com/
article/Saveur-Travels/
Adventures-in-Good-Eating.
n n
As good as it sounds, though, the Figaretti's recipe does pose a few interesting questions and culinary challenges for us home cooks. Don't be alarmed when you first read through it, just reference the explanations below.
Debearding the mussels? Do I grab my Schick?
Thanks to this gig as a freelance food writer and a real job as a travel editor, I get to eat at and write about a fair number of well-known restaurants throughout the state and across the country. But that just makes finding great, little-known places all the more exciting.
And now I have a new one to check out right here at home.
The new issue of Saveur magazine includes a seven-state, eight-day road trip that features a much-loved stop at Figaretti's, a "spaghetti house in the West Virginia town of Wheeling." I'd never heard of the place before, but will definitely check it out now.
Doing the driving and eating were none other than the magazine's editor-in-chief, James Oseland, and food editor, Todd Coleman.
They spent their last day in West Virginia. After eating everything from Czech fare in Chicago to fried chicken and pecan pies in Indiana and fried green tomatoes in Kentucky, Oseland and Coleman pulled into Figaretti's in Wheeling.
They bellied up to the bar and learned that five brothers started the place back in 1948 as Figaretti's Cricket Club, and it still draws a crowd of regulars some 60 years later. After sipping cocktails and nibbling on garlic bread, they dug into the Godfather II, described as a gorgeous plate of linguine tossed with shrimp, mussels, peppers, onions and tomatoes in a white wine-garlic sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese. They loved it, of course.
It's a nice little plug. Saveur is one of the swankier food magazines and the Figaretti's mention includes a recipe (which I've included) and multiple photos. This is the same publication that sang the praises of Tamarack's fine food court a few years ago, calling it one of the top 50 roadside food spots in the country. You can check out the magazine at www.saveur.com, and the
particular story that
mentions Figaretti's at http://www.saveur.com/
article/Saveur-Travels/
Adventures-in-Good-Eating.
n n
As good as it sounds, though, the Figaretti's recipe does pose a few interesting questions and culinary challenges for us home cooks. Don't be alarmed when you first read through it, just reference the explanations below.
Debearding the mussels? Do I grab my Schick?
Nah, your fingers will do. And unless you're buying fresh mussels right off a boat, they've probably already been debearded for you. A "beard" is simply a strand or string-like fiber around the outside of its shell that mussels use to cling to objects in the water. Most stores and seafood brokers debeard mussels before selling them, so you probably won't have to do a thing. Word of caution, though: When the beard is removed it also takes away the mussel's muscles (I'm not making this up), which causes it to die within a few hours. If you're not cooking them soon after that, or are buying debearded mussels, make sure you're confident they've been stored and shipped properly.
If not, you'll need to know this: Should you eat mussels that don't open during cooking?
Uh, no. I'd always heard this to be true, but never bothered questioning or challenging said assumption. So I finally asked a hot-shot chef friend: fact or foolishness? That's a fact, he said. If you ever cook or are served any mussels that don't pop open, discard them or just push them to the side of your plate. Why? Simply put: Normal, fresh, healthy mussels naturally pop open during cooking. If one doesn't, it's probably not normal, fresh or healthy.
Why do many chefs/recipes recommend adding some of pasta's cooking water to finished dishes?
Because it's full of starchy goodness, baby! See how the cooking water is cloudy and even thicker after you've taken the pasta out? That's caused by starch that the water leached from the noodles while they were swimming around in it. That starchy water is great to help thicken sauces and also helps thin sauces cling to cooked pasta much better. Even if you don't think you'll need it, drain your pasta but reserve a cup of the cooking water just in case. It may come in handy.
Contact writer Steven Keith at dailymailfood...@aol.com or 304-348-1721.
Figaretti's "Godfather II" linguine
- 8 oz. dried linguine
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 8 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 8 leaves basil, torn (plus more for garnish)
- 1/2 cup grated asiago cheese
- 4 lemon wedges
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- kosher salt, to taste
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add linguine and cook until al dente, or slightly firm to the bite, about 8-10 minutes. Drain pasta and reserve 1/4 cup pasta water.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add peppers, garlic and onion and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add wine and mussels and cook, covered, until mussels open, about 2 minutes.
3. Add reserved pasta water, tomatoes, butter and shrimp and cook, stirring, until shrimp are just pink, about 1 minute. Add cooked linguine, toss to combine and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and clings to pasta. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Divide pasta between bowls, sprinkle with more basil, the asiago cheese and garnish with lemon wedges.
Serves 2.
Recipe courtesy of Saveur magazine.
