Fine and Raw Ice Cream is here!

    Hopefully you’ve all been fortunate enough to experience the gastronomical euphoria that comes along with Fine and Raw confections. A staple in my home, these raw cacao treats are delicious and healthy, delivering a natural boost of energy and happiness to the mind and palate. And now that warm weather is here, Daniel Sklaar has fulfilled his promise of Fine and Raw ice cream!

    This dark, intensely flavored ice cream is for serious chocolate lovers. Sugar and dairy free, the flavor focuses on cacao with a hint of coconut, all pleasantly sweet. Forget about those sugary brown tubs of fattening ice cream, Fine and Raw is the only frozen desert you need this season. It comes in small containers, and just a small amount satisfies.

    If you love chocolate, deep and delicious chocolate, and you love ice cream, be sure to check out this seasonal treat. You can find it at the Greene Grape Provisions in Brooklyn, or visit their website to find a list of stores that carry Fine and Raw products.

Peaches Hot House: Keep it on the radar

          Partners Ben Grossman and Craig Samuel behind The Smoke Joint in Fort Greene and Peaches in BedStuy are at it again, and regardless of a rocky economy, risky location, and two other busy restaurants to run, they’ve opened yet another neighborhood spot. Peaches Hot House is located on the corner of Tompkins and Hancock, it is just a short walk from the A and C subway stops. With great food, atmosphere, and soon-to-come full bar, this is definitely a new Brooklyn hot spot.

The team’s first restaurant in the area, Peaches, is a neighborhood favorite, and the Hot House embodies the community spirit in just the same way. The intimate space is comfortable and friendly, a place to be amongst neighbors and make new introductions. Ben and Craig know their community and their establishments contribute to the mingling of its people, whether they are young artists and entrepreneurs new to the hood or members of the community for decades.

Another reason for their repeated success is that they are on premise owners. For the first few weeks both Ben and Craig have been in the kitchen and serving guests, interacting to find out what people like and don’t like. At the same time as listening to their customers, their own diverse backgrounds bring an unrestricted passion to the menu, and the results are inspired items, which are excellent.

Conceptually the menu is southern, but the techniques and composition of the dishes borrow from international cuisines. Comfort seems to be a theme, served up as a big bowl of black-eyed-pea soup with homemade smoked chicken sausage, or fresh pasta salad, or crispy grit cakes, and talk of biscuits and waffles for brunch. As they continue to tweak the menu it’s a pleasure to taste the evolution of dishes (stay tuned for an article documenting the evolution of their already infamous fried chicken), and sample the changing specials like short rib salad with baby spinach and strawberry shortcake. Be sure to keep an eye out for the desserts, with serious baking ovens they hope to supplement their enticing list of Bourbon-glazed pound cake, chocolate brownies, and cobblers with things like cream pies and éclairs.

While shortcake and fried chicken may not seem health-centric, Craig and Ben understand the importance of healthy and sustainable living. Sourcing ingredients from local farms, they know that fresh ingredients contribute vibrancy to flavors and improve the overall quality of a dish. In so many ways, it is easy to see, and taste, that the Hot House is committed to culinary and dining excellence.

What you can expect from your experience at Peaches Hot House is personable and professional service, thoughtful touches like complimentary homemade cornbread, fresh and changing specials, and all with a refreshingly fair price tag. They are open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 6-10pm, and will be opening soon for brunch. Their culinary prowess extends to mixology, be sure to sample the impressive selection of house-infusions and artisan cocktails as soon as the bar is open.


Peaches Hot House is located at 415 Tompkins Ave at Hancock St, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (718-483-9111). Accessible from the A train to Nostrand Avenue, C train to Kingston-Throop, B43 to Halsey, or B52 to Tompkins.

Fine & Raw : Brooklyn's Best Chocolate

 

                Tired of a successful but risky career in finance, Daniel decided to pursue a more satisfying career indulging in his life’s passion: chocolate.  He had always been a chocolate lover, self-proclaiming obsession, with early childhood memories of longing for coco puffs.  It was his life’s experiences with food, health, and his never ending love for chocolate that led him to create Fine and Raw, the sophisticated and mind-blowingly delicious brand of chocolate confections made out of an old candy factory here in Brooklyn. 

               Having worked with raw foods in a restaurant setting, it was his own spiritual journey that led him to a comfortable understanding of raw and whole foods. Rather than adopting the trendy extreme diets, eating raw food is something that Daniel began to incorporate into his daily life little by little, based on needs and desires. This understanding cultivated a respect and appreciation for raw foods, rather than seeing it as a necessary burden. 

              While it was ultimately the tasty factor that encouraged Daniel to make the leap of faith, the health benefits of his products and production are equally important. For one thing, raw chocolate is one of the healthiest substances out there, loaded with antioxidants. The cacao used is Fair Trade and comes from the Ecuadorian rainforest from sustainable farmers growing heirloom varieties. All of the ingredients used in making Fine&Raw confections are organic, promoting not only healthy humans, but a healthy earth and society as well. Every aspect of the production is mindful of quality life on Earth.

              Daniel believes silliness is an inherent quality in chocolate, which gives you an idea of his light-hearted approach. He understands fully the importance of having fun when experimenting with recipes and flavors. Experimenting almost daily in his chocolate lab/Brooklyn home, he has come up with wonderfully balanced confections and I am confident that his creativity will create even more in the future.  The confections themselves are made in an old candy factory in Brooklyn where Daniel will often work with a team of a few people to turn out very small batches. Even with a growing demand, he is comfortable being a small production local company, continuing to put all of his love into every bite.

              But most importantly: IT IS DELICIOUS!!! And I mean outrageously so! All of his experimenting paid off. The combination of chocolate, coconut and salt is bewitching: strong, creamy, satisfying. $8.50 for a bar is an easy choice once you’ve tasted this one of a kind treat. My personal favorites include the straightforward Bonbons, rich little morsels of soft heavenly chocolate covered in a layer of the dark chocolate; the Bonbon bar which features a layer of bonbon inside a dark chocolate bar (basically the best of both worlds); and the coconut and cacao bar with a smooth texture and rich flavor. 

              Even though his chocolate is simply sublime, Daniel continues to enjoy all kinds of chocolate and especially likes to support other local operations. He plans to continue engineering chocolaty confections in his Brooklyn loft, including a dark chocolate ice cream this summer to be featured locally. Check out their website, http://www.fineandraw.com/, to find out where to buy products and more info.  Not local? No worries… they ship nationwide! And if you are local, be sure to keep your ears open for an up coming Valentines Day event featuring Fine&Raw chocolates.