Word: gourmets
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Gone are the days when buying your daily bread simply meant tossing a cotton- soft white loaf into a grocery cart. More and more shoppers these days are trekking to local bakeries and specialty shops -- often braving long lines and empty bins -- in search of gourmet loaves of all sizes and shapes: rosemary, garlic and poppy wands with a crackling-hard crust; dense bricks dotted with specks of flax, sunflower and sesame seeds; onion sourdough baguettes; and mammoth 4-lb. pumpkin-like affairs made from live, wild cultures. "Bread is being rescued from oblivion," says Michael London, owner of Rock...
Food mavens see the upper-crust movement as part of a growing American interest in fine cuisine. "About 15 years ago, a food revolution began in this country, starting with the main course," says Eli Zabar, whose New York City gourmet shop, E.A.T., makes 4,000 chewy sourdough baguettes daily. "Then it moved to the appetizer, then dessert. We have finally gotten around to bread. It's happening everywhere." Jerome Kliejunas, owner of Chicago's Jerome's cafe, agrees. "In the past," he says, "bread was seen as an accompaniment to other foods and in the background...
...with the McDonald's-Burger King philosophy," said Mark D. Caseau, manager of the Temptation Gourmet Frozen Yogurt Shoppe. "When two stores are right across the street from each other, it forces each to stay on its toes and service its customers that much better...
...only offer a wide variety of dishes but also often serve meat. Patrons of New York City's Luma, for example, can enjoy free-range pheasant sauteed with wild morels in a rosemary-sage sauce ($22). Says Luma co-owner Eric Stapelman: "We've bridged the gap between classic gourmet cuisine and natural food." Gingerbread-style Chez Panisse, located in Berkeley, features winter-squash tortellini in a black-truffle sauce as part of its $55 prix-fixe dinner. As an appetizer, Chicago's Printer's Row offers a choice of Brazilian mussel chowder ($4.50) or fresh white and green asparagus...
Cookbook-author Barbara Kafka (Microwave Gourmet) has quieted many culinary Luddites with dishes like her almost effortless microwave risotto. A sampled batch was creamy, a bit chewy and nearly identical to risotto made from the traditional Italian recipe that requires 35 minutes of nonstop, laborious stirring. "Microwaves don't cook everything well," Kafka cautions. "Manufacturers originally claimed that they were a magic pill that could do anything. They can -- badly...