Welcome to Dino, a rustic Italian restaurant

What’s New in the Kitchen at Dino?
Updated February 1, 2010



Local Organic Veggies!!!

For the last few weeks, each Tuscarora offer sheet and each trip to the farmer's market has been a little sad as the selection dwindled. For those of you who know how much I love each new crop as it ripens, this has been the most painful time of the year. While I love the winter root veggies {check out New York Times and freelance Food columnist Marian Burros comments about our root veggie dish in the latest Flavors Magazine}, it's time for the new season to arrive! On tap this week is rustic arugula which is what we use on our duck leg confit salad: its spicier and "pepper"ier than the hardier arugula of recent weeks. We have some baby frisee in house and it is features on our latest version of strong salad along with radishes and flat leaf chicory {also known as Catalonian Puntarelle}. Baby fennel is back and so are our roasted sardines: fresh Portuguese sardines served head on and bone in for flavor, with pan sauteed shaved baby fennel.

New Crop Saffron

Behroush Sharifi is known as the Saffron King, and it's not just a joke. His native Iran has a saffron culture dating back 5000 years while Spain and Italy have only had one for about 500 years. There is no other saffron like his!

Both Venice and Montalcino use saffron in their cuisines. We are playing around with a few new uses this year. In addition to saffron mashed potatoes for our brasato di vitello and seared scallops, look for saffron panna cotta decorated with a few chopped toasted pistachios and Uncle Matt's organic Florida grapefruit and Hamlin oranges.


The Story Behind the Dish: Brasato di Vitello

Probably our most popular new dish in a long time is the Brasato di Vitello. I think the way this dish came about says a lot about how we view food here at Dino.

I had been buying a brand of veal from one of my vendors. I had looked into its pedigree: no containment gestation crates or cages, all natural feed, etc. The fact that other farm conscious restaurants used the same veal gave me some reassurance, as government approved labeling on veal is pretty opaque as to sustainability issues. Imagine my shock when I Googled the name of my producer and found out that there were many issues. They had plead guilty in legal action regarding fraudlent labeling and undisclosed ingredients the feed they used. They did not use gestation crates {a good thing} but they were practicing other forms of containment that were just as bad. I instantly decided to stop buying this veal.

Since the veal is part of our house made sausages, pates and meatballs, it was a big move requiring a quick change. I called my other main meat supplier, Dartagnan, which practices pretty strong standards of animal husbandry. Their veal farm's practices are well documented: the calves are raised in large barns with no containment {aside from the barn itself}, fed only milk and natural grain, and are allowed to engage in "calf social behavior" {which I assume means watching videos on Moo Tube and instant Mooing their friends using their blackberries}. The calves are raised to an older age before they are harvested, to a higher weight which results in more flavor. When we got our first order of the new veal in house, it felt different to the touch. When we cooked it up, it tasted much much better and made our cannelloni, pates and sausages better. I was looking at what cuts I could get, when I saw veal shortribs. We gave them a try.

Short ribs are a fatty cut, with lots of bone which give a lot of flavor. These are cross cut, "flanken style" in the terminology of old German or Jewish butchers, into 2-1/2" wide strips weighing about 2.5 pounds each. We give you half a strip per order.

I knew I had to use moist heat and I wanted a Venetian/Veneto style presentation. I used Google and other various websites I refer to for Italian traditional recipes. I now had some parameters: onions, bay and allspice, white wine {and not a lot of it}, a mix of olive oil and butter {with not too much of either}. We tried a test batch and it was fine, but missing the spark I was looking for. Taking inspiration from the days when Venice was Europe's spice capitol, I used our "Silk Road" spiced salt which contains Aleppo and Urfa Peppers, Sumac, Zatar {a marjoram & sesame spice mix common in the Middle East}, pomegranate seed powder, salt & cracked pepper. By rubbing the veal with this mix and slow roasting the ribs on a bed of onions & celery, moistened with Vermouth, we got the full flavor profile we were looking for. Now that we have our new crop Iranian Saffron, the dish is finally complete! We are serving it with the braised onions and pan juices on a bed of saffron mashed potatoes.If you like Osso Buco and other richly flavored veal dishes from cuts that have the connective tissue and fat that translate to unctuous flavors and textures, this is the dish for you.

The best endorsement I got for the dish was when Dr K, my cardiologist, tried it and loved it! In fact, he is going to tell his partner, a Dino fan as well {who is not allowed by his loving wife to eat meat} "Herman, you shouldda had the veal!"

Kay & Dean


All Natural Meats and Sustainable Seafood at Dino!

Dino offers meats and seafood from all natural and sustainable sources.
Our Commitment!


All of Dino, including our patio, is a non-smoking environment.

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