HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012 Aug 15 - Cape Cod Times Article: "Dinner at Frank's"Cape Cod Times
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Anew
Cape
beer?
Naukabout launches
beer business
By RICH HOLMES
rholmes@capecodonline.com
Cape Cod has a new beer,
with a familiar brand, but not
a new brewery.
"I'm a huge microbrew fan,"
said Jeff Conley of Naukabout
Beer Co."I wanted to repre-
sent home and the Cape."
Musician Jeff Conley,
along with his brothers and
friends, launched the beer,
an American pale ale, at last
weekend's Naukabout Festi-
val at the Barnstable County
Fairgrounds. Musician Conley
organizes the annual festival,
and leads the Jeff Conley Band.
"We finally got to serve our
own beer at our own festival,"
he said.
Conley readily admits the
beer is brewed in Holyoke by
Paper City.
Many beer ----- -
companies NAUKA80ur
contract to
have their0(*J6 recipes brewed
elsewhere(Sam Adams
eo
and Off- AMERICAN PALE ALF
shore Ale,
to name two, though both of
those outfits also brew some
beer at their home locations).
But the practice may stretch
INSIDE Cooking on deadline
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012
Theater reviews C4
TV/Advice C6
Classified V
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Editor: Gwenn Friss, 508-862-1155
gMss@capecodoiilitie.com
Fax: 508-771-3292
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South
Yarmouth
cook runs an
Italian supper
club at his
home
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Norwood, left, kick off the Tuscan {
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South
Yarmouth
cook runs an
Italian supper
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home
Jessica and Tom Sawyer of t
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Norwood, left, kick off the Tuscan {
-
Sun Festival dinner at Frank's
Cucina, an Italian supper club,
`... b toasting with Jodie Battles
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of Charleston, S.C., Lynn Cash of
Marstons Mills and host Jayne Cash,
wife of the chef Frank Tammaro.
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bis more about his brand's
marketing vibe. Naukabout,
which also sells clothing, is
about"doing what you what
you love to do after you're
done doing what you have to
do." He said calling his product
a Cape beer is"more a tribute."
The only beer brewed and
bottled commercially on Cape
Cod comes from Cape Cod
Beer in Hyannis.
While Naukabout may not
be brewed on Cape, Conley,
32, said he grew up in Cen-
terville and still lives there. In
addition to being the compa-
ny's spokesman, Conley also
used his graphic arts training
to design the beer's label.
The company got into the
beer business started about
a year ago, Conley said, with
a home brewer who helped
out at the 2011 festival. He
approached the brothers
about making a beer under
the Naukabout name. Market-
ing and brand were already in
place.
Conley is the face of Nauk-
about, and said his brothers,
"the beer guy," and a partner
in Florida prefer to stay out
of the limelight. It's not just
shyness: Conley said the oth-
ers work for a company that
forbids its employees from
representing other businesses.
The beer is now available
only on tap at restaurants and
bars across the Cape and off -
Cape as far as Fall River and
Dedham, according to a map
on the company's website.
Naukabout started brewing at
the end of June.
Conley said they hope to
be selling six-packs of bottles
in 90 days, and would like to
move into the Boston area
this fall. Colonial Beverage, in
North Dartmouth, is handling
Naukabout's distribution.
A spiced pumpkin ale is
also in the works, but Conley
said the pale ale will remain
the company's flagship.
Conley said he personally
prefers stouts and porters,
but his"beer guy" successfully
argued that an American-style
pale ale would be a better seller.
The ale has 4.8 percent alcohol
by volume and 32 IBUs, on the
lighter end of bitterness for the
style. It's brewed 20 barrels at a
time using three malts and two
hops, and is dry -hopped with
the Cascade variety.
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CHRISTINE HOCHKEPPEL PHOTOS/CAPE COD TIMES
Frank Tammaro assembles a ravioloni, a giant ravioli, by layering eggplant, buffalo mozzarella, lobster tail, basil and tomato between fresh pasta for the private
supper club he runs each Saturday at his home.
Dinner at FRANKS
By RACHEL SOUTHMAYD
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
There are some people
who have food in
their blood. Not liter-
ally of course, but so
entwined in their life story
that it feels like a significant
piece of their history. For
Frank Tammaro, food has
been a big part of his story.
Six years ago, he made cook-
ing for strangers a weekly
tradition,
opening ONLINE
"Frank's Visit Christine
Cucina," Hochkeppel's
a private
photo gallery of
Italian sup-
pFrank Tammaro
per club, at
his South making dinner at
ecod
Yarmouth w lines m/
home. media
Each media
Saturday, a
new group enters the home
Tammaro and his wife, Jayne
Cash, share, and partake of a
six -course meal he's created.
He also does specialty menus,
like one that was entirely
chocolate -based or the dinner
he hosted on Aug. 4 that was
a partnership with his grand-
daughter, Jodie Battles, a som-
melier (wine expert) originally
from Barnstable who now
lives in Charleston, SC.
"We just thought it would
be a fun collaboration," she
see FRANK'S, page 3
1. v_
W.W1
Clockwise from top left: Frank Tammaro chops fresh basil in his home kitchen surrounded by antiques. Tammaro plates the
first course for the Tuscan Sun Festival dinner, a three -bean salad with shrimp atop a stuffed potato. A close-up of Tammaro
assembling a ravioloni with many layers between fresh pasta.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012
FRANK'S CUCINA
87 HighbankRoad, South Yarmouth; www.frankscucina.com; Private supper club offers dinners
at 6:15 p.m. Saturdays; Next three menus are suggested donation of $70-$85 per person.
Below are the featured dishes from a recent supper, in the order they were served:
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6
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1. Three -bean salad with shrimp atop a stuffed potato. 2. A zucchini
blossom filled with Robiola and mascarpone cheeses mixed with
peas and carrots over a lava bean and tomato salad. 3. A lobster
ravioloni layered with eggplant, tomato, basil and buffalo mozzarella.
4. A grape and champagne sorbet. 5. Chilean sea bass, striped bass
and scallops served with turnips, carrots and asparagus salad in a
black truffle and champagne sauce. 6. Chocolate mousse, orange
cr4me anglaise with chocolate
and caramel pieces, berries andS A L O N
candied orange slices.
MR,
RAFFAELE
CHRISTINE HOCHKEPPEL PHOTOS/CAPE COD TIMES
DIVORCE
Contested & Uncontested
Actions for Divorce
and
Cod Times ■ C3
Frank's: Private dinners
from C1
says of the dinner. Tammaro
selected the menu well in
advance as usual and Battles
picked a wine pairing for each
course.
Tammaro, who grew up in
New Jersey, surrounded by an
Italian family, says he cooks
strictly Italian food. He's had
other businesses in the past
and was involved in the art and
antique trade professionally for
a long time. His home shows
this clearly, full of unique and
antique finds. In the kitchen
where he creates his dinners,
exposed beams hold a collec-
tion of eclectic whirl -a -gigs,
painted in a vintage green he
mixed himself for authenticity.
And Tammaro isn't shy about
sharing the kitchen with dinner
guests. They wander through,
sometimes even sitting at the
counter. When the evenings
are pleasant, guests often sit
out on the patio that's next to
the garden where many of the
ingredients grow.
Married couple Tom and
Jessica Sawyer, from Norwood,
attended the Aug. 4 dinner. Tom
Sawyer originally heard about
"underground supper clubs"on
the television show"Top Chef."
The pair says they began to
look for some in Massachu-
setts. When they saw this menu
at Tammaro's, when they would
be visiting the Cape, they
signed up to attend.
The Sawyers found Frank's
Cucina through the Facebook
page. Tammaro is very active
on social media and in online
communities for supper clubs,
which he says are far more
prevalent in places like South
America.
"Coming to someone's home
is very exciting" says Jessica
Sawyer."This forces you out of
your comfort zone."
And Cash says having new
people in the house each week-
end is a lot of fun.
"It's like having a party every
Saturday night," she says.
Frank's Cucina patrons
are asked to give a specified
donation, which Tammaro says
covers the cost of ingredients
for the evening's dishes.
The Aug. 4 meal included
three bean -stuffed potato with
scampi tails, stuffed zucchini
blossoms, lobster ravioloni,
grape and champagne sorbet,
three types of fish in a black
truffle champagne sauce and
a dessert with sculpted choco-
late and caramel, fruit, mousse
and orange creme anglaise.
The hot summer night quickly
took its toll on the dessert
dish as'Ihmmaro rushed to
plate all the ingredients. The
result ended up looking less
than perfect, although the
diners assured Tammaro it
tasted delicious, and Tammaro
shrugged off the imperfect
presentation.
"It's like anything else in life,"
he says."You just move on."
Tammaro is not a profession-
ally trained chef, and he's the
first to admit it.
"I don't have technique,"he
says. "But I'm a good cook."
Tammaro makes or adapts
nearly everything himself, from
creating his own balsamic
reductions to grinding his
own white pepper. He says he
tries to use local ingredients
as much as possible. What he
can't get from his own garden,
he buys from local suppliers,
and also travels to New Bed-
ford to go to the fish market.
He says his cooking technique,
which is about 60 percent
improvisation, is all about
blending flavors.
"It's all about layering,"he
says."It's about creating a
depth."
Laughter drifts in from the
dining room while Tammaro
plates another dish. He helps
his assistant for the evening
carry the plates in and explain
the contents of the dish after
he's snapped a picture on his
Thone. While the guests are
eating, he'll often pop back in
to solicit feedback. He says he
learns from every meal and
very rarely repeats a dish,
preferring to try new things.
Tammaro says he'll keep run-
ning Frank's Cucina as long as
he can.
"I just happen to like what
I'm doing," he says."And that's
the key."
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