TODAY's CASES:

• Classics' Wild Mushroom Soup
• Jimmy's LaGrange Chicken Kiev
• Pop's Pizza in Wheaton, MD

Classics' Wild Mushroom Soup -----Original Message----- From: Nina Sent: Monday, January 19, 2015 4:48 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Mushroom soup recipe I've been trying to find the mushroom soup from Classics restaurant, which is now closed. This restaurant used to be in the Omni International Hotel, which closed in 1999. It was also briefly in the Intercontinental Hotel and Conference Center. Both of these hotels were/are at the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Cleveland OH. The soup was creamy and rich and consisted of either 5 or 7 different mushrooms blended together. I don't like mushrooms but loved this soup. The last chef at Classics was Guillaume Brard and the food served was French and continental. It was a four star restaurant for years. Thank you for assistance, Nina Hi Nina, I had no success finding the mushroom soup recipe from Classics or a copycat recipe for the soup. "Classics" was the creation of Cleveland restaurateur Zack Bruell, who currently operates these restaurants in Cleveland: "Table 45" at Intercontinental Hotel, "L'Albatross" on Bellflower Road in University Circle, "Parallax" in Tremont, "Chinato" at the corner of Prospect and East 4th Street, "Cowell & Hubbard" in the center of PlayhouseSquare, and "Kafeteria" at 200 Public Square, as well as "Dynomite", a burger place in Playhouse Square. According to this article about the closing of Classics, the mushroom soup, "Wild Mushroom Soup", was the creation of Chef Dean DiLuciano. It contained shiitake, portobello, and morel mushrooms, in addition to heavy cream and Courvoisier. See the quotes below and the article here: Cleveland Scene The restaurant's signature appetizer is Chef Dean DiLuciano's Wild Mushroom Soup--so needless to say, we had to try a bowl. Divinely inspired with generous amounts of finely diced shiitake, portobello, and morel mushrooms, and finished with heavy cream and Courvoisier, the soup played the earthy taste of the fungi against the fresh flavor of the cream, putting me into something approaching a transcendental state. Tracking Chef Dean DiLuciano's career a bit, it appears that after "Classics" closed, he went to North Olmsted's "Posto Vecchio", then "Severance the Restaurant", then "Market Café and Wine Bar" at 1801 East Ninth Street. The latest employer for him that I can find seems to be Bon Appetit Management Company in Cleveland. He has a Facebook page at: Dean Diluciano Your best bet for obtaining this recipe may be by attempting to contact Chef Dean DiLuciano through his Facebook page or directly at Bon Appetit Management Company. I will post this request on my site. It's possible that one of my readers can help. Phaed Thanks so much for this information. My internet search missed this. Hopefully I can get the recipe. Nina Jimmy's LaGrange Chicken Kiev -----Original Message----- From: Penny Sent: Monday, January 19, 2015 11:08 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Jimmys LaGrange Chicken Do you know this Recipe Chicken Kiev from Jimmys LaGrange ....this Restaurant was the one they talked about in Mad Man... Late 60's and 70's in New York! Thanks Penny Hi Penny, I had no success finding the specific Chicken Kiev recipe from Jimmy's La Grange. There is a "Mad Men" Cookbook, but the Jimmy's La Grange recipe is not in it. Instead the publishers of that cookbook included the Chicken Kiev recipe from The Russian Tea Room in NYC. See: Russian Tea Room Chicken Kiev There are other Chicken Kiev recipes on these pages: Cookbook Cherie Eatocracy Phaed Pop's Pizza in Wheaton, MD From: Jeff Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 4:48 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Recipe for Pop's pizza Dear Uncle Phaedrus, Pop’s Pizza, a now defunct Wheaton, MD restaurant, had amazing pizza. I have searched endlessly to try and find the secret to their crust, cheese and sauce recipe. I’ve heard it originated from another defunct Washington DC restaurant named The Cavalier Restaurant and lives on at a current Gaithersburg, MD restaurant named Gentleman Jim’s. I've lived in Georgia for over 40 years now and still I can't find a better pizza. Can you help? Thank you, Jeff Hello Jeff, Your request is nearly a duplicate of one from Tennessee posted 9 years ago that I found here: Yahoo Answers When I was a boy growing up in the Wheaton, Maryland area during the 1960's through the 1980's, there was an Italian Restaurant on Henderson Avenue, off of Georgia Ave, called Pop's Pizza. They had some of the tastiest pizzas I've ever eaten. The dough was thick and chewy with a little sweetness, and the sauce had a flavor like I've never found anywhere else. I remember the cheeze was always thick and tasty too, it may have been more than mozzarella. They went out of business eventually and their recipes are lost forever I guess. I have had no luck finding the recipes or anyone who worked there. The mother of one of my old schoolmates, Doris DeLuca, worked there for many years, but I have been unable to find anyone from the DeLuca family in Wheaton. I've moved to TN, so it makes it difficult to track anyone down. If you can seek out and find this pizza dough and sauce recipe (and cheeses), I would be forever grateful. Someone replied with this: Look up Gentleman Jim's Pizza in the yellow pages. They have copied the old recipe (Pop’s) exactly using the same crust and even use fresh tomatoes. I doubt that they will give you the recipe, though. They are located off of Muncaster Mill Rd in the Rockville, MD area. My husband grew up with Pop's Pizza and cannot get enough. I had no success finding a recipe or a copycat for, or even a really detailed description of, the pizza at Pop’s Pizza. I saw some remarks that “Gentleman Jim's Pizza“, in Gaithersburg, is similar to Pop’s. However, I could not find a recipe or a copycat for Gentleman Jim’s pizza, either. I had no success finding a recipe for pizza from "The Cavalier Restaurant" in Washington D.C.. Actually, "The Cavalier Restaurant" seems to be the origin of “Gentleman Jim's Pizza.“ The owners of The Cavalier Restaurant moved, took their pizza chef with them, and opened under the new name. There is a thread here about “Maryland style pizza” or “D.C. style pizza”, which is a specific type of thin crust pizza that does not seem to be found outside Washington D.C. or the state of Maryland: Maryland/D.C. pizza crust is usually described as thin and cracker-like, but the above quote describes “Pop’s Pizza” as being “thick and chewy”, so these two pizzas may not be alike after all. One description of "Gentleman Jim's" pizza described that particular crust as crisp around the edges and soft in the middle. There is a copycat for “Ledo’s Pizza”, which is another iconic Maryland pizza parlor, here: Ledo's Pizza Sauce Copycat Phaed