Week 89

I was out of town this weekend so the crew took over the stand's production and selling.  Hats off to the whole crew and especially to Chef Matt who took the reins.  If you have not tried Chef Matt's cooking during the week at Ninth Street Bakery, he does the (vegan) specials there most every weekday, and we are soon to collaborate on a Pop-up Ramen Shop (more later).  I can't say enough about his creativity and dedication to cooking.  Here is the weekend breakdown from Matt:

Berenbaum's: The Vegan Edition

Chef Matt here reporting from Berenbaum's secret underground headquarters. With Ari out of town this weekend I got the chance to do things my way food wise... thus, we had the first ever all-vegan week at the bakestand! We brought back the BBQ Tofu Savory Vegan Handpies (this time I slowly reduced the sauce by about 25% more which really brought out quite a bit more flavor and depth, especially in the smokey and sweet departments -- I will definitely do it this way from now on), the Sweet Caramel Apple Handpies, Ginger Carrot Soup and last but not least...the one item that I feared doing again...the ever elusive Vegan Rice Crispy Treat. If you'll remember, I made these many months ago and it was a train-wreck. Since we had hit all the health-food buzzwords already (vegan, gluten-free, organic, etc.) I made the mistake of using the Whole Foods-brand puffed rice cereal instead of generic Krispies. While I liked the flavor, the result was neither crispy nor a treat. It was a crumbly mess. This time I used the Whole Foods brand 'Crispy Brown Rice' cereal and it worked out great. Sticky, sweet, and crunchy with just the slightest hint of vanilla...It really came together exactly how I wanted. That's gotta be one of my favorite things about the Berenbaum's crew...We strive to bring the realness even if it means acknowledging that our original ideas were kind of ill-conceived.  Shout out to the always dedicated team: Andy, Val, Stu, Jamie, Jay, and the new trainee Claire (and Ari -- we totally missed you and your sage-like guidance)! We come together like a culinary Wu-Tang Clan so suckas betta watch out...

*This is where Ari shouts out our fantastic customers... but, I totally forgot to write peoples names down. This week we shout out EVERYBODY who bought anything from us or even said 'what's up'. We do it all for y'all and always appreciate the support.

Even my cat Kaya likes the handpies!

And I can't forget the track of the week (These dudes made what was my vegan anthem back in the day. then they started making albums that were terrible and I kinda forgot about them. This track (and album) is dope though!!!):