It’s August already, and hard to believe that summer is quickly heading into the past tense. Although we may not have endured the end of the season’s swelter, we are approaching my favorite time, which is when I get to harvest my garden. So far we’ve had some excellent tangerines, stripeys, plum, vine and cherry tomatoes that we’ve been serving as a side dish, as well as hot peppers that have helped heat up our scallop ceviche at the raw bar.

I want to thank all of you who have visited the Ed’s Lobster Bar kiosk outside the World Financial Center and helped to make our summer stand a great success. For those of you who haven’t had a stroll (or lunch break) down there yet, we’ll be out there through the end of October, and I’ll also be doing a lobster roll demonstration this coming Thursday, August 5th, at 12pm at the World Financial Center Greenmarket on Liberty Street and South End Avenue — not far from the kiosk, which is on the marina just outside the Winter Garden.

Other than that, it’s been a great month at the restaurant, and we’re looking forward to seeing you all soon. And though we’d rather see you in person, up on a bar stool, in the meantime you’re always welcome to join us digitally on your preferred social media platform.

All the best,

Ed McFarland

Chicken Wings

Serves 4

20 wings, tips removed

1 bottle red wine vinegar

4 fresh lemons, cut in half

2 onions, cut in eights

1 head of garlic, cut in half

1 Tbs. salt

1 Tsp. pepper

Dai Day duck sauce

2  mint sprigs

In a large sauce pot put red wine vinegar, lemons, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and chicken wings and marinate for 1 hour.  Preheat grill on high, and then lower heat. Place wings on grill and cover lid, basting every 5 minutes using the mint sprigs.  When chicken wings are almost cooked (about 20 minutes), add duck sauce to the leftover marinade and mix well. Put chicken wings back in the marinade, and then back on grill for about 5 minutes or until done. Bring the remaining marinade to a boil and use as a dipping sauce for your wings.

The warm weather is here and I’m excited because it’s planting season. My starters have already sprouted and within a week I’ll be transplanting them into the ground. This summer, John will also be adding to our bounty with his New York-grown varieties as well. Springtime has already brought some seasonal treats into the restaurant — soft-shell crabs, which we’ve been enjoying in sandwiches and grilled over parsley salad, and Habit sauvignon blanc from Santa Barbara, made by long-time friend of Ed’s Lobster Bar, Jeff Fischer.

May will continue to keep us busy here in the restaurant. Mother’s day is fast approaching on Sunday the 9th and we’re looking forward to helping you celebrate your day and thank mom with our lobster rolls and homemade apple pie. Also early in the month, I’ll be live on LXTV with Sara Gore on the 11th from 5-6 PM, and I’ll also be appearing on Toni On! NY on WPIX Saturdays at 6 PM with some outdoor cooking tips for your summer barbecues. For those of you who follow us on Facebook and Twitter, look for some more smokehouse staff meals from my Big Green Egg. We’ve been enjoying lots of brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, baby back ribs, and various smoked birds. Also in May is Zagat’s voting, which comes to a close on the 16h. Please show your support for Ed’s Lobster Bar and vote here.

We’ll be closed for Memorial Day, May 31st, but you’ll hear from us before then with a special mid-month update about an early June event in which we’ll be celebrating the New York release of Big Claw Wine, a new North Coast blend made especially for pairing with lobster. As always, for the most up to date information about what’s happening throughout the month, check out our news blog and join our following on Facebook and Twitter.

All the best,

Ed McFarland

It nearly feels safe to say that spring is here, and after February’s snows and March’s torrential rain, well, we’re probably in for some more showers in April, but don’t let the grey skies or taxman get you down. Spring is definitely right around the corner. The sun is feeling warm and staying with us a little longer every day. I’m very excited that it’s time to get my garden back in order for the season. This month will involve a lot of time tilling and fertilizing while I get my seedlings started indoors — and ready to be planted later in May. But I’m not the only one this year who will be providing tomatoes. My partner, John Silverman (of John’s Big Night fame) will also be bringing his homegrown heirlooms from upstate in for everyone’s enjoyment.

I want to extend my thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate the restaurant’s third anniversary on March 16th. We had a great time that evening toasting to everyone who’s contributed our success. A special thanks to Steve Cerasoli from Madison Square Garden for the excellent personalized jersey.

Some new specials to look forward to this month include Crab Poppers with avocado puree and Cobia Crudo with Spanish olive oil, black lava salt and diced habanero peppers. But that’s not to neglect some of our other favorite chalkboard specials, like the Fried Ipswich Clams and the Bacon-Oyster Sliders. In addition this month, we’ll be featuring some new wines on the board and do come in and try my new favorite shooter: the Bloody Maria, our housemade bloody mary mix with 901 tequila.

Last month I attended the 2010 Lobstermen’s Town Meeting in Portland, ME, which was focused on sustainability issues and the economic future of the industry. I was part of a panel discussion on lobster pricing at the retail level with Mike Tourkistas from East Coast Seafood.  I was extremely honered to have been asked to participate and give my input on the future of the industry.  There were discussions about traceability of the product from live to processed, and hopefully within a couple of years I will be able to tell you exactly  which harvester (lobsterman) caught your lobster and the exact location it was brought into port.  Also at the end of the month, I participated in the New York Moves Magazine Third Annual “Personal Chef” charity culinary competition at the James Beard Foundation. The winner has yet to be announced, but it was a good time for a good cause.

As always, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. Lots of new cooking videos up on our blog also.

All the best,

Ed McFarland

It was a raw and gusty February, but we all buffeted the torrents and we’re all stronger for it. March is finally here, bringing us more daylight (and its savings too), the much awaited first day of spring, and the famous Ides of March — a day we will honor by offering a free Caesar salad to anyone who comes in dressed in a toga or dressed as General Washington, who according to Wikipedia, quelled a mutiny among his officers on that day in 1783.

But above all, the occasion to really celebrate is our own birthday. The restaurant marks its 3rd anniversary on the 16th, and we’ll certainly be honoring all our patrons for making us their favorite destination. As a way of thanking you all, we’ll be offering a champagne toast to everyone who comes down to join us for dinner. Please note that we’ll be opening for dinner at 7 PM that evening. We look forward to seeing you!

Some other events coming up this month: I’ll be heading to Portland, Maine for the 2010 Canadian/U.S. Lobstermen’s Town Meeting, hosted by my friends at the Lobster Institute. Also late in the month, I’ll be cooking with Heather Nauert from FOX News in a competition at the James Beard House sponsored by New York Moves Magazine. As always, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. Look for new videos up on our blog soon.

All the best,

Ed McFarland

Pear Pancakes

(serves 4)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 ¾ cups flour

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

4 eggs, separated

2 cups buttermilk

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 ounce clarified butter

2 ounces Port

1 tablespoon maple sugar

1 pear, cut in ½ inch slices

2 tablespoons butter

vanilla ice cream

Step 1: Make batter

Begin by mixing buttermilk and yolks in one bowl, and in a separate bowl whip egg whites with a pinch of salt. In a third bowl, large enough to hold all the batter ingredients, mix the flour, cocoa, and baking powder together. To this add the buttermilk mix, and then mix in the butter, and finally gently fold in the egg whites.

Step 2: Flambee pears

In a non-stick pan or griddle, melt 2 tablespoons of butter on medium heat. Carefully lay the sliced pears flat in the pan and lightly brown them on one side and then flip them and flambee with 2 ounces of Port. Reduce liquid by half and sprinkle maple sugar on top. Reserve in the pan on the back of the stove.

Step 3: Make pancakes and serve

In a nonstick pan on medium heat, add ½ ounce of clarified butter (or just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) and pouring in the batter, make the pancakes 2 inches round. Arrange the warm pancakes on a plate (3 per plate) and on top of each pancake, place one piece of flambéed pear. Drizzle a little of the caramel from the flambee pan on top of each pear and serve with one scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

Not an Ed’s Lobster Bar item, but was featured on the Toni On! New York Show

Grilled Cheese
(Serves 4)

8 slices of thick lavain pan or white bread
8 thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma
1 lb. Brinata cheese or any sheep’s milk brie cheese, thinly sliced
½ lb. Boschetto or any sheep’s milk cheese with truffles, thinly sliced
½ pint Black Mission figs, halved
1 cup packed fresh arugula
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) + 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, separated and at room temperature
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

1. Combine 2 sticks butter and 1 cup arugula in a food processor with salt and pepper to taste. Process until arugula is chopped fine and uniformly incorporated into butter.
2. Heat remaining tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Place figs cut-side down into pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Remove figs to a bowl and allow to cool for one minute. Add balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste to figs and mash well with a fork.
3. Pre-heat oven to 375°.
4. Spread arugula butter on one side of each slice of bread and lay slices butter-side down on wax or parchment paper. Spread a thin layer of mashed figs on the tops of 4 of the bread slices, and a thin layer of arugula butter to the remaining 4 slices. You will have 4 slices of bread with arugula butter on both sides and 4 slices of bread with arugula butter on one side and mashed figs on the other.
5. Top all 8 bread slices with one layer of Brinata cheese and then one layer of Boschetto cheese. On the four slices of bread with fig layer 2 slices of prosciutto. Place remaining slices of bread on top of the prosciutto to form sandwiches.
6. In an oven-proof, non-stick pan cook sandwiches on one side until golden-brown, approximately 5 minutes. Flip sandwich over and put pan in the oven for approximately10-12 minutes or until second side is golden brown and cheese is melted.
7. Halve sandwiches into triangles and serve.

February is upon us and it’s a very busy month indeed. As a matter of fact and perhaps for good reason, it’s National Time Management Month — as well as Library Lovers Month, Aggressive Driving Month, Workplace Eye Safety Month, and host to many other holidays. We kick off with Groundhog Day on the 2nd and we’re proposing a deal: if the Groundhog doesn’t see it’s shadow, we’re celebrating an early spring by offering $1 oysters from 5-7 PM. Midway through the month we have Valentine’s and President’s Day (click here to read the legend of George Washington’s oyster-eating horse) colliding with the Chinese New Year creating a cosmic trinity which we intend to honor by offering half priced bottles of champagne and sparkling wine all weekend long (beginning Friday evening through Monday). Sweethearts also note that on Sunday, February 14th, we’ll be open an extra hour, serving dinner and popping that half-priced bubbly until 10pm.

For you WPIX faithful, I’ll be cooking on the Toni On! New York show on the 6th and 13th of the month. Watch at 7:30 PM on Saturdays and 11:30 AM on Sundays. If you’ve missed some of the past appearences, we’ve got them up on YouTube now and the coming featured recipes will be added soon to the others that are already up on our blog. On January 25th, I did the Hot Five on Hot Grease with food culturist Nicole Taylor on the Heritage Radio network — a really excellent internet radio station dedicated to the culture of food and its production. I also want to thank everyone for their tattoo suggestions. A winner was selected and notified, I will post a picture when I get the tattoo (and no, it’s not going to be a plate of lobster meatballs on my stomach).

As always, you can find us and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We are open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner, and we will do our best to accommodate reservations for groups of 8 or more. If you are interested in private parties, catering, or learning how to shuck oysters, email or call us at 212-343-3236.
All the best,

Ed McFarland

This week on Hot Grease, Nicole talks with Kamal Grant about the history and future of doughnuts. Also on the show for The Hot Five, Ed McFarland of Ed’s Lobster Bar. Click on the link below and enjoy!

Hot Grease