The Gods of Venice

The Gods of Venice is Alan J. Shannon's first novel. A travel, food and spirit writer based in Chicago, Shannon has long been intrigued with Italy and history, as well as a good tale.

Throughout its history, enchanting and mysterious Venice has attracted seekers. Some travel to the city to experience its storied charms, while others look for something else. The Gods of Venice is the story of vastly different seekers whose lives unexpectedly intersect over six decades in a city shrouded in mystery.

In the Venice of pre-WWII, Constanza, a talented baker, and her husband Piero Agostino, a glass blower, are blessed with a daughter, Breva. She is the love of their life until the waters of Venice snatch her from them. Bereaved, their lives are lost to them.

In present-day Venice, Claudia Baggi, the diffident daughter of a countess, and Louis Howard, an unemployed expatriate from Chicago, have become good friends in the last year. Together, they concoct a plot that will allow Claudia to remain in Venice instead of returning home with her pious and controlling mother, Countess Baggi. Claudia and Louis restore a crumbling palazzo and convert it into a hotel. But the burning of the old La Fenice opera house triggers a series of unforeseeable events.

In this saga of love and redemption, Claudia, Louis, Constanza, Piero, and the Countess come to realize that rebirth is possible from the ashes of devastation.

Order on-line at Powells, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon, or, ask your library to order it. Support your local, independent bookstore, when possible.

Mining for Mollusks in Chicago

As an insolvent University of Mississippi student, one of my fondest memories was Friday afternoons when a battered truck would arrive at my favorite Oxford bar, disgorging a load of fifty-cent oysters fresh from the Gulf (the perfect complement to fifty cent beer).

My friends and I would stake out a booth and wait for the oyster shucker to work his magic before presenting a tray of gleaming split oysters hunkered down in a bed of white ice. These days—though far from the ocean—I needn’t wait for a battered oyster truck—or for Friday.

While oysters appear daily in various forms on the menus of countless Midwestern restaurants, not one of these marvelous-tasting mollusks is remotely native. So how is it that these fragile marine savories appear in fresh and flavorful form on all of these heartland tables?

A Little Oyster History

The story begins at the approach of the 20th century with the establishment of the city’s first oyster restaurant, the Rector House, which acquired oysters from a Long Island Sound supplier whose name became synonymous with high-quality oysters around the country—the Blue Point Oyster Company. Eventually, the waters of Long Island Sound could no longer support oyster beds; however, the Blue Point name stuck and is currently used to describe oysters reminiscent of those originally supplied by Blue Point. Chicagoans developed a taste for the plump and firm ocean goodies as oyster farms sprouted up and down the eastern and western coastlines.

Flash forward nearly a century to the establishment of Shaw’s Crab House in 1984. Shaw’s is ground zero for oysters in the Midwest, and one of the principal purveyors of the mollusks in the country. As this urban institution nears its 20th anniversary, its oyster sales are approaching the eight million mark—nearly an oyster for each resident of the Chicago area.

Oyster Talk

Going directly to the source, I contacted Tod Barber, Shaw’s partner and oyster enthusiast. Barber and his partners man the helm of one of the most successful seafood restaurants in the world—and this more than a thousand miles from the nearest salt water. During our hour-long conversation, he reveals a passion for oysters nearly as deep and swirling as the sea in which his beloved oysters are found.

When asked to explain the popularity of oysters in Chicago, Barber provides the conventional explanation that oysters are plump, meaty morsels with a distinctive, salty flavor that no other seafood can duplicate. However, when he responds to a question about why he enjoys the oyster business in Chicago, his reply is less predictable.

“The best thing about Chicago is O’Hare,” he enthuses. “I can serve oysters from British Columbia or New England within 18 hours of their being pulled from their beds.” (Mollusks are ordered and received within an 18 to 24 hour timeframe and travel packed in ice, but are never frozen.)

Other tricks exist to ensure that oysters endure their long flights as pristine as the moment they were roused from their briny little seabeds. In order to prevent their essential freshness and flavor-preserving juices (a/k/a liquor) from escaping, oysters must be transported on their backs—never on their sides. While these layers of mindless mollusks aren’t demanding massages or an in-flight movie, they do require a little extra leg—er, shell room.

If Shaw’s relies on oysters from the northern oceans, Heaven on Seven’s Jimmy Bannos looks south to the generations’ old farms of Louisiana. New Orleans oyster supplier Val Sevin works primarily with small-time farmers whose harvest goes from a Louisiana bed to a Heaven on Seven table overnight—not bad for a leg-less, wing-less mollusk. Sevin—like Shaw’s Barber—credits O’Hare and FedEx for this amazing feat.

Davis Street Fishmarket in Evanston also acquires its oysters from across the world. Sporting one of the largest after-work oyster bars in the region, Davis Street’s busy crew of oyster shuckers recently prepared 210 of the specimens for one diner who polished them off in just over an hour. Thanks to the wonder of overnight delivery, though, the restaurant’s stocks were replenished within a day.

Myths & Mollusks

There’s a myth to match many unusual foods, and oysters are no exception. While I won’t attempt to dispel their legendary aphrodisiac qualities, I don’t mind discrediting the culinary myth that the shellfish should be eaten only in months with an “R” in them, effectively barring the summer months when split oysters beckon invitingly from a bed of ice. From May to August, when ocean waters warm and oysters spawn, the mollusks turn soft and creamy—instead of being firm—and restaurants and suppliers begin looking for oysters from cooler, northern waters. But you needn’t eschew an oyster just because summer has made its reluctant return to the Midwest.

While the most popular preparations for oysters are raw on the half shell and Rockefeller, other preparations are creeping onto restaurant menus. Randolph Street sushi salon Starfish features a fresh oyster in sake ponzu sauce served with a quail egg, while Shaw’s offers its highly edible oyster biscuits (see recipe below). Further afield, Wicker Park’s Zen parlor Ohba offers a caviar-crowned oyster bathed in a tomato sake broth and served on a bed of seaweed while multi-starred Tru features a chilled sunchoke velouté with curried oyster.

On occasion I miss my carefree school days when fifty cent beers and fifty cent oysters rounded out a week’s simple existence. But then I can’t help feeling pity for anyone, anywhere, who can’t get a fresh oyster any day of the week. And like Tod Barber and Val Sevin, I thank God for O’Hare and its oyster pipeline.

• Shaw’s Crab House, 21 E. Hubbard St., Chicago; 312.527.2722
• Heaven on Seven, 600 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago (and other locations); 312.280.7774
• Davis Street Fishmarket, 501 Davis St; Evanston, IL; 847.869.3474
• Starfish, 802 W. Randolph St., Chicago; 312.997.2433
• Ohba, 2049 W. Division St., Chicago; 773.772.2727
• Tru, 676 N. St. Clair St., Chicago; 312.202.0001

Recipe:

Shaw’s Oyster Biscuits

Yield: 24 2½" biscuits

4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup grated Jarlsberg cheese
3 cups heavy whipping cream
24 small shucked oysters
½ cup chopped steamed spinach
1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Sift together dry ingredients. Add ½ cup of Jarlsberg. Add whipping cream until just combined. Let dough sit 15 minutes before rolling. Roll to 1/8" thickness. Cut 48 2½" pieces with a cookie cutter.

Place a dab of spinach and cheese on each biscuit and top with an oyster. Seal with top layer of biscuit, brush with cream and sprinkle with fennel seeds. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Restaurants Offer a New Kind of (Greener) Bottled Water

When Americans dine out we typically want to have a special experience, indulging in food and drink that we wouldn’t enjoy at home. We’ll order a pricey bottle of a mighty cab that we might never buy at the wine store or we might order a chocolate soufflé knowing full well that we’ll never make such a dessert in our own kitchen.

And so it makes sense that many of us find the concept of purified—instead of bottled water—difficult to swallow.

While a growing number of restaurants across the country are beginning to serve purified water, eschewing the bottled stuff that eats up massive amounts of fossil fuel getting here from exotic spots such as Italy or Fiji, many Americans continue to be hoodwinked by the perceived status and purity of bottled water, oftentimes leaving facts and the health of the environment to swirl down the drain.

In Chicago, green restaurateur Shawn McClain and his trio of restaurants, including Green Zebra and its exquisite vegetarian dishes and Spring’s evolved fare, stopped stocking bottled water and began offering Natura, an Italian based water purification system. While Natura’s process improves the flavor and purity of water, many diners scoff at paying extra for H20 that doesn’t come in a disposable bottle—regardless of whether it tastes any better or is more pure.

But the fact is that the purifier and others like it often creates water that’s more pure and refreshing than that found in a sealed bottle. Natura’s system involves active carbon filters and a UV radiation chamber which remove bacteria and eliminates impurities and offers the final refreshing dose of water in a dishwasher safe, reusable bottle. In essence, diners get the look and feel of bottled water without the environmental cost. And there’s plenty of research sprinkled across the Internet that shows that tap water bests many bottled waters when it comes to flavor and quality—even New York City tap water.

It’s a given that our bottled water habit is wreaking environmental devastation. Walk along a city street—or a beach nearly anywhere—and you’re likely to see an improperly disposed bottle of water washing ashore. And the bottle you’re likely to see is merely one of billions per year that we Americans empty and toss aside in a year.

Worldwide some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year, and much of this ends up in landfills, sluicing along inland waterways, rolling across intersections or bobbing in the Texas-sized island of misfit plastic waste bobbing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Ordering locally produced and purified water makes perfect green sense. In fact, if we’re more serious about addressing the critical environmental issues raised by our consumption of bottled water, we would be willing to pay extra for such water, much as we do for organic produce.

Ordering purified water in restaurants is a good first step toward breaking the bottled water habit, demonstrating that it’s neither trendy nor smart to order bottled water.

This St. Patrick’s Day, A Greener Ireland Awaits Leprechauns (and Tourists)

These days, Ireland is becoming known for more than simply verdant hills, green beer and leprechauns. In fact, the country has recently grown quite serious about becoming an eco-friendly destination for tourists. Renowned for its emerald-hued natural beauty which attracts flocks of tourists, Ireland is transforming itself into a country that is quickly becoming as environmentally green as its renowned, lush countryside.

The Irish government is aware that approximately 80% of tourists to Ireland feel that the country’s pristine environment and scenic landscapes are a “ very important ” factor in their choice of Ireland as a holiday destination, making its efforts to offer greener tourism options all the more important.

For those tempted to pursue a green visit to the Emerald Isle, the country’s tourism organizations make it easy.

When most tourists think of Ireland, thoughts turn to quaint inns and hotels. The good news is that there are a growing number of green options in this very fetching category. To encourage hotels to go green, the country offers Green Hospitality Awards. In 2008, 81 out of the island nation’s 960 hotels were honored with one of the new, but already coveted awards.

Many of these are featured on Greenbox, Ireland’s eco-tourism website. The country also participates in the European Union’s green hotel certification program, the EU Flower Eco-Label. Though the initiative is new, Ireland already boasts eighteen accommodations that have earned the label.

For a stay in a classic Georgian manor home, travelers can book a room at the Necarne Manor. With rolling lawns, woods and gardens and an equestrian center, the Gothic Revival estate is as beautiful as it is green. Guests can bike along a nearby trail to a nearby nature reserve and the inn uses organic, fair trade and locally-produced food, even sourcing compost from the on-site stables.

Those yearning for something edgier can try the yurt-inspired Gyreum Eco-Lodge which might best be described as über-green in an Al Gore-on-steroids kind of way. Wind turbines power geothermal heating, solar panels provide hot water, traditional toilets connect to a reed bed, and there’s even an outside compost toilet. Rain from the enormous roof is collected and used for showers and toilets.

For a green tour of Ireland’s, well, greenery, book with Ireland Eco Tours which visits well and lesser-known sites, all from the comfort of a vegetable oil-powered bus.

Even Dublin’s charming lanes and streets are turning green. Completely novel and yet to hit the roads in the U.S., Ecocabs offer Dublin residents and tourists a green alternative to traditional taxis. A fleet of modern passenger tricycles operating a free shuttle service daily from April 1st-December 31st, Ecocabs promote fitness while reducing noise, congestion and carbon emissions.

Failte, the Irish tourism agency, is so committed to greening that it has added an environment section to its web site. The section includes an environmental action plan and carbon strategy. The agency is currently working on environmental standards for conference centers and golf courses and has already reviewed environmental practices in the tourism sector. Talk about your transparent government, a copy of the report with recommendations is on its website.

But it’s not just leprechauns and tourist agencies that are green in Ireland—the Irish are pursuing as many green initiatives for their own benefit. May 22-24 is the annual National Greener Ireland fair which includes information on carbon footprint reduction, energy preservation, and organic produce.

On a grander scale, Sustainable Energy Ireland is a one-stop source for information about grants, saving energy, education, and business approaches to adopting a sustainable energy approach.

According to the Irish tourist agency, “The future of Irish tourism is inextricably linked to the quality of the environment. [The] scenic landscapes, coastline, rivers and lakes and cultural heritage are the bedrock upon which Irish tourism has been built.”

The efforts of the Irish to ensure their environment and tourism thrive are more than mere blarney. While the existence of leprechauns might be debated, the efforts of the Irish to go green are as real as the green hills of Ireland itself.

Will You Be My Eco-Chocolate Valentine?

For fans of chocolate, this approaching Valentine’s Day offers an ideal excuse to purchase a seasonal box of chocolates or to savor something special made with chocolate, that magical elixir the Aztecs prized as much as gold.

But chocolate might prompt heartburn if a person knew the damage it can do to the environment and how workers—including children—are often exploited in its production. In addition to promoting deforestation, commercial chocolate production often involves the use of pesticides, this in one of the world’s most life-abundant and diverse regions. Of course, using pesticides harms much of that life, causing considerable damage.

Maybe we don’t get warm and fuzzy feelings about saving all the creeping, flying and crawling bugs that abound in warm places, but if we thought about all the animals that rely on them for food, such as neon colored birds, monkeys, or even the aardvark, we might opt for organic or sustainably-grown chocolate.

Thankfully, as with so many food products these days, there are plenty of small-scale and artisan producers creating culinary works of art that offer a tantalizing array of flavors and combinations, while ensuring that workers and the earth aren’t exploited.

Herewith a sampling of earth-friendly edible gems that will warm your, er, heart:

Perhaps the greenest chocolate company in the States, haute chocolate creator Vosges, with boutiques in Chicago, New York and Las Vegas, uses 100% renewable energy—and that’s just for starters. From earth-friendly packaging to green shipping, the company takes seriously its commitment to the environment—and that’s even before it’s fired up the stove and begun crafting its prized confections.

It’s not everywhere a chocolate-hound can find organic peanut butter bonbons or Italian-inspired chocolates mixed with taleggio cheese or fennel pollen. To view the Vosges green policy, click here. Better yet, whether whimsical, hyper-creative creations for the new millennium or more traditional fare, click here to actually order the delectable stuff.

North of the Second City, Madison, Wisconsin, surrounded by scads of organic farms, boasts exalted chocolatier Gail Ambrosius and her luscious creations, including a dark chocolate salted caramel, raspberry truffle, and rose truffle, all featured at Chicago’s Eno, a wine, cheese and chocolate bar.

Ambrosius just returned from a trip to Costa Rica where she visited a 100% organic, fair trade chocolate farm. After tasting the chocolate, which possessed a fetching fruitiness, the confectioner brought back as much of the stuff as she could carry. And talk about your fresh: her latest batch was literally on the tree a week before she brought it home.

Acclaimed Terry’s Toffee protects the environment by offering Valentine’s toffee in beautiful, eminently reusable lacquer and fetching, sturdy hat-boxes. Handcrafted using traditional methods and quality ingredients, this delectable, buttery treat has been a favorite at the Academy Awards.

For those preferring their chocolate in liquid form, BREADBAR in Los Angeles offers a bowl of steamed hot organic chocolate, made using Master Chocolatier Patricia Tsai’s organic, single-estate cocoa beans. A second, seasonal enticement offers several slices of Cocoa Goji Berry Bread, Organic Hot Chocolate and a Chocolate spread.

A bit further north, San Luis Obispo’s Sweet Earth Chocolates views the environment and chocolate-making in much the same way as Vosges. The company provides ammunition for would-be cupids by offering a Vegan Heart Box containing chocolate hearts with peanut butter, vanilla caramel and chocolate caramel centers. Traditional heart-shaped boxes and a variety of other Valentine creations fly out of the fragrant kitchens of this über Earth-friendly company.

Finally, for those fortunate enough to live in New York City, Spoon’s decadent chocolate cake can be personalized and delivered to your Valentine’s Gotham City lair. Click here to see Spoon’s chocolate cake.