On the 6th day of Christmas, Datz gave to me…

Uh…

Forget the six geese a-laying!

Today we’re giving away a complimentary appetizer to the most creative foodie tweet about Datz.

Be sure to include @datz4foodies in your tweet.

On the 5th day of Christmas, Datz gave to me…

five golden rings!

Of Italian goodness, that is.

A duet of tasty taralli bread snacks

with harvest-fresh Italian extra virgin olive oil.

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On the 4th day of Christmas, Datz gave to me…

one deliciously decadent, datzified meal!

But ONLY if you are the Foursquare Mayor at 11:59pm tonight!

 And the winner is……. Tanya!

On the 3rd day of Christmas, Datz gave to me…

your choice of one Guy Fieri salsa or bbq suace!

To enter into today’s contest, share your most creative culinary use for your favorite Guy Fieri sauce or salsa in the comment section, and we’ll pick not one, but two winners!

Don’t forget to leave your email so we can notify you! It will not be published!

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Forget the big bag of branded chocolate bars – why not throw a Halloween party with these delicious, foodie-pleasing treats, instead!

Handmade William Dean Chocolates

These gourmet chocolates include such decadent flavors as Banana’s Foster, Apple Pie, Cappuccino and Crème Brulee. Y-U-M!

Bogle Phantom Wine

This is a hauntingly delicious wine with notes of juicy boysenberry and black fruit and deep aromas of pipe tobacco and black pepper with hints of clove and vanilla! It is a perfect blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Mourvèdre.

Homemade Carmel Corn

Here’s how you can make your own!

‎15 cups of pop corn

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

In a sauce pan, heat sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Stir occasionally until bubbly around edges. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda. Stir until foamy. Pour the mixture on popcorn; continue to stir until well covered. Bake one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

What’s Halloween without something pumpkin flavored? It might as well be a cocktail! Mix it with coffee, serve it on the rocks or put it in a martini glass with vanilla vodka!

Fulton’s Harvest Pumpkin Pie Liqueur

What’s Halloween without something pumpkin flavored? It might as well be a cocktail! Mix it with coffee, serve it on the rocks or put it in a martini glass with vanilla vodka!

Pumpkin Fondue

That’s right! First, clean your pumpkin and baste the insides with butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes and then pour your favorite cheese fondue recipe inside! Try using gruyere and spicing it up with a little nutmeg and cinnamon! Be sure to garnish with paprika to add a nice look.

Serve these treats up to your friends (some of them you can find in our Foodie’s Market, *hint*hint*) or make them for yourself! And, hey! If you’re not doing anything on the 31^st, we’d sure love to have you stop by!

Related Posts:

Deep Fried Oreos

Une Croque Madame, S’il Vous Plait

Bust out your elastic-waist pants and bring your and appetite to Datz for  Tampa Bay’s Restaurant Week 2011.

This two-week promotion, which runs from Friday, August 19 to Friday, September 2, provides those of us foodies with an opportunity to savor an array of specially priced three-course meals (we’re offering 5!) from some of the Bay area’s finest eateries. Prices vary by restaurant ($25, $35 or $45) and exclude beverages, tax and gratuity.

Although the menu you at Datz is so diverse you could eat here for at least a week, you may want to check out some other local favorites.

Read more about Restaurant Week, here and here.

Forget fruit juice – chocolate could be an even better way to boost your health, new research shows.

Dark chocolate and cocoa have more anti-oxidant capacity and more heart-healthy flavanols than fruit juice, according to a recent study in the Chemistry Central Journal.

The study, conducted by the Hershey Co., compared cocoa powder and products with fruit-based powders and juices. Cocoa came out ahead on the anti-oxidant scale over blueberry, cranberry and pomegranate powder. The differences between pomegranate juice and dark chocolate weren’t significant, researchers found.

Still, dark chocolate trumped other juices in the anti-oxidant test.

“Cocao seeds should be considered a ‘superfruit’ and products derived from cocao seed extracts, such as natural cocoa powder and dark chocolate, as ‘superfoods,’” the researchers said.

But chocolate milk fans, beware: The health perks don’t necessarily extend to this childhood staple. Nor does it apply to hot cocoa mix.

When looking for a sweet snack, a single dark chocolate truffle from William Dean or Knipschildt might, in fact, be your healthiest choice. Hallelujah!

2 T unsalted butter
2 T olive oil, plus more for brushing the bread
4 oz Masseria Mirogallo Mushrooms in oil, trimmed and sliced if needed
1 T chopped green onions, plus more for garnish
4 1-inch-thick slices of crusty, rustic-style bread
4 large eggs
Paprika
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms are warmed through. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the chives. Remove the mushrooms from the heat and keep warm.

Preheat the broiler. Brush one side of each bread slice lightly with olive oil. Place the bread under the broiler for about 1 minute per side to toast lightly. Set aside while you cook the eggs.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into pan and cook 2-3 minutes. Cover with a lid and cook an additional 2 minutes until whites are set, then remove the skillet from the heat. Place one egg on each toast, then top with the mushrooms and chives. Season with  salt, freshly ground black pepper and paprika, and serve warm.

In big Italian families it’s always smart to have handy something quick that you can put together for a simple supper, or for unexpected guests. (It’s nice to be known as the host who always graciously offers something good to eat).

1# Decarolis Riccia pasta
28 oz. San Marzano Tomatoes
1 bag Bottega Calabria Midnight Spaghetti Spice Blend*
1 bottle Cavalli Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Parmigiana Reggiano Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Drain the San Marzano tomatoes and cut each tomato in half, lengthwise. Place the tomato halves face up on the baking sheet, keeping them close together. Sprinkle Midnight Spice Blend over the tomatoes and roast for about 2 hours. The tomatoes will shrivel and caramelize a bit. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

In a large stock pot, heat plenty of water to boiling point, then add salt and oil. Add the pasta, cook until al dente and then drain, reserving one cup of the pasta water. While the spaghetti is cooking, gently heat one cup of olive oil. Add the midnight spice blend and warm gently. It is important not to fry the garlic, otherwise it will become bitter.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, the heated spice/olive oil mixtures and the tomatoes. Add more olive oil and/or pasta water until the pasta is shiny, but not wet. Grate the cheese over the pasta and serve immediately.

*A small, artisanal company located in “the boot heel” in Calabria, Bottega di Calabria creates intriguing flavor combinations using the famous red-hot peperoncino of the region. Besides pasta, you can use Midnight Spice Blend, Bruschetta Spice Blend or Arrabbiatta Spice Blend in homemade focaccia or garlic bread, as a marinade for for beef or chicken chicken dishes, or as a simple spice for take-out pizza night!

Bourbon drinkers, who are never so legion as in the days before and after the Kentucky Derby, want to know:
Who is Evan Williams? Ezra Brooks? Who is Basil Hayden? Elijah Craig? Pappy Van Winkle? T.W. Samuels? Mike Veach, of Louisville’s Filson Historical Society and a bourbon history specialist, illuminated us:

Evan Williams is considered Kentucky’s first distiller, according to legend, said Veach. Williams set up his stills on the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville in 1783. Evan Williams bourbon is produced today by Heaven Hill Distillery in Nelson County.

Rev. Elijah Craig was a late-1700s Baptist preacher, teacher and distiller, often (but erroneously) credited as the inventor of bourbon whiskey, Veach said. Craig had plenty of other firsts, however, such as forming in 1787 the first classical school in Kentucky, where scholars could learn Greek and Latin (it is today’s Georgetown College); building the state’s first cloth-manufacturing mill; building its first paper mill; and starting its first ropewalk to make hemp rope. Today, Elijah Craig bourbon is from Heaven Hill Distillery.

Bourbon County claims the honor of invention, again by legend, Veach said, noting that by the time the county formed in 1785, there were dozens upon dozens of small farmer-distillers making a corn-based whiskey that came to be called “bourbon” after the county.

Henry McKenna is another important early name. He brought his family’s whiskey recipe with him from Ireland in 1837 and, when he settled in Fairfield, Ky., founded a distillery, said Veach, adapting his recipe to local grain, especially corn. His 1855 product, billed as “Kentucky’s Finest Table Whiskey,” is still made today as Henry McKenna from Heaven Hill Distillery.

J.T.S. Brown was the older brother by 20 years of bourbon great George Gavin Brown of the Louisville-based Brown-Forman wine-and-spirits corporation that started making bourbon in 1870. Moviegoers may know “J.T.S. Brown” from the patter between “Fast Eddie” Felson and “Minnesota Fats” in the movie “The Hustler,” where Fats calls for White Tavern whiskey, with a glass and some ice, and Eddie (Paul Newman) asks for “J.T.S. Brown. No ice. No glass.” You can get J.T.S. Brown from Heaven Hill, which is named for early Kentucky distiller William Heavenhill, who owned a Nelson County farm and let the printer’s mistake stand when his first labels were issued, Veach said.

Old Forester is another name with a change over time. This famed Brown-Forman product is named after Dr. William Forrester of Louisville, a renowned Civil War physician, who endorsed the bourbon that young George Gavin Brown was clever enough to distribute only by the bottle, rather than from the barrel, said Veach. A barrel of whiskey could and, indeed, often did become an altered product, and since liquor was a major sedative, doctors complained about the uneven quality of whiskey by the jug.

Brown put his bourbon in a bottle and added a handwritten label of assurance.

Veach said Brown is sometimes mistakenly believed to be the first to bottle bourbon. That honor likely goes to E.G. Booz, a 19th-century Philadelphia distiller who sold whiskey in bottles, but stopped because the handmade bottles were so expensive. The first bottle-making machine was not patented until 1904.

Old Forester is touted as the only bourbon in existence today that has been sold continuously for more than a century, including during the Prohibition years of 1919 to 1933, when alcohol sales were otherwise illegal in the United States. The distillery received one of only 10 government permits to produce whiskey for medicinal purposes.

Basil Hayden Sr. moved from Maryland to Nelson County, Ky., in 1785. His bourbon was created with more rye than most, Veach said, and his taste was honored by his grandson’s creation of Old Grand-Dad, now produced by Jim Beam along with four different “Basil Hayden’s” varieties. That recipe, if not the whiskey production, dates to 1796.

Col. James B. Beam is the man behind the Jim Beam label, which appeared in 1933 to honor the man who rebuilt the distillery after Prohibition. The original distillery was founded in 1795 by Jacob Boehm, who produced Old Jake Beam Sour Mash from the distillery known as Old Tub. Although the Beam and Noe families are still involved, Jim Beam Distillery is owned by Beam Global Spirits & Wine, which is owned by Fortune Brands of Deerfield, Ill.

Frederick Booker Noe II is the name behind Booker Noe’s, a bourbon named for the grandson of distiller Jim Beam. Noe was a master distiller, and his Booker’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey helped spark the flagging bourbon business, said Veach, when it was eroding due to the new popularity of gin and vodka in the ’60s and ’70s. He created a new market around 1988 for small-batch bourbons straight from the barrel.

Elmer T. Lee, a master distiller emeritus at Buffalo Trace, helped create the first single-barrel — in the modern sense — bourbon, said Veach. Lee developed the Elmer T. Lee label that apparently has no age requirement, but is bottled when Lee deems appropriate. Sibling brands at Buffalo Trace include Eagle Rare and Blanton’s.

Pappy Van Winkle is the man behind Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve and other Van Winkle bourbons now produced in a joint venture with Buffalo Trace. Julian P. “Pappy” Van Winkle Sr. was a traveling salesman for William LaRue Weller and Sons wholesale liquors in Louisville. Pappy and Alex Farnsley (father of former Louisville Mayor Charlie Farnsley) bought that business and Stitzel Distillery and merged the two into Stitzel-Weller Distillery in south Louisville. Their brands include W.L. Weller, Old Fitzgerald and Rebel Yell — which was named by Charlie Farnsley as a marketing device to Civil War buffs. Pappy Van Winkle was succeeded by son Julian Jr., who sold the distillery in 1972, retaining one pre-Prohibition label, Old Rip Van Winkle. He and his son, Preston Van Winkle, create a “wheated” bourbon that does not use rye, Veach said.

W. L. Weller is a distilling great with a long and important business history, but his biggest contribution, said Veach, may have been continuing the recipe of Arthur Philip Stitzel, using wheat rather than rye. The brand named after Weller and variations on it are currently made at Buffalo Trace Distillery.

T. W. Samuels founded a family occupation when he started a distillery in 1844 at Samuels Depot, Ky., which is where William Clark Quantrill brought his band of Confederate irregulars — including Samuels’ stepsons, Jesse and Frank James — to raid at the close of the Civil War. The Samuels distillery shut down during Prohibition. When great-, great-, great-grandson Bill Samuels Sr. got out of the Navy, he sold the business in 1943 and began to revise the bourbon recipe, said Veach. His wife, Marge, came up with the name Maker’s Mark and the distinctive red wax seal. The first bottles of Maker’s Mark bourbon came out in 1958. Bill Samuels Jr. became CEO in 1975. Today, Maker’s Mark is owned by Beam Global Spirits and Wine Co. and T.W. Samuels brand is owned by Heaven Hill. - Diane Heilenman, Louisville Courier-Journal via Louisville MetroMix