Results tagged “rickfield”

There must be something in the air -- temperatures dropping or the crisp winds of fall, perhaps -- but whatever it is, it has caused two of our favorite local artisanal picklers to launch tasty new products. First, Jon Orren at Wheelhouse has created the Ploughman's Pickle, his take on the Branston Pickle Relish that graces the traditional English Ploughman's lunch. His version contains the wort from Sixpoint Craft Ales' Brownstone Ale (wort is the...

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The first thing that Rick Field of Rick's Picks did when we met him at the Union Square Greenmarket one morning was put us in charge of his stall. So while he ran off to take care of non-pickle related business, we stood in his shoes for a few minutes. Friendly passers-by stopped to ask about the different varieties. "Are these spicy?" Taking a quick glance at the ingredient list for the jar of Rick's Mean Beans to which she was pointing (and taking note of the name), we reported that they might be on the spicy side. "Great. I'll take two." When he returned, we chatted a bit, and when the customers stopped by he always had a joke or a story, and even some Rick's Picks stickers for the younger pickle devotees. One customer made a point of swinging by just to tell him how much she loved his Phat Beets. He quickly offered up a salad recipe she could make using the leftover brine.

You may remember the "pickle guy" from Crossing Delancey -- a nice, somewhat nebbishy guy, picked out for the protagonist by an old-school Jewish matchmaker, hired by her grandmother. Well, the pickle man has been revamped, revised, and reincarnated, this time in the form of Rick Field. Rick, profiled in the New York Times, is also single, and could perhaps benefit from a little matchmaking himself:

Mr. Field is a 41-year-old bachelor with a head of hair that might benefit from its own global positioning system. He intermittently enjoys cooking, wears pants repaired by his mother, makes flowers out of tomatillo husks and has written at least one song about a cow. He is also a graduate of Andover and Yale, an aspect of his biography that one might be inclined to gloss over had he chosen any number of professions, but what Mr. Field has elected to do with his life is make pickles.

And make pickles he does. He sells about ten varieties of Rick's Picks at the Union Square Greenmarket, at local gourmet outlets like Murray's and Artisanal, and on his website. And they are award-winning pickles -- he has won 10 ribbons at the Rosendale International Pickle Festival since 2001. The varieties go well beyond the traditional cucumber pickle, and include Windy City Wasabeans, green beans in a soy-wasabi brine, Phat Beets, beets in a rosemary brine, and Pepi Pep Peps, pickled roasted pepper. Go say hello to Rick at the Greenmarket -- you may not find romance, but you might just fall in love with his pickles.