Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo, the owners of Frankies 457 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, also happen to have a piece of the Asaro Family Farm, in the Belice Valley in southwest Sicily. The Franks have added some new products bearing the restaurant’s name. A basic everyday oil, sold by the liter, is a blend of Nocellara del Belice, Biancolilla and hearty Cerasuola olives, all Sicilian natives, golden, with a peppery edge in its finish ($27.99 for 1 liter). Then there’s a Calabrian Chili Oil ($21.99 for 17 ounces), ruddy, with vibrant heat from three kinds of chiles blended into the Sicilian oil; the Franks suggest drizzling it on pizza. The organic extra virgin oil made entirely from Nocellara del Belice, greener and more herbal ($34.99 for 17 ounces), has been on the market for some time and is still available. They have also introduced six traditional organic pastas made from ancient grains, cut on bronze dies and air-dried ($7.49 a pound), and deliciously meaty Castelvetrano olives and whole Sicilian black (brownish) olives, each $8.49 for 12 ounces.
Frankies olive oils, frankies457.com.
Dress Your Table With Chocolate Snowflakes
Not sugar plums but chocolate snowflakes to dream about are the work of the chocolatier Nicolas Clouseau, the chef of La Maison du Chocolat. His extravagant, treelike snowflake sculpture (almost 30 inches tall with only 10 available worldwide), well beyond most budgets, has inspired a more down-to-earth holiday confection: the Snowflake Bouchée, a thick six-inch dark, milk and white chocolate snowflake decorated with smaller lacy snowflakes and filled with crunchy praline. A Snowflake Advent calendar is another variation.
Snowflake Bouchée, $45; Snowflake Advent Calendar, $95; Snowflake Symphony Chocolate Masterpiece, $2,800; La Maison du Chocolat boutiques, lamaisonduchocolat.com.
Jessica Sennett, who created her Cheese Grotto home storage units in 2016, has a selection of cheeses to her inventory. A new one, Herbes de Lucy Brie, a collaboration with Alise Sjostrom of Redhead Creamery in Brooten, Minn., is made in the Brie style though not the same flat disk shape. It’s a small cylinder, taller than wide, with a white, bloomy rind scented of mushrooms. The interior, a bit chalky but increasingly satiny as it matures, conveys the herbes de Provence scattered throughout. It’s a bright accompaniment for a flute of bubbly, or with salad as a refresher during a holiday meal. Sold in pairs, it’s a terrific gift.
Cheese Grotto Redhead Creamery Herbes de Lucy Brie, $30 for two 6-ounce cheeses, cheesegrotto.com.
The Who, What, Where, When, Why of Cocktails
The drinks author Robert Simonson, who also writes about spirits and cocktails for The New York Times, has pounded the category into submission, sorting various topics into alphabetical order for intelligent reference. He has cast a wide net to include not just the names of drinks, often with recipes, but those who first concocted them, prominent bars, various spirits and other ingredients, types of glassware and accouterments, and other reference sources.
“The Encyclopedia of Cocktails: The People, Bars and Drinks, With More Than 100 Recipes” by Robert Simonson (Ten Speed Press, $25).
Pie Serving Ware Perfect for Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving countdown is ticking, and with it visions of pie. Whether homemade or not, the dessert calls for presentation, like in the new handmade Ripple design pie plate from Campfire Pottery, a studio in Westbrook, Maine. Felicitously, the owners’ names are Kristen and Joe Camp. A standard 9-inch pie will fit, and it’s oven-safe so you can use it for baking your pie or simply warming a purchased one. A brass server made in Nepal, designed with Mulxiply, is also available, a lovely add-on if you bring a pie to dinner.
Ripple Pie Plate, white Lunaria glaze, $148; brass pie server, $68; shop.campfirepottery.com.
Corn yuzu hot sauce is an oxymoron in a bottle. Corn is sweet, yuzu tart and hot sauce, well you know. It’s the latest from the gang in the Noma test kitchen in Copenhagen. (The black currant wood oil in the mix gives it a Nordic touch.) The moderate heat of the yellow habaneros is balanced by sweetness, making the textured golden condiment (shake well) excellent on chicken, fish tacos, smashed cucumbers, fluke sashimi and more. Swap it for the Dijon in your next vinaigrette.
Corn Yuzu Hot Sauce, $25 for 8.45 ounces, nomaprojects.com.
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