Category: Food & Drink

When Margie rolls out a faboo dinner, at home or in a large group setting, folks ask me if I eat that way all the time. If I did, of course, I’d weigh a few hundred pounds more than I do. And the same sort of simpler life is true for actual professional chefs as well.

What do famous chefs have for breakfast when they travel? Oatmeal, mostly.

For lunch? Something light, perhaps grilled fish or an egg salad sandwich on whole-wheat toast. For a quick bite? A Whopper and fries will do nicely.

Yes, when they are on the road, the stars of restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and Daniel in Manhattan eat pretty much like you and me before 8 p.m.

After 8 p.m., they get serious. They are adept at finding the best local restaurants, even in out-of-the-way villages, and they tuck into the foie gras and grilled turbot with gusto. But in general, they prefer simplicity at breakfast and lunch.

Which reminds me of the Julia Child quote: “I … go to MacDonald’s and Burger King on occasion. What else are you going to do when you’re on the road and you have to dash in for some food? They are pretty good; they’re clean, and you know what you’re getting. I don’t know why anyone would think I always dine on hummingbird tongues or something.”

Faboo dinner up the street at the Arroyo Chop House. Oh, yum. Ate too much, including an incredible veal chop, mushrooms, potatoes lyonnaise. Did skip dessert, but since I’d had a big, late lunch at a Mexican place nearby, I was more than full enough.
On the bright side, I checked out of the hotel this morning, so I’ll be on my way home tonight — late, but home. Yay!

I like bacon. In fact, I love bacon. Bacon is wonderful. Bacon is one of the great inventions of the culinary world. Bacon is a compelling reason for me never to convert to Judaism and, in fact, a prima facie case that God means for us to eat meat.

That said, I don’t feel particularly compelled to read (or write) a bacon blog.

(via J-Walk)

I don’t know if you really can get an idea of the price of a bottle of wine by the depth of the dimple at the bottom of the bottle, but this site sets out to prove it — and, right or wrong, is pretty damned entertaining in doing so.

(via the Flea)

A Chinese company is going to be producing … um … how can I say this … fish wine.

Sun Keman, an entrepreneur in the northeastern port city of Dalian, has formed the Dalian Fisherman’s Song Maritime Biological Brewery, with a plan to use his background in the fishing industry to make fish into wine.

“Different from China’s thousands of years of brewing, the brewery will clean, boil, and ferment fish for making wine,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Um … no.

(via Avocet)

Old recipes from decades past. While there’s probably not much need for folks to make their own cottage cheese, and while a lot of these have been chosen specifically for the OMG Factor, looking through old cookbooks is, I’m reliably told, fun and educational.

(via J-Walk)

Okay, this is just crazy-talk.

This is a rustic Pinot, with earthy, meaty aromas combined with the famous Carneros bitter cherry. Cinnamon and red-hot candies follow on the palate, along with leather and green-tea flavors. Cherry cola, rhubarb, and damp leaves finish the mix — hitting much of the range of possible Pinot flavors.

Um, I’m not normally a Pinot Noir aficionado to begin with, but no matter what we are taking about, none of that sounds like a particularly appealing combination, and some of it sounds downright nasty in and of itself. Damp leaves? Where do they get this stuff?

(Now playing: Nylons – “Drift Away”)

Typical January party fun. Light crowd this year — only 16 folks — but it included some rare birds around here like Keith H., Bruce L., and Dave S. (the latter of whom stayed over in the guest room). Good food, as usual, and good drink, not to mention good company. Kudos to Margie for doing all the serious party prep.

It wasn’t my birthday — that was last week — but one of the gifts from Jackie and Doyce was a lunch at Tucanos. And, as Jackie put it when she called me this morning, “It’s not like you’re going to be walking around at lunchtime today.”

Good food (a Brazillian churrasco, or buffet/serve-meats-at-the-table kind of place, better than Rodizio, not quite as good (nor as pricy) as Fogo de Chao), and fine company. Hard to beat that for lunch.

Thanks, Jackie!

Why, yes, I would. A shame I can’t, in Colorado.

It’s so nice, here in California, to walk into a grocery store, or a Cost Plus, or a Costco, and — lo! They have a wine section! How nice. Discount prices, interesting selection, nice convenience, and no sign of Drunken Debauchery (or even simple Drunken Apathy) in the streets.

As opposed to Colorado, which limits liquor licenses to a single location per owner, and grocery stores are limited to 3.2 beer, and liquor and wine and beer cannot be sold on Sundays, and …

Irksome. Even if it means we have some nice wine stores.

As an amusing sidelight, while looking to see what they had at the local Vons, a nice lady asked if I could help her find a sweet wine. And, it turned out it was for her daughter. Who didn’t necessarily want it sweet, but didn’t want it at all dry.

Hrm.

Ended up recommending a Beaujolais, which I think would work fine for her.

Anyway, visiting here makes me seriously irked at the laws back home. Even though I know that those laws today are as much backed in the state legislature by the large wine and liquor store owners as by social conservatives who originally put them in.

For those of you who live in Orange County (the California one), allow me to recommend Mascarpone’s, a storefront Italian eatery in Orange (1446 E. Katella, 714-633-0101). A very good place to eat — not cheap, but not outrageous, and with friendly and attentive service and incredible cheesecake (and filet and veal and tiramisu and …)

We had the Ks’ 45th Anniversary dinner last night, and I’m still stuffed. Excellent time and excellent food.