Ruth's Chris (Tysons Corner) review

ruthschris.com
Tysons Corner location http://www.ruthschris.com/Steak-House/17059/Tysons-Corner
8521 Leesburg Pike
Tysons Corner, VA
22182
Phone: 703-848-4290
Fax: 703-848-4294

I sent a limousine and a plane ticket to my Mother since it was her birthday and Mother’s Day recently. For dinner I took her to Ruth’s Chris, since she really enjoys steaks, and this place has given me the best steak at a restaurant to date. I called for a reservation at 6:30PM Saturday evening, and they were able to squeeze us in for two at 7:45PM.

When we arrived, the parking lot was full. No worries, since they have complimentary valet parking. Walking in, it had the same feel as a steakhouse with the wood, dim lighting, and bar at the front. This location seemed a little more modern than normal, however. I found out later this place is one of their newer locations as it has been open for about six months. We were there ten minutes earlier than our time, and they escorted us to a room immediately where there were four tables. We filled the third table, but it was still uncomfortably quiet until the fourth table filled up with a family. Because of this, the room had a range of ages from early teens to the elderly. Outside the room, however, I saw the typical people you’d see at the bar to regular diners to bikers equipped with the Harley swag, beards, tats, and everything. It was Memorial Day weekend, and D.C. swarms with bikers from all over, and I guess they want a good steak, too while remembering their fallen brothers and sisters.

The waiter seemed new, and his spiel sounded incredibly scripted – and it was – because when the family came in after us, he gave them the exact wording. He was polite, and when he learned that a member at another table was having a birthday, he stopped what he was doing and sang her happy birthday in a baritone voice that made everyone in the room stop. It wasn’t excellent, but it was charming. A guest at another table had trouble with her dinner, and the waiter tried very hard to make it up to her and even brought a shopping bag full of stuff from Ruth’s Chris that she turned down. I’ll give him credit for trying.

Now then, the food. The waiter described how they have been trying to get Kobe steaks on their menu and finally had it available, though I did not order it this time. I ordered one of their signature cuts, the Cowboy Ribeye (medium), and she ordered the Petite Filet (medium well). (Normally I order it medium rare, but I went with the waiter’s recommendation.) We had creamed spinach and au gratin potatoes for our sides. Before the meal, we had the typical warm bread and butter and ice cold water. Water is water for the most part, but I enjoyed how cold this was and that it was delivered in a new, unopened Acqua Panna bottle. The meat is prepared with 1800 degree heat, and the plates are heated to 500 degrees. 25 minutes later, our order arrived, sizzling on their plates. I cut into my steak right away, and the knife easily parts through it. There’s enough pink, and it bleeds nicely. I put the piece in my mouth, and I was reminded once again why Ruth’s Chris has delivered the best steak at a restaurant to date. Delicious. My Mother was happy, too. Compared to my cut, her piece was small. But if you didn’t compare it to anything, her Petite Fillet was really not petite at all. The sides were just normal and nothing out of the ordinary.

As you can imagine, I would definitely go again. I recommend this place in a heartbeat. The bill was $103 (before gratuity), but we didn’t have alcoholic drinks, appetizers, or dessert.

Koolickles

2 weeks ago, my coworker IMed me a link to the NY Times. It was about a food I haven't heard of, and my guess is most of the readers here have not, either - Koolickles. Quite simple, actually: Kool-Aid + Pickles = Koolickles.

No really, there is such a thing. I Google'd it and found puh-lenty of hits.

W said he heard an interview on DC101 with Alton Brown and how he discovered it as he was filming his show Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Run. As they say, “when in Rome…” and being in D.C., this the South. Perhaps it’s not the Mississippi Delta, but when you hear “yall” three times within 15 minutes in a conference call, that’s confirmation enough for me. So, we did as Romans do and ate Koolickles.

W followed the article and went to work. As it describes:

You pull the pickles from the jar, cut them in halves, make double-strength Kool-Aid, add a pound of sugar, shake and let it sit — best in the refrigerator — for about a week.

Cherry was the flavor for the experiment.

2 weeks later and here we are. We fished out a couple, and the first thing you notice is how red the insides are. The initial bite was the familiar taste and texture of a pickle, but the Kool-Aid quickly inundates you. Another 2 seconds of chewing, and everything evens out nicely. We look at each other and think “not bad.” I dig in and grab another ½ spear. I really dislike sweet pickles, and this was nothing of the sort. It was more reminiscent of a sweet relish or a mango salsa. Basically, you think about how things wouldn’t go together, but after eating it, it actually made sense. Though you wouldn’t see me eating it with a hot dog from Best’s Kosher, I wouldn’t mind heading to the office refrigerator and chomping on one. It’s the strange gleams from the eyes of other coworkers and their shudder that you need to worry about.

Sorry for the bad quality phone-cam pix, but it’s better than nothing.

Chau Chow City

Chau Chow City - Not Recommended
81 Essex St
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 338-8158

Chinatowns are pretty much in every big city through out America.
NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, etc... and Boston.

I was just in Boston with some friends and we decided to go for Dim Sum. Why not right?
You get to pick what you want to eat and how much of it you want. What's there not to like?

Well, Chau Chow City was a bit underwhelming and even bland.
I'm probably never going back there.

Flushing Queens still has my vote as the best Dim Sum in the States.

Eastern Standard Boston - Revisited

Eastern Standard - Highly Recommended
500 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 532-9100

Boston shines with this gem of a restaurant.
Garrett (the proprietor) and his team really out did themselves. This was my second time visiting the restaurant and it was just as good as I remembered.
The food, the service and the ambiance was perfect!

The Food:
Charcouterie Platter *
Raw Oysters Platter **
Pork Confit **
Calamari *
Roasted Bone Marrow *
Stuffed Roasted Quail with Seared Foie Gras ***
Hanger Steak *
Ribeye Steak
Lamb Rigatoni *
Fried Cod *
Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream

The Service:
A total of four servers tended to our six top.
In addition, we were comped a bottle of white wine to pair with the oysters and also a digestive that was made with a czech bitter.

The Ambiance:
French bistro with hints of modern New England. Dark wood with ambient lighting.

Past Post

UFC 84: Fight Food

Penne with Chicken Tikka Masala
Had the fellas over for UFC 84 (great fight card) and decided to make some curry. I've made curry in the past and it's hella complex, so I basically realized f it - I'm not Indian, so I don't need to toast and grind 10 different spices. That actually may have screwed my curry up as the curry was flavorful, but not as good as I wanted it to be. I tossed it with pasta, since it seemed to make sense - tomato based curry and pasta. It worked well, but again the curry definitely needs to be tweaked. This recipe is based off the America's Test Kitchen Recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala. Again, it's an approximation of the recipe that I would make now, since the actual Test Kitchen recipe didn't taste so great - chicken was really tasty, but sauce was more like a creamy tomato sauce with a little spice.

Ingredients - Marinade
2 tsp Ground Cumin
2 tsp Ground Coriander
2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Pepper
2 pounds organic chicken thighs
2 Minced Garlic Cloves
1 Tblsp Grated Fresh Ginger (peeled- about 2 medium pieces of ginger for the sauce and marinade)
1 cup Whole Milk Yogurt
1 tblsp Vegetable Oil

Ingredients - Sauce
1 medium onion finely minced
1 tsp of tomato paste
2 Minced Garlic Cloves
2 Tblsp Grated Fresh Ginger (peeled)
2 serrano chiles finely minced
2 Tblsp of garam masala (make sure this has chiles - the brand I bought was National and didn't have Chiles...tasted more like Pakistani food, than Indian food)
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp of sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
2 cups cilantro leaves sliced

1) Rinse and dry the chicken - remove skin and fat. Combine cayenne pepper, cumin, coriander, pinch salt and pepper and sprinkle over the chicken.
2) Combine the rest of the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside for 1 hour in the fridge.
3) After 1 hour, remove the chicken from the fridge. Set oven to broil. After 15 minutes, dip the chicken in the yogurt marinade. Shake of the excess marinade and place the chicken on tray in the oven. Once it gets brown on all sides (20 minutes), remove from heat and pull apart chicken meat after 15 minutes.
4) Set some water in a large pot to boil
5) Over medium heat in separate saute pan, cook onions until soft and golden (8 minutes) in a large sauce pan.
6) Add tomato paste and cook another 5 minutes
7) Add chiles, ginger, garlic, and garam masala and cook for 1 minute.
8) Add crushed tomatoes and sugar and cook for 15 minutes.
9) Cook pasta in the large pot with boiling water. As usual cook pasta 2 minutes before done and taste (or feel) until it's just under al dente.
10) Cut heat on the curry sauce to simmer, stir the cream into the sauce and add shredded chicken. Taste. If it needs more Indian flavor, add more garam masala. If it needs more heat, add extra chiles or cayenne pepper. Sweeter, add more sugar. Remember to always taste and tweak.
11) Add pasta to the sauce and a little pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce. Add the cilantro leaves.

Crispy Chicken Skin
With the excess chicken skin, I made crispy chicken skin which as our buddy Pat mentioned was so wrong, yet so tasty. Basically, dry the chicken skins and salt and pepper them and toss them on a tray in a 400 degree oven. Make sure to keep an eye on them, since they will burn before you know it. Turn after one side is very crispy 10-15 minutes. Once it's crispy all over, remove from the oven and salt and pepper again. This is basically like chicharron (pork rinds, but for chicken)...crispy, salty, and fatty. Like potato chips on chicken steroids.

Memorial Day

Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, and Bratwursts...
That's what comes to mind during the summer holidays.




















So on this Memorial Day, I had some friends over for some good 'ol backyard classics :
Hillshire bratwursts with caramelized onions, homemade salsa and chips, and a ton of beer.
Good times.

Cooking Tip : After sauteeing the onions and getting them nice and translucent, add the brats and get all that goodness cooking together.
After about 2 minutes, dump in 2 oz of your favorite beer in and mix the liquid into the onions. The steam will cook the brats and flavor them with that good beer flavor, not to mention your onions are now amazingly caramelized and also received a huge flavor injection as well.

Terrance Brennan at Picholine

Daniel's Braised Short Ribs - Recipe

Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine with Celery Duo from Restaurant Daniel and from Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook

The Short Ribs:

3 bottles dry red wine

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 short ribs, trimmed of excess fat

Salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed

Flour for dredging

10 cloves garlic, peeled

8 large shallots, peeled, trimmed, split, rinsed, and dried

2 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch lengths

2 stalks celery, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch lengths

1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, coarsely chopped, washed, and dried

6 sprigs Italian parsley

2 sprigs thyme

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 quarts unsalted Beef Stock or store-bought low-sodium beef broth

Freshly ground white pepper

1. Pour the wine into a large saucepan set over medium heat. When the wine is hot, carefully set it aflame, let the flames die out, then increase the heat so that the wine boils; allow it to boil until it cooks down by half. Remove from the heat. 2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Warm the oil in a Dutch oven or large casserole over medium-high heat. Season the ribs all over with salt and crushed pepper. Dust half the ribs with about 1 tablespoon flour and then, when the oil is hot, slip the ribs into the pot and sear 4 to 5 minutes on a side, until the ribs are well browned. Transfer the browned ribs to a plate, dust the remaining ribs with flour, and sear in the same manner. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pot, lower the heat under the pot to medium, and toss in the vegetables and herbs. Brown the vegetables lightly, for 5 to 7 minutes, then stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute to blend.

4. Add the reduced wine, browned ribs and stock to the pot. Bring to the boil, cover the pot closely, and slide it into the oven to braise 2 1/2 hours, or until the ribs are tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork. Every 30 minutes or so, lift the lid and skim and discard whatever fat may have bubbled up to the surface. (Not only can you make this a day in advance, it¹s best to make the recipe up to this point, cool and chill the ribs and stock in the pan, and, on the next day, scrape off the fat. Rewarm before continuing.)

5. Carefully (the tender meat falls apart easily) transfer the meat to a heated serving platter with raised rims and keep warm. Boil the pan liquids until they thicken and reduce to approximately 1 quart. Season with salt and pepper and pass through a fine-mesh strainer; discard the solids. (The ribs and sauce can be made a few days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Reheat gently, basting frequently, on top of the stove or in a 350 degrees F oven.)

Boston Market

A quick lunch today.
Had to make an emergency run to the city and quickly booked out of there.
I drove by a Boston Market and pulled in. I hadn't had BM since high school, when it was still called Boston Chicken.

The only problem I have with them is that I know my money is going to Teresa Heintz and that really pisses me off.
There's something seriously wrong with that woman.
Talk about marrying well.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Food imports 'to top $1 trillion' - BBC News

The amount of money being spent globally on importing food is set to top $1 trillion (£528bn) in 2008, an influential report estimates.

Soaring food prices are the cause of the huge bill - likely to be up 26% on the 2007 total - said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The most economically vulnerable countries will bear the biggest burden, the report said, with costs rising 40%.

Record wheat production is expected in 2008, the FAO said.

But the FAO said there were signs that some food prices were starting to fall.

In its analysis, the FAO said that developing countries have felt the cost of food inflation far more than wealthier nations.

"Rice has caught the headlines in recent weeks, but from dairy to wheat and soybeans to sugar, price spikes and market volatility appear to have become more the norm than the exception," the report said.

"Soaring food prices have led to serious difficulties, especially for vulnerable population groups that spend a substantial part of their incomes on food."

Low exports

The FAO said that there were signs that some food prices were beginning to fall, and that more declines were possible in the coming months.

The cost of food: Facts and figures FAO food price report [2.3mb] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

But it said prices were "unlikely" to return to the low levels of previous years - largely because of the higher costs associated with food production, primarily fuel.

The need to replenish stocks and the expected greater consumption - or utilisation - of crops, meant that demand would stay high, the report added.

"The most influential development in pushing up international prices of basic food has been the low level of exportable supplies resulting from utilization outstripping production for several crops in a number of major exporting countries."

A huge increase in planting wheat - as growers were tempted by high returns - meant the 2008 harvest was likely to be a record, the FAO said.

This has helped bring down prices in recent weeks, though it warned that any unexpected fall in production could leave the market in a "precarious situation".

It also forecast that rice prices may fall, especially if governments are encouraged to lift trade restrictions because of bumper crops.

Borough & Bar Stuzzichini

I met up Aramis, D'Artagnan, and Maximus for drinks tonight at Borough, then dinner at Bar Stuzzichini.
Aramis had to jet after the first half due to obligations. And lucky for him.
His go-to Italian / Pasta joint totally let us down tonight.

Both destinations are not recommended, but Borough really topped the cake. A total train-wreck.

First of all, Borough (which is a Chodorow establishment) is terribly managed and the service is something of a nightmare. I got attitude for wanting a table even though the place was 80% vacant.
The location is formerly Caviar and Bananas and before that, the highly publicized eatery, Rocco.
I'm convinced, anything Chodorow will suck and totally leave you feeling robbed of your money.

Borough - Not Recommended
12 E. 22nd St.
New York, NY 10010
nr. Broadway
212-260-0103

Then there was Bar Stuzzichini. We started the meal strong. A great bottle of red from Puglia, and a myriad of tapas like dishes for the table to share. The mood changed drastically when the entrees came out. Everyone at our table was quite disappointed with their entree.
This is unfortunate because the apps were actually quite good.

Bar Stuzzichini - Not Recommended
(formerly location for Komegashi)
928 Broadway
NY, NY 10010
Phone: (212) 780-5100
Fax: (212) 388-1116

Odeon

Odeon Brasserie - NYC
(Corner of Broadway and Thomas)
Highly Not Recommended

I was in between meetings down in tribeca and walked by this joint.
I've heard about them for a long time but never took the initiative to go check them out.
Well, the lack of effort was fortuitous. There is no need to eat here.

The food is out dated and not very fun. For a place to operate on its reputation, this customer was highly disappointed.

The croque monsieur was average at best but completely under portioned for the $15 they charged. It was half the size of a sleeve of golf balls and overly salty.

Oh well, better luck next time.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Follow up by the NY Times

Ban Lifted, Foie Gras Is Back on the Menu in Chicago

previous related article

By MONICA DAVEY

Published: May 15, 2008

CHICAGO — Foie gras, run out of town with great fanfare two years ago, is being allowed back.

M. Spencer Green/Associated Press

Beyond the foie gras itself, a peek into city politics, as the ban was reversed on Wednesday without debate.

On Wednesday, Chicago’s aldermen voted, 37 to 6, to repeal their ban on sales of the controversial delicacy, the fattened livers of ducks and geese. Since 2006, when this became the first major city in the United States to enact such a ban, it had been mocked by critics, including Mayor Richard M. Daley, who wondered whether aldermen should really be devoting precious time to telling Chicagoans what to eat.

The banning — and subsequent un-banning — of foie gras here seemed to say more about classic Chicago politics than it did about dinner.

One alderman, Joe Moore, who has long fought to outlaw the sales, arguing that foie gras is a product of animal cruelty, angrily denounced what he said was the sudden use during Wednesday’s council meeting of an obscure political rule to dump the ban without debate. Mr. Moore said he tried, pleaded, yelled to be allowed to speak, but Mr. Daley did not call on him.

“This is a sad day for good government in Chicago,” Mr. Moore said later, adding that he believed many of his colleagues had simply been embarrassed by the crush of national attention. “There was a feeling among many that they just didn’t want to deal with this anymore.”

But another alderman, Tom Tunney, a restaurant owner who pressed for the repeal, accused supporters of the ban of some equally fancy political maneuvering. When the aldermen voted 48 to 1 to outlaw foie gras in April 2006, it was part of a larger package of items, Mr. Tunney said, and some aldermen (including, he said, himself) did not even realize that they were approving the ban until it was too late.

In the end, some restaurateurs here agree, Chicago may have spent more time talking about foie gras than many of its residents ever did eating it.

Hill Country part III

Here are some pics I snapped yesterday.
Yes, I went back for more.
And yes, the Brisket was just as magical as it was 3 days ago...

The Ramen Crawl

So, Porthos and I met up with a cast of crazies in the East Village and decided to do a Ramen Crawl - you know, visit three supposedly top notch Ramen Joints, get a bowl at each place and compare. Great times and as usual great food - albeit a wee bit too much. Below are some quick reviews based on our ramen excursion.

FYI - most of the noodles I take the greatest pleasure in are the Italian pastas. So, my tastes definitely lean towards pasta like qualities - al denteness is very important to me. However, I've had complete what the f moments with Taiwanese noodles as well, just haven't had that food-gasmic experience with ramen yet. Any who, on to the reviews...

Ramen Setagaya - Recommended
141 First Ave, New York, NY 10003
nr. 9th St.
212-529-2740
Comments - Shio-Ramen is basically ramen noodles with a salt based broth. This particular broth was complex with hints of seafood and seaweed. The ramen with decent chew in my opinion, but it was slightly undercooked. Pork was tender, but not very flavorful. Much improved from my previous experience.


Le Miu - Not Recommended
107 Avenue A, New York 10009
Btwn 6th & 7th St
Phone: 212-473-3100
Comments - Ordered the Cha Shuu Shio-Ramen here and it was a big letdown compared to Setagaya. The broth here tasted like barely salted water and the pork was super dry. However, the flavor of the pork was more intense here and the noodles had the best texture and flavor of the night. We ordered an uni special for the hell of it and it was decent, but not worth it.


Ippudo - Highly Recommended
65 4th Ave, New York 10003
Btwn 9th & 10th St
Phone: 212-388-0088
Comments - Ordered the Pork Ramen Original - Akamaru Shin - Aji. This was by far the best ramen of the night and a complete what the f moment. The broth was so rich and thick, almost like a porcine porridge. Great, great pork flavor and the pork belly was perfect, just falling apart upon the touch. The noodle was good, but no big wow moment for me - better than Setagaya's but not better than Le Miu's. The best was when you took a break from drinking the soup, the broth actually starts to form a solidified layer...that's some good broth my friend. The only disappointment was the lack of a soft boiled egg to add to the soup...only hard boiled. Ippudo also has great sides as well including the daikon kakuni (root veg) and buta kakuni (pork belly). Can't wait to go back...

Hill Country - Review

Intro
Hill Country - Highly Recommended
30 W 26th St, New York 10010
Btwn 5th & 6th Ave
Phone: 212-255-4544

Met up Porthos and we finally decided to make the trek to Hill Country. The press has been raving about this place, so we decided to see what the fuss was all about. This restaurant is the ultimate dudes on food joint. Great atmosphere, great service (self serve), and great food. Overall, I give the restaurant a 90/100

My Menu

1) Brisket Moist ***
2) Pork Spare Rib *
3) Kreuz Sausage Jalapeno Cheese **
4) Kreuz Sausage Regular *
5) Beer Can Game Hen *
6) White Shoepeg Corn Pudding **
7) Hot German Potato Salad *

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way
* Good
** Great
*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) This dish was a complete what the f moment. Brisket moist in Hill Country-speak means stupidly fatty beef brisket - like 50% fat or more. Reminded me of a great pork belly with an abundance of fat encasing the flavorful meat. The perfect amount of smoke (not overly so) and great beef flavor. I've had beef brisket in the past and it's always been very dry and not that flavorful. This was the best brisket I've ever had and the best bbq'd meat I've ever had in my life. I want one right now!
2) Tasty, but a bit of a letdown after the ridiculousness of the brisket moist. Meat was nice and fatty around the back of the rib, but the winner was the narrow part of the rib. The meat had good flavor there.
3) A very tasty sausage from a famous company in Texas. Crispy casing, juicy juicy filling, and a great porkiness. The jalapeno really complemented the fatty meat and woke up the flavors a lot - made it porkier.
4) Same comments as the jalapeno sausage minus the jalapeno. Because of the lack of jalapeno, the porkiness wasn't as pronounced to me. Still a juicy flavorful sausage.
5) Game Hen cooked with a beer which made the meat nice and moist (even the breast). The flavor of the hen was pleasantly sour which I assume is from the beer as well. Again, perfect smoke that enhances the flavor of the meat without overpowering it.
6) Awesome corn pudding. Sweet fresh corn that had a nice soufflé'd, custardy texture.
7) Warmed Potato Salad with a mustard/mayo sauce that was covered in mounds of bacon. Not great, but a good side.

Overall Restaurant Experience (90/100)

• Food 9.0/10 – I've been to KC, South Carolina, and Tulsa for some delicious bbq and this definitely tops the list.
  
• Service 9.0/10 – I like to call this place "Texas Dim Sum Buffet" There are 3 stations that you can navigate to - meats, sides, drinks/desserts. You hand each station a card, they mark it and hand it back to you like dim sum. The best part is they sell the meat by the pound. So you can start with small samples (oh let's say 5 pounds of brisket moist) and go back for more if you like. You pick your own seat and everything is already there for you - paper towels (perfect for wiping your hands and face), bbq sauce, utensils and a salt/pepper combo. This place is heaven since you don't have to wait for your food, just get it yourself.
  
• Atmosphere 9.0/10 – When you first walk in, it feels like you're entering a fun house for meats. There's an attendant handing out your meal ticket and you enter through the right hand side (the left side is for exiting). Upon entering it looks like a social club or something since it's so large and everything has a construction type feel - wood tables, concrete floors, brick walls. The other thing you'll immediately be bombarded with is the country music. Now, I'm not a country music fan, but it really gets you in the mood to eat bbq. Just a great atmosphere for dudes to be loud and feast on food. We got there at 12:30pm on a Saturday and it was half empty (place is huge though).
  
• Price 8.0/10 – About $40 a head for all the food that we had including tip, beers, and Texas sweet tea. Pricey for lunch, but after you have a piece of that brisket moist - you won't care either.
  

Closing Comments
Again, the best BBQ that I've ever had. The whole time we had a ridiculous grin on our face since everything about this place was perfect for us dudes. There's even a sink near the exit with a foot pedal that operates the faucet - you can wash your hands without touching any faucet handles...BRILLIANT! Still need to visit the other BBQ joints in the city - aka Rub, Dinosaur, and Daisy May. Been to Blue Smoke and Virgil's and they can't touch this place.

Hill Country part II

Alrighty...
As Aramis posted up top, this was completely the highlight of the weekend.
Hill Country is brilliant in so many ways.

Even before talking about the beef brisket, the drinks have to be documented.
It's not cool enough that they serve a ton of Boylan's Soda, they also import Mexican Coca-Cola.
It completely tastes better because it's sweetened with real cane sugar and not the High Fructose Corn Syrup which is in every sweetened American product these days.
**Conspiracy**
[The US (yah, that's right, the whole country) switched to HFCS in the 80's to cut costs...]
In addition, the Texas Iced Tea was spectacular as well.
The sweetness and slight minty flavor of the tea really compliments smokey, fatty bbq.
Was this "new world dim sum"?
And finally, I'm going to leave the Lonestar Beer alone and not pick on it.
Let's just put it this way, some things are just better untouched.

Now, onto the Meats and Sides.
The Moist Beef Brisket was somewhat of a religious experience for me.I took one bite and knew something fantastic just happened to Aramis and I.
The meat was so tender, beefy, and had the perfect amount of smoke.
I mean it was PERFECT. You really can't ask for a better cooked bbq brisket.
The rest of the items were generally very good.

Note worthies :
The Corn Pudding and the Kreuz Sausages.

Krispy Kreme Kraze in Japan - How Long?

Some of you might know that Krispy Kreme donuts recently opened in Japan. A line to get in snaked around the front. But that's not all. Another line of people formed on the other side of the building just to get into the line in the front. I took this photo in Shinjuku, Tokyo during a weekend last winter. Like in many cities, people in Tokyo love to bandwagon on crazes. How long will the Krispy Kreme Kraze last in Japan? Blogger Rising Sun of Nihon has a lively debate going here. Can Krispy Kreme compete with Mr. Donut?

Papaya King Confession

OK, one other place I try to visit each week is the great Papaya King at the original location on 86th Street and 3rd Avenue (since 1932). I usually get the No. 1 combo: two hot dogs with sauerkraut ("with") and a drink--usually the papaya or mango drink. This weekend, I went a bit unorthodox. The woman in front of me ordered a mix of the strawberry and banana drinks, so I decided to try that. Notice that I only put mustard on the dogs. Some people claim that ketchup on dogs are for kids only, and I agree. Blogger Dancing Blue Seal has a nice review of the King here. Seal points out the dogs' snappy casings at the Papaya King. Here is a wonderful description of Papaya King from their website:

Today, say the words "Papaya King" to a New Yorker and hot dogs and fruit drinks will instantly come to mind. Papaya King has been called by Zagat the "best, cheapest (stand-up) lunch in the city", and a "must visit" highlight of any trip to New York City. Critic Ed Levine of New York Eats calls it the "best hot dog in the world." Over the years, Papaya King has become a tradition with local residents, tourists, political and business luminaries, and the jet set of New York society. Papaya King represents the ultimate in quick dining -- stand-up fare and ready-made juice drinks enjoyed as you rub elbows with all walks of people. Papaya King stands for inexpensive fast food made from all-natural products and the store provides a nostalgic visit to old New York.

Chef Seki at Sushi Seki

$ Cha-ching $

I caught a video on the front page of Yahoo.com. It talks about food prices having their biggest jump in 18 years. 61% of restaurants say they have less clients than a year ago. To try not to lose as much, many places have been secretly tinkering with our orders. Such examples mentioned in this video are:

- Replacing the grouper you ordered with catfish or a cheaper fish
- Giving you a an 8 oz. cut instead of the 10 oz. you ordered and filling your plate with veggies
- Topping pizza with cheaper cheeses that spread better
- Using smaller plates to make your meal appear larger
- Having lighter silverware so your food seems heavier
- Creating menu makeovers to make you want more expensive items
- Charging for once-free items like bread & butter before your meal

Here is that video:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=7838111

Redd

Redd Restaurant - Highly Recommended
6480 Washington Street
Yountville CA 94599

Phone	707 944.2222
Fax	707 945.0447

Hands down the best meal I had in Napa.
Through out the night, we were served perfectly crafted dishes one after the other.

Once again, the reservationist said "Business Casual" but this time I was prepared.
There were only 2 people in the dining room sporting shorts and flip flops but it didn't phase me anymore.
The food spoke for itself and I was in the zone.

Tuna/Hamachi Tartare in a Mustard Vinegrette and Popcorn Rice ***
Marinaded Hamachi Sashimi over Seaweed Salad and Shortgrain Rice *
Seafood Medley with Chorizo and Scallop Foam Sauce **
Pan Seared Scallop with Cauliflower Flourettes and Pomme Choufleur ***
Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Pomme Puree **
Duck Duo, with Sugar Peas and Pomme Puree **
Local Raised Beef Duo (Braised Short Rib and Pan Seared Tri-Tip)
with roasted veggies and sweet potato puree ***
Lamb Duo, Rack and Tenderloin **
Peanut Butter/Milk Gianduja, Peanut Honeycomb Parfait **
Citrus Tasting : Meyer Lemon Cake, Yuzu Float, Grapefruit S'more **
Chocolate Truffles in Confectioner's Sugar *

Suburban Chili Dog

No shirt stain after this Chili Dog!

Many times, when I'm on the run and have no more than 15 minutes between appointments, I look for a Gray's Papaya (or of the like) and scarf down the "recession special".
That's just one more perk in urban (NYC) life, really good hot dogs in every district of the city.
Well the other day, I was back in the burbs, and I stopped by a local family owned grocery store(Delicious Orchards-in Colts Neck, NJ) and found that they serve chili dogs on the outside patio.
The picture above is an all beef frank with pretty decent chili spooned on top. The bun was perfectly split open and cradled the dog and chili, giving way to minimal spillage. I couldn't believe it. It was a clean eating experience. Something you never see when you balance your two dogs and papaya juice at Gray's all while standing up.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Julia's

To be frank, I was expecting a little bit more.
Keep in mind, Julia's at Copia is considered one of top dining destinations in Napa.
After all, it bears the great "Julia Childs" name.
So after Aramis's favorable visit last year, I was convinced I had to go to Julia's.
To my dismay, the food wasn't overly impressive, and everything else (the Decor, Atmosphere and Service) was just average.

For one, I was not prepared for the Californian Dress-code.
Apparently "Business Casual" means something completely different over there in California.
I was shocked to see men in t-shirts and shorts with flip flops dining next to my table.
In addition, this was the most expensive ($100 a head) tasting menu I had during my stay in Napa.
It just didn't make sense.
(I'm so not going back)

I chose the Chef's Tasting Menu, and for the most part it was decent.
But as always, when there's expectations, I am often left scratching my head perplexed by the chef's decisions.
One dish in particular was the "Tuna Sashimi" course served on a coffee coaster. On a coaster! Are you serious?
In addition, it was a poorly "chopped" piece of Tuna with a dab of wasabi and half a tea spoon of tamari drizzled on top. Hardly presentation fit for a fine dining establishment.

Gougeres
Amuse Bouche
Tuna Sashimi
Pan Seared Scallop with Sweetbreads **
Pan Seared Sonoma Foie Gras with Strawberry Confit *
Pan Seared Buttered Local White Fish
Niman Ranch Hanger Steak
Palate Cleanser - Blood Orange Juice with Mint
Pavlova
Petite Fours

Mushroom Recipe Contest

Received an email from a viewer about a mushroom recipe contest they are hosting. It's late notice, but if you're interested the link is listed below. The winner gets 2 pounds of fresh wild morels, so do your thang and get your mushroom groove on. Recipes are due this Friday, May 16th...

http://marxfood.com/recipe-contest/

Chicago is cool again!

A letter by Ariane Daguin (President of D'Artagnan) to fellow supporters of Foie Gras.

Dear Friend of Foie Gras,

There will be much rejoicing today, as chefs in all the best restaurants of the country celebrate the repeal of the foie gras ban in Chicago.

Passing 37-6, the repeal of the ban is a 21st century equivalent to the repeal on Prohibition! It stands for freedom of choice, common sense, truth and most importantly, freedom to eat!!

We commend the Chicago City Council for voting on this fair and square, unlike the clandestine maneuver of April 2006, when the ban was buried in an unread collection of routine legal matters.

The animal rights extremists have attempted to repeat their success in Chicago in other states and cities in the Land of the Free. They petitioned and protested, but

NY, NJ, CT, IL, MI, HI, MA, MD, and Philadelphia have resisted their efforts!! Feel free to eat foie gras in any of these places!

Today, please raise a glass with us...and a plate of foie gras... to celebrate the victory of family farmers who work hard to give us wholesome foods, and to freedom of choice on our menus.

Vive le foie gras!!

Ariane Daguin
D'Artagnan Inc.
280 Wilson Avenue
Newark NJ 07105
www.dartagnan.com

Japan's Beverage Market

I once heard that products are developed differently in Japan than they are in the United States. In the United States, the development of a product will go through extensive research and planning before hitting the market. A beverage company will tweak its product, using surveys, interviews, tastings, etc. U.S. companies want a sure thing before they introduce their products to the market. It reminds me of the U.S. political process.

In Japan, by contrast, it is said that companies are more willing to throw various ideas out into the market with little research and see what sticks. As a result you may get a lot of flops and weird ideas. But that makes the market much more interesting. Aloe yogurt comes to mind. Here is a poplar commercial with Chiaki Kuriyama on YouTube.

People sometimes point to the proliferation of convenience stores as part of the homogenization of culture in a globalized economy. I disagree. Each time I visit a new country, I try to take a stroll through their convenience stores to see what's different.

The Japanese are proud of their convenience stores (konbini). Like many things in Japan, it has been made into an art. Check out this site devoted to konbini diversity. 7-Eleven was acquired by a Japanese company in the early 1990s. You can get oden in the winter and nikuman mostly year round (this site shows nikuman from various konbini).

I took this photo while in Japan recently of the distinct drink isle in the back of a Japanese convenience store. It will be familiar to anyone who has visited Japan. If I could make one suggestion to American drink makers: Check out Japan's cold tea selections (without sugar).

Mother's Day 2008

Had the folks over for Mother's Day this year and I had two things in mind Jamaican jerked fish and some type of puree. Both concoctions came out great and I was pretty happy with the rest of the menu. Although portions in the picture were smaller, that was just for presentation - everyone requested seconds (and thirds) and I gladly obliged..something you can't get at a place like French Laundry :)

Menu
1) Amuse - Torched O-toro, Jalapeño, and Yuzu
2) Seared Wagyu Ribeye, Edamame Puree, Enoki, and Miso Butter Sauce
3) Jamaican Jerked Chilean Sea Bass, Mache, and Fruit Salsa
4) Assorted Mochi
**Note as usual, all measurements are estimates since I don't keep track of precise measurements. Just taste, re-adjust and repeat until it comes out right.

Torched O-toro, Jalapeno, and Yuzu
Flipping through some of my cookbooks for plating inspiration and pulled this dish out from the Nobu cookbook. Haven't pulled a dish directly from a cookbook in a long time and it unsurprisingly came out great. Fatty o-toro has an amazing texture and when you torch it, it gets a nice smoky flavor. It's cut nicely with the jalapeno and sour Yuzu soy sauce.

Ingredients
O-toro
1 Jalapeno thinly sliced
Yuzu Soy Sauce

1) Torch the block of o-toro until caramelized (around 5-10 seconds). If you don't have a torch, you can sear the toro quickly over high heat. The key is to make sure almost all of the toro is still raw - only getting slight caramelization.
2) Cut thin slices of toro (I need a sushi knife), add one slice of jalapeno on each toro slice, and drizzle the yuzu soy sauce over top.


Seared Wagyu Ribeye, Edamame Puree, Enoki, and Miso Butter Sauce
A great combination of textures and flavors. Tender beef, velvety edamame puree, and pleasantly chewy enoki. The butter sauce kicks ars and the puree has a surprisingly intense edamame flavor. Plate in the picture was a wedding gift from my buddy Chu...thanks dude.

Ingredients
Wagyu Ribeye (and American Ribeye for seconds)
1 Pack Enoki Mushrooms cut into bite size pieces
2 Tblsp Butter
1.5 Tblsp Miso Paste
1/3 cup Sake
Splash Mirin
Splash Soy Sauce
4 cups Frozen Cooked Edamame (high quality is very important)
1 small white potato
1/4 Cup Cream
1 garlic clove crushed
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1) To make the enoki butter sauce - add 1 tablespoon butter to a saucepan and cook until it's completely liquid over low heat
2) Add enoki, sake, mirin, and soy sauce to a sauce pan and cook for 8 minutes until the enokis are soft. Add Miso paste during the last 2 minutes and make sure it dissolves.
3) Strain the enokis, reserve the liquid, and set aside. Add the liquid back to the saucepan and simmer over low heat. Remember to taste and adjust if necessary. Reduce until it's a syrupy consistency.
4) To make the edamame puree (there is definitely a better way, but this is the first time I made a puree so these are the steps I took) - Shell about 4 cups of cooked edamame. Make sure to taste them raw. If they have good flavor and good color raw, then it'll be good in the puree. Puree the edamame in a food processor.
5) Boil a potato (don't forget to salt the water), cut it up, and add to the food processor.
6) Add 1/2 of the cream to the processor and puree. Now this is the step that took fo'eva. I kept adding the salted potato boiling water (maybe 1 cup?) until it looked relatively smooth. Then, I emptied the puree into a saucepan and cooked it with 1 tablespoon butter over low heat. The puree wasn't as velvety as I liked, so I added the mixture back to the processor pureed again with more water - then added the puree back to the pan with some cream. Voila...insanely velvety pureed edamame. Btw - I looked up how they made pomme puree at French Laundry intense...tami, chinois and repeat.
7) Ok. Final steps. Sear the ribeye with sea salt, pepper, and olive oil. Since it's wagyu, I got a nice crust on one side (5 minutes) and barely cooked the other side so it was rare to medium rare.
8) To plate, add the edamame puree on the bottom, top with thinly sliced beef, enoki and drizzle with the sauce. Btw - we ate multiple portions since this was great and surpisngly the American ribeye had a much beefer taste than the wagyu I bought. Not sure if this is because it was a bigger cut or not, but I was quite surprised. The Wagyu was obviously 10x more tender than the American ribeye.


Jamaican Jerked Chilean Sea Bass, Mache, and Fruit Salsa
Spicy and tender jerk sea bass that's cut by the sweet, sour, and spicy fruit salsa. I forgot how fatty and unctuous Chilean sea bass was - great fish to use for this dish. This plate was a wedding gift from Porthos...

Ingredients
Chilean Sea Bass
2 cups Grandpa Eddie's Jerk Sauce
1 Pineapple diced
2 Mango diced
1 Red Pepper diced
1/2 Red Onion diced
2 ears of corn
1 Avocado diced
1/4 cup Honey
2 Limes
Mache (a nutty salad leaf)
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Yellow Pepper Sauce

1) Marinate sea bass in the jerk sauce for 4 hours.
2) Combine 1/2 the pineapple, 1/2 the mango, honey, lime, olive oil, pepper sauce, and kosher salt. Taste. Should be slightly sweet, sour, and spicy. I know, I know...this is such a Flay wannabe sauce, but it does taste good. Set the fruit sauce aside.
3) Pre-heat convection oven to 375. When the oven is ready, remove the excess jerk marinade from the sea bass and place the fish in the oven. After 8 minutes turn off the oven - the fish can finish in the warmed oven. Check after another 5 minutes - should be super fatty, tender, and cooked through. If you don't have a convection oven, cook maybe 12-15 minutes total but check after 10 minutes to see how much further it needs to cook.
4) Toss the Mache, Onion, Red Pepper, Pineapple, Mango, Avocado, Corn and the sauce. Again, remember to lightly toss the mache in a minimal amount of fruit sauce - don't drench the leaves. The mache should still have some crunch to it.
5) To plate, add the sea bass then a small amount of the mache on top. Add extra jerk sauce and fruit sauce on the plate for some extra flavors.


Assorted Mochi
I didn't make these since I needed to save some time. These kicked ars though. The mochi to the left was one wrapped in an oak leaf, the middle was the green tea mochi, and the one to the right was a mochi stuffed with chestnut. They all had a red bean filling...great stuff. Chestnut was my favorite...

Paul's Place

Paul's Place - Recommended (at least once)
131 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003-8331
Phone: (212) 529-3033

If you're in the area, (let's say an 8 block radius) I'd recommend swinging by to Paul's and ordering up a burger.
Like many other establishments, they claim to serve the best burger in the city.
I disagree with "best", but it's a very decent burger.

Here's what I experienced with the Burger :
Flavor - Medium to medium low beefy flavor.
Juiciness - Not very juicy either.
Texture - Very soft. Almost to the point where I suspect egg was added. But no one is that ballzy to flirt with salmonella poisoning so it was probably just water.











On the other hand, the fries were pretty good.
Chili Cheese Fries
Sweet Potato Fries **

Tamarind Fix

OK, I have to admit that I need to visit Tamarind, a wonderful little Indian restaurant in the Upper East Side (on 3rd Avenue between 94th and 95th Streets) in New York City, just about every week for my meditative dining experience. Don't confuse this modest place with the fancier Tamarind on 22nd Street.

I have been going to the one in the Upper East regularly for about two years. It is a reason we stay in the neighborhood. One of their most interesting dishes is chicken or lamb with their own mango sauce (pictured here). They are proud to say they have invented this particular take on this sauce. It is fresh and zingy with a mild spicy warmth. Every time I order it, it tastes better than I remembered. So I keep getting it.

Ask for Raj.

Greenwich Grill

Greenwich Grill
428 Greenwich Street (bet.Vestry&Laight)
New York, NY 10013

Yet another Japanese company coming overseas capitalizing in the NYC market.
With a cozy feel to the bar in the front, a neat dining room in the back, and a very Japanese sushi counter aesthetic downstairs, this place is sure to impress the Tribeca locals.

I have yet to try their main dining room, but their sushi downstairs is pretty good.
Some items were "very good" and some were just "ok", but I'm pretty sure, I'll be back to give it another try.

The Italian menu upstairs offers dishes with a Japanese twist... Like something you would find in Japan. Not to be confused with fusion cuisine which is a complete different style of food all together.

Chef Yasuda at Sushi Yasuda

Aaaaaa, did anyone catch his hand technique?
Amazing!

Salute to 31 Flavors

Great story of a great American past time. 

by NY Times Online

Irvine Robbins, who with his brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, started the Baskin-Robbins chain of ice cream stores — together concocting quirky flavor combinations with names like Daiquiri Ice, Pink Bubblegum and Here Comes the Fudge — died on Monday near his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 90.

Irvine Robbins sampled some of his wares in 1976.

He died of natural causes, his daughter Marsha Veit said.

The company name could have been Robbins-Baskin. Although it was Mr. Robbins who opened the first store, at the intersection of Adams and Palmer Streets in Glendale, Calif., on Dec. 7, 1945, and it was three years more before he and Mr. Baskin became partners, they took a carefully familial approach to deciding who would come first in the name of what eventually became a vast international enterprise. They flipped a coin.

"They worked closely on everything," Ms. Veit said. "They would come up with ideas for flavors based on what was happening at the time, like Cocoa a Go-Go, when go-go dancers were popular. They would sit in the kitchen tasting, making sure the best ingredients were used."

The company's famous "31 flavors" (essentially one for each day of the month, but actually 34 when chocolate, vanilla and strawberry were included) have varied, numbering more than 1,000 over the years, according to its Web site. They include Nuts to You, Baseball Nut, Rocky Road, Candi-date, Cafe Olé, Huckleberry Finn, chocolate cheesecake, pineapple coconut and Mr. Robbins's personal favorite, Jamoca almond fudge.

One day in 1964, Ms. Veit said, he received a phone call from a reporter for The New York Post, asking what flavor Baskin-Robbins was planning to introduce to celebrate the Beatles' arrival for their appearance on Ed Sullivan's television show. Caught unaware, he came up with Beatlenut, and then scrambled to find an unnamed flavor with nuts in it to match. Two days later, it was in all the company's stores. By then, there were about 650 Baskin-Robbins stores nationwide.

In a 1976 interview in The New York Times, in which he said he ate three or four scoops a day, Mr. Robbins said that Americans had become adventurous in their ice cream choices. "They're not embarrassed to ask for some of these wild flavors," he said. "I think we've had a little bit to do with making it more acceptable."

At the time, Mr. Robbins was still chairman of Baskin-Robbins, although the company had been sold to United Fruit in 1967, the year Mr. Baskin died. When Mr. Robbins retired in 1978, the chain had more than 1,600 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan and Belgium. Baskin-Robbins, along with Dunkin' Donuts, is now part of Dunkin' Brands, with 5,800 stores in 34 countries.

"We were in the franchising business before the word was popular," Mr. Robbins said.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Dec. 6, 1917, Mr. Robbins was the son of Aaron and Goldie Chmelnitsky Robbins, immigrants from Poland and Russia, respectively. When Mr. Robbins was a child, the family moved to Tacoma, Wash., where his father became a partner in a dairy.

As a teenager, Mr. Robbins worked at the retail store connected to the dairy where, among other products, ice cream was sold at a nickel a cone — "a pretty big one, too," he said. He soon realized that he could double or triple sales with playful labeling: "Super Banana Treat" replaced a sign that said "three scoops of ice cream, a slice of banana, two kinds of toppings."

"I got the idea that the way to sell ice cream was not through a grocery store but through a specialty store," he said.

After Mr. Robbins graduated from the University of Washington in 1939 and served in the Army in World War II, he was able to test that idea. He cashed in an insurance policy his father had given him as a bar mitzvah present and used the $6,000 to open his first store.

By 1953, the partners sold the eight stores they owned to the managers and began making far more money producing ice cream at a plant in Burbank, Calif. An advertising agency designed the Baskin-Robbins logo, the chocolate-and-cherry-dotted signs and the "31 flavors" concept.

Mr. Robbins married Irma Gevurtz in 1942. Besides his wife and his daughter Marsha, of Mount Kisco, N.Y., he is survived by another daughter, Erin Robbins of Grass Valley, Calif.; a son John, of Soquel, Calif.; two sisters, Shirley Familian, who was Mr. Baskin's wife, and Elka Weiner, both of Los Angeles; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Ice cream never melted from Mr. Robbins's mind. When the family lived in Encino, Calif., the house had a soda fountain inside and a swimming pool outside shaped like an ice cream cone. After the company was sold in 1967, Mr. and Mrs. Robbins rented an apartment in Balboa at Newport Beach, to be near the boat they had bought and christened The 32d Flavor.

NY City Food Citations

Over something as silly as not listing the calories next to the price.
*by NY Times Online

City health inspectors began issuing violation notices on Monday to restaurants that did not have calorie counts posted beside the prices on their menu boards.

By day's end, five restaurants had been cited, the health department said. They were Dunkin' Donuts at 445 Park Avenue South, at East 30th Street; McDonald's at 1560 Broadway, at West 46th Street; Popeye's, at 321 West 125th Street, between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue; Sbarro at 22 West 34th Street, next to the Empire State Building; and TGI Friday's at 677 Lexington Avenue, at East 56th Street.

But the citations were little more than warnings. They carried no fines, because a federal judge had said the city could not impose fines until mid-July.

And failing to post calorie counts will not affect whether a restaurant passes or fails its regular food safety inspection, even after the fines begin. The calorie-count violation is separate from the things inspectors always look for: whether food is cooked or stored at the right temperature, whether the ice maker is clean, whether workers are wearing hats or hair nets, for example.

Still, the form that inspectors issued to the restaurants that did not have calorie counts posted sounded serious. It said the health department "expects that the conditions will be addressed promptly." The form cautioned that "any recurrence of these conditions could result in further action being taken."

Adding calorie counts to the list of items that inspectors look for was the latest twist in the health department's push to put the counts in more than 2,000 restaurants, or about 10 percent of all restaurants in the city. The postings are required only in restaurants with more than 15 outlets nationwide, and the rules were supposed to take effect last month. But they were delayed while the New York State Restaurant Association took the city to court.

Judge Richard J. Holwell of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled against the restaurant association, and when the association took the case to a federal appeals court, Judge Holwell refused to delay the rules beyond Monday, though he told the city not to begin levying fines until mid-July. The fines will range from $200 to $2,000.

Some of the restaurant chains that would be covered by the regulations did not wait for the case to work its way through the appeals process — they posted the calorie counts anyway. Among them are Starbucks, Subway, Quiznos, Chipotle and Jamba Juice.

The health department said that Monday was the first day inspectors had cited restaurants that did not have calorie counts posted on menu boards. But Chuck Hunt, a spokesman for the restaurant association, said he had heard of a restaurant that had been called on the carpet last week, even though it had posted the calorie counts. He would not name the restaurant.

"Two different inspectors came on two different occasions and had two different approaches to how they weren't doing it right," he said. "There's undoubtedly going to be inconsistency in how they intend to enforce this."

He said that one inspector said the calorie counts were "not in bold-enough type."

"This is the kind of stuff that's just going to drive people crazy," Mr. Hunt said.

Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the health department, said the city wanted to "work with the food establishments to answer their questions and make sure that everyone is compliant" before any fines were levied.

On Monday, one restaurant inspector, Corey Williams, issued calorie-count violation notices to three restaurants: the Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's and Sbarro.

"This is pass-fail," he said as he pulled out a pocket-size digital camera and photographed the menu board at the Dunkin' Donuts. "It does not contribute to points."

The manager, Paul Rivera, said the calorie counts were coming.

Some were already there, though not in a form that was acceptable to Mr. Williams. A small sign on the counter said "80 calories or less in a small." It also said, "Order sugar substitute & skim milk for lots of flavor, and no fat." Another sign advertising a 99-cent special on coffee with an egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich said the coffee had 25 calories and the sandwich, 280. The sign urged customers to add hash browns for another 99 cents. Doing so would add 180 calories, according to the sign.

But Mr. Rivera said that by June, "all the signs will change for calories."

Mr. Williams printed out the violation notice, using his laptop computer and a printer he carries in his backpack. He printed out a separate notice that cited the restaurant for violations totaling 11 points. Seven were for having boxes of food stacked on the floor in the walk-in freezer.

Mr. Williams pulled out his camera again at the McDonald's, which had no calorie counts on the menu boards. There, he issued violations totaling 57 points, and printed a form about the calorie counts.

At the Sbarro, he issued violations totaling 23 points along with the calorie-count notice.

Bar Piti - Review

Intro
Bar Pitti - Recommended
268 6th Ave, NY 10014
at Bleecker St
Phone: 212-982-3300

Randomly met up some peeps and picked Bar Pitti since a reader of the blog raved about the place. I've always walked by and was curious to check it out, but never got a chance. The majority of the dishes were good and the price point is decent. Overall, I give the restaurant a 76/100

My Menu

1) Caprese
2) Antipasto Toscano **
3) Sausage and Beans (special) *
4) Pappardelle Alla Fiesolana *
5) Tiramisu *

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way
* Good
** Great
*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) I usually try to avoid ordering Caprese since the majority of the time the mozzarella is dry (usually store bought) and the tomatoes are shite. The mozz and the tomatoes are decent, but I wouldn't order this again.
2) I'm a sucker for cured meats and these are very good. Tender prosciutto, flavorful toscano salame, and nice provolone cheese (I believe).
3) A very flavorful sausage patty served in a tomato cannelini bean stew. The beans were not the canned stuff; instead, they had a nice al dente-ness to the beans which is what you get when you soak em and boil em.
4) Fresh made papparedelle with smoked bacon, cream, tomatoes & parmigiano. Basically felt like a cross between a penne ala vodka and a spaghetti alla carabonara. Pasta was very well made and the sauce was tasty, but leaning towards the Italian American style as it was drowning in sauce. If it were sauced less I would have enjoyed it much more. Still a tasty dish though...
5) The tiramisu had fluffy whipped cream, good espresso flavor, and a nice texture with the sponge cake.

Overall Restaurant Experience (76/100)

• Food 7.6/10 – Almost everything we had was good, but not that many great dishes.
  
• Service 7.9/10 – Friendly waiter though the pasta came out a little slow. They did comp us a dessert though, since they asked us to move to a smaller table.
  
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Standard Italian restaurant - dark wood tables, yellow wall with some brick exposed. Got there at 7:30pm on a Thursday and were seated immediately. 1 hour later the place was packed though. Crowd consisted of large groups, families, and couples.
  
• Price 7.6/10 – About $45 a head which is a decent price for the quality of the food. Pastas were around $13-15 per plate, but the portions are not very large.
  

Closing Comments
If I were in the area looking for pasta, I would probably come here for the price and the location. For a better Italian meal sans pasta, Ino is right around the corner and kicks massive ars - they do bruschetta and paninis only though.

Bruni-ville

I wonder what Chef Ducasse thinks of Frank Bruni rating his restaurant on par with David Chang's Momofuku Ko.
One restaurant costs $200 a head, the other $85 a head.

Momofuku KO
Adour

Restaurant Reviews

By Frank Bruni:

• Momofuku Ko (***)
• Commerce (*)
• Merkato 55 (*)
• Adour Alain Ducasse (***)
• Chop Suey (*)
• 
  
• More reviews by Frank Bruni

PPQ Dungenous Crabs

A friend of mine highly recommended PPQ for some tasty Dungenous Crabs and so what does a dude do when he arrives in SF?

Head straight to :
2332 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94121
Phone: (415) 386-8266

This was quite tasty and gratifying. The Crabs in the east coast are just too non-meaty and the "effort to rewards ratio" just doesn't cut it in my book. Pacific Northwest Dungenous Crabs on the other hand are not only meaty but very sweet and therefore yummy. Now throw one of those badboys in the oven and pile that with tons of Garlic and Butter and you have a little bit of awesome on your plate.

ETR Ratio - Effort to Rewards Ratio

Rice rations?

Looks like Sam's Club and Costco are limiting rice purchases due to rising costs for rice - 4 20lb bags per person please. Bread, cereal, rice, and pasta have now all gone through tremendous increases in price...great that the most important grouping in the food pyramid is now uber expensive and impossible for the developing countries.

Opus One

Not that Opus One needs any more referrals... especially mine.
But here are my humble thoughts.










It's a romantic story and backed by a pretty solid product.
Yes, it's pricey, but you are getting quite an amazing juice.

A while back, I was able to take a tour of the Opus One winery and was very impressed with their operation.
I like to break down wineries and breweries into 2 basic classifications.
Whether they are "(Old World) Art" based, or "(Modern Day) Science" based.

Opus One is definitely "Science".
Modern science to be exact.










At their plant, they had giant steel barrel fermentation tanks, motor run conveyor belts and computerized hydrolics and centralized temperature / pressurized systems.
In other words, it looked like the engine room of the Millennium Falcon.
Quite impressive actually.

Here's the 2 minute historical synopsis of the winery:
Back in the day, Robert Mondavi was a neophyte in the world of Wine Making.
This was during the early years of Napa valley where there were less than 20 wineries and Californian wine was considered no better than Welch's grapejuice.
Now, it's world class and there are over 250 wineries taking up 45,000 acres of land and it seems to keep on growing day by day.

Decades ago and by sheer chance, Mr. Mondavi (or as some like to call him Bob) ran into Baron Phillipe Rothchild during one of his visits to the states.
Baron Phillip Rothchild is the proprietor of Chateau Mouton Rothchild - a very big guy in the world of top wine makers. (Kinda like what Tiger Woods is to Golf)
The Baron took a liking to "Bob" and for 8 years, they corresponded back and forth on a project to make a world class wine in Napa, California.

When it was finally agreed upon and a collaboration was signed, Baron Phillipe sent over one of his trusted wine makers from Bordeaux to California and the pain staking work went underway.
Planting the vines, calculating the soil's richness (or lack of), working out the layout of the vines due to the sun, studying the wind patterns of the land, the moisture levels in the air and in the soil, the smell of the air, the morning, noon and evening conditions of the land, the seasons (or lack of)... everything that made up the magical concept of Terroir.

Slowly but surely, a quality juice was produced and today, they cap off production at 240,000 bottles a year.

Just to put this into perspective, on how boutique Opus One is....
Gallo Wines produces 75 million cases, to Opus One's 20,000 cases a year.

Over the years, the Mondavi family has spread their name pretty thin with projects all over the world. So about 3 years ago, Opus One was taken over and is solely controlled by the Rothchild family of Bordeaux, France.

Cheers to that, and if you find yourself going to Napa anytime soon, book the tour in advance and take part in what many believe is the pioneer in Californian Wines.

Gourmet Boutique

CNN posted this article on Gourmet Boutique and their massive voluntary recall.
What they were hesitant to also report was that Archer Farms is also knows as Target.
So if you are an avid Target patron, and you so happen to do your food shopping there as well, you might want to rethink any of the meat items there in the freezer for the next month or so.
That includes frozen sandwiches or oven ready lasagnas.
To make it easy, just avoid food from Target for the time being.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York food company is recalling more than 286,000 pounds of meat and poultry because it might be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

The voluntary recall includes several different brands of fresh and frozen products made by Gourmet Boutique, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Saturday.

Included are some types of chicken salad and sandwiches sold under the name Gourmet Boutique, and several frozen wraps and burritos sold under the names "Jan's" and "Archer Farms."

The problem was discovered through sampling by federal food safety inspectors and Florida agriculture officials, the USDA said.

There have been no reports of illnesses associated with the recalled foods, but the bacteria can potentially cause Listeriosis, an illness that can cause high fever, headache and nausea.

People with depressed immune systems could also suffer a fatal infection.

Gourmet Boutique said in a recorded phone message that it had made "environmental changes" at its plants to prevent a repeat of the problem.

Gary Robins at Russian Tea Room

It's Just That Good

Sushi Seki "Rocks"!

Saturday night was my second time to Sushi Seki and will definitely not be my last.
My first visit was about 10 months ago and I posted a very positive article immediately.
I still feel the same way and urge you all to go enjoy some pretty awesome Sushi at Seki.

One piece of information I took home with me that is worth sharing...
Conceptually, you are not advised to dip the (Seki and Gari) Sushi into soy sauce.
The reason...
Back when Sushi of Gari first opened in New York, Chef Gari and Seki both noticed Americans dipping (dowsing) and practically drowning their Sushi into a tub of soy sauce and that just irked them so much that they looked for ways to prepare flavored Sushi so that no soy sauce was necessary.
Therefore the delicious sauces and wacky combos of bite sized Sushi came to be.

From Japan with Ease

This funny-looking chrome machine is an automatic egg boiler with easy settings and attachments for breakfast made to order. It's easy to set up—on/off, 10 minutes for soft boiled, 15 for hard-boiled—and a special tray for making three perfect poached eggs.

costs about $50.


Thanks Tokyomango

Quick Snack in China

On my last visit to China, I was sitting in a hospital room. There was a bag of food near me, and I was told “don’t eat all of it; please save some for me.” I ran to the bag wondering what was in there thinking maybe some candy, perhaps some chips to munch on… boy was I wrong. It wasn’t bad… but not snacking food. At least not what I was expecting. Ah well, I delved in and had my share.

What was in the bag?

Duck

Yum right? Well, this wasn’t what you’re thinking. More like pieces – hunks of ducks. There were pieces of duck necks, duck gizzards, duck heads, etc. Well, I have to try it. I mean, it’s my M.O. Not bad. Not great – but not bad. It was cold. It’s preserved meat. The neck had too many bones. The gizzards were too much after eating a liver. The head had little meat. The brain tasted ok.

Next to the duck was a large ceramic bowl. In there was a liquid with more chili peppers and pepper corns than an Indian and Mexican restaurant combined. I lowered my chopsticks into this hell broth fully expecting for them to catch fire, and I fished out, well… fish. I placed several chunks and a head on my plate, and I dug in. I ate most of the body with no problem, but when I started on the head, my sweat started beading down my forehead. It was like creeper bud, and it was catching up to me. When it caught up, it numbed my lips and tongue. So I finished off the head, right down to the eyeball. Literally. After sucking on the eye, I was left with the center of it. It reminded me of the plastic BBs I played with in my gun when I was younger. Hmm, were they fish eyes all this time?

The duck was okay, but this fish was tasty.

Enjoy the pictures.