...more recent posts
i cant eat shrimp anymore each bite taste like turtle--remember that band ministry had a album "the mind is a terrible thing to taste"--i was thinking of heading back to my vegan ways when but this makes me want to get some folks together....
a review of a book called "the invention of the restaurant: paris and modern gastronomic culture".
7/22 the green market is singing--peas three ways: snap, normale, and greens...first of the organic corn....multi-cherry jubilee....organic fava....organic fresh garlic (picked yesterday!!), same in onion and shallot, squash, tomatoe...bought all i could carry now i,m going back for more!!!
hello from italy--Florence!!--we are off to Cammillo, where the speciality is pasta with shaved dried tuna roe!!!--we have had some great meals and the old bread salads (old bread soaked in various liquids than mixed with different veggies herbs...chilled!!!) are going to be a must to try back home!! viva italia!!
Jul 04, 2000
Celebrating the 4th of July or the day of the dog:
I've never really associated myself with any of those national holidays—I mean, I wasn't there when Columbus discovered America, cheering as he set foot on our shores, or dining with the Pilgrims and Indians in Massachusetts on that first turkey with all those side dishes and triptophane problems on the third Thursday in November; Memorial Day; Labor Day; President's Day; Christmas (ok, I still see those guys occasionally on street corners in December and I remember sitting on Santa Claus's knee in some department store and getting my picutre taken and looking at it in my parents bedroom for the next 20, 30, 40 years and wondering what that guy really looked like behind the beard); New Year (I've been at least semi-conscious for that one every time it happens and also for the way it stays with you a while until you successfully make the transition to the new date). Why don't they just lump them all together and give everybody 10 days off: eat, remember, shop, labor, etc. etc? But the 4th of July, of course I wasn't there when they signed the paper, and there is no video of events. However, I was there the first time I ate a hot dog, and I've been there every time since. My anticipated excitement was rekindled yesterday with the announcement that employee meal at 71 Clinton would consist of the revered combination of hot dogs, french fries and ketchup (for some). After several hunter gatherer attempts by various staff members the requisite hot dog buns were procured. In this instance, amid great controversy amongst the various male members of the staff, the chef's choice of preparation prevailed and the dogs were boiled and served. (But without the ever-important celery salt, which is a key element to the enjoyment of the boiled dog, which the chef fondly remembers first having with his father in the famous Rhode Island style.) His father, not being present for staff meal returned to the restaurant to find a pile of naked dogs covered by cling-wrap on a plate in his wine storage area. Knowing that my beloved Rachael had not partaken of the staff meal, I proceeded to sculpt what we were both to agree was a divine dining experience: a little butter smeared on the rolls prior to toasting them a golden brown, the hot dogs themselves grilled with well done sweet, crispy bits and then combined with the rolls and some Dijon mustard resulted in smiles and moans of gustatory delight. Now, to the point of all this fluff I've been spouting: what to drink with the dog? At the end of the work night Rachael and I were again hungry, so, at her urging I repeated the earlier gastronomic experience, this time unexpectedly elevating our enjoyment with the accompaniement of a delicious dry 1998 Gewürztraminer
(Estate Bottled) from Navarro and a sample of a 1999 white Crozes Hermitage from Alain Graillot (Rousanne and Marsanne grapes) from that notorious bon vivant "the Wheel."
[posted by dew-dah]
ran across this item in the wash post about a restaurant happening in our little burg.
6/24/00 very fine dinner and lots of future promise for Blue Hill--1) nice wine list with modest markup 2) fresh seafood with tasty presentation and the prices are fair!! 3) there is an outdoor garden (we forgot to look at it)
4) desserts were super--they are new and will grow like adding a cheese plate which would have been nice when we ate--maybe there was too much butter but this is something i need to figure out is it that essential to fine dining...
alex are you aware of the NYC Rooftop Honey?? Linden, Locust, clover and flowers provide the pollen!! Ther are upper west side cuvee's.
6/18/00 We had dinner at Surya a high-end Indian and Indian influenced cuisine. I think the group of seven all found it very tasty and some dishes were super yummy (a sprouted lentil salad!!). They are at 302 Bleeker St. near 7th Ave South. But for me the best Indian food (in NYC) is the vegetarian Vatan 409 3rd Ave near 29th, set like a small South Indian village. Great food but terrible wine list and will not allow you to bring w/ corkage fee:<( I would love to eat there one day with a bunch of German and Alsacian wines...
strawberries are all over the Green Market!! w/o even tasting just look at the difference between the organic ones and the inorganic--the organic look like the rarer French fraise!!--do you know that strawberry is a great absorber(sp?) and it hold all those pesticides etc very very well--so buy organic strawberries or dont care!! also according to Andrew Weil next to strawberry is bell pepper and cantalope w/ major pesticide levels--most cantalopes come from the big mexican farms mass produced and very untasty (to me) and full of....eat less / eat better!!
found this listing of vineyards while searching for stagecoach vineyards. my father has some stake in it. i dont think they are bottling wines,just harvesting. he mentioned that they grow for cabernet and one of the buyers was kendall jackson. thats about all i know.
6/10/00 Chez Polaner--learned a simple Sardenia dish--will cook it soon--tuna steak that you wash than dry in a towel and do as the French Laundry chef does run a knife over the it and scrape any water off the surface (it help's sear better)--grill or pan cook than slice up add salt pepper herbs olive oil, cover with arugala and chill--later serve by scooping the tuna holding the arugala and flip on plate--great w/ french red burgundy or cab franc from the loire valley both slighty chilled too!!
reports are that Blue Hill is awesome--lots of buzz in the food / wine bizz--chef came from???...El Bulli!!!
6/8/00 dinner at 71 Clinton Fresh Foods--fab again--i didnt taste but he did a Foie Gras(sp?) soup that freaked the table--new desserts were twisted and expanded presentations of the dishes rocked--we all brought the best wines we could get and mine were the top two (not only to me)--1978 Bartelo Moscarello Barolo & 1995 Weinbach Tokay Quintessence de Grains Noble "Cuvee 100th Year" (best dessert wine i ever tasted) other yummy's were 90 Echezeaux DRC, 92 Weil Spatlese Trocken, 92 Grivolet Meursault Clos de Perriere...SPOKE TO WYLIE ABOUT THE "GREAT CHEFS AND SHAMANS" DINNER BY AMAZON CONSERVATION TEAM AND SUSAN SARANDON....
coincidence?? i was on my way to 71 Clinton St for dinner and in the cab was a book full of #'s and personal photos and Huichol photos--there was a card for Chicama (see below) and it turns out he did the glass wear for them--just tracked him down through Chicama's manager at a friends house and he is on the way over to pick it up (p.s he hadnt even realized he lost this--maybe that means he didnt)
6/7/00 Rhone Restaurant new spot with 99% Rhone list (champagne)--we liked the food, chef ex Gramercy Tavern, wine list is of course interesting and will be even better when the more 98's roll in this year. and if they start to rock hopefully lots of older and rarer juice will show up...they got 16 bottle's of Raymond Trollat Saint Joseph 1996 (now 15 and list saz 97) @ $44--it is really worth a trip to the bar or a cheese plate!! VERY RARE JUICE