A Dumpling Manifesto. “Why Americans must demand better.”
Erstwhile Chinese dumplings forces man to confront his anger management demons.
Get your dumpling on
Reply
Monthly Archives: September 2006
Wow. Hubris knows no bounds.
Christ almighty. I think his whole goal is to be the fucking American Apparel of food.
Bring your cocaine. I don’t think this asshole will share.
At underground dinners with communal tables, he said, food lovers have been “blown away by how cool it is” to talk with strangers they otherwise never would have met.
“In our daily lives, we don’t talk to each other anymore. It’s almost to the point of becoming dangerous to society, this level of isolation we’re doing to ourselves. It’s time to fight back.”
Despite those goals, even Vagabond isn’t open to everyone. No walk-ins are allowed. Advance reservations and e-mail contacts are required, meant “to keep it kind of pure, to keep it to the people who get it,” Claycamp said. “With every restaurant, there are some people that get it and some people who are there as tourists. I think both Michael and I are pretty resoundingly not interested (in the latter).”
REBEKAH DENN just won the award for “Most Ironic Subsequent Graf(s)” of the year award. Good job — if it wasn’t intentional I would then have to say it was an even more beautiful example of reporting.
Foie ban spreads like a virus
Foie Inanity Reaches New York (Megnut).
Michael Ruhlman is back at Megnut with a guest post on how the War Against Carnivores™ threatens to spill onto a new front — this time New Jersey, and by extension, the entire New York culinary scene.
Not only would this put out of business or force the relocation of Ariane Daguin’s D’Artagnan–which would be a blow to the entire tri-state area and beyond and the countless restaurants that rely on D’Artagnan for foie-based products–but it would be a dangerous encroachment on the rights of New Yorkers and New York City chefs to eat what they want and cook what they want.
Ruhlman succinctly encapsulates how this issue is an extrapolation of our knee-jerk legislative tendencies…
The foie issue embodies the hypocrisy and corruption of so much of how our government operates. That our public officials continue to spend their time and our dollars on this is ludicrous. If they cared about their state and their country, they would address the catastrophe of how we’re raising agri-hogs. That’s truly inhumane. We’re trashing our land and water, growing crappy food, contaminated chicken, feed lot beef and creating lakes of sewage polluted with e coli that gets on our spinach and kills our kids.
Amen, brother. In other news, via Food Dude we learn that New York, like Chicago, is toying with a prohibitive trans-fat policy of its own.
Why don’t they ban something that would be legitimately beneficial for American culture, something, like, say, Screech force-feeding a young nubie, or Nancy Grace?
Cut and run this you fucking prick
Candidate in Illinois accuses opponent of wanting to “Cut and Run” in Iraq.
Par for course, until you consider his opponent is a legless, double-amputee veteran of said Iraq war. Very classy, dude.
The Amateur Gourmet on fat
The Amateur Gourmet has a good post on fat in foods, which very closely mirrors my own views.
He even trots out that old axiom, one that has been so repeated by our elders so much that is almost cliche.
Cooking with fat, in many ways, is like sex. Sex in and of itself isn’t bad for you…But take it too far–meet a 70-year old hooker on the internet for a tantric orgy with the cast of “Eight Is Enough”–and you’ll be itching and burning ’til kingdom come.
Carl’s Jr saves Tacoma
My friend Corey (who lives in Tacoma) alerted me to the “slow news day” happening up north…
Hungry horde welcomes new hamburger in town.
If the Tacoma News Tribune is to be believed, the local kinfolk are all aflutter and excited like little school girls that a Carl’s Jr. has opened shop.
Donald Hedge, a Tacoma soldier, was the first to walk through the doors. He had waited two hours.
“I know Carl’s Jr. burgers from California,” he said. “The meat tastes like meat…”
Apparently, in Tacoma, that’s reason for celebration. Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. It’s like holding a ticker tape parade each time a Walgreens opens.
Pok Pok update redux
No, I haven’t been back yet since Pok Pok reopened. I hope to head there soon.
But, while waiting for my Pad Kee Mao today at the suburban Thai place I hit (near where I work), I ran across this tidbit in last week’s Oregonion A&E insert:
POK POK UPDATE — Andy Ricker just reopened his terrific Thai take-out shack after a sojourn to Thailand to seek fresh inspiration for his anticipated expansion next door. Look for The Whiskey Soda Lounge, to open in October, a denlike daylight basement space with a low ceiling, tables, booths and a bar serving a large selection of Asian beers. Ricker’s tripled his kitchen space, so expect a larger Thai-centric menu with some dips into China, Vietnam and Myanmar. Meanwhile: That glorious rotisserie chicken is ready now. 3226 S.E. Division St.; 503-232-1387. Lunch and early dinner Mondays-Saturdays.
There you have it. If I read that right, the house next door will open as “The Whiskey Soda Lounge” and all the action will be in the basement. Sounds cool – a little rock and roll, a little pan-Asian, and most likely a lot of delicious. I’m particularly interested in items from Myanmar nee Burma.
Panic voicemail
Update: From the comments, it seems like voicemailer and this guy could be one and the same. Best website EVER.
The Indefensible Position: Rachael Ray Doesn’t Suck
Via The Gastronaut, we see Rachel Ray being a bit flippant in the pages of Esquire vis-à-vis the anti-Ray backlash that invariably materializes once a phenomenon becomes full on pervasion (see Macarena, The).
Oooohhh, talk to dirty to me, you insouciant little vixen. Anybody have a link to those Maxim (FHM?) photos that she tried to destroy?
The last days of disco
Well, it’s officially over. Summer, that is.
Here in Portland, the End of Summer happened some 10 days ago, on our last sunny, 70+ day. The sunshine gifted to us mortals over the past four or five consecutive fortnights has been replaced by rain and gloomy petulance. It may be just me, but the collective psyche of the region seems to discard its misbegotten optimism (of course it would not last forever), as we dig in and shruggingly accept the miasma of despair that suffuses the ether for the next half year.
(Really, it’s not that bad. We just don’t want anyone else to move here).
On this autumn solstice, what better way to give summer a 21-gun salute by harvesting some of the bounties from your backyard garden? In Portland, the long days of summer sunshine (precipitated by many a spring shower) lends itself to excellent growing conditions for the DIY green thumb. You don’t even need to possess any considerable growing chops — I certainly don’t — in order to grow and harvest prolific herbs and vegetables.
Here’s a simple and delicious pasta dish using the fruits from my backyard — grape, teardrop and cherry tomatoes from the vine, and fresh basil.
Fusilli Bucati with Grape and Cherry Tomatoes, Capers, Olives and Basil
- 1/4 Pound Fusilli Bucati (or bucatini, radiatore, or another short, squiggly pasta – I like the Colavita brand )
- 1/2 Pound Grape, Teardrop and/or Cherry Tomatoes (I’m estimating the weight – around a couple dozen)
- 10 Basil Leaves
- 2 Minced cloves of garlic.
- 2 Tablespoons Capers
- 12 Pitted Kalamata Olives
- 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Pinch Crush Red Pepper
- 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano
In a large mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, capers, olives, garlic, salt, red pepper, and olive oil. Stack basil leaves and chiffonade, and add to tomato mixture. Using the back of a broad spoon (or a small paring knife), “smash” (or cut) at least 1/4 of your tomatoes to release the acidic juice. Marinate at room temperature for at least an half hour.
Start to boil pasta. Get the largest non-stick frying pan (or wok) you have, and heat over medium heat. Test pasta and make sure it’s a minute “underdone” — if it is barely edibly al dente you’re in good shape. Crank up the heat on your pan to high, and drain pasta.
Throw in the tomato mixture and sear over extremely high heat for 30 seconds. Add pasta, and fry for one minute, flipping and stirring constantly. The skins on the tomatoes should just start to blister from the high heat.
Plate, top with shaved cheese and fresh ground sea salt and pepper. Enjoy the last vestige of summer, and fill your Welbutrin prescription.
Discussion/Fallout from Gourmet’s Top 50
There’s a heady discussion at Portlandfood.org among the locals regarding whether Higgins or Paley’s truly deserves to place in the “Top 50.” Paley’s is more of a consensus, while Higgins…not so much. Many of the eateries that made the cut do seem to be sort of novelty picks, but of course any “Top…” is bound to be subjective and specious.
Two Portland restaurants make Gourmet Top 50
I just received the latest issue of Gourmet in the mail today — “The Restaurant Issue.”
They run down “America’s Top 50 Restaurants” and, lo and behold, two (count ‘em, two!) Portland eateries crack the Top 50. Paley’s Place (1204 N.W. 21st) clocks in at #46, and Higgins (1259 S.W. Broadway) scores impressively at #28, putting it ahead of such stalwarts as New York’s Gramercy Tavern (#34) and Zuni Cafe in San Francisco (#37).
Gourmet sings Paley’s praises thusly, “The Paley’s artful little bistro is a genuine celebration of place.” Regarding Higgins, “A passionate local and national spokesman for a sustainable food supply, (Greg Higgins) makes the case persuasively at Higgins, a Portland treasure.”
Kudos to these two Portland establishments and their national recognition. I have yet to visit either, so I can’t comment on whether the praises are well deserved, but from what I’ve heard it’s justified.
But they are on my radar screen. I especially have been dreaming of the escargot and bone marrow appetizer at Paley’s for some time — ever since I read a review in the Oregonian earlier this year. It sounds like the perfect comfort food, especially on a cold rainy night.
Spinach FUD?
Guest blogger @Chez pim explores bagged spinach FUD.
By fingering any spinach as suspicious, even bunched fresh spinach, the F.D.A. isn’t educating anyone, or solving the problem. They’re just spreading fear on a national scale.
I was thinking along the same lines the other day, especially considering you CAN’T FUCKING FIND SPINACH ANYWHERE NOW. Why would it have to do with spinach? It grows from the ground – IS E.COLI FESTERING IN AMERICA’S SOIL OHMYGOD WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON AAAAAAAHHHHHHH?!?!
I’d like to take my chances. I like spinach. I almost always cook it, too.
A conversation with A. A. Gill
The recently relaunched food magazine Chow (from the good folks at cNET) has an interview with London Times restaurant critic A. A. Gill, and (like
Jim Kunstler), he proves himself to be my kind of irritable crank.
When A. A. Gill trashed Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s New York restaurant 66 in Vanity Fair, the London Times food critic, famous in Britain, got famous in the United States as well. “How clever are shrimp–and–foie gras dumplings with grapefruit dipping sauce?” he wrote. “What if we called them fishy liver-filled condoms? They were properly vile, with a savor that lingered like a lovelorn drunk and tasted as if your mouth had been used as the swab bin in an animal hospital.”
Brilliant. As his take on that safely homogenized vacuity we call Starbucks.
Everything I don’t want is absolutely embedded in everything about Starbucks. I think the whole deal is cynical and unpleasant. It’s positioning itself as being the comestible equivalent of Friends. It’s slightly green, people friendly, grown up, sensitive. It’s a franchise that’s built in stock exchanges and not in kitchens. Starbucks is everything that I despise and dislike about chains. The product is vile; the marketing is terrible. There has been far more energy put into the matter and the means of actually selling you something and making something to sell you. The service is slow, unforgettable; the whole place is nasty, the layout looks ugly, and everything about it is against all the things I like about hospitality and about eating out.
And on “organic” starfucking…
What I mind about organics is that it’s become a label used to make as much money as possible out of the process. The whole process has been hijacked and laced with guilt. You have people who can and will eat organic, but it’s not because they’re leading healthier or better lives—it’s a style statement about the people they are.
He has many interesting views that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I’m happy to have discovered another droll dickhead who makes me laugh.
Oprah opens vagina; releases Rachael Ray
“Rachael Ray Show” potentially annoying.
I didn’t write that headline. If I had, it would have pared it down by one adverb.
Dodger blue!
We got to 6-5 (after Marlon Anderson tripled and Betemit singled him home) and Vin said: “Boy is this a game, huh? And the crowd is loving it. From depression to euphoria and all the stops in between. It’s not Monday night here. No way, it is Mardi Gras, it is New Year’s Eve.”
Scoville prison break
Chillies aid Sumatra jail break.
Fuck fashioning a shiv from a bar of soap. Smuggle in some habaneros.
Prisoners at Pematang Siantar jail in Sumatra mixed hot chillies with water in plastic bottles to spray at guards.
The fiery liquid temporarily blinded the guards, allowing prisoners to grab their keys and make the break for freedom…
…A prison warder, Harianaja, told the Jakarta Post newspaper that the guards could not fight back because they were outnumbered.
“The is the first time chilli has been used to get out of this penitentiary,” the daily quoted him as saying.
Jamie Oliver $@!%
King raps Jamie’s foul-mouthed rant.
Jamie Oliver chews out Brit parents for feeding their kids junk, and is called out by one of his sponsors. Bollocks. What a bunch of bloody arses. Here stateside, Patricia Heaton can claim to channel a woman with a liquified brain and call her husband a murderous monster, and Albertsons says nothing.
The $25 hot dog
Hamptons $25 franks are a ‘hot dog’.
A restaurant in the Hamptons is serving a $25 hot dog made from Wagyu beef. No mention if lips and assholes are included.
The wieners come complete with a jumbo grilled bun (no charge for ketchup or mustard). With tax and the customary 20 percent tip, the hot dog actually costs $32.16 – but anyone who can afford dinner in East Hampton probably isn’t counting…
…The other day, Engle said, a group of diners ordered ribs, burgers and hot dogs — along with a $275 bottle of Krug champagne. “We have an eclectic menu,” he said. “Something for everybody.”
For the record, the hot dog costs more than the restaurant’s hamburger ($17) but less than the dry-aged prime steak roasted with Cipollini onions, thyme and cracked black pepper with a wild mushroom fricassee ($44).
Pimientos de padrónes
A few years ago in Gourmet, I read an article by the great Calvin Trillin about pimientos de padrónes. He recounted his time in Portugal, in a small town during the yearly Padrón festival where he spent days eating fried peppers. Upon his return he sought out these divine chilies, eventually hooking up with a guy in Jersey who grew them in his backyard. The article greatly piqued my interest in discovering for myself the allure of this spicy Iberian jewel.
Fast forward to my birthday last month. My wonderful sister visited the farmer’s market in San Francisco (just down the street from her office) on a Tuesday and bought me 3 batches of these pimientos de padrónes. Two days later, FEDEX dropped off 3 pounds of beautiful peppers from Happy Quail Farms (who are located in Palo Alto) on my doorstep.
I immediately broke out my wok, heated a few tablespoons of olive oil, and blistered close to a half pound of these on the stove. I sprinkled kosher salt about 30 seconds before I thought they were done, and then transferred the beautiful little suckers to cool on a plate lined with paper towels.
The vendor told my sister that the larger peppers promised more Scoville units than the smaller, which flies in the face of most chili pepper conventional wisdom. For the most part, I discovered this axiom to be true, but it was far from absolute. In fact, eating padrónes is like playing Russian roulette — I felt like John Savage in “The Deer Hunter”. The mildness of 5 or 6 straight peppers will lull you into a false sense of comfort, and then the next one will seriously blow your socks off, and suddenly you’re sweating and panting with delirium from simultaneous pain and pleasure. It’s an intoxicating experience I found to be quite enjoyable, with its peaks and valleys of deliciousness and discomfort.
I did end up using these peppers in various prepared dishes. Purists might scoff, but there are only so many straight peppers (and rounds of Russian roulette) one can stomach over an entire weekend. Are pimientos de padrónes delicious in the following?
- Mushroom, Cheddar (and Padrón) Omelette – Check
- Black Bean Chili – Check
- Japanese Shoyu Ramen – Check
- Asian Stir Fry – Check
Here’s THE simple recipe for padrónes, with directions lifted verbatim from the Happy Quail Farms website.
Pimientos de Padrón
- A bunch of Pimientos de Padrón
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
Take a pan and pour enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the frying pan. Turn the heat up on the burner. When the olive oil starts to sizzle throw the peppers in whole. When the peppers start having small white blisters they are ready. Take the peppers out of the pan, place on plate with a paper towel. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Hold the pepper by the stem and BITE. Enjoy!
Quest for the perfect pizza
This guy is what we call a fanatic.
6 years and thousands of dollars in ingredients and equipment later, he’s content to make a Neopolitan pizza of his own that he calls comparable to Patsy’s on 117th street in NYC. Ahab has killed his white whale. You can too, if you had an oven that can reach 825F (and takes 80 minutes to heat up).
Chow Magazine relaunch
Bagged spinach alert
FDA Issues Warning About Tainted Spinach.
Luckily, I skipped that 3 pound bagged spinach purchase from Costco last night. I usually eat the whole thing too.
Grass fed? Eh, not so much.
Ranchers Decry Grass-Fed Beef Rule Plan.
From the gang that brought you “No Child Left Behind” and the “Clean Skies Initiative”…
Meat-eaters usually assume a grass-fed steak came from cattle contentedly grazing for most of their lives on lush pastures, not crowded into feedlots. If the government has its way, the grass-fed label could be used to sell beef that didn’t roam the range and ate more than just grass.
The Agriculture Department has proposed a standard for grass-fed meat that doesn’t say animals need pasture and that broadly defines grass to include things like leftovers from harvested crops.
Critics say the proposal is so loose that it would let more conventional ranchers slap a grass-fed label on their beef, too.
That’s exactly what’s intended — allowing erstwhile cow factories to slap that grass-fed label on a hunk of flesh and participate in Wal-mart’s “organic” gourmet revolution.
That proof is in the pudding, according to one Thom Fox.
Grass-fed beef is a leaner meat; fat tends to form around the muscle. With conventional corn-fed beef, the fat streaks the muscle in marble-like patterns.
“When you eat steak that is corn-finished, there’s a mouthfeel that you get specifically from the fat; it hangs there in the palate for quite awhile,” said Thom Fox, the chef at Acme Chophouse in San Francisco and a member of the Chefs Collaborative.
“Grass-fed beef tends to have a much quicker finish. The taste lasts for a few minutes and cleans itself off very fast,” Fox said.
If I can go forever without being subjected to the brutal strength of Thom Fox’s creepy distinction-making powers again, even that wouldn’t be long enough.
Ann Richards, R.I.P.
Developing…
The Return of Pok2. Pok Pok Thai is back open.
Apizza Scholls reopened last week, with plans for expansion this fall.
K2 Kabob
K2 Kabob is a new Pakistani/Indian restaurant on the south side of Hawthorne, just east of 39th. I stopped by a few weeks ago and picked up some to go.
The gentlemen running the floor were very gracious. I ordered two Seekh Kebabs ($4.00 each), Bhuna Gosht ($8.50), and order of plain Naan ($1.50).
As I waited for my order, I helped myself to free chai. Though it was a hot summer day, I enjoyed this extra detail. When the rainy Portland doldrums return, this will be quite welcome.
As soon as I ordered my Seekh Kebab, the kitchen was notified and immediately started the prep. It’s an open kitchen, and I could see the chef forming a fresh lamb mixture onto a very long skewer. At $4.00, this is an absolute steal. Extremely delicious, flavorful, and savory. The lamb is mixed with red pepper flecks and chopped herbs (parsley, mint?). It is topped with sliced onions and sprinkled with red chili powder. A squeeze of the lemon wedge and this was dynamite.
The Bhuna Gosht was chunks of lamb (leg or arm?) that is simmered in tomato sauce with herbs and spices. I could taste coriander, garlic, and some other usual suspects. I would have preferred it a bit more aggressively seasoned, but I think this is meant to be a mild dish. What you see here is a thin veneer of oil on top of the stew (in the take out container itself) — this gave it an unctuous quality that was not unwelcome. Lamb is pretty fatty, afterall. I enjoyed sopping up the stew with my order of naan.
The naan was delicious – charred and not too fluffy. It was different from naan I’ve had at conventional Indian restaurants, more like the pita at Alladin’s on 33rd actually, but I loved it. I used it like injera at an Ethiopian restaurant, tearing off a piece at a time and using it as a utensil to pick up and envelope chunks of lamb.
I still had half of the Bhuna Gosht and entire Seekh Kebab leftover, so I fired up the rice cooker and steamed a cup of basmati and took the leftovers to lunch the next day. It was very good.
I will definitely be back. For more information, check out the thread at PortlandFood.org.
Keep your laws off my fatty pork
Asian delicacies stir L.A. political pot.
Two Asian delicacies are the subject of a simmering debate pitting merchants who like to store them at room temperature for hours against food safety regulators who worry the practice could allow bacteria to build up.
One is a rice cake filled with fatty pork and beans, wrapped in banana leaves and served during the Lunar New Year. Another is a baked pastry consisting of lotus paste and a duck egg yolk.
If this had been Chicago, they would have simply outlawed it altogether without debate and just out of spite declared Tet a threat to public safety. But give credit to Orange and Los Angeles County, which are taking a more methodical approach before deciding a potential public health nuisance.
This week, state lawmakers came to the aid of the delicacies by ordering state health officials to determine whether the treats can be safely kept at room temperature for much longer than four hours. When the tests are completed, officials would set new standards.
“The contention … is, ‘We’ve been eating these foods for thousands of years, and nobody is getting sick. Why the stringent requirements, then?’” said Assemblyman Van Tran, who proposed the legislation which won overwhelming approval in the state Senate and Assembly.
“You have to find a balance between public health and history and culture. It’s a classic American story,” said Tran, a Republican who represents Little Saigon, a large Vietnamese enclave in Orange County.
I think that’s a telling statement. Whereas Chicago (or any American city for that matter) doesn’t necessarily enumerate foie gras worshippers in amounts to effect a groundswell of opposition, the Vietnamese population in Southern California is huge.
When my sister was in town in May, she picked up a Bánh Chưng (the aforementioned rice cake with fatty pork) from Phat Hung and it sat on our counter for hours after it had sat at room temperature at the market. And she ate only half of it, wrapped it back in the banana leaf and saran wrap, and I think finished the rest the next day. Maybe she stuck it in the fridge, I dunno, but my point is the same as Van Tran – people have been doing this shit for years and the legislation of personal behavior has gotten out of control. Though, Mr. Tran is a Republican, and I assume is for strong drug laws and penalties?