The Foodie Thread

[imjustagirl]

Sam, I actually know a LOT of foodies in our field. Something with all the travel and all that, people look for the best, most unique meals they can.

 

[YankeeFan]

Sam, I actually know a LOT of foodies in our field. Something with all the travel and all that, people look for the best, most unique meals they can.

"Foodie" doesn't necessarily mean expensive either.

Fresh, local, seasonal, sustainable are the big things right now.

Also, lots of Chefs doing their own thing casual places with food as the focus, not 5 star elegance and stuffy service.

I know I've mentioned it before, but we have craft brewers, distillers, coffee roasters, etc. springing up.

One of the cool things Goose Island does is a weekly "Chef Collaboration" beer. A local chef will spend a day with the brewer coming up with their own brew, usually using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

 

[YankeeFan]

Food trucks are the other new, big thing here.

I know LA & New York have 'em. Any other cities on the Food Truck kick?

I hit the Tamale truck for luch today for the first time. He was out of everything but chicken, but it was really good.

Served by a guy in a Mexican wrestler's mask. And they have Mexi-Coke -- made with real sugar.

 

[imjustagirl]

I didn't say expensive, YF. :)

I think we have a truck or two in Atlanta, but I don't work on that side of 75 so I don't know.


Yep: http://www.atlantastreetfood.com/

 

[YankeeFan]

I didn't say expensive, YF. :)

I think we have a truck or two in Atlanta, but I don't work on that side of 75 so I don't know.

I was agreeing with you -- I think.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

It's just weird the thought of spending that much on meatballs and such, no matter how delicious.

If I'm spending that, I'm going to Morton's or Gibson's or Ruth's Chris and getting a porterhouse the size of my head.

But let us know how it goes.

No, no, no.

Meatballs is his day to day business. Sold off of a truck downtown. 8 bucks a sandwich.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday is fine dining. Sit down, 12 course tasting menu.

Totally modern stuff -- no meatballs.

165 for a 12 course tasting menu is not unreasonable at all. A place I work at charges 150 for a 9 course meal without alcohol.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Food trucks are the other new, big thing here.

I know LA & New York have 'em. Any other cities on the Food Truck kick?

I hit the Tamale truck for luch today for the first time. He was out of everything but chicken, but it was really good.

Served by a guy in a Mexican wrestler's mask. And they have Mexi-Coke -- made with real sugar.

New Haven is big in the food truck scene, there is the Cupcake Truck (which has been featured on the Food Network or Travel Channel or one of those things), Tiajuna Taco, where you can get fat veggie burritos and Caseus (a fromaggerie) sells perfect grilled cheese sandwiches, in addition to sausage and tomato soup.

There are also a bunch of ethnic Mexican trucks across 95 that look good, but have not tried.

 

[KJIM]

My aunt does catering near Augusta. She's from Louisiana and the food is totally bayou.

If I am ever to be executed, I want my last meal to be her chicken louisianne. Or whatever the hell she calls it. I'd eat it until it came out of my ears if I could. And the jambalaya -- my God, it was fabulous. Don't get me started on the gumbo. I'd never stop.

I worked with her last December and the best evenings, after toiling in the kitchen for eight hours making stuff as awesome as deep fried red beans and rice balls (a labor of love and absolutely to die for), we'd sit over a meal and look through "A Taste of Home" for new recipes to try.

My God, it was a fabulous three weeks.

Best thing for a Cajun cook to have in the kitchen: Slap Ya Mama http://www.slapyamama.com/

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

My aunt does catering near Augusta. She's from Louisiana and the food is totally bayou.

If I am ever to be executed, I want my last meal to be her chicken louisianne. Or whatever the hell she calls it. I'd eat it until it came out of my ears if I could. And the jambalaya -- my God, it was fabulous. Don't get me started on the gumbo. I'd never stop.

I worked with her last December and the best evenings, after toiling in the kitchen for eight hours making stuff as awesome as deep fried red beans and rice balls (a labor of love and absolutely to die for), we'd sit over a meal and look through "A Taste of Home" for new recipes to try.

My God, it was a fabulous three weeks.

Best thing for a Cajun cook to have in the kitchen: Slap Ya Mama http://www.slapyamama.com/

There is a guy from New Orleans who opened up a restaurant in this area. He makes Caesar salad from scratch--tableside--complete with anchovies. Real Calamari, none of that frozen crap you find most places.

Also does Bananas Foster tableside--yummers.

 

[Flip Wilson]

My aunt does catering near Augusta. She's from Louisiana and the food is totally bayou.

If I am ever to be executed, I want my last meal to be her chicken louisianne. Or whatever the hell she calls it. I'd eat it until it came out of my ears if I could. And the jambalaya -- my God, it was fabulous. Don't get me started on the gumbo. I'd never stop.

I worked with her last December and the best evenings, after toiling in the kitchen for eight hours making stuff as awesome as deep fried red beans and rice balls (a labor of love and absolutely to die for), we'd sit over a meal and look through "A Taste of Home" for new recipes to try.

My God, it was a fabulous three weeks.

Best thing for a Cajun cook to have in the kitchen: Slap Ya Mama http://www.slapyamama.com/

If your aunt will share, I would love that recipe for deep fried red beans and rice balls. That sounds awesome!

 

[Flip Wilson]

I'll drag down this thread a bit by talking condiments.

Actually, salad dressing.

When I was a kid, my mom made all the family salads with Green Goddess. Loved the stuff. Years ago, though, I stopped seeing it in the store. Figured it had been discontinued. Wept a little.

Anyway, fast-forward a couple decades and I'm out recently with the wife and my mom at a really nice waterfront restaurant. Turns out, they offer a special salad ith Green Goddess. Our waiter then proceeds to tell us the history of it. Not that fascinating, but who ****ing cares. I found my baby again.

Well, my mom, being a mom, goes back home and tracks down the stuff. They still make it. I'm pleased. Even better, my mom sends us two bottles of the stuff with our latest baby-related package. I still love the stuff, but I'm not even the biggest fan in the house.

It's the anti-ketchup; it makes EVERYTHING taste better. It brings people together.

Anyway, back to pretentious meatballs and ****. :D

I'll add to the condiment discussion. We make our own croutons, and people love love love them. We're almost ashamed to tell them how easy they are to make.

Cut some bread into cubes (pretty much any bread that's kinda stale will work; we've used plain white sandwich bread and wheat bread. Both were good). Toss the cubed bread into a microwave-safe dish and put a few pats of butter on top. Then sprinkle on some herbs and spices. We use garlic salt and dried dill. Microwave for a couple of minutes. Stir it around and hit it for another minute. Keep microwaving a minute at a time until the croutons are nice and crunchy. Store in a ziptop plastic bag and they'll keep for a couple of weeks.

We took these to a potluck, and one guy, during after-dinner conversation, just kept eating the croutons straight from the bowl. They're that good.

 

[DocTalk]

Had a few hour layover in Rome and was able to make it to Pizzarium, a little whole in the wall take out place that is amazing. Pizza sells by weight, there is a bench outside that allows watching the steady stream of people walking into a storefront no bigger than most people's bedrooms. They also sell wonderful fresh bread.

The baker/owner is a television celebrity but this is no chain restuarant; he was in back working dough when I walked and had plenty of time to chat.

http://www.parlafood.com/pizzarium-reopens-today-in-rome/

http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/2011/01/bread-making-with-gabriele-bonci.html

 

[YankeeFan]

Had a few hour layover in Rome and was able to make it to Pizzarium, a little whole in the wall take out place that is amazing. Pizza sells by weight, there is a bench outside that allows watching the steady stream of people walking into a storefront no bigger than most people's bedrooms. They also sell wonderful fresh bread.

The baker/owner is a television celebrity but this is no chain restuarant; he was in back working dough when I walked and had plenty of time to chat.

http://www.parlafood.com/pizzarium-reopens-today-in-rome/

http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/2011/01/bread-making-with-gabriele-bonci.html

That looks delicious.

How long was your layover? And, if you were transferring internationally, can't it be a pain to clear customs, leave the "sterile area" and then get back through security?

Who else has made a food pilgrimage during a layover?

 

[KJIM]

Flip, I did the same thing with homemade crutons while working on the ranch. I also made bread pudding for the first time in my life. Followed the recipe pretty much, except I tossed in the old wheat bread, too.

A guest of the ranch stopped me after my first batch and said she was a bread pudding fan and ate it everywhere she went - all over the world. Told me the stuff I'd made was the best she'd ever had.

Honestly, it reallly is easy to cook amazing food. People say it's hard and expensive, but it's not. Heck, some of the evenings at my aunt's were some kind of fish she'd gotten on sale, sauted, with tiny taters nuked with a little bit of rosemary and Slap and maybe some veggies. Took a whole six minutes to prepare and cost less than a combo meal. And it makes the house smell fabulous.

My favorite meal consists of carrots, onions and garlic sauted. After they're somewhat cooked, I add flour for thickening and toss it in with cooked rice. Sometimes I add chicken and I throw in whatever spices I have. It's some improvisation of a soup recipe I found and then modified during Peace Corps and I make it at least twice a week where I am now.

 

[YankeeFan]

Dinner last night was amazing.

It was like being a judge for the final challenge on Top Chef.

14 courses. Only 5 tables of two. Three chefs in the kitchen, one server, and one dish washer.

For each course, the three chefs and the waiter brought the food out and then one of the chefs would describe it and tell us the inspiration for the dish.

Here's the menu:

http://elideas.com/

Everybody was very cool. The couple next to us was fun -- and on a first date.

The kitchen was wide open. You were invited to ask questions and were allowed to come into the kitchen if you wanted to.

The food was really incredible. Delicious, inventive, fun.

I did take pictures (sorry JR). I'm not sure if the couple next to us also taking pictures made me feel less like an idiot for doing so or more.

Maybe the most unusual dish was the melon dish, which was an intermezzo. It was described on the menu, but I hadn't paid close enough attention to know what to expect.

The chef invited us all into the kitchen where he had shot glasses laid out. It looked sort of like a shot of Midori, with whipped cream on top.

He told us what it really was, but I again missed the key word before throwing it down.

Turns out, it was their take on the classic melon & prosciutto combination.

The frothy whipped topping was -- ham!

Weird but good.

The meal lasted about 4 hours. All the dishes were small, but you left satisfied, but not stuffed.

I'm going to see if I can go back when my parents are in town next month.

 

[YGBFKM]

Mock!

Actually, sounds like a pretty cool experience. We're planning to be in Chicago in a few months and this sounds fun if we can find time.

 

[Key]

YF - Thanks for sharing.

KJIM - as a current resident on the Bayou, I too would be intersted in the recipe for fried red beans and rice balls.

Probably the oddest meal I had was ostrich, which was damn tasty. Also, being somewhat near New Orleans, I've been able to enjoy many a fine meal in the Big Easy.

 

[YankeeFan]

Here's the melon shot with whipped ham:

I posted photos of each course here if anyone is interested:

http://twitpic.com/photos/KevinCGallagher

 

[KJIM]

KJIM - as a current resident on the Bayou, I too would be intersted in the recipe for fried red beans and rice balls.

I've put in a request. She found it somewhere, so it's not like it's a secret, but it's a matter of getting her to sit down and send it to me.

 

[Webster]

Mrs. W is taking me to the James Beard House for my birthday. Our favorite restaurant in NJ has been invited to cook there for a night. They focus on food from local farms and for the event are having a tasting menu with some very nice French wine. The best looking course is the Crispy Pork Belly with Smoked Nugget Potatoes and Tomatillo Salsa Verde