marlena spieler

came late to the pepper party, but just wanted to add that i ADORE the varied array of pepper sauces and mixtures in this area of the world. wish i had a copy of the book too. and wish we could all do a cyber pepper extravganza together. sometimes i positively lust after really tasty fleshy peppers. living in britain peppers are not as lush as they might be elsewhere, unless i hightail it up to dalston or green park, the the turkish area. and then shlep them all the way back to hampshire. in many ways its easier to go to turkey, and at the prices of british trains, probably cheaper too. anyhow am now just sucking my teeth and lips in pleasure, thinking about the long simmered peppers and aubergine we ate in bulgaria, just a silky spicy puree. lots of peppers so it was more a pepper salad than an aubergine salad. and a bit of tomato too. marlena

Omigod, I thought that my husband was the only one who buttered cookies! (well, the biscuits that we eat over here in blighty). He even butteres shortbread, which is practically all butter anyhow! and while i'm on this rant, what is the thing about pouring cream over ice cream?!? i shall always be a foreigner where this is concerned. and also: what is the deal with ice cream without a flavour, just ice cream! cream flavour. well i have my own weirdo combos have no fear. i have soooo many of them where to begin. i do love mustard on bagel sandwiches. and peanut butter and marmite. and a slice of cold boiled potato topped with a slice of sharp cheddar, a slice of onion, and both ketchup and yellow mustard! maybe buttered rye toast topped with cottage cheese and either chopped green onions or raw garlic and handful of baby greens or alfalfa sprouts. grilled cheese and pickles is always good. salt and butter rather than syrup on my waffles or pancakes. garlic on toast for breakfast unless i'm taking a break and have onion instead. somehow i always think, gosh i eat outrageous combinations if only people knew...and here i am trying to remember them and they seem soooo sedate. x m

so true. the requirements for writing about food, either in the reviewing or recipe-writing-food-writing sphere in my experience has come down to this question alone: "who do you know?" (having said that, our own jay rayner and our kitchen goddess marina o'loughlin (circeplum) are total gems! i'd follow them anywhere! ).

kasha kasha kasha! buckets o borsht, shissels of sour cream, chicken kiev (of course!), a big fat zakuski table, pickled mushrooms, more herring than you ever thought humanly possible, oh and a pile of blinis and smoked salmon/caviar too of course why not. sour rye bread. marinated cucumbers with onions and dill. beetroot salad ( a decliious one is potatoes, beetroot, dill pickle, sour cream, fresh dill). and oh i could go on. vodka of course. lots and lots of vodka! actually i went to a ukrainian/russian feast a few weeks back and am just now finishing digesting. how wonderful was it! x marlena ps did you see javine win eurovision britain tonight? were we rooting for her?

Original Joe's - God I love Original Joe's! It's been there on Taylor Street in the Tenderloin for 60-some years and so have its bow-tied waiters. Their excellent steaks are butchered and aged in-house. If you're solo, sit at the counter and watch them prepare your meal while you have a classic martini or scotch on the rocks. (This is where I go when I want to feel like I'm in a Raymond Chandler novel.) Or take a date and slip into one of the red naugahyde booths. Read a great article from the Chronicle about Joe's here. Did I mention I love Joe's? Cheers, Squeat ←

hysterical, moby p! i'll never forget what slater wrote about what parisians eat for breakfast (or was it the french in general, i forget it is so long ago): but it was in the observer. i'm paraphrasing by the way: people think that the french/parisians eat croissants and baguettes with cafe au lait for breakfast, but the truth is that they eat what you and i eat: packaged cereal! (hmmmmm. guess what. i don't. )

i've tried and i've tried and i've tried and i've tried....... but i can't get no.....three item list going. i'm afraid i'm far too much of a condiment slut for only three items. and i want it known that on an overnight cruise to eygpt from cyprus, i brought in my handbag: a lemon, a jar of tarragon mustard from dijon, a head of garlic, and a bottle of some sort of yummy hot sauce. anyhow, when we sat down at our table, our british dining companions saw me get out the garlic, and requested another table. (the dish of the evening was pizza, it was a very low cost cruise, its sister ship went down in the sea near us that very night, not too seaworthy i think. anyhow, i'm telling you, this pizza needed garlic as much as we all need air to breathe (i need garlic to breathe) (though those around me may not be able to breathe easy themselves). x marlena

i think his hissy fit was just done for "good television".

okay, first week he swore and swore and swore, i have never heard so much f***, f***in, and well, abundance of swearing. and the kids hated his food. and he complained the whole time that he isn't getting paid for it (he owns the prods company). last night, second week, he was really good with the kids, in the scenes with the kids, and his views on his beliefs about what kids eat was really really good. inspiring! but then back to his Fifteen restaurant he threw a hissy fit when pres Clinton came in to the restaurant for dinner, and was on the south beach diet ("He's on some San Francisco diet" oliver complained, and then told his student that the student would have to throw out all the food that they had prepared, because clinton and party wanted to eat salmon, steak, protein and salads that sort of thing. Clinton wanted to meet oliver, but oliver said no, and ran out of the kitchen to his waiting car and papparazzi, saying he would rather go home to his family than meet "Bill", saying he's a "wanker" apparently for not eating olivers food. what for next week? why do we need jamie to call bill clinton a "wanker" in the mistaken belief that it is good television? i don't think "bill" deserved it (and i'm not a fan of the south beach diet either). i thought it was gratuitous. and after all those cute scenes with the kids and all, and getting mavis the dinner lady to make a fabulous meal which all the kids ate! (though janie took credit for it). at least the kids are eating good food....but i have kinda a nasty taste in my mouth.... marlena

because you went out there and ate all those dumplings, all on OUR behalf! and now we know just which dumpling house to go for....... wish my husband had the appetite (and desire) to do such a thing! (can i submit him for apprenticeship with you?). x marlena I'm flattered, but why? ←

she didn't say. i should add though that she works in the whole restaurant food pr so she is right there in the thick of things. marlena ←

Pan, I soooo believe you! (and vietnam, too....and points scattered through india.). and kansas city in on that list too! i was just speaking to someone about doing grazing tours, where you walk down a street or neighbourhood, stop and eat the one thing that place does best, the move along to the next one. i am always thinking of leading grazing tours in my mind but never get around to planning a proper one. would love to get taken on one, too! x marlena who is ready to eat! (i mean, hungry, not freshly cooked)

i am soooooo jealous of you all going to the salon...... i'm stuck in britain with a pile of work.......in the back of my mind is the thought that maybe, just maybe i could nip onto eurostar and do my work as i get there and get back, but i know that once i'm in paris i'll be toooooo distracted (always am). i love the salon de l'agriculture. sniff, (little tear forming), have fun for me! pet a sheep, eat a salami, check out the ornamental chickens........ marlena

Just told the whole gourmet mag: best place in the world to eat yadda yadda yadda thing to my mate, a dyed in the wool londoner. she is still laughing. (and i thought i was missing something: (like, maybe they mean a different london from the capital of Britain......) marlena

moscarpone, you're my hero! marlena

My definition of an interesting food city is one in which you can walk and walk and walk (or drive, alas) and constantly be finding new and fascinating places to jot down in your mind: must go there. where the buzz on the street, or at least the topic of conversation among almost all at almost all levels is about: food. San francisco and paris are totally that for me. the one thing people always ask (well i always ask) when visitors say they have been or are going to san frandisco (by which we mean the entire bay area), is: what/where did you/will you eat? paris is the same thing: have you been here, have you been there, shall we go together, that sort of thing....... both cities have wonderful raw ingredients: excellent bread, to start off with, and produce though sf is ahead in the exotic produce, and as far as fromage despite great strides in recent years, paris is certainly ahead in this. i mean, they have this history of fromage and a whole country to bring the cheese in from and sell......the cheese alone is worth living in paris, for me. also both have a good ethnic mix. paris has lots of turkish, eastern european, indian/pakistan, morrocan/tuniisian/algerian, vietnamese, lebanese, etc. when people say that paris doesn't have the variety i just don't understand. i think: maybe they are talking about a different paris...... nice is quite exciting a place to eat, though everything that comes to the table seems to be kissed by the sun (not a bad thing, like italy, or greece.......) london to me doesn't have the joy of eating. its hard work getting good bread (though the late and wonderful lionel poilane has his bread sold in waitrose, as well as his bakery that i helped him open in london--its on elizabeth street, and if you love good bread you must go there). but where i live, in hampshire, people couldn't care less about good food. even at the highest end, its all about pretention. and london, while it has great turkish, thai, lebanese, etc, just doesn't have the ordinary good food, the little restaurants in neighbourhoods that don't charge an arm and a leg. mostly its fish and chips, fish and chips. (though i know that in parts of london you can eat very very well, but its just not an eating culture). (its more about the drink, at least with so many of the people and media i know). but tel aviv! yeah! that is a great place to wander, and thrill to the array of ethnic places, and thrill to the shopping at markets, and things like the soft soft pita which makes a mockery of the pita one finds in europe, usa. (with exceptions, of course, always exceptions). italy is very regional, there are so many different eating styles that i hesitate to single any one place out. its been a while since i've spent time in mexico city but once upon a time i found the most divine food there, and a wide range of cuisines. oh, and in the usa: of course new york city is fabulous. but spending a lot of time there equally between san francisco and new york, (and europe) sf definately has the lead in my culinary heart. everything is fresher, and the whole level of eating well goes deeper, people cook! and the average person knows where to go and just is into it, cares about quality, etc. and new orleans: be still my heart. echoing what has already been said before here, its the way good food just exists, people are excited about it, people just won't stand for mediocrity, everyone wants to pipe up and tell you where they have eaten last, where to go for this, where to catch the best crawfish, where to eat the best oysters, where to find a gumbo that'll make you cry. like san francisco and paris, new orleans is even more so, this shared passion for eating well. oh yes and vancouver: some fab restaurants there, a vibrant scene. loved rob feenie, david hawksworth, vancouver tomatoes. as exciting a scene as one can figure out from a 5 day visit...........but i do want to go back...... marlena

i'm so with you, samantha..... the thing is that anyone with a lotta lotta cash and influence can eat well in london i suspect. but in barcelona, paris, new york, san fran, naples, you'll get a consistent and often consistently good experience. by and large. but as you said: the ethnic eateries: london's turkish eateries are my fave, esp mangall 2, with their barbecued meats and salads esp the fire roasted aubergine and pepper one...... x marlena

I remember a lovely warm pate, a celestial mixture of minced meats and truffles of course, wrapped in a tender flaky pastry that was so good i think i could have wrapped my chapeau in it and eaten it happily, and it was all awash in a truffled sauce of the Classic Perigord style. mmmmmmm. the other good thing about going to Auberge de la Truffe, is that Sorges is home to the Eco Museum of Truffles. It takes you through the life cycle of the truffles, their oaks, their flies, their history..... if you went in season you could probably attend an organized truffle hunt, something to remember for your next visit! bon appetit, oh just stuff yourselves with truffles my friends! marlena

ps: the chocolate to choose is scharffenberger, divine chocolate that will make you swoon. its from berkeley, california (actually emeryville).

crab and avocado on sourdough would be a very upscale and quintessential sandwich but many people are allergic (myself included). burritos are very san franciscan (the mission burrito was invented there, ie the burrito). a bean and veggie burrito is very san fran. whatever sandwich you serve should have a lot of salad ingredients in it: shredded lettuce, onions, etc. avocado of course. tomato. jack on sourdough another local food combo. salsa, california loves a salsa, with some kind of interesting dips. an interesting salsa: corn, roasted black bean, anything with cilantro. lately we've been into banh mi, the vietnamese sandwiches. don't know if they are more popular in san fran than in other places in the usa? cold cooked asparagus with a zesty dip (its just coming in to california, probably its far too early on the east coast). or roasted little tiny new potatoes with a zesty dip. good coffee: brew some dark roast good coffee. in california i would choose peets or graffeo, in new york, porto rico (and in britain, union roasters but thats another story, yum yum yum coffee!). hope i've been a little bit of a help. marlena

I'm sorry i didn't see this post early on, therefore my comments wouldn't sound l ike jumping on to the bash the rice pudding restaurant brigade..... a year or two ago went to rice to riches with: daughter, her boyfriend, step daughter. i mention all of these people so that you can understand that we all had different flavors, and also had lots of little tastes too. i tried the pineapple payoff with basil, i tried everything, and then some, i kept sticking my stylish spoon into my stylish bowl in that stylish and utilitarian space, and couldn't find a flavor worth eating. each and every mouthful regardless of the flavours (so unmemorable, and i usually remember the flavor of EVERYTHING i eat) and none of us could finish it even though we hadn't had anything to eat in several hours and had been walking walking walking. nothing was delicious! it was all so pretentious! what a shame a good chef was making the initial recipes cause by the time the stuff reached my bowl it was beyond insipid. needless to say none of us went back, even though daughter and boyfriend live quite close. i actually felt very angry about it, cause it was a nice design, an interesting concept, but the product itself seemed to have no care or quality gone into it i felt anotiher triumph of PR over substance. but then, i guess i didn't know what the place was all about. well, i gambled just eating there and did come away feeling like i had been ripped off. i mean, good rice pudding is a thing of beauty (esp greek rice pudding, oh be still my heart)........this stuff was a travesty.

Pickle Soup! Don't laugh or turn your face away in disgust (though i wouldn't blame you if you did as it does sound kinda crazy. esp when i say: cream of pickle soup). pickle soup, though, is a polish delight, and so wonderful, filled with carrots and potatoes and awash with cream and studded with fresh dill. you'd never know there are pickles in it, but it is a wonderful wonderful soup. for the full recipe, go to the san francisco chronicle link in the regional cooking forum, its from this past wednesday roving feast column. everyone i know whose eaten it gets a smile of pleasure across their face within moments of lifting spoon to mouth! yum.

"marlena, Roma Pizzeria 2 is out on Folsom (past Sacramento State), not Stockton." sorry, what was i thinking! "It's in kind of a bleak location, but I agree that they have good pizza, and Maria (the owner) is great. I'm pretty sure the margherita is on the menu year-round." but the tomatoes are only good about oh, i don't know, 4 or so months a year (and when they're good, they're great, sacto has such good tomatoes). "By the way, if you have the name of the big Russian smorgasbord restaurant, I'd love to know." i'll have to ask my aunt next time i speak with her (i'm in europe right now). cheers, marlena

ooooops, sorry, i didn't get the quote marks right in my posting, first para should be quoted. the rest are mine. x m

Then, we stopped at the Odessa Market, a little further along on Fair Oaks. This used to be called Ararat Groceries or something like that. There were some interesting products in here...a lot of syrups and flavourings (like rose water). Here I couldn't resist buying a bottle of pomegranate molasses. I have no idea what I'll use it for but I'm sure I'll find something. There is a HUGE russian population in sacto, my russian friends there shop in stores that sell everything from russia, including kvass, vodka, black bread, pickles, and captain fish. odessa might be the one they go to, there might be others......i've also heard there is a big russian smorgasbord buffet type place, don't know if its good, but sounded intriguing to me........ great pho in sacto, esp out along stockton blvd. and i like pho bac in davis. oh yeah, and for dim sum, ask daryl corti where he goes, cause we discussed going to dim sum last time i was there. in the end we didn't, we had a dinner party with friends instead, but it made me think that he would have to know a good place if he suggested it. ettores has good challah on fridays. and roma pizzeria 2, on stockton i think, has a great margarita when tomatoes are in season. i like their garlic spaghetti too. when tomatoes are in season, get maria (the owner) to make one just for you! (i'm not sure its on the menu). taylors market is good, and farmers for fresh stuff. sat morning the davis farmers market is great too. oh, and when you're near taylors market, stop at taylors cafe (right across from vic's which makes the best old fashioned ice cream, i like rocky road) anyhow taylors is a hang out of this upscaleish old fashioned neighbourhood. bob taylor used to be a traffic cop and terrorized every speeder in sac. my aunt was one of them. now she's one of his customers. go a couple of times and you become a regular, the big table in the middle has so many regulars there, i'm very fond of the weather in the helocopter guy, is his name bob too? or is it dan. anyhow he's delightful. taylors makes a good breakfast sandwich, filled with the things we love that clog our arteries. if i buy one i take it apart, then eat all the ingredients separately: the bacon and potatoes and egg and bun. my husband likes little prague in davis, great sauerkraut soup but a trifle expensive i thought. still, the soup was soooo divine, and the schnitzel pretty darned good too. When our schnitzel was gone, (we shared a plate) and our side of both sauerkraut and red cabbage eaten up, and everyone was ordering dessert, i ordered a second bowl of sauerkraut soup instead. yum yum yum. i like the sandwiches at bon air market. oh, yeah, and the hof brau. haven't been there in years, but i now its still going. oh, there is a chinese place on broadways, is it called new station? smells divine, a friend always goes there. lots of chinese places that do the one big fish number which i love. avoid the chain restaurants that abound. when visiting my family, if they mention mimis or macaroni\s grill or the olive garden i start working very hard to get them going into a different direction. whew. ain't always easy but i'm determined. cheers, and good luck in finding some good bread in sacto. and when you do: could you post it or email me and let me know? by the way, corti has some fabulous things that you won't get anywhere else: interesting legumes. and cured meats that are fabulous for cooking with them. x marlena