Alex

Two Chanukah presents from Ms. Alex: The Silver Spoon Mangoes & Curry Leaves (Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid) And a present from myself, via eBay: Italian Family Cooking (Edward Giobbi)

We have a Garlics here in London. The food is fine, Nothing spectacularly special but not bad. I think we have been twice. The cost is pretty reasonable. No Idea what the service is like at the Stratford location. Which shows are you going to see? I got my playbill in the mail yesterday and am already plotting. ← Henry IV Part I, Much Ado About Nothing, and South Pacific. It'll be interesting to compare this year's Much Ado to their 1998 production set in 1920s Italy. I agree with you , BLB, about the decline in quality at certain restaurants. I don't mind a tiny menu, though. I actually prefer eating at a place that does a few things very, very well.

You might want to try this number: (800) 611-0759. I called them a couple of days ago and got a real, live person who handled a small billing issue very efficiently. It concerned a print subscription, but they might also know about website subscriptions.

Thanks for a great report, Tammy. And what a price! Wish I lived just a little closer to Ann Arbor... So tell us -- are you going to start dabbing Madeira behind your ears?

If you're at your hotel around lunchtime, just a few blocks away is the Café at Fox & Obel, a high-end food store.

Two nice wooden storage boxes holding 22 varieties of herbal, black, and green tea. One purple and orange plush triceratops. Dust.

Only 5½ months 'til our next visit to Stratford! Lodging is set and tickets will be ordered tomorrow, so all that remains is deciding where our three dinners will be this time. Thanks for the tip about Globe Restaurant, marlowe. The small-plate menu looks appealing. The web site indicates they now are licensed and are serving dinner. However, the lunch and dinner menus, at least on the web site, are identical. Avoca Restaurant and Bar looks like an interesting place. Any opinions about the food and service? Also, is there any word on Garlic's? (I love the typo on their menu: Pork Tenderloink.) Or how about 38 (no web site yet)? A poster on Fodor's says, "Like Bijou, these are recent Stratford Chef School grads who focus on using the freshest ingredients, often organic. If you don't mind the bachelor pad decor, the food is amazing." After your first report, BLB, we started considering The Church's five-course tasting menu, including wine. However, for ~$US115 pp (drat that diminishing exchange rate!) it would need to be pretty special.

How soon is "soon?" I'll be visiting the area in a few weeks and will be eating dinner one night at City Cellar in Birmingham. I'm not overly worked up about the menu and the web site is done in hugely annoying Flash, but the food is supposed to be decent and wines listed at <$100 are half-off on Mondays. I'll keep you posted.

My goodness - I seem to be missing out on all the fun at S&S, one of the restaurants that I wasn't able to make it to this summer. While I'm enjoying white truffle season in Europe, I'm sure I'd be paying a lot less in Chicago... Alex, do you mind if I ask how much your menu was sans wine? Ulterior Epicure. ← The prix fixe menu was advertised as including wine. You'd have to ask them what they would charge without wine.

No dress code. There's a nice a la carte menu, although I've never ordered from it. The dishes and ingredients of the tasting menu probably are familiar enough to not be overwhelming or "too much good dining," and David can pace it however you would like. Alternatively, although it might be a bit awkward, you can have the tasting menu while your parents and fiancee order off the regular menu.

Oh, yeah -- I forgot about the truffle truffle. Thanks, Josh. There was no way I could handle one more food item, so they packed it up for me. I just got back home and it's still safe and sound in my suitcase.

Citysearch is correct: lunch Friday and Saturday, brunch Sunday. The burger is available on the dinner menu, hence the Wednesday discount.

Last night jesteinf, yellow truffle, and I all had the truffle menu at Swets & Savories. It wound up being very similar to their regular tasting menu but with a truffle shaved over the top. We all enjoyed ourselves immensely, but felt that we had expected more original compositions, and with the truffle being integrated into more of the dishes. Still, at $150 including wine, it was worth it. YT took his usual wonderful photos, which I imagine he'll be posting before long. Here's the menu, as best as could scribble it down. We were in unanimous agreement that the ice cream was the runaway hit of the evening. I'll leave more specific comments to my dining companions. Proseco (forgot to note the vintner) Seared scallop on whipped potato w/mascarpone and green pea puree, topped with black truffle relish and shaved white truffle. >> NV Rosenblum Vintner's Cuvee Blanc Sturgeon on potato-lobster hash and lobster sauce topped with mache and a sweet corn and black truffle butter and shaved white truffle >> 1997 LeRoy Bourgogne Beef tenderloin on saffron grits, Perigord sauce, shaved white truffle >> 2002 Klinker Brick Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel Foie gras on foie gras risotto, shaved white truffle >> 2004 Piculit Neri Delle Venezie Salad of arugula, grana padano, and shaved white truffle >> 2003 Mandra Rossa Piano (Sicilia) Cheese course: gorgonzola, poached pear, frisee w/sherry vinaigrette, shaved white truffle, and black truffle honey >> Warre's LBV 1995 White truffle ice cream >> Quaddy Essencia

It cost AU$180, so about US$140 not including shipping (which wasnt too horrific considering it must weigh around 50 pounds). I jumped at the opportunity because the ex-leased wok burners from restaurants were selling for around AU$1500 for single jet burners with similar output levels. That's not bad at all. Is there a manufacturer's or a brand name and maybe a model number? Do you know if one can be bought via mail order? If not, do you know where one can be purchased in Thailand? (A fellow faculty member travels there every year.)

That's exactly my dilemma, and why I started this thread. I know that it's an emotional attachment. Other than cookbooks and other food-related books, there are relatively few non-professional, non-reference books that I either want or feel compelled to keep forever. Ms. Alex, on the other hand, has hung on to virtually every bit of written material that has come into her possession over the past 30 or so years.

Sarah's is on Oak near State (Gold Coast area) so yes, I imagine that street parking would be difficult but not impossible. (I never drive there.) Perhaps someone else has some first-hand information.

It might be not quite north enough for you (it's just a few blocks from the Chicago stop on the Red Line), but Sarah's Pastries and Candies is worth a trip. Then there's Red Hen Bread on Milwaukee or Diversey.

Our cookbooks are having a Mr. Creosote moment -- just one more, and the bookcase might explode, or at least collapse. I had a thought that perhaps we should do something similar to what's recommended for clothing: if we haven't opened a book for two (three, five, whatever) years, get rid of it. Then, of course, I start thinking that SOMEDAY I might need it. Have you ever pruned your collection? How did you decide which ones to part with? Were there any regrets later on? Did you give them away, sell them (and if so, how), or donate them to a library or charitable cause?

Almost all of our cookbooks are in the window seat and two oak bookcases in our "dining room" (actually the eating part of the large kitchen/dining main floor). I really like having them nearby, both for easy reference and setting the mood of the room. Here's another shelf, in our "office" room, of mostly non-cookbooks. Our shelves runneth over.

Only five new ones since my last post, thank goodness. I'm finally slowing down. Courtesy of a super sale at Bargain Books: La Mia Cucina Toscana (A Tuscan Cooks in America), by Pino Luongo Saffron Sunshine (Tapas, Mezze and Antipasti), by Elisabeth Luard The new SW France, courtesy of Paula Wolfert and her publisher. Bought in the early 80s, sold in the early 90s, and now bought again: The Joy of Cheesecake, by Dana Bovebjerg & Jeremy Iggers And Ms. Alex's current fave: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann

Hummus is good. Or how about a white bean dip? You can flavor it with whatever your imagination says -- for example, onion, garlic, lemon juice, salt, parsley, dill, and mint. Or maybe a nice garlicky skordalia?

As long as truffles are available and he knows far enough in advance, David of Sweets & Savories said would make their truffle dinner ($150/pp for a bunch of courses including wine). I don't know what the minimum party size would be, but you can always call him.

I couldn't agree more, rhinopias. David and crew are the best. I'm trying to get to S&S most every time I'm in Chicago. Lady T and I ate there last Saturday, and imho it was the best of the four meals I've had there so far. (She took notes, so I believe there's a post forthcoming.) They told us about the truffle night, of course. I was sooo disappointed that I wasn't going to be back in town until November, but at least I can enjoy the feast vicariously through your post. (Actually, I'll be back twice -- once for a symposium, once for Ms. Alex's 50th birthday celebration. We're most definitely there for the b-day, and probably the other time as well. Maybe we'll see you there, amccomb.)

Dinner is Wednesday through Friday, 6:00 to 7:45. Here's their web site. A few ideas - Sweet Lorraine's in Berkley (I think - if not Berkley then somewhere close to that) Vining's Bistro on Woodward Hong Hua on Orchard Lake - upscale Chinese Loving Spoonful on 12 Mile in Farmington Hills If the timing is right - American Harvest at Schoolcraft Culinary Institute - best bargain in town ← ←

Like Chris, I try to buy local, but there are only two bakeries in the Grand Rapids metro area that produce artisinal bread, and they're located less than a mile from each other. If I can't make it to either one, La Brea -- sold through D & W, a local supermarket chain -- is a reasonable substitute.