mamster

Given that approximately a kajillion people live walking distance from the former Red Line and that parking on Bellevue there is almost always trivial because the turnover is so high, I'm guessing something else did them in. Oh, also, there's a pay lot a block away, north of the Starbucks. Rarely full.

I'm not going to speculate on the health properties of Danish butter, but I will say this: LURPAK Thank you. Oh, Little Ms Foodie, one other thing: you can also get back fat for rendering into lard at Uwajimaya. And lard, rendered or not, keeps for a long time in the freezer.

Is El Rincon the one where you can eat in the truck? I love that place.

Hey, Little Ms Foodie, I can help you find real lard in Seattle. If you go to a big Mexican grocery, such as Guadalupe Market in Burien (but sadly neither of the Latin groceries at Pike Place Market) you can get a big tub of non-hydrogenated lard for a low price. Or if you want organic and/or leaf lard, you can buy kidney fat at a farmers market (Skagit River Ranch and Samish Bay Cheese both sell it and one or both of them are at most area markets) and render it: process to a paste in the food processor, put in a saucepan in a low oven, and leave it there for a couple of hours. For frying, I've also used a 25% lard/75% vegetable oil blend and had good results, although I was using liquid canola rather than shortening. I think all lard probably would have been better, but I didn't want to use up all my lard for a few donuts. Lard is a wonderful ingredient, and once you have some on hand you'll find all sorts of other uses for it beyond frying.

YES!

Thanks! No offense taken. Frankly, the thought that you could have mistaken my dessert for his is an honor.

Hey. PatrickS, not to steal any glory from Nightscotsman, who is a hundred times the pastry cook I'll ever be, but I actually developed that recipe. The story is, three years ago or so I asked Neil to develop a cocktail for me for an article I wrote about tamarind. He came up with the Pacific Rim: Malibu rum, tamarind juice, lime juice (the recipe is in the article). When I was working on a column about dessert, I thought, hey, I could make that cocktail in dessert form. Of course, it looks even better the way Patrick did it.

According to Nancy in today's Times: I love tartines. Anyone been?

That sucks--it was one of my favorites in town, though it's not like I've done my part, since I think I only went there three or four times total. I'm going to see if I can track down their enchilada recipe. Best enchiladas ever.

I haven't been to Bellino. At Vivace they have great skill with steamed milk, which is important to me, but if you're getting americanos, they may well be comparable.

My favorites are probably Zoka, Vivace, and Victrola, in that order.

Ling, do you mean drip coffee or espresso?

I usually get a sundae. Even bad hot fudge is good.

Jeffrey Steingarten had a great column a few months ago about soft serve in which he tried to recreate DQ soft serve but starting with quality ingredients. But he admitted that DQ soft serve is pretty good to start with. I agree--when I'm downtown I'm often torn between Bottega Italiana and DQ.

Not only is it always that cheap, but it used to be $1.99.

I was at Porcella on Saturday. It's overwhelming. I felt like a total hick--dozens of products I'd never heard of, many at staggering prices, and that deli case, dang. I didn't buy anything; I wasn't sure where to start. Now that I've had time to process, I could go for some rillettes, some lardo, some hocks, and maybe some of that bottled water in the cool color-reflecting bottles.

This is pretty easy: Pagliacci Siam on Broadway Red Line

I disavow my disavowal.

Hey, I said that almost four years ago! I didn't mean anything I said back then, and anything I say today has a 2009 expiration date.

Wow.

I generally get a plain croissant, not a pain au chocolat, because it seems to me that the problem with pain au chocolat, as a rule, is that there's not enough chocolate in it. Someone needs to make an American-style pain au chocolate that is absolutely loaded with chocolate. That said, the pistachio version at Dahlia is good, although I haven't been there in a while so I don't know if they're making it at the moment.

Just so everyone is clear, Theo and 3400 Phinney are the same thing. There's an article detailing the story, along with mouthwatering photos, in the current issue of Seattle Magazine. (Okay, I wrote it.) And I think the 3400 Bread and Chocolate bar is great--the best of their products I've tried so far.

I got some ramps at Frank's on Wednesday, too, and made ramp pizza and ramp scrambled eggs. This was my first home ramp experience, and they were great. More details here.

So, I was at Frank's on Friday morning, and they did have rhubarb, but no ramps. Anyone seen them since then? I'll probably be downtown again tomorrow.

Is there rhubarb yet? Especially, say, at the Market? Crossing my fingers for ramps tomorrow.