mamster

Thanks, Akiko. I'm definitely interested in okonimiyaki. I guess I need to start following the Mariners if I'm going to admit to the Japanese that I'm from Seattle. Go Ichiro! Go Kazu! What kind of food do they serve at Ninikuya?

Look, I grew up in the 80s and I know for a fact that the art of chilling was invented by Run-DMC. You know my favorite thing about eGullet? Every time I hit-and-run a thread with a one-liner, I can console myself with the fact that tommy's done it eighteen times as often as I have, and they'll come after him first.

Right, they'd bring in Groucho Marx.

I recently ended a negative review with that kind of advice, although I didn't tell them to paint. Generally I agree that the advice should be implicit in the criticisms, but in this case I felt, as I think Hesser did, that there might be a good restaurant hiding within a bad one. Kind of like when a rock writer reviews a double album and says, "There's one good album of material here." Okay, I guess that is annoying. Does Hesser wear a disguise when she goes out? If so, does Jinmyo have a picture of it?

Don't ever give me a bowl of Black Republican cherries unless you want to hear a bunch of really bad J.C. Watts jokes.

Has anyone done a falafel-based veggie burger? It seems like that might be tasty.

I find medium-sized onions no worse in flavor than big onions, and since I'm usually cooking for two, a medium onion is often the right amount. When we have people over--and once we have kids--sure, I'll always spring for the big onions. Oh, and sure, I could refrigerate the leftover half a large onion, but the idea of pulling a single onion out of the root cellar (i.e., the cabinet under the microwave) and using the whole thing appeals to me.

Presumably they're called lapin cherries because they breed like rabbits. Here's a good guide to cherry varieties that I found. The Lapin is a new variety from the late 80s; both Lambert and Bing come from 19th century Oregon; and the Rainier, probably the most popular and certainly the most delicious cherry at our markets, is a Bing-Van cross (I haven't seen the Vans for sale here and don't know if it's still a popular item). I haven't seen the Lapin around here; I think the other three account for the vast majority of the cherries grown in Washington. Laurie and I polished off an inordinate amount of cherries on the train back from Vancouver this weekend; now I must pop over to Canada to talk about that trip. But one hint is that we were trying to decide whether to try a particular restaurant, and then we found a testimonial by Steven Shaw on their website. (So much for THAT idea.)

I've disliked buttered bread all my life and haven't gotten over it even though I have no problem with melted butter, or cinnamon toast, or butter cooked in anything, or pretty much any other ordinary use of butter. Well, I don't like it on French toast, but that's the same thing.

My father and I once shared a whole fried skate (billed as stingray) with tamarind sauce at a Malaysian restaurant in Seattle. It was a fairly small skate, but what meat we pulled off was good enough to sell me on the idea of skate-on-the-bone, at least occasionally. Also, as I've said before, because of the shape of the fish and the dark tamarind sauce, it was like being served the bat symbol.

On the contrary, BH, I got the impression that Tony did come from a lair, but I consider that a high compliment because I like the word "lair". As for your assertion that PNW is one of eGullet's finest corners (i.e., lairs), I cannot argue with that.

heyjude and I had lunch today at Ototo Sushi on Queen Anne. It's in the space that used to be Coronitas and before that was Mayuri, by far my favorite Indian place in Seattle (dammit). First of all, Ototo is "cool." It's cool in a very calculate 80s soho black and white way. Our tall, skinny, 19-year-old waiter was clad in some kind of black uniform that would have gone well with a Darth Vader helmet. We ordered a tempura appetizer, but they told us appetizers are only available at dinner (huh?) and they could bring us a tempura lunch special. Fine. It came with soup, salad, and a california roll that we didn't want. Why they can't just make some tempura and bring you some tempura, I don't know. Maybe they have a robot. The tempura was good, especially the shrimp and the onion. Our sushi included a spicy scallop roll (these seem to be good anywhere), unagi, maguro, toro, tamago, and ebi. The eel was mushy and oversauced. Maguro was basically tasteless. The toro was sliced too thick, I thought, and tough. Sushi rice is supposed to be subtly delicious. This was just, uh, subtle. Nothing was actively bad except the mushy eel, and the tempura was fine. They're spending a lot of energy on nice presentation at Ototo, with carefully chosen platters and bowls, and slivers of shredded beet garnishing everything. Many of the hot dishes on the picture menu looked interesting. But this was a grade A boring sushi lunch. This place makes me miss Mayuri more.

I went by the ID one a couple days ago and they have a big yellow OPENING SOON banner. I'm guessing next month.

Sorry for the crypto-giggle. I've never been to Matt's but have heard only good things. I never call myself "Matt," but if I did, I would have challenged that other Matt to a duel back when I worked in the market.

Hee hee hee!

I've been cooking from Babbo, and it's awesome--the salmon over cucumber salad recipe is so simple and delicious, and so impressive to serve. (I don't have a plank, so I start it on the stove and crisp it skin-side in the oven.) Upcoming books I'm looking forward to: Clifford A. Wright wrote a book about stew Seems like an odd topic for him, but should be fun. I have high hopes for this James Peterson book of French recipes. And have we really missed this?

The situation: (1) I'm starting a new job this fall, so I'll have little vacation time but money burning a hole in my frequent flyer card, and (2) I hate American Thanksgiving food. The solution: Thanksgiving in Tokyo. I'll be spending November 28-December 2 (about four full days) in the city of...well, what is Tokyo's nickname anyway? I've never been to Japan before and am only somewhat knowledgeable about Japanese food. I've emailed BON, and he has kindly offered to help plan my trip but suggested we work it out here for the benefit of readers. Details: I've enjoyed every Japanese food I've tried with the exception of uni (but I'd give it another whirl). I'm already planning a sushi breakfast at Tsukiji, and of course BON is going to take me to some great ramen. I'll probably be taking some meals alone (from what I hear, Tokyo is a great place to do this). Unagi is one of my favorite things, so I'll be seeking out an eel meal as well. So what are some other can't-miss dining experiences? I want to focus on Japanese food, of course, but within those unconfining confines, I'm up for almost anything. BON has suggested that I stay in Ginza or Shinagawa. Anyone agree or disagree? I realize I'm asking something like "where should I eat in New York?" but I'll do my best to narrow things down as we go. The heat will be on!

If they're putting cerveza in the tacos, I'm there! (Cabeza, perhaps, dear?)

I'm a sucker for onion rings too, and Red Mill's are great. I find their burgers merely good. Over on Cooking (the "making hamburger meat" thread, which I am too lazy to link to), Fat Guy is holding forth on the supremacy of burgers made with hand-chopped meat. I'm going to give this a whirl soon and report back. Is it something about our restaurants, our DIY attitude, or my moderation skills that turn every thread toward home cooking sooner or later? Speaking of home cooking and onion rings, a great party dish is onion fritters--rather than going the rings route, you just slice the onions into slivers, toss them with the batter, and add spoonfuls to the hot oil.

Oh boy, that's a tough one. Yes, the golf course is way out there, about 30 miles east of Seattle (it's the Mt. Si course, right?). It's near North Bend, which was the town featured in Twin Peaks, if you ever watched that. The place with the pies had a fire; not sure if it's back in business. I don't know what there is to eat out in that direction these days; anyone? For one meal in Seattle, I will make an obvious (so obvious people are groaning right now) recommendation: Flying Fish or Etta's. They feature the types of seafood most closely associated with Seattle (salmon, dungeness crab, and so on) done well. If you want to feel like you had a real Seattle meal, these places are tops. Of course, to me a real Seattle meal is Thai food; if you don't have good Thai food where you're from (where are you from?) let me know and I'll steer you in that direction. Lunch, maybe?

Well, here's a good, random, and basically OT place to jump in. I can juggle three balls. I can also juggle four balls. It is definitely harder to learn to juggle four than three. However, if I am showing off my (rather meager) juggling skills, whether to novices or experienced jugglers, I'll stick with three balls 99% of the time. Why? Because juggling four looks easier than juggling three, and it's not as good a basis for doing tricks (shower vs cascade, for those playing along at home). Similarly, it's hard to learn to juggle three in a circular pattern--much harder than juggling four, IMO--but again, it's not an impressive trick. Now, you folks can figure out the culinary parallels. For me, this argument comes down to toilet paper. I can afford the best quality toilet paper, and I always buy the best quality. I have no cultural relativism when it comes to toilet paper. People may argue over which is the best, but nobody argues that it's 3M sandpaper. But food ain't toilet paper: those who can afford to eat and enjoy eating at fine restaurants every day never do, because those restaurants can't slake their cravings for pizza, falafel, phad thai, and all the other great and interesting foods that are not part of fine dining.

Surely you've mentioned this before, Basildog, but where in Cornwall? My wife has family there and we spent a lovely holiday in Penzance a couple of years ago.

What cut of meat would you use for this? I've heard this claim before and always stalled on my possibly mistaken belief that if I used my preferred chuck, I'd end up with gristly bits.

How do you prepare your caesar, Batgrrrl?

Sure did!