ExtraMSG

I just wanted to add that I just put up some pics of menus from the trip, among them: Merriman's, The Canoe House, and Pahu i'a. http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?set_al...=view_album.php If you can't quite read it, try clicking on it again until it doesn't get any bigger. There should be a thumbnail, a large image, and then a full-sized image.

Definitely give the Tasting Room a try. Note, they don't have the same kitchen or chef, so it's really two different restaurants. Also, with so many courses, you shouldn't get too much of anything and it's not that big a deal to skip a course and still get full.

Scott -- DFW asked me to put these pics he took of puffy tacos up. He had emailed them to me a while back (they're from Henry's):

Esperanza makes several great points. The husks are a pain to work with, especially the crappy ones you can get in the US, but I'm not too keen on the flavor banana leaves impart. Another option is parchment. It's about as easy to use as banana leaves, but doesn't impart any flavor. However, it may remind you of the canned variety. There are different styles -- many different. I prefer the lighter variety, which, as Esperanza notes, take a lot of whipping of the fat. Think: creaming butter. Your masa should float in water after it's mixed. Also, since you're using masa harina (which should be totally fine), give the dough time to hydrate after you add water to it. Then after it's rested covered for 20 minutes or so, add a little more water until it's the correct consistency. The masa harina needs time to truly absorb the water and get back to what it was when it was fresh. Also, you don't truly even need a filling for tamales. Just make a good sauce (or three) to eat them with. But mushrooms, beans, rajas, and cheese are all traditional vegetarian fillings. There's a decent vegetarian Mexican cookbook out there, I think, but I can't remember the name. It never truly interested me, but it seemed to at least be trying to take already existing authentically vegetarian Mexican recipes and publish them. I'll try to look for it next time I'm at Powell's.

See, now to me that's something that should just open in Beaverton, like Hooters. I guess, though, to a large degree, individual restaurants might be priced out of places like The Pearl. I know I've talked with lots of little business owners -- art dealers, etc -- who are getting priced out.

Honestly, I think Portlanders aren't as bad as some places. Been to a city like Dallas where Brinker has its headquarters? That's how we got Whole Foods, a store that really should be local, but it came from Texas, so it became a chain. Anything that's successful there becomes a chain eventually. We just like big plates of food cheap. If you're a Thai restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, a pho place, a breakfast place, a pub grub place, etc, you might flourish. At least our chains largely stay in the suburbs, except the steakhouses and the recent additions of PF Changs and Romano Macaroni Grill.

Thanks. I also wanted to hit Cafe 100 in Hilo while I was there, but every time I went they were closed. 9:15 pm on a Friday, closed. 8:15 on a Saturday, closed. Morning on a Sunday, closed. Ugh. That and missing the putting in of the pig were the things that I was most disappointed about food-wise. I wanted to eat at the birthplace of the loco moco. Instead ate at Ken's. Yuck! At least Blane's was okay. If Ocean View had their full menu available in the mornings, it would have been fine. We just were never in that neighborhood during lunch. Plus, the cash only thing was sometimes an impediment. Do they do that on purpose to keep away the tourists?

Very true. I've lamented aspects of Portland's tastes before. Cafe Azul was more or less the last straw for me. At least Stanford's and Newport Bay are better quality than the national chains they compete with. I think most of the Bewon menu is pretty accessible, though, if people just give it a try. Most of the basic entrees are just thinly sliced meats, no less accessible than fajitas. It's the things around the entrees at Bewon that make it special, imo. But for $7 at lunch Joe Blow should be able to enjoy himself.

However, for a top spot that captures some of the flavors of Texas, you may want to consider the Mansion at Turtle Creek. Way expensive, but not something you'll get in New York.

Yeah, don't be afraid to use your flash in a restaurant. Without good lighting, it just doesn't work. The biggest problem I've had, too, is that sometimes without adequate lighting my camera can't autofocus. I'm considering bringing a mini-mag light with me to help it focus. (Man, how embarassed I'm going to start making my wife.) That baked Alaska looks pretty cool, though. I've come to ask for seats next to windows, too. Makes a big difference if it's light outside. I'm really looking forward to your first photolog of Lola's Tasting Room.

Ten of us from the PortlandFood group ate dinner at Bewon last night. Chris, the proprieter was very generous with us, coming out and explaining in detail each dish, its cultural and gustatory significance. He also talked about his choices for the very reasonable wine pairings. He got the Han Jung Shik and tried everything. I really enjoy Bewon. Everything is handled so exquisitely. Flavors are generally very well balanced. And things I don't expect to like, I do. Some of the standouts for me last night were: * The japchae, sweet potato noodles, as always, which he says they simmer in a light mushroom broth. * The gu jeol pan, like miang kum for Thai, little crepes that you build yourself with eight different foods that represent the eight regions of Korea. * Hobak juk, a three potato porridge with with a nice bit of sweetness from honey. * The su jeong gwa, a cinnamon-ginger "cider" of sorts. So perfectly balanced. * The chi ge, 9 different seasonal side dishes (he gave us 11), among which the crispy-fried seaweed with sweet rice was fantastic. I also really enjoyed the spicy kim chee, the black beans with walnut, the squid, and the slightly sweetened potatoes. Honestly, Bewon probably isn't my favorite Asian food in Portland. But I think in many ways they deserve to be called the best because of the obvious care they take with each item and the obvious love they have for their own food. At $25, the 7 course han jung shik ($40 with wine pairings) is a great deal. You get soup and the 9 sides as part of your main course, too, which makes it in many ways more like 17 courses (and they'll replenish your sides).

I won't be in Victoria long and I'll be at an all-day meeting one day, so I won't have as much time to explore as I'd like to.

Well, here's how it really went: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?name=N...=article&sid=17 Here's the in depth notes: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?name=C...=showpage&pid=4 And here are the photos: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?set_al...=view_album.php Here were some of my favorite things:

Tommy, I think Kosher salt doesn't dissolve in room temp water or colder. Thus, pickling salt, I think, is preferred for brining.

Scott, you could always try to find a date I could come down, and then count me in.

I highly recommend introducing yourself to them through a stew. My latest use was a tomatillo and pork stew. Actually, just ate the leftovers from the freezer and my tummy is happy. Here's a pic:

Do you know if that Time-Life book is the same as this one ($7): http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?par...isbn=1860190863 Powells has a couple of the correct one for sure here ($16): http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?par...isbn=0809429276 and here ($10): http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?par...isbn=080942925x

That's pretty good....want a job??? Boy, chefg, you just made a mistake. Scott's likely to take you up on that (as I would be), to the great fear of our wives. You know you've nearly ruined our upcoming trip which had become the Trio chef's table or bust. My stomach actually sank when I heard the rumors were true.

Ghee braised short ribs! Sounds like some tasty stuff. What about more downscale places, too. I like fusion and upscale, but with some of these, I'm inexperienced enough I'd love to hear about some regional/authentic places, too, especially for possible lunches on Saturday and Sunday. I know I'm really pressing you guys. I hope that's okay.

I cut them into rajas (if that's a proper name in relation to nopales), a wide julienne, about 1/2 inch wide, and 3 or 4 inches long, and steam them. Most of the goo seems to drain out. They still have a somewhat okra-ey/green beany texture, but I like them. I think they're best in some sort of stew rather than plain. I don't know how you like them. I'd say I only steam them 5-10 minutes. But I don't use a timer, just go by experience of when they're done and the goo seems to be exuded.

I don't drink, so my times can be quicker than some. But it depends. Some places are more naturally slow than others. When I did a big food trip in SF, I couldn't get out of a place in less than 2.5 hours. (Which meant a lot of waiting.) But a lot of those were multi-course tasting menus. Maybe I should just stick with ethnic foods and do upscale some other time. Plus, my wife may not be able to come with me, so I may be all by myself. (Which means, if anyone wants to join me, I may need eating companions, if she really isn't coming.) How does Vancouver's Indian and Thai compare to other North American cities? Also, what about Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, etc? I like Chinese okay, although truly Sichuan is the style of my choosing. I don't generally like Japanese, however. But then again, if Vancouver has the best -- whether it's dim sum or sushi -- I may try it just to know, just to understand. Thanks for all the help so far. PS I've actually spent time camping in lower BC, used to sail for 10 days at a time through the Georgia Straits with SALTS (the guys who built the wooden ship at Expo '86, if you saw that), so I am familiar with the area's beauty. But I've never really eaten in the area.

I read about C and it did sound pretty good. How long does dinner there usually take? Some upscale places can take pretty long. If the last ferry to Victoria is at 9 pm, then I might not be able to make it.

I don't have an ideal that something needs to live up to, but I'd like a place that does for Mexican what a Trotter's, Trio, or Chez Panisse has done for French/New American. I haven't gone to enough upscale places in Mexico to know what's there. Girasoles and Xitomates are really the only two. Maybe a couple others that somewhat attempted it, like hotel restaurants. But these two seemed to do it at least mostly right. (I liked Xitomates in PV better.) I think in the US, both Cafe Azul and Topolobampo came pretty close, the former being more towards Chez Panisse and the latter being more towards Trotter's. I think you'd need to establish either of these more accessible ways of doing upscale Mexican before trying a Trio style Mexican on people. In the Chez Panisse vein, I'd like to see very regionally authentic dishes prepared with ultra-fresh, high quality, seasonal ingredients. I'd love to see someone be able to do what Chez Panisse does with a different fixed menu every day, but I don't know that that would be as useful with Mexican where you can use a lot of dried ingredients. I'd like to see someone using pre-hispanic ingredients, like venison and duck, that are also more upscale. (I also think these meats hold up to Mexican sauces a lot better than chicken or commercial turkey.) Along with that, maybe use a lot of heirloom and rare ingredients, searching out varieties of tomatillos, tomatoes, chiles, etc. Other than that, I expect the flavor, balance, and intensity of dishes to be near perfect. In the Trotter's vein, I'd like to see a place that intelligently and creatively fuses Mexican flavors, ingredients, and methods with non-traditional, flavors, ingredients, and methods. eg, I could imagine foie gras served with a pineapple gelee, a manchamanteles, and crispy fried tortillas. How about Wagyu pibil panuchos, or guacamole with caviar, or pork belly carnitas, or roasted chile terrines. I'd also expect impressive desserts using tropical and Mexican ingredients. I think Cafe Azul needed to be a little more adventurous and improve a few of its dishes and its pastries. I think Topolo needs to improve its consistency (and service) although neither put you in a setting equal to Chez Panisse or Trotter's.

Maybe it is somehow related to this phenomenon: http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/consumer/erupted.html

I'm actually coming up next weekend. I think I'm going to try to hit Noodle Boat for dinner on Thursday night in Issaquah, Washington, then stay the night somewhere cheap between the border and Seattle. Then head on up, either do a quick tour of the city or go directly to Granville Island and spend a couple hours. Then go get some lunch (or lunch first, depending on how things go; I need to Mapquest this) and spend some more time touring. Then dinner and the ferry over to Victoria, assuming it runs somewhat late. I'm not sure where we're staying in Victoria yet. It's a family thing and the reservations are already made. I'm sure it's in Victoria proper, though, and that we'll be stuck eating with others (though with them paying) and so probably won't venture too far, so Sooke Harbor House is probably out of the question. That's all I know at this point. If I get some suggestions for Victoria to my family soon enough I might have influence. My grandfather and his wife are amateur gourmets as well. Is Richmond a pain to get around in and how is parking? How's parking in downtown? Do you guys have a trolley, light rail, monorail, or subway system to speak of?