ExtraMSG

I was really impressed with PV. I think it's in a tasty nexus, close enough to Michoacan, in Jalisco, and on the ocean. I liked the food in PV better than in Guadalajara. They had great upscale and regional non-hotel Mexican actually owned and cheffed by Mexicans. They had clean and consistent comida corrida places. They had a variety of street foods, including seafoods. And they had a lot of specialty places. btw, I have a pic of pescado zarandeado from Mazatlan that was exquisite. The photo doesn't do it justice, but here it is nonetheless (I really should scan in a bigger version): Creo que mas tiene ensenar que aprender. Podemos empezar con mi espanol feo.

My wife and I aren't big sushi fans. I've heard Richmond has the best dim sum, any thoughts?

Will be making about a three day trip to Vancouver and then Victoria. Am very interested in the Granville Market, but I'd probably need to go on Friday or Sunday, maybe around noonish. Which day is better? Is it like many markets where Saturday is the best day or is it pretty consistent? How does it compare to Pike Place Market in Seattle or the Ferry Building Market in San Francisco? How long is the ferry trip to and from? Also, I'll probably have one dinner and maybe one lunch in Vancouver and one lunch and dinner or more in Victoria. What would you choose? Would prefer something that would be difficult to find outside of the area or that emphasises some unique aspect of Vancouver. Upscale or ethnic is totally fine.

If she was that nervous, probably a good thing she stayed away from the coffee.

One of the scariest looking street vendors in Puerto Vallarta that my wife wouldn't touch was one of my last eatings there. My wife was sick and hanging out while I went around and ate at many of the places I had wanted to but had avoided for her sake. She got sick from fruit, I believe, on a boat trip we made -- fruit I avoided because it looked like it had been sitting there a while. (But we paid lots of money, it must be safe, right?) Meanwhile, I went to the "rico pozole" vendor where several fabulous stews were bubbling away. Everything was being washed with a big jug of Cielo. I happily ate some of the best guisados I'll probably ever had and had a wonderful Spanglish conversation with a Portuguese fella. The owners were supremely nice and hygienic and proved to me you can judge a kitchen by the price of its cookware.

Agreed. The Oregonian's Food Day does some decent features, but I don't trust the reviews in general. I've been burned too many times. WW is much more trustworthy, although I don't know that the right person always reviews the place they review.

Maybe it's a white corn vs yellow corn thing or a wheat flour vs masa thing? I know that here, though, the Mexicans seem to buy as manyh or more tortas as tacos (by weight, at least). It may just be the value of them, though, but they rarely buy the burritos at any of the taco trucks and taquerias I go to. btw, I don't mind Mexicans eating less tortillas if in concert Americans are eating more tortillas. As long as the tortilla is still around and the tias still excel at making them, to each his own.

At the intersection of King and Story in San Jose is a pretty awesome set of two supermercados, La Tropicana and Mi Pueblo. You can see pictures here: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?set_al...=view_album.php The Fiesta chain in Texas is pretty impressive, if you haven't seen it. How big is this place? Size of a Safeway? Size of a Whole Foods? Smaller?

I've been real tempted to buy a professional quality digital video camera on ebay and go to Mexico and shoot a Globetrekker style guide to food there. Imagine a print with video guide. There's so much great food and it amazes me how scared people are to eat it. I was the only one to speak up on a recent Chowhound post where everyone was telling someone not to eat the street food in Mexico. You might as well just not go to Mexico, imo, if you're going to avoid street foods. But I think if you could show people how to order a huarache topped with nopales at the fondas in Mercado Merced or show people how to order a pescado zarandeado in the western resort towns and show them what it looks like and why it's so fabulous, it could make a difference. I was amazed how many backpackers, even, eat at the "safe" places. I'm game for anything though. Mexico is such a great food country and I am always disappointed how many people go to places like Puerto Vallarta and eat at Fajita Republic food they could have gotten at Chili's back home for about the same price. Ugh! I don't know that I'm truly qualified but I'm willing to make myself so. PS I wash my hands with acidulated water for chiles, usually lemon or lime juice. Only thing that works for me.

The bland tinga might be telling, too. Tinga is so easy to make intensely flavored and well-balanced, imo. It's so much easier than a mole. If a taqueria can make kick-butt tinga, then certainly an upscale restaurant should. Have you played with the imagegullet yet? It's mostly idiot-proof. There's a link at the top of your page and everyone gets some free space. The images are only viewable within egullet, however. Otherwise, you just put [img=http://www.imageurl.com/imagename.jpg] and it pops right in. If you use Add Reply rather than Fast Reply, the buttons have hints. Nice find on the link, btw. It's interesting to me how similar, really, the process is to kalua pig made for luaus.

Can't you hit clarklewis for lunch, though, Jim?

I've found Zavlasky's book pretty useful, though for some areas more than others. It's also getting old, though. But it's a document no one else has tried to do and Frommer's, Fodor's, and even Lonely Planet really don't cut it. I'd love a chance to update it for her. She could pay me $1 in salary and then I could write off the trips. The recipes are difficult to reproduce, but there are ideas there. She could use a Christopher Kimball style editor to make her hammer out the steps. eg, the carnitas recipe, which works good and is one of the few all-fry methods in English cookbooks, gives very vague instructions. Is there a Spanish language guide to food in Mexico? I just got back from Hawaii and there's a great set of guidebooks the "Revealed" or "Ultimate" series. Fabulous guidebooks. Best I've ever seen. (Second best are the "Best Places" series by Sasquatch Books.) However, Hawaii has a lot of dollars going in to a small area. Although it's probably unlikely, is there anything like that for Mexico or Mexican states or regions?

Scott, the obvious question is how does it compare to others: Frontera, Topolo, Ciudad, Javier's, Nuevo Leon, and Cafe Azul? (Are there any others besides these that you've been to in the US?) I guess you could add Girasoles in Mexico, too. I think the best I've ever been to is Xitomates in Puerto Vallarta. I liked it decently better than Girasoles (only having been to each once). But I liked Cafe Azul better than Girasoles, too. I do wish I had kept the menu from Girasoles, though, like I did for Xitomates. I should scan that it and upload it along with a couple Cafe Azul menus. One of the things I liked about Xitomates, Cafe Azul, and Nuevo Leon was that all three seemed to exceed their menus (whereas Frontera, eg, disappointed on each of its menu items, even if the item was decent or good). Sounds like San Miguel may have the same problem. btw, when the hell are you going to use your digital camera and give us some pics of your meals? Sharon, there's a place here that calls its cabeza (steamed overnight, I believe) barbacoa. Is that widespread at all?

I'm actually coming up to Vancouver this month...I need to get on the boards when I figure out my itinerary. I might be in Victoria more. I'd highly recommend Daily Cafe, then, for brunch on the 25th. I'd choose Park Kitchen over clarklewis, but at this point you may be just treading in the realm of personal preference. Oba's decent, but I'm generally not as much a fan of Nuevo Latino or Pan-Latin as I am specific cuisines. There's a tendency to offer a variety, but not be able to do anything truly great. Also, places like Oba have a tendency to put some sort of sweet and spicy glaze or sauce on a lot of stuff. Not too far away is Andina, which is a bit more expensive, but does a few things really good (but some things not so good). I'd get the ceviches at Andina and eat as many of those little rolls as they'll keep bringing out. Otherwise, for Latin, I'd cross the river for Taqueria Nueve or Nuestra Cocina (both Mexican with an emphasis on the Yucatan and coastal/regional Mexican). Also, I wouldn't trust the individual reviews on Citysearch. Many of the editorial reviews can be quite useful (I know Ivy Manning, eg, and trust her very critical palate), but otherwise, stick with the people at Chowhound.com and here.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but familiarize yourself with the Portland Streetcar. http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/ Here are a few things I'd recommend not too far from where you're staying: Casanis: Simple preparations, but often not simple food. A bit noisy, but a very good value. Bistro food. Papa Haydn: Just go for the dessert counter. They primarily make cakes and if you've been there as many times as I have, you might be a little bored with it. But it's a dessert wonderland the first dozen times. It's very busy, so just walk up to the case and get it to go. Escape from NY Pizza: I like it for a slice now and then. It's not out of this world good, but if you don't have decent NY pizza in Vancouver, then it's a very good option. Pizzicato: A local gourmet pizza chain. They also have huge salads for cheap. Mio Gelato: Right next to Powell's and Sur La Table. Very good gelato. It's on the streetcar route. NW 21st Italian row: There are four good Italian places, none of which has many entrees over $20. They're Serrato, Cafe Mingo, Tuscany Grill, and Basta's. Each has their advantages, but I probably like Tuscany Grill and Basta's the best. Noah's Bagels: The chain has an outlet in NW (Nob Hill). Besaw's: A decent breakfast place. Daily Cafe: A good casual fine dining place that I've mostly tried for their very good Sunday brunches. (Two locations. You'll want the one in the Pearl.) Park Kitchen: Only half a dozen blocks, maybe, from Powell's. Very good food with NW leanings. Few entrees over $20 and some of the best food in Portland.

Sam, I'd be worried that you'll get a lot of muck through that method, but I'll be interested to hear the results. I usually do the same as you. I generally start my bones, usually carcasses from the freezer, in a pot of cold water with primarily just onions, but whatever else I feel at the time (never herbs), bring it up to a light boil and then turn it down so that it stays somewhere between about 160 and 180 overnight. I think keeping the temperature down greatly improves the gelatin and flavor extraction without getting as much muck. I don't know when the marginal returns begin to diminish, but I don't think it hurts the stock to be left on low overnight. A crockpot works quite well, too. I should admit that clarity is very unimportant to me. I primarily make stocks for sauces and pureed soups.

I was thinking about this before I went on vacation, but I'm not sure if anyone already suggested it. Anyway... Modifying Jaymes's method, I'd be interested to hear what people could do with a pressure cooker. You should be able to get very quick tender meat and good flavor penetration. You'd probably have to fry the meat in a separate pan with some lard afterwards, however. since the liquid wouldn't cook off. I wonder if you could cut down the carnitas time to 15-30 minutes in this way.

The Sonoran ones sound pretty interesting. I'd like to give them a try. I think Peyton has some interesting enchilada recipes like that in his Cocina de la Frontera book, too. I'm about to go on vacation and don't have time (Jaymes is thinking yay! extramsg might shut his carnitas hole for once ) to write it up, but Diana Kennedy has some really interesting suggestions -- a whole list of them -- in From My Mexican Kitchen if anyone has access to it. It might be worthwile to paraphrase them. Also, I really like poaching chicken by starting it in cold water. It seems to make a significant difference in the flavor penetration. I usually just cook it until the meat reaches 170 using my probe thermometer. Along with the things you mentioned, I also like whole peppercorns in the water. I'm really glad you had the "reserving the broth" line. Some of those poaching broths are so good I could just suck them down straight. btw, have any recipes for dipped then fried street-style enchiladas? That's the recipe I'm working on for the antojitos thing. Lastly, there's a recipe in Marge Poore's book for a pepita red sauce that's really good on enchiladas if anyone has that book. Looking forward to all the comments and experiments and recipes.

That would explain why mine took longer since you probably have half the water I do. I'll try again when I get back from vacation.

Leave tomorrow morning, but will be checking email. Here's our temporary food itinerary (which certainly may change if we start feeling like we're bleeding money in tourist-land). Comments and critiques very welcome: DAY 1 Arrive about noon, rent crap, check-in. Lunch: Sibu Cafe Dinner: Royal Kona Luau DAY 2 Cook's Monument, beaches, our anniversary Lunch: Manago Dinner: Pahu i'a DAY 3 Drive to see the Volcano and stay the night in Hilo Lunch: Somewhere along the way to Volcano maybe Dinner: Kilauea Lodge DAY 4 Check out the Hilo farmer's market, maybe drive down to Puna, maybe falls Lunch: Cafe 100 or Big Jake's if it's still there Dinner: Kaikodo DAY 5 Drive back to Kona via Waimea, golf Mauna Lani Snack: Tex's Lunch: Merriman's, Thiebaut, Koa House, or Waimea Deli Dinner: Canoe House DAY 6 Kohala beaches, golf Lunch: Maybe Roy's Dinner: Maybe back in Waimea or Roy's DAY 7 More beaches, maybe Honaunau Bay, maybe more golf Lunch: Bubba Gumps Dinner: Hale Moana or Samoa I really do have a feeling we'll cut some of these for budget concerns. Plus, there are always stands and shacks with fresh looking wonderful stuff in Hawaii. I expect some lunch places to be taken up by those. Another thing you could comment on is any snack/shack stops like shave ice, fruit stands, etc, that may be close to where we'll be on a day. Any good places to check my email would be much appreciated. (I will be taking my laptop, too.)

How packed together is the meat, Jaymes. If there was more meat, that would mean there was less water (per lb of meat). I had the water just to the top of the meat when I tried it. But I would say I had about 60% of the pan covered with meat. I also kept it at a simmer, would you say it's more of a light boil when you do it?

Isn't it just east of where New Seasons is going in, short of Pix and Lauro, maybe 25th-ish? It's a little place on the north side of the road. They used to advertise "home style" Thai food. Not that that means anything, really. These places turn over all the time. I see at least a couple for sale every Sunday in the business classifieds. I wonder if they've changed hands if they've changed names.

If you give us a heads up, I can get you a special dinner going one night, probably, with the PortlandFood people. So keep us aprised, if you're interested. btw, if you haven't checked it out, you can get a run down of our last one, which relates to this thread a bit. We hit my 4 favorite taqueria-level Mexican places around the metro area in 4 distinct taqueria neighborhoods in the suburbs (where most of the Mexican population is). Included were some of the best carnitas anywhere. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28435

Gifted, if you come through Portland again, we have an Italian restaurant (Tuscany Grill) that regularly has boar on the menu. Also, Taqueria Nueve, a semi-upscale regional Mexican restaurant has a regular boar taco appetizer on their menu.

Corn flan is tasty, but here are a couple more latin recipes you can make: * Fresh corn tamales (tamales de elote, uchepos -- don't have time to write up a recipe right now). * South American corn pancakes (cachapas):