ExtraMSG

I'm totally going by memory, but doesn't Mixtura have the former chef from Andina?

Hmm, I've never been overly impressed by Otto's. I like the fact they grill them, but overall they're ho-hum. I would go with Zach's or Superdog. I had a string of misses with GD/BD before they closed, but prior I thought they were a good hot dog fix. They had a couple of good sausages (though I discovered through others' choices that they had some really poor ones, too) and the thing I really loved about them was the grilled onions. They were a little spendier than some places, but not ridiculous, and overall pretty good. Nicely caramelized onions, as they often had, can do wonders. Problem was, sometimes the onions were just barely browned. Night and day. Also, I believe they toasted their buns nicely, which matters to me.

If you get an end piece of prime rib, you get a lot more smoke. But splitting a plate of prime rib and a plate of brisket and pulled pork is the way to go. Personally, I think Superdog's hot dogs are better than Weiner Circle's. I would like to see Ellen cussing out customers, though. But if I remember correctly, they're mostly stopping by to meet the owner and get a snack between the Portland Farmer's Market and the tram. I can't think of anything I'd rather have in that neighborhood for under $5. Ate dinner with the two of them last night at Apizza Scholls. Great food, of course. Smart and interesting devoted food geeks. Made dinner even better.

They said no brunch places. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but... for breakfast... not Simpatica?! Wow, I had a fantastic breakfast there last time I visited Portland. Or are you taking into consideration the how-to-get-there aspect? ←

i'm in solo now. fly out tomorrow for one night in bangkok (ha! just got that song stuck in your head -- but alas, mine, too...). will try to hit the wet market in the morning before the flight. just did duta minang, a chain of masakan panang places, but decent quality. honestly, i didn't have a lot of especially good food in indonesia. it may just be my palate. i like eating foods cooler than most people, much like mexicans where it's lukewarm. but here, most things have been sitting around, even sate sits around. when it's made to order it's delicious, but it rarely is. had martabak my first night in yogya (like roti canai, but pan-fried more with more emphasis on the filling, i think) and it had been sitting. i hoped they'd make one to order and just had a couple on display. perhaps if i spoke more than a few words and phrases of bahasa i could have insisted. had martabak last night, freshly made, and filled with a pefectly cooked mixture of eggs, onions, and meat and it was terrific. even stewed meats like beef rendang are often chewy. curries tend to be pretty thin, with rendang being an exception. the lesehan places on malioboro and places doing nasi campur are a mixed bag. it's quite random, i think, as to which are good. but none i visited were really any better than the duta minang chain. and no less expensive, i don't think. one exception was ceria, possibly also a chain. this was on the road immediately west of the malioboro up towards the train station. this is a good road to find eats. got the best fried chicken i had in indonesia, plus fried chicken skins, at a warung here. (also got a 90 minute foot massage for 25,000 rp, about $2.50 -- and while it hurt like a motherf'er, it was probably the most effective of the trip, and i got one a day in thailand, plus one in kl.) ceria's dishes were fresh looking and tasting and had better execution than most. they also had a wadeng counter. yum. so i have mixed feelings about my first trip to indonesia. oh, and btw, i probably ate 4 or more meals a day in indonesia, so i was doing my part to find the good stuff. best thing i had, probably, was some gado gado that was made to order by a warung on the next major street west of parawhatever. never saw it there again, though. yogya's wet market pasar beningharjo is not one of the better ones i've visited. pretty dirty, mediocre quality produce, not many spices, cockroaches the size of my thumb or bigger, little fish and meat, etc. also, duta hotel and duta guest house rock! and there is a laundry that does by the kilo just north of parawhatever on the perpindicular road. they even iron the clothes and deliver them to your hotel.

btw, I didn't see it mentioned, but I picked up what looks to be a great book today. I didn't see any of the others mentioned. There was one other, but I didn't like how it was organized. This was had great maps, too: The Star Guide to Malaysia: Street Food. Got it at Kinokuniya for 38 RM right after eating some nasi bojari and acar at Madam Kwan's. Picked up a cookbook and guide to Penang's steet food, too, which was insanesly cheap at something like 24 RM. There were a couple others that were more expensive that I'll probably haul back with me once I have my credit card or more cash. Oh, and I found me some Roti Boy, the Krispy Kreme of SE Asia. The weather here has been such a relief after Bangkok where it was over 35 every day.

Was so busy showing a friend around Bangkok that I'm only doing my research on KL AFTER I arrive. So here I am with super-slow internet and this is the list I compiled from this thread: * Madam Kwan * Mamak roti and satay stalls * Songkhla hawker in Chow Kit * Nasi Lemak Tanglin * Nasi lemak stand near HSBC near Central Market * Curry laksa hawkers at Madras Lane * Hokkien mee at Ah Hwa * Cilantro * Poori stall in Lucky Gardens * Dosa place along Lebuh Ampang * Wang Dangi Nasi Lemak * Kelanton Delights * Mee Kai Kee * Rebung * Bijan These are the places that most interested me. Would love to hear anyone's opinions on which are great, good, fair or worse, which have no longer exist, etc. Also, I'm in KL until Saturday early morning and on my own. So if anyone wants to meet up, just PM me. I'm trying to check email a couple times a day now. I met with JC and Shiewie (and two others that I don't know if they are eGers, sorry) for some really tasty nasi lemak with beef rendang, squid in sambal, quail eggs in sambal, a crispy tempeh mixture, and paku belacan. Yum. The food was great as was the company. Thanks!

So, I chose my final destination (well hopefully not FINAL, but you never know given the tribulations in Indonesia): Yogyakarta. I'm going to spend about four days there. (However, I'm flying in and out of Solo via Air Asia.) I read in Lonely Planet, I think, that there are cooking classes there. Anyone know of any? (Preferably in English, but I could probably follow by sight if I had to.) Also, where to eat? Is there a night market? Where are the hawkers? Any good homestyle Indonesian food restaurants, especially ones that emphasize regional specialties?

I think they were gone while they rebuilt their shelter. I saw they were back the other day. I agree with Trillium on Nicholas v Karam.

Perhaps they've gotten better, because I was the annoying student constantly asking questions and for the most part they got answered. I will admit that Sompon, the owner, was less patient than his assistants. But Sompon only taught a couple dishes. And the English language skills of all the teachers were really good. Head and shoulders above 90% of any other Thais in Chiang Mai (and better than most Thais in restaurants here in Portland).

I can attest that this school in Chiang Mai is excellent. I've recommended it for a friend who is going there in a couple weeks. I took the standard classes because I was with a friend who is a novice cook. And even for me, an intermediate/advanced cook, the classes were still fun and useful. I did the curry class and the market class. Each person had their own station. You first get a demonstration of the dishes in a classroom, then you go out and make the dish. Works great. The teachers are knowledgeable and helpful, even those other than the main guy, Sompon. Their routine is a little practiced and you'll hear some of the same jokes over and over, but you get the sense they're enjoying teaching you. On top of all this, it's cheaper than any of the classes I've been able to find in Bangkok. It'd be cheaper to fly to Chiang Mai and take a class than it would be to just take a class in Bangkok, from what I can tell. The master class is more expensive, however. But from what I saw, the classes are much smaller and more intimate.

The taco trucks downtown are the worst in town. I've only tried about half of them, but... Given the quality of the other trucks, there's no point. The taco truck you go to hasn't been around in a while (the one on Powell and 30th or so). Know what's up?

McMenamin's does a cool thing. They refurbish historical buildings and cool older buildings. They also have good beer options. But the food isn't much, if any, better than you'd get at many chains. I'd probably rather go to Red Robin for a burger and fries.

You might want to start by checking out my tipsheet: http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/portland_tipsheet.html It does need a bit of updating, but it's still largely accurate and should familiarize you with the local scene to some extent. Moderately priced ethnic is a good choice in Portland, surprisingly, despite being the whitest city in the country. Here's a quick ten: 1) Pok Pok Whiskey Soda Lounge for Thai. Rarely an item found on a typical American Thai menu. And execution is darn near perfect. 2) Pambiche. Cuban. Get the maduros and oxtails. 3) Autentica. Guerrero style Mexican. Get the octopus tostada if they have it on the menu. 4) La Calaca Comelona. Oaxacan/Pueblan Mexican, mostly. Stay away from the tacos and the ceviche and instead go for the green (or other) mole, the pambazo, and other more unique items. 5) See other midscale Mexican here: http://extramsg.com/modules.php?name=News&...rticle&sid=1114 (note La Vanguardia is closed) 6) Pho Van/Silk: Local chain of quality Vietnamese. Silk is their most upscale location and it's on your side of the river in the Pearl District. 7) Andina: Can be spendy if you order off the normal menu, but the tapas menu is extensive, lower-priced, and arguably better. Several good ceviches. 8) Siam Society: Midscale Thai with some fusiony dishes as well. Get the catfish curry or the mussaman curry. Get the silk cocoon for dessert. 9) Karam: Lebanese. Really good falafel and tasty stews. 10) Vindalho: Chic, sometimes fusiony, Indian. For breakfast on Saturday, I would choose Genie's. You'll probably have to wait (like most places), but I think they do an especially good job. Downtown without a car makes it a bit more difficult to get to the best. Downtown you could go with Typhoon and Karam. Silk and Andina are in the Pearl, which is available by streetcar. Otherwise, you'd have to bus or taxi it to most of the places I've listed, though I avoided places too far out one way or another. Breakfast downtown try Mother's, Heathman, or Bijou. None favorites, but all decent.

I make chocolate rugelach on occasion, generally just finely chopping chocolate and rolling it up in the dough. I find them a bit dry. My thought was to use a ganache, but I was worried that it would be come too liquid and run out during cooking. Since rugelach are a cream cheese cookie, much of the fat in the dough being cream cheese, I decided to try a ganache marrying cream cheese and chocolate rather than another dairy. Didn't really work. The ganache was a nice consistency, really, but once it baked it became dried out and grainy. Haven't tried a real ganache yet. Thought I would post here first and get some suggestions. I was thinking that a pain au chocolat/chocolate croissant filling might work, but all the recipes I see just use plain chocolate. However, I know I've had chocolate croissants where it seemed like the chocolate was almost creamy. Suggestions?

I think as Pix has grown and Cheryl has been less hands on they have definitely been less consistent. The big problem I've found is freshness on some desserts. But I think if you stick with their proven desserts that have good turnover, you'll get good stuff. Their macaroons, eg, are great when fresh. But they're not always fresh. Their chocolates are pretty good, too. Not quite Sahagun good, but 100 times better than what Godiva, Teuscher, or Moonstruck put out.

Thanks for the kind words. Only one night makes it really tough. It looks like you're not in the mood for anything too fancy, not that Portland has much in that department. I would probably go with Apizza Scholls or Le Pigeon for dinner. Very different choices, both terrific. Both can have some hefty waits, though. Keep that in mind. Le Pigeon has some interesting and tasty desserts, so I might choose to eat dessert there if you go for dinner. It'd be worth the extra effort to hit Pix, though, after Apizza Scholls. Don't pass on the very good apps at Apizza, though, like one of my favorite caesar salads in town. Pix, btw, is open very late on weekends and has three locations, so they'd be pretty darn easy to fit in to the trip. For lunch, I would do Pok Pok's Whiskey Soda Lounge and perhaps Podnah's. If you had more nights, I would suggest Podnah's for prime rib. Also, I still don't know if their BBQ is fresh or re-heated for lunch. Of course, on Saturday you're welcome to visit me at Kenny & Zuke's for breakfast or lunch (same restaurant as LOW BBQ/Ken's Place) for pastrami. Note that Whiskey Soda Lounge can get very busy and doesn't have an indoor waiting area. Podnah's just had a very positive review in the Willamette Week come out today, so I suspect they'll be pretty busy on the weekends, at least in the evening, for the next couple weeks. I'd also recommend checking out the chocolates at Sahagun and getting some hot chocolate. My last couple meals at Park Kitchen and Clarklewis have been less consistent than they were a year ago. Not sure why with PK. CL though has lost their chef. I haven't been to either in the new year, however. I think St. Honore does a couple things well, but isn't as good as Ken's Artisan or Pearl Bakery. Get your breakfast carbs there.

CDH, they might want to start just by properly tempering the chocolate so that it has a better appearance and snap than the bars from Bonnat. (Or at least as good.)

I did some Googling last night, too, and it's obvious they've done a lot of online marketing. You see these same PR pieces portrayed as actual content on sites over and over and over.

Man, be careful where you tread in Dallas if you plan on passing off mediocre chocolates at exorbitant prices: http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name...=article&sid=78

Cole gives a great list. Here's a direct link to my tipsheet: http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/portland_tipsheet.html Andina is a good choice. I would do this: FRIDAY Dinner: Andina SATURDAY Breakfast: Ken's Artisan Bakery or Pearl Bakery Lunch: Wildwood or Fenouil (more local, more interesting vs beautiful place with good fancy food) Dinner: Le Pigeon or Wildwood (cheaper, more offal, more casual vs fancier, more local, more expensive) SUNDAY breakfast: Simpatica

If he puts the pig tail back on the menu, it's a must, as is the corn meal cake with bacon which trascends the gimmick with premium flavor.

Note that clarklewis just lost their chef: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?name=N...rticle&sid=1628

Start with my tipsheet: http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/portland_tipsheet.html Make sure you look at the Northwest Cuisine section. Not on the tipsheet are Simpatica for dinner, a fixed price option on weekends only, and Le Pigeon, a funky little place with an always changing menu of items so old they're new again. Great stuff. Pok Pok hasn't opened their bar/restaurant yet. They're working on it. But they do have heaters in their hut. Their muslim-chinese lamb skewers with pita on special right now are quite tasty. One place you might not think of hitting is Pix, because it's a pastry shop. But they have a full bar. Go to their North Portland location.

I know a friend of mine in Dallas is going to roll his eyes and say "politics" like I do for Higgins when he sees York St on there.