ExtraMSG

A local chef (originally from New York who's been doing BBQ once a week) and I recently started making pastrami and selling it at a farmer's market. We started with plate. A poor choice ultimately. It was cheaper, nearly half the price of brisket, which was nice, but it's so inconsistent and can be VERY fatty and has a lot of connective tissue. It's essentially beef bacon. We're switching to brisket. Also, the results are nothing like what everyone is used to at places like Katz. As a note, though, I just got back from NY where I tasted A LOT of pastrami (of the places I tried, Katz and Ben's Best in Rego Park were my favorites, about equally, second Jay and Lloyd's in Brooklyn, the others were all a step back) and I think our flavor is right on. We do a 5-6 day wet cure and then hot smoke using oak for about 7 hours. Then steam the next day.

Olea can do a fabulous job. The problem is consistency. So if you're going to be taken care of... Skip Higgins. I echo Trillium on this, except to add that I do like their charcuterie and pickles. If you didn't especially like Wildwood, I'd be really surprised if you like Higgins. I don't really know what kind of food you like, but perhaps try Andina for lunch and stick to the bar/tapas menu. Order the stuffed yucca, the stuffed peppers, the ceviches, the causitas, and whatever catches your fancy. LOW BBQ is only open on Tuesdays. Ken, the owner, and I are doing pastrami at the Hillsdale Farmers Market, however, on Sundays. You might want to look at Carlyle for an upscale option. I'd probably do Park Kitchen, though, if you've already hit Wildwood before. They do interesting things with local ingredients. I disagree with Trillium about Bewon. They're doing the same dishes that your average Korean joint makes. They're just making them well. Their panchan has a real freshness and there's a good variety. They're careful with their ingredients, but they're not making fusiony dishes. You should visit the farmers markets, especially the Portland Farmers Market.

Going to be on the Yucatan (Merida, Campeche, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Isla Mujeres) for a couple weeks soon and am looking for specialties of the region. Not interested in "safe" options, European foods, a good place for granola and yogurt, etc. Just Mexican food with an emphasis on regional dishes. I would be interested in a more upscale, fusiony sort of place if it were in the same vein as Izote or Aguila y Sol in Mexico City, or the Trotter's place in Cabo. But it really needs to be exceptional. We're spending only one day in Cancun and Isla Mujeres, so those are less important. Places with a good collection of street food vendors or fondas serving cocina economica to the locals are always greatly appreciated. I love to know where the people who are working at the hotels in resort towns are actually eating. Also, if anyone has a rec for for a cooking school other than Los Dos in Merida, I'd love to hear it. I'd especially be interested in one near Playa del Carmen since my wife can hang out at the beach while I take a class, whereas I don't think she's going to want to do her own thing in a big city like Merida.

Have you seen any disadvantages to the stone grinder? Just speed?

So I asked this on both Chowhound and here and I'm getting the same answers: the Santha and the Sumeet. The Santha is about twice the cost, but uses stone to make a more traditional grind. From what I gather, the Sumeet is more like a coffee grinder or food processor with the ability to efficiently redistribute the ingredients. Both can do both wet and dry ingredients. Both have been used to make chocolate, nut butters, etc. So, has anyone used both? Aesthetically, I like the Santha better perhaps because it seems more traditional and may produce a more traditional product. But that doesn't in itself make it better or worth the huge price jump.

Looks very promising, especially since they all appear to be under $200. Has anyone used one?

I've been looking around on the internet for something that can grind wet and dry ingredients to relatively smooth paste, but haven't been able to find what I'm looking for. I had originally hoped I could just get KitchenAid's grinder attachment, but they warn over and over that it's only to be used for dry ingredients, not even oily nuts. I have no clue if that's just a shallow warning or not, but I don't want to risk it on a $100 attachment. They recommend the griding attachment used for meat, etc, for wet ingredients, but it doesn't grind fine enough. In Mexico, people will take things like chiles and nixtamal (think hominy) to a town grinder and have them ground for them. There are also chocolate makers where you can go and have mixes of chocolates made, cacao combined with sugar, nuts, cinnamon, and other spices. In Thailand, they have grinders for making curry pastes. They also use grinders to puree coconut meat so that it can be strained into fresh coconut milk. The grinders looked very similar to what's used to make the chocolate pastes in Mexico. I'm looking for something that can do all this and hopefully fit on my countertop. Any suggestions?

Thanks. I'll look forward to seeing your notes so that I can improve it.

Izote. Hands down.

When I was there, zapote negros were in season, though they were importing them from Oaxaca. I've got pictures from my trips to Abastos.

Thanks. Yeah, I didn't try too hard to make it accurate. I just wanted to give someone a good sense of where things are. I did the Abastos map first and started by actually pacing off the inlets along the side and going down each one trying to make a very accurage, to-scale map. After about 4 hours of that, I gave up. I bow before anyone willing to do such things, but unless I were living there and had an overhead picture or a really good GPS, it wouldn't be me. btw, I put up my report on Mercado Merced: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?name=N...article&sid=656 I'm a bit disappointed in it partially because I didn't take notes on the market like I did at restaurants and partially because I flat-out missed pictures of things I should have captured, like the fish and dairy and the puestos around the market and the roads on either end and the outside of the place, plus I never hit the Witchcraft market on this trip. And I've got the mad cow so the time elapsed has put holes in my recollections.

Okay, updated it with street names. I hope they're correct. The one I'm least sure about is Rosario. Also changed a few other items. There's much, of course, it doesn't capture, but it can orientate somebody. Would love to have it verified.

Yeah, I thought I had those in my notes but later realized I didn't. Now I can't remember. I'll look at it against a couple maps, though, and try to figure it out. I have one for Abastos in Oaxaca I'm working on as well. I'd love it if there's anyone down there right now to print it out and just walk through and see if it helps. I tried to get a compass while I was in DF and couldn't find one anywhere. I wanted to get a sense of directionality. Easy to get lost and confused.

I finally finished going through my 1000+ photos from my trip to Oaxacan, Puebla, and DF in May. So I'm almost ready (5 months later) to start reporting on my trip. (Luckily I took good notes, except at Aguila y Sol where that puta madre wouldn't let me take notes or photos and never sent me a menu as they said they would.) First order of business is taking my handmade maps and putting them into Illustrator to save as PDFs. However, since it's been a while, I'd like to make sure they're okay. So have a look at this one and those in the know, tell me if it seems mostly right. It's obviously not to scale, but are the relative positions and roadways correct? http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/mercedmap.pdf

I'm not sure, exactly, what you mean by "Nouvelle" Mexican. Do you mean just regional mid and upscale Mexican, like what you'd find mostly at Bayless's Frontera Grill or throughout most of Mexico in places like El Naranjo in Oaxaca? Or do you mean truly haute Mexican, cocina alta mexicana, that is often fusiony and creative in the same sense that New American places are creative, such as at Bayless's Topolobampo or Izote in Mexico City? I don't have anything to add to the latter list, really, but do take a look here at reports on Lanny's in Ft. Worth. Chef Lancarte grew up in the kitchen of an iconic Mexican-American restaurant and now makes some of the most creative Mexican food in the country: http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name...e=article&sid=2 http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name...e=article&sid=3 But if you are including the former, let me add three from here on the west coast: Nuestra Cocina: Regional Mexican by Chef Benjamin Gonzales in Portland, Oregon. La Calaca Comelona: Oaxacan food, primarily, in Portland, Oregon. Not sure about the name, but I know she's Mexican. Patricia something. La Carta de Oaxaca: A little more casual, perhaps, but still high quality by the Dominguez family in Seattle, Washington. I don't know if they have a website, but here is some info: http://www.tastingmenu.com/archive/2005/06-june/20050621.htm

The tip sheet is actually here: http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/portland_tipsheet.html To keep this from merely being shamless self-promotion, let me suggest: * Wildwood * Park Kitchen * Gotham Bldg Tavern * Paley's * Hurley's None of these are truly in downtown, but relatively close. Pazzo in your hotel is pretty nice, btw. Others worthwhile for an anniversary in downtown: Heathman and Higgins.

These were my favorites from my recent 2 trips. I'd add dim sum, too, but would probably choose Kirin next time: * Richmond Night Market: Asian night fair with scores of food booths. * Vij's: Upscale Indian, some of the best I've ever had. * Go Fish: Great fish and chips and inventive fish specials. * West: Very good haute Northwest cuisine and, imo, a good value at this level. * Oyama: In Granville Public Market. Duck, goose, wild board prosciutto, plus many sausages. * Les Amis du Fromage: Great cheese shop. Many local cheeses. Try the Tiger Blue. * Kintaro Ramen House: Fresh made ramen and pork broth made daily. * Phnom Penh: Cambodian/Vietnamese that steps above even many of the best places I've been.

Sorry I took so long. Clients actually wanted me to work. What's up with that? Day 3: Himalaya, East Vancouver Community Market, West, Richmond Night Market Day 4: Sun Sui Wah, Primo Gelato, May Satay Hut Wow, I thought day 3 would just be sight seeing. Nope. We went to get a snack of samosas based on Arne's rec at Himalaya, but ended up getting butter chicken, naan, and some sweets as well. The samosas were quite good. Very nice crusts. The butter chicken was acceptable and the naan a little weird, tasting like puffed wheat. The sweets sucked. Very stale. On the way over to the highway, we saw a sign of the farmer's market. What the hell, we stopped. Found a parking spot right across the street. It's small enough that we explored it all in just 20 minutes. Got some really good vegan chocolates from Bad Girl Chocolates. Interesting flavors and decent textures, especially for vegan. While it's not a huge markets, it has its own hippy character and there were some nice and rare produce. I really wanted to buy some of those hanging chiles. Got some blackberries instead, some of which were fantastic, some of which were a bit tart. Tasted some cheese, marvelled at some mushrooms, then headed north. Went to the lighthouse, suspension bridge, Horseshoe Bay. Had an early reservation at West and we got done in time (despite terrible traffic across the bridge) to change before dinner. We each got a tasting menu at West. It was so nice to have true haute cuisine. Portland doesn't have any places that truly qualify. Each dish was art, both for the eye and palate. Service was solid four star quality. I got a great foie gras course, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, with nice roasted peaches fragrant with a vanilla-rosemary sauce. My wife's favorite course was probably her crab-avocado "salad". Fairly classic, but executed perfectly. We were stuffed and really didn't think we'd eat too much more, but were bored back at the hotel and decided to try the Richmond Night Market. Glad we did. Wow! It's Disneyland for the Asian food-lover. I could have spent hours sampling. Everything's fresh and there's tons of stuff you rarely see in a restaurant. Next day was the last. Guilted my wife into dim sum. For some reason Sun Sui Wah in Richmond wasn't open, yet the one in Chinatown was packed. Wasn't impressed. Everything was greasy and I don't think it's even as good as our best place here in Portland. Probably should have hit Kirin. Did some more biking along the shoreline and got some gelato from Primo. Decent, but nothing special. Flavors weren't as good as they could be. I think Mondo down the road is clearly better. Hit Malay Satay Hut in Seattle on the way home. Not as nice a restaurant as Banana Leaf, but the food is as good and in some cases better. Although, I definitely liked the roti canai at Banana Leaf better.

I think the fish, meat, and deli stuff at Granville is great. But the produce, as Arne says, doesn't compare to a farmer's market. There's more of it and there's more variety, but I found it to be prettier than it tasted. Rarely were things ripe. Much more like a supermarket in that regard. The farmer's market seemed to be much more of a hippy enterprise, perhaps not catching on with the greater public. I think it's a fine little market. We have smaller markets here in Portland that would compare. Not every farmer's market needs to be big. I'd like to see a few of those farmers try a little harder to provide goods that wouldn't be found in the Asian or mega markets, but that happens here, too. The quality on individual items was often much better than at Granville. But sometimes it wasn't. Organic does have its disadvantages and has a higher learning curve. It was so easy to get in and see everything, though, I think it's worth a stop for a market lover. Get some chocolates, btw. I did do dim sum. Both trips. First trip I did Richmond Mandarin Restaurant and second trip did Sun Sui Wah. The universal favorite seems to be Kirin, but I had my little brothers with me the first time and was worried I wasn't dressed for it the second time. Plus, with my wife's pickiness when it comes to dim sum, I thought it better that we be able to choose off the carts the second time. I don't believe Kirin does carts. According to my friends who make week long trips twice a year to Vancouver just for dim sum, they think the best results come from the places that don't do carts. I thought Sun Sui Wah was okay, but not really better than what we have here in Portland, especially with our new Wong's King Seafood. Everything was rather greasy and the flavors weren't as good as I would have hoped. Damn busy, too. We waited at least a half hour. Things were much better at Mandarin, adeptly prepared. I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked, though. If you like dim sum, it'd be a shame to miss it.

They were so generous with the fish and chips it made it especially stand out. I'd sure like to know what they dress the fish with for that "ceviche". That was some tasty shiznit. And you don't need to worry too much about Salumi when you have Oyama. I should have bought myself something!

First off, I should thank Daddy-A both for his personal recommendations and for his foodblog, which I definitely found helpful. He didn't steer me wrong and my trip was a success in part due to him. Here are links to my first two reports (covering the first two days). I was originally going to write just one report, but I guess I enjoyed myself enough that I just kept writing and writing. I was definitely gushing at times. (Lots more pictures on my site, btw.) It might be a couple days before I finish the last two reports because I'm off to a wedding. Day 1: Salumi, Gelatiamo, Banana Leaf Day 2: Go Fish, Granville, Les Amis du Fromage, Patisserie Le Beau, Vij's, Chinatown Night Market Obviously we stopped in Seattle for lunch on our way up from Portland. We had just enough time to ride bikes around Stanley Park before the sun went down. Then we headed over to Denman and walked up to Banana Leaf. Good meal. Not everything was entirely a winner, but there were also no failures. Their roti canai was excellent as was their shrimp sambal. The next day began with snacking. First we met Daddy-A at Go Fish and had the best fish and chips of my life. Then we walked over to Granville and sampled some things from Oyama, bought some cherries, and ate a pastry from Laurelle's. Then it was over to Books to Cooks. I don't understand why we don't get more books from Canada, Australia, and the UK. It's the same damned language. Is it that hard dealing with grams for Americans? I was jealous of several books I saw, some of which are $60 Canadian, but $200 plus American at Amazon. Ridiculous. I think I might need to see if I can place an order through them or Chapters. Then it was up to W 2nd for some cheese and belgian waffles. Great cheese shop. We got some Tiger Blue (recommendation by you know who) and the Montana. Both were quite good. The Tiger Blue rivals our own Rogue River Blue. I wish the belgian waffles were freshly made and that they weren't nearly out so we had more choice, but that was more our fault than theirs. Quite good anyway. For dinner it was Vij's. What a revelatory experience. I love when a place has a true commitment to the flavors of a cuisine, but isn't afraid to refine dishes and use quality ingredients. Best. Indian. Ever. I could seriously drink that curry from the lamb popsicles all day. If 7-Eleven sold it as a fountain drink selection, I'd start buying Big Gulps. After that, it was the Chinatown Night Market. Glad we hit this one before the Richmond one the next night. It might have been a letdown. We had fun anyway, giggling at the Engrish of "wieners meat", oooing and ahhhing over crusty skewers of beef and chicken. The eggballs were an interesting, futuristic looking dessert. Tasted like fresh fortune cookies. Bought some t-shirts for my brothers and then it was off to bed.

Thanks. If you check this link, you'll see that wine markets were recently added. As for Spokane and Walla Walla, personally I don't know jack up there, though maybe someday since two of my family members are about to go to school in Moscow, ID.

It was nice to see you again. Great to see the pics! (DA was too eager to devour that tamal and only got a half picture. ;-) ) Jake's is just a McCormick & Schmick's with a bit more character. We still need a good seafood restaurant. If you're looking for Sunday eats next time, I'm try to keep up a useful list here: http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/port...heet.html#sandm I think Vino Paradiso used to be Vigne which many wine lovers (which I'm not) lament the loss of. From the sound of it, they were too ambitious.

Thanks both. If you have any suggestions, feel free to make them...

I finally finished the first version of the tip sheet I've been working on. Hopefully I won't need to update it too often, but as you'll see, there are still plenty of categories to be filled in. I'll be glad to hear any criticisms here or on the PortlandFood.org thread where we've been discussing it ( http://www.portlandfood.org/modules.php?na...viewtopic&t=123 ). You can also email me. I imagine the last section, the "Over-rated" restaurants will raise some eyebrows. There are some features that won't quite come through, such as the links to discussions on Chowhound, eGullet, Craigslist, and PortlandFood, and also the links to miscellaneous publications' dining guides. Here's the original: http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc/portland_tipsheet.html