ExtraMSG

I've been having a similar conversation with a guy named Curt on Chowhound that some might be interested in taking a look at: http://www.chowhound.com/pacificnw/boards/...ages/14292.html

I've never liked battered chiles rellenos that much and that's part of the reason I love chiles en nogada so much. Although, the balance of spicy/sweet meat with chile separating a nutty/creamy sauce with the tart pomegranate seeds popping in your mouth is sublime. Now I'm wishing I would have taken my family somewhere less safe than Sanbornes in Tijuana and found some chiles en nogada. I'm giving Cafe Azul a call tomorrow and see if they're making them for the holidays.

Billings is like Arizona, but cold.

I don't know, fifi. Even here in Portland, you can't throw a rock without hitting a Thai restaurant. It won't be long before there are more Thai places than Mexican or even pizza, and we have a lot of both. In my suburb of Portland (Vancouver, WA), I live no more than a mile from 4 Thai restaurants. Last night I had a mediocre green curry at one, my wife had a decent panang, and we shared a decent chicken larb. And if you've ever been through Thai town in LA.....

Pan, of course it is, but no less than the opposing opinion.

I don't think I've ever had chiles en nogada that were dipped in egg batter. I've had other chile rellenos in egg batter, just not en nogada. Pecans work good for the sauce as well. I don't know the origin of pecans but you guys have a lot of them down there in Texas, so I'd think they'd be a tasty alternative. I really wish we could get those huge poblanos up here in Portland. Never seen them. I was just in Tijuana. Took my little brothers to Mexico for the first time (and didn't put one foot on Revolucion, either). Went to the Mercado Hidalgo, a smallish market not too far from the border that focuses on food. It was fun to get to have them smell fresh chiles, a variety of dried chiles, the myriad of fruits, including the wonderful smell of fresh guyabas, and buy a bunch of Mexican candies such as watermelon lollipops you dip in chile spice mixtures.

I don't jest at all. There are so many things that are a greater risk than the food we eat here in America. And while reading Fast Food Nation, I kept noting how much more effective Jack in the Box and McDonald's were at ensuring safe food than the government. How vigilant they were about such things was merely a function of how much noise their customers made (and it didn't take a lot of noise, either).

12. I think In-n-Out is always packed partially because they're slow relative to other fast food places, though they seem to be well-regarded. I just got back from California where I went to three different locations, one in So. California outside of Anaheim somewhere, one in Auburn, and one in Redding. I have to admit that the experience was much better than my first one a year or two ago. I think that first experience was an anamoly where I got soggy fries for some reason. However, that said, the burgers are good, nothing spectacular, but good for fast food. I'd still rather have a whopper because it's flame broiled and has a sesame seed bun. I don't know that I like the fries very much at In-n-Out either. Sure, they're fresh and it's cool to see them cut them right before tossing them in the fryer. But they're rather flavorless and need a lot of salt. I prefer McD's or BK's (the new ones) or Arby's or just about any other fast food restaurant's fries. The only problem with some of these national chains is a chemically aftertaste. But I'd rather that than the very bland flavor of the InO fries. I wish they'd fry them in animal fat. A couple chains not mentioned that I really like are the local to the PNW Burgerville and a chain that I've been to in Utah called Royal, Regal, or Crown Burger. I think they're all similar but slightly different. Burgerville has decent burgers, but what's really great about them is the specialty items -- seasonal items like Walla Walla onion rings and blackberry milkshakes, local ingredients like Tillamook cheese, and signature items like the halibut fish and chips. I guess in many ways it's the other side of the spectrum from InO with its tiny menu. I think the Utah burger places are related. The best of the three was Royal Burger run by Pakistanis in Provo (though I think they've since gone out of business or moved). The burgers were flame broiled, the fries were the best I've ever had, they made a perfect grilled cheese, and an excellent reuben (and would grill it for you). Their special sandwich was the royal burger special for about $2.50. It had a grilled bun, 1/4 lb burger, bacon, cheese, and 1/4 lb of grilled pastrami. Damn it was awesome.

I would think you'd have some pretty "authentic" Thai in NY. Do you remember at all how it differs from SF Thai? I've had Thai food in SF and didn't find it unusual as compared with Portland or Seattle. Another thing I found interesting was that some people often complain that Portland Thai isn't spicy enough, but the stuff I had at Ruen Pair was rather mild, I thought, and when they asked I even said "spicy".

That, of course, is an opinion. But my point is really that a) contamination-free food shouldn't necessarily be the primary goal, and b) the private sector seems to do a better job of enforcing safe food than the government when it "decides" to do so.

For me, on Comcast, Fine Living is another price bump. FoodTV is part of the standard digital cable purchase, but Fine Living is part of a more premium package. I can't believe I spend so much on TV as it is. If stupid Headline News was on just basic cable, I don't think we ever would have purchased up. Now that I get most of my news from the internet, I wish we'd go back but my wife is hooked on Law and Order three times a day.

In general I agree with you, but it's important to remember that these things aren't usually an either/or. eg, if you ask people whether their water should be contaminated they would obviously say "no". However, our water is contaminated. All of us. Some of them are natural contaminants. Some are contaminants that we put in ourselves, such as chlorine, that would kill us in large enough amounts. Should we insist that all eggs never have samonella? What if that means eggs can never be sold because it's impossible? The important issues are public information, risk, and contamination levels. We should insist that companies and the government make honest information available to the public so that we can assess the risks ourselves. We've become so accustomed to thinking that whatever is legal is safe or with equating safety with legality with food that we stop making choices based on our own risk assessments like we do with driving a car, skydiving, playing football, or a million other things we all do. I love food and I'd rather make my own choices about what risks I'm willing to take rather than the government. If I want a medium-rare burger, raw-egg mousse, and sesos taco then as long as we have a free press and take companies to task for giving false information about their products, then let me choose. Even Schlosser admits (implicitly) in Fast Food Nation that the market is more effective at making changes in food quality anyway.

Yep, I heard that. Not entirely surprising. They should have kept their original location. They were really slow, too. I think they always seemed busy because they didn't move the people through. Great stuff, though. Loved their soups and curries. Hopefully they'll reopen or open something new but smaller that they can maintain.

I like Sahni's book because it appears to be both comprehensive, like you might get in the 1000 recipes book (which appears to actually be good unlike many such huge compilations) and informative. Jaffrey has the advantage of having several books that specialize if you're interested in one thing more than another, such as vegetarian Indian.

Fifi: The only Thai I've had in Texas was in Dallas at the more Pan-Asian Liberty Noodles. It was excellent food, though how "authentic" it was I have no clue. It just tasted great. But I would say it was closer to the upscale places in the PNW than Ruen Pair in LA. I think it was sweeter, more colorful, and more refined (eg, very smooth sauces and clear broths) using higher end meats and vegetables that were prepared to New American/French standards.

I heard on NPR that prices are dropping about 15% but that beef consumption in the US hasn't dropped at all. It's the bans on imports from other countries causing the drop. Beef producers were complaining that the prices are lower than their costs. I ate beef several times since I heard about the scare. And I live in Washington.

I did a little searching and couldn't find a discussion, so pardon me if I missed it. I just got back from LA where I hit two Thai restaurants. One was just a random restaurant. The other was Ruen Pair. I live in the Pacific NW and have eaten Thai mostly in Seattle and Portland. People often complain about our Thai food saying that it's not authentic and usually note that it's overly sweet. It's certainly the case that many of the upscale Thai places do have relatively sweet dishes and often fuse northwest ingredients (salmon, orchard fruits, etc) with Thai dishes. But honestly, I couldn't tell a significant difference between Ruen Pair and some of the decent lower-end Thai places in Portland (although the prices at Ruen Pair seemed phenomenal with almost nothing over $5). My question is: where's the real, authentic stuff in the US and what differences have you noticed regionally in the US for Thai food? I probably won't get to Thailand any time soon and I am truly interested.

My problem with pre-prepared curry pastes is that I have to add a lot of sugar usually to make it mild enough for my wife. I can alter the kind of chiles used when I make it myself to use milder chiles. It does change the flavor a bit, but it can make a big difference and at least it's not like eating a dessert when I get done. I use a combination of mortar and cuisinart. Do as much as I can in the former and finish it all in the latter. To get rid of as much fiber as possible, I sometimes try to push it through a fine mesh strainer leaving a lot of the bigger bits behind. Also, when trying to make it "pretty", I'll add spinach to green curry pastes. It adds little flavor, but it adds a lot of color. So your green curry can actually be green.

And I'm just saying that my experience is that Portland's best pork ribs aren't that far off from what I've had in Texas.

That I can understand. It happens in all ethnic cuisines. I imagine the key is getting to know the proprieters well enough that you can ask for the real deal.

Texas BBQ, though, especially the Lockart/Luling places you mention, means beef. I haven't had good brisket yet, just mediocre stuff. For me, though, it's all about pork ribs, especially fatty spareribs. And I think on that, Portland does pretty decent. Then again, I rarely try beef unless someone else gets it.

My Canh is on my list of places to try -- it, and I think, Yen Ha. Both seem to be less pho oriented, though maybe a bit Chinese-influenced or a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese. But my understanding is that's typical. I actually got in to try Pho Hung, a friend's favorite and many Chowhounders' favorite, it seems. They were closing in 15 minutes and didn't want to make anything but soup for us, so we ended up splitting a large bowl of the #1 with everything (tendon, brisket, flank steak, tripe). It was pretty good. Not quite as much of a dive as Pho Oregon, but not far away. The lady with the bussing cart hovered over us as we finished. And we cruised. Honestly, I'd rather them tell me that they're closed or that the kitchen is closed than hover over me like that. The broth had a very good flavor, though. But pho really isn't my thing. I like it, but I have to be in the mood. I'll try to get back sometime in the near future and try something else.

Although I probably won't be around town during your crawl, I wouldn't mind pre-tasting a couple of your choices. I have a question though: is LA Thai food more "authentic" than PNW Thai food? People often complain about Thai food in Seattle and Portland being too sweet and not authentic enough. I don't know if this is a west coast thing in general or what. But if LA Thai food isn't significantly different from PNW Thai food, I'd be less inclined to give it a try.

I'm coming down right after Christmas. We might even head out of Sacramento on Christmas Day. From what I understand, Disneyland is at its busiest during Christmas break. That weekend will be horrendous, I'm sure, so I wouldn't mind getting in there Friday so that we can get on a ride by Saturday . If we go down 99, we'll need recs for Modesto, Merced, and Fresno, eg. I imagine there are some good options in there. Also, any recs that include a place that has some more diverse antojitos such as huaraches, mamelas, chorreadas, quesadillas con huitlacoche, etc, etc, would be especially appreciated. Thanks.

I'm going to be driving down from Portland to Sacramento, picking up my little brothers, and heading down to Disneyland and then visiting some family in San Diego. So, what I'm wondering is what are the best taco stands/taquerias throughout California along I-5/99/101. I haven't decided which route to take between Sacramento and LA and back. Maybe two routes.