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I don't know, but my experience is that such places that actually serve a Latin American population are not only open on Sunday but busier than just about any other day.

Maybe with the growing popularity of FoodTV and "foodies" journalists are truly paying attention to such things or have a real audience for such gripes.

In my experience, a place that has so much leftist ideology built into it often is a better employer but with more disgrunteled employees. The employees often come with the same ideology as the business and with higher expectations too. And almost no employer can (in fact, probably no employer can) meet the idealist expectations of the left. I imagine that rule increases the closer you get to cities like SF, too.

I think mamster has it right. While all criticism and all formats of criticism, especially on something as subjective as food and restaurants, has its limitations, the Zagat guide is quite useful, and for more than as an address book. It's one of the few guides that splits out a restaurants rating by food, decor, and service. It's also one of the few guides that gives you a variety of ways to find a restaurant, such as by cuisine. Guides such as Michelin in Europe and Mobil here are rating restaurants, not food. Food is only a part of their ratings. As such, eg, a dive with great food may not even be rated or ma only get one or two stars in Mobil (a 5 star scale as opposed to Michelin's 3 star scale). Also, since Zagat is rated by customers as opposed to critics, places that serve just good tasting food from a variety of cuisines can actually compete with French and New American haute cuisine on the food column. eg, try to find an ethnic restaurant that scores 4 or 5 stars in the Mobil guide. It's very difficult. And they keep making their criteria stricter. It's difficult find a highly rated Italian place. Much of that is critical snobbery against anything that's not New American or French. eg, here in Portland, Cafe Azul, a regional Mexican place that's decent inside with a nice wine list, changes its offerings regularly, uses local and organic products when possible, etc, only gets 2 stars from Mobil making it appear that is rather mediocre. However, most actual customers would consider it in the same range as restaurants such as Wildwood, which at one time received 4 stars. In Chicago, Arun's, a Thai restaurant that does prix fixe tasting menus and wonderful food in a nice setting, once received 4 stars but has been recently down-graded to 3 stars. Topolobampo and Frontera in Chicago are also stuck in 3 star land even though many people put them as two of the top Mexican restaurants in the country (though I like Cafe Azul better than both). Both methods have their problems and both have their advantages. But that's *both*. Zagat is very useful in its approach and I think the Zagats are correct to defend the results. They even provide indicators for the direction of the reviews over the years, for whether there were a lower-than-average number of people who responsed, or whether the acclaim was overwhelming. My bigger problem with the Zagat guide is that they're no longer doing top 50 markets in the US like Portland and Dallas. And the Portland guide was previously part of the Seattle guide, so it's not like they even had many extra printing costs.

I think the bigger problem is that once you've been there half a dozen times you've probably tried everything that you're truly interested in. They don't rotate the desserts much even if it is a well-stocked case. But I think that for what they do, cakes primarily, they're pretty good. I have to admit, I'm not much of a cake person either, but I do like several of theirs. And it's kind of like a chain in that you always know that you can rely on at least the some of the same things always being there. But you're probably not going to get a huckleberry tart with orange sabayon and ginger ice cream, or filo wrapped chocolate dumplings with chocolate-olive oil, or bing cherry fritters -- all of which I got at Lucere before Paul Lemieux left. They're on the same road, the Aladdin and these places, but I think Caprial's, eg, is still like 40 blocks away from the Aladdin. That said, it's one of the two restaurants I think that any person coming to Portland should try, either it or Wildwood. But then, if you're a lover of authentic Mexican, unless you live in Chicago, LA, or the Southwest, it's probably worth hitting Cafe Azul.

True, Trillium, but the problem is that most of these places are serving by-and-large Americans, not their native peoples. I don't expect a Mexican place in Woodburn or an Asian place on mid-Sandy to have good desserts (by European standards), and wouldn't judge them less so if they don't. But places like Andina, Cafe Azul, Sungari, Pho Van, Plainfield's Mayur, and the like aren't serving people from their peoples generally. They're serving upper-middle class white people in nice venues. They have wine lists, European place settings, and menus in English. A good dessert menu would be nice, too. I'm not sure if any of these have a good dessert menu either. Cafe Azul's can be decent, but nothing special, though some of their ice creams are nice. Pho Van has a bread pudding that's good. At least Pambiche makes a real effort even if their case doesn't rotate that much and its very cake-heavy. Edit: Corrected Trillium's name.

I really wish more ethnic restaurants would put more effort into pastries and desserts. At least Andina has excellent breads. That's one of the things that's so great about Pambiche is that they make a great effort at pastries. Even Italian places too often have the same old weak desserts. There are a lot of great flavors to work with in Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern cuisines that work wonderfully in desserts and have been used to great ends by American, French, and other European chefs. I know that many of these cultures don't have a very strong tradition of desserts, but that doesn't mean that they can't start using European techniques with their traditional flavors to create great stuff.

Hotel Vintage has Pazzo in it, a very good Italian restaurant (although I think they recently lost their chef and service can be spotty; very good desserts for a Italian place, too). There isn't much in the part of town really. You should give yourself 15 minutes from wherever you eat to get there once you step in the cab, just to make sure. And Portland's not much of a taxi town, so you'll want to make sure you have them lined up in advance. If you're just getting an entree and maybe a basic appetizer, you can get in and out of most Portland restaurants in 45 minutes if you tell them and as long as its not slammed. However, if it's going to take you 15 minutes to get to your dinner, then 15 minutes to get to the show, you're going to be in trouble.

Of course, as a college student your time is not so pre-determined like it is for a low-income family where both parents work. Well, considering the rate at which restaurants die, I'd suggest that possibly the best avenue to lower the price of restaurant food would be lowering the minimum wage. Of course, then these same people wouldn't be able to eat there. But it'd make my meals cheaper. Be honest here, though. Few places can reach the speed at which places like McDs and BK and Taco Hell deliver the goods. They are very fast. I've been in long lines at In-n-Out Burger while half or fewer the customers are being served. "Your way" is only half the BK tagline, the follow up, and just as important to people is the "Right away".

Fat Guy, jhurlie only mentions the beginning, in addition to going to the grocery store, don't forget: Doing dishes Cleanings pots and pans Cleaning kitchen Prep time Time spent learning to cook I'm not saying this stuff isn't worth it. But hell, on the face of it it's worth it for me, probably, to spend the time learning how to fix my car. But the opportunity cost....The time learning, the time cleaning, the time screwing up, the time getting the parts, etc, probably isn't worth it compared to me just spending more time at work or time not getting frustrated and bloddy knuckles (see I did try once or twice). I'm not saying that learning to cook and that having meals don't have a value that can't be quantified and for that reason aren't largely "worth it" or even that given the investment and having some organization skills that cooking isn't economical. I'm just saying that in the day to day realities of life, it's quite understandable why someone would instead spend 15 minutes grabbing a meal at BK on the way home, or ordering a pizza, or grabbing a couple burritos from Taco Hell, when it takes no investment of time or resources, and when you're done, you can just toss whatever's left in the garbage.

Just to note from the beginning, I grew up rather poor, so I do have some experience with this.... I think the biggest issue for families on this front is just time. It takes time to cook good quality food. I'm an experienced amateur cook and I probably spend on average at least an hour a day cooking for my wife. Of course, I try to make most things from scratch. But "from scratch" is what keeps prices low. You start buying Minute Rice, whole grain breads, pizza crusts, pre-cut chicken, stock, frozen vegetables, etc, you have to either give up quality or money. If you make them from scratch, you have to give up time. And that's assuming you can cook better than Budget Gourmet or Burger King, which sadly, many people can't. As I discussed with Fat Guy, people either make food from scratch out of necessity or luxury. For me, it's a luxury. But few people in the US are so poor that they can only afford to make food from scratch. For most -- especially in families where both parents work, or like my family growing up, a single parent household --, it's worth it to save time and buy fast food, which although it's not as cheap as making food from scratch, is a heck of a lot cheaper than even the mediocre chains like Friday's or Olive Garden. Either that or they buy things they can make in under a half hour, like Budget Gourmet. I was lucky, even with how busy my single-mom waitress was, she always made food. She essentially worked and came home and worked some more. I don't blame families like mine who do it differently. It's totally understandable. I just think in some aspects my mom was a hero always sacrificing for me. Of course, to some extent, I had to get off my ass and do things for myself and pick up the slack, too. That's why, even though she gets on my nerves, 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray is actually an important show and why I'm going to look into this week starting a program for teaching working people how to cook fast, affordable, healthy, and tasty meals. As for RB and BK, I think the condemnation is out of proportion. He's probably a little hypocritical as I bet most of the Chef's Collaborative people are because of the unrealistic nature of their endeavor. Look at their mission statement. It's just politics veiled in nebulous statements that few would disagree with on the face of them. Give me something meaningful and specific, for goodness sake. What RB has done is just a more public and possibly slightly more egregious violation of the naive mission statement than what any other restaurant owner who belongs to Chefs Collaborative probably does. eg, how many of these chefs on the board serve Niman ranch meats? How many serve Copper River salmon? Can a group that supposedly supports local products all be serving the same stuff across the nation -- showing pride that they are by noting it on the menus -- and still be upholding the mission of CC? Are chefs in California when they make mediterranean foods "Cultural and biological diversity is essential for the health of the planet and its inhabitants. Preserving and revitalizing sustainable food and agricultural traditions strengthen that diversity"? What about those in NY using Asian ingredients and techniques? Finally, I think there's an internal conflict in their mission because they assume so much aesthetically rather than scientifically, as with their dislike for non-organic foods and a vegetarian lifestyle (though not specifically stated, I don't know how else to understand mission goal 7 which ignores all meats).

I don't get over to the center of Vancouver much since I live way on the east side. But I had a coupon for Thai Little Home that was going to expire and it'd been a while since I'd had Thai food. Thai Little Home, of course, was good. I don't know what it is about their stuff, but it always has a quality to it that separates it from most Thai places. For those who want to avoid the attempts at chic Thai by places like Typhoon and who like their curries without loads of sugar, Thai Little Home is a good option. Their prices are always cheap as hell, too. Anyway, on the way there I noticed this taqueria I'd never seen before. Down 4th Plain in Vancouver there are a lot of them along with a few Mexican markets, a couple of which are actually decent -- at least better than most in Portland, which isn't saying much. Nothing as good as you'd find in Hillsboro or Woodburn, though. On the north side of 4th Plain just a couple buildings east of Thai Little Home and set back in a collection of little places next to some Russian store an al pastor cart with flames blazing caught my eye. I swore to hit it on the way home, which, even though I was stuffed, I did. They advertised birria de chivo and al pastor but had several other standard items. One of the things I noticed was that for 25 cents extra you could get your tacos "com tortillas hecha por mano". I ordered one taco al pastor and one carne asada with the hand-made tortillas. Even though I was stuffed, I ate both, and they were large tacos. The carne asada was almost like nice cabeza it was so tender and juicy. It's not the carne asada you get in Mexico or at La Iguana Feliz, but its style is fine with me. I love cabeza when it's done right. The al pastor was crisped on the outside with a nice flavor and served with grilled onions. They had a little salsa tray on the counter with cilantro, onion, salsa cruda, radishes, and a tomatillo salsa and a (probably) chile de arbol salsa, both of which were good. Definitely a good find. Next time I'm over that way I'll be interested to try the birria. I'd also like to see if they make their quesadillas with corn or flour. Since they have masa de maiz ready for tacos, they would be able to do quesadillas almost as easily. Aren't many places that make them that way.

I'd agree, except that I think the number of students who really performed well was more like 3 to 5, not 10. Then the problems kids were about 5 as well. It seemed like there were only a couple kids who did truly well, and in the last episode, Alisha, one of his stars, got a lot of face time, though it was usually because she was in trouble. But she also got face time as being the only student who could really explain why she loved those raviolis. I imagine what happened was that there were only limited resources. The cameramen had to be somewhere. And as it is with the war in Iraq, people getting blown up is just more inherently interesting than people not getting blown up. Likewise, it's easier to film someone crying, throwing a fit, or walking out then it is to show them just standing there doing their job. I also think it's a bit necessary from the standpoint that you really want to justify these kids getting kicked out of the program. I think few people would come away from the series and think that JO didn't give these kids every opportunity. I sure would like to know if there are more episodes or what? The website for the Food Network only shows five episodes. But you're left hanging, really, at the end of the 5th episode. Is that all for that year? Were they just seeing how they'd do? Five episodes isn't many. Is there another year and another group of students? Damn FoodTV, all the best shows are limited. Iron Chef has been over and done with for years; it's rare there's one I haven't seen. A Cook's Tour was pretty much a one-year thing with some trickling episodes for a second season. And now we get a meager 5 episodes of JO's Kitchen. Meanwhile we suffer Unwrapped and Emeril every moment of every evening, it seems. The least they could do to make up for it is release some of these onto DVD (and not 3 eps per DVD like they do with GE).

What's really impressed me with the last couple episodes is how great a teacher JO obviously is. His love of food really shines when he's teaching them dishes. He's got his character flaws when the pressure mounts and they're in the kitchen, but not in any unreasonable way when you consider the context. Often the kids have reasons for what they do, but they're totally unfair in how they deal with those problems, not calling, not showing up, just screwing over not only JO, but their fellow students. Crazy. Nice to see they finally drew some lines though and dropped a couple of the students. At some point, no matter what, they just have to have consequences to their actions. They certainly won't get any breaks once they move on from the program. So it's no real favor to let them screw over everyone ad nauseam in the mean time. Those contractors he hired were terrible. Way over budget, horrible craftmanship, and no repentance. I would have sued them for lost earnings.

I have in depth descriptions of my trips to both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta on this board in their respective threads, too, btw. I don't know about where you are (UK or Ireland, I assume), but here, airline prices to Mexico are relatively cheap right now. I bought tickets to Mazatlan on a whim because they were so cheap, about 40% lower than normal. Maybe you can find a deal as well.

I assume you'll be somewhere in southern Nayarit, then. I'm not too familiar with their specialties. The regions around it are probably more famous for their food, especially Jalisco and a little bit farther south Michoacan. Kennedy talks about having some good oyster dishes in Nayarit and a shrimp tamal. With Jalisco and Michoacan nearby, birria and barbacoa and even Michoacan carnitas might be worth a try. In both Guadalajara and Pueverto Vallarta I got really good molcajetes filled with a nice sauce and whatever meats or fish you're interested in (and usually some nopales). Mazatlan up north of where you are is known for its shrimp, so I'm sure that whole coastline is probably pretty good for the jumbo seabugs. Ceviche is a standard up and down the coast. I don't know if you'll be inland or not, but always check freshness. When I was in PV, most of the street vendors were doing pretty typical stuff, even if it was good -- quesadillas con queso, tacos de carne asada, and the like.

Man, I remember my first big Thanksgiving dinner when I thought up putting an herb butter under the skin of the turkey. I thought I was brilliant. Then I start watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks and everybody does it. Works great, though. Tonight for dinner I made cachapas, a Venezuelan corn pancake. Used Lambert-Ortiz's recipe with some modifications to the batter. Cut up some bacon and tossed it in a pan. Then I added some onions and garlic and seasoned them with cumin, coriander seed, chile powder, and a little homemade garam masala that I like to use for an accent in a lot of Mexican cooking. Then I added some chipotle puree in adobo and cooked all that a bit. Then I added in some black beans and a just a touch of water just to help the beans heat through. Tossed that in the middle of a cachapa, grated on some cheese, and folded it over. Wish I had some sour cream. My wife would have loved a bit, but it was good without.

I cook most every night for my wife, plus often make extra meals for her lunches (computer programmer, I work from home) that we freeze. I send descriptions of many of the dishes I make to a food lover friend of mine. Here are some of the last emails I sent him: Made mushroom and bacon soup last night. Needed to use up some mushrooms, crminis. I started by sauteeing some bacon for the fat and then sauteed onions in that bacon grease (along with the bacon still). Then I tossed in some quartered criminis and salt. I deglazed with merlot, let that cook down to a syrup, and added in some reduced chicken/duck stock and a little water. Simmered that for a while while I made some home made onion rings. Just a simple recipe. Heated the oil to just over 300. I wanted the onions to get melty inside before the breading got GBD. They were just tossed in flour, dipped in egg, and then tossed in bread crumbs (homemade from potato bread). I pureed the sautee mixture, including the bacon, and tested for salt and half and half (it needed some half and half to thin it out and make it still creamy). Then I served it in a bowl with a quenelle of sour cream in the middle. Around the bowl on a plate I placed the onion rings. I was going to put them in the soup as croutons, but I didn't want them getting soggy. I just told Lisa to dip them instead. Once she realized that, she started loving it that way. The flavors of mushrooms, bacon, and onions go so well together. The sour cream added a nice high note without taking away from the richness. *** Made tlacoyos for dinner. Pretty much used Bayless' recipe from Mexican Kitchen. While frying them on the second side, I tossed some salt and cheese on top. Took them out, and put them on a plate with greens on top, a little salsa I made (chipotles -- to go with the black beans inside --, tomatoes, and onion pureed), and sour cream. Lisa devoured them. They were very good. I seasoned the beans before mashing them and the tlacoyos were excellent. *** Made sopes tonight -- sopes con tinga de tofu. Yep, tofu. I started by cutting small batons of tofu, about 1/8" x 1/8" x 2". Then I fried them up until they had crisped up nicely on the ouside. I set that aside and started the tinga by sauteeing some onions in lard (not a vegetarian dish, just a tofu dish). Then I added some cumin, coriander, paprika, and garlic powder. I let the flavors wake up and then added a couple diced tomatoes. Salted it to get the tomatoes to break down and added in some chipotle sauce -- that brown salsa that's pureed chipotles in adobo essentially. Cooked that a bit and then added in some reduced chicken/duck stock. Then I added the tofu back in and let that simmer until it reduced to a nice consistency. I made the sopes by using reconstituted masa harina and then adding a little lard in. Then I wrapped the top of once sauce and the bottom of another saucer in plastic wrap. Then I made balls of the masa about 2 inches in diameter, maybe a little bigger. I set them in the middle of the saucer with the plastic on its main side and then squished it with the saucer with the plastic underneath. They came out very nicely, about 3 inches in diameter and 1/4" thick. Then I cooked them on the comal at medium low for about 5 minutes a side. Then I fried them until nice and golden, about 5 minutes at 325. They were very crispy no the outside and nicely golden and moist and a little airy on the inside. I served them with a little cheese on top, followed by the tinga, and then sour cream. I put greens around them on the plate as well. Lisa seemed to like them and ate them all. I've got leftover masa from today so I'll probably make another such thing tomorrow. Not sure what yet. Maybe practice gorditas some more. More tlacoyos. Panuchos or huaraches. Lots of options. Not sure what I'll put over it yet, though. *** Made an antojitos platter with a tlacoyo, tostada, and sope. The tlacoyo sounds weirder than it was, but I used mashed tofu that I marinated in a chile/lime mixture. If you think that the traditional thing is black beans and tofu is made from beans, it's less weird. Plus, tofu has that really bland cheese quality to it. To top the tostada and sope I baked some winter squash. Quartered it and seasoned it with cumin, coriander, paprika, and garlic powder. Made a simple cooked salsa, almost like an enchilada sauce, to go with everything. *** Made pita from scratch for dinner tonight. Decided I should work on breads a little after my experiences with tortillas and masa creations. And now that it's crappy weather, baking makes sense. Anyway, I followed the recipe from my New Book of Middle Eastern Food. My Clayton's didn't have a recipe. I decided that book would be a good start then. I do have a couple other books with recipes, but I didn't really compare them. This one was relatively easy. The bread came out pretty good, though it doesn't create much of a pocket. It balloons up in an interesting way, especially if you broil it, which is her alternative (and I think better) method for baking the bread (btw, even baking it, the bread cooks in less than 5 minutes). Along with the bread I served two spreads/dips, a puree of olive oil, winter squash, garlic, cumin, coriander, and paprika (and salt), and a hummus with lime instead of lemon, but otherwise pretty standard. However, I did use that nice olive oil because I ran out of my grocery store brand. Man that makes a huge difference. No off tastes whatsoever. Just a rich, fruity flavor. I also served some sauteed cod, marinated in lime, seasoned and dredged in flour, cooked in oil that I let come up to temperature with slices of garlic so it had a nice aroma and flavor. Then I topped that with a relish of diced tomatoes and cilantro. Simple Mediterranean style dinner, but it was nice getting into baking, something I'm not very good at -- or at least don't feel entirely comfortable with --, again. However, I do have 7 pieces of pita bread now that I need to do something with.

I would highly suggest staying somewhere else, too, if you can. There are lots of placies within walking distance that are better. There are also lots of restaurants within relatively easy walking distance depending on what you're looking to spend, what type of food you're interested in, etc. However, a very good standard is extremely close, The Heathman (it'd also be a much better hotel option). If you just want a quick bite, the Pioneer Square has several carts with decent stuff. There are also some carts across from Fox Tower just northwest of Pioneer Square, including Chef to Go, which is a highly praised vegan/vegetarian spot.

I give Jamie Oliver all the credit in the world. But it's worth noting that you can't blame all the people around him who told him to give up on some of those kids. I grew up in a similar or worse background to many of these kids and I would feel absolutely ashamed if I was given such an opportunity and responded in kind. 60% attendence!?! Terrible. I'm going to say something very un-PC, but true nonetheless. Some people are poor for a reason, and that reason is within them. And this includes people I love dearly, but no matter how much I love them, they've still got to make a go for themselves. It's nice to see some of these kids turning around. I hope it continues.

It's getting better every year it seems. I don't want to seem like I'm making the perfect the enemy of the good. I just think it would be a huge step up in usefulness if it was on even slightly better paper and was half the size. I don't think it has to be magazine quality. I can't imagine that would be profitable. But I'd love to be able to easily keep it on a shelf or put it in the door of my car. Last years was tossed in my backseat and got wickedly weathered before my wife got pissed and tossed it. With Zagat gone, this might end up being my guide that I keep in my car. Edit: I wonder, too, if they did produce it half the size and printed a number of them, say 500 or a 1000, on nicer quality paper, I wonder if they could then sell those around town for an amount that could off-set the printing costs, maybe a couple bucks each?

How does cecina differ from machaca or carne seca? Actually, I just went through my several Mexican cookbooks and only one, Bayless' Authentic Mexican had cecina, describing it as carne seca before it's actually dried or fully dried. So, you might want to check around for carne seca recipes as well and just cut the drying short of jerky stage. Pretty much all my books had one. (Machaca is shredded carne seca, essentially.) Also, I'm sure checking a book on jerky making could be a good reference and just use the seasonings for carne seca/cecina and stop short of making jerky. Bayless and Kennedy stay traditional with theirs, suggesting you hang dry them while noting that the USDA would not approve unless you cook the hell out of it afterwards. Poore and Peyton actually suggest baking it while stirring occasionally (this sounds like a bad idea to me, but USDA approved, I'm sure). As far as jerky recipes go: Joy of Cooking says to set the oven at 175 and leave it open to allow moisture to escape; I saw a very good looking recipe on Martha Stewart one time that they did in the oven (and it was by a jerky expert), but I can't find it online or in my books.

Had my wife grab me the real thing today. Looks pretty nice with good color and a little better design. No cheap eats focus, which kind of sucks. I'd like to have a cheap eats or best values index along with the other two. But it's a great resource nonetheless. Now if I could get it on acid-free paper and about the size of a paperback, I could actually put it on my shelf or take it in my car.

FAMOUS PORKISMS Bacon saved is bacon wasted - Benjamin Frankfurter The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of cooking bacon. - Alfred Lard Tennyson FILMIC PORKISMS We'll always have bacon - Casapuerco I just want to say one word to you, just one word: 'bacon.' - The Gullet Bacon, for lack of a better word, is good. Bacon is right. Bacon works. Bacon clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the culinary spirit. Bacon, in all of its forms. - Swine Street The hills are alive, with the smell of bacon - The Sizzle of Bacon My name is Inigo Montoya, you ate my bacon, prepare to die - The Porker Fried I'm ready to tell you my secret....I smell bacon - The Sixth Swine We're gonna need a bigger pan - Jowels

I'm going to record the entire marathon on Sunday for a friend who doesn't have cable, the freak.