ExtraMSG

The menu is both interesting and weird from what I can see. Not dominated by Sonoran specialties that I can see. The combination names, eg, seem to be just grabbed out of a hat. I don't know why you would have something called Oaxacan chicken and top it with a Monterrey sauce. Etc. If it's good, it's good, though.

Okay, a couple final questions: 1) In what way do you think about Tex-Mex: a) a regional Mexican cuisine as legitimately Mexican as the food of Veracruz, Michoacan, etc; b) an American bastardization of a cuisine, enjoyable in its own way, like Italian-American food, but truly a dumbed-down version; c) a regional American cuisine, Mexican in the same way that Creole is French, ie, truly its own thing; d) a description of your own choosing? 2) Where in the US do you think the most vibrant Mexican food scene is? Not one restaurant, but a city or area. LA? Chicago? Santa Fe? Somewhere in Texas? And why? 3) And from Inside the Chef's Kitchen: what would you choose as your last meal? (And, I guess, what is your favorite curse word and how often do the line cooks hear it? ) Thank you again for taking your time to entertain and inform us food geeks.

This Dallas company: http://www.spiceairunlimited.com/ also supplies frozen. A Texas transplant to Oregon, chefrodrigo, PM'd the link a while back.

Mexican restaurants often make lots of claims. Is this a nachos and fajitas restaurant? I'd be interested to see their list of specialties. And if they're covering everything in the same sauce, I'd be very suspect.

I took some new pics today at the market. They're at this link: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?set_al...=view_album.php Thought I'd pass along a few tidbits, too. Fall produce is coming in. Corn and tomatoes, of course. Many varieties of tomatoes. Even some apples and pears that were decent. Garlic, gourds, pumpkins, and, best of all, imo, chanterelles. $8/lb was typical. Elizabeth was out of chocolates, dammit, and is off to be married. Won't be back til October. LOW's Q was excellent today. I went before the Bones and Brew thing (post and pics to come). Tip: apparently the brisket builds a nice crust on it as it sits waiting to be eaten. So the later you can get their brisket, the better, if you like burnt ends and bark. The pork ribs (they were out of lamb) was very nice. Would have been the second best ribs on my recent BBQ trip to Memphis, KC, etc. Nothing was even close at the Bones and Brew thing and I tried everyone's that I hadn't tried before (7 or 8 places, I think). Misty Mountain has huge bags of dried mushrooms (along with their fresh mushrooms, which are probably a little overpriced by comparison). The one that really tempted me -- luckily I'm broke -- was the 1 lb bag of porcinis for $50. Looked and smelled great. That's a fair price, too. There was a half pound of nice morels, too, for $50. They also had porcini powder, which at $7 for a 1.5 ounces, is a little overpriced, probably. But I love the stuff. Nothing better for adding a nice punch of mushroom to stews and soups and sauces.

Rachel, I was also questioning, though, how close a Wal-Mart could get. The gates to the place are pretty far, really, away from the pyramids and ruins themselves. You have to walk a bit or take one of those little Fantasy Island style carts. But I'm sure it wouldn't have to be too close to see it from the top of the pyramid. But considering all the stuff, like the horrendous smog, you can see from the top of the pyramid....

I assume when you say fermented tuna, that you mean fermented prickly pear cactus fruit. (I don't know if anyone watching this thread wouldn't be familiar with the word, but just in case...) Some day someone's going to try to import/sell, I would think, these things (and of course, don't foget about pulque).

Where do you get your huitlacoche and is it fresh?

Nice writeup Scott. Wish I could have joined you -- you in sandals and jeans, me in skate shoes and shorts. (Much better than the borrowed and too small dress shoes the night before at Trotter's.) I have a couple questions: Did you think the numerous sous vide preparations made sense and improved the quality of the dishes? The desserts seem somewhat insubstantial, more like confections and candies. Were they satisfying enough? I know you put a lot of weight on the sweets.

Having been there and climbed the million steps, I can't imagine the Wal-Mart will really be that close. It's kind of a barren, open area not immediately next to a population center, I didn't think. Also, it seemed to me that a lot of market workers were low-paid employees of just a few suppliers. Seemed to be the case in most markets I went to. You'd often see the same markings on the back of ceramics showing a set of secret symbols for pricing. I imagine that Wal-Mart will largely supply an improvement in quality and employment. The problem is that a lot of people are willing to give up a significant amount of quality for a more significant amount of money. So if they can buy mediocre tortillas for half the price of good tortillas, they'll probably do it. It makes sense for truly poor people where it can mean the difference of a child eating or not. I just hope traditions aren't lost in the process.

I was looking through the sample menus. Sounds great. I very much hope the execution lives up to the descriptions. I wish I could be there for the big meal. I noticed you have a lot of interesting ingredients. You said you only use one local farmer (for your goat milk -- fresh goat milk cajeta is probably worth the admission). So where do you get your ingredients? They're obviously not delivered by Sysco. Have you considered contracting with local farmers to grow some of the more difficult items? When you go out for Mexican, where do you go? Do you go out for antojitos/taqueria food, and if so, where? What other types of food excite you and what are some of your favorite restaurants, especially any hidden gems?

I definitely look forward to getting back there and trying those places. They were at the top of my list before. You should get yourself to LOW sometime, though.

Here were my main problems with what I tried in Memphis: 1) The sandwiches sucked. At least to my palate, but I might as well be blunt about it. The consistency of the pork at both Central and Corky's was, as I said, like tuna fish -- mushy tuna. And there wasn't much flavor to it. I much preferred the KC style of sliced meats. While they're not what I truly prefer, it was better than the mush. I expected something akin to the pulled pork I'd had before -- closer to shredded chicken or beef than tuna. 2) When the ribs were bad, they were very bad. I've had "Memphis style" BBQ before outside of Memphis that had the same problem. It wasn't tender and juicy inside and the bark wasn't a crust, but just dried outer meat, closer to jerky than to the crust on a grilled steak or something like that. Don't get me wrong, as I've said, Central's ribs were as good as ribs can get, truly. Once they get to that level, it's merely a matter of personal taste -- smokey, tender, moist, with a flavorful crust. They were one of my favorite items on the trip. But I don't know that those are typical of Memphis. I haven't been to enough places and I didn't go to a couple of the top choices, though everything I went to was recommended by people in Memphis. I didn't just start dialing from the phonebook. It's worth noting that LOW makes Texas style 'cue. Brisket isn't my first choice for BBQ either, even though it's a major part of both midwest/KC and Texas 'cue. I have no emotional attachment to Southern style BBQ and it's pig-myopia. I just prefer pork. But still, LC's burnt ends and and LOW's brisket are excellent. Still, though, I love LOW's lamb ribs more than anything else they serve. I do have a certain fondness for the central Texas style of keeping it simple, salt and pepper, and sauce as optional. The meat comes first. When people get into a discussion about which BBQ place is better based on sauce, I roll back my eyes, take a nap, and tell them to wake me when they're done.

I'm a strong believer that good examples of a cuisine can be found most anywhere. Maybe they aren't always, but they can be. You're just not going to have the quantity that others have. Texans and Southerners like to think they have a monopoly on Q and it's just not the case. We may have to satisfy ourselves in Portland with just a couple options, but we've got something worth eating. I've had good to great BBQ in Hawaii and California, too. I still should try Seattle's offerings some day, though that will have to wait until after I try the Thai up there. I just got back from a trip to Chicago. There's lots of great food there, and an amazing amount of diversity. But because of the hype, I was expecting to find Thai, Mexican, and Indian unmatched here at home. It's just not the case. They do have lots of options we don't have. But Cha Ba, de Leon, and Curry Leaf would be standouts in Chicago, too. As would LOW be a standout in KC or Memphis, imo.

Sparkling tepache. Only $100/bottle in NY and Las Vegas.

Do you remember if there were olives in the picadillo?

I don't remember who all we called. I know that Payne's was the first place on the list. But I don't know who else. I did call a lot, though, just to have options, but few were open. I was hoping someone on the SE forum would speak up about the tuna-fish textured sandwiches.

I've eaten at several upscale Mexican restaurants, most recently Bahena's Chilpancingo and Ixcapuzalco in Chicago, but also Topolo and Frontera, Javier's, Ciudad, and a few others that you might be less familiar with. One thing I've found, even in Mexico (eg, Giraflores), is what seems like a tendency to refine the soul out of dishes. They lose their depth and intensity it seems to me. It's not that they're bad. They just don't have the richness and hearty flavors that I expect. Have you experienced this? Do you think that the refinement necessary to make something haute results in a loss of of the hearty, intense flavors and textures of Mexican cooking? Is it a result of trying for subtlety that either a) doesn't fit our expectations for Mexican, or b) is a problematic goal for chefs cooking Mexican? Also, one annoyance I found at Bayless's restaurants was a consistent attempt to foofify dishes by adding tenderloin of this or breast of that, even on stewed dishes where it was seemingly inappropriate or a poor match. Is this a mistake on the chef's part to try to make dishes more than they are (or in thinking that they aren't enough as they traditionally are)? Or is it a problem with customers in that it's not enough to make an exceptional pozole, but it also has to have an expensive meat thrown in to make it seem haute?

Link to my blog entry for my BBQ trip across Tennessee and Missouri and back to here. I began with LOW and ended with Campbell's. Honestly, I think our 'cue holds up. LOW actually more than holds up. Follow this link: http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?name=N...=article&sid=26 There are lots of pics on the photo album, too.

I just had some tepache at Chorrito, on the corner of Clark and Devon, in Chicago. Surprisingly decent, actually (from someone who doesn't drink).

When I take pics inside, I generally turn off the flash (I have a museum mode on my camera that makes that easy) and try to be as still as possible. I'd love to see a pic from the entrance, though, of the whole place.

Nice pics, Scott. Did she let you get inside the case for the photos? Prices seem pretty fair. Do you have any pics of the shop itself and the breadth of offerings? Are there any breads or is it just sweets?

To help you along, let me take that list and break it down first by cost and second by quality tiers. COST ------ It's difficult because some of these are small plate places. Figure about $20 for $$$, $15 for $$, and $10 at $ for entrees. $$$ Wildwood Paley's Place Caprial's Hurley's Bluehour $$ Tabla Park Kitchen clarklewis Noble Rot Heathman $ Cha Ba Thai Sukhothai Pho Van Bistro Pambiche Bewon QUALITY/CONSISTENCY ---------------------------- Trying to make some account of quality within a style/cuisine and my experiences with consistency to help you prioritize. Cross-referencing with the above may help show you what might be the best values, too. I've put the name of the cuisine next to them. btw, that's not to say any of these are bad. It looks like a list I would have made. But some are better/more consistent than others, imo. eg, I've had some great dishes at Sukhothai, but my meals at Cha Ba have been about as good and more consistent. FIRST TIER IN CUISINE Wildwood - PNW/New American Paley's Place - PNW/New American/French Hurley's - PNW/New American/French Park Kitchen - PNW/New American Tabla - PNW/New American Cha Ba Thai - Thai Pho Van Bistro - Vietnamese Pambiche - Cuban Bewon - Korean SECOND TIER IN CUISINE Caprial's - PNW/New American Bluehour - PNW/New American clarklewis - PNW/New American Noble Rot - PNW/New American Heathman - PNW/New American/French Sukhothai - Thai

Nice. Mexico is the one country I consistently eat breakfast. I love the things they do with eggs. I found Girasoles a little....watered down....or something. Like in the pursuit of refinement they removed some of the flavor. Not so much that it wasn't still quite good, but I've had better upscale Mexican in both Mexico and the US, I think. But I'd love to go back. One visit isn't enough. At least it's near the Zocolo.

I just put up some pics from today (missed you mamster, apparently). Just meat pics. I've got pics of their stand in my Portland Farmer's Market albums. I need to get some of their regular spot some time. http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?op=mod...bumName=album91 Look at the awesome smoke ring on the brisket and how moist it is: