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Exotic Mushroom

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Everything posted by Exotic Mushroom

  1. I'd like to try durian. I live in the Bay Area. Does anyone have a suggestion for where I should go to get it?
  2. My top bourbons? 1. Black Maple Hill 2. Bookers 3. Pappy Van Winkle 23 year 4. Blanton's and finally, Jim Beam. I like it way more than Maker's, which I find cloying. It's cheaper, and I don't see why it gets no respect. I love to kick back with a glass of JB neat after a long day.
  3. I've never been to Seattle, so I can't really comment on the Thai (or any other) food there. I do live in Oakland, and I absolutely love Thai food. I eat it all the time. When I was in Portland, friends would take me to Thai restaurants, and I just really didn't like them at all. Until I went to the place on Belmont, I was convinced I hated Thai food in general. Then I adored that place. Then I moved and discovered what a wonderful cuisine it is. Of course, I certainly didn't go to every Thai restaurant in Portland. Also, it's likely that there are new places since I moved. I wasn't trying to be super down on Portland, just suggesting I place I remember being good and preferencing it with my perspective.
  4. I grew up in Texas and have to say that I think Campbells can hold it's own with almost any place down there. It was high on my list of favorite places when I lived in Portland. You just can't beat their brisket with smoky brown sugar. And the sides were always a treat as well.
  5. I used to live in Portland and was completely unimpressed with the Thai food there in general. However, I did love this little place on SE Belmont around 35th or 36th St., next to the Avalon Theater. It was in a house. Can't remember the name. It's easy to find if you go to where I said, though. Anyway, I always thought that way the best Thai food in town. I'd highly recommend it. Go with someone you like to talk to, though. If I recall correctly, it can sometimes be a long wait.
  6. I don't really see the point to posting restaurant health ratings in windows. For anyone who really cares, the information is publicly available. And to echo a sentiment from several posters here, I'd say that rarely have I seen anyone working in their home kitchen with anything close to the level of concern for sanitation expected of restaurants. Would I refuse to eat in a B restaurant? Hell, no! One of my favorite restaurants when I lived in Oregon had a sign in their front window that read "FAILED TO COMPLY with Multnomah County Health Standards" blah blah blah. Not quite sure how they were able to get away with remaining open, but I ate there at least once a month anyway.
  7. I was horrified when I first read that so many people had experienced poor service at Oliveto, since it had always been wonderful for me (see my post upthread). I couldn't imagine what people were talking about. I eat downstairs roughly once a week, and dine upstairs probably every three months or so. The only small service nitpick I'd ever had was that no one seemed to remember me. I'm polite, interested in the food, fairly distinctive looking, and I tip well, so generally I get recognized anywhere I've gone at least twice, and often am remembered after only one visit to a restaurant. But it never really bothered me since I was always treated well anyway. Until last night. I walked into the cafe at 5 PM, planning on getting a drink and then ordering dinner when they started serving dinner at 5:30. I took a seat at a small table and waited patiently for five minutes (I know it was five minutes, because I was looking at the clock above the bar). When no one helped me, I tried to flag down one of the three servers, and was told that someone would be with me in a second. After fifteen minutes of trying to be helped, I started to gather my things to leave, then thought better of it and decided to wait out of sheer morbid curiosity. My presence was not even acknowledged until 5:45 PM! When I told the waiter how long I'd been waiting, he told me there must have been confusion because of shift changes (never mind that there were three servers helping out the other dozen people present, while I sat without so much as a glass of water) and comped me a glass of wine. I stayed and ate, but I didn't really enjoy my meal at all because I was so frustrated. I thought at the very least, such an egregious service error would merit a personal apology from a manager or maitre d'. But nothing. The bartender who had ignored me for forty five minutes brought me my wine, but didn't apologize or even make eye contact. At this point, I'm so frustrated that I don't even want to go back ever again. In forty five minutes, they managed to kill two years of loyal, regular patronage. I couldn't believe no one even apologized me. That would have made me feel a whole lot better than getting a nine dollar glass of wine for free. I have had pleading apologies and $100 gift certificates given to me for less offenses at TGI Fridays, for goodness sake.
  8. Charles Shaw is fairly palatable, especially for people who don't have much of a taste for wine. I've found that it seems to be held in extremely high regard by people who know what it costs and also don't know very much about wine. That is to say, people seem to like it more when they know they're tasting a $2 bottle of wine than if they're drinking it blind. Personally, I don't like the stuff at all. For me, it's drinkable, but then so is Night Train. I'm somewhat of a wine afficianado, so when I've criticized it, people will often accuse me of being a snob, or just liking expensive wines. I disagree. There are plenty of values to be found in wine if you're willing to do a lot of experiementing, and I've found a few wines in the under $5 range at Cost Plus that I think are pretty good (and not just good considering their price. That's a distinction many people make that I object to. Either you like it or you don't. A bad wine doesn't become more palatable because it's cheap.). But those wines are rare. And two buck Chuck is definitely not one of them.
  9. Just wanted to pop in with a dessert suggestion. Rather than trying to use soy milk substitute ice cream, you might want to try something I picked up from a vegan friend of mine. He would take nuts (cashews usually, but any kind will do) and run them in the food processor to have homemade nut butter. He would then sweeten and flavor it with a little bit of maple syrup or whatever other flavoring he felt like, then freeze it. He'd serve it in scoops like ice cream, and I always thought it was a pretty nice dessert. I feel your frustration with dairy free desserts. My aunt can't have any dairy and I hate cooking dessert when she's over. Sorbets and fruit ices are fine in the summer, but when the weather gets cold, you don't want to serve those anymore. Anyway, I've served nut butter ice cream with margaraine based molten chocolate babycakes a few times with her and it has always been well recieved. Oh, and for the person who asked about eggs. Dairy comes from cows. Eggs come from chickens. Eggs are not dairy.
  10. This cracked me so much when I read it, because at the last restaurant I was working at, my boss tried to make me do exactly this. I would clean the bathroom (we only had one) before service started, and then I would return to my busy busy position in the kitchen. And then the owner, who would spend all his time wandering around and chatting with patrons, would frequently notice (or perhaps be told) that the bathroom was looking a little dirty, and wander into the kitchen and tell me to go mop the bathroom when I had a whole line-up of orders to get to. It would take all I had to hold back my urge to scream at all, "Can't you see I'm busy? Why don't You go clean the bathroom!" I hated him so much. For the record, we always kept our kitchen very well-cleaned, but as long as I was there, we never managed to find a way to keep our one single use bathroom looking nice for an entire service. Even if people were scheduled to go check it out and tidy it up at regular intervals, you can never tell when somebody gross is going to go in there and make it icky. They might go gross it up immediately after you've cleaned it, and then it will continue to look icky until the next scheduled check-up time. Umm...I guess, I would have to say that no, I don't think a bathroom is always a good indicator of a kitchen's cleanliness.
  11. I don't think I've bought packaged cookies in at least two years, but this thread made me start thinking about them, and now I'm probably going to be spending a huge pile of money tomorrow at Safeway buying every kind I love. A a gallon of milk to go with them. And then I'm gonna sit on my couch and eat them all! Oh crap, having a dinner party tomorrow. It'll have to wait until Saturday. But to start complining my list...Le Petit Ecolier, Double Stuff Oreos, Mother's Cookie Parade, Mint Milanos, Soft Batch, and those cookies that are like Oreos, but one side is vanilla and the other side is chocolate. Oh! And those cookies that have a thin layer of fudge on the bottom and then stripes of fudge on top. I don't remember what they're called. But they're really good. Oh man, I'm gonna gain like ten pounds this weekend.
  12. As a passionate lover of both food and fine wine, I'm going to go the other way and say I'd take the wine. I think this has at least something to do with the fact that the money would be unexpected. While I make an effort in my everyday life to save up and indulge in fine restaurants as often as I can, I do not make room in my budget for truly spectacular wine. Therefore, for me, the wine would be an otherwise out of reach experience, whereas the dinner out would just add another point in my series of fine meals. I'd rather go for the option that is more out of reach in my normal life. I was lucky to grow up with wine lovers/collectors as parents, and had the opportunity to taste many of the world's finest offerings. I still do so when I visit them, but simply can't afford expensive wine myself. I do think that using the $1000 on wine would be wasteful for someone without a strong wine background and exceptionally well developed palate. It takes a lot of training to really be able to appreciate the differences between this super premium class and other excellent wines enough to make the increased cost worthwhile. I would use the money on a truly spectacular bottle, and bring it back home to drink with my parents, accompanied by a truly fabulous dinner cooked by yours truly. The meals I've shared with them while drinking amazing wine remain some of my most treasured memories, certainly more so than any meal I've eaten at a restaurant. I do think that, were you to pose the question on a wine board, the answers would probably be stacked more on the wine side than the dinner out.
  13. My best friend keeps kosher, which I respect, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't frustrate me. He will often come over for dinner like four nights a week, and is present at almost any dinner party I throw. No meat and dairy in the same meal, no seafood ever, no pork...it starts to feel pretty limiting. When I go home to visit my parents, my mother's sister comes over for at least half of our meals, and she can't have any dairy products at all. Again, I know she can't help her allergy, but it still irritates me to no end.
  14. I only drink dark roast coffee as well, but theirs isn't dark, it's burnt. There's a difference.
  15. My youngest sister is the most incredibly picky eater. Until she turned ten, she used to demand "[her] recipe" for dinner every single night. (I think that now it's only every other night). Said recipe was a bowl of cottage cheese, three baby carrots, and an ample serving of ketchup, topped with a few generous shakes of Mrs. Dash. I have no idea how she came by this "recipe," since we never even kept three of those four ingredients in the house until she started asking for it. I'm a mayonaise-phobe, but I've learned to deal with it. It took years, though. When I used to babysit, if kids would ask for maoynaise on sandiwches I would go to great lengths to talk them out of it. I used to actually have to fight back vomit when I got too close, the smell disgusted me so much. I'd make the little brats their sandwiches with one hand pinching my nose. As far as gross use of condiments, if my sister's "recipe" doesn't top the bill, then I gotta go with Reubens. I think thousand island dressing is just about the most disgusting thing ever (come on - ketchup, mayonaise, and relish all mixed together? Gag me with a spoon!). I can't even process why people would want it slathered on their otherwise inoffensive sandwiches. I do lunch shift at place that has a fairly nice menu, then a bunch of sandwiches for the local business take-out crew at lunch, and I must make at least thirty Reubens a day. and I don't think I've ever made a single one without wanting to vomit when I spread it on the bread.
  16. I love beer. If I had to compose a list of my top five beers, it would probably take me months to decide between all the contenders. But I need no time to declare my number 1: Black Butte Porter out of Oregon. It's amazing. I have never tasted a beer I liked more. I don't know how available it is in most of the country. I used to live in Portland, so it was every then (even at your friendly neighboorhood ghetto-mart). I live in the Bay Area now and have no difficulty finding it anywhere with a decent beer selection. And I've seen it in Houston and Aspen. Other than that, I don't know. But if you ever see it, please try it. You will be amazed.
  17. I refuse to drink at Starbucks unless a companion insists on it for two reasons, both mentioned here. First, they burn their beans. I hate their roast. It just tastes charred, and when you always order house black (as I do), that makes for undrinkable coffee. Many people tell me that they don't like to drink Starbucks locally, but when they travel, the go there because they know the coffee is consistent and good. I'll give it consistent, but good? I'd rather take my chances with any given neighboorhood joint. Even if it's bad, it usually tastes better to be than Starbucks. Second, I refuse to demean myself by ordering in ridiculous pseudo-Italian. When I go there, I order a large, and the cashiers usually force me to go through some ridiculous back and forth of "You mean venti?" "Large." "So what size? Venti?" "Large" and so on until they just finally cave because a line is forming behind me. On the issue of Starbucks raising coffee awarness - I really don't think so. The vast majority of the drinks they serve are so over-diluted with sugar and cream that most of their customers have no more appreciation for coffee than they did ten years ago. All Starbucks has really accomplished is making people feel justified in drinking oversize milkshakes all day long by calling it coffee.
  18. Exotic Mushroom

    champagne

    That's a choice that really depends on your particular taste in champagne. I've never been a big Cristal fan - I find it a little too one-note sweet for my personal tastes. I won't go as far as to call it cloying, but you get the idea. Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill is hands down my favorite champagne. I'll pick it any day of the week if I can afford it at the moment. It also has a fairly sweet flavor, but dry at the same time. I'm not a professional wine critic (obviously), so I don't think I'm doing a good job describing this. Let's try this: I find it has a very strong crisp apple flavor - a sort of dry sweetness with a really refreshing feel. Of course, sometimes the Cristal is worth it just for the experience of having something so indulgently expensive. I've only had it on its own a few times - every other time has been in compartive blind tastings and it usually doesn't fare too well. But then, on those occasions when we just wanted to be incredibly decadent, I make no apologies for having choosen it. Basically, it all comes down to what you value for this particular occasion. I've had the '90s for both, and I think the general descriptions above hold pretty true for that vintage. In summary...both are yummy.
  19. I lived in Portland for five years (moved away less than a year ago) and worked for a food and wine publication there. Thus, I was pretty much in tune with everything that was happening on the Portland culinary scene, and I have to say...not impressed. There are a few restaurants that have some nice stuff to offer, but overall, I found the quality of the food and the "creative" efforts coming out of there just so uninteresting that I had to move. The one thing I did like about Portland was that you can find a nice snacky menu at any decent bar. (This in contrast to Oakland, where I live now, and no bars offer food). And the nicer bars often have pretty interesting menu's composed by skilled chefs. I used to enjoy evenings of bar hopping and getting fairly interesting little bites everywhere we went - enough to add up to a full meal's worth consumed in an evening. I think that options like that (not very pricey, but small portions) do encourage people to try things they often wouldn't otherwise. But I think that really only works if you have that option at many places - otherwise you're just going to a tapas-style restaurant.
  20. I love Ketel for everyday drinking and for special occasions I try to vary my choice. I often find myself coming back to Chopin, though. As for the person who asked about Charbay upthread...I'm not huge on most of their flavored vodkas, but I love the grapefruit with a pasion. It takes like the perfect greyhound. I could (well, I have) just drink it neat all day long. I highly recommend it.
  21. As far as what vodka to use - I think a good rule of thumb is never to use something for infusing that you wouldn't happily drink on its own. I like Skyy for infusing because it starts out so flavor empty, but smooth. But in general, don't go with super cheap stuff. As for what to infuse with - I've recently become enthralled with using cucumber. It produces a very mild flavor, but also very crisp and pleasant. It's an interesting twist and is generally great to drink straight, in martinis, or in bloody marys.
  22. Exotic Mushroom

    Dinner! 2003

    Microgreens and edible flowers in vinagrette with crumbled bleu cheese, homemade croutons, and a variety of heirloom tomatoes paired with a lovely Alsace Pinot Gris and a side of fresh English peas. So simple, so satisfying. All veggies fresh from the farmer's market this morning. Yum.
  23. Love: Rick Bayless and a bunch of others who I won't mention, cause this part is less fun. Hate: Alice Waters - her constant whining drives me insane. And her fixation on how everyone in the world needs to eat only locally made foods from small producers drives me nuts. That's great when you live in the Bay Area, and I certainly appreciate the opportunity to take advantage of it, but she doesn't seem to realize that it isn't exactly a practical lifestyle if you live in say, Cleveland. Oh, and her recent fixation on grass fed beef. Has anyone here ever eaten that crap? Gag me with a spoon. I've practically had wet dreams about publicly debating her on all her ridiculous little food philosophies and taking her down in front of a sea of onlookers. Emeril - I don't have cable, so I don't see his show very often. But a few weeks ago I was over at a friends and it was on, so we watched it. Aside from being annoying, everything he made looked disgusting. And then he was demonstrating how to make Hollandaise and butchered it. I was very vocal about my dissaproval, and my friend was like "Well, Emeril''s been a chef a lot longer than you and he's really famous. I think he knows a little better than you." What-ever. I could probably come up with more, but those are the two that really yank my craw. (Is that the expression?)
  24. Upthread someone was asking about Bookers. I think this is an excellent specimen - among my favorites. My favorite review I ever read of it said something like "A nose and heavy and rich as a Southern summer evening right before a storm." I almost died when I read it because I had written something very similar myself while trying to describe it. Its just so potent and rich. If you aren't used to drinking uncut Bourbons though, you might not like it. It takes a little getting used to. And I'll second the recommendation from someone upthread for Black Maple Hill. This is my favorite, hands down. I love, love, love it. While it's pretty pricey, it's definitely worth the cost if you can afford it. ---- And on to my actual reason for posting. I'm thinking of having a bourbon dinner in the next couple of months - several courses of dishes, all using bourbon as at least one ingredient and designed to highlight the flavors in the bourbons they're paired with (a different one for every course.) I was wondering if anyone had any menu planning suggestions or if anyone had tried anything like this before?
  25. I think Rebel Yell is a pretty fair bang for the buck. It's definitely a decent thing to have around. I always keep a bottle in the house. But my vote for best bang for the buck goes to Jim Beam, hands down. Way cheaper than Makers and just as good, in my opinion. Of course, I prefer my bourbon to be not quite so sweet, so maybe that's why I'm not terribly into Makers. Rebel Yell is also available in Oregon, Texas, and California, for the record.
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