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I owe you a huge apology Mamster for my above review of Shiki. I just went back and looked at your review of Azuma in the Times and it starts out thuswise: "Imagine you're at the baggage claim at Sea-Tac." What blatent plagiarism!! I assure you it was not done intentionally or maliciously. Surely this will get me arrested. And to think I just sent an email to Mamster about plagiarising himself with his latest article here. Which looks surprisingly like this article by the same author! Glad to see that your previous efforts were not just for the joy of writing. Oh yeah, I'll be making Penne alla Vodka tonight which will make the second dish you've written about that I've later made.

"Big Night" with Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci. The way Shalhoub obsessed about his cooking was delightful to watch. I was certainly hungary after watching it. I was decidedly NOT hungary after watching Delicatessen, though I thoroughly enjoyed it. However I did happen to see this at one of those theaters that serves food and beer. I ordered the hot wings with Dave's Insanity sauce and bucket of beer.

A belated happy birthday Heron!

That gumbo sounds terrific! I can't wait to hear about your trip through Texas to hear your take on the bbq and how it compares to other 'que in the SE.

I watched her episode (well, the cooking part) for Thanksgiving where she had her accountent prepare the family's "blackened turkey." First of all, I was not surprised that the accountent was practically a soup-nazi in preparing the turkey, she repeatedly stated: "It must be done this way!" Never once, did the accountent mention WHY it must be done in that fashion. For this I blame Martha, she supposedly informitive about everything else, plus she's the host. I am always one to keep an open mind (well, when food is concerned) about trying new ways to prepare food. But the she never once offered any explanation as to how turkey prepared in this fashion is better than traditionally prepared turkeys. She pulled it out of the oven and showed us a black turkey, she didn't even carve it! Was it juicy? Does it taste good or does her family not know any better? For Pete's sake, I can grossly overcook a turkey too, I just can't get it on Martha's show. The next guy though was in the food business and carved up the breasts, wrapped them in bacon and then roasted them, which did sound good if a little labor intensive. He also de-boned the legs and stuffed 'em, also looking good. fyi, I've yet to see another show, and smoking a turkey is the best way to prepare it. The only downside to smoking a turkey is that you don't get any drippings for gravy.

On the raw front, I need to try steak tartare. I know that The Stranger had an article on tartare restaurants in the area, has anyone tried them?

Monday: Caesar salad from scratch. I liked the mix of roasted garlic and fresh garlic but the Aviator Ale mustard was a little too much. Otherwise a fine salad with plenty of anchovies. Tuesday: Went out for sushi, you can read about it here. Wednesday: Again went out, but to a revamped Mexican joint that used to have the best burritos in town (Seattle) and luckily that didn't muck too much with them. Tonight I'll be cooking, but I'm not sure what yet.

Pancho Villa is finally open! And praise the Lord above, they still have my favorite burrito. Even better is that they will have their liquor license in a month. Woo hoo! First I have to say that they did a great job of remodeling the place. Second, it's really eerie sitting down to eat there. And I do miss my Mexican soap operas that were always on. But so far, I'm quite happy with the new ownership as they have added many tasty-looking items while retaining the entire menu of Guadalupana, even the tripe soup on the weekends. Started off with the Shrimp Ceviche (they used the Spanish word for Shrimp) which was a tasty amalgation of lime (though not enough for my tastes), onion, tomato, cilantro (though not enough for my tastes) and a tiny bit of jalepeno. The shrimp were the tiny variety. I don't want to give a bad impression, I did like it. The appetizer was $7.50 and was sizable and came with four large (about 6") tortilla chips. I ordered the al pastor burrtio Pancho Villa whilst Batgrrrl ordered the chicken Pancho Villa burrito. The chunks of al pastor were larger than previous and were not seared or chared as well as before, but decent enough. The chicken was nice, but like the al pastor, I've had better. I've never ordered the burritos for the meat fillings as the rice and beans along with the fresh onions, cilantro, and uneven sour cream and guacamole are what keep me coming back. There is the regular burrito (which is I assume what Guadalupana offered) at $6, a markup of $1. The Pancho Villa burrito is I'm guessing about 20% larger. If you want limes (yes, you do) I believe you have to ask for them on the side for a fee. I didn't realize our orders didn't come with them until after the fact. The best news I'm saving for last. They have pop in real glass bottles! Granted it was $5 for two 12 oz. Cokes and a 7UP, but it was worth it. Drank one of the Coke's this morning and remembered why I used to drink pop. It's sooooo much better. I did a comparison with Coke from a can and I almost did a spit take. Either the canned version started disolving my fillings, or there's a strong metallic taste.

Shiki, 4 W Roy St., lower Queen Anne Imagine going to fish store, sitting at the bar (ok, imagine a bar with a fish tank) and ordering from the tanks. It's that cool! On the corner of the bar there's a 10-gallon tank chock full of the most darling ama ebi (sweet shrimp) you ever did see. There's also a terrarium next to the bar with sawagani, the cute little river shore crab that is lightly tempura'ed and eaten whole. Sawagani and amaebi are two of my favorites when going out for sushi, they have an irrepressible "cool" factor that you just can’t get anywhere else but a sushi bar. Unfortunately Shiki's doesn't have any fugu at the moment as the season just ended in March. However, you can rest assured that in October, when the next season starts, I’ll be pushing and shoving old women and infants out of my way to try it (though everything I’ve read says that fugu is really boring and not worth it). As far as I can tell, Shiki is the only restaurant in the States that is allowed to serve fugu that alone makes it cool and it will be a badge of honor. Before I get into the entire meal, I have to gush about the ama ebi. There is something special about seeing what you are about to eat alive and swimming, enjoying what life has to offer. Then, seeing it yanked out, put in front of you writhing and jumping and then torn in half as the succulent tail meat is put on fingers of rice, still twitching. STILL TWITCHING! That is what gets me excited about sushi. In one of my first posts I gush about trying ama ebi for the first time at Shiros and lamenting that the only thing that could make it better was if the tail was still twitching, my prayers have been answered! My meal comrade was Mamster and we placed ourselves in the benevolent hands of Ken Yamamoto (I got an extra albacore for desert for free!) for omakase, or chef’s choice. Ken is not as inventive (frisky?) as the masters at Mashiko’s, as all of our sushi was nigiri except for the sawagani. But Ken does a great job of getting LOTS of different fish that are very, very fresh. The nigiri pieces were ideal in size, generous without being obscene or ungainly. Shiki’s has a bright and comfortable, traditional atmosphere but it is not as swanky as the Belltown sushi joints. There was a TV behind the bar that was playing the original “Chucky” film. Thankfully it was changed to the M’s game in time to catch the end of the pre-game show, a small gesture adding another feather to Yamamoto’s cap. I’ll start food discussion off with the standards that were served: maguro (great), toro (fatty tuna, extra, extra great), yellow tail (great), ablacore (creamy and luscious, some of the best in town), salmon (boring, but good quality) and unagi (good, but boring). Ken also served up two types of mackerel, which were fatty, but in a good way (Mamster noted a hint of smoke). The scallop was generous and extremely fresh, very succulent and absolutely divine. I give high kudos to Ken for keeping such high caliber of seafood. I was pretty much swooning like a teenager for every piece he was preparing. There were also two roe nigiri, salmon and flying fish. I haven’t had the salmon roe in ages and it was just as I remember it, big juicy roe teeming with salt. With all of the fantastic sushi here, I was most surprised with the flying fish roe, which is easily the best I’ve ever had. It was smoky, a little salty and has ruined all other roe for me. I love how you keep finding more roe in your mouth after you finish a piece. Ken also served up bonito, or “white” tuna. It has a smooth texture like albacore but has a distinct and refreshing taste that I can’t put my finger on. We were quite lucky that there was uni (sea urchin roe) on hand and it compares with the best I’ve had (Mashiko’s still takes the cake though for their squid/uni combination, mmmm). There were two whitefish I haven’t mentioned, flounder and halibut, both of which were very nice. Last but not least was the geoduck, which was chewier than I’ve had at other places. I am ever so happy with Shiki’s and it exceeded my expectations. Anybody that keeps tanks of live shrimp for everyone to see is very high up on my list. With the STILL TWITCHING shrimp, Shiki has beat Shiro’s in my list of favorite sushi restaurants. Yamamoto does an incredible job of getting only the freshest fish and seafood and has a great collection of items that other establishments only serve at limited times. Shiki’s is not for the faint of pocketbook though but on par with other places like Mashiko’s and Shiro’s and certainly worth every penny.

[Ack, I already posted about this but it was right before the site went down yesterday to restore the old posts] Before Sunday's game I went to Banh Mi 88 on this board's advice. I have to admit I didn't go in to the joint with the best attitude. Although I was ravenously hungry (I'd go so far as to say fungry), I parked near Uwajimaya and walked by at least a dozen restaurants with gorgeous bbq duck or wonderful smells emanating their siren song. It took extreme self control walking past Azuma and not going in (it was only later did I realize that Azuma wasn't even open on Sunday afternoons). And I did have trouble locating the place after I got to 12th and Jackson because I had forgotten that it was in a VIDEO STORE. It's probably a shame that I'm not adventurous enough to try video store deli food without a recommendation. Though luck did not shine down on the M's that day (more like impotence) it did shine on me as I was treated to some incredible sandwiches. I ordered the #1 combo and the #3 bbq beef. At least I think it was beef and I have no idea was the combo was a comination of but it was probably pork that had been peppered as all of the meat was white and juicy. What I do know is that I can't wait to get back and try more. The reason I don't know what meat was in the combo is that I can't read Vietnamese very well, or to put it simply, at all. While waiting for the food I thought I could pick out a few words, but I was only deluding myself (runs in the family). How in the hell can they afford to sell these big sandwiches (I'm still giddy thinking about those baguettes) for only $1.50!?!?! If they were anywhere outside of the ID they could sell 'em for $5 or $6 and everyone would still be asking how they make any money. Cheap rent I guess? Subsidies from the video counter? The bbq beef sandwich was a surprise. Mamster nailed the sauce right on the head. My only complaint is that the meat wasn't the apex of cuts and both sandwiches leaned towards sinewy near the end. But at $1.50, I'm happy to report I didn't see any snouts, entrails or "miscellaneous" cuts and would gladly go back for more. To sum up both sandwiches in one word, it would be "refreshing." Fantastic bread, interesting and different meat (I can't wait to try the fried tofu across the street) and pickled veggies led to a completely new experience. I scarfed down both sandwiches only occasionally coming up for air. The daikon and carrots added to the texture while the fish sauce, onions, jalepenos and cilantro knocked the rest of the flavors home. If only I could get down to the ID more often.

At Sunday's game (let's hear it for leaving 11 men on base! I've come to the conclusion that for the best way to get outs against the M's is let to sacks get full of M's and then let them self-destruct.) it seemed that after every half inning someone was bringing garlic fries into our area and I'll be damned if they didn't smell good. But since I had a Banh Mi sandwich leftover, I held my ground.

Last week I found a new candy to die for. It's called Pocky and it's a Japanese candy that is starting to do well in the States. It's basically a long pretzel that is dipped in coatings. Here's a lineup: But my favorite is Pocky for Men: I have NO idea why they apply a gender to the chocolate Pocky, but they did. I am not aware of Pocky for Women.

That chefwork's site is fantastic, all of my future clothes purchases will be from them!

Gene's voice was low, but he could also squeal like a little girl, it was great! If I had a voice range like his, I could be in movies! Upon second thought, radio.

Hit Dixie's for the first time today and was lucky enough to eat outside where you couldn't ask for better conditions. I love spring! Dixie's is owned by a the husband and wife team of Dixie and Gene Porter from Louisianna and I have no reason to believe what they serve isn't true to style, but I've never been to Louisianna and had local 'que. It's generally West NC style, they specialize in pulled pork shoulder in a tomato based sauce. But there's also some Texas influence as I bought the Dixie's Special sandwich ($8) with brisket (a la pulled pork) with a hot link and a bottled root beer. It also included a choice of side: potato salad, beans and rice or corn bread. I opted for the tater salad and although decent, I not so secretly wished for the beans and rice which, like the cornbread, was made on site. The sandwich menu has the aforementioned pulled pork, brisket (sans link), the "520" special of the pork and a link and the Dixie special. There are dinner plates of spare ribs and chicken and others that aren't coming to mind. Gene is half the reason people swarm to Dixie's. He strolls among the patrons with a saucepan of a deep ruby, almost chipotle colored hot sauce with the consistancy of Chinese chili paste. He taunts patrons and indulges them, really cool guy. After I was finished, he addressed me: "Hey blue shirt! Take it like a man. Goddamn" This sauce is hot. Had I indulged myself I suppose I could've seen through time, but I was already stuffed by the massive amount of meat in the sandwich. The lunch was enjoyable, but the 'que was uninspiring. Luckily, it was a gorgeous day and "The Man" sauce made the sandwich far more interesting than it was without it. I am very pleased that I can now say "I've met The Man," everyone should, at least once. Before I completely give up on Seattle area bbq though, I'll have to give 3 Pigs are tryout. Oh, here are the essentials: Dixie's BBQ 11522 Northup Wy Bellevue, WA 98004-1411 Phone: (425) 828-2460

Upon ACTUALLY DRIVING past Pancho Villa's, I noticed that it is still quite empty and not quite open for business yet. But rest assured, I am waiting with baited breath. The idea a Mexican joint within stumbling distance from home makes me weepy. Heron, you did say they were working on a liqour license right?

It looks like the renovation of La Guadalupana is complete. There's a new sign, the windows are no longer obstructed and Wild West Trucks (the oracle of Maple Leaf) has given its official welcoming. It's really a shame that everything else that WWT puts up on their signs amounts to inane drivel. Multple times his quotes or comments have met with "way to go out on a limb." I hope that it won't bring the new Pancho Villa down. I haven't been in the new place but I'll probably drop in tonight for a burrito and give a suitable write-up. If y'all have forgotten, Pancho Villa is the Robin Hood of Mexico and between the war of 1812 and 9/11, the only person to have killed Americans on their own soil. He won wide acclaim for his leadership in the Mexican Revolution. What made him (in)famous happened in 1916. Pancho attacked an Army garrison in Columbus, NM, in retaliation for 20 Mexicans burned alive in El Paso. This attack lit a fire under the Americans and President Wilson sent an army of 5000 men under General Pershing to find Pancho Villa to find Villa, but came back empty handed. Pancho Villa was eventually assassinated in 1923.

One of the cool things about hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner is that my guests, being the souses they are, bring lots of alcohol and wine. I make specific requests for Tanqueray No. Ten and Bombay Saphire with proclivities leaning towards No. Ten. So after turkey day, the Ten was gone within a week but I still have a third of a bottle of Saphire and after six months, I haven't noticed any degredation. I only make the very dry martini's with the good stuff, only 1/4 teaspoon of Vermouth to about a double shot of gin. Now I always heard that Churchill liked his martinis without Vermouth, but upon a quick a web check I found this on the official Churchill website: Which in turn was quoted from a '99 of Food and Wine and then was debunked by Churchill's grandson:

Great! I haven't done short ribs before and am glad to try them out. I'll even do a trial run before you arrive. They'll certainly be on the menu. I'm sure I speak for everyone in the PacNW forum that we can't wait to meet the three of you. To help the trip get started: 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer! take one down, pass it around 98 bottles of beer on the wall! [edit disclosure: I didn't answer the question.]

Great, I hear about this place AFTER I go to Vancouver. Well, I'll put it on the list for next time, along with Dim Sum and Vij's.

Steven, mamster mentioned that you were stopping in Seattle and that you would be interested in a picknic of sorts. I'd be happy to fire up the smoker for you. My backyard's decently large and fenced so Momo shouldn't have a problem. Although one of the cats may get snippy but they'll shy away for the most part. I can smoke up one of my specialties and I can take a couple of requests too. I've smoked most cuts of pork (three cheers for back ribs!), beef roasts and brisket, seafood, cheese, chicken, turkey, duck, goat, venison, and even rabbit. Although I have yet to try smoking a mullet. I suppose I should go watch Fried Green Tomatoes again, as I recall, they smoked up a proponent of domestic violence with positive results. Maybe he had a mullet?

Despite the M's losing yesterday, it was a blast to be there. I was in section 346 (the nose-bleed, boondocks section) and as such, had the best seats in the house for when the A6E's flew overhead. Another beautiful moment was when the whole crowd booed commissioner Bud Selig before handing out the commissioner's historical significance award. But back to food, the concession stand didn't have any Polish dogs so I had a pretty good, if small, Hebrew National. But the small stature of the dog allowed for plenty of mustard, kraut, onions and relish (which later said hello to my pants). A very satisfying endeavor. Baseball is back and (most) everything is right in the world. Also by my section was a bar-b-que stand. Luckily I did see someone try to eat what looked like a pulled pork sandwich otherwise I wouldn't know what their food looked like. I didn't feel the need to try it though. However, the garlic fries looked very good (below, on the 100 level) and I imagine myself trying some later in the season. Of course there was plenty of pizza, ice cream and horribly overpriced beer. Apparently this year they've add a lot of Asian food at the request of the fans I'm probably sure. There's a Chinese stand around home plate and near the bullpen at street level there is the aforementioned hand-made fresh sushi. Though I see no reason to eat sushi there when you can go to Azuma only 15 minutes away (walking) in the ID where you can be in and out in a half-hour if you play your cards right. Granted there is the novelty of ordering sushi at the ballpark that is hard to argue with. Oh yeah, somewhere in Safeco (pronounced Sa-feee-co) is a granola stand with tofu dogs and granola. Is Seattle still a granola city? I thought we grew out of that when grunge died. If you'd like more of the expensive food service, by all means go to the Hit-It-Here cafe where you can get a good view from above left field and you can have a wait staff serve you hamburgers, oysters and other nice brewpub fare and charge you an extra 20%. We went there on Saturday because it was a little too chilly in the stands. The biggest drawback is it's completely closed off and you loose the "crowd" feel. But there's also an outside service area. Neat, but overpriced. The Hit-It-Here is about being seen at a sporting event. I'm there for the game and the atmosphere and as such fail to see the lure of it. FYI, if you'd like to have a few drinks at the ballpark but don't feel like paying $6.50 for a Red Hook or a Doc Otis (yeah heartburn!), I suggest bringing a flask. They're easy to conceal and I consider them a lifesaver. Just order a pop to dump it in (this case: bourbon and 7-up) and you're good to go. -baseball loving souse.

I'm taking off for the first game of the season against the Big Hurt and the Chicago White Sox. I consider it sacrilege *not* to get a healthily garnished Polish dog at a ball game. I certainly won't be one to break tradition today and mine will have lots of mustard, onions, and sauerkraut. However, going to one of the spring training games this weekend, I noticed there are a lot of different food stands at Safeco, there's even a sushi stand! With all of the diversity there, what do you all enjoy at the ballpark?

I consider only one of my smoked salmon to be successful and although it was very smokey (and really delicious), it was not like the smoked salmon you buy at the store which is almost rare. I smoked mine at around 165 degrees F for a little over an hour and half and it was cooked thoroughly. When the big runs come in I'm going to try a new method that uses a small amount of coals and wood chips. It will allow for temps in the smoker to below 100 degrees and I'll be able to smoke it for six to eight hours and still keep it uncooked. Perfect for nigiri! I'm much better at smoking pork, poultry and beef. Oh yeah, and cute little goats and bunny rabbits (I almost forgot!). girl chow, you're salmon bake sounds like a lot of fun. Do you cook salmon (and other fish) on the cedar planks a lot? I've heard that's a pretty stylish trend these days and I haven't experienced it. I have some old cedar shingles in my tool shed, maybe I'll try one of those, the one with the least amount of moss and spider webs I suppose?

I haven't been to that resort on Cresent Lake but I did drive around the lake and it's absolutely gorgeous. My brother and I went on a road trip last summer around the Olympic coast (to find a decent spot to surf) and I absolutely fell in love with the peninsula. We stopped for lunch at the Lake Quinault Lodge where they had an all you can bbq on the lake front with salmon, burgers, all sorts of salads and sweet corn. It also happened to be a gorgeous day and the lake and resort were really beautiful.