Verjuice

Yes, yes! I've been to Seattle only three times. During my first short visit, these happened to be the only two bakeries that I fortuitously walked past and decided to check out. On each subsequent trip, I pretty much lived on various pastries from both places because they were really that good. Macrina and Dahlia Lounge (nextdoor to the bakery) happen to be great for lunch and dinner, respectively, but it's the desserts that call me back. At Macrina, do not miss the lemon tart. I'm not usually fond of fruit and pastry combined, or the taste of lemon zest, for that matter, but the tart is sublime. I remember standing perfectly still on a busy sidewalk a block from the bakery and eating the entire slice slowly, barely conscious of the cars and people swirling around me in slow motion. The turtle brownies are very good, too, but not dense and moist enough for my corrupt palate. I sprinkle Maldon salt on everything caramel. Gives it pep, I think. Last year, I sustained myself on my first trip to Vancouver after a quick stop for lunch in Seattle with a huge box of a dozen pastries from Macrina. The only ones I couldn't finish were the muffins, which were pretty bland. In September of '04, I carried a loaf of the summer corn bread, which was highly recommended on the boards here, on my lap all the way back to New Mexico. It was meant to be August's loaf of the month, but it was so popular that they carried it into September. This past August, I found myself in Seattle for twenty-four hours, and I carried another loaf of summer corn bread on a plane with me, but this time I brought it to Dubai. Talk about devotion. Do not miss the coconut cream pie. I'm not a die-hard coconut fan, but I'd be hard-pressed to think of a more heavenly way to showcase its flavor. Amazing. If you do end up at Dahlia around dinner time, hit the Dahlia lounge for the homemade doughnuts... ohhh. Indeed. If you're passing through Pike's Place, pick up a hot crumpet with maple butter, walnuts and cream cheese from The Crumpet Shop (?) to tide you over between food samples.

If your friend's husband's appetite is poor and he can only manage small portions, then I suggest foods that keep well for a day or two in the fridge, and are relatively easy to digest. Salmon and avocado are two of the most nutritious, wonderful foods I know. Salmon, mashed potatoes and an avocado and tomato salad with lots of olive oil, for example, for a meal. Soft foods that are easy on the digestive system, like mashed potatoes, hot cereal with lots of Grade B maple syrup and nuts if they don't give him gas, veggie purees, dumplings, risotto, fruit smoothies, thick, smooth soups. Since chemotherapy and many pain medications associated with cancer treatment can complicate digestion (nausea and constipation for some, vomiting and diarrhea for others), I'd recommend cautionary use of dairy, and perhaps wheat as well. Just a thought.

I probably eat mustard in some form every day. I'm partial to Colman's English mustard. Indispensable. Occasionally, I like to strip the carcass of a cold roast chicken and slather shreds of meat with the hot mustard. I like the way it burns my nostrils. Like wasabi with more backbone. Puts hair on your chest, then singes it off. Dijon on sandwiches. Essential. Also in salad dressings. No flavored mustards, thanks. If I want flavor, I'll add it myself. That said, I will occasionally indulge in Ken's Steakhouse honey mustard dressing, which is the only worthwhile salad dressing I've ever eaten and alarmingly impossible to approximate in a home kitchen. It's outrageously creamy, mayonnaise-based I think, and absurdly sweet and tangy. Probably full of stabilizers and terrible things, but the most wonderful flavor on earth. ETA: Oops. In cooking. I don't really use it in cooking... . I've tried it in salmon marinades, but I prefer variations that don't include mustard.

Happy Birthday! My dad had high cholesterol his entire life until he finally agreed to start taking Lipitor last year. He's always been trim and fit, but even though he had eaten like a bird (muesli, rice, egg whites, fish, plain pasta, a spot of red wine with dinner) since his college years and runs five miles a day, he simply could not lower his cholesterol level with lifestyle modification. So, now, every three months he allows himself an appetizer-sized portion of whatever organ meat he's been forbidden to eat for several decades. A sliver of foie gras or a morsel of sweetbreads. I'd probably do the same but finish with some stilton (a wheel) and a bowl (a gallon) of ice cream.

The cucumbers look delicious. I'm just saying.

Never, ever seen an open-faced one. Or, rather, never ordered or made them that way. Do you use a knife and fork if it's served open-faced? So much of the pleasure, for me, is the textural component: crisp bread, oozing cheese, tender tuna salad. That said, my favorite tuna melt is whichever one I happen to be eating. They're all good. I used to make mine with tuna salad, which I'd construct any number of ways. The curry suggestion made upthread is a good one, though I've never had it in a melt. When I began my love affair with Italian oil-packed ventresca tuna, I did away with tuna salad and started adding the salad components separately. Not for any reason other than the fact the fatty belly tuna is sublime on its own and at that price I hesitate to break the beautiful, fragile fillets into smaller pieces. That said, I usually delicately dress the tuna with the mayonnaise-based condiment and leave it at that. In the past, I've used homemade tartar sauce, pesto, aioli, and wasabi mayonnaise. I encourage you to give oil-packed tuna a whirl. It preserves the tuna's subtle, buttery flavor while eliminating the pronounced fishiness that the water-packed kind has. Also, the texture is so much better; satiny, tender, never grainy or mushy. I'll never go back to the waterlogged stuff. Best tuna melts I've had in restaurants have involved bread that has been thoughtfully chosen; not too thick, appropriately buttered etc. Rye is good if it marries well with the other flavors, such as the horseradish havarti and pickle. That sounds really great. I'd skip the fruit and nut additions unless you plan on offering more than one tuna melt on the menu. You can always add funny stuff to tuna salad but you can't take it away. Experiment. Can you set out sample spoonfuls of three or four different tuna salads and see what folks think? You might try asking your regulars., too. Glenn, will you offer flexible options for the types of cheese and bread one can have with the tuna melt, or are you sticking with a daily special?

I still haven't been out for dinner more than once (Al-Nafoorah in Emirates Towers) in Dubai, and I've been living here for nearly half a year. Got to do something about that. And as far as lunch is concerned, well, I shamelessly admit that about twice a week I end up picking up a slice of dessert to go from the Lime Tree to tide me over in lieu of a proper meal. Love the chocolate cake, the brownies, the berry almond torte, the flourless pistachio cake with ginger frosting. But I think I need to branch out a bit more.

I used to love to play this game, either in the privacy of my mind to entertain myself at parties, or while out with friends in a place where there's a good view of the bar. Such fun. It started when a colleague referred to another of our colleagues whose name he had forgotten as "the woman who's like a big oatmeal cookie". It was perfect. She's earthy, sweet, a quiet crowd-pleaser. She has curly, sandy hair and red cheeks. She's rather heavy and wears birkenstocks. I laughed and laughed. I guess I'd be peanut sauce. Salty. Not particularly sweet, more subtly so. Spicy. Smooth. Brown. Assertive. And capable of inducing serious breathing complications or shock in the unsuspecting or naive.

Some vegans won't eat regular cane sugar because it is processed with charred bovine bones. I think beet sugar is readily available and vegan friendly, though. ← Okay, makes sense. I was just checking out the ingredients in a lot of prepared vegan foods and most of them use natural and minimally processed sweeteners, as well.

'The Voluptuous Vegan' (dreadful name, I know) by Myra Kornfeld has a few clever recipes in the dessert section. I've never tried any of them (why would I! But I do own the book and some of the savory recipes have given me good ideas) been meaning to try the raspberry-cornmeal tart (the almond crust sounds good) with raspberry sauce. She also has a recipe for date-pecan coffee cake. And gingerbread with blood-orange sauce. And peanut butter mousse cake, which consists of a layer of blondie topped by a peanut butter mousse and garnished with a peanut butter-chocolate sauce. But it's her peanut butter and banana ice cream that really speaks to me. Her version of carrot cake is served with a coconut-cardamom sauce. Better to be imaginative than to attempt to imitate the real thing, I guess. Meredith McCarty's 'Sweet & Natural' has lots of cookie recipes in it, but I can't say firsthand whether or not they're any good. I think that the nut butter idea is a great one. The only tolerable vegan desserts I've had have been ones that feature really strong flavors to overshadow the obnoxious taste of fake dessert and agar-agar, so I guess if it were up to me I'd go with, you know, hot and sassy gingersnaps instead of chocolate chip cookies. Think of the wonders of marzipan. And the versatility of potent but natural extracts of almond, vanilla, maple and coconut. Ooh. How about 'maple creams'; a sandwich cookie made using oatmeal cookies and a filling of maple syrup, maple extract and... um.... pureed tofu? Another thing I've noticed in recipes for vegan desserts is that a lot of them seem to adhere to particular philosophies associated with veganism rather than the rules and regulations involved. For example, a lot of recipes will call for brown rice syrup or maple sugar when you could really just use ordinary sugar. Etc.

Alternating spoonfuls of Nutella and peanut butter. A way to tack on a lazy, sweet ending to a long, rough day.

No egg. Homemade mayo a must. Adds the spirit of egg without the rubber.

A BLT from Pret A Manger in Heathrow airport. An utterly unremarkable sandwich that was overwhelmingly delicious to me after way too many hours without food.

Had dinner at the cafe about a month ago on the first evening of a wonderful vacation. I can't imagine a more appropriate or enjoyable way to have started out. We had a great time. I've been living overseas in a place where the imported produce arrives half-rotted wrapped in cling film; when I got to California, I hadn't had a salad in four months. Naturally, I proceeded to order everything on the menu that contained greens, which was nearly all of the appetizers (six), a pizzetta, a bottle of Sancerre and two desserts. It was an ideal amount of food for the two of us although we were warned that it would be "a huge amount"... . I thought I might burst into tears when I took my first bite of rocket; it was totally life-affirming. Thanks for all the helpful advice.

I had the pleasure of dining at Manresa on July 20th: Petit fours "red pepper-black olive" Radis au beurre Santa rosa plum with hibiscus and lime Corn croquettes Tomato soup, barely cooked, fennel tuile Arpege egg Broccoli and foie gras royale Striped jack, sashimi style, with olive oil... (friend) ... butterfish with wild celery bouillon (myself) Cool melon soup, silken almond tofu... (friend) ... strawberry gazpacho (myself) Dirty girl salad Rouget, dates scented with cumin... (friend) ... japanese bass, anchovy sofrigit and lemon basil (myself) Local abalone and pig's trotters, meuniere-style Roast suckling pig, mortar sauce of fava beans and mint Prime beef roasted in its own fat, foie gras, porcinis Local strawberries with mascarpone and 50 year old balsamico Roast apricots, pain perdu, corn ice cream Chocolate cherry napoleon, condensed milk ice cream Petit fours "strawberry-chocolate" With this, we consumed inordinate quantities of sourdough bread despite a regrettable and indigestible lunch at The Stinking Rose in San Francisco. Unfortunately, it's been long enough since we visited that I cannot remember what we were drinking. We started with cava, and I think we shifted to sauvignon blanc after the foie gras royale, then to pinot noir before the abalone course. We were at Manresa for five hours. The service was superb and the meal itself was the most memorable I've ever experienced in a restaurant; really a delightful and entertaining evening. Afterwards (past midnight) we walked over a mile through silent downtown Los Gatos to our hotel, pausing every dozen steps to assimilate our santa rosa plum-induced euphoria or reflect on those magical little corn croquettes. We were giddy when we left and remained that way for a couple of days. We met Chef Kinch after the meal and I was feeling rather tipsy at this point and had to restrain myself because I really wanted to give him a huge hug.

I have shamelessly driven hundreds of miles to fill a cooler with yogurt from the Liberte dessert series... but the last time I checked, only the apple pie, orange marzipan, coconut, fig/date/raisin and banana royale (nasty) were available (carswell, I do remember you mentioning in a different thread that an unpleasant addition, 'blueberry muffin', had been made). What's up with all the new flavors involving cranberry? Any good? Inform me, please.

Yes, and it really is a total coincidence that this will be my first -and only. on this trip- afternoon in Berkeley. I hope I can control myself so that I have room for dinner (Note to self: Resist urge to eat on plane. Resist urge to eat on plane... ) I will report back when I have a chance.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I ended up cancelling my restaurant reservation and opting for the cafe. I can't wait. I moved to the Persian Gulf four months ago and I haven't had a salad since I got here. I'm heading directly to Berkeley from the airport, and I have every intention of ordering everything on the menu that is green and leafy. I can't imagine a more appropriate place to do so, either. *doing happy interpretive vegetable jig in 125 degree heat*

You rock. I went to school in New Haven a few years back. I was an art major, and for one of my photography projects, I set out to photograph every diner in the state of CT. I gained sixty pounds and eventually lost interest in the project (though not at the same time). But I think that you might actually be even more nuts than I was. Awesome.

Okay, now I'm seriously excited. My plans were to leave the airport in SF on Tuesday at around 2pm, find a hotel, then be in Berkeley with plenty of time for my dinner reservation at Chez Panisse. I figured I'd, you know, take a walk or something. Then I realized I should look up farmers markets schedules before I make plans to leave the area, and I found... THIS! The timing could not possible be better. I can't wait. Has anyone else been? I assume Frog Hollow will be there... edited to make 'THIS' more VISIBLE.

That explains something I hadn't realized I didn't know: When I see dried fructus lycii in Chinese supermarkets, those are wolfberries, not lychees, as I had thought. I really couldn't tell from the shape or color. So should I just buy those dried wolfberries that are in a box and eat them like that, or do they need to be reconstituted? ← No reconstituting required. Like currants, these have a tendency to get very leathery and chewy though, which is why I don't mind eating them out of hand but I am not convinced that I'd like them in baked goods, partticularly when there are so many other things out there that are better. I'm sure that some grocers carry gou qi zi that's more tender and fresh than others, though. I find imported gou qi zi can also be quite salty if treated with lots of preservatives, in which case it's just inedible to me.

A couple of days with my family would probably cure that But anyway, in terms of Beirut nightlife -- I have to hand it to them, I don't think any other city comes close. There is that intense "stay out all night drinking" atmosphere that probably comes from all the kids who are out of sight of their parents for the first time (in a still somewhat conservative culture, both for muslims and christians), coupled with a deep sense of irony & black humor that comes from the fact that the building you are drinking in may well have contained dead bodies 20 years ago. I may be exaggerating a little, but basically the end result is a scene where people really seem to want to get away from everything and have a great time, so they are laid back and don't take themselves all that seriously, if that makes any sense. ← Beautifully expressed. I am sitting here with sticky butter'd fingers after eating three pieces of warm nammoura while reading through this great thread. I met some friends at Casper and Gambini's last month. I love the patio. I actually didn't know it was a franchise until I looked it up just now. I skipped dinner and had two desserts instead: the molten chocolate cake and the sticky toffee pudding. I got on the plane and had a pretty intense sugar crash .

Andy, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experience when you first posted it. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I became so determined to eat at Chez Panisse during my one night in the area. However, I started this thread to ask specifically about the Cafe upstairs. I have reservations at the Restaurant, but couldn't find much on eGullet about the Cafe... so I started a thread! edited to add: Oh Andy, I'm so sorry; I confused you with jeffj, who posted the initial review in that thread. A second visit to the thread informs me that you did indeed post a review of the Cafe. Also, as it turns out, it was your quote about feeling "nourished" that I've been carrying around with me. Very nice. I'm really sorry about that. Should we merge the threads?

Russ, would you mind elaborating a bit more on why you prefer the cafe to the restaurant? I only have one night in town and was considering changing my reservations to the Cafe (I was going to wait until next week's restaurant menus were posted tomorrow, just in case my evening's fare seems irresistible) based on the replies on this thread. My reservation is a fairly late one, and I'll have just ended a twenty-four long journey, so I'm thinking now that the more casual the better. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep my head upright. Also, and I realize this is off-topic, do you have any recommendations for a nearby place to stay? All of the Berkeley hotel recommendations I have read on travel sites have been disheartening to say the least. I'll have a car, but won't want to drive for more than fifteen or twenty minutes out of town. I don't mind driving back towards San Francisco, either. Thanks!

When I was studying Chinese medicine (NM), common practice during breaks was to wander down to the herbal pharmacy and sneak fistfuls of gou qi zi into our pockets to last us through class. Other than eaten out of hand, they're often prescribed by herbologists in cases where the "Liver" or "Kidney" essense needs boosting, and can assist in the treatment of things like back pain and blurred vision. Lots of my classmates would add gou qi zi to trail mix. I like it in cold or hot cereal. In English, Fructus Lycii can also be known as lycium fruit or matrimony vine fruit. edited for spelling.