SiseFromm

I remember very well traveling to Memphis and meeting Jim at Jim Neely's Interstate Barbecue. He was dripping with gold and confidence. A total character! I had rib tips, my wife had barbecue spaghetti, and a buddy of mine had the combo platter, referred to as "all da meats". Best barbecue ever. Experience plus quality of the barbecue made for an amazing experience!

True indeed, though I was thinking of the areas directly surrounding the airport, for convenience sake and all. Otherwise, hop on the 405 freeway heading South and exit Culver. 99 Ranch Market is there along with a whole load of great Asian stores and restaurants. If you take Campus (runs along the airport) to Bristol and turn right, you'll hit The Camp on the left and The Lab on the right after you pass Baker. You can eat at Habana, Memphis, The Lodge (if they don't run out of entrees), Native Foods, or The Gypsy Den. All are good choices. You can also catch this thread on Costa Mesa area dining.

I can see the John Wayne airport from my office window, so I'm pretty familiar with the immediately surrounding eateries. You'll be in Irvine, so there aren't a lot of really fantastic or authentic choices. There are some decent places to dine, but in general, they all kind of have a corporate-restaurant feel to them. You can try: Houstons Bistango Jack Shrimp Ruth's Chris My suggestion if you can is to head to Costa Mesa or Newport Beach, time permitting. Irvine isn't exactly a culinary hot spot.

Interesting. I think I've seen those scallops before but have never given them a try. I always keep a few 1lb. bags of their uncooked shrimp on hand in the freezer, especially the Argentinian Red shrimp, when they're not sold out of course. I'll have to pick up a bag of the scallops next time I'm there.

We ate at Cortez in the Hotel Adagio on Geary Street on Christmas Eve. Fun place. Very new-school/modern. The drink menu is great, albeit pricey at $9 - $11 for martinis. I remember the French Fries with Harissa Sauce, Terrine of Foie Gras, Short Ribs with Marrow, and a few other gems. Very hip, very trendy, somewhat pricey, and oh so tastey.

I feel you. I wish there were a really fantastic fish place near here, which is what I had hoped for when Santa Monica first went in on 17th Street. It was good for awhile, and maybe it still is and I'm not giving it enough credit, but it seems a little "off" and the fact that they don't have a huge volume of business doesn't exactly inspire me. I'm afraid they don't turn over enough product to get the freshest in at all times. Last time I bought scallops from there they had a really off-putting flavor. Anyway, if you come across a real gem, let me know! One thing you can always consider is Ingardia Brothers on Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa. You've seen their trucks around town I'm sure. You can set up a cash-only merchant account and get some pretty amazing stuff. They're facility is really clean, the fish brought in daily. If you chat with the employees there and/or give them a good tip on your first couple of visits, they'll really take care of you. The produce is all restaurant-quality if you can get away with buying it larger and even full case quantities. EDIT: Grammar

I used to use Santa Monica Seafood, but really, I haven't been very pleased with my purchases lately. You have to be careful and insist, despite the odd looks and sometimes flat out refusals, to smell the fish and to check the condition of the pieces you're buying. The real gem is Maukai. It's a mostly-Japanese market on Harbor at Baker. The sushi-grade cuts they sell there are to die for, even if the highest grade toro will set you back $60 per pound. They sell beautiful whole snappers there. Give it a go. Bristol Farms carries nice product, particularly shellfish, but the prices make me want to punch myself in the face. I can never walk into that store without dropping $75, on mostly nothing.

For those that haven't braved making your own dough, you might want to give it a try. It's really the simplest bread recipe you can imagine. It comes together quickly and acts lovely by comparison to anything store-bought, including "fresh" dough. It's more pliable, relaxed, and can be rolled very thin for the lovliest of thin-crusted pizzas, which in my opinion is the only way to go. Just use the well-method, warm water, yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil. A totally basic recipe that can be found just about anywhere online you search. You don't even need to let it rise if you don't feel inclined to do so or if you're thin on time. Once you figure out the technique, you'll wonder why the term "Boboli" was ever in your vocabulary.

I'm very much traditional with my toppings, rarely moving away from fresh tomato sauce with olive oil, basil, and mozzarella. If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll throw diced pancetta into the mix. I like crusts to be very thin, bubbly, and slightly charred. Old world baby.

I also went to Johannes while on our last visit. I thought the chef was trying a little too hard to impress with bizarre ingredients and dramatic plates, but hey, it was still a good meal. I remember in particular the trio of livers as an appetizer so it can't be that bad. Any place serving organ meats is better than the guy next door not serving them. Still, I don't think there was anything that was such a stand-out that I would rush back there again the next time I'm in the area. It came recommended by the Orbit Inn, a great mid-century 8-suite hotel with all sorts of gorgeous furniture. If you ever get a chance, stay there. It's worth the money. As for the dismissal of the possibility of Tyler's, one doesn't have to eat at a French Laundry hopeful every night of the week. Sometimes you just want to tuck into a good bit of fast food served properly, which is what you'll get there.

Very nice. I love braising. Using coffee and lots of ancho chili is one of my favorites for short ribs. Sounds a lot like this one. You get a nice, rich mahogany kind of glaze on the ribs with deep flavor and back of the tounge spice. Throwing a pineapple in that recipe might work well to add some brightness to it. Last time I had this braise at a buddy's house it was with butternut squash polenta and a roasted corn salad.

Penne Pasta with Shrimp and Roasted Corn in Chipotle Cream Sauce This dish harkens back to the Southwestern food movement of 1991, most notably at Kachina Grill in Laguna Beach and Zuni Grill in Irvine. This was lifted straight out of those menus during their heyday.

Don't tell that to Emeril. I've seen that man put entire bunches of mint along side a pie. Piling whole chives all over the place is another trick of his.

I'm sick of hearing about low-carb. Seriously. Now Carl's Jr. has a $6 bunless burger. That's just too much. What happened to that diet fad that was all carb? I'd like to get back to that one when the low-carb fad dies down. At least people were eating sandwiches back then.

Asia de Cuba at the Clift. Here are some menu examples of their Japanese/Cuban thing: STARTERS: Oxtail Spring Roll Siracha Ketchup and Black Bean, Cubcumber and Tomato Relish Szechuan Spicy Scallops Smoked Tomato and White Corn Salsa Verde, Chorizo-Lemongrass Espuma Lobster Potstickers Vanilla Bean Spiced Rhum and Lobster Coral Sauces, Roasted Sprout Salad Ropa Vieja of Duck Calabaza, Snow Peas, Cucumbers and Hoisin Port Sauce, Lettuce Cups MAIN: Miso Cured Aslaskan Butterfish Cuban Black Bean and Edamame Salad, Tempura Shisito Peppers Hacked Lime and Garlic Duck Braised Baby Bock Choy, Roasted Garlic, Lime Segments Char Sui Beef Short Ribs Congre Tostones, Chili Orange Mojo Honey-Rhum Glazed Pot Roast of Pork Sauteed Shanghai Bok Choy, Fried Plantains and Enoki Mushrooms Hunan Whole Wok Crispy Fish Stuffed with Crab Escabeche, Red Pepper Sauce Lobster Mai Tai Rhum, Coconut, Red Curry and Wok Crispy Boniato Very cool dining room.

Generous salt, lots of small cubes of unsalted cold butter, and a splash of half and half. What goes in them beyond that depends on the meal and the season. Chiffonade of basil, a drizzle of truffle oil, diced pancetta, finely minced shallots, sauteed leeks, you name it. EDIT: I almost forgot . . . pepper of course, particularly on fried eggs. Oh wait, this is a scrambled thread!

Man, I thought I was the only one. I've already vowed never to cook for any ungrateful co-workers ever again. Watching people pass over my poached shrimp salad with white wine and dill on toast points for Vienna sausage-filled Pillsbury crescent rolls nearly broke my heart, and wallet. I had to toss 3 lbs. of perfect shrimp. At least they liked my "Creme Brulee Day" idea. Jackasses. R. Jason Coulston

Higher cost doesn't always equal the best wine. It's also true that there are tremendous values to be found, particularly with lesser-known wineries. More specifically, before a wine is "discovered", rated highly, then gobbled up after wine fans read about it in the Spectator. New Zealand is producing some amazing bottles that can be found for under $20. It sounds like you've had pretty limited exposure to a wide variety of wines.

Roasted Whole Red Snapper with Lemon and Herbs The Japanese/Hawaiian market Marukai in Costa Mesa carries a stunningly beautiful selection of fresh fish, including whole and sashimi-grade. The Blue Fin Toro looked like it would have melted in my mouth, and at $60 per pound, I would expect it to. I picked up a couple of bright-eyed Snapper, cleaned them, stuffed the cavities with herbs and lemon and roasted them whole with generous glugs of spicy olive oil. Very rustic.

This stuff literally flys out the doors of Trader Joes in Southern California. I don't think I've ever been shopping and didn't notice 1/2 a dozen people buying at least a case at a time. At $24 for a full case, that's usually how they're purchased. It's not absolutely horrible, but I wouldn't drink it if given a choice. It tastes to me like a sub $10 wine, but then again it's cheaper than bottled water. It's good to have a bottle or two around in case I need it for a quick sauce, or for a splash in a dressing, but it's not the kind of thing I'd serve at a dinner party, that's for sure. The grapes are grown in Central California, but the CEO built a massive bottling facility in Napa so he could use the city's illustrious name on his bottles. It certainly has the Napa Valley wine crowd in an uproar, since they think it cheapens the Valley, bringing down the overall perceived value and worth of wine from grapes actually grown in the region. R. Jason Coulston

You learn something new every day. I'll start pronouncing it correctly. Thanks, R. Jason Coulston

"Nee-Man" is exactly how I pronounce it as well. If it's something else, I'd like to hear otherwise so I don't sound like an arse since I'm championing it all the time to friends. R. Jason Coulston

Does bottled coke from Mexico have pure cane sugar in it or just the standard syrup? R. Jason Coulston

Well that's definitely encouraging. I didn't have any specific examples to site on the In-N-Out comment, so that was just for effect. Still, in my short time on these forums, I've seen a bit of food snobbery. And I'm a total food snob, so that's saying a lot! Trust me, I love digging around and finding the most authentic food possible. That's why I love Saveur so much. They do a good job of seeing what the food culture of a particular place or time is all about and trying to capture the essence in their articles. When visiting Memphis again in 1997 I drove 45 minutes outside of the city on a dirt road to a double-wide mobile home called Gus' Fried Chicken for what might be the best in the country. I'm definitely up for adventures in authenticity. Sometimes though, you just need a burrito from Chipotle. R. Jason Coulston

The impression I got from reading some posts (not yours) was that unless you're eating turkey with mole prepared by a native Oaxacan, you're not eating Mexican food. I'm thinking that some "foodies" would say that small taquerias in California aren't authentic, which was the point I was making in saying that it's a rare find to see authentic Mexican food in the United States. I, however, don't subscribe to that hard-line way of thinking. El Gallo Giro, numerous stands in downtown Santa Ana, Alverado Street in Los Angeles, La Super Rica in Santa Barbara all come to mind. I'm incredibly pleased by the bounty of Mexican food in my native Southern California. Chipotle is delicious and I go there once or twice a month at least. Sometimes on this site though, I get the feeling that some people are so hardcore about what they think is good, authentic, and acceptable, that they throw out the possibility they might be able to get a good burrito from Chipotle, or a good hamburger from In-N-Out. R. Jason Coulston