ludja

In hindsight, the name of the restaurant is pretty funny too... "From Rice to Riches". A little tongue in cheek, n'est pas?

Maybe this would be interesting for people on the other "side" of the restaurant biz from consumers and egullet readers to hear, but I really do take people's reviews with a grain of salt even as I find them, for the most part, valuable. And consciously or no, I think that most others do as well. Most of us realize that others are not professional food critics and are not doing a review in the sense that a trained food critic would, i.e. multiple visits, etc. And, in addition, most people have disagreed w/enough 'trained' food critics in some cases to not let *even* their opinion be the final arbiter in our decisions to try someplace out or to return. In addition, I've eaten with and/or tasted wine with a number of friends and we can often have *very* different opinions about the dish. Ditto, service. I've had perfectly wonderful evenings at some places and later one person will have a very different memory of the pacing or service of the meal. (In those cases, often I feel they, the diner, were the problem and not vice versa). It's also easy to espy if/when people are jumping on a bandwagon in a conversation or thread. I'm *not* necessarily saying this is what happened in this thread, but my radar considered the possibility--even if it was unintentional. It sometimes isn't really that easy to describe a dish in detail from memory. I've run into this when I've tried myself to put a dining experience into words. It's not that simple to strike a balance in providing constructive criticism, even if good intentions are involved. Unintentionally, I think some statements may come out sounding a little rough. So again, when I read what is, essentially, an anonymous opinion given on egullet, this leeway is taken into account--whether the review is over the top positive or somewhat negative. The leeway varies based on my experience with poster in question. On the flip side, and despite all the caveats listed above, I really enjoy hearing people's comments on food and service, and I don’t doubt their opinions are the best they could remember and express---AND, that Dine About Town is a difficult time to judge a new restaurant in exactly the same way one might at other times of the year. (Just ran into a similar personal experience in a DAT dinner down here in SF). In any case, this thread has given me a really interesting, multi-faceted view on the food and drinks served at Irish Heather. As a complete outsider to the Vancouver scene, I can only say that based on all comments, my net conclusion would be to try Irish Heather on my next visit to Vancouver. The menu and drink pairings sound very interesting. I wish SF had a restaurant like this.

Thanks for the detailed descriptions and photos, Rachel and Jason. I'm really intrigued by the grilled shrimp dish; the salad sounds particularly interesting. Do remember by chance more about the 'dressing' for the salad? Was it more a vinagrette or creamy, for eg.? Extra spicing or herbs?

Thanks for a great foodblog misstenacity! Quite an interesting mix of eating venues and food at home and not. Great pix too and funny commentary.

Hi chowguy, Did you find anything interesting up in Pagosa Springs/Durango over the holdays?

jwong: Just to clarify, is it usual for each individual diner to receive/use a separate rice bowl for any type of rice accompaniement? I saw the discussion earlier in this thread but still wasn't clear. If so, would it be appropriate to ask for a rice bowl in a chinese restaurant if none were offered? (I'm pretty handy w/chopsticks, but sometimes have issues with the last rice, etc on the plate... On the other hand, it is nice to soak up sauce with the rice if they are together on the same plate...) Thanks in advance.

Not a very original idea and also simple, but seared greens in olive oil/garlic? (bok choy or maybe some darker greens with some bitterness). Another interesting sidedish I've had with would be some sort of roasted beets in a low vinegar vinagrette.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with Tante Marie's in San Francisco? I know that the school has been around for awhile; I think it focuses on basic French Techniques. Also, although it doesn't sound like exactly what you are lookiing for, Draeger's in San Mateo has classes on a wide array of topics. They sometimes feature well-known restaurant chefs and instructors. I think these are mostly one time courses.

Thanks, as a lover of manhattans this sounds very interesting. It seems like it would have some overlap with it in taste. Will be interesting to try out what the Maraschino and Orange Bitters contribute.

Silly question: Are there any 'gastropubs' that serve good Indian food?

Dried cherries do make it a better proposition for me ( ). But the fluff? (Guess I'm just not a fluff fan). Hope someone trys it and reports back! I'll have to wait until I'm back east sometime... .

Anyone been or heard anything about the Cafe? (I still haven't been to a tour of the factory yet.) Here's their website which includes their menu. Here's a review. and

For some reason, the chocolate cherry flavor profile to me is something that particularly needs to be done with high quality ingredients in order to taste good. I.e. good dark chocolate and sour cherries, and if appropriate to the dish, good Kirsch. This may just be a personal quirk, I'm not at all against 'low brow' but tasty desserts in general but I really dislike the taste of gushy, overly-moist, cheap chocolate cake with canned cherries and fake whipped cream. Likewise, cheap waxy chocolate bonbons filled with extra sugary cherries and a clear sugar goo or artificial alcohol flavoring, I really like a good "Schwartzwalder Kirsch Torte" or cherry-filled chocolates but they just don't taste good w/cheap cherries or chocolate. The base ingredients for this Au Bon Pain concoction just don't sound very good. But hey, maybe if I tasted it !?!

Personally, it would be hideous to me at any time of day... Interesting that they would offer something like this. For their sake, I hope they had a good marketing team!

I was trying to find other sources and was also led to this book already mentioned by Rancho Gordo... Here is quote from a review. A little more info on the Amazon link. If the "panel" idea is persued, Dan Strehl might also have some ideas for other people. It might be too difficult to balance, but it could be interesting to also have the Villa Creek proprietars or someone similar that is cooking in a more "nuevo" style.

Don't know about Adobe Abode, but for sure the location can't be beat. Hope you fill us in on your culinary adventures in Taos and Santa Fe as well when you return. Have a great trip.

Has anyone been to this restaurant or heard any buzz on it's reopening? Came across its website just to find out that they shut their doors (the plan is temporarily) on Jan 1, 2005. They are looking for a new location for their restaurant. It used to be very much out of the way in the lower Mission. Sounds like it was a pretty interesting place, especially if you like paprka. The menu has lots of traditional Hungarian (and I guess Gypsy) dishes as well as some newer inspirations on those cuisines. They also baked all their own breads and tortes in-house. Here are some dishes: Langos (Homemade Hungarian fried bread with garlic and sour cream) Roma Warm Wine Salad with Smoked Bacon Sour Cherry Soup, Cold or Hot (Traditional Hungarian fruit soup) White Wine & Herbs Braised Turnip Crepe )Served with Sopska Salad and Mamaliga/Polenta/Mush) Mushroom Paprikash Chicken Paprikash Stuffed Cabbage, Toltott Kaposzta, Sarma Betyaros Marha Porkoit (Spiced paprika beef braised in red wine) Looks like some very nice desserts as well: Gundel Palacsinta (Famous Hungarian walnut/chocolate flambé crepe) Turos Palacsinta (Sweet cheese and vanilla crepe) Dobos Torta AND Here's the full menu. and here's a review.

One of the best food festivals I've been to is Hillsborough Hog Days in Hillsborough, N.C. (a little north of Chapel Hill). There is a big Carolina BBQ cook off competition and lots of other good food. It's been awhile since I've been there but I remember some crawdad stands. Hillsborough is a quaint little town as well. edited to add: Last year it was on June 18/19th.

We ate at Bizou; half us ate off the DAT menu. I posted some comments here on a Bizou thread.

I have heard good things about Bizou for a long time. We took advantage of the January SF Dine About Town to go there. As mentioned above, they have a very nicely priced prix fixe menu (~$30 offered year round. One chooses between two appetizers, two main courses and any dessert. Two of us chose the prix fixe menu the night we went. Off the prix fixe, we ordered a plate of oyster to start off (can't recall what kind) that were very good. We accompanied this with an excellent Loire wine (I think Sancerre, which was excellent). Choice of app was a mixed green salad or an artichoke cream soup. We both got the soup and it was very good. Wonderful texture, creamy but not too thick and it had some interesting spicing that I couldn't postively ID but which accented rather than overwhealmed the artichoke. We brought a bottle of our own red wine; a 1997 Matanza's Creek Merlot. The waiter opened this for us at the beginning of the meal. The main course options were a vegetarian rigatoni dish that was not too exciting sounding and a rolled pork loin stuffed with a black olive mixture. We both chose the pork. It was served with some type of fruity, oniony mix (slow cooked) and some sauteed greens. This went nicely with the pork. Overall this dish was a little disappointing to me because the there was a very thin band of olive surrounded by lots of pork. The onion marmalade was nice, but I felt that the olive flavor was lost somewhat and the overall dish was just kind of blah rather than the rich, more lustily flavored bistro fare I was expecting. For dessert, one of my friend's got the Vacherin which they liked very much. Two of us (including me) got a buttermilk panna cotta. Layered on top and on the bottom of the panna cotta was a clear mandarin gelee. Top was garnished w/a few fresh mandarins. This dessert was excellent. The texture of the panna cotta was very good (no hint of rubberiness) and the gelee added a wonderful flavor. (A big plus to me: their dessert menu had quite a few interesting looking items that I wanted to try). One friend go the famous Beef Cheeks and enjoyed them; another a more delicate sole fish. (can't recall anymore on this). Overall we were pretty happy. One thing that negatively impacted our visit a bit (and that was not really the restaurant's fault) is that there was a large noisy "celebratory" group sitting pretty close to us... Our waiter suggested that we try to order before the large group, as that would help expedite our order. This was nice, but overall we did end up feeling a bit rushed. Our reservations were for 9:00 and they were really pushing to get us out the door by 11:00 sharp. (We and the big group were the last to leave). In a nice gesture, our waiter comped the corkage fee. (maybe because we bought another bottle, two of us ordered off regular menu or having to deal w/the big group...?) Overall, I would consider going back another time, even though I was disappointed in my main course. Hopefully that dish was an aberration given that it was DAT. Re: the rushing and noise, it was likley that they were extra crowded with the DAT. I definately would try to get an earlier reservation though and maybe go Tues-Thurs rather than on the weekend. Seems like it could be a relaxing place although it wasn't particularly so the night we were there.

I think hat would be a great idea.

Sounds like the latter scenario. Here's their self-styled description (from the link below): Here's their dinner menu: vaquero menu

oops, someone already covered my suggestion above... (Trader Joe's)

In addition to what misstenacity mentioned above, here's a link that has lots of info re: new mexico chiles and cuisine. Here are a couple of quotes from two different articles: Canned green chiles and fresh Anaheim chiles don't taste the same. Anyway, tons of info linked from the webpage given above including sourcing for shipping green chiles, recipes, distinctiveness of New Mexican cuisine, etc. P.S. Your 'improvised' soup looked and sounded really good misstenacity...

This is kind of off topic, but here'a a good thead on intro wine books; you can most of these for a reasonable price (used) at places like Amazon: click Then, start tasting as budget allows. People may have some other idea's on that thread too.