Holly Moore

I ate consistently better on Isla Mujers than just about any other place I've ever visited. Good and great meals. Not one regrettable meal. And at one restaurant I fulfilled two of my long time Mexican food quests - best ever Chiles Rellenos and best ever chicken with mole sauce. Isla Mujeres is a small island, about 5 miles long and 30 minutes by ferry from Cancun. It is the diametric opposite of Cancun - not one American chain restaurant. Only a small 7-11 where the ferry lands and they don't even sell Slurpees. There are a few cars and trucks, but most everyone gets around on scooters or golf carts. Laid back and once one escapes El Centro and the day-trippers from Cancun, more village than metropolis. Had many good breakfasts on the island. The most original was a cazuela invented by the owner of Cazuela M&J. A cazuela is a cross between an omelet and a souffle - eggs and milk whipped together, poured into a shallow clay dish, topped with cheese and heated fast in a very hot oven. It arrives at the table, bubbling and steaming. Takes a minute or two to calm down. I had one with shrimp, mushrooms and fresh herbs and another with ham and mushrooms. Cazuela M&J is on a buff overlooking the Caribbean. A perfect breakfast spot. My favorite breakfast was at Color de Verano - feel of a French cafe. They serve breakfast and lunch, close for a while and then open up for desserts and coffee. I ordered the European breakfast. Perfect soft boiled eggs with three fresh baked and toasted mini-baguettes - one each of ham, salami and cheese. Elements of the Island is a healthy food restaurant that, along with the yogurt, birchmuesli, and posters for yoga classes serves a healthy portion of crisp bacon. One of my breakfasts there - fried eggs atop roesti potatoes. Every morning, after breakfast, I picked up a couple of slices of fresh baked banana bread and the occasional brownie at Aluxes Bakery and Cafe in El Centro. There are two or three kinds - a choice of plain, coconut, nut, and/or chocolate chip. It is packed full of bananas and so good that it is usually sold out by 10 AM. As mentioned earlier, one restaurant, on the outskirts of El Centro, La Lomita, prepared the best chiles rellenos and chicken with mole sauce I've evern had. The mole sauce was incredibly complex and not nearly as overbearing as that I've had in the U.S. La Lomita also introduced me to Sopa de Frijoles - bean and rice soup topped with avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro, lettuce and fresh cheese. Incredible. Another lunch was at Playa Lancheros which is on the beach of the bay between Isla Mujeres and Cancun. Folks head there in the morning, swim, break for lunch, and swim some more. They are famous for the tix'n xic - red snapper brushed with achiote paste and grilled crisp. They also make guacamole to order. Best I had on Isla. Other lunches were at restaurants that along the bay in El Centro, Isla Mujeres main business area. Isla Mujeres started off as a fishing village and many of the boats dock and unload right in front of the restaurants. It is amazing how many large fish a boat holds after a day of fishing. The menus at all these restaurants are pretty much the same - fresh fish and seafood. One lunch was a medium size shrimp cocktail at Picus. It is served in an old fashioned sundae glass. The shrimp are aswim in a simple syrup like liquid that tastes of shrimp stock. On top a classic cocktail sauce. At Mininos I had the mixed ceviche - shrimp, squid and octopus. Valaquez is a Cuban restaurant on a narrows that runs between the bay and a lagoon full of marina's. It is located in a marina. Hard to find. I asked a guy coming out of a shack for directions, he said "aqui." February and March the waters off Isla are rumored to be the best in the world for sailfish fishing. Every day the fishing yachts cruise in and out the narrows by Valaquez. Great lunchtime entertainment while sitting on the porch that hangs over the water. For lunch, an Isla classic, available at just about every restaurant - red snapper sauteed in butter and garlic. Kash Keken Chuc is Isla's version of a take-out restaurant. Pork cutlets, ribs and chicken marinated, grilled and sold by the quarter, half or full kilo. Regulars pack their own orders and ring it up on the cash register making their own change. Sunday's only, Tino's or "the rib man" starts up his grill behind a wall off one of the side streets in El Centro. Menu's the same as Kash Keken Chuc. My favorite dinner on Isla - Mixed seafod and rice at Sanchosos - Shrimp, conch and squid in a Creole like sauce less the okra. Fantastic flavor. The ongoing debate on Isla is which place serves the best tacos al pastor - Ballpark Tacos or Taqueria Medina. Both as far as I'm concerned. Ballpark Taco has the best fixins bar though, including marinated nopal cactus. At Ballpark tacos I had two al pastor and one chorizo taco. The green strips are the cactus. At Taqueria Medina again two al pastor tacos and, at the servers suggestion, a barbecue taco on a corn tortilla. I celebrated my last night on the island with a Bimbo dog. Alas, the source of the name is not what one might hope. Bimbo is the name of the bakery that supplies the buns. For more some other restaurants and more pics of the places listed here, where else but Isla Mujeres at HollyEats.Com

Thank ya kindly, maftoul. My first trip to Winstead's was in the late 60's, having read about it in American Fried on the flight from Chicago to KC. I hadn't been back til now and agree. If this is representative, Winstead's ain't what it used to be. Arthur Bryant's, on the other hand, was every bit as good as I remember it from their old location.

Can anyone tell me which Winstead's location this is. Calvin, you out there?

I just think it is cool that Alan Richman and I use the same cheap ovenware. Pigs in Blanket, Richman in a bathrobe - anyone else thinking pancakes wrapped around sausages.

A bit of a drive, but "brilliant" fish and chips - Stoney's British Pub, Rte 202 in Wilmington.

In the Financial Times, Rowley Leigh pays homage to Hugh Massingberd: In Praise of Gourmands. Let us hope that the grand culinary tradition of gluttony will not disappear with the passing of my new hero, the late and ever so well nourished Hugh Massingberd.

From Wikipedia: I just perverted it to serve my message.

Dog bites man. A story, like a great meal at a great restaurant. Man bites dog, a bigger story - a bad meal at a great restaurant. Dog licks man - pretty much what one expects, not worth writing about.

I like the concept of parsley foam. Forces the diner to consume the parsley foam as opposed to pushing the parsley sprig out of the way. One can only expect that spiced crabapple foam will soon follow. Perhaps, someday, January hot-house tomato foam.

RTM is great. But I just did a Saturday farmers market at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal Building - covered both inside, and the outside rear and side parking areas. Gotta say, if I could just do one Farmer's Market, it would be the SFO Saturday market. It would be as if every grower represented by Fair Food Farmstand had their own individual stall. However, that is inside and outside. Inside only, RTM is by far a grander market.

A rare gem alas, under the current RTM board of directors, with a glaring flaw or two.

Reminds me of the welcoming speech by the President of Cornell University when I matriculated. It was titled, "Perhaps Cornell," and referred to, I believe a NYT listing of the Ivy League Schools that started with Harvard, Princeton and Yale and ended with, "and perhaps Cornell."

So if America's newspaper, "USA Today," says the intended retail price is a mere $50 a pound, and DiBruno's seems to be selling them for an impressive $99.99 a pound, which is the more righteous street price?

Doesn't anyone have a camera?

Todd Price pointed me towards Cafe Freret for a Muffaletta - they make their own olive salad. You may need a GPS to find the place - I did - but it is definitely worth seeking out. Unfortunately, I had the mother of all colds for that trip and couldn't make it back for their soft shell crab poor boy. The owner boast on it some. There bread pudding is awfully good, too. Though I guess some shun it as touristy, I had a first rate etouffee at Bon Ton.

Gave it about an hour and seems to be all better. The thermometer is down to room temperature and reacts to both hot and cold. Hopefully I'll end up with a rare roast. Really wish I knew what the hell I did with my trusty Taylor. I can find the sleeve but not the thermometer.

Ever so sanitation conscious I rinsed the probe of my Polder meat thermometer before jabbing it into the roast. This is apparently something one should not do. Right now, sitting by my PC, the thermometer is reading an oven temperature of 359 degrees and an internal temperature of 325 degrees. A few minutes later it has dropped to 337 and 314. Got me to wondering if the probe is forever damaged or, given and hour or two to dry out, will it return to its earlier accuracy?

Haven't played with fingerlings before, so not sure. Was thinking they were small enough not to need par-boiling, but easy enough to do.

A hopefully related question - will be pan roasting fingerling potatoes for the first time. My thought is to halve them and throw them in the roasting pan the final half hour of roasting. How's my timing?

All that work outside in the snow, and the prospect of heading back out after dinner - I'm thinking a big kettle of chili. Working from your ingredients, depending on the nature of the pea soup and whether the hog is smoked - A variation on Dutch Pea soup - The hog, the soup, and lots of crusty bread and butter.

Nobody ever gives me exactly what I want. Maybe they do, but I'll never accept that unless I've exhausted all possibilities. My pondering here - for me the prime rib is the ultimate cut of beef, with its deckle being the ultimate section of the ultimate cut. Harry Ochs is my usual source. But if Main Line Prime has elevated the local art, perhaps approaching NYC's Lobel's, then it is worth a jaunt to the Main Line. Just trying to ascertain the primeness of Main Line Prime - great, period, or merely great to have a very good butcher in Ardmore.

If you stay at the Oriental, and you really should stay at the Oriental, you can start the day magnificently with breakfast on the Verandah overlooking the mighty Chao Phrya River. For subsequent meals, take the Oriental's shuttle boat to Saphan Tasksin to catch the Skytrain to most anywhere. There is also a ferry that hops along the river and stops at their dock.

So would it make sense to trek from Center City to Main Line Prime for a stellar prime rib or am I going to do just as well at my usual source of supply, Harry Ochs?

It is on the host or manager to maintain the decorum of the restaurant. Easier said than done, but he/she should at least try. My approach, back in my hosting days, would be to speak to the host of the large party and explain that we are a small restaurant with tables very close together. Perhaps he could ask his guests to keep their voices down. Probably has a chance of working maybe 10% of the time but at least an effort was made. Best tactic is to rush the food out to the 12 top. Food quiets down most groups. Keep the courses coming fast and get them out as soon as possible. My first question for the manager though is why a small restaurant accepts a reservation for 12 in the first place. The answer is greed, because even if noise doesn't turn out to be a problem, service to the other tables as well as service and quality of food to a 12 top is going to suffer. I place the blame on the management both for accepting the reservation in the first place and for not at least attempting to quell the noise once it became an obvious issue.

For the West End, at least, choices seemed limited to Jack in the Box, EAT at the Loew's Nashville and a couple of dimly lit Chinese carryouts. Choice was obvious - had a very good meal at EAT though the restaurant was on a very limited "holiday menu." Perfectly rare prime rib of bison, with brussel sprouts and horseradish tinged mashed potatoes. I passed on the gingerbread man with peppermint ice cream - their only dessert choice.