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chow guy

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Posts posted by chow guy

  1. I just sauted some onions and garlic, with salt and freshly ground pepper in EVOO (already peeled from the market). It was a large amount in two pans. They both turned a light green color. I have never seen this before and am concerned. I thought it might be related to covering one of the pans with an aluminum serving tray, but both batches turned green. Any ideas???

    Thanks.

  2. The Compound is very good; doubt you'll be disappointed.  Chef/owner Mark Kiffin was  James Beard Best Chef of the Southwest in 2005.

    You also mention considering lunch at The Apple Tree in Taos.  Just my opinion, but... don't.  It is nothing special and at times is downright poor.  In Taos, depending on types of food you are craving, consider Orlando's on the north side of town for New Mexican dishes, Graham's Grill on the main street of Taos, just north of Kit Carson Road or Joseph's Table in the La Fonda Hotel on the south side of the Plaza.

    Graham's Grill

    Thanks, fyfas. That's very helpful.

    re: Graham's Grille. I gotta ask: what's the story behind the "JC Penney Burrito?"

    I agree, there is nothing special at the Apple Tree and try Orlando's. But... Don't miss a breakfast or lunch at The Dragonfly (next to the PO on the main drag).

  3. Wikipedia on Chicago hot dogs

    A Chicago hot dog should be all-beef with mustard, onions, pickle spear, sweet relish, cucumbers, tomatoes, sport peppers and celery salt.

    No ketchup!

    Well, that's almost right. According to Vienna Beef, the Holy 7 are:

    Pickle Spear

    Celery Salt

    Yellow Mustard

    Sport Pepppers

    Tomato

    Neon Green Relish

    Onion

    No Ketchup!

    =R=

    Thanks for the replies. Wikipedia was also my only source for fixins, so I had everything except (the neon part) of the relish. The New Yorkers at the event ate up the onions pronto and not many folks went for the cucumbers. I Did have kraut and ketsup available (even after reading it was a no no), and noticed lots of folks used them both.

    I was told by two Chicagoans that I nailed the Italian beef and deep dish pizza, I used a five star internet recipe for thr beef and a friends' deep dish dough recipe. I don't know why I get so obsessed with authentic...but I do.

  4. Im catering an opening night reception for "Hellcab" and they want Italian Beef, deep dish pizza and Chicago Hot dogs as part of the spread.  Any advice or other Chicago street food ideas

    would greatly be appreciated. Especially about which garnishes are really required. Many Thanks

    Does anybody have any ideas for me?

  5. I love Earl's at Frank Lloyd Wright and the 101.  Very lounge-y, cool, hip but casual, and we had no issues with a group of 10 there.  They have a very flexible seating arrangement in the dining area.  Close to your resort too.  Earl's Pima .

    In the same shopping area is a Four Peaks Brewery.  Four Peaks Brewery.  Love Kiltlifter!!

    Some of my Scottsdale relatives give high marks to the Skeptical Chymist.  Skepical Chymist.  I haven't been yet, but they seemed to really enjoy it.  I have eaten several times at Fibber McGee's, the sister restaurant, and enjoy it very much. 

    My mantra for those visiting Scottsdale is a night at Greasewood Flat.  Greasewood Flat.  Outdoor bar with great burgers.  It's at an elevation that when the sun goes down, it gets nice and cool.  I don't consider this place a tourist trap.  Very relaxing and very Arizona.  Thursday thru Sundays they usually have live music outside.  Lots of room for large groups.  Did I mention the great burgers? :wub:

    If you want good ethnic eats, Sabuddy's, an Israeli restaurant, is up on Shea and 70th St.  They recently moved from Tempe to Scottsdale, which broke my heart, but the food and service has always been wonderful.  Try the lentil soup!  SABUDDY'S!!

    All of these places seem to be perfect, for our mostly East coast group. Many Thanks.

  6. I'm off to Scottsdale to the Marriot Mc Dowell Mountain Resort with a group of 10 next weekend.

    It'll probably be like hearding cats to get folks to agree on dining options, but I want to have options ready so we don't wind up at PF Changs or the like. Is there anything in the general area, that would be appropriate for a large diverse group?

    I was also thinking , that I might try and assemble a meal in one of the suites at the hotel from ethnic and prepared food outlets (Not including Whole Foods or Wild Oats) or, possibly, get great takeout: Chinese, Barbeque, pizza etc... Any recommendations? My wife wants to try Roys for an intimate dinner... What's the word on Roys' these days?

    Thanks in advance for any help you might have.

  7. As a tall, poorly coordinated individual with a liking for strong drink and bare feet, I am not altogether unfamiliar with the way a toe or two feels the morning after having been smashed against something the night before, a door-jamb while on the way to the cellar for another bottle, perhaps, or a bit of baseboard while journeying to the kitchen for something cold from the fridge: that sear when you role over and smush the toe(s) against the mattress, the colorful bruises encircling a joint or two, the pointless trip to the doctor where he says "yup, it's broke," tapes the toes together and advises you to wear hard-soled shoes for a while.  But I was mystified by this one.  I'd been on a belated "get-in-shape-for-summer" program and living entirely on food and water for days at a time, so it seemed odd that I couldn't remember the cause of the searing pain at the base of my big toe. 

    Whatever it was, walking around on it -- limping, actually -- didn't seem to make it any better and so, at the pleading of my wife I wandered into the emergency room about 7 AM last Saturday morning (a surefire way to beat the usual mobs of bleeding and/or unconscious emergency room victims to whom triageurs might assign a higher priority than your toe) and hobbled out with a diagnosis of gout.

    This shit hurts.  More than that it's inconvenient -- it makes everything from cooking dinner to walking to the bus stop  a pain in the ass foot.  It also sounds stupid --it's not like I'm some French lord living on foie gras and caviar.  Try saying "I can't, I have gout" to someone with a straight face. 

    And worse, it's messing with my dinner -- no meat, fish, poultry, tofu [!] or booze, at least for as long as the outbreak lasts.  Gout is indeed caused by one's diet, and it's not only sweetbreads and rognons du veau which are to blame.  Apparently all meats, but especially red meat, and even that demon spinach are high in the feared purines, which elevate the level of uric acid (ick) in the bloodstream which then cause little deposits to form on your toe joints after which, depending on the direction you're counting, that last little piggie does indeed cry "wee wee wee" all the way home. 

    So, my question: anybody out there ever had this? Any tips for speeding the healing process?  Do Quercetin and B-5 work? Is there a "safe" level for meat?  How does one diminish the odds of a recurrence without living like a vegan?

    Any tips or amusing stories appreciated.

    I had a hip replacement about a month ago and the following week, had a horrendous gout attack. My doctor responded with, "Oh, surgery often brings on an attack". I was surprised to discover that the trusty ole Vicodin I was taking post op had precious little effect on the gout pain.

    I have only had a few attacks over the last ten years. The first time, the pain was so severe, that even pulling a sheet over my toe sent me screaming. At that time of the first attack, I had been eating very little meat, and in fact an almost vegetarian diet, with lots of spinach,, portabello mushrooms, asaragus and beans. The first doc misdiagnosed it since I did not eat offal, very much meat, drink alcohol etc. After reading up on it, I realized that I ate alot of purine froming foods regularly. I went to another doctor and Bingo, he said I had gout.

    These days, attacks can be set off by various ingredients. Last June, I ate pork roast three days in a row ( to get rid of leftovers) Bingo!, and the last time it was shrimp that set it off. I wish it were more predictable/ preventable.

    As many have mentioned above, hydration seems to be key for the cure. So, at the first sign of a twinge I start hydrating. I can't really say if the cherry juice cure works, It seems to simmer down after three days of cherrirs and juicing. But that seems like a long time to me. But, I still take the cure, since I love cherries.

  8. did you try googling wholesale black salsify?

    i get a bunch of regional wholesale veggie/fruit vendors..perhaps one is near to you.

    I tried Google, and called or e mailed several of the sources listed..including the big Dutch importer that suppies it to the US.

    I called and left messages on salespersons voice mails at several wholesalers, but no one has returned my calls or e mails. I even called one Wholesaler in CA, twice. I know it a very uncommon product, but I never dreamed I would have such a hard time.

  9. As I recall, Jennifer James left Graze nearly a year ago.  Is she involved with any existing or soon to be existing restaurants now?

    I found the answer to my own question: she has now joined the folks at Chef du Jour.

    That just might be old news, since Chef du Jour is where she started cooking, several years ago. It would be kind of odd for her to be back there, at this point. But, stanger things have happenend in this business.

  10. After Hurricane Andrew a friend came down to Miami to help me rebuild. After about 8 weeks, he sat at dinner and declared, "You have not served the same thing twice since I've been here". I used to bore easily and spent alot of time cooking (I was also vegetarian at the time) but, those days are gone.

    I'm way busy these days and have been doing Weight Watchers. So I'm definately in several food ruts. It's just easier than planning and counting points every day. I eat a composed salad almost daily. I'll vary ingredients (low fat ham, cheese, turkey or chicken, tomatoes, vegetables and a boiled egg with one of the Trader Joes' fat free dressings and some Ak Mak crackers. My dinner rut has become a big bowl of hot and sour soup with various proteins and vegetables. I also eat various flavors of sugar free, fat free pudding that I doctor with things like: coco powder, low fat cereal, nuts, vanilla, almond extract etc. I'm surprised these ruts don't bother me (at least at the moment).

  11. my guess is that this is a typical case of "glorified labeling" in seafood, like patagonian toothfish being called chilean seabass. i'm thinking that egyptian perch is actually tilapia. if so, quality varies tremendously according to how it was farmed. it can be a decent, bland fish, or it can be  horribly muddy.

    I also thought it was a case of "glorified labeling" since it was under ten dollars a pound and, now that you mention it... did kind of look like Talapia, not really like shad, which also would have been more expensive.

  12. This is a comfort food for me: Ground Beef with Peas in an Asian stirfry. The recipe is from a 1960s cookbook I will not name, because the author is now in disrepute. She offers "Chinese-American" recipes like chop suey, seasoned with MSG--This cookbook was published before Chinese food was supposed to be healthy or authentic.  :laugh: But I cook the recipes now and then. The food reminds me of the Chinese restaurant food I ate as a kid, and hey, it still tastes good. I skip the MSG, though.

    Here is my adaptation. It's quick and easy after a busy day.

    GROUND BEEF WITH PEAS

    2 Tb oil

    2 cloves garlic, crushed

    few slices of fresh gingerroot

    1 large onion, sliced

    1 lb ground beef

    2 Tb soy sauce

    1 Tb dry sherry

    1 tsp sugar

    1 Tb cornstarch, dissolved in a little water

    3 cups frozen peas (FG, this is almost a whole bag!)

    roasted sesame oil

    Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the garlic and gingerroot, then the onion, and saute until slightly softened. Crumble in the ground beef, and break it up into smaller chunks with a spatula. Cook the beef until the red color disappears. Add the soy sauce, sherry, sugar, and 1 cup of water. Mix in well. Add the peas, and let cook for a minute. Season with salt and pepper. Then add the dissolved cornstarch. Bring to a boil, adding more water as necessary, until the peas are hot and the gravy has thickened. Drizzle with a little roasted sesame oil. Serve hot over steamed rice.

    I do a very similar dish, but I omit the onion and garlic. Instead, I add chopped smoked oysters 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and serve the heated mixture in a bowl circled with butter lettuce, so guests can make their own lettuce wraps.

  13. I was at Fairway in NYC and saw Egyptian Perch. It didn't look anything like the Perch (aka sunfish), I remember from my youth. Has any one tried it? How did you cook it?

  14. I'm doing a party next week with lots of sticks, including: red seedless grapes rolled in gorgonzola and walnuts, pineapple dusted with red chile, shrimp with tequila lime cream, meat balls and grilled chicken breasts served with three dipping sauces (hot wing, barbecue and terriyaki). It's a solution to the age old, many guests, no waiters, no tables problem.

  15. We call our junk food ritual " road food". When ever we have to drive more than four hours, we seize the chance to pig out on chips, dips, pretzels, caramel corn, licorice, gum drops and all manner of stuff we rarely eat otherwise, and with barely an ounce of guilt.

  16. I also like "Chez Panis Vegetables" and really like Elizabeth Schneiders' "Uncommom Fruits and Vegetables a Common Sense Guide". I love Roy Andre de Groots' "Feasts for All Seaosns". It's packed with information and not a picture in the book. I also rediscovered a gift I got several years ago, It's called "Seductions of Rice" by Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid.

  17. I knew I was in the wrong place when we arrived and discovered, we were the only table in the whole place... on a Friday at peak lunch time. I was concerned when I saw the "art" on the walls. It looked like it had been bought at a dollar store (very kitchy" Italian" (small i), street scenes and "Dellarobia-esque" still lifes with fruit. Musak stlye Italian opera favorites came blaring through the sound system. My wife took issue, when I told her the food was going to be awful. If they didn't pay attention to the aforementioned details, why would they pay attention to the food?

    After about 8 minutes, the oversized menu was brought to the table. It was all over the place with chef salads, Southern Italian main stays, meat loaf with mashed potatoes and hamburgers. Descriptions were heavy on ajectives, and the prices made no sense. Shrimp Diavolo and Pasta Putanesca were both $15.95. The bread was dreadful and the "butter" was in tiny plastic tubs. I opted for a chefs salad. It was tolerable, but the dressing wasn't good. My wife's pasta dish was awful. There were so many things that screamed out "wrong place", but we had four more hours of driving, and were starving. It may seem like nit picking but I firmly believe, "the devil is in the details".

  18. I would report it to management. It's always tricky, but especially If you're new, (the rest of the staff will probably hate you). So, do it anonymously. I got fired once... when I reported a bartender that was stealing. I later found out he was in cahoots with the manager. It's amazing to me, how much stealing goes on in the restaurant biz.

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