Bruce Burger

I just got a notice, probably like many of you, that said: Important Update We're reaching out to let you know that Finecooking.com will no longer be available after September 15. To make sure you get to keep all your favorite recipes from your recipe box, please follow the instructions below. The link is actually https://www.finecooking.com/article/finecooking-com-is-shutting-down-how-to-save-your-recipes-before-july-31 which suggests that they had originally planned to shut it down on July 31. I'm surprised no one is willing to pay enough to preserve the site. Oh well -- glad it will live in the archive described in this thread. (I also have my own archive of favorite recipes and hardcopies of most issues.)

Lark's food is far better than Canlis's. Canlis has a more formal atmosphere which I don't like, though some do. For great food in a more elegant atmosphere than Lark -- and also to be able to make reservations -- I suggest Rover's (modern French) or Crush (Northwest / modern American / whatever). Both are fabulous. Rover's is a little more traditional -- but not stuffy -- while Crush is more hip.

Thanks, Tri2Cook! Now I want to try the Ritz Cracker Ice Cream as well. I'm pretty sure the Pretzel Ice Cream I had was smooth, so pureeing seems to be the way to go. I'll experiment with/without the sour cream and eggs and report back on my findings.

I want to make pretzel ice cream like I had at Momofuku Ko. Elsewhere on the web I find that WD-50 recommends using Snyder's pretzels, so that's a start. Unfortunately I can't remember the texture of the ice cream I had, just that I loved it. How finely should I crush the pretzels? Should I steep them in the milk/cream mixture, add them at the start of churning, or add them at the end of churning? Should I add anything else to a standard sweet cream base? Any other suggestions?

We had a fabulous dinner there a few months ago. I loved the menu, everything was delicious, and the serve and atmosphere was excellent as well. It may be a bit corporate but it didn't seem to suffer from that!

We had our first meal there a few weeks ago. It was superb. Everything was made just perfectly.

How about smoked eel? I had it once in London and loved it; I can't even find it to mail-order in the states, let alone buy in person in Seattle.

Speaking of Queen Anne, has anyone tried Calva Cafe, the tiny sushi/Chinese/espresso/bubble tea place where Pat's espresso used to be? The menu has a fairly extensive sushi list plus a couple fozen Chinese standards. I've yet to try it, but the people are friendly and a friend said the food looked good.

I had a frustrating experience when I called Marazul yesterday to make reservations for a party of 4 on Friday at 6pm. They don't take reservations except for parties of 8 or more! I asked why and was first given BS about how this is their policy. When I asked why it's their policy, he said "We cater to large groups." He quickly realized this sounded bad and continued, "We want smaller parties too, but we don't take reservations for them." I mentioned that the recent Seattle Times review said "Reservations recommended" and he said "Unfortunately they didn't say what size groups can make reservations." I mentioned that very few hotel restaurants refuse to take reservations and their policy made it hard for people to plan on eating before a show at the Paramount; he had no real reply. (I realize that Marazul may technically not be a hotel restaurant, but it's close.) Most surprisingly, when I asked for the manager so I could register my distaste for this policy, he said he was the manager! I can tolerate policies like this at quirky, chef-owned places like Lark and Sitka & Spruce, though I don't like it there, either (and go less than I otherwise would). We frequent restaurant patrons need to complain before this consumer-unfriendly policy spreads. In our case, since we're dining at 6pm, I suspect we'll be OK, but I've already got a bad feeling about Marazul's attitude.

How reliable is that report? I can't imagine any restaurant paying $10,000 for a recipe. I can imagine paying that much, or more, to a restaurant consultant to design a menu that fits a particular restaurant.

I'm headed to Breck, where I've been many times but not for a few years. What's new and delicious (or old and still delicious)? Any cuisine, any price, but we care much more about food than elegant atmosphere (but elegant is fine if the food is great). And even if it's not one of your top picks ... what's the best sushi? I promise a report when I return. Thanks!

The counter has always been the cool place to sit at Matt's in the Market, and I assume it will still be so when Matt's reopens after expanding.

FareStart, the nonprofit that trains homeless men and women to become cooks, opened for lunch today in its new location at 7th & Virginia. It's actually a soft opening; the official grand opening is Feb 5, but anyone can go there now. The space is gorgeous, the menu is the same diverse but mostly American fare as before, the food was delicious, and it was cool to be able to see the students working in the kitchen. The new building also has 3 private dining rooms for meetings, parties, etc. And the increased space will allow them to double the number of students they train. They're open M-F for lunch and Thursday nights for guest chef dinners. Here's the Guest Chef calendar; reservations are recommended for dinner (the first two are sold out) but not needed for lunch. Full disclosure: I'm a volunteer for this worthy organization.

A couple of years ago I found cacao nibs at the Metropolitan Market in upper Queen Anne. I haven't checked since.

It was Firefly and then Lumette (not to be confused with the excellent Lumiere in Vancouver!). The new place looks elegant and the menu very interesting. It says it's a mix of regional Italian cuisine, branching out from the Sicilian focus of their other restaurants.

Any idea what O Pal is? Banjara had a checkered history that deserves to be memorialized. When we moved into the neighborhood in 1996, they already had the space rented, but it took a year or two for them to get it open. Meanwhile an Indian restaurant opened across the street -- first I believe it was a branch of Raga (from Bellevue), then Mayuri (also from Bellevue), though I may have the sequence wrong. Finally Banjara opened, and, even though its food was inferior, it did better because it had a corner location, it was slightly cheaper, and it was decorated more like a typical Indian restaurant (albeit badly). Eventually the food improved too, and Mayuri (or whatever it was called at the end) threw in the towel. For a while I believe the Banjara people even ran the Mexican restaurant that replaced Mayuri. But in the last couple of years, Banjara's quality declined, and eventually their customers realized it and stopped going. Some comic moments in Banjara's history: - For a long time, they had a framed letter in the bathroom from the health department saying something like "We are writing to commend you for being one of the most improved restaurants in cleanliness this year. With continued work on your part, we look forward to helping you become a leader in restaurant sanitation in the county." Apparently they thought this was something to be proud of. - When they were preparing to open a place across the street, the (apparent) owner said he was thinking of a Mexican seafood restaurant. One day I saw him perusing a seafood cookbook that was one of those books you find at a supermarket checkout stand for $4.99. - For many years they had a big sign in the window advertising "LUNCH BUFFETT $6.99". I couldn't walk by without thinking of Jimmy Buffet. - After 9/11, eager to show their patriotism, they put a big handmade poster of an American flag in the window. However, it looked like a first-grade class project: crooked lines, the wrong number of lines and stars, etc.

The Herbfarm would be by far the most romantic, delicious, memorable experience in your list. The speeches are relatively short and somewhat interesting for a first-timer, though a bit tedious on repeat visits. The rest of the evening, both food and atmosphere, are unlike anything else in the PNW. With an overnight at Willows Lodge you're really talking memorable, but even without it, The Herbfarm should be your choice. Mistral has excellent food, but I think the Herbfarm is better and more interesting. And Mistral has a sterile atmosphere. Union has fine but unmemorable food. I'd take Rover's, Campagne, or Crush over either of those.

So? My 16-pound bird, starting raw, spent 2 hours in the oven. (Perhaps if I hadn't brined it, it would have taken 2.5 hours.)

Are either of the pizza places (Village Pizza & Pizza Factory) or Chinese restaurants (Hong Kong Garden & Lucky Chopsticks) in downtown Anacortes particularly good or bad?

Can anyone suggest the best pizza, Chinese, or other takeout food that's reasonably on the way from I-5 to the Anacortes ferry? The food needs to be kid-friendly and easily consumed on the ferry. Can we do better than the KFC we had last year?

The TJ in Queen Anne, at least, seems to regularly offer Chocovic's Ocumare and Guaranda single-origin bars. I really like the Ocumare. Here's a review I found of both; I don't know anything about the blog but I do agree with what they say about these bars: Chocovic bar descriptions

I was there on Friday. The cassoulet was excellent. My friend said the bone marrow was, too, but there was even less of it than the tiny amount you'd expect. The chocolate mousse was unusually heavy and coarse, a cross between mousse and barely melted chocolate, topped by a huge dollop of whipped cream, but once I got used to the consistency, I enjoyed the intense, obviously high-quality chocolate taste. Service was decent but extremely slow. They seemed understaffed for a full dining room.

My wife and I were there tonight, and I feel almost silly piling on to all the other positive reviews, but I can say only great things about this place. The poulet 50/50 included the most delicious chicken breast I can recall having (the breast normally not being my favorite part of birds) as well as even better dark meat, onions, and stuffing. And the rolls, the risotto pops, the frisee salad, the pork confit, the ice creams, the molten chocolate cake... just go already, will ya? Service deserves special mention. The entire team was totally warm and professional -- friendly, helpful, and efficient. And after a family left that had been comically unwilling to control their young child, the waitress sincerely thanked my wife (who along with I is extremely tolerant of kids) for having gently asked the mom to do something. (I suppose I should elaborate because I know someone will ask. A family of 3 adults and 3 kids -- 2 teens and one maybe 6yo girl -- were seated in the middle of the restaurant. The youngest was repeatedly making loud fart sounds, I think with her arm. We're not talking once or twice, we're talking perhaps 50 times over 15 minutes. The rest of the family -- who were otherwise well-behaved (and for what it's worth, all including the girl were well-dressed) -- were just laughing at her. Now I can understand if a kid is boisterous or whiny, and I understand the limits of parental control. But this kid was being willfully annoying and the parents were just encouraging her. Finally my wife went over to their table, assessed the situation, smiled, and waited a while to be noticed. She was going to diplomatically ask the mom to do something, but the mom immediately said "You want me to shut her up?". My wife pondered the question, replied "Yes!", and then nicely asked the girl to stop making that noise, knowing that a request from a stranger might help. It did, though it was clear that the family thought my wife was overreacting. Let me make it clear that this seemed like just one of those things and not something I'd expect to see more at Fork than anywhere else.) We spent $102 including for 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 desserts, 1 glass of wine, 1 coffee, tax, and tip. I think the food, service, and prices are better than at Veil. The atmosphere is more relaxed (which isn't necessarily good or bad, though I like it). I agree with mamster: there is nothing two-week-old about this restaurant. A winner. A winner.

My wife and I just experienced our first meal at Après. Wow! It was probably the best dinner I've ever had in the Pacific NW (I live in Seattle). The foie gras trilogy was mind-blowing. We wanted to order everything on the menu. If you like creative European-style cuisine, get there immediately. This chef deserves much more fame than he's got, and I'm sure it will come. A few other noteworthy but less stellar experiences: - Sushi Village (in the village) has superb sushi as well as cooked food. Ask for a tatami room if you've got at least 4 people; these are perfect with kids. Someone said that the Sacha Sushi, a new place in Village North, is slightly better, although we didn't try it. - We tried 2 longstanding places in the village for the first time that are great for kids and not bad for adults (but I wouldn't bother if we didn't have kids). Mongolie Grill is an invent-your-own-stir-fry place that's better than the other place of this genre I once tried in Seattle. And the kids loved it. And it's cheap. Teppan Village is a Japanese steak house like Benihana; the steak and lobster were excellent, the chicken and salmon just so-so. Kind of expensive. - Finally, en route between Seattle and Whistler we've become satisfied repeat diners at Westview Oriental Restaurant in North Vancouver. There's better food (Chinese and otherwise) in Vancouver, but if you're bypassing the city and taking Rt 1, skip all the fast food chains and take exit 17, go north to the first light, and turn left into the shopping center with this restaurant. They serve perhaps 20 types of dim sum to order as well as a long menu of other Chinese dishes. It's all very good. (I welcome other casual dining suggestions along Rt 1 between Langley and Horsheshoe Bay.)

This may be past the statute of limitations for complaining, but about 7 years ago, as 3 of us were sitting down to dinner at Bearfoot Bistro, the waiter began with "Would you like to celebrate the day of skiing with a glass of Champagne?". Caught up in his spirit, we failed to do what I normally do -- ask the price -- and assumed we would get a good Champagne at a reasonable price, kind of like ordering a house wine or a mixed drink. They served us Veuve Clicquot (which was their least expensive Champagne) -- at $35 per glass! Again, this was 7 years ago. Obviously we should have asked, but nonetheless we felt this price was out of line. I should mention that the main reason I don't go there any more is that I feel their food, as well, is overrated and overpriced.