jhlurie

It HAS to be. That's K.C. barbecue more than chicken & ribs, or even pulled pork (which is still big, mind you--Missouri is a HUGE pig-raising state). ← Chicken? I'm sure that many Kansas City barbeque places sell some, and it's been a long, long time since I last set foot in Gates' or anyplace remotely like it, but I don't ever recall seeing an actual patron of a good KC 'cue joint walk away from the order counter with any. Ribs, OTOH, are another story. Sure, they're not as closely identified with Kansas City as burnt ends (especially) or brisket are, but they can be found at every respectable 'cue purveyor in the area. They're also something every expat Kansas Citian I've run across knows how to make. Those of you who have never had burnt ends, you're in for a real treat. Glad to see that New York City is finally getting a really good 'cue joint. The lack of one was a serious deficiency for a place that prides itself as a culinary capital. ← Hey, I wasn't suggesting Chicken is in any way associated with KC BBQ. Quite the opposite, in fact. Actually, I've seen Turkey more often--at least Gates BBQ features it. Ribs, I think, are at the very least a very integral thing to Missouri in general. I mean people talk about BOTH St. Louis and Kansas City trimming, right? What I don't recall often seeing is that "Chicken & Ribs" combo which seems so ubiquous in many less BBQey parts of the country. Taking this back to Dinosaur BBQ, one of my big objections was the total absense of Burnt Ends. If RUB has Burnt Ends... that alone will give them a leg up.

I appreciate the absolution I'm expecting a care package from all the Southerners now ← Not that I haven't had decent Kielbasa, but it's the 98-pound weakling of sausages in some ways. It's from a completely different tradition, I think--all smooth and even and uniform tasting.

Right. I don't think they are actually a "mint". Heck, I'm not sure ANY kind of Tic Tac is a mint, although the peppermint or spearmint at least approximate one. I remember when brands like Certs stopped being about mints. It was refreshing when Breath Savers came out, because at least they re-prioritized the mintyness, but I think they may have slipped into non-minty flavors in recent years as well. Technically, I suppose something like Cinnamon isn't a mint, but at least it's a strong clear flavor. That's why I can accept the idea of a Ginger "mint". But citrus? Please. Citrus is good for sour, but it ain't a mint. Heck, even "Vanilla Mint" is kind of a stupid concept, even if it does taste good. My favorite non-mint "mint" is actually Chocolate Velamints. I can accept it's non-mintyness because, again, in my opinion it's a strong, clear flavor.

I'm kind of partial to the A&P "Master Choice" line, although I like most other things in ShopRite better, otherwise.

Well that's a real load of horse hockey. The mexican coke bottles are THICK solid glass--they aren't going to easily shatter. I suppose "explode" could be describing the caps blowing explosively off, but how is this a new thing with soda? One point is that they may not have proper FDA approval, or something like that.

Aren't the Tangerine Altoids "sours" instead of "mints"? We have to draw the line somewhere. Then again, even when confectioners DO attempt to make a true citrusy mint, I don't think it ever works. It's part of why that Citrus Listerine flavor sucks, as has every other citrusy-minty hybrid I've ever tried. The Tangerine Altoids are good because they are, in the end, just sour sucking candies and not a lame attempt to mint-ize that flavor.

Kielbasa? Okay... we can let it go. This time. It's hardly to be expected that you'd have Andouille or Boudin on hand.

You know what are surprisingly good mints? Target's house brand.

Why does the combination of what looks like it might be polar fleece, together with one of those pointy straw hats, loom so large to me as a symbol of 21st century China?

Get your mind out of the gutter Perlow. This is a food board. The obvious joke is that this is the Chinese version of "Chicken In A Basket". It simply requires some additional cooking time.

Joke... too... obvious. Must... restrain... self.

It's a fortified red wine--a bitter red Vermouth.

Impressive. I can't wait for the next part.

Rats. Buy me a can and save it if you can. Ah, who am I fooling? I love normal DiDP, so I can imagine this "working". I mean as long as their "idea" of an added vanilla taste isn't like Coca-Cola's. EDIT - Okay, the Dr. Pepper website now claims this product will "go national" on January 3rd.

I'm going to cheat and ask you a local question... where in the NNJ area did you find it?

More new Chips Ahoy varieties are out now. Today (because they were on sale) I bought: Chips Ahoy: "Peanut Butter Ahoy" Chips Ahoy: "White Fudge Chunky" As per Jason's original observation, Chips Ahoy (unlike Oreos) seem flexible enough that a reasonable amount can be done to them without ruining them. The Peanut Butter Ahoy, with mixed Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips (and I think maybe a tiny bit of Peanut Butter in the Cookie Dough itself) is pretty good. The White Fudge variety is even better. This kind of shocked me, because I've seen "White Chocolate" variations screwed up very consistently over the years. Within the limited parameters of Chips Ahoy (versus any kind of fresh baked variety), these rock. As per usual, these are bad as hell for you, but hey... it's junk food.

Some people might argue that happiness is not always the best gage of interest. While this comparison doesn't always work with food, for a moment lets compare it to the experience of viewing a painting or a sculpture. People can be shocked, made curious, afraid, or even somewhat disgusted and there could be some validity in provoking that. While the window of acceptable reactions might be a bit narrower for something which has to go into your stomach, it could be argued that at least some diners might be interested. Not all, but some. What is common, I suppose, is that to be er... gastronomic... I imagine it would have to move you in some fashion rather than just sustain you. In the end though, I guess I am arguing for the position that gastronomy is probably ultimately pretty individual in nature.

Technically this blog is over. We've left the topic unlocked to help keep the blog fires burning a little bit because of our unfortunate cancellations. The holidays are tough, but Soba has promised some really great stuff spilling into next year, so it will more than make up for it. {All pat Soba on the back for the often thankless job he does guiding this ship. And don't forget to drop him a note if you are interested in seeing what it takes to do one of these eventually...}

Our friend, Mr. Bourdain, is probably shaking his fist at this film already because of this.

I still McShudder thinking about this. Then again, for all the arguments about adandoning their core market and spreading their net too wide, the fact remains that they have this down to a McScience, and are no doubt quite upset at the inroads that places like Subway have made. They covet those lost customers--when it was just Arby's, Roy Rogers, and lesser local "sub" chains making sandwiches they weren't all that worried, but times have changed and terrifying phrases like "Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki" have actually somehow become part of the vernacular.

Apparently the folks over at Taquitos.net weren't very impressed with some other Chicken skin snacks.

Pull up a nice hard seat and tell me more about it!

I still haven't decided why this amuses me so much. It's not a particularly clear case of mangled English or a botched western culture reference. Maybe I'm just wondering if the Chinese prefer hard seats to the soft ones we westerners would more likely ask for.

This must be timely. A TV show I haven't watched in about 3 years (I only watched last night to see that blowhard Alan Alda, who was a guest star), the West Wing, just had this as a plot. They threw around some statistics which I didn't note too exactly, but claimed that something like 50% of our shrimp comes from China alone, and that our shrimpers could never make up the difference anyway. The issue of what we'd be able to do about Vietnam was part of the broadcast as well--apparently the filter the show's writers see through worries that any kind of action either for OR against Vietnam would be some kind of political hot potato!

For the uninitiated, you should take a look at Ellen's magnum opus about her trip to Mongolia: Mongolia. Seriously. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI and Part VII. Technically part of the above series, but a bit different in content, we've also got the tale of her last trip to China--Beijing in that case.