jbonne

yeah, but are they including the molten cheese to go along with them? Velveeta-grade or no, i maintain there is some mysterious chemical reaction that occrs when their fries and their cheese-like product is combined. or maybe it's just the heady, salty air of Coney Island that does it. p.s. adding my thanks for the amazing survey of 'dogs!

absolutely. i'm thinking i'll likely be writing about vermouth at some point soon, so i'll probably chat with at least a couple of those folks and will query them on what they're using. incidentally, i found Vya at my favorite bar the other night, and convinced my favorite bartender to make me a more or less classic martini with it. beautiful aromatics and it was the perfect compliment to the botanitcals in the gin. also discovered who distributes it here in WA, so i can now hunt some down for my home bar. sadly, he acknowledged even he uses just a drop of vermouth in his standard martinis now. this explains why i never liked the martinis there before. he did, however, strongly endorse the Vya sweet on the rocks, which was an excellent idea. as one of my drinking companions noted, more like a lovely oloroso than a sweet vermouth. though maybe that's just selling vermouth short.

prices didn't impress me, but i thought the selection was relatively good, given the venue. i've had quite the opposite experience -- often been very unimpressed by the Roosevelt store's selections. (though i still buy wine there several times a week.) some of that is that they're (like the Bellevue store) pushing the bulk lots purchased by WF. it can occasionally be very good stuff -- like the $9, 1-liter bottle of Berger gruner we tried yesterday -- but i've seen stuff that is truly pedestrian. was very impressed, for example, at some of the German options in Bellevue. incidentally, the wine buyers at the two stores have known each other for a long time, so i imagine there'll be a fair amount of crossover in the selection. as i understand it, some of the Bellevue stock was dictated from on high but will change soon. quite agree about the cellar, though the selections seemed to me the likely choices for a flagship store in a locale often known to have more money than taste. not to offend any well-palated Eastsiders.

i still remember enjoying Ted's franks, some four years after my one stop in Tonawanda. those made having driven across all of New York state almost worthwhile. sadly, there's been precious few hot dog options out in the Northwest. i seriously miss Hebrew National, which was always a winner in the mass-produced category. ditto for Nathan's and Papaya King in their retail locations, but some of that's probably just nostalgia for New York. luckily, there are a few options out here for sausage -- terrific Nurnberger bratwurst, for example -- which almost replace the lack of decent 'dogs. of course, Seattle is also a town that inexplicably endorses cream cheese as a hot-dog condiment, so go figure. there's probably a whole other thread to be had on what belongs atop the frankfurter, but it's just that: a whole other thread.

fwiw, WF Bellevue hired away Kurt Krause, the wine steward at Larry's. so if you were enjoying the Larry's wine selection, you can now indulge over at WF. while i'm not always a fan of the WF selections, a browse of their Bellevue offerings the other night left me plenty impressed.

incredibly helpful -- thanks!!

right on! one local place makes truffle oil mini cheeseburgers, which are delectable! besides that: dab of ketchup, spreading of dijon mustard, slice of green tomato. a bit of West Coast blue cheese (like a Rogue River or a Point Reyes) is ok now and then, as is a bit of very good bacon on an extremely occasional basis. of course, the beef should be comparatively lean and flavorful enough to stand on its own. then there's lamb burgers, which i find a bit preferable for their slightly more remarkable flavor.

on balance, i don't like when people indulge in the sort of stereotyping you describe. but the trends i was describing are pretty well-founded. we do eat a lot of meat with high fat content. (not me personally, but after covering the beef industry, i now spend a lot of time choosing my meat carefully.) we do buy a lot of flavored liquor, far more than small batch artisanal whiskey. the person on the next barstool doesn't impact my cocktail experience (unless, as noted elsewhere, their larger preference and that of everyone else there prompts the bar to stop serving drinks i like, in which case i have to find another place to drink). but i'm certainly less inclined to coverse politely with someone who's downing kamikaze shooters, assuming they're in any shape to converse at all. all that said, and as noted above, i respect that you and anyone who's serving the ever-finicky public have to appreciate a polyglot approach to consumption. i did. and now i get to quietly snicker with servers in my favorite establishments at some of my fellow patrons' choices. it is snobbish, no doubt.

there's a great story in that fact alone. apropos of nothing, i've discovered my two cats have an enormous yen for edamame. they love cheese and tidbits of meat, but they'll roll over and do poodle tricks for soybeans. curious.

i think Captain Morgan has since outdone Jäger/Jaeger by several laps. and they have keychains, too. [edited to fix the diacritical]

snobbism or not, it's folly to believe that what other people put in their mouths doesn't impact me. this isn't a matter of whether someone eats meat, or drinks whiskey, or not. it's a matter of how the commercial world caters to unfortunate cultural preferences. Americans eat bad, fatty meat -- so that's what's available to me now in most restaurants. Americans drink a lot of bad, vapid mixed drinks -- so while i can find 10 types of fruity liqueur on the store shelf, i struggle to find a decent small-batch rye. so while i can't condemn someone for eating or drinking what he or she likes, i can certainly think less of them for it.

yes, or at least a big campaign in bars with campus proximity. but now i'm curious exactly why it worked ... [edited to note that JAZ pointed out the key success ingredient: scantily clad drink women. shame to me for not guessing the obvious.]

this is very much appreciated. i stand corrected, or perhaps clarified.

a darn good question, and one i see nothing around to answer. even this item, which covers nearly every other issue surrounding vermouth, simply concludes the base is a dry white wine. winemaking guides seem to generally reach the same conclusion. i'm going to poke around a bit on this, as i have a feeling there must be more than one varietal that's acceptable for use.

ditto, though i find M&R acceptable when NP isn't available. for whatever reason, i've never seen Vya, perhaps because the Wash. LCB doesn't stock it in their stores. speaking of stock, it's been forever since i heard anyone even mention Stock. have they just fallen off the radar?

would love to hear his take. as i noted, i think the history is under a matter of some debate. quite. i just wish most of the variations weren't syrupy, fruity travesties that seem mostly suited to pleasing mid-20s palates honed on the fineries of spring break. i'm rather a stickler in believing that booze should be tasted and enjoyed. at the very least, these newfangled options shouldn't get the "-tini" moniker unless they uphold the spirit of the martini. "chocolate swirl martini"? two of those three words are correct. but i'm all in favor of respectful experimentation. pretty much the one you described. but i've also seen ones that omit the gin or vodka entirely, use the sake as a primary alcohol and put something floral or fruity in place of the vermouth. may be an OK drink, but it's a rice wine cooler, not a derivative martini.

actually, i may snag credit for that turn of phrase but that's absolutely the problem. by one argument, the origin of the mixed cocktail was to create (as was described just above) a culinary experience through a mixing of flavors, hence the deft use of bitters, juices, &c. by another argument, cocktails in America were essentially devised to mask the poor quality of most alcohol prior to, and then obviously during, Prohibition. if you subscribe to the latter, the modern evolution of cocktails -- which seems largely to be a matter of devising ways to fit ever more potency into an ever less-potent-tasting beverage -- probably isn't much of an improvement. the only difference being that distillation has improved to the point that there's really no excuse for bad alcohol. the only possible one is financial, and i'd make the case that those who seek out lower-grade booze are in it for quantity, not quality. and that should never be the case with alcohol. if it's the former, i think there's plenty of room for innovation. in the same way it'd be folly to fault a modern chef for trying to reinvent a classic like cassoulet, i couldn't fault mixological types for wanting to update and overhaul something as noble as the martini. but turn cassoulet into duck pot pie and i'll get riled. i wouldn't even agree (to bring in a related thread) that the saketini is a fundamentally wrong creation. the name is unseemly, but such is the way of language. and my preference would be to use the sake in place of the vermouth, not the gin/vodka, since the taste profiles are not dissimilar and it's a matter of substituting wine for wine. it's not a replacement for a really good sake, but it's an interesting and potentially tasty drink that enhances the taste of the alcohol.

a G&T with a good gin -- one with distinct, well-blended aromatics (personally i vote for Sapphire, but there's room for debate) -- a good tonic (the stuff from the soda gun doesn't count), a squeeze of fresh lime and perhaps a drop of Rose's is a lovely, noble thing. without quality on each point, it's usually a turpentine-quinine muddle best reserved for malaria prevention. this is why i usually prefer my alcohol neat. on the broader point of booze that should never have been: Goldschlager. also those newfangled concoctions like Aftershock. and flavored brandies. the only thing worse than bad cocktails are things that are wrong all by themselves.

you may have stumbled on the next drink craze. totally agree with you about the allure of the glass, with complete disregard for what's in it. sometimes i feel like martini glasses should be sold with ownership papers. and personally, i'm keen on about 4:1 or 5:1, but then, i dig vermouth.

it involved certain salty language they decided they'd rather not have in the public domain.

i can't speak more broadly, but most of the frozen i've seen is imported from Japan. don't recall ever seeing fresh edamame in the States, but it's been a while since i looked. i'll take a peek next time i'm out shopping in the Japanese groceries ...

the Yukon was spectacular when we had it last weekend from Mutual Fish, though the price was to match. the fattiness of the fish made it just about melt to the touch, though we had to adjust cooking times just a tiny bit because there was such a high fat content. marketing ploy or no, it's got a lot of potential, so long as you're not planning to be delicate with it. it's past peak CR season, and as others have pointed out, probably not worth it at this point. no clue on the other two. if you're hunting down sockeye and want a treat, check out the Yukon. especially since it may not be back for a while. otherwise, whatever you find in the better SEA fish markets is likely to be just great.

that sounds way better than the versions i've seen attempted. the vinaigrette alone would save it. next time i'm shopping in the International District here, i should pick up some pre-shelled edamame (sheer brilliance!!) and use them straightaway for a salad.

since both are completely good explanations, this sounds to me like a situation possibly similar to the meaning of mysterious Owen Sullivan's puzzling BSH blend. they decided its true meaning would not likely pass muster with the wine cops.

i could suggest endlessly, so i appreciate that you've honed in on one cuisine that you want. for Vietnamese, i think you can't go wrong with Saigon Bistro in the I.D. the decor is nil, but the food is spectacular and it's very, very authentic. if you want more deli-style Vietnamese, walk a block up Jackson to either Saigon Deli or Seattle Deli (actually on 12th just north of Jackson), where you'll find freshly made banh mi, goi cuon and hot tables of anything imaginable. and coffee, of course. Jackson's an arterial, so public transit should be easy, if you opt against the car. if you want something a bit more fusion, the newly opened Baguette Box does banh mi-style offerings in a slightly haute way. most of the other options listed in the thread are pretty good, though. and there's really no end to the possibilities. if nothing else, take a spin through the Market and enjoy some of the storefront options, like Pike Place Chowder. hope it helps!