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irodguy

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Posts posted by irodguy

  1. Rated by where I enjoy going as apposed to "best of the best"

    1) Paparazzi in Plano. Truly great high end Italian at reasoanble prices. Also great steak. Also probably one of the most child friendly higher end restaurants in the area.

    2) Simon's Sushi Plano - Simon is an artist

    3) Zorba the Greek. There food is great even though they won't split the check :angry: so we no longer go there for lunch in mass..

    4) Lola - Always interesting

    5) Seoul Garden - Great Korean and the only place I know of that does table bbq with hot coals. It's a bit hard to find by the quickie mart, and parking espeically at lunch can be kind of ah interesting..

    6) Cafe Pacific - All though I don't go often it's always great

    7) Taverna - All though I have to get Mi Piacci a heads up as great Italian, I eat much more often and enjoy Taverna.

    8) Scotty P's - Great Burgers and fab onion rings. What can I say it's 3 blocks from my house. :laugh:

    9) Chow Thai Pacific Rim Plano - Very consitant and quite good

    10) Babe's Chicken. What can I say you just can't go wrong with great fried chicken!

  2. Some of my favorites have been Ball's and Keller's in the past. Anything new on the burger scene? Dallas? Fort Worth? Grapevine? Plano? Arlington? Coppel? Denton?

    Yep Balls has always been up there for me. I will tell you that Scotty P's in Plano, Frisco, Southlake is very close. Close enough that I rarely drive to Snyder plaza anymore.

    Now new on the DFW Burger market is Cheeburger Cheeburger. It's a chain out of Florida. Dallas located on Inwood & Lovers.

  3. The difference between the Vita Mix and normal blenders is basically the difference between using a shovel and a bulldozer.

    They simply are much higher horsepower than regular blenders and have metal gears were normal blenders have gone to plastics in many cases.

    Now that being said I saw another commerical blender demo at Sams that looked like it would give my old Vita Mix a run for the money. It was about $250 with a "life-time" warranty. I don't remember the brand name..

  4. :laugh:

    I thought the garbanzos were the ultimate sin. They do call it Cincinatti don't they? Anyway, it is pretty in the bowl and it tastes good.

    Yep made the mistake about telling a friend of mine from Lubock about "Cincinatti chili" His comment is "their ain't no such thang" It's Cincinatti Tomato Stew, that those "yankees" just got confused. :laugh:

  5. Until I tried "Work In Progress Chili" the following recipe was the family favorite. I saw the original in Southern Lining some years ago and tweaked it as usual. This is the final version that "stuck." I have even mixed up the spice mixture and mailed it to my son or daughter since, unless you have an extensive spice cabinet it would cost a bloody fortune. I have since heard that chili of this type is called Cincinatti Chili. Soes anyone know if that is true?

    It certainly isn't Texas Style . . . whatever that is. My dad always swore by the Pedernales Chili recipe that was supposed to be favored at the LBJ ranch. Interestingly enough, the recipe is published in the LBJ Library site here.

    Bodacious Chili

    Adapted from the recipe in Southern Living

    2 lbs chuck in ½” cubes

    2 large onions, chopped

    3 stalks celery cut in 1” pieces

    1 large red bell pepper, chopped

    4 jalapenos, seeded and diced

    1 cup mushrooms, sliced (Portobellos are really good)

    4 cloves garlic, minced

    3 T olive oil

    Start meat in oil and when beginning to brown add other ingredients.  Continue to cook on medium high until vegetables begin to cook.

    Stir in:

    3 T cocoa

    3 T  ancho chili powder

    1 t cayenne or arbol (optional)

    1 t ground cumin

    2 t cumin seeds

    2 t dried Mexican oregano

    2 t paprika

    1 t ground tumeric

    ½ t salt

    1 t ground cardamom

    1 t ground pepper

    1 T molasses

    3/4 cup red wine

    2 cans chopped tomatoes

    1 can drained kidney beans

    1 can drained garbanzos

    Simmer covered for 1 ½ hours.

    :laugh: Ah Mushrooms.... Hangum Boys.... :biggrin:

    Sounds like a good recipe but I would not pass it off as "chili" @ least not in West Texas...

  6. BTW, with the real Louisiana sausage in it, the only spices we added to it was the little bit of salt and cayenne we added to the Trinity, plus a shot of CAJUN POWER garlic hot sauce. The sausage imparted a lot of spicyness to the gumbo without any added Cajun seasoning.

    My favorite cajun hot sauce. They also make Garlic juice which is handy to throw in your gumbo.

  7. I have been pretty much off caffeine for the last few months. I have been drinking caffiene free soda and water. Every so often I have to hit the Ice Tea when I know I want to stay up late, but that's a pretty rare thing.

    I find that I am sleeping much better.

  8. Why make a double batch? Depending on what you are using it for the final sauce doesn't take more than 10 minutes anyhow. I always just make enough.

    If I am cooking for an event I might make several batches over several days, but always make up a fresh batch. Just not worth worrying about.

  9. Was at the CM on Westheimer last night, and they have a nice little shelf setup next to customer service with a display of ALL of their new CM items.  Stuff I hadn't even realized... morello cherry preserves (and loads of other flavors), extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar... I didn't get anything but the microwave popcorn (seriously, so good.  Tastes like what used to come out of the stove-top corn popper) but I will definitely be trying this other stuff in the near future.

    Now that is a good idea . . . having that display, I mean. I find that CMs and the big HEBs have just so much stuff that it makes me dizzy. I may be making an excursion into town over the weekend and may make a stop there just to check it out. Then I can go looking in my HEB for stuff that I am interested in. There were a lot of odd blank spaces on the shelves at the HEB. It was like they were reshuffling the stock, to make space for the new stuff maybe? But if they don't restock that blood orange soda I'm gonna GET A ROPE!

    I was in CM North yesterday wanting to pick up some Blood orange soda..there is none to be found. The warehouse is even out. SIGH....

    Maddie

    Lucky for me Plano CM has plenty :rolleyes: I bought a bottle last night and going back for another tonight. I might have to start a chapter of BOSA :laugh:

  10. Ah yes I read the article, quite interesting.

    All though not "in Dallas" my favorite Italian sausage is http://www.loveras-italian.com/ in Krebs Oklahoma.

    Now in Dallas I must admit I used to love Al's. Pretty funny really in a previous life many moons ago, I used to own the pay phones outside of Al's :raz:

    I have purchased sausage from Kuby's for many years as well. There is no question that they will be within the top two in any local Sausage contest.

    It does surprise me that Hirsch's did not do better. I frequently purchase sausage there mainly because they are two blocks from my house :laugh: I simply don't see a big enough difference between them and Kuby's for normal sausage purchases.

    Now if I am having a cookout Kuby's is still my prime choice, that is if I am not in the mood for a road trip :laugh:

  11. Are you stripping the greens off the stalk? The "Green" Parts are normally not bitter but the stalk is often quite bitter. This can be helped by grilling the stocks, but most of the time it's easier to toss them.

    A nice sweet dressing

    1/4 cup Walnut Oil

    1 tsp Mustard or a little more as necessary

    Maple syrup about 4 T

    Balsamic to taste

    1/3 cup Feta

  12. Ankimo - Monk Fish Liver When in season it's the best thing going.

    Aji - Spanish Mackerel if fresh it's great

    Blue FIn Toru - It's butter in your mouth

    Anago - Sea Eel

    Salmon Skin Maki

    Tempura Maki with Teriyaki Sauce

    Wasabi Tabiko with a raw quail egg - Very yummy

    My current favorite is a concoction that a local Sushi bar make. A "BTS" roll (Better than Sex) will not quite but close :laugh:

  13. Well then again I can categorize the perfect burger as "Jamie's Hamburgers" in the Dallas of my youth. It was the burger that the original Chilis attempted to copy but did a bad job. The fellow who started Chilis had a club in the same shopping center as Jamie's.

    They cooked on hickory and always got the burger just right.. I am still trying to copy it to this day.

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