sarmasarma123

After that last posting, I just realized that I actually referenced that same Benazuza dinner in the book... and said some potentially controversial things about Anthony Bourdain in the same section. I swear, I was overworked and delirious when I wrote them! One of my fantasies? To get both Bourdain and Jeffrey Steingarten (LOVE him madly... not sure why so madly considering I have never met him) to eat with me at Pure Food and Wine.

I'm back to say that they butchered the spelling of my last name in that little bit quoted here. Not really. They did, but that's not why I'm back. It has just been a VERY BUSY few months for me... when I logged in I think it said the last time I was on the site was November! The restaurant is busy... lots of things have changed, but it's a beautiful night in the garden, book is out, and I'm busier than ever before. Though something reminded me of egullet and I thought I'd check back. Our chef Amanda, who has taken over the place like the creative and sweet little dictator that she is, takes good care of things while we work on ancillary projects, about which I'm very excited. Don't know what else to say... feel silly assuming that anyone cares about anything I have to say, though am having to work hard at forcing myself to get over it. See my latest project and it will be clear why. SO... what can I say? Favorite newest dish at the restaurant? Squash Blossoms... with herbed macadamia cheese filling, zucchini pasta, pecans and red pepper sauce. It's yummy AND pretty. And Coffee Cocoa Chip ice cream, as well as Almond Butter Cup... both better than anything we've had before. Lots of new desserts. Selling packaged products at Whole Foods now. We try. And hopefully get better and better. Latest pet project: oneluckyduck.com - it's meant to make the whole thing fun. Almost forgot... went to Spain last winter, (for one of those all expenses paid - do nothing but eat and talk about food with other food people - food trips), was at Hacienda Benazuza and had a 26 course tasting menu. Yes, I will eat non-raw food having any such unusually worthwhile opportunity. I asked them for a long strip of register tape on which I wrote notes on every single extremely interesting and thought provoking course... it was amazing and I had grand delusions of writing a long and mouth watering description on egullet of the entire experience when I returned. Oh well! Though I still have that crumpled register tape somewhere... ←

OH my... I just wrote a really LONG post and then LOST it... i'm going to go bang my head on the wall till it bleeds now. Will repost soon, I promise, but I'm too upset now. Wrote ALL about our new fall dishes, about new stuff at the takeaway, about our cool new kitchen with glass storefront, about a recent dinner at kittichai, about the new book am writing (which is why have not been posting at all) and lots of other stuff you all never wanted to know..... I am such a dork that I lost it. :( Will be back when I recover from my own stupidity. Sarma

Hi Emily... what a nice posting!! I've been away for too long... am glad you like the ice creams! DO say hello - i'm there MOST of the time... except for now - I escaped with Matthew to our little cottage in Maine - my first (and probably only) time away this summer. So while all you fools are sweating back there in the city... we just lit a fire b/c it's so CHILLY here on the ocean! LOVE the fire in wood cabin smell. So, to make this posting relevant to those obsessed w/ food... a big part of what we love up here is the most AMAZING produce that we get froom a place calle d Chase's Daily... they pick everythign from their farm in the early AM and bring it to their store by 10am - the most amazign salad greens one could imagine.. makes our own nyc greenmarket seem like some moldy Gristede's crap in comparison. OK, not really like that. I feel bad saying that now. HOpe they still sell to us! It's just different. Butter lettuces that are so crisp you would think they would squirt rain water when you bite into them. So, yes... we rawfoodists CHEATED a bit tonight - Chase's Daily serves dinner one night per week - they are vegetarian and serve breakfast and lunch most days, but dinner only one night. IT's the kind of place that really OUGHT to be profiled in Saveur, but you can tell they have no ambitions for such press. They ought to be written about everywhere, but I'm glad they are not... their taste is amazing... antique bar stools, very charming mix and match antique-y dishware, high ceilings, wood floors, the most amazing bread that they bake right there - kitchen is on the same floor. So yes, we had (aside from quite a bit of a very good NZ sauvignon blanc) beautiful salads and then i ordered a mezze plate that had, among other things, grilled halloumi (did i spell that right?) - YUMYUM SALTY YUM... it was good. other than that - we ate just vegetables. OH... except the desserts we tried. A strawberry granita - very nice and not too sweet, probably had jsut a WEE bit of that nasty refined sugar we try to shield ourselves from. But the chocolate "sunken" cake w/ coffee ice cream and a drizzle of caramel - served in a shallow bowl that looked like it came from the back of your mother's cupboard - was better than any dessert I can remember having in any big city by any big name chef. It was crispy and light and rich and (to my horror) buttery! These occasional detours off the raw trail which we blaze are well worth it, in my opinion. Really, this place would blow away anyone, but it's tucked away in Belfast, Maine - so genuine and lovely - run by the CHase family. We'll be getting there by 10am when their little truck arrives to get the best heirloom tomatoes we've ever had, crispy little cucumbers, fresh herbs... radishes - if only we could cart this stuff back with us - maybe we will after labor day? Being away from the restaurant for the first time is hard!! IT's like a mother leaving her baby... ? I had half hoped that it would rain and that it would be a quiet weekend, just so we wouldn't have to worry as much, but alas, despite the reportedly gnarly humid icky weather there right now, it's very busy. We resist the urge to call every five minutes, but so far hear that everything is going well in our absence. I'm still scared. Since we opened, it'st he first time that we have both not been there at the same time. But we figured, late August in the city is as good a time as any to get away... aside from maybe labor day, we'll be back there every night again as usual - can't wait for the fall and can't wait to try different dishes for the cooler weather. Up here we can actually think a bit more creatively. Working on a laptop sitting in a butterfly chair on a wooden dock on the water with a chipmunk eating almonds from my lap (which I put there for him - I have photos to prove it - they love us... we fed them almonds for the last three summers and now they are all over us like affectionate puppies) - so where was I? yes, working on menus and such on a laptop by the ocean is REALLY REALLY NIce. Stepping away is good for a bit - have tons of ideas to implement at the restaurant and the takeaway... if we can find hte time when we get back... will find it. I miss being there - it's like home. Such a pathetically long post... MK has passed out on the little 70's patterned couch by the fire. Like a sweet puppy. Will probably be mortified if he reads my post tomorrow, as will I surely. On that note... LATER for all you food loving egulleters... i love food too - just not always how it makes me feel... and that's why we do what we do, and I love it. CHEERS from chilly maine... (where I had the most AMAZING teeny wild blackberries today - i can't stop myself... love it here) goodnight!!

It HAS been a long day, and mine's only like one third over... anyway... i'm just happy someone appreciates the baby ducks... i love them! the original duck picture in the restaurant was printed in Gourmet mag about 8 months ago - i loved it so much for some reason - just seemed like the duck had a very cool expression on his face. So I tracked down the photographer - turns out he lives right nearby on East 4th St. and I ended up getting the series of three ducks, plus the baby ducks from him. And then because of that we ended up getting the ducks in our logo graphics. He's a great photographer - Francesco Lagnese. Does nice food pixies too. I need to change that shake named after me - one of our staff came up with it - it has wheatgrass in it - which I have to admit is not the tastiest stuff in the world, even though I love drinking it. And with all the pineapple and other stuff in the shake, it looks cool. The Clockwork Orange is my favorite... mango, oranges and fresh tumeric, which gives it a spicy kick and makes it really intensely orange colored, and tumeric is insanely good for you. And it has vanilla and agave nectar in it too to make it extra tasty. OK... i'm off to return a few calls while lying on a bench in our garden... cannot believe it's august and so cool out. amazingly beautiful... hope it lasts. We're opening for lunch on Monday... again, all you egullet junkies out there... ask for me if/when you come in and I'll be happy to send out extras and samplers etc. QUACK Sarma :)

We just opened Pure Juice and Takeaway today, in the space that was formerly Bar Demi, on 17th.... and to answer your question about the ice creams, we will be selling them by the pint - coconut, chocolate, pistachio, almond brittle and greenmarket flavors that vary daily, like sugarplum or gooseberry. All are non-dairy with no refined sugar. YUM. :)

We were out yesterday, but we're getting more at the market today! (sugarplums) We also missed the sour cherries the last couple days, but got these amazing tiny little wild raspberries instead... they were really cute and so pretty. But I prefer the sour cherries in the tart... Debbie keeps them in the dehydrator during service, so they are nice and warm on the tart when served. Hopefully we'll get more today. And regarding the last posting... love Anderson Copper too! But then again... I've always had an odd sort of crush on Jeffrey Steingarten too... Don't think Matthew is getting too worried, though. Even though I would get completely flustered and go weak in the knees if I ever met Mr. Steingarten - and I know how he feels about vegetables...

yes... kind of embarassing now that i pointed out the CNN thing... after seeing it, I was suprised too and how completely short it was. And yes, that was me. After spending two and a half hours w/ them through the interview, filming all the dishes and the garden, I was rather bummed and suprised that they didn't even name the restaurant, (although shocked that they pronounced my name right) and from the way the segment was going... it made it seem like the restaurant was in Los Angeles. And the whole focus was on the "diet" part of it... OH WELL!!! And regarding the above.. the greens are actually collards! "Collard" just sounds not so great, but they taste great and work amazingly well for wraps, when the stem is cut out and they are marinated a bit. And one last thing... in my previous posting... I did not mean to call Debbie a "pasty" sous chef! Sorry Debbie! Clearly... a pastRy sous chef she is. ;) and a good one at that!

BTW... forgot to mention, if anyone is interested, Pure Food and Wine will be on CNN tonight at 7pm - Anderson Cooper's show "360" - they came and interviewed us about the restaurant and about raw food and took footage of a lot of the food in the garden as well as some of the prep in the kitchen. The show focuses on celebrity lifestyles I think, so they fit it into that context somehow. :)

Thank you! Very glad you enjoyed it!! Hope you'll say hello next time you come by! Regarding the garden in the rain... I have become a weather.com junkie... Unfortunately, when it rains we have to keep the garden closed, which is not so bad, as I love our cozy dining room, and a few people can always sit in that little outdoor covered area that has the built in bench and pillows. If it's only going to drizzle, we have plenty of umbrellas to cover the area. Some nights it's a judgement call... whether we think we're going to get a thundershower. Furthermore, it gets very complicated with staffing, as you can imagine. We'll keep it open throughout the early fall as well, with those area heaters for when it gets chilly. Regarding some of the previous postings: I think Lauren asked about one of the newer dishes on the menu - it's a White Corn Tamale with Raw Cacao Mole Sauce, Marinated Mushrooms and Green Tomato Salsa. :) Also... regarding the expense - we do use very high quality ingredients and the preparation is very labor intensive. For example, we use young thai coconuts in many of the ice creams (and other dishes as well), which each need to be whacked open with a cleaver and then the white 'meat' (what else do I call it?? :)) needs to be pulled out and any bits of the outer shell scraped off... each pint of coconut ice cream probably has at least three of these coconuts, in addition to whole vanilla bean, and agave nectar, which is also really costly compared to refined white sugar. That's just one example. Not to mention, the greenmarket is no bargain! We have sugarplum ice cream on the menu tonight... sugarplums and sour cherries from the greenmarket - our pasty sous chef Debbie came up with a really yummy sour cherry and almond tart w/ sugarplum ice cream. Matthew and I are so busy that it's so nice when our staff gets inspired to work on new dishes as well! I also always go overboard buying too many cool herbs like lime basil and others when I stop at the market...

I would soak the rice for at least 8 hours, and then rinse it well and put it in a mesh collander over a bowl and let it sprout for a couple days, thoroughly rinsing it at least two or three times each day. The grains should split and become uniformly soft. Leaving it in the same murky water for days sounds kind of gnarly... :) I just read a really nice (and funny) review from the "carnivores" at the following site: http://www.killthebird.com/mt/blog/archives/000930.html "A site for those whose interests include but are not limited to public drunkeness, lewd behavior, debauchery, donkey humping, and the occasional glimpse into life in New York City."

yes, and play some ambient music and dim the lights...

We soak and sprout nuts, seeds and some grains so that their enzymes, vitamins and minerals remain intact, so it's for reasons beyond taste, although I've eaten sprouted wild rice and I think it's quite comparable in taste to boiled rice, although it's of course room temperature rather than hot, which is fine with me. Anyway... I eagerly await sarcastic replies!

Sarma, with all due respect, that seems to me to be positively barking mad. Do a search on google... "Wild rice is a coarse aquatic grass with short roots that are easily pulled up. It lives only one year but bears such quantities of seed that, in spite of what the Indians gathered and what was eaten by huge flocks of wild geese, ducks, and blackbirds, it was plentiful. It is a stately graceful plant with a few long, rather broad, pointed leaves on a stalk that grows to be from 4 to 12 feet tall and from 1/2 inch to 2 inches in diameter. At the top is a long flower cluster with spreading lower branches from which dangle many pollen-bearing flowers, and erect broom-like upper branches with the seed-bearing flowers. The slender awl-shaped seed, or rice grain, is almost black, about 3/4 inch long, in a husk with a long bristle at the tip. These grains fall very quickly after they ripen in midsummer and early autumn, especially on a windy day." Am I crazy? I don't think so...

Yes! Of course, our ingredients will change depending on what is available - that's what I love about printing menus every day - we can adjust it depending on what we get in house. During the fall and winter of last year, Matthew and I were researching and working on menus, so our intial drafts have some more wintery dishes, which we'll be working on to develop further when the time comes. Butternut squash, for example, is great when julienned and tossed with a little olive oil, maple or agave nectar, cumin, lemon, sea salt - and then put in the dehydrator... it's like VERY sloooooooow roasting. Last year we made "sun-charged" sweet potatoes.. tossing them in same ingredients and literally putting out in a bowl in the sun all day with a mesh screen over it (we were in Maine, though!). I want to use a lot of citrus too... made a citrus cous cous with different herbs and spices and dried fruits. The cous cous is made much like we make our sushi rice (jicama and other ingredients), except chopped up finer and without the sushi rice seasonings. We can also serve things warmed... right now our white corn tamales served warm. And while our soups are all chilled now for summer, we can serve whatever soups we are doing then warmed as well. Some dishes on the menu will probably always stay... the most popular being the Spicy Thai Lettuce Wraps with Tamarind Chile Sauce... and the Lasagna as well, except we won't be able to use Green Zebra or other heirlooms then. Wild rice is an ingredient I'm excited to use... real wild rice is, I believe, actually a seed. I'll look into it further, but I know there are types of wild 'rice' that I have had at a raw dinner once... when soaked long enough, it gets plump and tender, like rice. Would be nice with dried cranberries and pecans as part of some dish. I am just thinking out loud now. I'd love to experiment with chestnuts too. Matthew just mentioned chestnuts... spinach gnocchi with chestnut cream? And I can't wait for pomegranate seeds, which I love. The question every one asked us last year is if we missed hot food in the winter, and I can honestly say... no! We had feared ourselves that eating only this way would be challenging in the winter, but last winter I didn't even think about it unless someone specifically asked me. Of course, I wasn't skiing in Austria or snow shoe-ing in Canada, but then again, it got pretty cold here in the city! But honestly, I really didn't miss hot foods. I'm writing this from the kitchen again... keep stopping and starting to do other things and the music just got too loud and a bunch of tables just sat at once... so I have to go! Anyway... hope I answered your questions! Sarma :)

The bickering is pretty entertaining. And the controversy over this type of restaurant is only natural - in some ways that's part of what makes running this restaurant with Matthew so fun - most people coming in for the first time have no idea what to expect. Anyway... I appreciate being part of this forum!

Very cool -- which farm? Sarma, did you grow up on a farm? (feel free to ignore if I'm getting too personal I'm just wondering if this is something that shaped your love of food.) My Mom and step-father run a place called Alyson's Apple Orchard (alysonsorchard.com) in Walpole, NH. It's really pretty there... they host a lot of chefs from Boston and some from NY, and a couple years they hosted the Chef's Collaborative 2000 group (I think that's what it's called) - a really fun event. I don't get there nearly often enough, but my Mom likes to send us down cherries, peaches, apples, whatever they have when it's in season. I grew up in a suburb of Boston, and we had a little garden patch in our back yard! That's about as close to a farm as I got back then. My Mom was a chef - worked at a small place called Le Bocage when I was really young. She and my step-father moved to NH full time when I was in college. I always loved food and cooking passionately, but only pursued it full-time after six fun-filled years of working in investment banking, private equity and at a hedge fund. Quitting the fund to attend FCI was fun... they were like "What?! You're resigning and going to cooking school??!" I have to say it was nice to walk away from a world where it was all about money and suits. When I left the private equity firm to go to the fund, one VERY perceptive guy asked me why I was going to the fund and why not something in food, since my first concern when discussing an upcoming business trip was where we were going to make dinner reservations, and I always talked about food and restaurants. I almost cried then... because I knew he was right, but I had just bought an apartment and had a mortgage to worry about. Anyway... sorry to get so long-winded - probably more info than anyone wanted, but that's my story! And I was always a serious Matthew Kenney fan - but only after a series of random twists and turns did we end up together. :)

Wallse was always one of my all time favorite restaurants, although have not been in about two years... and their desserts are amazing. I think w/o eggs, a souffle just wouldn't be a souffle!!

Yes... there is young coconut meat in the chocolate pudding, as well as in most of the ice creams. The watermelon carpaccio had galangal syrup (made of agave nectar w/ galangal added) and came with coconut lime ice cream and lime basil. That was on for a few days, we put back on the pineapple carpaccio for now, which has star anise syrup, pineapple sage and coconut ice cream. The chocolate cookie can be a bit chewy at times... but as long as one is expecting that. It comes with chocolate and pistachio ice creams (again, no dairy.. all coconut and/or soaked cashews and macadamias provide the creaminess). We also have sweet black cherries with candied almonds, lemon thyme and pinot noir ice cream. yum. And Debbie Lee... our most excellent pastry sous chef made a frozen lemon mousse with ginger snap crust, blueberries and blueberry sauce. She is getting really creative... went to the greenmarket this morning and came back and made greenmarket fruit ice creams... peach, gooseberry and sour cherry. yum! the gooseberry is amazing. And the sour cherries are actually from my mom's farm in NH - she sent them in yesterday and we put them on the menu for one night in place of the strawberries in the ginger cream parfait... OK.. I have to start paying attention to the food! I'm standing here in our fun kitchen w/ laptop writing a few sentences at a time as I get a chance, hoping i don't lose my internet connection! and that it doesn't thundershower on all the people in the garden... that's a fear I imagine we'll have to get used to! Later for now... :) :) :) :) :)

THANK YOU! I agree! :) And I will happily answer the question about the desserts - I can write in our current dessert menu and describe some of the items. We just changed two items today. Will do that shortly... have to be in the kitchen for our pre-service meeting now. :) back soon.

Hi... regarding the above... we are certainly NOT "so proud of not eating meat" - I think that simply because we are doing something different, a lot of people assume we are making some kind of grand statement or judgement against people who eat meat, or anything else for that matter. I LOVE meat... it's just that since a little over a year ago, I don't want to eat it anymore and it has nothing to do with any "pseudoscientific crap" - all it has to do with is the fact that I've never felt better before - same for Matthew. And we're not taking vegetables and trying to make them look like meat... but when we make a bowl of squash pasta with black summer truffles and sweet peas... what do we call it... "long strands of squash that happen to look a lot like spahgetti" ? It would be really hard to word a menu if we had to make up new names for everything... if something is prepared in layers like a lasanga, isn't it easier for everyone ordering if we call it that? Because our ice cream has no dairy in it, should we not use the word "cream" and call it "frozen smooth somethingorother... substance? matter?" We're not trying to create anything that tastes like anything other than what it is.... and it's more than just salad. :) And finally, I don't think what we are doing is limiting in the least, although I can certainly understand why many would think that. I think it's exciting... Cheers, Sarma :)

NO... not importing zebra meat... although I wonder what that would taste like?? eiw! Green zebra tomatoes... so pretty! now it's like a garnish... b/c they are hard to find and not often perfectly ripe. although when they are really in season, we'll have green zebras all over the menu. watch out. :) Does it not just SOUND cool too? Green zebra? There are so many beautiful kinds of tomatoes that we use... we actually have a few growing in our little garden out back, which you can see if you peek over the banquettes... our partner Jeffrey Chodorow's wife planted them, along with tons of herbs. It's really pretty back there. Matthew and I shared the first tomato with my sister who was in for dinner w/ her boyfriend... just with some coarse sea salt and lemon basil. Somehow, coming from our humble little garden patch it was SO much sweeter and more delicious than any coming from a box. :)

thank you!!! .... so about the 'ice cream' ... it's made with coconut meat, as lauren mentioned... some are also made with soaked nuts, which make a creamy base. young coconuts are amazing. and SO good for you. I think we do need to use words like "ice cream" b/c it really tastes like ice cream and what else would we call it? The thing I am VERY excited about is to make ice cream sandwiches for the takeaway store... YUM! I have made some, they are very cute... a pain in the ass to make, but worthwhile. With either coconut lime cookies or chocolate cookies... i'm so tired, it was a busy tuesday night! we are lucky with amazing weather, and maybe I'm being sappy b/c i'm so tired, but we have an amazingly wonderful staff too and are so grateful for all their work and enthusiasm and energy - i'm just feeling sappy i guess - I want to list them all, like as if I was writing my "blurb" in my highschool yearbook... :)

Hi... am back in the garden on the laptop. When we first started working on the menu months back, there was a lot of creative guessing... thinking of ideas, but not quite sure how they would work out. It's different from coming up with a cooked food menu where we can easily imagine how different flavors will combine, having years of experience both eating and cooking (a few more years on Matthew's part!). With this menu, there was a lot more trial and error... for example, we have a red beet ravioli on the menu - originally it was going to be a red beet gnocchi with yellow pepper puree, pistachios and tarragon, but when I put it on our menu draft... I had no idea if the 'gnocchi' would actually work. Turns out, it worked quite well, although was so labor intensive and I didn't like the idea of so much juicing and pureeing and homogonizing with other ingredients to make them, even though the flavor combinations were great. So we ended up changing it to red beet ravioli... very thin square slices of bright red beet, with an herbed cashew cheese filling, with the same sauce and garnishes, and it actually looks much prettier. So, yes, there's a lot of experimenting that goes on before we get a final dish we can put on the menu. Our sous chefs are great, and very creative as well. Tonight we're changing the Pineapple Carpaccio with Coconut Ice Cream, star anise syrup and pineapple sage, to Watermelon Carpaccio with Coconut-Lime Ice Cream, galangal syrup and... some herb, I have yet to figure out which one, probably Lime Basil, which I love! Once watermelons go out of season, perhaps we'll put the Pineapple back on. One of our pastry cooks, Debbie, also came up with a frozen lemon mousse dessert with blueberries that we added recently which is very tasty and pretty. Being able to be creative all the time with this menu is one of the best things about this concept, and it's fun figuring out new ways to make and present whatever is in season. :) Sarma

Great visual! I say come back and post as often as you want, Sarma. Personally, I'd love to read a semi-blog about the excitement and challenges of opening a new restaurant, particularly one as unusual as yours. I'm loving reading about the wine selection and printing a new menu every day. More please! how did you come to open a "raw foods" restaurant, anyway? If people are interested.... I'd be happy to post as often as I can find the time. Since we have a big, open garden, we make use of our laptops here (so we can work out in the fresh air, or we can stand in the kitchen and work with the cooks during set up while doing schedules, menu descriptions etc. at the same time). I highly recommend laptops for restaurants! It also allows the managers to be on the floor more often during set up, which I think is great. Although, right now I'm in the stuffy office, printing today's menus! I LOVE being able to change and print our menus daily, but it's not cheap and I live in fear of our printer jamming! I know it will happen one of these days, but luckily Matthew and I live nearby so would not be suprised if I end up frantically racing home to print menus one day. Another issue with changing the menus so often is we often "disagree", to put it mildly, about how to word a certain dish, as we just did while I was writing this and about to print the inside pages of the menu. :) But that's to be expected, and Matthew and I could not imagine working separately. I have not thought much about this before, but it's somewhat interesting that Verbena was, for the last few years, being operated by a chef couple - not that common a situation - and now we're continuing the chef-couple thing in the same space... As far as how we got interested in this type of food, it happened over a year ago - a friend of ours introduced us to it, and we became completely intrigued. We went to Maine and decided to try it for two weeks, while researching the whole philosophy of eating this way. Based on how good we felt and how compelling the research is, we both realized quite quickly that, seemingly overnight, we went from regular meat eaters to raw-vegans. It sounds silly, but I'll always remember the moment when I realized it for myself - and wondered how I would break the news to friends and family... my family is a big FOOD family, my mother was a chef, my father will travel far and wide for the best bread... and so I worried about going back to the city and feeling like a serious party pooper! By now, my family is used to it and, while Matthew and I eat only raw food on our own time, we will make an exception every once in a while to go out to restaurants (how could we not??), and try to do our best to stay vegetarian, although I'm not opposed to tasting anything, out of curiosity. I think the only red meat I have had in the last year is a few bites of Niman Ranch beef - I'm probably going to get flogged now by some hard-core vegans, but I must say, if it comes from Niman Ranch, it's worth a few bites! On the whole, though, I never crave meat, dairy, sugar, starches, coffee etc. Which I know sounds really hard to believe... I would not have believed it before. I was a serious meat eater... picking the little bits of meat from the carcass of a roast chicken was my favorite way to eat roast chicken at home! But it's sort of like fond memories for me... I can appreciate the smells of cooking foods, caramelizing, sauces, baking smells, etc., but I don't have any desire to eat that. What else can I say? I'm having one of those moments where you don't know how to end... like when I leave voice-mails and feel silly talking to myself and instead of making it short and to the point I end up rambling and feeling stupider and stupider. :) So with that, I'm signing off... must get the menus upstairs and get ready for our nightly 5pm tasting of every dish... also an expensive thing to do, but since we're newly opened, it's good to review the presentation of every dish before service and to make sure everything is right - and I'm hungry now too!! :) Sarma