ballast_regime

Mark: The question is, was it ever good? Much peace, IML b/r

Nonfat yogurt with grape nuts.

Mmm ... Bacon ...

Fresco: Hasn't crossed our minds, since most of the time when we travel that is what people say to us upon hearing we're from Kansas. (Technically, I just go to school here.) IML b/r

What fresh_a means is, choose Gagnaire.

Altar-ego: I worked three jobs when I lived in Phoenix so I could go out to high-end restaurants (both in town and out-of-town). If you haven't been to Pizzeria Bianco, go. A meal will cost you less than $20, and the pizza is to-die-for. Btw, I know what it's like to be poor. I'm a student. Much peace, IML b/r

Fresco: Keep in mind that many conservative states still have a lot of blue laws that make buying liquor hard after certain hours and on certain days. Kansas is one, so many people go to 3.2 bars instead. Also, the liquor license for a 3.2 bar is way cheaper. My girlfriend and I would like to move after we finish school. Not so much career as it is a life-decision. We want food, culture, museums, cultural and racial diversity, etc. NYC would seem to have it all. Much peace, IML b/r

Pierre Gagnaire, hands down. Godspeed! Ian Lowe ballast/regime

Fresco: William S. Burroughs' influence is rarely felt nowadays, even if his former partner still lives here and throws very weird after-hours parties. In fact, Burroughs' old house is a 3.2 bar that is the closest bar to the University of Kansas, so many underage drinkers first learn about high BACs there. (One of my friends just bought it out, and is planning on making it into a different bar.) Lawrence is nice if you like college towns, but it's far from eGullet heaven, as are most places in the Midwest. I'm planning on moving to NYC in approximately a year, but I will miss the homeliness of the Mennonites' pies. Much peace, IML b/r

Fat Guy: Four cans of diet soda? You're almost as much of a soda freak as I am. Granted, I'm an ex-soda addict because I gave it up, but I would drink five to six glasses of soda per meal per day. Can't say that I miss it, but I do love a good Coke or root beer (preferably Virgil's). In fact, I haven't had one for over six months now. Ian

Kansas is home to a lot of traditional Mennonite communities, and is probably one of the major Mennonite centers in the United States (as Pennsylvania is to the Amish). Every week, the farmer's market in Lawrence (my current place of residence) is full of Mennonite food, primarily baked goods, but it runs the gamut from vegetables to meat to eggs. While the food is really good, especially the baked pies, I wouldn't consider it to be other-worldly or knock-off-your-socks good. Many of my best friends are Mennonites (some have the last name Yoder, which is probably the Mennonite "Smith" or "Cohen" or "Zhang"), and their families are from traditional Amish-like communities. From what I can gather, nothing seems to set their produce quality above other good organic farms. Much peace, Ian Lowe ballast/regime

Altar-ego: Which of the following have you dined at? Restaurant Oceana, Restaurant Hapa (before James and Stacy McDevitt sold it), Elements, Pizzeria Bianco, Sea Saw, Mosaic, Michael's at the Citadel, Medizona, Rancho Pinot, Nonni's Kitchen, Sixth Avenue Bistro, and/or Gregory's World Bistro. I mention these because I believe several of these restaurants go against your claims. E.g., "Phoenix is just not a good place find food." Simply not true. Four of the restaurants I listed -- Hapa, Medizona, Pizzeria Bianco, and Sea Saw -- serve as good of food as any major city in the U.S. (besides NYC) at a similar price point. Chris Bianco is probably Phoenix' culinary savior, and a national treasure in my mind. Why else would Alice Waters regularly fly out to dine there? All of this aside, Pizzeria Bianco is probably the best food for the money in the United States, excepting Bouley's old $35 lunch prix fixe. I prefer Nobuo Fukuda's food at Sea Saw to the big Nobu himself, and Sea Saw is much cheaper. Hapa is (was, as it was bought out) one of my favorite restaurants in the country, and would recommend it to anyone as a very consistently good place to dine (I've had nearly forty meals there). "Seafood's crappy and overpriced." Again, not true. Oceana is spectacular, and probably the best restaurant in town. Ditto to Sea Saw. They're not overpriced by any means, since their price point matches every inland restaurant that serves good seafood in the country with which I'm familiar. Ever been to San Carlos Bay Restaurant? That's very reasonably priced, as is Sushi on Shea. "[A]nd few vegetarian spots." Again, this is nonsense, as my brother's vegan and it's not hard to find great veggie meals in the Valley of the Sun. Pizzeria Bianco, for starters, is a great place to dine that's really inexpensive. His produce quality is better than pretty much every high-end restaurant in New York, with some exceptions. In terms of the high end of Phoenix, nearly all of the restaurants will gladly offer really good vegetarian or vegan meals if you call ahead. Some even offer existing dishes on their menus that are really good. E.g., Elements, Mosaic, Rancho Pinot, Nonni's, Sixth Avenue Bistro, etc. If you're looking for cheaper restaurants, there are dozens of Chinese, Korean, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Italian, Thai, and Vietnamese that easily accomodate vegetarians and vegans. Have you ever been to Supreme Master Ching Hai Vegetarian House? And "[e]ven when I did eat meat it was pretty sparse for good stuff." Meat infinitely delimits your options. I could begin listing more restaurants at every price point if you want. The food's there if you're willing to look. There are many other restaurants that I haven't even listed, as there's so many. Yes, Phoenix is a cultural wasteland where businesses are more likely to be of the corporate, cookie-cutter persuasion than the locally-owned, but what city in the U.S. isn't like this? Every one I've lived in or visited, which accounts for every major one, minus Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. If you haven't been to a lot of these restaurants, go! Also, Phoenix' produce quality (at the farmer's markets and many upscale gourmet shops) is one of the best in the country because of the long growing season, so you could just conceivably take matters into your own hands. Godspeed, IML b/r

Frankj: I tend to judge restaurants according to their own criteria. I.e., fast food deserves different criteria than higher end places, etc. La Reve doesn't deliver compared to high-end restaurants in bigger cities, and I consider it to be a bad approximation of truly great high-end institutions. That's why I'd rather eat at a place that serves up food as good what I expect. Much peace, IML b/r

I think Vanilla Coke's taste isn't as desirable as making your own, and I think a lot of people think this. What's more, the texture is thicker than regular Coke, and I don't really like it.

JohnnyH: Gourmet almost never puts their restaurant reviews or features online. The best way to read all of them is to buy back issues from libraries. Because I have scoured approximately six libraries, I have been able to own every single issue of Gourmet for the past fifteen years. Much peace, IML b/r

I read the review of WD-50 in the latest issue, and I didn't think it was particularly scathing or too harsh. At least not when one compares it to the review of Atlas. I would have to say that I wasn't particularly impressed with the overall writing, but, hey, what can you do? IML b/r

Man, the Japanese just keep adding things to my diet! First they made curry doughnuts, now this ... IML b/r

Human blood? I'm not saying I have, but I'm not saying I haven't. IML b/r

I wonder if turkey bacon would hold up OK with this recipe. I should try.

slkinsey: Again, I'm not a big fan of any tap water I've ever tried. For me to say Houston is "OK" to "good" isn't saying very much, and Phoenix' water is good for making espresso because it has high calcium levels (Illy considers it to have the best water in the country for making espresso, other than one or two other places). My brother lives in Boston, and I haven't been impressed with the water. New York's is decent -- definitely better than anything else I've just mentioned, but Colorado is much, much, much better. Much peace, IML b/r

San Francisco now sells their own bottled water. Houston's current mayor, Lee Brown, was involved in an imbroglio with Azurix, a privately-held water corporation owned by Enron, over contracts to build a Lake Houston water plant. Ultimately, Azurix lost. Texas has awarded Houston many top-water honors. I googled left and right, but ultimately couldn't find a single webpage related to Lee Brown's desire to sell bulk water. Perhaps it's another mayor other than Brown? I grew up in Houston (and New Orleans and Phoenix), and it's water quality is pretty decent. I would rate it "OK" to "good." Much peace, IML ballast/regime

My girlfriend has a huge soft spot for hippie food in her heart, as so do I, probably because we're both former vegetarians and my brother's a vegan. She prefers the hippie food of the NW, primarily in Portland, while my favorite place is Zabby's Stone Soup in Burlington. I haven't gotten a chance to eat at NECI Commons, which I think is on or near Church Street. Has anybody else been? (God, I love Burlington. It reminds me of a quainter, more picturesque verison of Lawrence, KS, my current home.) Much peace, Ian Lowe ballast/regime

Parkheuvel is one of those fringe Michelin restaurants that I've heard of, and (probably) dismissed out-of-hand as staid, where dishes are executed within a Dutch framework but with a classic-French cream-in-everything influence. Am I wrong? IML b/r

Melkor: I'm a-guessin' that Cold Stone could make better burgers than Carl's Jr. and Carl's Jr. better ice cream than Cold Stone. What do you think? IML b/r

Yes, the traditional way of eating sushi has one using their hands, not mixing wasabi with the soy sauce, and only dipping the fish (and not the rice) into the soy sauce. Whether or not this counts as proper sushi etiquette is debatable, especially in non-Japanese countries. This is the way I eat sushi, even though my girlfriend is the first to do the opposite. (From a technical perspective, mixing soy and wasabi is very ineffectual to me. So why bother?) Much peace, IML ballast/regime