Kevin72

Closed--Kathleen's Art Cafe in Plano Closed--Ali Baba in Plano

That's weird, now reading your review I remember that both times we've been we also had to order plates for the bread. Can't believe that that's still an issue. Service seems to be the only abiding problem. And maybe they should drop the hint that the tapas are single or at the most double-serving instead of shared plates.

Hmm. Well unfortunately going here for lunch presented some problems. A much longer lag in service and an unremarkable "chorizo flatbread" which didn't look all that much different from a pepporoni pizza and was missing the artichokes listed on the menu. However, the salads all seemed impressive, notably their tuna salad.

Hathor has previously posted a reciped used for pancetta in Umbria that I imagine would be even better with guanciale. I believe the recipe is: saute in a pan to render the fat. Remove, add a sage leaf and some garlic, deglaze with white vinegar and reduce. Pour over the guanciale and serve.

This Mediterranean tapas place is in the old Cafe Italia spot in the Lakeside Shopping Center on Preston in between Parker and Spring Creek. It's owned by the same guy who does Lavendou. Opened about three weeks ago, they put in a nice patio and have a good wine selection. Almost all the tapas sounded enticing. They also have a full-sized entree selection and do lunch as well. The tapas portions are more single serving or best split between two, so if you go with a large group you'll need to double up on orders. Everything was delicious and there wasn't a misstep in the food, I thought. Highlights were the ceviche, the escargot in pastry, and the "salad" of sauteed pears and Serrano. The kitchen may have been a little slow in turning orders out and there was kind of a loll to pay the check, but otherwise the service was attentive and helpful. Highly recommended.

This place is a FIND. As Oren said, it's the sort of place other major cities seem to have come into but has been too long absent from Dallas. Lots of the sort of produce that CM carried when it first opened but then stopped: wild arugula, wild asparagus. Relatively cheap porcini as well. Thanks again for clueing us in on it.

I certainly used it as a guide when I was researching how to make them. But what a production! 4 hours nonstop! Granted, it was 18 lbs of sausage, but still . . .

Thanks for the heads up. Confounded work hours though . . .

To salute the Sopranos ending, a Sunday dinner. We began with burrata with oven-roasted and fresh tomatoes: Not a dish strictly found on the show, but Artie did serve burratta once (Carmela was unimpressed), and it was very Mario-inspired, which I think 'Mel would've appreciated. Then onto the Sunday gravy: The gravy mostly went into making the ubiquitous baked ziti: No, it's not ziti, but penne. But hey, they were eating a big tray of penne at the funeral! The meats for the gravy: "Bra-jole" (Bracciole) Incidentally, bigjas if you're reading this, I had the same garlic thing happen to me here. Weird. Homemade sausage: Pork spareribs: We had on the side, not pictured, "Mario Batali's Green Beans" which I've desribed many times before: green beans braised slowly in olive oil, garlic, and mint. For dessert, also not pictured, we had "sfuliadel'", sfogliatelle. One I had actually seen the last episode, I threw out all the leftovers in protest.

Jimmy's continues to impress. They have expanded their wine selection by a rack or two and now have it organized by Italian region. And, EVERY region is represented. In addition, they carry frozen porcini, a product I've never seen anywhere locally. Good show.

There's a strong Greek and Spanish influence in Puglia and it has left its mark on their language. I'd bet its roots are with one of those two.

I don't think they're talking about about eG; probably more just individual bloggers. I remember the Molto Mario boards when they were active on FTV were usually largely unpleasant. None of it was personal, but there was some negative buzz about Del Posto when it opened on the NY Board here.

While I believe Calabrese cooking as some of the more pronounced garlic flavors in Italy (as does, oddly, Piemonte at the opposite end of the country), I think something went wrong. That is odd that it would still be so pronounced after such a long cooking time and with so little used.

I serve it room temp or slightly warmer. If the favas are peeled (and again, they'll be a pale yellowish color, not a brown or dark green which means they have the peels on) they won't need an overnight soaking and will cook and fall apart in around an hour. Traditionally, it's accompanied by sauteed bitter greens (I use dandelion) and fried peppers. I use poblanos, per Jenkins' instructions in her Puglia cookbook, as they best approximate the peppers used there. Both work really well off the puree.

There are peeled dried fava beans available; they are more yellowish in color and available at Latino or Middle-Eastern grocers. Much easier. They should just collapse after cooking with only stirring necessary; no pureeing is needed. All they'll need is a jot of good oil and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt over the top.

Good to see GD getting its own thread and congratulations on the review. It was a highlight of our wonderful trip there last summer and one of the best meals I've had in the past few years.

Thanks for the additional points there. Now I'm really intrigued about this cheese. Is it sheep or cow's milk? And your wine point brings up a whole other area of concern of such a strong red not working well with seafood . . .

In between major cities, the train system isn't that bad, especially if you buy the (more expensive) express tickets with fewer or no stops. Once you start getting out into the smaller towns, though, the trains become a little more unreliable and make frequent stops, stretching the travel out even more.

Celebrating Italy: Tastes & Traditions of Italy as Revealed Through Its Feasts, Festivals & Sumptuous Foods by Carol Field is a very well-assembled resource and has a large listing of feasts and festivals in each region in the back. Quite a book.

'Pac, I tried responding to this thread once already and my post got deleted. Sorry for the delay. Thanks for the kind words earlier, BTW. Will you have a car? It may get problematic getting to all the corners and out of the way spots; our two trips to Italy both had big chunks of days taken up with laborious travel and frustrating delays caused by the Italian train system. Of course, you could still have a very full weeks just exploring the main cities you're going to! If you have any room in your schedule, I'd consider incorporating Turin/Piemonte in, or maybe Friuli for a real off the beaten track side trip. I love Puglia, but it would be hard to get to easily from where you'll be. I'd definitely find a way to get out into the hill towns when you're in Tuscany. We only went to San Gimagnano, but that slice of heaven was more than enough for us. And you should make all efforts when you're in Bologna to go to Villa Gaidello, a farmstead a little less than halfway to Modena. Dinners usually incorporate the heavyweights of Emilia-Romagna cuisine and it is memorable. But a car here is pretty important. That's all that comes to mind for now. I'll try and pipe in when you cover each region.

Interesting. I don't want to take this thread too far off track and I know it was mentioned earlier, but now they really ARE moving into violating the "cheese and seafood" rule. I have noticed, however, the Puglia and a few other regions (Sicily, for one) seem to play more fast and loose with the rule. So did the chef talk about it at all?

This will be the frustrating adage that it really matters by different regions. That's a pretty solid foundation though. Maybe have some fresh pasta frozen on hand as well. Home-made broth or stock frozen as well. Cured meats, such as pancetta and prosciutto in the fridge. For particular cheeses, most defintely parmigiano, maybe asiago. If you're particularly wanting to be stocked for Friuli, you'll want montasio cheese on hand. In addition for Friuli, you'll want access to a number of fresh herbs and spices. Sauerkraut and horseradish as well. Butter and even lard also play a key role as cooking fats in the far Northern regions.

"00" Flour is used in making the fresh egg pastas of the North: tagliatelle, ravioli, etc. It's supposedly somewhere in between our cake flour and AP flour, protein-wise; substitutions for it often say 50-50 or 60-40 AP to cake. There's definitely a different texture to the dough when rolling it out, but to me it doesn't quite translate to a different texture and mouthfeel when cooked. I've also read that it's used in making pizza dough, but the time I tried it, the pizzas came out unpleasantly crisp and crackly.

Hey! Wasn't that me?