percyn

Huevos Rancheros - My Way. Needed a quick breakfast, so I sauteed some onions, green (spring) onions and some Pico de Gallo. Whisked in 2 farm eggs. Enjoyed it with some warm tortillas and coffee.

Day 2: Sonny Bryan's On my 2nd night in Dallas, I went down to the West End area again. Although this is considered a bit of a touristy spot, I decided to try some of the other restaurants in the area, particularly Sonny Byron's (wanted to compare the taste to Tony Roma's, while that experience was still fresh in my mind). Unfortunately, the area was almost dead...quite contrary to the night before. It was a Sunday and many restaurants were closed, which puzzled me a bit, since this was a tourist area and I am sure they would do well on Sundays....after all the TGIF was open and doing well Sonny Byran's seemed to be quite busy (opposed to Saturday, when it was almost dead). The patio seating was full (I got the last table), but there were still quite a few seats open inside, which is understandable, since it was around 70 F degrees at 9pm. The first thing I noticed when I sat down was the "bucket of condiments" (bottle of tobasco, paper napkins, honey, etc). Waited for about 10-15 min before someone came to take my drink order. I order a beer and waited another 10-15 min before somone came with placed a beer bottle on the table with a thunck. Finally ! I thought to myself, as I was getting impatient....as I picked up the bottle of corona on the dim lit patio, it felt warm...not room temp warm, but luke-warm as in someone had heated it...the corona also seemed to have a deep amber color. It was at that instant that I realized that this was BBQ sauce, served in a corona bottle....luckily I recoginized it for what it was and avoided taking a big gulp of it So when the waitress finally arrived to take my dinner order some 30 min later, I was even more hungry than when I went into the restaurant. Again, I wish these BBQ places had a tasting menu, so that one could try a bit of everything. The closest thing on the menu was the "Family style, all you can eat dinner", where one could order any choice of 3 meats at a time and get a choice of 3 sides along with their "famous onion rings". I ordered sides of fried okra, coleslaw and bbq beans and selected ribs, brisket and bbq chicken for my first set of 3 meats (BTW, the meat is served on a 1/2 plate, so it is not a lot, though collectively, it was a lot of food). I was anxiously awaiting the food as I had heard so much about this restaurant...an institution since 1910 !! When the food came out, it all looked good. The onion rings were huge, oversized rings. I decided to try the onion rings while they were hot, but alas, they were limp and the onion tasted watery. It seemed like they only thing that would impress anyone was the size of the rings. So I tried some of the other sides. The fried okra was great...hot, crispy out crust with a soft okra center...very nice texture. The cloeslaw and bbq beans were good, but not great. Next, I decided to dig into the meat...tried a rib first....these were not baby back ribs (which you can order for $1 more, the menu indicated) and I would compare them to bbq ribs I make on my propane grill. Not that special... The chicken, I thought would be done to perfection...after all, they have been making it for over 95 years !! But alas, the chicken was dry and tastless...even a healthy slobering of sauce from the corona bottle did not help much The brisket however was fabulous !! Finally, they can make something good here I decided that the chicken might have been a fluke, so let me try another white meat .. turkey. Unfortunately this was even drier than the chicken and I barley ate any and ordered a plate of brisket and ribs. So, even though I have only been here once, and don't claim to be a BBQ expert, my vote goes hands down to Tony Roma's over Sonny Bryan's. Both places were reasonable priced, but it you prefer quantity over quality, go to Sonny Bryan's, otherwise, Tony Roma's it is. Cheers P

Peppyre, Looks delicious... Please forgive my ignorance, but what makes the sausages "Scottish style"? Are these the same as "bangers" one would get in the UK? Cheers P

Farm fresh eggs, over easy, with some D'Artagnan smoked duck breast.

LOL...and hanger steaks for $0.99/lb...I have to mail order them as my butcher does not carry them You have a very special butcher indeed

Nice looking (and I am sure tasting) dish !! The breadroll looks good too !!

OK, Just got back from my trip today and since I had forgotten to pack the cable for my digital cable, I could not transfer the images and thus post while on the road Day 1: Went to West End and walked around a bit, checking out the landscape and going some strategic planning . This was a Saturday night and the great weather and charged, touristy atmosphere brought flashbacks of a mini version of Bourbon street (of New Orleans fame). I immediately ruled out TGIF and the Palm steakhouse, as I could visit these at other times, in various locales. Sushi at Atomic sushi sounded tempting, but not distinctive (or clique) enough, so I decided to jump right to the BBQ. For some reason Sonny Bryon's (which is the most well known) was so empty that I thought it was closed. So I went next door to Tony Roma's, who had a patio full of people enjoying BBQ. Tony Roma's claims to be best known for their ribs, and the ribs were good, but I wanted to try a bit of everything, so I ordered a platter which had ribs, chicken and smoked sausage, with sides of coleslaw and merlot mushrooms (came with bread and corn muffins/bread too). The Corona I ordered went perfectly with this. Now, before I begin to describe this meal, let me say that I am not a BBQ purist and things not wrapped in butcher paper with a plain slice of white bread are still BBQ to me. The meat from Tony Roma's was delicious...all of it. The skin on the chicken was so nice and crispy that it reminded me of Peking duck (and the way it is air dried for that special effect). The sausage snapped when you took a bite and the ribs were tender and slid right of the bone (not hanging loose though). The BBQ sauce (extra served on the side) had a nice peppery kick to it (seemed to be vinegar based). The sides were stars in their own right. The coleslaw was great...not watery or overdressed at all and you could feel the crunch from every shred of lettuce. The corn muffins/bread (not pictured) were warm and flaky. This was a very delicious and satisfying meal and it left no room for dessert. In my personal (albeit not very extensive experience), this was one of the best BBQ meals I have had. As my later post will suggest, I prefer Tony Roma's BBQ over Sunny Bryon's. Unfortunately, I could not make it to Peggy Sue's but hope to have a chance to try it someday. This BBQ was so good that I wanted to see if they could vacuum pack some for me and I would take it as extra baggage with me (or better yet eat it on the airplane just to start an uproar against the cheapness of airlines who don't server or sell meals onboard anymore). Will post my experience at Sony Bryon's tomorrow. Cheers P

Susan, That poached egg looks good (along with everything else ) !!! I can't wait to get done with my conference in Dallas, so that I can try the recipe. In the meantime its more BBQ and Tex-Mex

What kind of whiskey, what kind of popcorn? I have done the wine and popcorn thing, but never mixed my whiskey with anything but nuts (OK, no crazy jokes here please ).

Welcome Kanishka !! Not sure about Burmese food, but as you may know, a standard ingredient used in Indian cooking to sour food is Tamrind (usually dried ones you can find at an Indian grocery store).

I spotted some 2000 Flora Springs Trilogy in the stores again... get them while they last (I have a case already) Wanted to try some wines from Villa Maria (since Katie is hosting a discussion with Stuart), but I would not find these at my local premium store

OK, Take back what I said about fine dining while in Dallas.... I see that the hotel I will be staying at has a restaurant called Nana (http://www.nanarestaurant.com/main.htm), which seems to have some decent dishes on the menu. Has anyone tried this? Thanks P

Susan/Russ....keep on blogging !!

Stuart, What is the largest geographic and demographic market segment for Villa Maria? Does the Southern hemisphere's harvest/wine release schedule provide you with any particular advantages or disadvantages compared to your Northern hemisphere competitors? Cheers Percy P.S: Katie, thanks for arranging this session.

First Course: Caviar with blinis, crème fraiche and boiled eggs. Actually, I needed to use up some caviar and eggs I had boiled a few days ago (I think I got bit by Little Ms. Foodie's boil-your-eggs bug ). The bilinis were bought from Wegmans - handmade in Russia..simply heat..not bad. Main Course: Greasy Pizza !! (What a combination with the first course ) Again, had to use up some saucisse de canard, so I cut them into little bits and heated them with the pizza...added a touch of class to maintain the thread with the first course Eunny, congrats on the new job!! Did you take my advice and enter the food industry? Cheers Percy P.S: I am listening to Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" audio CD (multi-tasking) and he is describing his meal at the French Laundry....makes this a very blissful experience....

That looks good !! Do you mind sharing the recipe with us or pointing us to it? Thanks P

Hmm...that looks and sounds grrreat !!

TCW, Thanks for the compliment. I got the idea for the toast rounds from a foodtv show (called After Midnight), which featured Blue Ribbon (a popular hang out spot for NYC chefs), who serves a bone marrow and ox-tail marmalade dish (popular with chefs and foodies). Having grown up on 3 continents, bone marrow is not new to me and I never thought of it as a delicacy, just normal food....until I couldn't get it anymore . So, when I occasionally find bone marrow in my grocery store, I buy almost all of it and freeze it, patiently await an opportunity to indulge...hmmm ....grosses the wife out I forgot to mention...I had 2 wines actually...SimonSig Cab/Shiraz with the shortribs and finished an open bottle of 1992 Burgess Cabernet (Library Selection) with the cheese plate. A few hours later I had some Hennessy Paradis Extra Cognac as an after dinner drink (helps me sleep better on weekends). Cheers P

Susan, Of late, I have noticed pomegranate molasses and concentrated juice in many local supermarket stores, in the International section. This works great as a glaze if you use it as-is or dilute it with a bit of wine or stock. I also found pomegranate powder (which I haven't used yet) at an Indian grocery store. Cheers P

Since we usually go out for brunch on Sunday, I had my morning coffee with a slice of pumpkin bread (which I bought from a working Amish farm)....that should hold me over until lunch time...

Wasn't able to cook most of last week, so at 9am this morning I started making my breakfast and started working on dinner right after. I sautéed some leeks, braised some short ribs and put them in the crock pot along with some wine, ginger, demi glace, vegetable stock, etc for about 9 hrs or so (on low). I was done in about 4-5 hrs, but I was not ready for dinner yet and so I added some marrow bones from the freezer. Here is the result....uuhmmm...love the marrow Followed that with a cheese plate of somewhat random samplings from my fridge. It includes, clockwise, sheep's milk cheese from Spain (1 o'clock), roaring 40s, a buttermilk blue and Fourme D'Ambert. Cheers P

Saucisse De Canard A L'Armagnac with scrambled eggs and truffle butter This saugage tastes just like a foie gras pate. I cut it up into small pieces and seared it in a cast iron pan, but the inside was still moist and juicy. P.S : I boiled some eggs (LMF style ) and though I have not enjoyed them yet, I plan to with some caviar tomorrow

Sounds and looks delicious !!

WOW, what a great first post....welcome cow_whisperer (I like that name )

Katie, While we are glad to have Deidre amongst us, please don't sell yourself short !! You have been bestowing wonderful advice and tips upon us for quite some time and we hope that it will continue