A Patric

Well considering that it seems there are a few foodies here that are familiar with Columbia, I wonder if you'd all be interested in picking your favorite restaurants of many different genres? The only rules are that the restaurants must be local ones--not a national chain--and that if you haven't been to a good restaurant for a certain genre, leave it blank. Feel free to add a genre if I've left something off. I'll start: Hamburgers: Booche's Thai: Bangkok Gardens Vietnamese: Chinese Wok Express Japanese: Sake Steak: CC's City Broiler Bar Food: Flatbranch Sandwiches: Was Rootcellar, but they don't have sandwiches anymore High-End Dining Misc: Sycamore Breakfast: Uprise Bread: Uprise Indian: Taj Mahal Desserts: Flatbranch (that stout brownie sundae is amazing) Ice Cream/Frozen Custard: Scoop's Pizza: Mexican: BBQ: Mediterranean/Greek: Middle-Eastern: Chinese: Italian: French: Spanish: Southern/Soulfood: Cajun: Seafood: South American Misc:

I don't know what it was called... It was constructed in a container that looked like a very large brandy snifter... It had alternating layers of: chocolate Jello pudding light Cool Whip Pillsbury brownies Raspberries with no hint of sweetness or flavor ...oh, and a bit dollop of love It still sucked

Good to hear! I'll give it a try this week. Regarding Casablanca, I hadn't heard of that restaurant before your post. Is it fairly new? How would you rate it overall?

Well, I'd talk to the owner about that as he seemed to be quite willing to discuss Jalisco cuisine, and quite proud of it too. He mentioned a number of things to me, but I don't recall them all. From what he said, the sauces and salsas are slightly different, and some dishes that we are familiar with would have qualities particular to Jalisco, like the chiles rellenos that he mentioned as having potato in them. Unfortunately my source for info on Mexican cuisine in English has nothing on Jalisco, and my Spanish is not good at all, but I do own the Diccionario Enciclopedico de Gastronomia Mexicana by Ricardo Munoz Zurita, and here are some things that I have gleaned: Jaslisco is apparently the land of tequila, pozole and beer. I do recall the owner mentioning the home-made pozole as being special. Chilaquiles are quite popular as are enchiladas de picadillo, flautas, and a special pico de gallo that is unlike what one finds elsewhere in Mexico. Shrimp dishes and soups seem to be quite numerous, and El Rodeo has a few dishes and soups featuring shrimp. In fact, they have about 5 soups, and though a couple are only available on weekends (again...made fresh). It also seems like potato accompaniments are common and this seems to be the case by the looks of the menu too. Since I have the menu in front of me, I'll go into a bit more detail regarding what I mentioned the other day: The choice of fillings for antojitos: azada, pastor, tripas, lengua, pollo, jamon, pierna, chorizo, nopales, milaneza, barbacoa, chicharron Beer selection: Corona and light, Dos Equis dark or light, Pacifico, Tecate, Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial, Bohemia Keeping fingers crossed still.

coriander seeds both chocolate and coriander are ingredients in the mole poblano de guajolote recipe that I use

Hi all, I recently decided to make some of the spicy italian sausage from the book. A few days ahead of time I pulled out the meat and fat back to defrost, and when it looked good I started getting all the ingredients together. After readying the Kitchenaid, Grizzly stuffer, and every bit of spice or herb in its own little cup, I proceeded to cut up the meat into cubes. After getting through the remains of a previous shoulder (about 2 lbs) I move on to the next one. I had vacuum-sealed it some time ago for a moment just like this. However, when I opened it, I realized it wasn't the shoulder that I had pulled, but the pork belly. It had been folded and arranged in the bag so that it really looked like a chunk of shoulder, but shoulder it was not. Sooo... I decided that I was going to make the sausage anyway, and that I'd substitute the pork belly for the remaining quantity of shoulder (2.5 lbs) and fat back (.5 lb). I did everything else as usual, and I have to say that this is by far the best "Italian" sausage that I've ever eaten. 2 lbs shoulder and 3 lbs belly does more than fine by me! One note: My belly was not the fattiest that I've ever seen, so if you try this and have a really fatty belly (take that in which ever way suits you best), then you might want to mess around with the proportion of shoulder to belly a bit. Has anyone else had any screwups while making recipes from this book that have turned out to be excellent in the end?

Regarding the Taqueria, I hope that they can stick around too. The only time I was there, to talk to the owner, there were certainly people there, but it was near closing time and there weren't too many people. I did read on-line at Chowhound that when someone else was there the diners were primarily Mexican and/or latino/latina and the dining room was pretty full. That sounds like another good sign to me. I would recommend, if at all possible, waiting about another week so that they can get their home-made tortillas squared away, and then when you go in, it might be a good idea to talk to the owner (thirty-something, mustache, bigger guy, really friendly) about what types of things he recommends. He is really big on ''authenticity'' regarding Jalisco cuisine especially, so I doubt he would steer you wrong. Again, I haven't eaten there yet, but it sounds/looks so promising that I have high hopes. My fingers are crossed!

Regarding Classy's, it is definitely worth a try. The ambiance is not great, but the service seems always to be excellent, the chef knows what he is doing and there is always at least something on the menu that looks quite tasty (often many things). I'd recommend at least stopping by to see the menu during lunch sometime soon, and I think that you might rethink giving it a try. As far as the International Cafe goes, I have eaten there about 4 times now and every time I have found it to be abysmal. Maybe I have the worst luck in the world, or maybe I keep choosing things at which they don't excel. I'll have to give them another try. On a different note, have you tried Taj Mahal; not the buffet, which isn't good, but their various dishes? The service is almost always really (rreeaallyy) slow, but I've had so much good food there, from their various vegetarian curries, to the chicken dishes, appetizers, and countless types of bread, it is by far the best Indian restaurant I've eaten at in any city.

Well, it looks like I have some work to do then. I still haven't been to the first two on your list. Luckily, I haven't been to the last one either (and don't plan on it). I've been thinking about going to the Cherry Street Wine Cellar, so it looks like I'll have to make the effort to do so. In other Columbia food news, a new Mexican restaurant has opened up on Nifong called Taqueria El Rodeo. It is run by a Mexican man from Jalisco State who worked at the El Maguey across the street for 7 years while he saved up the money for his business. I went in and talked to him the other day, and there are some interesting things about his restaurant that make it unique when compared to the other Mexican restaurants in the area, all of which are bordering on terrible on my opinion (though I haven't been to Carlito's). So, here are some differences: 1) El Rodeo is the only restaurant to serve Mexican breakfast in Columbia 2) They make their own chorizo in-house 3) They make their sauces and salsas in-house 4) This coming week they are going to begin making their flour and corn tortillas in-house 5) They actually have more than tacos, burritos, and the like. For example, there are a number of traditional Jalisco dishes that one wouldn't be able to find at the other restaurants. One example is a Jalisco-style chile relleno with a potato mixture in the middle, another is a Jaliso-style shrimp dish with potato side. 6) They offer meats other than ground beef, pork and chicken in their tacos. For example, they have tongue, pork skin, and meat prepared al pastor-style, and carnitas meat. Again, though common in Mexico, none of the other Columbia restaurants seem to offer these choices. The list goes on and on. That said, I still haven't had the opportunity to eat there, but it is on my short list of places to eat at in Columbia. I also need to get back to Classy's and see what they have on their menu at the moment. Babern38, or anyone else, have you tried Felix's since they have done the final remodel and fully switched to a "Greek Restaurant?" I have never liked their food, but I'm wondering if it has gotten any better. No doubt Greek food can be excellent, but I haven't found any excellent Greek food in Columbia yet...not even close.

Hi all, Well, thanks for the support! Shortly after the above demo I decided to start taking chocolate-making even more seriously than I already had, and over the course of the months that followed, it occurred to me that I was enjoying chocolate-making more than ever. I soon decided that I wanted to put all of my energy into chocolate, so to speak, and so I started a company called Patric Chocolate. Since then I've been working full time, and then some, to get things off the ground. I've been travelling to various cacao-producing regions to work on building the relationships necessary for finding and sourcing the kind of high-quality cacao that I'm looking for. I've also been reading everything on chocolate-making and cacao-growing/processing that I can get my hands on, making countless batches of chocolate, and working hard to design and bring to life a small factory of my own. Though the factory side of things has progressed much more slowly than I could ever have imagined, it has given me months more time to work constantly at the process of chocolate-making while developing my philosophy on fine dark chocolate bars (my only product). I've tried to briefly summarize these points on my website to which Kerry Beal linked in her post above. The factory itself is going to finally be up and operational this month. However, due to aging of the chocolate, among other things, the first bars will not be out until April. I'll be sure to post a link to my site, where they will be sold, when they are finally released. Anyway, so that's the update on where my chocolate-making adventures have taken me as we approach one year since I posted this demo last February. Thank you once again to everybody for the support, and I hope that none of your New Year's resolutions included putting a stop to your chocolate eating habits. Alan

Well, if anyone is interested, how would you order these Columbia "fine dining" restaurants in terms of preference: Jack's Gourmet: http://www.jacksgourmetrestaurant.com/ Sycamore: http://www.sycamorerestaurant.com/ CC's City Broiler: http://www.ccscitybroiler.com/ Les Bourgeois: http://www.missouriwine.com/BlufftopBistro.asp Village Wine and Cheese: http://www.villagewineandcheese.com/ Chris McD's: (website is down) http://www.chrismcds.com/index.asp Cherry Street Wine Cellar: http://www.winecellarbistro.com/ Trattoria Strada Nova: http://www.trattoriastradanova.com/ Grand Cru: http://www.grand-cru.biz/ Churchill's Gourmet: http://www.restaurant.com/microsite.asp?rid=315726 I haven't been to all of them, and of the ones I've been to, I've had mixed experiences, so I'm interested to hear what others think.

Hi all, Would Zier's probably be the best place to look for bone-in dry-aged prime strip steaks for someone in the midwest? Anyone have any general ideas about what the cost might be (without shipping included)? Thanks

Alright, I figured out the secret. Using my hunches and some advice from some of the posts above I did the following: In a cast iron skillet I added a substantial amount of canola oil (about 1/2 way up the side), and turned the heat to just slightly above low. I took two almost completely black plantains, peeled them, and cut them in half lengthwise. I placed them in the oil and cooked, turning every few minutes until the outside of the each one was nice, dark and carmelized. I let them cool slightly, and then tasted. They had the same sweet and concentrated flavor that I was looking for, and rather than being too starchy or too mushy on the inside, they were just right, and slightly dehydrated like I was thinking. The outside was perfectly carmelized like the ones I'd tried in Venezuela. I'll be making them again for Christmas eve night as I am making a mole poblano from scratch, and they'll go great with the turkey and sauce. Anyway, thanks for all of the help!

This thread is getting better than I ever expected! I'll continue reading with anticipation.

How are you going to do this in a dehydrator or let them sit in the frige? ← I was going to throw them in the oven at the lowest temp, just like I do with jerky.

Thanks for the info. Yep, I've been buying them unripe and then waiting until they are black before trying to cook them. But even so, they don't taste quite like what I had. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if there is something to be said about the dehydration since it would concentrate the flavor and the sugars. I remember having dehydrated bananas in France that were not the banana chips that I was used to. They were whole bananas that had been dried until chewy and sugary. They were quite a dark brown or black on the outside and had shrunk considerably. They were also one of the most delicious dried fruits I'd ever had. I wonder what would happen if I were to partially dehydrate (maybe 1/3 of the way) the very ripe plantains (after peeling them of course) and then afterwards brown them in some butter? This may give the kind of texture and flavor that I'm looking for. Any thoughts?

Hi all, I've had plantains cooked many different ways, and everytime I've ever had them I've found them to be OK at best. So, when I recently had some plantains in Venezuela that were not only better than any plantain that I'd ever had, but that honestly were some of the best fruit I've ever had, I decided that I'd have to look into how to best cook them. For all of you who know about cooking plantains I'll explain how these were and then I hope that you might have some tips for me. First of all, these were ripe plantains as they had an internal sweetness to them that the starchier unripe plantains don't have. Secondly, these plantains were split down the middle into halves, and they were equally cooked on all sides. The browning was not as much golden as it was a very deep carmel brown, and the browned section had a very carmelized flavor. However, I don't believe that these plantains were coated with sugar as they weren't that sweet, only sweeter than unripe plantains. Finally, these plantains, though they were ripe and not extremely starchy, seemed to have less water content than plantains I've had before, almost as if they had been dehydrated a little. The only thing that I can think of is that perhaps they were deep fried on a relatively low heat, which might explain the dehydration and the carmelized outside, or perhaps they were baked at a low heat. I really am not sure, and if I had to guess, based on the texture of the outside, I'd say that they were possibly baked, but again, it is only a guess. All that I can say is that they were so flavorful and had such a good texture, that I can't keep my mind off of them. Any tips on what to do? I tried sauteeing some ripe one in butter, and it doesn't come close to the same result. Thanks!

I'm a Grizzly fan all the way. It works amazingly well, and is as inexpensive as they come.

I don't know if this article is correct, but according to wikipedia, treacle is molasses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses Another article online which discusses the treacle/molasses connection: http://www.ochef.com/316.htm So, it seems that treacle is the equivalent of molasses, and if the above two sources are correct then the terms are as follows: First boiling: light molasses (US) = golden syrup or light treacle (UK) Second boiling: dark molasses(US) = treacle(UK) Third boiling: Blackstrap molasses (US and UK) I can vouch for the US terms being correct at the least. Another thing that I noted is that what is popularly called sorghum molasses in the US, is actually not made from sugarcane, as molasses is, and so is actually not molasses at all. What a tangled web of molasses/treacle madness...

...and taking the issue of sweetening and molasses a bit further, for those of you that use molasses, do you have a preference? I've been doing some reading, and realize the diversity of molasses products, as well as things like sorghum that are sometimes paired with the word molasses, but that are actually a different product altogether. Of all of these, it sounds like blackstrap molasses might be the most pungent addition to a banana muffin, and perhaps the most interesting. Any thoughts?

Hi all, Kit brought up the idea of molasses... What type of sweetener do the rest of you use? Have you ever tried to sweeten enough with bananas alone? I wonder if that would lead to a weird cloying sweetness due to extra fructose (proportionally that is)? Do any of you swear by brown sugar? How about maple syrup? Unfortunately my bananas aren't ripe enough yet today. Soooo...I'll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Well, I bought some banana chips today, so I'll try those on the top, and I also bought a couple of new muffin tins that have large cavities. I have a feeling that the larger muffins will be slightly more moist, and that might really make a difference. I'll update tomorrow after I've made the muffins.

Update: Well, the "Joy of Cooking" recipe turned out great. My wife, who had never had popovers before, loved them, and with the addition of butter in the tins, they had a great buttery flavor. They were also crisp on the outside and creamy and tender on the inside...what I consider to be perfect. Despite this fact, and the fact that I pre-heated the tin, they did stick on the bottom quite a bit. I wonder if adding even more butter to each cavity of the tin might improve things? I'll have to try it next time.

Well, that's what I'll try this time. I'll throw some butter in each non-stick cup and preheat. We'll see how it goes.

Well, I just talked to someone I know who makes popovers often and she told me that they usually stick to the tin quite a bit. She doesn't preheat the tin, and I'm wondering if perhaps the preheating of the tins with the fat might somehow keep the popovers from sticking? Any thoughts on that?