Zeemanb
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Posts posted by Zeemanb
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The food is genuinely awful, but we've been joking about going there for a couple of years just to make sure it was bad as we remember. It really was. I have have to say, it IS better quality than Casa Bonita in Denver (where I believe their tamales are shot out of an extruder). That's the only real comparison I have, with sheer quantity making up for microwave quality Mexican.
The tacos were okay. A lot like your white midwestern grandma used to make....
I do give them points for including Fanta strawberry in their fountain drinks. I love Fanta strawberry with my Tex-Mex (and my Go-Chicken-Go gizzards). And the "blended" and "chunky" signs above the two different kinds of salsa on the salsa bar was kind of funny.
I'm seriously not above enjoying a big plate of cheese and sour cream covered Tex-Mex with a bowl of cream cheese/velveeta/canned chile queso dip on the side when the mood (hangover) hits me, but DC's is pretty bad. It was well into the next day before my system was back to normal.
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And here it is a few weeks later and we DID make it to Em Chamas.....
I went there tonight with a good friend of mine for some good old fashioned male bonding, heightened by the enjoyment of thick slabs of hot meat. Normally a story that begins like that would end up smack dab in the letters section of "Honcho", however in this case we're just talking about rodizio service in the northland.
The dining room was almost empty at 7pm, but on a Tuesday night I'm not sure anyplace around here is going to be packed. Everybody is probably very familiar with this concept, so I won't go into too much detail. There's a salad bar area with cold and hot food which is kept pretty pristine as far as I could tell. The prosciutto wrapped asparagus was good, decent couscous, a disappointing seafood salad with mussels shrimp and calamari.......definitely better than your average salad/appetizer bar, not much to add here. The little cheese rolls they bring to the table that I've heard people raving about are really good as long as you eat them while they are hot. We had fun looking at all of the different salad/hot bar items, breads, etc. and saying...."See? THAT'S how they f&%k you! Just like Jumpin' Catfish! Load me up on all that starch so I can't eat none of them fancy skewered meats!". Well the joke was on them......we're real pigs. I mean it.
Then there is the meat. In short, if the thought of all the roasted meat you care to eat appeals to you.....you will like it. Tonight it sounded like just the thing for us, and we both liked it. I don't remember all of the different cuts of meat they had tonight...sausage, chicken, garlic steak (plus a few more cuts I can't remember), filet wrapped in bacon, pork loin, turkey wrapped in bacon, boneless pieces of beef ribs, chicken spiedini, and of course MY personal favorite.....gouda stuffed prime rib (come on, it's prime rib stuffed with cheese...you're already at an all you can eat restaurant, so don't try splitting hairs on this one, it's fantastic). That one kind of took me by surprise. The bad (or GOOD, depending on how you look at it) thing is that for some reason they didn't offer us any until we were about ready to leave. The best thing about that prime rib, which was also the high point of any of the meats, is the nice roasted, fatty crispy caramelized texture the spit roasting gave to the cheese and the meat at the same time. I don't know if I just got lucky with my servings, or they re-roast stuff like a giant gyro loaf, but it was nice. For some reason I don't like the interactive element of using the little tongs you have to use on some of the meats. Basically, on some of the cuts you grab ahold of your slice as the server is cutting it so that you are assured the least messy and most sanitary way of getting the food on your plate. "Here he comes with that top sirloin! Where did I put my pinchers!?!?!" I don't know, some little thing always weirds me out for no real reason wherever I go, and this was it tonight.
Anyway, you probably know in advance if this sort of thing is for you or not. For a Tuesday boy's night out to gorge on roasted meats, we definitely thought it was worth the thirty five dollars. The service was totally friendly, but if you are as quick to shove fistfuls of meat into your gaping maw as we were, I can see the whole tableside carving element being kind of a damper on conversation. Would I go back? Sure, there are some really tasty offerings, they've done a good job with the space, and it's a nice, low key, meat-centric change from the usual boy's night at Morton's or Capital Grille. I didn't think to get good look at the wine selection, it was a Knob Creek Manhattan sort of affair.
So there you go.....Jumpin' Catfish for the Riss Lake crowd.
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For anyone who likes the super sweet molasses/brown sugar style of BBQ sauce (note I'm not saying KANSAS CITY STYLE BBQ SAUCE....), I highly recommend Blues Hog. I don't think it contains HFCS, and the folks who produce it are "real" bbq people who travel the competition circuit. This stuff is sweet, really sweet.......good luck opening the jar again once the molasses sets up sweet. We use a little bit of it sometimes on our competition ribs and pulled pork, I think their sauce and also their rub are very popular amongst competitors. It's a little too sweet for me as far as regular use, but it has a good amount of spice in addition to the sweetness. It is available from different sources if you google it, and if you happen to have a bbq supply store in your area they should have it.
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Sonic Drive-In just came out with a new breakfast toaster..... egg, sausage and gravy on Texas toast. I'm not a big Sonic fan, but when I saw this advertised on TV I had to give it a try. I mean, there's sausage and gravy...and it's a sandwich. If the gravy had more (or any) flavor this might be a hit. Maybe not so much in the morning, but definitely late at night on the weekend!
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The Parkville Farmer's Market opened this morning! There were probably only about a dozen vendor's with very limited goods...some tomato plants, herbs, spring onions, a few strawberries, and some gorgeous morels. I know it will pick up soon, but this morning the crowds were such that when I arrived after 8am there were actually still plenty of Campo Lindo Farm eggs left to purchase. I think the truck usually shows up around 7:15am and can sell out as soon as 7:30. I spoke to the Crums for a few minutes, this last hard freeze really hurt a lot of farmers in the area. The weather today has my hopes up that things are going to turn around for the folks in this area so that the season can be in full swing pronto.
Just sliced these morels in half and have them soaking......
(I don't like spending so much money on a few mushrooms, but I told myself I still only spent as much as I normally would on a Saturday morning at the market)
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Did they have a medianoche sandwich on the menu? Did they say where they got their cuban bread from for the sandwiches? Was the sandwich pressed? Now I do have a reason to get back up that way. No chance of anything remotely cuban in this area. And I love Cuban. My favorite sandwich place when I lived in Tampa was the Silver Ring in Ybor City. That and the Spanish Bean soup from the Columbia. I will pm and let you know. Now I am hungry and I just finished dinner.
Didn't even think to ask about the bread, but the sandwiches we got were indeed pressed. They have a variety of very un-Cuban sandwiches, but they do have a medianoche sandwich that is listed as having sliced pork, ham and swiss cheese on a sweet bread. A couple of others that sound good... the Pan con Bistec (steak sandwich with onions, tomatoes and lettuce w/Cuban fries on Cuban bread), Jamon de Pierna (bolo ham sandwich with melted swiss cheese on Cuban bread), and the Croqueta Preparada (ham, pork, swiss cheese, pickles and croquettes on Cuban bread).
Quick question for anyone.....is serving the sanwiches on top of small pile of shoestring fries (the canned kind) typical of Cuban cuisine? They were more of a garnish than a side.
Looking forward to getting back there......
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(If I'm NOT the first to report, merge as necessary....)
In desperate need of affordable eats for four people after we got done viewing The Dead Sea Scrolls last night, I blindsided Judy-moosnsqrl with a phone call asking for ideas between Union Station and the Plaza (I was DESPERATE to avoid getting stuck taking out of towners to dinner on the Plaza). We decided that Café Cuba at 41st and Broadway sounded like the best option. We arrived to find the owner sitting out front, and as we approached he jumped up and said “you’ll never regret it!”. From there he took us to the counter to sample various dishes as we decided what to order. The permanent menu is made up primarily of various sandwiches, but the majority of the food is listed on dry-erase boards behind the counter. There were four of us….my girlfriend, her brother, his fiancé and myself, so we ordered a lot of different things and constantly chatted with the owner, who was over the top friendly and helpful. It’s a real family affair in there. We were the only diners, but lots of people, young and old, were coming and going from the kitchen and having coffee together at one of the tables. There’s just a good overall vibe, we had a blast.
I don’t think anything on the menu costs more than $7.50, with many side dishes in the $1.50-$2.00 range. It is counter service only, Styrofoam plates, plasticware, Spanish television, yada yada.
The dishes we tried were:
Fried plaintains- don’t have a lot of recent experience with them....very good, sweet, served room temperature. Apparently much different than their tostones...made from younger plantains?
Yuca (sp?)- I have not enjoyed this in the past because of the thick, waxy texture, but this was very enjoyable…cooked in lots of garlic and onion.
Ropa Vieja- the group favorite…slow cooked and shredded spicy beef
Chicharos (can’t remember the exact name, NOT “chicharones” but similar)- basically a split pea soup with bits of pork in it. Probably my favorite dish of the evening. Simple, but a ton of flavor.
Cuban sandwich- a great rendition….extremely thin Cuban bread, tons of meat. The sliced pork was especially good. In fact next time I’ll probably just try the pork sandwich.
Tamales- pretty large with a much sweeter masa than I have had before. Also, very lean cubes of pork inside instead of the usual shredded/chopped variety. I like tamales too much to say how good they were, I’ve never had a truly “bad” tamale in my life.
Ribs- these were great, and I’m assuming they were the “sweet and sour ribs” listed up on the board. Not overly sweet or sour in my opinion, but definitely marinated in some sort of a sweeter mixture and slow cooked. Texturally similar to good bbq, but a much different flavor.
Desserts- more than you’d expect to see actually…six or seven varieties of pastries that I’m assuming are made in-house judging by the rustic/homemade look of them. They were out of the tres leches cake, so we grabbed a couple of fruit tarts, with the guava being the stand-out. At one point the owner came out and handed us pieces of sticky candy/pastry to share and offered five dollars to whoever could guess the main ingredient. Chewy, firm, grainy, lots of sugar and cinnamon....nobody got the five bucks because we guessed everything BUT sweet potato. If it’s a common Cuban dessert ingredient, my bad. My Cuban cuisine experience is limited to sandwiches and coffee.
Speaking of coffee, someone brought a tray of those tiny cups of Cuban coffee out to the family members/friends and served us some as well. GREAT stuff, flavor on top of flavor. A real jolt.
As the mega-retailers and chains continue to encroach upon the 39th St/Westport/Plaza area, this is exactly the kind of business that deserves your dollars. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a while. Great food prepared and served by people who truly, genuinely wanted you to enjoy it, understand it and talk about it. Granted, this was my one and only visit, but it is absolutely worth a try if you are going to be in the area.
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(maybe the Crum's will jump ship from Parkville, since this is much closer? Dare I hope?).
Get behind me Satan!
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After living in Parkville for about 1 ½ years, I finally made it to Nick & Jake’s, right up the street in the ever-expanding Parkville Commons…..the strip mall to end all strip malls. Price Chopper, Gomer’s Liquor, hardware, a library, bad Chinese food and an upscale boutique for pets…….what need is there to ever leave the neighborhood?
We had just gotten out of the 10am screening of Grindhouse at Barrywoods, so we were pretty drunk and just wanted some bar food and a place to chill out over some beers and talk about how much we loved Kurt Russell. The best thing I can say about Nick & Jake’s really has nothing to do with the food. The menu is large, the food is okay…..between us we got chicken fingers, a tenderloin and a chicken Caesar salad…..decent portions, room temperature fries and ICE COLD Guinness (yikes). Anyway, the thing that will make Nick & Jake’s destination dining for me in the future is their point of sale software/customer service. The waitstaff is okay in that TGIFriday’s “I’m super friendly and in a super hurry” kind of way, but the GREAT thing is that once you are done with your meal they actually ask you “how many checks do you need?”. AND after you get your separate checks you can still have them add additional food/drinks if the need arises, and get your new check back within sixty seconds. This may not sound revolutionary to most people, and maybe I’ve spent too much time living in a cave, but even through the bourbon/Guinness haze I thought “this is really different from most bars…..and very handy”. Maybe I’ve had bad luck in the various KC bar and grills…P.Ott’s, Fox and Hound, Johnny’s, Tanner’s, Bulldog, etc……I know I’ve been in many groups where requests for separate checks or additions to the check were met with mild hostility and disbelief. But not at Nick & Jake’s!
Again, this isn’t rocket science from a customer service perspective, but it made me realize how much I loathe dividing up a check at the end of a meal (hoo-boy the story my girlfriend has from the Cheesecake Factory out on 119th from a couple of weeks ago…..). I’m guessing that software makes the difference, so from the owner’s perspective it’s a win-win……they either turn the table over faster or it’s just that much easier to keep selling drinks to those who linger. I'm someone who doesn't like to be a PITA by insisting on separate checks (because I work with so many of those people), so it's nice for them to offer.
I think the same guys from lunch are keen on going to Em Chamas in the next couple of weeks, so more on that later…….
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Personal highlights were the tripe, the lamb's tongue, the francobolli, and the sweetbreads (I was doing backflips in my chair).
I know when I had the sweetbreads they had to tell me a couple of times..."Sir, we're going to need you to stop doing 'The Robot", you're clogging the aisle!".
It was described to me as tasting similar to "the best General Tso's Chicken EVER", and that was strangely accurate......in a good way.
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Don't think this one has been mentioned yet.....I just watched "The Age of Innocence" the other night and it had some worthwhile food scenes from the perspective of "food as an accessory" for 19th Century NYC upper class.
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And Kansas City chefs please remember......... if you ain't first, you're last.
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I don't know what you people are talking about. Maybe this means I am FINALLY close to selling my TV show idea...the one where I don my "Try to burn this one" American flag t-shirt, then criss-cross the globe visiting exotic places and people....and urinating on them.
I've only seen the one episode from last year, so I can't totally judge where they are headed with it, but my understanding of the micro-focus up to this point is "With all the tact of your civil war reenacting grandfather at a gay pride parade...Uncle Fester travels the globe trying to make you puke!".
Am I way off here? Don't get me wrong, I was the first kid on my block to own a copy of Jackass 2, so I don't wilt at the thought of alienating various cultures. The advertisements for this show just strike me as one tiny level above a show called "The World's Noisiest Poops".
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Note to self: Always remember that it's all about "makin' TEE-VEE".
I have to re-watch each episode because during the initial broadcast my girlfriend and I are generally chattering like a couple of rejects from MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16”, going on about what’s “real” and what’s “editing”. So about thirty minutes into last night’s episode, I made a comment along the lines of “wouldn’t it be funny if all the Ilan vs. Marcel slap-fight drama was the real clue to the final two contestants?”.
I’ve had a pretty good track record this season when it comes to guessing who is getting kicked off, so I’m starting to get a good bead on what it takes to be a reality tv editor. When next season rolls around I’m going to set some goals for myself, and if I can guess enough of the outcomes correctly I’ll celebrate at the end of the season by splurging on one of those fancy Ken Onion Series Shun chef’s knives………………………………………and killing myself with it.
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Absolutely brutal.
Last night's episode would have been a really good one for Tony to incorporate a cheesy "guest chef/sidekick" aspect to the show. I was wondering if a certain food personality would be able to muster a "YUM-O!" with a moutful of charred digestive tract.
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Also, per their website...no foams, no microgreens.
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I'm probably jumping the gun on this, I have no idea what the gods of Hollywood casting will actually have in mind when the time comes...but I really do hope that when they chronicle Top Chef Season 2 in film that some clear thinking individuals are able to talk Paul Giamatti into playing Michael. It would be a stretch for him when you consider his body of work, but if they sell it hard enough on the basis of "the hair" I think we may see this in theatres in late 2007 or early 2008. Anyone who saw Michael sweating it out during the Vietnam/Korea challenge will hear what I'm saying.
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It would have been great to see Betty leave this week, but keeping Frank's personal safety in mind it's probably best that he was the one to go. It was inevitable that he was going to start a fight with Marcel. Frank's a big guy and everything, but when Marcel unsheathed his Adamantium claws.........BOOO-YA! GAME OVER!
I'm truly looking forward to seeing real food cooked in a real kitchen any time soon.
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also, i love that screen name, bob zemuda.....anybody else know who (or what) that is?? i do.
Me, you and Tony Clifton all know ol' Bob.
Cassoulet.....that would really hit the spot in this weather......
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This thread and an old "Surreal Gourmet" video I found in my collection the other night led me to this demented idea......... a nice homemade pumpkin pie filling served in a disposable diaper!
I'll report back on how that goes over at the family Christmas gathering.......
Great idea, but I wouldn't suggest using disposable diapers, they're all scented with a baby powder scent, and I don't think it would do much for the pumpkin!
Maybe the diapers are offered in nutmeg scent?
SB (will check with his grandbaby)
"New fresh scented disposable Pampers.......now offered in Nutmeg, Saffron and Trail Mix"
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This thread and an old "Surreal Gourmet" video I found in my collection the other night led me to this demented idea......... a nice homemade pumpkin pie filling served in a disposable diaper!
I'll report back on how that goes over at the family Christmas gathering.......
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I finally got to catch this week's episode, and while I'm still not blown away by this season, I do have a couple of quick observations...
First, I don't know if there is a word to describe how much more I like Padma than Katie Joel.
Second, whenever I hear Michael speak I can only think of Chris Farley doing "The Chris Farley Show" on SNL.....
"Hi, um, Tom, um........ so do you 'member back in New York when you had that one restaurant......in New York, and um, gosh, um....you called it CRAFT? 'member that? Then, um, you 'member that one time, um.....there was that OTHER place that was, um, a restaurant in New York too.....but it was called something like 'WICHCRAFT? 'member that? That was AWESOME!"
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This may straddle the line between a marketing slogan & a TV commercial script, but - you know those irritating Yoplait girls? The ones that are always spooning Yoplait into their mouths and spewing one inanity after another, always ending in "...good"? (As in, "driving off a cliff together good.")
My old roommate and I used to watch these commercials and just go "huh?"......so it's funny to see that they have brought them back!
We'd sit there imitating them........ "killing the paperboy and burying him under the porch good"....... "mmm hmmmmm peeing on the carpet and blaming the dog good!".
Yeah, that never gets old.
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Holy St. PETE that Chinatown Market really does have an amazing selection. I've been neglecting it since the farmer's market season is over, but I do need to get down there one Saturday morning.
Kansas City - Central Avenue Taco Crawl
in The Heartland: Cooking & Baking
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Actually, that's the perfect thing to get this train back on the track........I've read a couple of different articles that mentioned it. I'd love to go and try some pupusas, and see if the memories of my missionary days in early 1990 El Salvador get the post-traumatic stress a-flowin'....
Too lazy to look up the exact name, location or hours but I think it's called El Pulgarcito. I could be wrong, but the only other Salvadoran restaurant I know of is over off of Independence Avenue......can anyone confirm? And speaking of Independence Avenue, that whole strip is worthy of the type of recon Mike and I have tried to do down on Central and Kansas Avenues. When I was over there a year or so ago working on a graphic design project for school, I couldn't believe how many new restaurants and bodegas had popped up.
Anyway, off to get ready for the arrival of my tomato plants........