Zeemanb

I love the concept, love all things Alton, but find it a little painful to watch when he's interviewing the chefs/owners of each establishment. He had some good mojo going with the lady in the kitchen at The Biscuit Place, but whenever he's doing more of a "formal" interview it seems kind of awkard or forced. Can't put my finger on it, but it is definitely magnified by the "who in the hell is this guy" vibe many of his subjects give off (which I guess could be viewed as adding to the charm of a semi-unscripted road food show).

I've had a ton of great Caprese salad for the past two weekends, prepared with an assortment of Crum's grape/cherry tomato varieties. The selection this weekend was overwhelming, so I just stuck with what I knew. I think my favorites are the little "black cherries". Great corn too. I'll have to pick up some of those wild pepper shaped tomatoes if they have any next week. I should have some good luck since I get there around 6:30, unlike SOME PEOPLE who wait until 10am! If I can work from home Wednesday the plan is to get down there at 2pm and stock up on peaches. I got a bunch of red savina habaneros from my grandparents garden and the time is right for a huge batch of habanero peach marmalade.

Guess this isn't TOO strange, but when I was living in Mpls going to college I had a pizza delivery driver actually buy a piece of pizza BACK from me because he was hungry. Weird, but maybe he'd just started his shift and hadn't been able to eat between deliveries yet.

Wasn't sure whether this belonged in the offal-centric thread or this one, but ANYWAY........ Went to Lidia's Friday night, and the current menu has sweetbreads AND chicken livers. Not exactly an offal-extravaganza, but in this town you take what you can get. The sauteed sweetbread app. comes in a lemon caper sauce with string beans and diced peppers. Quite a big portion of sweetbreads for the money, and they were outstanding. The liver entree is prepared with lightly fried Campo Lindo chicken livers on top of a crispy polenta cake and covered with thinly sliced fried onions. I really love the dish, this is the second time I've had it, but it needs some texture and something acidic to brighten it up a bit. I generally ask for a small plate of tossed greens with vinaigrette to have alongside it. If you want your sweetbreads on the crispers side or your liver more done than medium rare-ish, do mention that to your server. They serve the dishes exactly how I like them, but I can see where some folks don't like their organ meats on the pinkish side.

Thanks! No candles this year, I prefer highway flares. And there were a grand total of 37 this year!

Yes, that was indeed the accompaniment. Failed to mention the Duo of Souffles earlier. Huge hit, I especially liked the lavender. Plus, the additional wait gives you the perfect excuse to have yet another cocktail.

Nice evening in the lounge tonight Judy, sorry you had to leave before more drinks and dessert arrived. I will say though that right after you left, there was a noticeable difference in the posture of all the staff members. They didn't seem to be cowering nearly as much. Go figure. It was a HUGE hit with mom, I'm glad she finally got to come down for a casual intro to Bluestem. She's already talking about coming back for the impulsive collection some evening, which I knew she'd be up for once she experienced some of the food and drink. The Signature B cocktail was definitely her favorite (icewine, Grey Goose Citron, blueberry jam, muscat), while I enjoyed the Antioxidant (sp? - green tea vodka, Midori, lime juice, melon balls) as a starter and ended with the most accurately named drink for me....."The Gentleman" (Maker's Mark, Frangelico, Kahlua, espresso, bitters, vanilla whipped cream). I'm honestly not someone who gets into the "foo-foo" multi-liquor drinks. A Knob Creek Manhattan is about as fancy as I get, but the combinations of flavors and presentations of their signature drinks is so unique and well thought out that all thoughts of being mistaken for Carrie Bradshaw (which happens to me a lot) while sipping away were far from my mind. Great drinks, and the liquor selection is incredible. Green tea vodka.....who knew? Van is a fantastic mixologist, and he's a trooper for putting up with our incessant chatter all evening. Judy, next time we're down there I think I might order the foie gras. Not sure. It's either going to be that or the foie gras. Good times! Now back to work tomorrow.....

If BBQ contests count, I think our record would be about 24 hours (if you count "pre-dinner drinks")....... Arrive to the competition approx. 11am, set up, start smokers, prep and start cooking......first drinks are consumed around 1pm, chicken and ribs are done around 4 or 5pm. Eating and drinking continues throughout early and late evening, with various meats, sides and appetizers coming off the cookers at different times.......this generally continues until around 2am with a brief intermission before the cookers have to be stoked at approx. 4am. Snacking continues throughout the morning and crests as the competition sides and meats come off the smokers and are thoroughly taste tested until approx. 2:30pm during last turn-in. Since the eating and drinking never really stops, I GUESS that could count as my longest meal (invitational cookers can tack on another 12 or 24 hours I'm sure). And if it doesn't count, I'll have to say Manresa...just under 5 hours as I recall.

Quick North KC question.................... anyone know of a good butcher? Even one of the larger grocery stores is okay as long as the service is better than the Price Chopper up the street from me....... "Can you cut me some pork steaks that are thicker than these pre-packaged ones?" "How thick do you want them" "About 3/4 inch" "That's about how thick the ones in the package are supposed to be." "These really aren't nearly that thick." "That's how thick they're supposed to be cut." "But they're not........can you just cut me a few?" "Well they're supposed to be." "These aren't even close. Can't you just take this pork butt and slice it?" .......... followed by ten seconds of him just staring at me, and finally walking over to the meat case to pick up each of the packages of pork steaks to eyeball them and see how thick they were, handing me one and saying "you oughta try these out". "These are about half as thick as I'm asking for, never mind." I really need to get back up there tonight if I have time and tell the manager about my experience. Sure, it's a huge, high volume grocery store but with the exception of this guy people are super nice and usually extremely helpful up there. Or am I from another planet on this one? Is pork too cheap for a butcher to worry about "special orders".....I know they've got a ton of equipment in the back, so I'm just assuming they have a giant friggin' saw they could use for about five seconds to slice down some steaks. Anyway, happened to mention it to my neighbor last night and I guess since a recent change in management it takes extreme persistence to get any level of service at the meat counter. This is a big-time pork grilling and BBQ'ing town......what a strange, strange guy he was. I looked on Yahoo Maps and don't see any real butcher shops in the area, but if the local Hy-Vee, Hen-House, etc. has reliable service it will be worth driving an extra few miles.

Okay, okay........okay.... my 20 year high school reunion is next year, but nothing is popping to mind that would require Rocco......although I could probably use lessons when it comes to macking on large tables full of bachelorettes. Damn, I'm drawing a blank. Maybe I'm trying too hard. I keep trying to think of a way to include Jonathan from "Blow Out" into the mix and the scope of it is beyond me.

My parents have started going to Room 39 for breakfast lately, and have been going on and on about it. I have to make it over there soon. Getting my father to eat breakfast anywhere besides Chubby's or Bell St. Mama's is nothing short of a miracle, so it really had to make a huge impression.

Here's some food related info for ya....... Just checked the new Pachamama's menu online and this month they have........ foie gras and brioche "sliders" I can't get my mind around how great that sounds.

Unless anyone can list some very bad experiences there, I think Ixtapa on Barry Rd. (directly across from the gates of Hell) is going to be my next Northland stop. A brief look at their menu shows several seafood dishes, as well as huitlacoche quesadillas. Several family members and some of my friends are going crazy for Abuelo's over in ZR, so it would be nice to find a good locally owned option for Mexican right across the street. I did go to Abuelo's once, and other than chile rellenos that have actual heat and flavor, I really don't see what the long lines are all about. Maybe it's the humongous portions, they do have those.

I was worried that Lawrence, KS. would be the next to hop on the foie ban-dwagon, but they are currently embroiled in the fight to ban all cell phone use in cars. Hopefully this will buy us foie eaters some time..........

In-A-Tub is worth checking out, BUT I don't know if I'd go there and expect to get any work done for the rest of the day. Their tacos are total grease bombs. I mean that in the best way possible, they just have the tendency to hit your system like a big valium. I think everything on the menu with the exception of the loose meat sandwiches is deep fried. Oh, and they only take cash. It's not in the immediate area by Zona Rosa, but LC's Hamburgers farther south on Prairie View Road (in the same parking lot as Pizza Hut, Sun Fresh, etc.) is great if you're looking for a good burger at lunchtime. Across the highway, over near Yankee Candle, I believe I spotted a Planet Sub. If you're in the mood for a toasted "Quizno's" style sub, that's always a good option. My parents are really into Mimi's up in ZR for breakfast, so I meet them there from time to time on the weekend. The food is pretty good, there's a huge breakfast selection and the service is adequate. The secret is getting there before all the other businesses open up, but even then it's out on the fringe of ZR so a couple of traffic lights and you're free.

Don't worry Judy, you're still just reeling from your Zona Rosa post-traumatic stress. Actually, I can't even tell when I'm being sarcastic anymore. I really do think it was a genius move to open the restaurant in that location, it will make millions. I forgot about the house arrest pagers. No question there will be a three hour wait at the beginning. If I can plan a very early or very late lunch at some point I'll venture out there with Mike to check it out.

HA! HA! HA! HA! Oh I'm so glad to see someone else get suckered into venturing into Zona Rosa! That place is like Hell's waiting room! God it would have been worth going just to see the look on your face! The ultimate irony, and this is not nearly as funny, is that you were just a stone's throw from In-A-Tub. That's kind of a rough spot if you're wanting to avoid chain restaurants. The highway is flanked on both sides by pretty much all of them. Back over near the big Lowe's store is a Houlihan's. Oh my God, lunch at Zona Rosa on a beautiful Friday afternoon. It's going to take you a while to shake THAT one off. Man that's rich. Oh I'm sure I'll pay for my laughter at your expense later, but it will be worth it. Try not to let your buddies talk you into Rockfest next weekend instead of the Italian Fest right across the street.

I just want to know.....has Zona Rosa heard about this and when are they planning to break ground for THEIR location? Interesting menu, I'd definitely give it a try. I can't see any way this will not be money in the bank at that location. You could open a hot dog cart across the street and get rich just from the overflow. I predict the need for crowd control will be unprecendented, the likes of which has not been seen since the newest Cheesecake Factory opened on 119th with their whopping five parking spaces surrounding the building. In all seriousness, will they be doing call-ahead seating or anything? That place is going to be BUSY.

Oh, also forgot to mention that I think we have real "sponsors" for any future contests. My parents and some friends of theirs liked hanging out eating and drinking so much that they're going to cover entry fees and meat costs for us. That will free us from a lot of scrambling in the weeks prior to the contest, and while we'll still recruit friends to serve as team members/flunkies, Mike and I are taking ownership of all cooking. We used to try digging someone up to do chicken or even pork, but not any more!

Thanks, we were definitely pleased with sixth overall on the sides. Looking at the top five teams individual scores, a better score in potatoes would have gotten us third place easily. I don't know what all Mike puts in his beans, I know there is sausage in his potatoes. I do mushrooms for the veggie dish, and I'm getting to where I'm pretty tight lipped on everything that goes into those with the exception of a ton of pork fat. They are pretty phenomenal. We're going to start putting more energy into the presentation, that would have scored us some extra points across the board. May have to hit Dave up next year to see if he'll be our garnish guy. ABT's are just the greatest. A real crowd pleaser and contest staple. I made about 110 of them, and we only had about fifteen left the next day.

Okay, finally somewhat recovered from this weekend and the contest results are all in.... With the exception of ribs we had a pretty great year, with "great" meaning we're very pleased with our results considering the fact that so many of the teams do this almost every weekend. We're just thrilled to ever rank in the top 50th percentile in any given category, since we only do it once or twice each year. Out of a total of 210 teams, here are our results...... Chicken- 87th Ribs- 178th (no clue what happened there, need some practice I guess) Pork- 84th Brisket- 74th Overall in the meat categories- 114th Veggies- 12th Beans- 12th Potatoes- 28th Overall in the side dish categories- SIXTH PLACE!! No money, no ribbons, but we're finally getting our cooking and turn-in techniques solidified. This was the first time Mike and I split the pork and brisket down the middle to take home with us, they were both that good. My only regret is that I didn't win first in anything and thereby gain the rights to change the team name to "Loinback Mountain". I have to add that we were extremely pleased with every aspect of the event. Check-in was smooth, we had a great space out in the back 40, and the volunteers were absolutely stellar. Every thirty minutes at the most we had someone come by in a golf cart asking if we needed ice, water, charcoal, etc. Saturday morning they came by handing out Krispy Kremes and Roasterie Coffee. For this only being the second year for the Great American BBQ, they are off to one hell of a start. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Perhaps this is a better question over on the wine board, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience w/Bracco wines? Just curious how long they have been around because from the sound of it last night they produce it all......Amarone, Barolo, Brunello, etc.

Well I spent a few hours last night prepping 100+ "ABT's". Jalapenos that have been halved, stuffed with cream cheese, a little smokie and wrapped in bacon (for those of you who may not have had the pleasure of enjoying the most popular STAPLE of bbq circuit cooking). Should be a good time, the weather is going to be pretty warm but no rain as far as I know. If we win the big money, Mike and I are going to celebrate by fashioning beer bong-like funnels and have someone use them to force-feed us entire lobes of foie gras. It will be delicious performance art in support of our friends up in Chicago, not to mention just plain fun.

Dave, thanks for the clarification. I could have sworn I remembered Colby pining for the days back in Joco. I grew up between Leavenworth Road and Parallel, just off 38th St. so I'm glad to get back into the 'dotte for this contest. In fact, when I was heading to Parkville tonight on 435, Motorhead's "The Ace of Spades" came on the radio at the exact moment I was entering Wyandotte County. I took that as the ultimate good omen for this weekend, lol! We're in space 557 and will expect to see our bacon/cream cheese/little smokie/jalapeno smoked appetizers on the Bluestem menu first thing next week.

I've got all the ingredients and have my calculator on standby for the mathematics involved in the proper vegetable/pork fat ratios. I may be able to patent my bacon distillation process if I can get it perfected between now and Friday. Yes, a half hour before the first turn-in is ALWAYS the best time to stop by and pester very large, hungover men with butcher knives and big metal containers full of white hot coals. I think the reason they are doing this thing out at the Woodlands is because it's so damn close to Providence Medical Center. Look forward to seeing everyone bright and early on Saturday!