kalypso

I think a lot of us would like Tre to win One thing I've notices is that Tre, Brian and until last week CJ, all appeared to be pretty much under the radar. THey haven't been very involved with as much of the dramedy as have most of the others. Now, this could be due to the way the program is edited, in fact on second thought, it probably is. But it also made me wonder if the lack of focus on them was because they were going to be the final cheftestants and the producers were saving there camera time until the end. Edited to add - Hung is growing on me and I think he's toning down the arragance meter. I liked Howie at first because he was fiesty but now he's just a PITA.

Hey, congratulations on surviving and thriving There are lots of options other than restaurants and catering if you're willing to consider the non-commercial side of the business. Your could do a lot worse than look into collegiate food service especially if it's a self-op and not contracted out. This segment can no longer be categorized as mystery meat dorm food, there is some pretty respectable food being served in many colleges, universities and (to a lesser extent) community colleges around the country. Almost all of them are looking for employees with solid production and cheffing skills. Pay is very good, benefits even better, 40-45 weeks are standard, you rarely have to work holidays and you usually get generous paid vacation time off.

Him? His name is Dick Headfoodie. Or so he thinks. ← Actually, I think it was Madonna's brother

I agree, they do work for the thick,sticky and ooey-gooey stuff. But...since AB yammers on about tools that multi-task, you would think that he'd back up his words with his products. The two measuring cups aren't the worlds best multi-taskers, and when space in the kitchen is limited, why should I have 2 measuring cups that are hard to use, a set of standard dry measures and at least 1 liquid measure. I was hoping that AB's measuring units would work for dry and liquid (which the do) so that I could eliminate the cupbard clutter (which they don't). Sadly, that was not the case for me.

36th & Uni? That's basically across the street from Super Cocina and Fruitilandia. I'v e never looker further than that, because frankly, in that part of town I'm more apt to be jonesying for Mexican than a burger. Have you tried the Western Steak Burger (their on El Cajon Blvd. somewhere, I've forgotten the cross street) or Tioli's Crazy Burger on 30th just a block south of El Cajon?

I first encountered this style of quesadillas in D.F. in 1984 and fell head over heels in love with them. They're really great, thanks for posting

With the advent of all the redevelopment in downtown and Little Italy finding respectability The Waterfront was discovered by the weekday suits and foodie crowd. It's still a little run down, but not quite as divey as it used to be. For a burger most people are still going to head over to either Hodad's in OB or Rocky's in PB

I have both the salt cellar and the measuring cups. Love the salt cellar. The measuring cup not so much. It's great to have the options for all those different measures, including metric, but the cylinder shape makes them a PITA to use for items like flour and sugar. I've recently shelved them and went back to using regular measuring cups that are wider across the top and easier to use without making a mess.

Sysco contracts a lot of their produce business to local produce vendors, albeit the large operators with established distribution networks. I have a long and fairly checkered history with Sysco. I've been using Sysco San Diego for the last 6 years and I have to say they've been an excellent house for us. We do use one of Sysco's affiliated produce vendors for most of our produce needs. Sysco brought the vendor to us, we did not seek out this vendor. The downside is that the produce comes out of the L.A. market not San Diego, but then again so does almost all the produce in SD. Even the small produce guys in SD get their produce from LA and operate out of a SD depot. So the problem arises when the truck out of LA is short or produce is rejected. Our produce vendor has a local rep who takes care of these issues. The up side has been that our pricing has been relatively stable, even when the market isn't, because of the buying power of both Sysco and the vendor, and by and large, the quality of the product we get is very, very good. Freshness has not been a significant problem, and when it has been, the vendor has either given us a credit or replaced the offending produce ASAP. We have often ordered specialty items for catering or special events and have gotten almost everything we've asked for at a reasonable cost. One thing I have learned over the years is that not all Sysco houses are created equal and a lot will depend on how good the branch president is and how strong his supporting Vice Presidents are. I am a medium large account for Sysco SD (approx. $1,000,000 in food purchases annually), I know the branch President and most of the VPs, my sales rep has been the branch salesman of the year for 3 out of the last 4 years. They've worked with me on price points and menu development. This is the first Sysco house that has ever taken an interest in me and my operations, and I have managed larger operations with greater purchasing power than my current one. It's been my experience in dealing with Sysco for nearly 30 years that they are only as good as the people operating the local branch. My present experience in SD is certainly not typical of what I've experienced, but because they've got committed people working in the SD branch I've been able to control costs and expand menu options. Sysco is an easy target because they are too big, but they do serve a purpose and they do allow many, many restaurants and food service operations to continue to sell food at reasonable prices, and in a market where the number of meals eaten away from home continues to grow, keeping menu prices stable and reasonable is always important. I would love to be able to purchase from small distributors, but my reality has been that they don't have the capacity to provide the level of service I need, nor can they sell me product at competitive prices, though Costco can come close and they're hardly a small operator. Sysco produce is decent to good and often times better than what one can get at a grocery store, including upscale grocery stores. And trust me on this, Sysco is pulling up to fine dining establishments as much as it is the Denny's of the world because it offers the industry a way to get consistent product at reasonably low prices. Also, if you play the stock market watch the Sysco stock. It is a consistent performer and while it's been a little flat over the last year to 18 months, it returns solid growth if the stock is held over time. The value of the stock went up for 64 straight quarters before flattening out. It will probably be flat for another year or so, but as the economy begins to recover from the real estate issues it's got now, the Sysco stock should begin it's upward march again. Why include this? Because, like everything else, food is an integreal part of the economy and when one part gets a cold, the rest of the parts sneeze in sympathy.

There are multiple versions of mole, not just one definitive version. Oaxaca has it's famous 7 moles, and every region and little town has it's version as well. Many of them don't take 132 ingredients or 2 or 3 days to make. Reasonably good versions of mole verde and mole amarillo can be made in 90 mintues to 2 hours. What they might lack in depth of flavor from a shortened simmering time can be compensated for by using a rich chicken stock. The pressure cooker is widely used all over Latin America and it's possible to achieve a rich stock using a whoel chicken, lots of back pieces and some feet. * Mole verde is something I would have considered, along with -- * Emapanadas w/lime crema and a salsa cruda * Huachinango (Red Snapper) Veracruzana * Or - a whole fish in the palapa style that's common on the West Coast of Mex. * Fish Tacos * And Brian being an Oregonian living in SD, should have thought about Lobster Puerto Nuevo style, PN being a little seaside enclave between Tijuana and Ensenada famous for their griddled lobster dinners * Salipcon from Nicaragua would have been doable in that time frame * Picadillo * Chilequilas, who doesn't like a good plate of chilequilas, add protein and it's a meal * Chicken or steak ranchero * A Ceasar with a chile enhanced dressing + protein, very CA though * Chiclen livers lightly dredged in seasoned flour, deep fried and served with a chile casabel or chile chipotle sauce. Don't want to deep fry, saute the chicken livers instead and toss in sauce and serve over rice. * Sopa de fideo (which is really not a soup at all), many versions abound, add a side salad and it's a meal with or without protein * With a pressurer cooker you can do pozole, and the nixtamalized corn for pozole is often available at latin markets so you don't have to used canned hominy. * Moros y Cristos, which is really nothing more than rice and black beans, serve some plantain totopos along side with some smoked ham and a good salsa cruda or hot sauce to be added to taste * Sopa siete mares, any latin country with a coast line has some version of seafood soup * Antichuchos using beef heart rather than the typcial American substitute of beef * Lomo Saleado from Peru Come on, the list is endless. What this challenge really demonstrated is that the none of the chefs had really had much knowlege or background in latin cooking styles.

I lived in San Rafael for 9 years but it's been nearly 7 (yikes ) since I moved. So, take this with a grain of salt since things change... 4th St. is kind of the main drag through San RAfael. It's a very walkable street and there are lots of dining options on it in varying price ranges and various types. Larkspur and San Anselmo are very nearby and also have some good dining option. Be sure to check out Rulli's, located in Larkspur. Gary Rulli trained as a baker in Italy and turns out some outstanding products. Rulli's is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but it sure is worth stopping in for a coffee and a pastry. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the link to the dining page for the Marin IJ the local newspaper. It's a decent food page for a small newspaper and there should be enough links on it for you to at least get an idea of what your dining options might be. Leslie Harlib has been the primary food writer for the IJ for 8 or 9 years. She does a nice job. When I lived in San Rafael there were actually quite a few good food choices in all prices ranges and genres. I can not imagine that has changed much. I would suspect it has gotten 1) more expensive and 2) has probably improved since I moved away in 2001. Enjoy your trip, I loved living in San Rafael. It's a really nice little community.

I've (unfortunately) known this was coming for a couple of months, that it was just a matter of time until all the pieces fell into place... Asia Vous in Escondido has finally closed for good. . This was some of the best and most interesting food in San Diego County but as they say in the real estate business, location, location, location. Escondido doesn't have the client base to support the kind of restaurant Asia Vous wanted to be, and with the horrid weekday traffic and construction on the I-15 North few in SD were willing to make the drive for dinner. Hopefully, Riko will find a gig cooking locally, it would be our loss if he doesn't.

I hear you. I really didn't mean to imply that Mexican in Seattle was better than San Diego, as I've heard it's not. I simply meant to say that neither Thai nor Mexican are very well done in San Diego. Clearly, I missed the mark

You can find just about any type of cuisine in San Diego and/or La Jolla. How good it is, is a horse of a different color And since SD has an extremely high quotient of people that have moved there from somewhere else, there is a certain amount of gripping about what San Diego lacks. Mostly what it lacks is a serious fine dining scene with the corresponding level of service, as well as New York-style pizza, anything remotely related to good deli food, and/or kosher/Jewish food. The vast majority of the Mexican and Thai food in San Diego is mediocre to average, but Vietnamese, sushi and a few Chinese regional cuisines are done well. There are a plethora of steak houses most of them respectable or better. And there are any number of mid-range restaurants turning out very good mid-range specialties including the ubiquitous tuna, pork tenderloin, flat iron steak, short ribs, along with the requisite pasta and vegetarian entree. Some of these are remarkably good, but they are generally more casual and laid back than similar restaurants in other cities. If you've got restaurants that do killer seafood, I think that would be an option. Even though San Diego is home to Chicken of the Sea, restaurants doing really good seafood are pretty few and far between, other than Oceanaire. There are no really outstanding Japanese (other than Sakura) or Korean places in San Diego. Nor is there any really good BBQ or Louisana/Cajun food, tho' Phil's and Bud's seem to fill those niches well enough for locals. I wouldn't worry about treating them to something they can't get in San Diego or La Jolla. I think, perhaps, showcasing what Seattle does best might be more interesting. Sometimes when people travel the objective isn't to eat what they can't get at home so much as it is to try and experience the food as the locals do at the desitnation.

I couldn't agree with the recommendation more. Marilyn's books are quite wonderful, the recipes works and she really knows her stuff. You can check her web site here.

Okay, large volume purchasing is my specialty since I've been doing it for the last 30 years I would assume that some of the menu will be from scratch and some of it will be convenience (i.e. you're probably not making bread items or growing produce)? In addition to the menu, also ask the folks you're talking with to fax you a current inventory so you know what they've already got on hand. If this is the last week of the program the last thing you want to do is end up with a bunch of unused food. You'll also need a list of their vendors and vendor contacts. Once you've got the menu in hand, an inventory of on-hand products, and know who to do business with, go day by day and list out what you need for your recipes and divide those items into primary food categories - meat, frozen, dairy, produce, bakery, snack, beverage, sundry/grocery and paper good (or cleaning/chemical if the camp is using reusables and not disposables). Then compile/consolidate into one order list by category and compare it against the on-hand inventory. Cross off what you don't need to order and modify what you do until you've got a master list of everything you need for the week. If you need yield information and don't have it, go to the library and check out Food for Fifty, it's got a great section on what yields how much, including IIRC, #10 cans. If the camp is using frozen or prepackaged items all you need to know is the case count. Are your recipes standardized for a specific yield amount, like 50 or 100. If so, then you can probably figure the factor to use to adjust the recipe (i.e. if the recipe yields 100 servings and you're planing for 275, multiple the original recipe by 2.75 to determine how much to purchase in order to prepare that amount). You're also going to need to take into consideration the serving utensils used for your menu items such as salad, vegetables, starches, casseroles, desserts, etc that tend not to be unitized and more difficult to get consistent portion sizes. Transfer your yield information to the shopping list and you're at least in the ball park for being accurate with your order. Since it's a camp I'm guessing they're doing the bulk of their shopping with a major distributor such as Sysco, USFoodservice or perhaps a smaller regional or local house. Call the service rep for the distributor and have them help place the order, that person will/should have not only an idea, but a record of previous orders. If the camp is working with one of the major houses, it's probably 1-stop shopping and you can get everything there including produce, dairy and paper products. Or, they may be using a warehouse store such as Costco or Sam's Club for their food needs. In that case, get the money up front, take your list with the yields on it and go for it. Good luck, have fun cooking

As someone has noted somewhere, Emeril no longer fits the profile of the channel he helped put on the map. That said, also as noted, he did not look especially healthy during TNFNS finale. He also has 2 young children under the age of 4, multiple restaurants in mulitple locations across the U.S., and needed to get his NOLA restos back up and running after Katerina. His empire include many hundreds of employees. The kids alone are enough to tire anyone out Things run in cycles and all things eventually run their course. Emeril was at the right place at the right time when many Americans were beginning to be more interested in cooking and food. More than likely his time in the spotlight has run it's course. For all we know he may want to move on from FTV as well, whether to spend more time with his young family, open more restaurants or simply retire, we don't know. But I did notice that after his son was born the time between new episodes increased and then again after his daughter was born. Certainly FTV is going in new directions that probably don't include Emeril, but I would also suspect that Emeril would like to go in some new directions that don't include the Food Network.

I'm not so sure Amy ever really wanted to quit. I kind of thought her "breakdown" was scripted. But if it was real, it certainly made more sense once we saw the bio info on her that showed she lived in a compound with the rest of a very large family. But don't you think we should have seen that first and not at the very end? We had no context from which to understand any of the contestants. HGTV, a sister channel to FNTV, began their own reality search for the next Design Star last night immediately after FNTV annouced the winner of their search. In contrast, HGTV spent the entire hour showing the final 30 applicants going through their final interviews - in front of a camera, hands on power tool use, and finally doing a presentation showing their design philosophy and some of the projects they've done or worked on. As the hour progressed some clear contenders really emerged. As I watched the show I realized I was getting engaged with some of the people and becoming interested in seeing the rooms/houses they had done. I will watch this show (Sunday's at 9 PM) rather than Iron Chef because I really want to see how some of their contestants do. Last year's Design Star was given a prime slot, Monday at 9 PM and repeated on Saturday night. I love the show - Color Splash - and the Deisgn Star David Bromstad. He's warm, funny, not bad on the eyes, and I LOVE his design work with color. OTOH, FNTV has given all their "Stars" Sunday morning at 10 AM (or 7 AM if you're on the West Coast). I haven't seen one episode of either of the previous 2 Food Network Stars. Frankly, not being a morning person, very few chefs provide enough incentive for me to get up at 7 AM on a Sunday to watch a cooking show, and Amy will be no exception. So is The Next Food Network Star about the process and that show, or is it about finding viable talent (and I use that term loosely). After watching this year's show, it would certainly appear to be about the show and not the winner. Perhaps if FNTV had taken a page from the HGTV book and spent some time introducing us to the contestants rather than immediately throwing them into weird, but not wonderful, Top Chef-like challenges I would have been more interested in this season's crop of candidates. As it was, none of them had much if any charisma and it took far too many weeks for their personalities to emerge. I watched because at 9 PM on Sunday there really isn't a heck of a lot else to watch (on basic cable)

I just got back a few hours ago from my week with Diana Kennedy. It was an interesting experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It's pushing midnight here in San Diego, I've been up since 6:30 am Mexico City time (that would be 4:30 AM in SD) and have to leave early for work and my return to reality. I have tons of fotos I need to download off my camera and will post some of those later along with a description of what the classes were like. Amazing experience, but definitely not for the faint of heart.

Yeah, I know, but when you've had to get up really, really early to travel almost all day, it's late We've already got reservations for Aguilar y Sol later on in the week. I wasn't exactly wowed by Izote when I was there but that could have just been the luck of the draw and an off night. El Refugio has already been suggested and is a strong possibility. I strongly suspect how far afield we actually get Saturday night is going to be directly proportional to how tired all of us are from flying. Thank you both for the suggestions

Ah, but did you notice how those sashes and heavy medals just seem to accentuate the - ahem - assests of one of the club members Did anyone else find it odd that no one, not the poor misguided chefs doing dessert, Chef Tom, Warren G or the gaggle of gourmands seemed to remember that fresh pineapple is one of the fruits (along with papaya) that will prevent gelatin from setting. It wasn't the friggin powdered gelatin (and what the heck is Knox if not powdered) that prevented the panna cotta from setting, it was the pineapple!! To me that was a major faux pas that should have gotten Sara sent home, not Camille.

Thank you, the Camino Real may be our best bet given all the different arrival times. BTW, the last link didn't work.

My hotel is actually just a couple blocks from the British and American Embassies. Any suggestions for a place for a late - i.e. probably after 8 or 9 PM - dinner on a Saturday night. There will probably be 3-6 people, we can walk or cab it. Most of us have been in D.F. multiple times, but not necessarily in this particular location. I'm sure as we're having drinks the subject of "where do you want to eat" will come up. I'd perfer to have a suggestion and not have to settle for pot luck. TIA

You mean they had credibility before this fiasco??

I love Mexican Kitchen, I think it's one of Rick's best. I like Diana Kennedy too and have all of her cookbooks. I think the one you might find most useful is My Mexico. It's a compilation of several of her earlier books plus it includes a lot of her stories and prose as well. One of the things I have always liked about the Diana Kennedy cookbooks is the writing that's included. Some is just recipe header notes and some are stories of her experiences in Mexico researching and learning new recipes. I've always found that it helps to give a sense of place and cultural relevance.