kalypso

For future reference Laurel has a pre-fixe theater menu. They even provide transportation between the Old Globe and Symphony Hall, I think they'd probably provide it to other downtown venues if you asked nicely.

Right, yes, you did look up and find that those were preserved kumquats. I confess that in the flurry of passsing around dishes for tastes, I neglected to get a taste of the kumquats on that plate. But I do want to note that, as you may have noticed, The Linkery does lavish a lot of care on its sides and garnishes as well as its mains. The braised greens accompanying the link sampler plate were also standouts. ← Note to MizDucky - the Hillcrest farmers market has had LimeQuats recently. A relative of the kumquat. Interesting little things.

Windmill Farms started life as an Alpha Beta nearly 50 years ago. Alpha Beta was acquired by Lucky's which in turn was eventually acquired by Albertson's. Back in the day Alpha Beta was a competitor to Safeway.

I've taken probiotics in various forms off and on for a lot of years. I think they do help. I travel frequently in Mexico and make it a habit to begin upping my ingestion of live culture products, or even probiotics in capsule from before I go. Knock wood, but I have not had any stomach/intestinal/turista problems. And while I adhere to the usual precautions of drinking only bottled water and eating fruits and veggies that have been peeled or treated with MicroDyne, I eat almost everything and don't think twice about it. I am a pretty firm believer in probiotics in this regard. They've been around quite a while in the holistic/alternative medicine world and have been used pretty successfully. I've liked them when I've taken them.

Oh, my God, Chicken Delight. We had 'em too on the West Coast. Same jingle, I can even remember the tune...................which will now probably be stuck in my head for the rest of the day

Rick Bayless - grew up in the family restaurant biz, went to Univ. of Mich Bio info here You only need to read the first paragraph or two.

The politically incorrect..........Sambo's In San Diego, there is an old Sambo's that morphed into Perry's Cafe which is without a doubt one of the better places for a diner type of breakfast. Not fancy, but pretty decent food (B/L only) for not a lot of money. The interior is very retro - okay, so it hasn't been remodeled in 40 years - and feels very much like the old Sambo's. Somehow everytime I eat there I keep expecting the Jetson's to walk in the door...............

I just got back from 3 weeks in Cuernavaca and while I didn't get a chance to eat out very much here are some other suggestions for the area: Casa Hidalgo - kinda trendy and upscale, but very pleasant La Indio Bonita - in a converted old house, the inner garden is lush and peaceful. Food really pretty good. Colorines - for local traditional food Villa Bejar - go for breakfast, it is outstanding. Interesting jugo combinations (nopal, celery and parsley - delicious), the usual assortment of fruits, cereal and yogurt, savory hot entrees, french toast, etc. There were 2 interactive, display cooking stations, one for quesadillas made from fresh masa and only when ordered and the other for eggs in any style or combination you could imagine. The architecture will make you think that you are in Morocco. Villa Bejar is also a hotel, has several pools and offers spa services Marco Polo in the Zocalo area offers reasonably good Italian food. Tachines is an exclusive gated community with it's own golf course. The clubhouse is an open-air affiar overlooking the golf course. It does a pretty mean Sunday brunch. You probably need some Spanish for this place since you're going to have to tell the guard where you're going - to the clubhouse for brunch, and give your name - and it didn't appear that the staff spoke anything by Spanish.

I have subscribed for a couple of years and like the magazine. It's pretty straight forward and the recipes are pretty accurate. I've made a number of recipes from the magazine and I don't think there were any failures, or "what were they thinking" moments.

To Nancy - I love Michoacan. I like corundas and uchepos too. If you're in Patzcuaro try the corunda vendors in front of the Basilica. They're wonderful, the corundas that is. Large, the size of your fist and perfectly triangular in shape; stuffed with doble crema and rajas (chile strips) and served with a spicy chile peron salsa. Many of the vendors also serve atole in assorted flavors. A corunda and a mug of atole makes a fine, if not hearty, breakfast. I have beaten masa preparada and lard together by hand........literally. Roll up your sleeves and get ready for a great upper body work out. Kind of gives new meaning to the phrase "playing with your food". But you do develop a pretty good feel for what the finished masa should feel like when it's done. Never underestimate some of the tiny little Mexican women, they're way stronger than you'd ever imagine.........in more ways than one. To Jay - I enjoyed reading about your experiment. Having made tamales in various sizes, shapes and colors, with various fillings and with various wrappers I definitely appreciated your effort I like the dried corn husks that have a "belly button" at the bottom where the stem was attached. The bottom of the husk kind of "cups" at the bottom and sometimes you can see an outline where the stem used to be attached making it look like a belly button, hence the name. These are big, easy to fill, easy to fold, fairly pliable and make a nice looking tamle. I haven't seen them in my neck of the woods (San Diego, CA) but you might better luck finding them in TX. When you're done messing around with making tamales hot, try making chocolate tamales. Really good.

No, you won't find hyper-modern cuisine in SD To date, I am not aware of anyone doing the molecular gastronomy thing either. While San Diego has made some big strides in fine dining, it is not yet near the level of other major cities, especially cities like San Francisco, Chicago or New York. You'll do the city and yourself a disservice by comparing dining in SD to any of them. You can find some very good to excellent food in San Diego, but you probably won't find anything with the ability to knock your socks off. One of the big problems is your location. The Gaslamp is one of the major tourist areas so it caters primarily to tourists. Prices are higher than average and the quality is all over the map. Lots of clubs, but nothing like Gary Danko's in that immediate area. There are some "nice" restaurants in the Gaslamp that are doing some perfectly "nice" food, it's just not extraordinary because, frankly, tourists don't want to pay for it. When Petco Park opened 2 years ago the business in the Gaslamp were all expecting a prtty good bump in their revenues. Didn't quite happen. The lower to mid-range places did okay, but the higher end places did not see any increases. San Diegans were not willing to spend the big bucks on a high end restuarant meal, nor were the tourists. The best meals in San Diego are probably to be found at The Marine Room in La Jolla, El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, or Addison or Market+ both in Del Mar. The round trip cab ride would probably cost you as much as the meal Syrah Girls recommendation for 1500 Ocean bears real consideration. It's in the iconic Hotel Del Coronado; the chef helped Thomas Keller open Per Se in NYC earlier this year. And while 1500 Ocean has only been open a couple months the local reviews have been really fabulous. Plus it's easily reachable from the Gaslamp without breaking the bank. You can take the water taxi across the bay and then a taxi from the Coronado landing to the hotel. San Diego is still developing it's fine dining sensibilities. Right now there really isn't a "go to" type of place to send people, especially if they're in the Gaslamp.

George's at the Cove is indeed very good. They are, however, going to be doing some renovations on the main dining room. I believe it is still going to be open but you should check just to be sure. George's actually has 3 dining venues, the fine dining room, the bar and the terrace. The fine dining room is excellent and rarely disappoints. Unfortunately, the same can not be said of the terrace dining. La Jolla would be a very long, VERY expensive cab ride from the Gaslamp

The best of San Diego is probably not in the Gaslamp District. However, that said, you could do a lot worse than to consider Bertrand's at Mr. A's, affectionately known locally as Mr. A's. Laurel is also quite nice. The room has kind of a contemporary retro chic feel to it. I've never had a bad meal at Laurel. The foie gras appetizer currently on their menu is terrific, as is the duck confit. Mr. A's and Laurel are kitty-korner across the street from each other at 5th and Laurel, an easy cab ride from the Gaslamp. The San Diego outpost of Oceanaire is good, especially the oyster bar. Happy Hour is well patronized by the local after hours business set. If you choose Oceanaire, be forewarned that the grilled fish entrees are much more successful than some of the composed ones. Portions are enormous. Dobson's isn't so much fine dining as a good, locally owned, non-chain steak house. The owner is very colorful - a former (non-hispanic) bull fighter and the mussel bisque soup is devine. Oceanaire and Dobson's are both more/or less in the Gaslamp. A little bit longer cab ride away is Parallel 33 where all the food is from countries on the 33rd parallel. The Ahi Poki and B'stilla are two of the best appetizers in town. This kitchen really knows how to cook fish well. And just a little bit further out is Terra. This is a great little neighborhood restaurant doing very good food. They also do one of the best breakfasts in town and almost everything is under $10 at that meal. Now, unlike many cities, San Diego actually has some excellent pretty darned good hotel dining. One of the absolute best is Le Fontaineblue Restaurant in the Westgate Hotel. Another option is Molly's in the Marina Marriott. Remarkably good food for a hotel, even the pickiest eaters have been happy here. And finally, after being closed for over a year for major renovations the U.S. Grant hotel has reopened along with the Grant Grill. This is real old time San Diego and has long been a meeting place for the local power brokers. The hotel is named after president Ulysess S. Grant and it is where he spent time when he was in San Diego. Grant Grill has gone through a number of incarnations and has been everything from spectacularly good to spectuacularly awful. Since it just reopened a few weeks ago with a new menu, new chef, new staff and new ownership, I'm betting they're going to be pretty good. The hotel is now owned by a local indian tribe. They've spent $52 million on the rehab and have become part of the Starwood network of upscale hotels. This purchase was very important for the tribe and they've got a huge stake in the property being successful, they're not going to mar it with bad food. All 3 of these hotel restaurants are in the downtown/Gaslamp area. Incidentally, dinner is not the meal that San Diego does best. San Diego does breakfast better than any other city in California. Do not overlook that meal and while you're downtown do try Cafe 222 or Cafe Chloe for a delicious start to your day. Enjoy your trip.

Molly's really is one of the better kept secrets in San Diego

I'm glad to hear that you liked 1500 Ocean; so far everything I've heard has been pretty positive. When it was the Prince of Wales Room it was pretty traditional fine dining; kind of old, kind of staid, appealed to an "older" demographic, the one with expendable income. The food was never bad, but it wasn't going to break any new ground either. I had dinner at Laurel last night and it was wonderful. Only one dish really didn't work and that was the flat bread appetizer. It was just okay, not a clunker, but not great either, basically a missed opportunity. The foie gras appetizer, however, was outstanding. A perfectly seared piece of foie was perched on top of a slice of pumpkin bread and some quince and apple in fine dice. Really yummy, but get it now because the SD City Council is taking up the issue of a foie gras ban after the first of the year. For our entrees we had the black cod and duck confit. Both were good, but the confit was the better of the two. Laurel has a special pre-theater dinner of soup or salad, choice of 3 entrees and butterscotch pot de creme for dessert for $30. They'll also provide free shuttle service between the Old Globe and the restaurant. They also do something called Sinful Sunday's where they have a rotating selection of about 12-15 wines (more reds than whites) at half price. There were some good values. For a Sunday night our meal was excellent

FYI ChaChaCha is owned by an American ex-pat from the Bay Area who was in the restaurant business there. It's become something of a gathering spot for other ex-pats.

I will miss Restaurant Week this year since I'll be in Mexico. I did the Marine Room for Resto Week a couple of years ago and it was excellent. I think they've got their annual High Tide Breakfast coming up at the end of the month, or sometime in January. The dates are always listed on their web site. This was always a big deal when we were growing up. My mom and aunt would get us dressed up and off we'd go to La Jolla and High Tide Breakfast. They ALWAYS got a window table and it was really cool to watch the waves come up, and ocassionally if it was kind of stormy a wave would actually hit the windows with a little force. If there are any High Tide Breakfasts before I go to Mexico I was thinking about making a reservation and seeing how it compared to the old memories. I love the Marine Room even when it sometimes makes a misstep, which thankfully, isn't very often If was going to be in town for Restaurant Week I was looking at 1500 Ocean, Addison and A.R. Valentine. I will probably hit Tapenade in the next couple of weeks. My boss's Admin. Asst. birthday is right around the corner and she loves Tapenade and I was thinking about taking her there for her B-day.

My dining companion was HUGE fan of the Belgian Lion and has bemoaned the passing of that restaurant on a regular basis. She is the one that had the duck confit for her entree. She didn't say how similar it was to the old Belgian Lion dish. I did forget to mention that the duck confit dish at Modus comes with foie gras, so how could it be bad The cooking at Modus is well executed and sensible. I'm already plotting a return visit.

This afternoon I made the Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops. They don't exactly look like the photo but, boy , are they good!! I apparently missed Dorie's comment that the baking temperature should be 350* and ended up baking them at 375*. The other thing I found was that 6 oz of malted milk balls was not 2 cups, whole or chopped. I used 6oz of chopped malt balls but it was only about a cup and a quarter to a cup and a half of product. I got a deal on mangos yesterday and also made the Fresh Mango Bread. It's okay but not particularly outstanding. Mostly it just tastes sweet, not much flavor hit from the mangos. The notes say it improves with age and being wrapped in saran. I'm hoping that's what happens.

Hey folks, if you're in San Diego and have not yet been to MODUS, it's time for a visit. Had a really nice dinner there Friday night. It's sleek, elegant and sophisticated and that's just the room, the food is even better. My dining companion started with the beet and avocado salad and I had the belgian endive with roquefort and pecans. Both salads were excellent. The presentation on the beet salad was visually stunning, but flavorwise, I think the edge went to the belgian endive. Two other popular starters are the pommes frites, and MODUS does them better than just about anyone in town, and the French Onion soup. I had the pork loin which was served atop a bed of greens and pan roasted brussels sprouts and set off by a mild grain mustard sauce. Oh, and there were tiny cubes of ginger gelee (?) as a garnish. Loved it. My friend loved her duck confit and the red wine reduction sauce that game with it. I had dessert, she had espresso. The S'mores dessert was fun, but more than a little too sweet. The espresso was a well pulled draw. Service was quiet and unobtrusive and the dining room was well monitored by roving staff members. The restaurant is on a couple of levels with the bar being up a few steps from the dining room. And it's a fine looking bar, a great place to meet for drinks after work. This is San Diego, and it is 75* in December so sitting out on the patio is still pleasant and there are warmers if it every decides to get cold here. 2 drinks, 2 apps, 2 entress, 1 dessert, 1 espresso, tax and tip came to right around $115.

I thought it might be the cocoa too. I used plain old Hershey's.

A friend gave me Dorrie Greenspans new book a couple of weeks ago and I started baking from it. Visually, it is a very attractive cookbook and so far the methods have been solid. The results, however, have not been quite as uniformly good. The Corn Muffins were nothing short of spectacular. I made the Cranberry Upside Downer cake to take to a function this past Sunday afternoon. I rated the cake as merely good, but everyone at the function literally raved about the cake and had seconds; one guy even ate 3 pieces. The Pumpkin Bundt Cake was good but nothing special. The flavor profile was very mild with little discernible pumpkin taste. I think there are much better pumpkin cakes out there. If I made this again I'd probably increase the amount of spices used. The one clear miss - and it missed by a WIDE margin - were the Salt & Pepper Cocoa Cookies. The only way to describe these is gawd-awful. The problem was not with the additional of the salt and pepper, it was with the texture and the cocoa. There wasn't quite enough sugar in the recipe to offset the bitterness of the amount of unsweetend cocoa powder used. This is a shortbread cookie that uses powdered sugar instead of flour to provide most of the structure. The texture turned out like sand, very fine sand. I shared these cookies with 2 friends that are trained as and working as chefs; both of spit the cookies out . I'm pretty sure that the final cookie was not the result of my method or technique, especially in light of the success I've had with other recipes from the same cookbook. There are a lot of things to like about the book. The recipes are easy to follow, the instructions clearly written and the actual preparation (at least so far) has been a snap. I like that Ms. Greenspan has provided variations for many of the recipes which makes them even more user-friendly. The texture and crumb on everything I've made has been quite tender, airy, refined and elegant, even the corn muffins. I've been less enthralled by the mild, bordering on bland, flavor profile of the final results. I'm planning on working my way through more of the recipes over the next month and hoping that I have more hits since this is an easy baking book and a very, very likeable book.

Liz Yes, try to get to Azul y Oro. This is Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's resto and even though it's on the UNAM campus and does only comida, it is incredibly good. Ricardo is a certified master chef trained in the U.S. and Europe. He's written several excellent cookbooks and the Enciclopdia Culinario which is a seminal work on Mexican cuisine. I had Mexican hot chocolate there one morning and it is without a doubt the single best cup of hot chocolate I have ever had in any country.........and it was made with water. I notice by your sig line that you are a food writer, are you by any chance a member of IACP? If so, Ricardo works with Marilyn Tausend on her tours and with Rick Bayless as well.

Unless I missed it on your list, don't leave out Pujol

FrogPrincesse, how did you find Thee Bungalow? I haven't eaten there after the changes in ownership and in the kitchen but have several friends who have. They were not pleased with their meals or the direction in which the restaurant appears to be going. I'd be interested in hearing your opinion too.