Jump to content

Osnav

participating member
  • Posts

    104
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://none

Profile Information

  • Location
    Chicago Area
  1. Osnav

    Maijean

    I've been reading good and bad about Maijean. Anyone been lately?
  2. Has anyone been to Aigre Doux in the last 2-3 months. I'd like to know how their service is now. thands
  3. I have been using the bionaturae organic tomatoes that I get at Whole Foods. They are not cheap ($2/14 oz. can). However, every month or two they seem to go on-sale at $1/14 oz. can. That's when I stock up.
  4. I love the winese/whinese where poeticism is more important than describing the wine. I had a friend who worked for the Coppola vineyards who, at the least provocation, would go into the most inane winese descriptions: "The ____ pinot, although delicate, has the rounded firmness and sweet cherry finish similar to the breasts of the women of the Swedish gymnastics team." or... "The _____ chianti starts with a surge to the back of the palate then continues with the staying power of a three Viagra Sat. nite." And although I know no members of the Swedish gymnastics team, nor do I have any knowledge of a three viagra Sat nite; the imagery does seem to work. And it is far more interesting than: "Good juice/Bad juice".
  5. I started doing this years ago with a Penn. potato chip called Zerbies(I think). They were cooked in 100% lard. A handful of those with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese in a 350% oven for a couple of minutes and I was comatose for hours.
  6. We will be spending some time in Alabama in the near future. Mostly in Birmingham and Montgomery. We are looking for restaurants that will give us the best of what alabama can produce. Cost (either way) is not important. Whether it's cheap & good or expensive & good, it is the food that we are seeking. Since we will be working in the day, we are looking for nighttime dining. Thanks, ri
  7. Historical question: Can we pinpoint when this phenomenon began? I do know that the annual "Best of Philly" issue of Philadelphia magazine just produced its 34th iteration last August. It started as a total lark on the part of the magazine's staff, and it included a list of "worsts" that allowed the writers to throw well-deserved darts at notorious local figures and institutions. By the time it turned 10 in 1984, the judging process had already acquired an air of High Seriousness about it, and the magazine's publisher, in his front-of-every-issue rantspace "Off the Cuff," went to great pains to state that it was impossible to buy one's way into the list. And yet places that just about any Philadelphian will tell you remain among the best today (Taconnelli's for pizza, Tony Luke's for their roast pork sandwich) do not consistently appear in their respective categories. That's in part because some of them have been "retired", but "distributive justice" must have something to do with it too. On a national scale, this is a big country with lots of large cities that would be centers of national culture in their own right in many smaller nations. It sort of follows, then, that an editor of a national magazine, no matter where it is based, would risk alienating a large slice of his potential readership if he selected a "best of" list that was lacking in geographical diversity, even if it was more accurate in terms of true quality. ←
  8. Just to reiterate Fat Guy's point, IT IS A MARKETING THING!!! I've been in the mag. pub. business for 30+ years and in almost every editorial meeting of every magazine client I have had I beg for LISTS (the 10 best shortstops, the 5 most popular cars, the 100 best album covers, etc.). And evertime I get one, I sell more copies than prior issues w/o lists. To illustrate this further: the only issue of Food & Wine I buy on the newsstand each year is the "best new chefs issue; my favorite issue of ANY mag each year is the Saveur 100 issue. The reality is no matter what 50 restos were listed, people are going to disagree with the list(but they are going to read the list). That's when we magazine folk say: "Gotcha" So have some fun with it, but don't take it too seriously(there'll be another list in 5 years).
  9. I have always liked AB, but thought the idea of another on-the-backroads finding the "hidden treasure" restaurants is not needed. I'm waiting for the day when Jane and Michael Stern, Bourdain, the Dean Bros. & Alton all converge on the same hot dog stand in bum-f*ck Iowa. Did anyone else have a problem with understand Alton as he talked while riding his motorcycle. It annoyed the hell out of me. But then again, look at Food Networks new line up: AB on motorcycle The Dean Bros. (enouch daid) Bobby takin on the "locals" & Rachel being Rachel. Sheez! ri
  10. I hope Coleman does more than just write for Gourmet. It has been in need of help for some time. Although RR has always been a great writer, she doesn't seem to have the "vision" of a great editor (to use a sports analogy: great players don't necessarily make great managers). As to Saveur, let's hope the "suits" at World Publishing give James some latitude and time to put his mark on the mag. It is still one of the better food mag. products out there. ri
  11. I tend to agree w/you Ronnie. I doubt many of these will make it past a year or so. However, I have always thought there was a lack of mid-range, Italian restos in Chicago. I like the high-ends, but there are days when you just want a reasonably priced, mid-range place w/ a red checkered tablecloth and a raspy bottle of chianti. When I was spending more time in NYC, I was always amazed at the number of Italian restos. Seemed like there were more of them than Chinese restos. Most of them would serve a decent bowl of pasta and get you on your way w/o you having to hit an ATM for more cash on you way out. I'm sure that within the next month or so I'll have tried a coupleof thsese.
  12. The Spice House in Evanston has them. I was there last week and they had samples out. They also had ginger nibs for sampling, along side the cacao nibs.
  13. God this sounds good. I don't care if this qualifies or not. I'm heading for the kitchen NOW!
  14. Z. I've just reread thru this thread and as i did I thought I should rephrase my M. Twain paraphrase to: it's differences in people, times and situations; that make BBQ. Here is my current take on KC BBQ: Being a 'coot' I was around KC BBQ when it was defined by Gates, Bryant, Boyd, Rodsade and Quicks. Each one a dive in a odd part of town. And none of them, at that time, relocated to Overland Park. I left town and the next thing I know there is a KC BBQ Society, Doc R. Davis is producing some glop called KC Masterpiece, and the Amer. Royal BBQ has banned Queing in old stoves, loud bands, and excessive drinking. They have gentrified and codified BBQ into a Johnson-County state of mind. To me, they have fallen at the alter of Pat Boone singing Tutti Frutti (when everyone knows that the only true Tutti Frutti is sung by Little Richard). But people, times and situations change. So if BBQ in KC has evolved, more power to it. But if it takes a $50,000 rig to create 10 briskets, of which, only one is worth presenting to a judge; then I say give me a wonderbread, brisket sandwich with two thumb holes in it from Bryants and let me be the Judge.
  15. Just a note to add to the raves. We dined at Schwa Friday night and were completely Schwa-ed by the experience. It was everything mentioned in the above reviews. Two points not previously noted: 1. No one mentioned how cool the electric palm trees were across the street. We parked a a side street on the east side of Ashland and had to walk right by them on our way to the restaurant. It was pretty surreal. 2. Brittanie mentioned that Chef Carlson is working on a new menu. Let's hope that he incorporates some of our current favorites into the new menu.
×
×
  • Create New...