Osnav

It only gets better. Catch Mark Caro's column in today's (4/7/05) Tribune. Charlie is going to "open a can of whup-ass". Check it out. T.B. you're quoted and the article references eGullet. ...and the beat goes on. P.S. I hadn't finished the article when I posted the above. So I left out noting that they quoted Bux, too. Bux's point of this being more about Chef vs. Chef civility rather than the foie argument was well made; but the article, of course, played on the foie debate because it is more sensational.

I found all of these cookbooks at deep discounted prices. I am pretty sure I paid less than half the cover price.

I think there are a couple of threads here. The foie gras debate and the chef debate. I am inclined to agree with Ronnie S. that the most alarming thing was Charlie's lashing out and calling everybody an idiot and other names. I could care less about his position on foie gras; but I just got this impression of mean-spiritedness. It made me uncomfortable. As to the article being written by the entertainment editor, why not. He probably has as good of journalistic credentials and anyone else. And it's not like he was reviewing food or anything. Besides, if we have to wait around for Phil V. to criticize ANYONE in Chicago it's going to be too long of a wait.

thanks, maggie. I'm sitting here in chicago on a cool, gray, rainy day with a hambone in the fridge. Guess I'll mossey down stairs and fire up the soup pot. Rainy days aren't so bad afterall. osnav

I'm with most of comments so far. What's wrong with Free taste treats. If they don't appeal to you try this: "No thanks." But, hey. not every article can be Pulitzer material. Remember these quys have to crank out something or they don't get paid. If most of his reviews are good, I personally don't read his reviews, then give him the benefit of an off day. osnav

Nice piece. I really like your quote.

That could be part of it. Also, Charlie hasn't gotten much "ink" recently in Chicago. Everything has been Grant Achatz or Homaro Cantu and now Rick T.s new Osteria... This is the first time I've seen Charlie's name in the paper in quite awhile.

I had a great celery salad recently at Pizza D.O.C.s in Chicago. It was just cut up celery & sliced Granny Smith apples with shaved Parmesan and lemon juice. What a palate cleanser. rikkitikki

OK--I have a confession: I have never liked missionaries. Practice your religion and go to Heaven. Don't try to convert me from my religion. It's none of your fucking business! You don't want to eat/serve foie gras? Great! Don't do it. Don't want to drop that lobster in the boiling water (after reading last year's Gourmet article on lobsters)? No problem. Likewise, cute little lambs & baby cows. You say you don't want to eat bunny tacos? Okay by me. What about those chickens that never see the light of day? And if you would see the way modern pig farming is conducted; you probably would swear off that, too. This is all okay by me. And if it's okay with you, I would like to make my own choices, too. Thank you.

Soba I don't get it. You can read a calendar (52 days left before Star Wars..." but you can't read a watch and know how many hours & minutes left before your dinner reservation?

Front page of today's Chicago Tribune! Charlie T. is a hypocrite. Rick T. is an idiot. The foie gras wars has turned Chicago chefs against one another. rikkitikki

1968 Lawrence, KS. I was living with two ex-Nam vets and we were taking a class called History of World War II. It consisted of and hour and a half of film every Thur. It was held in a huge (capacity 1,000) auditorium and we sat in the back drinking every period. My friends would smuggle in 3-4 Falstaffs in their field jackets and I always smuggled in a bottle of KC's finest called "Barcelona Sweet Red". It cost $.62 per bottle, which was $.30 cheaper that a six pack of Falstaff. I was doing it for economic reasons, but my friends gave me continuous grief about my "wine drinking". Today I've refined my wine selection somewhat, and I have never gone back to the Falstaff; even though the Falstaff now costs about 10% of what my wine now costs. rikkitikki

Has this issue ever been definatively resolved? I have had several Italians insist to me that it was the other way around: Marco Polo brought pasta to China. ← I am not really sure, but it is a good question. I will check on it and let you know. rikkitikki

Your question reminds me of my nephew who asked me who the Beatles were. It is a generational thing. To many of my generation Julia invented food. To me, Julia took the simple act of fueling my body three times a day and turned it into something interesting and enjoyable. Julia is of my time, you will find your own muse no better nor worse than Julia. One thing you owe it to yourself to do though, is to READ. Food has a long and glorious history. It is filled with wonderful characters that have created the steps that have led to our current day situation. From Marco Polo bringing back pasta to Venice, or the Spanish taking potatoes and tomatoes back to Europe; the history of food is fascinating. Every generation builds upon the previous. To understand where cuisine is today you have to look at the past. Julia brought us from the Eisenhower/Swanson's TV Diners to the French's love of cooking and food. She taught us to enjoy food. That's enough. rikkitikki

In general, we all seem to agree that FoodNet is basically a dumbing-down process with a few shows and chefs we like (whether it be Alton, Sara, Mario, or whomever). With Sara's departure, which doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some of you, there is a suspicion that the dumbing-down will be accelerated. And that is probably true. It's too bad. Because they have an opportunity to make everyone happy. Why couldn't they put on a couple of shows dedicated to the "foodies" of the world (us). They could air them at not primetime hours (we're desperate enough to watch them at 2AM) and they could then delivery multiple markets to their advertizers. But then, I have always been a "glass half full" type of guy. ri

Looks like we we've arrived at 7 blind men describing the elephant here. So let this blind man jump in with his two cents: I thought the scoring was about right. Plating: I thought Campbell seemed really heavy handed in his presentations. Large smears of this and that, some untidiness in some presentations, and overall it was just not visually appealing to me. Creativity: Most of what Campbell did was certainly more "experimental" than Mario; but it didn't work for me. I agree with what one of the judges said to Campbell about one of his dishes: "What has the cheese (the featured ingredient) got to do with this dish?" Campbell admitted that the cheese was more of an accent than a central ingredient (my paraphrasing). I thought this lost him any chance he had. As someone else mentioned earlier in the discussion, I thought it was apparent that Mario was going to win, and win big, early on in the broadcast. ri

I am not at all suprised that interest in the show is not very high. I really thought the concept would not translate well. In ICJ what entertained me was the crazy translating, the inept judges, and the exotic ingredients. ICA has no translating, judges that take this way to seriously, and the ingredients have been pretty mundane. Couple this with chefs whose main purposes are to enhance and progress their images, careers, and dollars and you have a pretty wishy washy show. ICA has just turned into a speed cooking exhibition with judging as a five minute afterthought. To make the IC concept work, they need to get more interesting ingredients, eliminate the 5 dish requirement, and allow more time for the chefs to elaborate on their dishes and why they are making them. At least that would help keep me as a viewer. ri

I thought this was IronMan at its best. Mario created diverse and interesting dishes. In particular, the figs "brulee" in marscapone made my mouth water. He incorportated the main ingredient, cheeses, into his created dishes perfectly. Too often, the designated ingredient is merely used as an accent to some dish the chefs come up with. ri

I haven't' tried Orange yet, but the idea of a "breakfast" place opening at 8AM seems awfullly weird to me.

I'm not much of a fan of the Chicago deep dish pizza. I did recently run into a great pie at Pizza D.O.C. They also have a simple salad of celery and granny smith apples with parmesan shavings and lemon juice that is killer.

Tony vs. Bobby Now there's a match. Maybe they could make it a three-way and add JAMIE. Get all the pretty boys together and have them compete in swimsuits. The main difference between the PBS food shows and the Food Network shows is that the PBS shows are about food. The Food Network is all about personality. Give me Jaque, Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless, and the Cooks Illus. show anytime. As far as I am concerned the only shows on the Food Network that interest me in the least bit are Mario and Alton.