touaregsand
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Posts posted by touaregsand
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See! See! I just mention cumin and it's already the hot new spice!
Arrrrrggh.
Okay, I actually don't mind cumin that much. It's just a funny sounding name like fennel.
Long story short, Velveeta sorbet is a favorite right now."I don't know about that, but Olive Oil sorbet is actually pretty good.
I've heard some pronounce it "comin"
Cumin smells and taste very different in North African food than it does in Mexican food.
I can only think of a couple of dishes where the aroma seems similar but still the taste is different.
Indian cookery tends to use it with a much heavier hand and it's completely different.
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Hoeng hwe
I had this a few days ago, plain, no rice, just like that, bones and all.
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We've talked about countries, regions and cities, not neccesarily exhaustively but it's been discussed. I don't know if neighborhoods have been though. When I travel it's on business or vacation with the family (two small children). When I'm traveling or even in my home town I prefer to eat out where I or we as the case may can walk before and after eating.
Alas, my biggest gripe about Los Angeles is that of all the big cities I've been to it is the least pedestrian city.
I can do a little breakdown of walking and eating neighborhoods in Los Angeles with a bit of history attached a little later. Alot of these neighborhoods or areas have undergone dramatic changes in the last 30 years or so since I've lived here with some "off" time in other countries of course.
So where are the walking and eating neighborhoods in your city or cities you've visited?
Perhaps you can share a little oral, well internet, history as well.
Let's not limit this to just the big cities. I've been to some smaller cities for business trips so I'd interested in those too. We're not all jet setters on egullet or are we?
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Tony-
Who do you think will get it FIRST?
I don't know if this type of conjecture is not to your taste. How about just for fun?
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I think it is agreed upon alot. Those are the names I keep hearing about the most.
I also get the impression that ADNY and Per Se seem to be considered neck and neck, if you will.
Hence my earlier comment about American Chef vs French Chef. All in good fun.
It should be fun to watch the reaction either way. And oh, I do think it will be "enthusiastic" either way.
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Most of the things mentioned in this thread don't bother me enough for me to mention. I notice things here and there, sure I cringe a little sometimes. Mostly I shrug it off.
BUT (don't we all have one? Well I have a few here.)
1. Do you want change? Mentioned before. But it is so aggressively rude it's worth mentioning again.
2. Snooty waiters who mispronounce words. Normally this doesn't bother me at all. But shouldn't a snoot be above this sort of thing? Or worse, when they "gently" correct me by repeating what I just correctly pronounced incorrectly.
3. I hardly ever complain at a restaurant, especially about the food. I'm resigned to assume that it does little good. So when I do it's because something was BAD. So bad. Pre-cooked, burnt merguez sausage that had been nuked to room temperature for service. Dry, dry, dry. I brought it up with the server, she tells me that Merguez is always like that and maybe I'm not familiar enough with French food. My husband is a French chef of North African descent and I've been to France many times. I know my merguez and I know my French food. Merguez isn't French, but it's pretty common over there and I'm not the type to split hairs. Undercooked ravioli, I can taste the raw dough. The server tells me that it's called "al dente," really the only way to eat pasta. I show her the THICK opaque white center.
The filling was a pre-cooked squash mousse. The pretentious squirming and string of excuses are what bug me. 4. General lying. "House made" bread, pastries and desserts ordered from a to the trade wholesaler that supplies other restaurants in the area. Ravioli wrapped with wonton wrappers at an Italian restaurant, I asked the server BEFORE I order of it's really made from pasta dough, they claim it is, I order it. WONTON wrappers. I just wouldn't have ordered it had I known the truth.
I've seen a few threads like this on egullet "annoying other diners" or something like that. I used to think that I was above it all because not much really bothers me.
But here you go, stuff that peeves me! 
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Bux-
Who do you think will be the first to get 3 stars? Or any star?
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All of this talk of dubu has put me in a dubu making mood. So I went to the Korean market today.
I'll be using the extra soft "soon dubu" (the one shaped like a cylinder) for soondubu chigae, the extra soft dubu in the tub with the rectangular shape for a cold tofu dish, and the soft tofu for frying. We don't use the firm stuff much in our home.
Will post finished dishes later.
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Hands up for mapo tofu as a classic, a favorite. It's one of those viscerally satisfying dishes, speaks to the palate and the soul. According to my family I make the "best" version.
Okay, what's the recipe?
(And I know what you mean about recipes that speak to the soul: Japanese curry rice and mapo tofu are two of my "comfort foods," right up there with good ole American mac & cheese.)
I have no idea if this is traditional or authentic.
1 tablespoon of Chinese red chili sauce
1/2 tablespoon of Chinese fermented bean paste (I can't remember what's it's called, I'll have to check the next time I go to the store)
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 tablespoon of grated ginger
approximately 1/4 pound of ground beef (I don't eat pork)
1 package of medium firm tofu
1/3 cup of waterchestnuts, sliced
1/3 cup bamboo shoots sliced
cornstarch to thicken
1 tablespoon of oil
heat oil in pan, add garlic and ginger, sautee for a couple of minutes add the chili sauce and the fermented bean paste. Add ground meat, cook through, add bamboo shoots and waterchestnuts and about a cup of water, add cubed tofu, bring to a gently boil, add cornstarch to thicken.
You can add more or less of the red chili sauce and the bean paste according to taste.
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Actually there really isn't that much butter in the couscous. A 500 gram box will serve 6-8 depending on the number of courses. As per ChefZadi's recipe if a stick of butter is used that comes out to about 1 tablespooon or a bit more per serving.
I think that semolina complements and "intensifies" the flavor and aroma of butter. I suppose simple grains and starches do that in general, such as potatoes, rice and bread. But durum wheat pasta and couscous seem to heighten the aroma of butter the most.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Or is it just me? -
In my opinion, and it's just that, the stuff you do a'la Keller isn't stinky enough for any of the 'traditional' dishes. A good polpete di bacala simply doesn't work without the pungency.
Well I agree with you that coffee and cigarettes is the breakfast of champions. I like my stinky foods to have at least some stink. Of course my palate is developed enough to disect the ingredients/flavors in most dishes I try that are made from scratch anyway regardless of how "refined" or "subtle". So it's not like I'm a barbarian either. I suppose I derive eating pleasure from a larger range of flavors.
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I don't have the patience to wait for my husband to get home. So I did a quick internet search and came with up the following (cause ya know the internet is THE most reliable source for historical research.
)http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=B...ue%20de%20Nimes
I also found another recipe, it's in French, but pretty easy to follow. Lot's of pictures and all .
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The Keller thing of buying $12/lb fresh cod to salt it into $4/lb salt cod and then reconstituting it as brandade strikes me as the height of artifice -- assuming you don't have the luxury, as he and I have, of picking up salt cod from a couple of different sources. Very faux peasant: "I want the authenticity of their recipes, but I find their ingredients lacking." It's like picking up an old blues number and putting strings behind it.
Now that I have that out of the way, I recently had some excellent brandade here in DC, at Pesce, and it definitely had potatoes and a little bit of cream. Not a lot, mind you; you still knew you were eating salt cod. Just enough to stretch fish and cut the taste a bit, as you might imagine a someone poor enough to be living on salt cod but innovative enough to make it taste good might do. When I had Balthazar's, I thought it was way too sweet, creamy and refined. Quite edible, but lacking soul.
I guess, like every other damn French (and Italian and Southern) recipe, that there are a dozen different versions of Brandade, all equally "authentic."
"Skateboard prodct."
I always think of it as "roadkill cod."I tend to agree that it's the height of artifice. What's the point? He can't find really high quality salt cod? It''s been processed for eons. I'm sure it can't be too hard to find a company that meets even Keller's standards or produce even better. He strains way too much too. In his next cookbook he will probably filter his sauces through some contraption. But I'm getting off topic here.
I'll have to ask my husband about the potato thing. I'm almost sure it goes either way. But he probably has some story that I don't know about. I may wear the pants in the family
but he wears the chef's whites. 
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I never managed to get clear directions from the Metro workers in Paris. Sometimes a simple question regarding which line goes where, would result in a conference of sorts, multiple metro employees discussing too much with eachother (sort of like Pierre, ya know where this one goes? No, Abdul, do you know? No, hahaha! and ending with the sometimes expasperating French shrug, "Try this or go over there maybe.")
That's probably because they're not used being asked. There are good maps of the Métro network all over the place
A very useful buy is the small map & direction book "Paris par arrondissements" published by Taride. At most booksellers and newsstands. But with the wide boulevards radiating from large squares in the 10e and 11e, you probably won't need much help and all the places described by touaregsand may be reached easily on a half-day's walk with all the necessary stopping and enjoying. Walking is really the very best way to do it, especially with kids.
During all my visits to Paris, I never purchased one of those things! I guess my survival French is better than I gave my self credit for and native Parisians give better directions I gave them credit for.
Yes I initially mentioned Paris is the best pedestrian city. It's possible to walk and walk without feeling bored or tired. There is always something to see and little breaks for refreshements (refueling with a pastry, drinks and toilets) are conveniently found.
Little parks to sit and rest for awhile, etc...
Usually I go with my husband. But I've been there a few times on my own for business and as a woman traveling alone I felt very safe there. I wonder if other women would agree with this? Aside from the tendency for some Frenchmen to follow a woman if eye contact and a smile is given which would be considered "stalking" in America.
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. . . Union St. Han Ah Rheum supermarket - LA kalbi and bibim naeng-myun. Limited menu, cafeteria-style, but reliable and cheap!
So thin sliced Kalbi over there (or is it here?) is called "LA Kalbi?" When I go to Manhatten the last thing I'm looking for is Korean (because I live in LA and I've been to Seoul over a hundred times, so it's just not something I go looking for elsewhere). That's what they call it in Korea too "LA Kalbi." Of course in LA we just call it Kalbi or it shows up at non-Korean markets as "Korean short ribs" or "Korean barbecue ribs." I do know that the particular cut was created in LA.
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I prefer both Osetra and Sevruga caviars to Beluga.
I'll take a New York strip over a filet mignon any day.
Same preference for caviar here. Also, I'll take a fatty, charred piece of cow flesh over a more delicate cut anytime.
EDIT: Over the years, I've had ample, unmitigated access to the "best" French restaurant ingredients mostly through my husband. There is a point when one gets tired of "luxury" flavors in favor of the more "common" stuff.
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All of this talk of metro lines in France reminds me of my underground adventures there throughout the years.
A nine piece gypsy band, love it. I never managed to get clear directions from the Metro workers in Paris. Sometimes a simple question regarding which line goes where, would result in a conference of sorts, multiple metro employees discussing too much with eachother (sort of like Pierre, ya know where this one goes? No, Abdul, do you know? No, hahaha! and ending with the sometimes expasperating French shrug, "Try this or go over there maybe.") London's tube, on the other hand was highly efficient with directions and catching any "criminals" trying to pass through a turnstyle wihtout paying the proper fees. Not much visibility with the police outside of the tube in London though. But if anyone even dared to pass a turnstyle without paying the proper fees, the tube police landed like the proverbial flies on shit. On a daily basis I suffered a lot of breakdowns on the the tube. . Proper, linear queues that are the standard in London don't exist in Paris either. Lines more like herds, not much concern with who came first or where or when. The pace is different in Paris, unlike any other metropolis in the world. Anyway, the Metro in Paris pretty fucking cool. The NYC subway ride
EDIT: I didn't personally breakdown on the London Tube. I meant that on the London Tube, lines frequently stop in need of repairs.
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docsconz-
Paris is a great city for a family vacation. SF is another city I would put on my short list of fun cities to visit with kids. Our daughter traveled alot with us when she was a baby/toddler. Our son, well this little gorilla we're waiting for him to become a little bit more...um...manageable before we even think about taking him to far away places.
I really feel that the French are very open to accepting children even in alot of the better restaurants. I don't really get this impression in the States.Of course I'm sure my son will go all bug eyed when he sees TV commercials with cute little bare assed French girls when he gets older like a couple of your sons are
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What is special about the Porte de Clignancourt?
Best flea market and collection of antique shops, perhaps in all the world.
If you've ever purchased French brands for your sons in Manhatten, you will become outright bitter when you see what it sells for in Paris.
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Will you be driving in Paris? We did it a few times because we were either drove in from Lyon or drove to Paris from Lyon.
If you are it's not that bad. I've driven in Seoul, Manhatten, SF and LA so that's what I'm comparing it to. You could however get stuck on a one of those narrow streets and spend alot of time sitting. Parking isn't that bad, well better than Seoul anyway, cheaper than Manhatten. Watch out for the rond points though, there's a huge one that I got stuck in. Never been so scared in my entire driving life.
Except in London, my mind just couldn't around the constant fear that I was sitting and driving on the wrong side. Don't forget to get over to the Porte de Clignancourt.
St-Germain-des-Prés is another charming part of Paris. Boutiquey. Nice mid range bistros. I wouldn't even bother with the Champs Elysees for food, tourist trap with few exceptions.
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The 10th is one of my favorite parts of Paris. I think that it's been about 4 years since I've been in that neighborhood though. It's really charming in a sort of cool and funky, bohemian way. There's a street with ethnic restaurants, well Frenchified ethnic cuisine. At night it seems like all the mutlicultural couples in Paris come to hang out in the area. I can't remember the name of the street but it's pretty easy to find.
As as a tourist I've found shopping for food in Paris really convenient. I would pretty much buy what struck my fancy while walking, you don't really have seek stuff out so much over there.
Even with the weak dollar, you'll find the prices very accessible compared to say New York. Paris is a wonderful pedestrian city. My ideal pedestrian city.
EDIT: The area I'm thinking of is the 11th very close to the 10th. Hubby just corrected me.
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I've never heard of it in Italian cooking. Although in Algerian cooking preserved lemons can be added to a tagine that has tomato paste in it. Vinegar can also be added a stew or soup to brighten the flavors.
Lemon juice in Italian red sauce?
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As a long time Michelin watcher, I will make a different prediction, Daniel, followed by Per Se and then ADNY and Jean Georges, depending on how many 3 star restaurants they want to create in their first year. Daniel has many of the characteristics of a 3 star, it is French and yet it is of NY. Michelin needs to demonstrate that it is au courant with the NY scene and not just a foreign interloper. Giving 3 stars uniquely to Ducasse would just be too politically incorrect. I believe that they can only get away with doing that if they name a minimum of 3 restaurants. Daniel may not really compare foodwise to the better French 3 stars, but if you look outside of France and Switzerland, particularly in Belgium and Italy, you can find 3 stars that are less good. Daniel is certainly better than the Waterside Inn outside London.
Politically incorrect to who? New Yorkers? Who's gonna buy the Michelin guide? Does Michelin even care about political correctness? Sure, to a certain extent, which I sort of implied earlier. Three Stars going to an American in New York before it goes to French chef in New York, highly doubtful. My money (what little I have
) is on Ducasse who looks like he really "set" out to create a Michelin starred restaurant with ADNY. I get the same impression from Keller with Per Se. Ducasse has the clear lead on the rest with his knowledge of all those little details of what Michelin wants but doesn't make transparent to the public.
Walking and eating neighborhoods...
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Los Angeles is really spread out so I'll cover it in several posts rather than tackling it all at once... Othe Los Angelenos please feel free to add. PLEASE.
Downtown:
Major rejuventation project over the years. Probably started with the Art's district over 20 years ago. I lived in a loft there over 10 years ago, the are is still growing but the new lofts are more yuppy, if you can believe they still exist. So there are quite a few galleries around here and the rest of downtown, a few "artsy" coffee houses, etc...
Chinatown has lost alot of it's vibrancy to SGV, but it's still what I would consider a walking and eating area.
Little Tokyo or J-Town as we call it-
Very touristy, postcard sort of place. The Japanese-American Museum is there. Alot of the restaurant owners are Korean.
Heading west Koreatown. Probably the biggest "ethnic" presence in the middle of the City. People walk here, but it's not what I would consider a fun walking and eating area. Better to drive.
North/West of downtown:
Vermont Blvd a few blocks north of Hollywood. Not a significant walking and eating area. But fun if you want to watch the freaks who are sometimes cool and sometimes trying really hard to be cool, either way who cares what's cool? But it's amusing LA people watching. And a few places have outdoor seating and don't really care how long you stay. Funky, skanky clothing shops and what not.