hollywood

Weber does do good grilling books although I believe Williams Sonoma does better.

mixmaster B, If ethnic food intrigues you, I suggest picking up a copy of Gold's Counter Intelligence and reading his bits in L.A. Weekly. In the latter, he and Huneven regularly list favorites around town, many of which are ethnic. Jitlada is OK. However, if you go over to the 5100 block of Hollywood Bl., you'll find Sanamluang Cafe, Ruen Pair, Palms Thai and Kruang Tedd among others. I like Mori Sushi a lot but it is expensive. For bargains, I find my self returning to Hide on Sawtelle altho others like Sushi Sasabune in the same area. If you are interested in Ginza SushiKo, be aware that it will soon close shop here and relocate to Manhattan where there is more money to be had.

Of course, but "... the real issue here isn't how we can force someone to eat steak that is cooked 'correctly,' but how it is we can eductate people about it and hope they take to it. " (Steve P) Isn't Fat Guy correct? If we miraculously convinced every one to eat steak or tuna steak rare, wouldn't that stiffle creativity? We'd all be clones of one type of taste. Of course, the reverse is not true, we don't want every one ordering steaks well done. Steve, honestly, don't you enjoy being one of the cognoscenti? Isn't it the case that you'd have no fun being an aristocrat if every one else had good taste as well?

Actually, these were dessert pastries, but I seem to recall she makes bourek (?) as well. If the debate turns to fillings and seasonings, my response is: fill me up.

Can you find dry ice in France? Might help.

Crossculturally, steak may not be the best example. I was having my hair cut the other day by a lovely woman of Persian Armenian extraction. She was kind enough to serve me two delicious pastries she had made. Great stuff and light. Later we got into a discussion of her problems in ordering steak out. She has ordered well done but doesn't find it to her liking. Culturally, I think she is from the kill all the germs school. I ended up suggesting that she try ordering medium well.

Generally, when asked this type of question, I refer to a standard response about foie gras, wine, etc. The other day, however, I was in the store adjacent to American Rag & Cie on La Brea (in LA) and noted various totem items of the sort I also like that sort of evoke the spirit of the place. Things like Ricard pitchers, match strikers, etc. And I have always coveted one of those official signs designating a place a one star hotel. Beyond that, having sufficient funds, I'd run over to Galerie Document and snatch up some stone lithos, e.g., Mucha, Cheret, Lautrec.

I seriously doubt that everyone would know it. In fact, I had totally forgotten this aspect of the film.

lizziee, Hello again. I have no way of knowing if you are correct as to why chefs have left our town. Could it just be economics? How many families (fragmented tho they may be) can afford to eat at such fine dining spaces often enough to keep the establishments solvent? Let's face it, Paris gets customers from the entire world to draw upon. Ditto New York. SF & Napa are loaded with dinks. These are folks who can afford frequent fine dining. I suspect there was a financial shakeout and we adjusted the number of fine dining chefs/spots to fit our pocketbooks. It might seem more tragic to say the chefs wearied of this or that, but there is the obnoxious bottom line to contend with.

Wrong side of the highway in terms of appellation, perhaps, but value, how about that? Certainly, I'd agree that Perrin red is pretty blah but the Coudoulet! As for oysters, clearly there are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in your Plotnickiism. Get thee to New Orleans and start eating: Oysters Bienville, Oysters Rockefeller, on the half shell at Acme or Felix's. As for your better half, let her eat pompano or trout marguery or crawfish etouffe.

Touche. More verses, please.

Steve, Given the price of Beaucastel Chateauneuf and others, what do you think of Coudoulet de Beaucastel as a wine value? Is it "Baby Beaucastel"? As for this hillside business, I thought it was the limestone in the soil that made the difference, no? On the topic of oysters, have you been to New Orleans? You could gorge on oysters there.

Forgive me for coming late to the party, but just where is P'ism clearly set forth in one confined space, treatise, etc.?

Inhale it. Just consider it an appetizer.

Cheaper=good. Sign me up as a Rhone Ranger. As for Nirvana, where would they have been without The Replacements?

Steve, If your palette is as sophisticated as it would seem, perhaps you could offer some views on second and third growths of vineyards you appreciate. This might be more meaningful (and affordable) than lengthy threads about (debatable) first principles of things epicurean.

If the mother at Bofinger had not ordered her steak rare, would you still be drinking domestic wines, or as you prefer to call them, new world?

So, forget "new world" pinots? I think Domaine Drouhin (Oregon) would be surprised to hear that it's wines don't respect the terroir. Guess you haven't tried Louise or Laurene? If by not having "the type of delineation" you mean they haven't been around that long, you win.

So the pinot noir you would not dream of drinking in New York (?) is Central Coast stuff? Or, all California pinot noir? Or, all California, Oregon and Washington? And just because it's not codified? How about if it tastes good? I would think lack of codification could lead to more pleasant surprises, no?

Wasn't it Immanuel Kant who said there's no virtue in being readily comprehensible at the loss of all basic insight? The question here is: What's the damned insight?

Maybe, maybe not. At times it seems that such hard won understanding eliminates all enjoyment.

By your own terms, I wonder if you understand pinot noir. You might want to revisit this one. As for understanding leading to appreciation, its sounds tautological to me.

Fans of WPLJ used to drink white port and lemon juice.

Steve may be on the "Seven Samurai" path. I opt for "Rashomon." So call me egalitarian! And I feel certain he's wrong about Hendrix.

You've got the right string but the wrong yo-yo. He wasn't playing "upside down." He just inverted the order of the strings on a right handed guitar so he could play them lefty right side up. And so castles made of sand slips into the sea eventually........