David Ross

Ahh, Eugene, Oregon. Home of the rival University of Oregon Ducks and all things green. I happen to be a graduate of that poor farm school 45 miles to the North-Oregon State University. I'm told that there are still some hippies living in Eugene, having settled in town after the uprisings on campus in '68. Apparently they have a fondness for 'herbs' in their cooking-specifically a 'wild herb' that they 'dry', then roll up in papers. The finished 'wrap' is best served 'hot-smoked' by the hippies. (Just a bit of fun ribbing of any U of O grads out there from an OSU alum). My favorite Oregon food item right now is Tillamook Ice Cream. The Tillamook Creamery is pretty famous in the Northwest, and beyond. Tillamook is on the Northern Oregon Coast just south of Astoria. Not far inland from the beach are lush green meadows where the dairy cows feed. It's that rich grass that makes Tillamook Ice Cream so rich and creamy. The Creamery also makes very good cheddar cheese. The sharp cheddar slices are very good melted over a grilled hamburger. Right now our markets in Spokane are selling the Oregon Strawberry Tillamook Ice Cream. It takes like authentic old-fashioned hand churned ice cream, even though it is probably made in huge vats. There are big chunks of strawberry throughout the ice cream. Delicious.

Let's move into my home and take a look at where the cooking takes place. I don't know why people are so curious as to the size of your home. Have you ever had a complete stranger ask you about your house and "how many square feet is your home?" As if the bigger the size of your home means anything about you as a person. I guess some people think that bigger means better. What's that saying-"it's not how big it is but how you use it?" In the case of my house, and my kitchen, size doesn't matter. There's no Wolf Stove, no Gaggeneau, no Thermidor side by side. Do you need a 1500 square foot kitchen to stir risotto? That's my defense. While it would be nice to have the means to outfit a restaurant quality kitchen in a home, I make do with what I have. And I do a pretty good risotto in this little space. The entire house is 950 square feet. Quite adequate for a middle aged bachelor. The kitchen takes up about 72 square feet of the house-measuring 7 1/2 feet wide by 9 1/2 feet deep. I hope Steven (aka Fat Guy) sees this photo. I took it for him because last week he started a thread about cherries. You can see a big bowl of fresh Washington Bing cherries on the counter. They just started showing up in our markets last week. I'll be doing some photos of a delicious 'Cherry Clafoutis' that I did last weekend. There is a small dining area in off to one end of the living room. When I moved in it looked like the inside of a barn that was 60 years old. I put down new hardwood floors, wainscoating, moulding, the drapes and new lighting. This is my newest kitchen gadget-and don't call it an ode to Marcel Vigneron of Top Chef infamy, otherwise known as 'The Little Man of Foam.' I've been wanting to toy with the idea of "foams" since I got back from Las Vegas and a dinner at Guy Savoy. They served a very good 'Seafood Foam' over a filet of 'Crispy Sea Bass.' This is a 'Foamer' that is normally used for whipped cream, but I'm going to try it to make a 'Shellfish Foam.' If you are in my age demographic, anything over 49, you certainly are familiar with the old-fashioned 'Spice Islands' rack that our Mother's had in their kitchens in the 1960's. Spice Islands still makes and sells the spice racks and I think it fits the decor, or lack thereof, of my 1940's kitchen. I know, I'm just like you when it comes to spices. We buy more than we need. It goes stale, and we keep the bottle on the shelf for 15 years. Cumin that is 15 years old has absolutely no flavor. And yes, I've heard the experts say that we should only buy a small quantity of the spice we need, otherwise what's left in that big jar goes stale. I guess I can't help my habit of buying big when it comes to spices. I buy a $4.00 bottle of Cream of Tartar only to use a teaspoon every three months when I make biscuits. Here are some shots of what's currently living in the refrigerator. These are photos of drawers that hold some of my tools. There is a small room at the back end of the kitchen where I keep the washer/dryer, dishwasher and a small chest freezer. I also use that as my 'pantry.' I've got some baker's racks filled with kitchen equipment and a large cupboard with food stuff like dried pasta, flour and sugar, the basic dry staples. This happens to be the top of the microwave which I use as a storage shelf for some Asian sauces and oils. Hey, when you have limited space you use every inch you can get. Remember I said this morning the blog would be personal? How more personal can one be than to expose their dreaded tupperware rack in public? I take lunch to work every day, usually in tupperware. It sure looks cool carrying your lunch in tupperware in a Walmart plastic bag through the airport doesn't it? And I call myself a cook! Where do tupperware lids go? If you know, let me know. About every three months I find I have more bottoms than tops. I take my tupperware to work. I bring my tupperware home. I wash it, I put it away, then I come back later and there are more lids than bottoms. It's like one of those bad episodes from 'The Twilight Zone' when the store mannequins came alive at night only to go still during the day. I think the tupperware comes alive at night, then it flies away and we don't ever see it again. This is another baker's rack of equipment in the pantry.

By the way, commuting on an airplane to work actually can be a learning experience for a foodie. This morning I sat next to a woman and somehow we started talking about food. I think she probably saw me making notes on my July issue of Bon Appetit and it peaked her curiosity about my interest in food. She told me she cooked a brisket and corn on the cob last weekend, and was quite upset that her guests ate all of the meat and cheese tray. Hmm. While I like all the dishes, I don't think I'd ever serve a Jewish-style brisket, corn on the cob and an Italian meat and cheese tray at the same dinner. Maybe it was her version of a cross-cultural fusion menu. She told me she wasn't at all happy with the fact that her guests started eating the brisket before she sat down! She also said that the 'key' to a good roast beef is to "cook it frozen." She said she buys a large chuck roast at Costco and freezes it. Then she puts a lot of whole garlic cloves in a deep roasting pan, puts the frozen chuck on top of the garlic, covers the pot, then cooks it in the oven at 200 degrees for at least 8 hours. According to her, it is very tender and juicy. Not exactly how I would recommend slow-braising a roast, but at least the story was funny and made this morning's commute enjoyable.

I have lots planned. We'll be starting with a look into my kitchen-the refrigerator, the drawers, the tools, the stove, all of it. I've got some thoughts to share about the state of cooking programs on television, and my own personal experiences cooking on PBS and my local ABC television station. I've got lots of food photos of recent dishes I've cooked at home, and finally, I hope we'll have time to talk about a subject near and dear to me-the dining scene in Las Vegas and a recent trip I took down there to attend the Bon Apetit Magazine Food and Wine Focus.

Now, that is a great commute!I was in Portland last year and I was very impressed at the quality of Northwestern-made beer and wine. ← I know, quite the commute. By the way, here is your humble host at his workplace in Seattle: I have worked in the airline industry for 20 years. About seven years ago I moved to Spokane from Portland, for the second time, and bought a 1940's vintage home with a goal of 'fixing it up.' Unfortunately, my business is incredibly unstable and about three months after I bought my home, they closed some of our operations in Spokane and I got transferred to Seattle. Thus started the daily commute. I never felt I could financially afford to move to Seattle as the home prices are about 3 times what they are in Spokane. My day usually starts with waking up at 4am and getting home back in Spokane about 6pm. My real passion is food and cooking and writing, which I hope to make a full time career venture sometime soon. I can retire from the airline business in November so the food God's willing, I'll get into my food work full time-for profit.

I just had some excellent vegetarian meals (penne with fresh thyme and roasted tomato sauce stood out, in particular) on Lufthansa; they were so good that I said, "This can't possibly be airline food." The bagel-in-a-bag wasn't so great, though. Based on your huckleberry posts, it sounds like summer is your favorite season for cooking. Is this true? Thanks for blogging! ← Actually I think my favorite season for cooking is Fall, followed by the Holidays, Winter, Summer and then Spring. In the Fall the Northwest is blessed with Apples and Pears. Washington produces a huge portion of the country's apples and pears in the Wenatchee and Yakima Valleys in the central part of the state. I also like our 'filberts' in the fall. Yes, I still call them by the less snooty name they are known for today-Hazelnuts. The marketing folks felt that we needed to get on board with the traditional European name so about 20 years ago we cast off the name Filbert and started calling the nuts Hazelnuts. In the Fall I put toasted, crushed hazelnuts in a pie crust for a pear tart. I also make a delicious, old-fashioned Apple Brown Betty that is simply appes, butter, cinnamon and fresh bread crumbs. It is so delicate and buttery it will make you just sigh when you taste it. I like cooking in the winter because it gives me an excuse for heavy meat dishes and braises. It's the time of year when we pull all those great Russet Potatoes out of the cellar. Thank you Idaho for leading the pack in potato production. In the Spring we get local asparagus and wild morels come out of our forests. In early Summer we see strawberries and raspberries, followed by the unique Oregon berries-Loganberries, Marionberries and Ollalieberries. In Mid Summer we'll see tomatoes before we move into August and start to see peaches. The growing season in Spokane in Eastern Washington is about 30 days or so behind Seattle in the West. It is a terrible temptation to wait that long for our stuff to come into its own, but it's always better to wait a bit for your tomatoes to ripen in the garden at home. Gosh we have so many wonderful food stuffs out here-Copper River Salmon and Halibut are running out of Alaska right now and we get it shipped in fresh every day. Our geography in Eastern Washington lends itself to raising cattle. To the South of Spokane is the 'Palouse' area-mile after mile of rolling hills covered in wheat fields. Most of our wheat is harvested late in the Summer. The Palouse is one of the world's largest producers of dried peas and lentils.

Yes I think the Portland Farmer's Market would have some huckleberries later in the Summer, most likely off Mount Hood. For anyone who can't buy them fresh at your local market, just go to the web and search for huckleberries. There are a number of companies who sell huckleberries frozen and in all manner of products from jams and jellies to BBQ sauce. A lot of the companies are in Montana, Washington and North Idaho. Here is a link to a story I did a few years back on huckleberries. It was for a now defunct site and I was just starting to do food writing as a hobby. I'd re-write the piece today, but it gives you a bit more about huckleberries and some recipes to try. Enjoy. http://www.themediadrome.com/content/artic...ckleberries.htm

Airline food, or what is still served on planes, is awful. The only food served is barely edible, whether it is served in first class or sold in coach. If Rold Gold pretzels are better than 'real food' you know you are in trouble. Some of the airlines have gone to the buy on board concept-a 'wrap' sandwich with a processed turkey roll and wilted iceberg lettuce come to mind. And don't forget they 'give' you the condiments for 'free'-an aluminum packet of mayonnaise and maybe one of mustard. At our company, a regional airline, we at least have kept a measure of service onboard-and kept a measure of integrity. We were the first airline to serve Starbuck's coffee and that is when Howard Schultz was just a guy selling coffee in Seattle. Today he's a billionaire and trying to put a Starbucks in every city that has running water-in the world. We are also the only airline that serves complimentary wine and micro-brews on every flight. Our micro-brews and wines only come from small producers native to the Northwest. We have recently served some very good Chardonnays and Merlots from the Walla Walla Valley in the Southeastern part of Washington State. Our snacks tend to run to the pretzel and snack mix category, but we occasionally serve items made by local companies. For example, we usually serve Fisher State Fair Scones in August in celebration of the local Fair season. Fisher scones have been sold at fairs in the Northwest for something like 100 years. We usually have them delivered to the airports fresh and serve them on longer flights. Now speaking of Marionberries from previous posts, they play a part in Fisher scones. I remember as a kid going to the Oregon State Fair in Salem and having a fresh hot Fisher scone straight out of the oven. They were filled with fresh Marionberry jam from berries picked not far from the fair. They weren't the heavy, thick texture of scones in most bakeries today. The Fisher scones were always soft and buttery, more like a fluffy biscuit than a hard scone.

My Grandparents lived on a ranch in Prineville, Oregon in the central part of the state. It is on the Eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains. My Grandma used to tell a story of the American Indian woman who would sell huckleberries out of a hand-woven basket. She was a member of the Warm Springs tribe and picked the berries on Mount Hood near Portland. She sold the huckleberries door to door to the local farm families. My Grandfather made huckleberry pancakes on Sunday mornings. Huckleberries grow well in the high mountain areas of the Northwest. They thrive in cool environments with lots of Summer sun. The nursery folk have never really found a great method for growing huckleberries commercially, so they are still hand-picked. They start to show up in our farmer's markets in July, but I wait to buy mine until August or the first of September. Like fine wine grapes, you have to pick huckleberries at precisely the moment the sugars are concentrated, but before the little berries start to dry up. Unfortunately for the pickers, the grizzly bears instinctively sense the moment the huckleberry is at it's peak ripeness, so they have to take their bear spray into the forest with them. I buy my huckleberries from a Vietnamese family. They pick morels in the Spring and then huckleberries in the Summer and sell them at the Farmer's market. Last Summer the huckleberries were $35 a gallon, which is a typical price. They are usually sold fresh in gallon bags. Spendy yes, but what do we pay for prime beef or foie gras?

How wonderful! A Floridian who knows about Marionberries! I was raised in Salem, Oregon. Salem is in Marion County-the home of Marionberries. More on Northwest berries to come. You are correct, Huckleberries are more tart than Blueberries. We don't add too much sugar to huckleberries because we like the tart flavor to come through. Huckleberry jelly is wonderful, like the clear essence of the berry.

Hello and good Monday morning. Welcome to my Foodblog. First off, let me congratulate Little Ms. Foodie-a fellow Northwesterner and former resident of my home, Spokane, Washington. She correctly answered the location of the 'teaser' photo, and correctly answered the variety of the little berries in the second 'teaser' photo: You are looking East from Spokane through the pine forests to Mount Spokane, the little dark bump in the background. We are in the far Eastern corner of the state, about a 5 hour drive from Seattle to the West. Seattle is a one hour flight from Spokane, which I do every day. Yes, I commute to work on an airplane, every day. I live in Spokane but work in Seattle. The flying bit comes in because I am in management for an airline. That's the day job. Food and writing is really my passion. More on the work schedule later. Now on to photo #2, a personal favorite of mine: Sorry to the folks who guessed these little blue nuggets were wild Maine blueberries. No, they are wild huckleberries. I am so excited that a fellow Washingtonian, (is that a word?), correctly identified the secret ingredient photo. I am making an offer right now to Little Ms. Foodie that I will bring you a bag of wild huckleberries to Seattle later this Summer in recognition of being the first to spot the huckleberry photo. We will arrange delivery details later. Huckleberries are simply the most flavorful little beauties you will ever taste. In fact, I actually have goose bumps right now as I write to you about huckleberries-they are that precious to me. They are about half the size of a blueberry and range in color from red to purple to black. I can't really describe the flavor of a huckleberry other than to say it is sweet yet tart, much more tart than a blueberry. What sets the huckleberry apart in my opinion is it's fragrant aroma-a cross between rose, orchid and just about any other tropical flower you can name. The scent is unmistakeable, and wonderful. If you smell a huckleberry, the aroma will be forever stored away in your senses and then, even 10 or 20 years later, if you smell another huckleberry it will transport you back to that original huckleberry sensation. The subtitle to my blog-Black Pearls of Gold-is in honor of how highly I prize the huckleberry. We pick them wild just a mere 20 miles out of downtown Spokane, our main competition being black bears and grizzly bears. We'll visit more about huckleberries later this week-how my Grandmother used to buy them from an American Indian woman who sold them door to door out of a hand-woven basket, how to cook them and where to buy them. For now, welcome and I hope I've whetted your appetite for what I promise will be an insightful, fun and funny, informative and personal look into my world of food and cooking and how it really defines who I am. I hope we'll form some new friendships along the way and that I'll learn about you and the food and cooking in your life. Now back to the pesky day job for a bit and I'll be back to you soon.

I hear you. I thought of how large the subject of Asian soups would be-a subject unto itself that could probably fill page after page. It sounded so big to me I almost didn't want to suggest it to you. Without any research of my own, off the top of my head I would agree with you-start with a central premise and then just highlight some differences from that point. Maybe start with the base for the soups-like chicken stock or seafood stock, then speak to the differences in how the soups are garnished. For example in Pho Soups in Vietnam the broth may start as standard chicken broth, and then a plate of garnishes is served with the soup like thin strips of beef, cilantro, lime and noodles. In China the basic chicken broth may be flavored with shark's fin or dried fungus and chrysanthemum bulbs. Something like that-start with the concept of basic chicken broth and then how the different cultures add different ingredients to make their soups unique.

I think it is a great idea. I think a lot of people don't understand there are very subtle differences between various Asian cuisines. If they gain a greater appreciation of the differences between noodles from Shanghai vs. noodles from Vietnam, they gain a greater appreciation for the flavors in the different styles of noodles. The end result is learning more about the world's food and cooking styles, and hopefully an urge to try that cooking at home. I suppose today's publishing world is quite competitive when it comes to books about food and cooking and of course, you want to set yourself apart, not only to be profitable but for people to like your book. I think adding the comparisons will help you be unique. You may want to also consider soups since they are such an integral part of Asian cuisines. I haven't done much research on the differences in soups throughout Asia, but I cook lots of different types of Asian soups. I know that curry style soups with coconut milk are popular in Thailand, while the Chinese tend to use lots of odd things like dried fungus in their soups. Just another idea for you and good luck.

I'm still working on a full review, with photos, of the dinner with Guy Savoy. But in the meantime, we had seven courses, my favorite being a filet of Sea Bass with a sprinkling of spices on the side that was a mixture of salt, pepper, mustard seed and coriander. The skin of the fish was very crispy. There were some tiny shitake mushrooms and tender stalks of chard under the fish. There was a butter sauce and then the waiter spooned a light seafood foam over the fish at the table. Chef Savoy was in town when I was there-both for the food events I was attending and to celebrate his one year anniversary at Caesar's. Unfortunately it is extremely hard to know when the chef will be in the kitchen. He only comes over a few times a year, and they tend to not announce it in advance. What I found was as outstanding as the food was the service. As opposed to Foodie Girl's experience at Robuchon at the MGM, the service at Savoy is quite comfortable and welcoming, even given the restaurants high status. Guy Savoy's son, Frank, runs the front of the house at the Las Vegas dining room. He appears to be under 35, but actually carries himself in a distinguished manner that reminded me of the excellent Maitre d's of years past-the men who made it their lifelong profession to serve others.

I just watched repeats of the first two episodes today. What a poor show. I do local cooking segments on the ABC affiliate in my home town, so I hope I'm pretty experienced when it comes to cooking on TV. I also appeared in what was really the first 'reality' show about cooking that ran on US television-MasterChef USA on PBS six years ago. MasterChef still runs on BBC today and is highly popular. It was a 13 week series showcasing 27 amateur cooks from around the country, ultimately naming the top amateur chef in the USA. I survived to the top 3 but didn't ultimately win. Like all the cooking shows on PBS-we kept the food and the cooking as the main focus-not the personalities of the contestants. I'm a food purist-I watch cooking on television to learn about food and cooking plain and simple. While it is important that I connect with the host when I watch a cooking show, it makes no difference to me what shape, size, age, sex or tone of voice that the host has. I certainly loved Julia Child's crazy, high-pitched voice and her tendency to weild huge cleavers at sides of beef or ugly monkfish. But that wasn't why I watched Julia. I watched her because she was a good teacher of cooking and told us about food and ingredients. That is what I think we captured on MasterChef USA-the 'reality' show tag was simply a hook, but I think we maintained our integrity as cooks by showcasing the ingredients, the food, the preparation and our talents in the kitchen. I understand why this show is popular with viewers and why the Food Network pushes it. I imagine it is because it gets good ratings. Good ratings mean a lot of people watch. If a lot of people watch, then the Food Network can raise the cost of a commercial because they can tell the advertisers that a lot of people are watching their commercial when it runs during this show. WHile I do like many of the shows on the Food Network, I don't like this one. The reality show has become mundane, ordinary and anything but unique. The formula is basically the same whether the show is on CBS, NBC, Bravo, Fox, MTV, VH1, ABC or Food Network. Take 'everyday' people and put them in a setting like a hotel or a fancy rental home. They seem to spend lots of time drinking and deciding who sleeps where. The 'candidates' come loaded for bear as we say out West. In other words, this is their moment to get on TV, so they come dressed in trendy clothes with trendy glasses, goatees and spiked hair and they will tear down anybody who gets in their way. The one lady on this show that walked in dressed in a hot pink suit and knee length hot pink leather boots didn't look like a serious cook to me. When I was on MasterChef I was simply competing with myself to present the judges the best food I could prepare. I was not competing against anyone other than myself, and that's how I survived. The 'candidates' seem more intent on creating drama and conflict among themselves than keeping focused on why they should be there-the food and the cooking. I'm not doubting their abilities as chefs nor their knowledge of food, but they don't get it. They don't realize that food comes first-not the personality or the 'shtick' entertainment value. From what I saw on two shows I didn't see any of them being able to do a 30 minute show on Food Network. Yes, there is way too much 'shtick' on "Emeril Live," but what keeps Emeril going is that he is at the heart of the matter a good cook and he knows food. Doc and the Band aside. Of course, Food Network encourages the feeding frenzy. The formula of the reality shows is to focus on the arguing among the candidates so that we'll identify with 'good guy vs. bad guy' from the start. Remember how Marcel was set up to be the villain from the start on last year's "Top Chef." Right, you kept tuning in to see who would blow up at Marcel next. You loved it when Cliff hog-tied Marcel and got kicked off the show. And you loved it on the last episode when Sam slammed Marcel's leadership in the kitchen in front of the judges. That's right, Sam had to bring up the fact that Marcel left some of the ingredients in the walk-in cooler. Then in a moment of "you can't write that," Marcel took credit away from Sam that the dish with the missing ingredients was changed at the last minute-and the judges actually loved it. Sam was pissed he didn't get the credit for the dish because he was the one back in the kitchen who told Marcel what to do to make up for the missing ingredients. So that's just one little example of how they edit these shows, along with snippets of candidate interviews, a few clips of raised eyebrows, under the breath comments caught on mike, that sort of thing. It raises the excitement quotient, but lessens the respect for the food and the cooking. Hey folks, did you learn to make a wedding cake on that episode today? I didn't think so. Now, just to add one more critical comment to my rant, (I've gotten stirred up now), let's talk about that wedding cake competition. Some of those people didn't even know what fondant is. They didn't know the cakes at their work stations already had a 'crumb coat' on them to make the final icing coat go on smoothly. They didn't know because they had no idea what a 'crumb coat' is. I'm not saying that you have to know the definition of a crumb coat to be the good host of a television show about cooking. What I am saying is that if you don't possess a basic knowledge of food and pastry and you are so naive that you don't know what fondant or crumb coat means, you are in trouble. You won't last on a Food Network show or anything other cooking show for that matter. Maybe they'll end up being famous for being famous and not for cooking. I think some some of these people wouldn't know a Sea Bass from a Snapper-and most of them are professionals in the food business. Oh well, I supposed between clicks with the clicker I'll tune in again just to see whose survived the latest 'challenge.' They've got me roped in, a little, even though I hate them for it.

Doc and Molto e, just let me know when you might be going to Las Vegas again. I'd glady join you both at Wing Lei so we can try some more of the menu. I was really intrigued by all those Peking Ducks I saw wheeled by my table.

I would like to thank my fellow e-gullet writers who encouraged me to dine at Wing Lei. I had dinner at Wing Lei, table for one, on Friday, May 19. This is an excerpt of a review I wrote about my experience. I write restaurant reviews just for fun and for practice to work on my writing skills, so this is part of a larger review. Enjoy. I have to apologize for not getting any photos of the dining room or the dishes that were served. I had pre-reserved the Seasonal Tasting Menu for one. It is normally only served to a minium of two people but they had no problem accomodating my request. Course #1-"Grilled Beef Salad with Rice Noodles." This was a simple description to describe a simple dish. It was simple merely because there were only a few ingredients-but the flavors were anything but simple. The salad was a light and refreshing introduction to the heavier flavored dishes to come. The beef tenderloin had been lightly grilled to medium-rare. The rice noodles were flat and thick like pappardelle pasta. The salad was dressed lightly with soy sauce and rice vinegar and garnished with shredded green onions and sweet red pepper. Course #2-"Chicken Soup." The description of the dish on the menu was almost too humble. Then again, maybe the chefs were trying to fool me? List a dish simply as "Chicken Soup" and you probably are thinking it isn’t fancy enough for a restaurant like Wing Lei. ‘Shouldn’t they be serving me Bird’s Nest Soup with Gull’s Eggs?” The waiter brought a covered porcelain bowl to the table. He placed a wide gold spoon next to the bowl of soup. He removed the cover from the bowl, releasing a fragrant cloud of chicken steam. Soft little dumplings that enclosed a center of chicken mousse floated in the 'essence' of chicken broth. A few strips of julienne carrot and zucchini squash were the only garnishes. Course #3-"Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawns." The waiter told me that the next dish was Spot Prawns that had been brought over from Santa Barbara that morning. "I like these prawns better than lobster” he said. “They have a sweet yet delicate flavor. And Mr. Ross, you know they were swimming in the live tank in the kitchen just a few moments ago." Two large prawns were served on a small, rectangular plate. The prawns had been taken live from the tank directly into a pot of simmering liquid and then gently braised for a few moments to keep them moist. They were served with the head on and the ruby red roe running down the tail. There was a tiny, whole mustard green served on the side. The mustard green was steamed and garnished with a little fried garlic. The idea was for the bitter mustard green to counter the flavor of the sweet prawns. Course #4-“Miso Glazed Salmon, White Bamboo Mushroom Fungus and Pi Leaf Greens.” Miso is salty and can overpower the delicate flavor of salmon if too much is slathered on fish. In this case, the Miso added just a hint of salty taste and the characteristic scent of miso and soy to the tender, medium-rare, salmon. Not too much, not too little. There are hundreds of different types of greens used in Chinese cuisine, but tonight the chef had chosen the leaves from the tender ‘Pi Leaf’ green. The steamed Pi Leaves served as a bed for the salmon. Another foundation for the salmon were shoots of Bamboo Fungus. The waiter told me that “Bamboo Fungus is usually stuffed with dried shrimp or mined pork,” but tonight the chef had only braised the tender, white cylinders. The fungus had a delicate, yet crisp texture and a hint of bamboo flavor. A sauce made from reduced soy sauce and miso was drizzled around the plate. Course #5-“Jasmine Tea-Smoked Chicken, Soy Reduction, Shanghai-Style Pan-Fried Noodles.” A baby chicken had been smoked with the tropical flower scent of Jasmine tea. The chicken was then braised in a sauce based with soy. There must have been a final cooking stage in a hot oven to crisp-up the golden brown, shiny skin of the chicken. Shanghai-Style noodles are thin egg noodles that are the size and texture of angel hair pasta. The noodles were stir-fried with sliced, fresh shitake mushrooms and a mixture of other vegetables. There was a ribbon of reduced soy sauce around the chicken. The sauce was thick, gooey and sweet. It was so delicious I thought I would name it ‘Chinese Molasses’ and bottle it. Course #6-“Dessert Trio.” At one base of the trio was a finger of creamy chocolate mousse encased in a chocolate shell and served with milk chocolate sauce. Next to the chocolate mousse was fresh strawberry sorbet served with poached fresh Lychee fruit. Lychee fruit are juicy little white orbs that taste like a cross between apple, pear and pineapple. The exotic scent of the Lychee smells of roses and tropical orchids. The third side of the trio was a tapioca based dessert. A small glass held tiny pearls of tapioca suspended in mango mousse with a base layer of coconut. The mango mousse was topped with a little scoop of icy mango sorbet. The trio of desserts was just the right balance of sweet, refreshing and refined flavors and light textures.

The word in the restaurant community is that the head chef left in late May to open his own place in Las Vegas. I'm not sure of the timing on when he will announce his new restaurant. I think they probably closed for both renovations and to transition to a new head chef.

Diann-have a great time! I've got a few suggestions for you. First, I would recommend the buffet at Wynn over Bellagio, especially if you are going for Sunday brunch. They are in the same price range and over the course of the past two years I think the quality at Bellagio has gone down while the quality at Wynn has gone up. The buffet at Wynn is smaller in terms of size, but the quality of the food is better and the setting of the dining rooms at the Wynn buffet make the rooms seem more relaxed and intimate than the cafeteria fell of the Bellagio buffett. I would go with the Tasting menu at Bartolotta. While the ala carte menu is certainly good, the tasting menu will give you small bites of a wider range of dishes and will also give you a greater sense of the Chef's creativity. All his fish is flown in from Europe daily so you can't go wrong. I am posting an excerpt of my experience at Wing Lei in the Wing Lei forum if you want to get an idea of what dinner is like there. They have two tasting menus-a seasonal tasting menu and a Peking Duck tasting menu. Both tasting menus are about $150-$175. Enjoy your trip and let me know how it was after you get back.

I'm glad it worked so well for you. Now I'll try your recipe.

I decided to take a trip to my local Asian grocery store on Thursday of last week to get some of the ingredients for a Chinese/Thai style menu. I had been thinking about making Shrimp Toasts for a long time and they turned out very good, albeit rich because they are deep fried. I added some really stinky shrimp paste to the shrimp mixture. That little bit of shrimp paste added an incredibly deep shrimp flavor. I served the Shrimp Toasts with some bottled sweet chili sauce. I thought a nice, clean and refreshing salad would be the right counter to the rich Shrimp Toasts. This is a salad of rice vermicelli with a simple dressing of soy sauce, orange juice, sesame oil and rice vinegar. I added some carrot, shitake, sweet red pepper, green onion, sesame seeds and cilantro. The entree I did was what I call a Thai Red Curry Seafood Stew. The broth is a mixture of seafood stock, coconut milk and red curry paste. I add a few drops of fish sauce, sesame oil and toasted peanut oil. The background flavors come from garlic, shallot and ginger. I always put in the same herbs-mint, basil and cilantro. This time I added prawns, clams, salmon and calamari. Sometimes I change up the seafood based on what sounds good to me at the time. The red curry paste is mildly hot-I purposely don't make it too hot because my tastebuds don't do well with really fiery foods. Enjoy.

Please always feel comfortable in the Dinner! forum. I encourage anyone and everyone to join us. From my perspective, just sharing the joys of food and cooking is the greatest gift we share with each other. And while sometimes we may talk about a cheeseplate with a rare, artisan cheese or an ice cream spiked with an unknown fruit liquer, we also talk about mac and cheese and what the kids like-aka pizza. Some of the photos are quite beautiful and could easily grace the pages of one of the national food magazines, but as others have said, a humble photo of a dish of spaghetti may elicit more positive feedback than a closeup shot of a slice of foie gras. Food is food and it is beautiful, delicious and knows no boundaries. So please don't hesitate to join us. You'll find the Dinner! forum is one of the highest visited forums and you are welcome anytime.

I dined alone at Wing Lei and they graciously served me a tasting menu. I didn't have the Peking DUck tasting menu, but I'm sure they would have obliged me that indulgence. I went to their Wynn dining reservations site and made the arrangements online. Thanks to the gentleman who accomodated my request via emails. I asked for the tasting menu, although I knew it was usually reserved for a minimum party of two. They didn't hesitate and immediately emailed me back with my request to have the Spring Tasting Menu. I'll post the menu tommorrow. When I sat down the waiter greeted me by saying "Mr. Ross we have the tasting menu ready to serve you tonight will that be acceptable?" My gosh, have you recently been greeted so warmly at a restaurant? Wonderful food and service ensued. Your list: Fix-hip, loud younger crowd and trendy (but good) food, Daniel Boulud-relaxed yet elegant crowd, very good French style food, and Wing Lei-the ultimate in Chinese cuisine and service, looks great. Wish I was going along! There are so many more choices in Las Vegas to add to your list. I haven't been, but based on the reviews, L'Atelier should be a good choice.

I just got back two weeks ago from a week in Las Vegas eating at some of the places you are thinking about going to. I'm working on a full report of my trip, but in the meantime, here are my thoughts: -I prefer Craftsteak at the MGM over Delmonico. I like the more lively atmosphere at Craftsteak, and the menu offers a few more choices of cuts of meat and preparations. -I had breakfast at Bouchon and it was wonderful. The service and food are good and consistent. I always ask for a table outside on the patio for breakfast. It's very peaceful in the morning. Their breakfast breads and pastries are especially good. I find that the dinner menu at Bouchon is more relaxed in terms of preparation than the dinner menu at Boulud. I don't think you'd find it overkill to have dinner at both-both offer good quality French food and the menus are different. For example-the mussels at Bouchon may be simply steamed with wine and garlic and presented in a cast iron pot-Boulud might do the same recipe but serve it a bit more fancy in a china bowl. Bouchon is Bistro while Boulud is a more upscale type of Brasserie. -I had dinner at Wing Lei and the service and food were both fantastic. I saw literally a convoy of carts roll by with whole Peking Ducks, destined to be carved tableside. I had requested in advance that the Chef prepare a tasting menu for me. No special requests, just whatever he wanted to prepare that night. It was seven courses of Chinese culinary heaven. They are gracious and welcoming and will describe the ingredients of each dish and how each element was prepared. -I went to a private winemaker's lunch at Alex. Chef Alex Stratta was in the kitchen and came into the dining room to introduce himself. He is a very convivial chap and graciously signed my menu. The service staff was extremely accomodating and friendly. The quality of the food, elegant decor of the dining room and welcoming service of the staff at lunch demonstrated to me that Alex would in fact produce the same results at dinner. If Spring Vegetables with Truffle Vinaigrette, Santa Barbara Spot Prawns with Corn Custard, Quail stuffed with Foie Gras and Truffles, Asparagus Gratin and a Trio of Chocolates sounds to your liking, those are examples of dishes you'll taste at Alex. -The highlight of my trip was a private dinner at Guy Savoy. Mind you, this was a private dinner, so our menu and the wines were specially selected by Chef Savoy and his staff-we didn't order off the regular menu. Regardless, any dish you taste will be special. Dream of butter, truffles, Foie gras, and intense flavors you have never tasted before. Not only was the food the quality one would expect from one of the world's top French Chefs, the special atmosphere of our evening added to the once in a lifetime experience-it was the one year anniversary of Savoy opening at Caesar's Palace and Chef Savoy was in the kitchen, his son Frank in the front of the house, and the full kitchen staff of 36 was present. The ratio was nearly 1 chef for each guest. Dining at Guy Savoy is a special, special experience. In addition to what you order off the menu, there is a bread cart, a cheese cart, and a dessert cart. The dessert cart was served after the plated desserts. On the night we were there the dessert cart had too many choices to mention here-but I tried lavendar ice cream, strawberry lollipops, blackberry marshmallows and pistachio macaroons. My only caution to you is that if you are going to dinner at Savoy do it right-that means spending upwards of 4 hours of your evening at the table. Going in with the intention of a quick bite doesn't give you the opportunity to really enjoy what this restaurant has to offer. Secondly, the prices are very high-similar to the prices at Joel Robuchon at the MGM. The entrees are upwards of $70-90.00. The tasting menu gives you the greatest opportunity to enjoy the seasonal ingredients that are in the kitchen. The tasting menu is in the range of $350.00 without wines. If you want a memorable dinner in Las Vegas and can afford the cost and time, go to Guy Savoy. Incredible.

I smoked/roasted a duck about three weeks ago, very easy. In fact, my method may sound too easy to get good results. I just bought your basic frozen Long Island Duckling, not organic, not free range. I just thawed it out, no brining. I didn't even season the duck ahead of time, no salt and pepper, no cajun rub, no garlic or lemon in the cavity. Just duck. I trussed the wings and legs and then ducky went into the smoker. I have a big old smoker that looks like an oil drum turned on its side. The fire box if off one end of the smoker pit. I used a combination of charcoal and hickory wood chunks. I kept the temperature at about 200-225, very low. I put ducky in the smoker pit and put a can of water next to him. I like to put a bit of water in the smoker to create steam, which seems to keep the meat moist as it smokes. The dark finished color of the skin comes purely from the smoke. I smoked ducky about 3 hours, then I finished him in a 300 degree over for another hour and a half. You'd think the poor thing would have been incinerated, but the meat was still moist and tender and the smoke flavor was very distinct. Here is a closeup of the smoked duck. The skin was nice and crisp, the meat very juicy. Here is the finished duck dish, sliced breast, duck leg, and served with spinach and cornbread.