bkaplan

Thinking of buying.

Hi All, I know it is a fairly odd question, but does anyone know of any restaurant consultants/inspectors or someone fairly knowledgeable in restaurant equipment in the area that I might be able to talk to? I have a few questions about some old restaurant equipment. -Barry

Paseo is great cheap cuban food, located near fremont which is a fun place to walk around.

I agree that happy hours are the way to go... Brasa has a steak for $7 among other goodies if you buy a drink. Dahlia, Cascadia, and Palace Kitchen Also Mae Phim has a good thai food lunch for around $7 Also don't forget salumi, nothing like it anywhere else.

Theo chocolate (http://www.theochocolate.com) in fremont always has nibs.

World Spice has five spice and they will blend it for you, they also happen to have very fresh spices.

What staffing changes at the Market Grill?

I ate there the other day, mediocre at best. The pizza is from an gas powered oven that simply looks like it can can handle wood. The pizza's themselves are a bit doughy and when i was there underdone.

Cafe Campagne is pretty good and you can get a 3-course meal for $25.

My favorite coffee around here is Cafe Umbria, they do terrific italian roasts. The company is run by the same family who used to do Torrefazione before they were bought by Starbucks.

I had the cannoli, while good I don't think it was truly Italian compared to the Italian bakeries in Chicago I used to go to.

I like the pizza here as well... But my one complaint (and it could just be that I went too early as the regular chef wasn't there yet) is the pizza didn't have as much wood flavor as I wanted. I was watching them make the pizza and they didn't hold it up in the dome. Many wood oven pizza places hold the pizza in the dome of the oven during rotation (and sometimes a little longer) to try and get a bit of the smoke in it. I did like the number of other dishes they had on the menu that were prepared in the oven and were not pizza. Wood oven's are a great way to cook and can be used for many more things then just pizza.

Also palace kitchen serves food till 1AM. They make a great burger.

Good list... should take you a while I would add: Paseo Tutta Bella La Carta de Oaxaca La Medusa

Woops... should have subscribed. If you want to buy brisket from Don & Joes, but prefer that "kosher" flavor you can try just kashering it (brining) yourself. Essentially put lots of kosher salt on it and leave it in the fridge for a few days. Wash the salt off before using it. From what I am told this is the reason why kosher salt is not iodized and chunky, you can wash it off easily. Also kosher beef can be pretty much everything, the general rule on kosher is you want to have as little blood as possible. This has pretty much been translated into anything which is near the sciatica nerve gets shipped to a non-kosher meat place as removing the sciatica without puncturing it is not easy (from what I am told). In Israel you can get kosher filet mignon, but around here it is pretty hard. Brisket, flank, london broil, skirt, are all easy to get kosher. The salting of the meat is to remove excess blood. For the extra credit there is also a more kosher version of beef called "glatt" for this they inspect the cow more for disease. I think they even fill the lungs with water to look for blemishes.

If you want kosher try Albertsons on mercer island. Personally I choose the Don & Joe's in Pike Place or Whole Foods. -Barry

Pittsburgh food is obviously not the best, but I still get a hankering for Mad Mex nachos and a Primanti brothers sandwich.

"Smokin' Dicks" BBQ is now open in the University District. Even though there is some good food in that area I tend to stay away since most of the restaurants are plain bad. This place is no exception. I will go almost anywhere for good Q, and after the owner told me he was going for a KC style place I thought it might have some promise. Their menu is pretty small, baby backs, chicken, pulled pork, sausage (uli's) and some sides. I found it strange that they did not have brisket as they are "KC" style, but since their sauce was more or less a sweet seemingly store bought variety I guess I should not have been surprised. The only thing I can almost recommend here are t-shirts if you are just itching for some innuendo of the restaurants name written on your chest. I don't think Pig Iron has anything to be nervous about, but it would be nice to get some good KC or better yet, Carolina style restaurants in town.