Carolyn Tillie

Paper Leaves -- like the kind that are used for cheese....

Check also with The Patina Group -- along with their catering operations, they have enough restaurants and venues to keep LOTS of well-trained chefs working.

Thank you Toureg and RJ -- you guys hit the nail on the head! Ex-B-friend just called and a little more creative googling found this amazing picture. Now I am terribly sad that it is out of business -- but thank you so much for the memory of it! I had completely forgotten about it until it was brought back here. Pretty cool place though, huh?

A little creative googling shows a photo of Phil's here: click ← Wow - you guys are great! I'll wait to confirm with the ex, but damn if that don't look like it. And in the right neighborhood, too! Now I'm nostalgic for diner food... edited to add - I just GoogleMapped Phil's and see that the Chandler & Vineland address sits RIGHT on a railroad line so it might be the place. Keeping fingers crossed...

Here's a possible answer to your question: Carney's on the Sunset Strip. ← WAY to clean and glitzy. Seriously, the place I ate at wouldn't have a website. I'm not even sure it had an address. It was an actual DIVE - no appeal beyond the huge, manly-man-sized platters of food (I remember eating half of what I ordered, whatever THAT was). Thanks for trying, though! I'm not giving up...

It's Barney's Beanery on the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard just east of La Cienega. ← Nope. It wasn't that big or that glamorous. Nope. I remember both Norm's AND Shipp's (I LOVED Shipp's for the Toasters!) I've made a call to the ex-boyfriend who took me there. He'll remember... At the time, he was working for one of the first electric car conversion shops, Green Motorworks which is/was on the 5000 block of Vineland in North Hollywood. (He had constructed Tom Cruise's electric Porsche, and we used to tool around the neighborhood to test the car). ← Now I am sort of obsessing on this and hope someone in LA can help me figure it out... The ex-boyfriend is currently sailing on a masted ship out of San Francisco and won't be able to return the call for a while. Here's what I remember, though: The diner was near (if not under!) some huge Edison electrical station -- a BIG one. I remember seeing lots of transformer-like units around. A dirty backstreet possibly off Cahuenga and Burbank Boulevard. It is only open for breakfast and an early lunch. It had an actual counter to eat at - no tables whatsoever. The counter sits eight or ten folks at most. This is a working man's diner, nothing as remotely upscale as Barney's or Shipp's. Anyone in LA willing to go drive around???

It's Barney's Beanery on the north side of Santa Monica Boulevard just east of La Cienega. ← Nope. It wasn't that big or that glamorous. Nope. I remember both Norm's AND Shipp's (I LOVED Shipp's for the Toasters!) I've made a call to the ex-boyfriend who took me there. He'll remember... At the time, he was working for one of the first electric car conversion shops, Green Motorworks which is/was on the 5000 block of Vineland in North Hollywood. (He had constructed Tom Cruise's electric Porsche, and we used to tool around the neighborhood to test the car).

This is pretty horrible 'cuz I was brought there and don't remember the exact location, but somewhere around West Hollywood, there was this DIVE in an old converted train car. This was about 15 years ago but the diner had been there for 40 or 50 years so I'm sure it is still there. It was one of those 'morning after' breakfasts so I was too wasted to take note of location or name...

I've eaten at the one in Suisun and the one in Sonoma and was hardly impressed either time. Only slightly better than Denny's, but hardly noteworthy. Then again, I was only there for breakfast and there aren't many chains doing anything exceptional for breakfast.

I know nothing about pickling or preserving them, but *something* strikes me about it as not working. I have images of things growing in the oil or something so I hope someone will try and prove me wrong. Regarding drying, when I got my five or six pounds from the winery in March, I simply put them in a cardboard box (like a flat) and put them in my warm garage. I turned them over every few days and they dried perfectly in a few weeks. I ended up using them a week or two ago in what turned out the be the best risotto I ever made, reconstituting them in water beforehand and using the mushroom water in the risotto.

I think most of the folks making recommendations have missed a crucial point about your question -- for the prior two weeks, you will have been eating and dining in Napa. Now Gary Danko and Boulevard and all those are quite exceptional in San Francisco, but they are so close to the haute cuisine you will have in Napa that I kinda wonder, "why bother?" Wouldn't you rather have something quintessentially San Francisco that just wouldn't be the same in New York? I'm thinking something along the lines of amazing Chinese food in Chinatown, Cioppino in North Beach, or (as others have suggested), Chez Panisse? Just my thoughts...

One of my favorite cakes is this Mocha Rum Cake which, along with coffee, is the only liquid in the cake. So, for your boxed cake, why not consider a mixture of both? I think it would be pretty good...

When I lived in LA, I purchased mine from Bristol Farms. For a while, they actually kept them in stock but if not, I'm sure they could order one. The other spot that might have them in stock is Surfas.

Except on Saturdays and Sundays -- lunches are only on weekdays.

Zuzu is an exception on the reservations -- they don't take any.... From Yountville to Zuzu is about a 15-minute drive down the 29, exitingoff at 1st street and heading into downtown. Park when you reach the corner of 1st and Main.

I think I'm in your camp, Mary -- I know too many growers who are NOT the uber-rich Yuppies that is being invoked. The local laws regarding planting and what can be cleared for vineyards is so strict, that I seriously doubt anyone is doing anything illegal. I can't put my finger on the exact article in the Napa Register, but a well-known vineyard manager was fined and jailed last year for clearcutting part of a mountain forest to plant vineyards. It quite simply isn't tolerated. Besides, what good would it do vineyard farmers to "encourage total erosion of the soil?" None -- they want the land to be as fruitful and multiply as long as possible. That logic simply does not work. I believe the major disconnect in the argument is between WINERY OWNERS and GRAPE GROWERS. Maybe a lot of people who consume wine don't realize that it is two separate business and the buying and selling of grapes to winemakers and winery owners is a huge business. There has been a generalization that because Winery Owners are rich and yuppies, that they can't care about the land from which their product comes -- again, another disconnect. For me the bottom line is that while the ultimate product may not FEED people in a classic sense, it does feed the soul and is far more than simple agriculture.

BTW, now that "the tourist season" is among us, remember to make reservations. Can't tell you how many folks are literally wandering the streets, waiting an hour-and-a-half (or more!) to be seated at restaurants. There is a new restaurant in town (or should I say, on the 29?), also, called Bistro Zare -- I'm reviewing it for my other job this week and will report back.

I think it counts double if it was daytime. ← You'll never know...

And they may still not be able to ship to Maryland. This ruling is NOT a free-for-all "we can all ship to any state in the Union" decision. Those of us in the industry are now working through to determine exactly what we can and cannot do regarding shipping. Many states still have inter- and intra-state regulations that could be in affect. The real impact may not be known for several days.

Me too -- but does #11 count if it wasn't a French vineyard?

None of 'em. I know the pressure under which they are working to get out a monthly rag and more often than not, I find glaring mistakes in magazine recipes. On a few occasions, an author's recipe will show up later in a book and has often been edited for the better (obviously, having been tested and/or clarified). Magazines are fine for keeping one's pulse on the food community, but I rarely cook from them.

I think the exception is Barbera -- love Barbera with tomato sauces...

Texas Becomes 27th State to Allow Interstate, Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipments; Free the Grapes! Toasts Legislators' Overwhelming Support for Consumer Choice in Wine It is a good day... now we'll have to wait and see what the Supreme Court says!

I actually own both those pans! The Matfer is straight-sided and a bit smaller in volume. The one mrbigjas showed is ever-so-slightly slanted and the downside to it is that I have actually had to flippy-things that hold the sides together CAN flip down. The Matfer is a bit sturdier and is the one I used in my terrine. This site shows most of them but who knew they came in so many different sizes? I also have one that is that shaped like a marquise diamond and here is a picture of a pastry-encased one I made for my Dali Dinner. Edited to add the last paragraph's pictures

I am somewhat proud to be the first to say..... That is just fucking brilliant. Really. There is an exhibit of sculptural cakes at Copia here in Napa right now and I have always admired them but never realized what it took to put them together. Thank you so very, very much for sharing -- perhaps you should consider going back in the business, for LOTS of money!