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chileheadmike

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Posts posted by chileheadmike

  1. Ahh summer is here and the chiles are coming in. I roast some Anahiems, Poblanos, and Jalapenos on the grill till the skin is black then peel and dice. I then saute some onin and garlic in olive oil, add the diced chiles, some cumin and Mexican Oregano and maybe a little chicken stock. Let it cook down a bit. Grill the burger till medium rare, top with green chile mixture and some good cheddar.

    Oh man, I love summer.

  2. NEWS ALERT!!!!  NEWS ALERT!!!! NEWS ALERT!!!!

    Okay, you won't believe this.  I'm wondering if I'm just the last to find out because everyone I know has been keeping it from me to spare my emotions....

    I stopped by Bryant's for a sandwich to-go tonight, and when I got to the front of the line I saw two big signs stating, in no uncertain terms that.............are you ready for this??......

    Tipping the countermen is no longer allowed.

    WTF?!??!?

    For right now I'm going to ignore the fact that I also saw them using a digital scale to weigh out meat back there.  One trauma at a time.

    When did this happen?  Where were our local hacks Chapin and Ferruzza when this bombshell of a story broke?  Was I out of town when the emergency broadcasting system blared the news all over the television? 

    What kind of a world is this when you can't slip a couple of bucks across the counter and get a mega-supersized sandwich in return?  Don't those guys have a union with the countermen at Katz's or something? 

    It's over.  The terrorists have won.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I blame it all on that goddamn Power and Light District, AND that big shiny tentantless glass donut messiah going in across the street from it.  The safe, shiny, corporate homogenization has seeped into the water and made it all the way to 18th and Brooklyn.  Now all of the cookie cutter assholes with those bluetooth things hanging off of their ears are safe to stand in line for a sandwich after an awe inspiring show by "Celtic Woman" down at the glass donut......without having to wonder loudly "hey, why is THAT guy getting a bigger sandwich than me! Haven't they heard of portion control? I want to talk to the manager!".  It's pure speculation, but it's probably f'ing true.  You can't go and upset the natural order of things by breaking the Power and Light zombies from their stupor. 

    I couldn't tell if the countermen were pissed about it, because hey, they always look pissed.  The signs did look pretty new though.  No residual grease caked on them yet, and the screws holding them in weren't rusty, so I'm guessing it's a relatively new development.

    This will not stand!

    Jerry, I'm proud of you. A whole rant and not one meniton of JoCo. Bo Ling's for dim sum and AB's for megasupersize sammiches in the same day? Are you working up for another taco crawl?

  3. I was a cook for a long time. I wanted to get out of the biz and get a day job. I got a job as a waiter and started back to school.

    One night the owner of the place came up to me and said, "I seated a table in section 11, I want you to take care of them". Section 11 was 4 tables by the fire exit, no one's first choice to sit, and we only used it when we had to. We weren't busy that night so I knew something was strange.

    I got to the table, Mom, Dad, 2 boys probably 8 and 10. I noticed that there were only two settings of silver, I apologized and said I'd bring two more with their drinks. They said, "No, we don't allow them to use silverware" motioning to the boys. OK. Parents ordered entres, nothing expensive, and ordered a side of pasta with marinara for each of the boys. OK. I brought the food and again offered silverware to the boys and was again politely told no. I came back 2 minutes later to ask if the food was OK, they said they were done and wanted the check. The boys, the table, their clothes, everything was covered with the tomato sauce. I offered napkins and was politely refused.

    I dropped off the check, came back to pick up the money. They were gone. They left some money, about enough to cover half of the check. I'm now freakin' out cuz we carried our own banks and I'm thinking I'm going to have to make up the difference. I go to the owner and tell him the story. He said not to worry about it, keep it to yourself.

    Strangest table I ever waited on.

  4. Did pulled pork last weekend. Got a 9 pound butt, did it in my Weber Smokey Mountain.

    Rubbed and ready to go. Rub is equal parts salt and sugar with a half part brown sugar, then chile powder, paprika, pepper, cumin and secret stuff. Let the pork sit overnight in the fridge. Bring out before firing up the Weber to come to room temp.

    gallery_43340_4813_65405.jpg

    Firing up the Weber. Hickory chunks, unsoaked.

    gallery_43340_4813_44756.jpg

    Hot!

    gallery_43340_4813_21400.jpg

    Guard Cat

    gallery_43340_4813_26483.jpg

    Grill Cam

    gallery_43340_4813_51709.jpg

    Well seasoned WSM

    gallery_43340_4813_70448.jpg

    Bone pulls clean

    gallery_43340_4813_43939.jpg

    Porky Goodness

    gallery_43340_4813_70729.jpg

    That's it. Not bad if I do say so myself. Served with green beans fresh from the city market and some new potatoes sauteed in olive oil with onion, garlic, and rosemary.

    • Like 1
  5. My Mom's German Potato Salad. Only boiled potatoes, hard cooked eggs, a ton of bacon, onions added to the crisp bacon, cider vinegar added to the bacon/bacon fat/onion. S&P. That's it, no sugar/brown sugar/anything sweet of any kind.

    Hashbrowns from the local diner, must be the vintage kaola gold.

    Fries from Gates and Sons in KC. Not everyone likes their BBQ but I still say they have the best fries in town.

  6. OK, I am NOT going to say I took one for the team on this. But I did take my daughters here for a late lunch today. I got out of the car and started looking around, I smelled BBQ, real BBQ, really good BBQ. I asked Brianne if she saw a BBQ restaurant around. Nope. Went in and noticed the half rack Father's Day special. Well, well, well, some promise here.

    Not feeling like ribs, I had a Cuban sandwich with Las Cruses Potatoes. There are no fries here. Sandwich was great, grilled pork with a spicy jerk rub with lettuce and tomato on a soft hogie type bun. Wasn't pressed. The pork was really good and it and the sauce provided a lot of flavor. Really good. The potatoes were a little disappointing. Sliced potatoes with the skin still on, sauteed with chile verde and topped with jack cheese. Not bad but not great either.

    Brianne had a chicken fajita sandwich. Same bread, grilled chicken with onions and peppers and cheese. She really like it. Again she said that it had a ton of flavor and wasn't dumbed down for us delicate JoCo folks. She had pasta salad that she only picked at, it had black olives in it and she won't eat 'em.

    Meghan had the kiddie pizza, i got a slice. Pretty good, crisp crust, ok sauce, and plenty of cheese. The pizza here would be a good option.

    Overall this is very good stuff and I would definitely go back. The Wednesday special looks good, 10 oz KC Strip, LC Potatoes, and a salad for $10.95.

  7. El Taconazo- 624 Kansas Avenue

    This was where we decided to meet up.  We were both familiar with Roberto’s and planned to meet there, but alas it is no more. We couldn’t tell if El Taconazo occupied the space or if Roberto’s used to be further down the street. Besides having the coolest name, it also turned out to be our favorite all-around catch of the day.  They provide table service and have what may be the largest menu I’ve ever seen in a Mexican restaurant.  Everything from tacos to tortas to whole fried Tilapia.  Since we were planning to hit several places, we kept things simple.  At least that was the plan.  We got a selection of tacos; pastor, carne asada and the simply titled “cabeza” ($1.50 each if I recall correctly, all served on two small corn tortillas with cilantro and onion).  I also opted for the lengua burrito.  Five stars all around.  I’ll let chile boy speak about the chips and salsa, but they were pretty damn great.  The tacos were all top notch, but the lengua burrito was stupendous.  Packed with slow cooked and seasoned, chopped beef tongue along with a small amount of lettuce, tomato and white cheese.  For $3.95  I wasn’t expecting something that huge, so needless to say it put me off my game a bit for the next three stops.  I will absolutely be back to investigate more of the menu choices.  In my humble opinion, it is a contender for "Best of KC".

    Hello? Kansas City eGullters! Has the warmer weather caught us - asleep? Silence is deafening.

    So, I've become aware that Taco Nazo has some offerings of interest to me.

    For starters, the lengua burrito Zeemanb mentions sounds wonderful. By chance, do they offer lengua in other dishes/forms? Tacos?

    u.e.

    I think you can get it in a variety of forms, including tacos. They also have cabeza and cesos. Hopefully, I'm spelling everything correctly.

  8. OK, Resurrecting this thread.

    Zeemanb and I ditched work this afternoon. It was a nice sunny Friday and we couldn't think of anything better to do than play hooky from work and kill our stomachs. He starts to IM me about leaving early and heading to Don Chilito's Fine Mexican Cuisine. I think he's kidding and say, "I will if you will". :raz:

    I didn't think they could really be as bad as I remember, they've been in business since I was a kid, they must be doing something right, right?

    We walk in and notice the place is clean with new paint even, but there's an odor. Not a Mexican food odor though. I'm thinking, "Get a couple of tacos and get out". Z says, "I'm getting the Juarez Platter, and if you don't get a platter you're a wuss." I get the Combo Platter, a taco, tostada, cheese enchilada, chile relleno, rice and beans. Plus you get free sopapillas and all the chips and salsa you can eat at the help yourself bar.

    This is all served cafeteria style, you walk up, place your order and watch them assemble it. Chile relleno is taken from the reach-in and put on a plate, as is the enchilada. Its then put into one of the 6 or 7 industrial microwaves for no more than a minute. The cheese is all melted and the food is steaming when it exits the 'wave. The whole mess is slid onto a hot platter and handed to me.

    The taco was fine, pre-fab fried corn tortilla stuffed with ground beef, lettuce and cheese. The tostada was the same thing only flat and had beans on it. The chile relleno was weird. It was a small burrito thingie with a strip of canned green chile and some white cheese in it. I ate it all. We laughed throughout the whole ordeal at the true horrible-ness of the food. I was ready to go. Z said we had to eat the sopapillas. These things had been sitting around since the Carter Administration. How do you eff up fried bread? Oh man. Easily the worst part of a truly bad meal.

    Odd thing (well one of them), was that the place was busy at 3:00pm on a weekday. Lots of to-go orders and several people at tables. Normal looking people. The kind that should know better. This place is an anomaly that I will never understand. I just have to eat there every decade or so. I have to go now, I'm not feeling well. Rick Bayless, you have nothing to worry about from Don.

  9. Thank you for your kind welcome!  Actually, she had made up this recipe, she said her kids LOVE it <gag>.  Fortunately, tomorrow is my last day, as it was a temp contract position re-writing software tech manuals, so she can continue to torture the rest of the people there with her "specialities"....ahem. Anyway, I will be happy to keep posting, I have lots more stories, next time, I shall post "The Saga of Mystery Meat Mountain" and "Project CFB" also known as Project Chicken-Fried Bacon heh.

    Oh man, Chicken Fried Bacon. That has to be awesome. Does it come with gravy?

  10. Cool thread. What about the BLT? My personal favorite. I only eat these during the summer when my garden is producing truly great tomatoes. I use a good white bread, sometimes sourdough, always toasted. I then add , Hellman's (cold), iceburg lettuce (also cold), bacon (hot), and tomato (room temp). Its all pretty much room temp by the time i eat it. Bud during the season, I can put away 3 or 4 at a sitting. Come on Mid-July :rolleyes:

  11. For anyone who likes the super sweet molasses/brown sugar style of BBQ sauce (note I'm not saying KANSAS CITY STYLE BBQ SAUCE....), I highly recommend Blues Hog. I don't think it contains HFCS, and the folks who produce it are "real" bbq people who travel the competition circuit.

    Its good stuff, we use it often. It is sweet. I believe the first ingredient listed is brown sugar. My go to sauce however is Gates although I wouldn't use it in a competition.

  12. I worked at a Mexican place for a while, back in the early 80's. We had this hot shot know it all dishwasher a-hole. HSKIADWA decides he's hungry about the time we're closing up. He gets the floor sweepins burrito. It looked really nice coming out of the oven with all that homemade enchilada sauce and cheese on it. Luckily for him we fished out the toothpicks. He ate every bit.

    A couple weeks later we sold HSKIADWA a nice fat bag of oregano, we took the proceeds and bought a whole boatload of beer.

    Dude had no taste.

    Edited for spelling

  13. So, as an unnamed acquaintence of mine calls her, "her royal mediocreness" visited the Plaza location of Fiorella's Jack Stack and gave it 3 1/2 stars.

    While I don't agree with the rating, I will say that at least the review and the score jived.  She loved everything and gave it 3 1/2 stars.  This makes sense. 

    Personally, I agree with member A Patric, who said (over here), "...it takes more than the taste of cheese and corn to draw me to a restaurant."

    I'm not a huge fan of Jack's Stack. Just not a lot of good smoke BBQ flavor. It seems that every time its mentioned, the cheesy corn bake gets raved about. I can open a couple cans of corn and throw in some cheese. I agree, why go to a BBQ place for sides? Nice onion rings though. I like OK Joe's, and I know I'm not the only fan of Gate's because they are always packed, (yeah I know, so is Applebees) but I do like their beef on a bun and I think they have the best fries in town (sides again). I like their burnt ends as well, nothing wrong with a little fat on the brisket.

    Back to making this on topic, her review and points did seem to match up better. I just don't agree with either this time.

  14. Having had lots of Korean food in Ann Arbor

    Reading that review made me long for the Kosmo Deli - my favorite "Korean Restaurant" in A2. :wink:

    LOL!! Well, we won't tell Lauren, she won't know the difference. :wink:

    Seriously, though, Chapin's descriptions of the food were textbook... just not much passion either way about it.

    I just today drove past Royal Korean on Shawnee Mission Parkway just West of Metcalf. There was a Japanese restaurant and a Chinese grocery store in the same strip mall so I plan on heading back soon to check it all out. So there must be two in town.

    I ate at Choga once, my one and only time for Korean. I was by myself and the service was not very good. I got their version of a bento box with some stir fried beef in one hole, rice and veggies in others. I asked if they could make it extra spicy for me and was told "it's already spicy". Well it wasn't. I asked someone familiar with the cuisine if it is hot. they indicated not all of it. My response was "some if it is. isn't it?" Hey UE likes ice cream and stinky cheese, I like hot. Back to Choga, I got the feeling that the meat was pre-cooked and warmed when ordered. Nothing I had was really very good. I see raves about Korean all the time and would like to try some good, and hot, Korean. Maybe a trip to Royal Korean is in my near future.

  15. Holy St. PETE that Chinatown Market really does have an amazing selection.  I've been neglecting it since the farmer's market season is over, but I do need to get down there one Saturday morning.

    Indeed they do. I might even make a run today. I stumbled upon a recipe for sweet & sour octopus that looks too good and they're the only ones I know who routinely stock fresh tentacles.

    Can you re-doux that recipe for me?

  16. I wasn't aware that the mega Asian store had moved from City Market - we'll have to track that down.  And on the City Market topic but reverting back from fish to meat, they have a few little meat markets that feature some offal, pig's trotters, and other less-mainstream cuts.

    I was told by a reliable source on chowhoud it had moved. I could be wrong. And yes, House of Sausage rules.

  17. At a restaurant I worked at a couple decades ago, we served lamb chops with japaleno jelly. And I had a whole bunch of jalapenos from the garden, Biker Billy's, really big and super hot. I decide to remember the recipe and and make some. Well, it looks good and tastes good but its kinda syrup-y. Hopefully someone can help rescue this jelly. Here's what I've done.

    4 cups apple juice

    4 cups sugar

    Diced green and red jalapeno

    Diced ancho

    Diced pasilla

    Juice of 1 lemon

    5 or 6 fresh mint leaves

    1 and then 2 packets of pectin (this was old, within a week of exp date)

    Brougt all to a boil, added pectin. When it didn't set, heated all again and added the second pouch.

    Are there any jelly makers out there that, unlike me, actually know what their doing who can rescue my jelly?

    Thanks,

    Mike

  18. There's a new place that is opening close to us at 119th and Blackbob called Gimme Sum. I'm assuming this is a chain. Looking through the front door, its very nice inside, i might even call it upscale, if I ever used words like that. Anyway, anyone ever heard of it? Any info? Is this a cheesy dim sum chain owned by Cheesecake Factory? :blink:

    Yep, you're instincts are correct (clickety). It looks kinda like Stix, the Japanese/Sushi chain at The Legends in its upscaliness (if you can use upscale, I can use upscaliness :raz:) and they have a Mission Statement - I hope never to eat in a restaurant with a written mission statement, preferring the more traditional menu. I wonder if their servers have to go to 7 Habits training? :laugh:

    Wow, truly scary stuff. Run away....

  19. There's a new place that is opening close to us at 119th and Blackbob called Gimme Sum. I'm assuming this is a chain. Looking through the front door, its very nice inside, i might even call it upscale, if I ever used words like that. Anyway, anyone ever heard of it? Any info? Is this a cheesy dim sum chain owned by Cheesecake Factory? :blink:

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