malarkey

last one: We did the $25 menu at Andaluca. Had calamari (I noticed they've changed their menu and a couple of the dishes we had are no longer available on the $25 menu). the calamari was sauteed in a spicy tomato/paprika type of sauce, served with grilled bread. very nice dish. Next was the beef tenderloin with cabrales cheese melted on top, sitting on top of mashed potatoes and grilled pears on the side. the flavor combination of the grilled pears with the tenderloin with blue cheese was really great. this was the stand out dish of the evening. dessert was the cranberry/pear crisp, this was a nice dessert, but it was not as fabulous as the bread pudding I had at Barking Frog.

Have had 2 of the $25 for 25 dinners. Barking Frog: ok, so its on the eastside and it was an easy one to hit after work. Had broiled oysters, proscuitto wrapped rabbit, and cranberry bread pudding. oysters were good, nothing to write home about, rabbit was tasty but a bit dry, and the bread pudding was the clear and overall winner. why? because it was swimming in a pool of delectable caramel. Batgrrrl, you would have LOVED it. No chocolate in site, and little frozen cranberries used as garnish. sounds unexciting, but was really knocked out. And I'm not typically a dessert lover. Brasa: met a friend there last night. good selection on the $25 menu. Like 4-5 choices per appetizer & entree. only 2 dessert choices. I had a salad (which I later regretted, salads are boring and they did list some interesting apps, including the mussels). Had the roast suckling pig. Well, had to, since I've never had it and it was one of the entree choices. Yummy, spicy. dessert: profiteroles, hmm, sorta boring, but like I said, I'm not really much of a dessert eater.

hmmmmmm dim sum at 11am.... hmmmmm.

OH crap !! my heartfelt sympathy! but hey, the cooking school idea is great. Finally you can become famous and I can say "I knew nightscotsman when..."

holy smokes jparrott. Lots o' tasting. I'm just gonna print it out and go shopping. Thanks for posting.

wow, you are so right Bux. heh, good way to put it too, being *starved* for the company of people who love food...

ohmygod Batgrrrl!! if you knew how many times I've whined about this very same thing!!! TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE!! yes, I like chocolate, but every restaurant has 8 chocolate desserts and one MAYBE two non-chocolate. ok, so maybe I exaggerate a bit but this makes me so nuts. nightscotsman, you go ahead making your blueberry cakes and your apple cakes and we'll eat them!!

;-) yes, we sampled, but I don't think we were supposed to, because Jim D. said "just don't let anyone see you do it" ;-) probably health dept rules. I didn't see any other demos, as I had lots to do that day and didn't stay real long. I was there with some other foodie friends, one of whom lurks on this board ;-) I didn't see any other egulleteers... it was great fun, can't wait to try making the chicken myself.

I went to this today. It was great, I got there when they opened, and had a front row seat ;-) to watch it all. he hacks off the wing tips and cuts out the wishbone. it gets cooked in a small sauté pan just big enough to hold the chicken. doesn't brine, uses regular butter, uses Brittany sea salt. he trusses the bird so tight its like a little ball. what amazes me is that the butter doesn't burn, even though the chicken roasts at 500° for an hour. I gotta try it now... he says its really important that its served immediately after coming out of the oven, otherwise all the juices run out and it will become dry. The recipe for the gratin on the web site has a typo, where it calls for 1/2 cup flour & 1/2 stick of butter, these should both be 1/4 respectively.

This made me laugh out loud. I like the idea of doing a vertical butter tasting. I love the Isigny Ste Mere normandy butter too. I've had Plugra, I think its good, but I've not tried the Lurpak yet. Since a few of you said it tastes 'cheesy' I'll have to try it. "It comes down to the cream" - Hey that would make a good sig line. When I was a child, we'd get milk from the neighbors Jersey cows. A good 3 or more inches of cream would rise in those glass gallon jars, as thick as creme fraiche right on top. I used to spoon it off and eat it just like that much to my mother's horror. She used to tell me my insides were gonna all stick together if I kept doing it. I grew up never understanding why people wanted to put sugar in whipped cream, to me its always tasted just right the way it is.

dammit! I can't do the 10th! oh well, I might plan to hit E&O on a wed or thurs after work sometime...

so how was Nishino tighe? I think you are the first among us to venture into the 25 for $25 arena...

hey yeah... I loved heyjude's idea of going down there and ordering everything on the bar menu. was this discussed last night and I missed it?! the bunny paella, too funny, I'll have to try that next time.

back when Bert Grant was still operating his Yakima brewery in the mid 80's, they made a spiced ale that they put out at xmas time that you supposedly could drink warmed. I never did, but I did really like that beer and I looked forward to getting it every year. Who was the brewer there then? anyone know? its character changed over the years and then they stopped making it altogether. pity. I wonder who has that old recipe.

YES! I've had several of the Lustau's that I thought were just fabulous. I seem to remember having one that had a hazelnut/pecan type of thing going on, and it wasn't overly sweet. How the hell do they make that happen? And these things are cheap! I love ports, especially old tawny's, but sometimes I prefer a really great sherry or madiera. maybe most of the time. hmmm I agree, these wines don't get the attention they deserve.

OK, you got it then ! Would it be snotty of me to say the Cantillons, all of them? one near & dear to my heart that I buy over and over: La Chouffe Golden Ale. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so good.

aggghh! I must resurrect this thread. I went to Prager Port Works in early September. I loved this place. Jim Prager was there running the cash register, the showroom guy was there conducting the tastings (great glasses you got to take away from the tastings, eh?) and the artist who designed a few of his labels was there signing bottles. Way cool. I tasted the white port, but to tell you the truth, it didn't blow me away. I think I need to taste it by itself, not alongside a bunch of other ports/dessert wines. What they did have that blew me away was an muscat, and I brought home a couple of bottles of that. Also brought home the Madeline, signed by the label designer! now that I'm back, I wish I'd bought more of that muscat. I need to look around here and see if I can find it...

you buy 6 of the bordeaux, and you get 6 of the burgundy as a gift. Then when you get to the ship page, you choose 'super shipping' or something like that and the shipping is free. yippee!!

oh hey, if you had Michelob, you were livin' up town ;-) Whoever said it was so 70's is right on. It was a cut above Coors, Bud, Miller, definitely. It was more expensive, for one, and it tasted *smoother*.. to our teenage taste buds. I'm a total snot now. All the mega-brews taste like swill to me. But if I find myself on a tropical island, (just like I did when I went to American Samoa) where its 90° and I'm sitting under a palm-leaf thatched umbrella in a deck chair buried into the sand staring out at azure seas, and Bud is the only beer... I'll drink it, you betcha. In fact, when I was in Samoa, we drank Vailima when we could get our hands on it, brewed in western Samoa, slightly better than Bud, definitely in the pilsner style.

Colt 45 Malt Liquor. No doubt about it.

heh! I did it too, today. Deal is still going on. 12 burgundy/bordeaux glasses, $65. Great deal. can't wait to get 'em!

mmmmm mojitos. I had my first one at the Waterfront bar. The most difficult thing to making them at home is getting that minty flavor. I've even made ones that were loaded with mint but didn't taste "minty" AND I had muddled them vigorously. maybe too much :-/ I've made others that came off delicious very effortlessly, so I'm not sure what the secret is. thanks for the review klink- I'll have to check this place out.

YES!! I finally went last night with a friend. Had frites, the mussels, and the wood fired olives & walnuts app thingee. Had the "Confusion" speciality cocktail (yum yum) (ok, I had two of them while eating) and finished off the evening with a Beaumes de Venise Muscat. Wow, what a deal. I wanna go back.

no kidding mamster? the one and only time I've eaten there I found it incredibly bland. What did you have? perhaps we chose the wrong things... I *do* like Orrapin though. Their tod mun pla is great, and I really like their panang curry. For phad thai, I like Tup Tim Thai at the bottom of Q.A. Actually Tup Tim has a bunch of good stuff, IMO. Bai Tong was my very first taste of Thai food, ~13 years ago. The quality of their food has changed considerably over the years. I still, though, cannot find a garlic shrimp as good as theirs was in the old days.

OK, I ate at the eastside one just tonight. I had the dried green beans, and the garlic eggplant. (I had 2 of the 3 dishes they recommended in the review). The initial 2 or 3 bites I thought the flavors were fairly subdued, but as I continued, the flavors really started to grow on me. I like it! quite tasty, and it did save me from eating something really boring. There were a lot of people in there, and a lot of people calling orders in, and a couple standing at the counter waiting to order their to-go stuff. I didn't take a look at the menu, but I'll try & go back and check out some of their other stuff. The dried green bean thing is something they also make at Judy Fu's. They have a good version of this dish also.