Eric_Malson

Well, I didn't choose the non-gastronomic digressipn, but allow me to drop my jaw at the use of the term "mediocre" to describe the works of art of people like Nuno Gonçalves... Okay, okay, I do love my sweeping generalizations.... That painting is better than anything I remember seeing there. The problem with that museum is that the gold nuggets are buried in rooms and rooms and rooms of stuff that is pretty much without interest, it seems to me, to anyone but art scholars. I seem to remember they have a pretty good Hieronymous Bosch there somewhere...

In this group (second-guessing a bit what you want, but I think I have a pretty good idea), I think the two most interesting ones are As Janelas Verdes and the Solar do Castelo. As Janelas Verdes is in the most traditionally chi-chi neighborhood in Lisbon, Lapa. It looks lovely, but you're not really near much of interest unless you just LOVE mediocre medieval religious art (the National Art Museim is practically next door). To my mind, it would be worth the hefty price tag ONLY if you get a room with a stunning view of the Tejo River. Solar do Castelo looks way cool....it's apparently within the castle walls, the centerpiece of the oldest neighborhood in Lisbon (I'm pretty sure it was not operating as a hotel while I was living there). You would be very well-positioned for lots of great walks....much of what you would want to see would be within easy walking distance. And the castle is a really special place--what a great location for a hotel! One other thought occurs to me: if you want to stay in a very pleasant, yet still real working neighborhood of Lisbon, there's a more modest, yet comfortable (so I'm told) hotel on top of what is, more or less, the next hill over from the castle, in the the neighborhood called Graça. It's called the Albergaria Senhora do Monte, and be sure to get a room with a terrace that overlooks most of the city.

Have you written about this place in Badalona, Eric, or is it a secret you must be tortured to disclose? :-) BTW, I share your approach to food but I'd add that the charm of eating in a grandma place includes not only the gastronomic experience but a sociological one that I find most interesting. No need to torture--a post about it will be forthcoming. I've had my hands full dealing with the disaster in my apartment I came home to after my trip to Spain.... soon!

I'll second the Penelope Casas recommendations (her The Foods and Wines of Spain is the best primer in English I know of for the Spanish cooking novice) and mention what is perhaps my favorite of hers, Delicioso!, which focuses on regional dishes. It seems to me the basic reference book for Portuguese cooking must be Cozinha Tradicional Portuguesa by Maria de Lourdes Modesto. This is also available in English under the title Traditional Portuguese Cooking--both versions are published by Verbo in Portugal. If there's a book (or even four) that covers as wide a range of basic information, regional cooking styles, and sheer number of Portuguese dishes, I don't know about it (and that's the sort of thing I would know about!). It's also a great looking book, with a lot of gorgeous pictures. On the subject of "comprehensive compendia of basic and essential information", I consider El Arte de Cocinar by Maria Luisa Garcia to be the best I've run across when it comes to Spanish cookery. It's in two parts, the second part being even more encyclopedic than the first. It seems to me it must be the Spanish equivalent of The Joy of Cooking. Sra. Garcia, is Asturiana, naturally!

That's exactly the news I came away with from my very first trip to Spain almost 20 years ago, except then it was much more true for all the areas of the country I visited, not just Asturias. Sadly, while Asturias is holding up pretty well in that department, other parts of the country seem to letting such traditions slide away (the demise of the formerly-mind-blowingly-wonderful La Charola in Villafranca del Bierzo is a perfect case in point). For me, "excellent traditional food based on local ingredients of pristine quality" is the strongest asset ANY place can have when it comes to food. (I confess to having virtually zero interest in what a place like El Bulli does.) By far the best two meals I had in my recent week in Barcelona were a) in the same restaurant, b) not even in Barcelona, but in Badalona, and c) could by described just that way. When I described my meals there to a friend who lived there, she said it sounded like "grandmother-style food"--a very good description. I love that....just call me "grandma"!

I just returned from 3 weeks in Spain, one of which was spent in Asturias, so a lot is quite fresh in my mind! My definition of "must-stop-and-eat sites" seems to be a bit different from a lot of people on this board, but these are some of the highlights of the Asturias I love. If you are driving from Cantabria to Asturias, I would definitely recommend heading inland a bit at Unquera, toward Panes, then take the road to Arenas de Cabrales (you won't miss too much in the way of beautiful coastline--there's plenty of spectacular coast a bit to the west). That way you'll be able to see the beautiful foothills of the Picos de Europa from a road that follows the Rio Cares much of the way, and it will lead you past Casa Julián in Niserias. A rural hotel with an excellent restaurant, it's difficult to go wrong here (if in doubt, ask Julián), but don't miss the patatas rellenas de carne. The hotel is comfortable, if you might be spending the night--personally, I'd rather stay here than Santillana or Santander any day--and if you get a room facing the hills, you'll have the river Cares gurgling past just a few paces from your window. That's one of my versions of paradise. Llanes is kind of fun....give it at least a cursory once-over. But definitely don't miss Lastres, a spectacularly beautiful town built practically vertically up from the seashore. I spent a couple of nights in Hotel Eutimio, a very reasonable and comfortable hotel in an 18th-century casona. The hotel's restaurant is good, if a bit pricey (I really do eat in places other than hotel restaurants....).... better food can be had a short drive away, either in Ribadesella or Villaviciosa. Ribadesella has a lot of good seafood restaurants--I had some excellent centollo, almejas a la marinera and gambas al ajillo at Casa Basilio. The owner's an asshole, but his food is good. Villaviciosa is a town known for its food, and I'd say justly so, according to my samplings. I had three meals in two days at Casa Milagros, and almost everything I tried was superb, especially the conejo de aldea (rabbit) and fabes con almejas--sort of a fabada-lite, with clams instead of the various pork products. Good sidra, and the jamón ibérico is sliced with an expert hand here. Extremely reasonably priced, especially considering the high quality. In a way my favorite meal in Villaviciosa, though, was at the Sidrería-Parilla "El Benditu". It began with guisantes con jamón, a mountain of peas with cured ham and some chopped hard-boiled egg in a light tomato sauce, followed by a big plate of costillas de cerdo and a sliced chorizo criollo that had been grilled on the wood fire out back. Washed down with a sturdy red wine, and capped by a cafe cortado and a chupito de orujo.....another version of paradise. And about the best 6-euro lunch I can imagine. In La Providencia, just east of the center of Gijón, is an extremely picturesque restaurant with spectacular views and quite decent food called Los Hórreos. Perhaps a bit too expensive for its own good, still it provides a memorable experience--at least, I remember my meal there to this day and it's been almost 20 years. Much has been written about Casa Gerardo in Prendes, just west of Gijón, elsewhere on this board. I can assure you it's worth the effort to snag a meal here. I don't know western Asturias nearly as well as I do the eastern part, but Cudillero is a cute coastal town with several good seafood joints. Friends of mine who play in the orchestra in Valladolid took me to Simancas, a town about 10 km from Valladolid. It's a favorite place of theirs to go, and I must say it's a pleasant, lovely town. Not sure you'll get your donkeys here, but well worth checking out.

Mesón Andaluz was certainly the only restaurant I ever tried in Portugal that served anything tasting remotely like Spanish food. Is the branch (actually, I think it's the original) in Parede still there? I always enjoyed that location more than the one in CascaiShopping. Miguel, I'd like to second Pedro's request for more of your thoughts on Portugal's seven regional culinary traditions. As much as I love Spanish food, I found that when I was in Portugal I had no interest in looking for it.... I was perfectly happy to stay in the "Portuguese mindset" and explore all that there was to offer, and most of the Portuguese I knew seemed to think the same way. And when they wanted something different, it was usually something much more different than Spanish food.

I love the Portuguese salada de feijão frade--a simple salad of black-eyed peas. Curious, since I'm not especially a fan of black-eyed peas when they're hot. But somehow cold, with some oil, vinegar, onion, hard-boiled egg, and a pinch of clove, they become ambrosial. Of course, a good Cantabrian centollo (spider crab), served cold with a bottle or two of sidra or albariño, is pretty heavenly, too, as I was reminded last week....

There's a quite decent Asturian restaurant in the c/Bordadores called El Ñeru. I've been going there for years whenever I needed an Asturian food fix in Madrid, and on my last trip to Madrid a couple of months ago I have to say I think the food has improved recently. They have a very reasonable menú and the arroz con leche (queimado de momento, even) was spectacular. I got sidra here for the very first time this trip, and it was excellent (although I had a false start when I first ordered it and got a draft of that fizzy, sweet stuff from the tap that some other people seemed to be enjoying but I thought was nasty...if you're not Spanish, be sure you ask for una botella de sidra!).

Is it possible you're thinking of a dish called "brik"? If so, I just had it last night. "Brik" is some mildly seasoned chicken (or was it meat? I don't remember) with some soft-cooked egg stuffed between good-sized rounds of phyllo pastry and fried. If that's it, a Tunisian/Moroccan restaurant called Epice on the UWS has it. I don't remember precisely where it is (we had the food delivered), but it's within one or two blocks of W. 69th and Columbus Ave. Edited to add re hillbill's post: I went to New Asha (Sri Lankan) Restaurant on Staten Island with a friend last year. It's quite the schlepp out there from the Columbia U. neighborhood, but the food was truly delicious, especially the black curry and this sort of hash made with egg, meat, spices and chunks of bread.

I, on the other hand, had NO trouble finding room for a fried meat-filled dough snack by the time we got Brighton Beach. The chebureki were 8-10" long half-moons of phyllo pastry stuffed with a very subtly spiced (read: bland, but in a nice, comforting way) combination chicken-and-meat filling. And at $1 apiece, the price is just about unbeatable. The ones from the stand in the picture looked the best of the ones we saw, but I think comparison tasting is in order the next time! Those potato pancakes at "Cappu-Gina's" were absolutely the best I have ever tasted. A lovely afternoon, with charming company!

Late May--what a wonderful time of year to be in München (by a lot, my favorite German-speaking city)! My last trip to München was about 8 years ago, but most or all of this information should still be current. On that trip, I also had the good luck to dine out frequently with a native who steered me to some great eating experiences. The highlights, as I consult my notes: Weißes Bräuhaus (Im Tal, 10, near Marienplatz) is one of the best traditional Bavarian kitchens in München. I'm a sucker for a good Schweinshaxe, and this place has one of the best. It's also the place to satisfy your knödel craving. It's a bierhalle, run by Schneider-Weisse, that has been around for well over a hundred years. A bit touristy, but that in no way detracts from the quality of of the food. I tried lungs (lüngerl) for the very first time here. Right on Marienplatz is the Cafe Rischart, the perfect place for your late-afternoon pastry-and-coffee fix. I still have dreams about their warm Topfenstrudel with vanilla sauce. Be sure to set aside an hour or two to walk around the Viktualienmarkt, München's open-air food market. It seems I couldn't let more than a day pass without stopping for a Leberkässemmel at the Schlemmermeyer stand. Promise you'll have one for me while you're there! Across from the Viktualienmarkt, at Prälat-Zistl-Str. 8, is the home of another of the great snacks in München, Schmalznudel. The eponymous specialty (which virtually every native, for some reason, calls an Auszogene) is a fried pastry shaped like a large donut, except that there is a thin membrane of pastry where the hole should be. Fresh from the fryer, they are heavenly, and the seating area is a very pleasant, quiet cafe. Another wonderful traditional Bavarian restaurant is the Gasthaus Isarthor (Kanalstr. 2, at--you guessed it--Isartorplatz!). It is (or at least it used to be) quite inexpensive, and serves a lot of "home-cooking" type specialties that more ambitious restaurants don't often serve. (For instance, I happen to love maultaschen--a sort of giant ravioli, and I almost never see it on restaurant menus. It's on the menu here.) There's very little that's more satisfying than a nice big plate of käsespätzle--a sort of German answer to macaroni and cheese--and theirs is among the best I've had. Their Blaubeerpfannkuchen (blueberry pancakes) are superb. It's quite popular and fairly small, so it's often a good idea to reserve a table. (089) 22 77 53. If you happen to be walking around the University area about lunchtime, the Gaststätte Atzinger (Schellingstr., at Amalienstr.) is a good place for an excellent, informal meal. The best Biergarten (and I dedicated WEEKS to trying as many as I could!) is Zum Flaucher (Isarauen 8), in an idyllic wooded area on the banks of the Isar. It can be a bit tricky to find, but it's well worth the effort (take the U-Bahn to Implerstr., then the No. 57 bus). I can't think of a better way to spend a warm afternoon in München, but get there on the early side, because they start to run out of the best food by the middle of the afternoon. The traditional biergarten specialties, and all manner of grilled meats--their ribs are exceptional.

I've noticed that it sort of is, although vegetable lasagna is more of one. Some friends of mine and I have a running joke that whenever one is invited to dinner at the home of some sisters of Sappho, it seems that one is always served vegetable lasagna. As for the pet/BBQ incident....I must say it never occurred to me that it would be a pet pig (and she still eats pork!).... I was picturing a kitty or a pomeranian immolating itself in an open barbecue pit! Or at the very least a disappearing pet rabbit...

I have almost nothing new to add to what's already here, except to mention the most disgusting, vile concoction I have eaten anywhere: my mother's salmon loaf (I shudder just typing the words)--sort of like meatloaf, made from cheap canned salmon (chalky vertrbrae intact....crunching into one of those was a truly nasty surprise), cooked until dry (naturally), and served with a pasty creamed-pea (made with canned peas, of course) sauce. I know I've gone on about this in at least two other threads here, but it was so traumatic I'm still working through it. Like many others, childhood was full of foods I thought I hated as a genre, but found out later I liked when prepared well (poor Mom....her heart just wasn't in cooking. I suppose it's to be expected from someone who once said to me, "I don't understand you....I don't get any aesthetic enjoyment at all from eating--I do it simply to satisfy the physical urge of hunger." Makes me wonder who my real mother was.) Memories....(like the corners of my mind!)... pork roast cooked to an almost unbelievable dryness, to which a can of raw sauerkraut was added to the roasting about 20 minutes before the end (which ended up tasting like....raw sauerkraut!). Yes, I honestly thought I hated pork growing up (are you amused slkinsey and bergerka?). All those canned vegetables, and the frozen ones weren't much better. And frozen fish sticks....does anyone actually like these besides lesbians? Some things I disliked then and dislike now: Cold sandwiches invoving packaged "lunchmeat" and mass-produced bread Most kinds of Cambell's canned soup Any salad whose principal ingredient is iceberg lettuce Raw veggies in general Lemon desserts, or sweetened lemon anything (I love savory lemon) Coconut desserts Grapefruit Any number of canned goods: almost all vegetables, fruit cocktail (ick!), those horrible La Choy "Chinese" creations From aliwaks' post above: Now I'm DYING to know more about that one!

And indeed you should call it that, as there is an accent on the "u" (Pitú). "Pee-too" means something else ENTIRELY in Portuguese! (yes, it's something normally unmentionable in polite company, although I routinely do it anyway....mention it, that is....ok, I'll shut up now....)

Oh, and Dynasty! For me, that's as big a loss as the West Side Market... it's the only decent Chinese restaurant within delivery range of my apartment.

Had another good meal here tonight, and couldn't resist posting about what has become my favorite dish here: the crispy duck with chili sauce. Slices of duck, skin, fat and all, fried until the skin and fat are--you guessed it!--very crisp (the meat stays tender, somehow) and stir-fried with a superb red chili sauce and lime leaves. It is sensational. Those chive dumplings sure are delish, too.

Oh, dear....it's probably been 5 years since I've been there and I just don't remember much of what I've tried. I do remember hoping for choucroute garni on more than one occasion, and they never happened to have it when I happened to be there. The one thing I do remember vividly is their onion tart....if it happens to be the "savory tart of the day", grab it! I used to love eating onion tart in Schwaben (Germany, where it's called zwiebelkuchen), and L'Acajou's is every bit as good or better than what I had in Germany (which is intended as the highest possible praise). I'm sure I had the rack of lamb at some point, and it was excellent....if there is rack of lamb on the menu, there is at least a 50-50 chance I will order it. I finally found an online menu here. The daily specials tend to be more "regional" in flavor than the regular menu, which is fairly standard bistro fare. (There are still many things I don't understand about search engines, it appears... a Google search for "L'Acajou" turned up dozens of listings on general restaurant sites, but not one hit for the site belonging to the restaurant itself. Finally found it linked from one the other general sites.....bizarre.)

I've had some really excellent meals at L'Acajou--53 W. 19th St. (Manhattan). I believe they identify themselves as an Alsatian restaurant....at any rate, they do have a yearly Alsatian festival.

Aha! That explains it! It seemed like a different store entirely from what it used to be when I was in there the other night By the time I had waited 20 minutes in a check-out line (at 11:30 p.m.), I had resolved never to set foot in the store again.

Had a marvelous meal here tonight....there were 3 of us, all big eaters, so we got to try what seemed like half the menu. Standouts for me were the pork larb--absolutely fantastic!--and barbecued pork appetizers (the barbecued beef with lime, mint and chili was delicious, and the papaya salad with shrimp, squid and mussels was good, but not the sort of dish I tend to get excited about). Decent green curry with chicken (must try the duck) and an ok but rather bland musamon curry with chicken (it's my friend Peter's "control" dish for Thai restaurants and he pronounced it excellent, but next to all the extremely spicy food, it seemed overly sedate). There was also a wonderful plate of "drunken noodles", which turned out to be chow fun in a very tasty, zingy sauce with bits of beef and vegetables. But for me, the real star of the meal is the dish I, naturally, can't remember the name of, but is easily identifiable in the curry section of the menu: something like "chu cho curry with tilapia filet" (definitely two "ch's"....Choo choo? Chachi? Chi-Chi's?). OK, the tilapia filet was fried a little too long and was a bit dry, but it was covered in a deep red paste that was the most delectable thing I have tasted in a long time....subtle, fiery, complex--all at the same time. Spectacular. I have GOT to get out that way more often. Of course, the problem is always talking Manhattanites (which leaves out almost all of my friends) into going out there. But it's sure worth the effort.

To keep it on topic for a moment....I agree with Sam that it's just too expensive for the neighborhood (at least when ordering the meat dishes). I enjoyed my meal, but am not in any particular hurry to go back. This is just a smokescreen for the real reason I'm posting here: to welcome Clement. Glad to see you're not just lurking, Rick!

Y'know, it's so long since I consulted it that at this moment I disremember whether it was the 2nd or 3rd edition that was so roundly censured by the language community - whichever one it was, though, a good deal of it made its way into the on-line version, which is why I tend to take it with many grains of salt. It sure is - and that's exactly why I value it for Quixotic quests like this one, history of usage being EXACTLY what I'm trying to track down! It was the 3rd edition of Webster that was "roundly censured by the language community". Still, as far as I know, there hasn't been a serious contender for its replacement as the American standard. And I certainly agree with you about the OED's immeasurable value as a dictionary and chronicle of the history of English usage. All I'm saying is that this value does not in any way extend to an informed opinion on pronunciation in accepted American usage.

You're asking a question that really has no answer. Language is not something set in stone, but dynamic and fluid. Changes can come about for any number of reasons. You might as well ask why any word is pronounced the way it is. If Merriam-Webster is "notoriously unreliable", this is the very first I've heard about it. Unless something has changed in the last 20 years or so, M-W is the standard reference for the English language as it is used by Americans. The OED is the standard for a much smaller portion of the English-speaking world, and its ideas on pronounciation are pretty much irrelevant to English the way it is spoken in America. It sure is great on history of usage, though!

Also late, but I love this topic. An excerpt from a now-classic piece from the London Sunday Times: