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SparrowsFall

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Everything posted by SparrowsFall

  1. The two times I've been to Nell's I've been quite pleased with the food. Not the most prepossessing ambience, but okay. The wine's list's bit shy on continentals, but otherwise pretty smart.
  2. Heck yeah, count me in! Hi everyone. Haven't been around for a while. I promise to be less incommunicado in the future.
  3. SparrowsFall

    Cassoulet Night

    In general I've been disappointed with Au Bouchon. (Some of you can imagine how happy I was to find a french-style bistro close to home.) It reminds me of the run-of-the-mill third-rate street restaurant in france. The carbonara, for instance, is pretty insipid and very soupy. (Go down the street to Asteroid if you want the best carbonara I've ever had, as long as you don't mind salt.) It's not bad food, it's just uninspired and predictable. The wine list is a travesty of boring standard big-brand names--Duboeuf, Jaboulet, etc. Campagne's cassoulet is wonderful. (And if you haven't had their Oeufs en Meurette, you haven't lived.) Im thinking of moving in. I think I'll go to Stumbling Goat tonight and see what they have, try out the Cassoulet if it's on the menu. I went once when they first opened years ago and wasn't impressed, but they've had a chance to get it together now. And it's crawling distance to my house.
  4. Absolutely run screaming. '67 was an execrable year. Parker's rating (FWIW) is the same as the year. Nuff said. Steve
  5. Coarse-ground black pepper (I use a mortar and pestle), coarse salt, finely chopped fresh rosemary, and Dijon mustard. Combine and rub all over its body.
  6. Re: Jumbo this sunday: I think I'm in....
  7. Nightscotsman, others seem to agree with you. A fellow named Scott Marlowe (who is qualified to judge because has a web site) sez: Heard Fong Chong in Portland was the best dim sum between San Francisco and Vancouver, BC? Wrong. The best dim sum south of Vancouver, bar none is Jumbo's. Best value. Fresh, light, variety of ingredients. We meet here the first Sunday of every month. It's a ritual. Seattle Weekly: Best new dim sum Here's a place that screams kitsch--not just the restaurant but also the newly opened mall that surrounds it: the Jumbo Chinese Restaurant (4208 Rainier S, 760-9200). For starters, the building is painted a cotton-candy peach. Besides food you get extravagant furniture, doll-like wedding gowns, and artificial flowers--all apparently popular with a certain segment of the southeast Asian crowd. But it doesn't pay to be snooty. The dim sum here is fresh and varied. You'll find all the staples: humbow, shrimp and pork dumplings, taro cakes, rice noodles filled with barbecued pork, egg tarts, stuffed eggplant and peppers, and much, much more. You'll also find some surprises, like pungent Chinese broccoli and a melt-in-your-mouth sesame bun that seems like the Chinese answer to cinnamon rolls. Dim sum is served every day till 3pm, and Jumbo's ample seating means no lines.
  8. A query elsewhere by Blue Heron reminded me that I've meaning to ask: what dim sum places do you like best? I've only gone for dim sum once in seattle, after fairly constant forays in New York (Sunday morning--old chinese guys drinking very black coffee, smoking endless cigarettes, and eating indescribable things). CitySearch has a pretty long list, but what do egulleters think?
  9. That's great to know. I'll give it a try. Thanks, Steve
  10. Blue Heron, thanks for your wonderful account. That kind of up-close-and-personal time with Bruce (and his mushrooms) must have been a real treat. He's a sweet guy, and he knows from duck stock. I've been to only one of his cooking classes, which was a treat. Hang out in the kitchen (maybe eight people fit?), watch him cook, drink wine, eat the results. What's not to like? He does them I think the last Sunday afternoon of the month. Let him know you're interested and he'll call to remind you a bit in advance.
  11. I agree that those scrubbers are the best. In fact, they're one reason I don't ever buy non-stick pans: you can't use that scrubber on them. Also, I almost never feel the need for a nonstick. At risk of sounding out-of-it (and going off-topic, but it's related), I'm a big fan of Revere Ware. Because: o It's stainless, which I find incredibly easy to clean using those scrubbers (plus metal cleaner if you care how it looks). o It's available in aluminum disk models (when you want the evenest heat, but with slower response time) and copper clad (when you're willing to sacrifice some even heat dispersion for fast heat and cool). o When I researched it about 15 years ago, Consumer Reports gave both versions top marks over the expensive brands for even heat distribution. My experience bears that out. o It has those nice black plastic handles that feel good in the hand, and heat and potholders are never an issue. (Downside: can't put them in the oven.) o It's cheap. o There's a 25-year warranty, but they don't ask for receipts. I sent a pan back that had a loose handle, and they sent me a new one. Took a little over a week round trip. o My mother's still using the Revere Ware pans she got for her first wedding in the 1940s.
  12. The two primary cost-related items I know of that contribute to ageworthiness are low yields and (supposedly) aging in new oak barriques. Clearly, new oak is unecessary to create age-worthy wines. Low yields and careful selection are fairly widespread in less expensive wines. I would suggest that the primary additional cost is the cost of property. That's why California wines, and the top Bordeauxs, are so overpriced, and why inherited family properties throughout Europe are able to produce such good wines at such good prices. What the Bordelais say may well be true--there are only a limited number of terroirs where great wine can be made. Hence the cost of those properties may be justified. But there may well be a self-perpetuating cycle at play, as well--or instead. While I agree that my search may be fruitless, I wonder what other winemaking techniques are required to make these wines, that also significantly increase the cost of production.
  13. Here are the the premises: o A single large Bordeaux chateau makes more wine than all the Cote-Rotie producers combined. o There are zillions of small, quality Bordeaux producers, putting out good wine at good prices. They've benefited from the dissemination of scientific winemaking techniques (I distinguish this from the Parker influence), so you'll rarely encounter the flawed plonk they sometimes put out before the 80s. So it seems that some of those producers might be producing Bordeauxs that will age well, at decent prices--$12 or $18 bottles that in ten or fifteen years will deliver a good bit of that wonderful aged-Bordeaux experience. Problem is, if you start testing now, you won't know for fifteen years. I didn't start searching for these, laying down twosies and threesies, until a few years ago, so I'm afraid I won't be able to share discoveries for some years yet. Has anyone found any of these--perhaps by accident? Bottles got lost in the cellar and turned into real surprises?
  14. SparrowsFall

    Is Claret a Con?

    I'm pretty much a northern Rhone guy myself, but Bordeauxs have been among my greatest wine-drinking experiences--along with quite a few disappointments. Bordeauxs often seem less dimensional than Rhones. They don't seem to have those prominent multiple flavor and aroma vectors. (I think of the '91 Clape Cornas, for instance--half a dozen different wonderful things happening together in that juice.) Just because they're less prominent, though, doesn't mean they're absent. Often more subtle and "elegant," but for me they're still there in a remarkable way. And there are quite few Bordeauxs that do have those prominently diverse flavors and aromas. (One reason I like Gruaud a lot, over a Pichon-Lalande for instance: I like sauvage.) On that point, I very much beg to differ with tonyfinch . Because 80s-and-before Bordeauxs are so tannic and tightly knit does not mean they didn't know how to make wine. In fact, I generally figure if California goes through a few centuries of trial and error, they may catch up. At every top-flight wine tasting I've attended (where you find folks who've drunk scads of great wine), I've taken an informal poll: "Think of the greatest wine-drinking experiences you've ever had--the ones you could still taste the next weekend, that you'll remember on your deathbed. Were any of those California wines?" Nobody has ever answered "yes." And as you'll see from my recent Gruaud thread posting, I think that what many of these winemakers have learned is not some secret to making good wine that they were too backwards to grasp, but how to pervert their remarkable, terroir-imbued wonders into something that tastes just like most of the other well-scored wines in the world. Gruaud is only one example of many. I have to wonder how Parker or anyone else can say what today's Bordeauxs are going to drink like in 20 or 30 years. They are completely different wines from those made in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. My guess is that they will not change nearly as much as those older wines, or get as interesting. I don't expect anything within the wines to overcome the oak chips. (Key distinction that the wine writers generally fail to make--how long will it improve [which is what matters] versus how long it will *last* [which doesn't really.]) Steve, I thought you were pushing things with the 35-year minimum; I do agree on 12. Many open up nicely and drink well at that point, a lot at 15, most by 20. '81 Gruaud has been fabulous for nigh on ten years. I had the 90 Beaussejour Duffau last year and if I had any, I'd be drinking it up with relish--yummy and ready. I agree the '85 Bordeauxs are wonderful, and have been for some years. OTOH, I'm still waiting to drink the one bottle of 61 Latour my dad left me--not time yet. The 66es I'm going through slowly. I had the '81 Beauscastel two years ago in Avignon, and I found it excellent but slightly on the fade. The rich fruitiness I remember from drinking it in '94 wasn't there as much for me. I also tend to find more disappointments in old wines. For every six bottles I experience like the 61 Trotanoy--absolutely untrammeled by time, gorgeous red, richly fruity, still working on generating all of its dimensions (this is a 30-year-old *Merlot*)--I run across one bottle with faded fruit, fading color, etc. (This is partially because I generally haven't had the funds for the great wines in the great vintages, so tended to work the margins looking for [hopeful] bargains, with a fair amount of success.) The emperor is certainly wearing far fewer clothes than everyone says he's wearing. And the prices, pushed up by label-chasers who don't even know what they like, make Bordeauxs iffy ventures at best. Those margins I've been working to find bargains have been vanishing like wetlands for years now. Which leads me to start a new thread, which I hope bears fruit.
  15. I adore Gruaud Larose. And Bordeaux-wise, it's a bargain. But I should put that in the past tense. I've drunk many, many bottles, vintages from '61 through '94. Consistently a big, strapping, tannic, non-"elegant" wine, which rough edges turn into tobacco, leather, cedarbox, smoke, and various other "how did they ever get this out of grapes" kinds of tastes and aromas. Gruaud was sold to some international outfit around '96. I was worried, but what I read about the '97 sounded damned promising--especially in such an inauspicious year. Because of that, I guess, I found six bottles of the '97 online for $28 a bottle (plus shipping). Drank one last night. Sigh. Overoaked. Overextracted. Tongue burning. Totally new world. All sorts of parker code words like hedonistic come to mind. In fifteen years this wine will taste just about the way it does now. It will never do what Gruauds of the past have done so miraculously. Wave a sad farewell to another one. Meanwhile, I'm seeing prices now for the '97 between $42 and $80. Sigh again.
  16. I saw this on America's Test Kitchen and had to give it a try. It really intensified the flavor of the tomatoes - almost too much. It also added a lot of depth and complexity since they actually start to carmelize in spots. I don't think I would do it with dead-ripe home-grown tomatoes, but for supermarket specimens or even canned it would be a huge improvement. Cooks Illustrated (the folks behind ATK, of course) recommended this for winter tomato soup made from canned tomatoes, I think. I haven't tried it. But what nightscotsman said. My approach to this with really good tomatoes is to cook them as little as possible, with the goal to retain as much of that fresh summer flavor as possible. I've even food-processed then strained them without cooking; they get cooked a little when you heat up the soup in February.
  17. Mixed results. Sometimes when it comes out I have to run it through the blender or food processor to smooth it out. I make the cream sauce then sieve the tomatoes into it. Stir. If the tomatoes are not the perfect sweet things we all dream of, I have been known to add a touch of sugar to offset the acid.
  18. Cream of Tomato soup. One cup of cream sauce (2Tbsb butter, 2 Tbsp flour, one cup milk) absorbs an *amazing* amount of tomatoes. Just cook the tomatoes enough to squeeze through a seive or food mill. A little salt. I freeze it in ziplocs with all the air out (freeze 'em flat to optimize freezer space), and you actually get a lot of that sweet fragrant summer tomato flavor in the middle of winter. Great with grilled cheese.
  19. I have the impression that "Pinot d'Alsace" signifies a blend of some type. Any clues, anyone? Edit: Z-H makes one, I know.
  20. Yeah, I guess I was thinking of where my friend was living--northern Ballard/Crown Hill. I love, Thaiku, by the way (formerly Noodles in Fremont). They have a greens side-dish which is just dishy. Steve
  21. SparrowsFall

    Crozes Hermitage

    I find absolutely nothing similar between a CNdP and a CH. As for "pay the extra $5 and get a decent CNP", I am not familiar with many decent CNP's in the price range, unless by decent you mean mediocre. I don't think we were saying they're similar. But in terms of price/performance, I've been happier with CnPs in the $20-25 range (Benoit Truffiere, Bois du Boursan) than with CH's in that range. I've never had that northern rhone hillside-syrah experience from a CH. (even the '90 Graillot, when I had it back in '94 or so, struck me as a good solid Rhone, but not so special.) But I'll try out some of the others suggested here. I'm always dying to find (even strong traces of) that experience under $20 It seems to me that Syrah has two expressions (at least in the old world)--what I call the flatland Syrah, which is spicy and robust, like wine from other Rhone varietals. Then there's the [insert Ron Johnson's favorite words here] style, which comes from the hillsides--Hermitage, Cornas, Cote Rotie. This is not universal--quite a bit of Noel Verset's land is down on the flats, for instance and Domain des Grand Devers does some amazing Syrah juice way down in the flats of Valreas--but do others experience those two fairly distinct expressions?
  22. SparrowsFall

    Crozes Hermitage

    My experience with Crozes (and to a lesser extent St. Joseph) is similar to Gigondas--almost every one I've had is a very good, spicy, robust Rhone--but at a higher price than a CDR would command, and without the complexity of a CNP, Cote-Rotie, Cornas, or Hermitage. I feel the same about the Clape CDR, Chave's Mon Coeur and Offerus (and other St. Josephs), and other high-ticket CDRs from big-name producers. The price-performance ratio isn't there for me. There have been exceptions, of course.
  23. Thanks, yes, Matt's is what I meant. And I agree that we're awful darn lucky to have all the good food we have. Was just talking about this to a food friend today who spent decades in SF. Moved here ten or twelve years ago. The contrast she made was that in her opinion, pretty much *every* neighborhood in SF has a selection of good restaurants. Not so in Seattle. Now of course she lived in Ballard for a long time--one of my favorite places, but inexplicably to me, something of a restaurant black hole.
  24. sfroth, could you explain this further? My experience with creme brulee is a chilled custard, with crisp sugar top. Was the entire dish warm? Were the raspberries embedded in the custard underneath the sugar? Bruce's Creme Brulee is dangerous, cause it kind of spoils you for the same ol' that you get everywhere else. Think of a shallow dish (like for shirred eggs) filled with rich, creamy stuff, kind of like unset custard in its consistency, but not quite. Kind of...I don't know...fluffy. Brandied raspberries scattered in, sugar on top, broiled in the oven, not with the normal gastronomic blowtorch. The sugar isn't hard--more like toasted marshmallows but not sticky. I'm such a fan of this (I only remember one time it wasn't on the menu) that many years ago for my birthday (at my house--a long crawl up the hill from le gourmand) a friend had Bruce make up several, brought them up and broiled them in my oven. Yum. Steve
  25. I think we spent four hours over that dinner. (Yeah, I know--we were rushing it.) Paced much like restaurants in France, with more attentive service. (You don't, for instance, have to wait 45 minutes between coffee and the bill.) I think my favorite thing was the cucumber soup. Marvellous flavours, deftly blended but individually distinguishable. Agreed on never enough foie gras (but this was too little). Made it at my house once (purchased at University Seafood), and it was enough and wonderful. I recommend this for special occasions. Easy to cook, you just do it in hot oil (you end up with a *lot more* hot oil), and take it out at the right time. A few more menu items. Not all of these are on the menu right now--some come from memories of years past, others I pulled off web reviews to supplement my steadily declining memory. Asterisked items are, I'm pretty sure, still on the menu, though with some variations to the sauces based on what's fresh. (Like I said, at le Gourmand le plus ca change...) Double asterisks are old standys that have been on the menu forever--again, some variations. There are always vegetarian options, but I can't remember them. Fresh sole and shrimp mousseline with chive beurre blanc. ** Rabbit liver pâté (with a touch of cognac?) ** Blintzes filled with Sally Jackson sheep milk cheese, in chive butter sauce. (baked, not sauteed.) ** Beef tenderloin in shallot butter and Merlot pressings (I remember cabernet pressings, but two reviews said this). This is actually boiled in stock on a string, which is amazing to me. Served rare or as-you-like-it. In general I figure anyone who boils good beef is either english (apologies to the many fine english chefs), is capable of letterspacing lowercase type, or has unnatural relations with herbivores. But this is perfect and wonderful. * Rabbit in apricot sauce (different sauce now....) * Boned quail ** Venison in elderberry and pinot noir stock. ** Washington lamb in a sauce of lamb stock, Italian prunes (in season), fresh dill and cognac. * Salmon in a gooseberry, cream and dill sauce Sturgeon in Matsutake mushroom sauce. Raspberry tart with lemon crème, glazed with red currant sauce. There are always wonderful tarts on the menu--what's fresh and good. Don't look for contraption desserts here--generally more straightforward. Homemade green-fig ice-cream, other such stuff that I (and I'm sure you) make at home all the time. There is also a cheese plate. I wish more Seattle restaurants offered this--or even better, a cheese trolley from which you can choose your own. Probably not enough demand though, to keep them all fresh. A good review at: http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/0002/r...restaurant.html
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