bobag87

Texas appears to take the lead. Dallas here and another non-professional.

We just finished two days of experimenting with the book and are pleased to report that our efforts were mostly successful. The bad news first -- the Arzak egg. We have been trying to figure this out for 3 years ever since we were served it at Arzak. The first try according to MC's 12 minutes -- yolks over done. Tried again at 10 minutes and the whites were not fully set. Oh well. Aside from this we tried the following with great success: WD50 egg yolks (Egg Salad Sandwich) -- Perfect texture to the egg yolks and we did eat them on brioche as a finger sandwich. Everyone loved this. Idiazabal Gnocchi -- This was fantastic. It took time and effort, but both the broth and the gnocchi were fantastic. Spherified Olives -- This is an easy approach to this dish with a much greater success rate than I have had with other variations. Hanger Steak Tartar -- Great techniques in the recipe and we enjoyed this. The only complaint was the sorbet was overly sweet to our tastes. We also used the compressed watermelon (salt and pepper then compress in chamber vac) with feta, prosciutto, champagne vinegrette and micro green garnish which was a unanimous hit. All I can say is the books are a true work of art, easy to use and a lot of fun.

I agree that this is not a serious secondary market, but I am guessing one will develop. I am fairly certain that the first print run of 5,000 copies will lead to an actual collectibles market (as in rare book market) in the first edition first printing. We shall see.

The secondary market has started. There are 5 copies on ebay at $770 a piece. I think the secondary market for this work is going to be very interesting to watch.

I don't know about that, but I will say anyone who is arguing about these volumes being too "high brow" or unaccessible for the home cook might want to discuss it with my daughter. With two ingredients ordered easily online and regular grocery store items (cheese, beer and pasta), this was an easy dish to prepare (fun for kids) and was absolutely delicious. The possibilities for the leftover cheese product are endless -- I am convinced that I am on the verge of creating the best queso recipe ever -- a major issue here in Texas.

While other reviews may have more substance, my 5 year old daughter just pronounced the following on the Mac and Cheese made using the MC recipe: "This is so yummy, I wish it would stay in my tummy for ever."

I wish it was a different review. As you can see from my 09 post, we were excited about the reopening.

Be glad you did not go. We went in November and it was horrible and did not reflect any of the concepts that were being discussed. They did have feed me wine me, it just was poorly executed with bad food. I wish we would of stayed away.

We have been having a blast with this new technique. Our first success was hatch chile infused silver tequila. Which is great on its own, and even better on a 1/1/1 ratio with Patron Citronage and Fresh Lime Juice for a green chile margarita. We also tried watermelon and vodka. The infusion was great with tons of clean watermelon flavor. Not sure what drink to make with it, any suggestions?

With much trepidation, my wife and I did the 9:00pm seating at Fuego, the new 4 seat "modern gastronomy" tasting menu at Stephan Pyles this evening. We were exteremely pleased and surprised at our dinner this evening. While the dinner was not a night at El Bulli, it was far and above anything that Dallas currently has to offer and was quite a successful dinner. The menu had many very successful dishes such as: Cucumber hibiscus cocktail -- a great refreshing start Hot potato-cold potato -- while the lack of originality in the title bothered me, this was a different dish from that at Alinea -- it was a great potato ice cream with a warm potato foam. Caviar and chives added interest. Seared watermelon salad -- compressed watermelon, seared in the wood burning pizza oven, with tomatoes and herbs and sherry/olive oil -- this was phenomenal. Scallop, Mexican chocolate, Saffron rissotto -- this was a great flavor combination. The scallops were quickly seared in the Pizza oven and sprinkled with shaved dark chocolate. They were great. The cheese course (a rarity in Dallas) was "blown up brie". Using an isi cansiter, the chese was arified and served with honey comb, cherries and other items. This was a perfect cheese course and a surprise in this city. The deserts started with corn sorbet with no sweetener. This was absolutely fantastic -- pure corn essence and sweet, but not too sweet. Chocolate soup with curry ice cream and tapioca was also great -- a mild curry ice cream with basically a chocolate sauce was surprisingly good and a highlight of the night. Some items missed -- the Halibut was slightly overcooked, but had good flavors, The pork belly dish was great, but did not need the "vegetable garden", etc. Overall, the meal was 11 courses, with 3 amuses not counted. The interaction with chef McCallister and his helper was great and down to earth -- no questions were out of bounds and their reactions were certainly no scripted. Again, while this is not El Bulli or Alinea, it is light years ahead of anything currently existing in Dallas and I will definitely be going back. The wine pairings generally worked. The best was the chimay ale with the oxtail marmelade bao bun. Throwing some beer out as a pairing was a great touch.

Two books, easily available on the internet have great fry bread recipes. Idonapshe: Let's Eat: Traditional Zuni Foods by Rita Edaakie has a recipe for Zuni Muts'ik'o:we or Fry Bread. Also try Hopi Cookery by Juanita Tiger Kavena for Wheqwivi or the Hopi version of Fry Bread. Neither recipe is very complicated and are easy to do.

Another thread covering our trip to San Sebastian -- -- hope this helps.

Thanks for the post on trying these two places out. I look forward to trying them and hope all of us will continue to post on our experiences.

I agree with the suggestions on the Casas, Hirigoyen and Andres books. I would strongly suggest reading both Andres and Casas to get a foundation in both the traditional and more modern. Andres also has a book out called Made in Spain, which is helpful. We spend a lot of time researching Tapas and Pintxos for an annual party we have. One of the real treasures is a small book called "Easy Tapas: Spanish Snacks to Serve with Cocktails." by Beresford. This book has some of the best traditional recipies I have found in any source. Particularly the Albondigas, Pinchos Morunos and Pimientos, which are always huge hits at our party. In fact, the Albondigas is the best meatball recipie I have used from any culture.

I think Craft is putting out good food. It just does not rise to the level of Charlie Palmers (IMO), and there is no Texas focus as with Pyles. All of that aside, we love a good meal at Craft.

For what it is worth, here is my take. Currently, the most consistent and best gourmet food in town is Charlie Palmer's. There is a little western flare here (mostly in the desert offerings), but not much. If you are looking for "Texas" or "Southwestern" takes on cuisine then you should look to Pyles and Fearings. I think Pyles is a notch above Fearings, but many people disagree. My main problem with Fearings is I feel that things are taken too far down a "Southwetern" path just to say it is Southwestern or New Texas cuisine. I think Pyles shows a greater restraint, but the idea still shows through as an inspiration for the food. I also agree that York Street is a good spot if you are looking for a good solid meal. Note that it is small and has its occassional misses, but overall, we have been generally very happy with the meals served there. I agree that I would skip BBQ in Dallas. Angelo's in Fort Worth has decent ribs, but you have to get to central Texas to get really good BBQ. It is a shame that this is true, but no one has stepped up yet.

This is excellent news!

We are actually staying there (the closest place I could find for the game Thursday night which finally gave me an excuse to check it out). I am astounded by the prices so I am sure I am going to be a bit dissapointed. However, I am interested to try dinner and hopefully won't feel I was fully fleeced for the room and dining charges. I will post an update when we get back.

We are thinking about staying, and more importantly eating, at Dos Brisas near Brenham next weekend. Has anyone been?

I bought mail order from Hudson Valley Foie Gras. I bought a whole duck Foie and cooked it at home. Fantastic! They have other products as well.

I don't know if anything is new, but it is still going strong. We go in every couple of weeks or so for sandwiches or to buy some ravioli for dinner at home. Always seem to leave with a lot more than I intended to.

I was introduced today to Baby Blue Whisky. A small distiller (Balcones) in Waco, Texas is producing a corn whisky made from Native American blue corn. I was able to secure one of the last bottles in the Dallas, Tx area as they had just put out their first limited production and found this to be a great handcrafted whisky. It is a "corn whisky" not a bourbon. It is lighter and not as sweet as a bourbon, but I found it to be complex and fascinating. A couple of ice cubes and possibly a splash of water is all that is needed. While light, the blue corn flavor actually is the surprising fundamental to the taste of this whisky. It is clear and very noticeable. As I am a big fan of New Mexican food, this flavor was a huge hit with me. Some may find it earthy, but I think all will enjoy. Here is the website. http://www.balconesdistilling.com/babyblue

Great report! I cant wait to hear more about the rest of the trip. We were there in March and loved it.

That makes a lot more sense. How did porcini mushrooms end up at the Ski Basin? Are there native porcinis in America?

Come to think of it, I doubt highly that they were Shitakes (perhaps too much wine). Several people have indicated to me that there are large numbers of mushrooms growing in the ski basin and that they were transplanted species. I have not looked into it any further, but a quick google search shows that there are a lot of people collecting mushrooms in the ski basin. Whatever they were, they were pretty darn good.