Really Nice!

Did he ever complete the purchase of Cucina Cucina!?

Sorry for taking so long, Laurie. I couldn't recall everything so I wanted to go to the restaurant a copy the menu, but dang if he hasn't changed it already. It was once again, right on the mark. There were four of us and I'm missing some of the dishes... First plate Mixed garden greens with goat cheese and toasted almonds Chilled tomato soup with avocado crab salad Heirloom tomato salad with cold poached halibut, basil Foie gras with figs and sauce saba Second plate Sweetbreads with chanterelle mushroom ragout with potato puree and veal jus Seared sea scallops with sauce pesto and oven dried tomatoes Braised pork breast with herb spatzell and rosemary jus Chicken breast with polenta and basil(?) I know we had more dishes but this is all I can remember.

Oh this is going to be one interesting book! From the sample Vichyssoise recipe provided at www.anthonybourdain.com

I'm guessing that I get about 4 or 5 junk e-mails a day that include my city, and sometimes my street address, on the subject line. When this first started happening it scared me a bit seeing how I am a victim of credit card fraud. I wondered what else they were trading. And I wanted to know who it was that sold my soul... da bastard! All it takes is one to sell your information because the buyer is surely going to turn around and become a seller. Anyway, this is why I don't turn on junk e-mail filters. I want to see each and every e-mail to see what they know about me.

just curious: which charcuterie class? i know of one in Seattle at Culinary Communion. are there others? It was a 4th quarter class at The Art Institute of Seattle's Culinary Arts program. The program is 7 11-week quarters and goes for 21 months. We made: Bacon Prosciutto Pastrami Pepperoni Rabbit Pâté en Croute Campagne Terrine with Liver Duck confit on Orange Crackers Smoked Duck Breast with Orange Sauce Terrine of Pork Rillette Chicken Galantine with Breast Garnish

Funny, Harry Mills said the exact same thing in my charcuterie class.

If I had $10,000 for every time a woman called me Maximus, I'd have $0.00. Just an FYI... . . . Carry on...

Ah, good point. I hope that bodes well for this place. One thing I forgot to mention... Jim Drohman, of Le Pichet, was hanging around for a couple of hours last night in 'traditional' street clothes. I wonder what he was up to...

Just need to clarify some reseach. Is it between June and August? Thanks!

You're a paranoid Luddite! I moved for the first time in 11 years this past spring. I cancelled all services except for credit cards. The phone and cable companies did not know the new address. For a while there was no junk mail. Last month, I bought a new TV at Best Buy, and as an incentive to get a 10 percent discount, I applied for their credit card. I now have more junk mail than ever before. Credit card applications, blank checks, AT&T sending me $100 check to transfer my long distance carrier... Arg.

Shoppers learned to play the loyalty-card game.

Had dinner at Union tonight. There were a total of 10 people having dinner between 6:30 and 9:30. There was one person in the bar. After the March Madness of the 8-course tasting menu for $25 I walked by each night that first week in April and saw no more than 6 people having dinner around 7:30. On Tuesday night, April 6, (I know, I retain crap like this) I walked by and there was no one in the place, not even in the bar! I hope this restaurant doesn't get into the Farewell & Welcome thread. Are the prices keeping people away? BTW, they have the 375ml bottle of '94 d'Yquem at only $100. A steal.

Ah, let me guess. Martha is innocent?

How could you miss it? I went to Google and typed Multnomah County Oregon Health Department First hit shows Multnomah County Health Department. Under Health Department Services, click Food Establishment Inspections. Took longer to type this up than it did to find it.

Be they wood or plastic, clean cutting boards serve you well. No mention of corian.

Uncrush yourself. Good news for Sears fans We need clickable smilie of Snoopy dancing across the screen. Thanks Gary!

Hi Alex, welcome to Egullet. You know, I should either work for KIRO or become their lawyer because this information is online. Click this link. Enter a business name. (Enter, for example, Saigon Deli.) (Optional) To limit search, enter the street name, city, or zip code. (Enter Jackson.) Click the Search button. Here anyone can find comments regarding the infractions at this restaurant including: -Food workers not washing hands after coughing, sneezing, or otherwise contaminating hands. -Food contact surfaces not maintained, cleaned, sanitized. -Dishwashing: no sanitizer, improper temperature, incorrect technique. -Improper hot holding of potentially hazardous foods because of poor equipment design or maintenance, or not being operated correctly (129 degrees F and below). -Raw meats, poultry, aquatic foods stored above ready-to-eat foods. Pooling of eggs. -Drinking ice not made with water from an approved source. -Floors, walls, ceiling improperly installed, maintained, cleaned. And here you'll find restaurant closures due to health code violations. Hope we don't see something we've frequented. To give KIRO credit, the Web site doesn't have a search function to find the most infractions.

I'm crushed. I was going to write, "What, no mention of Sears?" Then I did a search to find the address and came across this. I am truly crushed. This was our mecca everytime we came down for a visit.

When I had a house I built a passive, subterranean, 160-bottle cellar in the bedroom closet. It was quite easy as all I had to do was to cut a hole in the floor and built a plywood box inside the hole and add shelves. Then added a ton of insullation surrounding the box from underneath the house. The temperature never varied far from 55F-65F. (I live in Seattle.) It soon became obvious that this was not enough so I bought a 400-bottle cellar from LeCache with the armoire window and medium finish. I used this to store my Bordeaux, Penfolds Grange, and the usual cult wines from CA. It soon became obvious that this was not enough so I converted the third bedroom into a wine cellar and built an 1,100-bottle racking system. Earlier this year I moved into a condo and there was no way the LeCache cellar was going to make it in the elevator let alone in through the smaller door in the condo. (Do they do this on purpose so all your appliances are small?) Anyway, I moved all the good stuff into a wine storage facility where I'm paying about $1.25 a bottle a year for storage at 55F and 70 percent humidity. My cigars are there too.

One what, Whole Foods or Trader Joes? There is a TJs currently under construction on Madison on Capital Hill, if that's what you're interested in.

Ahem, as one who was born in 1959, allow me to introduce myself and ask, How can I become your best friend? Absolutely! Ports and Madeiras can go a long distance. I have a 1933 port that I have set aside for my mom's 75th birthday in a few years. I also have an 1834 Barbeito Malvasia Reserva Velha that I plan to open on my 75th in 2034 when the bottle is 200 years old.

12 bottle case of 2000 Petrus. And they better toss in the original wood case for free!

And please don't say cheesecake factory.

I completely forgot, the same thing happened with someone at our table who replaced the squab with duck in her tasting menu. Our waiter too served it with immediate apologies and announced that they'd bring another shortly to replace it. We just passed the over cooked one around the table. By the time the dish came back to her, the new one was coming out of the kitchen.

Blue Heron requested that I offer an account of my dinner at Le Gourmand from another post: Naked and sweaty in Seattle. It was my birthday dinner so I didn't even know where we were going. I honestly thought we were going to a barbecue! There were five of us. Kriste brough along a bottle of champagne, which they graciously offered to continue chilling. No one recalls what they charged for corkage. We sat down at about 7:15 and everyone was there by 7:30. The waiter poured our champagne and let us be for a while. I think it was about 8:15 before he got our order into the kitchen. THe whole night was a bit slow paced. We left at about 11:45 and I wasn't quite ready for the night to go that long. I would have taken a siesta beforehand to be better prepared. There were two servers for the 28 chairs, I counted 23 people when they were at their busiest. The food was good, but a bit rich for such a hot evening. And as the evening wore on the restaurant got hotter. Four of us had the seven-course tasting menu, but due to the heavy influence of mushrooms, Kriste opted for the regular menu, which consisted of blintzes filled with Sally Jackson sheep milk cheese in chive butter sauce, rack of Lamb in montmencory(sp?) cherry and lavender sauce, She thought this was the best dish of the night. I thought his chanterelle mushrooms were my best dish. As Steve mentions, the foie gras a bit on the small side, but it was prepared well. The fish/seafood terrine was quite good. Over the last couple of years I've developed an aversion to fish, especially steamed. I was hesitant to try this, but it went down okay. We were kept being told that we were going to have legumes as out main side dish, but we got a plate of steamed greens and new potates. They were out of profiterols. We concluded that the staff was only going as fast as the kitchen. I'm not sure if adding one more person to the kitchen would help or hinder. I liked the prices of their wine. After the champagne we had 2000 DeLille Chauleur Estate (white) for $42. Not bad considering it's $32 in the stores. All-in-all it was an enjoyable evening, but it was very expensive.