melkor

Thanks, Dave. That is an interesting suggestion. I don't believe that 1960 was particularly notable for port, but if a port won't have lasted reasonably then what would have? ← It being a colheita, it would be more like a single vintage tawny - kept in bulk for much of the past 47 years and only bottled recently. I wouldn't expect the wine to be earth shattering but it'd probably be quite decent. I would expect it to be more alive than most of the other options from 1960.

When you said: I asked if you had tried the cultivated Italian black truffles Ken referenced in his post. They aren't as good as the best Perigord blacks, but they're better than the average Perigord blacks I've had in the states at restaurants and worlds better than the black truffles available at gourmet markets around the country. FWIW, here's a picture of an Italian black truffle: The truffles cultivated in Oregon and the southeast are of no culinary value, but it's a mistake to write off all 'farmed' truffles.

Here ya go:

I'd look for a Krohn Colheita port - I haven't had the 1960, but the older and younger bottles I've had have at worst been pleasant and are often quite good. Premier Cru has it for $90/bottle.

Have you had the Italian black truffles Ken references in his post?

If we couldn't beat nature, we'd all be dead! Agriculture is by definition not a natural process. Truffles are one of the few foods we eat that are truly gathered, though eventually we'll figure out how to cultivate good ones just as we figured out how to cultivate good oranges, beans and wheat -- all of which have not only been cultivated but also improved by human intervention. Once we beat nature and are able to cultivate and hybridize truffles we'll be able to take the tastiest specimens and breed them and look back with bewilderment at the days when they had to be sniffed out by dogs and pigs and cost so much money. Remember, there was a time when salt was as precious as truffles are today. ← There are a number of producers of 'cultivated' truffles - they aren't cultivated in the same way as button mushrooms are indoors in a box, but people have been planting trees with the truffle mycelium in the roots for quite some time. There was a time when truffles were quite cheap - I have cookbooks from the turn of the last century that suggest stuffing the entire cavity of a chicken with whole truffles.

Ken, I agree completely. You've made the point much better than I did.

Boy is it fun to clean raspberry seeds out from between the layers of a triple mesh chinois...

I'm not in the camp that thinks it should be tossed because it's artificial, I think it should be tossed because I don't like how it tastes.

I haven't the foggiest idea where a vegetarian on foot would go for food near Cisco - the falafel drive-in and Dasaprakash are the only vegetarian places in the south bay that I've had passable food from and both are probably too far to walk.

I'd much rather skip the truffles than have truffle oil in their place. If you're going to use truffles out of season, truffle butter isn't a bad way to go. When I've got leftover truffles at home I make truffle butter and freeze it. I only really use the truffle butter for popcorn, but I much prefer it to truffle oil.

No herbs or veg in with your shortribs?

English for Majorana Syriaca is Syrian marjoram - it's also called Syrian oregano, but I haven't seen it called thyme. Crappy Zaatar can indeed be found anywhere, that you make yours using leaves from the 'correct' plant no doubt makes it taste better (or more authentic anyway).

Right. But none of the blends I sell (or have seen) actually use zaatar leaves. I don't have any real recipes that use sumac, but occasionally I'll use it when I make chicken kebabs. Just mix ground chicken with sumac, a little cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, grated red onion - onto sticks and chill. Grill and serve with fresh pita. ← You can find real zaatar in shops in the middle east, or you can grow your own. I've ordered seeds a few times but the orders always get screwed up. The zaatar I've got from Israel (made with zaatar) tastes quite different from the zaatar blend stuff I buy at the local middle-eastern market.

I have always wnted to know the rilght way tomake zaattar, thanks! ← Zaatar is a plant (Majorana syriaca) - traditionally the leaves are used as a seasoning. There are countless blends of spices that people use for a similar taste, but the right way to make zaatar is to use zaatar leaves.

On the other hand, tomato sauce and strawberry preserves taste pretty good all year 'round without diminishing the joy of the first fresh arrivals of the real stuff at the local markets. Same with truffle oil, I'd suggest. ← If you're eating whole truffles out of hand like an apple, sure. Most of the time people use truffle oil in place of the real thing rather than as you suggest in a completely different preparation.

My gripe with truffle oil is that it's a crutch - truffles taste better because they're seasonal. No mealy white-cored winter tomato will stand in for a freshly picked august tomato, the same is true for truffle oil in place of real truffles. Looking forward to the first tomato, strawberry, peach, asparagus, white truffles, black truffles, or whatever of the year is a pleasure - eating the same flavors year round is boring and frankly it isn't as delicious. Truffle oil, real or fake, is no less nasty to me than winter strawberries.

I don't think the piano analogy holds true - everyone needs to eat, only a select few can experience your hack piano playing. Chefs in general eat horribly when they aren't at work, as does the general public for the most part. Unless you think you're cooking can't measure up to the slop they serve at generic fast food joints, you're probably in the clear. In the end, it depends how comfortable you as the host/cook are with the dishes you serve on an average night. Nearly every meal we cook is an attempt to make the best use of the ingredients we have available to us. I think it would be idiotic to serve a chef an identical dish to one they serve in their restaurant, but aside from that - make the best food you can with what you have.

What do you cook when anyone comes to dinner? I've never had anyone in the industry expect to be treated differently when they've been a guest at my table. Why change your menu? If you're worried that a chef will find out that you're a hack in the kitchen, don't you think other informed guests would figure that out also? I've cooked for several chefs, I've cooked 'fancy' food and simple food, I'm not going to dumb down my meal or try and harder based on who is coming to dinner. Granted, I wouldn't serve my grandmother monkfish liver, but that's a different story.

Santa Rosa has the only really good NY style pizza in the bay area - NY Pie @ 4th & Brookwood. The Generals Daughter in Sonoma is excellent, as everyone has already said.

My menu looks the same, I can take a photo if you'd like. While it's true that the dots zig and zag the kitchen clearly has a different concept of savory than I do. The sweetness of spring peas or fava beans is to my palate a welcome addition to a savory spring dish - ripe pineapple and mango are not; they overwhelm the flavor of what should be the focus of the dish. The sweet palate cleansers that come along every handful of courses aren't in any way objectionable to me - my gripe is purely that the savory dishes are in no way savory. Doc mentions the possibility that I hit an off night; I would doubt that is the case - there were no awkward gaps in pacing, nothing was over or under cooked, nothing was over or under seasoned. My impression after spending several hours at Alinea is that the restaurant succeeds for the most part at presenting a beautiful progression of edible artwork. It fails when it comes to serving dishes so delicious that you wake up the next morning craving more.

I'll give this a quick run, I was there a week before Shaw but served much the same menu. I'm leaving out several of the dishes but here's a quick rundown: Wagyu had good flavor but lacked texture. Monkfish was fantastic - the liver especially. Apple was not to my liking, the celery overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. Duck was good, would have been great without the overly sweet mango. Short rib was OK, the texture of the Guinness gelatin detracted significantly from my enjoyment of the dish. Rhubarb was interesting but not terribly tasty. It's a tough call between the strawberry and sturgeon for the worst dish of the night. One of the three pieces of lamb was delicious, the other two I found too sweet - I really like the presentation. The hot potato, cold potato is interesting and reasonably tasty. Foie was ruined for me by the apple, but otherwise was an excellent example of a foie mousse. The licorice cake is hard for me to judge since I dislike licorice but the presentation leaves something to be desired as it looks like it was dropped on the carpet on the way to the table (or a hairy microphone, as our helpful server pointed out). Chocolate was good, the passion fruit portion of the dish less so.

My recent experience at Alinea was less positive. I found the service and wine program to be fantastic but the food overall lacked... deliciousness. While some of the components of some of the dishes were fantastic others were inedible. Some of the dishes are strikingly beautiful to look at, others are repetitive and hokey. There are only so many courses that can be served on a metal guitar pick. I'm genuinely glad to have eaten at Alinea during my Chicago trip, but I can't say I have any desire to return. Of the 25 courses we were served 24 of them were sweet. I went home hungry and craving something savory. The table to our right was complaining they were full halfway through the 12 course menu, to our left they were discussing where to stop for pizza on the way home. I was tempted to swing by the Pakistani dive we found on the way home, but my dining companions out voted me. I'm all for food as art, but there has to be a balance - the bulk of the dishes were far more successful as art than as food. It seems like the kitchen is trying too hard - in the end the ingredients get lost.

I was at Schwa a week or so after Ronnie and had a very similar menu. The ravioli, favas, and sweetbreads were all incredibly delicious. It was by a large margin my favorite meal of the week I spent eating in Chicago.

Apparently California accounts for 87% of the domestic strawberry production - if the bulk of the white-shouldered identical berries found in grocery stores come from here, it seems unwise to buy berries from a road-side stand in front of an 800,000 acre strawberry farm in the middle of nowhere. Farms like Ella Bella, Dirty Girl, and others grow berries that taste and smell like strawberries, deep red and juicy but they're only available a few months of the year.