JAZ

Trillium, last year I searched in vain for Seville oranges here in San Francisco. I think I was trying the wrong sort of markets, though (upscale farmer's markets). Now I'm thinking ethinic markets might be a better bet. What sort of market do you find them in (either Bergamots or Sevilles)?

My point was that in San Francisco, a French Martini is gin and Lillet -- not vodka, pineapple juice and Chambord. Here's yet another: the Sensation, which can be either an Aviation with mint (which is what I've had by that name) or a brandied port (from the Esquire Drink book).

Sam, I don't know if you remember the discussion I had with Julie at the Flatiron, but we were talking about how in San Francisco, a "French Martini" is simply a (gin) martini with Lillet instead of vermouth, but in New York (and presumably elsewhere) it involves cassis and, well, other stuff I can't recall. So I wonder if at least some of the differences are due to geography.

I had one of these for the first time tonight, and I agree about the elusive quality of this cocktail. Much more than the sum of the parts. I had mine at the Starlight Room -- but the bartender there used to work at Absinthe, so my guess is that it's much the same as the one you remember. The proportions above sound about right, although I wasn't paying that much attention to the mixing. And mine was made with simple syrup instead of sugar. It's definitely worth some experimentation.

I think there's a balance -- perhaps difficult to achieve, but good to strive for. I don't like reading a novella for each dish, but neither do I like ordering a beet salad, for example, and having it arrive with blue cheese all over it (I hate blue cheese). Blue cheese seems to be a major enough ingredient that it should be mentioned. Likewise, I don't really need to know if the beets were roasted, steamed or boiled. When I'm ordering a filet of sole, though, I like to know if it's fried, sauteed or steamed.

We get regular requests at the store for battery operated pepper mills, sifters and cheese graters. We carry the first two, but not the third. My first thought was that they were silly. But 98 percent of the people who ask for them want them for elderly parents with arthritis. When you consider that, they don't seem so silly.

Actually, gin with grapefruit juice and a splash of tonic (or equal parts grapefruit and tonic) is a wonderful summertime drink. Add a dash of bitters, and you have Gary Regan's Tart Gin Cooler, which for me is neck and neck with the Americano or the Pimm's Cup for my favorite summer afternoon drink.

Nah, I wish I could say I was the inspiration, but it's not the case.

I don't think the choice of gin is crucial in the Negroni, although I would avoid the lighter styles, like Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray Ten (regular Bombay or Tanqueray are fine, as is Beefeater, Boodles or even Gordon's). I usually buy Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth -- I'm not very familiar with other brands. The classic proportions are equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth; that's what Gary Regan (Joy of Mixology), Paul Harrington (Cocktail) and Dale DeGroff (The Craft of the Cocktail) all call for. However, I like slightly more gin in my Negronis -- Dave Wondrich (Splificator here in the forum) calls for 1.5 oz gin to 1 oz. each Campari and sweet vermouth, and that's close to what I prefer. Gary's recipe is unique among all those mentioned above in that it calls for the drink to be built and served over ice. All the rest are shaken and strained into a cocktail glass. I like mine served up in a cocktail glass, although if you add a big splash of soda and serve it over ice, it makes a nice afternoon drink -- a stronger version of the Americano.

So, after all this time, I gave this idea a try tonight. It works really well, I think. My "sour orange juice" is about one part Meyer lemon juice, 1/2 part lime juice and 3/4 part orange juice. I imagine that if you don't have Meyer lemon juice, you could use less regular lemon juice and more orange (or even tangerine) juice. The proportions for the drink: 1.5 oz scotch .75 oz sweet vermouth .5 oz Cherry Heering 1 oz. sour orange juice These proportions allow the scotch to come forward more, and the drink is much less cloying than with regular orange juice and more Cherry Heering. I could drink these regularly. [by way of comparison, Gary Regan's recipe calls for 3/4 oz of each of the ingredients; the recipe in CocktaildDB uses 3/4 oz scotch and orange juice, with 1/2 oz sweet vermouth and cherry brandy.]

I know I'm unusual in this, but I find the Kershaw Shun handles really uncomfortable -- the "D" shape just doesn't fit my hand (it actually fits my left hand better, but I'm not left handed). I'm not trying to dissuade you from buying them -- they're very good knives -- but I do recommend handling them before buying, just to make sure the handle fits well in your hand.

I finally tracked down some raspberry syrup (who'd have thought it would be that difficult?) and gave the Blinker a try. Tasty. Like almost all rye- and bourbon- based drinks, it's not something I'd drink more than one of, but one is very nice.

Isi, maker of the Orka silicone oven mitts, now has a new gadget out, called the Squid. I can't find a picture of one anywhere (not on Isi's site or Sur La Table's, even though SLT sells them), but it's a combination basting brush and bulb baster made of silicone. It looks like, well, a squid, with a long hollow body and a short basting brush on the end. There's a hole that goes from the body through to the base of the brush, so it can suck up marinade or whatever (like a bulb baster), and then brush it on to whatever you need to brush it on (like a basting brush. I thought they were silly, until I was faced with the task of spreading olive oil on six half-sheet pans of baguette slices for crostini. Gotta say that the squid was the answer. I'm thinking that it would be the answer for brushing melted butter on phyllo dough, too.

I dip squares of dark chocolate into peanut butter -- I've even been known to do that with chocolate chips, which is difficult but it can be done.

Peter Reinhart mentions this place in his book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza -- in fact, the pizza on the cover is from there. (PS He liked it too)

Now that what passes for autumn in San Francisco is here, I find that I need some new cocktails that go with the season. I'm not a big fan of hot drinks -- they're okay, but one is usually all I want. So I'm looking for drinks that are served chilled but that feel like fall. Audrey's wonderful Falling Leaves Cocktail comes to mind, for instance. I had a "work in progress" at one of my favorite bars that included brandy, a splash of port and a glogg (sp?) syrup -- basically a simple syrup flavored with the spices used in the Swedish glogg. That's something I can see drinking when the weather turns cold. For a recent class, I came up with a new recipe that falls into this category. It's not terribly complex, but it's nice enough. I started by infusing unsweetened apple juice with cardamom and a bit of cinnamon (about a week in the fridge, although my second batch I shortened the steeping time by bringing the juice to just under a simmer with the spices, then cooling, then refrigerating for 2 days). The Brandied Apple 2 oz. brandy 1 oz. cardamom-cinnamon apple juice 1/4 oz. lemon juice a pinch of brown sugar Mix the ingredients without ice first, to dissolve the sugar, then add ice and shake hard. Taste and add more lemon juice if necessary (depending on how sweet the apple juice is). Strain into a cocktail glass. For the class I showed two presentations -- the first was a glass rimmed with brown sugar. For the second, I warmed some caramel sauce and put it into a squeeze bottle. After chilling the glass in the freezer, I squeezed a spiral of caramel into the glass and stuck it back into the freezer to set. It was pretty cool, and the drink tasted great as the caramel melted into it. Any other autumn drink ideas out there?

Chenery Park, in the Glen Park area, is known for being pretty kid friendly. It's a neighborhood place, not really a destination restaurant, but the food is good (sort of nouveau comfort food) and reasonably priced (entrees mostly under $18). It's not near where you're staying, but it's easy to get to on BART, and parking in the area isn't too bad. Click here for their web site.

How odd. I wonder if that practice (that is, offering truffles by weight) is common. It seems strange to me for a couple of reasons -- first, the methods by which a diner can be assured that he or she is getting the amount paid for all seem awkward and not conducive to a pleasant dining experience. Second it assumes that a diner will know enough to choose an appropriate amount, which seems to me to be a pretty big assumption. My only experience with a truffle "supplement" was a few days ago. It was the same sort of menu set up that Oliveto uses -- all or most of the dishes on the menu are designed to go with truffles. But in this case the restaurant charged a flat fee ($35) for adding them to any dish. I assumed the restaurant would add the appropriate amount for whatever dish was ordered. I didn't get the supplement, though, so I don't know the amounts they use. But it certainly seems like a better method than charging by the gram.

I've eaten at the bar at Incanto (Church St. at about 28th) a few times and have always had great experiences -- good food, friendly service, reasonable prices (entrees $16-20). All the wines are available by the glass and also in 2.5 oz. tastes, which makes matching wines with courses possible for a single diner. The bar manager is great about suggesting wines to go with your food choices, too. I've never had a bad match following his suggestions. It's easy to get to on the streetcar line and I've never seen it so crowded that a single diner or a couple couldn't find a place at the bar, even at prime dining hours.

I was recently told by one of our customers that Economy is only open to the public for a few hours on Saturdays now (not sure if it's true, or if that's always been the case). So you might want to call before you go.

I was talking with an acquaintance who's doing some consulting work with Morrone, and he said that a lot of people have called the restaurant with the same reaction. For a different take on Tartare, here's the review from SF Weekly (from late October -- I just ran across it).

I'll just add that if you like Earl Grey Tea, you must try Audrey's Earl Grey MarTEAni. All of the drinks we had there were fabulous, but that one really impressed me.

Some Le Creuset pieces are made with a matte black enamel coating on the interior -- skillets and grill pans, primarily. It looks much like uncoated cast iron, but is duller and entirely black. I don't think they ever made the casseroles with that finish, though. And with the exception of the reversible grill/griddle, all of their pieces will have the hard colored enamel coating on the outside. Staub, which is another French manufacturer of coated cast iron cookware, is a different story. All of their pieces have the matte black enamel interior; some also have that finish on the outside of the pot as well. The round casseroles are very similar to LC in shape, although the lids look different, and the knobs are brass, not the black bake-lite type material that the LC knobs are made from.

Must be something in the air, because I too remembered that drink of Dave's the other day when I saw a bottle of yellow Chartreuse. It was tasty, wasn't it? Another drink with green Chartreuse is Trillium's creation, the Friday After Five (from the It's Friday, it's after five, and I think I'll mix myself. . . thread: As I mentioned on that thread, I didn't have bergamot oranges or any sour oranges, but used a combination of 1 part each lemon, lime and orange juice, and the drink turned out well.

Memphis Minnie's on Haight in SF. Although plates are over $10 (around $13 to 15 as I recall), they contain enough food for two people. Sandwiches are under $10. And if we're counting take out food, there's always Rosamunde's across the street.