Busboy

And I just started this thread, for a piece that ran in the Wall Street Journal today. Note that both he and Powell pegged their pieces to recent "events" -- the Greenmarket entering high season for Powell, and the death of the inventor of TV dinners for Stracher. Stretches in both cases, but effective nonetheless.

Cameron Stracher in today's Wall Street Journal. "...as home becomes more like work, and work becomes more like home, there are fewer reasons to rush back in time for dinner. Most men say that, if given a choice between time or money, they would choose the former; in fact, they choose the latter. After all, who wants to deal with a six-year-old having a temper tantrum because there is green stuff on her pasta? ...By missing mealtime, we are missing a substantial part of our children's lives. Sooner than we realize, they will not be at our table. Sooner than that, they will not want to have anything to do with us." Not groundbreaking, but well put.

I don't think that food is particularly more complicated, or even as complicated, as many of the the subjects covered on op-ed pages every day: war, peace, the economy, the health care system, the Plame Case, Our Energy Future and what have you -- even farm policy. When you say "food," do you mean as in trade agreements, third world development, poverty, farm policy and federal regulations? I think that stuff gets printed pretty regularly. Or, do you mean "softer" subjects -- the joy of organics or the importance of family gatherings over food? I think the reason you don't see too much food on the op-ed pages (except at my breakfast table) is that it's just not that controversial --outside of places like eGullet -- and that things that might end up on the op-ed page end up in the food section, for not being "hard nes."

I have it on good authority that we can Al Dente +1 ← Fo shizzle! ← Has Marni seen the new sig?

Hehe, er, thank you. Let's test your french right now: do you know what a gaffe is? ← My apologies -- I have been enlightened. I knew you were not a chef -- hence, perhaps an amateure. Beyond that, until a moment ago, I knew only that you articulate and knowledgeable, not that you were, indeed a professional journalist. No slight was intended. Pardonnez moi, je vous en prie.

I have it on good authority that we can Al Dente +1

Any worthy vineyards near Roseburg? The Busboy's hope to be down in the N. Umpqua Valley next month and those of us of drinking age would like to get one tour in down in that neck of the woods. Significant detours just for wine tasting are out as it brings too much whining from the too-old-to-be-easily-bought-off/too-young-to-drink generation.

You'd be surprised about all the other things French people know about and are interested in. Those two are very good forums, btw. ← Wait -- that means if I could get my French up to speed, I could be the Chefzadi -- or, maybe, the talented amateur, P'tit Pois -- of France.

Let me submit an opinion from a friend when asked about this thread by email, which rather expresses and echoes my personal feelings: ← I think you may be chasing a dream. It's the nature the genus eGulletus to seek out tiny incremental advantages between stores: "TJ's has great olive oils but the boules at La Boulanerie are just better. And the cheese -- I hear there's a new place in Alpharetta that has Italian sheeps cheeses nobody else has. Of course, you have to go to a real butcher to get meat. And I wanted to do an Asia de Cuba theme, so I guess it's back to the DeKalb Market for produce..." You think "one great store" is the answer, but it ain't.

There is a professor on egullet, his name is Clifford Wright and he discusses scarcity, food prepartioan and preservation, in his book The Mediterranean Feast I hear there is a resident French chef instructor here as well. ← I heard there is a culinary arts instructor, as well, but I am uncertain whether such a position implies expertise in execution or in history (or both). For example, I myself once audited a course with an instructor in, comment dit-on, the art of love. While her technique was excellent, her knowledge of the history of her art was minimal (save certain oral traditions that had been passed down to her). ← no it doesn't and I didn't mean to imply that. And I've repeatedly stated that I am not a historian or scholar. OTOH I also attended culinary school in France that was much longer than the standard 1 1/2- 2 year programs and we were required to take culinary history classes as well. So I do know more about it than the average bear or the average food journalist. Since I am born, raised and educated French it also means that I don't misread things like sometimes happens when an outsider practicing cultural anthropology, not that it's impossible for an outsider to understand a culture. I'm reading an excellent book at the moment French regional cooking There's a forward by Michel Genin the president and founder of Academie Internationale de la Gastronomie. The idea of the book is to preserve French regional cuilnary traditions. Overall an excellent book. BUT their recipe for gratinee lyonnaise has 1 small fresh red pepper in it. As you may know that's where I was born and started my career including working in classic bouchons. Still I consider it an excellent book. ← Well, what are you wating for? I've never known you to have to be invited into the ring. Sauces, confit, Escoffier v. Auvergnese housewives? French cusine borne of feasting or fear of famine? Truffles v. tripe? Spill.

There is a professor on egullet, his name is Clifford Wright and he discusses scarcity, food prepartioan and preservation, in his book The Mediterranean Feast I hear there is a resident French chef instructor here as well. ← I heard there is a culinary arts instructor, as well, but I am uncertain whether such a position implies expertise in execution or in history (or both). For example, I myself once audited a course with an instructor in, comment dit-on, the art of love. While her technique was excellent, her knowledge of the history of her art was minimal (save certain oral traditions that had been passed down to her).

So, GG, what is it you feel you are missing that Trader Joe's or Balducci's would bring to the table? I've never actually been to the TJ's nearest my home -- people rave about it but the stuff they bring back from the store never seems that impressive, and Balducci's is rapidly becoming a parody of an overpriced "gourmet market." Good fish, though, and the occasional bit of obscure, if overpriced, vegetable matter. Or is it a purely a respect thing? For what it's worth, my brief forays into the Atlanta area reveal weaknesses in the cheese and bread area. Despite the scorn heaped upon it by New Yorkers, D&D is the only one of the chains to offer really good bread in this area (even Whole Foods is disappointing) and their cheese and charcuterie counters are excellent. For most everything else, however, I'd rather have the DeKalb market than any of these places.

Lot to get to. Damn worke's been keeping me off the boards. Malcom: you posted That's far from a discussion of the merits of the piece and, as you admit, sheer speculation. I like speculation, but it's not an argument and it's unfair: people with books coming out tend to believe that they have something to say, whether or not we agree. They also believe they should say it in the Times, as well as between hardcovers, that they look for pulpit such as the Times op-ed page in no way implies that they are merely grubbing publicity. And, if you've ever tried to get something published in the Times (as I have, for clients) you know that they don't roll over for every PR agent with a wordprocessor and a fax. Bux: I think the confit is a cul de sac best dodged, and would point out that at the time brandade -- and other salt cod dishes -- were invented, the stuff was so cheap they were feeding it to slaves in the West Indies. If salt cod and confit are now glamorous or luxurious, it's because circumstances have changed -- overfishing has decimated the cod stocks, factory farming has lowered the cost of beef and pork relative to duck, refridgeration has come along, fashions have changed, etc... I believe both Anthony Bourdain and Michael Rhulman (not that these guys are Tenured Professors, either, but I'm sure they have a bit more cred than me) -- the former in his cookbook, the latter in "The Soul of a Chef" make a significant deal of of French cooking's roots in scarcity. AB talks about how the need to prepare undesireable cuts of meet because families were too poor to waste anything. So you cooked trip for three days or kept the hen until she was too old to lay eggs and, to make her more palatable, you invented Coq au Vin. Rhulman talks about haute cuisine, and how chefs, determined not to watse, invented balotines and pates, and turned old bones into stock. (I don't have either book before me, so I may be slightly off). As for using sauces to cover bad tatses, I've heard that many times, but never seen any real eveidence either way. Until then, I put that one out of play. More to the point: First, as you know, I think almost anything that makes people think (and argue) is a positive contribution and that this thread is great and that Julie deserves credit for making it happen. Second, I thaught her point that the FM/WF crowd has a tendency towards self-congratulatory navel gazing -- reinforced, in WF's case, by a multi-million dollar marketing scheme -- in the face of much more important problems than was a good and important one. Since others had had the kindness to point out the problems with her piece, I thought I'd bring the other side forward. Laksa: You go! Whole Food's homepage is a little over-the-top, too, but I have low tolerance for corporate feel-good rhetoric: "Our motto — Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet — emphasizes that our vision reaches far beyond just being a food retailer. Our success in fulfilling our vision is measured by customer satisfaction, Team Member excellence and happiness, return on capital investment, improvement in the state of the environment, and local and larger community support." Russ: I'm starting to think that California really is everything they say, based on the low prices for high-quality produce being reported in this thread. But: First, if you impute moral superiority to an economic transaction -- whether it's buying Frog Hollow peaches or building a new wing for the hospital -- that is out of reach for many people, you've created a class-based club of virtue, with a cover charge that keeps the riff-raff out. Second, there's a whole Bobo thing going on here (and in other areas, as well) where people take things that give them pleasure -- usually things that can be considered indulgent (SUVs, vacation homes, brutally expensive organic strawberries) -- and, since we are a puritan nation, smear a gloss of moral rationalizations on the indulgences we are allowed as affluent people. We need the Chevy Tahoe to carry the kids to soccer and explore nature as a family; we're preserving the wilderness and spending time together with our vacation homes; we're supporting sustainable agriculture and fighting obesity with $6/pint berries. This is what gives rise to the first phenomenon. And, finally, we begin to believe our own propaganda. If organic strawberries are so "good" why doesn't everyone buy them? Too ignorant? (Advertising and low-quality government publications misleading people who (sadly) can't think for themselves?) Unelightened? (Don't they know what those strawberry factory farmers did to the farmworkers? How can they support Monsanto?) Or... bad moral fibre (did I see a frozen dinner in that bag? And bought with Food Stamps!). I actually think her larger point, though, is that when shopping and eating become status symbols -- when tomatoes become status symbols and people eat out more than cook in and when the pedigree of the ingredients becomes as important as the quality of the guests -- something has been lost, and people are shut out. "This is a sentiment that's been treasured since the dawn of cuisine by people who value the art of eating. And it's not only the ingredients - be they delicate heirloom tomatoes or the stalwart hothouse kind - that we share when we eat well together. There is also the love and creativity and work we combine them with - those human qualities that transform food into cuisine, and eating into a pleasure. "

AmyKay: Fortunately, altitude does not affect sorbet, so you should be fine. Welcome. I hope you're discovering my greatest food memories from Denver: the Denver Bread Company (according to my sources, still the only real baker in Denver) in North Denver, Old Saigon Restaurant on South Federal and Oliver's Meat Market on 6th, just past Lafeyette. And I still pine for spaghetti with red sauce at The Saucy Noodle ("if you don't like garlic, go home") followed by dessert four doors down at Bonnie Brae Ice Cream.

Fortunately, altitude does not affect sorbet, so you should be fine. Welcome. I hope you're discovering my greatest food memories from Denver: the Denver Bread Company (according to my sources, still the only real baker in Denver) in North Denver, Old Saigon Restaurant on South Federal and Oliver's Meat Market on 6th, just past Lafeyette. And I still pine for spaghetti with red sauce at The Saucy Noodle ("if you don't like garlic, go home") followed by dessert four doors down at Bonnie Brae Ice Cream.

Hmmm. Well, what's a bit of quoting out of context among friends? I seem to remember reading many a thread on eGullet where people moan and groan about people who are rich and have cooks and maids and what-not, yet don't know anything about food. Remember that article about the wealthy woman who never cooked, ever, and barely knew how to boil water? And people went on and on about how awful this was, and how they knew so many people like that. Sheesh. All these wealthy people, and nary a farmer's market between them? What would Ms. Powell say? Her argument seems to take this form: wealthy people shop at farmer's markets; therefore, all people who shop at farmer's markets are wealthy. And for good measure, she adds that these wealthy people look down their noses at those less wealthy than themselves who, by definition, do not shop at farmer's markets. It's not just that the wealthy "buy better" than the poor -- they're judgemental about it to boot. And then she tells us about the poor Honduran family buying beans at Key Foods who are just as good as anybody buying at Whole Foods. It's a wonder she didn't think to mention the black family buying watermelon. She makes assumptions that are not necessarily true, and then bemoans those assumptions as being terrible truths. I certainly hope she did a better bit of work on her book. ← First, the quotes are in context, especially since anyone can read through the thread and see exactly where they came from. Not much point in mounting a 3000-word recap of what's right there to look at; it's neither a dissertation nor a legal briefing. Second, it would be absurd for anyone to deny-- in my city and, apparently in hers, if nowhere else -- that the Farmers Market/Whole Foods (FM/WF, from now on) is virtually bereft of poor and working class people. Sure, I saw a couple of ladies trying to use their WIC checks the other day, but they were by far the exception. To argue otherwise is to lose credibility. Third, her argument is that, by making a certain type of virtue dependent on income, you risk making people unvirtuous simply because they have no money (and spawn a people who thiunk they are virtuous merely because of their produce and certain insidious marketing campaigns). I agree with her. Finally, the "surprised she didn't mention black people and watermeleons" lifts the ad hominem to a new level. I don't know about your town, but in my Latin neighborhood, the people tend to buy a lot of traditional Latin foodstuffs, including plaintains, magoes, odd bits of cow and...beans.

For what it's worth, when I lived in Mt. Pleasant in DC, a predominantly Latino and working class neighborhood, 15 years ago, I shopped at its only grocery store, Bestway. I did in fact have a college degree but it was in philosophy, which is Latin for "love of bargain bins." Bestway had excellent quality/prices on certain stuff -- plantains, masa harina, avocados stand out in my mind -- but when it was bad, it was wretched. Chicken that stank, for example. I'm quite certain the poorest, most academically challenged person imaginable would have preferred to shop somewhere other than the Bestway "We Put the Foul in Fowl" chicken aisle. Dammit. ← Yep, that's my 'hood. The Bestway is what the locals are walking past the farmers market to get to. The store does OK when they're doing OK -- if you hit them on the right morning they have fish as fresh as Whole Foods for substantially cheaper. On the wrong day, well, you've been there. FWIW I buy free-rangers for dinner but use the Bestway "galenas" (old, large birds) for stock.

It's not the difference between one peach and another. It's the difference in buying a week's worth of gtoceries for a family of four, every week, all year -- not $1.50, but hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. Sure, any family can go down to the market and pick a relatively inexpensive dinner. But not night after night, and to think otherwise is to be a bit detached from the way a lot of people live.

I haven't had the chance to survey San Francisco's markets, so I won't go toe-to-toe with you on those. But in DC, the cultural and economic division between the the Farmers Markets/Whole Foods crowd and the masses is pretty obvious. In my neighborhood at 10AM, Saturday, you can watch me and my fellow yuppies lined up for organic beets at the market, at the same time virtually every Latin/working class shopper in the 'hood is walking past it to the less expensive ethnic markets just down the street. It's not a result of anything evil or overt discrimination, it's just a fact of life: when you're poor or working class, you buy the $1.50 eggs, not the $3.00 eggs and $4 chicken, not the $12 chicken. Stand at the exit of a Whole Foods and guess what percentage of the people leaving have a college education, versus the breakdown at the nearest Sam's Club or urban grocery store. I think it's denial to pretend that this is anything other than an upscale phenomenon at this point, in may places. I am curious, though, how your markets provide such good values. Better economics out in California? A more evolved farmer community that can turn a profit at a lower price point? More volume/awareness/competition? Are they farmers-only or do people bring in wholesale food? I think we're all on the same side -- in favor of getting the best food to the most people. I just don't think it's happening yet. (I agree, by the way, that the whole shopping/cooking dichotomy was specious.)

I have fond memories a great hippie/farmer diner on Decorah's main street -- bacon and eggs and yogurt with granola both being bestsellers. Nothing fancy, but a great feed. And less fond memories of most other places I ate up there. (Where were you raised?)

Well, in about another six months you can sign up for a presidential campaign and then spend all the time you need there. That's how all my friends and I learned all about Iowa cusisine -- and those damn cold Iowa winters. Apparently the food's improved since my last dash through the state

I'm always a little put off by the way we at eG respond to anyone who attacks our sacred (hormone-free) cows. Ad hominem attacks, ("she wanted to see her name on the op-ed page of the Times more than she actually wanted to convey any serious ideas"); legalistic nit-picking ("Roasting as a preservation method"); assertions of dubious "facts" ('Sorry Julie, fresh local and seasonal ingredients are what classic French food has been all about " except of course, confit, pot au feu, brandad, dried sausages and a thousand other great French dishes) bizarre tagents (it depends what your definition of "privation" is) and so on. It's a little too much like contemporary politics for my taste, especially in its assumption tat anyone who disagrees is ignorant, wrong-headed or has an ulterior motive. I don't agree entirely with the article but I think it's about time that somebody pointed out that farmers markets and Whole Foods are, in fact, the preserve of the economic elite -- not because I have a problem with that but because I'm as worried about getting nutritious food to poor families as I am about getting fresh peaches to mine, and I don't think upscale foodism is doing that. In addition, I don't see how anyone could walk through a Fresh Fields and not snicker at the smug, self -congratulatory tone of many of their ads and some of their shoppers. It gets icky in there, sometimes. Paragraphs like this are true and need to be read and acknowledged by food people. "What makes the snobbery of the organic movement more insidious is that it equates privilege not only with good taste, but also with good ethics. Eat wild Brazil nuts and save the rainforest. Buy more expensive organic fruit for your children and fight the national epidemic of childhood obesity. Support a local farmer and give economic power to responsible stewards of sustainable agriculture. There's nothing wrong with any of these choices, but they do require time and money. " We need to look at problems in the world of food, nutrition and eating that occur beyond the perimeters of our class and our farmers markets -- and figure out how to support farmers, fight obesity and save the rainforrests at a price more people can afford -- and spend less energy taking cheap shots at people who bring unpleasant truths to our attention.

As a city kid I don't get out to the country much, but I'm not sure there's any countryside, anywhere, I like better than the mountains of western Virginia: Skyline Drive, the Shenadoah Valley, the Blue Ridge, the Allegheny Highlands and what have you. Particularly once you cross that invisible line where your DC plates become a curiosity to the locals and you start getting grits with your breakfast, rather than potatoes. I don't have a lot to offer, yet, but hopefully others will chime in and, where possible, I'll link up to other relevant threads, like Carrot Top's concise introduction to Blacksburg, VA. And this thread is mostly whining (most of it by me), but in between has some good tips in the Lexington area. Just north of the Pink Cadillac diner mentioned in the thread above, between Lexington and Natural Bridge there's a roadside store that sells the best country ham I've ever eaten. Forget that tough stuff that has to be soaked overnight to get the salt down to a managable level, this stuff cuts like velvet and tastes like prosciutto's country cousin. The also sell side bacon, which we didn't like so much (but which is distinctive enough to merit sampling and well-made, just not too our taste. Probably go good in some greens), local produce and preserves, and "old fashioned hoop cheese." Well worth a stop. And I seen to recall that they ship. Laynes 3905 S. Lee HWY (U.S. 11), (I-81 exit 180B) 6-1/2 miles south of Lexington and the same distance north of Natural Bridge. 540-463-7170. Further north, anyone from the DC area motoring out towards Skyline Drive should consider taking the "back way" down 211, rather than blowing west on I-66, so that they can pick up picnic supplies (including a good selection of wine) and organic "Virginia Kobe" beef from Sunnyside Farms' reteail outlets, one in Sperryville (which also boasts other local produce vendors) and one in "Little" Washington. Details here. The Sperryville location is, not to put too fine a point on it, a little tacky. But, if they need to add on the tourist trap stuff to support their other efforts, I'm all for it.

Ah, I know the route back and forth to Camp St. Charles in southern Charles County all too well. Johnny Boys' south of La Plata, on the northbound side of 301, used to have great ribs. We'd even get some to bring to the long-suffering Salvatorian priests who ran the camp. I have heard that it has gone downhill in the last few years (the ribs, not the camp). I haven't been there in awhile - maybe it's improved. I like Randy's which is on Rt. 5 (Leonardtown Road). From La Plata, take La Plata Rd./Rt. 488 east to Rt. 5 heading south. Their website is www.randysribs.com. ← We had planned to follow your directions to Randy's but, for the first time in many years dashing to towards camp, the little brick building in the parking lot of some County facility just off 301 was open -- we got a burst of the smoke going by and decided to stop there on this trip. There's no name on the stenciled plywood sign, but xeroxed menue identified the joint as J.B's Bar-B-Que, Rt 257 Newburg MD 20664 (take a left off 301 at the diner and it's 1 mile up on the right) 259-4641. I don't claim to bring the same level of sophistication to my Q analyses as other on the board, but I was particularly impressed by the pulled pork, which seemed, at first, too mild but ended up tasty, smokey and tart. A subtle version, but nunaced, if you will, and addictive. I'm usually good for more sauce than they put on the sandwich, and I commit the crime of cue-slawter whenever possible, but since I was trying to eat while driving, I kept to the basics and considered myself well-rewarded for having done so. The pork ribs, too, seemed kind of "eh" at first gnaw, not particulalry meaty, and with an indifferent sauce as I snarfed one down while unpacking from the trip. Again, though, as I walked away from the clamshell container, I adjusted my opinion upwards. Apparently the oak logs behind the building were being put to good use, the ribs tasted of a long, slow smoke and and I went back for more right away. I'd be curious to here what the real Q afficianados think, but I thought it was a pretty reasonable place. The other fun of the day came when we pulled into Apehangers, a "biker friendly bar" for a couple of Buds and the passing show. It's always funny how polite Huge Men (and I am no little guy, myself) with many tattoos and death's head bandanas seem to be, even funnier to see one of them holding up a ladies T and yelling across the bar "Hey ma, what size should I get for her?") and I like any bar where they call me "sweetie" as they hand me my beer. It was cool and comfortable and the temptation to relax and punch up a little more AC/DC on the jukebox was significant but, sadly we had to push on. Apehanger's website.

The other weekend I availed myself of Ray's lesser-know retail arm, ordering onglets for ten for a French Bistro dinner friends had bought from my wife and myself at the school auction. Landrum was, to be frank, slightly obstreperous about the whole thing, utterly refusing to let me pick up the steaks a day early, on the insane theory that they might somehow bleed to death in my refridgeratore, and almost audibly gagging over the phone when I suggested that I might do the trimming and preparation . Once I understood that he hadn't nurtured the steaks for so many weeks in cold storage to have them meet an unkind fate in the hands of some rank amateur, however, Chef calmed down and I picked up the steaks from his co-conspirator, Jared, the next afternoon. After that, the only bad moment was when two guests asked for their steaks medium well. I was certain that Landrum would somehow find out and wreak terrible vengeance on me if I let such a thing occur. Try as I might, though, I could not kill the steaks (guess not leaving them in the fridge overnight may pay off after all) and the lady who was most vehement in her cries for brutal death to our onglets was later seen eagerly snarfing down a perfectly respectable medium steak without complaint. In a moment of rose-infused enthusiasm we told our gushing guests that Ray's deserved all the credit -- though we did provide pretty reasonable Sauce Bernaise and Marchand du Vin Sauces. The price is blurry, but fell into the "less than I expected" category. Ray's retail is surely something to keep in mind as the summer grilling season peaks. PS we ate the last two onglets days later, and they were still great.