bilrus

Anyone want to wager a guess as to what Rocco's reaction would have been to the enhanced women coming up to the pass-through? I'm guessing he would have run out of the kitchen, gone to their tables and rubbed their shoulders. Ramsey told them to F*ck Off. A nice change of pace.

THe avacado is what makes this Rick Bayless Shrimp "Ceviche" Cocktail for me.

At the farmers market this weekend some early season tomatoes called to me after tasting a bite of the samples they had sitting out. Then a few stands later I picked up some bacon from aother farm. You can see where this is leading. But a few days ago jenrus watched the movie Spanglish - not my idea of a great movie, but that's beside the point. In the movie, Adam Sandler plays a top-level chef and was actualy trained before filming by Thomas Keller. One of the extras on the DVD is Keller making his ideal sandwich. Basically a BLT on good toasted bread with a yolky fried egg and melted Monterey Jack cheese. With that inspiration I gave it a shot. No pictures, because it didn't look very pretty on the plate. But it was mighty tasty. The tomatoes were very nice for this time of year (can't wait for the summer to unfold) and the yolk from the egg gave the sandwich the extra bit of richness you probably didn't know that a BLT needed.

Most likely greenhouse raised. At least that what Twin Springs had at Takoma. Not the same as a sun-kissed mid-July fruit, but good enough for the end of May. They were the basis for my salad at the DR picnic. ← The tomatoes ended up being a part of some really excellent Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese and Egg sandwiches. Good stuff.

One of the things I think makes Thai cooking different from most other cuisines, especially Western cuisines, is how they feature their ingredients. One the goals of French cooking, for example, is to have the flavors and ingredients work together to taste different, and presuamably better, than they would by themselves. In Thai cooking the goal is to make the taste of every ingredient stand out, while still staying in harmony. Like the book says - Hout, Sour, Salty, Sweet. It is all in how you tweak those four tastes.

Thanks. I'm sure Mario appreciates it. I've not had any recipes out of it that I haven't enjoyed. Tonight was a Salumi platter - Sopressata, Mortadela, Prosciutto di Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, some toasted bread and some assorted olives with my new revalation - pickled garlic cloves.

This looks pretty similar to an itinerary I have planned for my birthday in a few weeks, even down to the visit to Longwood Gardens.

Me, my spatula and a towel. If it looks good, it is only by accident. You'd laugh if you saw the problems I had trying to get my ravioli out of my straight sided sautee pan last night.

I posted this on the Dinner thread, but I thought I'd share here too, as it is in the spirit. Last night I used the really nice aspargus and fresh ricotta from Arlington Market to make a "Shaved Apsparagus and Parmeggiano Salad" from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook and Asparagus and Ricotta Ravioli from the Babbo Cookbook.

Someone mentioned an asparagus menu upthread so last night I made a "Shaved Apsparagus and Parmeggiano Salad" from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook and Asparagus and Ricotta Ravioli from the Babbo Cookbook.

St. Louis style pizza seems to provoke a love/hate relationship between the people who grew up with it and many non-natives. St. Louis style pizza uses a craker-thin crust and a processed provelone/mozzarella cheese products called provel. Provel melts very creamy without the stringy texture of mozzarella on traditional pizza. Most displaced St. Louisans crave the stuff (since you can't get it anywhere outside a 150 mile radius of the Gateway Arch) but, for the most part, our friends from the outside world just don't get it.

Its just that so many of its rec's seem like they're the same ones you would have read when you started reading those many years ago. I'd much prefer getting my info from Sietsema, Kliman and what I hear from others on these boards - eG, DonRockwell.com or even Chowhound. I think for the most part we've got the region covered and have a pretty good finger on the pulse of the restaurant scene.

I had this a few weeks back in the bar and thought it was an interesting "surf and turf" combination - on the menu I'm not sure it reads as good as it tastes. The scallops with their faint taste of the sea work with the earthy mushrooms. When I had it they were using shitakes, so I can imagine it is that much better with the morels.

I had a nice Sunday lunch at Sette last weekend after not having been in a long time. The sidewalk patio was full but looked inviting, and the dining room was nice and breezy with fresh air from the open doors. And a big plate of meat is always nice.

At the Arlington Market yesterday the Mushroom lady had the best looking morels I've seen for $20/container. Not cheap but these were huge, golden, beautiful specimens.

If I remember my stands correctly I bought some pretty nice tomatoes from Toigo this morning at Arlington. I wanted to be food-snobby and say, "No, this is too early in the season" but then I tasted a slice and said, "Tomato - welcome back to my life, it's been a long winter, hasn't it?" Is the last week in May too early for a BLT? I don't know, but I'm going to find out this week.

My basket today contained spring oinons and garlic. Aside from using these the same way you would regular onions or garlic, what else can I do? What about the green parts? Tomorrow night my asparagus (and some fresh ricotta) from the Arlington Market is going to serve a higher purpose as part of Asparagus and Ricotta Ravioli from the Babbo cookbook.

Same here today. Dinner was courtesy of the Farmer's Market. Aside from a bit of goat cheese and my dijon vinagrette, everything for dinner came from the market this morning (eggs, lettuce, maitake mushrooms, spring onions):

Pretty sweet sounding lunch deal going on at Eve right now (from an email from the restaurant):

Shaking Beef (scroll down about 1/3 of the page to see recipe) from Charles Phan of the Slanted Door.

I'm fascinated by the passion that this cooking seems to be provoking - on both sides of the coin. While at the same time eG members and posters on other forums have been waxing poetic about the food, I've seen a group of reports from several diners on another site that was absolutely scathing. Has anyone seen a report anywhere (excepting maybe Bruni in the NYT) that falls somewhere between rapture and disgust?

Lamb with goat cheese ravioli.

That's the place that strikes this visitor as the most emblematic of San Francisco (even though it is in Berkley) and the place most unlike what you'd find in New York.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara with a Batali recipe as a guide. The expectation from every Italian restaurant I've had this in was a heavy, rich dish. Granted, this isn't exactly light, but it was much less heavy than I had anticipated.

One suggestion - use a little more cheese than you think you should - if you don't they can end up a little too delicate.