docsconz

Who said they don't eat vegetables in Spain?! Thanks for the reports, Rogelio. Casa Jose has been on my radar since Madrid Fusión, but Chirón is a new one to me. It looks and sounds fabulous!

This is just cool! Theirs is a great blog in addition to the Skoal Project.

One of the classics is the Long Island Iced Tea, which has no tea in it, but presents a reasonable taste facsimile of iced tea (with a bit more punch).

My understanding agrees with Stevens. Waters was never the chef at Chez Panisse, but that doesn't meant that she lacked significant creative or philosophical input. She just didn't run the kitchen.

Agreed, even if she knows a thing or two about food. The title or lack thereof holds no bearing on the merits of her positions or lack thereof as well.

I obviously did not make my point clear enough, Steven. Richman's list is good. It is useful. I t may even be the best approximation out there, but it is not the 25 Best Pizzas in America anymorre than The San Pellegrino Top 50 Best Restaurants in the world is an accurate representation of what it purports to measure, though I think its methodology may be superior to Richman's, even as flawed as the top 50 is. Lists like this are fun, but they are by no means as definitive as they would like to think themselves to be. I'm not sure that it is truly possible to measure a 25 best of anything without subjective bias. If the claim for Richman's piece was the same as the title of this topic, I would not be arguing.

Agreed.

One thing I am not saying is that I could come up with a better list (or anyone else for that matter).

Sure, the marketer's and editors came up with the title. That doesn't hold water. I did say it was an interesting and even a useful list, but it isn't what whoever claimed it was. As for your last argument, I won't even answer it, but to say there is no perfect list but there is an asymptotic curve that approaches one. This is not that curve.

The qualification "my experience" is implied in a food ranking. Just like an op-ed piece need not begin, "in my opinion." I am happy just looking through such lists for any choices that reaffirm my opinion. The more we agree, the more accurate a list. ← Sure, Holly, but he still bills the list as "America's 25 best," which in my experience no single individual no matter how experienced is qualified to determine.

Most shark fins are obtained by "finning" the sharks, which involves cutting the fin off the shark and then dumping the shark back in the ocean where, unable to swim, it sinks to the bottom and dies. Finning also represents an approximately 98% waste of shark meat from the whole shark. Not to mention that sharks are a vital part of the ocean ecosystem, and that the reduction in their numbers by finning and long line commercial fishing, etc. is believed to be responsible for some of the negative changes we see in various fisheries. I, personally, would really have to think twice before I ate some shark fin soup. ← That is odd, but she did only offer it as a last meal choice, which doesn't make it any better a practice or any more consistent with her ideals, locavorism aside.

Found a much more detailed account on Eat Me Daily. ← Are they mutually exclusive?

It may very well be the most thoroughly researched piece of its kind ever and I applaud him for the effort. Should he have qualified the piece as the "25 best pizzas of my life" or of "my experience" I would have no argument. He didn't. He called them rather definitively "America's 25 Best Pizzas," a very strong statement impossible to prove or disprove and extremely subjective (as all lists like this are). Based upon his "research" he may indeed be in a better position than any other single individual, but the absolute 25 best? It is an interesting list and I'm sure the pizzas on it are worthy of consideration, but I don't buy it. In my experience, the best pizza I've ever had was in Naples and I don't mean Florida.

They must have been lucky and "hit" when Richman was there. Thank you for illustrating my point. I will add that I have never been so can't add an opinion on these to either side. I would sooner take your word, Chris, knowing that you have been to these multiple times.

Maybe not broken per se, but who is say? Clearly someone like Richman is likely to have more of an affect on the bottom line of a restaurant than all but a select few food critics. People are likely to seek out these places, especially the ones not previously on major foodar. They may be less likely to go to places that didn't make it. I'm not talking about those customers who already love certain restaurants and are loyal. Neither you nor I would not go to Frannys nor Grimaldi's because they are not on the list, but their traffic may suffer somewhat anyway. Then again, maybe those smaller places that are already as busy as they can be may try to expand to cash in, have their product suffer and the restaurant collapse. Perhaps its better to not be on a list like this.

Victor, is there a particular style of pizza that has taken hold in Spain or in different regions of Spain? Pizza is not something that I have ever looked to eat when in Spain.

What is natural compostable charcoal and what do you use it for, please. ← I had to look that one up. It's a charcoal air filter to keep your compost from stinking unbearably, no? Makes sense if you need one. I take my nasty stuff far away outside. ETA better sentence structure ← Natural charcoal is simply wood that has been charred and not treated with various chemicals like charcoal briquets, which can wreak havoc in a compost pile.

It does, including Neapolitan style. One thing not clear to me is how many times he visited the various restaurants. One time is fine if the impression was a positive one, but every place can have a bad day. It is one thing for a regular Joe to post in the eGullet forums or on a blog after one visit as opinions from those sources tend to formed from an aggregate response. It is quite another for a critic with the stature of an Alan Richman, who can make or break a place based upon what he writes.

Don't think about it, David, just try it! It may or may not be good, but don't let your preconceptions get in the way.

He must not have visited Grimaldi's right at 12 noon.

Ding! We have a (one of several) winner. I think that's an critical point: eat it up, all of it, and plan quantity carefully. ← A better point would be to buy only the food that one is going to eat. I wish I could train myself to do that as I have a greater tendency to eat as much of what I buy as I can and I buy too much.

There are plenty of changes to industrial agriculture that would be welcome from a sustainability perspective, though I'd be reluctant to embrace anything that increases the price of food for poor people unless it's based on a real cost-benefit analysis as opposed to precautionary-principle mumbo jumbo. But let's ask what locavores like Alice Waters are really advocating. I think we should be clear on that, so as not to be setting up any straw men. My understanding is that the Alice Waters vision for the world involves local, small-scale agriculture providing for 100% (or 90+% if you allow for the chocolate and other probably imported items in use at Chez Panisse) of our food supply. This is simply impossible without large-scale reorganization of society. A substantial percentage of the world's population would need to be compelled to either: 1-labor in the fields, 2-become vegetarian, or 3-die. Or, most likely, a combination of the three. ← Is there anyway of supplying Mexico City or Beijing with enough pork that would fit into this local small scale model (Waters et al) of agriculture? Are there realistic models for this? If not then what is the population cut off for a city to feed itself from local small scale agriculture? Many population centres are not located in areas that are suitable for large scale production of any model, what happens to these? ← If Mexico City is relying on industrial pork, that is a relatively recent phenomenon. One of the problems with industrial agriculture is that it is pushing many small farmers out of business in countries like Mexico, further contributing to urban congestion and illegal immigration. ← That isn't the question that I asked. I would imagine that the relatively recent phenomenon of industrial agriculture also coincides with more people at different social strata eating meat, not just a lucky minority. What I want to see is a realistic model for feeding a +5 million population city from local small scale farms. Which isn't such a big ask, given the huge amount of press given to eating locally from small scale farmers etc. Which is not to say that I don't get local and small scale. My family are farmers, so I know exactly what is involved. I personally have bought 25 apple trees (all pre-19th century varieties), 8 different types of quince, 2 medlar varieties, a dozen rare plums, ditto near extinct varieties of figs, 2 types of cardoon, I only grow one variety of zucchini which comes from the area around Florence, 3 types of 18th century melon, dozens of rare citrus, dozens of rare herbs etc etc. But this is my indulgence and it isn't going to feed a city. Which is the point. ← To you it may be an indulgence. To many small farmers, especially in less industrialized cultures, it is their livelihood. My point about Mexico City is that it didn't just grow into the world's largest city overnight. They have fed themselves with small scale agriculture for years. Ironically, it is only since NAFTA that large scale industrial ag has made significant inroads into Mexico. So to answer your question, it would appear that they fed themselves for quite some time using small scale, traditional farming techniques and varietals (many, many varietals).

It has been so certified. The term "ultra-green" is my own as the entire approach taken by the restaurant is one towards eco-responsibility. In 2008 Taranta received "The Green Business Award" from the City of Boston. Perhaps the most important claim made by Taranta chef/owner Jose Duarte is that being eco-sensitive is not just good for pr. It is good for the bottom line as it saves their restaurant a lot of money from the likes of energy and water savings, waste removal, and fuel costs (they were early adopters of using useed cooking oil to power their vehicles) amongst other things.

A few more things: as mentioned by others, we compost; bring our own bags to the farmers market and supermarket; buy milk from a local dairy in reusable glass containers; use natural, compostable charcoal.

One thing we have done is switch from an electric conventional cooktop to a much, much more efficient induction cooktop. An added bonus is that it is also a much, much better cooktop.