amytraverso

Thanks for all this great information! It's funny...When I was flying from Montreal back to Boston in 2003, the border police looked at the raw milk cheeses and duck rillettes in my bag and just smiled. Perhaps they're stricter when it comes to raw fruits and veggies?

Hi all- I was interested in planning a trip to Vancouver to check out the fabled food scene. And I keep hearing this intriguing rumor that one reason the food up there is so terrific is that there's a range of produce for sale -- particularly Asian produce -- that you just can't get here in the States. Which makes it even more interesting. Can anyone tell me what sorts of fruits and vegetables might fall into this category? I have heard about mangosteens...what else? Thanks for your help- Amy

Robyn- There's a great biker's map of San Francisco that you can buy at most bookstores. It grades each street in the city by its incline: dark red is very steep, pink is hilly, white is flat. It's really handy, even for planning your walking route. If you'd like I could find out the actual name when I get home tonight... Amy

True. Most consumer magazines aim for a 50-50 ratio of ad to edit content, and this has held true for the the past 30 years. This keeps the magazine financially healthy, without overwhelming the reader or diluting the impact of each ad. I really like what CHOW is trying to do. I think that their challenge is figuring out how to sound credible and authoritative while keeping their breezy, accessible tone. Sometimes the magazine leans a little too heavily in the latter direction, I think. But it's fresh and fun, and I hope it gets plenty of time to evolve and improve.

While we're on the subject of San Diego, what's the story with Aqua Al 2? I have been to the restaurant in Florence, but I'm curious about the satellite branch. Why San Diego? And is it any good? I had a great meal at the original, but that was way back in 1989 when I was, uh, a very sophisticated toddler...

If you want a really special experience, head over to Manresa in Lost Gatos. You can read a discussion about the place here. Otherwise, in Palo Alto proper, I have had very good upscale Vietnamese at Three Seasons and Tamarine. What do people think of Trader Vic's? Spago? Amy

Funny. I just started my blog last week, mostly as an online journal for my family and friends back East to keep track of me now that I'm living in California. I also want to use it to experiment with different writing styles...my new job requires me to write for a more rigid format, so in the blog I can make mistakes and be silly and have more of a voice. I'm also finding that it's good practice to have to think of headlines, openers, and closers for each entry. So for me it's a combination of community, freedom, and practice. Amy

Tallulah in the Castro (18th & Diamond) serves lots of small plates, but here the style is Indian fusion. Just went there last night. The Lobster and Pea Dhosa is fantastic, and we also loved the Aloo Tiki, which are served as potato croquettes flavored with lemon and cilantro, then sauced with tamarind date chutney. They have mussels steamed with coconut milk and fenugreek, and sardines with a mango-cucumber relish. Great cocktails, too!

I'm a big fan of Andante, too, ludja. And last week I tried a new cheese from Cypress Grove called Purple Haze. Fantastic! It's a young chevre flavored with lavender and fennel pollen. The sweet herbs balance that goaty tang, so it's very mild and creamy and makes a great dessert drizzled with lavender honey and walnuts (toasted or candied). Amy

Do you need to hit the place of the moment, or are you looking for an experience that captures something about the city? Because if it's the latter, I'd agree with Melkor and recommend Zuni Cafe. The food is so pure and expertly prepared, and the environment is so relaxed. A NYC friend was here recently (a literary agent who specializes in cookbooks), and she not only loved it, but went back a second time for brunch. Amy

I agree. But I am also reminded that few people, outside of academia, are writing philisophical, whimsical, or artistic musings as a full-time job. When I started this thread I was wondering if restaurant reviewers and other non-recipe developers have to know how to cook. But perhaps that was a false separation. Most people have to earn a living, and you're more likely to achieve that noble goal if you can cook, and review restaurants, and ghost-write books for chefs, and write about travel, and write features and chef profiles, and develop recipes for Splenda or Cabot cheese, and do whatever else you need to do to bring in income. Even James Peterson figured out he had to learn how to style and photograph his own food in order to pay the bills. So yes, you don't have to be able to cook to write about food, but if you want to be a professional food writer, you really should.

That's interesting. I expected the answers to be more evenly split. I agree that dining experience is probably more important than cooking experience if you want to review restaurants for a living. And if you can make a living as a literary food writer, such as Calvin Trillin or M.F.K., your abilities as a stylist are far more relevant than your skills as a cook. But how many of us will ever be master stylists? Most of the actual for-pay food writing work out there falls into categories of recipe stories, dining criticism, and travel/dining features (I'm thinking of newspapers and magazines), so obviously you're going to have more opportunities as a writer if you can develop and test recipes. I agree with you, Steven, that without a fine dining "cannon," classical French training isn't as relevant as it once was. At the same time, I tend to trust writers more when I know they can cook...whether I'm assigning a travel piece or a recipe story. Of course, if the writing blows me out of the water, that's another matter. But there are a lot of would-be food writers who seem to see the profession as a lifestyle choice. If I know someone has spent time in the kitchen, then I know he or she is really serious. I also know that they're better equipped to understand why food is or isn't good. This isn't a fixed rule for me, but it often proves true. And I do trust reviewers more when they exhibit an understanding of technique. Doesn't mean they have to be cooking all the time, but they at least have to know how it's done.

I know a couple of very good food writers (one won a Beard for restaurant criticism) who don't really cook. They could pull a meal together if they had to, but they're not all that interested or skilled. So it got me thinking...how necessary is it to be an expert cook if you're going to be a food writer? Obviously if you want to be writing cookbooks or recipe stories, that's one thing. But what if you want to just write travel pieces and restaurant stories? I think a person is in a better position to judge when they have some first-hand experience at whatever it is they're judging. If I understand how to make a flan, I'll be able to figure out whether a restaurant flan is good or not, and why. So when I'm not writing, I cook and cook and always try to build up my skills. On the other hand, not all dance critics are themselves dancers. How do you all rate yourselves as cooks, and how important do you think it is? Amy

Ok, let me be a little less reactive here... I do understand the frustration. Someone did go to a lot of trouble to deliver a thorough, carefully written (even illustrated!) post, he was the first person to get the story, and he didn't get credit, and absolutely should have. And obviously that is happening a lot, and you should always reveal your sources. At the same time, I do understand why there is some confusion about what, exactly, an online forum is. This is a young medium, with few editorial controls. You don't have to get editorial approval to submit an individual post here. There is no fact-checking process (and yes, there was that Jayson Blair episode at the NYT, but still...). So I can see how someone might view a forum -- out of confusion, or laziness, or opportunism -- as the online equivalent of a conversation heard in passing, rather than as an attributable "source." I believe eGullet is a source, but people are still figuring out what it is, and it seems to exist in a sort of gray zone between publication and chat board. Still, I agree that if someone gets a story idea from a news item that is "broken" here, that should be noted. As for my comment about being "gleeful," perhaps I exaggerate. I do think that in the virtual world, people feel less constrained by social niceties. And a more competitive. Perhaps I'm not critical enough of my colleagues, but I feel so painfully aware of the deadline pressures and unrelenting pace of publishing, that when I hear about a screw-up, it's much more "there but for the grace of god..." for me. Except for exploding recipes, which are kind of funny...

I guess I just don't see the need for seeing this as such a bitter competition between the eGulleters and the "real" (not my quotes) journalists. I'm glad the Times gave credit where credit is due, but I don't understand why everyone is so darn gleeful around here anytime a NYT writer makes a mistake. As if everyone here is convinced of their own flawless performance should they be given the opportunity...