Chris Cognac

Chris, I haven't lived in SoCal for quite a few years - but these are both a long haul from Orange County. Newport, on the other hand, is prime OC territory. I was assuming he lived in Santa Monica...but now that I read it...the post said Santa Monica seafood company...not the city of Santa Monica...oh well, those places i wrote about might still be useful for someone else!

Try the Redondo Beach pier area...there are a bunch of fish markets with some pretty impressive stuff. Capn Kidds has about everything you can think of....in tanks and they will cook it for you there if you want....Also try Quality Seafood at 100-130 International Boardwalk in Redondo...310 374 2382 or qualityseafood.net Ports of Call village in San Pedro is also pretty awesome..you can get a plastic tray full of fresh shrimp with peppers and onions along with massive hunk of garlic bread and some cold cerveza, sit by the water and watch the cruise ships go by! Crusty Crab is at 1146 Nagoya Way, Berth 79 San Pedro 310 519 9058 its closer than newport and pretty good!

One thing I like is to eat it with portugese sausage patties instead of hamburger patties..its a nice, spicy change!

Dude, rock on!...you have accepted and passed a great culinary challenge.....and you didnt get robbed by the Police, luck was with you my friend!

Thats exactly what it would be....a profile on what you can eat, how much, what the atmosphere is,etc.....

I guess it is more along the lines of writing ad copy, creating a product....one that would enhance writing skills and a person can actually be proud of doing....Saying, hey I wrote this ad campain for x amount of months...look at how well it went, blah blah blah.....You can chalk it up for the "things youve done" catagory as far as a resume goes....

I am tending to think that it would be best to use an assumed name/identity to write the advertorial reviews and that would also provide some much needed experience and opportunity. I think that maybe "that guy" might have to keep his byline apart from the other one.....

I think its a matter of more exposure, more writing experience as well as some more extra cash and contacts in the culinary world etc which could help in some of the charity work this guy does.....This would on be the up and up....its going to be done for his newspapers existing and new weekly publications.....It would be a whole different byline...A whole new name for the column etc....Would not affect the current byline....which is a pretty positive column anyway with little negative stuff (by choice) as people dont want to read about what "He" does not like...but what he likes.. I knew this would be a good topic to discuss here on e gullet!

Its "advertorial" type...its actually a well done advertisment written by a food writer...it's complete with the border around it and the word "advertisment" next to the column so there is no fooling anyone into thinking its a critical review..Kind of like the travel ad/articles in the magazines

"A guy I know", who already writes a food column for a Los Angeles newspaper in which he is able to choose what/where he writes about. Its published every other week....anyway.."this guy I know" was contacted yesterday to write food reviews for 3 other publications (weekly) that his newspaper has purchased....The reviews are for places that buy large ad contracts and are supposed to be "good" reviews...the reviews are not passed of as being critical type reviews and it states that its an ad type thing..."this guy I know's" existing column would not be affected....the question I pose is this...should "this guy" publish under a false name...or his real name since it will be in multiple publications in some high end area's in order to gain exposure/experiance...not to mention that its some extra cash and the chance to eat at some great places "He" might not eat at otherwise! What do you guys think?

I found this article online written by Rosemary Parkinson in the jamaica gleaner about our adventure at 3 dives. Jamaica Gleaner

You need to score one of those cool stone mortar and pestal's that every Mexican family has!

Damn that's only around 1/2 of mine!..For that I get a 52 yr old 3 bed with broken everything next to a freeway!...But I am 4 miles from the Ocean and 15 miles from Downtown L.A. and my commute is only a few mins as opposed to 2 hrs that some of my friends drive!....And there is a great Mexican take out joint right at the beach....Grab some taco's and watch the sun slowly sink into the ocean.....Yea, its alright..Plus I am wearing shorts today...along with a wicked aloha shirt!

We don't have many places with coal ovens..in fat I have never even seen one. They all seem to be wood....maybe its a west coast thing as we dont use coal for much of anything. Heck I dont think I have ever even seen a piece of coal before, only stuff from Kingsford that I use in the BBQ.

OK so let me put a list of things New York in a pizza that I can use. 1. Thin crust 2. Wood fire oven, coal fire maybe, gas no way 3. Buffalo is better 4. Sauce under, not on top of cheese 5. stick to the basic toppings, no thai chicken w peanut sauce 6. oil on top so it drips on shoes 7. must have "bubbles and burned spots" on crust 8. have to be able to "fold" a slice Feel free to add to this!

Pork loin slices with roasted lemon slices on top, drizzled with reduced balsamic....sound strange but I swear it was really good....no sauce though, its gotta be a white pizza

Try the Chart House in Dana Point. You cant go wrong with steak and seafood! You dont get those in Iraq (I was there the first time) and he will really appreciate a good steak. We used to talk about food at night when we were sitting in fox holes out in the dessert...It was funny cause you would thing we would be talking about girls....but it was food!

Sauce on top of cheese or the other way around? Does wood fired count? how thin should the crust be? I went to a place today but it was closed, so I had to head to an old stand by (Rizzo's in Torrance). How many pieces should an average guy be able to eat?

O.K. gang I am going to start looking for the most authentic NY style pizza out here in L.A.. I am a pizza expert as far as eating them goes....but dont have much experiance on what makes a good NY style pizza. What should I look for in the pizza, prep, cooking etc....This will help me determine which place to write about for my little column in the paper so please all you authentic New Yorker's, help a west coast brother out with some info!

This always seemed to me like a subject I should know something about since I am asked at least 3 times a day if I like it....but alas, I have little knowledge about Cognac, other than its my last name, is good in French Onion Soup and I dont seem to have a claim to any money or other stuff related to it

I cant believe nobody here has made Coca Cola pot roast.....can of tomato sauce, package of onion soup mix, can of coke...pour it over the roast and cook that bad boy. I made 2 for thanksgiving a few years ago and they were a big hit! Maybe if they had a Coca Cola, fois gras, truffle dish more people here would have tried!

Would you be more specific, I don't understand the reference. Sorry, its an Iron Chef thing...Chairman Kaga is the leader of the Gourmet Academy on the show and makes a little speach at the start of each show. He often referes to La Tour Dargant when speaking of the high caliber of French food...If you have not seen Iron Chef you must, as its simply amazing...but thats another threadin itself!

Chairman Kaga speaks of it often on Iron Chef!

3 dives sounds great! My husband and I are visiting Negril next month and will check it out. Can you tell me whereabouts it is? Any other good places in Negril? My parents go to Negril every year but are no help as they tend to go the cheap route and cook for themselves or pick up jerk from the roadside grills (not that there's anything wrong with that but we're hoping for a few romantic dinners...). 3 Dives is right next to the Rockhouse hotel on the cliffs. Its a shack....really...set back on a lot and is easy to miss. Go for sunset and grab a red stripe while your lobster grills. Kuyaba on 7 mile beach is also pretty nice and has some cool swinging bar chairs. You can get mom's patties at Country Country that are out of this world, but they just changed owners so I am not sure if they are still selling them. Rosemary Parkinson (gleaner food critic) told me that the best jerk is at the Ultimate Jerk Centre if you can get there. Have a great trip and tell us about the food!

I don't know about the Islands but you can get some great Loco Moco at Gardena Bowling alley coffee shop in Gardena and TNT Cafe in Torrance California. Jason, if you guys come out here, the Loco Moco is on me!