eG Foodblog: Schneier - More details than it's polite to ask

[Schneier]

Tomorrow I'm flying off to Las Vegas.

Hmmm...this should be interesting.

Less interesting than it could be. I have dinner reservations--with my company--at CraftSteak at the MGM Grand tomorrow night. And I fly home early Friday morning. Karen is coming with, and we're going to see the new Cirque de Soleil show, Zumanity, after dinner.

Bruce

[claire797]

It's hard to make a snide comment about stuff from Patrick's French Bakery and Cafe.  A SuperAmerica donut, on the other hand, would open you up to all sorts of ridicule from me.  They are worse than honey roasted peanuts.

Yep. Bruce will be difficult to make snide remarks about - he eats all this healthy stuff. Fruit, vegetables, no fast food or drunken benders or binges on cookies and junk food. What fun is that?

Have something nasty at the airport tomorrow, okay? Just to make us all feel better?

I was thinking the same thing, Tammy.

However, the apple turnover and orange juice was commendable! Much more interesting than yesterday's cereal.

Craftsteak should be good....

[ronnie_suburban]

Less interesting than it could be.  I have dinner reservations--with my company--at CraftSteak at the MGM Grand tomorrow night.  And I fly home early Friday morning.  Karen is coming with, and we're going to see the new Cirque de Soleil show, Zumanity, after dinner.

Yes, I read your comment (on another thread) about "dead cow" being overrated.

Oh well, you'll just have to suffer through it...do it for us!

=R=

[Schneier]

It's hard to make a snide comment about stuff from Patrick's French Bakery and Cafe.

Do you know this place? How long has it been open?

Bruce

[Schneier]

Yes, I read your comment (on another thread) about "dead cow" being overrated.

I've been to both Craft in NY and CraftSteak in Vegas before. Both are good restaurants, and I expect I'll have a great meal.

I'm more worried about staying awake for a 10:30 show. That's 1:30 AM body-clock time.

Bruce

[claire797]

Yes, I read your comment (on another thread) about "dead cow" being overrated.

I've been to both Craft in NY and CraftSteak in Vegas before. Both are good restaurants, and I expect I'll have a great meal.

I'm more worried about staying awake for a 10:30 show. That's 1:30 AM body-clock time.

Bruce

Eh. You'll be fine. Order yourself a strong coffee with dessert. None of this dessert-skipping business.

[snowangel]

It's hard to make a snide comment about stuff from Patrick's French Bakery and Cafe.

Do you know this place? How long has it been open?

Bruce

I think they've been open just over a year. Patrick was former pastry guy at Hotel Sofitel, as I recall. They are open until early evening, and also have sandwiches, quiches, etc. I've been a couple of times (for bakery goods and cafe) and it was quite good.

[Schneier]

Eh.  You'll be fine.  Order yourself a strong coffee with dessert.  None of this dessert-skipping business.

I have already decided that caffeine is the correct strategy.

Bruce

[Schneier]

I think they've been open just over a year.  Patrick was former pastry guy at Hotel Sofitel, as I recall.  They are open until early evening, and also have sandwiches, quiches, etc.  I've been a couple of times (for bakery goods and cafe) and it was quite good.

Yep, that's right.

I'm thinking of reviewing them for Mix next.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Home lunches are my hardest meal. I'm generally working on this and that, and forget to eat. Karen wakes up hours later than I do, and is out of synch with me for the meal. If there are leftovers in the refrigerator, I'll eat them. If there's something easy to make, I'll eat it. Or not.

Today the refrigerator was pretty bare. I had some leftover salad from last night, and the one frozen food I eat regularly: Deep Indian Gourmet brand vegetable samosas. They heat up in the toaster oven, and they're really good with the variety of hot sauces that are always lying around.

Karen is planning some sort of dinner "adventure." We'll see what happens.

Bruce

[Schneier]

When it's warm, Karen and I regularly picnic. We have all sorts of equipment: blankets, baskets, tableware, unbreakable wine glasses, a small portable grill, etc, etc, etc. We've had picnics for ourselves. We've had picnics for guests. We've had picnics that we've both planned and executed, and we've had picnics where one of us secretly shops and preps, and surprises the other.

Tonight Karen put a surprise picnic together. We walked down Minnehaha Creek to where it flows into the Mississippi River, and set up our blanket there.

It was a fairly minimalist picnic. Karen brought a couple of cheeses from Surdyk's: Saint Nectaire and a semi-soft aged goat from Cypress Grove Farms called Midnight Moon. She brought an artichoke and pepper salad from the same place. And she brought a Polish sausage, an andouille sausage, and two hot dogs.

Okay, they weren't regular hot dogs, they were handmade traditional-style hot dogs from Kramarczyk's, around the corner from Surdyk's.

The sauerkraut came from there, too. She also brought buns, two tiny mustard pots from France, and enough kindling to start a small fire (there's driftwood on the riverbank once it gets going).

We had a knife to cut things, two metal cups to heat both the cider and the sauerkraut, a large grill fork to stick in the sand and cook with, and a spoon and a fork. Real minimal: we had to cook the sausages one by one and share.

Oh, and a creme brulee for dessert, probably from Surdyk's as well.

It was cold. We got to the picnic spot at about 6:30, when the sun was going down. We left at around 8:00, after it was dark. Karen brought a flashlight so we could walk the trail back to the car. The thermometer there said that it was 42 degrees F. My guess is that this was our last picnic of the year, unless we fill a sled with wood and showshoe back there in the winter sometime.

For the record, Karen did not know I was foodblogging this week. She did not set this up for your benefit; she was not was not mugging for the camera. If this were a setup there would have been wine.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Oh, and we submitted our first review for Mix: La Belle Vie.

Bruce

[snowangel]

Okay, they weren't regular hot dogs, they were handmade traditional-style hot dogs from Kramarczyk's, around the corner from Surdyk's.

One Saturday morning in August when we were in town, I stopped by the farmer's market in NE Minneapolis (University NE and 7th -- or is it 9th?), picked up some absolutely wonderful heirloom tomatos and a loaf of good bread (there is a bread seller at this market) and stopped at Surdyk's for cheese and salami and wine. It didn't occur to me to stop at Kramarczyk's! That is a wonderful area of town! We had our picnic under our pergola.

And, to picnic like you did in another wonderful area of town...

Thanks for sharing.

[fifi]

AAAAWWWW! That is really sweet.

[Schneier]

AAAAWWWW! That is really sweet.

Thanks. I thought it was a good review, too.

Oh, you mean the picnic!

Bruce

Edited October 2, 2003 by Schneier (log)

[Schneier]

And, to picnic like you did in another wonderful area of town...

We picnic all over Minneapolis. My favorite spots are in the parkland near the Rose Garden in South Minneapolis. Karen prefers spots on the Mississippi. Someimes we'll go to this or that lake, sometimes we'll go along Minnehaha Creek. Most of the time we drive, but sometimes we bike.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Good night, all. I have a 6:15 AM flight tomorrow. I'll post again when I'm changing planes, unless I'm dashing through the airport trying to make my connection.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Minneapolis to Chicago to Las Vegas: American Airlines. Up at 5:15 AM, out of the house by 5:35, to the airport by 5:50. Boarding passes, security, to the gate, and onto the plane by 6:05 for a 6:15 departure.

It's nice not to worry about showing up at the airport early anymore.

I fly a lot: somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 miles per year. With those kinds of numbers, I almost always get upgraded to first class.

But even in First Class, breakfast on the hour-long flight from Minneapolis to Chicago is a Quaker Granola Bar. And orange juice.

Thursday breakfast: granola bar + OJ.

Even worse, I didn't get upgraded from Chicago to Las Vegas. Flights to Las Vegas are regularly full, full of amateur airplane flyers. Karen and I were back in coach, where the "bistro meal" is a paper bag you pick up as you board: a granola bar, a package of raisins, and a cub of random-brand yoghurt.

Really, it isn't that bad. We could have had a real breakfast meal at O'Hare, but they're all large or greasy. Raisins and a granola bar are just fine, thank you.

Bruce

[tammylc]

I always like flying in the morning. The granola bar you get in the morning is _much_ better than the nasty butter flavored pretzels they serve on Northwest the rest of the day.

[slbunge]

When I doze off on the early morning NW flight into the Twin Cities I'm usually irritated if I miss the granola bar. It's not good enough to flag down the flight attendant but just good enough to get me cranky that I'm missing breakfast.

The Fisher brand party mix that they have started to serve later in the day is simply awful. Don't Gardetto's come in little bags?!?!

[snowangel]

I'm surprised that you and Karen don't take your picnic idea to the airplane!

[Schneier]

I always like flying in the morning.  The granola bar you get in the morning is _much_ better than the nasty butter flavored pretzels they serve on Northwest the rest of the day.

I think the granola bar on AA is terrible.

Bruce

[Schneier]

When I doze off on the early morning NW flight into the Twin Cities I'm usually irritated if I miss the granola bar.  It's not good enough to flag down the flight attendant but just good enough to get me cranky that I'm missing breakfast.

On American Airlines, often if I'm asleep they just leave it for me. I liked that, even if I don't really want it.

Bruce

[Schneier]

I'm surprised that you and Karen don't take your picnic idea to the airplane!

We don't. And you're right, it is surprising. Basically, we don't think of it. And we try to travel light, and don't really want another bag of stuff to bring on the plane.

I figured I would get into first class, where I could get a bowl of cereal and a banana. (They have a hot egg and meat breakfast, which is slightly worse than terrible.)

I have to get back to work now. I'll try to write up lunch later.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Las Vegas is filled with celebrity-chef restaurants. Basically, a chef lends his name, and his menu expertise, to a casino restaurant. Maybe he lends a sous chef. Maybe he visits a few times a year. The menu is never as interesting as his original restaurant--this is Las Vegas, after all--and it's never as good.

But it's way better than the all-you-can-eat buffets.

I first experienced Mark Miller's cooking at Red Sage in DC. It's innovative and interesting Southwestern cuisine. He also has a restaurant called Coyote Grill in Santa Fe (never been). And he has a restaurant in the MGM Grand Hotel.

The Grill Room is his high-end restaurant, and only open for dinner. Coyote Cafe is his casual restaurant, also open for lunch.

And that's where Karen and I ate after we arrived.

Thursday Lunch:

"Yucatan Port Tamales. Braised pork loin mixed with toasted almonds, raisins and spices in a ginger-roasted chili corn envelope. Served with roasted tamatillo sauce and a crispy tortilla salad."

"Cascabel Barbecue Duck Quesadilla. Confit duck, cartabel barbecue sauce, jack cheese, chipolte crema and japapino potato salad."

The tamales were yummy, as was the tamatillo sauce. I thought that the almonds and raisins didn't help. The salad was fine.

The duck quesadilla was better, although Karen didn't care for the cheese sauce.

Oh, and caffeine. I had some of that, too.

Miller had his array of celebrety-chef cookbooks lying about, filled with restaurants that looked good to eat but impossible to make.

Bruce