I was going to go to Best Hong Kong Dining for dinner tonight before class since I hadn't been there in forever, but then I remembered that I wanted to try the barbecue at Big City BBQ. I was going to get a sandwich, but I couldn't resist the two meat combination plate which gave me the option of trying the pulled pork and brisket. I got the meat with the "spicy" barbecue sauce. I didn't care for the two sides I had last time so I went with two new ones, the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the red beans and rice. The brisket was tender and juicy, and it tasted just as good as the brisket from Joe's Real BBQ when it's on. (Lynn thought it was good, but not that good.) The pulled pork tasted decent with the barbecue sauce, but without it was very porky and kind of nasty. The "spicy" barbecue sauce was hardly spicy unless it was in the Japanese sense (sweet). The mashed potatoes were very plain, and the red beans were earthy with a lot of black pepper. I didn't care for either side, which is typical for barbecue places. Luckily I go to barbecue places for the barbecue, and the brisket was definitely worth returning for.
I'll probably try the ribs next I'm at Big City BBQ if I'm not there for soul food.
When I bought our tickets to Ohio today I found out that Southwest Airlines has made a few changes to their frequent flier program. The good news is that you now have two years to earn credits towards a free ticket, which is twice the length of time it used to be. I'm sure that'll be useful for a lot of people. The bad news is that they dropped the black out dates in favor of seat restrictions. The black out dates weren't bad because there were only about six of them a year so the system was virtually unrestricted. Now there will be an unspecified number of seats available for free flights which affect 100% of the flights. I wonder if the Southwest frequent flier program is going to resemble the experience Lynn and I had with US Airways; we had a free ticket that we weren't able to use because they never had any "free" seats available. If that happens I'll boycott Southwest on principle.
It's official, we're going to Ohio over Christmas to see Lynn's parents. It's not exactly my idea of a good time, but Lynn needs to see her dad. She found out today that he is in stage four, and the cancer has spread to his bone marrow. The type of cancer cells he has are supposed to respond well to chemotherapy so there is some hope.
When I was sick I was in the mood for a good soup, and not an Asian one. The only thing I could think of was the Tuscano soup at Giordano's. We went there, and I got a bowl of soup, and a bbq hamburger (cheese, grilled onions, and barbecue sauce) with onion rings. Lynn had stuffed bell peppers, the special of the night.
The soup had a thin, creamy broth with chunks of Italian sausage, potatoes, and fresh kale. It was hearty and spicy. Lynn thought it didn't taste as good as the first time, but I thought it was just as good. When my burger arrived it looked great, and I hoped it tasted as good as it looked. When I tasted it it was obvious the burger was completely unseasoned. I salted and peppered the burger, but it didn't help it. The onion rings also looked great, and didn't taste like anything so I wondered if they were frozen. Lynn cut one of her stuffed bell peppers open, and found lots of rice with very little meat. She said the dish tasted good except for the cream sauce.
Once again the only thing I liked at Giordano's was the soup. I'll try one more time to find an entree there that I like, but I'm not very confident that it will happen.
A couple of months ago I went to Sahara with a coworker. It was unusually warm in the restaurant, but not quite uncomfortable. If it was hot I'd probably never return there. We started with an order of their tasty fool moudammas, but my lunch companion wasn't impressed. Maybe he just wasn't a fan of beans? The person I was with ordered the chicken briyani while I got the chicken feta. The chicken feta was decent, but I really didn't care for it that day. There must have been something different about it because normally I love the dish. I considered the possibility that I would have to find a new dish at Sahara, and when I got a taste of the chicken briyani I had found it. It had a spicy Indian flavor that appealed to me. Whenever I find myself at Sahara again I'll look for it.
[Previous visit to Sahara Middle Eastern Restaurant.]
One day when nothing else sounded good I decided to give Jeepney Bistro a try. I'd had very limited experience with Filipino food so I thought it would be interesting. I never got a chance to try Dina's Cafe or Manila Cafe before they both closed so I was happy to still have a neighborhood Filipino restaurant to try.
We walked into the restaurant, and I wasn't sure what to do. There was a lady in the kitchen looking at us so it looked like we should probably order from her. I looked at the menu on the wall, but all it had on it was the price list for combinations (the items in the steam tray) and pancit [noodles]. All the items on the signs in the window weren't anywhere to be seen. We asked the lady in the kitchen if we were supposed to order from her, and she said yes. Lynn got a dish of stewed beef with onions. I decided to try two different dishes, a small butterflied whole fried fish that was marinated in vinegar, and some sort of bean (which looked like lentils) and pork dish. I also got an order of lumpia [Filipino spring rolls]. We then went to the register to order our drinks, and pay for our food. I almost got a soda until I saw two large plastic jugs (they were made to look like the glass five gallon carboys that Mexican places use for their agua frescas) of juice. One of them had tapioca balls in it so I had to pass on it, but the other was made out of cantaloupe with long stringy bits of cantaloupe in it. I don't like eating cantaloupe straight, but I think it does make a good ingredient. The cantaloupe drink was watery, but very refreshing. Normally I don't like chewy bits in my drinks, but I didn't mind the pieces of cantaloupe in the drink.
My bean dish was cooked in a thin broth, and had a familiar slightly earthy flavor to it. It took me most of lunch, but I figured out why it was familiar; it tasted like the Belizean rice and beans made with black eye peas. I never liked that dish because it was always too bland for me, and so was this one. I tried the fried fish, and it had more vinegar flavor than I could take. It also reminded me of Belizean food, except that fried fish with onion sauce is great. The think the big difference between the two is some vinegar flavor versus a lot of vinegar flavor, plus the onions and pepper in onion sauce makes fish especially tasty. I probably would have been a lot better off trying the fried smoked fish instead. Lynn's beef dish was also in a thin broth, and it was sweet. It didn't taste bad, but I don't like my beef sweet. It also tasted like Belizean stewed beef that was missing a necessary seasoning or two. Lynn really liked it. The long, thin spring rolls were filled with ground chicken and served with a sweet ketchup. They were decent, but given how I felt about everything else I ate more lumpia than anything else.
This was my first real experience with Filipino food so I don't know if I'm not crazy about it in general, or if I just didn't like Jeepney Bistro's. I'd be a lot happier if I found something that didn't taste like Belizean food gone awry though.
I saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" a while ago when it was out in theaters, but I never got around to writing about it. I guess it was because it didn't move me to write being neither terrible or great. Tim Burton did a great job giving the movie a distinctive look, but the story felt empty, and wasn't compelling. I could care less about Charlie or eccentric Willy Wonka. I give it some bonus points for style, but I didn't think it was worth watching.
"Sin City" was another movie with great visual style, and a story that wasn't as good. The main difference was that the story in "Sin City" was a lot more interesting. It did have its problems though; the various stories never really connected with each other making it feel like a cheap imitation "Pulp Fiction". If there was any movie I'd recommend watching purely for the cinematography this is it though; the black and white film noir appearance was a perfect match for the gritty, hard-boiled story. If you like sex and violence then this is your movie.
The last couple of times I've ran into Gordon he's mentioned some new dim sum place in Chandler that he refers to as the place for dim sum. I know Gordon so I know he really means the new place for dim sum for fickle Chinese people, but I decided to give the place a try anyway because you never know.
Today Ken, Lynn, and I headed to Alma School and Ray to find the place. Gordon didn't know the name of the restaurant, but there's only one Chinese restaurant on that corner so it was easy to find. China King is its name, and it used to be a Chinese buffet. There was no mistaking the place though because of all the Chinese people around (I threw that in for all you Chinese people in Chinese restaurant evaluators). The place was packed when we went in so we had to wait about ten minutes.
We were seated, and commenced to eating. Since there was only three of us instead of the usual dozen or so we had to curb our ordering, but that wasn't an issue because we didn't see a great selection of food. There were a decent number of the usual standards, but they were also some conspicuous absences. The chow mein, Chinese broccoli, and fried shrimp roll were all pretty good, and pretty standard. The steamed shrimp roll was unique in that it had sugar snap(?) peas in the rice noodle with the shrimp. The peas were good and crisp, but the flavor didn't match with the rest of the dish. The filling in the custard buns was very dry, but it had a good mild coconut flavor. The problem with it was that they made the buns too thick in the middle making them close to unbearably dry. I got some congee [rice porridge] with chicken and pork, and I thought it was excellent with some chile oil on top. That is until I tasted something foul that had me avoiding the rest of the chunky bits in the soup. I don't know what they did with the chicken (I think it was chicken), but it completely ruined the dish for me. My favorite dish was the baked barbecue pork bun; it was the only dish I liked better than the equivalent dish at C-Fu Gourmet. For once the filling wasn't overly sweet, and the large bits of cooked onion were a pleasant touch. The buns were too sweet, but I think the steamed version would probably be great. The worst dish was the spicy calamari. It was a hard batter with a good flavor, but the squid itself seemed to have some sort of membrane which was impossible to chew through. It was the worst spicy calamari dish I'd had at any dim sum place.
We saw Gordon while we were at China King, and he recommended the spare ribs and the shumai [pork dumpling]. Of course we never saw either of those while we were there. Ken even asked a waitress to get us some shumai, but after she left to get it she never came back. While a decent amount of the food was good the lack of outstanding dishes and limited selection will keep me going to C-Fu Gourmet for my dim sum needs. On our way out Ken said, "Next time C-Fu Gourmet." Considering the time we had dim sum before this was that terrible experience at Golden Buddha that was my feeling too.
C-Fu Gourmet - 1
Fickle Chinese People - 0
I needed to get something to eat before class so I decided to try Zu Tokyo even though it looked like a typical Japanese fast food restaurant. It did look like a typical fast food restaurant, and I had to order at the register. The only thing that jumped out at me was the chicken katsu, and I also got an orange juice because I wasn't in the mood for soda or water. When the cashier gave me the bottle of juice I noticed it was closer to brown than orange. When I got to my table I looked at the bottle, and noticed the expiration date was 8/1. I was going to have the cashier replace it with another orange juice, but they all had the same expiration date. I drank an apple juice instead.
The cashier brought out my chicken katsu when it was ready. It was a thin piece of chicken that looked well deep fried on a bed of rice with a few steamed vegetables. I mistook the overzealous breading for chicken fat, which meant I dissected a third of my chicken for nothing. The chicken wasn't bad with the tonkatsu sauce, but it definitely wasn't satisfying. I think the slight dinginess, and sticky tabletop might have had something to do with it.
When I left the restaurant the scent of cooked meat from Hodori taunted me, reminding me I could have had better if I had more time. Once again, I probably would have been better off stopping at Big City BBQ, and trying their beef brisket sandwich. Guess where I'm probably eating dinner the next time I go to class.
About a week after we went to Ninja we couldn't figure out what we wanted for dinner, and Lynn suggested sushi to my amazement. I told her I wanted great sushi this time, which meant I wanted Shinbay. Lynn thought it was a good idea. I was worried because we didn't have a reservation, but I figured it was a Thursday night so we might have a chance. When we got there there were already seven people eating at the bar, and were told it would be a half hour wait. I was just happy they were going to serve us so thirty minutes wasn't a deterrent.
We sat at one of the small side tables, and had a bottle of Asahi Super Dry, and a bottle of Orion (from Okinawa). We were also brought hot towels, and two small bowls of edamame. The beer was predictably light, and enjoyable. While we sat there we saw a group of people eating shabu shabu. First they were pulling noodles out of the boiling bowl of broth, then some beaten eggs were stirred into the broth. We must have missed the big platter of thinly sliced beef. It looked so good that we're going to have to make a reservation for the shabu shabu sometime.
I asked about the soup of the day, and the fish of the day, but neither were available. I also tried to get an order of tai [red snapper], but they didn't have any. I'm an expert at picking things that restaurants don't have.
It ended up being about an hour and a half before we got any food. It wouldn't have bothered me if they told us it would take that long, but an hour and a half was a long time to wait without expecting it.
We started with the beef salad, and it was spicy, and tasty. I also got my favorite dish, the thinly sliced fish in hot oil. It was very good, but the oil wasn't as highly spiced as it was the first time we tried it. We also got four raw kumamoto oysters. I like kumamotos, but they have a tendency to be either great or terrible. The first kumamoto Lynn had was great, but the second one was terrible. The first one I had terrible to the point that I didn't want to try eating a second one. Lynn ate it, and said it was great. Figures. We got an order of unagi [fresh water eel], big eye tuna, and a sushi roll made with toro, green onion, and cucumber. The barbecue sauce on the eel was different because the soy sauce flavor was stronger than what I was used to, but it still tasted very good. The unagi was interesting because it had a certain fresh water earthiness that tasted a lot better than it sounded. It made me wonder if the source for every other place I'd had unagi from was the exact same because in years of eating unagi this was the first time it actually tasted significantly different. The big eye tuna was somewhat tasteless when it wasn't a wasabi bomb. The sushi roll was very well made, but I couldn't taste the tuna in it either. I guess I should have know better than to pair fatty tuna with seaweed.
We were both very satisfied with our meal, and can't wait to go back there to try their shabu shabu.
[Previous visit to Shinbay.]
Last night was the Nine Inch Nails show. Queens of the Stone Age opened, and they sucked; everything they played either sounded like noise, or started well and then degenerated into noise. There were also the dramatic pauses that were so long that you hoped the song was over, then they'd start up again.
The first half of the Nine Inch Nails set was great; they played a good mix of favorites including "Terrible Lie", "Closer", "March of the Pigs", "Deep", and "The Wretched". Everything was pretty fast paced until they slowed things down, and played behind a screen that they projected video on. It was pretty cool, but the only song I really liked after their slow interlude was "Sin". They even played "Head Like A Hole" towards the end, but it didn't sound good. Out of the four or five songs from With Teeth, and the only one that came off really well in concert was "The Line Begins to Blur". With Teeth isn't that good of an album so it would have been better if they avoided most of those songs.
The show last night was much better than the one at Coachella earlier this year, but it still wasn't as good as the Fragility tour (The Fragile was my favorite album so that's not really a surprise). Oh well, at least it was worth the price of the ticket.
I'm not a huge fan of sushi, but I do enjoy it every once in a while. Lynn likes sushi a lot more than I do, but somewhere along the way she burned out on it or something because we rarely go out for sushi. One day Lynn actually wanted to go to Ninja for sushi, and I agreed because their sushi isn't bad.
We got there and sat at the sushi bar. I was immediately disappointed because we didn't get hot towels. We were asked if we wanted to do the $20 all you can eat sushi, but I didn't think either one of us would eat that much. I got a glass of genmaicha which had a great toasted rice flavor.
We got an order of unagi [barbecued fresh water eel] for me, hamachi [yellowtail] for Lynn, a spicy scallop roll for me, a Philly roll [salmon and cream cheese] for Lynn, and a sweet and sour roll [spicy something tempura battered and fried with a sweet sauce] for both of us. The unagi was tender with a good flavor. Lynn liked the hamachi so much she got a second order. The spicy scallop roll had a good spicy sauce, and was very tasty. Lynn liked her Philly roll. I didn't know the sweet and sour roll was deep fried otherwise I wouldn't have ordered it. It was crispy with a very good flavor, but ingredients were not the focus. It was also very filling.
The sushi at Ninja was decent, but I didn't find it satisfying.
When we were in Seattle I picked up some chocolate I'd never tried before. I got a couple of Belgian chocolate bars: a Cote d'Or Sensations lait Praline Croquant, and a Dolfin Chocolat au Lait. Just to be different I also got a Cocoa Pete's Nuts so Serious (made by the same guy who made Pete's Wicked Ale).
A few weeks ago I tried a milk chocolate hazelnut bar from Cote d'Or, and that was great. The Praline Croquant was smooth and creamy milk chocolate filled with praline. It was good, but not even close to the same level as the hazelnut bar; the chocolate was so thin that the praline overpowered it. Lynn thought the entire thing was too sweet. The Dolfin was amazingly smooth and creamy with an excellent chocolate flavor; it may have been the best plain milk chocolate bar I'd ever had. I guess those Belgians really know what they're doing when it comes to chocolate bar.
The Nuts so Serious was filled with hazelnut paste and pistachio pieces. I think nuts and chocolate are the best combination, but whole nuts, not pieces and paste. The filling overpowered the chocolate, and the filling wasn't that good either. Oh well.
Yesterday Lynn and I went to lunch with Ken. Originally we tried to eat at Restaurant Oaxaca, a small Mexican restaurant with an interesting menu that I haven't written about yet, but even at just after 11 the place was packed. We had time constraints to deal with so we had to eat somewhere else in the area. We were in the mood for Mexican, and decided on El Torito. It was one of the most mediocre meals I'd had at El Torito. The food (mine and Lynn's) wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. Ken liked his food a lot better.
At least there was the tour at Rio Salado Brewery to look forward to. We went there, and met a couple of my coworkers. Tim (the owner) never showed up so we didn't get to have the tour. We played some foosball, and some pool, and had a good time. I also tasted the best version of Rio Salado's Schwarz Bier I'd had, and it was already a favorite of mine. Normally it tastes like chocolate and coffee (appropriate for a black beer), but this time there was a creaminess and a mild sweetness to it that reminded me of melted coffee mocha ice cream.
It was about that time that I noticed I caught Lynn's cold. By last night it hit me like a ton of bricks. Today wasn't any better. I didn't get much done in the last couple of days (I'll use the cold as my excuse), but we did grill some fresh halibut tonight. We didn't do anything crazy with it, just cover it in peanut oil, salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. When I threw the fish on the grill it smelled great, like the excellent thinly sliced fluke with hot oil dish at Shinbay. It was moist, tasty, and better than any halibut I'd had at any restaurant. I don't understand why restaurants have such a hard time making halibut well.
Tomorrow is the Nine Inch Nails concert. I already know I'm going to be too sick to deal with work, but I refuse to miss their concert again. I'll be drugged to the gills so I can make it, but I'll make it.
I know I went to Seattle for my birthday, but I still feel like I need a local birthday dinner. I was trying to decide between Janos and Sea Saw. Right now I'm on a Japanese kick, and I've been meaning to try Sea Saw for a long time so if I feel better midweek that's where we'll be going this weekend.
For some strange reason I wanted barbecue for dinner. I could have had excellent food at Joes Real BBQ or tried Big City BBQ, but I decided to give Austin's Best Texas Style BBQ a try: I'd never had Texas style barbecue before so I was curious about it. The only two things I thought I remembered about it is that they serve it dry (sans sauce), and the style of sauce they prefer is sweet and hot (my favorite type).
Austin's Best Texas Style BBQ is located in a tiny shop in the strip mall across the street from Big Bubba's B-B-Q. I don't know if that area can support two barbecue restaurants, but I wish them both luck. When we walked in we were greeted with the sharp scent of hickory smoke. The menu was limited, and predominately beef oriented with chicken and sausage options. I was disappointed by the absence of pork. Lynn got the beef brisket so I felt obligated to try something else even though the brisket sounded like the best option to me. I went for the beef ribs even though all of my previous experiences with beef ribs were terrible. The side dish selection was also limited so Lynn got the coleslaw and baked beans, and I got the coleslaw and potato salad. We got our food to go because it was almost their closing time (8).
The barbecue sauce wasn't cooked on the meat so I at least got that right. The brisket was not the embodiment of tenderness, but it was smoky with a good flavor. It was also pretty good with the barbecue sauce, but I didn't think the sauce was distinctive in any way (so much for sweet and hot). The beef ribs were actually just one gigantic beef rib; it resembled the brontosaurus ribs from the Flintstones. The rib meat was succulent, and it was easily the best beef rib I'd ever had. The flavor of the dry rub was less pronounced than the brisket, but I liked the ribs more anyway. Lynn got to the small pieces of brisket, and said those were the best because they were crispy bits. The flavor of the coleslaw resembled the coleslaw at KFC, but it wasn't as wet. There was too much horseradish flavor in it though for me to eat it. The baked beans were sweet, and tasted like beer. The beer wasn't bad, but the beans were too sweet for both of us. The potato salad was the creamy variety, and actually tasted pretty good to me. It was the only side I finished off.
Austin's Best Texas Style BBQ wasn't bad, but I like the brisket more at Joe's, and Austin's Best doesn't offer pork. Trying the barbecue chicken might be my only reason to return. Chicken or the Thrifty ice cream (which would be a real blast from the past because I was probably 10 years old the last time I had it).
Tonight I felt a little burnt out on Asian food so I wanted something different. I tried to find something good and quick around Mesa Community College, but didn't have much time. When time was running low I settled on Blimpie. It had been forever since I had last been there so I didn't remember their menu. The only thing that sounded good to me was the bacon, lettuce, and tomato (BLT). I kept it simple with mayonnaise and black pepper, and it was decent. If I had thought about it ahead of time I would have stopped at Big City BBQ on the way to school, and tried their beef brisket sandwich.
Fibber Magees is pretty close to our house, but we had never been there until some ex-coworker of Lynn's scheduled a going away party there. The bar was dimly lit, and featured a lot of wood, and although a little loud and smoky on a Friday night, seemed like a good place to relax. I looked at their drink menu, and there were a few things I hadn't tried before. The most interesting of bunch was a snakebite (half Ace pear cider and half Harp) while Lynn tried a dirty pear (Ace pear cider and Guinness) for the first time too. The snakebite was very light with a light pear flavor that was very refreshing. I liked it better than straight cider because the Harp cut enough of the pear flavor to make it tasty. It immediately struck me as the perfect summer drink, and I've been drinking them ever since. The dirty pear was a little more dramatic to look at because the Guinness was floated on top of the cider. I didn't think I would be able to taste the cider because the Guinness was on top, but I tasted both when I sipped it. The combination had more of a pear flavor combined with the Guinness creaminess. It was good because the cider cut the Guinness bitterness, but there was too much pear flavor for me.
Lynn and I were both hungry so I got fish and chips, and Lynn got the shepherd's pie. My dish arrived, and it was a solid slab of fish with thick sliced potato wedges, and mashed peas. The fish needed salt, but once salted it was very good with tartar sauce. If you're not a big tartar sauce fan, like Lynn, there was also lemon and malt vinegar options. Amazingly the potato wedges were salted, and they were quite good. The peas were so green and chunky that I mistook them for guacamole in the dark bar. They had a firm texture that proved they weren't cooked to death, and they even tasted better than regular shelled peas, but they still weren't quite eatable. The shepherd's pie needed a little salt, and had vegetables that were firm. It had an herby flavor that reminded Lynn of the Oggie at the Cornish Pasty Co.. Lynn didn't like the flavor, but I seriously dug it. The shepherd's pie also came with some sort of dark, dense bread that had a light molasses flavor, and was thoroughly addictive.
Lynn and I liked the environment, and the food was pretty good too. I knew we'd return back, but I didn't know how quickly we would.
Our next visit was Steve's last night in the United States. I had a pint of Harp to see what it tasted like without the pear cider. It was very light with a malty sweetness, but not much hoppiness to it. It was good, but right now if I drink a light beer I want it to resemble a Peroni (with its crisp hoppiness it's my current paradigm of light beer perfection). We got an order of onion rings, and they were very crispy with a good onion flavor. I thought they were good, but Lynn was impressed.
The corned beef and cabbage caught my eye on our first visit so I gave it a try this time. The corned beef was thinly sliced, and very tender, but it wasn't nearly as good as what I make at home. It was supposed to come with a mustard-onion gravy, but the gravy it came with was very salty, and tasted like it came from a packet. It was extremely disappointing. The cabbage was buttery with garlic and some caraway seeds. I thought it was the best thing on the plate, but the caraway threw Lynn off. The dish also came with some pretty good mashed potatoes that had green onion in them.
Lynn tried the steak sandwich, and while the steak was tender the flavor was typical. It reminded me of the steak sandwich at Jay's Gyros; it's a good lunch option, but nothing special. Lynn thought the sandwich needed something so she looked for the Guinness steak sauce that was supposed to come with the sandwich, but it we didn't get any. Lynn had to ask the waitress for the steak sauce. The sauce was a little tangy, and tasted an awful lot like Guinness. It was interesting, but I thought it was only so-so with the steak. Steve had a side of whiskey scalloped potatoes that we got to try. They didn't taste like anything to me, but Lynn really liked them.
We tried the creme brulee for the first time. The custard was a little thin, but there was more creme brulee than what we get at Cyclo. The sugar was nicely caramelized without being burnt, but it was uncaramelized at the edges. The custard was slightly overdone, but not enough to ruin the dessert. We weren't told about the Bailey's Irish Cream flavor, but we found it tasty and unique.
I was disappointed with my food, and wasn't too happy with our waitress (who kept disappearing), but I knew I'd still return to Fibber Magees.
The night Lynn found out that her dad's cancer was incurable (note, not terminal) she wanted to eat somewhere she could drink. The only place I could think of near our house was Fibber Magees. Lynn got a snakebite while I tried a Smithwicks for the first time. The Smithwicks was dark in color, but extremely light in body. There was no hoppiness, flavor, or anything that would make it resemble beer so I wasn't happy with it. Lynn thought it was pretty good.
This time we started with potato skins that were topped with cheese, bacon, and green onion. The potatoes were crispy, and very tasty with ranch dressing. It was definitely an appetizer I'd order again.
I had a hard time finding an entree that sounded good to me until I saw the pork medallions with mango-curry sauce. The pork was lightly battered and pan fried (like I expected the pork chops would be from Big City BBQ), and covered in the sauce. The meat was tender, but it needed to be salted and peppered before it was cooked. For once the sauce helped make up for the deficiency, but I still ended up salting the meat. The sauce was kind of curry spicy with some good heat in the finish, but I didn't taste any mango (not a big loss). The accompanying mashed potatoes once again had green onion in them, and were pretty good. The steamed vegetables were a little overcooked, but they were good anyway because they were seasoned and buttered. Lynn tried the Guinness stew, something we both wanted to try on previous visits. The stew was decent, but unremarkable. Lynn wanted something to perk it up so she hit it with plenty of Tabasco sauce, and it did help the stew. The stew came with that dark bread, and it was once again very tasty. They really should start noting which menu items come with it because I'd be more likely to order them.
I wasn't in the mood for dessert, but Lynn wanted the Bailey's creme brulee again. The sugar was slightly over caramelized, but not quite burnt, and very slightly overcooked. Once again it was still very good.
I was much happier with our last meal than the second one, but our waitress still hasn't earned a 20% tip. At least the more food I find there worth eating, the easier it makes it to hang out there more often.
I was going to write about Fibber Magees today, but I just found I am a Japanese School Teacher (written by an American in Japan), and it's more compelling than my will to write. At least I'm sharing my distraction with the rest of the class.
[Addendum 09/14: Murray told me to check out the forums on the same site. They're actually interesting, which is unfortunate because I really don't need another distraction.]
After an entire weekend of eating overly firm chow mein noodles in soup I really needed some pan fried noodles so I decided to give Asian Cafe Express another try. This time I got the chicken in XO sauce with fried spaghetti. The noodles only came with onion and green onion this time, but there was a very pleasant, sweet wok flavor this time too. The XO sauce added a hint of heat that I wished was more intense, but was good enough to satisfy me. The only problem I had with the dish was that there were a couple of pieces of chicken fat, and a piece of cartilage in it. That was sheer sloppiness, and could have been avoided. The dish was good enough to get me to eat there at least a few more times though.
[Previous visit to Asian Cafe Express.]
Today Lynn found out that her dad's cancer is incurable. How long he has to live depends on how aggressive the cancer is, and how far it's already spread.
Today I'm a little sore from walking up steep hills. Lynn and I got back from Seattle late last night. We spent all of our time downtown, and a few things surprised me: one, downtown Seattle is very hilly, two, it's very dirty, and three, there are more homeless people there than I'd seen in any other city. We did eat well though; Seattle has more restaurants that appeal to me than most other cities.
The trip was good, but I'm glad to be home. Hopefully I'll have the best and worst of the trip up within a day.
Ever since I found out that Big City BBQ made soul food I'd been meaning to try them. Obviously they make barbecue too, but I already have a few places I like for barbecue, and zero places for smothered pork chops. I swore we tried to eat there one Sunday, and they were closed, but chanced another Sunday visit anyway. They were open, but it was the first Sunday they were open after taking Sundays off during the summer. We lucked out.
I got a fried pork chop with braised cabbage, fried okra, and cornbread while Lynn got a fried chicken breast with macaroni and cheese, mixed greens, and cornbread. I expected the pork chop would be pan fried so I was surprised when it showed up heavily battered and looked deep fried. The batter was highly seasoned, and the meat was moist with a very good flavor. I was extremely happy with the pork chop, but I think I would have liked it even better smothered. Lynn told me that the menu said the dinner portion is smothered. The fried okra tasted like every other fried okra. The braised cabbage was ok, but it could have used something besides cabbage and carrots. The cornbread was the cakey variety, and slightly sweet. I've never been a fan of cakey cornbread so it was no surprise I didn't really like it. Lynn hated it because it was too sweet for her.
Lynn's chicken had the same batter as the pork, and the chicken was moist, but I didn't think it tasted as good as my pork. Naturally Lynn liked her food better. The macaroni and cheese wasn't very cheesy, and not especially worth eating. Lynn thought she was ordering salad when she asked for mixed greens so the boiled greens were an unpleasant surprise. The greens were very earthy, and I didn't like them until I tasted the heat in the finish. Lynn liked the flavor, but didn't like their thick texture.
The restaurant smelled like smoke so the barbecue might be pretty good, but I'll probably be back for soul food before I want to try the barbecue.
Yesterday Lynn wanted to have a barbecue at our house for Labor Day. I wasn't in the mood to do hamburgers or chicken so Lynn suggested bratwurst. We got some brats and buns from Von Hanson's, and I marinated the brats in beer and white onion overnight. I cooked the brats over mesquite charcoal, and they turned out really good. I wanted to follow the German theme, and decided on a German potato salad (you know the type made with bacon, onions, and vinegar) side dish. Lynn made it, and it tasted very traditional, and somewhat boring. I like traditional foods, but I've never been afraid of sprucing them up when it's necessary so we added some cayenne to the potato salad. It perked up the flavors making the salad a little more vibrant, and added a nice mild burn to the finish. I'm constantly amazed how much a little pepper can improve a dish. Next time I might add a little raw green onion to it too. We also made a Belizean variation on coleslaw with cabbage, bell pepper, lime juice, salt, and pepper. The crunchiness of the cabbage, and acidity of the lime juice was a nice contrast to everything else.
Overall it was a cheap meal, and excellent eating.
I get so tired of hearing people state that the lack of Chinese people in a Chinese restaurant is a bad sign. First hand experience has taught me that even if the only Chinese people in the restaurant are the ones working there the food could still be really good. Not that I need any kind of proof; for the number of Chinese customers to be a sign of a Chinese restaurant's quality would imply that every Chinese person automatically has good taste concerning Chinese food, and know every good Chinese restaurant in existence. To suggest that someone automatically inherits good taste for their ethnic cuisine is just asinine, and if you think that's true then you don't know enough people of any ethnicity.
Also, if you were in China every Chinese restaurant would have Chinese people in it. Would that automatically make every Chinese restaurant in China good?
Thursday before class I was looking for the post office in the area, and found myself on Main. I remembered that Fung Ky Noodle House, a restaurant I wanted to try, was located on Main somewhere so I looked for it. I was running short on time, and still hadn't found Fung Ky when I saw Asian Cafe Express. I don't think having express in the name of a restaurant is a good sign, but they had another sign next to their name with one kanji on it, and noodles written underneath. That was enough to convince me to try the restaurant.
I walked into a generic looking semi-fastfood dining room. I sat myself, and a waitress brought me a menu. The menu was surprising because there were a lot of things on it I had either never seen (Portuguese sauce), or rarely seen (congee). I was conflicted between ordering something new (to be adventurous) or something I knew (to get an idea of their potential). I went with something new, and tried some dry Thai style noodles. About five minutes later a heaping plate of noodles was brought to my table. They looked to be thin lo mein noodles with pork, a couple of pieces of shrimp, onions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. The noodles didn't have any wok flavor, and I think the peanuts were the only thing that made the dish Thai style. The dish did have a good flavor though, and the sparse shrimp were unusually tasty to me. It gave me ideas about what to order next time.
The food wasn't great, but it was certainly good enough to warrant a return visit. There's plenty of menu to explore so I'm sure I'll find something great. For those that subscribe to the fallacious notion that good Chinese restaurants have Chinese people in them about half the people in the restaurant were Chinese (and eating a cup of some sort of soup that may have been congee).
I didn't notice it before, but the area around Mesa Community College is rather good for Asian restaurants; there's at least one Japanese and Korean restaurant that I know of, and a few Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants in the area. I guess a positive unexpected byproduct of class is that I get to explore that area a little more.
[Addendum 09/13: I just checked the address of Fung Ky Noodle House, and it's the same as Asian Cafe Express. I guess Fung Ky went out of business, and Asian Cafe Express took over their location over, or was sold. Oh well.]
I keep trying to write something about Hurricane Katrina without sounding like an idiot, but I can't seem to form my feelings into coherent thoughts. To me it's on a different scale than other national/international tragedies because it's not every day a large city practically gets destroyed. New Orleans was a city I loved to visit, and now who knows if and when the city will fully recover.
So what do you do with a city full of homeless people? What do you do if you lost your home, and couldn't even go back to it for three months? I feel for those who suddenly find themselves without homes, jobs, clothes, and food. Hopefully once they no longer have to worry about their basic needs they can start rebuilding their lives, but I don't know how you would rebuild if you really had nothing. It's a complex problem. If you had flood insurance you could at least look forward to having their eventual payout to work with.
With an hour between work and school you would think it would be enough time to get something good to eat, but it takes 30 minutes to get from work to school. I figured that Vietnamese food would be quick so Tuesday I went to the Mesa location of Pho Nhat. I didn't see anyone working when I walked in so I grabbed a menu, and sat myself. I thought someone would be by to take my order, but that didn't happen. I went to the register to find that there were only two people working in the restaurant, and they were both busy cooking food in the back. I placed my order for a Thai iced tea, and the Nhat barbecue pork special. When my food was brought out I only had ten minutes left to eat.
The Thai iced tea was the usual sweet and creamy goodness. I should have known that if a Vietnamese menu item said special it meant combination, but I was still surprised to find that my barbecue pork entree had four different items on it. There was a fried egg, barbecue pork, shredded pork skin (I only know that because of the pork skin sandwich at Lee's Sandwiches), and a quiche like thing made with eggs, ground pork, and vermicelli. The fried egg needed a little salt, but it was pretty tasty. The barbecue pork was sliced thin, and lightly crispy around the edges. It was good stuff. The pork skin was well seasoned (with white pepper?), and not too bad. It didn't have that strange rubbery texture that Lee's did, but it did have a certain dusty quality to it that wasn't exactly pleasant. The quiche was oddly flavored so I didn't eat much of it.
I don't like having to wolf down my food in ten minutes, but the barbecue pork might be worth the discomfort. I don't know how soon I'll return to Pho Nhat since I'm not a huge fan of Vietnamese food, but the semester ends in December so it'll probably be before that.
Steve left for Japan yesterday, and he's already updating his journal. Go Steve!
Erin told me that Rito's made the best green chile she'd ever had so I had to give it a try since I'm a green chile connoisseur. Lynn and I went there, and this place made hole in the walls look big because it was a take out only place in a converted house. Despite its small size there was a long line to place an order. The interior, where I had to stand in line for about 15 minutes, was so hot and stuffy that it was actually cooler outside in the summertime Phoenix heat. I wondered if the food was that good, or if people equated their discomfort with the quality of the food. I looked at the prices, and they were comparable to Sylvia's La Canasta. I thought the food at Rito's better be great to justify the cost since they weren't paying for service, seating space, or air conditioning. When I finally got to the cashier I ordered a green chile chichanga, and a shredded beef hard taco for myself, and a green chile burrito for Lynn.
About 15 minutes later our food was ready, and we found someplace cool to eat it. The green chile chichanga came with sour cream and guacamole, which is good because green chile tastes best with good guacamole. The green chile was saucy, and a little spicy with a tasty green chile flavor. It was unique among green chiles I'd had, and I'd rank it as one of the best. The shredded beef hard taco suffered from not being fresh out of the frier; the tortilla was a little soggy, and the melted cheese had gotten cold. It was decent, but I don't think even fresh it would be as good as the hard tacos from Via Marie. I had some of Lynn's green chile burrito, and the flour tortilla had an unusually good flavor to it. Normally I think burritos are a waste, but I would actually consider ordering one at Rito's.
I'm not a fan of being uncomfortable, but the great green chile at Rito's would be worth a return visit. Below is my list of green chile worth eating. Important to note is that all of them are green chile with beef; there's nothing wrong with green chile pork except that pork isn't nearly as good stewed with green chiles as beef.
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I was already busy between work, house work, trying to keep up with restaurant visits, and writing my Japan trip report. This week added Japanese class to the mix. I'm not even really enjoying Japanese class, but I am learning. This weekend added fantasy football to the load. I'm in two fantasy football leagues, and we had our draft for one of them yesterday. It was the first time I'd ever participated in a live draft, and I actually enjoyed the experience. I think this is the best fantasy football team I've drafted, and I think a large part of it was that I picked it myself (of course I'll only find out how good it really is when football season starts). I now want to study up for the next live draft, which is in a bigger league, and with more informed team managers. It's going to be a lot tougher to get a good team, like I need something else to take up time.
This morning I was in the mood to try Big Bubba's B-B-Q Southern breakfast, but when we got there they were closed. I was extremely disappointed because I rarely eat breakfast, but I was really in the mood for grits, bacon, and biscuits and gravy. Lynn suggested she make biscuits and gravy, and that sounded good. She made rosemary biscuits using Emeril's recipe (we've had them before, and loved them), and sausage gravy. The hint of rosemary went well with the pepperiness of the sauce, and breakfast was tasty and satisfying. Too bad for Big Bubba's since I don't know when I'll make it back there again.
The last time I was at Western Pizza it was with Lynn and Ken. I remembered that the wings were good there so we got an order of the Thai princess wings. They were crispy, and tasty. The only thing that could have made them better was for them to be spicy. Lynn ordered the chili covered potato wedges, but the waitress had a difficult time getting the cook to understand the order. She brought out an order of potato wedges with gravy and cheese free of charge since the cook already made them. The gravy on the potato wedges was very thick, and slightly salty. They weren't impressive, but they were comfort food type eating. Lynn didn't like them.
The one pizza I remembered liking at Western Pizza was the barbecue chicken pizza (chicken, cilantro, pine nuts, cheese, and barbecue sauce). Lynn had a couple of bites of it, and spit it out immediately because she bit into some chicken fat. It figured that it was the first time something like that happened, and it happened to Lynn. The one bad bite put Lynn off of the pizza. Then I bit into some chicken fat too. There were only two bad slices on the whole pizza, but I worried about discovering another piece of chicken fat for the rest of the meal.
The chicken fat incident wouldn't keep me from ordering the barbecue chicken pizza again, but I'm more likely to only get hot wings in the future.
I had stopped at Variations once a long time ago, but unfortunately I never wrote about it so I couldn't remember if I liked it. Today I stopped there after eating lunch at Khai Hoan (it's in the same shopping center as Khai Hoan and Haji Baba). The bakery specializes in cakes, and there were about eight or ten to choose from. Chocolate/chocolate mousse and white cake with champagne filling both sounded good, but I went with the German chocolate cake. It was good, but typical. I probably should have chosen a different cake if I wanted something impressive. I'll have to try them one more time to see how I feel about them.
Before Japanese class tonight I had a serious urge for some Japanese food. I hadn't been to Toh Zan in a long time so I was about due. I got a mugicha [barley tea], an order of croquettes, and a bowl of niku udon [udon noodles with beef]. The mugicha at Toh Zan had a pleasant toasted flavor. The croquettes were crispy, and had a pretty good flavor. They weren't the best I'd ever had, but they're easily good enough to satisfy my croquette kick. They were also garnished with a small salad of shredded cabbage with a sharp vinaigrette. I ate all of it except for the chopped carrots. The udon broth tasted like meat and seaweed with a bit of soy sauce. It was very tasty with the noodles, beef, seaweed, and green onion. It didn't have the spiciness I remembered from the udon Steve had the last time we were at Toh Zan, but it was definitely worth eating.
I do wonder if I should bother trying other dishes or just stick with the ones I know are good.
[This really was the previous visit to Toh Zan Nagasaki Grill.]
Copper Kettle is one of the restaurants I love, but don't eat at very often. The last time Lynn and I were there we had someone with us. We started with an order of hummus, and it was different. The hummus at Copper Kettle used to be distinctive because it was pasty, and topped with olive oil and a little fresh ground black pepper. It looked questionable, but it tasted great. The version we got looked a lot more like typical hummus, and it tasted like it too. I hope it's back to normal the next time we visit.
Our entrees were the chicken boti saltani, minced lamb kabob, and chicken briyani. The chicken boti saltani was as tasty as always. One of the good things about eating with different people is that you get to try things you wouldn't normally, and the minced lamb kabob was one of those things. It had a spicy flavor that was very good. I'd order it again. Normally I have the briyani with lamb so I was surprised that the chicken version wasn't good. It tasted like it was missing something, or they used a different, lighter, set of spices. The waiter swore that it was the exact same dish as the lamb, but it certainly didn't taste like it. I'll never get the briyani with chicken again.
There were a couple of disappointments, but the meal wasn't bad.
[Not the previous visit to Copper Kettle.]
Lynn is taking 20 credit hours this semester. That's a lot considering one of the classes is English 102 (whose final project is writing a research paper), but that's what she has to do if she wants to graduate with her Associate of Arts at the end of the semester. I've forgotten most of the Japanese I picked in Japanese class a couple of years ago, and I would like to know some useful Japanese before I see Steve in Japan so I'm retaking Japanese 101 this semester. I should be taking 102, but I've forgotten too much from 101 for that to be realistic. 101 should be cake for me since I aced it last time so outside of class I'll be studying things I wish I knew the last time I was in Japan (like how to read a menu or mastering katakana). I've already started practicing hiragana so I'll have a head start on class.
The only problem with class is that it's Tuesday and Thursday nights so those nights are no longer my own. Hopefully I won't find it too irritating. Anyway, wish both of us luck.
The other day I picked up some plain croissants from Pleaissant Croissant, and they didn't taste that good. I don't know if they changed their recipe, or if I never really noticed because I mostly get stuffed croissants from Pleaissant Croissant, but I think I prefer the plain croissants from Lee's Sandwiches.
Many years ago I had lunch at Shangri-La de Old Cathay, and it was pretty good considering I got a lunch special. I made a mental note to eat there again, but I never got around to it. Recently Lynn and I had dinner there because there were one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday night. We walked in, and it was a throwback to the days of fancier Chinese restaurants. It must have been a while since I've seen a Chinese restaurant make an effort on their interior because I liked it. We stood at the host station for a couple of minutes, and we didn't see anyone. We were less than a minute from leaving when someone finally decided to make an appearance, and seat us. It wasn't a good way to start dinner.
We were seated, and immediately brought a pot of oolong tea. Normally I'm not a fan of oolong, but this one had a toasty, nutty flavor that tasted very similar to genmaicha [Japanese green tea with toasted rice]. Lynn wanted a glass of wine so she ordered the red Folie a Deux "Menage a Trois". The waiter brought out a glass of white wine. Lynn told him it was the wrong wine, and he said they only had the white "Menage a Trois". The manager came over and explained that the last shipment of Folie a Deux they received had the wrong wine in it, and asked if Lynn wanted something else instead. We couldn't figure out why the waiter didn't just ask the same question before he brought out the wrong wine. The wine list was limited so Lynn went with something she liked, the J. Lohr "Seven Oaks Cabernet".
Lynn likes to try the hot and sour soup at every Chinese restaurant she eats at so we got a bowl. The flavor had a little vinegar, a little white pepper, and a sweet finish. It wasn't the most flavorful hot and sour soup I'd ever had, but I liked it. I thought the sweet finish was odd, but it was less noticeable to me after the first bite. Lynn didn't care for the soup, but she's very picky about her hot and sour soup.
Normally the first thing I try at a new Chinese restaurant is the potstickers, but I saw bacon fried rice, and wanted to try that more. In addition to the fried rice Lynn got the chili-tomato beef, and I got the lychee pork. I had never seen lychee pork on any menu before, and it was described as spicy and sweet, so I couldn't resist ordering it. When I ordered it the waiter didn't know what dish I was talking about. I had to point it out on the menu, which made me think I was the first person to probably order it in the last month (the waiter seemed like he was fairly new). The food took a while coming out, and I joked with Lynn that it was because they had to find some lychee. About the time I was growing concerned how long the food was taking our waiter showed up with our dishes.
The pale yellow color of the fried rice clearly indicated that it barely qualified as fried. I didn't expect to like it, but I underestimated the goodness bacon can bestow on just about anything. The bacon was thick, salty, and all meat; together with the egg, and a little soy sauce, it tasted like some sort of breakfast rice dish. I liked it, and Lynn thought it was excellent. The pork in my dish was battered and deep fried, which is usually to be avoided, but the batter on the pork wasn't thick enough to be intrusive. The sauce was a little sweet, and caused a pleasant tingle in the back of my throat. It went well with the pork, green onion, lychee, mushrooms, and sliced cucumber; the combination of sweet and spicy combined with the pungency from the green onion was great! This was one of the better Chinese dishes I'd had in a while. Lynn's chili-tomato beef had an up front heat that actually deserved to be marked as spicy on the menu, and a mild earthiness. Lynn said the Cabernet was actually good with it. The Napa cabbage in the dish was a little bitter, but the bitterness went well with the flavor of the sauce that it absorbed. We both enjoyed the dish although I'd say the lychee pork was impressive while Lynn's was good.
Our meal didn't start well, but good food puts us in a forgiving mood, and we both liked our food enough that we'd return. If we have a few more good meals at Shangri-La I'll have to work them into my regular rotation of Lin Chinese Dining and Jong Wah.
One of the guys at work wanted to go out to lunch at Philly to the Max in downtown Tempe. Normally I avoid downtown Tempe, but he said they made the best cheese steaks he'd had in Phoenix so I had to try one. There were two different type of cheese steaks (cheese whiz or provolone), and I opted for an American (steak, provolone, and onions). The bread had a little crust to it, but the beef could have been better. It didn't taste completely unsalted, but it was close. I'm tired of eating meat that hasn't been properly seasoned. The sandwich was bigger than the cheese steak from The Original Hoagie Shop, but I'd take The Original Hoagie Shop's quality over quantity any day.
Today I went out to lunch with one of our programmers who wasn't feeling well, and wanted something mild. I'm really the wrong person to ask for mild recommendations, but I had remembered seeing Wild Noodles, and a noodle place sounded like a good place to get something mild.
I didn't know that Wild Noodles was a chain, and that wouldn't have stopped me from going, but it would have lowered my expectations. When I walked in and saw the hip interior, and heard the loud '80s music I knew I wasn't in for great eating. There was a limited menu on the wall with Asian, Italian, and American noodle dishes which caused my expectations to sink even lower. There were only four(!) Asian noodle dishes to choose from so I went with the Mongolian noodles with chicken. That and a soda came to $10, which seemed expensive for noodles. My expectations hit rock bottom.
The other guy got an order of chicken potstickers that we split. The "potstickers" were deep fried like gyoza, and the chicken tasted odd. The dipping sauce tasted like a mixture of hoisin sauce, vinegar, and some other stuff which made for a decent combination. My noodles came with broccoli, mushrooms, and unsalted chicken. Unsalted beef I can sort of deal with, but unsalted chicken is absolutely terrible. I salted the meat, but it only resulted in salty tasting unsalted chicken. I could only choke down two pieces of it. The dish was marked spicy on the menu, but the only flavor I tasted was sweet. I guess they were thinking spicy in the Japanese sense. The udon noodles weren't bad, and the broccoli was good in the sweet sauce, but it was by no means good food. I even considered stopping on the way back to work and getting a burger.
With my expectations as low as they were they had the opportunity to surprise me with something good, but I wasn't happy with the food, selection, or the price. Wild Noodles may make the best quasi-Italian/American noodle dishes in the world, but I'll never find out because they're on my permanent avoid list.
It had been a few weeks since I went to Cornish Pasty Co. so I had to get my fix. When we got in there the place was packed so the three of us had to sit at a table. I learned that I prefer to eat at the bar. This was my first time at Cornish Pasty Co. since they started serving beer so I had to have one. I had seen their beers on their web site, and I hadn't heard of a couple of them. I looked up Boddington's, and it was described as a vanilla Guinness. That sounded good to me. The Boddington's was poured off of a nitrogen tap so it was surging like a Guinness when it came to me. It had a beautiful creamy golden color that really did remind me of vanilla cream soda. True to nitrogen taps the head was creamy, smooth, and long lived. It also had the typical bitter start. The beer was creamy with a mildly sweet finish that I liked better the more I drank it. I liked it, but I wouldn't order it again.
The lamb vindaloo (lamb, potato, rice, and vindaloo sauce) pasty caught my eye the first time I spied the menu at Cornish Pasty Co., and it was time to try it. The filling was spicy with a cumulative heat. It was good, but I didn't like it as much as the Oggie or the cajun. My beer was bitter with the lamb, but I didn't expect it to be good with the food anyway (the wheat beer was probably the best match they had for the vindaloo pasty). One of the guys I was with got a meatball pasty (meatballs, mozzarella, and marinara), and I got to try a small piece. It was great! I don't know what they did with it, but it was definitely better than its constituent ingredients.
Lunch was good, but I now wanted a meatball pasty. Today I picked one up to go. The meatballs were dense, meaty, and herby, and the filling as a whole was good, but it wasn't as good as the meatball pasty I tasted last time. There might not be a difference between the two other than I got to taste more of it this time, but I think the food is a little inconsistent. I doubt I'll get the meatball again; I don't think I could be satisfied with a meatball pasty that didn't taste as good as that first one.
Lynn picked up a shepard's pie pasty one day, and I got a taste of it. It actually tasted a lot better than the first time Lynn got it. She also got the banana dessert. It was graham cracker crust, caramel, and banana served directly from a plastic to-go container (I don't know if it was because Lynn got it to go, but I don't think so). I thought the presentation was terrible, and the flavor wasn't very good either. If I was the one picking dessert I would have got apple caramel pasty instead, but Lynn doesn't like apple desserts. At least she knows the banana dessert isn't good now.
The Cornish Pasty Co. must be pretty good stuff because now I'm disappointed when they're only good. I wish I had this problem with every restaurant.
[Previous visit to Cornish Pasty Co..]
Wes Anderson directed and co-wrote "Rushmore", which is one of my top ten movies. I didn't care for "The Royal Tenenbaums" so I hoped "The Life Aquatic" would be better. The movie was typically Anderson deadpan, but oddly vacant. The only things I really liked were the imaginary sea life, and the cheesy set of the Zissou's ship.
Ken has made a tradition of eating dim sum before Bill's poker tournament, and Bill had a huge poker tournament yesterday (I finished in the bottom half just verifying that my intention to give up poker was correct). Golden Buddha is more convenient than C-Fu Gourmet for most people, and everyone enjoyed it last time, so that's where we went.
We were seated, and it seemed that for the first 30 minutes there were only about three food carts circulating around the room. Three! After they got more food carts out there was only one item that tasted better than it did the first time. The Chinese broccoli was well cooked, and not too oily this time. Everything else tasted the same or worse. The chow mein (referred to as crispy noodles last time) was once again crispy and tasty. Lynn thought it was better last time. The fried rice noodle wrapped shrimp were also equally crispy and tasty. The custard bun was still filled with the coconut filling that I don't like. The pork ribs, which were surprisingly tasty last time, kind of melded together into a giant disgusting looking lump. It tasted better than it looked, but it was only so-so this time. The spicy calamari, a favorite of everyone last time, was too think, and didn't have as much flavor as last time. We tried the spicy shrimp for the first time at Golden Buddha, and they weren't flavorful much less spicy. We also tried the chow fun which had lots of onion flavor, but not much wok flavor. It was good, but not great.
The food wasn't as good as last time, and there weren't enough carts circulating around the room. I don't know how both the food and service could go downhill in three weeks, but the experience was bad enough that I wouldn't return to Golden Buddha for dim sum again.
[Addendum 08/16: I forgot to mention that I mistakingly got the beef wrapped in rice noodle thinking it was shrimp, and was pleasantly surprised. The meat was ground up with green onion and who knows what else, and it was pretty good with the sauce. It was something I'd get again at Golden Buddha if I wasn't avoiding their dim sum. 10/29: I forgot to mention that one of the people at our table found a roach in their soda. He was lucky that he noticed it before he took a drink from the glass. The only reason I remembered it was because he made a joke about it today, but it did remind me that there's yet another reason for me not to eat at Golden Buddha.]
I'm really beginning to enjoy going out to lunch on Fridays more than normal; everyone seems to need some relaxation time so we get a good number of people going out at once. Yesterday we had 10 people, and they weren't all programmers this time. Long and I were in the mood for Via Marie so that's where we took everyone.
I decided to try something new so I got a red beef enchilada, which I didn't remember having at Via Marie, in addition to my green chile tostada. Lynn was with us at lunch so I figured if I didn't like my enchilada I could just get a couple bites of her green beef enchilada. There wasn't a need to though because the red enchilada sauce, and enchilada filling were great together. It still amazes me that most of the things I've tried at Via Marie are worth going out of my way for. The green chile tostada was back to its typical excellent flavor too so I didn't need the hot sauce this time.
I was happy because not only did I think my food was great, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed their food too. I think it was the type of lunch everyone needed on a Friday (although I'm sure some wished they served beer).
[Previous visit to Via Marie.]
None of the places I thought of for lunch today sounded good until I remembered that Sub-Culture Cafe existed. I went there with a couple of other guys from work. Before we ordered we looked at the mural, and tried to figure out its theme. We were at a complete loss so one of the guys asked the waitress about it. She said the things on the mural were representations of the named menu items. We spent the next few minutes finding parts of the mural on the menu. I didn't find any Smurfs related menu items though.
Today they had their lunch box special (sandwich, homemade potato chips, homemade cookie, and a drink) which sounded good because it gave me an excuse to try the chips and cookie. The first few chips I tried tasted stale. Half the chips tasted pretty good, but the other stale half would keep me from ordering them again. I got their Breakfast Club (eggs, potatoes, chorizo, bacon, onions, and cheese), and the eggs/potatoes tasted unsalted. After a couple quick dashes of salt the sandwich was quite tasty; it's hard to beat the combination of meat, cheese, and onions. The cookie was chocolate chip, and it tasted like they substituted dirt for flour. I didn't make it past the first bite.
We all enjoyed our sandwiches even if we didn't care for the chips or cookies. At least we learned that the lunch box was a waste.
[Previous visit to Sub-Culture Cafe.]
Lynn's dad might have lymphoma [a form of cancer that starts in the lymph nodes]. We won't know for sure until the 30th. You'd expect that if they thought you had cancer they would be quicker about verifying it so they could start treatment immediately.
Not that this is some great leap in photographic technology or anything, but the article "Gigapixel Resolution" is about some people pushing the limits of photographic resolution. I'm not there are any real practical, or even artistic, applications for a really big picture, but the draw is how much detail you can see in it. I'm curious enough that I'd go to one of their exhibitions to see if I find a 10 foot tall landscape picture any more interesting than a normal sized one.
You can see some small samples of their pictures at Gigapxl Project.
A while ago Lynn and I went to lunch with my mom. I let my mom decide where, and she chose El Torito. I thought it was a good choice because El Torito is the most neglected Mexican restaurant I regularly eat at.
This was the first time they ever had horchata [rice water] on the menu that I could remember so I tried it. It had creaminess, sweetness, and spiciness, and all nicely balanced; it was one of the best horchatas I'd had. The horchatas with brandy Lynn and my mom had were much less well received (I think they put most of the brandy for both orders in Lynn's glass).
We started with an appetizer from the regional menu, the gorditas potosinas [deep fried corn tortillas stuffed with beef, nopalitos [cactus], cotija cheese, and pico de gallo]. The gorditas should have been full of flavor, but they tasted kind of flat and boring. We also had the tableside guacamole, an old favorite. It was pleasantly salty and spicy.
I was in the mood for a dish I liked so I got the flautas. The flautas were on the plain side, but at least the chicken was seasoned. The spicy pepita adobo cream sauce made the dish worth eating. My mom got the garlic fish from the regional menu, and it was excellent. The fish was perfectly cooked with a great salty and garlicky flavor. The flautas were good in a comfort food sort of way, but the fish was impressive.
When we left Lynn noticed postcards at the host's station with a recipe for horchata. If it's the same recipe they used then it's worth making so here's their horchata recipe.
Makes approx. 1 gallon
Chill for 30 minutes. Serve in a tall glass filled with cubed ice and cinnamon sugar around the rim.
For a glass of Horchata con Brandy add 2 oz of Presidente Brandy to one glass of Agua de Horchata with cubed ice, shake well, and serve.
When I saw the title to the article "S. Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games" I thought it was a silly way to die. Then I read the line "Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games," and I thought maybe he knew he didn't have long to live. If I knew that I wouldn't spend my time at work. (If he was just slacking then it would seem appropriate that he slacked himself to death.) It seemed kind of pathetic that he spent his time playing video games, but I do have to give him credit for doing what he wanted. It made me wonder how I would spend my last days if I knew they were my last (which fits with my recent contemplative mood). If I had a choice I'd spend them with Lynn someplace that's not here, not doing much besides eating well. A large lake in the mountains where they make rosti would be perfect.
I have a few Cuban cigars that are expensive, rare, and tasty that I usually only smoke on special occasions. Tonight I smoked one because I could. It was a perfect night to do it too because the high humidity and the stillness let the the scent from our aromatic plants hang heavy in the air. As I looked at the beads of moisture on my Coke I felt like I was in New Orleans, which is another good place to eat well and do nothing.
Lynn had to have two birthday dinners because I had two birthday dinners so one of those dinner was at Janos (where we previously had a perfect four course meal).
We looked at the menu, and the five course spring tasting menu looked great to both of us. We considered getting the matching wine pairings, but I noticed a couple of bottles of Turley on the wine list. I knew of Turley by reputation, but never had one before. The Turley "Old Vines Zinfandel 2002" wasn't a bargain at over 300% markup, but I couldn't resist a cult wine I couldn't get a hold of normally. I also figured it was ok for a special occasion so that made it ok.
Lynn wanted to start the meal with a sparkling wine so she got a glass of the Domaine Chandon "Brut". Lynn was very happy with her sparkling wine. The wine that was paired with the scallop dish was the Domaine de Reuilly "Sauvignon Blanc 2003", and that sounded really good to me so I got a glass.
The first course was dungeness crab with artichokes, sweet peas, herbs, mushroom chips, and potatoes with truffled tomato tartare. The dish looked great with the herbs and tiny mushroom chips scattered across the plate in a manner that really was evocative of spring. I thought the crab was too salty, but Lynn didn't. The potatoes and artichokes served more as platform for the crab than as contributor of flavor. The sweet peas were very good, but the best thing on the plate was the tomato tartare, which had a great tomato flavor with just a hint of onion.
The second course was a lemongrass skewered seared scallop with pan fried sticky rice and edamame [soy beans] puree. The scallop was excellently prepared, but needed something to give it a bit of interest. When I would taste the rare hint of lemongrass the scallop was great. They should have skewered the scallop with three strips of lemongrass. The sticky rice had a crispy crust that contrasted with the moist center, and it was very tasty. It wasn't meant to be eaten with the scallop though because it completely overpowered it. I'm a big fan of edamame so I was disappointed when it didn't taste like anything. Lynn and I both thought that a hint of wasabi would have set off the dish really well. The Domaine de Reuilly smelled like apples, and was very light and refreshing. I thought it was a very good pairing for the dish.
Now that we were past all the seafood I got a chance to try the Turley "Old Vines Zinfandel 2002". I had heard wines described as jammy, and a couple I've tried had hints of jam, but none of them compared to the Turley. It was completely jammy in scent and flavor, and a wine experience almost like no other. Lynn and I both thought it was great, and we couldn't stop raving about it.
The third course was mesquite smoked bacon wrapped quail breast with barbecue sauce and corn spoonbread with tepary bean cake. It was impressive, and I thought it was the best dish of the meal! Everything went together perfectly, and this was a case of when the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. There was smokiness, heat, sweetness, and savoriness in a Southwest style that didn't go overboard. I especially enjoyed the little bits of green onion that added the occasional pungency to the dish. The only weakness in the dish was the tepary bean cake, which was hard and a little tasteless.
The fourth course was braised short ribs with horseradish mashed potatoes. The ribs were super tender, but they didn't have much flavor. They were great with the basil-orange mojo, but there was so little of it on my plate that I only tasted it on the last bite. Lynn really liked it, but I only thought it was good; this entree definitely was not on the same level as the rest of the food.
Dessert was supposed to be chocolate macaroons with mint ice cream, but our waitress told us we could have something else. Lynn tried the chocolate souffle with Kahlua ice cream, but I just went with what was on the menu. Lynn's dessert was brought out in a dish that said Happy Birthday Lynn, but Lynn's name was misspelled. The funny thing was that the same thing happened at Lynn's other birthday dinner at Christopher's. My ice cream and macaroons were both too minty, and I didn't like either one of them. There were a couple of sugar coated mint leaves garnishing my dessert that had a flavor similar to Wrigley's doublemint gum (before they screwed it up). I liked those. Lynn's souffle didn't have enough chocolate flavor, and it wasn't sweet enough for me. Lynn liked it. I at least thought the Kahlua ice cream had a really good flavor.
As much as it probably sounds like I didn't enjoy the dinner, I actually did, and thought it was better than Lynn's birthday dinner at Christopher's. It wasn't perfect like the first time, but we'd eat at Janos again. I might stick to my own choices next time since I seem to have better luck there that way.
I finally got a chance to watch Anthony Bourdain's new show "No Reservations". His first episode titled "Why the French Don't Suck" was set in Paris. I thought it was an interesting topic for someone who's supposed to be a rebel chef. I think it's about time someone publicly stopped beating up on the French people (the French government is a different matter, but so is the American government). Some people said the show was contrived, and it was. The scene when Anthony Bourdain was drunk on absinthe was especially artificial, but that was just Bourdain being a total ham. He's especially hammy on the new show, but maybe you need to be when you're sampling Icelandic sheep testicles in aspic. I was surprised that the entries in his travel journal were really parts of the narrative from his show.
I found the new show entertaining, and Lynn thinks it's a hundred times better than "A Cook's Tour".
As an aside, I've noticed that a couple of travel programs have advocated leading a more leisurely lifestyle when visiting Paris. I think it's a good idea, but I would also like them to advocate a leisurely lifestyle at home or somewhere else for a change.
I'm going to try to go to Las Vegas in mid-October because there's going to be a sumo tournament! It's the first sumo tournament in the United States in 20 years so it may be a while before it happens again. The following is an excerpt from my still uncompleted Japan trip page to help explain my enthusiasm.
I love sumo, and would watch it when ESPN used to show the bashos (compressing 14 days of competition into less than 30 minutes of television). I had told Steve I wanted to attend a sumo match if possible, and I was lucky enough that there was a sumo tournament (not a basho) going on while I was in Osaka. Okaasan and Otousan had never been to a sumo tournament before so they decided to join us.We left the house for the Gotenyama station without getting anything to eat. Steve and I were starved. We were headed to Osakajou [Osaka Castle] Hall, and when we got to our destination Steve and I picked up some snacks at a convenience store. Steve showed me a giant donut for ¥100 that he likes. I got one of those, and mushroom shaped strawberry yogurt dipped pretzels. We were so hungry we started eating our donuts while we were still in the subway station, which is a taboo in Japan. Okaasan mentioned to Steve that Japanese wouldn't eat in the subway station. Steve responded that it was a good thing we weren't Japanese. We both knew that the reason she mentioned it was because she was uncomfortable, but we were really hungry.
We got to Osakajou, and there were all sorts of food vendors set up around the castle. I wished I could eat everything, but Okaasan and Otousan weren't stopping for anything. Once up by the castle I could look down and see all the blue tarps people had set on the ground to enjoy viewing the cherry blossoms.
We went into the hall, and found our seats, which were located on a raised platform at ring level. Because the platform was raised we had to take our shoes off to get to our seats. I had wondered why they gave us a large plastic bag, and the answer was to put our shoes in while we were on the platform. The platform itself was divided into square sections which had four little squares in each section, one per person, so the four of us had a whole square to ourselves. There was a thin mat with an old school Japanese painting of a sumo wrestler on it in each square to keep the hard platform from being too uncomfortable. (The mat worked well for about 10 minutes, but it got painful after that.)
Seats found Steve and I then looked for something more substantial than a large donut (which was tasty) to eat. I got an onigiri [rice ball] combination with three different triangle shaped onigiri: one with egg yolk, one with black sesame seeds, and one with umeboshi [pickled plum]. The one with egg yolk had little bits of yolk sprinkled over the entire thing. It had a pleasant mild flavor, and surprisingly, it was the best of the three. The one with black sesame seeds also had them sprinkled all over, but the sesame seeds didn't add as much flavor as I expected, which was disappointing. The one with umeboshi had a fat dollop of purplish umeboshi right in the center, and it was one of the sourest things I'd ever eaten in my life.
When we entered the hall we were given a couple of things including a schedule of the matches. Before the matches started all the lower ranked rikishi [sumo wrestlers] from the east (or west, I'm not sure who was first) came into the ring in their dress costumes, faced the crowd, and then faced each other. They left, and the rikishi from the other side filed down to the ring, and did the same thing. One of the things I love about sumo is the ceremony, and I'd never seen the full ring opening ceremony before so I was elated.
The matches between the lower ranked guys were somewhat uneventful. In between the matches with the lower ranked guys and the higher ranked guys there was a demonstration of different sumo positions. It looked like the normal sumo stuff (squatting, one leg up in the air, then the other), until they came to the end when they did the splits and touched their chins to the floor. I always knew sumo wrestlers where athletic, but I didn't know they were so limber. I guess it makes sense since they would probably get injured a lot more if they weren't.
Before the matches with the higher ranked rikishi all the higher ranked guys came out to do their ring opening ceremony. After they finished the special guest, Takanohana (the former yokozuna [the highest rank in sumo] of the east, and my favorite rikishi) came out in full dress, and did the yokozuna opening ceremony. It was the usual squatting and stomping type stuff. What surprised me about the ceremony was that when he lifted his leg people started making noise that ended in a crescendo of "wwwwwwhhhhhoooooooooooooAAAAAA" when he brought his leg down. Okaasan said that he was driving the evil spirits from the ring. This was a ceremony I didn't even know about, and I liked it. Takanohana left, and then Asashoryu (the current yokozuna of the east) came out and did the same thing to similar fanfare. There wasn't a yokozuna of the west so that was it.
Something else that surprised me about the matches was how noisy the people were. They would shout out with all their might the names of the rikishi they liked sometimes followed by a message of encouragement. For instance when Takanohana (whose name, which was a name chosen for wrestling, means respectful flower in English) walked into the stadium, the entire place erupted with people yelling "Takanohana!", and one guy even yelled something like "Takanohana, you're Japanese." (His comment may sound obvious, but it was a declaration of nationalism because the only current yokozuna, Asashoryu, was from Mongolia.) The yelling was great fun, and I even got into it yelling "Kaio!" in probably the meekest voice anyone has ever yelled with because I wasn't quite comfortable doing it.
Watching the matches was great. The rikishi had developed their own style so there were those who relied on their quickness to outmaneuver their opponent to push them out of the ring while others relied on sheer strength to relentlessly push their opponent out of the ring. I even saw one guy jump over a charging opponent, but he lost that match. One of the rikishi, who seemed to be setting himself up for stardom, had huge sideburns that made him look like a Japanese fat Elvis. He stood out in a crowd. He also had a unique wrestling style that was entertaining to watch; when he came out of his stance he would unleash a flurry of slaps to his opponent's chest E. Honda style (from Street Fighter 2). He won one or two matches, but he finally lost when his opponent wasn't fazed by the slapping, and pushed him out of the ring. As we watched, and came to know some of their styles, I would look forward to those mismatches pitting a quick guy versus a strength guy. On that day strength prevailed; the quick guys didn't play their strategy to the end.
There was a contest to pick who would win the tournament. I wasn't really familiar with the current rikishi, since ESPN stopped showing sumo, so I had to guess. I ended up hedging my bet voting for Kaio, an ozeki [the second highest rank in sumo]. Steve went for the obvious choice of Asashoryu (as a yokozuna Asashoryu was expected to win most tournaments). Okaasan also voted for an ozeki, and Otousan picked a long shot, someone from about the fourth highest rank, because he said the guy had a good technique and a lot of heart. Asashoryu didn't make it very far even though he had a bye. Okaasan's, Otousan's, and my guy made it all the way to the semi-finals, and Otousan's and my guy battled in the final. Otousan's guy was very good, but Kaio got him wrapped up and pushed him out. It was an exciting match. My guy won the tournament, and that qualified me to win a prize. We waited after the tournament for them to announce the contest winners. The grand prize was a 19" plasma screen, and unlike the other prizes, I actually wanted it. Things were looking good (I was trying to be positive) because I hadn't won any of the other prizes, and when the announcer had a problem pronouncing a name that started with "ma" Okaasan got excited because she thought I had won it. It was actually someone else so I left without winning anything, but I did have my little sumo mat.
All of us had a great time at the tournament, and I thought the sumo tournament was the best experience of the entire trip. I'd highly recommend attending a match if you ever get a chance.
A while ago Lynn and I had dinner with a couple of Lynn's friends at Coyoacan Steak House. The exterior of the south Phoenix restaurant looked like a box, but the interior was more like an upscale steak house. It was a pleasant surprise. They had sangria, and I had to try it. It was tasty, but I don't remember anything about it. Our waitress brought out six salsas, but instead of giving us chips they gave us corn tortillas. I tried a couple of the salsas straight because I'm not a tortillas and salsa kind of person.
We couldn't decide on just one or two appetizers so we got an appetizer platter with ribs, ceviche, and grilled cactus with cheese and chorizo for the whole table. The ribs were tender, but too sweet without anything to make them interesting (unlike the Thai basil on the Thai basil ribs at Cyclo). I've probably said it before, but as many times as I've tried cactus I just don't find it something I want to eat. The cactus appetizer at Coyoacan wasn't any different. The flavor just didn't appeal to me, and I didn't think it went well with the cheese or chorizo. I thought the best appetizer on the platter was the ceviche; the sauce was very spicy with a great flavor. Its only weakness was the shrimp in it, which didn't taste good (that would be the theme for the night). Lynn got an order of the chicken tortilla soup, and didn't like it. The flavor alternated so much that I thought every other bite tasted either really great or terrible.
There was lamb and duck on the menu so it made my decision difficult, but I went for the lamb chops. They were served on the sweet side, which was a first for me, and I think that lamb isn't meant to taste sweet; the meat had an underlying odd gaminess that kept me from fully enjoying the well prepared lamb. I wouldn't order the lamb again unless it was prepared differently. Lynn ordered a New York strip steak, and it had an excellent crust on it. Lynn thought it needed salt, but I thought it was fine. Both of the other couple ordered pescado al mojo de ajo [garlic shrimp]. Normally I'm a huge fan of pescado al mojo de ajo, and it wasn't until I had it at El Tlacoyo in January that I found one I didn't like, but this one was pretty awful. The shrimp had the shrimpy flavor I only taste with prawns or old shrimp, and it was completely devoid of any garlic. The other couple said they liked it.
To my surprise we were brought out side dishes like we were at a Korean restaurant; a lot of shallow bowls of different items were placed on the table. We had mushrooms, a traditional salad, zucchini with tomato sauce, mashed potatoes, refried beans, and white rice with mixes vegetables. Neither Lynn or I tried the beans or the rice. The mushrooms tasted like mushrooms, and weren't anything special. The salad was well put together, and I do enjoy a salad with my meat. The zucchini had a great flavor, but was slightly over cooked. I don't remember anything about the masted potatoes. I appreciated the selection they gave us, just like a Korean restaurant.
For dessert we got tres leches [a cake made with three milks] and crepes with cajeta [goat milk caramel]. The tres leches was great, and something I'd order again. The cajeta was gamey, the way we like it, but it was also slightly burnt. Additionally it was a little plain with just the crepes and caramel so if Lynn and I want this dessert the way we like it we'll have to go back to Barrio Cafe.
Lynn and I thought Coyoacan Steak House was good, but it hasn't been good enough to remind us to eat there again.
[After writing about the lamb at Coyoacan I remembered the duck I had at Roaring Fork on our second visit. It was also very well prepared, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have either. The other similarity between the two was that the duck was sugar cured. Lamb or duck with a sweet sauce is fine (lamb chops in port reduction is my favorite lamb preparation), but once you put sugar, or honey, on the meat it does something to the gaminess that I don't like. The result is now I've got a new food rule: gamey meats shouldn't be served sweet. I've also started a ongoing "Food Rules" section under Babble that I can add these to as I remember them.]
Lynn wanted to celebrate being through with summer school Thursday so she wanted to go out to dinner. She only had $26 for dinner so we went through all the good and cheap restaurants we could remember. None of them sounded good until Lynn mentioned Cyclo. Cyclo is BYOB ("bring your own bottle"), and we'd never once taken advantage of it, so Lynn wanted a wine that would go well with beef chow fun (her favorite dish at Cyclo). Knowing how smoky the chow fun is I thought of a wine with its own smokiness to match, the Baileyana "Firepeak Vineyard Edna Valley Chardonnay 2000". Lynn's suggestion for a wine pairing was the Papapietro Perry "Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2002" because it's light enough not to overpower the dish, fruity, and smoky (I don't get smoky from it). We went with my pick, but we'll probably try her's next time.
We started with the carpaccio, and an order of egg rolls. The flavor of the egg roll filling tasted slightly fishy, which was unusual, and Lynn couldn't stand it. I ate two of them, but they were far from as good as they normally are. I also learned that the egg rolls get really nasty when they're cold. I've never been a fan of carpaccio because the beef is usually sliced so thin that I can't taste it. This carpaccio was sliced a little thicker than I was used to seeing so I hoped I could taste the beef. It also came with lime, cilantro, crushed peanuts, and rice crisps with black sesame seeds in it. The texture combination of the raw beef and the crisps was great. The combination of flavors was excellent too, but I couldn't taste the beef. That was ok because I liked the flavors enough that I didn't care. Justina, the owner, suggested eating it with a couple of drops of sriracha. We both gave it a shot, and the heat from the sauce fit well with the rest of the flavors. We both liked the carpaccio much better than the spicy beef salad. I tried the wine with it, and I was amazed that the acidity from the lime juice matched the wine so all that there was only flavor coming from the wine.
I'm not a big fan of pad Thai because I think it's one of the more boring Thai dishes around, but I trust Cyclo enough that I decided to give it a shot there. Lynn went for the beef chow fun. The pad Thai came with shrimp, tofu, eggs, and crushed peanuts. There was a healthy amount of red chile flakes in the pad Thai so it was pleasantly spicy, and overall the flavor was very good. The tofu had absorbed the flavor from the sauce, and was pretty good, but the shrimp was overcooked. The wine was super buttery with the pad Thai. Lynn's chow fun once again had a great onion and smokey flavor. When I tried the wine with it all I got was pure acid. I thought it was ironic that the entire reason I chose the wine was for this dish, and this was the only dish I didn't like with it. Lynn said the wine tasted like olives when she had it with the chow fun, and she enjoyed the pairing.
I wasn't really in the mood for dessert, but Lynn was so we got the jasmine creme brulee. The creme brulee was decent, but it was completely missing the jasmine flavor for which the dessert is named. Without the jasmine the flavor was just sweet.
We went over Lynn's $26 budget, but we knew we would by the way we were ordering. It was still relatively cheap for the amount of food we got. I was disappointed that two of our favorite dishes weren't up to standard, but we did find two new dishes worth ordering again.
[Previous visit to Cyclo.]
I loaned Steve "Fear and Trembling", and (not a surprise to me) he hated it for the exact same reasons I did ("I believe that she [the author] completely misunderstood some of the scenarios she went through..."). He also told me that he saw a preview for a movie based on the book fairly recently. I couldn't believe anyone would make that monument to the author's stupidity into a movie, but sure enough it was released as "Stupeur et Tremblements" in France in 2003. Steve and I agree that the worst thing about making the book into a movie is that people will see it, and probably think it's true. At least the film is French so it's doubtful anyone will see it.
[It's about time I get some of these old out of town visits done.]
It's a rare occasion that I get to eat breakfast in Flagstaff on a Saturday so I was looking forward to eating at Hong Kong Cafe (where I could get a good cup of congee [rice porridge] with some greasy pot stickers). I was depressed to discover that Hong Kong Cafe was closed, and replaced by a Mexican restaurant. At the time I was too hungry to wander far, but I didn't remember any of the downtown breakfast places being good. I decided that Kathy's Cafe was just as bad a choice as any other place.
I got an omelette with monterrey jack, chorizo, and green onion, and a side of potatoes. I also got a root beer float because I was in the mood for one, and I could. The float was made with good ice cream and A&W root beer. I was extremely happy with it so naturally it was the best thing at breakfast. The omelette was filled with lots of chorizo, and not much cheese. I would have preferred more cheese even if the chorizo wasn't of good quality. The potatoes were nicely seasoned with season salt, but they could have been cooked a little more.
I didn't care for Kathy's Cafe on my first visit, or my second visit, but I'd definitely go back there if I wanted a root beer float.
The first time Lynn and I went to Salsa Brava it was sometime last year. We were seated at the booth, and hit the salsa bar. The best of the salsas to me was the pineapple-habanero salsa which had a unique flavor that was fruity, sweet, and spicy, but not too spicy. The pico de gallo was excellent with a very fresh flavor, but I thought it needed chile pepper. Lynn told me she got the mild one so I'm sure the hotter version would be better. We also had an odd hot salsa that didn't have a good flavor and wasn't hot.
Lynn tried their ultimate margarita (Herradura silver, Gran Gala, and Cointreau) which she said was pretty tasty.
For our entrees I had the carnitas while Lynn tried the beef quesadilla. The carnitas had an odd fluffy texture, but it had a good roasted flavor with a hint of orange that got me to like it. The beef in the quesadilla had an excellent roast beef flavor, but it was salty. I think it was probably just an off day for the beef.
The food wasn't impressive, but it was good.
Our second visit to Salsa Brava was a lot more recent (meaning this year). The pineapple-habanero salsa was once again very spicy with a sweet, pineapple flavor. I love that salsa. The tomatillo salsa had a good flavor, and was somewhat spicy. Lynn was seriously in the mood for guacamole so we tried the tableside guacamole (the regular guacamole was smooth while the tableside was chunky). We both thought the tableside guacamole was very good, and worth ordering again.
I didn't remember anything from our last visit so I tried the green chile beef chimichanga, and Lynn had the chicken enchiladas with cheese and cilantro cream sauce. The green chile didn't have specific flavors that stood out, it was just good. The chimichanga was decent on its own, but it was much better with guacamole. The chimichanga came with the smooth guacamole, and I thought it was lacking in flavor compared to the chunky version. The enchiladas were good in a mellow way, but Lynn worried about some of the chicken being fully cooked because it was pink. It didn't look uncooked pink to me so I ate it without worries.
Once again the food was good. I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but obviously I'd eat there again.
Normally I don't write about beer, but recently I've tried a couple of unique ones. Steve brought over some Alaskan "Amber" that had a tasty initial coffee flavor, but had a banana aftertaste. It wasn't terrible, but it was so weird I couldn't finish a bottle of it.
I'd known about lambic beer from my home brewing days. It's an aberration among beer styles because while other brewing processes depend on sterile environments, and avoiding "contamination", lambic beer is exposed to the open air and naturally fermented (on the bottle it was written in French as fermentation spontanée, which to me sounds a lot better than naturally fermented). I'd been meaning to try a lambic for a long time, but kept forgetting to until I saw a bottle of Lindemans "Framboise" [raspberry] at Von Hanson's Meats. The flavor turned out to be unique, but not the way I expected; the beer tasted more like unsweetened raspberry yogurt than beer. If I have a fruit flavored beer I prefer it hopped, but I was able to finish off my glass. I didn't really care for this lambic, but I'd try another one from a different brand.
A couple of weeks ago Lynn picked up some fresh apricots for me. While I love the flavor of apricots I discovered that I don't really care for apricots fresh.
The last time we were at the grocery store I picked up Rainier cherries just for the hell of it. Their beautiful yellow color with red blush looked more like a Gala apple than a cherry. The flavor was actually plum with only a hint of cherry. I liked them, but Lynn likes her cherries to taste like cherries. I made pork chops tonight, and since we had a load of cherries I made a cherry sauce to go with them. The sauce came out well, but it ended up tasting like prunes. That didn't bother me since one of my favorite dishes at Bacco in New Orleans is their grilled pork tenderloin in prune sauce. Lynn was skeptical, but the combination of pork, black pepper, cayenne, and garlic worked well with the prune flavored sauce. I doubt I'll make another sauce out of Rainier cherries though because I like them better raw than cooked.
One of the things I love about The Barbecue Company is that I can get a good side salad with my meat. Their Southwest burger is also the best burger I know of in town. The last time I was there I had lunch with Lynn, and she got the Texas Twister (an open faced sandwich with brisket and fried onions). It was a fairly new addition to the menu so I'd never had it before. I thought the combination of smoky meat, sweet barbecue sauce, and fried onions was great, but I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise since their thick sliced brisket is tasty. Now that gives me three very good lunch options at The Barbecue Company.
Seeing Ken's list of the top chow fun (in the comments for a recent Cyclo visit) reminded me that I should throw out a top list every once in a while to stimulate conversation (or maybe start some arguments). So, in no particular order, I present my top five local sandwiches.
Are there any great local sandwiches you can think of? What were the best sandwiches you've had outside of Phoenix? (For me the panini at Cucina Paradiso in Payson and Villa Covello in Lahaska, PA were great as was the roast beef po'boy at ACME Oyster House in New Orleans, LA.)
[Addendum 7/30: Figures I get the urge to eat a torta at El Tlacoyo and find it lacking. It's not unusual for them to toast the bolillo, but this time parts of it had been swimming in margarine(?). It was nasty and ruined the flavor of the entire sandwich. This is the first time the sandwich wasn't consistently great. 8/03: The Soppressata at Pane Bianco now comes with roasted onions instead of roasted peppers. What a difference one ingredient makes. The best regular sandwich is now the mozzarella sandwich. I just had a cheese steak at The Original Hoagie Shop, and it was just as tasty as always. I took someone with me who had never been before, and he said a couple times, without prompting, that his Italian steak sandwich (bell peppers, onions, beef, and cheese) was really good.]
Last Friday I was supposed to meet Ken at Tilted Kilt. All the programmers decided to join us, and when we got there the place was packed. Apparently the lure of short plaid skirts was enough to attract every middle aged guy within a five mile radius. So much for Ken's waitress ogling. One of the programmers suggested we go to Half Moon Sports Grill instead, convincing me with the promise of good food.
We lost a couple of programmers along the way (I'm sure there's a joke in that somewhere), but the majority made it. I got an order of sambal [a type of pepper sauce] wings and fish and chips. The number of wings wasn't written on the menu, but at $7.25 I figured it was a dozen. It turned out to be eight. I thought it was a rip off. My fish and chips only came with two pieces of fish (that was written on the menu), and it wouldn't have bothered me if they were large pieces of fish (like at Knock Kneed Lobster), but they were the size of really large fish sticks. I looked at the sandwiches the other guys got, and they all looked small to me. Regardless of how anything tasted I wasn't going to return.
The sambal sauce on the wings was very good sauce, but it was difficult to enjoy when the chicken skin wasn't crispy. Is it really that difficult to make wings crispy? The fish they used was good, but the batter was the thick, gummy type that doesn't cook fully. The fries appeared to be garlic fries, but I rarely tasted any garlic, and they weren't crispy.
I was once again unhappy with my food, and the other guys who got burgers and meatloaf sandwiches were happy with theirs. I have to stop eating bar food.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Four Peaks Brewery to have lunch with some coworkers. I didn't expect much interior wise from a brewery so when it was a warehouse I wasn't surprised. What surprised me was that the restaurant/warehouse didn't have air conditioning so it was hot. Our other seating option was outside beneath the misters, but we didn't think it would be any cooler.
We started with a pitcher of Kilt Lifter. I noticed a smoky flavor the first time I tasted the draft version of Kilt Lifter that was absent in the bottled version so I was looking forward to trying the draft version again. I don't know if they changed their recipe, but this Kilt Lifter tasted just like the bottled one. It was good, but not as good as the first time.
I had a cheese burger with pepper jack cheese and bacon with a side salad. The beef wasn't salted before it was cooked, and there was no making up for it. The side salad consisting of iceberg lettuce was expected, but the slices of fresh mushrooms weren't. Too bad I don't like fresh mushrooms on my salad.
I wasn't happy with my food, but I was the only one. There's an unlikely chance I might go back to Four Peaks, but if I do it's not going to be until it cools down outside.
Philip Dick's "Ubik" was an interesting read so I picked up a couple of his other books. The one I just finished was "Galactic Pot-Healer" about a pot healer who finds himself obsolete, but gets offered the job of a lifetime. The story wasn't just mindless sci-fi entertainment though, but about the answers to bigger, philosophical questions (at least for the main character). It was a good book, but I preferred "Ubik" which was more entertaining and a little less soul searching (although the scenes in the book with Willis the robot were great).
Two movies I had wanted to see in the theaters, but didn't get around to was "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (ASUE) and "Team America".
First let me state that I haven't read any of the ASUE books so I can't be disappointed by how they hacked the books to create the movie. Honestly I think people make much too big a deal about inaccurate movie adaptations anyway; the screenplay writer wasn't trying to ruin the book, but make a good movie. Anyway, the sets for ASUE were amazing and unique with their ominous look, and the cinematography seemed to make the most of them too. The story was on the weak side, but I think it was forgivable. Everyone in the cast did a great job although Jim Carrey only played his typical over-the-top comedic character, but that was only a minor issue given that the movie was pretty entertaining. It also had the best closing credits I'd ever seen too. Overall I thought it was a good movie.
"Team America" was the movie with puppets in the same style as the old Thunderbirds television series. Coming from the creators of South Park I knew this movie was going to be course, but I couldn't guess how course. There was swearing, drinking, puking, sex, and most of it was fun watch. Another trademark of theirs is scathing satire, and this movie has loads of it. The movie even had a lot of great original songs. If you like their brand of humor then "Team America" was pretty damn good.
A few visits ago I hadn't been to Benjarong in a while, and I was missing the place. I wanted to order all sorts of appetizers, but kept to the nam tok [spicy beef salad]. Lynn ordered it medium, and it wasn't too spicy for us this time. It was still very spicy, but it had the explosive complex flavors that I love about Thai food.
Lynn ordered some dish that turned out to be chow fun noodles topped with ground beef. It was very saucy and had a very mild flavor. Lynn thought it was decent, but she wouldn't order it again. I enjoyed the mild flavor, but I probably wouldn't order it either. My entree was chow fun noodles with chicken and black bean sauce. The Thai black bean sauce tasted milder and sweeter than Chinese black bean sauce so I thought it was very good, but Lynn didn't like it at all.
The next time we were at Benjarong Lynn wanted to try the nam sod [spicy ground pork salad]. It was very spicy, but in a different way from the nam tok, with lots of fresh ginger. It was complex, and had more depth of flavor than the nam tok. I don't like one better than the other though; which I would prefer would depend on the mood I was in.
I was reluctant to order the pad prig king at Benjarong because it's been very hot at other restaurants I've had it, and I've known Benjarong to make things unbearably hot. On this visit I wasn't bothered by the possibility of searing heat so I got the pad prig king with chicken. It didn't taste like what I've come to expect (roasted red chile paste that sets more than your mouth on fire), but it was very good. There was a lot of tomatoes in the sauce, and it was kind of sweet. It had more depth to it than the standard red chile paste version, but it could have used more heat. The next time I order it I'll try it spicy.
The next time we were at Benjarong we wanted a light lunch so we got beef sate, larb [a chicken salad], and two bowls of soup (tom yum gai for me and tom ka gai for Lynn). The beef sate was good, but seemed to be missing something because it wasn't as good as usual. The larb tasted like a milder version of the nam sod, but my preference is for the spicy nam sod. The tom yum gai had the usual spiciness and complex flavor that I've come to expect from what I consider one of the great soups of the world. The mushrooms tasted a little weird in their soup though. I like tum yum gai much better than tum ka gai because I find the amount of coconut milk used in tum ka gai cuts too much of the flavor. Benjarong's was no exception because it was too creamy for me without enough flavor. Lynn loved it.
The last time we were at Benjarong one of the owners(?) had just returned from Thailand, and gave us a small benjarong [a type of Thai pottery which the restaurant is named after]. It completely surprised us. Lynn wasn't too hungry so she got a bowl of tum ka gai, and we split an order of nam tok. The tum ka gai was still not flavorful enough for me, and just right for Lynn. I tried the nam tok, and thought the beef tasted funny, but chalked it up to the fact that they probably didn't salt the beef before cooking it. Lynn tried it and thought the beef tasted bad. The same thought had occurred to me too, so I tried a couple of small pieces of the beef with soy sauce, and it still tasted funny. It killed both of us to send something back when they just gave us a present, but we did. They promptly took it off the bill, and were concerned that we thought it was bad because they had just received the beef that morning (and I believed them when they said that). They were trying to figure out if something went awry in the preparation that made it taste that way, but what we tasted was within the meat, where the spices hadn't penetrated. We've eaten at Benjarong too many times to let this spoil our opinion of them, and we'll probably even order the nam tok the next time we go there (since our nam tok craving wasn't satisfied).
I had ordered a lunch special that came with a choice of spring roll or a cup of soup. I opted for the spring roll, and it was perfectly crispy with a greaseless wrapper, but the combination of curry with the cabbage filling just tasted wrong. Lynn took one bite, and left the rest for me (which I didn't eat). My entree was the pad woon sen (chicken, egg, onion, tomato, and cellophane noodles), and it rocked. It had some white pepper heat, without white pepper's funky scent, but there was an inherent goodness to it that neither Lynn or I could deny. It's now on my list of dishes worth reordering at Benjarong.
The waitress asked us if we wanted dessert, and for some reason the incident with the nam tok made me open to the idea. I read many an endorsement for the goodness of coconut rice with mango, but it was a dish that never interested me in the least. They had it that day at Benjarong, and because of my trust in the restaurant I decided to give it a try. Wow, it was a much better dish than I ever thought it could be. The rice was creamy with a mild sweetness and coconut flavor that was the perfect light ending to a meal. The mango, served on the side, was ripe and sweet, but I didn't think it paired well with the rice. Lynn loved them together, but I would have been contented with just the rice.
Benjarong is still my favorite Thai restaurant, and it's been fun eating through their menu.
[Previous visit to Benjarong Thai Restaurant.]
One of Ken's friends wanted to go to dim sum yesterday, and that was all the excuse anyone needed to go. Dim sum was going to be at Golden Buddha, a first for all of us, so I couldn't wait to try it, and compare it to C-Fu Gourmet. Ken, Lynn, me, and about 18 other people showed up for dim sum. I thought Golden Buddha would be packed because of the recent five star rating in the Arizona Republic, but it wasn't too crowded to seat two large groups immediately. I didn't like our table because there was a hallway on one side and a walkway on the other so carts would approach our table from either side, and it was difficult to see what was on the carts from across the table.
We tried a lot of dishes, some of which I wouldn't eat at C-Fu Gourmet. Some items we tried at Golden Buddha that I'd never seen at C-Fu were shrimp and crab pan fried dumplings, fried shrimp rolls, and some tofu wrapped shrimp thing. I'd never had the seafood dumplings before, and the seafood tasted fresh, and it was great with the other ingredients. They're something I might go out of way for. The shrimp rolls were like the usual shrimp rolled in rice noodle only fried. They were crispy with a really good flavor, but we thought they were spring rolls and they made lousy spring rolls. I'd get them again though. The tofu wrapped thing had an odd earthy flavor that tasted very "Chinese" to me. I didn't like it.
Some of the things we had that were better at Golden Buddha were the short ribs, crispy noodles, and pork dumplings. The ribs had a nice mellow flavor, and this was the first time I'd ever liked them. The crispy noodles didn't have any wok flavor, but they were still tasty. The pork dumplings didn't taste great, but at least they tasted like pork (unlike C-Fu, where they taste funny).
There were more than a few things I thought were better at C-Fu: the pork stuffed mochi [mochi is the Japanese term for rice flour, I don't know the Chinese name for it], Chinese broccoli, custard buns, shrimp stuffed eggplant, barbecue pork, and shrimp rolled in rice noodle. I thought the pork stuffed mochi buns were brilliant at C-Fu even if they were mild. The mochi at Golden Buddha had a flavor that wasn't entirely mochi, and the pork didn't have much flavor. The broccoli was oily. That didn't make the broccoli bad, but it wasn't as good as what I'm used to. The custard buns had a dry filling with a lot of coconut in it. Even without comparing them to C-Fu I didn't like them. There wasn't much flavor to the shrimp stuffed eggplant (just like C-Fu), but the sauce wasn't as tasty as C-Fu's. I'm not a big fan of the barbecue pork at C-Fu, but there are times it's very good. The barbecue pork at Golden Buddha had an odd porky flavor that grossed me out. The shrimp rolled in rice noodle was very similar to C-Fu's, but there was something missing from Golden Buddha's that would keep me from ordering it again.
There were a few things that were similar at both places. The Saigon noodles and red bean paste stuffed mochi were two things I wouldn't order at either restaurant, and the spicy calamari and baked barbecue pork stuffed buns were two things that I would. I've never been a fan of Saigon noodles because of the curry flavor, and the sweet curry flavor of the Saigon noodles at Golden Buddha didn't appeal to me either. The red bean paste in the mochi had dark flavors that reminded me of coffee. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough to make me ignore the starchy pastiness. The spicy calamari was tough with a somewhat light batter and a very good flavor. Personally I prefer the C-Fu version with its crispier batter, but a couple people at the table like Golden Buddha's better. It's quite a tasty dish at either restaurant. The barbecue pork filling in the baked bun was sweet and slightly pasty. It seemed pretty close to typical to me, but Lynn hated the buns.
I didn't think Golden Buddha blew away C-Fu Gourmet, but it's close to on par with C-Fu Gourmet (and I'm sure some would say better). I'll have to give their regular menu a try some time.
I've been meaning to write this for a while because several people who know me have asked me if Lynn has found a job. What's funny is if they also knew Lynn they weren't surprised when I said she hadn't looked. Seriously though, Lynn is going back to school, and hopes to get her Associate of Arts (AA) in history by the end of this year. After that she wants to go to ASU to get her Bachelor's degree in history so she can teach history. We'll see if she doesn't get distracted by other things first, like starting a family.
I need a break from work so we're going to Seattle for my birthday (which isn't soon enough). Plane tickets have come down to normal prices again so we can afford a quick trip, and since we'll be staying with someone in Seattle this trip should be cheap. It should be interesting for both of us because we've never been to Seattle before. A trip that won't be cheap will be Japan, but I'm going no matter what it costs. (That's the reason the trip report I'm currently working on is my 2003 Japan trip so I don't have two Japan trips to write up.)
One of our new programmers is friends with one of the owners of Atlas Bistro (Todd) so every once in a while he sets up a group dinner there. This last group dinner there were 15 people, and Lynn and I were lucky enough to have been invited.
Since AZ Wine Co is next door to Atlas Bistro there was no shortage of wines for dinner. Some people even ducked out during dinner to pick up an extra bottle or two. I chose one white (Pascal Jolivet "Sancerre 2003") and one red (Seghesio "Cortina Zinfandel 2003") as my contribution. The Pascal Jolivet was medium bodied and had nice acidity and a mellow flavor. Lynn and I both thought it was pretty tasty, and it reinforced Lynn's love of French white wines. The first time Lynn and I visited Napa we visited Seghesio's tasting room in Healdsburg. We found their wines very oaky and loathed them. Todd had said the Cortina was rustic and very good so I took his word for it and gave it a chance. I was glad I did too because it was fruity and very creamy. I don't know that I would describe it as rustic, but it was very good.
Other wines I remembered trying, in no particular order: the Robert Sinskey Vineyards "RSV Vineyard Reserve 1998" which was dry and earthy; a very light and almost tasteless Dancing Bull "Sauvignon Blanc"; I tasted the Garretson "'The Craic' Central Coast Syrah" after two fuller bodied wines so it tasted very light, and I didn't get much flavor from it. The last wine I tried was the Marques Phillips "9 Shiraz" (which I had once before). It was very full bodied with a bitter finish. I'm not sure if the wine really was bitter or if it was just because I had tried it after I had finished with dessert, but it was probably a combination of both.
The meal started with crab spring rolls and tuna spring rolls. I started with the crab one. The combination of crab, avocado, corn, and other ingredients I stopped paying attention to was great. The tuna spring roll had the exact same ingredients as the crab one, but I liked the crab best (crab is also my favorite thing out of the ocean). Lynn liked the tuna one better.
We had a second appetizer of ostrich tostadas with five chile salsa. I was a little leery of the use of ostrich (it smacked of being needlessly exotic), but the ostrich had a kind of beefiness that was perfect with the spices and salsa. I wanted a second one, but by the time I looked for one they had disappeared.
There was then a third appetizer of mussels and clams in some sort of green broth with hominy in it. Both the mussels and the clams were decent, but it was too much like eating a shellfish pozole.
A salad of mixed greens, two kinds of melon, gouda, applewood smoked bacon, and candied nuts with garlic vinaigrette was next. The melons weren't ripe so they detracted from the rest of the salad. Everything else was great together. The vinaigrette and the candied nuts were both spicy making the salad unique.
There were three different entrees which were all brought out simultaneously. There were also three side dishes, but I didn't hear which side was supposed to go with which entree. There was seared duck breast with spinach and exotic mushroom risotto, which I had the first time I was at Atlas Bistro. The duck breast was nicely spiced, and I thought it tasted better this time. Lynn didn't like it because she thought it tasted gamey. The risotto had too much cheese in it so the it wasn't balanced, and the texture was a little gritty. The risotto was perfect the first time I had it so this was disappointing. The other two entrees were skewered filet mignon with some sort of sweet tomato salsa and grilled salmon. The filet was a little tasteless on its own, but very good with the salsa. The salmon was nicely seasoned, and had an excellent flavor. Lynn thought the salmon tasted fishy so I tried her's, and it did taste fishy. I didn't hold that against the restaurant because the salmon was the contribution of one of the guests. The two side dishes were skewered wasabi potatoes with onions and seafood macaroni salad. The seafood macaroni salad was spicy, but there was a flavor to it that I didn't like. Lynn thought it kicked butt. The wasabi potatoes had more going for it than just wasabi because it had a great flavor with just a hint of wasabi. The onions just tasted like onions.
There were three different desserts to try: butterscotch creme brulee, some sort of chocolate panna cotta, and homemade ice cream sandwiches. The top of the creme brulee seemed well caramelized (I didn't see it whole, but I didn't taste any grittiness from uncaramelized sugar), and the custard was very creamy. That alone would have been enough reason to like it, but the butterscotch flavor (if you like butterscotch) was unique and very tasty. I had the chocolate-expresso panna cotta on our second visit to Atlas Bistro, and this panna cotta wasn't as good. The ratio of chocolate to expresso was heavily weighted towards the chocolate the first time, and the chocolate was impressive; whatever the other flavor was this time it was about even with the chocolate, and that didn't work as well. The homemade ice cream was highly alcoholic so I didn't like it, but when the crispy cookies soaked up some of it and softened they were excellent.
Some of the items weren't great, but overall it was a great meal. Dinner was $65 per person (not including wine), and was worth it for the best meal I'd ever had at Atlas Bistro. I'd definitely attend another one of these things if I were invited.
The second to the last time Lynn and I were at Cyclo we tried the green beans with garlic and chile for the first time (we had seen the green beans at a different table on a previous visit, and they looked great). Lynn had the beef chow fun (yet again), and decided to try a Vietnamese dish, the mixed grill (a pork chop, beef, and shrimp) over broken rice. The scent that was steaming off of the green beans was full of garlic and wok flavor, and the beans tasted just as good as they smelled. The chow fun had an impressive wok flavor that reinforced the dish as Lynn's favorite at Cyclo. I don't like the pork at Khai Hoan (Justina's other restaurant) so I didn't expect to like the pork chop at Cyclo, but it was pretty good. So was the beef and the shrimp. Even though the meat was good the dish was still only meat and rice.
The last time we were at Cyclo we had dinner with Ken. We wanted him to be impressed with the place so we ordered the best things we knew on the menu. For starters that meant the green papaya salad and the Thai basil short ribs. (It could have also included the egg rolls, but Ken has had the spring rolls often enough from Pho Bang that I'm sure they wouldn't have been nearly as impressive as something new.) The green papaya salad was fresh with a complex flavor. If you're in the mood for something light and crisp it definitely hits the spot. The ribs were tender and quite tasty. They reminded Ken of a dish his grandmother used to make.
For entrees we got the beef chow fun; wokked beef; green beans with garlic and chile; and fried rice noodle with beef, shrimp, and scallop. The chow fun was once again impressive with its great wok flavor, and Ken was impressed. The wokked beef was complex with a pleasant bit of spice. The green beans were spicier than when we had them the first time, and we liked them better spicy. The fried rice noodle dish was the mellow dish of the bunch, and Ken didn't like it as much as everything else. I was the only one at the table who really dug the crispy rice noodles in mellow brown sauce.
When we finished with dinner we were going to get the jasmine creme brulee for dessert, but we couldn't because Ken is allergic to eggs. Justina must have liked Ken because she brought out fresh lychees for the table (which she's never done before). The lychee were juicy and sweet with a perfumey flavor. It was a good dessert, but I wanted a more substantial dessert so we headed across the street to Angel Sweet for some gelato. I had a small cup with pistachio and creme caramel. The creme caramel was good, but very sweet. The pistachio tasted exactly like pistachio nuts without the crunch, but I'm rather fond of the crunch. I think even Ken liked what he got (and he didn't have an allergic reaction either).
After our last dinner at Cyclo I have to think it's one of the best restaurants in Phoenix.
[Previous visit to Cyclo.]
[This doesn't fit this week's food theme, but I never said visits that fit the theme were the only visits that would get written.]
Writing about Mucho Gusto yesterday put me in a mood to eat lunch there today. Lynn joined me for what turned out to be the best meal I've had there.
Lynn was in the mood for a light meal so she had a cup of pozole, and we split a caprese salad (mixed greens, mozzarella, tomato, cucumber, and hicama). I also had a carne asada torta (taking Long's recommendation). The chips were crispy today, and the salsa was spicy and tasty. The mozzarella was actually pretty good (I find most mozzarella bland), as were the tomatoes, but there really needed to be some basil on the plate for it to taste like a caprese. The hicama, cut into sticks and dusted with chile, provided a pleasant crunch and a nice spicy accent to anything they were eaten with. The greens were tossed with a little balsamic vinegarette, and made a decent basil substitute when eaten with the mozzarella and tomato. I found that a little black pepper on everything noticably improved the flavors. If I had my heart set on a caprese I wouldn't have been happy with the salad, but just considering it as a regular salad I was very happy with it. The pozole was as good as usual, with maybe a little more pork than normal. My torta came loaded with carne asada, black beans, queso fresha, and chipotle aioli(?). It didn't look traditional, but that didn't keep it from being tasty. The carne asada had a good flavor by itself, but the combination of it with the beans and aioli was excellent. There was also a little salad on the side, and a cup of guacamole sauce. I love guacamole with my carne asada tortas, but this stuff was finely blended and didn't have enough avocado flavor for me to want to put it on the sandwich. The side salad was almost the same as the mixed greens we had with our caprese (there was some roast corn and queso fresca on top of this salad), but I was happy to get some vegetables with my meat (which is good to know when I'm in a veggie mood).
Everything about this meal was very good: the food, the service, and for once, the kitchen was appropriately fast. They seem to finally have everything together, and I couldn't be happier.
[Previous visit to Mucho Gusto.]
Lynn and I picked my mom up at the airport, and thought it would be good to have dinner. The only place I could think of at the time was Mucho Gusto. Lynn wanted a cup of pozole (I think that's the only reason she eats there), and I got a Mexican pizza (fry bread, red chile pork, lettuce, cheese, and salsa) for the table. The pozole was great, as always. You can find a Mexican pizza on the menu at Taco Bell, but the one at Mucho Gusto was actually very tasty. It was simple, but very satisfying. My mom and I loved it, but Lynn didn't care for it for some reason.
I got the Oaxacan tamale (a chicken tamale covered in mole) to compare to the one at Barrio Cafe, but unfortunately I don't remember a thing about it. I don't think I liked it though because I tried my mom's ranchero steak, and was much happier with it. The steak wasn't tender (typical of skirt steak), but it was very flavorful (also typical of skirt steak). It could have been sliced thinner, but it was excellent the way it was.
The last time I was at Mucho Gusto I had lunch with Lynn before we left for one of our Flagstaff trips. I made note of the chips and salsa because the salsa was very good and spicy, but the chips weren't good. They didn't taste stale, just chewy. It was probably because the homemade chips weren't made with stale tortillas; fresh tortillas have enough moisture in them that when you fry them the chips come out chewy.
Neither one of us felt too hungry so Lynn went for her usual cup of pozole, and tried the gringo quesadilla (cheese, carne asada, bacon, green chile, and onion). I tried the fish tacos. After we ordered our food our waiter disappeared, and we began to wonder what was taking Lynn's soup so long. When I finally saw the waiter I asked him about Lynn's soup. His first response was, "You didn't want that with your food?" That annoyed Lynn because he never asked when she wanted the soup. The waiter checked on the pozole, and said they had to make a new batch because they had sold out of it earlier. We both thought the soup wouldn't be as good newly made.
Our food arrived, with the soup. The pozole was mild, and it tasted like the ingredients needed more time stewing together. We should have canceled the order when we heard it was a new batch. The sauce on my fish tacos was very good, but they didn't salt the fried fish. At first it was only a small bother, but eventually I stopped eating the tacos because I couldn't really taste the fish (I salted the fish myself, but it's not nearly the same thing as being salted straight out of the frier). I'm never ordering the fish tacos again. The quesadilla had a good flavor, but all the flavors were low key so it really needed a high key flavor (like green onion) to perk it up. Lynn would get it again.
Lunch took about an hour from the time we sat down to when we left. That's far longer than lunch should take, but every lunch I've had at Mucho Gusto has been slow. Even Va Bene (restaurant #1 in my book) can get me in and out of lunch in 45 minutes.
I have mixed feelings about Mucho Gusto; they're a weird mix of a few great items and a lot of mediocre ones. I keep thinking I should stick to what I know is great, but they seem to have so much potential that I can't help but try new items.
[Previous visit to Mucho Gusto.]
I haven't done a food theme for a while so I'm due. This week's food theme is going to be a little different than normal because instead of being a type of class of food it's places I've been to more than once since the last time I wrote about them. This should motivate me to write about certain places before the number of visits gets too ridiculous (like over four).
First let me start by saying that I hate going to places that have just opened because it hardly seems like a fair assessment since they're still usually working things out. A month or two ago Lynn and I saw someone putting up the sign for Big Bubba's B-B-Q so I made a mental note to give them a try some time. I thought they had opened for at least a few weeks when I visited them, but it was obvious they were still setting up. They were serving, but from an abbreviated menu. I ordered a half slab of baby back ribs with beans and potato salad for myself, and brisket with macaroni and cheese and home fries for Lynn.
Before I left the owner came out with a sample of pastrami. The pastrami had a very good flavor, but was oily and salty. The oil didn't bother me, but the saltiness was too much. The owner told me that they were having their grand opening on the 25th. He also mentioned that they'll have all you can eat barbecue (different dishes on different days), a Southern breakfast buffet (which piqued my interest with things like biscuits and gravy, salt cured bacon, and cheese grits), and eventually opening a bar next door (mmm... beer and barbecue). He was a friendly and enthusiastic guy so I hoped he made great barbecue giving me something positive to say about his fledgling business.
I got the food home and started sampling. The ribs were somewhat tender, well hickory smoked, and a little salty. The barbecue sauce was sweet, and a nice match for the ribs. They were decent, but not something I'd order again. The brisket was also somewhat tender, a little dry, and I couldn't taste any smoke flavor. It did have a little honey sweetness to it, and a good flavor. The more I ate it the more I liked it better than the ribs. With a little work it'll be just as good as the brisket from Joe's Real BBQ.
The sides weren't anything special. The beans had onion and jalapeno in it, but the flavor was too mellow to be of interest to me. The macaroni and cheese had a good flavor, but was extremely light on the cheese. It would rock with some cheese. The potato salad was sort of like mashed potatoes with other ingredients, but tasted mostly like mashed potatoes. The home fries were squat little fries with the skin on. They were decent by themselves, and excellent with Tabasco ketchup. I find most side dishes at barbecue places aren't worth eating so I wasn't surprised I didn't find any I really liked at Big Bubba's; between the two barbecue places I frequent most (Honey Bear's and Joe's Real BBQ) there's only two sides that I like.
There were a couple of items with potential among the average so I hope the barbecue and sides get better at Big Bubba's as they approach their grand opening. They'll get some time from me because the next time I visit I'll probably be there for their Southern breakfast.
I remembered I had't been to Arai Pastry in a while so I recently rectified that oversight. I tried to get a sukiyaki sandwich on a croissant, as I've had before, but the old guy behind the counter said they didn't have croissants. I'm not sure if he meant they didn't have them that day or if they stopped making croissants altogether. I got it on wheat bread instead. I asked if they had mugicha [cold roast barley tea] because they made it last summer, and the guy said they didn't have that either.
He went in the back to make my sandwich, and I looked at the various desserts while I waited. The lemon cheese was something I hadn't noticed before so I got one, a UFO, and something that looked like a small hot dog baked into a roll (which was new since the last time I was there). When I got my food back to work I found that the guy packed a little coconut cake with my sandwich (I don't know if they give them to everyone, or if he just felt guilty that I asked him for a couple of things he didn't have). The combination of flavors in the sandwich was excellent, but the thick slices of toasted wheat bread wasn't as good as a light croissant.
The coconut cake was moist and a little dense with maybe a hint of lemon. It wasn't overly sweet, and quite good, but it wasn't my sort of thing. The UFO was the usual slightly sweet bread. The hot dog roll tasted exactly like a hot dog in a roll. It made me wish they baked some mustard into the roll. The lemon cheese was a small block of two layers of something creamy and two layers of sponge cake. The something creamy was cheesecake with a light lemon flavor with little bits of lemon zest in it. It was a light and tasty dessert that I would get again.
I really hope that Arai Pastry makes croissants again, but they do seem to make a habit of getting rid of stuff I like.
One night Dj was over, and he wanted to get some seafood. I couldn't think of anyplace (seafood restaurants aren't my speciality even though I love seafood) so Lynn suggested Red Lobster. I know the Alma School location knows how to cook seafood properly so I wasn't opposed to it.
We started with the lobster pizza (which is made with langoustine, a prawn not a lobster). It had a thin crust, and although it was a little salty the fresh basil on it made it very tasty. Dj and I both liked it a lot, but Lynn thought the pizza was too salty.
I had never tried the fish and chips at Red Lobster before, but the fish was beer battered so it sounded good to me. The fish filets were cut so thin I couldn't taste the fish. It reminded me of visits to Captain D's as a kid when they would give you bits of deep fried batter in addition to your fish, but at least at Captain D's you could taste the fish! I used to think not salting fried fish was the worst mistake someone could make with fried fish, but now I know that there are even greater ways to err. (By the way, the best fried fish I know of in town is at the Knock Kneed Lobster. Occasionally they do forget to salt the fried fish though.)
Lynn had the lobster (once again langoustine if I remember correctly) and asparagus in penne pasta with alfredo sauce. When it arrived at our table there was a distinct yellow tinge to the sauce. It seemed highly unusual, and when I tasted the sauce I detected the sort of gaminess that comes from cheese. Lynn was able to eventually name the flavor saying it tasted like they made the alfredo sauce with brie. I couldn't eat more than two bites because I decided that it tasted foul to me. Lynn tried to tough her way through it, but it didn't take long for the sauce to upset her stomach. Dj also got a pasta dish with alfredo sauce, and his tasted just as odd. They both sent their dishes back, and they were removed from the bill. The waiter told us that someone tasted the sauce and said they used too much parmesan when they made it. I was surprised by the whole problem because the crab in alfredo sauce is one of the better things on the menu.
I was in the mood for dessert when we sat down, but with none of us being happy with our entrees I didn't feel like spending more time there than I had to. This was one of the worst experiences I'd had at this Red Lobster, but I won't hold it against them because I'm sure the problem with the sauce was rare. I'm never getting fish and chips there ever again though.
I was so happy with my first visit to Cornish Pasty Co. that I couldn't wait to take other people there. I figured I'd take Long and Gordon, but today the whole programming team (11 people) accompanied me. We took up almost the entire bar. I had the cajun pasty (blackened chicken, bacon, ham, and swiss cheese), and it was excellent. There wasn't any particular flavor that jumped out at me, but my first reaction was, "Hot damn that's great!" (That was the exact same reaction I had when I ate the other half later that day too.)
Out of 11 people there was only one person I knew of that wasn't happy (he said the chicken in his chicken alfredo pasty tasted fishy). It was a great lunch, and a fun experience.
FYI, they should be getting their liquor license soon so in a couple of weeks they should have beer on tap to go with an Oggie (which I thought would be perfect with a Bass).
I must be on a pizza kick because I wanted to try the pizza at Giordano's, another restaurant I see on the way to one of my favorites (Copper Kettle). The interior of the restaurant reminded me of Olive Garden, which is alright if the food is good. The menu had quite a selection, almost disturbingly so; it featured a lot of Italian dishes, but there were also burgers, sandwiches, and enough other stuff that it looked like they were trying too hard to have something for everybody. I do have to give them credit for having fresh strawberry lemonade though. Lynn and I both had one, and we were both very happy with the balance of sweet and tart flavors (it had been a while since either of us had a lemonade that had any kind of tartness to it).
About four or five of the appetizers looked good to me, but the two most interesting ones were the Toscano soup (Italian sausage, potatoes, and kale in a creamy broth) and the crab stuffed mushrooms. The soup had a surprisingly thin broth for a creamy soup, but it was nicely seasoned and a little spicy with chunky ingredients that gave it a very rustic appearance. I thought it was great, and very filling. I could see eating a bowl of it as a meal. Lynn would have liked it better if the skin wasn't still on the potatoes, and she wanted it to have a thicker broth, but she really enjoyed the soup too. As great as the soup was the crab stuffed mushrooms weren't. Neither of us could taste the crab, and it tasted like nothing but carrots to me. Lynn didn't even want to finish one.
I wasn't in the mood for a specific pizza so when Lynn suggested the Giordano's special (ham, pepperoni, onion, green peppers, mushrooms) it sounded good to me. The pizza was covered with lots of cheese (I would say too much), and the crust tasted ok, but we couldn't taste the pizza sauce. The ham was also really thin, and I thought it tasted foul on the pizza. We both agreed that the pizza was ok, but we wouldn't get it again.
The breadth of Giordano's menu probably means it's going to be even harder for me to find items I like, but they'll get a few chances considering I'll return for the soup even if I'm not crazy about anything else.
Last week Lynn and I went to Floridino's for the first time. I had noticed the restaurant before, on the way to Lotus Asian Cafe, but it wasn't until I read about their calzones on Foo(d) Bar that I decided to make an effort to go there. I don't like calzones, but Lynn has been searching for a calzone similar to the Jersey/Pennsylvania ones she's used to so I figured she would appreciate the place. We were there on a Thursday night, and the place was amazingly busy. What immediately stuck me was the scent of cooked bell pepper and onion. It was a real old school smell. We looked over the menu, and it was fairly limited.
I got a bacon and pepperoni pizza and Lynn had the special calzone (onion, bell pepper, mushroom, pepperoni, and ham). The pizza crust was fluffy, but tasteless. The toppings were very good, but the pizza sauce was sweet (and not in a good way). Good sauce can make up for deficiencies in toppings or crust, but it's never worked the other way around for me. If the pizza sauce were better I would have been very happy, but as it was I wouldn't order a pizza there again. Lynn didn't like the pizza because the bottom of the pizza was soggy. The calzone was large and had very little sauce in it. I didn't think it was bad. A good portion of the top of the calzone was coated in margarine(?) and parmesan cheese, and that was very tasty. Lynn was happy because the calzone was the closest she's had to an east coast calzone in Arizona. She wanted more sauce in it though. Our waiter disappeared for a while, but once he showed up again Lynn got a side of marinara sauce which tasted like tomato sauce with black pepper in it. We weren't happy with the marinara sauce or our waiter.
For some reason we both felt like dessert and got the brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and fudge. There was something odd about the brownie that neither of us liked or could explain. It seemed to me that they used cheap vanilla ice cream too. I wouldn't order the dessert again.
Lynn liked the calzone enough to want to return to Floridino's so hopefully I can find something there I like. I'm definitely going to avoid anything with tomato sauce.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a couple of foreign films, "Respiro" and "Akai Hashi no Shita no Nurui Mizu" ["Warm Water Under a Red Bridge"]. Both were quite odd. "Respiro" was about a woman who's slightly crazy, and how her behavior affects her family and the people in her town. It was mildly torturous. The movie took an unexpected turn, but it wasn't a movie I would recommend. "Warm Water Under a Red Bridge" was absurd, but in an interesting way. The story was about an out of work salaryman looking for a hidden treasure. I don't know if there was an actual point to the movie, but it was entertaining.
In the words of Rocky J. Squirrel, "And now, for something completely different." Today I was listening to Talk of the Nation and they had Jared Diamond (author of "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" [which I haven't read]) on because there's a National Geographic series based on his book that airs tonight at 10 on PBS. It sounds like an interesting series because it's about why some socities succeeded more than others. [You can listen to the radio show here.]
Jared Diamond has also written "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed", which focuses on why civilations fail. That sounds more interesting to me since there were many great civilations in the world that have failed.
When I was grocery shopping with Lynn I noticed a melon with an attractive mottled color. Its name was Santa Clause, and it smelled like a honeydew melon so I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I wanted to try it. It was ripe when we bought it, and then it spent a week in our refrigerator getting riper. We finally ate it when we were camping. The flesh was pale green like a honeydew, but the area around the seeds was orange like a cantaloupe. Oddly enough the orange parts tasted like cantaloupe while the green parts tasted like honeydew. It was interesting, but if I'm going to eat something that taste like a honeydew then it'll just be a honeydew.
My recent diet has consisted of lots of starch, meat, and cheese which has put me into a vegetable mood. For lunch there's a dearth of places I know of with good vegetable dishes that also contain some sort of meat, but today I remembered Urban Cafe and their lemon-garlic chicken. I wanted to get their lemon-garlic chicken salad, but when I went there they were closed even though they were supposed to be open (which is why I stopped going there in the first place).
I had to find replacement food. Seoul Garden was nearby, and even though it's my least favorite Korean restaurant out of every Korean restaurant I've ever been to (and I've been to more than few in varied locations including a couple in different countries) it sounded good for lunch. I ordered a tonkatsu [panko coated deep fried pork] bento box, which I'd never tried there before. The waitress brought me four condiments, and laid them out in front of me. I love the balance between the condiments (sweet, spicy, and bland), and they still managed keep things balanced with only four condiments. I also love the discovery of a condiment I've never had before. Of the four there was one I'd never had before with shredded cabbage, pickles, and sesame seeds in a sauce that was a little sweet and a little spicy that was excellent. There were the usual dishes of potatoes in sweet sauce, and kim chi, both of which were alright. The bland dish was very lightly cooked bean sprouts with the beans still attached at the head.
My bento box came out a couple of minutes after the condiments. There was a light serving of salad that was almost enough to satisfy my vegetable craving. The bento box also came with a couple of kim bob (the Korean version of sushi) that were pretty good, and pieces of pancake like things that weren't. The tonkatsu was made with dark meat that was crispy and not greasy. The pork could have been thicker, and white meat, but it was the best restaurant made tonkatsu I've run across in Phoenix.
I found my lunch at Seoul Garden pretty satisfying, but that might have been because I ordered a Japanese entree instead of a Korean one (which are usually lacking). I might have to go back to Seoul Garden a little more often just for tonkatsu though.
[Previous visit to Seoul Garden.]
I'm a big fan of food in pastry so when I had heard about the Cornish Pasty Co. in Tempe on Chowhound I had to try it. In less than a week I made it there with Lynn before we went camping. I knew the restaurant was located around University and Hardy, but I didn't how absolutely tiny, or hard to find, the place was. It's located in the strip mall on the northeast corner of University and Hardy, facing Hardy (I didn't even know they had retail slots facing Hardy).
I ordered an Oggie (steak, potato, and rutabaga), and Lynn had the shepherd's pie (ground beef, garlic mashed potatoes, cheese, and caramelized onions). After we ordered our pasties they were thrown into a convection oven and heated through. I hit a cold spot, and Lynn hit a couple in her pasty so they needed to be baked just a little longer. My Oggie was surprisingly highly seasoned, and very tasty. The pastry was also very good, and made me want to try one of the dessert pasties. The red wine sauce was on the herby side, and a pleasant compliment to the Oggie. Lynn's shepherd's pie was well seasoned, and we could really taste the garlic in the garlic mashed potatoes. I didn't care for it because I kept expecting gravy, and it didn't taste right without it. Lynn tried it with the red wine sauce and didn't like it. She thought a side of gravy would have been a lot more appropriate however she did like her pasty better than mine. To each their own.
I wanted to get the caramel-apple pasty, but having pastry for lunch and pizza for dinner I thought even more pastry for dessert might have been too much. I'll just have to try it some other time. That should't be too difficult to manage since I've got a couple of people from work that I can't wait to take there.
This weekend Lynn felt like camping for "real" so we went to Flagstaff yesterday. (By for "real" Lynn meant we actually made our own food at the campsite instead of going out for dinner.) Before we left Phoenix we hit Cornish Pasty Co. for lunch. It was great, and we almost got one of their dessert pasties to go so we would could heat it up after dinner.
We got to Flagstaff and made a quick stop downtown. While downtown I tried a few of the chocolates from Brookside Chocolate Company. Their milk chocolate almond cluster was decent, but the nuts didn't taste nearly as fresh as those hand picked from See's Candies. The milk chocolate strawberry cream was outright gross; the strawberry cream was overly sweet and had a gelatinous consistency that was just wrong. The best of the chocolates I tried was a milk chocolate truffle with Irish cream filling. The truffle was far too large (it took us three bites to eat it), but the filling was smooth and tasted exactly like Irish cream. I'd get the truffles again.
We left downtown and set up camp. We did some hiking, and I took some pictures. We did some reading, and Lynn made pizza on the grill for dinner. It took us a couple of pizzas to get it right, but they were good. Lynn really wished we picked up one of those apple dessert pasties after that.
This morning we went hiking again, but I had to go back and take pictures on my own since Lynn didn't have the patience for it. (I have to wait until I can get the pictures on a real computer to find out if they came out well.) Break/lunch was leftover pasties, and we came home.
"Real" camping was fun, but I still like going out to eat.
I'm a big fan of the green chile at Sylvia's La Canasta, but I hardly eat there because there are a lot of restaurants I like in the Central Corridor and few opportunities for me to eat in the area. The last time I went to Sylvia's I was with my mom and Lynn. I got a green chile chimichanga with guacamole and a pina [pineapple water drink]. Lynn and my mom both got green chile based dishes, and Lynn got a horchata [rice water drink]. The pina was typically sweet and pineapple flavored. The horchata was on the aggressive side with the cinnamon being really prominent.
We started our meal with the free chips and salsa. The chips tasted old which was the first time I remember that happening at Sylvia's. I love Sylvia's red sauce, but didn't feel the need to pick some up since I knew the chimichanga was going to fill me up. Instead we had a salsa that looked like a picante sauce. It had a very strong black pepper flavor that wasn't bad, but not nearly as tasty as the red sauce.
It must have been a really long time since I'd had the green chile at Sylvia's because I thought it was great; it had an excellent green chile flavor with the occasional pockets of heat. The guacamole was also excellent so it paired perfectly with the green chile. My mom and Lynn both complained that there was too much flour in the green chile, but I didn't think so. My mom also said she didn't get enough meat in her green chile burro. Lynn had enough meat, but the tortillas she got with her bowl of green chile were dried out. I was the only one who truly enjoyed my lunch.
October of last year I said I'd try one of our Riedel "O" tumblers, but I forgot to do it. Tonight Lynn and I were drinking one of the bottles of Papapietro Perry "Peters Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2002" we had when Lynn remembered we had the Riedel "O" Pinot Noir tumblers. We tried the wine in a regular crystal wine glass, and a Riedel "O" Pinot Noir tumbler. Both wines tasted exactly the same, but the scents were dramatically different; the scent in the regular glass generally smelled like red berries and minerals while the scent in the Riedel glass was of berries and cream with a strong vanilla component. Lynn liked the scent so much she decided that the Riedel glasses are her glass of choice for Pinot Noir. I'm not a big fan of having to hold a large bowl in my hand so I'm sticking with the regular wine glasses.
I was skeptical that there was a real difference with Riedel glasses, but this experience has proven otherwise to me.
I picked up "Fear and Trembling" at a discount book store because it was set in Japan. It was such a small book that I read it in two days (and I'm a slow reader). The story was an autobiography of the author's year working at a Japanese company. I couldn't stand how she highly exaggerated the people she worked with, beatifying some and demonizing most. It seemed immature and reminiscent of reading a teenager's blog of their first "real" job.
The main purpose of this book seemed to be so the author could take a critical look at the Japanese culture and denounce it. It was an interesting contrast to "The Good Earth", in which the author stated cultural mores without judgement letting the reader decide for themselves how they felt about the different aspects of the Chinese culture during the time period. Of course the protagonist in "The Good Earth" was a male Chinese farmer in China so his point of view would be different than that of a dense Belgian girl's in Japan. I don't doubt that some of the conclusions the author drew weren't valid, but her naivete and one-sidedness don't lend to her credibility.
What has me incredulous about the whole book is that the author spent her childhood in Japan, was fluent in Japanese, and her father conducted business in Japan, and she was surprised by the strict hierarchal system (which is even built into the language). I didn't think this was a good book, but I would recommend it to any foreigner planning on working in Japan just to see what the worst case scenerio could be.
Lynn read "The Good Earth", and enjoyed it so she wanted me to read it so we could discuss it. The story was about a Chinese farmer, and I found the first six pages difficult to get through, but once past those pages the story was compelling for the rest of the book. The book starts with a watershed in the farmer's life, and documents his struggles and victories from then on. It was a simple story with different underlying themes (I'm sure I missed a few) that was worth reading, but Pulitzer Prize winner or not, I didn't think it was great.
The last time I was at the supermarket I saw some broccoli rabe, which I'd never tried before, but decided to give it a shot. Last night I heated a wok with some peanut oil and a small amount of sesame oil (for flavor), threw in the broccoli rabe, seasoned them with salt, pepper, and garlic, and cooked them until they were bright green. It smelled great, but the flavor was exceedingly bitter. I tried to cover up the bitterness with lemon juice and freshly grated romano, but nothing came close to taming it. The preparation would have worked great with Chinese broccoli or green beans, but even after reading a couple of web pages about broccoli rabe I'm not sure there's any way to prepare it that will actually taste good. I still have a one bunch of the stuff left so we'll see how it turns out however I make it.
Lynn went to lunch at Abuelo's and enjoyed it so she thought that we should try it together. It was a nice day out (that might give you a clue how long ago this was) so we decided to sit on the patio.
Lynn recommended the cilantro lime soup, but I wanted to try the chicken tortilla soup instead. That was a mistake; the chicken tasted like dishwater so the soup tasted better when I didn't eat the chicken. The soup wasn't very good even without the chicken though. Lynn had the shrimp chowder which was slightly spicy and very creamy with what I thought was an oddly thin body. I didn't really like it, mostly because I like my creamy soups thicker, but Lynn did.
There were a couple of entrees that looked good to me, but I was in a lighter mood so the pechuga con calabaza (chicken breast medallions with penne pasta, corn, and zucchini in a spicy cream sauce) sounded great to me. When I read the description I didn't think it was a pasta dish so when a plate full of pasta with three or four tiny chicken medallions was brought to the table I was disappointed, and felt a little ripped off too. The chicken wasn't bad, although it seemed a little odd with the penne. The vegetables (which is what I was really after anyway) were great in the sauce so that made me a little happier about the dish, but not thrilled. Lynn had a plate with two enchiladas, a shredded beef enchilada with chile con queso and a cheese enchilada with chile con carne. Lynn enjoyed both of them, but I don't remember a thing about them (that's the problem with not writing things down).
Lynn previously had the dessert nachos, and said they were very good, but I was in the mood for a different type of dessert. The dulce de leche cheesecake with cajeta [goat milk caramel] was something we could both agree on. The cheesecake was very sweet as was the caramel, but they were both somehow very good together. I'll have to try the dessert nachos next time.
Abuelo's did very little right by my meal, but I'd be willing to give them one more chance just because I didn't try anything Lynn recommended. It'll probably be a while before I get there a second time though.
I hadn't been to Silver Dragon in forever, and I was in the mood for their scallops in XO sauce. I decided to have dinner with Ken, and make it a sort of "best of" Silver Dragon by ordering all the things we knew or had heard were good. Lynn hates Silver Dragon so I had to drag her with me. When we got there Ken ordered potstickers, which I never remembered being good at Silver Dragon. They were nicely pan fried, but they were filled with finely ground chicken(?) which tasted odd. They seemed to have gotten worse than even what I remembered.
The things we knew were very good were the scallops in XO sauce (the impressive dish) and the beef chow mein Hong Kong style (the understated dish). Every time I'd ever talked to Gordon about Silver Dragon he recommended the Chinese fried chicken so we got an order of that too. Lynn wasn't crazy about anything we ordered so she got the salt and pepper calamari (which none of us had had before). The scallops in XO sauce were a little spicy, and good, but there was something not quite right about the scallops so they weren't great like they are normally. The Chinese fried chicken was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It was a little bland on its own, but when it was dipped in the salt and pepper mixture that came with the dish it was pretty tasty. I'd order it again if I was in the mood for pure meat (or planning to order a vegetable). The calamari were chewy, and on the salty side, but they were great. Lynn even liked it. The chow mein had thin crispy noodles that made for a very good dish, even with beef (I've never been a fan of beef dishes at Chinese restaurants).
Dinner was very good, but it definitely pays to know what to order there (just like any other restaurant). I don't know how many times I went to Silver Dragon before I found something that made me want to eat there again, but I know that if it was a better restaurant it wouldn't have taken so long.
[Previous visit to Silver Dragon.]
Steve is going to Japan again for a year, and I'm excited. It's not because it gives me an excuse to go to Japan, hang out with one of my best friends, and stay without paying for a hotel room (but who wouldn't be excited by that?). It's because Steve is starting a new Japan journal! His old Japan journal was highly entertaining, and quite clever. I used to check it more than my own email so I can't wait to read his new one.
Henry Weinhard's makes what I consider to be the best vanilla cream soda, and a great orange cream soda. Today I tried their black cherry cream soda for the first time. I'm not a fan of cherry flavor (it usually tastes too artificial), but the flavor of their black and bing cherry mix was completely believable. Even the scent of it reminds me of fresh cherries. The only thing I didn't like about the soda, and it's a big thing, was the creaminess. The creaminess in the root beer, vanilla cream, and orange cream sodas all taste like a soft, natural, velvety creaminess that seems unique to Henry Weinhard's. The black cherry cream soda on the other hand had a certain sharpness to it and a dry finish that felt chemical induced. It might not noticeable for people who haven't sampled the other sodas, but there is a definite difference that keeps it from being great in my mind.
I asked Lynn about the soda, and she said while the flavor was good it didn't taste creamy to her.
This weekend we were supposed to finish the floor in our dining room, but we had a barbecue today and I felt our house aught to actually be somewhat clean. It took us a couple of days, but the house is now relatively clean. I'm a lot happier with a clean house than I would have been with a finished floor. (And if you were curious, the food was good.)
I love Lotus Cafe, but I really don't get to eat there as often as I'd like. A while ago when Lynn and I were there they didn't have the lemper [chicken stuffed sticky rice] on the menu anymore. Lynn was really in the mood for them so asked if they could be made. They made an order for us, and the lemper were still the same understated delicious appetizer.
We got all new entrees this time: the Indonesian spinach in garlic sauce (ordered spicy), rice noodle vermicelli with chicken and hard boiled eggs in a turmeric and lemon grass broth, and chicken with long beans in tomato-lemon grass sauce. The Indonesian spinach had a slightly earthy flavor that reminded me of greens. The garlic sauce was really tasty though, and made the dish. I thought the rice noodle dish was a noodle dish so when a bowl of soup arrived I was surprised. The broth was one dimensional, but the chicken had absorbed the flavor of the broth and tasted very good. I noticed that the hard boiled eggs were missing, and I knew the egg would have absorbed the flavor of the broth too so the soup wasn't as good without them. The chicken with long beans in tomato-lemon grass sauce was oily, and had an odd flavor that neither of us liked.
The second to the last time we were at Lotus Cafe the lemper was back on the menu. We got it again, and it was still tasty. We also got the gado gado [a sort of salad with bean sprouts, long beans, other vegetables, and hard boiled egg with peanut sauce] because I was in the mood for vegetables. I enjoyed the vegetables with the peanut sauce, but Lynn didn't for the salad at all.
I had the Indonesian fried rice with chicken, but I don't remember a thing about it. Lynn said she was pretty sure I enjoyed it. Lynn had the rendeng (a type of beef curry), and it appeared they changed their recipe; instead of tasting like curry it was more like spicy beef stroganoff. I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. Lynn dug it and noticed that they used better beef with the new recipe.
It had been so long since the we had been to Lotus Cafe that the last time we were there all I wanted was my favorites. We once again had the lemper (which is Lynn's favorite appetizer at Lotus Cafe), and we also had the corn fritters (my favorite appetizer at Lotus Cafe). The lemper is extremely consistent so it wasn't a surprise when they once again tasted very good. The corn fritters are also extremely consistent, and they were impressively good. Lynn and I both got an order of the lime sweetened tea. The first time we had it it tasted like tea with some fresh lime juice in it. This time it tasted like lime juice with a hint of tea. I think I like it better with more lime flavor and less tea.
My two favorite entrees at Lotus Cafe are the noodles with chicken and the Javanese fried chicken. I was torn which one to order, but decided on the noodles for no particular reason. The noodles are one of the least unique dishes they make, but I'm picky about my noodles and their noodles are very good. The noodles were on the sweet side, but quite good. Lynn couldn't remember which entrees she liked so she tried something new, the sizzling shrimp with coconut, turmeric, and lime sauce. The dish arrived with five skewers of shrimp covered in sauce sizzling on a cast iron plate. It was a great presentation. The shrimp weren't overcooked and the sauce tasted of coconut milk and galanga. It was mild and pleasant, but probably not something I'd order. Lynn loved the dish.
Lotus Cafe is still one of my favorite restaurants in Phoenix, and between their consistency and how often they change their menu they usually have something to fit my food mood.
[Previous visit to Lotus Asian Cafe & Grill.]
I finally finished the text for the California Road Trip Lynn and I took in May! It covers our first visit to Sonoma and our second visit to Napa. I'm happy to have finished it, but it reminds me that I still haven't finished our trip to Monterey or our first Napa trip.
I've never been crazy about the burgers at Dimonte's Grill, but they've been at least decent enough that I'll eat them with their great onion rings or a side salad. The last time I was Dimonte's Grill the beef in the bacon cheese burger didn't taste quite right. At least I had the onion rings. Oh wait, the onion rings didn't taste as good as normal either. I wondered if they still made the onion rings themselves. I'll give Dimonte's Grill another chance, but I'm not enthusiastic about it.
Kind of along the same lines, I've never been crazy about the burgers at Whataburger, but I dig their onion rings (they were never as good as Dimonte's Grill, but the best I could get from a chain). I'm through with Whataburger now. Today Long and I went to Whataburger, and they got both of our orders wrong (and no, they didn't give us someone else's order). In addition to that I also found three pieces of bone in my burger. One piece is acceptable, but three pieces makes me seriously question the quality of their meat. Never again.
The last time Lynn and I were in Flagstaff we were downtown and starving. My first priority would have been to find food, but Lynn had to see Wil McNabb (a fine jewler and a cool guy) to fix her wedding band. Before we left his shop I asked Wil if there was a restaurant in downtown that was good and fast. Wil recommended Monsoon, specifically for their spicy calamari. I'd seen Monsoon practically every time we'd been downtown, and avoided the place because I'm not a fan of Asian bistro type restaurants (the ubiquitous P.F. Chang's has a lot to do with that although I will state for the record that there is good food to be had there if you know what to order). If Wil didn't recommend the place I would never have eaten there.
It was somewhat late in the afternoon so even though we were starving we didn't want to ruin ourselves for dinner so we only ordered appetizers. We had the crispy dumplings (gyoza), tempura zucchini, and the spicy calamari. True to Wil's recommendation said our food arrived quickly. The gyoza were very crispy with a tasty pork filling. I can't really say I've had better gyoza. The tempura zucchini were served quartered in thick spears that had me worried that they wouldn't be fully cooked or would cause the flavor of the zucchini to overpower the tempura batter. The batter was perfect; it was light, crispy, and not at all greasy. It also wasn't overpowered by the zucchini (which was fully cooked). The tempura sauce was very light, and had a good flavor, but it needed salt. I liked it much better when I mixed a little soy sauce into it, but Lynn felt that salt was unnecessary. The spicy calamari had a hard thick batter topped with a spicy-sweet sauce and some cooked peppers and onions. The calamari wasn't tender, but there was a pleasant meatiness to it that was well complimented by the sauce.
Lynn and I were both very happy with lunch, and we'll go back to Monsoon someday for a real meal.
