This year we had a totally Asian thanksgiving. No turkey… shocked???? Jealous?
Communal hipster wannabe soba and Japanese appetizers. A decent clone of London’s Wagamama over. Another half decent video production.
I once had some pretty amazing chicken soup (as well as some incredible chicken) at Chez Panisse. And I have always loved Steely Dan. The fressers over at Infinite Fress combined the two for a special evening:
“Last month, we visited Berkeley to see Steely Dan stamp out any lingering idealism at the Greek Theater. Nevertheless, Chez Panisse (and the Cheeseboard Pizza Collective) demonstrated that Berkeley’s Sixties legacy is not dead; it’s just confined to Shattuck Avenue’s Gourmet Ghetto. In contrast, downtown Berkeley is still plagued with faux radicals who disregard their surreal inauthenticity and congregate along fetid Telegraph Avenue and in People’s Park, when not sitting in trees. These shenanigans helped elevate Kid Charlemagne that evening to an especial darkness.”
Kevin is doing a great job documenting his eating over at Kevin Eats. Here’s his excellent report on Studio from his belated birthday dinner:
“I’d been interested in trying out Studio for a number of years now. I was thus quite excited to find out that a few buddies of mine were taking me there for my birthday. Now mind you, my birthday was in June, so this was quite a bit belated, but it’s the thought that counts right? In any case, a lot of people have stated that Studio is, in fact, the best restaurant in Orange County, a pretty lofty assertion to be sure. I was eager to test out that claim… “
Any regular reader of this blog knows about the Fat Duck. My illustrious partner Dana has even worked there for a time. Thanks to all the readers who suggested some restaurant focused blogs. Here’s some perspective from Chuck Eats:
“Intuitively, I agree with Heston Blumenthal’s basic premise 2 - eating food is multi-modal and it is influenced by, but not limited to, context, sight, sound, memories, and anatomy. It is hard to argue this, despite the absolutes in so many of our reviews. Anecdotally, we know that psychological mind-game of expectations has a great influence on the final outcome of a meal. Sights, sounds, and smells act as different triggers for people; personally, a particular sound can bring me back to a very specific point in time, where others describe a similar sensation with smell (and, thus, taste.) It would be foolish to discredit these factors when reviewing the restaurant, particularly when there are so many references scattered throughout the menu.”
Since being at Poppy, for all of 5 days total, I have received more phone calls and mail through the restaurant than ever. In fact, if you added all the times a person called me through a restaurant I have worked for, and mailed something to me at the restaurant, I have still received more efforts of communication at Poppy than all combined.
I keep saying to myself, “I have been her for 3 days, how on earth do these people know where I am?”
When I went to my favorite breakfast diner, the boys behind the counter looked at me and smiled knowingly. Sikey said, “what’s up girl?” to which Niko replied, “yeah, we know what’s up.” When they asked about the new job I replied, “how on earth do you know?!? I have only had the job for two days!”
It seems the planets have aligned to make this job my recognizable home.
Long story short, I received a hard copy of an article written by one of our readers, and I wanted to thank him.
As we rejuvenate our own little blog here I’m eager to link to and highlight the work of other restaurant bloggers who are doing a great job. When Tasting Menu started in August of 2002 it was one of maybe five or ten food blogs in existence. Now it seems like there are millions. And yet, despite all that explosive growth I am having a really hard time finding a set of good restaurant review blogs that post consistently and have good taste. No doubt, limiting myself to blogs in English isn’t helping, but there’s no reason to assume the pattern doesn’t repeat in other countries. And of course, the few that I’ve found are mostly centered on New York city. Duh. The restaurant bloggers go where the restaurants are.
I know there are lots of food blogs that review a restaurant experience here or there. That’s not what I’m looking for. I really want focus. Like a laser. On restaurants. As much as I appreciate and respect the home cook, most high quality chefs are always going to make something better than I ever could. I don’t fill my own cavities or sew my own clothes, and I don’t see anything wrong with trying to have a professional cook for me as often as possible.
Know of a kick ass restaurant blog? Let us know in the comments.
We needed to carbo load before a grueling marathon at Powell’s City of Books in Portland. NYC style pizza seemed to fit the bill. I won’t give away the verdict, but be warned the F word is used when describing what they put on the pizza. (Hopefully you’ll also notice much fewer “ums” and “ahs”.)
My friend Megan recently took her first trip to Israel. I always tell people about the food there, but there’s really no substitute for experiencing it yourself. Her full report (with pictures!):
“It was unanimous. He told us about his favorite local place. He described it as “The Hummos Nazi” - like the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld. I was more in than ever for this place! We set of on our hummos adventure for the Hummos Shack (my term, not his!) which was tucked in a small retail space in another office complex. (Its in the Ramat-Gan neighborhood)”