yeah....you're screwed

never had lunch at Bucheon before... looks delicious (too bad I can't hear the video at work). love their bakery goods.


ate the fish chowder noodle soup at Yamo last week... Burmese food. Seats like 10 people and run by 3 old chinese women. had to wait about 10-15 minutes to get a seat. highly recommended. (pic ripped from yelp)

Tried Emmy's Spaghetti Shack w/ a friend on Monday.
It was a nice little place out in Bernal Heights.
Seems like most people go here for one reason, their spaghetti & meatballs.
It was pretty delicious. Sauce was nice and thick.
Pasta wasn't overcooked.
Their caesar salad was surprisingly good.
I'd go back again.

best rant....ever.

oh yea... you'll get shot before you cross into yountville now.

in n out is still my favorite. not the best, but my favorite.
i agree with you, taylor's refresher is alright. we have one here in napa, and the original a few miles north of yountville in st. helena (always a damn line there). meh.

still have to go to nopa!

we went to bouchon. i had the "cuban" sandwich. wife had the tuna. really great!
the pork on the cuban was super soft and delicious.

Oh man, that was hilarious. If I could justify it at present, I'd be HAPPY to drop coin on a FL meal. Maybe later this year. I've never been able to get my friends to go with me because they have an attitude problem about it. Someone said something about how the restaurant reserves a table or two for last-minute VIP reservations. Hey, maybe they do, SO WHAT!? It's considered the best restaurant in the Americas. It's expensive. VIP tables are part of the biz at that level. I doubt it's true, though. Mick Jagger once complained that he couldn't get a reservation there without waiting in the phone queue like everyone else.

Alex you need your own show.

Has anyone here tried cooking from the FL cookbook? I made the lemon tart (same one served at Ad Hoc and Bouchon) for Thanksgiving. It was the hit of the evening. People who don't even like sweets had seconds.

Alex will have his own show. I promise you. regular guy who happens to be a foodie traveling around the United States giving hard-hitting opinions on the finest restaurants and their chefs. they will all fear him.

I think I would be a sensation (of sorts) on the travel and or food network. That's if I wasn't immediately canceled for being offensively dumb. As usual kirkland is my PR man. Normal guy does "fine dining". I'd be the guy who tries foie gras for the first time on national television. What will happen? will he puke? will he love it?
Anybody work for a network exec? hook me up!

It's a shame I will never be able to eat at El Bulli. That would have been the ultimate "Alex destroys" episode. Or maybe it would have been the worst bit of television ever. I am trying to eat at all of Jose Andres' restaurants in 2 weeks during a trip home to dc. I think I would be television basterd child of Andres and bourdain. Non stop motherfuckers. All while wearing a cro-mags shirt.

I like food. food tastes good.

Back to SF:
-anybody been to the new quince? I bet the bathrooms are nice.
-I am going to incanto in a few weeks to do the Leg of beast. What is that you ask? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXxhPgs_Wdk holy fucking shit. Yeah, doing that.
-call me a west coast n00b but I was not aware of the "baby burrito". WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME I COULD ORDER A BURRITO THAT IS NOT ALWAYS THE SIZE OF A SMALL CHILD? it will really help me keep my girlish figure.

Dean, I want to try that tart!!!!!! make another!

with that said, I really believe my place in this world is to eat, enjoy and talk about food and not to try and cook it.
Like cooking, art, music and painting toys. I think people should know their place. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. I personally should not under ANY circumstances try and cook anything Mr. Keller has done. It would be a straight manimal custom hedorah.

For the most part, the challenge of the FL cookbook isn't that the recipes are all that difficult, it's that getting the high quality ingredients isn't easy without Keller's resources. I don't think he expected anyone to become a competitor by using the book, he just wanted to extend his core philosophy to the home kitchen. He's playing humble, but he makes a point when he says "if you have better ingredients than me, you can be a better cook than me." It's actually usable if you want to commit to the projects, and you'll learn stuff that you can incorporate into everyday cooking. By contrast, his Sous Vide book is really more for professional chefs. I'm not even bothering with that one.

Speaking of which, I wouldn't recommend the Alinea cookbook unless you want to be blown away by what's possible and by Achatz' artistry. It's coffee table all the way. You'd have to invest in all sorts of chemicals and equipment to accomplish one-tenth of what's in there, and even then, each dish is actually more like twelve dishes prepared separately and then assembled like a work of art. It's beautiful but impractical. I'm fascinated by molecular gastronomy but after doing a few "magic tricks" in the kitchen, gave up on doing it at home. On the other hand, this brave lady is giving it a go. She already cooked her way through the entire FL book. Dang.

I picked up "A Day at El Bulli" as soon as it was released, but right off the bat in the book, Adrià says "most of the people who read this book will never dine at El Bulli." Oh well a guy can dream. Alex have you seen Bourdain's DVD about his visit there? It's great. He starts out as a total skeptic and ends up a convert.

If you had your own foodie show, I think the challenge would be to be as much fun as Bourdain, but not to emulate Bourdain (or for that matter, his kinda-sorta copycat Zimmern.) It'd be difficult to keep offering funny-but-harsh reviews without either being banned or receiving extra-special treatment by restaurants. I've heard that Michael Bauer's photograph is posted in some Bay Area kitchens so that the staff will know if he's there for a review. Same was true in NYC with Bruni. Actually being treated like royalty wouldn't be such a bad thing...

I'd be happy to make that lemon tart for some S7 event or whatever. Having an excuse helps.

Sorry this is veering way off the original topic. Maybe we should start another one for general food talk.

Dean, honestly I don't think I would have been at the level of El Bulli. On the other hand Mugaritz would be more my pace. Although I'm sure now it is as slammed as El Bulli. I guess he is turning it into a culinary academy.

Zimmern is a embarrassing to watch. None the less I've always watched. I don't think there are enough shows with the exception of MvF, that are normal people doing those things. There should be though. I'm sick of seeing famous chefs eat. Let the regular man give it a go.

For those unclear about what we are talking about, there is a french laundry thread somewhere on skullbrain. Also here is the man and the other man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xB7V8I94mY Bourdain on FL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BD8B7vz2_E The soon to be closed forever, El Bulli.

I think so too. Obviously a nice down-to-earth sort of guy, but I don't think he's aware of how completely culturally oblivious he is sometimes when in other countries. He handles himself like he's at a football game and openly shows his disgust with some foods that nice poor people made for him. (Of course, some of the stuff he puts in his mouth would disgust any of us.) Not saying one has to pretend to be a local when traveling, but a little humility goes a long way towards decent manners anywhere.

You know who else is really embarrassing in TV Food-landia? Gail on Top Chef. The pretty lady from Food and Wine magazine. Poor thing is a bit of an airhead, always copying other judges' comments. It's painful to watch and makes me wonder how the heck she has that position at that magazine.



Hear, hear! There's your angle.

She has no clue about what she's talking about. She is easy on the eyes though. I think that's why I like her. A cute airhead who has no clue everybody is on to her.

Very creepy but gooood spot in Plattsburgh, way way up, upstate NY
Parking usually full of cars.

So as a precursor to my birthday I went to Chris Cosentino's Incanto for "the Leg of beast". I've been wanting to go for quite a awhile and then decided I would go big or go home. Decided to go for the special "Leg of Beast" meal that is made only on resquest A beef shank slow cooked for 6 hours. How was it?

Here is what went down:
excuse me for the huge first pic but I wanted you guys to be able to read it.


the Antipasto platter

This was fantastic. The best of what you can get at Boccalone. Salty and delicious. Lots of headcheese.

the sweet sweet marrow

They don't call it God's butter for nothing. I'll let Pogue tell you what he told us about marrow.

the cannellini beans

These were great but mostly held up room that could be filled with beef shank.
I didn't even bother taking a photo of the salad.

out of focus turnips

see above

Behold the beast


and after


I really wish I could accurately describe how good this was but I can't.
Go and see for yourself.

that looks delicious. how many people did it feed?
the bone marrow, i can only imagine the goodness

I feel like a dweeb for never having eaten roasted marrow bone. Everyone says it's the best. Man, the antipasti alone looks like a full meal. Roasted turnips ... mmmm, nice seasonal touch. Looks like an amazing meal, fit for a beast.

that looks fuckin' delicious

Glenn, what was your mysterious comment about bone marrow, assuming it can be posted to this G-rated family friendly website?

My favorite breakfast place in the city.
Mama's On Washington Square
http://www.mamas-sf.com/

Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiendsaint ... 614219432/

Be prepared to wait.
Both times I've gone is an hour and a half. It's worth it.



Their Homemade Ollalieberry Jam is crack!
It's good on everything.



I recommended the Northern Italian Omelette.



And also the Monte Cristo.

what does the omellete have?

Pancetta (Italian Cured Bacon), Mushroom, Fresh Basil, Tomato, and Garlic Jack Cheese

Mama's rules. Still need to try their crab benedict.

Going to Mama's for Sunday brunch was like going to church for me and friends in the '80s. From Joe's photos it looks like nothing has changed since then, and that's a very good thing. Excellent suggestion.