A Life of Food

Tiny Bubbles

2010-03-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

When serving Champagne, sparkling wine or Prosecco, the presentation is critical. Most people know that a proper Champagne flute should be used (to facilitate maximum enjoyment of nose, taste and the lyrical rising of all those bubbles) but few understand how to prepare a bottle for a dinner party. Here are my rules:

1. A bottle is best presented in a silver bucket of ice and water. This bucket can be on the bar top or can be placed on a special stand to sit tableside.

2. Always remove the foil from the bottle, exposing the cork and cage. Do NOT remove the cage until ready to open the bottle. This indicates to guests that you are ready to serve them the wine and are not going to try and stick it back in the refrigerator in the hopes that no one drinks it. It's the same principle as never having an unburned candle at the table...it looks like you are too cheap to ever light the candle. And if no one does drink the Champagne, you can always put it back in the fridge unopened, sans foil...it's not that big a deal.

3. Neither should one remove the cork prior to guests' arrival -- not even to "taste" for spoilage. Otherwise, it looks like you couldn't wait and were drinking down the wine by yourself, which is a far worse impression than serving a spoiled wine which, after all, is no fault of yours.

4. A spotlessly clean linen napkin should be tucked around the neck of the bottle to be used for holding the bottle after removal from the icy water in the bucket. The towel can also be looped through a ring on the bucket, if one exists.

Enjoy!

The Amuse-Bouche

2010-02-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

I always admire a chef who serves an amuse-bouche to guests. The elements of confidence ("I'm going to serve you something I know you're going to like") and surprise are provocative, and create a level of interest and anticipation. The amuse-bouche also says, "I'm not too cheap to give you something for free." All salutary outcomes.

At home, for a special meal, I also enjoy serving an amuse-bouche. I find they are challenging exercises in concentrated flavor and, in particular, design. An amuse-bouche can neither bore the tongue nor the eye. It must excite -- and amuse! -- both. And in a very small package...an amuse-bouche should never contain more than one or two bites of food.

Recently, at a dinner in honor of international style maven Albano Daminato, I prepared an amuse-bouche, served cold, consisting of shaved roast pork and roasted red sweet pepper, maple candied shallots and a wee burst of white wine dijon mustard. I prepared these hours in advance and stored them in the fridge, on their small serving plates, so they were ready to plunk down. I thought they tasted great!

What's your favorite amuse-bouche to serve or receive? Have you ever had a bad amuse-bouche? Tell me about it in the comments!

I Cara Cara Lot

2010-02-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not really one to keep a lot of fruit laying around the house -- generally a bunch of bananas is good enough for my morning yoghurt. I never seem to eat them before they spoil, and they attract those awful, annoying fruit flies! But a recent sugar imbalance-induced fainting spell inspired me to follow my friend Aphrodite's advice to eat more fruit, particularly before and after my daily workout.

Aphrodite suggested Cara Cara oranges, a navel variety that is available in the winter. I bought a few yesterday and must say, I do think they are tasty! The peel is a little difficult to remove -- coming off in bits and pieces instead of as a whole, like satsumas or tangerines. But the juicy, full-on citrus meat and juice are worth the small effort.

What fruit do you always have around the house? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Birthday to Paquie!

2010-02-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight was my friend Brian's birthday and we went to Barrio for dinner -- it was a great choice! Our server was wonderful (Nicole) and always had everything when we needed it -- including a new basket of tortilla chips the very second we ate the last one on the first basket!

I enjoyed the braised pork enchilada with wilted spinach, caramelized onion-poblano rajas, jack cheese and tomatillo sauce ($14) and the side of cornbread with honey butter ($3.50). The pork in the enchiladas was just this side of carnitas-grade...still a bit wet to be called real carnitas but undeniably slow-cooked to a spectacular oblivion.

For dessert, we all split a plate of churros with a delicious molten chocolate dip. They kindly added a candle in honor of Paquie's 53rd birthday.

My favorite Mexican food in Seattle remains Malena's Taqueria up on Queen Anne, but Barrio is hands down the place to go for a more complex culinary feast from south of the border.

Happy birthday, Paquie!

Baby Got Bisque

2010-01-24T21:34:00.001-08:00

Last time I made a dish with lobster, my friend, who hates having her name mentioned online so let's call her Aphrodite, suggested that I should keep the shells and boil them to create a lobster stock. Not a bad idea, Aphrodite.

Flash forward to today: a cold, rainy Seattle day. I knew I was going to spend two hours of it outside playing soccer, so the thought of coming home to a rich, warm soup held no small allure. Last evening, I'd served broiled lobster tail to a friend and had put the empty shells into the refrigerator. This morning, I put 10 cups of water and a bay leaf into a deep Magnalite kettle, brought it to a boil, dropped in the shells and covered the kettle. I reduced the heat and simmered them for five hours, reducing the total liquid volume by some two cups.

I had only two guests coming this evening so I reserved four cups of the broth and froze it.

Moving on, I set the remaining broth aside and diced finely two large shallots, bringing me to tears the likes of which I had never shed for any previous event in my life. Attention bioscience industry: invent a tear-free shallot. Thank you.

I put half a cup of butter in a large skillet, melted it and threw in the shallots. Once they were generally clear, I added eight tablespoons of whole wheat bread flour, whisking it for five minutes on medium heat. To this, I added two cups of half-and-half, stirring until it was significantly thickened. Next I added two cups of sherry (NOT cooking sherry) and stirred for 10 minutes. Finally I added four cups of lobster broth, stirring for 10 more minutes, on medium heat (maintaining a slight bubbling, nothing eventful).

Then I added a large true cod filet, in 1/2 inch cubes, and 1/2 pound of medium size shrimp. Finally, I added one tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning, whisked that in thoroughly, and let it cook very low temperature for 20 minutes.

At this point, it was ready to serve. As garnish, I briefly boiled a spiced crawfish and set it in the middle of the bowl of bisque, adding freshly chopped chives as an additional garnish. At table we had crusty French baguette and butter for dredging in the liquid.

There are easier soups to make, but Aphrodite was right -- few are as good as those made with a lobster broth. And fewer still are as richly rewarding as a seafood bisque as Massive Attack plays on the stereo and rain flicks at the windows.

Get Stuffed

2010-01-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

There's a saying that one should always count as a friend at least one doctor and one lawyer. Anyone pursuing a life of food would be wise to add an additional profession to their mix of friends...a farmer.

I'm pleased to say that my pal Steve ticks this box for me. Steve and some friends have a farm down in Olympia, Washington, on which they raise a wide variety of produce and livestock. Steve recently presented me with the world's largest roasting chicken -- weighing in cleaned and thawed at more than seven pounds.

But what he also shared was truly interesting: homemade goose chorizo. It didn't take long for me to decide to create a stuffing from the chorizo and roast it inside a chicken (in this case, a smaller one due to the smaller number of guests dining).

I prepared a simple bread stuffing, adding cracked hazelnuts and sultanas, and then about a quarter pound of the goose chorizo. I mixed it up with my hands and stuffed the chicken cavity fully with it.

Two-and-a-half hours later, a golden-skinned chicken was ready to eat, with sides of roasted multi-color baby potatoes and they wonderful stuffing, courtesy of Farmer Steve!

What's your favorite variation of a simple stuffing? Tell me about it in the comments below.

Favorite Diners

2010-01-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

Meet Isaac (left) and Alex! This delightful couple was married this past summer on July 18, 2009, and had the incredible courage to invite me to their wedding (knowing I could have single-handedly doubled the Champagne cost). They've been friends of mine for a long time, both on the soccer pitch and off.

Alex works in Uzbekistan and is over on one of his regular leaves. Isaac lives here in Seattle and works in healthcare. I think Isaac needs to be invited to more dinners so we can be sure he's well fed and energized for Alex's visits.

Thanks for coming to dinner, you two!

Irwin Allen Presents...

2010-01-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Those of us at a certain age will remember that Irwin Allen was a famous producer/director of disaster films. The Towering Inferno, Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure were but a few of the highlights from his impressive oeuvre.

The cooking and dining experience can also be fraught with disasters (even if they don't involve quite as much as an immolating skyscraper, car-eating cracks in the earth or Shelly Winters climbing an upended Christmas tree). Witness the above: a gorgeous chicken molé in a somewhat ungorgeous condition. I'd just switched off the burner under the Dutch oven -- or so I thought -- and was asking everyone to take their places at table.

Next came a terrific explosion and sound of crashing glass. I was absolutely convinced that someone had just fired a bullet into the house and hit the stove. In a second, though, I realized that the Dutch oven had burst and the molé was smoking and bubbling on a red-hot burner.

I hadn't turned the burner off. I'd turned it to "high."

As a host, one must exhibit a high level of aplomb. Thus, I calmed my guests quickly, told them to please be seated, and set about rescuing enough of the chicken and molé to feed my guests. Luckily, I was able to scrounge enough to provide a satisfactory entrée to each diner -- without any ceramic crunchies!

Last night, disaster struck again. As my guests and I were conversing, a loud crack sped to our eardrums from the top of the living room bookshelf...one of the candles atop it had shifted in its candlestick and come to land against the wall, seriously singeing it and then falling to the shelf below.

Again, calmness prevailed. Even with the wall afire, one must not alarm one's guests. The blaze was immediately extinguished and it was time for the rosemary-red wine sorbet.

If these things come in threes, I'm in trouble...

What's your worst dining disaster (short of a fallen soufflé!)? Tell me about it in the comments...

Soup Season

2010-01-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Cold, snow, rain, darkness at 4PM...all great reasons for the consumption of soup!

One of the easiest things to create, soups can also harness all sorts of innovations (boiled lobster or shrimp shells to create a broth, silky tofu as a creamy alternative to fatty milk, the amazing varieties of Vietnamese pho) and styles (bisques, stews, chilled soups). It's safe to say you can turn pretty much anything in your kitchen into a soup, if you're creative enough!

I tried one of Chef Dan Orr's FARMfood recipes last night: Broccoli and basil soup with soy. It was a delicious solution to my ridiculous recent over purchase of four heads of broccoli! I probably should have passed the soup through my finest mesh sieve for a more finished texture and appearance but I'm a peasant and like my soups chunky when it makes sense to make them so. Thus my version of the dish, seen above. I powdered the bowl rim with a little paprika for some color, mindful not to get much of it in the soup itself...

What's your favorite soup? Tell me about it in the comments!

2010: Dinner #1

2010-01-02T22:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes dinners take on a life bigger than the food, bigger than the milieu; these are dinners where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Tonight was such a night: my guests were amazing, the wine exceeded expectations and, yeah, the food stepped up. I'm well pleased.

Herewith, a recollection of the evening...

PREPARATION

Above is a shot of the pre-plated amouse bouches: smoked Scotch salmon, creme fraiche, chopped chives and paddlefish caviar (background) and the dessert: blackberries in allspice/cinnamon/powdered sugar topped with butter and fast Irish oats. I like to prep and preplate as much as possible so I can enjoy time with my guests. If I did everything in real time I'd never have a moment with them, defeating the very purpose of a dinner party.

THE TABLE

I chose a central floral theme of alstroemeria, on account of their color, size and simplicity. Petal for petal, they create mass and function beautifully as single blooms in the bud vases by the place cards. The remainder of the setting is consistent with all my previous dinners with the exception of the new decanter to the left of the main vase.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

Here's a typical timing sheet I do for multi-course dinners and gatherings with multi-faceted operations. I recommend creating a run of show, working back from the time your guests arrive to incorporate the various actions one must take before the doorbell rings. At the very least, this keeps you from being overwhelmed by executing everything at the last minute.

AMUSE BOUCHE

The horses are on the track.

THE MAC

Saffron is a sensual spice. It creates an experience both in the nose and on the palate. Combined with various Gruyéres and lobster takes it another plane entirely. I'd add more lobster to this (one tail per serving) and it would make a glorious main course.

THE MAIN

Center cut filets mignon sided with steamed green beans and thick, hand-cut bacon. That's a disc of Stilton butter on the filet, laid on from the ramekin.

THE WINE

Missing from this cork collage are the Bollinger and the Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne. The educated will thrill, the clueless should Google.

This is me.

This is His Grace Lord Alex of Windows.

This is Jared. His eyes are naturally that way.

Say hello to Josh. He's our ginger prince. His carpet doesn't match his drapes.

Rust.

Here's Ross. He's an icon.

And thus endeth the dinner. Beautiful food for beautiful people -- that's our brand promise.

Happy New Year!

2010

2010-01-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

And we're back!

Sorry for the fits and starts...what happened was I had taken so many pictures of meals and then did not have time to post about everything so the more behind I got, the more frustrated I became and pretty soon I just was paralyzed!

But I think I have figured out the right level of time to devote to the blog, as well as having a heart-to-heart with myself about my commitment to the blog. We're all sorted now, and ready to roll.

Tomorrow, Saturday, January 2, 2010, will be my first dinner party of the new year and I am so excited. Here's what's tentatively on the menu (the chef reserves the right to change his mind at any time!)...

SNACKS

Truffle mousse paté

Crackers

Olives

Feta-stuffed mini red peppers

Bollinger Grande Année Brut Champagne 1999

AMUSE BOUCHE

Shaved smoked salmon

Crème fraiche

Chopped chives

Spoonbill caviar

Perrier-Jouet Fleur de Champagne 1998

APPETIZER

Saffron-Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

2006 Domaine Phillipe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Chenevottes"

PALATE CLEANSER

Rosemary Sorbet

MAIN

Filet Mignon with bleu cheese butter

Green beans with bacon and sultanas

Cain Five 2004

Artemis 2004

DESSERT

Oats

Rhubarb

Butter

Dessert wine TBD

The New Menu and Chef at Smith

2009-12-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

When a restaurant you have come to love changes chefs, the conflicting emotions are unavoidable. On the one hand, you want the new chef and his menu to reveal all new sensations and creative approaches and techniques. On the other, you miss what was. I'm so pleased to be able to share that new head chef Chris Howell (late of Tom Douglas's Lola) and owner Linda have done exactly the right thing: introduced some (amazing) new menu items, while retaining tried and true favorites from the days of former wunderkind chef Eliot Guthrie (as they should, because they are deservedly classic and perfect for Smith).

This is further a great sign because it shows that Chris's ego -- and all chefs have them -- is not so large as to preclude acknowledging what already works and, instead of trying to build an entirely new menu on an all new foundation, he is constructing his legacy on proven, sturdy bedrock.

A quick word on what remains: the Smith burger (still only $10); marrow bones; sweet potato fries; poutine; Cuban sandwich; gruyere and onion jam sandwich; salt cod fritters; cured meat plate; beet salad with watercress, pecans and bleu cheese; and some other bits and bobs.

Now...the thrill of the new! How about rabbit stew braised with tomato, dark ale and root vegetables? Pork loin with sunchoke puree, kale and chanterelle relish? Hanger steak with goat cheese cauliflower and winter greens? Going in, I met two friends on their way out.

"How was it?" I asked.

"Fantastic," they replied. And, at the same time, two strangers walked by and said, "You have to try the hanger steak!"

This, folks, is what's known as buzz, and to see it developing on the street, before one even sits down to table, on the first night of the new menu is one hell of a good sign.

I elected to enjoy the Brussels sprouts with bacon and sultanas as my starter and the stuffed quail with chestnuts and mushroom orzo as my main.

The Brussels sprouts (misspelled on the menu, by the way) arrive beautifully roasted bright green while also char-grilled black in places. I love it when chefs are not afraid to really char a green vegetable. I guess it's carcinogenic, but so what -- a truly roasted vegetable is a thing of beauty. The sprouts are served in a low, ceramic oval dish, lightly awash in what must be just a splash of stock and chunks of thick bacon, baked apples, streamers of greens and the promised sultanas. They are amazing. I should only hope to create sprouts like this in my life. The good news is I do not need to because Chris has it handled.

I was only halfway through these little green ball of goodness when my quail arrived. Too soon, I thought, but I was already filling up on sprouts so asked to have them boxed. Also, the room was heaving and it's very difficult for a kitchen to time everything correctly. Still, I did point out to Britt and Michael that it seemed a bit early, much to their delight I am sure...

One orders quail at their peril -- a tiny bird, it can quickly go dry in the oven and toughen. Not so the quail at Smith. The bird itself is delicious and identical in flavor to a roast chicken -- none of the watery sweetness one sometimes gets in a Cornish Game Hen nor the gamey flavors of pheasant and other game birds. The quail is pull apart tender and the little charrings at the tip of the bones are a delicious crunch of skin and juices.

The orzo bed upon which it is served, however, was the knockout of the evening. In fact, it's one of the finest things I have ever had at Smith. The orzo itself, perfectly cooked, not as melty as a risotto but chewy and substantial in the mouth. And not just blessed with butter and mushrooms, but something more like the essential soul of butter and mushrooms. I could have eaten an entire other bowl of the stuff. It's that good. You must order it. You must.

I passed on dessert (which was just as well as, unbeknownst to me I was about to get kidnapped to another table of friends for another hour or two of drinking), but noted the addition of hard cider apple fritters with vanilla ice cream. You can be assured I will enjoying those soon!

I enjoyed a 2007 Mencia from Viña Reboreda in Spain with my meal. It has raisins and cherries with very light tannins so worked wonders with the sultanas in the sprouts and the hearty orzo.

Nothing will replace Eliot at Smith; I simply enjoyed too many gloriously mind- and tongue-altering moments under his reign. But you can move on, to new things, to other moments in a life of food. And I'm so pleased to announce that it looks as if that is exactly the promise Smith holds out to me now with Chris in the kitchen. I stopped back by the pass window on my way out and greeted him -- he was very kind and said he looked forward to feeding me many more things.

Well I can assure you, chef, you'll have no trouble convincing me to keep coming back to try all your new offerings!

FLASH! New Menu Debuts Tonight at Smith

2009-12-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'll report from the front this weekend, but word is it includes rabbit stew, quail and other delights. The new chef is named Chris, and I have not met him yet. I plan to attend tonight...how about you?

How do you feel about menu changes? Do you like fully redone menus, no changes ever, or do you like to see old favorites kept while the rest changes?

You've Heard of Popcorn Shrimp?

2009-12-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

How about popcorn chicken?

Here is a chicken recipe that also includes the use of popcorn as a stuffing -- imagine that. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who just are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out. Give this a try.

4 - 5 lb. Chicken
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing
1 cup uncooked popcorn
Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brush chicken well with melted butter salt, and pepper.
Fill cavity with stuffing mixed with popcorn.
Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven.

Listen for the popping sounds. When the chicken's ass blows the oven door open and the chicken flies across the room and lands on the table, it's done and ready to eat.

Enjoy!

The accompanying illustration is by the amazing Brian Britigan.

Do Good by Eating Well

2009-12-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Late notice, but it's still worth highlighting that Linda Derschang and the gang at Oddfellows are donating a percentage of proceeds from tonight's special menu to Capitol Hill Housing, an affordable housing organization.

Complete info from the folks at Capitol Hill Blog.

Nice move, Linda!

Photo from http://absintheandoranges.com/

Book 'Em Part 2: FARMfood

2009-12-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

Cookbooks, when they are well-written and filled with quality photography, can be highly evocative of times and places. They can take you to countries and cultures to which you have never been, and bring a part of that unknown experience into your life in the form of images, flavors and smells.

Fewer cookbooks still can do you the most wonderful favor: take you home.

As a Hoosier boy, raised in the cornfields of southern Indiana, I remember a childhood of fresh meats and vegetables, almost all raised within bike-riding distance of my house. I went to school with the farmers' children, picked my own vegetables, timed meat purchases to the seasonal slaughter of farm animals, kept track of hunting and fishing seasons (and my friends who were coming home with venison and bluegill and perch)...effectively living the "locovore" lifestyle long before it became popular.

From this same small town in Indiana, Daniel Orr, one of my former childhood ice hockey teammates, eventually left to become a renowned chef, working in three star Michelin restaurants in Europe and eventually helming such culinary icons as La Grenouille in New York City, among others.

Dan has now published a cookbook called FARMfood (Indiana University Press, 2009) that is a loving, masterful tribute to that food of my youth -- and has proven that its gorgeous freshness and simplicity is attainable today, not just behind the corn silk curtain of Indiana, but across the country in cities and small towns, alike.

FARMfood is an exquisite publication -- not only are the recipes amazing, but the photography and writing is as warm and embracing as the Midwestern people who grow and cook the food on which it focuses. I cannot recommend this book more highly; I literally am having one of those Julie and Julia moments where I want to cook every recipe in the book.

And as a further note, if you are ever in Bloomington, Indiana, you can go right to the fountainhead -- Dan has opened FARMBloomington, a restaurant where he serves the delectable delights he presents in his book.

If you know a foodie, a weekend cook, or anyone interested in living a greener, more sustainable life FARMfood is the cookbook to buy them (or yourself)!

Stay tuned for updates on my attempts to cook from this book. I can't wait to "go back home" to the roots of my Life of Food, courtesy of chef Dan Orr!

Breaking News: Big Changes at Smith

2009-11-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

I can reveal that last night, November 28, 2009, was Eliot Guthrie's last night as chef at Smith. This is heartbreaking news, but I trust owner Linda Derschang has another good chef lined up.

Eliot will always be one of my favorite chefs, and I look forward to following him to his new job, wherever that may be. Good luck and thank you, Eliot!

I'm also sad to report that Smith manager Keara is moving on. Keara was (is) the hardest working person in the food industry; it was rare not to see her hustling about the room, taking care of customers, and generally exuding an air of accomplished authority that people with ten times her experience in years have trouble exhibiting. Keara will land on her feet.

It's always hard to see these kinds of changes at a beloved restaurant, and frankly, the reasons behind the changes are none of my business. I can just hope that Eliot and Keara have bright futures post-Smith and that their successors are as good as they were.

Feast Family

2009-11-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

The White House has released details about the First Family's Thanksgiving dinner.

They are hosting about 50 guests including family, friends and staff. Obama's favorite Thanksgiving dishes are turkey and pumpkin pie.

Menu:

Turkey

Honey-Baked Ham

Cornbread Stuffing

Oyster Stuffing

Greens

Macaroni and Cheese

Sweet Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Banana Cream Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Sweet Potato Pie

Huckleberry Pie

Cherry Pie

That's one hell of a mess o' pie! And may I simply say hats off to the White House chef for preparing that grand old staple of my own Thanksgivings: oyster stuffing. Here's how I make mine:

1/4 cup finely chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/3 cup butter

4 cups bread cubes

1 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground sage

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

turkey or chicken broth

8 whole oysters

2 cups cracked hazelnuts

Sauté onion and celery in the butter until softened. Combine onion mixture with bread, pepper, eggs, salt, sage and poultry seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Add oysters and finger-push them aggressively throughout the stuffing, allowing them to come apart and merge into the stuffing. Add the hazelnuts and toss and fold into the stuffing mixture. Stir in broth until well moistened. Bake in a greased covered shallow casserole at 325° for about 35 to 45 minutes. Take the cover off the last 5 - 10 minutes to brown.

You cannot go wrong here, folks! Happy Thanksgiving!

Esca from New York

2009-11-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

This is the last in my New York City vacation series. You can all breath a collective sigh of relief! In the truest sense of saving the best for last, I invite you all to revel in the splendor that is the chef's tasting menu at Esca.

Here's what Esca has to say about themselves: Created by James Beard award-winning chef Dave Pasternack, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich in October 2000, ESCA is revered for its less-is-more approach, for its elegant simplicity. In his 3-star New York Times canonization of ESCA as the ultimate Italian seafood destination in New York, Frank Bruni coined Dave as "an honest-to-God fisherman, in love with the ocean, and ESCA is his ongoing ode to it."

Mario Batali? A 3-star Bruni review? Italian seafood in NYC? I smell perfect storm...

And a very fine meal is what I got when Preston and I sat down to the six course tasting menu, accompanied by a wine paired to each course for $120 per person.

We were first served an amuse-bouche of thin sliced sashimi grade tonno with sea salt, paprika, black pepper, and the same rich olive oil I remembered from my previous visit. We had chilled vodka with this as our cocktails were not quite empty from having initially sat down.

The first proper course was a Crudo del Mercato, which that day consisted of sea urchin. Now, I'm not going to lie; this was a stretch for me. The look of the food itself was odd but the innards on the tongue resemble a cross between an oyster and that weird gelatin that sometimes shows up in chicken stock. Funky. The flavor is somewhat like that of a mild oyster; you smell the flavor through your nose more than taste it on your tongue. But while the flavor was somewhat underwhelming it was also a new lesson in food, so very welcome in the end. This was the only unknown item to me on the menu, so I appreciated the chance to try it, even if it was to come to the conclusion that I would likely not order it again. The wine pairing was a NV prosecco from Flor, Veneto.

The next course was Burrata, a magnificent combination of mozzarella and cream -- the outside is firm, pure mozzarella and the inside is mixed with cream to create a heavenly, spreadable cheese. This was topped with a generous dollop of spoonbill caviar, a light grey egg from the American sturgeon. I'd say it most resembles Sevruga, for you Caspian purists. Preston and I both loved this course which was paired with Pecorino "Aries," Ciavolich 2008 Abbruzzo.

Next up was another strong showing from the kitchen: Seppiolini. These grilled whole cuttlefish were served with radicchio and chili oil. Now, I don't mind saying that this dish made me go out and buy a bottle of chili oil the next day I returned home -- I had forgotten how wonderful it can make seafood taste with just a drizzle. It also makes great salad dressings. But I digress. The waiter advised us to be very careful of the ink, as it had a tendency to sometimes squirt out (one is reminded of Grouch Marx and a fountain pen...), but luckily Preston and I emerged without that atramentous baptism! This course was inspirationally paired with Zelen, Guerila 2007 Slovenia.

The fourth course was the only complete miss: Orrecchiette pasta with mussels, razor clams, Berkshire pork sausage and rapini. Outrageously oversalted; I mean, this bowl would have attracted deer in the forest. It may have been Lot's wife in a previous life. Preston and I both found it to be inedible and the waiter, otherwise magnificent, two-stepped around the issue by blaming the brine in the razor clams and leaving the bowls sitting on the table, untouched, even after we'd complained.

I would have been more angry but two things happened at this point to brighten the evening. The first was the wine pour -- Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi "Domini," Pievalta 2006 Marche. This unknown-to-me wine was a very special white, rich in nose and flinty in its flavor. Yum.

The second good thing that happened was Rufus Wainwright came and plopped down right next to us. Hi Rufus!

Once we finally rid ourselves of the Bonneville salt flats, the next course arrived and signaled a return to form for the kitchen. The Spigola Striaca is a local wild striped bass with wild mushrooms and braised leeks. Again, an inspiration -- I'd never served fish with both of these items together and this was the perfect fish with which to pair these substantial representatives of the produce world. Meaty, substantial but flaky and melty in the mouth fish. Excellent. And paired with our fifth glass of wine -- Lacrima di Morro D'Alba, Conti Buscaretto 2008 Piemonte (finally, a Piemonte!) -- it was even better.

Finally our desserts were served. Mine -- a collection of gelati with a caramelized cookie -- looked like a sex organ. Maybe the chef thought I was one for complaining about the salty orecchiette. Maybe he is in Freudian analysis. Whatever the case, the tasting included other sweets such as mini-cookies, biscotti, and a pear tart with pear-mint sorbetto. And yes, mother of god, there was another wine pour: Moscato d'Asti, La Spinetta (one of the GREAT Italian houses), 2007 Piemonte.

Nearly two and half hours later, Preston and I were pleasantly full and really quite tight. We walked back to our hotel through the bright lights and madness that is Times Square, enjoying the memories of a generally fantastic meal (bar one course) and welcoming service (again, minus one stumble).

Tasting menus -- whether omakase, French, Italian or New American -- are exceptional affairs and I try to avail myself of them whenever possible. I like the mystery, the extra effort chefs put into them, and the thoughtful, educated pairings of wines (some unknown by me) with the food. It's like reading several short stories by an author you love -- you finish each little fully-formed adventure sensually intoxicated and ready for more, in just a little while.

I heartily recommend Esca. This is the second time I've dined there and, rest assured, there will be a third.

Do you have a tasting menu you remember fondly? Where was it and what was served?

New York City: Don't Cry for Meat, Argentina

2009-11-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

The meal I was most looking forward to on the NYC jaunt was our first because it was to be spent with friends including Preston, George and Michael (above; Michael runs Bergdorf Goodman's restaurants), as well as the great Jamie & Michael and Colleen (below; I'd just met Colleen for the first time and she and I share an obsession with our Blackberrys...girl, put that down!).

We gathered at Industria Argentina, on Jamie's suggestion. The restaurant features furniture, décor, wine, a chef...all from Argentina. And, of course, the cuisine reflects the flavors and styles of that culture.

My knowledge of Argentine cooking is very shallow...I was aware that there was a heavy Italian influence on it, and that it was very meat-focused. Based on that, I ordered the mollejas (pan-seared sweetbreads, over potatoes, scallions and bacon crumbles) and suggested to a friend that we share the Parrillada Completa (grilled meat selection for two including: skirt steak; sweet breads; lamb chops; sausage; blood sausage and short ribs served with mesclun and frites).

The meal was just fine. It was not a revelation of the meat cook's art (that would come later, back in Seattle and will be reported here soon!) but it was tasty. Some of the meat on the platter for two was a little overdone...like they'd tried to cook everything at once and you know that never works out. The blood sausage was by far the best offering on the plate: rich, heavy, gorgeous chew and mouthfeel. The skirt steak was a bit charred, almost dry. The fries were a little limp.

But the food could have been much worse and the evening would still have been a success. Lots of laughing, lots of catching up, lots of tales told and just a little bit of gossip related. How can you go wrong -- this is exactly what a table filled with food should inspire and nurture! Viva!

Have you ever eaten in Argentina or had Argentine food elsewhere? What's your favorite aspect of the cuisine?

New York City: Pret A Manger

2009-11-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Like many European corporations, London-based Pret A Manger, the readymade restaurant people, have established their first American beachhead in New York City (with a single store in Washington, DC, as well). Ubiquitous as seeds on a bun over in the UK, in New York it's a rare and welcome site.

Many's the time a quick lunch on the Kings Road in Chelsea is had at Pret. Egg-and-cress sandwich and a packet of pickled onion crisps. In New York City, because it's so close to the Royalton, I tend to visit for breakfast...as I did most mornings of my New York City vacation.

I love Pret because everything is fresh, everything is tasty, the people working there seem glad to be doing so and you get your food fast. They may not be the most picturesque dining rooms, but neither do they resemble the feeding area of a refugee camp. And anyway, the best part of eating at Pret is sitting out front at one of the aluminum tables, watching people, cars, jets hanging in the misty clouds above, making for Heathrow.

I also love Pret for its corporate voice. I don't like cute companies. But I sure do like clever and credible ones. Here's how they describe their food on their Web site:

Pret operates a bit like a restaurant. Every Pret has its own kitchen (except for one or two of the tiny ones). You won’t find ‘sell by’ dates on our fresh sandwiches and salads. We don’t sell ‘factory’ stuff. We offer our food to charity at the end of each day rather than keep it over. We shun the obscure chemicals, additives and preservatives common to so much ‘prepared’ and ‘fast’ food. Our ingredients are delivered fresh every day. We don’t mind that fresh and fragile ingredients go off quickly – we start from scratch each morning. Our menu is updated all the time, so check back often.

What's not to love? Creamy Greek yoghurt and honey with granola was my choice whilst Preston enjoyed a breakfast sandwich on croissant. Perfect fuel for a day busting around the New York Botanical Gardens and MOMA...

Where's your favorite place to eat breakfast when you travel? Let me know in the comments.

New York City: The Royalton Hotel

2009-11-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

When I visit New York City for work or pleasure I stay at the Royalton. It's close to so many desirable places and it's close to two major taxi arterials so hailing is never a problem. The interior design of the hotel, recently updating the original designs of Philipe Starck, is also a draw.

Upon arrival this time, they provided a decadent foodstuff as a welcome back gift. These were delicious but next time I want a bottle of Finlandia instead of the Fiji water!

New York City: Blue Ribbon Brasserie

2009-11-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

One of the best New York restaurants my friend John Weiler has introduced to me is the Blue Ribbon Brasserie, which got its start way back in 1992. Strangely, I don't mind the near-three dimensional stacking of patrons atop one another, the tiny tables, the (usually brief) wait. The service brings me back, as does the food.

This visit was on Halloween night when -- after an abandoned taxi to Washington Square, a sudden squall of rain, a mad dash down 6th past crowds and floats and costumed denizens of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, and a slow walk through the damp charming side streets -- we finally arrived at the door. Of a very full restaurant and bar. And were promptly seated at the same table where I'd been seated with John on my previous visit. Thank you gods of tired and wet diners. We owe you, big time.

As will happen in a restaurant with such proximity amongst patrons, immediately we were pulled into the conversations on either side of us: to the left, two men of near-60 discussed the major milestones of their lives and debated whether or not each had been worth achieving; to the right, one of those dozens, maybe hundreds, of couples pretending to be Isabel and Ruben Toledo (dressed a little bit like Dali and Gala; speaking just a little too loudly; accents of unknown origin; alluding to talismans of wealth: "When we go to the house this weekend." and "Have you called Bentley?").

Our first course consisted of fruits de mer in the form of one dozen Hood Canal oysters and a chilled half lobster, washed down with Santenay-Gravieres 2005 from Domaine Jessiaume. Sue me.

Blue Ribbon's menu is at once breathtaking and...breathtaking. In the former sense for its audacity (pigeon with toasted barley, sweet potato and apple! Really?!? Pigeon, in THIS city?) paired with some really rather gorgeous set-ups and, in the latter sense, for the inevitable discovery that something in this Mad Hatter's Tea Party won't be done as well as it might have been done if focus had been a bit more in attendance.

Nonetheless, tonight's entrées generally impressed one much more often than not. My rack of lamb with spinach and potato cake was an over-serving of meat, in my opinion. Two racks of that size would have looked more gracious instead of the cluttery trio. Nonetheless, one rises to certain occasions and with no lagging I did dispatch that rack and its two friends. And spinach. And potato cake. The lamb was served splendidly medium, as requested, and the sides, while not terribly memorable, did nothing whatsoever to detract as one might witness below. Call them neutral sides. All very Swiss, somehow.

I had a few glasses of Tempranillo, Vina Sastre, Roble, 2003 and it was entirely serviceable to the situation.

By the time we'd finished dining and slipped out the front door, into the rainwater-sheen streets, the two to our left -- after a titanic row over credit cards -- had already departed, having fully assessed their lives. And Isabel and her Ruben were still there, on the right, desperately trying to create one.

New York City: Coming & Going

2009-11-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the tardiness that has informed my New York City food recap! I got sick and then needed some time away from the daily posting schedule I had established for myself here at A Life of Food. I am going to commit to "posting frequently" but not, perhaps, daily. Got it? OK, let's talk NYC chow...

I'm going to post several different articles about my dining experiences in NYC, but the first will encompass the first meal that I experienced as part of the vacation, as well as the last. That's right, the paragon of cuisine: airline meals!

Actually, my traveling companion Preston and I were in luck because I'd secured first class transcontinental tickets on Delta. Now, don't get me wrong -- I know that Delta's first class dining provision ain't no Pan Am-wheel-up-the-carving-table kind of service. But it's some of the best in domestic travel, and showed as much on this journey.

Breakfast to NYC (pictured above) consisted of a surprisingly delicious, fluffy cheese and mushroom omelet, roasted potatoes and hot links. All pretty darn good, and the serving size was generous in this era of airline "meals" consisting of a slice of dessicated salami and a thumbnail-size chunk of Laughing Cow.

The fruit on the side was also good, and notable for not being overloaded with the dread pineapple...one of the only foods I find truly abhorrent. Alas, the croissant was a dreadful, over-large affair, like several slices of Wonder Bread shaped to resemble what should have been an airy French pastry.

The trip back also held its rewards, featuring a dinner service.

The salad was quite large; the lettuce and bits and bobs all crisp and fresh. The small serving of grapes were all plump and juicy as opposed to withering and chewy-skinned. The wheat roll accompanying the meal was also fresh and substantial, perfect for mopping up the remains of the entrée: roast beef, mashed potatoes and steamed squash.

I have to say that the roast was delicious, nothing less than fork tender and full of flavor. The squash were also surprisingly well-cooked, holding some firmness as opposed to being a watery glop. The potatoes, while not bad, were the weakest link, having that flakes-from-a-box staleness about them, as well as a bit too much salt.

All in all, I'd have to say dining at 37,000 feet was delightful. For a foodie, airline meals will never likely achieve Hall of Fame status for taste and presentation, but I appreciate Delta's obvious efforts to source fresh ingredients and present simple dishes that taste quite good. It just goes to show that no matter where you are on the earth -- or far above it -- you don't have to leave your life of food behind!

The Ecstasy of Fall

2009-11-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

Fall is my favorite season.

The clothes (wooly sweaters and pants, hats, gloves, scarves.). The light (low and bright in the afternoon). The smells (wood fires, rain-soaked leaves). The sounds (the patter of raindrops on the window as one falls asleep or as one drinks Sunday coffee with the New York Times and the cat competing for lap space).

And, of course, the food. The sudden emergence -- and relevance -- of comfort food that in Summer is too heavy, and now is so perfect. Braising. Baking. The addition of nuts. The addition of duck fat. The gorgeous drizzles of reduced balsamic and citrus juices intermingling with the juices of meats.

Last night I prepared what turned out to be the perfect Fall meal...

The starter was a roasted Winter squash and parsnips with maple syrup glaze and Marcona almonds. I roasted the vegetables for about 15 minutes longer than the recipe calls for, looking to get a little more of a "roasted" color on the squash, as opposed to the cleaner colors of a steamed vegetable. I also served the dish with a generous crumbling of Cotija cheese, which provided both a welcome, mild saltiness and a binding agent for the various squash. The vegetables are seen in the photo above, ready for the oven.

The main course was inspired by the recent Wild Beast feast at Lark, about which I will post soon. Suffice it to say, I wanted to serve my beef-despising guest a red meat that he would enjoy on what had turned out to be a cold, wet, windy night. I chose venison, and sourced it from the wonderful bijou meat shop University Seafood and Poultry. The recipe I used as inspiration was medallions of venison with port and cranberries.

As usual, I took liberties. The most significant was to add two handfuls of fresh cranberries to the reducing sauce at the same time as adding the port, which you can clearly see in the photo above. This gave a much more attractive cast to the final sauce -- the barely intact fresh berries standing out from the otherwise smooth sauce, giving it a more rustic appearance to the eye and texture to the tongue. I ended up giving each medallion about 5 minutes on each side, broken up in a 2-minute/2-minute/1-minute cadence per side. This resulted in a medium meat, just pink inside.

Welcome Fall and all you bring to our life of food!

Favorite Diners

2009-11-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the impossibly charming and erudite Mr. Alan Linck.

Alan always makes me bring my A-game to the dining table...a cook of great accomplishment in his own right, he works with food every day in his role as a produce manager for a famous high-end grocer. His familiarity with food and wine is deep, so one serves him out-of-a-box macaroni with cheese at their grave peril. And don't even think about beef!

On this evening, Alan is enjoying a glass of Lalande-de-Pomerol.

An item of note: Mr. Linck once lived in an apartment attached to a funeral home, where, together, we watched all the seasons of Six Feet Under on DVD.

I'm looking forward to Alan's next visit!

All Good Things...

2009-11-08T18:07:00.001-08:00

I've kind of run out of steam for this right now. I'll be back when I feel I have something to share.

Thanks for all the adds and comments.

To Gotham

2009-10-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

A Life of Food will be taking a break over the next few days as we visit New York City. We promise many reports and profiles on the wonderful food offerings of New York, including a visit to Industria Argentina, Tribeca's hipster hang where everything -- food, wine, furniture, art and staff -- is made in Argentina!

Be well and enjoy your own life of food during our brief absence.

Turning Japanese

2009-10-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last night was my friend Tova's birthday and she wanted to have her party in a tatami room at Fuji Sushi, in Seattle's International District. I never go down to the ID -- partly because I think it's filthy and smells of centuries of old fish and other vices, and partly because my spirit is not, shall we say, moved by typical Asian food.

That's why I jumped at the chance to try this more traditional and, I assured delicious, approach to Japanese cuisine.

Our room, pictured above, was a plain wood floor (what about the tatami mats?) and there was a pit in the floor under the table into which one's feet dangled -- this made it much more comfortable than trying to fold your legs up under the table. I purposefully did not wear my tight hipster jeans because I thought I would die of a leg-folding embolism; next time I come I will know to wear them!

Before our food came we all made origami chopstick rests. Mine was a tour de force, as you can see.

This tomfoolery was quickly brought to an end by a steady parade of food. Sashimi (including a delectable mirugai and fresh hirame), sushi (unagi! toro!) and various rolls, broths and salads. All of this was washed down with jug after jug of crisp, cold sushi.

The grande finalé, as advised by our charming and vastly efficient waitress, was a fresh Spanish mackerel sashimi. It arrived, as shown above, with a breathtaking presentation -- the iridescence of the flesh was like beaten silver leaf. After we ate the meat, the waitress had the bones deep fried and brought them back to us: a crispy, lightly fishy treat.

All in all, I can't say I was converted to becoming an Asian food maniac over this one meal, but I can say that I was reminded how delicious Asian food -- in this case, Japanese cuisine -- can be and I certainly now have a destination next time I am feeling the sashimi urge.

Fuji Sushi is located at 520 S Main St, Seattle, WA 98104-2753 (206) 624-1201. You must reserve tatami rooms in advance.

Manna 'Bout Town

2009-10-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

When confronting the task of baking the most elemental prepared foodstuff on the planet -- bread -- I must admit that a simple loaf of white or whole wheat held little appeal. I wanted to go after something more challenging. But what?

Memories of a European breakfast breads came to mind, and these memories quickly converged on the vaunted English bacon "bap," a crusty roll with rashers of bacon and HP Sauce. Hmmm...how about a loaf of bread that is a bacon bap, all in one? Finding nothing on splendidtable.org, I next turned to epicurious.com and found not bacon bread, but, alluringly, salami and rosemary bread.

Good enough!

After a quick trip to Salumi for the meat and my garden for the rosemary, I prepared the bread by closely following the recipe, however, I reduced the amount of flour by one cup as it seemed to be a dry enough dough after 5 cups. How could I, a virgin breadbaker, tell what made a good dough? I have no idea -- I'm just arrogant, I guess!

After two risings, the dough appeared as in the photo above. The loaf had spread out more than I thought it would, so I reduced the cooking time from 15 minutes at 450 and then 30 minutes at 350 down to 10 minutes at 450 and 20 minutes at 350. That turned out to be perfect.

The loaf emerged from the oven brown and beautiful. The density was perfect -- proving bread flour really is worth using over all-purpose flour in baking bread.

My satisfaction of having made this fundamental baked good was palpable as I smelled the wheat, spiced meat and rosemary, felt the warmth in my hand and, after cutting off a still warm slice and watching the butter melt into the pitted texture, tasted delicious. Success!

The bread's world premiere was aside a smoked salmon salad made of mixed greens and friseé, pumpkin seeds, roasted red pepper, roasted red pepper aioli and a dressing of lime juice, cherry juice, walnut oil, and a drop of white truffle oil.

I'm ready to try new breads now -- what do you think would be a fun challenge for me to tackle next? Let me know in the comments!

Ay, dios mio!

2009-10-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am making carnitas tacos for some friends. I have never tried this before, but the slow cooking pork butt is filling the house with amazing smells! The 5lb butt has been slow braising in 5 cups of water, 2 cups of fresh-squeezed orange juice and some salt. That's all it got and that's all it's going to get...nothing need hide this amazing meat's goodness. Right now, it's just basically meat and bubbling rendered fat (good god, forgive me!), well on its way to an eventual lightly carmelized crispness.

I plan to serve the carnitas with chopped onion, cilantro, cotijo and manchego cheeses on organic corn tamales that smell incredibly fresh (duh, cuz they are!). Topping the tacos with an avocado-tomatillo guacamole will hopefully seal the deal.

If this works well I am going to make it again and again, if only for the aroma my house is filled with right now!

Blogophilia

2009-10-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

This blog is what I want to be when I grow up.

Indispensables

2009-10-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

It seems inconceivable that -- long ago in the swirling mists of time -- people had to suffer through lumpy gravies, make pesto by hand, and pound almonds to smithereens for tart crusts.

The Cuisinart, by virtue of the fact that it has delivered us from these and so many other culinary sins and trials, has achieved generic, mono-named status, like Xerox. That said, I'd never buy anything but the real, original-brand deal. It's sturdy and strong, the blades are quality steel and it assembles and breaks down for washing with ease.

I highly recommend buying the largest capacity Cuisinart you can afford. Mine is 14 cups...I wouldn't go smaller than that unless it's simply an issue of affordability.

Functional, beautifully designed, durable...and indispensable. My Cuisinart!

How has your Cuisinart food processor changed your cooking life for the better? Let me know in Comments.

Consider the Brussels Sprout

2009-10-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

A formal assessment would result as such: The Brussels (or brussels) sprout (Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group) of the Brassicaceae family, is a cultivar group of wild cabbage cultivated for its small (typically 2.5–4 cm or 1–1.5 in diameter) leafy green buds, which resemble miniature cabbages.

All well and good. But what does the Brussels sprout truly entail? I posit that it is the Berlin Wall of food: you are either on one side or the other, and people have died trying to cross from one to the other. One loves it or one hates it. It is welcome or reviled. It is the ne plus ulta or c'est dommage.

For a lowly, round green ball, this is a heavy mantel. The emotion around these green orbs is resolutely outsized as compared to its mass.

So far as I am concerned, the Brussels sprout is a wonderful, magical foodstuff, capable of holding its most common complimentary flavors of butter, duck fat, bacon, balsamic reduction...it's a heavy lifter. A crane against the skyline. People who despise this vegetable are merely jealous.

Serve 'em up. Brussels sprouts are a welcome entity.

Another Lazy Blog Post

2009-10-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Shame on me! Here I go again, mining someone else's content instead of creating my own.

Yet, so great is my talent that even when I go a-poaching, my brand promise to you, dear readers, is that the purloined goods will be, at the very least, utilitarian. By way of proof, let me ask you: Have you ever wondered what the 100 top chefs, food writers and otherwise swell-type folks thought were the easiest, fastest recipes?

I knew you did. I can read you like a book. Or a food blog.

And so, I give you The Guardian's Guide to the 100 Easiest, Fastest Recipes. Ever.

On My Wavelength

2009-10-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today, the local NPR station KUOW had an interview with three local food bloggers. The interview covered some very interesting aspects of the food blog experience, most compelling of which was "Why do you do it?"

Listen to it here.

My Namesake

2009-10-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

When deciding what name to go by on this blog -- I have no desire to use my own true name in this age of internet identity theft, stalkers, and other unsavory shenanigans -- I chose La Tagliata.

This is because, in all my dining experience, the Montepertuso, Italy, restaurant by that name captures the perfect blend of anticipation, rarity, exceptional food, beautiful surroundings and, of course, convivial service. And it doesn't hurt that they have lots of soccer photos on the wall -- the restaurant has sponsored the local team for many years.

One approaches La Tagliata via a vertiginous mountain road -- in a minibus supplied by the restaurant that serves the hotels in Positano, down the mountain. The restaurateurs are smart enough to know that, faced with the task of driving up that impossible road, most tourists would never reach their tables. Once collected at your hotel, you go up...up...up...through switchbacks and tiny villages, even a soccer pitch in Nocelle. And then you arrive at La Tagliata.

A farmhouse style dining room -- simple wood tables and chairs, tablecloths of varying patterns, majolica dishware, fieldstone walls and floors -- has as its focal point a large open grill, on which the restaurant's specialty meats are cooked. You are greeted warmly, and then, if you are lucky, led to a table that is literally perched at the lip of a cliff that drops thousands of feet to the Mediterranean below. Not that the other tables are bad, it's just that the window tables take your breath away.

The best approach is to just sit back and let the restaurant feed you their choice of courses. You'll walk out stuffed and happy. Meals typically begin with an antipasto, followed by a Caprese salad of the freshest mozzarella -- likely made down the road, and so fresh that when you stick it with a fork the milk runs out -- several different pasti in rich red sauce and then, the best part of the whole meal, a plate of grilled meats. I can safely say that the lamb at La Tagliata is the finest I have ever enjoyed, no doubt assisted by the surroundings, but incredible on its own. There is no special sauce, no special herb, per se...it's just fresh and beautifully cooked.

And a word about that grill master! He is on the far right in the photo above, and he's a genius. My waiter three summers in a row was the fellow on the left. The restaurant is run by family: uncles, sons, cousins, a mishmash of interrelated locals who have made La Tagliata the family business. They have done a magnificent job of it.

Your final course, if you can squeeze it in, is a dolce -- will sir have the tiramisu? Yes, sir will.

Then, after hearty farewells and promises to return the following summer, you board your bus and slowly, meanderingly, descend from the Olympus of food to your waiting bed below, there to dream about how wonderful a life of food can be when there are places like La Tagliata to enjoy.

Happy Birthday to Todd!

2009-10-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

My friend Todd recently celebrated his 30th (ahem) birthday, and so, to celebrate, über chefs Nory (R) and Zephyr (L) put together a gorgeous, sky-high chocolate cake -- covered with nuts and topped with spikes of brown spun sugar -- and served it last night to a very appreciative group of friends.

As you can see in the picture above, Nory is a singularly focused cook, and Zephyr is a helpful teammate as they make chocolate history together.

The final wedge stood valiantly, but I suspect did not last 24 hours...nor should it have. Great cakes are made to be eaten! Thanks for this delicious treat, Nory and Zephyr!

A Remembrance of Things (Ante)Past

2009-10-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Last night's crab dip had the privilege of being part of Peter & Marty's spectacular hors d'oeuvre tray, which was hand assembled by Peter out of lumber, and then painted creamy white. Marty had the inspired idea to place the crackers and bread slices between the various dishes, ensuring that the world's largest appetizer tray was exciting to the eye (and the stomach) across every inch.

Some of the delicious features were a ratatouille, hummus, eggplant caviar, a creamy onion dip, crudités...and even some pitas baked by Marie's mom.

Magnificent!

Care for a Dip?

2009-10-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm attending a farewell party to be given for my good friend Todd -- he's moving to Washington, DC. Last night, I had dinner with the hosts and they told me they had settled on heavy hors d'oeuvre, arranged on a large table, in lieu of a formal dinner. This made a lot of sense because of the number of people attending. In short order, I was assigned a comestible and immediately volunteered to make a crab dip.

This is not because I am particularly good at making crab dip, but the thought appealed to me as I remembered my mother's crab dips from long ago bridge parties and other social events she and my father hosted at our home.

To find a good recipe, I first consulted www.splendidtable.org, but finding none there, I next visited www.epicurious.com, where I found this wonderful recipe for a crab-brie-artichoke dip with fresh garlic, tarragon, dill and parsley.

The only changes I made were to use celery salt instead of sea salt, Italian parsley instead of common parsley and I added some smoked paprika. I also used substantially more herbs and a 1/4 cup more cream, because it seemed wasteful to keep the small remainder of the heavy cream in the fridge for who knows what -- I simply do not use heavy cream often at all.

I'm looking forward to the party tonight, and hope that my dip is a hit with the Essential Bakery baguette slices that will accompany it!

What's your favorite dip for parties? Tell me in the comments.

No Tongues!

2009-10-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Ewww...

Sherman, Set the WABAC Machine To...

2009-10-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

...June 2, 1953.

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the other Commonwealth realms were that day celebrating the coronation of their new Queen: Elizabeth II. Around the world, subjects rich and poor gathered around tables grand and simple to celebrate the crowning of their new Queen Regnant.

But what, you may wonder, did Her Majesty and family have for dinner that historic evening? As it turns out, something rather simple, which, given the excruciatingly choreographed ceremonies of the day, was likely a welcome respite. That evening, the table at Buckingham Palace was set with:

Consommé Royale

Fillet de Boeuf Mascotte

Salade

Glace a la Mangue

In the Queen's English, that translates as:

Chicken Consommé with cubes of egg custard

Fillet of beef with quartered artichoke bottoms, tossed in butter with cocotte potatoes and truffle slices

Salad

Mango ice cream

I know you're dying to be a queen yourself and enjoy this dinner, so, without any further adieu, I give you the key recipes:

Consommé A La Royale (from Classic Culinary Arts)

2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Beat eggs with a spoon, and add milk and salt
Turn into a buttered cup, and place in a pan of warm water
Cook in a slow oven until firm in the centre
Set away to cool
Cut into small and prettily-shaped pieces
Put the pieces into a tureen, and pour one quart of boiling consommé or clear stock on it

Cocotte Potatoes -- I'm assuming you can figure out the beef and artichoke quarters! (from Tallyrand's Culinary Fare)

2 large russet potatoes
1 cup beef fat
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Peel and turn the potatoes into barrel shapes, approximately 2 inches long and 1 inch thick at the midpoint; you can also do 2 inch balls
Place in water and bring to the boil
Drain immediately and shake in hot beef fat on the stove until completely sealed.
Place on baking sheet in oven to cook
When cooked (approx. 40 - 50 mins) remove and drain well
Serve brushed with melted butter for an added glaze

Salad -- do your own thing

Mango Ice Cream (from About.Com)

1/2 plus 1/4 cup caster's sugar
2 cups fresh mango (about 3 mangoes)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 1/2 cups half-and-half
2 to 3 handfuls of toasted coconut, as garnish
1 handful of mint leaves, as garnish
Cut and score the mango fruit into bite-sized pieces. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar with the mango pieces. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Puree the mango and the sugar syrup. Add the lime juice and puree again. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and puree one more time.
Whisk together the egg with remaining 1/4 cup sugar.
Warm the milk and cream over low heat. Add 1/2 cup into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking. Continue adding cream, 1/2 and then 1/4 cup at a time, whisking all the while.
Add the egg and cream back into the warming milk/cream mixture. Turn up the heat as needed and whisk for about 8 - 10 minutes, until just beginning to thicken and the cream lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Strain into a bowl. Cool. (Place the bowl in another bowl of cold water to cool quickly).
Stir in the pureed mango. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. Garnish with the toasted coconut and mint sprigs if desired.

Thanks to The Old Foodie, a blog about food history, for inspiring this post. Enjoy your royal feast!

Book 'Em

2009-10-14T17:06:00.001-07:00

I'm so ambivalent about cookbooks. Most of the ones I love, I love because they make fascinating reading: revealing unknown flavor/texture combinations; linking known techniques to unknown utilizations and vice versa; or, most pruriently, flashing lots of pretty pictures of food. I don't really ever hover over a recipe and copy it item for item, quantity for quantity...I'm much more interested in Cookbook As Guide versus Cookbook as Gospel.

Except for one: Jamie's Dinners, by Jamie Oliver. Oh sure, it's beautifully photographed and easy to follow, but it's glory is in the fact you don't want to change a thing with the recipes! And many of them are basic fundamentals of cooking -- Oliver opens the book with "The Top Ten," a magnificent procession of culinary delight: sausage and mash with onion gravy; burger and chips (fries...remember, this is a British book!); lasagne; baked potato with a half dozen stuffing options; salmon; apple pie...oh Jamie, you had me at sausage!

Further chapters are divided into intuitive and helpful chapters: sarnies (sandwiches); salads; soups; meat; fish; and, desserts, for example. Two particularly helpful chapters are Five Minute Wonders -- surprisingly creative meals one can prepare in 1/12th of an hour, such as Parmesan fish fillets with avocado and cress salad or beef with pak choi, mushrooms and noodles -- and The Family Tree, wherein Oliver builds extensive menus from the basic platforms of pesto, simple tomato sauce, slow-cooked lamb, stewed fruit and puff pastry...dozens of menu items grow from this "family tree" of basics, leading to a dizzying number of potential combinations.

Oliver wraps up his book with a brief chapter addressing the basics of kitchen utensils, cookware, appliances and cooking tips.

Throughout Jamie's Dinners, a casual tone drives the written and photographic content...smeared clothes and faces (gotta love kids and spaghetti!), people in comfortable clothes, chopping block tables set with paper napkins and carry-out packages -- this is no Gordon Ramsay. And therein lies its charm, its capacity to win one over and lead a cook to follow its recipes more closely because a) it seems possible to do so and b) the food looks so darn good you want to make it look exactly like that on your own table.

That said, many of the items on display here in their working class guise look just as beautiful on a fine dining table. Only a few of the items -- burger and chips, fish and chips, and the cheat's dessert come to mind -- are simply too inelegant to serve to His and Her Grace from the castle down the street.

Thanks to my friend Stu, who gave me this book for Christmas in 2004, I've enjoyed learning some basic cooking techniques and combinations. The cover and pages are stained with the memories of many happy meals and good times with friends. If the best books open doorways to new ideas and experiences, this Jamie Oliver cookbook may very well be on the next Booker Prize shortlist.

What's your favorite cookbook? Why do you like it? Let me know in the comments!

Let's Go To the Hop

2009-10-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

The infallible Smith chef Eliot Guthrie last night joined with the formidable brewers from Schooner Exact to unveil a new exclusive-to-Smith beer; and, at the same time, feed about 20 brewing aficionados course after course of delicious food.

We lucky diners sat at the beautifully set communal table in the middle of the house, jealously observed by the "regulars" in booths and tables arrayed around us. Preston and I were lucky enough to be sat directly next to the Schooner Exact team: Heather McClung (The Boss); Matt McClung (Alchemist); and, Marcus Connery (Minister of Propaganda). They explained to me how the company began by brewing one batch at a time, testing different ingredients, until they settled on their current offerings (an IPA, a Pale Ale, a Hefeweizen and a seasonal Winter Ale) and began to market their wares. In addition to Smith, Schooner Exact products are poured at dozens of regional pubs. As an IPA lover, I heartily recommend their version; it's hoppy and bold as it should be, but doesn't blister the inside of your mouth with obscene hoppiness as some other local IPAs do.

Back to the food...

The first course, served with the IPA, was paper cones of french fries and assorted marinated olives.

Next came a beautiful orange and white pumpkin soup, so rich and flavorful that it seemed like Autumn in a bowl (did I taste roasted parsnips in there, too?). Following that was a salad of frisée, chilled steamed green beans and cauliflower on a paste of Kombucha squash. These were served with Schooner's Pale Ale.

Then Eliot fired the big guns: house-ground lamb-pork sausage the size of zeppelins and just-pink in the middle, on a bed of slow-cooked haricot beans and sauerkraut -- pretty much a cassoulet without the bread crumbs -- and a glorious ratatouille. The sausages were so mild they allowed the earthy beans and sweet tang of sauerkraut to assert themselves, and the perfectly cooked ratatouille showcased the consistent freshness of Smith's vegetables. Speaking of which, the very fun Gloria Wu, of Frank's Quality Produce, was seated to my left and we had a lot of fun discussing produce sales, romanesco, torn up napkins and other topics.

Quite rightly, this course featured the new Smith beer, of which I am pleased to provide a world premier review: from an ESB-style base, the brewers added special malts, rye, wheat and the crucial and inspired sweet orange peel to produce the perfect compliment to Smith's meat-forward menu. Abundant spice with just the right amount of citric sweetness and a pleasant balance in its effervescence...wow! I can't wait for the beer to make it to Smith full-time. Watch this space!

The final course, accompanied by a sweet Belgian Trappist Ale, was a frozen yoghurt huckleberry sorbetto. And if there had been one "wafer thin mint" offered in addition, I would have exploded.

Schooner Exact impressed me, not only with their beers but with the passion and commitment that the owners so clearly feel for their business. I wish them every success. And, once again, Eliot Guthrie made it all happen. Is there a better young chef in Seattle? You're really going to have to convince me otherwise. We're living in a special time in local culinary history...get to Smith and take a bite of it.

Snack Hall of Fame

2009-10-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

Pret A Manger is my favorite fast food business on the planet. Fresh, organic, delicious, efficient...I can hardly think of enough positive adjectives to list when speaking about them.

In London, I eat one of their egg-and-cress sandwiches daily. They opened a branch in New York City a block away from my office and my preferred hotel (on Bryant Park, FYI).

But above every offering they provide, their pickled onion crisps are supreme. Slightly thicker than Walker's crisps, they deliver a double-whammy punch of pungent onion and tart, lip pursing vinegar. With a beer, or when craving salty goodness, there's nothing better on this good green earth.

Just Desserts

2009-10-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

About seven years ago, something amazing happened in the little high street area of North 56th Street in Seattle's quaint Tangletown neighborhood (so named because its streets were purposefully laid out in anything but straight lines when it was developed decades ago): Hiroki Inoue opened his small storefront (with tables and chairs in back for in-house dining) and began to provide the world (or at least, Seattle) with dessert excellence, baked on the premises.

Since that time, Hiroki has gone from strength to strength. Today, he prepares desserts for several restaurants around town (including Victrola coffee shops), has been featured in the "Best of Seattle" list of Seattle Magazine, and on the KCTS "Chefs" program. Not exactly an unknown quantity, then, but still a generally exclusive treat, known to neighborhood locals and many of the more discerning sweet-teeth around the city.

While the offerings in the two glass-faced dessert cases rotate, there are several stand-bys that one can generally count on finding every time they visit, including...

...the gorgeous scarlet of the cassis mousse torte, and...

...the candy-hued lilikoi haupia (Hawaiian passion fruit-coconut cake).

Hiroki also features seasonal surprises, such as these pumpkin-cream stuffed puff pastries:

On a quiet Saturday early evening, I sat down with Hiroki amidst the orchids and local art that grace his dining area to talk to him about food, faith, the "second smile" and cakes shaped like sports cars.

INTERVIEW WITH HIROKI – OCTOBER 9, 2009

DID YOU STUDY COOKING?

Yes, at the Art Institute of Seattle. I took the culinary program for chefs, not the pastry program.

WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO COOK PROFESSIONALLY?

When I opened my store here [in Tangletown], so about 7 years ago.

WHY DO YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR DESSERTS?

I like to make people happy by providing them with good food – but it can be hard to do. Many people provide a good meal that can make people smile, and I think desserts can provide a second smile. I like to give the “second smile!”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT TO MAKE?

Puff pastry or a baked fruit, something rustic and baked dark in the European style.

YOU SEEM TO HAVE A REAL ATTENTION TO THE BEAUTY OF YOUR FOOD. DO YOU CONSCIOUSLY TRY TO CONVEY A CONCEPT OF BEAUTY IN YOUR FOOD?

I don’t really think about it too much – it tends to come naturally because I like simple beauty….clean and sophisticated. You won’t find me making a cake decorated with dinosaurs or shaped like a sports car.

WHAT WAS THE MOST PRODUCTIVE “ACCIDENT” YOU EVER HAD?

Once, one of my team forgot the baking powder in a lavender cake, and it came out very dense…too dense to sell on its own. But we found that, in slices, it worked very well with the chiffon roll cakes; its texture was the perfect compliment to the cream filling.

WHAT WAS THE SMARTEST BUSINESS DECISION YOU EVER MADE?

Staying small, staying local. This allows me to have the quality control I require. Having personal relationships with my customers and being seen as a neighbor brings people back to my shop.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NON-DESSERT FOOD?

Pasta, but I cannot eat it anymore because I have a gluten allergy. Really, I love anything Italian.

YOUR BUDDHISM IS IMPORTANT TO YOU – HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOUR FOOD AND YOUR BUSINESS?

I think it drives me to see the shop as more than a business. I want people to come to me, to talk with me, to interact with them. And I always try to show compassion to all my customers. You know, I have faith in good people…because good people bring more good people. I have been lucky because I have only had good customers.

IS IT CORRECT TO SAY THAT YOUR CULINARY INFLUENCES ARE GENERALLY FRENCH AND ASIAN?

Yes, some of both. But I also bring my own original ideas, so I would say that my cooking is bigger than the sum of its influences.

You can find Hiroki Desserts on the Web here. Even better, you can visit in-person at 2224 North 56th Street, Seattle, WA 98103. The phone # is 206 . 547 . 4128, and hours are Wednesday - Friday: 11:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Weekends feature some extra special savoury items like sausage rolls, and the world's best orange rolls and berry cream cheese rolls.

Hiroki is a gift to our city. He's a wonderful soul with the ability to bake the perfect cake. What a combination!

What's your favorite Hiroki dessert? Let me know in the comments.

Sunday Go to Meating

2009-10-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

I've only lately discovered the joys of sautéed or baked calamari. Like many, my experience with Mr. Squid was limited almost exclusively to either the fried version (love the tentacle clusters!) or the cold white rings in some kind of ceviché or whatnot.

So for this week's Sunday Table, I stuffed calamari tubes with Dungeness crab, cilantro, bread crumbs, shredded Parmesan, egg, spring onion and chili flakes. Then I baked them at 350 for 20 minutes. Once they were done, I placed them atop a bed of arugula and frisée and dressed the lot with a dead simple drizzle of mayonnaise, caper juice, Champagne vinegar, powdered Parmesan and a pinch of ground black pepper. I sprinkled paprika around the plate for presentation. I really like the Whole Foods 365 brand paprika because it is flavorful and more vividly orange-red than other brands.

Dinner was a gorgeous Chuck roast of beef (cooked at 350 until 140 degrees at the center - perfectly medium rare) with red currant-balsamic reduction butter and green beans topped with diced shallots sautéed in butter and a dash of white truffle oil.

Dessert was a chestnut cream Charlotte -- with the world's smallest lady fingers -- from Hiroki.

How was your Sunday?

Favorite Diners

2009-10-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hello, Brian (L) and Mike (R). Two peas out of the same pod. And what a pod it was.

These two are my newest favorite diners.

They're trouble, though. Be careful.

When Good Beef...

2009-10-11T21:49:00.001-07:00

...happens to good people.

The Friday Table

2009-10-09T21:52:00.001-07:00

Tonight, Friday, October 9, 2009, I had the privilege of cooking for Preston. I had not seen him in a coon's age (in context, that means not for five days or so) so I was anxious to prepare a very good meal for him.

We traveled to Italy together once so I know he likes food indigenous to the Amalfi Coast -- seafood, Campanian wines, mozzarella. I resolved that tonight was going to hit every one of those buttons!

The starter, pictured above, is a classic Caprese salad, constructed of organic heirloom tomatoes, organic mozzarella, homegrown organic basil, organic olive oil and, yes, organic balsamic vinegar. I dispersed black sea salt atop it.

I served a Falanghina wine.

I'm bored with rice and pasta and polenta...all the usual platforms upon which one builds an Italian entrée. I decided that I was going to use a meaty mushroom as my base. Lobster mushrooms are a perfect match texturally and flavorfully, so they were a natural choice.

Next was a consideration of taste, texture and color. I used spring onions, roasted pumpkin seeds, small pitted black olives and the aforementioned mushrooms, all pan sautéed in butter and paprika. I tossed in two handfuls of baby arugula at the very end and removed it from the heat into a stainless steel IKEA bowl. Perfect.

Using the same skillet without a cleaning (but with a spray of olive oil Pam), I seared the diver scallops for four minutes on one side, three minutes on the other, and 30 seconds again on the initial side to ensure a brown sear mark.

I plated the mushroom mixture and an Essential Bakery dinner roll, then added the three scallops. Paprika was sprinkled around the perimeter and and directly on the scallops.

This course earned a Les Crêtes Vallé d'Aosta cuvée bois Chardonnay, one of Italy's grandest Chardonnays. According to their Web site: The wine has a brilliant, straw yellow color. Intense, full nose with nuances of fruits (plum, exotic fruits), spices (vanilla) and a delicate toasty aroma. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, warm and velvety with mineral undertones and a lively acidity at the finish.

For dessert, we enjoyed a tarte tatin from Hiroki. I served a California muscatto.

My hope is that Preston enjoyed the meal.

Does it sound good to you? Let me know!

Sherman, Set the WABAC Machine To...

2009-10-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

An occasional series on meals I wish I could travel back in time to enjoy.

...the late 1930s, aboard the New York Central's luxurious 20th Century Limited. Here is a vintage photo of the dining car in all it's art deco glory. I'm guessing the interior color scheme -- including that glorious wall striping -- was Vanderbilt maroon and silver. Starched white tableclothes. Monogrammed ceramic dinnerware. Heavy silver cutlery and table service items.

The train left New York City's Grand Central Terminal for Chicago at 6PM, so I imagine this photo was taken somewhere in upstate New York, say 8PM.

My time-travel dinner might include a Tom Collins to sip while waiting for my food. The first course could be vegetable soup or fruit cocktail, followed by a grilled halibut steak in lemon butter with kernel corn and pimientos alongside Franconia potatoes. All washed down with an American Sauterne and topped off with a butterscotch sundae and Port.

The service would be gracious and efficient, the foods sourced from vendors along the famed Water-Level Route over which the New York Central's trains traveled. The conversations would be lively throughout the room and might include several between titans of business or movie stars.

By the time I pushed back from my table, to head back to 2009, we'd be entering Ohio and, if the night was clear, off the right-hand side of the train the moonlight would silver the waves of Lake Erie.

Look at My Butt

2009-10-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

The kindly pig gives us many wonderful cuts of meat, none more delicious than the pork butt (or, as the more squeamish call it, pork shoulder). Fatty, succulent and fork-flake tender after a long, slow cooking, this cut of meat is versatile and can be turned into many different meals over the course of several days. This is important because the market tends to sell pork butts in portions the size of a Volkswagen.

My favorite method of cooking pork butt is in a Dutch oven, 1/3 filled with either cooking sherry or ginger ale. Sprinkle sea salt and pepper (to taste) all over the exposed area of the meat and cover. Then put your butt in a 180-degree oven for one hour per pound.

In the picture here, I have slices of sherry roasted pork butt on a bed of polenta/mascarpone/ red wine vinegar-braised red currants, topped with Sauterne-braised satsuma slices and black sea salt. The next day, I shredded the remainder of the pork and made carnitas tacos with cilantro, Manchego cheese, lime juice and fresh tortillas.

When I roast the pork in ginger ale, I like to stick a dozen or more cloves into the meat before placing it in the oven, just like my grandma used to do!

What's your favorite way to prepare pork butt?

The Best Place...

2009-10-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

...to enjoy a pre-trans-Atlantic flight meal: Virgin Atlantic San Francisco Airport clubhouse.

I enjoyed this beautifully presented plate of roasted vegetables with Thai pepper sauce in an Arne Jacobsen Egg chair upholstered in red bouclé; the plate sat atop an Eero Saarinen tulip side table.

Virgin Atlantic still makes an effort to create real excitement around the long-haul flight experience. The SFO Clubhouse, managed by the inimitable Claire, is a gorgeous reminder of how the glory of travel is closely aligned with good food.

Song for Your Supper

2009-10-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

Music is not critical to a great meal, but it sure can help. And it can, as well, make it a disaster. I prefer to play music at my dinner parties, employing a Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1, JBL "Ghost" speaker system and my trusty iPod Touch.

Creating a playlist for my dinner parties is relatively easy when I adhere to the following guidelines (versus rules...these guidelines are made to be broken, depending on your guests' taste or lack thereof):

Avoid music with shrieking vocals or spoken word...these overwhelm your own intelligent table talk
Keep the volume at "background" level...forcing your guests to shout over your music will make them feel you value the music more than them
Mix it up...I love to follow Ben Watt with Mae West or jump from Frank Sinatra to the latest precocious band from Scandinavia and back again
If your guests have Facebook pages, look at their Favorite Music lists and pick a few songs from each...this will make them feel more comfortable

The number one rule is, if any of your guests say they absolutely hate a certain song or genre of music...take that song off immediately and play something they do like. Be a host, not a music Nazi.

Here's a recent playlist from a dinner party at my house:

Jealous of Roses - Bibio

Before Today - Everything But The Girl

Miracles - Jefferson Starship

Paris Is Burning - Ladyhawke

French Navy - Camera Obscura

Blame (Fabio Remix) - Everything But The Girl

With Your Love- Jefferson Starship

Poor Leno - Royksopp

Pop - The Aluminum Group

My Maudlin Career - Camera Obscura

Wait for Me - Dean & Britta

The Only Living Boy In New York - Simon & Garfunkel

Bless This Mess - David Bazan

Never Forget You - Noisettes

Europa - Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

Wot - Captain Sensible

What kind of music do you like to play at dinner? Do you ever hire live musicians to play at your meals? Maybe you have a harpist on your household staff? Let me know in the comments!

Fress to Impress

2009-10-07T15:37:00.000-07:00

Since the dawn of time, food has been used by people to impress others. The caveman who had a sabre-tooth tiger roast probably got more attention than the poor loser with just a bowl of raspberries. Royals and the wealthy have long used rare delicacies such as Caspian caviar -- and copious amounts of them -- to impress their lofty status on mere fish-and-chips eating mortals.

How do you use food to impress? Let's say someone is coming to dinner at your place; someone very important, and you want to make a very positive impression on them.

What do you prepare?

I asked a variety of my friends to share their ideas with me and here's what I got back in response:

MARK: Lobster

ERIC: Portabello enchiladas in molé; grilled corn with grated Parmesean & tapatio; super fresh chop salad with spinach, basil, cilantro and black beans.

ALAN: Frisée with Humboldt Fog chevre, hazelnuts, green figs and peach gastrique.

Pumpkin persimmon soup with lapsung soo chung and cedar oils, and créme fraîche.

Roasted capon with parsnip sunchoke au gratin.

Plum pie with ginger sage gelato.

ALEX: Fresh blinis with a smoked salmon twist, topped with a dollop of créme fraîche and some lumpfish caviar (it's the recession don't you know?), served with a glass of champagne.

Starter of seared scallops, with freshly fried pancetta on each, atop a bed of pea and mint puree, with a nice crisp burgundy/chablis.

Main course of BBQ marinated butterflied leg of lamb, (marinade - olive oil, lemon juice, vermouth, thiny sliced onion, lots of mint, salt and pepper; 24 hrs min, turning regularly), with dauphinoise potatoes and a broccoli puree, with a cracking burgundy/pinot noir.

Possibly some good cheese if a proper dinner party, though this is a bit much just for two.

Depending on the season, a Summer pudding or a blackberry and apple crumble to finish.

And of course, some port or Talisker to finish!

DANA: Unprintable response.

ALBANO: Unprintable response.

Whose approach would you be most impressed by? Let me know...and propose your own most impressive meal in the comments!

Head for the Cellar

2009-10-06T19:13:00.001-07:00

David Mellor is a fantastic housewares store on Sloane Square in London. I always find something wonderful there. This ceramic salt and pepper cellar set, with spoons, is one of my favorite Mellor purchases.

Sometimes I like to put the black spoon in the salt and the white in the pepper. Or the salt in the black cellar and the pepper in the white. And if I'm feeling Daliesque, I'll put white pepper and black sea salt out -- that really keeps 'em guessing.

And people love to use them! Some spoon the seasoning directly onto their food and some pour a spoonful into their palm and then pinch it out.

Such simple implements, and yet they have the capacity to add so much fun and creativity to the table. That's why I have them out 24/7.

Kibble Nibble

2009-10-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

Every evening at 5:00PM, a caustic wail erupts from the stairway that leads from my second to third floors. This would be my cat, demanding her dinner. And by demanding, I mean Khrushchev pounding his shoe on the table. No please. No quiet reminder. If a buzz saw could meow, you'd have my cat, Hello.

Hello gets 1/3 cup of Purina One Vibrant Maturity 7+ mix in her Burberry bowl (Yes, really. From Selfridge's in London). When the Chinese cat food contamination scandal hit last year, I was scared to death I would see her food on the danger list. It was not, and I thank Purina One for their quality control.

Hello is 10 years old now, so I figure I have another decade to enjoy her evening caterwaul and celebrate with her our shared passion for food.

A Death in the Family

2009-10-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Unless you live under a double broiler, you know by now that Gourmet magazine is dead, a victim of the same slow, creeping virus threatening print media in general: poor ad sales and, thus, decimated operating capital.

I never read Gourmet. Oh sure, I thumbed through its pages in doctor's offices (subscription addresses carefully cut out of the cover, as if I'd come to the donor's house and steal their Silpats). It was, to be inelegant, food porn. I'd look at the pictures and be intoxicated, then look at the recipes and quickly become forlorn...you mean that takes two days to prepare?!? And what the hell is a gelatin sheet?

For me, Gourmet was always aspirational; as, indeed, nearly all food publications -- including cookbooks -- are. They are conduits of ideas, of challenges, of presentation aesthetics...things you want to try someday. But never do.

Too often the contents of these publications are impenetrable (what's a glug of oil, exactly?), unrealistic (sorry, magazine, I can't make that because I don't have three ovens!), or downright inaccurate -- one of my favorite sections of food publications is the Errors column: "In last month's issue, the cookie recipe should have read '2T of sugar' instead of '5 cups of salt.' We regret the error."

I'm sorry for the people whose lives will be lessened by the disappearance of Gourmet, and I'm certainly sorry for the folks who are losing their jobs.

But I can't feign any false sense of outrage or mourning at its passing. It was too grand, too assumptive, too prescriptive by its very nature as nearly all recipes are. I like to sail into uncharted waters of food without a lot of that...with only a few technique stars to guide me, and my own innate sense of what works. I like to try, to fail, try again and succeed wildly on my own terms.

The only "gourmet" in this house was going to be me. Not some publication title on the coffee table. Condé Nast has now made sure of that.

Indispensables

2009-10-05T16:04:00.001-07:00

An Occasional Series at A Life of Food

To be functional at the most basic level, a kitchen requires an oven, a refrigerator, a sink, a knife, a sharpening stone, a whisk, a spatula, a towel, a pot holder, a pot and a pan. Nearly everything else, I would argue -- Tupperware, dishwasher, garbage disposal, Magnalite, Cuisinart, Krupps, Kitchen-Aid, ramekins, oyster knife, pizza slicer, food scale, aluminum foil -- are all desirable in their own ways, and certainly extend the range of goods coming from your kitchen to table, but they are not absolutely mission critical to human survival.

One can wash one's own dishes by hand. One can cut their homemade pizza with a large knife (kept sharp! Or else, why have a bloody knife?). One can mix bread dough by hand. One can do without chocolate soufflé (regretfully) and one can go out for chilled, briny, delicate Kumamotos.

Or so I thought.

Now I must add another implement to the mission critical list: the mandoline. And not just any mandoline. I'm talking the ergonomic, functional wonder that is the mighty OXO mandoline pictured here!

This is kitchen-tool-as-revelation. I actually weep to know that I live at this time in history, where such a dream utensil is a reality. How do I love thee, OXO mandoline? Let me count the ways...

1. You are sturdy. I can push an onion or eggplant through your blade and you do not feel as if you are about to collapse as some others do.

2. You are big enough to do the job. That same giant Walla Wall sweet and that bowling pin-sized eggplant all fit comfortably in your slicing channel.

3. You are sharp. Both your main cutting and julienne stainless steel blades could split a hair. Exactly what's needed when running beets or other tough roots through.

4. You are versatile. Whether I need near translucent potato chip slices or thick sticks of carrot, you can serve it up with nary a hesitation.

5. You are handsome. Your black-and-silver, completely intuitive design is a triumph of form and function skipping merrily hand-in-hand down the path to good food.

6. You are easy to clean. All I have to do is hit you with a few blasts of hot water or, if you're a total mess, stick you in the top rack of the dishwasher.

7. You are a cheap date. I think I paid $75 for you and you just keep giving back.

8. You are flawed. Perfection is boring and arrogant, so someone decided to assign you a "pusher," a device to slide the foodstuff across the blade. Sadly, the pins that embed into the food usually just tear through the food and disfigure it on top, especially softer things like tomatoes and zucchini. It's unhelpful and unnecessary. Just use your bare hands or, if you really think you're going to take off half your palm with the potato, use a simple pot holder between your hand and the food.

God bless you, mandoline, and thank you for opening up so many new possibilities to me in my life of food!

SUGGESTED RECIPE FOR BREAKING IN YOUR MANDOLINE

This is "inspired by" (or is it "ripped-off from?") La Spiga in Seattle, where it is called Melanzane della Zia Irene. Try theirs...it is fantastic!

1 eggplant

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 T capers

1/3 cup of olive oil

Handful of fresh parsley leaves, finely minced

1/3 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Sea salt

1. Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4" thick slices on mandoline.

2. Cover the bottom of a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Lay the slices of eggplant on the cookie sheet.

4. In a small pot, place olive oil and garlic and heat till bubbling. Remove from heat and let oil infuse with garlic. Cool for several minutes and then add the parsley and capers.

5. Lightly brush both sides of eggplant slices with the olive oil mixture; do not worry that the eggplant suck up the oil and may appear dry -- you do not want an oil soaked slice!

6. Place slices 6" under broiler on high setting.

7. Broil till lightly browned, then flip using tongs.

8. Broil other side in same manner.

9. Using a non-slotted turner, remove slices and place onto warmed salad plates, garnish with Parmesan and sea salt to taste (and maybe a few extra capers, if they are favorites of yours), and serve immediately.

Favorite Diners

2009-10-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Ryan and Brian. Besides the fact that their names create a most pleasant rhyme, they are also most pleasant people. Selfishly speaking, they help keep me plugged into the culture of people half my age -- which is important to me because I see myself more in their chronological swim-lane than my own. I'm at peace with my age (46) but not with what happens to most people at my age (Zzzzzzzzzz...).

Ryan builds handmade, custom wood furniture. He's the youngest guy practicing an old craft that I know.

Brian is at the University of Washington, studying animation. Watch this space: he's going to be the next Walt Disney. His work is exceptional.

Both of them are dear friends, and they can run like hell on the footy pitch. I trust them. I learn from them. They turn me onto great music. They make me laugh. I hope I give them back half what they give me.

Whenever Ryan and Brian come over for dinner, I know it's going to be a great evening. Is there anything more you could want from a dinner guest? I don't think so. They are welcome here anytime.

Say hello to them!

The Sunday Table

2009-10-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

Sundays are typically the best day of the week for me. If I am lucky, my favorite soccer team -- Manchester United -- has a game that I can follow on the internet or live satellite broadcast. Then, in the afternoon, I play a soccer game with one of the three teams I belong to...in this case, Ripple Effect.

But what really makes Sundays fulfilling is the dinner party I typically host that evening. I rarely, if ever, have more than three guests so that it's four at table. It's a relaxed, friendly meal, skewed toward comfort food and lots of good wine. I like to send my guests home with full tummies and the fulsome promise of a hangover!

Tonight was a typical example. Here's what went down...

I welcomed my guests with prosecco, Trailhead Tomme cheese from Mt. Townsend Creamery and water crackers. After some excellent conversation, I invited everyone to take their assigned seats and served the starter:

Three colors of heirloom tomato slices and eggplant caviar (roasted eggplant slices with olive oil brushing, Cuisinart processed with paprika and black sea salt), served on a bed of arugula tossed in cherry–balsamic-rosemary vinaigrette. Inspired by a starter at Smith, my favorite restaurant in Seattle. Yummy!

Next came the main course:

Fresh spaghetti pasta topped with sauce (San Marzano pulped tomatoes, fresh garlic, sautéed Walla Walla sweet onion, sautéed lobster mushroom, capers, roasted organic lilac peppers and fresh sautéed calamari), fresh grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

As if this weren't enough to stuff down my friends' gullets, there was dessert:

Kabocha pumpkin pie, baked by my dear friend Hiroki.

After this, I think my guests were about to explode, so I bid them farewell because I do not like exploding people in my house. They can explode at home, where it is more comfortable and they can use their own Windex to clean up the mess.

This is a typical Sunday dinner at my house. It's a lovely way to end the week and begin the week. I think Mondays are better when you have had a very pleasant night before with wonderful friends.

Deutschland Über Alles (in die Küche)

2009-10-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

One of the most compelling reasons I travel is to experience food of other countries, in those countries. Sure, the increasing globalization of our society has made it possible to dine on cuisines from nearly every geographic region of the world, if not down the street, then across town, in nearly every major city in America.

Nevertheless, there's nothing like the local cuisine in that locale.

As an example of that postulate, I give you...Berlin. A city of broadly cosmopolitan cuisine -- döner kebab here, Currywurst there, Jewish cuisine (yes!) and loads of Asian outlets -- still, the most compelling menus in that amazing city are the quintessential German offerings.

Herewith is a sampling of the finest.

First, as illustrated above: the roast chicken at Henne. This old school Wirtshaus/Biergarten is located where once the Berlin Wall carved its political scar through the city. Kennedy was invited to dine here on his famous visit, but had to decline. His letter of regret occupies a place of honor above the bar. The place serves a variety of German cuisine, but those in the know order only the chicken (Henne) with a side of gorgeously runny cold potato salad, spiked with pickle. As you can see, it's a crispy gift from the gods best enjoyed with a cold Schultheiß beer.

Next up, the pig's trotter; known as Berliner Eisbein. Invariably served with Sauerkraut and Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) and a generous slug of hot mustard. This pink divinity is one of the hog's richest gifts, full of flavor given its fat content and moist on account of the same. The best I've had in Berlin is at the tradition-soaked Mutter Hoppe restaurant, in the faux ancienne Nikolaiviertel. As you can see here, it's hard not to go completely piranha on the meat-laden bone!

After all this meaty wonder, one must have dessert. And the ultimate Berliner sweet is the Kaiserschmarrn, or, in English, Emperor's mishmash (gotta love that translation!).

As our friends at Wikipedia state: "Kaiserschmarrn is a light, caramelized pancake made from a sweet batter with flour, eggs, sugar, salt and milk, baked in butter. Kaiserschmarrn can be prepared in different ways. The batter has more than the usual number of eggs. When making Kaiserschmarrn the eggwhites usually are separated from the yolk and beaten until stiff, then the flour, the yolks mixed with sugar and the other ingredients are added, including nuts, cherries, plums, apple jam or small pieces of apple, or caramelized raisins and chopped almonds. The pancake is split into pieces while frying, shredded after preparation and usually sprinkled with powdered sugar, served hot with apple or plum sauce or various fruit compotes, including plum, lingonberry, strawberry or apple."

This lovely example is from the estimable -- and quite gourmand -- Lutter & Wegner chain of Austrian restaurants in several locations around the city.

After a few days of this food, I promise that you, too, will want to shout to the world: "Ich bin ein Berliner!"

Favorites

2009-10-03T19:36:00.001-07:00

I've previously referred to the glory of the oven-roasted chicken and its lofty position on the Mt. Olympus of food. Paired with roasted fingerling potatoes, it is an unassailable dish, hot or cold.

The ways to cook it are as numerous as the stars. Some choose to place a well-punctured lemon in the cavity, some a can of beer, some a handful of herbs, some nothing at all.

Many start the roasting at a high temperature and lower it -- say 450 for 10 minutes, then 350 for the balance. Others reverse that cadence. Still other cooks set it at 350 for the duration, while those using smaller birds (no more than 3 pounds) cook it at 450 or even 500 for the duration.

Most cooks will advise a brining, either wet or dry. I much prefer a two day dry brining, with herbs pushed under the skin (thank you, Judy Rogers!). The skin gets ever so much more crispy that way. And I do like a lemon in the cavity, and to cook it lower for the duration, then crisp it up at the end.

To each their own. And, of course, it's always worth trying it a different way from time to time to keep things interesting...and delicious!

The picture of these three lovely chickens with potatoes is possible because of my friends Peter and Marty. They serve the best version of this dish that it is possible to consume.

Oenophilia

2009-10-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

For one of my recent birthdays, Preston and I went to The Harvest Vine, in Madison Valley, Seattle. Both of us love the hot and cold small plates there, heavily influenced by Basque culinary traditions.

Since this was before The Crash, and I was at that time lighting cigars with currency notes, we decided to get an extraordinary bottle of wine: Vega-Sicilia Reserva Especial "Unico."

I don't speak Wine too well, so I'll turn it over to the folks at Wine Advocate, who gave it 99/100 points:

"The Reserva Especial is a blend of the best barrels of 1990, 1991, and 1996. Purple-colored, it delivers an ethereal perfume of smoke, mineral, scorched earth, Asian spices, black currant, and blackberry. Elegant yet remarkably powerful, this rich, lavish effort seems to linger on the palate for well over one minute."

Hey, I totally resonate with anything that suggests scorched earth. And true to its promise, the wine was amazing, delivering full-on sensations from the first hint of its nose to the massive after-taste. If wine was wrestling, this was the whole WWF, in the ring, at once. Naked.

And, if I recall correctly, it cost exactly one Porsche monthly car payment.

The wine is gone. The Porsche is gone. The memories will never die.

Featured Recipe

2009-10-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

An Occasional Series at A Life of Food

I rarely, if ever, adhere completely to a recipe.

Even if it's my first time preparing a dish, I'll use the recipe for guidance and just fiddle about with it (within reason...and sometimes without). Not that I disdain the concept of the recipe: I love to read cookbooks before going to sleep, memorizing ratios, ingredient combinations, techniques...or for prurient titillation. The early Gordon Ramsay cookbooks -- before he dumbed them down and they were impossible for anyone but a Cordon Bleu chef to execute -- were like gustatory porn.

So speaking of obscene, and in response to several readers' requests for recipes, I offer the following bit of dreadful folly (proceed at your own risk):

Paula's Fried Butter Balls

Recipe and photo courtesy Paula Deen

2 sticks butter
2 ounces cream cheese
Salt and pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
Peanut oil, for frying

Directions

Cream the butter, cream cheese, salt and pepper together with an electric mixer until smooth. Using a very small ice cream scoop, or melon baller, form 1-inch balls of butter mixture and arrange them on a parchment or waxed paper lined sheet pan. Freeze until solid. Coat the frozen balls in flour, egg, and then bread crumbs and freeze again until solid.

When ready to fry, preheat oil in a deep-fryer to 350 degrees F.

Fry balls for 10 to 15 seconds until just light golden. Drain on paper towels before serving.

The Best Place...

2009-10-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

...for cappuccino: the terrace of Room #82, Hotel Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy.

Where are your favorite places to enjoy your favorite things? Let me know!

Getting Baked

2009-10-03T12:01:00.001-07:00

For me, the most formidable technique in all of food is baking. The balance of ingredients, cooking time and temperature, moisture levels, finished look...it had always been just a bit too much for me.

I decided, however, that I needed to push myself and conquer my fear of baking. I began my quest at www.splendidtable.org, because Lynne Rosetto Kasper is on my shortlist of people I would choose to have as a mentor. My gut told me she'd have some great ideas.

And she did! I must have had a sweet tooth that day because my eye immediately went to a photo of a cookie on the Splendid Table homepage. So, cookies it would be. But for whom? I had just lost 40 pounds and wasn't about to undo all that work as my own test audience.

The answer was obvious: my soccer team. I can be a dictator on the field, and have doubtless ruffled a few of my teammates' feathers, so I figured a great way to redeem myself -- if even a bit -- was to bring home baked cookies to every game.

Lynn's chocolate chip cookie recipe (http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/dessert_chocchip.shtml) was not only easy to follow and produced excellent cookies (I'm still on the team!) but it helped me be more comfortable with the idea of baking because it helped me do what I love to do best in the kitchen: screw with the rules.

I'm willing to bet that 90% of available cookie recipes call for all-purpose flour. Kasper's recipe calls for half cake flour and half bread flour to create an unequalled texture. I've used this equation in every cookie I've baked since that first batch.

When I was ready to expand my baking repertoire, the muffin seemed the next logical step as it, too, lent itself to extraordinary experimentation. Because of my success with the cookies, I had the confidence to immediately go "off recipe." The blueberry muffins pictured here feature 50% more berries than the recipe indicated. I also added a 1/4 teaspoon of essence of anise and a 1/2 teaspoon of orange water. I used buttermilk instead of regular milk. These just seemed like choices that would bump up the excitement of the finished product, and they did.

After muffins will come bread. Not bread-machine bread. Handmade, kneaded, risen, formed, baked bread. The kind that fills the house with a scent of the most elemental sustenance. Of home. Of safety. No other food can duplicate this effect.

I'll keep you posted.

Favorite Diners

2009-10-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

An Occasional Series at A Life of Food

This is Gerrard Preston Pew. He is my best friend. I love to cook for him.

Preston has a memorable habit at table; I call it the Preston Pick. Whenever I serve him cooked meat of any kind, he stares at it, sets fork and knife to it, slowly cuts into it...and then picks at it. Testing its doneness, its firmness. Sometimes he turns the meat and does the Preston Pick to other parts. And other parts. And others.

It might be minutes before the first bit of meat enters his digestive tract. He's too consumed with...picking.

Usually he will then eat the food and enjoy it immensely. Sometimes, though, he'll look up from his Preston Picking and stare at me balefully. Wordlessly.

That's when I take his meat and place it back on the grill/in the oven/in the skillet.

A few minutes later, Preston is eating his food with a smile on his wonderful face.

The Downside

2009-10-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

An Occasional Series at A Life of Food

As much as one thrills to the taste of good food, one may wither at the taste of bad. And where, pray, is much of the worst food on our planet?

Why, 35,000 feet above our planet, of course.

Airline meal. Aside from "Hitler," "Satan," "bed bug" and "Madonna" there are few more frightful phrases in the English language.

Things go wrong in airplane galleys. Terribly wrong. Witness this godawful mess, served to the quivering innocents in coach class on a recent Iberia flight from Madrid to Santiago, Chile. It's disturbingly evocative of escargot atop a bed of hog aortas.

Please, god, save us from these things.

Had a bad airline meal? Tell me about it, in rich detail!