Neecies's Profile
Good new spot in Bellingham--City Grill
You're right; but actually, that's where I thought I'd put it. I'll repost.
Pastrami in Seattle
Really! Wonder if something was different the day we were there. The pastrami was surprisingly thick, about 1/4", unlike any I'd ever had before. Very fatty and smokey, too, as you say.
Pastrami in Seattle
twinsue, better than Langers? Yes, IMO; Langer's is the most unique pastrami I've ever had. Thick sliced and tender to an unnatural, ethereal level from steaming that I can never decide, as I stare out at Echo Park, how right or wrong it is no matter how good that feels in my mouth. Jerry's is more traditional, but as I said set apart by the dense, crusty bread that's better than Nate and Al's, Arthur's or any other that I sampled in Florida recently. Cantor's I haven't been to since I fell in love with Jerry's, so I don't know. Jerry's, as someone else mentioned, has a number of location, but typically we frequent Marina del Rey and Encino. If other locations aren't equal, I'm unaware.
Good new spot in Bellingham--City Grill
My hubby and I were in town for a hair cut for me and a stop at our jeweler, both downtown, around lunch time. The walk between the two took us right past the old Du Jour Bistro on Cornwall, which to our surprise has just been re-opened as the City Grill. We read the menu in the window and though slightly concerned about the multi-nationalness of it, we were drawn in by the description of the cheeseburger, something we both had a bit of a jones for lately: "mixed cheeses" and "house-made patty". We stepped inside (redecorated very nicely, with lots of booths), and placed an order.
So first thing: everything, even the burgers, comes with a first course of soup or salad. We ordered salad and got a bowl of crunchy, cold romaine and green leaf lettuces, chopped tomato and sliced red onion, topped with a spot-on, well-seasoned, obviously house-made vinaigrette. I'm a salad girl, and I'm here to tell you it was a better salad with fresher ingredients than one usually gets in Bellingham's restaurants. I couldn't have been more surprised or impressed. The soup on offer was a chicken vegetable, also house made we were assured.
Then came our burgers. I lifted the bun to inspect the patty and indeed found the irregular shape of a house-made patty. The mix of cheeses on top were white and yellow cheddars, nicely melted, the lettuce was cold freshly torn green leaf, and slices of tomato and red onion were included. The bun was a fresh-that-day Kaiser roll. The flavor was sensational. Frank, the chef and proprietor, seasons the patties and there was a lovely black-pepperiness throughout. It's one of the best burgers I've had in this town. Searingly hot, thick steak fries came on the side.
There were 7 or 8 other sandwiches on the lunch specials. The dinner menu includes same, pastas, ribs and a number of other casual fares. (The ribs come with one of two sauces, the usual BBQ which no doubt Frank made himself and a lemon-herb sauce, which sounds so different it's what I'll order next time we go.)
Service, provided by Frank's wife Sue, was great.
So what did that set us back? $7.25 per.
We look forward to going back. And business has been slow downtown, so get out of your houses Bellinghammers and welcome these worthy people to our town. They need the encouragement, and Bellingham needs people like Frank and Sue who believe in giving you great quality for your dining-out dollars. You won't regret it!
Pastrami in Seattle
I'm with all of you who crave a great pastrami (and don't think the Carnegie deli is the best example of it). But let's get past the meat problem: even if we could get what each of us considers great meat, could we get the right bread? My favorite pastrami is Jerry's Deli in Los Angeles--the meat is very good, but what really elevates that sandwich into the stratosphere is the super-crusty, crunchy thick slices of rye bread. You can take the best meat in the world and just kill it by plonk it between a few slices of industrial Orowheat.
The CHEW
But janbo, the producers of daytime television presume daytime tv watchers ARE that dumb. You have to keep in mind that they're not making TV for the smartest guy in the room, the one who can and loves to cook all his or her own food. They're making TV for people who watch TV in a fantasy-state about the lives and skills they don't have, and those outnumber the rest of us.
Things would be different if that weren't the case, but as long as it is, it all comes down to eyeballs because it's all about advertising revenue.
Help Getting Past White Zinfandel
Hoosier, don't forget homemade vinegars and "computer parts".
Help Getting Past White Zinfandel
And UPS/FedEx won't accept shipments from people not licensed to ship alcohol--businesses, that is, not private individuals.
@MeinNYC: another attraction to your friends besides sweetness might be the relative low acidity of white zin. I run into this a lot in people who like off-dry wines (as well as, conversely, opposition to roses because they are all believed to be that way). Pinot gris might be a better white choice than riesling, for that reason.
The CHEW
Only caught the last ten minutes. And where I'd hoped for better (because I'm an optimist at heart) my worst fears were concerned: it's a housewife show. And though it's ostensibly about food instead of back-to-school fashions, it's basically all the same patronizing banter, and Carla and Michael can't save it. A bumper piece about upcoming stuff this week touted Paula Deen, Whoopi Goldberg visits Eataly, and "useful tips". Save me.
need white wine pairing with Swiss raclette
Conundrum is an off-dry wine that usually sports a big perfumey nose due to the fairly high amount of really ripe viognier involved in the blend. The alcohol tends to run a bit high on this wine, too, close to 15%. That's not to everyone's taste; it wouldn't be to mine.
Brad's suggestion of an Alsatian Pinot Blanc is a good one. The Altesse someone else mentioned and the possibility of a good minerally Graves white (because of the Semillon) that no one else has mentioned but I would, are also good options.
New Cooking / Supper Club, Bellingham and Environs
You seem to be online right now. Let's talk. Here's my phone number--I'll edit it out of this message in 30 minutes.
New Cooking / Supper Club, Bellingham and Environs
I already did that and I've read all kinds of interesting things about you, but I don't see an email address anywhere! Where, exactly, would it be?
New Cooking / Supper Club, Bellingham and Environs
Actually, I saw your instruction to do that re email. But I can't figure out how to get into someone else's profile! Only my own...HELP!
New Cooking / Supper Club, Bellingham and Environs
Hey, sign me up! I'm a seriously good cook with a big home kitchen recently head-to-toe remodeled with the idea of group-cooking in mind. I live in Birch Bay.
Bellingham's secret Mexican restaurant
Ah, diet schmiet. I am now going to have to go back sooner than later and try those tamales!
Eastern Washington road food
This is probably not perfectly on topic, but I read about a place in south eastern Washington that does a land-office business in--get this!--asparagus tamales. Apparently people line up around the block for them in season, which would be right about now.
Bellingham's secret Mexican restaurant
Yes re that trade-up.
True story: I lost my cell phone in a supermarket parking lot soon after moving here. Another shopper found it and drove it to the Ferndale police station. The policeman thought hey, maybe this person has a family member with an adjoining number so he started calling the nearest numbers. He reached my husband and volunteered to drop it off at my husband's office near Bellingham airport. Bob was already in possession of it by the time I got home and realized my phone was missing. Try that trick in L.A.!
And here, at supermarkets people actually push their emptied shopping carts back to the corrals.
There's just a general air of consideration and respect we Angelenos are not used to (born and grew up in Whittier).
Newton's the north Delta area? I think I've been thru a neighborhood by that name in that vicinity, but I'm not sure. We're in Birch Bay.
Bellingham's secret Mexican restaurant
I haven't! I don't even remember seeing tamales on the menu, but I don't get to eat Mex very often (carb overload!) and the rare occasions we give in to it I am guilty of being blindsided by other things. Also, much as I love tamales, even in otherwise good Mexican restaurants there are a lot of badly made tamales in this world (dry, untender, bad meat-to-masa ratio even for someone like me who appreciates the masa), so it's usually the last thing I try. I think in many cases the tamal would have been outstanding when freshly made, but they dry out and toughen up when not reheated properly. And since that takes time, "properly" is often the last thing on anyone's mind.
Btw, have we trashed Chihuahua's in Ferndale yet? It's the most popular Mexican restaurant in this town and one of the worst Mexican restaurants I've ever been to--anywhere. How about a mole made with Nestle's Quik? I kid you not....
Need some new everyday Speigelau wine glasses - red. Need recs
Agreed. Also, Riedel's vinum series. I invested heavily in Spieglau at one time but the glass is made of something lesser and they etch too soon--glass turns milky/fuzzed and hundreds of water droplets cling to the inside of the glass requiring hand-drying. (Which only rids you of water stains, not of the milky look.) Just bought a dozen new Riedels yesterday (paid $75, incl tax, for the restaurant-line cabernet size) and sent my few remaining Spieglaus to the Goodwill pile. I typically use everything until they die a natural death (break) but I couldn't say goodbye to the Spieglau's fast enough.
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #12 - 03/02/11 (Spoilers)
It's got to come down to them. And much as I like Antonia I'll be rooting for Richard, who I think is ultimately the most talented contestant.
Anyone else watching "America's Next Great Restaurant"? * Spoilers *
Sorry, I thought it rather lame. The whole "Sorry but you're not going to be America's top ______" conceit is already tired and this version offers nothing compelling enough to turn that boat around.
Anyone else watching "America's Next Great Restaurant"? * Spoilers *
Surely it's not. But the name's fun and the guy's got a big heart so until he gets winnowed out he'll make good TV.
Bellingham's secret Mexican restaurant
What part of Surrey? I live "next door" on the Washington side of the border. White Rock's closer than B-ham for dining out. I feel your pain re the separation from good Mexican food. After eight years ex-Los Angeles I'm getting used to it, but only just. I'm particularly jonesing for tamales.
Salumi: yea or nay?
This line isn't long at all if you're one of the first 10 in it. :) Get there early or after 1:30--let the people who are on a strict lunch schedule at work blow through.
If You Could Only Pick 1 Top Chef Contestant (any season) to Cook You a Meal, It'd Be:
ChefJune, make that Tre shirtless and I'll join you. I'll even bring the wine. :)
Fine Dining vs. Casual?
In the Globe and Mail's article about the departure of Daniel Boulud, Van food writer Andrew Morrison opines, “I just don’t think Vancouver’s all that into fine dining any more. As a food city, we’ve really come to terms with how we want to dine – which is not formally, not with white tablecloths, it’s not with big balloon crystal wine glasses and 12-course tasting menus. We like to take it easy. We like to relax.”
(On a separate topic, he says the split between Mr. Feenie and the Sidoo [partnership] forced many diners to choose sides with Mr. Feenie, and Lumière was not able to retain its original customer base. But I digressed....)
As proof he apparently offered the statistic that only 10 fine dining places are among the 300 new restos that opened in Vancouver in the last few years. And five of those ten have closed or downscaled to something more casual.
Which, contrarian that I am, suggests that it could also be proof that the fine dining market was oversaturated to begin with.
Curious what others think. Is fine dining over? Stale? Outdated? Unneccessary?
Bellingham's secret Mexican restaurant
Sasha, friends swear by the one whose owners, so convinced that their truck success would translate into brick and mortar, took over the Mex joint (or did it used to be Asian?) that's on Meridien just up the hill (north, that is, and at a slightly higher elevation) of Petsmart/Michael's. Don't remember the name and haven't been in myself, but I fear for them as the parking lot's generally emptyish.
Another friend loved the Salvadoran food taco truck that moves around a bit. Saw another new one yesterday by the Toyota dealership on Iowa (or is it Ohio St) called Ah! Chihuahua! If I weren't on a diet, I'd be making the rounds. Have you tried any?
And to YMunoz--definitely try La Gloria, it's humble (part of it's charm, I think) and it's good. The cook has an excellent palate and puts flavor and balance into every dish--I've not been disappointed.
Top 10 Sexiest Chefs?
My list would include that guy from Chuck's Day Off and Tyler Florence now that he's packed on a few years and a few pounds. Hubert and Eric are sexy. Rick Moonen is sexy. Ming Tsai is too in an he-doesn't-know-how-cute-he-is kind of way. Symon's fun but not, for me, sexy. Once upon a time I'd have put Todd English on this list but then I saw an episode of that show he did and I have to say, as soon as he opens his mouth it's all over--for god's sake, he calls everybody in earshot, including the cameraman, 'babe'. Seems way too sold on himself--major ugh.
