stevebass's Profile
Merken (Chilean Spice Blend) ?
Whole Foods definitely does not carry it.
But I found a source and the price is reasonable -- $6 for a 50g jar. They charge a flat fee of $10 per order (high, I agree), so I purchased 4 bottles to make it a worthwhile order. Had I known how much we liked it, I might have ordered the 12-bottle special for $57 plus shipping.
http://store.tuchileaqui.com/memaspchgo50.html
BTW, Merken is a versitle spice and we've fallen it in a big way. We use it in lots of dishes: soups and omelettes, for instance, and sprinkled on sauteed vegetables and mixed in with canned tuna.
Anything edible in Susanville? (Lassen county)
I was startled to see just how MANY Pizza Factory we spotted while driving south on 395 from Susanville to home in Pasadena. My hope is that while they're a chain, the other locations are just as good. (Also startled to hear from someone who doesn't like pizza!)
Anything edible in Susanville? (Lassen county)
Staying at the Super 8 motel in Susanville (read my separate review of that gem on Yelp) and it was too hot to leave the dogs in the car while going out to eat.
So the solution was to get a pizza delivered to the motel and watch TV while munching.
Important FYI: I'm critical of most pizza. I won't bother with Dominoes, Papa Johns, Round Table, or the rest of the chains. So despite a recommendation here for the Pizza Factory (gawd, what a dopey name, I thought, a factory... is it going to be like the Spaghetti Factory?), I wasn't optimistic.
It turns out the pizza was terrific. I'd even say extraordinarily good. Unlike the chains catering to middle-America's sweet tooth, the crust tasted like a good, La Brea bread and the sauce was like one we'd make at home. There were large chunks of sausage, and enough of it, too.
Two downsides, but not enough to stop the show: Delivery took 45 minutes (and their estimate on delivery time was right on the mark). The pizza was expensive. A 12-inch pizza with one topping, along with a $3.50 delivery and $2 tip ran about $22, obscenely expensive for that size pizza, as good as it was.
Where oh where can I find a pork picnic - bone-in, skin-on - to smoke around Silverlake? Oh woe is me.
I've been sitting on a nifty-sounding recipe for a few months, and also been looking for one. But I'm reluctant to do a run-of-the-mill (read: loaded with antibiotics and water) pork butt.
I checked with Whole Foods (hastings: (626) 351-5994) and they get in 40 pound butts, and will cut it to whatever size you want. It's $7 lb organic; $5 lb natural for boneless.
For bone-in, the one I want, there's a two-to three-week wait and the price is $7 lb for natural.
Alas, that's too rich for our budget, but the thought of 99-cent pork isn't appealing.
Readymade.com pulled pork recipe
http://www.readymade.com/magazine/article/southern_style_bbq
Food at Magic Castle?
I was a member of the Castle since 1972, but recently let my membership lapse because of what I thought was an inappropriate fee assessment. That's another story, and one Slacker (see above) mentioned.
While it's true that non-members must have dinner, I just heard of a way to bypass dinner. It's the "I have to eat kosher" scam.
The kosher charge is somewhat like a corkage charge. It's a $20 fee imposed on anyone coming in on a guest pass who can't eat the Castle's non-kosher food.
So a couple of the lawyer members figured out that the Castle food is so overpriced, it's easier and cheaper to advise guests to eat elsewhere before visiting the Castle and then show up for dinner. Once seated, everyone requests kosher. When the Castle can't comply, they finish their water and dinner rolls, pay $20 each, and get in line for the next show.
The savings can be substantial and we'd pay $40 for the privilege of not eating dinner there.
Triumphal Palace not so triumphant (ordered whole pig, too)
I was there with Judybird last night. Here's my take:
Compared to the local Chinese spots, TP was terrific; compared to dozens of other Chinese restaurants in Monterey Park, TP is just so so.
TP is also expensive. It cost $100 for the four of us which included five beers.
BTW, the eggplant hot dish *was* absolutely the best dish, but it was listed in the Vegetables section of the menu. If a vegan ordered it, they'd be unpleasantly surprised by the bits of un-advertised pork. (which, IMO, made the dish!).
Hunan's Restaurant is Crown Cafe made Better
Do they serve beer or wine? If not, were you able to bring some along?
Dinners in Bangor
My wife and I (she's judybird) made it to a few good restaurants in and around Bangor. By the numbers:
1. We tried two lobster shacks, one just south of Bangor, a five minute drive from our motel by the Bangor airport; the other was along highway 178. Seating was outside at picnic tables or within a tented structure.
At Claudia’s, on highway 178 a pound and a half, steamed in salt water, hard-shelled lobster, alongside an order of surprisingly good fries and coleslaw, ran about $14. A half pint of fried steamer clams were okay as an appetizer; they were tasty, but kinda mushy. I wouldn't do them again. One of the servers -- actually, one of three women from behind the counter -- brought out the food and provided a crash course in lobster dismemberment.
On our last night in Bangor, we discovered a local lobster joint. Judy dug into a lobster roll -- shelled lobster on a strange little v-shaped wedge of white bread. Again, the fries were crunchy and good. Lobster was about the same price as Claudia’s, but they had more on the menu, and I tried a $6 bucket of steamed steamers. As with the fried steamers, they were soft and didn't have that ocean taste and smell of, say, razor clams. Everything came with a cup of oh-my-is-this-delish butter; everything -- fries, lobster, clams, and the silly white bread wedge -- got dunked.
Neither spot served wine or beer, so we stuck a bottle of fume in the car on the off chance they'd let us bring it to the table. They did and even supplied plastic glasses.
2. NewMoon: By far the best restaurant in Bangor. There was almost nothing of New England here (though they did serve the ubiquitous Haddock); main courses were more Westside California: lamb sausage and salmon mixed grill on risotto, grilled salmon, and rack of lamb. Good (and expensive) wine list, with lots from California as well as an excellent 2004 Riesling from Leeuwin Estate in Australia that cost about $30.
( http://www.leeuwinestate.com.au/index.php?page=51)
Service was smart and grown up -- she gave us straightforward advice about the selections, never complimented us on our choices, and avoided telling us her name.
3. Ichiban: Traditional California-style sushi bar, with lots of silly, over-the-top California-type rolls. For instance, the caterpillar roll had, oh, hell, never mind. Overall, the sushi was excellent -- hamachi, albacore (they call it "white tuna"), uni -- and all allegedly local. Scallops were fresh, though the magaro and saba were dry.
Two Cantonese sushi chefs were California-style funny and engaging. It's the only sushi spot in Bangor, so while the prices were definitely California-style, if you have more then a couple of days in town, you'll want to eat here. BTW, you can insist on ordering directly from the sushi guy rather than hand your laundry list to the waitress.
3. Muddy Rudder: Worked over Sysco supplies with a young, giggly, server. Avoid it.
4. SeaDog: Good, good beer. So, so food. Louder then hell, even outside. If you have a few days in Bangor and want good beer, this is the place to go.
5. Hannaford Supermarkets: The closest you're going to get to Whole Foods and an excellent alternative if you want to bring snacks back to the motel. We grabbed lots of sushi, seaweed salad, an octopus, squid mish-mash combo; our friends did an ersatz krab, avocado roll kinda thing and said it was excellent.
