theabroma's Profile
Fearings or Pyles?
Aurora on Oak Lawn or York Street. Pyles over Fearing. But Aurora or York St over either
Dallas - In search of Demi-Glace
The best solution ... if you don't want it make it yourself, is to visit Rex, chat with them about how they make it, and if that passes muster, buy a bunch, take it home, and reduce it yourself. The jarred varieties are expensive, and in my experience, not really wonderful. Veal demi is a problem for the home cook ... but you could always "syndicate" the 50# lots of veal bones that commercial meat purveyors sell - that is, split the box among friends - and make your own.
Castle Hill Cafe closing
If they still have it, the duck and sausage gumbo ... a properly cooked roux: the color of Aunt Gertrude's mahogany sideboard ... none of this wimpy wheat-colored ones. It was savor, rich, spicy, and pure heaven.
Sounds like the just got tired and bored, and it was reflected in their food.
Sunday brunch midway betw Dallas & Austin
Need & would appreciate some help. Meeting my bro in Waco Sunday am ... will park one car and go around in the other. Looking for something interesting, ethnic or not, excellent food ... but mostly a place to sit and visit and catch up for a long, leisurely meal. Anything - other than West - that is interesting in any of the little towns around. He's coming from Austin, I am coming from Dallas ....
Thanks!!
Theabroma
Sunday Brunch - good food/rest. around Waco
Need & would appreciate some help. Meeting my bro in Waco Sunday am ... will park one car and go around in the other. Looking for something interesting, ethnic or not, excellent food ... but mostly a place to sit and visit and catch up for a long, leisurely meal. Anything - other than West - that is interesting in any of the little towns around. He's coming from Austin, I am coming from Dallas ....
Thanks!!
Theabroma
Cooking classes in Mexico city
Can you deal with a class conducted in Spanish? If so, peruse the web site: www.fundacionherdez.com.mx
The only possible drawback is that they do not list classes way far in advance, and sometimes they are like every Tuesday, or Thursday for 3-4 weeks. The classes are excellent, and the kitchen/lecture set up is great. The prices are reasonable.
Otherwise, you may want to contact El Tajin restaurant in Coyoacan or Azul y Oro in the Centro Cultural at UNAM ... they may have classes. There are also several culinary schools in the DF, Claustro de Sor Juana and Marichu being two of them. Google cooking schools in Mexico City, and check it out. You can email them or look at the class lists. Most have a professional program, but many also teach topical classes to non-professionals.
Buena suerte
Larousse de la Cocina Mexicana...
Mari, the prices are a bit stiff, but looky here: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=2&sts=t&tn=de+manteles+largos&x=0&y=0
Good luck.
Questions on Mexico City & Puebla
Tezka - expensive, but exquisite - Bruno Oteiza is the chef, but Juan Mari Arzak (Arzak in San Sebastian) is the chef/owner. On Calle Tacuba, the Cafe Tacuba for breakfast - food is good, but it is a local see-and-be-seen place that was a favorite of Frida Kahlo's. Las Girasoles - on Calle Tacuba - the tamarindo margaritas, and the duck breast in mole de zarzamora (blackberry). El Cardenal, but the original one, upstairs, one street west of the Plaza Mayor.
The Bar La Opera is MANDATORY & NON-NEGOTIABLE - the ensalada de berros, the tripitas, and the bullet hole still in the stamped tin ceiling that Panco Villa put there. This is the power politico hangout on the Calle Cinco de Mayo. Going east down Cinco de Mayo on the south side of the street is the Dulceria de Celaya - a 150 year old Art Nouveau jewel box of a candy shop. Oh, and any of the food stands between the Metropolitan cathedral, the Templo Mayor and the Palacio del Gobierno ... especially at night. And behind the Cathedral, the Bar Las Serenas. The roof garden is beautiful and the view panoramic and intensly historical.
I have been to Izote, and though the meal was good, it was still a disappointment.
Oaxaca for dummies
You would also want to make it to Soledad Diaz' restaurant El Topil - traditional Zapotec cuisine. It is small and cozy, Sol is usually there. It is heart and sould and edible anthropology.
Sweet gorditas?
There are also a type of sweet gorditas about the size of a sliver dollar, and about 1/4 inch thick - they are a little sandy/crumbly but do not include eggs or cream. There are ladies who sit by the gates to the plaza at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City selling these treats to people coming and going to mass. Six to a roll, stacked up like lifesavers, and wrapped in waxed paper. I cannot for the life of me think of what they are called ... but when I remember it ... I'll toss it in.
Petit Fours - Best in Dallas
In Irving there is a wholesale bakery, Dessert Dreams owned my Shari Carlson. I believe that if you call and order their minimum, they will sell to you. If you order around $60-$75 worth, they will deliver. Hers are delicious and utterly exquisite. She is an incredible patissiere ... and her tortes are also pretty incredible. I have never seen petits fours that could touch hers in this area.
Which is the best Lockhart/Luling Barbecue?
Smitty's, followed by Kreuz, then Cooper's. Black's just has never done it for me. Louie Muellers and Mikeska's are very good, but never made it into my top tier. City Market - but in Giddings - meat market with a bbq area in the rear was lovely.
Additional prize at Smitty's: the century's worth of grease all over the pipes - turning the place into an Amsterdam brown cafe, as painted by Dali.
Is there xiao long bao in Dallas?
By all means go to Jeng Chi, and for more that the xiao long bao. The spicy pickled tripe is sheer heaven, the variety of dumplings is excellent. They make everything, including the noodle wrappers, in house. That place is just a gem. The pot stickers will renew your faith in that dish, and the scallion pancake and leek turnovers are quite good. Oh, hell. Just go. Take a large group so you can make a serious dent in the menu.
Yah Mon Tasty Jerk Chicken - Dallas (Oak Cliff)
Elaine's Kitchen on MLK Blvd. Just whacking good jerk. And the brown down oxtails are a contender.
Where can I find the best Asian noodle soups in Dallas?
For Chinese soups, try Jeng Chi Bakery in Richardson, in the Greenville Ave strip center north of Beltline It toward the north end of the strip. They have a great variety of soups - noodle and non-noodle based ... among other things.
El Naranjo in Oaxaca, new ownership
Tlamanalli in Teotitlan del Valle - the segesa and sopa de chepil, especially. In Oaxaca City, Soledad Diaz' El Topil, and Changuitas Nieves in the Juarez Market - especially the sapote negro and the rosas y almendras. And La Capilla in Za'achila.
And, should you get as far south as Tlacolula, especially on a Sunday for the market, just about anything in the fondas ... especially the moles, and the masa snacks with quesillo and flores de calabaza.
And ... you have raised my curiosity ... if you don't mind. I would like to know more about your reasoning in deleting Seasons as a candidate for classes, please. I am often asked to recommend places, and, though I cannot quite put my finger on it, I can never give it the recommendation I feel I 'should.'
vintage stoves?
This steps outside of Austin to Houston: http://macystexasstoveworks.com/
They are also stove brokers, and often offer vintage stoves, which are sold from their various locations around the US. They also have/find parts for the old guys. Hope they can help. I am, despite the small ovens, a devotee of Chambers.
Just back from Mexico City!
I couldn't agree more with the Bar La Opera.
The last time I was there for lunch, on top of the amuse of roasted whole jalapenos, cebollas encurtidas, sweet butter and crunchy-crusted bollilos, ensalada de berros, and tripitas a la parilla, a stocky, older Mexican man with a wonderful head of silver hair passed my table and went to the bar to pay the bill. A moment later, a woman about my age was escorting an older woman with blue-silver hair arranged like a kabuki wig, and impeccably tailored black dress and jacket, pearls, and good jewelery, and Queen Mother Elizabeth Minnie-Mouse Shoes, toward the front of the restaurant. The group of guitar, zither, violin, and trumpt broke into a tango - Por Una Cabeza. The elderly man in the double-breasted suit, the husband of the elegant older lady grabbed her and began to tango. It was a transcendent moment, which brought the house down. Everyone stood and began to applaud. It was ... and is .. one of my most precious memories ever. Mine were not the only wet eyes in the house. That, among so many other things, is the magic that is Mexico for me.
I love Bar la Opera ... I would go there for the food and the ambiance .. from the carved rosewood, to the lace curtains, and the St. Louis whorehouse red flocked wallpaper, to being privileged to witness such an intimate event. Whenever I am in the DF, I go there. And the magic never fails.
J.S. Chen's, Plano. Comments on Dim Sum Please
WG - can't comment yet on J.S. Chen's - but would love to know where in Carrollton Lucky House as moved. Do you have any idea? Address? Phone?
Thanks!
Who's Currently Serving the Best Seasonal Specials in Town?
Concasse implies chopped (think "concussed"), and not necesarily 'cooked'. There are many places that cook the tomatoes and then chop them and call it "concasse tomatoes". The term does not imply cooking, only chopping.
I have learned the hard way to ask at most restaurants whether concasse - to them - means cooked or just chopped.
And MPH is absolutely correct: whether raw or cooked, unless the tomatoes are coming from the far Southern Cone, where it is spring/summer, this is not the season to be expecting good tomatoes - either raw or cooked.
Austin-Little Thailand
Your obsession with Little Thailand is well founded. Next time your are out there, and you are curious about SE Asian whiskey, as Dick if he has any Mekong Running Deer. Bouquet of naptha, kick of the water buffalo. He still has the best Yum Nua I have ever bitten into.
Haven't gone during a football season in awhile ... does he still have the chile con carne and hot sake parties?
Austin - Is there not Chow beyond BBQ and Tex Mex?
Madam Mam's for Thai ... on the Drag .. wonderful
Posole or Pozole?
The wild boar pozole would be close to very authentic in Mexico - javelina instead of boar.
Pozole, at least in Mexico is white as coked - and the salsa de chile guajillo, or the green tomatillo-serrano-cilantro sauce are added to adjust the color. In Austin I more frequently encounter red pozole - which is the more typical - from Jalisco and the northern arc across Mexico. The green stuff, at least in my experience is from Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, etc.
The pozole at Las Manitas and (typically) at Sol y Luna are white, and made with chicken - pork being less pc. The stew from New Mexico, posole, is spelled slightly differently, but is, like the Jalisco-S.Congress Cafe version, a red chile stew.
In Mexico, the "sides" can become quite flamboyant: crumbled chicharonnes, avocado chunks, epaozte, cilantro, choppped chile serrano, finely shredded cabbage, thinly sliced red radishes, and either a tomatillo or a red salsa. And, por supuesto, corn tortillas. White pozole is the stew itself, without chile sauces added, and with the usual condiments to add.
However served, it is a glory of the Mexican kitchen.
Hard request: Vegetarian in the Yucatan or Oaxaca
Either Merida or Oaxca can accommodate your requests. Especiallyif you have no qualms about eating in the fondas in the markets - you can direct what goes in or on your memelas, huaraches, molotes, sopes, etc., and it is freshly made ... usually before your eyes. The cheese, expecially in Oaxaca, is wonderful - you will likely find you'd like to live on quesillo, rajas de poblanos, and flor de calabaza tacos, etc. You will also find bean or bean and cheese tamales ... with a don't ask-don't tell fat in the masa. There are also a lot of vegetarian restaurants in Oaxaca ... as long as you eat dairy and eggs, you'll be ok.
In the Yucatan, you will find a lot of traditional bean and corn dishes, fresh salads, and cooked greens. They're a little more into the roasted meat thing that other regions, but with the array of fruits, and very traditional dishes like papa dzules - tortillas dipped in a roasted pumpkinseed sauce, filled with chopped hardboiled eggs, and bathed in a light spicy tomato sauce, will make you one smug vegetarian indeed.
ever had "green" oranges from Latin America?
These are wonderful, minimally hybridized oranges without the dye treatment to make them look like 'oranges.' I first saw them in the Zona Rosa in Mx City at a cart where a woman was squeezing them into tall glasses - 50 cents per - ivy-green skin, blindingly orange flesh, and the most intensly flavored juice I have ever had.
Sad, but they're just oranges ... without the touch of You're so right about Sonora-style tortillas de harina. In the old days, a woman could be famous in her barrio for her flour tortillas: the gold standard was that they should be so thin you could read the newspaper through them, and so big in diameter that they'd cover a dining room table. I knew a woman who could make tortillas de harina just that way--she was certainly famous to ME!
Your trip (at least the eating part) sounds absolutely marvelous. Thanks again for sharing all the food details with us. If I ever get up north, Hermosillo is tops on my list for great food.
Link: http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com
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cristina Dec 02, 2007 07:33PM
New Restaurants at the Domain
thanks. a place to likely avoid. do you find this type of thing happening more frequently? In my forays to a lot of the newly opened restaurant there, I am sad to say that versious of your experience have been all too common for me. Amazing how they come out and argue with what is, obviously, happening on the plate you've got in front of you.
Help! Need to find tortillas like Don Luis used to make!
Rio Grande Valley style like Cuevas in McAllen?
Help! Need to find tortillas like Don Luis used to make!
Then it should be much, much easier to find a source. I would contact any restaurant which makes ones in-house that meet the standard.
Funny, I hear tortilla and wheat flour is way far from my mind ..
Personal Chef in Dallas
Darren McGrady ... lives in either Plano or Richardson. Check with Katy Hume at Sur la Table in Dallas. She will likely be able to suggest several people.
