jungleboy's Profile
Chowhound Recs in Bend?
Hey Northwest Chowhounds...
We are heading to Bend this weekend and although I have looked at countless menus, they are all starting to look the same. We would like to find a place that features locally grown produce and as many fresh ingredients as possible. Any thoughts? And thanks...
Dining Near the Schnitz/Seeking "cool" Portland dining experience
We have tickets to see Robert Plant and are staying at the Hotel deLuxe downtown on Oak St. I am a Chef from the SF Bay Area and would love to eat at a good representative of the current Portland dining "scene". What is good, fresh/local and between our hotel and the concert hall that we can walk to. Thanks so much for your suggestions.
Dinner Near Mississippi Studios
I have just moved to Oregon and am coming into town to see the Band of Heathens (a band I've seen a couple of times in Austin) at Mississippi Studios in early April. What recommendations do Hounds have for restaurants in the area. Nothing too fancy, as we are going to be rock and rolling shortly thereafter, but we do like fresh, flavorful and local. Thanks...
True Local
Not so interested specifically in vegetarian, although that is okay. I serve an omnivorous menu at my restaurant, buying fish right from the boats and chicken right out of the yard it wanders in. I'm just looking to eat locally and perhaps meet some chefs who are committed to supporting local growers and producers.
True Local
I am a Chef in Costa Rica cooking with all local ingredients. I will be in Portland in April and am looking to experience the "real" farm to table scene. Recommendations?
Fresh turmeric
Working/Cheffing in Costa Rica and have piles of fresh turmeric. Using it in rice, curries and sauces for fish; anymore ideas out there?
Any costa rican restaurants in Austin?
Having lived in Costa Rica for the last four years, I'm uncertain as to why you would seek out the local food, such as it is. All you need to do is boil black beans with virtually no seasoning, cook rice with virtually no seasoning and fry plantanos "maduros" in kitchen oil and you've got about 90% of the national flavor profile without having to pay much for it. Cook a protein product until it is virtually unrecognizable, throw on some tired iceberg lettuce and you've got the full "casada". Don't forget that "national treaure" Salsa Lizano...
And oh, yeah, don't forget that "national treasure", Salsa Lizano...
Boudin sausage source?
I have been getting nothing short of spectacular charcuterie from Dai Due. The sausages have been great as was the sweetbread pate he had last week. And the headcheese is OFF THE HOOK!!!
We also bought a couple of fig and sausage stuffed quail sometime in August and they were sensational. And oh, yeah, the boudin are great as well.
Been to Costa Rica? What restaurants do you recommend?
We used Trip Advisor for a reference and ended up staying and eating at an Eco-Lodge in Uvita, just at the top of the Osa Peninsula called La Cusinga. The lodge is beautiful but the restaurant (which is open to guests all the time and to the public three nights a week) is run by a chef from San Francisco and the food was amazing. He uses all local organic ingredients and fresh caught fish. We ate there both nights we stayed at La Cusinga and would definitely go again.
Dinner in Sacramento
I'm a big fan of the locally raised, farmer's market, Chez Panisse style cuisine and will be in Sacramento on Wednesday. Are there any Chowhound recs out there for me?
I want to buy some quince!
I'm a little confused by "Quince season"
A girlfriend of mine in Sausalito has a tree that bears a good amount of fruit but it seems to bear it at a different time each year. I've seen ripe fruit as early as mid-October and as late as early January and it never seems to be the same from year to year.
Nonetheless, poached in some white wine with ginger, turbinado sugar and
a little blood orange peel they are exceptional, and the syrup cooks down to a heavenly glaze.
Olivia
Good timing on that question...
I had apps in the bar last night and they were up and down. We were early and the only ones being served, but the fries we started with were luke warm. Fortunately the lambs tongues that followed were as good as they've ever been. I even got a squeamish date to admit she loved them. Caesar salad was just fine but could have used more acid in the dressing and more love from the crouton maker. Charcuterie/Cheese Plate was good. Soppressata was the only meat, but it was quite good. The three cheeses; Hopelessly Blue, an almost butter-like goat cheese and a flavorful crescenza were all just fine. The accompanying crostini were oily but worked just fine.
The highlight of the whole meal might have been the Sticky Toffee Cake with Mascarpone Ice Cream.
A perfectly fine bar meal and we left quite happy.
Dinner recommendation on 10/29 after 8 pm 715 Bush St. Typifying SF Dining Experience
You may wish to check the hours of both Sam's and Tadich...I seem to recall them being early closers, particularly Tadich...
Olivia (S. Lamar near Oltorf)
After waiting for several weeks for the smoke to clear we went to Olivia on a Tuesday night. The room was airy and seemed far roomier than its square footage would indicate.
Unfortunately, as in much of Austin at this time of year, the AC was cranked so low that woman were hunched over in their chairs, shoulders bent and hands clasped. No one dresses for the AC!
The food, however, was absolutely great.
We ate course by course and loved:
The Smoked Arctic Char and it's unexpected presentation as a sort of 80's-esque cylander of crispy warm semolina cake, a mousse of the salmon and black lentils (al a caviar) over the top with creme fraiche. This one disappeared in a heartbeat.
The perfect Fries with ho-hum catsup, but stellar aioli.
A tasty (but way over-chilled) Charcuterie Plate. Once the tete de fromage and pate de campagne sat for nearly ten minutes we could taste them. I'm sure the rabbit rillette was better than it's bulb of rabbit glace at the bottom of the ramikin might have indicated. Just too cold and the hard toasted bread just doesn't work with something spreadable. Good flavors; just serving flaws.
The Fricassee of Lamb Tongue! Back to fabulous; this dish was perfection, with a perfect foil of grilled Dapple Dandy pluouts and a dab of honey in the sauce. We had to ask for bread to make sure we got the rest of the sauce and got bready, state focaccia, though.
Spaghetti Squash and Duck Confit Salad with Arugula. Another cylander presentation and another smile-causing surprise combination of flavors. None of us had ever had the two main ingredients together and to our great surprise and pleasure, they worked just fine. There was just enough duck fat to combine with a light vinaigrette (?) to make the flavors blend perfectly.
Housemade Cheese Ravioli with Parmesan Brodo and Arugula. Yes, it was housemade ravioli and yes, the outer edges were a little dense and chewy, but the rest was heaven. A nice neutral filling set off the richness of the onion soup/Parmesan combination in the broth. Definitely a hearty dish for a colder night, but hey, when the AC is set for semi-numb, it works.
And yes, The Lemon-Ginger Cake and The Duck Egg Creme Caramel.
A lot has been written on the "Hound" about these two and everything good that anyone said is true. For the three of us, the Creme Caramel was a rich and gooey treasure, but the Lemon-Ginger cake was perfection. It was just warm, had a delicate crumble from the polenta (cornmeal?) and the subtle hint of the lemon and ginger both just lingered long enough on the palate. We could easily each have had one and been happy.
A very nice dining experience and perhaps some of the best food I've eaten in Austin in the eight months that I've been here. The kitchen is obviously paying attention to flavor; a simple concept, but one not always executed.
Service was professional with the exception of one (perhaps new) over-zealous busser.
We'd all go back tonight if we weren't so full.
Thanks, Olivia
I
Must-Have Reservations?
Olivia doesn't take reservations for groups of less than five...
We were a party of three on a Tuesday night and were seated immediately at 7:15...the dining room did fill up by 8:00, though
Lambert's
MPH...
While I may not agree with every word you wrote, I would like to tell you that that was one of the best written and most thoughtful and intelligently stated pieces I have ever read on this blog.
I look forward to when you have the time to write a "full" Chow report.
good ole black eyed peas?
I'm not so sure they're in season, but your best bets are gonna be either the Saturday Farmer's Market or Fiesta. Please let us know what you find...
Favorite Foodie Magazines?
From off the shelf? Saveur, hands down. Great photos, interesting topics, constant quality, no pandering to those who are "haves".
By subscription only? The Art of Eating and Simple Food
Incanto sure is offally delicious
At the risk of being rude, I must say that enjoy your line, "I had never had any sort of brains before". I feel that way myself, often...
Rosita's Al Pastor - what did I do wrong?
Tarquin...erudiite and intelligent discourses on the sad state of Austin pastor...Being from San Francisco I have my own prejudices, but don't hold that against me...I must say that in my travels to taco trucks all over Northern CA, of which there are thousands, I have never seen pineapple served anywhere near Tacos al Pastor...I've also traveled extensively in Mexico, including Sonora. Oaxaca and the Cuernavaca regions and not seen pineapple grace an al Pastor...that being said, I have had a rather decent and tasty al Pastor at Habanero, sin pina...
Concordia-Argonaut Club
I used to be the produce sales rep there in 2003-2004. The chef is talented, if a little old school. But then the membership is old old school. There are four or five daily offerings in a buffet setting and a few a la carte items. Everything I saw prepped in the kitchen looked fresh and smelled good. They do use top of the line ingredients and I was often searching out exclusive and occasionally out of season produce items for them.
Linguini with white clam sauce?
I just returned from a very fine dinner at Asti tonght and they do a very commendable version of clam linguine; good garlic flavor, but now overpowering and nice balance of parsley, olive oil and butter. I'd order it again anytime I felt the urge.
SAZON
Ate at Sazon on S. Lamar the other night with a group of four. The poor waiter was working by himself so the service was charmingly helter-skelter, but the food was better and the menu more interesting than anywhere else I have eaten in Austin recently.
Margaritas for three of us and a delicious agua fresca de melon for me.
We started with huitlacoche empanadas; hot and crunchy with an earthy funky fungus filling. Great dish with subtle flavors, but accompanied by a stingingly spicy hot tomato salsa.
Different entrees for the whole table; a chile relleno stuffed with roasted corn and feta and another with shredded chicken and cheese; each with a different sauce; tomatillo and roasted red chile.
Another of us had Pork Chunks in a Roasted Pipian sauce; tender meat (yet crispy on the outside) and a great pale green roasted pumpkin seed sauce. I had Cochinita Pibil, the classic Yucatan pork dish. It was served in a banana leaf with the proper amount of orange and garlic flavors to balance the punch of the achiote. Served with plantains, great epazote scented black beans and another classic, marinated red onions.
This was a really good meal and it was the first Mexican menu in this town I've seen where I couldn't make up my mind and will definitely go back to try two or three other things.
Don't know why nobody talks about this place, but the food is definitely worth checking out.
looking for sources of local ingredient basics, i.e. salt, flour, cooking oil, dairy, etc...
Ola...as a kid I lived at the fork at St. Mary's and Glenside...where is Hurst Farm?
Frisco Shop on Burnet
There have been at least two major stories in the Statesman about the moving of the Frisco Shop, one of them profiling a married couple in their 90's, in the last three months. This has been going on for a while.
Genova's Ravioli
Wow!!! What a flash to read this...I grew up in Lafayette and my Dad grew up in Concord... His parents moved to Martinez and as kids (in the late 50's and early 60's) we hated making the drive over Pleasant Hill Road to go see them...our pains were assuaged by a stop at Molino's on the way back and a subsequent ravioli dinner...I remember so well those dusky flour covered squares sitting in the box...Childhood comfort food that I'd forgotten about for a long long time...Thanks for the post
Looking for East Bay suggestions for coworkers from Seattle
Wow!!! Glad somebody remembers Bertola's...We used to go there when i was going to Berkeley '69-'72 for cheap dinners and cheaper cocktails...My parents tell me about going there when they were grad students at Berkeley just prior to my conception in '51...drinks were even cheaper then...
French Bistro
ieat...
Les Halles as it pertains to Mr. Bourdain, is the restaurant in NYC where is the "Executive Chef"...It is named after the famous marketplace in Paris that was a culinary center for over a century before it shut down and moved a few years ago...
Costa Rican Dining in Bay area?
Wuss...
having just returned from living there for two and half years I'm not sure that there is such a thing as an intensive tasting...the everyday meal (casada) features a generally overcooked piece of protein product surrounded by anywhere from three to five starches (black beans, rice, mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, etc.)...after a while I just started asking for whatever fish they had and a salad...If you eat like the Ticos, there will be gallo pinto three times a day...
When I left SF there were no Costa Rican restaurants, but that may have changed...
If your daughter is going to be on either coast, tell her to eat the fish; it's wonderful...
