don giovanni's Profile
WELL Equipped Kitchen Cookware
I have a cast iron grill pan from them which worked great, for a while. I had it on the gas stove heating, getting ready to put some meat on, and pieces of the cooking surface started spontaneously chipping and flying off of the surface! Definitely defective.
A Jester's Breakfast: Au Petit Four, Phoenix AZ
Yes it's still in the works as they only got their beer/wine license about a week ago. I just love this place and the owners. I can't wait to go get dinner there on a weekend, now that they can serve wine.
Best Al Fresco in Phoenix area
Serious? What about the resorts that serve food in the pool areas? I thought the rule was just no glass. I guess I'm in perpetual violation of Chapter 6, Regulation 8 then. Don't tell on me.
The pool at my complex has an area that's really shallow, so we just take the patio furniture in there with us. Yes, it's a lot of fun!
Best Al Fresco in Phoenix area
I sat outside playing cards with ice cold drinks for about a 1/2 hour last night around 11:00 (after the storm) and it was barely tolerable. But really for dinner, it's best indoors. I can think of two things, though.
1) I normally wouldn't suggest a chain place, but the Yard House in Scottsdale (say what you want about it) has a very well cooled patio and is actually a nice place to sit outside and have a beer in the summer. The food is nothing special, but it's fine, and I find it a relief this time of year.
2) You could eat in or by the pool. If you keep yourself wet, the weather feels okay. It won't work quite as well, now that the humidity is up and you'll have to watch for storms.
It's funny; I actually love the cold Bay air and always eat outside when I'm in SF!
Where do you buy wine? (PHX)
I agree the muscat is pretty good. They have a port, also, that's not bad. Haven't tried the gewurtztraminer and Sweet Lucy, so I can't comment.
I found their non-dessert wines pretty disappointing, with the exception of the reserve chardonnay.
And I must respectfully disagree about the "white wine margarita." ;)
phx - taggia review on azcentral.com
The food was from the standard or "American" menu. If there are openly two menus, that's fine with me. I get bothered when one of them is a secret.
I'm thinking of a specific instance when some Chinese friends of mine recommended a place and I went and got food that was worse than a microwave dinner. I found out later that you have to ask specifically for the Chinese menu or you'll get the "American-ized" food (although there was really nothing American about it -- it was just bad).
phx - taggia review on azcentral.com
yes, i *hate* that at Chinese places. i've gotten some really awful food that way
Four Peaks Brewery for the All Star Game
I love this place. Favorite beer is the hop knot. To eat, I like the southwest burger.
Where do you buy wine? (PHX)
Yes, they have an excellent selection (including some things that are really hard to find), and their staff is fairly knowledgeable. I can't say anything about discounts for cases, though. Their regular prices are reasonable.
Do Italians put chicken on pasta?
I like that thinking, Blueicus, though I somewhat disagree.
I know very little abour "real" Chinese cooking, but I think there is a difference here. When I have Chinese dishes with big-ish pieces of meat in with the noodles, it seems like there is normally a broth that takes the meat flavor through the whole dish. Then, even if it deconstructs on my plate (into meat next to noodles), at least the flavors remain blended. Also, the Chinese seem to be pretty gentle about the total amount of meat in a dish. When people put chicken on pasta, the flavors *usually* seem to separate or conflict. That's why the meat sauces work better. The flavor gets through the whole dish.
I tried imagining using the Italian ingredients and preparing it "Chinese style," and it doesn't sound very appetizing, to me. I think the type of noodles and the flavors involved make a difference.
What is with the smell at Subway??
I went into a cell phone store today and the whole room smelled exactly like Subway. I went back in a few hours later and the smell was still there, so I finally asked, and sure enough, one of the employees had a sandwich for lunch earlier. I can't believe it. One sandwich made the entire room smell for hours!
Best Fast Food Chain Breakfast Item
Me too! (about road trips) There's something fun about cruising down the freeway with all the windows down, chowing on cheap food and, in my case, downing a double size Rockstar. Once I reach my destination, though, I become civilized again. ;)
What do Chowhounds do for a living (besides eat of course)?
Ah! Okay, that's a bit before my time. I bet Eugene was crazy in the 70s.
When Are You Most Creative In The Kitchen?
I get creative when I have good ingredients around. Doesn't matter what they are (meat, produce, spices, whatever), as long as they're high quality and super fresh/ripe. Or like several others said, it often starts when I see the ingredients at the market.
Best Fast Food Chain Breakfast Item
I do enjoy the McD's breakfast burritos, as long as I have the "picante" sauce with them. They are super tiny, so you need at least 2.
Vegetarian and Vietnamese in PHX?
Cyclo has a *few* vegetarian things. The green beans are on my table almost every time I go in there. There are a couple more substantial items, as well: a stir fry and some wokked veggies. I've not tried them, but they always look good when I see them come out.
What is with the smell at Subway??
Thinking about this, I feel very sorry for the poor folks who work there. They could easily end up like the man in that dmb song Big Eyed Fish (if you know the song, you know what I'm talking about).
Rokerij: Arson, closed until Fri (PHX)
Just in case somebody's planning on going there, Rokerij had a fire this morning in the upstairs bar area. According to the folks in there, it was Arson. They are closed to clean up the mess. The basement should open again on Friday.
[Edit: according to this article, it was electrical. But the people at the restaurant told me it was started intentionally.]
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/12n-0703restaurantfire.html
please, a definition of "authentic mexican"
Nice. I like it. Curry/Birria had occured to me. I was not aware that the Mexicans ever used garbanzos, but that would certainly be a good crossover.
Seems to me the use of cumin and chile powder is a nice link as well. The main thing is the Indian use of flavors like coriander, turmeric, mint, etc. (But imagine mint in fajitas! that would be delicious.)
Actually, I just remembered something I made once. I was cooking some Indian style fish ("fish fry") and I was making a coconut salad to go with it. Suddently I got inspired and put avocado in...next thing I knew, I'd made a coconut guacamole; it was definitely somewhere in between Indian and Mexican in flavor. And it was delicious with the fish.
please, a definition of "authentic mexican"
Now that you mention it, I don't recall being served any moderate chiles over there. They were generally spicy. But I'm certainly not enough of an expert to say that's always the case.
Indian-Mexican fusion...that would be so weird. The interchange of flat breads would work out well. And they actually have a broth/sauce they serve with a lot of things that has a tomato flavor. Maybe that could be replaced with some kind of salsa. (More generally, they have a lot of things they call "chutneys" that could be interchanged with various salsas or perhaps just flavored to taste more Mexican.)
I'll have to give it a try. My sister (who is a chef) will think I've gone crazy, after already hearing about me trying to mix Mexican food with Chinese and Italian flavors/concepts.
please, a definition of "authentic mexican"
pualj, When I was in India, I found people's idea of Mexican food was sometimes so far off that Taco Bell would have *felt* authentic.
please, a definition of "authentic mexican"
I was just thinking of starting a thread about that. I learned to love "authentic" Mexican food growing up on the west coast. When I moved to the Phoenix area I thought I'd find all these great Mexican restaurants, but it turned out I just don't care for the Sonoran food as much. The beans are to smooth, the wet burritos are too greasy, the sauce has a weird bland tomato flavor (most of the time)...
It must be a matter of preference though. But this hound prefers what he got at the first random taco shack he found by the Santa Cruz beach last week over anything he can come up with in the valley.
And I'll say the closest I've found to that style is Los Favoritos. At least the sauce is starting to remind me of that red pepper flavor you get in LA. But it's not the highest quality.
What is with the smell at Subway??
Sam, I think the idea is that it's not the actual baking that smells bad. It's the raw, *cheapy*, yeasty dough sitting around. Really, if you ate there, you wouldn't believe how bad their bread is. But I think lebelage is right, that it has at least something to do with the cheap meat, as well. Grease, waste, sterilizers and dishwater are all present in the smell at, say, McDonalds, but the subway smell is unique.
If you pay attention (and for your sanity, don't!) you can taste that smell in your sandwich. I know because I took one to go about a month ago, when some friends wanted to eat there, thinking it would be okay outside the store, but the sandwich carries the smell/flavor with it.
I need a drink.
Cold-Brewed Coffee-- PHX?
I just got a cold brew this morning from Coffee Shark and it was good. And as much as it pains me to admit it, the toddy in Borders isn't bad.
I *think* Gold Bar does cold brew. Only about 50/50 sure on that. But it probably would be pretty good if they did.
Do Italians put chicken on pasta?
Some traditions are there for a reason. I think if the vast majority of people who know something about food don't like something, it should generally be considered not good to serve. Now if someone wants to put cheese on their fish for themselves, being one of the few who like it, thats fine; but they shouldn't serve it to others -- they should recognize they're slightly weird for liking it that way.
Do Italians put chicken on pasta?
I saw that episode. I think Mario had to use a LOT of restraint.
Do Italians put chicken on pasta?
John, you're right, as long as the person breaking the rules has some taste. However, there is a danger to that philosophy when word of it gets out. That's why we have Starbucks' disastrous version of the cappuccino, for example.
To speak to the topic, I don't know tradition on this, but I've never cared for chicken on pasta. It just doesn't work for me. Whenever I get it in restaurants, it seems like the juices always seep into the pasta and the chicken ends up dry and bland tasting. Maybe someone out there is doing a better job of it though(?).
