June 18, 2008
In which we have no bananas
Dan Koeppel, author of the outstanding history Banana, has an editorial piece in today's New York Times. He suggests that the rising price of fuel and the ongoing floods in Ecuador will combine to produce $1/lb. bananas, a significant price threshold for this ubiquitous food. He discussed the factors that have kept banana prices low, and the monoculture that makes the contemporary consumer banana extremely vulnerable to blight, and draws the conclusion that we ought to look for a different fruit to enjoy on our bicycle rides. His book (full title: Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World) does not directly answer a question that pops into my mind almost every day: why do bananas from the street vendors always cost a quarter? His methodical research and vivid writing have brought me a more clear understanding of the supply chain and shenanigans of getting a banana to the cart. Last week I tried a short red banana, a different variety from the standard Cavendish, and found it surprisingly difficult to eat. After having eaten at least a banana a day for decades, I am completely accustomed to the specific taste and texture of a particular banana; this Red Banana (PLU 4236) took me by surprise. The editorial is a reprise of themes from his book, written with a more moral tone than the book itself. … the Cavendish is the only banana we see in our markets. It is the only kind that is shipped and eaten everywhere from Beijing to Berlin, Moscow to Minneapolis. By sticking to this single variety, the banana industry ensures that all the bananas in a shipment ripen at the same rate, creating huge economies of scale. The Cavendish is the fruit equivalent of a fast-food hamburger: efficient to produce, uniform in quality and universally affordable. … In recent years, American consumers have begun seeing the benefits — to health, to the economy and to the environment — of buying foods that are grown close to our homes. Getting used to life without bananas will take some adjustment. What other fruit can you slice onto your breakfast cereal? But bananas have always been an emblem of a long-distance food chain. Perhaps it’s time we recognize bananas for what they are: an exotic fruit that, some day soon, may slip beyond our reach.... Read more
June 15, 2008
In fabulo scriblitam propriam
While reading through the NYC Donut Report!!, I found further evidence that the rumour of a below-ground Krispy Kreme outpost may hold truth. On National Donut Day (the first Friday in June), they gave away donuts to all comers. I need to draw in a deep breath and venture back into the bowels of Penn Station, so that I can treat myself to the yeasty sugary delight.... Read more
April 30, 2008
In praise of the cooky
I appreciate the cooky as a unit of measure, as a mathematical proof, but mostly as a chocolate-laden treat.... Read more
February 3, 2008
In which we have science without tears
New Zealand: ‘No Tears’ Onions By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: February 2, 2008 A New Zealand concern called Crop and Food Research said on its Web site that it had created a tearless onion by turning off the gene that produces the enzyme that causes a person slicing an onion to cry. It hopes it can hit the market within a decade. The breakthrough was featured in the December issue of Onion World, the international onion trade journal. A picture (well, screenshot) might help:... Read more
January 23, 2008
In praise of Blue Bottle
Today, three years after opening their landmark kiosk on Linden, Blue Bottle Coffee threw open the doors to their fully-fledged café in Mint Plaza. Undoubtedly Blue Bottle changed the way I think about coffee, the way I drink and enjoy coffee (which I do, a lot), and my enjoyment of San Francisco. They are one reason that Anna and I made regular weekly visits to the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building. Although I may not visit the café for some months yet, and have not seen the awesome bronze and glass of the halogen-powered siphon bar they installed. I do like the prospects of a thousand sawbucks' worth of coffee, though! For my part, I am now using a twenty-dollar AeroPress, which looks awfully dangerous but produces a decently smooth cup of coffee. I am not yet convinced that it surpasses a French press for quality or for ease of use, but it is compact enough to keep on my desk at work. update Not only have a dozen people forwarded the news of Blue Bottle's opening (huzzahs all 'round!), but the San Francisco Chronicle notes that "Miette's Caitlin Williams is on pastry duty."... Read more
December 23, 2007
In which we move from spider to lamb
Maché, or lamb's lettuce, is my new favourite green. It succeeds spider mustard on the throne. Rinsed, dried, and chilled, it makes a spectacular salad for almost any meal.... Read more
November 23, 2007
In which politics sound fun, for a change
From the '04 campaign to the premature '08 campaign, not much has changed. Least of all, the food on the trail: fried, deep-fried, or chicken-fried (yum!). The barbecue, the clambake, the chili contest, the fish fry, the hamburger cookout, the pancake social, the fried-chicken potluck, the spaghetti dinner -- these are the great entrees of American politics precisely because almost anyone can cook them and pretty much everybody likes them. Sure, the exact recipes differ from place to place, like accents, but that's the point. Political food contains the core contradiction of America, our profound differences and essential sameness all on one plate. Nothing puts a politician more at ease than being able to sing our national unity and diversity at the same time. And what says E Pluribus Unum as literally and zestily as a bowl of four-alarm chili? The candidates are “for all intents and purposes out of control of their diets,” said Walter Scheib, former White House chef to the Clintons and the Bushes. Many big events on the preprimary calendar — the Harkin Steak Fry in Iowa; the Clyburn Fish Fry in South Carolina; the Iowa State Fair, an everything-fry — seem as likely to produce heart attacks as votes. Those wanting to be president must never, ever refuse or fumble the local specialties, lest they repeat the sins of John Kerry (dismissed as effete when he ordered a Philly cheese steak with Swiss in 2004) or Gerald R. Ford (on a 1976 swing through Texas, he bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on). That last bit, about Ford -- well, it's just too easy. I was chastised in fourth grade for repeating the bit about walking and chewing gum, which I had probably picked up from my father or from Doonesbury.... Read more
November 20, 2007
In which we wrap our noggin around getting our nog on
Some people are getting an early start on nog season (which for me always begins the Wednesday afternoon before Turkey Day, with some of my favourite nog), and forcing a small dairy in Maine to recall their bottled nog: The FDA notified the Maine Department of Agriculture that all Smiling Hill egg nog on store shelves -- about 400 gallons at that point -- had to be recalled to protect people with egg allergies who don't know there's egg in egg nog. Chow has a good explanation ofwhy aging eggnog is safe, prompted by what some call the best eggnog recipe ever, handed down over generations.... Read more
November 18, 2007
Farina Foccacia
The Chronicle has a great article on Farina Focaccia, a cosy and appealing restaurant in The Mission. I stopped in there for dessert and coffee recently -- it was one of few places open and at all decent-looking -- and had a terrific time, from the moment I put my hand on the door handle (once part of the mixing apparatus at Anna's Danish Cookies, formerly on the site of this restaurant) to the ample and delicious selection of sweets.... Read more
October 22, 2007
Salim and the chocolate factory
Last week, I went on an field trip to Vere Goods. Their factory occupies a single floor of a narrow industrial building crowded along a nondescript street of import/export shops at the southern edge of the garment district. Vere chocolate, which takes its name from the Latin for "true", specializes in hand-made chocolate candy from single-origin cacao beans. We gathered around a large table in the kitchen area, and tried our hand at dipping chocolate pieces into ganache, making truffles. The ganache is a mixture of cocoa solids and butter, and pours out of a special machine at a tightly-controlled temperature (today, 30º). We filled wide metal mixing bowls with the ganache, and used metal dipping forks to place square, rectangular, and spherical chocolate pieces into the ganache. We could then dress the pieces with toppings such as chopped dried figs, freeze-dried raspberry (a powder), poppy seeds. We also had the more mundane ingredients, such as cocoa powder, espresso bits, and so forth. We used the forks to etch small patterns, usually geometric, into the cooling ganache; to arrange the pieces into other shapes, by placing a pecan atop the candy for example; and we kept the ganache bowls fluid by stirring them slowly. After we had made a large tray each (I am happy to say that I pioneered the tasting of pieces along the way, with the reasoning that "I need to know how these taste if I am to make proper chocolates!", so my tray was thus slightly less-populous than others'), we placed them in a cooling rack in order that the ganache might set. We then filled pastry bags with ganache and began making lollipops -- and other shapes. We squeezed out the ganache onto wax paper, making not only round but various other shapes; we squeezed melted chocolate onto special sheets of paper that had patterns made of cocoa butter, which transferred to the cooling chocolate. The chocolate was delicious, with a very strong and distinctive taste of cocoa. The taste was unlike any other chocolate I have tasted, and strongly showed the single-origin bean, much as a varietal coffee or wine reflects a characteristic flavour. At the end of the chocolate-making we packaged our candies (very low in sugar; with at least 75% cacao in the chocolate, and only crystallized cane sugar, the chocolates are definitely not "sweet") into boxes and cellophane bags. We also each had a sheet of chilled chocolate to take home, should we want to temper it and re-use it. I learned a lot about chocolate-making, but, more importantly, had a good time. Previously I have visited chocolatiers in Bareclona, Paris, and San Francisco, and this was by far the most exciting (perhaps because I got my hands dirty!) and the most intriguing. Photos.... Read more
October 16, 2007
In which we fry, fry again
I have long desired a Donut Robot Mark II or contemporary equivalent, as used at the fantastic punk-rock Daily Dozen in Seattle, but today Damon pointed out the Dough-Nu-Matic, a home-kitchen-sized contraption designed for hey-presto! doughnut production. The device is also endorsed by the bike-riding donut guy, who sounds like a fellow after mine own heart.... Read more
October 11, 2007
In which everything is
Photos of food from Big Tex, the annual Texas State Fair.... Read more
September 20, 2007
At other times
KLM figured out that I am the one drinking all the coffee on those long flights and sent me a survey, screenshot above. I'm not quite sure how to address the distinction between the penultimate and antepenultimate options, but I selected all the others. I do drink rather a lot of coffee. In fact, I'm drinking (Illy mild roast espresso, from a pod. Sigh!) a double ristretto (21 seconds per extraction) right now.... Read more
September 19, 2007
In which we don't cheat
Not entirely about donuts, not entirely about economics, but I like Kottke's anecdote about the coffee-and-donut vendor who has the customers make their own change. This reminded me of the anecdote in Freakonomics about the suburban D.C. bagel-delivery fellow, who found that customers really did leave the correct sum more than 95% of the time. Over the course of several years, he collected data while delivering bagels to office complexes; the lean years resulted in less honesty than the fat, but overall people paid what they owed. I am surprised at the honesty (but not at the coffee-and-donut vendor's popularity: efficiency is important, especially in the United States, especially in New York).... Read more
August 19, 2007
In which our joy for jamón ibérico knows no reserve
One of the iconic sights in a Catalunyan bar is the haunch of pork, either suspended above the bar and being further smoked by the devout patrons, or on a special wood-and-steel rack. "Ham provides us with life", says one of the premiere producers of the reknowned Iberian ham. His 2006 Reserve effort, of which some 80 to 100 legs will be available next year, is all the rage in the circles of those wanting the pure and acorn-fed.... Read more
July 18, 2007
In which he has a different sort of revolution
&tThis guy checked out all 171 Starbucks in New York City, beginning by bicycle in Washington Heights and winding up, no doubt with frappucino-coloured stains on his gums and sugary pits in his teeth, 12 hours later traipsing in a car. I won't throw stones: a few weeks ago I did something similar (length, perhaps, not quantity) with doughnut shops and the Bay Area. He made a video, which I didn't. But I did ride a goddam fixed-gear. And I'm into these snacks now (they be a tasty simulacrum of the pieces of my each and every day). And I have long known that cycling is about embracing the philosophical question best put by Eddy Merckx: "Eat to ride. Ride to eat." The New York Times has also put into print its assurance that chubby people can rock the ride as well. (Walking home today, I walked next a woman talking loudly and into a 'phone. She said, quite interested, "Yes, I read the article. I didn't know that cycling can make you fat. Is biking the same as cycling? How does it make you fat?" I can tell her: it does make me fat. I like all the delicious places that cycling takes me.) Yo, Eddy!... Read more
June 10, 2007
On cheese
Cheeses I like: Matos St George, Tomme Crayeuse, a delicious Savoie I first tasted at Coopers, Montgomery Cheddar, from Neal's Yard Dairy (which I first visited en route to a cheap meal at Belgo in Covent Garden).... Read more
May 3, 2007
In which we meet the gelato makers
These are the men I want to sell me ice cream. (Seeing this photo of cheerful men with tasty food makes me too cheerful to record my second, unwelcome experience yesterday at Rick's Rather Rich.)... Read more
April 21, 2007
In which we have coffee and doughnuts
Well, how about that! Voodoo Doughnuts are open continuously! That explains why my eyes are chocolate-glazed.... Read more
April 20, 2007
In which the food will eat itself
The Suicide Food blog captures mascots, logos, and spokesanimals that will shortly be on the menu.... Read more
March 22, 2007
March 20, 2007
In which Nature treats us
I know donuts, and this is snow donut. Dough snownuts? Government-documented, even. It's the same principle as making a snowman, except it's nature doing the rolling. And it doesn't happen often, says Paul Pastelok, an AccuWeather meteorologist in State College, Pa. "The snow has to be fresh and moist enough to be cohesive but not as moist as the snow we had Monday. There has to be a wind strong enough to get the snow rolling (40 mph sustained ...), but not so strong it blows it away. And there has to be a slope, at least initially, for momentum." -- from the Cincinnati Enquirer.... Read more
February 22, 2007
In which we kick it over with the sausmeesters
This is the photograph I utterly forgot to take last spring. I really like that this stall -- a kiosk in an alley, usually with a long queue snaking down to the adjacent pedestrian mall -- bills itself as the home of "sausmeesters" rather than simply frites makers.... Read more
November 25, 2006
In which we have one for the road
Through the Campaign for Real Ale, I discovered that the Hardys & Hansons' Brewery will close following its acquisition by the Greene King corporation. H&H brew distinctive English beer, including Olde Trip, the beer of the Crusaders. Greene King brew some excellent beers, but this consolidation runs the risk of ruining a proud and traditional British beer by moving it away from its home. Much of the beauty of real ale is its locality, and its fidelity to its home turf.... Read more
November 23, 2006
In which the laundry smells of donut!
One man's experience with a second-hand donut robot. A similar donut robot, the Donut Robot Mark II in situ at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.... Read more
November 18, 2006
In which the headline has written itself
Sausages affected by draconian trade laws. A spicy sausage known as the Welsh Dragon will have to be renamed after trading standards’ officers warned the manufacturers that they could face prosecution because it does not contain dragon. The sausages will now have to be labelled Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages to avoid any confusion among customers. Jon Carthew, 45, who makes the sausages, said yesterday that he had not received any complaints about the absence of real dragon meat. He said: “I don’t think any of our customers believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages. We use the word because the dragon is synonymous with Wales.” His company, the Black Mountains Smokery at Crickhowell, in Powys, turns out 200,000 sausages a year, including the Welsh Dragon, which is made with chili, leak and pork. A Powys County Council spokesman said: “The product was not sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food.” If only this were St George's brand, the confusion would be utter.... Read more
November 13, 2006
In which we ho-ho-ho with a twinkie in our eye
Chocolate-Espresso Twinkies and Hostess-Style Cupcakes, from the New York Times Magazine. For the cakes: Twinkie-style canoe pan for Twinkies or a muffin pan for Hostess-style cupcakes Nonstick cooking spray 1 ¼ cups cake flour ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1 ½ cups sugar 3 large eggs ½ cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup strong coffee For the filling: 8 ounces cream cheese 3 tablespoons heavy cream ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted 1 tablespoon ground espresso beans For the frosting: (for Hostess-style cupcakes): 1 ½ cups finely chopped bittersweet chocolate ½ cup heavy cream White chocolate, optional. 1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a canoe pan or muffin pan with cooking spray. 2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt 3 times. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high speed for 15 seconds, until combined. On low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. On the lowest speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat in the buttermilk and vanilla, then another 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add the coffee, then the remaining flour. 3. Fill each mold halfway with batter and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Loosen the cakes from the edges with a sharp knife. Invert the pan and gently tap the bottom to release. Cool the cakes completely — Twinkies top-side down and cupcakes top-side up — on a wire rack. 4. Make the filling: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, cream and vanilla until fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the sugar and beat until combined. Add the espresso and beat until combined. 5. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch tip. For the Twinkies, insert the tip at 3 points on the bottom of the cakes and fill. For the cupcakes, insert the tip at the top center and fill. 6. If making Hostess-style cupcakes, prepare the frosting. Place the chocolate in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, scald the cream. Pour the cream over the chocolate. When the chocolate softens, whisk the mixture until smooth. Let the frosting cool, then whisk until fluffy. Spread over the cupcakes to cover the filling. If you choose, decorate with melted white chocolate. Makes 20 Twinkies and 24 Hostess-style cupcakes. Cake and frosting recipes adapted from the Hostess Twinkie Bake Set Recipes booklet by the Interstate Bakeries Corporation. Filling adapted from “Joy of Cooking.”... Read more
November 9, 2006
In which we have just enough time
for the punk-rock donuts of The Daily Dozen, before heading away for even colder climes.... Read more
October 20, 2006
nopa
After several months of rebuffed attempts to get into this place, Anna and I finally sat down in NOPA, first at the long bar and then at a two-top. I got over the ridiculous name ("North of Panhandle" is off by a few hundred meters and a whole New York City concept). The drinks are good, and the menu promising, both for cocktails and for wine (the half-bottle selection is quite decent, even). In fact, the whole dining experience was pleasant enough that it renewed my enthusiasm for eating out in San Francisco. There are few enough honest restaurants of any price; I can think of Papalote, , the delicious pizzerias Pauline's and Little Star, and, the difficult-to-get-into Slanted Door -- well, I can't really think of too many other outstanding places to eat, places that advertise the quality of their ingredients and stick to their principles. The Bay Area has many other fine places to have a breakfast (Ole's, say, or Kate's Kitchen), lunch (Mondo Caffé), and dinner; or to have a glass of wine, a cup of coffee, or even a glass of real ale. But we seem short on honest places to get an unpretentious plate of good cooking. Nopa has yummy, good food made fresh in the kitchen (which we could see from our table), good drinks made right at the bar, and pleasant, attentive staff. I was impressed and pleased. Now if I could reliably get a table ...!... Read more
September 4, 2006
In which we present this year's award-winner
It's not literally a crack snack, but close: the Texas state fair has lauded its winners in the annual "you buy it, we fry it" competition: DALLAS -- There are fried Twinkies and even fried candy bars. Now, vendor Abel Gonzales Jr. has come up with a new artery-clogging concoction for the State Fair of Texas. It's fried Coke. Gonzales deep-fries Coca-Cola-flavored batter. He then drizzles Coke fountain syrup on it. The fried Coke is topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry. Gonzales said the fried Coke came about just from thinking aloud. Gonzales' diet-buster wins the creativity honor at the second-annual Big Tex Choice Awards Contest. Judges for the contest chose Shirley London's Fried Praline Perfection as the tastiest fried delicacy. The two won out among 26 entries such as fried macaroni and cheese and a deep-fried cosmopolitan. London said she came up with the fried pralines idea after buying pralines at the fair last year. She plans to sell the pralines alongside fried marshmallows. Gonzales achieved notoriety in 2005 with the fried peanut butter, banana, and jelly sandwich -- selling an estimated 25,000 of the treats, according to the fair's Web site. The site said London got media attention in 2004 with her fried marshmallows on-a-stick. This is the same state fair that brought about the corn dog. The Web site said Neil and Carl Fletcher conjured up a sweetened corn-battered wiener on-a-stick and sold it for 15 cents during the 1942 State Fair of Texas. I want to have a "Deep Friday" party, in which parallel banks of deep friers provide sweet and savoury batters for all comers. The default fried item would probably be a Twinkie.... Read more
August 10, 2006
In which our hero explores fast-food combinatronics
One can use the Greedy Algorithm to generate the McNugget Numbers, a set of numbers obtained from combining the quantities of McNuggets chicken thingies.... Read more
July 21, 2006
In which we take a trip to Holland
To soothe my aching digestion, or perhaps to ease my addled mind, I took a trip down to Holland's Best, which I found through the internet: a "Dutch market brought home [to San Jose]". The shop turns out to be a small store in a strip mall, tucked in between Big Al's Record Barn ("everything 50% off except fixture's") and a Skin Diving Store. Holland's Best is far from a boutique: the dingy shelves are crammed with Dutch and Indonesian groceries, sambals, stroepwafeln, Delftware (shudder!), and bag after bag of candy. I picked up a sackfull of Chocomel and a small bag of DubbleZout "extra salty" liquorice.... Read more
July 18, 2006
In which I toast your health
One of my colleagues brought in a sack full of New Glarus Spotted Cow Wisconsin farmhouse ale -- a cask-conditioned, bottled beer that has a delicious fresh taste. It's only sold in the vicinity of the brewery, and I feel rather excited to open a bottle (with its patent cap --!).... Read more
July 15, 2006
In which we cannot protect a single lobster
On the heels of Bubba the giant lobster comes this mottled lobster: although the local supermarket will not sell me a live lobster, on the grounds of cruelty, I still do love eating them. With steak. And butter. Or on a roll. Or on a plate.... Read more
June 11, 2006
In which we look to an agèd Japanese fisherman to make us French pastries
The arrival of Beard Papa's in San Francisco intrigues me more for their location than their cuisine. Beard Papa's is a Japanese chain of fast-food éclair and cream-puff retailers, and recently opened a franchise in San Francisco, in an alley which may not exist. Papa Beard's occupies a kiosk in a recently-created pedestrian area between Mission and Market, alongside the Museum of Crafts and Folk Art. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross pointed out an intriguing and difficult aspect of the Museum's location earlier this year: the Postal Service doesn't recognize the museum's existence, neither does Federal Express or UPS or any other delivery service -- all lifelines of any business operation. Nor does the Internal Revenue Service or MapQuest, or -- for that matter -- San Francisco's computerized 911 system. "So you'd better not have a heart attack here,'' said museum executive director Kate Eilertsen, who just may need some cardio work herself if things don't get resolved quickly. It's hard to say just who is responsible for keeping the museum off the map. But there's no shortage of finger-pointing going on between the Postal Service, the city and the developer that created the $7.5 million "Yerba Buena Lane" where the museum now sits after moving from its old location at Fort Mason. The space -- punched out of the backside of the Marriott Hotel -- is just one of a dozen shops and restaurants that landlord Millennium Partners, developer of the neighboring Four Seasons hotel, plans to lease along the pedestrian mall carved out between Market and Mission streets. And while Millennium posted a street sign with the designation of Yerba Buena Lane, it never got all the legal sign-offs for what amounts to a public thoroughfare on private property. The folks at the Department of Public Works, who are responsible for street signage, don't know anything about Yerba Buena Lane. As for the Postal Service? "We get all our information from the city -- whatever they tell us, we go with it,'' spokeswoman Sharon Mayall said. Officials at the Redevelopment Agency, which was overseeing the Yerba Buena Lane project, say they've been busy themselves lately moving to a new address -- and frankly, they didn't have an immediate answer for the museum's problem. In the meantime, the problems continue. Just last week, the museum's phones were shut off -- because the phone bill never arrived.... Read more
June 8, 2006
On water and corn
A bottle of Biota Spring Water advertises that the bottle is biodegradeable. In fact, the bottle is "made from a 100% renewable resource, corn". Although corn is renewable, that fact does not endorse our approach: that we should renew corn corps in the way that we do. Since the 70s the United States has contributed to a national surplus of corn without increasing the world's ability to feed its population, and has increased the corn supply specifically for the benefit of few. Many of the corn products we see and consume in our everyday chores are a direct result of the gross corn surplus: the necessity to consume the surplus became the mother of invention. In this case, the invention is the bottle: NatureWork ™PLA uses 30% to 50% less fossil fuel to produce than petroleum-based plastics. Although it decomposes naturally, the bottle still requires energy to produce, and from a source that we renew at great expense to the American taxpayer: $5 to $20 billions annually. Other by-products of the corn surplus include high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS, chemically guided to taste exactly like naturally-occurring sugars); corn-fed beef, and accordingly lower beef prices (and quality); and, perhaps most damning of all, monocultural agribusiness which encourages the industrialization of all aspects of the food chain, at the expense of agricultural diversity and of environmental stewardship.... Read more
June 6, 2006
In which we 'love toping'
Even as a Danish study claims that men should drink a cocktail a day (!!), I fondly recall the days when we enjoyed a tipple while on the clock. Michael Pollan, in his recent book "The Omnivore's Dilemma", also remarks on this practice: As the historian W.J. Rorabaugh tells the story in The Alcoholic Republic, we drank the hard stuff at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, before work and after and very often during. Employers were expected to supply spirits over the course of the workday; in fact, the modern coffee break began as a late-morning whiskey break called "the elevenses." (Just to pronounce it makes you sound tipsy.) Except for a brief respite Sunday morning in church, Americans simply did not gather -- whether for a barn raising or a quilting bee, corn husking or political rally -- without passing the whiskey jug. Visitors from Europe -- hardly models of sobriety themselves -- marveled at the free flow of American spirits. "Come on then, if you love toping," the journalist William Cobbett wrote his fellow Englishmen in a dispatch from America. "For here you may drink yourself blind at the price of sixpence." Although Pollan is using this quotation and the surround paragraph to illustrate other uses for a corn surplus, I find the historical note of whiskey consumption quite amusing. toping refers to the love of liquor, and the habitual drinking of ditto.... Read more
June 5, 2006
In which Monday is the quietest night
The tradition of shutting down restaurants of a Monday is alive and well in Hayes Valley. Last night I was meeting a peripatetic friend, and had thought that a nice evening at the Citizen Cake or the Absinthe was in order -- we could eat a few small plates, and have good wine and good coffee. Neither was open: we walked down the eerily quiet Gough St. to Hotel Biron, which was full and noisy with a private party. We then walked around the corner to Cav, the Catalan-inflected wine bar in Market Street's Deco Ghetto. Really, it's a high light of these few blocks: it does not make the pretence of a sidewalk café, and thus avoids the disappointment of Zuni for a casual drink. And the staff at Cav welcomed us, although we were not sloshing back the vino nor eating a full meal. We did not want a meal, but neither did we want fast food. I do like the growing number of San Francisco wine bars, and the quality of the food they serve. Yelp has nice snaps of some of Cav's dishes.... Read more
Of warm beer and cold coffee
I find that I prefer warm beer and cold coffee. Warm beer: typically British ale, drawn from a hand-pump. The beermapping project presents a nice view of the city, although really what matters is Magnolia. Cold coffee: not coffee poured over ice, but coffee brewed through a cold-water process. I discovered this at Barefoot Coffee Roasters, where the engaging baristas make all sorts of whimsical drinks (several recent concoctions have involved a culinary torch!).... Read more
June 2, 2006
In which we go Barefoot
I visited Barefoot Coffee Roasters, in Santa Clara, yesterday afternoon. After hearing about their fastidious roasting, monthly cupping (first Saturday of each month, ten ack emma), and comfortable café, I was excited to head down there. The barista was alarmingly pleasant, and explained some of the ingredients as she made a "Whim" -- the variable drink-of-the-day. She was putting together a concotion made from almond, orange, and espresso. I imagine that it would go well with some chocolate flavour as well. I drank a classic cappucino -- I imagined something like what (the late, much-lamented) Coopers would sell, or perhaps like the one from Intelligentsia in Chicago. I also had a double espresso, which came straight from the gorgeous single-boiler machine. The taste of the bean was distinct and different from my favourite, Blue Bottle, and also very good. I do not have the (expert) vocabulary to describe the coffee, but both the drink and the café impressed me as well put-together and welcoming. The coffee menu boasted many appealing-sounding drinks, and especially the cold-brewed iced coffee. The coffee grains soak in cold water for several hours, slowly absorbing the flavours without leaching out bitterness: the result is an exceptionally smooth (and potent! one needs to dilute before drinking, as the Greeks did with wine) iced coffee. But: Barefoot hold down the fort far, far away in Santa Clara: I am glad that the Blue Bottle kiosk is a happy km or so away from my stoop, a distance eminently walkable. Barefoot's website tantalizingly hints "Yes, Barefoot is currently located in a little hole in the wall in a super dense commercial zone without a lot of swank culture… but just you wait!". Swank culture or not -- Blue Bottle is in an alley also populated by a car-repair shop, several sleepy drunks, and a shooting gallery! -- the visit to Barefoot was a pleasant treat.... Read more
April 24, 2006
In which we have a thousand sanguinary guillotines
The enigmatic Françpois-René de Chateaubriand gives his name to a most delicious preparation of tenderloin. A very different recipe from the traditional "Pittsburgh" rare steak of my youth. Portraits of this playboy noble show him looking rakish and dissolute -- quite probably from eating his chef's fantastic (and extravagant: anecdotal history says that the chateaubriand recipe called for three pieces of tenderloin in the preparation: two thinner pieces of meat charred, leaving the thick, inner pieces succulent) meals. The imprimatur of the aristocrat remains, but the name of the chef is lost to history. Chateaubriand is also a noted author: a royalist, he wrote An Historical, Political, and Moral Essay on Revolutions, Ancient and Modern, putting the Jacobins in historical context. His monumental, posthumously published autobiography Mémoires d'Outre-tombe formed a theme of Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions.... Read more
March 21, 2006
In which we put human achievement in perspective
What makes an astounding achievement: Building the Golden Gate Bridge? Running twenty-six point two miles in just over two hours? Flying a rocket to the moon -- and back? swimming the Channel? Surviving in the Antarctic? Climbing the Seven Peaks? No: making the world's largest pizza is "one of the most astounding feats". (More on pizza in pittsburgh.) Related: why did the guys at Burger Meister think I could not possibly finish all of the wings I ordered today? I placed an order, and the cashier started to ask, "for here or to go?" and then interrupted himself, saying "To go -- of course you could'n't possibly eat all these." (I could, I really could. I've put back more than two dozens at a single sitting, one all-you-can-eat wings night in North Beach these many years ago.)... Read more
March 17, 2006
In which we do'n't even finish
The Return of The Big Burger beats their previous six-pound monster. And I, who kicked the Big-ass Burger's ass (and have the t-shirt to prove it), am disgusted, disgusted I say. On the other hand, I ate about a pound and a half of tuna poke for lunch today. Yowza. Customers who can finish the burger in less than five hours win a cash prize, a T-shirt and have their name posted on the pub's wall of fame. Not to mention the burger is free. I did'n't pay for the burger at State St., at least not with cash. I think I paid for it when I realised that I still had about 25k of cycling before I would hit that evening's camp site.... Read more
March 7, 2006
In which we have a new family
From the wire, a story about a furry lobster "about the size of a salad plate". How convenient a measurement. Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new family and genus for it. The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea Exploration. The new crustacean is described in the journal of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The animal is white and just shy of 6 inches long — about the size of a salad plate. In what Segonzac described as a "surprising characteristic," the animal's pincers are covered with sinuous, hair-like strands. It is also blind. The researchers found it had only "the vestige of a membrane" in place of eyes, Segonzac said.... Read more
February 19, 2006
In which I get a buzz
I drank a lot of Intelligentsia Coffee, the sort served at Istria Café ("Corporate Coffee Tastes Funny"). This tidy little café is bustling after five months on 57th Street, and will soon have a second location, also under the Metra tracks.... Read more
February 17, 2006
In which I contemplate trains and lapin
How have I never, after years of attempts, never taken the Eurostar? It seems the best connexion between the gastro-pub for lunch and the white tablecloths for dinner.... Read more
January 16, 2006
In which me plait le fromage au pay's
I like French cheese's, the smellier the better. I also like Wallace and Gromit, of w. the former and I share an appreciate for tasty English Wensleydale, available from our friends at Neal's Yard.... Read more
January 13, 2006
In which we like the coffee
I picked up a half-pound bag of Yemen Sana'ani beans from Blue Bottle Coffee, the excellent purveyors of beans and macchiato (and why yes, I did spend fifteen minutes standing in line for this cup of coffee, thankyouverymuch). With these beans, I made a presspot full of coffee this morning, and boy howdy! the most delicious, and pleasantly mild, coffee I have tasted in years. Fantastic! Delicious! Instead of placing the remaining bits of the pot into the 'fridge, I am drinking it down. The macchiato that James makes down at the Blue Bottle push-cart at the Ferry Building make me very, very content with coffee. They also look very appetising! Look at nice photos of espresso atEspresso Lab. 100 % Yemen Sana'ani This is an intoxicating coffee that produces a huge aroma, and, at this medium-to-dark roast level, it is one of the few single-origin coffees that makes an excellent shot of espresso. Also terrific as a filter or presspot, coffee from Yemen is still farmed much the same way as it was 1200 years ago: harvested by hand from ancient, often wild, non-hybridized cultivars, dried on local patios, and processed locally before being shipped. While not certified organic, Yemens are considered pesticide-free owing to the strong farming traditions which predate pesticide use. One more thing: you might not like it. Lovers of clean, snappy Costa Ricans, or Colombians might consider drinking a cup of Yemen uncomfortably similar to being picked up by the lapels, shaken, then tossed into a grimy Manhattan snow bank. But for some of us, this is the most complex and desirable cup in town.... Read more
January 10, 2006
In which we complement the curry chips
Now when I am stumbling over to Beshoffs on O'Connell Street, I know how to plan my footsteps before and after: the Proper Pint web site shows maps of Dublin, with nifty annotations about each pub. And I suppose that if I am out late, then I can lift my feet over to the Beshoffs take-away on Westmoreland Street. The famous Beshoffs fish and chip restaurant was founded by Ivan Iylanovich Beshoff a seaman in the navy of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II. He fled Russia after he took part in an ill-fated mutiny on the battleship Potemkin at Odessa in 1905 and arrived in Ireland in 1912 with the intention of travelling on to Canada. He missed his boat connection and decided to stay. Three hurrahs for curry chips! and for pints! and for cask ales!... Read more
December 10, 2005
In which I drink a tasty cup of coffee
At the lush Ferry Building Farmer's Market, I put back a macchiato when I picked up a half-pound (roasted the day before, thankyouverymuch) from Blue Bottle Coffee. The macchiato was superb. Hot dog, it was tasty. We ended up with a pound-and-a-half of coffee, in the form of three different beans, but land sakes! the macchiato went down smoothly. I think that from now on I will eschew the Frog Hollow stand indoors and head straight for the Blue Bottle cart. For you, here are some nice photographs of coffee.... Read more
December 4, 2005
In which I find the c in cake
Cheese, cava, and coffee. That's break-fast this morning, along with fried potatoes, eggs, and bacon. In yet another attempt to quantify the input and output of my quotidian activity, I am recording my daily walking distance. Who might have guessed that on a single day at work I cover three miles of cubicle farm?... Read more
November 30, 2005
In which I wants nae skinking ware
No haggis-based cocktail yet exists (horrors!), but apparently haggis season (as legitimate a holiday as any, I suppose. Any reason to have a pint!) is nigh. Th' other sort of haggis I have actually celebrated once or twice. I also celebrate the wikipedia. While some people cheerfully get away with hunting down platypus-like Highlands creatures, and others skedaddle with boiled sheep's heart, lungs, and liver stuffed into a scoured-out stommick, others are pulling stunts closer to home: If I did this [Lengthy quicktime download], I'd get in trouble. How did the filmmakers clean up afterwards?... Read more
November 18, 2005
In which it is hard to stick to principles
After yesterday's debacle, during which I consumed approx. one-half bottle, Advil, between the hours of 7 ack emma and 7 pip emma, only to belatedly realise that I had not had *any* coffee, I grimly broke my one-cuppa rule and had back-to-back double espressos at the counter of Blue Bottle Coffee in Hayes Valley. For the second cup Mr Travis Crawford joined me, and told the amusing story of how he had once ordered a cup of coffee, wandered over to the nearby expressway Hayes Green, and then realised, "Wait! I didn't pay for this" because he is so accustomed to procuring fine espresso drinks at our office, where they flow plentifully and without denting the wallet. The Blue Bottle Coffee Blog is quite amusing, and well-illustrated with yummuy photos of coffee, crema, and all things foodish. Today the barista, raffish as ever, was grinding beans from five days ago, well outside their proudly-stated goal of only using 48-hour old beans at oldest, but, hell. Yesterday evening I used beans that have been sitting in our 'fridge for nigh upon a fortnight.... Read more
October 14, 2005
In which I am under the volcano of flowers
This morning I waited, inadvertently, until almost 9.30 to have my cup of coffee -- one per day has been my motto since resuming full-time work (wow, almost three years ago now); every now and again (34 times so far this year, according to my records, I find that I have a cuppa in the morning and then another in the afternoon, but on the whole the extent of the coffee is a double espresso early in the ack emma. Today's cup was delicious: twenty-two seconds, the legendary time for a double-shot, and with a nice thick crema. (more great coffee photos and articles at Coffee Geek). The Fire Show's riveting and too-smart "Under The Volcano of Flowers" album goes very well with espresso, I find.... Read more
October 7, 2005
In which we drink the lemonade
Alleluia, La Moone has returned! After the restaurant closed in March, they have hosted a series of small dinners at other local restaurants, and now they return with catering menus for special events. Yum. Any time I eat La Moone food is a special event.... Read more
October 4, 2005
In which I pine for blueberries
Last night marked the return of Jen (and Max, although he was off at band practise), which we celebrated by hearing stories of the blueberry-laden hike through the Olympics, the pig roast and barn party in Ohio, and hiking in the shadows of grizzlies at Yellowstone. Jen said that she did not much care for blueberries before this recent hike! to which I thought, heavens, more for me. I have been putting back a pint almost daily since I discovered how luscious and sweet these berries are.... Read more
September 15, 2005
In which the logalyser makes a brief appearance
After some especially delicious pâte, I remembered that I needed to sort out the good ol' logalyser (some might call it a 'food blog'). The code is crufty beyond belief -- it dates about six years! -- and currently is only un-broken for the current week's menu. The pâte was outstanding. UPDATE: Oh, yes: for some reason it does'n't work on Safari, but does on Firefox. And the pâte was outstanding.... Read more
July 14, 2005
In which I'm really too exhausted
I nodded off in front of the computer screen this evening: quite some time has passed since that happened. I am not quite sure why, but this week felt draining even on Monday. I missed the regular (-ish) wings night that jimg and I usually enjoy, although Monday night's dinner (Ethiopian) was quite tasty and with excellent company. I have no tbeen spending much time on the bicycle, nor have I enjoyed much opportunity to read. Excelsior, and enough of complaining.... Read more
July 11, 2005
In which I write in praise of Mitchell's Ice Cream
Mitchell's ice-creams delight. I love creamy, rich ice creams, and this venerable San Francisco shop at San Jose and 29th (do'n't forget to take a number as you walk in the door, or you wo'n't get a cone!) never fails to satisfy my ice-cream craving. Now that Greg is gone from Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream, the best bay-area ice cream is a toss-up: sometimes I am happy to head over the bridge to Piedmont's bustling (and renovated) Fenton's; I am always happy to visit Mitchell's. Five years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle's Scott Ostler decided to write about one interesting tit-bit of San Francisco each week over the course of a year, finding the one story for his weekly column in each of the city's forty-nine square miles. A good conceit, but it never came to fruition. His piece about Mitchell's omits my favourite aspect of the place: that you can have absolutely any cone dipped in chocolate. Yum.... Read more
July 7, 2005
In which the promise of pizza overwhelms me
Although I have become old and crotchety about donuts, I still succumb to the promise of pizza. Something sublime in that scent of melting cheese and toasted bread. Still, in the six months so far this year I have eaten pizza (whole or a slice) on two dozen occasions. Notably, however, on my most recent trip to New York City I had not a single slice. Ditto Chicago.... Read more
June 30, 2005
In which I am a pain in the arse, Or, piffle
Think about everything I eat, and consider its origin. eat nothing from a plastic bag eat nothing containing corn syrup, high [-] fructose corn syrup eat nothing from GMO fruit, grain, or meat eat no meat that is not organic eat greens every day eat no fish caught by a net... Read more
June 1, 2005
Doughnuts for dog-faces
June 3rd is Donut Day. Not merely some advertising exec's dream to drum up business, this tradition has its roots in The Salvation Army. Donut Day was established in 1938 as a means to raise much-needed operating funds for The Salvation Army, and also as a tribute to Army 'lassies' who made and served donuts to thousands of soldiers during World War I. While the spelling of doughnut has shortened to "donut" over the years, the popular donut has been the trademark of The Salvation Army ever since WWI. While Donut Day was observed fairly extensively, especially following WWII, by The Salvation Army throughout the United States, the Army in Chicago has the longest continous and most successful tradition.... Read more
May 31, 2005
Ashes to ashes
The left-overs from today's double order of wings went into the silky compost bag endorsed by the Biodegradeable Products Institute for use in the San Francisco residential composting program. The bags degrade quickly, and contain no plastic, but rather bio-polymers made from sustainably-farmed agriculture.... Read more
May 25, 2005
Useful in treating sewage and for roasting nuts.
Another victim of California's voter-driven legislation: warning labels on foodstuffs that contain acrylamide. According to the FDA testing, arrowroot cookies have high levels of acrylamide. ... so do potato chips, butter crackers, and french-fried potatoes.... Read more
May 23, 2005
What part of a horse is that, anyway?
A day-old baguette and a soft cheese constitute my dinner. The cheese container had a label in French, German, and Dutch, but I couldn't make out the flavour from any of those (and am not quite sure why I bought it, other than the illustration on the sticker looked appealing). Now I know that raifort means* 'horseradish' and that is a very odd thing to put into a soft cheese. I do, however, fondly recall a horseradish cheddar I ate a few years ago. From Wikipedia: It has been speculated that the word is a partial translation of its German name Meerrettich. The element Meer (meaning 'ocean, sea') is pronounced like the English word mare, which might have been reinterpreted as horseradish. On the other hand, many English plant names have "horse" as an element denoting strong or coarse, so the etymology of the English word (which is attested in print from at least 1597) is uncertain. *(Oddly, Google could translate from the French into the German, and from the French into English, but not from German into English.)... Read more
May 15, 2005
What is wrong with schmetterling?
In my quest for the delicious warm croissant with ham, gruyere, and butter -- mustn't forget the butter! -- I have discovered Kerry Gold, a magnificent and sweet Irish butter. The German expression alles ist in Butter ("Everything is in butter"): everything is in order. It is based on the fact that in the Middle ages, fragile articles were transported using butter as we use thermocol today. For this for example tableware was inserted into warm liquid butter. The butter solidified itself as it cooled down and so protected the fragile goods. At the destination, the butter was again liquefied and poured off. The English word "butterfly" has its origins in the medieval superstition that witches transform into butterflies in order to steal farmers' cream or butter.... Read more
May 12, 2005
Frosty insults
Last week I discovered that the local Ben & Jerry's ice-cream parlour closed, but my pain pales compared to that of the boy who got punched-out by a Pittsburgh ice-cream vendor. Not only does this boy have the label "pudgy-faced" forever attached, but he's suffered nightmares about push-carts and frosty treats ever since the incident last May. A Good Humor man was served 18 months' probation Tuesday for losing his cool with a foul-mouthed teenager. Nazzareno Didiano, 44, stopped dishing out peanut butter bars and Blue Bunnies last May 12 and began pummeling a pudgy-faced Bloomfield teen during a meltdown. The teen, now 14, told Allegheny County Judge John A. Zottola during a brief trial that Didiano grabbed him by the arm, yanked him from his bike, punched him in the face and slammed him into a wall. The attack came after the boy berated and cursed Didiano over the cost of his cones. "I wanted to tell him I didn't appreciate being talked to like that," said Didiano, who denied punching the boy. Zottola ruled he did not believe Didiano and convicted him of simple assault. In addition to the probation, Didiano must take anger management classes and reimburse the teenager $20 for damage to his bike. The teen giggled as Didiano recounted the obscenities directed at him. Didiano, who worked for Paul's Ice Cream Co., served up his own frosty insults. "I told him he didn't need any ice cream anyway because he's fat," said Didiano. The teen, about 5-foot-5 and 140 pounds, responded by calling Didiano a "bald (expletive) ripoff." Didiano later attacked when he found the boy sitting on a bike two blocks away. Assistant District Attorney Dan Regan presented photographs of a red-faced victim with a cut inside of his mouth. "He instigated the whole thing," said Didiano, who is looking for a new job. The teen's mother said she's satisfied with the verdict, but complained that her son is now self-conscious about his weight. "This has been a nightmare," she said. As for the closer-to-home cold an' creamy: the Castro St. Ben & Jerry's was run as a non-profit by Juma Ventures, but nary a word appears on their web site, nor on Ben & Jerry's. Alas! for their other shop, on Haight St., lacks atmosphere and outdoor seating. Phooey on Haight-Ashbury.... Read more
May 4, 2005
It is not easy (eating out-of-doors)
Patricia Unterman, proprietor of the stalwart Hayes Street Grill (which was known before "Hayes Valley" was happening), author of the Bay Area dining-out Bible, San Francisco food critic-about-town, has written up a half-dozen of her "choice spots for outdoor dining". She tips her hat to Zuni, B-44 of Belden Place, and to Fourth Street in Berkeley (maddening difficult to get to, at least from San Francisco) -- but does not ask the question: Why is outdoor dining so difficult to find in San Francisco? I have long kept a small, secret list of "places to sit outside and have someone bring me food" -- I prefer table service to the Squat-and-Gobble cafeteria-style setup. For as vibrant and verdant a city as San Francisco, we have precious few outdoor rest.s. A dearth of sidewalk space, congested main roads, and odd zoning (a separate license is required to serve alcohol outside!) all contribute to a decided indoors eating experience in San Francisco. Oh, and the weather: tempestuous and mercurial, from one day to the next one doesn't know which way the wind will blow. I have eaten at Zuni's sidewalk patio, and it's disgusting: buses and cars slowly driving past, belching fumes; a bicycle lane a few feet away from my plate of food; and mendicants seeking a sip of my drink. Not the most conducive atmosphere to digestion. On the other hand, a plate of ribs in the beergarden at Zeitgeist , neatly set back from the road (even as the new Central Freeway passes above), is a pleasure. But it's not sit-down dining. Even Belden Place, with its assortment of Iberian and Gallic cuisine, becomes chill and dank in the evening; during the day, it's a alley for deliveries.... Read more
May 3, 2005
From what tree came this fruit?
An iconic portion of my diet, the doughnut, is again getting a bad rap. With the Food and Drug Administration's recent update to the "food pyramid", the slothful among us are encouraged to eat more fruit and veg, and more of the whole grain, rather than refined. I wasn't especially pleased when Cookie Monster, of childhood staple Sesame Street, changed his tune (literally) and suggested that his namesake is a "sometimes" food.... Read more
April 22, 2005
In which I get old and crotchety
For perhaps the first time in my long, happy life, I stared down a box of donuts today. Usu. I look longingly on the deep-fried and glazed, but today the pink carton (why are pastry boxes always always pink?) held no appeal. This may be a long-term effect of my anti-corn-syrup stance. I'm still working on anti-soy-lecithin, but, thanks to David Kessler, we know what's what in foods. I recently started a "no-food-from-a-bag" policy, so I'm not eating crisps or pretty much anything processed. It's okay if I put the food in a bag myself: salad stuff, for example, or almonds. Or thin slices (lonchas) of dry-cured ham from the butcher on the corner. I do have high esteem for Sammy's donuts, who advertise their ingredients and methods. And keep a tidy, pretty corner shop.... Read more
April 12, 2005
A wing and a prayer
jimg and I have a newfound ritual: Burgermeister wings each Monday (half-price!). Although on occasion we are stymied: we arrive too late, and others have devoured all the wings. This time we were momentarily adrift, and walking south'ards across Market, when we decided to jump in a cab and head to Giordano Bros., where we enjoyed Pittsburgh-style sammiches and reminisced with proprietor Jeff about all the greasy-spoons and bars we knew in Da Burgh: Chiefs, Silky's, Denny's (jimg's favourite), Mitchell's, and the late, much-lamented Chiodo's.... Read more
April 11, 2005
Blanxart xocolata negra
Liz sent a bar of the most delicious chocolate from the city that makes the most fantastic chocolates. A bar of Blanxart xocolata negra came in the post, and I carried it with me everywhere. At the café, the man sitting at the adjacent table asked if the beautiful wrapper was letterpress; I don't know, but it certainly has that look. Yum. And yum.... Read more
March 26, 2005
In which I found outstanding donuts
Sammy's Donuts has amazing, light and fluffy rasied donuts. A previously-impossible combination of Chinese food and donuts (ubiquitous in San Francisco's Nob Hill, especially this unnerving stretch of Hyde St.), Sammy's sells delicious donuts. 70¢ in a light and clean corner shop at 6th Avenue and 12th. The coffee actually accompanies the donut well if served black. I wish I'd eaten more than one (chocolate raised), but earlier in the day a flirtatious pushcart vendor had foisted several cake donuts on us.... Read more
March 25, 2005
A trip to Little Star
Well, the wings were not deep-fried, but dinner at Little Star was nonetheless outstanding. After all, we were there for the pie. After weeks of anticipation, I waded into both the Chicago-style deep-dish and the New York-style thin: each was yummuy, with really good crust. And the wings? Although baked, they were hot and spicy, just not dripping with Durkee's and butter. I think I'll stick to Burger Meister for their wings, quite probably the best in town. The atmosphere at Little Star was overwhelmingly cool: a mix of retro-80s pop and current hipster tunes on their jukebox, four great beers (including Racer 5 on tap a nd obligatory PBR in $1 cans), and found-object art on the walls.... Read more
March 19, 2005
Of doughnuts and the Red Cross
Ethnic Fried Food Around the World, their history and variety. Hurrah! American Red Cross personnel followed the invasion forces in Europe and the Pacific. Clubmobile Service operated in the European Theater of Operations. Its courageous members often carried coffee and doughnuts to soldiers for many miles over roads too rough for regular travel. Doughnuts became closely associated with the American Red Cross: the organization purchased enough flour between l939 and l946 to make 1.6 billion of them. Red Cross women served doughnuts at the rate of 400 per minute during the years l944-46.... Read more
February 26, 2005
How many pounds in a gallon?
Big Bubba, a 22-pound lobster, made his sensational appearance at Wholey's. Whoah. Pinchy, the lobster on the right, is a normal dinner-sized turf part of a night out. Each of Bubba's claws is about the size of a whole eatin'-sized lobster. UPDATE: Turns out that Wholey's are looking for $500 to take this centarian arthropod home. Horrors!... Read more
February 14, 2005
A seemingly healthy alternative to butter
"You can flash-fry a beefalo in 40 seconds!" (sic). A front-page story in this morning's New York Times discusses the importance of avoiding trans-fatty acids in everything (and I thought it was just a hip song by Lamb). McDonald's, amongst other chains (shudder), do not want to invest in the slightly healthier fats, which would cost it some several millions more annually. What's wrong with charging more for fast food? Perhaps paying more for the commodity will encourage people to think even slightly carefully about what they're stuffing down their gullets. Avoiding packaged and processed foods should keep you mostly clear of the pernicious fat. I wonder if bakeries such as Arizmendi and Citizen Cake (warning: irritating all-flash web site) use partially-hydrogenated fats or what in their ever-so-delicious pastries. I don't care as much about Tartine because both their pastries and their web-site are second rate.... Read more
February 5, 2005
Do you have any dry ice?
After some wrassling with the shipping agents, I received a huge package of Graeter's ice cream this morning. I did some significant damage to several of the pints, which probably ruined my dinner. Hurrah!... Read more
January 29, 2005
Regular is as regular does
I spent a lot of time during high school at the formica tables and long counter of a certain Dunkin Donuts . One of the more fascinating minutiae of the operation was the mechanism used to make regular coffee: somehow, in the few seconds between dispensing the drip coffee into a styrofoam cup (or massive plastic mug) and passing it across the counter to me, the person working the counter would swing it under a cream dispenser and a sugar-adder. For me, regular coffee means different things. If I'm in the 212, it's a Greek paper cup with the legend "We Are Happy to Serve You", two sugars and a half-inch of cream. Invert once or twice, with finger covering the steam vent, and it's delicious. In the 415, regular is a small mug of espresso with a little hot water on top. The donut shop itself was a treat: open 24 hours, far enough away from home that I needed to drive (and once locked myself out of the car while parked there, middle of the night, my parents out of town). The clientele were esoteric in an urban way, despite the suburban location: Manny, the card-trickster and math genius (who later showed up at the late lamented Greenhouse in Shadyside); Bob, the sometime employee and occasional lunatic; others may come to mind, eventually ...... Read more
January 20, 2005
Dancing with the goat
Alleluia, I drank coffee today. After five days (!!) of not, not because I didn't want to (boy oh boy did I), but because my stommick hurt too damn much to permit it. And it tasted good. The early-morning shift at the café made a nice watery espresso ("americano", everyone pointed out) for me, and it went down wonderfully.... Read more
January 15, 2005
... a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish
... nobody had finished the big burger in the three-hour time limit since it was introduced on Super Bowl Sunday 1998 - not even competitive eater Eric "Badlands" Booker. The 420-pound Booker - who has eaten such things as 49 glazed doughnuts in eight minutes and two pounds of chocolate bars in six minutes - tried three times to eat the burger and finally did on his third effort. But it took Booker 7 1/2 hours. The burger takes 45 minutes to cook, and those who try to meet the three-hour limit must use no utensils and eat all of these fixins: one large onion, two whole tomatoes, one half head of lettuce, 1 1/4 pounds of cheese, top and bottom buns, and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish, banana peppers and some pickles. I thought I had written about this earlier, because the pub's web site had a great photo of the now-vanquished burger. But a cursory examination of the archives turned up nothing.... Read more
January 9, 2005
December 21, 2004
peppered spiders
Spider mustard, , is my new favourite salad green.... Read more
December 17, 2004
No mayo? Then it's health food.
Now, if the world weren't already small enough already, a sandwich shop in North Beach sells "Pittsburgh-style" sammiches. I found this out because I sat on the bus next to a woman who said, "hey, I met someone who knows you. A white guy. From Ohio, maybe. Did you grow up in Ohio?" After we nailed down the Pittsburgh part, we puzzled it out as she added more clues. And then the sandwiches came up. Hot damn!... Read more
December 16, 2004
Literally.
The New York Times ran a tidy little article on deep-frying, replete with recipies.... Read more
December 14, 2004
Where wheat begins and where wheat ends
Deborah Koons Garcia screened her documentary, The Future of Food over a meal yesterday evening; she's been showing it around the country -- and the world! -- to political activist groups, food-action collectives, and at the Castro Theatre, as a benefit for Slow Food. (The lovely and many-talented Sara Maamouri narrates, produces, and did much of the video research for the film. Andy mentioned that a Native American group would once consider all of their decisions unto the seventh generation. Deborah said that the US Congress recenlty passed, by virtue of a quiet rider attached to another bill, legislation subjugating Iraq to US patent law. Having destroyed their crops (isn't the Fertile Crescent where homo sapiens first cultivated wheat?), we will now destroy their nutrition.... Read more
December 7, 2004
Pizza (for your) pocket
Slice (which touts itself as "America's Favorite Pizza Weblog!") is available for your iPod. Characteristics of a good slice: available within 3 minutes available as close to 24-hours-a-day as possible within a five-minute walk of where you happen to be (home, bar, school) pepperoni foldable... Read more
September 20, 2004
Can't touch this (yo)
Foods you cannot eat because the US goverment doesn't permit it. This include jamón iberico. Dammit. I'm going to Barcelona.... Read more
August 14, 2004
... from the palace of Sennacherib to the markets of San Francisco
An article on dates in Yemen and Coachella features a familiar local face.... Read more
August 4, 2004
Everything is better with Bacon
While reading online about our friend Eadweard, I found that he had inspired Francis Bacon. I dug out my unread copy of "Anatomy of an Enigma" and got a few pages in to it, but did sneak a look at all of the pictures. The San Francisco Bay Guardian ran a story on Oaktown doughnuts, which omits the fine counter full o' fried offerings at Ozzie's, properly in Elmwood as well as the phenomenal Kingpin in Berkeley. But without straying from the Oakland theme, the author could have found a few ethnic varieties of fried dough. And didn't. My turn!... Read more
July 24, 2004
Have your cake and drink it, too
Krispy Kreme take their donut to the next level. Thanks to Ozé for pointing this out.... Read more
June 11, 2004
Clock-watching
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Wireless Flash) -- The official organization that organizes food eating contests will unveil a wall of big eaters later today (Jun. 10) on Coney Island in New York. The 50-foot by 70-foot Hot Dog Eating Wall of Fame will showcase heavy hitters Mike "the Scholar" DeVito, Ed "the Animal" Krachie, Takeru Kobayashi, Krazy Kevin Lipsitz and Hungry Charles Hardy, who are all winners of the International Hot Dog Eating Contest which takes place every July 4. The wall will also include a clock which will count down the days, hours and minutes until the next hot dog eating contest. International Federation of Competitive Eaters President Rich Shea says, "The Football Hall of Fame is in Canton, Ohio, and the Basketball Hall of Fame is in Springfield, Mass. I have never heard of a Super Bowl being played in Canton or a Championship Series being played in Springfield." But the new wall will sit on the location where the Hot Dog Eating Championship takes place. He calls the new wall, "The Mount Rushmore of competitive eating."... Read more
June 7, 2004
A deep-fried love affair
I had a burger and fried pickles for lunch today. Typically a southern specialty, I've previously enjoyed them at State Fairs. Elvis came across these in pickles at roadhouses outside Memphis; fried pickles are the perfect accompaniment to beer. They are believed to have been invented at the Hollywood, a roadhouse originally in Hollywood, Mississippi.... Read more
May 11, 2004
Everything comes together this summer
The San Francisco Chronicle issued a warning about "licker" shock: the rising price of ice cream. Blame it on bad timing. A combination of political unrest and natural disasters overseas, and fluctuations in the dairy industry in this country has left ice cream manufacturers grappling with higher prices for key ingredients including milk, vanilla and cocoa. For instance, a pint of Ben-and-Jerry's is going to cost eight percent more. And a multipack of Klondike bars will cost about ten cents more. Massachusetts-based Friendly's ice cream chain cut its half-gallon tub from 64 ounces to 56 ounces earlier this year ... and it just increased its retail prices by five percent.... Read more
May 3, 2004
March 19, 2004
Pulpo fiction.
Anar's "landlady", thrilled to hear that I enjoy the eating of the sausage, gave us a big rope of homemade chorizo. She applies the chorizo to many household tasks, including greasing the pan for pancakes. From a row of Turkish cafes, I supped at Gallipoli, drawn in part by the "grilled garlic sausage" item on the menu.... Read more
March 7, 2004
Pittsburgh news is always the weirdest.
David Warnes, 37, of Bethel Park, was terminated from his bagging job at the grocery chain's Village Square location for taking a doughnut off a shelf and eating it in January 2002. Last October, the U.S. Department of Labor honored the grocery chain with a New Freedom Initiative Award under a program started by President Bush for "outstanding employment practices toward people with disabilities," according to a news release.... Read more
March 6, 2004
Punctuate this burger!
Despite the unruly punctuation of Phyllis' Giant Burger, they make a fine mushroom bacon burger.... Read more
February 27, 2004
93 pounds per day.
Bestow blessings upon venerable Neldam's Danish Bakery, where 75 years of kringle-eating, cake-devouring, and cake-making all add up to a delicious community. Within a few miles each of the other, the East Bay boasts such luminaries such as Piedmont's Fenton's and Berkeley's 300-lbs-of-lard Kingpin Doughnuts. And who of the early-risers amongst us can forget Johnny's Donuts in Lafayette?... Read more
February 14, 2004
Raised to a new height.
I have long said that the only commerical enterprises lacking in this neighbourhood (The Lower Haight) are a donut shop and a bookstore. The two Eritrean women behind the counter told me that the Haight Donut Breakfast opened yesterday. Although the donuts are baked offsite (the Mission somewhere?), the several (ahem) I ate tasted fresh and warm. And delicious: none of the tired All-Star or Inga Donut action here. The Haight Donut Breakfast occupies the storefront on Haight next to The Top, once home to Botana, and is open from 7 ack emma to 10 pip emma.... Read more
January 5, 2004
Donut deception.
Subject: eats doughnuts and leaves http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/05/books/05GRAM.html Despite Best Efforts, Doughnut Makers Must Fry, Fry Again Low-Fat Version of the Treat Proves Hard to Roll Out; Mr. Ligon Lands in Hole BySHIRLEY LEUNG Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Robert Ligon, a 68-year-old health-food executive, is scheduled to begin serving 15 months in a federal prison Tuesday. His crime: willfully mislabeling doughnuts as low-fat. Exhibit A: The label on his company's "carob coated" doughnut said it had three grams of fat and 135 calories. But an analysis by the Food and Drug Administration showed that the doughnut, glazed with chocolate, contained a sinfully indulgent 18 grams of fat and 530 calories. =A0 Mr. Ligon's three-year-long nationwide doughnut caper -- which involved selling mislabeled doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and cookies to diet centers -- began to crumble when customers complained to the FDA about how tasty his products were. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," says Jim Dahl, assistant director of the Office of Criminal Investigation for the FDA. The skinny on low-fat doughnuts, he says: "Science can do a lot of things, but we're not quite there yet." The low-fat doughnut is the Holy Grail of the food industry. Food companies have been able to take most of the fat out of everything from cheese to Twinkies. But no one has succeeded in designing a marketable doughnut that dips below the federal low-fat threshold of three grams per serving. Doughnuts typically range from eight grams of fat for a glazed French cruller to more than double that for a cake-like doughnut. Perhaps no other bakery good is so dependent on fat. After the batter is shaped into rings and dropped into hot oil, the deep-frying process preserves the shape, gives the doughnut a crust and pushes out moisture, allowing for the absorption of fat. The fat itself is responsible for most of its flavor. A doughnut contains as much as 25% fat; the bulk of that is the oil absorbed during frying, according to the American Institute of Baking, a research and teaching outfit funded by the baking industry. The low-fat doughnut, declares Len Heflich, an industry executive at the American Bakers Association, is "not possible." That hasn't stopped almost everyone in the approximately $3 billion doughnut industry from trying. In the late 1980s, Dunkin' Donuts briefly offered a cholesterol-free doughnut that contained no eggs and no milk. It went nowhere. During the 1990s, Entenmann's Bakery offered a doughnut with 25% less fat but poor sales forced the company to shelve it. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. has explored low-fat or low-calorie options but has yet to roll one out. Some bakeries sell "baked doughnuts" that are low in fat, but doughnut-makers say that's cheating: If it's baked, it's a cake. Scientists are also trying to put the doughnut on a diet. U.S. Patent No. 6,001,399 claims that replacing sugar with polydextrose -- a low-calorie synthetic sweetener commonly found in ice cream and frozen foods -- can reduce the doughnut's absorption of frying fats by 25% to 30%. U.S. Patent No. 4,937,086 says that injecting polyvinylpyrrolidone -- which normally keeps pills in packed form -- into the doughnut=20 batter reduces fat by 30% without a "pasty or greasy taste." In an article entitled "Development of Low Oil-Uptake Donuts" published in 2001 in the Journal of Food Science, scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service wrote that adding rice flour to the traditional wheat-flour-base doughnut mix lowered fat by 64%. Fred Shih, a chemist who helped author the study, says the doughnut that resulted was tasty, but he doesn't expect to see it on grocer shelves anytime soon. "It worked in a lab," he says, but "it may not be so easily converted into commercial operation." (One kink: short shelf life.) Despite its no-cholesterol-doughnut flop, Dunkin' Donuts, the nation's largest doughnut chain, continues to push ahead in the quest for a low-fat doughnut. The company's doughnut technologists have all but ruled out tinkering with its closely held, 26-ingredient batter, which contains little fat. The chain, a unit of London-based Allied Domecq PLC, has tried frying dough in a fat substitute but feared its digestive side effects would leave a bad taste. At its product laboratory in Braintree, Mass., on a recent morning, researchers in white lab coats tasted and prodded their latest prototype: a chewier-than-average doughnut that is not fried, but made on a machine that resembles a waffle maker. The result weighs in at 150 calories -- half the amount of its full-fat cousin -- and fewer than three grams of fat. Still, this doughnut fails to meet Dunkin's standards of texture, taste and something called "mouth feel." "We would love to be able to offer a great-tasting doughnut that is low-fat," says Joe Scafido, chief menu and concept officer for Allied Domecq's quick-service restaurants, "but I'm not sure we're going to get there." The criminal files on doughnut-related fraud thickened in the 1990s after new federal laws required more-detailed labeling of food. The FDA's Office of Criminal Investigation says that about a quarter of its cases involve food, most related to tampering. About 20% of those food cases are related to "misbranding" of food, such as false labels or misstated country of origin. Mr. Ligon, who is scheduled to begin his sentence Tuesday, was not the first doughnut derelict. In 2000, Vernon Patterson, president of Genesis II Foods Inc., an Illinois bakery, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for passing off three varieties of doughnuts as low-fat. According to federal court records, customers helped build the case against Mr. Patterson by raising questions about his suspiciously tasty low-fat treats. Mr. Patterson served one year and one day in a federal prison. The doughnut ring of Mr. Ligon, a former weight-loss-center franchisee, began in 1995, the FDA says. That's when he started a weight-loss product company, Nutrisource Inc., to sell protein shakes, nutritional bars and baked goods to diet centers. According to Rudy Hejny, the... Read more
December 31, 2003
See me upside-down.
357 gallons of water; 168 double espressos; 55 cappucinos, with all that foam; 10 caffés latte. 136 shots of bourbon; 3-plus gallons of whisk(e)y, and a daily Imperial of beer; 15 occasions on which I drank a quart* at Zeitgeist; and a sobering 22 Bloody Marys. * or several. 279 bananas (but never more than one each day); 68 snacks with brie; 128 days (!!) on which I ate pizza. Roasted chicken, potatoes (russet, Idaho, red, purple, gold, and new), tomatoes, red peppers, garlic, cashews, portabella mushrooms, eggplant, peanuts, shiitake mushrooms, veal, fennel, almonds, sunflower kernels, sunchokes, zucchini, lamb ribs, muscovy duck, shallots, clams, beef tenderloin, squash, pecans, goose. Mango hot sauce, pickle, chutney, jerky, sorbet, smoothie, guacamole, sushi roll, hot sauce, salsa, cheesecake.... Read more
December 18, 2003
Eats donuts, shoots, and leaves.
I'm predictable: Aram sent me this link, writing "The first paragraph made me think of you." There's a classic bit o' humour involved.... Read more
November 27, 2003
America's fastest-growing sport (Pun intended)
Perspective on competitive eating: The IFOCE hosts official eating contests and tracks the world's top eaters, like record-holder Oleg Zhornitskiy, who downed four 32-ounce bowls of mayonnaise in 8 minutes. This year's Thanksgiving Invitational eating contest attracted talent from all 'round the competitive eating circuit, but petite (106-lb) Sonya Thomas took home the turkey statuette after downing almost 8 pounds of turkey and trimmings in 12 minutes. Bookie money was on either the Chili Champ or the Donut Dominator. And from Sonya's profile: There is an century-old prophesy (sic)(no pun intended) within the competitive eating community, dismissed by most, that foretells the rise of the “One Eater" ... She can down a gross of chicken wings in ten minutes. Yowza. I mean, yowza. UPDATE: The Travel Channel ran a one-hour special on eating contests, told from the perspective that these were "epicurean" contests in places that would be fun to visit. Terrible.... Read more
November 15, 2003
October 19, 2003
In training for the doughnut decathalon.
Arshad drew my attention to an informal and ongoing doughnut-eating contest at our old haunt, Voodoo Doughnuts. If not an art form, Voodoo Doughnut has at least turned doughnut eating into a sport. I never realised that doughnut eating had entered the competitive arena of, say, oyster eating. People really take pride in putting back ridiculous quantities of often-terrible food; I recall the time I was cycling through Wisconsin and one of the friendly hammerheads I was riding with suggested we stop at a pub for lunch. I ended up taking a tshirt away with me from State St. Brats in Madison for having consumed the "Big-Ass Burger" in under 30 minutes (they sat me at the bar with a huge photo timer and a bunch of people watched. In admiration? In disgust?) I have since learned never to eat food requiring me to sign a disclaimer.... Read more
October 1, 2003
40 seconds? But I want it now!
I ate some deep-fried Oreos a few months ago, at Charlie Blair's Grill in Santa Clara, CA. I wandered in to the Grill looking for a burger, since everyone else wanted to get Thai food at some restaurant that a friend-of-a-friend recommended, and I just wanted a nice honest grilled piece of meat. Charlie Blair's was across the street from the shopping plaza with the third-hand Thai, and I stopped in and asked for some wings. As I was about to order the burger, I noticed a sign on the register that read "Try our deep-fried Oreos!" I asked the collegiate-looking young man behind the counter for one, and he said, "We only sell them by the half-dozen." Emboldended, I took the plunge. I walked over to the nearby house where we were meeting with our various foodstuffs -- for an outdoors screening of the Michael Caine version of The Italian Job -- and tried one out on the way. I arrived covered with powdered sugar and wearing a big smile: they were delicious. Everyone at the screening wanted a piece of the Oreos -- battered in funnel-cake mix and then briefly flash-fried. I dashed back to Charlie Blair's and ordered a dozen, but the counter quarterback said that they only had six left. I took 'em, and on the way out met Charlie Blair hisself: a 300+ pound Bostonian who could barely shift from his seat in front of the big-screen TV in order to shake my hand. There's a wire story about the deep-fried action at the Texas State Fair.... Read more
September 24, 2003
Beef: it's what's for dessert!
Wow. Deep-fried cheeseburger sticks. As a snack. For schoolchildren.... Read more
September 17, 2003
Where everyone knows your name!
Stopped in at La Mooné today for the first time in more than a month! That's a sure sigh that things are getting better. Matt made a delicious Milwaukee roll with his signature tempura flakes, and told us that he's still holding down three jobs.... Read more
September 13, 2003
Duct-tape voodoo.
Miss Mona is the name of the duct-tape artist whose art decorates the walls of Voodoo Doughnuts, a crazy little hole-in-the-wall snack-food-junkie purgatory of donut concoctions (and wedding chapel). Stoked with a pint of the best java, I picked up a pastry box with a dozen of their best (including an applesuace donut, but not an Arnold Palmer, the dough of which is made with powdered iced-tea and lemonade mixes.) Their hours, which I strongly suspect to be irregular, are 10 in the pip emma to the same in the ack emma. Wonderful! Perfect for a donuteria.... Read more
September 7, 2003
Oy, this caused a stir.
A Norwegian man has annihilated the world record for eating oysters by downing a stomach-churning 187 of the slippery molluscs in three minutes before polishing off a few pints of Guinness. Read more
September 4, 2003
Where the alphabet starts with Z.
Sitting at the Dopehouse writing code (duh) and half-watching tivo (duh!) and thinking about Sara's cooking (duh!!), and I hear the strains of Tones on Tail's "Go!". It's the backing sound for a commerical. However, since that song was also on the soundtrack to Grosse Pointe Blanke, it's not as surprising as sitting at the counter of Bob's Donuts and hearing a Nissan ad set to "Gravity Rides Everything" by Modest Fuckin Mouse. Do a Google search on "Nissan Modest Mouse" and you'll get a bunch of smart alterna blogs on this same topic.... Read more
September 1, 2003
Special-occasion donuts.
With a name like The Donut Pub, you'd think this place were heaven on earth. In a way, the establishment caters to exactly that notion: they cater wakes as well as weddings. But they don't serve any public-house function: there are only neat trays of deep-fried delicacy along the walls, no taps or casks in sight. No-one carded me as I walked in, nor could I order a "old-fashioned and an old-fashioned". The Donut Pub is also the ill-fated home to the donut croissant, a peculiar deep-fried brioche filled with third-rate jelly -- not at all like the delicious jelly donuts from the Donuts Luncheonette in Park Slope! Those are the most delicious jelly donuts I've ever tasted. I came upon the menu while I was going through the hundreds of old newspapers lying in neat stacks around the apartment, armed with a scissors and a glue stick. I am faced with the formidable task of remembering why I had set aside the paper in the first place. Now I have several dozen clippings which I need to scan, file, or send on to someone else.... Read more
"a belt of fat" theory
A survey of contemporary eating contests, with emphasis on the Fourth of July action at Nathan's on Coney Island, published in the Sunday Magazine of the New York Times. Not only does this bring to mind the "King-Size Homer" episode of The Simpsons ("... it's your window to weight gain!"), this underscores the weird disparity between the U.S. and Japan -- here enormously fat men train to consume more, but are routinely beaten by rail-skinny Japanese contestants. Belt-tightening music.... Read more
August 30, 2003
Diagnosis: delicious!
Thanks to a tip from an unexpected source, I headed over to the right side of the tracks in San Bruno and found Rolling Pin Donuts, a 24-hr extravaganza of donuts, deep-fried dough bars, crullers, and coffee. Aside: Donut Plant? Perhaps the most delicious double-chocolate donnut I've *ever* had. The chocolate was sublime (compare to the Donut Plant in the LES, where the $2 doughnuts are the talk of the town). Oh, and the Lisa The Vegetarian episode of the Simpsons is on (thanks, tivo). It's not just the "Yes, I'm going to marry a carrot" line, nor the "Buenas ding-dong-diddly-dias", not even the sublime "... it's tomato soup served ice-cold" nor the majestic conga of "You don't win friends with salad", it's the whole episode, which happens to be the finest Lisa episode ever.... Read more
