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liam

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Posts posted by liam

  1. I'm about to get stuck traveling here every other week for the next few months.

    Other than Mo's Steakhouse, are there any places worth eating at? I hate to think I'm going to land up getting dragged by colleages to Olive Garden every week...

    I'm in Madison now and have been over to Milwaukee a handful of times. I've heard some good things about Roots lately and my wife and I are going to eat at Bacchus--a restaurant in the Bartolotta empire--for the first time next month. Last fall we had an excellent meal at Cempazuchi, a Mexican restaurant with Oaxacan leanings. One of the house specialities is fried grasshoppers, which we ate in tortillas with chocolate mole. Cempazuchi also has some terrific margaritas.

    For what it's worth, here are a few other Milwaukee resources:

    Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel top restaurants

    Milwaukee Public Market

  2. One word: Longbranch.

    Go now.

    Indeed.

    Sara and I ate dinner at Longbranch--located in Abita Springs, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain--in mid-March. It was the best meal of our trip to NOLA, although we also ate very well at August, Jacques-Imo's, Drago's, Felix's Uptown, and Herbsaint.

    Allison and Slade are doing something special at Longbranch, bringing it home from appetizer to dessert. Longbranch's wine list is also reasonably priced and well thought, with a heavy nod toward Europe.

    I rarely get excited by a salad, but Longbranch's current one is beautifully done. The foie gras appetizer may be the best one I've ever eaten. And the flavors in the perfectly cooked beef filet were in perfect unison.

    Here is Longbranch's current menu--not including desserts which should not be overlooked.

    Appetizers

    Oyster Rockefeller "Deconstructed" -14-

    Pan Roasted Sweetbreads, Truffle Grits, Glazed Bacon Lardons -13-

    Covington Market Lettuces, Organic Sprouts, Louisiana Meyer Lemonette -8-

    Salt Cured Foie Gras, Louisiana Strawberry Jam, Warm Country Biscuit -18-

    White Asparagus Soup, Asparagus Marmalade, Louisiana Crawfish -12-

    Blue Crab Stuffed Tomato, Creole Remoulade, Avocado Mousse -15-

    Entrees

    Smoked Pepper Dusted Filet of Beef, Parsley Potato Confit, Shallot Sauce -30-

    Filo Crusted Dover Sole, Fondue of Carrots and Leeks, Sweet Red Pepper Jus -32-

    Wild Striped Bass, Caramelized Artichokes, Tomato Confit, Spicy Lobster Sauce -26-

    Poached Foie Gras Stuffed Duck Breast, Scallions, Toasted Quinoa, Hibiscus Syrup -29-

    Rabbit Saddle "AU Boudin", Cabbage Choucroute, Creole Mustard Jus -28-

    Here's a link to a recent Times-Picayune review.

    And here's a photo of the restaurant:

    post-310-1143781183_thumb.jpg

  3. So...

    If I have like one or two places to go, knowing my taste for Palena and less so for molecules, where do I go? Also, I know about steak places, so I mean beyond those.

    And what's with this Pop?  Champagne bar? Curious.

    I just relocated to the Midwest from DC last fall. Palena was one of my favorite places there.

    I'd suggest North Pond in Chicago's Lincoln Park. My wife and I had a fabulous dinner there last New Year's. Stellar wine list as well. Shawn McClain's Spring and Green Zebra would be worth considering as well.

  4. Dean-- have you googled the guy's name? Perhaps he has a website selling duck calls. :lol:

    Now, that is funny. :P Someone should start a website featuring a "customer wall of shame". If catcalls.com is taken, perhaps duckcalls.com is available!

    But, seriously, kudos to the restauranteur who stands up to such heathens. I recognize the potential word-of-mouth risk that a restauranteur faces if these louts tell all their friends or post on a web site not to visit Establishment X. The recent Corduroy experience is telling. However, I'll do whatever I can to recognize an owner or manager who draws a line in the sand about behavior like this.

  5. While in town to visit my wife's family for Thanksgiving, we stopped in at Oyamel for a delicious dinner on Friday evening.

    First of all, the special Mezcal margaritas were awesome. The chili salt on the rims of the glasses gave the drinks a zip that accompanied the tequila splendidly.

    With another couple, Sara and I shared about 10 different dishes, including the guacamole made table-side. Highlights of the meal were definitely Ceviche de Huachinango - Red snapper "ceviche" served "Veracruz style" - and the Carnitas "Cristina la Guera" . I also really enjoyed the Nopalitos - Young cactus leaves with tomatoes, prickly pear dressing and micro cilantro. Also excellent were the Papas al mole - José Andrés' favorite fried potatoes with almonds, spices, Mexican chile sauce and cotija cheese - and the plaintain fritters.

    There really were no misses as part of this meal, and Steve Klc's fabulous desserts capped it off. Among the four of us, we shared three -- the warm chocolate cake, the tres leches cake, and the milk chocolate flan. The cake was very good but the latter two desserts stole the cake! tongue.gif Fabulous!

    I'll be back.

  6. Joe,

    The 2001 and 2002 German riesling vintages certainly were spectacular. Fortunately, we've squirreled several bottles away in our basement, including a few picked up at a recent end of bin sale here in Madison, WI.

    I'd be interested to hear your opinion about the 2003 and 2004 German vintages, particularly in Mosel and Pfalz. Any great values out there that folks in the DC area should pounce on?

  7. Greetings from Madison, Weeez-consin

    After a year away from DC, I have to say that I miss the mild DC winters, I think cheese curds are OK, but the custard here is amazing. Culver's and Michael's are among the biggest names in custard in the Madison area. Kopp's is a big name over in the Milwaukee area. Michael's is my fav--and you can even buy pints in local grocery stores. A good thing about Culver's are its butter burgers.

    Here's a nice Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story from 2001 about That Custard Place in Del Rey (nee the Dreamery): http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/people/a...rd19081601a.asp

    Then there's that whole Wisconsin Friday fish fry thang... if you ever find yourself in Madison, stop by the Avenue Bar and you'll see what I mean.

    Happy custard-eating people!!!

  8. I wanna go to Vancouver, by golly!  That looks goooood.

    Edible Vancouver recently changed its name to Edible British Columbia. They did a really terrific job for us--planned everything including hotel/b&b accomodations, restaurant (including chef's table) reservations, rental car, and ferry reservations. And they provided us with a customized itinerary, including a private tour of Richmond--a huge Chinese community outside of Vancouver--with a local food writer.

  9. I'm unsure if you need to be a subscriber to Wine Spectator or not to access older articles. Nonetheless, WS featured "the great cork debate" in its March 31, 2005 issue.

    According to one of the WS articles in this issue, the culprit is the chemical trichloroanisole (TCA) which can taint cork. "At low levels, the chemical, one of the most powerful odorants in nature, mutes a wine’s fruit flavors; in higher concentrations, it imparts offensive mustiness. Depending on the taster, TCA can detract from wine quality at concentrations as low as 1 part per trillion."

    WS says estimates "vary widely." Between 1 and 15 percent of corks are tainted with TCA, according to WS.

  10. We had a great meal at Vij, the long-standing Indian restaurant.  I'm no expert on Indian cuisine, but I thought everything was very tasty and flavorful, plus the dishes were not the standard Indian fare at all.  The service was very pleasant.  Vij himself makes the rounds.  They do not take reservations, but you can wait outside in this nice Zen-like space with ponds.  Servers come out with plates of little appetizers while you wait.  Alternatively, there is a bar area in the back with comfy, lounge-like seating.

    I second the Vij's recommendation. I was in Vancouver and Vancouver Island for my honeymoon in June. We ate at Vij's our first night in town. We waited over two hours for a table on a Saturday night, but make great friends with some locals in the bar area in the back. They ended up buying our dinner & drinks. Incredible - but the people of British Columbia were wonderfully nice our entire trip, even when we didn't tell folks we were on our honeymoon.

    Another stellar meal we had was at West. Now, we did sit at the Chef's Table and eat a seven-course dinner complete with wine pairings and a most amazing cheese course. But we'd return in an instant. The restaurant has a very modern, cool design scheme, a high ceiling, complete with deep colors and replete with wooden wine racks along one wall. Vancouver Magazine just named West its "restaurant of the year."

    For a real coffee-shop style sushi restaurant (and a gorgeous view back to downtown and the mountains to the city's north), you must also consider Tojo's.

    Richmond, a bustling city just to Vancouver's south, near the airport, is heavily populated by Canadians of Chinese ancestry, and is replete with many restaurants. We took a tour of the city with a local food critic and sample some dim-sum and other delicacies from a variety of food vendors and small cafes. Richmond also hosts a Hong Kong-style night market on Saturday evenings which is an experience undo itself.

    Finally, I must pay kudos to Eric Pateman's outfit called Edible Vancouver, soon to be renamed Edible British Columbia, which planned our entire honeymoon for us. It caters to culinary travelers who want a unique food experience while visiting British Columbia.

    If I get around to it, I'll try to post a few photos from our trip.

  11. I had dinner in the bistro section at Bouchon back in late April. The price are much more reasonable than the restaurant itself. I highly recommend the bowl of mussels. They provide plenty of bread with which to sop up every last bit of broth!

    The September edition of Bob Appetit includes Bouchon's mussels recipe. It also includes a heart-renching feature on New Orleans restaurants. God, I hope those places survive. :lol:

    The September articles are not online yet, but here's a link to that issue's table of contents--Bon Appetit: http://www.epicurious.com/bonappetit/toc/toc

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