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by BS

Swallowing the Bone

I’m not known for leaving food on my plate. Or, when it comes to meat, on the bone. Whether it’s a fried chicken drumstick or a hearty pork chop, I can always be counted on to clean those bones clean before sending them back to the kitchen. But apparently, this is no longer good enough. Now you’ve got to eat the bones, too.

Not sure how many of you made it all the way to the end of our most recent epic comment of the week, in which reader Niki suggested this fun, very un-veggie snack:

ALSO, If this is something that interests you, some good fish bones fried are equally delicious! Find a good quality fish and clean/filet it. Leave some meat on the bones, then fry it as you would the shrimp! Mmmm…

I might not have given this a second thought, except that it happened to be the second time in a few weeks that I heard mention of chowing on fried fish bones. A recent edition of Tasting Table NYC noted that fried fish bones are posed to become the city’s latest haute snack du jour:

by gansie

Patrons Shouldn’t Have This Much Power

Tiring of kimchi, the fiery fermented cabbage side dish that is served at every single meal in Korea, we decided to try another cuisine on one of our last nights in Seoul. We thought Thai would be a good choice: how does one Asian country create another Asian country’s food?

Dilemma ensued. When trying something familiar in a new setting, does one (a) choose something they’ve never had before, something one cannot get in her country of dwelling or (b) choose a favorite dish to see how it differs? I choose (a) and 80 choose (b).

At Pattaya I didn’t love my super spicy (did they sneak kimchi in there!) vegetable-packed noodle dish (the fettuccine looking noodles were flavorless, which is an uncommon occurrence compared to the rest of my meals in Japan and Korea), but 80’s red curry was creamy with an appropriate amount of heat. I should have went with my fav, Pad See Ew!

Because we took such a long time deciding, the waitress dropped off our drinks (Soju!) and then never came back for the rest of the order. It was late and all of the other tables had eaten, which we found to be the case most nights. We didn’t find a place for dinner until after 8:30 or later and I think every night we were the last to order. Guess they haven’t been to Barcelona.

Anyway, we were waiting and waiting and then I see this granite looking block on our table. It’s not a salt shaker. It has Korean writing on it and then says the word “Mic” over a button.

Are we mic-ed? Can they hear our conversation about the slow service? Should we push the button?

in Food Travel / Restaurants / Trends 1 comments

by gansie

The 1-2-3s of Veggies

“What are you watching?” my sister asked as I painted my nails sitting on the carpet of my parents’ living room floor.

“Stay,” I said, “Mom saved the Oprah with Michael Pollan. He’s the dude who wrote the book that I’m making dad read.”

And that’s all it took.

My sister watched in horror as chickens, so burdened, so physically burdened, with the weight of their unnaturally large breasts, that they could only crank out a few steps before collapsing. She stopped eating meat after that. It’s been just over a month now. And she has no idea what to eat.

in Personal / Trends / Veggie 4 comments

by Roo de Loo

Texas Tuesdays, Part II: Who You Callin’ Trailer Trash?

Photos: Matthew Wexler

I like to sit down at a proper table when I eat. And after closing the door on fifteen years in the restaurant industry, I like to be served. Sometimes I feel the phantom pain in my side when I see a defeated waiter struggling to get through a shift—but for the most part, I’m just happy it’s not me. So the thought of traipsing through sweltering downtown Austin like my ancestors crossing the Egyptian desert with matzoh in their pants made me wary. I imagined when I set off on a food trailer crawl that I might be disappointed with greasy funnel cakes and toxic yellow lemonade. And where would I pee? What I stumbled upon is an entire subculture of dedicated food artisans leaving their tire tracks all over town.

photos: Matthew Wexler

Chasing Chi’Lantro

One of the newest additions to the food trailer scene is Chi’Lantro, a name derived from two cultural staples: kimchi and cilantro. The fusion of Korean and Mexican food had me all a Twitter, which is a good thing because it’s the only way you can track this trailer down. With locations that vary like the changing winds, I have to credit a friend’s i-phone for my spicy pork taco with Korean soy vinaigrette salad and salsa roja. I can’t get too attached though, as this newcomer is already revamping their menu along with their ever-changing locale.

Holding the Torch

Torchy’s Tacos is a benchmark of Austin’s food trailer scene. They are “living the taco dream” by serving up an array of tortilla-stuffed concoctions—from classic breakfast tacos to more daring fare like The Brushfire, filled with Jamaican jerk chicken, grilled jalapeños and diablo sauce. Founder and Executive Chef Michael Rypka mortgaged his house and maxed out a couple of credits cards in pursuit of the perfect taco. And it’s paid off. The homemade salsas were a knockout, and I have to give the guy a hats off for continuing to locally source the majority of their products and meats.

in Food Travel / Trends 5 comments

by gansie

How Not to Eat Ice Cream Every 15 Minutes

I woke up and kept my pajamas on. I peed. Didn’t brush my teeth. Started the computer and scanned work emails. I thought about how much energy it would take to boil water for my french press coffee. I decided against that task. I checked more emails and then let the IT dude in. He was sweating. It was gross. But I let him into my bedroom anyway. He left an hour and a half later and there it was. My new virtual office. In my bedroom.

I am now a full time virtual worker. In an effort to save money and save the environment, okay, really save money, we’ve gotten rid of our downtown DC offices and instead will advocate for working women within our respective bedrooms. Or however my coworkers have set up their offices.

What makes me really excited about this development is not just the ability to remain in a tshirt and sweats all day, but to create real time lunches. I will never again have to figure out the next day’s meal the night before. I could actually probably throw out half my tupperware collection. Although I probably won’t because I have an addiction to things.

Anyway, lunch was great today. I warmed up leftovers from last night’s dinner, potato, greens and ricotta broiler eggs, and juggled it on top of a pocketless pita schmeared with sun dried tomato cream cheese.

Real quick.

Fucking A. So when 80 and I were trying to get the hell out of NYC on Sunday—which took, I shit you not, an hour and a half, mostly because of this bullshit bicycle thing in all 25 boroughs and then the fact that we thought instead of leaving directly from Manhattan to one of the tunnels we worked our way into Brooklyn to try to jump on the BQE and yes, BS, I called you but maybe you weren’t back from Sri Lanka yet—we found an awesome bagel place.

Shocking it is not.

But I know bagels. Okay. I know bagels. And these were maybe the best bagels I’ve ever had. Soft and chewy and large. Full and lush. Lots of soft interior.

After about an hour of driving around NYC (and staring opening mouthed at the Hasidic Jews—they all wear the same clothes, it’s crazy) I begged 80 to stop for breakfast. We decided whatever we saw first–bagels or pizza–we’d jump out and grab it for the road. And actually, we saw a pizza place first but it was still closed (as it was only 11am) so luckily Brownstone Bagel & Bread Co was right across the street. We both got egg sandwiches (real egg!) on bagels and I also got another bagel for the road.

I let 80 pick one of their in-house “whipped” cream cheeses to go and he selected sun dried tomato. He hates tomatoes.

in Breakfast / Personal / Trends 14 comments

by gansie

Why Organic May or May Not Be the Answer

While my dad likes to cook, he likes to make things easy on himself. For instance, he’ll take one night and make it a total marathon in the kitchen so he doesn’t have to cook every night the rest for of the week. Totally normal. I get that. I do it too. Everyone does. It makes sense.

But then there’s the pre-chopped, double vacuum sealed, organic garlic from China.

Organic is good, right? We want to ingest food that has not been grown with chemicals. It’s the right thing. It’s better for our body. It’s better for our planet. And usually we can buy this type of food from a local source. But then there’s the organic from half way around the world.

My dad is starting to climb that local food hill and is well into Omnivore’s Dilemma, but still cares more about not having to peel garlic cloves. So he buys garlic cloves that have been peeled, packed in a plastic wrap in groups of four, then packaged in a larger plastic bag. A lot of plastic. A lot of waste. But it’s still organic. Yet it’s been shipped from China. But it’s still organic.

What the fuck are we supposed to do?

in Trends 6 comments

by gansie

A Famine of Fashion

Editors Note: The Endless Simmer inbox is the recipient of mostly press releases, a lot of product offers and once in a while, something really funky. I had absolutely no idea what an interactive fashion show dubbed Avante Garde Supperchic would be like, but I knew I needed someone to check it out. The early April event took place in San Francisco so I invited ES fan Mariah Carey to attend on our behalf. She convinced her friend, who we’ll call interWEBBz, to go with and write it up. Here’s her take on this trial of fashion and food.

“It’s a Famine of Fashion. A FAMINE OF FASHION.”

I’ll be honest, there was no shortage of fashion or lack of food, but whenever there is an opportunity to paraphrase André Leon Talley, my fellow lover of all things cuisine and couture, I can exhibit no self-control.

When this San Franciscan thinks of San Francisco, three things instantly come to mind:

An abundance of restaurants with delicious (albeit sometimes pretentious) food
Fashion-forward designers and last but CERTAINLY not least
The likelihood that you will be out-dressed (and all around out-done) by the gays

Sure, some who’ve never been here might be inclined to say the Golden Gate Bridge, Trolley Cars and Nancy Pelosi. Other San Franciscans may say GoCars, Bay to Breakers or Mission Hipsters at Dolores Park on a sunny day. But the above three constant sources of inspirations in my life converged at the “Avant Garde Supperchic” interactive event at Supperclub.

I thought the bed in bars thing was over the second Carrie Bradshaw and her crew drank champagne while laying on sheets, but I guess not. Upon entering this fashion and food event, I was escorted to a roman-style bed by a woman with rhinestone nipple tassels (see first picture, left). My lord, I thought, the evening could only go up from there.

in Restaurants / Trends 3 comments