Reviews - - Page 6

by gansie

Golden Bubbly Showers

Editors’ Note: Our newly relocated friend Westcoast, has, as you can guess, finally moved to the West Coast. San Fransisco to be exact. In his first month out there he’s already been tasked with an Endless Simmer assignment. Grueling. Miserable. Terrible. Assignment. Party for Pride. Here’s his story, turned into a drinking game.

Disclaimer: If you are looking for a drinking game (since drinking has become muy popular on ES this summer) you’re in for a Pride 2010 treat! Drink each time you find a gay-themed word (some are sexual, some not and some are disguised as other words, but spelled the same as their naughty cousins).

Second Disclaimer: I am writing this from my new home in San Francisco and you might find some of the content offensive. That sucks for you. [Drink.]

Ok. So San Francisco Pride is kind of a big deal. For a gay, err, queer (have to use the new left coast lingo) young man like myself, coming to San Francisco Pride is like being welcomed home to the mothership. Two years ago Lady Gaga headlined the festival before we even knew what a poker face was or meant. This year the Backstreet Boys are the headlining act. Next year maybe we’ll have Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat (obligatory use of scat complete). Because sometimes moving forward in time is like moving backward in time, to a time you don’t really miss that much (two steps forward…two steps backstreet boys).

Supperclub San Francisco once again invited ES to experience one of its amazing events. If you have never been to a Supperclub (Los Angeles opens soon), I strongly encourage you to consider. It is truly an experience you won’t regret. All of your senses are dazzled at Supperclub…there’s amazing food and drink, a DJ spinning funky thump lounge, a VJ opening up your brain to dramatic, yet artistic visuals and live performance art throughout the night, all culminating in a huge dance party. Oh, and we had a spectacular hostess extraordinaire, Miss Vee, who poured sparkling wine all over herself during a dance number.

This event was billed as an official San Francisco Pride Event and birthday bash for all Geminis. It just so happens that my best friend, who just turned 30 himself, is a Gemini and likes to paint live performers with paint brushes in front of an audience (we all have our fetishes). His arm also makes a nice prop for pictures. Though we weren’t ever completely sure that we were at a pride event, we certainly had a blast. On tap for the night was a surprise four-course dinner created by Executive Chef Daan Jetten and event-specific, yummy drinks. Here’s where the review begins and the blow-by-blow of the food, since we all like to eat out.

by BS

The Great Vegetarian Jerky-Off

Editor’s Note: Our intermittent vegetarian correspondent, Alex, recently took on an epic (and tasty) assignment for ES, with some assistance from her eager crew of med student friends/taste testers.

You learn a lot of important things in medical school, but far and away the most useful skill you attain is the ability to snack like nobody’s business. Studying for finals? Almonds and chocolate-covered espresso beans. Bummed about a quiz? Ice cream and wine. Just a run-of-the-mill study night? Well, technically you’ve already eaten dinner, but popcorn is like basically not food anyway.

Now, being a vegetarian, I had never considered any meaty snacks, but it occurred to me awhile ago that back in my carnivore days, I used to love (LOVE) beef jerky. And heck, they do everything veg now, so it led me to wonder — is there a veg jerky option?

Turns out, yes, holy cow, there are about a zillion. And thus the Great Vegetarian Jerky-Off was born.

Fourteen varieties of faux beef jerky. Several hungry medical students. One night. Some beer.

The setup was highly organized for impartiality: blind taste test, with ES rep BS serving up the samples (and monitoring for legitimacy). Med students were selected for their snacking prowess, jerky expertise and, um, being my friends. Jerkies were supplied by Vegan Dream, Tasty Eats and Primal Strips. (Tofurky tried to help us out too, but unfortunately nobody in the Upper Valley sells Tofurky Jerky. Sorry Tofurky, we tried.)

in Veggie 16 comments

by Russell Warnick

Gelatinous Meat Puree

With all the hype surrounding Top Chef’s arrival in DC I thought I would share my experience at Tom Colicchio‘s newly opened Colicchio & Sons, formerly Craft in NY’s Meatpacking District. As a post-theater treat for my birthday, Deej promised me a dinner of my choosing. I went with Colicchio & Sons as I’m a fan of the chef and figured the timing would be right. And how it was.

As some of you might remember from our meal at José Andrés’ Bazaar, Deej isn’t the most accommodating when it comes to food, so we opted to eat from the dining room menu and not the tasting menu. And because we just love harassing picky eaters, Deej will also provide commentary on our dining experience.

Appetizer

Britannia:
The kitchen was very accommodating: they were more than happy to provide one of the tasting menu dishes as an appetizer — scallops with foie gras terrine, honey turnips and puntarelle. A small portion of each, the scallop and foie gras combined on the fork; it was exactly how it should be. Simply delicious.

Deej:
Simply—not so much. The foie gras was foie gross. The texture was like gelatinous meat puree. It reminded me of that Jell-o—like brown stuff at the top of a dog food can. How do you people actually enjoy this stuff? Seriously!?! The scallop was well cooked but not my thing flavor-wise. So I choked down two bites and gave the rest to Britty-boy.

in Celebs / Restaurants 0 comments

by gansie

Pour Some Sugar On Me

Alton Brown changed my mind about vanilla. Vanilla gets a bad rap, he insisted. We shouldn’t be comparing boring, plain things to vanilla. Vanilla is a unique flavor. It’s extremely labor-intensive to grow, making it the second most expensive spice, after saffron.

Most of us consume food flavored with a vanilla doppelganger in liquid form. That’s not actually vanilla. I’m too lazy at the moment to find my bottle, but I’m guessing there’s HFCS in that little guy. A baker I am not, I will admit to never fiddling with a real bean. But I am a fan of Häagen-Dazs’ new gimmick: real ice cream.

All-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients for incredibly pure, balanced flavor… and surprisingly less fat!

Their “five” has been out for a few months now, but I just recently purchased a pint of their vanilla. I usually go for the crazy ones with multiple flavors going on: brownie chunks with espresso and caramel swirls in cinnamon oatmeal ice cream. Or something like that.

Anyway, HG’s vanilla contains only: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla (vanilla bean flakes, vanilla extract). It’s fucking delicious. It does taste different than other vanillas. It’s bolder. Thicker. It’s familiar, but better than you remember.

But more, I like this trend. Pepsi came out with a “throwback” version featuring, wait for it, real sugar. Mountain Dew is also on the bandwagon. And the version of Coca-Cola sold in Mexico — with sugar — is gaining popularity in the States.

Now it’s not like these are suddenly health drinks, but it is nice to know that the big companies recognize that consumers want the real thing, even if it’s still not all that good for us.

in Desserts / Drinks / Trends 7 comments

by gansie

Feeding a Grease Monster

I have friends (plus baby) coming to town this weekend. It was just the push I needed to finally get to the store this year. Yea, that’s right. I haven’t been food shopping since 2009. 80P and I have been out of town, sick and lazy. I think 80 has grabbed some eggs, cereal and milk, but really – that’s it.

I grabbed some weekend snacks: tortilla chips, ruffled potato chips, avocado, feta and mozzarella. I’ve heard their one year old, Jack, loves polly-o string cheese. All I could find was a chunk of mozz, so I’m hoping if I cut it into cylinders, Jack will dig it.

Also in my cart, with no real reason: plantains, Kabocha squash, cilantro, mangoes, lemons and limes and other canned staples (beans, coconut milk, pickles, olives).

I got home and still had no clue what to make. I turned to The Flavor Bible, checked out mango’s flavor friends, but didn’t have the right ingredients. Making room for that on the shelf I saw a new cookbook – Alicia Silverstone‘s The Kind Diet.

The first few chapters detail the horrendous factory farming practices of our country. I skipped those pages because I’m still struggling to finish Eating Animals, which actually makes me never want to eat anything ever again.

Then a recipe calling for Kabocha squash, and barely any other ingredients, found me. Alicia directed her loving fans to simply boil the peeled and cubed squash (4 cups squash to 3 1/2 cups water), add salt, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10, add more salt, simmer some more, mash til smooth, finish with chopped parsley. Now simple sounds good to me, especially when I have to spend the rest of the night scrubbing the floors for a one year old’s visit.

But a soup only flavored with salt. I have a food blog. I must do better than that. I started off healthful – adding lime juice then crushed red pepper flakes and I subbed cilantro for the parsley. But 80. Oh 80. My grease loving boyfriend. How could he be enticed to sup on soup for dinner?

in Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

by Russell Warnick

Cooking at the Consumer Electronics Show

We can’t let the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas go by unnoticed. We here at ES still choose the iPhone over Google’s entry into the smart phone world, Nexus One, but we’re not for passing up an opportunity to talk about some sexy kitchen toys. I’ve found (from my office desk, not Vegas 🙁 ) the funkiest and perhaps most useless kitchen items to ever grace the earth currently.

MyDemy (above) is to cooks what Kindle is to avid readers: an all in one recipe book, timer, conversion chart and ingredient substitution thingy. It’s “kitchen safe” which basically means you can splash a few drops of water on it and you’ll be fine, just don’t drop it in a pot of boiling oil.

The MyDemy does seem like a great tool for storing all of your personal recipes (if the Kindle were color and had pictures I’d already be an owner of such a device). At $299 the MyDemy seems slightly overpriced considering it appears to only sync with its website Key Ingredient. If I were to really make use of this then I would need to have hundreds of recipes, which I don’t really have. Even if I did, it would take me years to type them all out. Perhaps MyDemy 2.0 will interface with Epicurious and then we’d be good to go.

in Trends 5 comments

by gansie

Honky Tonk Princess

Fuck. So I’m back at work now. But at least I have these so-so photos from my iPhone to remember my looooong road trip from Atlanta to Hartsville to Nashville to Knoxville to Kingsport and back to DC. Let me walk you through my trip, via food, of course.

Toured World of Coca-Cola. (Atlanta)

I learned a few things. Sex in different language sells. Coke’s secret formula has nothing to do with taste. Chile’s Lift is the best soft drink in South America. I paid $45 for 80P, 80P’s Mom and me to be brainwashed into drinking Coke for the rest of our lives. And it was worth it.

Met a top chef. (Atlanta)

Met another top chef. (Atlanta)

Ate Sonic for the first time. (Somewhere off the highway in Monteagle, Tennessee)

Don’t worry. I didn’t eat that enormous chili cheese dog pictured above (80 did!). I try to avoid meat and fast food. Shockingly, though, the mozzarella sticks were awesome. And the black and white shake, even better. Actually, get this.

We all know what a black and white shake is, right? So I wake up drunk on New Years Day, giggle my ass off for an hour, start to feel crappy, head to a diner and try to order a milkshake on my way out. And my fucking server looks at me like I’m insane. She took a triple take. And she goes, “Um, like put them on top of each other?”

What the fuck? What would that even mean? I clearly did not order a milkshake from that establishment.

in Drinks / Holiday / Personal / Photos 8 comments