It’s always striking to think about how basic, yet profound some of the world’s most revered dishes are. A croissant isn’t a whole lot more than crescent shaped butter. Well then, you try making one at home. Sushi is fish with rice, whether it’s from a supermarket in Topeka or right next to the seaContinue reading “Restaurants: Azul Condesa, Mexico City”
Category Archives: Cities
Mexico City Bites: Tacos al Pastor at El Huequito
During my food writing days in Los Angeles, I spent many nights driving from taco truck to taco shack to taco truck, across East L.A., near Downtown, and all over Mid-City, sampling often very common renditions of street tacos. Sometimes a lengua taco would stand out, other times it might be a cabeza specialist, orContinue reading “Mexico City Bites: Tacos al Pastor at El Huequito”
The New Café: Where Biking and Jogging Meets Coffee
Not long ago, a coffeehouse was, well, just a coffeehouse. Think “Central Perk” from “Friends.” Think about the coffeehouses that dot university towns, with stressed out students sprawled out on couches and fliers covering every inch of the walls. A coffeehouse was a meeting place and a place for reading. As time went by withContinue reading “The New Café: Where Biking and Jogging Meets Coffee”
Restaurants: Pujol, Mexico City
It’s profound to think about the changes in gastronomy since Escoffier’s 19th Century heyday, an evolution that the master chef himself would probably warm up to over time after expressing initial ghastly disapproval. There are the initial, on-the-surface changes that are very easy to point out: where art thou white tablecloths, tuxedoed waiters, and dinersContinue reading “Restaurants: Pujol, Mexico City”
Mexico City Bites: Churreria El Moro
Churros and chocolate deserve more publicity. They don’t necessarily compliment each other, like say peanut butter and chocolate or red wine and chocolate, because you are combining sugar with more sugar when the churro is dunked into the hot chocolate cup. That’s why in Spain the churro comes usually without sugar. Mexico seems divided betweenContinue reading “Mexico City Bites: Churreria El Moro”
Restaurants: Commonwealth, San Francisco
Perhaps chronicling an evening at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Restaurant turned me into a giddy eight year old again, but I feel like starting with dessert. No, that’s not because a doughnut is the first image diners see upon arriving at the restaurant on a still very edgy stretch of Mission Street, a street in theContinue reading “Restaurants: Commonwealth, San Francisco”
Tasting Notes: New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, CO
“I’ll have a Fat Tire and that IPA from Fat Tire.” I’ve heard that sort of request numerous times from beer drinkers who aren’t even novices to the genre. It’s the craft beer specialty mindset where one specific beer from a brewery achieves such an exalted status that the beer’s name supplants the actual brewery’s.Continue reading “Tasting Notes: New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, CO”
Cocktail of the Week: “Things Done Changed,” The Whey Bar, Portland, OR, Plus Other Portland Cocktail Notes
To close out the Portland reports on this Mardi Gras Tuesday, let’s celebrate with an exceptional riff on the classic Pisco Sour courtesy of the holdover room known as The Whey Bar, at NE Portland’s red hot Argentine-Portland inspired cuisine restaurant, Ox. The “Things Done Changed” is a force, a glowing sunshine hue with aContinue reading “Cocktail of the Week: “Things Done Changed,” The Whey Bar, Portland, OR, Plus Other Portland Cocktail Notes”
Beer of the Week: Gigantic Brewing Co., Gigantic IPA, Portland, OR, Plus Lots More Beer of the Week Quality Beers Abound in Oregon
I had for the longest time been under the impression that Portland, Oregon only boasted some 45 or so breweries, a runaway winner for the title of city with the highest population of breweries in the country. What a fool I was. Now, according to the Oregon Brewers Guild, the Portland metro area is 68Continue reading “Beer of the Week: Gigantic Brewing Co., Gigantic IPA, Portland, OR, Plus Lots More Beer of the Week Quality Beers Abound in Oregon”
Keeping Portland’s Food Unique (And Sometimes Weird)
Which is the “weirder” city between Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas, the two well-known cities that pride themselves on mottos preaching “Keep Portland (or Austin) Weird.”? That’s hard to say. They’re both truly unique cities in their own (sometimes weird) ways. Which city has “weirder” food? Again, spend some time at Portland’s food carts orContinue reading “Keeping Portland’s Food Unique (And Sometimes Weird)”
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