Brainwidth » Food & Drink

Huckabee Loves Bad Chain Restaurants

Dan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:50:42 +0000

Add this to the list of reasons not to vote for Mike Huckabee: “Six weeks ago, I met Huckabee for lunch at an Olive Garden restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. (I had offered to take him anywhere he wanted and then vetoed his first choice, T.G.I. Friday’s.)” Of all the places he could eat in Manhattan, he wanted Olive Garden?! From the NYT Magazine’s profile of Huckabee, which actually contains a plethora of reasons I couldn’t vote for him.

That’s a Lot of Fowl

Dan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:30:36 +0000

If you thought the turducken was impressive, check out this roast containing 48 birds of 12 different species. It serves 125 and takes 8 hours to cook.

Gaffigan on Bacon

Dan — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:55:03 +0000

Mmm … cheese.

Dan — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:53:56 +0000

The Big Cheese. Matthew Rubiner, a Massachusetts cheesemonger and a judge in this year’s American Cheese Society competition, describes the growth of the American artisanal cheese market.

A Trio of Bacon Links

Dan — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:48:17 +0000

Bacon chocolate chip cookies with maple cinnamon glaze, breakfast cookies with bacon, and maple bacon cupcakes with maple frosting.

Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

Dan — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:39:24 +0000

The NYT Well Blog has a short post on five easy ways to start eating organic food: milk, potatoes, peanut butter, ketchup, and apples. The list is based on a slightly longer list from Dr. Alan Greene. Dr. Greene’s list also includes organic baby food, cotton, beef, soy, corn, and as a bonus, organic wine. The NYT seems focused on those foods to which it would be easy to switch. As Dr. Greene points out, though, switching to organic corn and soy would be virtually impossible without going completely organic.

I was surprised by the amount of pesticide in some of the non-organic foods. For example, a USDA study showed that approximately 80% of the non-organic potato samples tested contained pesticides, even after being peeled and cleaned. That’s not so good.

Mmm … Breakfast

Dan — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:57:28 +0000

Do you look like your breakfast? Photos by Jon Huck. Some of these look pretty good.

Dreams of Salumi

Dan — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 21:46:10 +0000

In a recent post, I noted a New York Times article on Salumi, the Seattle establishment operated by Mario Batali’s father, and known nationwide for it’s cured Italian meats. I have since learned that my brother Isaac was fortunate enough to eat there a few times while in Seattle on business, and even ran into Tony Bourdain on his second trip.

The Tasting Menu has some beautiful pictures from Salumi. Who could resist this plate of cured meats and cheeses, or these sandwiches? Salumi will also ship your selections to you, so I may have to give that a try if I can’t make it out to Seattle any time soon.

Here’s a round up of articles on Salumi:

Beer Review: Pumpkinhead Ale

Dan — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:40:31 +0000

It’s almost fall, so the breweries are starting to send out their selections for the season. From Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, comes Pumpkinhead Ale. Pumpkinhead is a wheat beer, and so is light and crisp, with little bitterness or aftertaste. Shipyard brews Pumpkinhead with what it calls “hints” of cinnamon and nutmeg. The cinnamon and nutmeg are, however, easily the strongest flavors in the beer, and make an immediate impression on your palate. The yeastiness of the beer mixes well with the spice flavors, and make Pumpkinhead taste like, more than anything else, a slice of pumpkin bread. The sweet and spicy flavors make it a great dessert beer, but the flavors don’t blend that well with many foods. We had fajitas last night, for example, and Pumpkinhead and flank steak are not a match made in heaven. As a result, despite its great flavor, the beer isn’t that versatile. Pumpkinhead is a great seasonal selection with an interesting flavor, but not the kind of beer you could drink with meals or on a regular basis. 3/5

New New Orleans, a Little Closer to Home

Dan — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 19:01:37 +0000

The New York Times recently had an article on River Ranch, a development here in Lafayette about five minutes down the road from where we are living now. River Ranch is not merely inspired by New Orleans, it is an intentional effort to duplicate many of New Orleans’ desirable and distinctive features. As the Times notes, River Ranch has “Garden District-style mansions in a neighborhood named the Garden District, and blocks full of Creole cottages, lush courtyards and lacy ironwork.” The Times also quotes several residents and New Orleans evacuees, and as could probably be expected, the reaction is mixed.

River Ranch is an example of the so-called New Urbanism design school, which promotes dense residential housing mixed with green public space and walkable commercial developments. The Times article notes some criticism of New Urbanism, but I’d be happy to live in such a community. One of the big downsides to living in a city like Houston is the lack of livable mixed-use neighborhoods. I’m looking forward to living in Fall Creek, but there’s certainly no restaurants or shopping within walking distance of our new house. Houston is a lot like Los Angeles; Houstonians love their cars. I guess it’s no wonder that Houston is consistently ranked as one of the fattest cities in America.

When we moved to Lafayette, we looked at apartments in River Ranch, but weren’t particularly impressed. The focus of the development has obviously been on the single-family houses built there, and the apartments have been compressed into a couple of building surrounding a parking lot. The houses built in the community looked more desirable, but I was struck by how odd the neighborhoods felt when we drove through them. It certainly didn’t feel like New Orleans; it seemed to me something more like a Disney-fied version of New Orleans. It’s the architectural equivalent of the uncanny valley. Indeed, the restaurants that are found in River Ranch drive the point home. There aren’t any local cajun or creole restaurants; instead, River Ranch has a Carrabba’s and a Bonefish. River Ranch isn’t so much a neighborhood as it is a franchise.