Happy Halloween, everyone!

"Sex. Coffee. Two things we can't seem to live without."

"The Coffee Wars Get Recaffeinated"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickhanlon/2011/10/26/the-coffee-wars-get-recaffeinated/

Interesting Forbes article on the coffee wars -- I love the last line which is the title of this blog entry.
Personally, I still love Starbucks as my 'third place,' but then again, there aren't any other options other than Dunkin' Donuts here in town (which is so sterile and uncomfortable to me).

Another Souffle Success!

Woohoo!!!  Another souffle success!  We made Gruyere and Parmesan Cheese Souffles for dinner last night.  Had a simple greens & tomato salad with red wine/olive oil/shallot/salt/pepper dressing and a bottle of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Karia Chardonnay.  I am now confident that I can make souffles for guests.  Who wants to come over for dinner?  : )

I made half of this recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Gruyere-and-Parmesan-Cheese-Souffle-103223

I love beets; and my first souffle ever!

I went through the Nov's Food and Wine Magazine and saw the recipe for Roasted Beets & Carrots with Goat Cheese Dressing.  We made it last night with steak & frites and will definitely make it again!  We cut the recipe by half and also skipped step 4 since I didn't want to eat the beet tops.  I love beets.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-beets-and-carrots-with-goat-cheese-dressing

For dessert, I wanted to try my hand at making a souffle.  It was success, and my souffles rose!!!!  So exciting.  We did a quarter of the recipe for this one since I only wanted to make 2. 
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Warm-Milk-Chocolate-Souffles-with-Vanilla-Ice-Cream-107329

Tonight, I'm going to make a Parmesan & Gruyere Souffle.  Yummy!

If you're in Denver, check out 2 places

Just got back from Denver, and I have 2 places that I'd HIGHLY recommend going to.

For Late Night Drinks
The first is Green Russell which was recommended to me.  It's in Larimer Square, and is a little hard to find because it's down a corridor and then down some stairs.  Thank goodness I asked the hostess exactly where it was when I made a reservation (reservations are a must to get in) because I think it'd would've taken us some time to find the place. We went down the stairs and thought we were in the wrong place because there wasn't any signage with the 'Green Russell' anywhere.  We almost went back up to make sure we were in the right place until the hostess came and got us.  She took us through a swinging 'pie shop' door and led us into a super cool, dark, Prohibition-feel underground SPEAKEASY! 

I wish I could've taken photos, but cell phones were only allowed in a phone booth.  The bartenders all dressed in Prohibition-era wear and were extremely skilled.  While there were a number of cool drinks ~ mainly brown spirits based on the menu, the server said that we could talk to the bartender who would concoct a drink based on our preferences.  A couple of people with me did this and enjoyed their drinks so much so that they ordered another.  I ordered a drink that had chartreuse, lime juice, bitters, gin (or maybe it was vodka), ginger beer, alldram spice, and some other things I wasn't familiar with.  It was amazing. . . had all of my favorite things in it (ginger, lime, and spice).  The ice in my drink was a ball that they had chipped from a large block of ice.

We also ordered a slice of banana pie which they're known for which was delish.

By the way, the restaurant is named after William Green Russell, a Colorado gold miner from the 1850s.

For Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner
For breakfast, lunch or dinner, check out Panzano at the Hotel Monaco (a Kimpton hotel) downtown.  It was the 'perfect restaurant' -- hip and trendy but very comfortable and not pretentious; and the service and food were amazing.  Wish there was a restaurant like that near where we live.  It was an interesting layout with the bar on one side, the open kitchen in the middle with some tables in front of it, and then the rest of the dining room with another open kitchen on the other side.  While I only went for breakfast twice, the food was great.  They serve organic and locally sourced food. 

Their website says:
Named one of "America's Top Restaurants 2011" by Zagat, given "4 Stars" by 5280 magazine and called "Best Italian Restaurant" by Denver Westword, the awards and accolades are ever-growing for Panzano and Chef Elise Wiggins. And it's no wonder Denver loves Panzano's fine dining. Northern Italian dishes show contemporary flair, showcasing local ingredients while award-winning wines from Italy and beyond grace the wine list. Signature cocktails shine and savvy service prevails in the lively dining room.




The interior from where I was sitting.

 



Goat cheese, pepper, onion omelette
w/hash browns, fresh-squeezed
grapefruit juice, Lavazza cappuccino



Granola, yogurt and fresh berry parfait,
spicy AMAZING sausage that I couldn't stop eating,
 fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, Lavazza coffee

 



There's a job for everything. . .

Here’s a fascinating article about how food commercials are produced. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/business/in-food-commercials-flying-doughnuts-and-big-budgets.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

I’ve never been to a TV food shoot, but food photography shoots are NOT glamorous at all.  It’s like, as my boss would say, “watching paint dry” – it would take at least 2 hours per shot.

If you read this article (again, I’d highly recommend it), read it to the end – they interview a guy who builds food-tossing devices.  There’s job for everything. . .

Recipe for a Crab or Ahi Tuna Rice Tower?

For dinner this evening, we made the Crab & Lemongrass Jasmine Rice Tower from the Mahatma Rice website.  I mean, it was fine but not absolutely amazing.  I felt like it was missing an ingredient especially in the gazpacho. 
Does anyone have an amazing rice tower recipe that they could share?

Crab Part:  crabmeat, evoo, s & p
Rice:  Rice, rice wine vinegar, evoo, lemongrass (which we didn't use)
Avocado Salsa:  jalapeno, lime juice, avocado, cilantro, s & p
Gazpacho:  tomatoes, onion, garlic, cucumber, s & p

$1,250 Lunch for Two in London: Welcome to the French Laundry

The French Laundry at Harrods, which opened on Saturday and lasts just 10 days, might politely be described as a phenomenon. Hundreds are on the waiting list each day at this pop-up restaurant, the managers say, undeterred by a price tag of $387 per person, plus service and wine.

http://frenchlaundry.harrods.com/

Here's the article about what we're missing out on:

$1,250 Lunch for Two in London: Welcome to the French Laundry

By Richard Vines

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg)

The French Laundry at Harrods, which opened on Saturday and lasts just 10 days, might politely be described as a phenomenon.

Hundreds are on the waiting list each day at this pop-up restaurant, the managers say, undeterred by a price tag of 250 pounds ($387) per person, plus service and wine. Throw in a generous serving of matching wines and your lunch bill for two may reach 805 pounds -- or $1,250 -- as mine did.

What do you get for your money? Ten courses of exquisite food prepared by Thomas Keller, one of the world’s most respected chefs. He’s brought over about 15 members of his team from the French Laundry, in Yountville, California. If you’re familiar with his U.S. restaurants, you may spot staffers from Per Se, in New York, and from the various Bouchon outlets.

Harrods has constructed a special dining room on the fourth floor, with a version of the facade of the French Laundry. Diners eat from tableware that has also made the trip from the U.S., as have many of the ingredients. A booklet distributed to customers lists the suppliers, from Sterling Caviar of Sacramento, California, to the Chef’s Garden, of Huron, Ohio.

It feels as though no expense has been spared, as you might expect at these prices. The restaurant conducted three practice services -- for friends and family, chefs and journalists -- before opening to the public on Oct. 1. I attended one of these meals on the night before the opening (for which diners weren’t charged) and lunch on the first day, for which I paid.

Hartnett, Perry-Lang

(I went along for the latter meal with chef Angela Hartnett and was impressed both with the dishes Keller sent out for her to try and with the fact he varied my menu so I wouldn’t eat all the same things twice. I went to the preview with Adam Perry Lang, who is Jamie Oliver’s partner at Barbecoa. Both chefs commented repeatedly on the quality of the cooking.)

The service was immaculate from start to finish, as if the French Laundry at Harrods had been running for years, the food brilliant. Keller, 55, was there in the kitchen, checking every dish -- I went in to take a look -- and only emerged into the dining room when everyone had been served.

The menu features several classic Keller concoctions, my favorite of which is Oysters and Pearls: a sabayon of pearl tapioca with oyster juice is served with Maldon oysters and Sterling White Sturgeon caviar. It’s creamy and smoky and rich.

The menu alternates between indulgent treats and lighter dishes, such as the salad of Hawaiian hearts of peach palm, which contains Medjool date, young coconut, French Laundry garden carrots, red radish, and candied pili nuts.

Miniature Perfection

While this might not sound light -- it even contains a hint of Madras curry -- the radish is the smallest I have ever seen, about the size of a baby’s fingernail, the carrot is shaved as thin as an ungenerous chef’s white truffle. The elements are tiny, the whole harmonious as a barbershop quartet. It’s perfection in miniature: bonsai gastronomy.

Other standouts include Poularde en Brioche, with Moulard duck foie gras, warm Sauternes jelly, Tokyo turnips, green apples and Perigord truffle coulis. A few of the courses play on classic dishes, such as chowder (with Sacramento River sturgeon, razor clams and sweet corn) and a peanut-butter dessert.

The dishes are imaginative without being pretentious and amusing without being silly. Their beauty is striking and the cooking of every element is faultless. Only a couple of ingredients detract from the perfection of the whole: the Maine lobster is an advertisement for the flavor of its Scottish cousin and the beauty of the beef (with black trumpet mushrooms, pumpkin and fennel) was mainly in the seasoning.

Michelin Stars

Keller is an outstanding and original chef who deserves all seven of the Michelin stars he holds, including three for the French Laundry, which won the World’s Best Restaurant title in 2003 and 2004. The pop-up is a triumph for him and for Harrods.

It’s an event that will be talked about in the culinary world for years to come. Eating there is like getting a ticket for the 100 Meters in the Olympic Games. (You can pay 725 pounds for that final in London.)

In that sense, dining there isn’t about the cost, and if you want to go and can afford it and can get a reservation, you should go. But it is a pop-up and it just whetted my appetite for a first visit to the mothership in California.

French Laundry at Harrods, 4th Floor, 87-135 Brompton Road Knightsbridge, Greater London SW1X 7XL. Harrods store inquiries: +44-20-7730-1234, http://www.harrods.com/.

The Bloomberg Questions

- Cost? 250 pounds.

- Sound level? Hushed, 65 decibels.

- Inside tip? Take your bank manager.

- Special feature? It’s the French Laundry.

- Will I be back? Sadly no.

- Date place? It’s a place to propose.

- Rating? ***1/2.

Sound-Level Chart (in decibels): 65-70: Office noise. 70- 75: Starbucks. 75-80: London street. 80-85: Alarm clock at closest range. 85-90: Passing bus. 85-95: Tube train.

(Richard Vines is the chief food critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. He is U.K. and Ireland chairman of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. Opinions expressed are his own.)

--Editors: Mark Beech, Jim Ruane.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-03/-1-250-lunch-for-two-in-london-welcome-to-the-french-laundry.html

Starbucks Tee's for $85

Everyone who knows me knows that I love Starbucks, but I don't think I'm going to be purchasing the t-shirts they're selling for $85?!

To celebrate their 40 years in the coffee business, you can purchase trendy t-shirts by up-and-coming designers Alexander Wang, Sophie Theallet, and Billy Reid, the recipients of the past three annual CFDA/VOGUE FASHION FUND awards.

http://www.starbucksstore.com/apparel/apparel,default,sc.html

$85 is a bit much and can buy me at least 17 drinks at Starbucks.

Don't sit on my couch. . . I mean, cake!

Have you seen this couch before?  It's the Barcelona Couch by Mies van der Rohe.  You can buy the non-cake version of it at Design Within Reach (http://www.dwr.com/) on sale now for $7,527 (previously $8,856).

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1869), a German architect, is widely regarded as a pioneer of modern architecture.  Many of his iconic buildings are in Illinois like the Farnsworth House, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the Seagram Building and 860-880 Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago.  He also designed 2 buildings for the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX.