spark-a review

for my 45th birthday we tried a new restaurant, spark. the setting was slick and clean, the plating was well thought out and hte flavors were wonderfully stated. where spark fell short was in the service, one in our group had their food arrive cold and had their comment to this affect completely ignored by the server, and the cost/serving size ratio was out of balance. Aesthetics, in visual presentation and flavors, could not counter balance the poor service or 'sparce' servings. $9 for an appetizer of one scallop, my beet salad (seen below) was also $9...my $18 plate of duo beef featured 5 gnoochis...all in our company found that 'sparce' would have been a better name for hte restaurant. It didn't spark much interest in returning...only conversations of disappointment. The art work on display was interesting, but clearly poor copies of other well know artist's work. Perhaps this young chef is also striving to copy other's work...

Mole with mother...the dance of the red iguana

When ever I think Mole...i think of slc's red iguana's 'enchilada suizas' smoothered in mole poblano sauce. I've been ordering the same thing for over, perhaps 25 years...why deviate from perfection? If you go there, (by the way, don't eat at their sister place, the blue iguana...it's not nearly as tasty), ask for the mole' platter! yum!

Baby Blues BBQ & sushi with kristin

while in LA, we desided to tread where food network stars have trod before. So we tried Baby Blues BBQ in Venice beach after our trip to the Getty. Bad nieghborhood, but great ribs and wonderful burger! I will definitely eat there again on my next trip. http://babybluesbbq.blip.tv/#263952

http://babybluesbbq.blip.tv/#256960

Eating in Chicago

I've been eating my way through chicago for the past two weeks. from chicago hot dogs, pizza, dim sum, an overly expensive steak dinner and my favorite place Club Lago. Club Lago is found in the north end in the heart of the older gallery district. It is owned by two italian brothers who prepare the food in a straight forward (and i'd say honest) manner but done with just the right amount of love to keep it highly yummy!

Louisville...culinarily speaking

While working for the CollegeBoard has been good, the food that they 'cater' has been awful. So, that would explain why I've eaten most dinners out and about the city. I've eaten at Seviche (good, but slow service), Lynn's Paradise Cafe (fun and a solid performance), Ramsi's Cafe on the world ( a mouthful of a name for a lovely large portioned meal) and lastly, the Mayan Cafe (as pictured below...you be the judge)

Home 'kitchen' advantage?

For maribel's Birthday we had a family and friend couples dinner. I had no idea how much time this would actually take and Jo helped out alot. Next time I heading to PF Changs.

Jamie's spring food travels-laguna beach

Well, for those of you that know me... you realize that I love art, travel and food. In fact, when I can have all three...he's in heaven (with maribel, of course). Ok, here's the skinny from my OC trip. I of course had to have a IN-n-Out burger...a few times, but I also tried some other interested places. These heavenly cupcakes from Sprinkles (New Port beach), and also ate some wonderfully creative (i.e. fusion), sushi at a place call Ten..or Ten asian bistro also in New Port beach.

Mexicali pizza and mayan icecream (cocoa nibs, fresh cinnamon and dark chocolate)

The pizza was good, however...too many sundried tomatoes made the sauce a too bitter. The three cheeses where: queso viejo, matzarella and cheddar.  I also used black cumin in the tomato sauce.  Topped with cilantro, plenty of roasted chicken and a dab of guacamole.

Four young chefs, 10 friends, three courses and a dessert of pears stuffed with marzipan (no tree)

Great food, take a look at the menu below to see what courses were traversed in the pursuit of good eats.

NoLa-the big easy

Well, as you know that i'm of the philosophy: " have fork, will travel".  I ate breakfast at Mommy's, lunch at Central grocery (home of the mulfalatta), Johnny Po Boy's (awesome!), Lucy's retired surfer's cafe (believe it or not), Tommy's, Cochon (very good) ...to name a few. It was incredibly yummy...and incredibly unhealthy food.  Crawfish etouffee, crab cakes, ceviche, ....I could go on...and on. But all of it very yummy!

Food night at the rees'

here is a preview of the menu suggestion for the upcoming dinner in April...let us know what you think. They photos are not from a book, but from the young chefs who will be coming to prepare this meal.

Salad daze

Main course

Dessert Trio

Su su...Sushi nite!

In the shadow of reading the newest book by Michael Pollan, "in Defense of Food-An eater's manifesto" we had a few couples over for sushi night. Jessica Li, a student of mine, interestingly enough she is Chinese for crying out loud... but her parents taught her the way's of sushi. One of his guiding stars towards better eating of 'real food' is "eat more like...the japanese", and understand the cultural traditions and procedural contexts of their foods. so, we just had to be supportive of such a forward thinking and health advice! Maribel made some homemade ginger icecream, yum (sweetened with agave)! Quoting Mr. Pollan..."traditional diets resemble other venacular creations of culture such as architecture." And what a beautiful culinary structure the japanese have erected!

To provide you with somebackground on eating sushi in Japanese, it is often eaten when celebrating special occasions. Chirashi-zushi (scattered sushi), maki-zushi (sushi rolls), inari-zushi (brown bag sushi) are commonly cooked at home, following family recipes past from mother to daughter (this is how Jessica learned). In as in traditional sushi restaurants we selected the best and freshest ingredients.

What to do when eating Sushi:

• Clean your hands by an oshibori (hot towel)
• Put soy sauce for dipping in a small dish provided.
• To eat sushi, it's common to use your fingers. (I didn't know this..hmm)
  
• When dipping sushi in the soy sauce, do not dip whole sushi. Just dip the end of the sushi as you eat. (it should be used as a subtle accent)