Author Archives: RedFlair14

All Access Passes

Posted on by RedFlair14

One of the things about living in a “food” town is that you have great food. EVERYWHERE! Each NYC neighborhood and borough has amazing ethnic cuisine and the same is true for LA and Chicago. What makes Vegas so different? Access to the Chefs of course!

As often as I have been to San Francisco, NYC, LA, and Chicago I have never seen any of the resident celeb chefs. And believe me, I look. (Moment of Truth – Some people are Rock Star Groupies, I am kinda a Chef Groupie. It’s a little embarrassing to admit it and it almost makes me sound stalkerish…but I really admire them and what they do.) I have even gone so far as to ask a few of them if I can cook in the kitchen with them and film it for this blog. More on that if it happens!

I know for a fact that it is common to see Emeril Lagasse enter Emeril’s in New Orleans. When we were visiting that city we saw him arrive to work and casually chat with folks walking by and even pose for a pic or two. That is not the case everywhere you go. Mostly you don’t see the celebrity Chefs in big food cities, unless you are in their resto when they are there and they tour the floor. Here in Vegas the Chefs are just regular people, with a fat dash of celebrity to be sure, but they are just regular people. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that Chefs are just regular people in other cities too, but I don’t see it. Here the Chefs are out and about. Smiling and posing for pics and making themselves available to their fans. And not just at the BIG Foodie events.

One of the coolest things for me is to go to an event, no matter when or where it is and see local celeb (or soon to be celeb) Chefs just hanging out and being part of the scene. They chat up everyone, and not just about food and not just industry workers. For example, The Saturday Night truck Stop. And before you start in, I know I have written about this before. If you are ever in Vegas on a Saturday night, and it is late (after 11:30 pm), I encourage you to get your butt over to Tommy Rocker’s if you are a foodie. Especially if they are having a Back of the House Brawl (BOH Brawl). There you will find several fab food trucks circled up like wagons on a bygone wagon trail, ready to serve you some awesome food. On a BOH Brawl night, a couple of Strip Chefs will face off, Chopped style, and vie to win a PBR Trophy and raise money for Three Square Food Bank, my fave charity. What could be better? A bar to get frosty adult bevs, great food, fun people and fun people watching. PLUS, the chance to get to meet and talk with some really cool Chefs doing some amazing things here in Vegas.

To prove how much of a Chef Groupie I am, here are a few pics of some locals and not so locals that truly were fun to meet. I am hoping to add Chris Cosentino to this collection in late September when I go to San Francisco.
Goofing off in the kitchen with Rick Moonen for Friend Sam’s Bday party a couple of years ago.

With Kerry Simon at KGB at Harrah’s

Hubert Keller at Vegas Uncork’d last year.

This week’s Food Memories are cooking soft food for son Jack who had his wisdom teeth pulled, hanging out in bars with friends and further planning on my 25th Anniversary Party (can you believe someone quoted me $2000 for dessert?!)

And here is the Winner from this week’s BOH Brawl, with the coveted PBR Trophy, Chris Starkus!

Until next time, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

Reading is FUNdamental

Posted on by RedFlair14

In the summer I find myself reading more than usual. Maybe it’s because all of my fave shows are on hiatus. Maybe it’s because summer reading is a routine I fell into as a young person, but whatever the reason I will typically finish 12 books or so across the length of the summer. I have passed that this summer. I am really enjoying reading outside on my deck in the super heated air, smelling the herbs in the garden and dipping into the pool when I get too warm.

First off I want you to know that I almost exclusively read from the same genres when I am not perusing cookbooks. I USUALLY read horror fiction, crime fiction or urban fantasy. I do have faves that are NOT in those categories (Moment of Truth – my fave books of all time are The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas). Yesterday I noticed something interesting about the characters, not necessarily the books or authors, that I like the best. The authors write them eating and/or cooking.

There are several series out there about chefs who solve crime or caterers who get into mishaps with the events. There is even one series out there where the author includes the recipes from the story as an addendum at the end. Almost all of the books in my genres have the leads drinking something (wine, booze, blood, etc.). But my faves are the characters who cook and eat because it is part of being human. And I love reading about WHAT they are eating or cooking. The food is rarely integral to the stories, but it makes a more round backdrop for me. A few of my faves:
• Lawrence Sanders’ “Archy Mc Nally” books – our intrepid protagonist regularly goes into a local dive and drinks and eats himself into oblivion
• Lawrence Sanders’ “Deadly Sins” books – Captain Ed Delaney makes a mean sandwich
• Jennifer Estep’s “Elemental Assassin” series – Gin Blanco is a lot like me (no, I am not an assassin) in that she takes college cooking classes for personal enjoyment, not to pursue a degree. She also runs a BBQ joint as her “cover”.

I get inspired to try new things by reading what fictional characters are making in their kitchens. Silly? Perhaps. But I can only read so many cooking mags and watch so much cooking TV before I start to feel inadequate, or jealous or both (jealous of the travel sections and the fact that I don’t have my own show). These characters are in the kitchen because it is part of normal life, not because their life revolves around food. Just like the rest of us. It makes them seem more true, more real, and just fuller.

Here is a partial list of what I have read so far this summer, but they don’t all have good food scenes:
• Jennifer Estep’s series above
• Chloe Neill – Biting Cold
• Laurell K Hamilton – Kiss the Dead
• Jaye Wells’ entire Sabina Kane series
• Vicki Pettersson’s newest book – The Taken (with a great shout out to Frankie’s Tiki Room)
• And 10 others…

My Food Memories this week include a birthday dinner for Friend Sami, a visit from High School Friend Dave and his LA Posse (so much fun in the pool!), and a spicy Chicken Paprikash with my 2 favorite guys.

Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

Well Aren’t You a Peach?! And yes, there’s a recipe.

Posted on by RedFlair14

When you are a gardener, of any kind, you run the risk of everything becoming ripe at the same time. If you have ever grown zucchini you know what I mean. After a while you are trying ANYTHING to get rid of your crop before it rots. This is how I am with peaches.

For those of you who don’t know, there are two basic types of peaches – free stone and cling stone. Cling stone peaches are the ones where the flesh clings to the pit. Free stone peaches are the ones where the flesh breaks free of the stone easily. I prefer free stone peaches because the fibrous cling peach’s flesh gets stuck in my teeth. Free stone peaches tend to have more reddish tones close to the pit as well.

We have a lovely drought tolerant dwarf peach tree in our yard, and yes it is a free stone tree. Our whole family loves them and we especially love to eat them super ripe so the juice drips down your arm and off your elbow. I find myself standing over the sink to eat a peach from our tree. This is the third year of production. The first year I managed really well. The second year I canned (Moment of Truth: while I loved the procedure of canning, I didn’t like the results on the peaches, maybe because they get SO ripe SO quickly and they were a little mushy). This year, after deciding NOT to can the peaches I was left with a PILE of peaches. I had so many peaches that I wasn’t even pissed off at the birds for getting at some of them.

Anyone who knows me, knows when it comes to dessert, I am a chocoholic. I don’t really care for fruit desserts, unless it is ice cream. I love Cherry Vanilla, Raspberry Ripple and Peach. If you are not a fruit dessert person, there are only so many cobblers and pies one can make and enjoy. Only so many smoothies one can drink. So what to do with the rest of them?

Well, some peaches were frozen for use later in the year. I gave some away. We eat them. I recreated the long since discontinued Schwann’s Peach Ice Cream that I ate gallons of when I was pregnant. A pie was made with a screwed up crust – I never mess up pie crust, but this time I did. A cobbler was taken to a pot luck and yet I still have more. What to do?

Recipe hunt on the internet. Here are some tasty ideas I found:

Peach Cobbler by the Neelys – I cut the 2C (yes 2 CUPS) of Brown sugar out and I a sub raw sugar for the white
Stone Fruit Sangria
Peach Crisp
Individual Peach Upside Down cakes

And here is how to make Peach Ice Cream that tastes like Schwann’s used to make:

• 1 pt heavy whipping cream
• 1 C whole milk
• ¾ C sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 C Pureed peaches
• ¾ C Diced peeled peaches – frozen

Combine cream, milk and sugar with a wire whip. Gradually add pureed peaches to the cream mixture and set into the fridge to cool for at least 1 hour. Put mixture into an ice cream machine, and according to MFR directions mix. Half way thru add the vanilla. When the mixture is almost ready, add in the frozen diced peaches. Continue with the mfr instructions for the ice cream machine. Place finished product in the freezer. Depending on the size of your machine, you may need to do this in 2 batches.

This is the model I use

This week’s Food Memories include meeting another food blogger at a pot luck (more on that soon), cooking for friends and family, making the deposit on our 25th Anniversary party and a dinner out with my main squeeze.

Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories.

Hair of the Dog

Posted on by RedFlair14

It was suggested to me that I write about Bloody Marys so here you go.

All of us (over 21), at one time or another, have been in the need for some “hair of the dog”. A little worse for wear after a night on the town and for me the magical cure is a Bloody Mary. There is something alchemical about the tomato, spices and booze that just straightens me right out. (Moment of Truth – it probably has more to do with the tomato juice than the booze.)

There is some debate as to how, where and when the Mary was invented, and even some debate on whether the original spirit of choice is actually vodka. Some sources say the original spirit is gin – and the cocktail is good both ways. Here is what I DO know from research, the drink can be as individual as you are.

In an effort to learn as much as possible about this manna from heaven, I did a little research and invited some friends over to do a sampling and have a “round table” discussion about what makes a good cocktail, where to find it and what are the perfect garnishes. We did a blind (for them) tasting of Mr. & Mrs. T’s, Zing Zang, and Demitri’s Bloody Mary Seasoning, along with the classic Mr. Boston Bartender’s Guide version (although I DID add horseradish to the original). We tasted each base in its “virgin” state for comparison and then added vodka to our favorite. For all of the cocktails we used Ketel One Vodka. Here is what we learned:
• No one liked the “original”; it was too bland
• No one liked the smell of the Mr. & Mrs. T’s, although we did like the deep rich color
• Everyone liked Zing Zang, although I can’t drink it. It has MSG in it and I am allergic. It was, as advertised, zingy with a citrusy pucker to it.
• Demetri’s was the hands down winner; although we had to increase the ratio from 2 oz to 1 qt to 3 oz to 1 qt. (Demitri’s comes in a liquid form that you add to tomato juice.) We found the suggested blend too bland for us, but once it was increased we all agreed that was the winner and that was the only pitcher empty at the end of brunch.

Friend Dani suggested that the reason we didn’t like the original was that our tastes are more extreme than when the drink was first created. We enjoy more spice and seasoning now than we did in the early part of the 20th century, so what may have been a spicy sensation THEN is just boring now.

As for garnishes, the classic is a celery stalk, but we all agreed (except friend Lynn) that more is better! Friend Laurie loves olives with hers, and I tend to agree. Other options are large caper berries (my personal fave), pickled string beans, pickled okra, cornichons, pickled asparagus, pearl onions…basically make a salad out of it! While horseradish is NOT one of the original ingredients we all agreed that it is a requirement when mixing your own. Friend Lynn added it to all of the bases for consistency’s sake! The one thing I forgot on our “research” day was to rim the glasses – typically you use celery salt, but spicy salt or herb and spice blends are really popular and add a bit extra punch. Oh, and I also found pepperoni straws online – yes, really! They are like Slim Jims with a hole thru the center. Super good fun!

Once our drinks were assembled, we sat for brunch (a hash brown crusted scrambled egg pizza) and chatted about where to get a good Mary. Any good bartender or mixologist in Vegas can make you a decent Mary, but I was more interested in the off the wall places to get one. Friend Lill’s comments were added in abstentia since she couldn’t be there to aid in the research and she loves a good Mary.
• Rumor has it The Double Down makes them with bacon flavored vodka – no I am not kidding
• The Bunkhouse (one of the oldest free standing bars in Vegas) makes a respectable one on the cheap!
• While none of us like the food at Hash House A Go-Go, we all agreed the Mary there is a winner, and almost reason enough to go there just for that.
• Both Mon Ami Gabi and Simon at Palms Place have Bloody Mary Bars on Sunday brunch. They mix vodka and tomato juice for you and you season and garnish as you please. I prefer Simon’s because their variety of hot sauces is a vast array from mild to volcanic. The fact that it is all you can drink is a bonus. The only way Simon’s could be better is if they had caper berries in addition to the other garnishes.
• According to Seven Magazine (see page 36), the best Mary in Vegas is at Bar + Bistro (headed by friend Beni Velazquez). I can’t comment since I haven’t had it, but theirs is more of a Bloody Caesar. A Caesar is mixed with Clamato instead of tomato juice and apparently Beni’s has minced clams in it! (Tip from Sister Nancy – when making a Bloody Caesar rim the glass with Old Bay Seasoning.) More research? A resounding YES!
A Bloody Mary on board the Victoria Clipper – a traveling companion suggested this topic

Bloody Caesar and beer at Canoe brewing in Victoria

My esteemed panel – L- R Friends Lynn, Dani and Laurie (Dani is not a double fisted drinker – she is holding mine!)

Enjoy your week and remember to mix up a batch of these for your weekend. The web abounds with plenty of recipes, but if you find a premix you like, go with that. Feel free to leave comments with your fave ideas on Bloody Marys – where to get a good one, what you like to garnish with, etc. There may be more research needed 😉

Food Memories this week include recreating the fab fig and goat cheese flatbread pizza I enjoyed in Seattle, Friday brunch with friends for research, ripening peaches from my back yard and digging in the herb garden.
The fig and goat cheese pizza with prosciutto – delish!

Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

Emerald City – Part 2 – the Rest of the Story – the Happy Accidents

Posted on by RedFlair14

Sorry if I am boring you, but we are back on the Seattle trip again this week. Seriously, if you haven’t been there, you NEED to go. The food scene is wide and deep and there is so much to choose from that in a 5 day trip I gathered enough info to hopefully keep you entertained for another week.

When we travel for work, we always try to sneak in a little fun too. The bonus on this trip is that we have friends who live up there and we were able to see ALL of them on one trip. And this trip was FULL of Happy Accidents (from now on called HA).

After a fantastic night of dining and drinking with friends Byron and Christine, we headed to the docks early the next morning to catch the Victoria Clipper to go to British Columbia. John was a little worse for wear having indulged at Pike’s, Elysian, Quinn’s and Tavern Law. HA #1 – we met a retired couple on the boat who loved travel and dining as much as we do. They informed us that the Chihuly Museum and restaurant were now open, so our plan for Monday was changed (Moment of Truth – John was supposed to work on Monday, but pushed those tasks to Tuesday so he could museum hop with me!). Bloody Marys were ordered and it was suggested to me that I do a whole blog on them…hmmm. Tasty future topic with fun research on the horizon!

Victoria, British Columbia is astoundingly beautiful and we were so lucky to have ex-pat Las Vegas friends, Diane and Mary, to show us around. After 3 brewery restaurants and a quick trip to their “house in the woods” we were well lubricated and laughing and delighted we had made the journey. Don’t ask me anything about Victoria, we were there to spend time with friends, not sight see, and what I saw was lovely, but I was more interested in the time we spent with them. I will admit, however, to be very happy to live in the USA where beer and liquor are CONSIDERABLY more affordable ($26 Canadian for a 12 pack of Corona – yes, Corona!) Of course when in Canada, you must eat Poutine – it IS the national dish of Canada (at least that is what I kept telling myself). I had a great one with pulled pork.
Poutine!

Drinking with our buds, Diane and Mary!

As stated before, John skipped out on the tasks he had to do to museum hop with me, so we headed in a vaguely Space Needle direction having learned that the Chihuly Garden was directly in its slim shadow. Because it was early, breakfast was on the agenda and after passing up Top Pot Donuts, we found a quirky little bar/café called 5 Point Café – HA #2. The waiter looked like D-Day from Animal House and our food was diner perfect!

HA #3 – As we made our way to the Chihuly Museum, we found the Experience Music Project (EMP)! I knew it was in Seattle, but I didn’t realize we were literally going to trip over it! WOW! Great music, musical instrument, and artist exhibits in addition to Sci-Fi icons and horror movies. A perfectly HA!

Chihuly’s Museum was more than I could have hoped for or imagined, and the restaurant on site, Collections, was charming and entertaining as well. Each table top had a sunken shadow box of treats to look at, and all the visible areas were covered different collections of items from Dale Chihuly’s past.

Then of course there was HA #4 that I gushed about last week.

And of course the Pike Place Market! HA #5 – Finally after repeated trips to the Market I got to see the guys throw a fish! They did it just for me, they usually only toss the fish when someone is purchasing, so it was a rare treat and they even let me film it. To see the video go to my FB page Good for Spooning.
Cheese counter at Beecher’s Cheese makers!

Enjoy these pics and make time to go to Seattle! It is a food lover’s paradise and there is so much to see and do.
Curried Beef Buns at Mee Sum Pastry – another HA! Totally Cheap eats at $2.50!

Charcuterie at Elysian

Oysters at Elliott’s

My Food Memories this week are Girls Night Happy Hour and dinner with friend Lynn, junk food with my favorite kid, and testing out some new recipes in preparation for late summer visitors.

Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

We’re Off to See The Wizard

Posted on by RedFlair14

For those of you who don’t know, Seattle is called the Emerald City. Seattle has great food, sights, shopping and lovely scenery. Recently John and I made our second trip up and it was a trip full of happy accidents. One of those happy accidents was coming in contact with Tom Douglas’ Restaurants. I am now convinced that Tom Douglas IS The Wizard!!! And he is now on the “boyfriend” list.

When I fall in love with a Chef’s food I always remember my first experience. It’s like a great kiss, I don’t want to forget it. High School Friend Neil drove into town to meet John and me for dinner, and due to John’s arriving conference colleagues, we needed to stay close to the hotel. Neil suggested Dahlia, about a block from where we were staying. Excellent choice! The food was FABULOUS!! Since Copper River Salmon was in season that was featured on the menu (all over the city) and it was beautiful. I strayed from my “no tongue” comfort zone and had lamb tongue confit and was pleasantly surprised at how tender and flavorful it was. When offered to John, he declined saying he didn’t want to kiss a sheep! As we left the restaurant, I snagged a flyer outlining Tom Douglas’s operations.

Lamb Tongue Confit

I immediately fell in love. There are 12 locations, plus a farm that provides organic produce and herbs to all the locations, taking the farm to table concept to a more personal level. They grow their own, just like farming communities have done for ages. One of the 12 locations is a bakery supplying bread (or in the case of some items, recipes) to all the others. I made it my mission to visit as many of the sites as possible, and I only had 2 days from the dinner at Dahlia to the flight on Thursday afternoon!

Seattle is a great walking town, and I walked everywhere, and thank goodness for that, otherwise I’d have gained 10 lbs instead of the 5 lbs that actually ended up in my jeans. The following morning, after having hit the web and realizing the BBQ rub shop I had seen earlier on the trip was in fact a Tom Douglas enterprise, I headed out to locate it. What I found right next door was Seatown, where I promptly ordered oysters and a Bloody Mary for breakfast. The guy down the bar from me ordered the biscuits and gravy with sausage. GK, the server/barmaid, informed him the sausage was house made and smoked. Upon hearing that, I felt cheated with my oysters, so I had that too. The sausage melted in the mouth and the biscuits were first rate as well. Then it was on to the Rub with Love Shack where 9 rubs were purchased and later shipped home.

I also made a trip to Tom Douglas’ Brave Horse Tavern. Great local beers on tap and the most delicious and beautiful pretzels I have ever seen. A burger so juicy that the juice was LITERALLY dripping off my arm completed that trip. And don’t even get me started on the fries! Crispy outside, tender inside, popping hot and the perfect amount of salt. Special thanks to Drew my bartender!

Without fail, I have to say every single server and employee at the locations mentioned above was happy to be there, helpful and very knowledgeable about the operation, products and company. What a treat! What a joy to hear employees speak glowingly of their boss and owner. Tom Douglas is doing LOTS of things right. The food and the vibe in all the places I visited are fantastic. I didn’t see everything Tom Douglas has to offer, but what I did see was heightened by happy servers and knowledgeable staff members. What I didn’t see/hear were frowns, snarky comments, back biting among the waitstaff or sloppy presentations. Wahoo!

I can’t wait to revisit The Emerald City and hit up more of Tom Douglas’ joints. I think I will need to go on a diet before liftoff…

In addition to the Food Memories listed above I had a great week – house made corned beef hash at a little divey bar/café, dinner and drinks with friends Byron and Christine, brewery visits, eating in a Chihuly inspired restaurant and multiple visits to Pike Place Market. For more info on this Seattle trip, check back next week. There was so much great stuff that I couldn’t put it in one week!

Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

Family, Food and Friends

Posted on by RedFlair14

For me there is nothing better than eating with people who love me and whom I love. That’s what dining should be about. This past week I had the great good fortune of eating with people I truly enjoy being with, and I didn’t cook ANYTHING!

My sister in law, Bonnie, and her wife, Gretchen, came in for a few days and we had a great time. We normally stay in to eat and this time we went out. We had Brazilian BBQ for Jack’s 19th birthday and a second memorable dinner was at RM Seafood (that seems to be my happy place these days) with Friend Lynn. Because we are friends of the Moonen family we always feel like family there and the food is ALWAYS great! My sisters in law were here for the entire weekend, but I didn’t cook anything – really! We spent time enjoying each other’s company and dining out. Weird, I know! I even convinced Gretchen to go on a marathon shopping expedition with me (we had pizza and salad for lunch). Usually Gretchen and I like to cook together and this time we just sat by the pool and relaxed. Refreshing!

While Bonnie & Gretchen were here I had to leave to go to LA. High School friend Dave Trudell has a one man show that I needed to go see and this was the ONLY weekend during his original scheduled run that I could go. Of course after the tix were bought and plans made, his run was extended (good for him, bad for my house guests). The show was great and Friend Lynn traveled with me so I didn’t have to make the drive alone. The show was great, but the dining ran a close second in the race for which was the best part of the day.

Lynn and I started with a tremendously bad breakfast with good Bloody Marys. Let’s not go into it, but I will say breakfast orders shouldn’t take 45 minutes and come to the table wrong. Yes, the manager was spoken to (and without profanity believe it or not). We proceeded to the Roosevelt Hotel where a charming bartender, Graham, made us lovely gin cocktails. The conversation from Graham was as good as the cocktails (Moment of Truth – I LOVE a chatty barkeep who is a good conversationalist).

Then it was on to the show. If you are in LA and have the inkling to see a one man show I highly recommend “In Heat in Hollywood”. Brash, funny and at times poignant, Lynn and I loved it. We were welcomed into Dave’s friend group immediately and proceeded to have a great time with the guys eating our way around the theatre’s neighborhood. Snacks at a bar called Rockwell and great Chinese food at Chi Dynasty followed by pie at House of Pies. The laughs and camaraderie were as good as the food.

Isn’t that what dining with friends and/or family supposed to be? Laughter, conversation, and friendship always makes even the worst food (like our breakfast) memorable and worth doing again!

My Food Memories of this past week are outlined above. Enjoy the pics!

Until next time, go out and make your OWN Food Memories. I will be on vacation in Seattle next week, so you won’t get a missive from me. Be patient for the info from The Emerald City.

Take Me Out the Ball Game!

Posted on by RedFlair14

For those of you who know me, you know this is AWESOME~!

I love baseball and I am a true, win or lose, Yankee fan. For the first time in my life I was able to attend a Yankee game in Yankee Stadium. And joy of joys, it was inter-league play and they were playing the Mets!

My first ever live baseball game was at Shea Stadium, back in the 80’s, box seats behind first base. A road trip with a long forgotten guy I dated briefly and the only things there were to eat then at the stadium were the things you think of when you think of baseball. Hot dogs, beer, popcorn, Cracker Jacks, peanuts and soft pretzels were the order of the day. Since then I have been to other fields and the changes in food have run the spectrum from the days of yore.

At Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs) you can get all of your Chicago faves – Italian Beef (sweet & natural if you please), dogs topped Chicago style, pizza, and just about anything else you can think of. A few years ago I was able to see baseball in the sun, the way it was meant to be played, at Wrigley with Sister Tina!

At Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas there is a bar & grill where you can sit by the windows and watch batting practice. And in the park itself, you can get Shiner Bock on tap and of course BBQ – it is Texas you know! (Moment of Truth – I love Shiner on tap and I go out of my way to find bars that carry it).
Jack at Arlington in 2005.

The new Yankee Stadium is amazing! Of course there are all the usual things you would WANT to eat at the ball park, but there are also great locally brewed beers, a steak house and, believe it or not, a Yankee themed Hard Rock Café, complete with a pinstriped, oversized guitar in the entrance. We saw sliders of multiple descriptions, sausages, fried chicken, nachos, wraps and pizza in addition to the old standbys. And here is the BEST part – if you have “field level” seats (which we did, thanks to my loving hubby, we were in section 118 20 rows back from Home Plate!) there are waiters to bring you a limited menu so you don’t have to wait in line for the basics and you won’t miss any more of the game than necessary! One of the things we (and by we, I mean John) had to wait in line for was a Carvel sundae in a plastic Yankee cap.

The gate we entered to get to our seats right behind home plate.

The view from our seats.

The three of us in our Yankee gear.

All in all, despite a stomach flu that swept the whole family (no kidding), our trip to NYC was great. Not the least of which was a long awaited fab dinner at Barbuto with Friends Bobby & Chris. I can safely attest that the roasted chicken I had there is seriously the best I have ever had. They weren’t lying when they said that Jonathan Waxman was Obi-Wan Kenobi with a chicken. I am still a little pissed my dear friends wouldn’t allow me to pay even part of it – thanks again guys, but they have promised to come here to Vegas and let me spoil them. And let’s not talk about how intimate I became with the sidewalk on the way home. Don’t worry, stiletto shoes, jeans and jewelry are all fine.

Ovens at Barbuto

Salumi plate – FYI – I used those bread sticks as chop sticks to serve with.

The perfect roast chicken.

Food Memories this week are a foot long hot dog brought to me by a waiter at Yankee Stadium, Mister Softee, Barbuto chicken and a delicious rosé wine, brunch with Geoff and Sarah, and beer and conversation with Friend Tim.

At the bar with Tim.

John with his Mr. Softee – oh, BTW he is obsessed with Mr. Softee in much the same way Ray in Ghostbusters is with the The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

With Chris, Bobby and Jack at Barbuto.

Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

On a side note – changes are coming to this blog. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Secret Agent Man?

Posted on by RedFlair14

When I was a waitron (to quote Anthony Bourdain) I had the dubious pleasure, twice, of waiting on Food Critics. In both instances they were NOT known to be food critics. I just had a feeling. With the second one, when his article came out, my words about the menu were duplicated in print, and I was grateful I had guessed rightly and gave my best possible service.

Whatever happened to the days of the anonymous food critic? Here in Vegas our food writers are HIGHLY recognizable, one and all. Their styles vary drastically; one tries to write only positive things; one complains about nearly everything; one seems to write only what the advertisers of the rag he writes for WANT him to say and yet another vacillates between styles 1 and 3. I agree with all of them from time to time, some more than others. To a one they are all visible on the food scene, and if I recognize each of them on sight, I am quite sure all the waiters and Maitre D’s know them as well.

Is it possible for them to write really honest reviews or critiques when they are so recognizable? I am certain that I, and the public at large, don’t get the same service they do. I am vaguely convinced that they get perks from the house from time to time. Do these perks influence their opinion of the dining experience? When the Chef makes a special appearance at their table to say howdy, the house buys a round of drinks or the kitchen sends out amuse bouche not on the menu, how can their dining experience be equitable to that of the anonymous diner who experiences none of this? On the writers’ side of it, do they REALLY want to write a bad review and hurt someone’s feelings? Do they really want to piss off people who may need to serve them in the future? With some people, I know they are only happy when they are complaining, but for the most part I think the writers WANT to say nice things.

I am NOT saying these folks know nothing about food – they DO! That is why, for the most part, they are so highly respected and sought after diners. Because of their popularity and visible presence on the food scene, restaurants LOVE to have them be seen eating in their dining rooms. It’s kinda like having a celeb at your party. If you invite the cast of the Avengers to your party (Moment of Truth – I am not sure if I want to be Black Widow or Pepper Potts – Black Widow has the better costume, but Pepper has the better man), you KNOW people will be excited to be there and everyone will show up and have on their best party attitude, and your NEXT party is sure to be a success as well because everyone wants to be seen with someone famous. The same is true for celebs in the food world and make no mistake about it, Food Writers have become celebs. People like me who know who’s who will always spot the writers and wonder, “Are they eating here because they LIKE it, or because they are getting ready to write about it?”

My question is, “How can a regular person trust that he is going to get that same stellar treatment when he reads a glowing food review?” You may say there are other means to determine if a restaurant is a good choice for you. And there are, but none of them are really reliable when you consider that some of the people commenting on the online sources don’t know what good food is really supposed to be. Don’t even get me started on Yelp!

I long for the days of the Gael Greene of old. Reservations made under an assumed name, no one knowing for sure who is doing the writing. Then I could be assured of getting the unvarnished truth and the writer could be assured of getting the same food and service that Average Joe gets.

Gael Greene

Secret Agent Man

This week was a stay at home, cook and be loved kinda week including gnocchi from scratch. Nothing really exciting other than being with my 2 fave guys, so the Food Memories are a little on the boring side.

Next week? Yankee Stadium and the food therein!

Until next time, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!

I’ve Been Handed Some Lemons

Posted on by RedFlair14

And of course as the saying goes, I should make some lemonade. A friend of ours has a Meyer Lemon tree that is quite prolific and she is more than willing to share and this year has been a bumper crop! And then I got more from Bountiful Baskets. So I am a little obsessed with what to do with the lemons. There are only so many batches of the Secret Recipe Lemon Bars that one person can make. I also made limoncello and now I am looking for other things.

This is the Limoncello at “work” – it takes weeks to create, but most of it has to do with it just sitting there.

Truth be told I am NOT a lemon person. I am a chocolate person. Women who have gone to lunch with me will hear me say, “I am not wasting the calories on any dessert that is NOT chocolate.” My husband, however, is a lemon person. Any fruit based dessert in fact, but lemon is his favorite. I make a mean Lemon Meringue Pie and of course the Lemon Bars, but other than lemonade I found myself blocked with what to do. There HAD to be something that wasn’t a dessert that I could make with lemons (Moment of truth – yes, I know about Chinese Lemon Chicken, but I think it sucks). So I searched.

Here are 2 recipes I’ll be trying this week. Yes, I know they fall in the dessert category – I’ll let you know how they come out:

Michael Symon’s Lemon Pound Cake

French Yogurt Cake

Among the searches I found Preserved Lemon, aka Lemon Pickle – apparently I have been missing out! Lemon Pickle is a commonly used ingredient in Moroccan and Indian cuisines, and I enjoy both. So why haven’t I been in on this worldwide secret?

I figure if I am able to can tomatoes and peaches, I SHOULD be able to preserve some lemons. It’s nothing more than lemons, salt, lemon juice and water. I can do that! It’s the waiting for them to mature and deepen in flavor that is going to be the problem.

So, off I go to immerse myself in all things lemon. I hope it doesn’t leave me with a sour disposition (I know – that was bad…)

Food Memories this past week include birthday breakfast with friend Dani, Dim Sum with friend Evy and my boy, Taste of the Nation with friends Laurie and Lynn, and a return to cooking for 3 since my boy is home from college.

Until next week – go out and make your OWN Food Memories.