When we go on vacation each of us makes an itinerary. Some people have very detailed ones, while others have loosely scheduled events or a list of things to do or places to see. John and I learned years ago that I am more of a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of tourist and he needs a day by day itinerary. When we go on vacation, once the destination is chosen, I will give him a list of things/places I’d like to experience, and he takes care of the rest. It works out great for us. He feels like he is in control and I feel like I am going with the flow.

When you live in a tourist city, like Vegas, San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, what do you do? Do you ever really take time to be a tourist in your own city, or do you eschew all of that unless friends or family come into town? Have you ever acted like a tourist in your own city for more than an afternoon? When Jack was younger, if he had the day off from school, he and I would go play tourist in Vegas for the day. See the Lions at MGM (gone now), drink all the different Coke products from around the world (gone now), visit the Bellagio and check out the conservatory’s seasonal floral display, and all the other free and cheap things we could fit into one day. But until recently I have never had the opportunity to really play tourist in my own town.

A couple of weeks ago, John’s pro org came to town for their fall conference. Because he is the President, he was required to be on premises for the whole thing and consequently we had a suite for the duration. We stayed at Caesar’s Palace, and while we didn’t have the Hangover Suite, the one we had was pretty sweet (no pun intended). We “moved in” and as he did all the official stuff he HAD to do, I took a more relaxed approach and walked my city’s main thoroughfare at odd times, acted like a tourist and showed a friend a good time. They also gave us access to the Diamond Level stuff, including free snacks (they sucked, except for the cheese straws) and cocktails in the Diamond Lounge, which I was happy to take advantage of as often as possible. In the evenings we had scheduled events to attend together, but the days were mine to enjoy as I wished, so enjoy them I did.

Did you know walking on The Strip early in the morning in search of breakfast is really nice? There is almost no one around; no crowds and the city looks freshly scrubbed (except for the call service flyers on the ground). I had always believed my favorite time on the strip was dusk when it is dark enough to enjoy all the neon, but light enough to see everything else. I think I have a new favorite – early morning (before 10 a.m.).

I also learned that finding a simple, cheap breakfast (Moment of Truth – breakfast is EASY – it should be cheap) in the heart of The Strip is damn near impossible, but I did eat a few good things and I had some tasty Bloody Marys (love the one at Michel Richard’s Central and the one at Serendipity). While the choices for lunch are vast and impressive, I found while acting as a tourist I didn’t really want lunch, I was more content to wait for happy hour or dinner time. Because neither Friend Dena nor I gamble much, we relegated ourselves to shopping, drinking, chatting and eating. Days consisted of looking for shoes and snacking our way up the strip.

Here’s a partial list of tasty things I ate and drank:
• The Bloody Marys mentioned above
• Gougeres or Cheese Puffs at Michel Richard Central
• Excellent Cask Beer & good charcuterie (Sierra Nevada Torpedo) at Public House
• Creamy, delicious oysters at PJ Clarke’s during Happy Hour (great deal!)
• A fried poached egg (yes, really) on a nontraditional Benedict at Serendipity
• Delicious sushi at Sushi Roku with friends – I think the camaraderie at the table made the meal even more enjoyable!

I encourage you to make a tourist out of yourself in YOUR city, however humble, and check out what visitors see.

Food memories this past week consist of a fun Election Night Soup Buffet with friends, and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies (trying to lose some tonnage).

Ricotta Donuts at Public House

Truth on a beer glass

Dena & I at PJ Clarke’s

Those lovely oysters mentioned above

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

Sorry I didn’t post last week. This is the time of year that I start to get a little scattered. I get a project in my head and it takes over everything else. Last week it was the transformation of my dining room, hot on the heels of returning from San Francisco. The weird thing is I usually just go with the flow about most things, but when I get an idea in my head…look out! Apologies, and I hope this one makes up for the absence of last week.

My sister in law, Bonnie and her wife, Gretchen, live in San Francisco and each year we travel up there and they reciprocate by coming to visit us here. Gretchen and I are cut from the same cloth and both of us love to cook AND EAT! And we enjoy cooking together, so whenever we get together there is plenty of cooking, eating and drinking. The last trip involved oyster shucking, whiskey drinking and discovery of wine that didn’t give me a headache. We always have a great time. This trip was made even better than usual by Top Chef Masters Winner Chef Chris Cosentino.

Chef Chris’ restaurant is Incanto and it is nearly impossible to get reservations on a Friday. I was really disappointed that I couldn’t snag a table at one of the places on my “Places to Visit” Pinterest board. I was, however, delighted to learn they had open seating at the bar. If you know me at all, you know I love to sit and eat at the bar and I love a chatty barkeep. So on a chilly Friday night we trekked to Incanto, hoping to find seats at the bar where I could dine and add to my collection (more on that later).

I wasn’t disappointed! The bar had seating and the full menu was offered, but the COOLEST thing about eating at the bar instead of a table was that Chef Chris himself spent the night chatting at the bar with all of the guests, touching base in his Garde Manger station and checking progress on the line in the kitchen. I am sure that he made the obligatory tour of the dining room, but it must have been pretty brief because it seemed to me he was at the bar the entire evening. The staff was attentive and offered suggestions to us first timers and a good time was had by all. For me the star of the evening was the Lamb Heart Tartare. Of course it was so good and I was so excited that I forgot to take a pic, even though we ordered it twice!

John and Chef Chris at the bar

Five Shades of Hay – John’s lamb dinner. He asked Chef Chris what he was most excited about on the menu and promptly ordered it!

The beautiful Charcuterie Plate – Charcuterie Slut strikes again!

Of course I HAD to have my photo taken with Chef. While taking the pic, John tells Chef, “She collects you guys like trading cards.” At first I was mildly embarrassed, but then just sucked it up. It wouldn’t be so funny if it weren’t partially true. I am a Chef Junkie. I like to meet them, talk to them, find out what makes them excited about food and listen to their stories. John thinks I should find a way to market Chef Trading Cards. They could be sold like baseball cards (Go Yankees!) with a photo of the Chef and a couple of his/her recipes in each pack. Of course they would have to be in oversized 3×5 format to fit into traditional recipe card boxes…hmm. Check out my FB page “Good for Spooning” and see “The Collection” so far.

In addition to a fab dinner at Incanto, we had all sorts of adventures. My first trip to the Ferry Building (where oysters were eaten and salumi was purchased), a visit to John’s Aunt Cathy and her urban apiary, and family dinners of pizza and slow cooked brisket. (Moment of Truth – the brisket and potatoes were so good, I fell into a food coma at around 8:30 in the recliner.)

Charcuterie at Monk’s Kettle

Cathy’s urban apiary – she has several hives. That’s me in the yellow bee keeper hat.

Deviled Eggs at Hogs & Rocks, and yes, those are fried oysters on top!

Clams and oysters on the half shell at the Ferry Building. For the record I only had 1 cherry stone clam for breakfast.

The curing cabinet at Boccalone

We always create Food Memories with Bonnie & Gretchen, and this trip was no exception. In addition to everything above I loved watching nephew Colin chatting in fluent French with the wine purveyor at a wine tasting event.

This past week’s Food Memories included eating at my new dining room table (Another Moment of Truth – this is my first REAL dining room table – all my other tables have been “kitchen” tables), finding an eggplant recipe that I actually loved, Caesar’s Buffet (don’t judge) with High School Friend Suanne, and a surprise visit from my son including Ren Faire Food and Brazilian BBQ.

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

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!

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!

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.

My blog is late this week because I just returned from San Antonio (SATX) late last night.

I took a week to visit friends, eat my way thru the city and spend some time doing the job that actually pays me (believe it or not – no one pays me to write this blog – I do it for fun – hehe). The fun thing was hanging out with my friends and returning to the places I frequented when I lived there. I skipped the Alamo because I had been there numerous times and I know there is no basement where Pee Wee’s bike could be hidden.

Sometimes when you are away from a place for a while, you romanticize the experiences and foods that made it so special. Either because you had a good time or because you were with dear friends, you mis-remember the experience. I was really afraid that would happen on this trip. Thankfully that was only true for ONE of the places I visited. On the whole, everything was just as good as I remembered. (Moment of truth – I don’t think I ate any veggies while I was gone except for a salad…)

As soon as I got off the plane and retrieved my rental car I went straight to Lulu’s. They make the best chicken fried steak. Light and crispy on the outside (breaded on premises, the cubed steak does not arrive frozen and pre-breaded), moist and tender on the inside. The biggest failing here? The sides don’t live up to the standard of the steak. And of course this is the home of the 3lb cinnamon rolls (I avoided that too). And the fried food didn’t stop there…I pretty much ate everything fried I could get my hands on. I’d lay even odds that Texas has one of the highest heart attack rates in the country!

Oh the joy of freshly breaded and fried Chicken Fried Steak!

If you have never been to SATX – all I can say is that it is against the law to go there and NOT eat Mexican food! There are SO many great family owned places that it is tough to choose. I went to 2 different ones and had enchiladas at both and was deliriously happy both times. One of the COOLEST things about Mexican food in SATX is that all self respecting places make their own tortillas! They all make their own flour tortillas and some even make their own corn tortillas well. And don’t even get me started on tamales. I found it best for my waistline to NOT seek them out on this trip…just sayin’ (but for the record my faves are Delicious Tamales on Nacogdoches).

Shrimp Enchiladas, rice only, no beans

The biggest disappointment was Shilo’s. It is a downtown SATX institution, on street level above the River Walk, and I remembered it being SO much better. It is a German Deli. Yes, the center part of Texas was settled by Germans, so in addition to great Mexican food, you can also get fantastic German food – especially in New Braunfels, but apparently not at Shilo’s anymore. The only things that were good were the JUGS being together for lunch, the pickles and the house made root beer.

The counter at Shilo’s – always packed and always with a barrel of root beer

And speaking of beer…if you are a fan of Shiner Bock, I am about to make you totally jealous! They have a new beer called Wild Hare Pale Ale – with the slogan “hop to it”. Cute right? Tasty, but not as hoppy as I like, but still infinitely drinkable. So far as I know it is only available in Texas at this time.

The icing on the cake was going to HEB Central Market. It puts Whole Foods to shame in a MAJOR way. I know I am paying more than a regular grocery store, but I don’t feel like I have to give a pint of blood or give up my first born when I am shopping there. Don’t bother looking for an HEB grocery unless you live in Texas, they are isolated to the Lone Star State, and IMHO, one of the best grocery chains in the country. Needless to say, I couldn’t bring a whole lot home because I was flying, but I did pick up some coffee for John, handmade soap from Austin, and dark chocolate covered chipotle almonds. Had I means to bring perishables back, I would have come home with sausages, cheeses, chorizo and a bunch of other great stuff. Maybe next time….

So here is the tally for the week:
Chicken Fried Steak – 1
Mexican – 2
Italian – 2
Cajun – 1
Deli – 1
British Pub – 1

My Food Memories from this past week are mostly outlined above, but of special note are lunch and dinner with my JUGS, drinking beer on the porch with buddies Mary and Al (thanks for hosting me), cooking with my sales TEAM, and reacquainting myself with friend Marsha at Pappadeaux.
Marsha and I dining at the bar at Pappadeaux

Fried crawfish and crawfish etoufee with dirty rice, preceded by crawfish bisque – it was a “mudbug fest”! Of course I started eating before I took the pic!

Until next time – go out and make your OWN Food Memories

Now I know there have been TONS of articles about food trucks and the new “pop up” culture they are creating, but I have a personal link to food trucks that few of you know about.

Food trucks have forever been a mainstay of NYC (think pretzels, “dirty water” hot dogs, felafel, coffee, etc.) and construction sites. Most workers who don’t bring their own lunch have a short time span in which to eat and need it fast and dirty, so to speak. And in the construction business they are frequently either too filthy to eat IN anywhere or there is nothing nearby. But did you know in 1992 that I worked on a “lunch truck” aka “roach coach”?

Years ago, before Jack was born, from 1986 – 1992 to be exact (yes, the dark ages before the internet and the blogosphere), I waited tables. I was a very good waitress. I was so good that I was able to pay for my wedding in CASH – nothing was financed. My very last waitressing job was in northern Maine at a place which shall remain nameless. While the Chef was a very talented Johnson & Wales graduate, he also had an ego the size of Canada and an attitude as mean as a pit viper. It was one of the WORST places I ever worked, mainly because the Chef had NO accountability because his parents owned the restaurant. Get the picture? It was so bad that it soured me forever on walking in those shoes ever again.

There was a lot of construction going on in the area and Chef D decided that going out to the remote construction sites was a great idea for business. They already owned a “roach coach” so it was just a matter of making that HUGE construction site one of the stops. He quickly learned that he couldn’t do it alone, so he asked me to ride along. Once on site it became abundantly clear WHY he wanted me there. And it wasn’t for my math skills, selling skills or sparkling personality. I was thin and curvy, I wore tight pants and I was pretty easy on the eyes for a bunch of guys at a construction site. I was MOBBED the minute I stepped out of the truck. Luckily for me I could add up their orders in my head and being a born salesperson, smiled at each “diner” like they were the biggest sale of the day. I was there because if they had to wait in line, they might as well wait in line for chick to take care of them. And I will admit that having 100 guys fawning over you is a big ego booster (Moment of Truth – I knew it wasn’t me, it was all Chef D’s food).

The interesting thing is that Chef D brought GREAT food to these guys. All prepared and ready to grab and go. Of course there were the expected items – soda, chips, sandwiches, baked goods, etc., but there was also Chicken Parmigiana with pasta, Seafood Newburg, Pot Roast and mashed potatoes, Chef Salads, Enchiladas, and a dozen other main dishes packed into round foil containers with see thru plastic lids. This was SO FAR from anything I had ever seen on a lunch truck ANYWHERE. We sold out every day.

Flash forward to 2012 – twenty years changes a lot of things. The Food Truck culture has expanded to so much more than hot dogs in NYC and sandwiches on construction sites. I doubt Chef D even saw this coming (hell, even the Food Network jumped on the bandwagon). I am quite sure he didn’t know he was on the cutting edge of something spectacular. I know it wouldn’t have changed his approach on how to do it. He felt that people wanted to “grab and go”, so everything arrived on site ready to be eaten; there was nothing cooked to order on his truck. He may have evolved to incorporate that aspect had the restaurant and the business survived. I never thought I would see people LINED UP and waiting for food from a truck like I did on that construction site in 1992, yet here it is again. This new breed of diner is waiting for the orders to be made FRESH and they are happy to do it. And BTW – it’s FUN! You get to meet and interact with people from all walks of life and basically just chill out!

This past weekend I FINALLY made it to the Saturday Night Truckstop at Tommy Rocker’s here in Vegas. FYI ya’ll, it’s in the middle of the night. I decided to go because it was a fundraiser for the Silverado High School Culinary TEAM. They want to travel to a competition in Baltimore and this was a fun way to raise cash. The best part was that there was a competition between 2 well known “Strip” Chefs and if you ate both dishes you got a vote. I was chowing down on first rate food at 1 a.m. from a lunch truck! Sadly, the Chef with the best dish IMHO didn’t win, but I was lucky to get to eat BOTH and have a great time. A quick salute to friend Al Mancini for being one of the celebrity judges (who came to a draw BTW – so the crowd votes were the ones that counted) and for donating 60% of the sales of his collaboration book “Eating Las Vegas” to the cause.

My Food Memories this week are botching a batch of gnocchi for the first time EVER, planting my garden (San Marzano tomatoes here I come), watching my oyster mushrooms grow in my kitchen, dining out after the first ever Las Vegas Cash Mob, and eating first rate food in the middle of the night in a parking lot of a bar!

The ridiculously delish offering from Chef Brian Howard (Comme Ca) – curried macarons with foie gras mousse and a PORK-tacular sandwich! This should have won! Photo courtesy of my friend, The Vegas Foodie. Thanks a MILLION!

Friends from Texas, Aaron and April at the Saturday Night Truckstop

Chef Sean Griffin (Prime) in the Lola D’s Kitchen Truck with Lola!

The Oyster Mushrooms growing in my kitchen from a super easy kit from Back to the Roots

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

Many Thanks to all the NEW people who clicked in last week to read about the wedding and repeated thanks to those of you who stick with me each week!!

When most Foodies go to NYC they have a list of places they want to visit that they have read about or seen on TV. Typically those places are high end, tough to get reservations for and over the top on service and flavor. And while I would have loved to go to Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin, Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster and Jonathan Waxman’s Barbuto, this trip was about eating the classics, drinking beer and hanging out with old friends. We decided this trip was all about Cheap Eats for us. We knew, since we were attending wedding festivities, that we’d get quality food and wanted to have fun eating the grub from our youth outside of the nuptial celebrations.

Our first morning we decided to eat in a REAL diner. Open 24 hours, with breakfast served all day and a beautiful rotating case full of delicious looking desserts. John’s breakfast of ham steak and eggs was perfect. I wish I could say the same for mine. Over cooked scrambled eggs (they were brown-ish) are not my idea of a good thing.

If you are from NY, you know there is no better pizza in the world outside of Italy. Even a “bad” slice is better than most pizza you get elsewhere in the country. Now before you Chicagoans get your panties in a twist, I enjoy Chicago style pies as well, but there is something nostalgic and perfect about a NY slice at a hole in the wall joint. This trip we went to “Original Famous Ray’s” on 54th & 7th TWICE. And employee Mike made the trip PERFECT. The place was packed and seating was at a premium with a huge group of High Schoolers and other people jostling for position. Some of the things we heard come out of Mike’s mouth were these:
• “Did I tell you to sit there? No! You sit over here, this table has your name on it.”
• “You wanna sit here? Fine. There’s only 2 of you, I’ll need the other half of this table” (this was said to us and we ended up sitting with a gal from Atlanta much to our delight).
• “Move all the way in – sit next to the wall – leave the end open so other people can sit with you.”
• “YOU! (pointing) Sit over here and bring 3 of your friends.”
He was hilarious! Needless to say I was openly laughing, feeling like I got a meal and a show minutes from Broadway. And he informed me if I needed work done on my computer he could do it by remote access, “I don’t care if you are in Bulgaria. I can fix it.”

Another thing we HAD to have was a decent bagel. Like my Mother, I am convinced that the secret to a great bagel is the water in NYC and the greater metro area. It doesn’t matter how closely a recipe is followed, if you aren’t using the right water it won’t taste like a REAL bagel. There are places here in Vegas that make bagels, but only a few make the ever elusive salt bagel. Imagine all the salty goodness of a pretzel, but a bagel, not a pretzel. And the ones here in Vegas aren’t QUITE right, they only put salt on the top, it’s supposed to be top AND bottom! Yeah, I had that for breakfast 2 days in a row (with lox cream cheese), and on one occassion I split a knish with John too. I haven’t had a knish in YEARS – literally. John says you know you got a good bagel when it is so chewy and thick that your jaw hurts half way through the bagel. Our jaws ached.

My bagel in the foreground and the 1/2 knish in the back

And of course there was the beer and bar food (steamed mussels in garlic and wine, Korean BBQ wings, burgers, etc). We drank locally brewed whenever possible. We particularly liked Captain Lawrence (of course we kept calling it Walter Lawrence). We truly loved Valhalla in Hell’s Kitchen. As John, Geoff and Tim were the fallen warriors, I was a Valkyrie.

The “show” taps at House of Brews on 51st St.

The taps at Valhalla

Three perfectly poured libations at Valhalla

When we make our triumphant return in June, with Jack, we’ll be going to Barbuto for Jonathan Waxman’s perfect roasted chicken. We’ll be choosing more upscale eateries since son Jack is a foodie, and has been since he was 5 and wanted to eat his first raw oyster (Moment of Truth: we made him wait until he was 12 and he had his first at the Acme Oyster House in New Orleans). We may even make it to Red Rooster to enjoy more of Marcus Samuelsson’s food. Details to be determined and of course YOU will all hear about it.

This week’s Food Memories are eating with son Jack who was home on his first Spring Break, an impromptu BBQ at Friend Becky’s house, and a lovely Pork Pie I made using a recipe from Canadian Sugar Shack Au Pied du Cochon.

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