New York Magazine has an interview with Xiaotu Zhang, founder of Grand Sichuan in New York City, who has some interesting things to say about Chinese cooking. And which NYC Chinatown is best? Flushing, of course.
It’s hard to live under the same roof with different dietary constraints. Some people adapt, some people supplement, some people grow apart. In my experience, adaptation (and embracing of cuisine) is a very good predictor of the longevity of a relationship. I have a valentine this year because my fiancée adapted.
When going to dinner on a Saturday in New York, one only has a few options: eat early, eat late, or eat at home. Last night we were confronted by Williamsburg Saturday-night economics, four restaurants in a row with over an hour wait, and I was reminded of a story that I read ages ago entitled Pocketful of Dough. The author, Bruce Feiler, is paid by Gourmet magazine to bribe his way into restaurants:
Curious, I hatched a plan. I would go to some of the hardest-to-penetrate restaurants in New York armed with little more than an empty stomach, an iron-clad willingness to be humiliated, and a fistful of dough. Most people (including the editors of this magazine) assumed I would get turned down at half the places on my list. “You’ll never get into Daniel,” said one. “Union Square Cafe?!” said another. “Forget it.”
My plan was to show up between 8:15 and 8:30 on varying nights of the week. I would go with a different companion each night. I would try to get a reservation by telephone that afternoon and go only if I were turned down. And I would carry a twenty and a fifty in my left pocket, and a hundred in my right pocket. I did have an incentive: I could eat at any place I could successfully finagle my way into.
What results is a classic piece of journalism that I cite at least twice a year. That is to say, I am only referring to it, not a practicing bribe-maker. Since the cat has been out of the sack for over 7 years now, I wonder what effect Bruce Feiler has had on wait times in New York? Next time I go to Williamsburg on a Saturday night, I will definitely bring some dough and report back on the timeliness of this technique.
Over the past year I have had some amazing cocktails. As I head into Health Month, I’d like to reflect on some of the cocktails I’ve had over the past year in Manhattan which are probably among the best drinks I’ve had in my life.
Until February, this is Cameron’s alcohol palate singing off.
If you’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Pollen’s piece “Unhappy Meals” in the New York Times Magazine identifies how very different America is for eating processed foods, and how it is affecting our health. In this essay refers to “food” as anything that is whole and unprocessed and claims that we should “eat food, not too much, and mostly vegetables.” I think this statement can be easily visualized in the following Venn diagram:
Edible products
So all of you detox, Atkins and South Beach dieters, I have a new one for you: the No-Corn-Syrup Diet™. It’s extremely simple and will have a dramatic impact on your ability to consume things that are processed and bad for you. Here’s how it works:
If these things don’t have a list of ingredients, then you’re either eating “food” or you’re in a foreign country. In either case, you’re probably ok. If you’re unsure about whether the restaurant you’re eating at uses HFCS, ask. Tell them you have an allergy and you’ll either need to find a new restaurant or be pleasantly surprised that some places still cook with “food.”
And the best part about this diet? I won’t charge you a cent for it. It’s yours absolutely free. You can take the money you would have spent on a diet book and invest it into the “food” you’re going to eat, because unfortunately it’s going to cost you more than the processed stuff. But you’ll be happier, and healthier. Sometimes it’s good to invest in your body.
It’s almost Independence Day, and you know what that means… INTERNATIONAL HOT DOG EATING CONTEST. This age-old battle has been dominated by Takeru Kobayashi for the past 6 years, but his closest call came from a rookie named Joey Chestnut at last year’s contest.
Since then, Kobayashi has started suffering from debilitating jaw pain while Chestnut broke the world record on the road to the international contest, gobbling 59 1/2 hot dogs in Arizona, a full 8 more than Kobayashi’s record. Check this video of Chestnut wolfing down hamburgers in a preliminary for the Krystal Square Off:
I did not realize there was such an undertone of nationalism embedded in this competition. And of course Kobayashi went on to win the Krystal hamburger eating contest, barely edging out Chestnut. With a lot of speculation in the air, Kobayashi’s manager (eaters have managers?) has guaranteed that he’ll be in Brooklyn next Wednesday. Well, my manager says I will too.
Ever since McDonald’s invented the Extra Value Meal™, I was a spirited supporter of the “two cheeseburger meal,” a.k.a. the “Number two.” Suffice to say, I was distraught when it mysteriously disappeared off their menu a little over a year ago. I think they probably lost a small percentage of their market, but those little cheeseburgers couldn’t be profitable anyway. I started eating Big Macs.
Last night I was determined to relive my childhood and eat the “Classic #2,”[1] so I order two cheeseburgers, medium fries, medium coke. The manager who was hovering about swooped in and asked, “Would you like the value meal?” Of course I answered yes, of course I want to save money. I scanned my value options, no two cheeseburgers with a number. I asked the manager what number it was. “Oh, there’s no number, just a button. They deleted the meal but kept the button.”
So all this time I’ve been settling for a Big Mac, my server has been staring at a button that says TWO CHEESEBURGER VALUE MEAL? What other kinds of discontinued products do they buttons for? Can I get a McDLT just by asking for it? How about some New Coke with that?
We’ve all heard of In-N-Out’s “secret menu,” which offers crazy items like “burger wrapped in lettuce,” or a suicide milk shake. But I never pegged McDonald’s as an easter egg kind of company. Or maybe they’re just trying to minimize their losses from us disenfranchised number 2 people. I’m ready for some answers.
I’m not usually that impressed when someone receives a “Best of” award. The ones given out here in Boston include hundreds of categories, such as the illustrious Best Jewelry, Classic, West; and who can forget the inimitable Best Men’s Clothing Store on the Cape. This is Economics 101: given a fixed demand for “Best of” reviews, the more the supply, the lower the value of each award.
The science I’m about to drop here comes in the form of one award in one category for my entire life. It’s the Cameron Marlow lifetime achievement award for best coffee ever consumed. And the award goes to … Gimme Coffee! Located under the bright red awning at 495 Lorimer in Brooklyn, this spartan shop contains an espresso machine, a few tables and little else. But the coffee they make there is unsurpassed in my existence. Each cup is made by a small staff that (not surprising for Williamsburg) takes the art of coffee-making very seriously.
This cup of coffee has forced countless trips to Williamsburg and rerouted my New York entrance/exit route to always include a segment along the BQE. If you go there, there aren’t many options: large/small, filter/espresso/cappuccino/latte. I recommend a large latte (pictured above). The espresso is brewed in a machine that appears to have been bred with a motorcycle:
Manufactured by Kees van der Western of Holland, self-titled espressonist, this machine pours out the darkest, richest espresso I have ever tasted. It’s worth the trip to Brooklyn, no joke.
A while ago on one of my favorite cooking shows the chef made a dish with chipotle peppers. She extoled their unique flavor as “bacon for vegetarians.” With a description like that, I couldn’t resist trying a bunch of different recipes laden with these mysterious peppers.
Chipotle (pronounced chee-POHT-lay) peppers are simply smoked red jalapenos, a fact I didn’t know until I had eaten them many times. The process of smoking changes the flavor completely, which along with the ‘adobo sauce’ they are typically packed in, makes them a flavorful alternative as a spicy condiment; as suggested, they have an aroma that suggests bacon or jerky. Once I started eating them, I became obsessed, maybe even addicted to the flavor. I have an open can of chipotles in my refridgerator at all times
I just recently discovered that my addiction is not unique. The name has started to pop up everywhere, from the Cheescake Factory to Tabasco; everywhere I turn I’m confronted with this word I don’t ever remember noticing before this year. Some are proclaiming 2003 the Year of the Chipotle, its popularity sealed by acceptance in the popular market. Paul McIlhenny, president of the Tabasco enterprise thinks their new chipotle sauce will supercede habanero, garlic, and green to become their number two sauce.
How can something nearly a thousand years old emerge in one year as a taste of the year? Is it the product of good marketing, or did its diffusion just reach epidemic proportions? As a researcher in this sort of thing, it’s hard to tell. Americans have been diversifying their tastes like crazy over the past decade, and it might have just been a matter of time before people were ready for it. I wonder what other sneaky, radically good ingredients are just around the corner. It’s like an element of the periodic table of tastes that has just been discovered. If you know of any others, sound off..
For some reason I’ve seen one episode of A Cook’s Tour too many times, but upon eating some undercooked iguana tamales, Tony Bourdain spurts out one of the best food repulsion lines I’ve ever heard:
Food tasters (especially those not trained in the cuilinary arts) are always much too passive in their reactions. “The essence is not to my liking,” or “I don’t think the separate parts are tied together.” I just want them to cut the crap and say that they hate it.