A baking and gardening journal. Mostly.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
I really do prefer Jon Stewart, but I do find Colbert funny. He recently did a segment on his show comparing wheat to addictive drugs. If he is right, does this mean that Coltrane is a drug dealer? Possibly, you shoud see the way people jones for his bread.
The segment gets stranger with the introduction of McGnaw the Gluten Free Beaver.
For your enjoyment:
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Today is a 2 for 1 beer post day! Aren’t you all excited.
Anyway, if you are going to Belgianfest (and if you are not, why are you not going to Belgianfest – there are tickets still available) at the Bell Harbor Center on February 2nd, you will get the experience of tasting a beer named for one of my all-time favorite Simpson’s lines and it is made by none other than the fine folks at American Brewing.
The description:
A Brown Ale fermented with our Sour Yeast on locally grown raspberries and aged to perfection in red wine barrels. 8% ABV
I am still surprised no one has used this name, considering Flanders is a style of beer as well as a mustachioed neighborino of Homer J. Simpson.
The full list of beers is here.
Where it comes from:
By Iron Chef Leftovers
I have never met Guy Fieri, but I really don’t like the guy who Anthony Bourdain once called “The Poochie of Food Network.” I have never been to any of his restaurants, so I can’t comment on if they are any good, but he recently opened a 500 seat monstrosity in Times Square in NYC. It seems that the place is terrible and has met with many bad reviews, including one recently from the NY Times writer Peter Wells (you can read that here – he actually gave the place 0 stars).
Eater.com, it all its wisdom, took some of the worst criticisms from Wells and in a shout out to Fieri’s feelings and in an attempt to soften the blow, added them to pictures of kittens. There is brilliance in this – I am going to have to remember this the next time I write a negative review on something. I highly recommend reading the review first then going here to see all the pictures, but here are two of my favorites:
By Iron Chef Leftovers
This was posted on Alton Brown’s Facebook page a few days ago with the caption “November 18th. That is all I’m saying.” I wonder what he could possibly mean?
By Iron Chef Leftovers
HANsel?
Visiting Dot’s Deli on Halloween might be worse that going to the gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel. From their specials menu on 10/31:
Spicy Meatball Sandwich – with pork/stray children, parmigiano reggiano, $10.
I can only hope the chlidren are free range. If meatballs don’t excite you, go with this:
Cassoulet – with poodle confit, toulouse sausage, $16.
One of my favorite Looney Toons shorts (it has some great lines):
By Iron Chef Leftovers
From “Pearls Before Swine” on July 27-28. Some food items just aren’t really as appealing when you break them down into their component parts.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
There are plenty of sites where you can find people’s opinions, good or bad, about restaurants. I have been known to check out sites like Yelp to see the bad reviews of a place just to see the kinds of stuff that people are complaining about when it comes to a restaurant that I am considering going. Any places that have consistently bad reviews and people are complaining about the same things are probably places to avoid.
In many cases, if a restaurant is terrible, the owner probably has cash flow issues and is not paying staff, vendors, taxes, etc. A recent case of this happened in Pennsylvania at a place called the Italian Village Restaurant (which also appeared on an episode of Restaurant: Impossible).
While not paying your restaurant staff can lead to lots of whispers and anonymous angry tweets, not paying your web designer can be a sticky situation for a restaurant owner.
Recently, the webmaster of The Italian Village in Milmont Park (which was on an episode of Restaurant:Impossible) decided to replace the cheesy web presence of the restaurant with detailed lists of shitty Yelp, Yahoo, and Google reviews. The very best one of the batch suggested throwing the live accordion player in the dumpster because he “belittled people” who didn’t request “Irish Eyes” and “Happy Birthday.” Instead of negotiating with the spurned HTML jockey, The Italian Village went ahead and bought a new domain.
I guess that when you fail to pay your webmaster, you probably deserve having all of your bad reviews put in one place.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
From the Mashiko Facebook page on why you should have come into the restaurant for sushi on July 3rd:
Get your sustainable sushi on tonight! We won’t be here tomorrow ’cause we’ll be busy blowing stuff up.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
This is fake menu that was handed out at GOOGAMOOGA recently. GOOGAMOOGA was a big food/wine/beer/musical held for the first time this year in Brooklyn and, by all accounts, was a poorly managed and a complete disaster (they are actually offering refunds to ticket holders it was so bad). I think that the menu would be funnier for anyone who attended the clusterfuck that was GOOGAMOOGA, but I got a few chuckles out of it.
By Iron Chef Leftovers
Next time someone asks you for a restaurant recommendation, have them fill out the following mad lib:
I’d like to dine out with my (noun) this (day of the week), and am having trouble finding the perfect spot. I always prefer a restaurant that (everybody/nobody) knows about. I (don’t want to/don’t mind to) wait in line; what really matters is the (food/service/value/ambiance).
I’m envisioning a restaurant where we can drink a (craft cocktail/pitcher of beer/foreign soft drink) while (reading/listening to a server recite/trying to translate) the menu. I’m (adverb) devoted to local, seasonal cooking, and I (verb) if the chef kills his own (noun) or forages her own mushrooms.
I don’t eat (kind of food) or (kind of food), but I’m not picky. I love (type of cuisine). My favorite restaurant experience was in (city), where I ate at (name of restaurant). That place is so (adjective)!
I (enjoy/could do without) a leisurely, multi-course meal. I’m thinking my budget is about (price). Do you think that’s doable? I just don’t want (greatest restaurant fear).
That was written by Hanna Raskin of Seattle Weekly in response to constantly being asked about what restaurant should someone go to. I may start having to have Mrs. Iron Chef fill this out when she tells me she doesn’t care about where we go out, but actually does. You can read the full article here.
FlatbreadGarden 