by A.J. Coltrane

I recently “found” a new show — BBQ With Franklin. Hosted by Texas pitmaster Aaron Franklin, the show covers topics such as:

1.  The different varieties of wood and selecting the appropriate piece for the application.
2.  Making sausage.
3.  Comparing different types of smokers, and how to build one from scratch.
4.  Brisket. Chicken. Pork. Other cuts of cow.
5.  “Cowboy” style (direct heat) cooking.
6.  Sauces.
7.  Competition BBQ.
8.  Lots more.

As an example, here’s a piece focused on smoking sausage:

I think he has a nice, low-key presentation style. The information given is clear and concise, and he often includes nuances that aren’t all that obvious without experience in the subject. When watching I’ve had many “Oh.. That’s why it’s done that way!” moments.

It airs locally on CreateTV.  Episodes are available on the web here. YouTube channel is here.

Highly recommended viewing!

By Iron Chef Leftovers

If there was any question if Top Chef was filming in Seattle, there has been a Padma sighting at Mistral and the entire crew at Walrus and Carpenter.

Since it is official that they will start filming next week, some challenges I would love to see:

• Geoduck – It’s a clam that looks like a large penis and is damn tasty. Would make a great quick fire.

• Bring them out to a shellfish farm, have them dig the oysters/clams/mussels and then have them prepare them.

• Bring them out to a farm like Skagit River Ranch and make one hell of a BBQ with sustainable produce.

• Coffee!

• They should do at least one challenge where they are pairing food with beer and or wine.

• I am sure there will be some sort of tie-in with the folks at Modernist Cuisine.

To me, these are no brainers.

On a related note, there were some not so flattering comments on eater.com about Seattle being the location for the next Top Chef:

Too bad if true. There isn’t anything exciting happening in Seattle especially in food. Portland would’ve been a much better choice.

Great, the trendy hellhole known as the Pacific Northwest. Culinary graveyard.

Eh, Seattle shines in a few areas, but not many.

All of these posters were anonymous, and didn’t have the balls to actually post their real names, so no real surprise there. My guess is they are all from Boston and are unhappy that the culinary wasteland that is Boston didn’t get Top Chef (or Portlander who think they should have hosted). Are we NY, LA or Chicago, no, but we are only a city of about 600,000 and I think we are as good, if not better than SF and Austin, 2 previously featured cities on Top Chef.

by A.J. Coltrane

Mark Bittman, on his show The Minimalist. While using a serrated knife to slice as steak, he had this to say:

I wonder if my mom is watching?

Mom, you watching? How am I doing?

(mom voice)  Why are you using that stupid knife?

(Bittman)  My father would come out with an electric knife. It’s this little power tool with these two reciprocating blades.  Rrrrhmmm..    and it would go (high pitch) rrrrrrrr!!!

It never quite worked very well, but it was cool, you know, it was the 60’s… Electric can openers, electric knives… Blenders…  very exiting time…  Rocketships.

Rocketships! What an anachronism! It reminded of this Simpsons line, as usual.

by A.J. Coltrane

Check, Please! Northwest features three “local diners” visiting three restaurants, then comparing their experiences on the air with host Amy Pennington.

As might be expected from a show with non-professional reviews,  the quality and usefulness of the commentary can vary wildly. One episode featured a guy who clearly wasn’t comfortable anywhere besides TGIMcFunsters. Another featured a guy who went to the restaraunt, but then couldn’t remember the names of the dishes — and he knew he was going to have to talk about it on television! Take notes! There are also exchanges such as — Host:  “What is your summation of the restaurant?” Guest: “Mmm Mmm Good!”.    Really?

In the espisode that included Island Soul they somehow managed to talk about the drinks, but never once mention the rum flights, which to my mind is the high point of the restaurant.

I haven’t written anything “nice” yet, but it’s still on the Tivo “record” list. Pennington does a good job as the host. The local restaurant reviews can be useful. Hopefully the quality of the guests will improve going forward.

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Seattle is on the short list of places for the next season of Top Chef. Seattle is really overshadowed by San Francisco and LA as a culinary mecca, but you have some really cutting edge stuff coming out of here (the Modernist Cuisine Crew) and some fantastic chef doing amazing stuff with local and seasonal ingredients. It would be a real boon to Seattle’s culinary reputation if they get Top Chef, although somehow I see an elimination challenge involving digging up a geoduck.

I bring this up because I read an article on boston.com that the Boston mayor is pushing for a twitter campaign to have Top Chef come to Boston. I lived in Boston for 12 years and I am back there a couple of times a year on business, so I am still pretty in tune with the Boston dining scene. Let me tell you, cutting edge and memorable are 2 words you won’t hear me use to describe it. Staid, stogy and mediocre are the ones I would use. Yes, there are some great restaurants in Boston (check out my review of what may be the best one here), but generally most places are generic and dated. Folks in Boston are not cutting edge when it comes to dining out nor is there the push for local/sustainable/organic that you would expect to see from a city with that many institutions of higher learning.
You want Italian in Boston, everyone will tell you to go to the North End. What you will find is 30 restaurants all serving “classic” Italian dishes like lasagna, chicken parm and veal piccatta. There are a few “trendy” places there, but their menus are equally as lackluster. You won’t find any place like Altura, or Assiaggio or even Swingside café there, and the North End is “the” Italian neighborhood in Boston.

If you want the best food in Boston, you have to go very high end, which in most cases excludes the bulk of the dining public (Zagat’s has the Legal Seafood restaurants ranked 1-10 and they aren’t at all cheap; everything in the top 25 is $30+ entrée type places). By contrast, the #2 and #3 rated food places in Seattle by Zagat’s are the sister locations of Paseo, where nothing is more than $15. The number 4 place? Mashiko, one of 2 sustainable sushi places in the US where you can easily fill up for less than $25 a person. Paseo and Mashiko are both amazing places to eat.

You want gastro pub, forget it in Boston. You won’t find a Quinn’s or a Tavern Law there. Great burger joint? None that I can think of in Boston (although there are a few pretty good ones around).
My favorite quote from the article:

But so far, Boston — a.k.a. the land of the bean and the cod and the home of the first gastronome to put cream in the chowder — has been terra incognita for “Top Chef.”

Right there to me is the reason to NOT shoot in Boston.

Top Chef has been to New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco and Austin, all culinary hot spots. Seattle and/or Portland are due. Boston, meh, not so much. Heck, I would love to see them shoot in Montreal before they shoot in Boston. They could have an amazing challenge just by dropping the chefs in either Marche Jean Talon or Marche Atwater and letting them go to town.