Last year I raved about Nobu's famous Black Cod with Miso. A few weeks ago I saw that Whole foods had this wonderful fish formerly known as sable fish. I followed Nobu's black cod recipe although I used less sake and used regular miso, not white miso as called for. I also marinated the fish for 24 hours, not the 2 to 3 days called for.

This fish is very expensive (something like 16 bucks a lb.) and very delicate after its 24 hour bath in mirin, miso and sake, so I didn't want to fool around with it too much. I pan sauteed it in a non-stick pan and served it over soba noodles. The skin was nice and crispy, and the flesh was wonderfully buttery. If I was to try this again, I'd follow the recipe to the letter and broil it for more of a lacquer.

Watching Beirut die Anthony Bourdain - "We went to Beirut to film a TV show about the city's newly vibrant culinary and cultural scene. Then the bombs started falling, and we could only stand on the barricades of our hotel balcony and watch it all disappear -- again."

BBC article on the UK's Call to label hidden fats in food

Grow your tomatoes upside down

The real thing. Or is it? DIY Coca-Cola.

Love it or hate it: The circus peanut remains an enigma y all accounts, circus peanuts date to the 1800s when they were a seasonal treat and one of the original penny candies. "There are few candies that actually have survived as long as circus peanuts," said Jon H. Prince, owner of wholesale candy retailer www.candyfavorites.com. "It's not so much candy as it's Americana."

Miller Park sausage race gets some more flavor

A review of And a Bottle of Rum - A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails "Rum was the gin of the New World. But it was more than a quick ticket to a fast drunk. Rum's rise marked a rite of passage for the struggling colonists. Merely by drinking it, they effectively announced a change in their role on the global stage. They were no longer a people who made do with crude and rustic beverages concocted in their own kitchens. They could now pay for valued goods with the sweat of their labor."

Cooking the books Why most celebrity cooks never list their writer/recipe tester on the covers of their cookbooks. "It's hard to understand the reticence about owning up to ghostwriting. If tennis players aren't assumed to be good writers, why should we expect that skill of cooks? The problem is that in our celebrity-obsessed age, readers of cookbooks don't just want recipes that work. They also buy into a dubious notion of personality. They're not just looking for minestrone, they're looking for X's minestrone. Eager to have their kitchen touched by his magic, they probably don't realise that authorship of the recipe is sometimes debatable. This question wouldn't make a bit of difference if the personal imprimatur of the celebrated author weren't the unique selling point of the recipe."

HOWTO make the perfect fruit salad and get laid "Buy organic fruit. Trust me on this. I'm the expert here; you’re the desperate schmuck who needs to surf the Internet to figure out how to put f*#@ing fruit into a f*%#ing bowl"

The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die "Alan Richman traveled 23,750 miles and consumed more than 150,000 calories while taking the measure of 162 burgers across the country—with one goal: To find you the best damned assemblage of ground beef and buns this country serves up" Only one Chicago place - Poag Mahone's made his list, and he's rather disparaging of our burgers. "The television, tuned to a Cubs game, was so loud I had to scream my order several times, and all I was trying to say was "hamburger." I know everybody in Chicago is depressed because the Cubs never win. I never realized they were also deaf. I'd be disheartened, too, if I had to eat burgers in Chicago — Poag Mahone's was the only place I found that did burgers right."

Alan, if you didn't know that half of Chicago gloats happily when the Cubs lose, you probably didn't know where to look for burgers around here.

In the interest of adding some completeness to the last post, here's all the Chicago Food Blogs I know about. Unlike most of my listings, some of these are quite dormant or officially retired, but the archives are still around.

At Our Table Dormant.
Bunny Pie
Chicago Foodies
Eat Chicago
The City That Eats
Fancy Toast
Food Blog
fuckcorporategroceries explores the independent markets. j3s has retired this project, but some archives are still there.
Hungry Magazine
Making of a restaurant Long retired, but worth the read.
Olive and Mason eat Chicago Lunch reviews in the Streeterville area of Chicago. Dormant.
Pastry Life Dormant.
Pro Bono Baker
Skillet Doux
Too Many Chefs One of the Many Chefs is from Chicago.
Trans Fatty Blog Dormant, or maybe they've banned blogging about it too.
Vital information from one of the most knowledgable Chicago Chowhounds.

And check out the food archives of Gapers Block, Chicagoist and Metroblogging Chicago.

Chicago Tribune article on food blog photography. This is a very good article on the subject, with quotes from local chefs Grant Achatz and Gale Gand on photography in their restaurants. The reporter seems to have omitted one other local food blog from the list they offer.

"As the amuse-bouche (a tiny cone filled with salmon tartare) arrived, he felt sheepish about whipping out his camera. Then he noticed a woman at another table ostentatiously snapping pictures. Emboldened, he pulled out his camera in time for the first course--sea urchin with water chestnuts, pea shoots and black truffle coulis. Fast-forward a few days. Armato was posting The French Laundry photos on his food blog, Skillet Doux. He has pictures of everything but the salmon cone, so he looked for a photo of it on the Web in the off-chance another foodie had snapped one. Amazingly, one had."

I just happen to have one too. (Although this one is from Thomas Keller's other place, Per Se)

"For chefs, this can be immensely flattering. But it can also be a problem. Photographed well, gnocchi can look like pillows of pasta perfection. Photographed poorly, they can look like segments of a fattened albino caterpillar, as Terragusto's gnocchi recently did on foodie message board LTHForum.com."

I've got one of those too. Gnocchi ala Cesare, from Club Lago.

(The links above are mine, once again, old media is afraid of linking.)

Anthony Bourdain's post on eGullet about being stranded in Beirut (scroll to the bottom)

The Elements of Food Styling - What's up with Gourmet's somber covers?

Frank Gehry designs a food stand.

A review of Chicago Food Critics

Somebody finally designed a mango slicer.

The Wacky World of Japanese Ice-cream. Mmm, octopus ice cream. Not wacky enough? See the Wackier World of Japanese Ice Cream that starts off with Raw Horseflesh Ice Cream.

Wine at Disney World

Sweet meat plush toys "We use only the finest cuts of fleece on the market and overstuff each selection for the juiciest product you can buy."

I should mention as a disclaimer that the Celtic Knot Pub is a client but I'd be derelict in my duty as a food blogger if I didn't mention Debbie's Cupcake of the Month. It's a jelly doughnut cupcake - baked then deep fried just like a real doughnut, than filled with apricot jam. Truly a masterpiece of cupcakeness.

We here in Chicago are well aware of the threats against our culinary freedom - (Alderman wants trans-fatty oils off the menu) but the BBC reports on a NYC City Council member trying to restrict the number of fast food restaurants - "It's a legal restriction that has already worked in several other American cities he says, and it makes sense to explore drastic measures, following on from the statistical success of the city's three-year-old smoking ban."

While I'm no fan of fast food, it sounds like a slippery slope towards the governement telling us what to eat. The words "drastic" and "statistical success" is what really scares me.

While on the subject of fast food - Slumming the Golden Arches - the idea that going to a McDonalds while traveling isn't just about Americans "seeking the dull, familiar comforts American culture" but rather travelers from all around the world looking for a "smoothly standardized absence of place and culture — a neutral environment that allows travelers to take a psychic time-out from the din of their real surroundings." Maybe, but I think real foodies will agree - while traveling, every meal is an opportunity to immerse oneself into the culture and food of a place, to waste even one meal on a Big Mac is a sin. That said I will admit to eating in the McDonald's a few times while in Auckland NZ, but I was living there for several months, not just visting on a two week trip where every meal should be considered a treasured memory.

While on the subject of American culture in foriegn lands - read this post on Idle Words about Walmart in China - "The Wal-Mart in the basement of my building sells live frogs in a big aquarium, for eating. I don't know what surprised me more when I moved here - the frogs, or the Wal-Mart."

It's Hot. Drink Your Wheat. NYTimes story on wheat beer. Last week I was in upstate NY close to Vermont, so I drank a few of the Magic Hat wheats they mention - the Circus Boy and Hocus Pocus. But my favorite of the style was the Long Trail Hefeweizen. It's the heavy banana - bubble gum - vanilla style, which I love. Locally, Goose Island has their Hefeweizen on tap "This Bavarian-style wheat ale is brewed with 50% wheat malt and imported German yeast. It's the authentic yeast that gives weizen biers their signature banana and clove characteristic."

Some really good food blogs to check out.

Skillet Doux Chicago. He recently did an excellent review of Alinea, with great photography.

Speaking of Chicago, I found this Chicago Wine Shop Google map over at Dr. Vino who has a blog

Ethicurean An eater of tasty things that are also sustainable, organic, local, and/or ethical — S/O/L/E foods, for short. San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, and Austin

Remarkable Palate By Chef Mark Tafoya. NY. Also includes a podcast.

Epi-log, a food blog from Epicurious

I know all you people that requested inclusion feel like I'm ignoring you, there will come a day when I'll publish a massive list.

Yes, that's an ad over there on the right. I'm just testing the concept with a few of my food related clients to see what they may be worth.

Some summer food pictures.

This is really a spring picture. Nothing says spring in New Jersey like soft cell crabs. I got this one live at Sun Farm Market (900 Easton Ave. Somerset NJ) back in May. I used to drive all the way down the shore to get 'em. This little Asian market has a good fish market and a good variety of produce.

It's not summer without funnel cake. At the Custer St. Fair in Evanston Il.

Summer is also for grilling and smoking. Here's some smoked ribs and a smoked pork shoulder(and some red peppers). The pork shoulder was brined over night and smoked for 5 hours, then grilled for a short time to crisp up the skin. The Weber Bullet (Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker) has been producing great stuff. See the Virtual Weber Bullet site has lots of good tips and modifications.

A few posts ago I linked to the Restaurant Guys podcast, as I have several times in the past. I love those guys and listen to them often in my kitchen as they interview authors, cooks and food and drink professionals. I got a chance to eat again at one of their restaurants - Catherine Lombardi. I had eaten there around Christmas once before.

It's a lovely place, obviously designed with much care. Large tables, lots of room, a great bar, (excellent cocktails with fresh ingredients), the menu and the food are put together with a reverence for tradition and quality. These qualities are also evident in their downstairs restaurant, Stage Left.

Unfortunately, when a place strives for that level of dining, and bills the diners at that level, it needs to come off as flawless or any errors are magnified.

I ordered the Cumare Nancy's Stuffed Calamari with Red Sauce and the stuffed veal chop - the arugula and pancetta stuffing sold me on the chop, over trying the osso bucco or the scallopini.

One of my table mates doesn't eat cheese, and the roasted (unstuffed) veal chop with the polenta (with cheese), when he asked for a substitution, which they had happily complied with.

I love their stuffed calamari - perfectly soft pillows.

When the chops came, I was slightly distracted by the fact the table mate that doesn't eat cheese got the polenta, instead of the substitution. I tasted my polenta which definitely had cheese in it. We waved down the waiter who apologized for forgetting to tell us that the chef had made the polenta without cheese, instead of plating a substitution. Then as any food blogger does, I stuck my lens in my food. It was only then that I realized that my chop wasn't stuffed.

Same cut of meat, but it was kind of a bummer, since the stuffing is what sold me on the chop. And it took awhile to get someone's attention, and get an answer to whether I could get it replaced in a reasonable amount of time. It couldn't be done so I just went ahead and ate my cooling piece of meat. It was an excellent chop, juicy, tender, just on the right side of rare.

After dinner Francis, one of the owners, came up to our table and asked how everything was. I explained the error and he asked if it had been replaced. I told him the chef had said there wasn't time. We talked for a bit about our wine (a nice Brunello) and his podcast and its growing audience. He's the kind of guy you could easily spend the rest of the night at the bar with, listening to his stories. I didn't mention food blogging or the fact I gave him a plug recently.

Dessert was good, they make a fine cheesecake, served with a little dollop of marscapone on the side, which is a nice touch. The waiter brought us a few extras, a plate of cookies and a zabaglione to share. And perhaps as an apology, some snifters of Sambuca, with a very rare touch - the bottle was left on the table.

The Sambuca, cookies and zabaglione were comped of course, but I had a bit of a feeling of unsatisifaction about the error. I'm not really sure I was really bothered by it, it's just rare you get a mistake like that, in a place like that, especially when you're ordering the most expensive thing on the menu (45 bucks).

I don't seek out flaws in food or service to write about like a professional reviewer. I'm not an advocate for the diner, nor an adversary to the restaurantuers. But I'm not sure whether I've toned this review down a bit just because I like these guys. On the other hand, I can't overcome the feeling of an unbalanced price-to-quality-of-service ratio. Perhaps because my memory of my last meal at their more upscale Stage Left was the same.