Recently in Food Category

And in other news, perhaps a road trip to Montreal is in order.

According to the Eater of the Year Poll (which features contestants as varied as Joey Chestnut, Padma Lakshmi, Anthony Bourdain, and Chocolate Jesus), “writing ‘€œPadma Lakshmi’€ multiple times in your blog posts really boosts search engine optimization from India to Indiana.”

Well, we’ll see if mentioning the former Mrs. Rushdie really is all that….

Gael Greene asks an expert what is the sexiest restaurant in New York, along with other secrets of culinary seduction…. (hint: it’s not really about the food—but it’s really about the food)

going to write about how I make steak, but the steak got eaten before pictures could be taken. So maybe next time.

In the interim, how can you resist a story about a guy called “the Indiana Jones of tiki drinks”?

Just like last year, and the year before, and …

But this would be the perfect thing to add to your Christmas dinner table, wouldn’t it?

As you may have known, May was National Hamburger Day, which was delicious enough, albeit perhaps a bit tough on the cholesterol count; as it turns out, the first day after National Hamburger Day turns out to be National Doughnut Day!

Who knew?

Apparently, today is National Pig Day.

I approve this message.

Some highlights from Anthony Bourdain’s take on the Food Network:

Emeril: As much mileage as I’ve gotten over the years, making fun of Emeril; he deserves a lot more respect than I’ve given him. … He is—in fact—a really nice guy. And-as much as I hate the show— compared to the current crop of culinary non-entities, he looks like Escoffier.

Batali: Is there any more egregiously under-used, criminally mishandled, dismissively treated chef on television? Relegated to the circus of Iron Chef America, where—like a great, toothless lion, fouling his cage, he hangs on …. How I would like to see him unchained, free to make the television shows he’s capable of, the Real Mario—in all his Rabelasian brilliance.

Giada: What’s going on here!? Giada can actually cook! … Food Net seems more interested in her enormous head (big head equals big ratings. Really!) and her cleavage—than the fact that she’s likeable, knows what she’s doing in an Italian kitchen—and makes food you’d actually want to eat.

Sandra Lee: This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time.

Plus, Bourdain’s Dream Iron Chef Matchups:

• Mario Batali (with one arm tied behind his back—and drunk) vs. Regina Schrambling
• Michael Ruhlman, swacked on Ripple, vs. John Mariani— in a Charcuterie Challenge
• Grant Achatz vs. That Guy In Australia Who Ripped off his recipes as his own
• Marco Pierre White vs. Gordon Ramsay
• Charlie Trotter vs. Martin Picard (Chicken Livers vs. Foie Gras)
• Chris Cosentino, Fergus Henderson, Martin Picard vs. Alain Passard, Roxanne Klein and Charlie Trotter (Cooked vs. Raw Challenge)
• Martha Stewart vs. Rachael Ray (bare knuckle cage match)
• Ducasse vs. Robuchon
• “Mikey” from Top Chef vs. Sandra Lee

I’m watching one of my favorite movies on the television as I write this. What’s kinda curious is that I actually haven’t seen this movie in something like 15 years, and I’ve actually read the script more than I’ve seen the movie.

I was curious to see what my reaction to the film would be; Hartley’s films use highly stylized language and line readings, and they frequently veer into minor surrealism. Would the movie hold up over time or would quirks of the film be revealed as nothing more than gimcrackery?

Even though some of the gimmicks come off as stage-y, the movie as a whole really does hold up, and it has more emotional depth and resonance than I remember. Of course, fifteen years ago, I was young and stupid (as opposed to now, which I guess I could call “rapidly heading towards middle-aged and stupid”). In some ways it’s a very dated object, in that it has many of the hallmarks of indie filmmaking of the early 1990s, but that should hardly be counted as a failing (Lawrence of Arabia has many of the stylistic hallmarks of its era, but that hardly makes it any less of a great film).

Anyway, in other news:

• I’ve upgraded the software that runs this blog to MovableType 3.34 (the very latest and greatest version), in large part because of some long-overdue speed bumps (made possible mostly by the fact that it’s finally possible for mere mortals to use MT under FastCGI).
• A friend of mine recently sent an email with his resume and cover letter to a law firm; he got a rejection note in 28 seconds. That is not a typo.
• This looks like a great art show.
• For some reason, all the fact patterns in my recently-completed trial advocacy course seemed to take place in the same city. It also seems that this is a pretty dangerous city—we had fatal car accidents, bar fights, arsons, suicides, cocaine deals, and then some. I did learn a lot about life insurance, though…
• Sometimes I don’t understand Wall Street. Apple introduces a product that’s not going to ship for six months and the stock goes up more than 11% in two days. Then Apple announces a billion dollars in profit in a quarter and the stock drops 5%. Go figure.
• So there’s this new carbonated tea drink called Enviga on the market that claims to burn calories, and I had one tonight. It’s actually almost drinkable, but the aftertaste is goes far beyond vile to some bizarre disgusting place. There’s also a lot of caffeine in the sucker…
• Art Buchwald, one of the only men to ever check out of a hospice while still breathing, is remembered in the Post. With his passing, we lose a great, if somewhat underappreciated, man of American letters.

And for those of you playing at home, I’ve gotten up to “Bartok” in the song list. This is gonna take a while…