The Culinary Timeline is a side-project that I've been working on since October. I'm hoping to have most of it complete by the end of January, with any luck. Until then, updates around here will be weekly, rather than twice weekly. Do stay tuned.
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I’m slightly skeptical of “chipotle” anything these days. To me, this pepper was arguably THE ingredient of the 1990s, as smoked red jalapeños began to officially hit the American mainstream. Not only did a burrito chain emerge from Colorado emblazoned with this very name, but television chefs such as Bobby Flay seemed to be infusing chipotle peppers into every recipe imaginable. These days, you can order a Chipotle Chicken Ciabatta at Jack in the Box or a select a packet of Ancho Chipotle Ranch Dressing for a Wendy’s salad. From my perspective, now that [... read more ...]
One of the best things about living in West Los Angeles was being able to find some great Japanese restaurants without ever having to venture east of the 405. Granted, a quick trip down to Olympic and Sawtelle would still bring you dangerously close to this country’s traffic epicenter (the 405-10 interchange ranks as the nation’s fifth-worst bottleneck, while the 405-101 interchange, located just eight miles to the north, ranks as the country’s absolute worst).
Now that I live in wine country — far removed from the evil grasp of the 405 — the nightmare of Los Angeles freeway [... read more ...]
I had a fantastic dinner at Boulevard last night, which is what I’ve come to expect from this perennial San Francisco favorite. The foie gras appetizer, in particular, was extremely well-executed, with components such as vanilla sour cherries, root beer jelly, and candied nuts. Without a doubt, this dish is going to remain in my memory for quite some time. Everything on the plate worked in terrific harmony, great flavors and textures, and the foie gras itself was a generous portion, pan-seared to a perfect shade of mahogany. But I have already digressed.
Before my [... read more ...]
For anyone who has ever cooked professionally, “Don’t Try This at Home” may feel a little too familiar at times. Edited by Kimberly Witherspoon and Andrew Friedman, this short story collection is an engaging compendium of classic kitchen war stories, written first-person by an impressive roster of America’s most well-known chefs (along with a handful of famous chefs from across the Atlantic). Anyone who has ever faced a dinner rush with little more than dread and determination can relate to many of these anecdotal tales, and the book draws most of its strength from its humor and [... read more ...]
I’ll be flying out to Pittsburgh to attend a wedding in July, which means that I’m relishing the opportunity to eat something über regional. Naturally, a sandwich at Primanti Brothers tops the list. What says more about Pittsburgh than their famous all-in-one sandwiches, named because they contain a side of coleslaw and french fries within the sandwich itself. It’s freakish and demented, and I can’t wait to eat one (so far, I have only seen them featured on television). In preparation for this occasion, I visited San Francisco’s Giordano Brothers, which has been making all-in-one sandwiches since [... read more ...]
My tendency to pair dim sum with trips to the de Young Museum is two-fold: (1) there are some noteworthy dim sum restaurants in the Richmond District, just a few blocks north of Golden Gate Park, and (2) since I have very little will power with dim sum, the de Young is a great venue to wander around while the bloating slowly subsides. Last week, I stopped in at Ton Kiang before heading to the “Warhol Live” exhibit, which began three weeks ago and runs through May 17.
The dim sum at Ton Kiang is [... read more ...]
I’ve been slurping a lot of pho this winter, even though it hasn’t been that cold here in the Bay Area. My most recent excursion, which brought me to Mangosteen in the Tenderloin, marked the end of my recent pho dac biet bender. Mangosteen’s pho proved to be one of the richest versions of the lot, very flavorful, with a layer of grease droplets, most about the size of a dime, that lingered like lip balm. Although I did enjoy this version, this soup made me feel as though enough was enough, and that I should probably [... read more ...]
Bread may be one of the few foods where the importance of texture can actually trump the importance of flavor. I say this in reference to the bánh mì sandwich at Vietnam Restaurant in San Francisco, which easily ranks as one of the best Vietnamese sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. While it’s almost unfair to highlight the bread in lieu of the deliciously tender slices of grilled marinated pork within, the baguette itself is what truly sets this sandwich apart.
Grilled and slightly charred, the bánh mì crust is thin and delicately crispy, yet the [... read more ...]
I continue to get a fair amount of traffic from folks looking for “Cliff Lede pronunciation” — at least a couple hundred visitors per week. If that’s what happened to point you to this entry, I will again confirm that “Lede” is pronounced LAY-dee, like lady. I actually heard a woman pronounce it LEE-dee the other day, but I didn’t bother to correct her. Nobody likes a know-it-all, and what does it really matter anyway?
But while we’re on the subject, I did stop in at Cliff Lede to taste their current releases earlier [... read more ...]
At SPQR in San Francisco, fried chicken night is on Tuesdays. Meanwhile, just about one hour away, at Ad Hoc in Yountville, fried chicken night currently alternates between Mondays and Wednesdays. Given these two schedules, every single week presents a viable opportunity for the fried chicken connoisseur to enjoy these two dinners on back-to-back evenings. I sincerely hope that someone out there can rise to the occasion, if only on principle. As for myself, I wish that I had taken advantage of such a gluttonous ruse, but my most recent visits to Ad Hoc and SPQR were [... read more ...]
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