Chus On Chow

Blood, Bones & Butter

How about that gruesome, attention-getting title? Chef memoirs are all the rage these days, with the Food Network having made chefs cool. The first one for me was Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, which I read twice. Gabrielle Hamilton, a notable New York chef and owner of the restaurant Prune, has entered the fray. Just as Bourdain does in his book, Hamilton pulls no punches in describing her life and culinary path. Rather than writing a full review, I’ll just point out a few things about it that may be of interest.

Butter, widely popularized by Julia Child. It's what's for dinner.

Her writing, just as the blurbs claim, is excellent. It’s very much in her own voice, and extremely vivid – so much so that during many passages I could feel stress and exhaustion as she described some of her kitchen life and activities. (more…)

Everyone’s all excited about Greek yogurt, and it’s selling like crazy. There’s even a factory not far from where I live that has been revived solely by making it, and that’s great. [Gee, if the Greeks sold nothing but Greek yogurt, maybe they wouldn't need a bailout!] But all this seems way out of proportion to its actual merit, so I wondered why.

Explosive Growth

No, I’m no hater. I’ve always liked Greek yogurt. It’s been available for many years, and its tarter flavor and somewhat different texture make a nice alternative from the typical yogurt you find in a US grocery store. So why has it suddenly exploded? The simple answer is marketing hype. You can scarcely go anywhere without seeing ads for it. And unlike many heavily advertised products, it doesn’t suck. So once people actually become aware of it, they try it and like it.

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Like many diners recently, we don’t do a fine-dining splurge that often,  but we made a visit to Gentile’s this week.  It had been a long time since our last visit, and it was great to be back.  The calamari appetizer was so good, it was almost enough to make me weep with joy.  The menu does, in fact, say it’s the best in Syracuse.   (more…)

Yes, this pepper does have an intriguing appearance, doesnt it? I didn't see this particular one at Chipotle.

Usually I’m too much of a snob to review chain restaurants, but this one is interesting. I had heard about their emphasis on fresh ingredients and positive reviews here and there. They are expanding so rapidly that there are two in the Syracuse area already. I tried out the one on Marshall St. on the SU hill, sporting my helpful two-fer coupon I’d received in the mail. (more…)

You'd be smiling, too, if you were to eat us!

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This is the type of deadly vegetable that gardens produce! If you have seen anything like this, call 1-877-Stop-Deadly-Oak-Park-Vegetables ASAP!

Get this – a woman who put a garden in her yard has run afoul of the law!  Cities often lag well behind positive practices for a variety of reasons.  But Oak Park is impressively clueless, and probably qualifies for some kind of award.

As I understand it, the whole thing stemmed from a neighbor’s complaint.  Of course, in many neighborhoods, the slightest show of individuality is problematic.  That’s the type of suburban neighborhood where I grew up as a kid – vast stretches of boredom and silence.  Oh well, at least it was basically safe.  Individuality upsets people, and lawns take on near-religious status among many, so this isn’t really surprising.  And of course, there’s the concept of upholding the letter of the law with no exceptions for any reason.  Whatever is the case here, the Oak Park government has decided to prosecute her, and bravely, the lady growing the garden is going to court instead of knuckling under. (more…)

We were on a brief excursion out of town, and decided to treat ourselves to staying at the Hyatt.  They have completely revamped the restaurant in their Rochester location.  It was pretty nice before, but now they have completely overhauled it.  I’m not always the biggest fan of modern architecture, which can be trendy and sterile.  But they’ve done a nice job with it here.  The atmosphere, colors, and lighting are pleasant, stopping just short of slickness.  Tasteful music was playing, mostly consisting of what they’re calling ambient or chillout music these days.  I like this style very much, and in the restaurant I think it works very well, giving a modern, urbane feel without being pushy enough to interfere with conversation; it relaxes and stimulates rather than shouts. (more…)

Lonnie and I don’t write a whole lot about beer, liquor, or bars here.  In fact, I think the last time I went on and on about beer was the stellar European selection at Eva’s Polish restaurant in Solvay, the place that we’ve personally introduced to more people than any place in town (although New Century is probably close). (more…)

We’re in the middle of Syracuse Dining Week, when many restaurants offer discounts to entice diners to venture out in the February cold.  It’s actually longer than a week this year (good call!).  Earlier this week, we looked at the impressive list of offerings from a variety of restaurants, and L’Adour’s special menu looked the most interesting and exotic to us.  The general Dining Week theme is to offer 3 courses for $25. (more…)

Last week I had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants.  I got a pesto dish that I’ve had many, many times, and it tasted fine, as usual.  But then the very next day, I had a very strange metallic taste in my mouth.  No amount of toothbrushing or water drinking seemed to get rid of it.  I had never experienced anything like it before – all food tasted bad, it didn’t seem to be going away, and the prospect of having this go on forever, or  getting some mysterious disease, scared me.  With Lonnie’s help I believe I found the cause – our sometimes quality-free friends the Chinese have been selling us a variety of pine nuts that have apparently never been used in human consumption until just recently.  The symptoms are exactly as I described, a metallic taste in your mouth.  Fortunately, it does go away, but not for several days in some cases.  Yay, economic development at the cost of human health! (more…)

I love good fish.   But I don’t cook it that much, partially due to concern with how tricky fish can be to cook, and how easily it’s ruined, as compared to cooking other foods.  And who wants to ruin something that’s somewhat expensive to buy? (more…)

We do our best to find new places to eat, but Syracuse isn’t the biggest town, and our dining budget is not astronomical, so we often return to several old favorites.  Of course, I suppose that’s obvious to any regular reader of this blog.   But we do have a new favorite place we keep returning to again and again – Sakana Ya. (more…)

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that we love Gianni’s Pizza in our neighborhood.  Time and time again, we enjoy their fare, and last night it was the Moshulu Park pizza – broccoli, ricotta, just so good.

My designer colleague Gertrud in Mannheim, Germany, also enjoys Gianni’s Pizza every week!  (more…)

Foodies, I hear that Man vs. Food is featuring Syracuse this Wednesday, September 1!  That should be pretty fun, as Adam takes on the Dinosaur BBQ, Heid’s, and Mother’s Cupboard right here in Eastwood!

It’s on the Travel Channel at 9PM Wednesday!   Here are some details.  Enjoy!

We like OIP’s char-grilled wings so much that we nearly always order them – the only variation tends to be when I’m feeling particularly gluttonous, and may order a pizza slice supplement for the wings. (more…)