Gastrolust

This month’s inspiration: “Blind Mary” by Gnarls Barkley
Chef Brian Cartenuto, who regaled us with talk of female genitalia during last month’s Dish-Off, said “the eyes have it” when I asked him for a song suggestion for this month’s round. Pulling out his MP3 player, he dialed right to Gnarls Barkley’s “Blind Mary,” telling City Arts [...]

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This month’s inspiration: “Little Red Corvette” by Prince
“On the verge of bein’ obscene” is how Prince describes his babe’s body in this 1982 classic; it’s also an apt description of the song itself. On the surface, “Little Red Corvette” sounds like it’s about a car, but it is filled with not-so-hidden sexual references. Chef Savuthy [...]

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Peter Gabriel’s “Blood of Eden” inspires complicated, but delicious, relationships.
This month’s Dish-Off features Urbane, a glistening restaurant in the new Hyatt at Olive 8 hotel, and Volunteer Park Cafe, a neighborhood meeting place in a building that’s more than one hundred years old. Moreover, it’s a chef’s battle of the sexes, as Urbane’s Savuthy “T” [...]

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Over the course of this year, “Dish-Off” challenged chefs at 28 restaurants to create dishes inspired by songs with ingredients in their titles. The results were spectacular, from Olivar’s Weezer-inspired Pork and Beans, to Il Fornaio’s White Chocolate Space Eggs—delivered to the table as the Liz Phair song played in the background.
For this year-end playoff, [...]

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Two very different houses find themselves at war in this month’s Dish-Off. El Gaucho’s newest location in Bellevue is where chef Steve Cain stands behind the hot grill serving up prime cuts of quality beef and more. Meanwhile, chef Felix Penn and his wife, Sarah, preside over an oyster house named for Sarah’s grandfather, Frank, [...]

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Here are the photos (taken by me) of the rest of the dishes from the “Steaks ‘n Shrimp” Dish-Off in November’s issue of City Arts magazine.
You can find the full report, include menus, here.
Click to enlarge any of the photos.

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Song on this Month’s Menu:
“Fruit Nut”
from Apple Venus Volume 1
by XTC (1999)
Some people say
That I am out of my tree
Or just a strawberry fool
Someday they’ll see
‘Til then I’ll blow you a raspberry
‘Cos apples and pears are me
So I’m tending my fruit
And I don’t give a hoot
‘Cos it keeps me sane, it keeps me sane
Dish-Off challenges [...]

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Here are the photos (taken by me) of the rest of the dishes from the “Fruit Nut” Dish-Off in October’s issue of City Arts magazine.
You can find the full report, include menus, here.
Click to enlarge any of the photos.

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Two chefs pay tribute to the quicklime girl
In the fall when plants return
By harvest time she knows the score
Ripe and ready to the eye
Yet rotten somehow to the core
And they call her
Quicklime girl…Behind her back
Quicklime girl…Behind the bush
Quicklime girl
She’s the mistress of the salmon salt
“Mistress of the Salmon Salt”
from Tyranny and Mutation
by Blue Oyster Cult [...]

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Here are the photos (taken by me, excluding ART’s dessert, taken by Rina Jordan) of the rest of the dishes from the “Mistress of the Salmon Salt” Dish-Off in September’s issue of Sound magazine.
You can find the full report, include menus, here.
Click to enlarge any of the photos.

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