Gastrolust

Looking beyond French toast for the city’s best brunch
In his gritty Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain describes brunch as “punishment block for the ‘B’-Team cooks” who salvage “old, nasty odds and ends” to create dishes that sometimes include hollandaise, which he warns “is a veritable petri-dish of biohazards.”
For this month’s Dish-Off, I set off to four [...]

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Hungry Like the (Big Bad) Wolf
When I told friends that this month’s Dish-Off challenge was “pork belly and beyond,” the confused looks amazed me. Doesn’t everyone know pork belly? More amazing were the endless looks of disbelief and disgust from people who happily eat hot dogs along with pork and beans. These obviously are not [...]

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Izakayas are the great new import from Japan, and they’re sprouting up around Seattle. So which is the best izakaya? Well, that depends on what your definition of “iz” is. Formed from i (to remain) and sakaya (sake shop), an izakaya is a drinking establishment serving substantial small plates generally meant for sharing. In Japan, [...]

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In 1998, with my love of both riding and eating animals (not at the same time, nor the same animal) hitting its crescendo, I traveled to Ireland to do the Ring of Kerry on horseback and to study at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. Cooking school in Ireland? Hard to imagine, I know, especially when Irish [...]

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A bottle of red, a bottle of white
Whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight
I’ll meet you anytime you want
In our Italian Restaurant.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I admit it: I saw Billy Joel in concert recently. The Piano Man’s still got it. His music, like a good plate of pasta, is familiar and enduring, yet capable [...]

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Sound goes on a quest for the comfiest of comfort foods
Comfort food can be difficult to define. For me, it’s something familiar (perhaps evoking a childhood memory), simple to prepare, and usually stick-to-your ribs hearty – especially ideal in winter. Typically meaty, melty and/or moist, comfort foods make me feel more happy than healthy; a [...]

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I’m working on the year-end Dish-Off review for Seattle Sound magazine. It’s been a fun year of Iron Chef-like reviews, and I’d like to share them all with you. If all goes as planned, I’ll post one per week (typically on Thursday) for the next twelve weeks, culminating in the year-end issue (featuring the top [...]

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