Gastrolust

Lack of posts this week, but no lack of eating. We’ve been in Portland for five days, enjoying a real feeding frenzy. I’ll have photos and more sometime soon on our experiences at: Ping, Bluehour, Biwa, Ken’s Artisan Bakery, Ten 01, Departure, Andina, Broder, Nostrana, Teardrop, Pok Pok, Tanuki, Beast, and more – including the [...]

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Quickie: Over at Examiner, I posted about the upcoming Tongue-in-Cheek dinner on April 1 at Monsoon East. The menu looks fabulous!

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I’ve been blogging on my site for about a half year now, and as we ring in 2009, I find myself thinking about “resolutions” for the food year ahead.
At some point, I’m hoping to update my site just a little bit by improving the bannerhead and better organizing the categories. I’ll try to post my [...]

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We’ve been We were watching the price of Cascadia’s happy hour hamburgers climb steadily. They were the best bargain at a buck each, but then doubled to two and are now, what, like ten bucks each? (Sadness obscures sanity.)
Walk the other way from Pike Place Market, and if you can deal with a chain restaurant, [...]

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Lunchtime in Louisville. Sometimes, I’m (sadly) so busy that I’m looking for convenience as much as quality. If I can figure out my neighborhood in a strange city, I turn to Urbanspoon to see what’s recommended. I was staying between the airport and the University of Louisville and with little time for lunch, I read [...]

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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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My niece’s bat mitzvah meant a family visit in the New York City area, with “family” and “area” being the operative words. I wasn’t in NYC, but in West Orange, NJ, and from a food perspective (and with family not always wanting to go far for food), this meant sub-par meals. Don’t even get me [...]

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Last week, we described a soup-er stay at Alderbrook Resort & Spa. This week, we met Soup-erman—a chef who really loves to make soup. As we’ve turned the corner into summer and the weather is warming (at least a bit), what is it about soup that’s captured our attention?
Too many diners overlook salad and especially [...]

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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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