Eat at Joe's!

Decision 2008 Primary: Burger Nation

For well over a year, I've been doing intermittent, yet serious research into who leads Durham in a very important part of our way of life:  Who has the best burger in the area?  I know there's the occasional vegetarian and vegan reading this blog, but I also know a lot of you crave burgers.  [Ok, I do.  :) ]  But since I'm a democratic kind of guy, I think we should put the question to you, the burger-polis, about who does the best job. 

Now, if we're to do this right, we'd set up some categories, define exactly what a burger is, settle side issues like fries, beverages, and condiments, as well as the huge issue of the bready wrapper.  And what about bacon?  What about those poor establishments that just can't generate a rare bacon cheeseburger with sauteed onions and mushrooms, with Bass on tap?   We need to have a fair primary, with all these issues settled, and the best possible range of solvable questions presented to the voters. 

We're not going to do that.  :)

But we are going to have a primary, from which I'll select a number of contenders to go on the ballot later.  As the local super-sized delegate, I may remove or add whomever I like to the ballot.  The field will need to be fattened up narrowed to 9 or less.  When I get a field of free food contenders I'm happy with, I'll get the payola/graft machines well greased set up free and fair elections using our mathematically dubious tried and true polling mechanism. 

The comments are your primary polling place.  Vote early and often. 

Burger Decision 2008 begins now. 

mmm... fatty duck liver... mmm....

Chicago overturns ban on foie gras in restaurants

[Thanks, Jack!]

Where the hell do you get a decent bag of coffee in this town?

Maybe I'm spoiled.  For years, I got coffee via the now-departed Broad Street Coffee Roasters.  The thing I liked about many of BSCR's coffees was that they weren't over-roasted: over-roasting seems to be à la mode.  I've tried a number of Counter Culture's coffees, and they're mostly too dark for me.  I even went over to Carrboro Coffee Company a year or more ago and tried there.  The chief roaster for BSCR, Mark Leatherwood, went to CCC after BSCR closed.  I didn't get to talk to Mark, probably because I was there on a Sunday, so I asked the barista for the lightest roast they had.  Maybe it wasn't over-roasted, but it wasn't for me. 

The stupid thing is I don't think I'm particularly fussy about coffee.  I used to buy Eight O'Clock's "100% Colombian" and was happy.  But the last time I bought it, it had clearly gone downhill, with different, differing beans roasted differently.  [If that's too much to swallow, just realize it was different.  :)  ]

The really annoying thing:  I used to drink a lot of coffee.  But a long time ago, I started drinking tea: it bothered my gut less, I figured it was better for me, and it's cheaper.  And while I've had some nice teas, I'll happily drink Lipton.  Now I need to switch away  from tea for -- get this -- health reasons.  Sheesh.  Maybe it's time to go back to crack and Everclear.  :/
 

Varmint on Cox on The Mint

I imagine most of you folks already read VarmintBites, but in case you haven't looked lately:  Varmint stirred up a controversy by taking exception to Greg Cox's review in the N&O about The Mint in Raleigh.  Go take a look. 

Another Weeknight Dinner Shot to Hell

Ok, so it's not really that bad, but does anyone have any positive experiences to relate with respect to Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking?  I've heard both her cookbook and her referred to positively by a number of people, including Julia.  But I've never made anything out of that particular cookbook that was any more than good.  Several times I've had what I would describe as either mediocre meals or just plain disasters.  The most recent disaster was the polenta cake out of her dessert section, which refused to rise.  I wouldn't have expected it to rise, given what was in it, but I made it anyway, and it was flat as a pancake.  I can't figure out if I'm just executing things poorly or if some recipes are just flat wrong.  But it's hard to believe the errors are on her side, as (again) I've seen so many people with positive opinions on her and the cookbook. 

Any of you folks have any opinions in either direction? 

Pop's Backdoor Pizza Menu

If you haven't heard already, Pop's has a new pizza takeout and delivery service.  They've always had takeout for the restaurant menu, but now they have a separate, additional menu for takeout and delivery.  And it's not just pizza: calzoni, salads, appetizers, antipasti, desserts....  But the best part: beer and wine by delivery.  Woo-hoo!  Ok, maybe that's not the best part, but it's pretty damn good.  :)

I've been trying to get something up about this for maybe a week.  The gods have not been helpful in this regard.  :(  So, in order to facilitate things, below is the pizza menu; I'll be writing up my actual experience there later.  For the moment, I'll just say that I'm really happy, as I've always been with Pop's.  I'm glad to have another way to eat their food.  :)

One of the reasons I wanted to do this as soon as I saw the menu was that I wanted to hyperlink some of the ingredients.  I'll add that in over time.  I'm also not intending to reproduce the current menu exactly: like I said, I want to add some stuff.  But Kevin over at BCR has a PDF up if you'd like to see exactly how the initial public menu looked.  BTW, Kevin mentions that the pizzas and calzoni are wood fired:  While Pop's uses a wood-fired oven in the restaurant, the new pizza operation has a new, separate pizza oven (I imagine for both quantity and space reasons).  Besides, if you ever go look at Pop's' wood oven, you'll notice that probably couldn't get an 18-inch pizza in and out of the thing.  :)  However, they do say they will wood-fire the 10" pizzas and calzones on request.   

To call in an order, call 956-7437 (956-PIES).  Hours: 5 pm to 10 pm(ish) Sunday through Thursday, and 5 pm to 11 pm(ish) Friday and Saturday.  Have it delivered, or save a buck fifty and pick up your order at their back door, where they have a neat new counter installed (more on that space later, but it's off the parking lot between Pop's and Parker & Otis).

A terminal "(V)" below means the pizza in question is vegetarian.  The pizzas below are $10 for the 10 inch, $15 for the 14 inch, and $19 for the 18 inch. 

---

1. Number One: granny smith apples, brie, white truffle oil on ricotta spread (V)
2. Irish Pie: sliced potatoes, crispy pancetta, garlicky spinach
3. Pepperoni: housemade sausage, fresh mozzarella, parmesan cheese
4. Pop's Famous Salty Egg and Prosciutto: prosciutto, roasted garlic, kalamata olives
5. Pizza Margherita: roma tomatoes, basil leaves, fresh mozzarella (V)
6. White Pizza: taleggio, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, garlic on ricotta spread (V)
7. Kitchen Pie: sopressata, fresh tomatoes, capers, jalapeños, light cheese, marinated cabbage
8. Polpette: housemade meatballs, broccoli rabe, roasted garlic, parmesan
9. Valtellina: bresaola, wilted arugula, caramelized onions, pecorino romano
10. Ratatouille: grilled zucchini, grilled eggplant, sweet onions, roasted tomatoes, black olives, feta (V)
11. House-Smoked Chicken: fontina, grilled red onions on pesto
12. Carolina: NC shrimp, roasted red peppers, onions, bacon
13. Northerner: shortribs, herb-roasted mushrooms, taleggio, white truffle oil
14. Southerner: ham, grilled red onion, oil-cured tomato
15. Hawaiian: ham, andouille, pineapple, cherry peppers
16. Meat Lovers: pepperoni, bacon, shortribs, soppressata
17. Veggie Lovers: artichokes, roma tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, green olives (V)
18. Tomato Lovers: fresh romas, roasted tomatoes, oil-cured tomatoes, garlic, parmesan on pesto base (V)
19. Mushroom Lovers: herb-roasted shiitake, portobello, and button mushrooms, pecorino romano (V)
20. Pie of the Week: customer or chef's special

Guide for building your own pizzas and calzones:

• Sizes/prices (for cheese pizza): 10"/$7; 14"/$9, 18"/$12
• Sauces: pomodoro, pesto, ricotta spread, olive oil and herbs
• Additional Toppings: 10"/$1.25 each, 14"/$2 each, 18"/$2.50 each
• Meat: anchovies, andouille, bacon, bresaola, ham, italian sausage, meatballs, pancetta, pepperoni, prosciutto, shortribs, NC shrimp, smoked chicken, sopressata
• Veggies, etc.: apples, artichoke hearts, arugula, banana peppers, basil leaves, black olives, broccoli rabe, capers, caramelized onions, cherry peppers, fresh garlic, green bell peppers, green olives, grilled eggplant, grilled onions, jalapeños, kalamata olives, herb-roasted mushrooms, oil-cured tomatoes, pineapple, Pop's herb blend, red potatoes, red onions, roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, roma tomatoes, spinach, sweet onions, truffle oil, zucchini
• Cheeses: brie, feta, fontina, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, monterey jack, parmesan, pecorino romano, taleggio

Doin' the Classics up Right

.... We decided we didn't really need to get back to the afternoon meeting -- so we ordered Cafe Brulot with brandy and orange liqueur, which the waiter flamed tableside as he gave us requested advice on where to get the best po' boys in town.

If all my columns were that enjoyable, I could give up my day job.  If all my meals were that enjoyable, I could give up everything, die, and go to heaven.  :)

Sweet, Hot, & Poppin'

About 20 years ago, my mom (bless her heart) gave me a cookbook that was, well, not exactly my speed.  There were way too many recipes in it with titles like "Cheesy Noodle Bake" for me to use it much, but I made a few things out of it.  Mom was ahead of the curve, because later an in-law gave me another edition of the same cookbook.  The two were bound differently, and had different recipes, and finally the copy from my mom started falling apart.  (Why the heck do they call it perfect-bound, anyway?)  So it went away, even though it came from mom, and had a slightly different recipe selection than the newer edition. 

One recipe I tried from the older book was sweetened popcorn.  The basic idea sounded scary as hell: start some stove-top popcorn in the normal fashion (oil in a covered pot, with a few tester kernels to let you know when the oil was ready).  Meanwhile, you stirred up a mixture of water and sugar.  When the tester kernels pop, you throw the sugar water into the hot oil.  I don't know about you, but I learned early on that water and oil don't mix, especially when they're really hot.  So I was scared the first time I tried it.  I felt I was surely going to burn myself, or burn a sticky mess onto the inside of the pot.  I put oven mittens on both hands, got some ice out in case I burned myself, and shielded myself with the pot lid from the open pot while pouring in the water. 

It worked fine.  It was easy, and cleaned up fine.  And it didn't really take any more time than regular popcorn.  No disasters or messes. 

When I got rid of the cookbook, I noticed that the new one didn't have the recipe. I was like "So what?  You just add sugar water when the oil is ready.  I can remember that, right?"  Wrong.  I've tried over and over, looked in different cookbooks, and rooted around on the web.  I've never successfully made the stuff since the cookbook went away.  I burn it, I don't get enough sugar in it, or something else goes wrong.  It was good, quick, and cheap, and now I can't do it.  Argh. 

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?  Inquiring Joes want to know.

Edit -- A useful tip: popcorn expands about 20:1 when popped.  So if you want, say about 2 quarts (64 fluid ounces) of popped corn, use about 3 ounces, or 6 tablespoons, of popcorn.  By the formula, that will give you 60 fl. oz., or not quite 2 quarts.  Usually any variance will be on the short end, but every once in a while you'll be surprised and have a little extra.  More for the cook.  :)

"Oh, my aching..."

Well, this looks like fun, for those who enjoy such things: 

"Have you ever thought about eating an order of bacon cheese fries and running 2 miles only to have to eat more food?"

Edit: Must... include trendy... Facebook event URL... get proper street cred....

To Every Thing There Is a Season

Six Plates, which did have their day off as Tuesday, has moved it to Sunday.  I.e., they're closed then.  :)

Edit: The "Lamby Joes" have tenure!  Excellent! 

News Flash II

1013 West Main, formerly known as Gatsby's, has a sign up outside that says "Now Hiring."  People were going in and out of the building today, and there's a rumor that they'll be opening tonight.  (I say rumor because anyplace that's taken 18 months to get open turns into a case of I'll believe it when I see it.)

Edit: OMFG.  The area code is right, at least. 

Yay. Not.

"Agreement reached on restaurant meal tax" -- Durham Herald-Sun (registration required)

"Push for Durham Restaurant Tax Moves Forward" -- Right Angles

WWW Woes

If you read this blog with a feed reader, you may notice or have noticed a blip in service.  Typepad is currently (1:45 pm, 18 April 2008) working on an issue with RSS/Atom feeds through FeedBurner.  I do not have an ETA.  Of course, if you do read EAJ! through a feed reader, you'll never get this.  :/

Greek Yogurt Article at NYTM

I'm a little surprised at how slack some of the writing is, but I otherwise enjoyed this article on Greek yogurt at the NYT: The Back Story | Greek Yogurt Revival.

Lies. It's What's For Dinner.

McCain "Family Recipes" Lifted from the Food Network.

Reconsidering Pastrami?

How many of you out there are pastrami makers?  I did it once, and it was the best damn pastrami I've ever had.  I think the pastrami was also the most successful of any of the charcuterie I was doing at the time (bacon, Canadian bacon, sausage, &c). 

A friend of mine is an experienced pastrami maker.  Unfortunately, he's been told by the MDs that he needs to lower his salt intake -- something about his brain exploding or the like.  This kinda puts a cramp in his pastrami making, as the first thing one does when making pastrami is brine a piece of brisket with salt and pickling spices.  (If you stop there, you have corned beef.  If you then coat it with crushed coriander and pepper, and smoke it, you'll have pastrami). 

I know that brining uses a lot of salt.  (Duh.)  I also know that a lot of the salt goes away.  I further know that charcuterie is generally not done w/o a lot of salt.  Do any of you have any suggestions, or any experience with cutting back on the salt when, ahem, "brining"? 

If my friend posts on the matter, I'll link to him. 

[Yes, I know: I should have put this on the pork barrel.  But I have many more Gentle Readers here than there -- in fact, more readers of all types, I imagine.  :)  ]

F$ckin' A

This is the kind of food blog I wish I wrote: thursday night smackdown. 

[via VarmintBites.]