Ultimate Foodie

I have to make this relatively brief, but I -just- ran into Angel Djambozov from our very first podcast and he told me that in response to overwhelming interest, Jones Soda recently released Ron Paul Revolution Cola! Right now, Obama’s cola is still beating Ron Paul’s by a little more than 3000 bottles sold, but it has already outsold McCain and Hillary combined! It should be interesting to see just who comes out on top!

You can buy your Campaign Cola at CampaignCola.com.

I have no idea at all why I made this sandwich. I thought so little of doing it, that I forgot to take a picture of it. So - in the interest of journalistic integrity, I am going to have to make … and eat… another of my twisted take on The King’s favorite sandwich.

If you aren’t familiar, the King himself, Elvis Presley was fond of a sandwich combining peanut butter and bananas and fried in butter to make it extra molten peanut-buttery-crispy good.  I got a wild hair today to try this on my own, with a twist. I added honey, and slathered the yummy Orowheat Oat Nut bread with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and fried it up to a crispy golden brown.

I have to say… at first taste, I was wondering just what the hell I was thinking… then… it started growing on me. It had that awesome sweet and salty combination that is just awesome. I think the next time I try this I will add bacon. After all - bacon just rocks in pretty much anything and looking at the sweet and salty scale on this recipe, the bananas + the honey outweigh the salty peanut butter 2 to 1. That’s just not fair.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 slices bread of your choice
• Peanut Butter to taste
• 1 Banana - sliced
• Honey to taste
• I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter for frying

Spread Peanut butter on one half of bread, and drizzle and spread honey on other slice. Add a layer of sliced banana’s on top and combine. Fry over medium heat in ICBINB until crispy to your liking.

Think of the King while you enjoy.

What the hell was I thinking?

- Wade

This past week I went to Chicago to attend a conference and while I was there, I had the fantastic opportunity to sample a Chicago classic, the deep dish pizza.

A bit of Chicago pizza history…according to Wikipedia, the “deep dish” pizza was invented in 1943 by Ike Sewell, owner of Pizzerria Uno. I walked past Pizzeria Uno as well as their sister restaurant, Pizza Due, several times during my stay and I can honestly say, they were packed each time.

On Sunday afternoon, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with two of my friends who had agreed to assist in my Chicago food scene deflowering. We met at Gino’s East and I was immediately struck by the crazy decor. Everything, and I do mean everything, is covered in graffiti, some of which dates back decades. Luckily, one of my friends is a Chicago native and he explained some of the restaurant’s unique history.

Apparently, the restaurant moved locations to its current locale after they lost their lease at the original spot. When they moved, they brought the wood paneling and booths along, so customers could continue to scribble their names. While I didn’t have the opportunity to add my own signature the first night I went there, I certainly did four days later when I returned with my little brother!

Ok…on to the pizza! I’ve had tons of pizza (who hasn’t) and I’ve even had what some places claim to be deep dish pizza, but they totally lied. The pizza I had last week was absolutely heavenly. The crust is nearly indescribable. It has this crunchy, almost fried quality, but still retains that nice chewy factor. It didn’t taste like a yeast based bread, so I’m guessing it was probably cornmeal based. The pizza is built backwards from what I was used to as well. Sure, the crust was on the bottom, but the sauce was on the top! In layers from the bottom up, we had crust, cheese, sausage patty, pepperoni, chunky tomato sauce. The sausage patty was the most intriguing part of the pizza…it literally was a patty that covered the whole pizza. None of the small, overcooked little crumbles. This was a sausage pizza! The sauce was very rich and I really liked that it was thick and chunky. There was no picking this pizza slice up, it was strictly a knife and fork affair.

I was only able to eat about a slice and a quarter before I started picking at it. It was incredibly filling and fabulous. Now I just need to find somewhere out here that can make pizza like that, or I’m going to have to start finding reasons to go back to Chicago regularly!

P.S. My two amazing Chicago friends took me to the Chicago Blues Festival after dinner and we saw B.B. King perform and it was absolutely divine. The concert rocked, dinner was wonderful, but by far, the highlight of my trip was spending time with you two. Many, many thanks guys!!

Now, I normally am not a jam or jelly buyer. So many of them are full of preservatives and chemicals that I don’t even bother. I prefer to make my own for the most part, but this past week we ran out of my last jar of homemade and I just didn’t have time to make any, so I broke down and bought a jar of Kozlowski Farms Blackberry Spread at our local Bel-Air.

Let me tell you, I am glad I did! The spread is absolutely exquisite. It contains no added sugar, which is great, and the whole list of ingredients is five things, four of which are fruit and the last which is fruit pectin. (Pectin is what makes jams and jellies gel.) One really interesting thing about this spread is it is made entirely with USA grown fruit which I find completely refreshing.

Quick, simplistic lesson in jams and jellies:

•Jams are made from cooked, mashed up fruit mixed with sugar and pectin.

•Jellies are made from cooked, mashed up fruit that is then strained and mixed with sugar and pectin. The fruit bits are not included so the jelly is clear and the color of the fruit.

• Marmalades are made from cooked citrus fruit rind, sugar and sometimes pectin.

• Spreads are jams with no added sugar.

There’s a lot of other variations, like fruit curds and fruit butters, but essentially most products are going to fall into these four categories.

Back to the taste…it spreads very nicely, even straight from the cold refrigerator. There’s no clumping or having to work it into the toast. The taste is straight from the vine blackberries, sweet with just that hint of tartiness at the finish. How great to find a blackberry spread that tastes like blackberries and not some oversweetened, metallic tasting facsimile.

Kozlowski Farms Blackberry Spread is a bit expensive at $4.99 for a 10 oz jar, but overall it was quite delicious and a great alternative to breaking out my canning stuff and doing it myself. You can also purchase a variety of jams, jellies, spreads and marmalades online at http://www.kozlowskifarms.com

For more than three decades, maybe even four, my family has made the jaunt once or twice a year to Buscaglia’s Ristorante in Jackson, California to celebrate. Sometimes it’s a birthday, sometimes Mother’s Day, sometimes for other important family events like confirmations and baptisms. We’ve always considered it our restaurant of choice for really special family events.

Until May 11, 2008, that is.

When I was a kid, Buscaglia’s was an awesome little place…right on the road with this huge, beautiful stained glass window of roses and a light-up dance floor in the lounge, straight out of the seventies. The food was to die for, homemade minestrone, succulent pastas, and this amazing fried chicken that I swear I can still taste, even though they discontinued making it more than 15 years ago. The place was cozy and warm, the staff was always friendly and attentive and it really felt like you had gone to an old friend’s home for dinner.

Not so anymore.

The day before Mother’s Day, we made the trek to Buscaglia’s for dinner. All told, there were eleven of us, eight adults and three kids. Buscaglia’s recently built a new restaurant farther back on the hill from the original location, and although my parents and grandparents had been there since the new spot opened, my siblings and I had not. I must admit, I was saddened to see that all that was left of the old building was some brick pillars and foundations. The new building is really quite impressive, but the rubble at the foot of the hill made it seem bittersweet.

To get to the restaurant entrance, you have to enter the courtyard and walk up a short incline to the back of the building. When I arrived with my kids, my grandparents were talking to the waiter about getting a different table location, and although we were the first people there (the place opens at 5pm and we were there on the dot for our reservation) they refused to move us. Ok, no problem I thought…I wasn’t sure why my grandparents had wanted to move in the first place, but once we sat down, it became all too apparent. The main walkway from the kitchen to the outdoor seating was right along our table. With all the coming and going, you would expect that we would have received better service, but not really. Our drinks were a long time coming and our ordering even longer after that. By the time the waitress came with our soup and salad, our bread was long gone and she forgot my brother’s minestrone. We managed to get that rectified and about 7 or 8 minutes later, another waiter came by to ask us if we wanted grated cheese on our food…except that we were almost done with it at that point, so it was pretty silly. It took quite awhile longer for our dinners to arrive and in the meantime, the traffic behind my chair increased in pace and it was incredibly distracting for my three year old.

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One of the best kept little secrets we have here in Yuba City is Brock’s Ice Cream Palace. The little white and red building that holds the delicious creaminess that is Brock’s is located on Gray Avenue behind the Wells Fargo.

No one I spoke to seemed to know exactly when they opened, just that they’d always been there. The parking lot is a little wonky (you have to park behind the building) and the interior has faded from it’s heyday (the tables sag a bit with overuse and the red velvet wallpaper is peeling in spots and held down with scotch tape) but hey, let’s face it. You didn’t come here for the wallpaper, you came for the the silky smooth ice cream.

Brock’s makes their rich ice cream on the premises in a myriad of delicious flavors ranging from the regular favorites of mint chip, chocolate and vanilla to the more exotic like pistachio and toasted almond. You have a variety of cones to choose from ranging from the classic cake to waffle and a “single” is actually two large scoops of ice cream. Brock’s is inexpensive and a fantastic way to beat the heat on any day of the week. Their ice cream is also available in pre-packed containers to take home if you want it for that midnight snack.

Brock’s Ice Cream Palace is located at 990 Gray Avenue in Yuba City, California.

Karen, Joel and I will be coming to Boston in August for Affiliate Summit and we need some help.

With what you ask?   Well, we need your recommendations for the dining experiences in Boston that we just shouldn’t miss.   So - if you are a local, or just someone who has had a memorable meal in Boston,  tell us about it.   Here’s what we’d like to hear about from you:

• What is the best seafood restaurant?
• What’s the best steak house?
• What is the most quintessentially Boston place to eat and drink?
• What is the best “local joint” to grab a beer and a meal, or just a quick bite?

We’d love to hear from you.  If you have some suggestions, please comment below.

Bon Appetit!

Wade

I must admit, my sweet tooth prefers the taste of some of Starbuck’s more caloric offerings, but I headed out today to finally sample their newest brew. The Pike Place Roast is being touted as Starbuck’s “everyday” coffee and was officially launched about two weeks ago with a free coffee event at their stores.

First thing I noticed when my regular barista passed me my cup is that the cup color has been changed from the trademark Starbucks green to a rich black. It’s slightly elegant, but it comes off as a bit generic…like they had to order plain cups because they ran out or something.

My first tentative sip should have been a bit more tentative as the coffee was scathingly hot. So I had to sit and wait. After a few impatient minutes, I tried again and I was pleasantly suprised. The coffee is rich and incredibly smooth. It doesn’t have that burned, bitter aftertaste that so many “plain” coffees possess at most purveyors. After about an inch or so, I added a smidge of half and half, just enough to make it a deep caramel color, as I simply prefer my coffee not quite so strong. I also bought a piece of their blueberry coffee cake and really enjoyed its lightness contrasted with the Pike Place coffee. It wasn’t greasy and actually tasted like blueberries, something most “blueberry” pastries lack.

All in all, the coffee was delicious and not overbearing or bitter. It wasn’t a wimpy cup of coffee flavored water, but a strong, robust coffee worthy of ordering again. In fact, it might just supplant my grande toffee nut latte with whip to become my new “usual”!

Pike Place Coffee is available at any Starbucks and is brewed fresh every half hour. You can also by it by the bag in whole bean at the store or online at www.starbucksstore.com
for $8.95

I am a “foodie” and not a “gourmet” and there for, have no high brow aversion to falling for the cheap (but effective) marketing gimmicks perpetrated by the folks under the Golden Arches to attempt to convince me to give up my “Char-Bucks” habit.

When I got a flyer in the mail with about 1000 coupons offering me a free breakfast sandwich with the purchase of a McMocha, I said “what the hell?” and headed to McD’s after dropping off my daughter at school.

I was prepared to be underwhelmed, I mean, why should I expect the masters of inoffensive (to all but Vegans and the health conscious) fast food to crank out a passable cup of Joe?

I have to say, I wasn’t really moved either way. I’m a Seattle area guy, so I have been brought up on the Starbuck’s overly roasted, bold flavor and I have to say, I am kind of used to it. The McDonald’s roast seemed… well inoffensive and aimed to please the folks who didn’t know any better. If you could drink regular coffee, you would find a McMocha pretty good - and definitely wouldn’t be turned off by any overly strong flavors or bitterness or burnt notes. In short…. the McMocha is the drink targeted at the every man.. just as you may expect.

Would I go out of my way to order one? Probably not.

Will I continue to victimize McD’s for a free one on Fridays as long as they offer them? Probably ( in conjunction with my $1 Sausage McMuffin of course)

If you are a serious Java-head… will you be impressed? Definitely not.

If you want to find out more about McMocha’s, McLattes’s or McAmericano’s you can check out their well named site at UnSnobbyCoffee.com and can even print out a coupon for a free drink