Friday, November 30, 2007

Three Latest and Best

Too busy to eat! Plus, getting ready for the onslaught of holiday parties and dinners which starts tonight. So here's a very abbreviated Three Latest and Best. Don't worry -- next week's will be long and plentiful!

Bone-in Ribeye at Mo's: Sure, you've heard me looking for prime rib lately, but this fantastic steak is the closest one might get to prime rib nirvana at a downtown steakhouse. Thick, perfectly marked, and still sizzling with fatty goodness. This is a steak.

Favorite Dish of the Year: Two words people: Mussaman Curry. At Sawasdee. That is all.

Triple Cream Brie from Trader Joe's: One can find bries all over town, yea, verily, I say unto you, even a double cream is to be had at many a decadent cheese counter, but nay, oh, nary a counter carries a triple cream brie. Only Trader Joe's. Which is sort of strange, but not really an issue when you're serving champagne. A luscious, melty, salty triple cream is the only thing for it.

What I Should Have Ordered -- the Raspberry Lemonade at City Cafe: So, I found myself at City Cafe this week for lunch and I had a nice, safe chicken sandwich. (You've got to respect a place that won't change the menu or make modifications by request. That turkey wrap is always a wrap -- not available as a sandwich.) That said, I'm still mad at myself for not ordering the raspberry lemonade. Note to self: When *everyone* has a glass, it's probably worth a try.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never understood the attraction to brie and brie-style cheeses (usually rubbery and devoid of flavor) until I encountered a very good one as part of a cheese course at Le Soleil. I believe it was St. Felician, but a close approximation is Saint Marcellin, or even better Epoisses (both available at Taste and a few other places around town).

Anonymous said...

Though maybe not technically a brie, Saint-André cheese (also a triple cream) is available all over. And I'd bet anything that the Cheese Shop at the "Fashion Mall" has, or can easily get, whatever cheese you're looking for. I have nothing much, good or bad, to say about the cheese at Trader Joe's, but, I can say that the accompanying SAUSAGE is horrendous - think slimy with the aroma of an infected anal gland. Granted, it may have been "one bad experience", but it...well...left a bad taste (and smell, and visual) in my mouth/nose/senses.

braingirl said...

I don't love that St. Andre (and I don't think it's a full triple cream -- I think it's double cream), *occasionally* they have another triple cream that's really great. It has to be gooey *and* salty to suit me. (I'm with you, though, those bland, boring, bries are worth skipping.)

I don't go to Cheese Shop much anymore because they don't have anything really special and their prices are high. Vine and Table still has a pretty good selection and otherwise, I've started ordering from Artisan (for those great stinky, oozy French cheeses) or trying really special one-offs like they have at The Goose.

I'm in *total* agreement about TJ's sausages. Why on earth would you eat those when you can get good local sausages -- Kinkaid's, Joe's Butcher Shop, and The Goose, not to mention Claus' all do great work.

Anonymous said...

braingirl wrote:
"I've started ordering from Artisan (for those great stinky, oozy French cheeses)"

Where are they on the net?
http://www.igourmet.com
http://www.artisanalcheese.com/
?

Anonymous said...

http://www.artisanalcheese.com/

Anonymous said...

An aside: Has anyone been to Meridian? I'd like to see their menu, but alas they have no web site.

Anonymous said...

Early reports have started to trickle in today. (All positive.) I'll have a few preveiws tomorrow. No menus online that I know of. It's on my book for dinner next week so I should have a "First Impressions" for you then.

Anonymous said...

How can you not have a website these days?! Shame on you Meridian!

Anonymous said...

http://www.meridianonmeridian.com/

We went for a drink this evening on our way home but didn't eat. The place was packed and had a great buzz. The space is nice. The menu and the food we saw looked really uninspired. But, for a neighborhood place the menu is more than adequate.

Anonymous said...

...for a neighborhood place...$20 pastas...and $5 dollar sides make for quite an upscale neighborhood!