Food is the Cure

Today I was cursed with being horrifically fussy. Originally I was going to sew, but then I found that the fabric I was going to use had dissapeared. As time went on, I was hungry and fussy. So in an attempt to kill 2 birds with one stone, I dragged Jake out to try a near by taco stand. Being in West Valley, there is a taco stand on almost ever corner of 3300 S. On No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain is always going various different street food places. Why? Because they're said to be some of the best local food that you can get. So, attempting to follow in his example we set out to the nearest on to our house, which happened to be less then a block away. I got excited when I saw 'torta' and 'sopa' on the side of the stand but was a bit let down when their menu only had tacos, a burrito and quesidilla. But I figured 'What the hay, new flavors of tacos'. Here they offered 4 tacos for $3. Not bad on a student budget. We decided to go for something a bit familiar and something new. Soon we had a plate of asada tacos and a plate of chicharron tacos. Outside the stand they had 2 large coolers. One with sodas and one with condiments. I'll admit, I was impressed by their condiments. Fresh made REAL salsa, homemade guacamole salsa, fresh chopped onions, radishes, and limes, and another hot sauce. After we had picked our favors of choice (we both went with the fresh salsa and guacamole salsa), the nice lady wrapped our plates up with tinfoil so we could take them home. Jake started in on the asada ones while I tempted the chicharron ones. For those who aren't to familiar with Hispanic food, asada is generally seasoned beef and chicharron is deep fried pork skin. Now this here is proof that I don't rave about everything. I've just been lucky. Chicharron is not for me. It was tasty. It was spicy. But it was gelatinous. My biggest problem was that I couldn't handle the texture. It was like having week old pork flavored jello in the middle of my taco. Just not to pleasant. Granted, I am willing to give it a try again somewhere else because everyone makes things differently. The asada tacos were a bit better. Nothing really to wow at, but hell, for $3, not to bad either. The meat was dry and weighed heavy on the 'Meh' side. The salsa and guac was what made it ok. One thing that Jake and I both agree on about them, these little suckers will fill you up. I downed 2 and was at my limit (also granted that I have a small stomach). All in all, it was a fun experience. One that I will be doing again as we the other taco stands around our area. However, I will be going back to this place to attempt one thing on their menu that caught my eye. Cabesa tacos = head tacos.

Comandments

Just as something to amuse myself, I decided to write up some commandments for the Church of Nom. Was trying for 10 but could only come 7. The others will more then likely the other 3 will come later.

1- Tho shalt not bow to the cheap ruses of Fast Food.

2- Tho shalt not discriminate against a food based on the culture/origin from which it came.

3- Tho shalt respect other people food lifestyle's (ie vegetarianism, veganism, carnivorism, cannibalism).

4- Tho shalt try everything at least once.

5- Tho shall share. To share is to spread kindness, to spread kindness is to bring us closer to becoming a peaceful united table.

6- Tho shalt not season their food until trying it first.

7- Tho shalt learn thy surrounding & own culture in order to appropriate others food culture. You must first understand your own and those around you.

Get Stuffed!

Today is Thanksgiving. The holiday that celebrates the vice of Gluttony. Growing up, for me, this ment a smoked turkey, cranberry jelly in tube form, potatoes and gravy, and having a few family friends over. I always tried to out eat the adults. Which lead to being over stuffed, then hungry again about 2 hours later (I miss having the metabolism of a 13 year old). Now that I'm older, it now feels so different. First Jake and I go to his family gathering of about 50 people. All somehow fitted into a house up in Holiday with kids pouring out of every nook and cranny. Next we head to either my dad's place or our family friends house. This year we'll be going to one of Janie's friends house, where its a gathering of a handful of adults. Once done there we scramble home to get deserts ready for friends. I've gone from a small relaxing holiday to a crazed people-a-thon. Some years it feels nuts but I'm getting use to it.

So be your gathering small or large, hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

Suposed Blizzard

The other day we were warned that a major blizzard was going to hit the Salt Lake Valley for the first time in years. Winds up to 50 mph, zero viability, and at least 6 inches of snow in the valley. This of course got me all excited. I love bad weather. So naturally I started to get everything ready: Back up flashlights and candles, soups, and makings for grilled cheese sandwiches. On our way home from one store, we realized that we forgot the bread, so Jake and I stopped at another store closer to our house. Turned out that our roommates had the same idea as they consequently followed us to the store. Once we all met up we found out that apparently we all had the same idea. Blizzard = household cooking experiment. Richard got the ingredients for his spiced punch. John guessed at what ingredients her would need for a chowder of some sort. And Jake and I got bread stuffs. With the impending storm of doom on the horizon we headed home. Richard started off with his punch. This stuff is amazing. I go gaga for it! Its hot cider with OJ and spices. It warms you from the inside out, is sweet, and just tastes like licking the holiday spirit itself. Next up John and Jake took over the kitchen. I asked John where the recipe was for his chowder and he just shrugged and said that he was winging it. Granted, 90% of the time I see this kid eat nothing but fast food. There is the small percentage of the times when he'll go to restaurants with friends. I can't even recall if I've seen him make Ramen. Granted once he did make tasty Spanish food, but that was a long time ago. So I started imagining a watery, potato and bacon soup. After a while the smells of bacon, caramelized onions, and potato started to fumigate the house. Then finally he announced that it was up for grabs. It was thick. It had chunks of bacon. It was amazing! Perfect blizzard food. Thankfully I had grabbed dinner rolls which were perfect for dipping. The chowder was tasty thick. The kind where you can feel it add pounds onto your bones. It certainly surprised me that he pulled this out of his memories from a family recipe. Teach me to doubt my roommates. Needless to say, we hunkered down with our hot punch and bowls of soups and slowly watched the "Blizzard" piddle out into nothing more then a few clouds. I think I'm going to try and convince the house to do more group cooking nights to see what more we can come up with. Minus the lamest blizzard on record.

WTF? (What The Food?)

We discovered the weekly ads today and the first one on top happened to be Wienerschnitzel. Having been a while sense most of The House had been there (except for Kurtis) we went out to spend our new coupons. While ordering, Jake pointed out something so strange on the menu that we had to try it. It was a dollar Chilly Cheese Fry Burrito. It was the standard cheap burrito size, and yes, was filled with chilly and cheese and frys. This naturally brought up the question of "who would come up with something like this?". Kurtis hypothesized that it was someone late at night in their kitchen using random foods to come up with a potentially edible meal (I'm guilty of doing this several times). John, however, on the other hand argued that it was cause chilly cheese frys are rather messy. So, in order to contain the mess, someone came up with the idea to wrap it all in a burrito. Jake just argued that it needed more chilly and cheese. But I think our guest Guy put it the best. "Its freaking Stoner food."

ABC Chinese Restaurant

About a week or so ago, on my drive home from work, I noticed that I new restaurant had opened up in my neck of the wood. This place is called ABC Chinese Restaurant and is now inhabiting the place where a Qwiznos use to be at 3500 S 3280 W. Last night our house plus Chris and Cheri decided to grab some grub before going to see Scott Pilgrim vs The World (awesome movie. If you haven't seen it, SEE IT!). This place happened to be our poor victim. It was empty when all eight of us poured in. The slightly surprised but very courteous Asian hostess behind the counter wrestles together 4 tables for us and promptly brought us our drinks. The menu had one side of standard entrees and the other had Lunch Combos and Dinner Combos. We asked how big the dinner combos were and she said they came on a nine inch plate but most people couldn't finish all the food. Naturally we all saw this as a slight challenge and ordered the dinner combos. Right away we noticed the standard meals of Chow Mein and Low Mein, Sweet and Sour Pork and Wonton Soup. However, a strange new dish called Strawberry Chicken caught all of our eye. Jake and Kurtis were the ones willing to order it. I on the other hand wanted something spicy (like I do) and went with the Beef in Garlic Sauce. Originally the Strawberry Chicken wasn't offered as a Combo but our gracious hostess said that she was willing to do them in a dinner combo for us. While waiting for our food I don't think anyone's drink got below half empty. She was like a soda hawk. Swooping by about every ten minutes for tasty refills. With our combos came soup, fried rice, and an egg roll. The soup was a traditional Egg Drop Soup in a blow the size of what you would see your KFC Coleslaw in. Normally I would gripe about the small portion but that immediately went away when I saw the plates of food that she was bringing out of the kitchen. The was one of those moments where you look at the plate and just can't help but to say "OMG FOOD!". The hostess was true to her word, these were nine inch plates. What she failed to mention is that they are piles about five inches high with food. One side, fresh fried rice with ham. Other side, mountain'o'entree. Carefully nestled in the top is the eggroll, but hark! Whats this? He brought his three friends of tasty fried wontons to go with the sweet and sour sauce that she had placed on our tables after we finished the soups.
Of course we started what we normally do with our group, started passing around bites, letting everyone try at taste. I tried Jake's Strawberry Chicken (as seen in image). It was a bit odd but still good. With sweet and sour sauces its normally a generic sweet flavor and a generic red sour flavor. This was similar only make with strawberries and poured over some battered chicken. Interesting, but in a good way. I was thrilled with my Beef with Garlic (as seen in second picture). Big flat chunks of beef surrounded by bamboo shots and diagonally cut celery. Not to mention the green bell peppers. Want to know how we could tell this was made fresh? The fact that the bell peppers still had that fresh snap to them. Not that sogginess that you get around the edges after its been thawed. And the garlic! You can see the minced garlic in the sauce that covers each delectable bit like crack. Here's an interesting fact: I hate celery. Hate the texture and hate the taste. But covered in this amazing beef sauce and garlic, I couldn't stop eating it.
Chris and I marveled at the similar fact with his Twice Cooked Pork. You could actually taste the fresh ginger in the sauce. We were amused by the fact that the ladle for John's Wonton soup was a 4oz measuring cup. He carefully kept track of his meal and at the end, concluded that it was roughly 8oz to much soup for him to finish. There was actually enough food for him that he had to loosen his belt. Now John is the kind of kid who seems like food goes right through him. He could eat a whole pizza and not blink. But apparently this stuck, and actually filled his void that he calls a stomach. I was impressed. And still, all through out our shenanigans, such as John and Richard drawing in the Sweet and Sour Sauce, our hostess was there with a smile making sure we were all taken care of. She had perfect timing too. Not to often to get annoying, but not so rarely that we were left wondering when our drinks would refill themselves. At the end when we had slowed down and several belts had been loosened, she came over and one by one, boxed our food for us in that professional manner where your food doesn't get all mashed together, but is just as carefully arranged as it had arrived to us. Of course at the end of the meal came the traditional fortune cookie and the laughs that accompany them. I think mine won (even though it lied).

When I got home from work today I started to snarf down the leftovers. They're just as tasty today as they were last night. In fact, today, some of those annoying celery bits had soaked up the wonderful beef sauce and was filled with it. Again, I hate celery, but this was good.

Currently they are having a Grand Opening sale which is %10 off. That with the fact that Jake fix 2 of their wobbly tables, for 2 dinner combos and drinks, we paid $21.50. I'm guessing without the sale going on and without Jake's handyman OCD, it probably would have been about $25 or so (The Dinner Combos ran about $8.25-$9.75 each and could comfortably feed 2 people). At the end of our meal we were given %50 off dinner and lunch coupons as a promo that they are running through the start of October. Over all, I say if your craving Chines and your thinking something like Panda, I say screw panda! Go here instead. You'll pay a fraction more for twice the food and it will be the freshest you've ever had. Good food from people who are more then likely from China.

5 Yums for food.
4 Cookies for cost.
4 Wontons for atmosphere.

Over all= 4.5

Sugarhouse BBQ

**Disclaimer: I wrote this as a paper for my English class last semester. Its a bit lengthy. Sorry. But hay, I got an A on it. Figured I'd share. A bit like putting my paper up on the big digital fridge that is the internet.***

I love to eat. Let’s face it, we all do. Food and getting together to eat is an American tradition and to a greater extent, a unifying event for the common families. Many cultures center gathering around large festivals involving food, just look at our 4th of July parties, Thanksgiving, and Easter. It’s seems to be an inherent American thing to do. Get together with family or friends around a large amount of food and relax, share news, or set things on fire. Yet in today’s society people are finding more and more dietary restrictions. “You have to contend with perfervid vegans, virtuous vegetarians, persistent pescatarians, lamb-phobics, tongue-phobics, veal- rights advocates, the gluten-intolerant, the lactose-intolerant, the shellfish-intolerant, the peanut-intolerant, the spicy-intolerant, and on and on in an ever fragmenting array” (Weinberger 2009).
Before going to much further, let me give you a little in site to the world of BBQ ribs. In the south it's their holy war. The wet vs the dry. The sauce vs the meat. For those in Tennese, its all about sauce used to flavor the ribs. When the ribs are dripping with said tasty sauce, they are known as wet ribs. Next door in Kentucky, its all about how the meat is cooked, be it over hickory chips, brickets, or open flames. The flavor and smoking or preparing of the meat is more important to them, then what you cover it with. They might go as far as rubbing them with a few spices, but that's it. Nothing to much to adulterate the meat (Big Bob Gibson 2008)
One of the highest achievements for a restaurant is to earn a Michelin Star. Yes, from the Michelin Tire company. They started including maps, inns, and restaurants in their manuals in 1900 in France. Now it is a mark a quality to be listed by them. The stars in their guide represent the quality of food, ranging from one to three. Whereas for the setting and atmosphere is marked with a crossed spoon and fork, ranging from one to five (Michelin Restaurant Guide 2009). Their rigid qualifications for a prized star include things like freshness of food, how long the wait for your food is, comfort, presentation, and quantity. For those of us who aren't in the upper class to dine in three star Michelin restanuts, let’s look at what we normally look for in deciding if a restaurant is what we consider “good”:
• How is the atmosphere? Loud? Quiet? Relaxed? Drunk? Often times what is going on around us influences how we perceive our food.
• Who else is dining there? A few people would be comfortable with dining at a restaurant where they spoke little of the language and are the minority in the room. Others would feel awkward at eating in a black tie restaurant where there is an enforced dress code, or on the other hand, might feel out of place at a mom and pop truck stop diner.
• What’s the décor like? Many people feel at ease chowing in a room decorated with stuffed animal heads on the walls where as others might be repulsed. What surrounds you will effect your mood which in turn will effect what you think of the food.
• What’s on the menu? Do the serve a wide variety of foods or do the specialize in a hand select few? For some people, this can make or break a place.
• Lastly on this portion of the list, how is the service? Nothing is worse the having to wait five to ten minutes for your waiter to show, let alone having to wait a half an hour for them to retrieve a bottle of Tabasco. Prompt service is part of what make a good restaurant, good.
And now for the food part:
• How does it look? Does it look like it was slapped onto a plate then handed off to you, or was each piece carefully placed to “complete the picture”.
• How does it smell? For the majority of the population, your sense of smell is closely associated with your sense of taste. If food smells good, chances are that it will taste good and visa versa. Hence why most children will plug their noses when taking cough syrup. Not to get that strong wafts of medicated sugar stuck in their nostrils cause it will make the taste twice as bad.
• And of course lastly, how does it taste? Something can look good and smell good and yet still manage to takes like flavored cardboard. Like ramen in an elaborate bowl with some fresh chopped green onions on top, it looks pretty, but still tastes like cheap chicken flavored string (and strangely, we keep eating it). There are also the delightful surprises in life where something you felt would be subpar turned out to be exquisite.
All of these factors put together is how we evaluate a good restaurant, diner, or dive.
Now I’ll apply these criteria to a restaurant. Under the recommendation of a wise old master of meat, I was told that I simply must try Sugarhouse BBQ. And so I did. We’ll start with the atmosphere. It was very comfortable. The building itself looks like a large modified house, while inside the ceilings are open to the rafters and the two halves are only divided by a short wall. The kitchen was even open so that you could watch a plate being prepared, however, most of the cooking takes place outside in the large BBQ drums. Speaking of outside, let me mention the smell. A sign of a good BBQ is the smell. With this place, the smell grabs you by the nostrils the moment you step out of the car and drags you in by the stomach.
Not being very large, there were about eight or so empty tables. A few families were seated here and there with a smattering of a handful of couples. Everyone was in relaxed street wear but there were also a few who had put a little more effort in their attire to make it a “nice evening out”. The staff even wore comfy looking Sugarhouse BBQ T-Shirts and levis. The age range was diverse with my partner and I sitting in the middle of it.
The decoration here was simple and to the point. Walls are painted a color that can’t decide if it wants to be orange or tan, so it settles for in between. Whatever that color was, it helped add to the bright, relaxed meat eater’s environment. There are two TV’s that are hung in the corners, but they are unobtrusive and have the volume muted and modern music plays on low in the background. A motorcycle guards over the kitchen and several beer pull levers poke out from behind the bar.
When looking at the menu I was quiet surprised to see several different salads along with half a page of sandwiches. The other half of the menu listed all the house favorites which is quite an assortment of ribs, pulled pork, turkey, chicken, and brisket. Posted by the door on a kitschy blackboard were the specials of the day. Not to mention the other list, BBQ’s best friend, beer. Here the beer menu fills a whole page and offers this heady beverage in both glass and pitcher form. Another thing to note here was that we had four strange unlabeled bottles that sat on out table. Later it was explained that the large, intimidating squeezey bottle contained the famous house BBQ sauce, next was a BBQ, spiced, vinegar based sauce (recommended for the pork), next was a sweet mustard, and lastly a cayenne based hot BBQ sauce for the bold.
Service here is excellent. When we first arrived a gentleman behind the counter instructed us to pick a table and a waiter would be right with us. As we sat I started to wonder how they could tell who had been helped and who hadn’t. Immediately a cheery waiter was at our table with menus. It only took him a minute or so to bring us our beers. My partner decided to be bold and try a new beer. Turned out to be a bad choice and later requested a nice safe and familiar Corona. Seeing as how he didn’t like it, our waiter let us know that he took it off the tab and just left the charge for the preferred beverage. After we got our food we were checked on ever ten minutes. When patrons left, I watches as young table busers would fly to the table and have it clean and sparkling within minutes.
Seeing as the “Big Bob Combo” was recommended for two, we decided to go with that. It’s Pulled pork, turkey, 1/3 rack of ribs, stuffing, coleslaw, and cornbread, sounded like it would give us a good taste of what they have to offer. The kitchen was nice enough to split it for us without us asking. Mounds of tasty meat piled next to a cheery piece of cornbread. Everything looked to be split even and placed carefully where all could be accessed.
The smell. I already mentioned the smell but its worth mentioning again. It is part of the great BBQ aura. The aroma that came off our plates was a mix and mingle of three different roast meats that just made the mouth water and stomachs growl. Needless to say, it is divine.
Finally, after being driven mad by the savory smell all around, we got to dig in. The ribs were cooked to perfection so much so, that the bones could easily be pulled out, leaving moist meat behind. The pulled pork had a great spice to it and had been pulled into perfect fork sized shreds. The turkey was fantastic. The biggest problem with turkey it’s that it is very easy to overcook, making it dry and bland. This turkey on the other hand, was moist and tender, everything you would expect from a Thanksgiving bird. Having a quartet of new condiments, we naturally had to mix and match with everything. The House Sauce was the perfect mate for the ribs. Allowing the eater to take them from being that happy medium between wet and dry ribs, all the way to “drip to the elbows” wet. The mustard is unlike any other “sweet mustard” out there. It is sweet, but then the mustard flavor sneaks up bites you in the rear. Not feeling to be the brave type that night, neither my partner or I tried the home hot sauce.
The coleslaw was, well coleslaw. It’s hard to rave about coleslaw. The stuffing was more of a garlic flavored bread pudding. Normally I like my stuffing to have more of a cube body to it, but the garlic flavor made me forgive it, this time. Finally, the cornbread. I wasn’t wowed about the cornbread at first, until my counterpart informed me that the butter was homemade honey butter. This was enough to cause a fork fight for the last piece. To try and top it all off we got the bread pudding dessert. This had a good square body and bread firmness (unlike the stuffing). I was unsuccessful in finishing it.
In viewing all the elements together and comparing them with other BBQ joints that I have tried in the past, I concluded that this was, hands the best BBQ joint that I have been too. Now keep in mind, I have had Memphis BBQ in Memphis and attended the World BBQ Tournament in Minnesota. But, due to a BBQ mishap when I was young, I avoided it for years and only recently have been gaining a liking for it once again. When coming back from BBQ gone wrong, nothing is more welcoming and reassuring then Sugarhouse BBQ.


References:
- Michelin Guide to Restaurants, New York 2009
- Jerry Weinberger, “America’s Food Revolution”, City Journal Summer 2009
- Chris Lilly "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary BBQ Joint" 2008

An Introduction

Greeting all!

After about a year of thinking on it, I finally decided to go through and do it. I have created a food blog. Somewhere I can write about all my wild foodie adventures and share with the world. Both in going to restaurants, but also in what I cook at home and at friends places.

I would have to say that I am mostly influenced by one of my hero's, Anthony Bordain. Someone who isn't afraid to wader off the beaten path, see what they have to offer, and either rant or rave about it. It is my goal to follow in his foot steps and step out of my tiny little box here in West Valley, and try some of the native dishes that surrounds here. Hell, we are in the central of little Mexico out here. And those muchachos who wander the Wal-Mart parking lot at 1AM, have some of the best tamales you will ever try. If it wasn't for Anthony's influence, I'd still be snubbing those people and similar food joints for a more "safer" dinning experience.

Another thing that influences me is what America is becoming. More and more I see that our society is becoming all about the drive through. The greasy spoon dine and run. These places and habits that are pulling us away from something human society has done for hundreds of years, gather together around a table, sit, eat, relax, and socialize. To a bit of a larger extent, I think that we are becoming more timid and scared to go somewhere, where we might have to interact with other people outside our circles. Or even *gasp* out side our race and culture. I'm not sure about you, but for some strange reason, the food tastes better when your the minority in the restaurant. True, it can be scary at times, but its a live and learn experience. More often have I given myself food poisoning then received it from eating in a dive.

So it is with that, that I introduce you to my food blog.

Enjoy!