Laughing Meme

The Chronicle has its Top 100 Bay Area restaurants (via stacey), while the NYTimes has A Quick Guide to the Best Restaurants in New York (via kottke, also with reviews). For me all the differences between the two cities lay there exposed. I’ll admit I’m less familiar with the NYC options, but of the handful of places I’ve eaten on the NYTimes list they were across the board atmospheric, appearance driven, et très cher. And I have to question their idea of what “moderately” priced means, as I’ve seen $40 entrees at at least one of their “moderately” priced options.

The Chron on the other hand doesn’t condescend to pre-judge the options for you, beyond inclusion in the list.(granted the Times is presenting a much longer list, which only reinforces my other complaints) There are options which you could only describe as “cheap eats”. There are several phenomenal options for vegetarians, (a concept which really hasn’t penetrated NY’s restaurant establishment yet, probably at least partially due to the lack of decent produce available in the city) and much greater diversity of cuisines.

Its not that SF lacks the frouffy(sp?) options, French Laundry for example is pretentious enough for either coast, its just that the Chron seems to be less enthralled with decor, fame, and cash, and more interested in the food.

Lastly, the Chron figured out that they should link to their own reviews, while the NYTimes needed a helping hand.

In other news, my weekend in New York was lovely thank you, I didn’t leave Sunnyside which is just the way I like it.

Wit

Being sick is bad enough. Being sick when your only companionship is the DVD Wit in which Emma Thompson explores the symptoms of chemotherapy (and something about John Donne, wasn’t tracking very well). Hard to feel bad about throwing up, when you could be looking at 8 months of it, plus hair loss. Had to turn it off, was feeling too much sympathy.

Salt

Mark Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History is fascinating, informative, fun, and well written. Unfortunately it is also populated with the most stomach turning (in my delicate state) discussion of how the Romans used to cure and serve meat. Put away until the sight of something other then water doesn’t make me queasy. Fwiw, they learned it all from the Celts.

Coffee

I suppose it is a sign I’m feeling a bit better if I can complain about the intense caffeine headache that is crashing around inside my head, the proverbial bull in a china shop. I miss caffeinated water.

Thursday marked Jasmine’s six month as a non-smoker. To celebrate (and because it was her last day in Seattle) we visited Ummelina and Carmelita. I reccomend both highly. (all three really, as quitting smoking is damn cool as well!)

Savory Vegetarian (and Vegan)

Carmelita in particular was exquisite, easily the best meal I’ve eaten out in Seattle.

The chickpea croquette with heart of palm and ginger-carrot infusion was divine, and had a texture and moisture that, I’m told, was reminiscent of crab. (I wouldn’t know) The warm frisee salad is the same salad being served everywhere this time of year, with red onions, pears, and carmelized walnuts, but the produce was much freshers (nearly as good as in California and the dish was made exciting and new with warm figs stewed with ginger, and a small “blue cheese flan”, which wasn’t in anyway flan like but sent me, as a blue cheese lover, into fits of rapture (and perhaps disproved Willam Macy’s famous aphorism).

Dinner was a potatoe and truffle pave (though in my house we call it a gratin), on a braised bed of leeks, kale, and tomatos, which in turn rested in a pool of peppery vinagrette, and crunchy lentils, garnished with pinenuts, and, oddly, a handful of spinach gnocchi. The kale threatened to overpower the truffle but each was incredibly rich and savory in its own right, and the gnocchi, while a little extraneous was excellent. Desert, the chocolate and peanut butter parafait was merely very good (but then I don’t have the same passionate love affair with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that Jasmine does), and the Equal Exchange French roast was a weak note to end on, but overall a wonderful dinner.