at the sign of The Pink Pig

Staggering To The Tasting Room: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: March 30, 2015]

One of those weeks when one of the several forms of arthritis I've been enjoying since I was at college chose to flare up.  Limping about, then, from a restored version of Murnau's The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari at MoMA, to a memorable and enlightening talk on Ashbery's recent poetry by Ann Lauterbach at Poet's House.

I did manage one restaurant, but that's all.  Colin Alevras's Tasting Room, at it's original East 1st Street location.

Blanca At Last

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  March 24, 2015]

It's been a long journey, arguably too long. But the final destination was memorable.

One of the tastiest pieces of crab I've ever eaten, and an early contender for dish of the year. Simple can be complex, as they say; and I could almost compare this to the sensational Australian lobster tails once served at Craft. But where was I?

Salt Lake City Limits

[A Pig at Large by Wilfrid:  March 23, 2015]

"Church house, gin house!"  Well, more church house, actually, and although liquor is now freely available, it's really a beer and shot town.  Here are some snapshots and fragmented thoughts from my week in SLC.

Of Mormons and burgers, might be the subtitle. There's plenty of each.

Back To Bouley: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine:  March 23, 2015]

David Bouley has certainly proved durable.  Ten years ago, his flagship was a first choice for high-end dining. Along with some of my friends, I visited often enough that the kitchen would offer to improvise dinner, which meant many, many courses. Bouley is still doing it today, of course, yet ten years ago the restaurant was already eighteen years old.

That's some run.

Bambara: Salt Lake City

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  March 19, 2015]

On Monday, I told you about an excellent high end meal at Forage, on the outskirts of downtown Salt Lake City. Bambara is in the heart of that small, quiet downtown, at the Hotel Monaco.

I booked it after some research, but my research can't have been that great, because I didn't know it was a hotel restaurant until I showed up. I admit, my heart sank.

The Cheese: Patacabra

[Pigging  by Wilfrid:  March 19, 2015]

Patacabra (from the label), or Pata Cabra/Pata de Cabra as you'll also find it online, is a firm goat cheese from Zaragoza, Spain.

I remember Zaragoza, but I don't remember this cheese, which means either it's new to me or my memory is lousy. I found this specimen in Fairway, not Murray's, but I see Murray's says it's called Patacabra, or "goat's leg" because it's shaped like the leg of a goat.

Forage: Salt Lake City

[Pigging by Wilfrid: March 16, 2015]

Quite simply, if there's a better restaurant in Salt Lake City, I'd very much like to know what I was missing. Because this place isn't just very good for Utah, it's very good for anywhere--and being in Utah, it's terrific value too.

Chef Bowman Brown is constructing lengthy (no choice) tasting menus, based on local ingredients, with accents and themes recurring in true grand dining fashion; and his staff are serving the food with polish and flair.

New York Restaurant Show Time--Again!

[Free stuff by Wilfrid:  March 16, 2015]

Last week, the Javits Center played host, as it does annually, to the people who sell restaurant equipment, gadgets, technology, and ideas, and the people who want to buy that stuff.

Fortunately (or not) some of the ideas come in comestible form: foods looking for love, beverages looking for distributors, that kind of thing.

Next To Nothing: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  March 16, 2015]

So I actually do compile these time machine reports by turning the pages of my venerable journals, and occasionally there's a week where I'm sick, or working late, or just nothing much happens.

And after last week's gorging at Alain Ducasse, dB Bistro Moderne, and Bistro du Vent, you'll forgive me for taking a break.

At Home: Petit Salé Aux Lentilles

[Pigging by Wilfrid: March 11, 2015]

Why don't I make my own salt pork all the time.  So easy, and because this is petit salé--just a little salted--only a day in the brine.

Very pleased at how distinctly the pork belly took on the flavors of the spices in the brine, especially some whole cloves.  

I thought I had green lentils, but I only had a couple of ounces, so helped them out with the split lentils. The flavor fine, cooked with shallots, but the texture a bit mushy.  Make your own bacon, is the message, anyway.