SUB SNACK SUBSCRIBER RESPONSES

As well as my comments, more favorite dishes and my Bloody Mary Recipe

From Victoria Gelberg

“One of the most memorable plates I’ve enjoyed in LA was at Ardison Phillip’s Studio Grill - it’s was a decadent plate of linguine with a very gentle, almost reticent pesto topped with brilliant and crispy slivers of duck. The lunch was preceded by a Danish Mary (substituting Aquavit for vodka and awakening the palette.) It was so delicious and charming I took my closest work pal back the very next day to confirm it was real. This was in the days of City Cafe and Angeli where brilliant dishes were bursting in LA. And luck always played a part in finding yourself in the right seat at the right place.”

From Jeremiah Hi Victoria. Ah, the gentler days of LA restaurants, when cooking was the star and not the presentation. As for a Danish Mary I am going out today to get some Aquavit. Aalborg if I can find 1 in Merida. Many thanks, Jeremiah.

And here is a Classic Bloody Mary Recipe:

Few classic drinks have fallen from grace as much as the Bloody Mary, and I use it here as a benchmark for why we should never lose the precious flavors of the past. The classic recipe is made from chilled ingredients, then shaken and strained into a frozen short – stemmed wine glass, a far superior method than on the rocks, where one has the unpleasant sensation of melting ice water not mixing with the tomato juice, and of the ice hitting the front of one’s teeth. The Bloody Mary hits its apotheosis when made from fresh and very ripe, puréed, and sieved tomatoes but a very good tomato juice in a glass bottle with no taste of the can, will do just fine. Sometimes Clamato is a fine day-at-the-beach substitute. Commercial celery salt on the rim of the glass is revolting. If you must line the rim, use very finely chopped chives (moisten the rim with lemon juice and then dip it in a plate of the chives). Or chili molido. Or not.

Serves 1

4 ounces                cold tomato juice

1 teaspoon            cold prepared white horseradish

1 tablespoon         freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 splashes              cold Worcestershire sauce

2 splashes              cold Tabasco sauce

2 ounces                 gin from the freezer (traditionally) or vodka)

Pinch                                salt

Pinch                               freshly ground black pepper

                              Peeled celery stalk or trimmed scallion

Lemon wedge

Put a shaker full of ice and an 8-ounce wine glass in the freezer for 30 minutes. Put all the ingredients in the shaker and shake for 2 minutes. Garnish the glass with chives (or not). Strain into the glass and garnish the celery or scallion, but certainly with a wedge of lemon squeezed above the glass and dropped into it.

From Miss Cinthea T Coleman

I'm not a connoisseur. My Mother could make basic, tasty and healthful food. Out on my own, I discovered the Trident restaurant (and music venue) right on the Bay in Sausalito, CA. It was the early 70's and it was always full of amazing people in full regalia, with the famous comingling with we infamous. I had my first escargot, local seafood, pasta and desserts after which I needed a nap, coffee, a big line or all 3. There was music in the afternoons on the weekends with a stunning view of San Francisco and the East Bay with all sorts of sailing enthusiasts zipping about in the brisk breezes. The night after Janis Joplin died, I was wedged in the only booth between her manager Albert "Grossbuns" Grossman and Grace Slick drinking expensive, free champagne and reminiscing. We all gasped when a "vision" of Janis appeared next to a support post. She laughed her laugh we loved so dearly and disappeared. I never went there again.

From Jeremiah Dearest, why would you go there again. No moment could surpass that night’s apparition. I loved that place, also Sunday mornings looking out over the Bay, reminding me why I lived there. A dozen of these, two glasses of champagne and I was ready to head to work at Stars. Very best, Jeremiah.

From Dale Degroff

Galatoires is top of my NOLA list. I was tagging along with reviewer Brenda Maitland and Tim McMillian, local wine and spirits broadcaster, so we got the front room on the street. The meal was stupendously, good but we finished with Cafe Brulot and Bananas Foster and that made it an unforgettable lifetime experience right down to the circle of blue flame the head waiter drew on the circular tabletop.

A close second was Trenasse, Chef Jim Richards NOLA version of his stinky Fish Camp in Destin. We were served on a large oval tray, the sort that I hoisted 15 covered entrees on in my waiter days, up two treacherous cement staircases that led from the kitchen of CharleyO's to the dining room in Rockefeller Center.

The Tray was covered with a half bushel of roasted oysters with an assortment of Rockefeller-style toppings, all different in groups, that sat in the middle of the table and required two and a half bottle of white wine to slowly work our way through.

From Jeremiah Hi Dale, My ‘Auntie Mame’ would hock the silver and take me to Galatoire’s for endless Sidecars as part of a 6-hour lunch. And always in the front room and her waiter. After three days I was close to the DTs and have to head back to Harvard, happy and slightly dazed.

And Trenasse still there and looks like it is going strong. With Unca Duke’s BBQ Shrimp.

From Mao Zhou

My top three plates in no particular order:

Creativity: 

A 25-30 course tasting menu at Enigma by Albert Adria. A meal packed with delicious surprises, unique flavors and balance. Not too modernist and presented with impeccable service.

Reconsideration: 

A return to Enoteca Paco Perez in the Hotel Arts Barcelona. I had been there last in 2019. They recognized that I was a returning diner and added an extra plate of sea cucumber. Prior to this I didn’t really enjoy sea cucumber due to the texture and method of preparation. Slimy and gelatinous. Enoteca on the other hand did a freshly caught sea cucumber with a crisp made from the skin, a lovely flavorful sauce of the second skin and entrails that reverberated the taste and gentle aromas of the sea. The flesh was steamed which yielded a beautiful tender bite and mild flavor.  I’m now obsessed with sea cucumber.

Heart:  

Oysters with my daughter at Etta’s near Pike Street Market. This was our ritual every time she returned home from university and after.  Memorable.

Honorable Mention:  

Soup night at Whitehall Court in Johannesburg where everyone makes a pot of soup, brings bowls and spoons, or makes tapas and canapés. So easy and fun and full of music and laughter.

From Jeremiah Hi Mao, here are my responses, and very best.

Creativity: 

No enigma to the belief that Spain, especially in the north, is the place to eat these days. Where else, percebes and fresh anguillas? Let alone this magnificent dish. Is that champagne gel​é​e under the caviar?

Reconsideration:

Obsession in this case completely agree. Even the dried ones (Hong Kong) make the most flavorful stock of all the fish and shellfish and gelatinous slimy things. First introduced to me as sea cucumber soup by the fabulous Cecilia Chiang at her Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco.

Heart: 

Oysters with my daughter at Etta’s near Pike Street Market.  This was our ritual every time she returned home from university and after.