Tom Douglas

Ice Cream Social Slide Show

If you missed the Ice Cream Social at Palace Ballroom last week, check out this slide show courtesy of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine’s blog.  And don’t forget to keep checking events, so you won’t miss more cool stuff.

August 18th, 2009 | No Comments »

Beast Feast 2009 by Eric Tanaka, Executive Chef

Beast Feast is our company’s celebration of Summer.  Tom and Jackie open up their Prosser home to all the restaurants and their families for a weekend of wine tasting, swimming, tractor rides, late night tacos, and general merriment.  As the name leads you to believe, there is a beast involved.  This year it was a 75 pound lamb. Slow roasted for 5 hours and basted Greek style with red wine and oregano, it was simply delicious.  The tangy red wine combined with the smoke and fat of the lamb and made for some good eats.  Kay and Clay from Chinook Winery brought a perfectly matched Cab Franc, and Jackie’s garden proved the farm fresh experience that we all crave.

August 18th, 2009 | No Comments »

Veg Garden in August, By Shelley Lance/Blog Editor

Though this photo looks lush, the veg garden is on the wane. (Didn’t help that I spent the first 2 weeks of June in Italy and that the slugs ate everything I planted right before I left- but I would of course make the same choice again- oh, Florence!!) The Kwintus (Romano-style) beans are mostly done. The lettuce is almost gone.  Still, lots of basil.  My Boothby’s Blonde cucumbers (which I got as starts at the Tilth Sale) are producing well.   I really like this cuke: firm flesh with yellow skins and lots of prickles (use Tom’s super sharp swivel peeler!) and they don’t blow up fast and watery like the heirloom lemon cukes. (Note to self: do lots more shopping for starts at next year’s Tilth Sale.  Everything I bought there is very satisfactory!  I have what is now a ten foot tall sunflower from the sale!) My Striato d’Italia Zucchini is going strong, though I’ve only harvested one little guy so far.  Lots of flowers and lots of tiny zukes.  I look forward to eating more.  My tomato plants are still producing, especially my yellow Taxi tomato, but the vines are not vigorous, may have a wilt or a blight.  (Next year note: plant tomatoes in big tubs? Get help from Amy P?) Yes, my mind has been turning to next year’s garden lately. (I want raspberries too). Dreaming about next year: this is the real pleasure of gardening!

Also coming in: tons of Italian prune plums.  I’ll also have a big crop of muscat grapes, but they will take a long time to ripen: probably in early October.  Hope to stimulate my lazy self to do some preserving this year.

August 18th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

New Jersey Comfort Foods by Kathleen Gibbons/Palace Line Cook

I love making food that is new and different.  I love being able to use very high quality ingredients in my work.  When I go visit my family back home, we eat at great New York City restaurants, and I always get to try exciting new dishes, and for this I am beyond grateful.  But when it comes to comfort food, it is a completely different story.  Disco Fries and Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese Sandwiches are the two comfort foods that I will always return to.  The descriptions don’t do them justice as one must experience them to believe them.

The Disco Fry came into my life in the early 2000’s.  Thick cut steak fries, brown gravy, and melty mozzarella cheese on a plate hot from the broiler.  I swear, if I could find a New Jersey-style diner in the city of Seattle, I would be completely broke all the time and I would have to be rolled out the door.  This delicacy is certainly not something one should enjoy on the day-to-day, but every once in a while it’s important to indulge.

Now the Taylor Ham Sandwich has many components that make it fantastic.  Taylor Ham, A.K.A. Pork Roll, is, in my opinion, similar to a combination of Canadian bacon and Spam.  Sliced thin and seared on the flat top of my favorite North Jersey bagel places, the ham is then layered with slices of American cheese (no substitutions,please; it MUST be American cheese) and placed on a Kaiser roll, a roll that is so deliciously fluffy on the inside with a thin, chewy crust on the outside.  The sandwich maker will inevitably ask if I care for salt, pepper or ketchup, but I roll with the original sandwich, no additions.  Allowed to stay warm inside the aluminum foil cocoon for about 2 - 4 minutes and the cheese will be perfectly melted, bun heated through but not soggy, and ham still crispy.

Now, just imagine my excitement when I saw that Taylor Ham is sold at DeLaurenti’s in the Pike Place Market.

August 17th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Food in the News, by Shelley Lance/ Blog Editor

Two things I picked up on twitter today:

Mark Fuller and Marjorie Chang Fuller’s Spring Hill has been chosen one of Bon Appetit Magazine’s 2009 Top Ten Best New Restaurants.

Rebekah Denn reports on the John Mackey anti-healthcare-reform Wall Street Journal op-ed/ Whole Foods boycott kerfuffle.

August 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

Nopalito, San Francisco/ Robyn Wolfe, Marketing

Nopalito (noh-pah-lee-toe) noun:

1. a slice of nopal (cactus leaf), used in Mexican cooking

2. a San Francisco restaurant serving traditional Mexican cuisine

Lunch at Nopalito is a dream come true for anyone who loves great Mexican food!  I’m embarrassed to go through the list of what 2 girlfriends and I ordered, but we just couldn’t stop ourselves!!

Totopos con Chile- a healthy serving of warm and salty chips, salsa de arbol, cotija cheese, crema, and lime

Tamal de Puerco con Pipian Rojo- housemade masa, stewed pork, chile ancho, chile pasilla, roasted tomatoes, sesame, pumpkin seeds, and cojita cheese

Ensalada de Pepinos con Chile y Limon- a refreshing and surprisingly simple salad of cucumbers, pickled red onions, cilantro, chile de arbol, chile guajillo and lime

Carnitas- long braised pork, orange, bay leaf, cinnamon, and beer, served with a cabbage and pickled jalapeno salad

Quesadilla Roja con Chicarron- chile ancho corn tortilla, crispy pork belly, salsa guajillo, jack cheese, onions and cilantro

And we topped it all off with a freshly frozen chocolate and cinnamon popsicle!! Yum! Oink!

August 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

Sunset Supper in the Market, Robyn Wolfe/Marketing

Last night Etta’s participated in the annual Sunset Supper in the Market. We served 1000 portions of halibut ceviche paired with Petra’s peach margarita.  Here are pictures of our stellar chef line-up who prepared the bites and assisted us with set-up and tear down…  plus me and Petra (top photo). Thanks, guys!  and Petra too!

August 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

Canter’s Deli/ Los Angeles, by Eric Tanaka, Executive Chef

While waiting for my meat meal at Animal in LA, I noticed that Canter’s Deli was two doors down.  How lucky!  Canters was where I had my post prom meal, and as is was then, it is now.  Delicious!!!  A pastrami on rye and matzo ball soup is just what you need before having a big pig menu.

August 14th, 2009 | No Comments »

Palate Food and Wine/Glendale, CA, by Eric Tanaka, Executive Chef

It’s amazing how big and sophisticated LA has become and how sophisticated the outlying areas are now.  Palate Food and Wine in Glendale is a great example of this outward growth.  It is a unique restaurant in that it combines a wine bar, wine shop, wine storage units, and restaurant under one roof. (editor’s note: photo is of a dish of gnocchi with organic veggies.)

August 14th, 2009 | No Comments »

Whipped Cream/ Los Angeles, by Eric Tanaka, Executive Chef

Here’s the power of fresh whipped cream.  At our family bbq, in Los Angeles, my son, Giacomo started whippng cream for pies and the kids just came running.  They all wanted a taste of the whip.

August 14th, 2009 | 3 Comments »