Little Tastes last night was a blast. I don’t think we’ve ever seen such an enthusiastic crowd. I even saw some people taking notes! Alejandro Brown of Big Al Brewing in White Center and his lovely and talented assistant, Micah, hauled in the deluxe ten-gallon-batch home-brew apparatus which served as his gateway into the microbrew business. Dahlia chef, Brock Johnson, brought a little show-n-tell homebrew of his own so we could see the yeasts hard at work while tasting the surprisingly delicious raw ingredients of beer. Meanwhile, Big Al described the brew process from start to finish and answered every question the crowd could throw his way. Brock’s tastes arrived throughout the evening, showcasing beer’s unbelievable versatility in cooking (smoked porter ice cream, anyone?) along with a truly inspiring discussion of beer-food pairing approaches. Simply delicious, intellectually stimulating, and absolutely fun! Thank you so much, Alejandro and Brock, for this terrific event.
Next up in the world of Little Tastes of the Dahlia, on June 22nd we will be delving into the wonderful world of edible flowers with guest speaker Judith Weinstock, culinary and gardening expert extraordinaire, lately of Kingston Hotel Cafe and famous for the down-home dishes in her Streamliner Diner cookbook.
For more information or tickets to this event, please email jessicap@tomdouglas.com
May 19th, 2010 | No Comments »
Here’s a little haiku written by our health inspector on a busy, busy Friday night at Palace Kitchen. Congrats to our superb Palace Kitchen crew!!!
May 17th, 2010 | 4 Comments »
On there-and-back-again drives from the San Juans or LaConner, lovers of meat and simplicity would do well to take a few minutes perusing the offerings at Silvana Meats.
Clean and modest, this old time country store doesn’t make lattes or dazzle with decor, but it has refrigerators and a freezer laden with beautiful, custom skinless franks, sausages, hams, roasts, kickin’ jalapeno beef sticks, and another of my road trip staples: the juiciest, tangiest, smokiest beef jerky around. Thick, lean cuts that chew easy on their own or matched up with a lily-gilding dunk in bold mustard or barbecue sauce. If the season’s right, the parking lot will have trucks hauling deer for on-site processing. Smiling faces behind the counter are attached to quick hands that wrap your orders in butcher paper and have you on your way.
Suggestion: the jerky with a spicy, purple glass of Syrah and baguette for tearing or artisan flat bread for crunching. Whatever your whim, do take a big ice chest to Silvana Meats and plan on going back.
May 17th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Saturday morning we took a stroll though the Union Square Greenmarket on the way to Maialino where we planned to meet up with friends for brunch. Union Square, on certain days of the week, hosts a big, beautiful farmers market with organic eggs, wild ramps, cheeses, vegetables of all kinds…. then, to our surprise, we came across Mario Batali, sitting at a table, signing his newest cookbook, Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking, and stopped to say hi.
Only three days later, Mario was here in Seattle for a Kim Ricketts cookbook event at Palace Ballroom with Tom Douglas. Tom’s assistant, Katie O, told me Tom and Mario’s personalities are so similar they seem like “brothers with different mothers.” If you missed this event, as I did, here are a few videos from Seattle Met Magazine’s website…. and here…. and here.
May 17th, 2010 | No Comments »
Today’s burger education class plus beer tasting at Palace was useful, informative, and fun. The goal, according to our CEO, Pamela Hinkley, was to help staff understand that the way we make hamburgers at our joints is important!! “The time we take to source the whole meat and grind it fresh is a standard far above the industry norms. The hamburgers served by many of the big chains and box stores are produced by methods that defy accepted wisdom of food safety standards,” writes Pamela in a staff email.
First, Warren Peterson, our corporate sous chef and beer expert, did a tasting of 5 beers. I particularly enjoyed the Trippel, a Belgian style beer that Warren chose as an example of a strong ale. This one has some sugar in it and is a little sweet. Very tasty. I also liked the Oatmeal Flax Stout, chosen by Warren for its roasted flavor which comes from malted barley: A flavor like roasted coffee beans, and a lovely aroma.
Palace’s Chef Brian cooked off some burgers for us to compare. One plate held burgers made from Country Natural Beef- which is the beef we use for all our burgers in the restaurants- ground by us. The other plate held patties of pre-ground supermarket hamburger. The biggest discernible difference was texture- our Palace burgers had a nice coarse texture and beefy flavor. The supermarket burgers were too finely ground, a bit mushy, and coated your tongue with a little bit of grease.
Rancher Dan Barnhart from Country Natural Beef talked to us about the way they raise their cattle- grass fed on pastureland and finished with grain. No antibiotics or growth hormones are used. Country Natural Beef tests every one of their grinding bins for E coli, by the way, which is great to know if you buy hamburger from them.
We receive our meat from Country Natural Beef as a minimally processed cryovac-ed portion of beef, the clod or chuck, and grind it ourselves to make burgers for all the Tom Douglas restaurants. On the other hand, inexpensive mass produced burger patties or hamburger meat may contain bits of meat of various grades from different parts of a cow, from cows from different states and even from different countries, including fatty trimmings and a mash product of scraps all ground together. Sadly, the USDA only sets draft guidelines urging processors to test for E coli, but allows processors to set their own safety guidelines internally. In fact, New York Times writer, Michael Moss, says “many big slaughterhouses will sell only to grinders who agree not to test their shipments for E coli.”
Which adds up to this- if you eat burgers, it’s a good idea to buy your meat from a producer you can trust- like Country Natural Beef. Here’s another thing I like about Country Natural Beef- the “Raise Well” standards which certify the humane care of their cattle have been endorsed by no less an authority on the humane treatment of animals than Dr. Temple Grandin. If you don’t know who Temple Grandin is, look for this HBO movie which is an excellent dramatization of her unique life story.
I feel pretty great about eating a burger at any of the Tom Douglas Restaurants! If you want to make burgers you feel great about at home, you can buy Country Natural Beef at PCC and other stores.
May 13th, 2010 | No Comments »
So amazing since we generally have such a small offering in Rainier Valley. Here’s a list of cool things going on in our neighborhood. I love it!
The farmers market opened up.
JM of Lark has a catering company which delivers tasty meals to South End families.
An Indian family is delivering food to South End families.
Soul Food Sundays offered a $10/meal (pick-up) to South End families. This is more grassroots… a family selling food once a month to make money to send their kids to camp.
CSA style Seafood Program on Queen Anne and now to South End- yahoo!
Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant just reopend and offers dim sum 7 days a week and also by special order every night!
Editor’s Note: what cool things are going on in your hood? Add a comment here.
May 13th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Our last stop in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, was dinner at Buttermilk Channel where we met our longtime friends and Park Slope residents, Nancy and Lew. It was a beautiful, balmy evening, so we chose to eat outside. We had maple and bacon roasted almonds and 2 kinds of pickles, a silky smooth chicken liver mousse, buttermilk fried chicken with cheddar waffle and much more. But my favorite items (besides the dreamy chicken liver mousse) all came from the pastry department: popovers and honey served instead of bread, a lovely pear tart with a salty, almost savory perfect crust, and the pecan pie sundae served in a tall glass. The sundae is a simple but brilliant idea: tear up pecan pie into little chunks and layer it with creamy vanilla ice cream which cuts the gooey sweet intenseness of the pecan pie perfectly.
After dinner, a walk down Smith Street with our friends. The warm Brooklyn evening was buzzing with people dining outdoors or strolling the sidewalks. Then the subway back to our Manhattan hotel.
May 13th, 2010 | No Comments »
Yay, we got our permits from the city at last!!!! This is the new space next to Etta’s where a couple of new Tom Douglas joints are in the works.
May 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
My best friend, who once lived in Seattle and now lives in Paris, has come back to the Emerald City for a visit. While she’s here, I try to do my part in giving her anything her heart desires- including making her dinner when the opporunity arises. My aim is to stay away from anything too “Frenchy” (some examples might be: roasted chicken, quiche, etc). SO after consulting some near and dear food professionals- Shelley Lance and Eric Tanaka- the overwhelming consensus was to make a pot of homemade meatballs and spaghetti! As I had never made homemade meatballs, I got a lot of great advice about how best to make a savory, moist meatball and simple tomato sauce. 
The big takeaway: more filling (bread crumb and egg) makes for a softer ball. AND, if you make a meatball with more filling, make darn sure to chill the balls before searing them off, otherwise they might droop a little and then you’re likely to have a situation that ends up more like meatpatties and spaghetti- which is not nearly as romantic!
Martha Francis, our pasta queen at Tom Douglas Restaurtants, made some GORGEOUS pappardelle noodles for me to take home. That, along with a beautiful loaf of olive bread from the Dahlia Bakery made my meatballs and sauce sing! It’s a true dream to work at a place with so much delicious goodness and culinary know-how surrounding you on a daily basis!
May 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
We didn’t have a chance to eat at Diner, located right next to Marlow & Sons, but what an intriguing door!
May 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
Little Tastes last night was a blast. I don’t think we’ve ever seen such an enthusiastic crowd. I even saw some people taking notes! Alejandro Brown of Big Al Brewing in White Center and his lovely and talented assistant, Micah, hauled in the deluxe ten-gallon-batch home-brew apparatus which served as his gateway into the microbrew business. Dahlia chef, Brock Johnson, brought a little show-n-tell homebrew of his own so we could see the yeasts hard at work while tasting the surprisingly delicious raw ingredients of beer. Meanwhile, Big Al described the brew process from start to finish and answered every question the crowd could throw his way. Brock’s tastes arrived throughout the evening, showcasing beer’s unbelievable versatility in cooking (smoked porter ice cream, anyone?) along with a truly inspiring discussion of beer-food pairing approaches. Simply delicious, intellectually stimulating, and absolutely fun! Thank you so much, Alejandro and Brock, for this terrific event.
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