I’m gonna send a sweet Tea Tweet up and down the street July 26, 2010
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , add a commentThere is a newish McDonald’s radio commercial. It is amazing. One of the V.O.’s utters the line ”I’m gonna send a sweet tea tweet up and down the street.” It’s one of the best radio commercials I’ve heard in a while for 3 main reasons.
1) it contains the line “I’m gonna send a sweet tea tweet. up and down the street.”
2) its SUPER current because it discusses twitter. Hell yea social media dept at McDonald’s
3) its informative. Theone reason I wasn’t frequenting McD’s is because i found it ineffiicient to buy my burger and sweet T at different locals – but not anymore!!!
Detroit – where Middle Eastern, Greek and Polish food traditions reign (almost) supreme (and the coney Dog is still King) July 8, 2010
Posted by Eli in : Coney Island, Food Article, Michigan Food, Stories , add a commentToday the Detroit Free Press, or as adoring Michiganders refer to it – The Freep, published a slide show that had my heartstrings a’ strumming and my belly a’ aching.
Faygo! Sliders! Greek Salads! Ray’s Ice Cream!
Can life’s moments (pre-LA) be so intrinsically tied to the cuisine of a city? You know when John Cusack arranges his records autobiographically in High Fidelity? I can do that with coney island meals. Most of all my amazing nights, high school shenanigans,drug and booze experimentation and sexual experiences…all come with an accompanying pita, greek salad or chili cheese fries.
A secret all Michiganders share (along with being able to point out on their hand where they were born), is the secret of the Coney Island. We will gladly talk to blank faced ‘outsiders’ about the glory that is “The Coney Island” until we get stopped by this statement “ok, I get it, coney islands are cheap, open late with greasy food. We have those too. They are called diners.”
But no my dear friend from out of state. No, you do not quite understand the coney island for the same reason you cant point out where you are from on your own hand.
Go to any Coney Island at 6am and you will see it packed with seniors eating early bird breakfasts, business men and woman grabbing a quick coffee and bite before heading to a generic office building downtown or along 696. Check in at a Coney at noon and you will see it packed to the brim with nurses, construction workers and teens on high school lunch breaks grabbing burgers, gyros and that classic beet filled Greek Salad. And peek into a Coney Island after 1am and you’ll surely see punks, goths, skaters, kids violating their curfew, club goers drunkenly pounding chicken finger pitas and everyone cheering each time an order of Saganaki flame tickles the ceiling.
Some of the best conversations, laughing fits and wild nights I’ve ever had occurred or culminated when packed 4-6 deep into a booth wolfing chicken finger pitas (with honey mustard), slurping enormous fountain pops (YES – pop) and ordering saganaki just because fire is even more cool when you’re wasted.
So what’s your favorite Coney Island moment and your favorite Coney Island food?
Entire FREEP Slide show here: http://bit.ly/aLK0X6
Sustainable Seafood at the Grocery Store…Fishy & Foul or Certified Sustainable? June 28, 2010
Posted by Eli in : Cooking, Recipes, Stories, Uncategorized , add a comment
On Saturday evening I was perusing the aisles of Whole Foods gathering desirables to create a delicious dinner. Potentially thousands (if not millions) of people around the United States at that very moment were engaged in the exact same activity - weaving through aisles making specific determinations about groceries.
Now we could analyze the psychology of grocery stores (brands fight for “eye level” shelf placement) and why people buy what they buy – either because of branding (you buy Tropicana because it LOOKS fresh, not because it is fresh) , product placement (impulse purchase…6 o’clock!) or creative labeling (”The healthiest Crisco yet!”) until we are blue in the face.
And it’s also in vogue to think “locally” and ”organically.” But what I personally had yet to contemplate for even a minute was buying sustainable fish.
So when I approached the seafood counter and bought Chilean Sea Bass, I thought absolutely nothing of it, except that a)I love Chilean Sea Bass and b) I was excited to put it into my belly as soon as possible.
After eating the meal, I sent out a tweet from @FreshmanKitchen
Dinner: Chilean sea bass w/roasted red pep,green olives,capers.roasted delicata squash+zucchini.crispy weiser farm tatos+garlic slivers)
and got this response from @Cookingstudent (http://twitter.com/cookingstudent)
@FreshmanKitchen Chilean sea bass – I do believe they are listed as over fished and, therefore, best not eaten: http://bit.ly/bgBvJe
So my initial thought was – Wow! How have I not been paying attention to the sustainability fish issue and how come Whole Foods is selling it? I needed to dig a bit deeper to see if blame could be assigned to someone so I could shuck off some of the guilt.” If it at first you don’t succeed blame blame (someone else) again.”
So I called the Manager of the Whole Foods Seafood Dept. who referred me to the main website to check out WF’s statement on its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified seafood. So here it is direct from the site:
Offering sustainable seafood is part of our philosophy because we care about the health of the world’s oceans. We are proud to be the first U.S. retailer offering several varieties of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified seafood. The MSC is an independent, global, non-profit organization set up to find a solution to the problem of over-fishing to ensure healthier marine environments and abundant fish stocks for future generations. Here you will discover a growing number of choices displaying the MSC label, indicating the seafood is sourced from responsible, well-managed fisheries.
So whether or not you believe WF’s is a purveyor of 100% responsibly caught fish, they seem to be making a strong effort. But if Chilean Sea Bass is over fished and since you can obviously buy it other places than WF’s…what are some good alternatives if I am at a store that does not serve MSC certified seafood?
The Monterey Bay Aquarium website (which I was linked to via twitter) has this ”Good for you/Good for the Oceans list http://bit.ly/YQctd . If the person selling you fish doesn’t know what’s up or you aren’t in a place selling MSC certified seafood, at least if you select from this list you can feel good while you stuff your face with those (farm raised) scallops or (wild caught) Salmon (from Alaska).
For Additional reading on the subject here is an extensive NY Times article called “Tuna’s End” http://nyti.ms/axbTIh written by Paul Greenberg author of “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food.”
Photo credit: Kenji Aoki for The New York Times
Eli’s Top 5 L.A. Sambones June 23, 2010
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , 6commentsThe sandwich, the sammy, the sambone is an art. Crafting the perfect sandwich requires balancing the right ingredients, bread, temperature and sauce to engineer a finished product worthy of human consumption and blogger photography. L.A. has legit awesome sandwiches found all over town. Here now, are my 4 current favorite restaurant sandwiches in LA. (and my go-to lazy sandwich when I’m at work and need to stretch $10 into 2 meals…) This list is not all inclusive and isn’t scientific. I wrote it mostly because I’m hungry and at my desk. I just really am digging these sandwiches at the present time. Let us know what your go-to sandwich spot is, what you order and why in the comments section.
1. Gjelina’s Turkey Prosciutto with Pesto Aioli Arugula and Avocado. This sandwich is so hip it got an ironic tattoo of a fixed gear bike on its calf.
2. Mendocino Farms Kurobuta Pork Belly Banh Mi with pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapenos, chili aioli on panini grilled ciabatta. It’s a 15 min drive in traffic from my work to MF’s and it’s in a strip mall and it’s completely worth it without even blinking.
3. Huckleberry house made brisket on Ciabatta bread. Eating here makes me feel like I’m in a movie where people live in California. I mean I live in California already. yes, i get that. But not IN a movie IN california. Go there and you will understand what I’m saying.
4. Canter’s Deli- The Fresser. Corned Beef and Pastrami piled sky high. I order it with 2 sides of 1000 island and eat til I’m sick. I’ve eaten this 10 times wasted and 5 times sober. Honestly, it’s still pretty damn good sober but the $15 price tag stings less when I’m smashed-house and can food coma nap on the ride home.
5. Eli’s sambone of the week – Rotisserie chicken from Ralph’s stuffed into a La Brea Bakery sourdough baguette dipped into packaged roasted red pepper hummus. I’ve never pretended to be classy or denied the fact that I buy chicken kept under heat lamps stored in plastic bags.
For more tasty LA Sam’s check out this list from grubstreet. 26 of LA’s top sam-bam-thank you maams : http://losangeles.grubstreet.com/2010/05/the_los_angeles_sandwich_regis.html#
Photo from Midtown Lunch's article on Mendocino Farms (via google img search)
NEW LAist.com interview with Chef Akasha Richmond June 23, 2010
Posted by Eli in : Cooking, Stories, Uncategorized , add a commentThe new “From Market to Menu” article on LAist just went live!
Chef Richmond talks about her new passion for jamming (like…making jam, not rocking out), working as a private chef for Michael Jackson and how and why she made the move to Culver City to open up her restaurant – Akasha.
Read the whole interview here: http://laist.com/2010/06/23/from_market_to_menu_akasha_richmon.php
