Off Topic: New Local Cycling Blog

Optimistically Speaking, It Was A Beautiful Sunny Day.

John Speare has started a Spokane Cycling Blog. John appears to be a kindred spirit with interest in long distances. Due to my work schedule and lack of effort on my part I have not spent much time riding with other people but I imagine that John and I will do some riding in the future. Until then we can talk about the weather.

Cold Weather Beer

The Oregonian details the difference between Seasonal Affected Disorder and Seasonal Affected Malt-o-mania. I myself have stocked up on winter beers from Full Sail, Deschutes and Pyramid. The problem is they are all substitutes for the beer that eats like a meal: Hale's Wee Heavy Ale. I have have not seen this ex-local beer on the shelf anywhere. I admit that I don't spend much time staring at the grocery store beerwall but I have looked recently and not seen this seasonal offering.

Eulogy for a Kitchen

Awhile back I mentioned that a bakery would be opening on Wall Street downtown. Now with the Journal of business article it is official. Madeleine's Cafe and Patisserie will be opening in the former Cucina! Cucina! space.
The Cucina space has been thoroughly gutted by the Crescent Courts new California owners. Gone is the wood fired oven, the full sized proof box, Cleveland Combi-Oven, Tilt Skillet, 30 feet of maple top work tables, stacks of All-Clad saute pans, 12 burners of stove space, 2 high BTU Star burners, 80 quart Welbilt mixer, Pasta extruder with a half dozen brass dies, numerous Speedracks and a walk-in cooler/freezer combo that was the largest I have seen in a stand alone restaurant. In other words, that kitchen was decked out.
Many people may think of Cucina as just another Italian restaurant that has come and gone but one of the major differences was that in it's hay day that kitchen made everything from scratch. The bread, the pasta and the biscotti were made every morning. Red Sauce was made in giant batches in the tilt skillet and run through a food mill attachment for the 80 Qt mixer. Veal stock, chicken stock, fish stock and béchamel were made in house. Five mother sauces made on hand at all times, not a lot of restaurants of any kind can say that.
The Cucina! company had a sad ending with it's founder John Schwartz forced to sell the company he built before his death from cancer. Since that sale the company has changed hands again and much has changed. The Spokane store was at the end of it's 10 year lease and the new owners were not interested in operating in mid-sized markets. It seems a shame that the new bakery that will be going into the space was not able to take advantage of the kitchen that existed. Cucina was built from the kitchen out and it showed.

Quince

The latest food fascination in the back kitchen is the quince. We have a case of pineapple quince that sat taunting me for a week. When the Zags were keeping people planted in front of their T.V.'s we had some extra time on our hands so we began playing with the floral-scented fruit. Despite the fact that none of us had seen quince used for anything other than a jam or paste to serve with cheese, the fruit is versatile. A little research showed it being used with chicken, lamb and as an easy substitute in a Babas dessert.
I definitely will try it in a lamb tagine but for starters we made a marmalade and a jam. We also roasted a few whole quince to see how well it adapted to that method. The roasted fruit was tasty but we haven't applied it to anything yet. The marmalade was extra bitter but not bad, The jam which had no additional flavorings (I resisted the temptation to add star anise) was too good. I could not stop eating it. Last night I paired it with grilled pork tenderloin and cous cous. It sold well.
Next week I am going to try it in a pineapple upside down cake style application. The juice from the the roasted quince was so good that we also want to try juicing the fruit and reducing it into a syrup. It may not produce much volume but it will be a powerful flavor. It became a joke throughout the weekend that I kept sniffing the raw quince and making everyone else smell it as well. The fruit is so "perfumy" that it puts even a fresh-from-the-tree honeycrisp apple to shame.

The War Over Music

Frank Bruni, the food critic from the New York Times, talks about the hot button issue of music in restaurants on his food blog. It appears that restaurants can't win. Some people think that any music ruins their meal. Those that appreciate music with their meal differ greatly on what is appropriate. Knowing that the clientele is going to be from a demographic range that will conflict frequently in the musical arena, what is a a restaurant to do?
One of the comments on the Bruni post sounds like the Bistro. "I think the music is often there to entertain the staff, and if the restaurant is too quiet, the staff is not having a good time." We use the Rhapsody music service which for the price is by far the best service for customizing what music you want. We can build playlists and this option has led to every Tom, Dick and Server sitting in front of the office computer putting together their personal faves list.
What music is playing has more to do with who the highest ranking employee on shift is. Old Crow Medicine Show, Emilliana Torrini, Gotan Project, Tito Puente and Josh Groban will all pop up at one time or another. One thing I have noticed about this community programming is that I have a difficult time stomaching some music in the dining room. I don't think that Elton John "Tiny Dancer" is restaurant music. I think it has to be chosen with more criteria than personal interest. I don't ever listen to jazz when I am biking but I want to hear my Verve Records Playlist in the dining room. To me it is appropriate and I don't get tired of it.

Garden Update: Mulch

Unmulched/Mulched

After weeks of trying, I finally was able to track down an electric chipper for the garden. I have had piles of leaves and such waiting to be transformed into mulch. The electric chipper works great and now I look at all plants as potential mulch. This mulching project is a bit late but when it is done the garden will be off the To-Do list until February when I order seeds and begin learning about how to install a drip system. Due to the age of the house, we have no outside power outlets. The chipper has pushed the need for a convienant plug-in outside. Some electrical work is getting added to the list for spring. This gardening project keeps growing and growing. What happened to putting some seeds in dirt and letting nature do the work?

Grab Bag Of News

In order to keep to it's promise of opening in just a few weeks, the midnight oil is burning at Meritage.

Slate magazine has an article that puts high end steaks to the test.
Craigslist has an ad that suggests that a fine dining restaurant will be opening in the next two weeks. I don't have any guesses beside maybe Hill's. The ad seems very clandestine.
Organic chocolate is a getting attention for it's quick growth.
Interesting discussion about menu prices and wage increases over at Knife's Edge.
Does anyone know where Gallo Giro Mexican restaurant is reopening? It was formerly in the gas station at Freya and Fourth.

No-Knead Bread: Round One

My bread looks better than it tastes.

Last week I was fascinated with the New York Times video recipe for making no-knead bread that has all the qualities of artisan bread. Apparently I am not the only one that was drawn in by the effort-to-result ratio. This may be the only food blog that has not talked about this bread. Even Flickr is buzzing with the crusty golden goodness.
I decided to try the bread but fell short of success. My doh! moment came when I came back to the dough after a day in the refrigerator. The sponge was not showing the signs of yeast action. I used active dry yeast rather than the instant dry yeast. I have never used instant dry yeast before so I did not realize the difference. Apparently instant dry yeast does not need warm water to spring the little buggers to life. I will try again. I am going to try another batch with the active yeast but use some warm water to get the sponge developing.

Grab Bag Of News

The owner of Zingerman's Roadhouse explains why the best thing a manager/owner can do for their restaurant is pour water.
The New York Times is impressed with the high end street food in Berlin.
Chocomap is a new website that will help people find chocolate shops.
Speaking of chocolate, I got a couple of new gift sets in for the holidays. The Cafe Tasse 36 tasting square sampler and the Santander 3 bar set are $16 and $7.50 respectively. I also added two new Italian Chocolates from small producer Brucco.
Gastro-Bistros and their anglo cousin the Gastropub have been sweeping through Europe and after reading about Micheal Bauer's recent trip to Philidelphia, it sounds like America is catching on to this trend. In case you have missed the hype, a Gastro pub is a pub with simple fare done well. Basically it is a quality upgrade to the local watering hole. I am wondering how long before this trend gets to Spokane. Top notch food without the ornamentation and garnishment. Perhap's Hill's will fit the bill.
An anonymous commenter informed me that the Vin Rouge Boys are changing Benjamin's in the Parkade Plaza into Meritage a "fun, trendy downtown bistro" serving breakfast and lunch. The name makes more sense now. Over the years I have talked to dozens of people who have dreamed of doing something with the Benjamin's space. I am glad to hear that dreams are coming true.

New Breakfast Place

Craigslist has an ad for a "fun trendy new downtown bistro" that is looking for breakfast and lunch employees. I think that Meritage may be the place going into the new Bank of Whitman building. Does downtown need more breakfast places?

Bike Vs. Dirt: Caught In The Middle

This front fender did not survive.

I spend a good deal of time each week on a bike. It is a good thing too. Looking back at periods of time when I decided to forego biking to concentrate on work, I can see how my mood, my health and my productiveness declined. One of the ways that hours of cycling helps me is it gives me time to think. Saturday night I was riding home, thinking on a topic that I have wanted to post here for awhile: What is wrong with a 40 hour work week? The idea had come up again because I was scheduled to work a 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. marathon shift on the one day off I share with my wife and daughter. So you can imagine I was not whistling Shiny Happy People as I biked. I still plan on writing the post about chefs and the hours they work but the cycling gods had other things in mind for me.
Saturday night around 9:00 p.m. while riding my commuter workhorse Ibis along the Columbia Plateau Trail I took a dive. Body slam is more accurate. One second I was biking along and then the next I was face down in the dirt with the bike on top of me, my shoes still attached to the bike. It took a minute to sort out what happened. It appears that the combination of my new Lake winter cycling shoes and my Planet Bike fenders came together in just the right way to push the fender into my front spokes as I was turning. I have been riding with fenders for a long time but nothing close to this has ever happened. The fenders and it's support arms pulled through the fork and brought the wheel to a sudden stop. As a result, something is wrong with my ribs under my left arm. On Sunday morning I coughed and the pain brought tears to my eyes. Today the soreness is worse. I am off to the doctor later today.
This injury will cut down on the the amount of cycling and as a by-product I will be a grumpy bear because regardless of my condition the restaurant life continues. Kitchen's don't keep extra people around for vacations, sick days and special events. Less biking, more work is the forecast. This is the way of the kitchen, but why?

Slow Food, Edible Innards And A Salty Dog

Chris Cosentino is chef of the Bay area restaurant Incanto. Chris is also a ultra cycling legend but that is for another time. Chris was recently attending Italy's Slow Food conference. His cured meat gluttony is chronicled in a SFGate.com article. Chris also has a website devoted to the edible innards of animals. He brought back some Tuna Sperm from Italy, I will be watching the website to see what he does with that.
Meanwhile the sausage making enterprise continues and I made a batch of kielbasa from Olsen Farms Beef. It has been drying for the last two days. Today we will attempt to hot smoke it using the smoasting technique. With the oven on low heat, I will place some wet hickory chips in a saute pan and put them over a hot burner. When they start to smoke the pan goes in the oven. Sometimes it is necessary to get another pan of chips going because the chips will not smolder for long without an element directly heating them.
I am not excited about the keilbasa because I think that the recipe was wrong. Using the new Charcuterie book I decided to follow a recipe closely to avoid some of the problems of the early batches. Even though I suspected that the quoted ratio of 2 1/4 pounds of meat to 3 Tablespoons of salt plus 1/4 teaspoon of pink salt was on the way-too-salty side I pushed ahead. When I tasted the batch after grinding and emulsifying my lips hurt like a salted slug. I doubled the amount of beef to try in dimish the saltiness but even did not work. I have used all of the beef I had on hand so I decided to hope for the best. Today I will find out if it was all for nothing.

Luna For Sale?

For the last couple of months some talk has been swirling about Luna, Cafe Marron and Bouzies Bakery. The talk has been hinting that William and Marcia Bond may be looking to sell. This rumor popped up a couple of years ago so I did not pay much attention but recently the talk has focused on a specific price tag. I am dubious of the price being accurate. If the deal would include the businesses, buildings and existing inventory (think about all of that wine) than the price that is being quoted seems low. If the businesses are for sale but not the buildings and property than it seems more doable.
People have been getting excited about this rumor because it is a huge opportunity. Not only has Luna built a solid reputation, the locations of all three businesses are dream properties. Building on the history of Luna a savvy restauranteur could reinvigorate the food and begin a new era for the business.
I think back to the pre-expansion Luna. I liked the feel of the space and felt connected to my memories of the Mom and Pop grocery store where I would buy bananas on long bike rides. But like the expansion of the building, the sale of Luna is part of the evolution of food in Spokane.

Out-Of-The-Way Bar: Village Squire

Let's review the out-of-the-way bar criteria: located on a side street and been in business for a good length of time. Simple enough. But there are some intangible qualities that are also involved, lets call it the dive factor. The Village Squire is a marvelous example of an out-of-the-way bar that has great dive factor. I love this early morning picture of the Squire because the yellow morning sun has given the photo an aged film look. This picture looks like all the snapshots circa 1974 from the family photo album.
The Squire is located on Dartmouth road sandwiched between Appleway and Sprague. This Valley location feels dramatically different than it did before the couplet was built. Dartmouth road abruptly ended in front of the Village Squire, stopped by the dirt berm that marked the location of an old rail line. This bar was truly the end of the road.

Sausage: Batches #1 and #2

My favorite type of cooking is investigative. Cook a batch, think about what went wrong and what needs to change. Sausage making looks to be a good time in this regard. The first two batches of sausage have been made and a lot was learned.
The first batch I made early Saturday morning before lunch. I was attempting a mole (Mo-lay) seasoning concept. I did not measure which is not uncommon for me but when doing research like this it would have been helpful to be able to look back at my amounts. I was operating under the theory that if sausage is run through the small grinder blade is good, it would be better to do a progressive grind (first running it through a larger grinding plate). That theory holds up better in Pate than in sausage My conclusion after this batch was that I over ground the sausage giving it a mealy consistency and possibly there was not enough fat.
12 hours later after dinner service, Jeremiah put together an andouille sausage. He upped the fat ratio and used only the large grinding plate. Jeremiah did not take all the precautions to keep the meat extremely cold through the grinding and mixing but he was working fast and we did not worry about it. After cooking up his sausage we determined that perhaps the grinding was not the problem element with the consistency. We noticed a lot of fat in the pan after roasting the sausage. We began thinking that the emulsification of the meat after the grinding had not allowed the myosin to develop properly. Furthermore, Jeremiah had not added cold water or ice cubes to the mixer while emulsifying.
For the next batch, I will: write down the seasoning amounts, grind through the small die only and mix the grind with the paddle for a solid 2 minutes on the medium mixer setting.

Epicurean Delight 2006 In Pictures

Here are some of my pictures from the Epicurean Delight 2006. The local Flickr patrol was there. Check out some of their shots.

Epicurean Delight Makes Me Tired

I am tired this morning. I was up past my bed time at the Epicurean Delight . Here is a picture of the Ice Bar manned by Paul Harrington. I am heading to work now but later I will post some more pictures from the event.

Grab Bag Of News

The downtown Farmer's market gets an encore. November 3,10 and 17 from 11-2 some of the markets producers including Tolstoy Farms and Bouzies Bakery will be selling at the Community building (35 Mest Main).

Details Magazines best pizzas in America (Portland and Seattle gets props).
Valley orchardist donates fruits of his labor to food bank.
The sound of sausages sizzling fights SAD.
Ethiopian man makes espresso machines out of weapons of war.
Mainstream chocolate makers to start adding percentages to labels.

Micheal Bauer asks San Francisco "what menu items are you sick of?" The answers are expected but interesting. One note is that the issue this topic can't get away from is that many of these tired ideas keep selling better than the more innovative items. From an economic standpoint it is hard to say no to a moneymaker.

Harvest: A year in the life of an organic farm is a great book that gives an authentic look at the day to day life on a small farm. Aunties has a copy in their garden section. Go check it out.

When you are done with that you can go read : The Fate Of Family Farming by Ronald Jager.

Off Topic Alert:
Local Photogs roam streets looking for action.

If I had a Hoe.

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route gets GPSed.