rant: fine dining

[lukethedrifter]

confit is the answer. [expletive] delicious!

[stlouie_lipp]

I ate a ton of duck when I was in France. It was a 7 week study abroad program when I was in law school and we were "hosted" by a bunch of places (government offices and the like). It seems like almost everywhere we went, whether for lunch or dinner, we had duck. I figured it must be like chicken for them over there. Cheap, plentiful and easy to prepare for a group of 20.

[Michael]

Sepia did a number on me tonight. The venison was awesome.


Oh and the drinks. Elegantly wasted. On a Wednesday.

[jim]

I'd just like to chime in and say the French are great people. Perhaps standoffish at first, but the ones I've met have been very loyal, warm, intelligent and fun loving. Very very good friends to have.

I agree. The guy I worked with had me over to his house a couple of times, and both were unbelievable meals and he really went out of his way to make me feel welcome. It might depend on where you are at, this was far far away from Paris near Geneva, Switzerland. Although the guy even told me when I was walking around campus to not cross the road at the crosswalk if a car with French plates was coming because they woudln't stop, he said if they had Swiss plates you could assume they would. We was French but thought sometimes his countrymen were ass holes.

But they don't get your face like Italians, which quite frankly got on my nerves. I loved Italy but damn I was glad to get out of there. It's just louder and more caotic. The French just quietly stick their nose up in the air a little bit.

And other than the pizza, I liked French food more than Italian. In fact I think I liked the food more in Ireland of all damn places than Italy. I loved the pizza, but I guess I don't really care that much for real Italian food. But with the pizza there I didn't starve, that's for sure.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Never been to Ireland, but I have been to france and really liked the food. Truth be told, I was probably too young and too self-centered to really enjoy france when I went. But, I do remember having one of the best meals of my life there. To this day, I'd still rank it in the top 3, easily. And the food in general, not just that meal, was great. Crepes are stupid, but whatever. Their cheeses more than make up for it.

Then I lived with a bunch of frenchies and to this day, I have no doubt that guys I met 4 years ago would offer me a place to stay should I ever travel to France again. Also, I made snow - which they claimed was impossible - and still give them [expletive] about it on the yearly anniversary of the snowmaking and remind them American ingenuity > French ingenuity.

[lukethedrifter]

Cork is where it's at when it comes to Irish food.


So 2 years ago my wife and I are in Ireland, stop at a farmer's market just down the road from the Jameson distillery. Some really awesome stuff to choose from, great pastries, cheeses, etc. Anyway we're making our way around and stop at the cheese lady who to be honest seemed to be sort of well socially disabled (?) in a way- unkempt, flaky, thick glasses that sort of thing. anyway she's describing her goat cheese to us and we're looking at a cranberry goat cheese meanwhile i look up at her and she's got this bloody booger in her nose.

[33anda3rd]

haltz/33/anyone else, re: duck, where do you all get it, and how do you prepare it?

You can get it at an upscale supermarket like Whole Foods or in one of the better local/organic/foodie-focused green grocers if you have one of them around. Places like Olivia's in Chicago, Turnip Truck in Nashville, Root Cellar in Louisville. You're going to find it frozen in those places, which is perfectly fine. The kind of place that's selling local, organic stuff will probably have a frozen duck.

We get them whole and break them down, same as you would a chicken, we have a duck dish right now with an aged breast and some house-made duck sausage. The bones are reserved for stock/jus to finish the dish, but we usually have too many. Often enough, the kitchen dudes will braise the bones--backs, necks, wings--that still have some meat on them, deep fry them, then glaze them for family meal. That's good eating.

[33anda3rd]

Oh and the drinks. Elegantly wasted. On a Wednesday.

Griffin is a genius. I miss him at Scofflaw.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Thanks, fellas.

[jim]

Sepia did a number on me tonight. The venison was awesome.


Oh and the drinks. Elegantly wasted. On a Wednesday.

Good lord you didn't have them pour stuff in your alcohol, did you?

How much did you spend? Venison gives me the runs.