Farm Bill News: Nancy Pelosi Indicates Support for Subsidy Reduction

According to the .National Journal's CongressDaily PM (sorry I can't link to the article, but National Journal keeps its articles behind a firewall), Speaker Nancy Pelosi told House Agriculture Chairman Petersen that she wants "stricter limits on farm subsidies for individuals as a symbol of Farm Bill change." The reporter, Jerry Hagstrom, quoted Petersen as saying, "Payment limits would do the most good to show reform." He is considering a proposal, according to Hagstrom, that "would end the three-entity rule that allows farmers to receive subsidies from three separate farming operations but would not place restrictions on their gains from marketing loans." Hagstrom reported that "the proposal would also lower -- but [Petersen] would not say by how much -- the $2.5 million ceiling on the adjusted gross income above which farmers cannot qualify for farm subsidies." He also reported that another change would limit the subsidies on a farm to a farmer and his or her spouse.

So, what does this mean? I take it as good news that Pelosi supports some kind of subsidy change, even if the changes are relatively modest. My guess is that she's heard enough from farmers and activists in California that she'll do what she can to try to change the subsidy scheme and diffuse the flow of federal farm subsidy dollars away from the Mid-West and from big farms. I do not have information now about on what's going on in the Senate, and I don't know how aligned or divergent the two houses are in their thinking. One other possibility is that President Bush could threaten to veto the bill if he's displeased with the changes Pelosi hopes to implement. In that event, according to Hagstrom, Petersen suggested to Agriculture Secretary Johanns that the 1949 Permanent Farm Act would become governing federal farm policy. I am not at all familiar with that act, but failure to reauthorize the act might be the best way to bring an end to federal farm subsidies. It won't happen. No one will let this bill sunset, and frankly, a lot of good programs would die if the bill expired. Be that as it may, I'm intrigued by the idea of how a veto threat might play out.

Finally, Hagsterom reported on one other interesting piece of news: Congressman Goodlatte has not yet signed on to Petersen's version of the Farm Bill. He is, according to Hagstrom, holding out until Petersen makes clear how he intends to pay for sections of the bill with offsets from other programs. More than anything else, Goodlatte represents the administration at this point in the process, but because of the makeup of the House he's more or less powerless when it comes to determining the content of the bill. Of course, I could be wrong, if the content of the bill is decided along regional and not party lines, he may have the ability to sway non-midwestern members who do not represent constiuents who reap great benefits from the current subsidy scheme. If all the votes during the mark-up fall along party lines, he will be sidelined.

KQED's Forum on the 2007 Farm Bill

I just found out that Michael Krasny did a show on the 2007 Farm Bill on Wednesday morning. Doh!

Michael Pollan was one of the guests.

You can listen to the recording here.

Simple Pleasures: Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Fudge and Strawberries, Oh My!

Last night, after eating a delicious pizza from Pauline's (we ordered a medium meat special with hot coppa, orange bergamot and provolone cheese, all on a cornmeal crust. Amazing!) I decided I wanted to have a few scoops of the leftover vanilla ice cream we made on the Fourth of July, topped with hot fudge sauce. Our friend Amy had given us a jar of fudge, and for some reason, I was craving the combination of the two. I served myself three scoops of ice cream, warmed up the chocolate fudge, and sat down to enjoy my dessert. I couldn't help think of my dad eating a bowl of ice cream in front of the TV.

And guess what happened next? Lou save the day! He announced that he was going to cut up the strawberries he had bought for me to use to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie and drizzle them with chocolate. As he began to cut up the strawberries, he asked me if I'd like a few strawberries to go with the ice cream and fudge I was already eating. I nodded enthusiastically, and after a threw a few cut strawberries into my bowl, I discovered yet again the simple pleasure of the sweet combination of strawberries, chocolate and cream. Heavenly!

Virginia Farm Photos

Last year on Labor Day, Lou and I made a trip to Virginia to visit my family and see some friends who still live there. I wrote up some of the cooking we did that weekend here.

One of the afternoons we were there, we drove out with my parents, my sister and my niece to my Dad's farm, which is known as Lover's Leap (the farm got its name because it abuts a huge cliff and there's a legend about two Indian lover's jumping to their deaths from the cliff because their families did not approve of their love).

A few of the photos we took that afternoon were lovely, so I thought I'd post some of them after writing about Virginia yesterday. My Dad is not a farmer, but he leases out the land to a neighboring farmer who uses it to graze his milking cows. To my knowledge, neither my father nor the farmer receive any federal government farm subsidies. Not long ago my dad put a conservation easement on the farm so that it will remain mostly undeveloped in perpetuity.

This is a photograph of the Maury River, which runs through the farm.



This is me in front of one of the barns.



And these are the cows who live on the farm.

Sign the EWG's Farm Bill Petition

Register your support for farm bill reform by signing this petition.

Thanks to my friend Dusty for sending this along.

Farm Bill Update

Well, honestly, I haven't had much time yet to figure out who is coordinating any grassroots organizing to pressure Congress to reform the Farm Bill, but I did come across this blog at Environmental Defense and this blog over at the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Both websites give good summaries of where the legislation stands (it's about to be "marked up" in the House, which means that the relevant committee--in this case the House Agriculture Committee--will consider the legislation and amend it before sending it to the full House for further amendment and a vote). Here is the House Agriculture Committee's summary of the bill as of July 10th. This looks like a fairly comprehensive listing of the current reform-minded bills pending in either the House or the Senate, though most of them will not move (meaning they won't ever make it out of committee (forgive the legis-speak, but I don't have a chance to use it very often any more)).

One of the things that strikes me as odd is that the Ranking Member (the senior most Republican on the committee) of the House Agriculture Committee is Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who represents the 6th Congressional District of Virginia. I was born and raised in the 6th District, in Lexington, Virginia. What's odd about the fact that Goodlatte is the ranking member is that the 6th District, according to the Ken Cook's Mulchblog and the analysis of the EWG, comes in 42nd or 5th from last on the list of committee member districts that receive agricultural subsidies. Cook's assertion seems to be that the 6th District would benefit from a change in farm policy that would shift subsidies away from crops grown primarily in the Mid-West to crops grown by smaller farmers across the country like the one in Swoope, Virginia (in the 6th District) that I wrote about here. I doubt Goodlatte will buck the status quo. As Ranking Member and former Chairman my guess is he's firmly in the pocket of agribusiness, but I could imagine that he might make some small effort to amend the bill if he received pressure from his constituents. Even a small change in the subsidy scheme could be a good start to eventual farm bill reform. Do I have any readers in Virginia?

I also came across this blog on food policy.

More to come.

More on the 2007 Farm Bill

There's a great story in today's Chronicle about the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. The reporter explores the growing movement to reform the farm bill by shifting the focus of the bill away from primarily subsidizing farmers (and agribusiness) to providing more support for regional and sustainable farming, promoting more healthy foods and diets and encouraging more environmentally friendly policies. The chief complaint against past Farm Bills is that they have primarily supported farmers who grow only a handful of crops--corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat and rice--as opposed to fresh produce or livestock and that those foods, though cheap, are not actually good for us to eat. In April, Michael Pollan made a strong case for why what we've subsidized in the past has negatively affected our health.

I'm going to do some more research on the political organizing to change the bill, and I'll report back soon. I was pleased to see, however, that the Environmental Working Group, where my friend Dusty works, has compiled a database of farm subsidies for the last few years. Very interesting.

Last night, I picked up again my copy of Omnivore's Dilemma, which I had put down for the last month or so. I just finished reading the section in which Pollan writes about Joel Salatin's farm, Polyface Farms in Swoope, Virginia. Swoope is about 40 miles or so from Lexington, Virginia, where I grew up, and I was delighted to read that such an iconoclastic farmer is challenging the conventional wisdom in the Shenandoah Valley. This is the kind of farming a new farm bill ought to support.

Ratatouille

Lou and I saw Ratatouille on Saturday night. It's a well done (all food puns intended) tale of a foodie rat who yearns to cook. The story follows the rat, Remy, from his humble roots in the French countryside, where his family eats nothing but garbage, all the way to his stealth takeover of the kitchen of one of the most revered chefs in Paris. The climax of the movie is when Remy comes out (he had been hiding behind the chef's son, a bumbling dishwasher) and takes full control of the kitchen in order to prepare a French Laundry-like ratatouille for the story's bad guy, who is, of course, a food critic. Remy's ratatouille wins the critic over by recreating the tastes and flavors of his mother's ratatouille and by emotionally transporting him back to the warm and comforting embrace of his mother. The ratatouille scene is brilliant--both in a triumphal and a comedic sense--and I loved the message that good food not only delights and stimulates the senses, but also the enlivens both the heart and the mind. I also liked the message that food brings people (and rats) together, and makes relationships possible. That's what appeals to me about cooking and eating (this is not a celebration of baking as much as it is of cooking). Anyway, we laughed out loud longer than anyone else in the theater at the moment of Remy's triumph. It was a deliciously delightful movie made for foodies and non-foodies alike.

By the way, Frank Bruni wrote this essay in the NYT Week In Review yesterday, and I want to echo his view of how much Ratatouille seems to be a movie that could not have been made as little as a few years ago. Thanks to Julia Child (the real godmother of American foodies), food bloggers, celebrity chefs and everyone else who has preached the gospel of good cooking and eating, not to mention those who have prepared and sold gourmet cuisine, Americans now seek out and appreciate good food more than ever before. Thus, they--we--are able to fall for a story about a rat who, like them, loves food and yearns for more of it.

Go see it, and tell me what you think.

Oh, and guess what we made for dinner last night?

UPDATE: The NYT published Thomas Keller's recipe for Confit Byaldi, otherwise known as ratatouille.

FURTHER UPDATE: Here, Bruni ponders the portrayal of the restaurant critic in Ratatouille.

Snapshot Restaurant Review: Bar Bambino

For the second Sunday night in a row, I ate at Bar Bambino last night. Of the many new restaurants that have recently opened in the Mission—it’s two blocks from my house—I want this restaurant to succeed. Sadly, despite the good food we were severed on both visits, the service was uneven and slow.

Last Sunday, Lou and I walked into Bar Bambino at the end of a long day. Both of us had taken part in the Pride parade earlier in the day, and we were exhausted. Neither one of us was up for cooking, so we decided to check out Bar Bambino. We took the last table in the crowded front section of the restaurant across from the bar (the space is beautiful and sleek). At first glance, the menu seemed somewhat limited, but we quickly identified several dishes that looked interesting and noted the plenteous selection of cured meats and cheeses. We settled on a selection of meats—genovese, prosciutto, and salumi—and a Cowgirl soft cow’s milk cheese wrapped in nettles (a favorite of mine that I haven’t tasted yet this season). We ordered a salad of tuna, cannellini beans, and red onion, a Bucatini alla Gangivecchio (thick noodles, served with fried kale, raisins, pine nuts, pancetta and cauliflower), and the meatballs. The food was exquisite. All of the meats were tasty and beautifully presented. The Bucatini was outstanding, with the flavors of the cauliflower, kale, raisins and pine nuts, all doused in olive oil, simultaneously stimulating the sweet and the savory taste buds. The meatballs were firm and served with a delicate tomato sauce heavily laden with sautéed onions and kale. The tuna dish was light and refreshing, but because it was served with the food, we felt like it didn’t quite fit with the pasta and meatballs. We also ordered a 2002 Benati Nerello Mascallese, like what we ordered at A16. For dessert we ordered a chocolate semifreddo and cappuccinos.

The service was a little slow and clumsy, and the timing was off on our main dishes. The pasta, meatballs and the tuna came out together, so we didn’t have a chance to enjoy the salad alone. I would have preferred for the meats and cheese to come out together first, but there was a gap between them, with the meats coming first and cheeses following along later. I wanted the salad next, followed by the pasta and meatballs. Our server was attentive, and yet not good at following through. The main problem, I think, was that his assistant was overwhelmed or not up to the job. I watched bring out several dishes for other tables, look around and deliver them to the wrong table. The poor diners next to us seemed to get screwed on each course. They were given beef meatballs, instead of the vegetarian ones—that’s probably grounds enough for a free meal in my book—and their dessert and their side dishes were mixed up or mistakenly delivered as well. Our service was not nearly as bad, but it was painful to watch them suffer mistake after mistake. The oddest moment for us was when we questioned our server about our cappuccinos. Both Lou and I were surprised that the cappuccinos came out looking more like lattes or macchiatos than cappuccinos, but when we said something about them to our server he simply said abruptly, “No, those are cappuccinos.” I thought that was a little rude.

We went back for another try last night to send off my friend, Dan, who had been visiting for the last week. We ordered much of the same food—meats, cheeses, bucatini, and meatballs—though we substituted a dish of sausage and lentils for the tuna salad and we also ordered a side of grilled asparagus. The service was excruciatingly slow. Our server—who was very nice and accommodating—told us that the owner would be preparing the meats and cheeses and he told us that had been taking his time in fulfilling orders. He was right. We waited for nearly forty minutes for the first tray of cured meats, and then we waited another ten minutes for the cheese. The server kindly gave us a bruschetta with squash, sauteéd greens, and fontina for free, but it was appalling to be made to wait so long for a first bite. Once our main dishes arrived we happily devoured them, and the dishes tasted good but I’m not sure the food is worth such a long wait. Such good food deserves tighter, more efficient service. I hope they’ll pick up the slack. I’d quickly give Bar Bambino a rave review if they do so.

A16. Or, Let Me Tell You How Much I Love Wood-Burning Ovens

Lou and I finally ate at A16 last night. I first read about the restaurant long ago, and I’ve wanted to try it for months. Our plans fell through last night, so I suggested that we head over to the Marina to add our name to the walk-in list for a table. Lou readily agreed and we jumped into the car and drove into the wind and fog to check it out (for you non-San Franciscans, this time of year the temperatures in the city often hover in the mid-50s and the wind and fog usually rush in late in the afternoon, leaving the air cold and damp; that was more of less the scene last night).

A16 is set on the ground floor of a brick, Georgian-like building on Chestnut Street in the Marina District of San Francisco. Lou said he thought that the building looked like it belonged in Boston, and I countered, saying that it looked like something you’d see in Georgetown. Either way, it looked slightly out of place.

He dropped me off to add our name to the list and he drove off to find parking. Inside, the restaurant was packed. The small bar area inside the front door was full of people—mostly couples—drinking and sampling appetizers. The hostess told me that the wait would be less than thirty minutes, so I stood outside on the sidewalk to wait for Lou. Once he arrived, we moved inside to shield ourselves from the cold. Not long after Lou arrived—after waiting a total of about 20 minutes—the hostess ushered us back to the “Chef’s Counter,” which turned out to be a bar overlooking the two wood burning ovens and food preparation areas for the line cooks overseeing the ovens. Without asking, they gave us the foodie seats!

I was thrilled to be seated five feet or less from the ovens. First of all, we could feel the heat from the ovens, and after standing in the cold I was happy to warm up. Secondly, the smells coming out of the oven were scrumptious, and, third, I was fascinated watching the cooks prepare food for the ovens and use them for cooking.

The two cooks worked vigorously, one, right in front of us, making pizza after pizza, and the other, roasting vegetables and meats in the other oven (a little down the counter from where we were sitting). I was fascinated by the pizza making in particular. I watched the cook shape the dough by hand, pour sauce on top of the dough and add some toppings and some cheese to finish off the pizza. Then, she wedged the long-handled pizza peel between the oven and the countertop where she had been working. She would then gently pull the pizza onto the peel, rearrange it into a perfect round and slide it into the oven. Seconds after the pizza entered the oven, thick black smoke would begin to circulate around the roof of the oven and seep out the door (one note about the oven: there is no flue inside the oven; rather, smoke exits the oven by the one oven door (the same one you’d use to put in both the wood and the food). The smoke ventilates by means of a separate exhaust pipe or flue above the oven. Very cool design.) After 3 minutes or so, she would rotate the pizza in order to thoroughly cook the dough and blacken the crust. Then, after only a few more minutes, she would lift up the pizza to evenly blacken the edge of the crust and pull it out of the oven. Done! In all, she would not cook the pizzas for more than 5 or 6 minutes.

(One more note about wood-burning ovens: my friend, Dan, who built his own wood-burning oven in back of his house in San Francisco is the inspiration for this blog. I spent a day with him, shortly before the birth of Foodphiles, way back in November of 2005, while he prepared for a pizza party he and his wife, Jennifer, were hosting that night as a benefit for their children’s school. We made dough, shopped for ingredients for the toppings at the Ferry Building Farm’s Market and then the three of us and Lou spent the night making pizzas for their 8 guests. It was awesome, and I’ve never written about it. Lou took lots of video footage, and I fully intended to make a video story of the experience, but I could never figure out how to edit the footage and so I’ve never done a story about it. Foodphiles was meant to tell the stories of other people’s interest in food, and I was fascinated by Dan’s passion for his wood-burning oven. Not only did he build the oven himself, but he enthusiastically cooks in it and champions roasting, baking and pizza-making. Ever since, I’ve wanted my own wood-burning oven.)

So, back to A16. We ordered a series of things from each of the categories on the menu: a crostini of cured tuna, soft-boiled eggs, radishes, fennel, celery and onion; Lonza (house cured, fatty and smooth pork); a pizza with tomato sauce, anchovies, olives and pancetta; squid ink pasta with squid and squash blossoms; and oven-baked cannellini beans with bread crumbs. The food was delicious. The pizza was particularly good. The crust was burned in several spots along the edge, and it was thin, moist and very hot. The pasta was also excellent, with a nice balance of squid and squash blossoms in a light tomato sauce. The cannelloni beans were creamy and warm. The only disappointment was that the flavor of the tuna was milder than I expected in the crostini. The service was top-notch as well. Both of our servers were attentive and engaging, and several people—one of the servers and the pizza cook in particular—commented on Lou’s tie.

For wine, since neither one of us knows much about Italian wines, we relied upon the sommelier to recommend a bottle for us. We told how much we’ve been enjoying wines from Burgundy recently and that we have also fallen for many Pinot Noirs from Oregon. He suggested a Palari, ‘Faro’ 2001, and it was delightful. The wine was slightly fruity, with notes of cherry, raspberry and strawberry, along with subtle hints of grass. It was lovely with all our food.

All together, the food bill came to only $70, not bad for so much good food. For good food and a pleasant dining experience, A16 is well worth it.

The Fear of the Foodie Host

I've been away from the blog for a few weeks. I'm sorry about that. There's no good excuse. I was in Hawaii and in New York City in May, and I've cooked and eaten some great meals since my last posting, but I just haven't felt like writing. I'll write up something soon. I have at least one very good story to tell.

This was in the NYT Dining In/Dining Out section today. It's an interesting piece about the anxiety foodies feel when they cook for other foodies. I think I'm fairly relaxed in the kitchen, no matter who is coming to dinner, but I know that I stress out at least one person: my mom. The funny thing is that I feel like my mother is one of the people who most influenced me as a host, though perhaps not as a cook. Even though she freaks out before her guests arrive, she is thorough about planning parties and thinking through every detail. She is also a gracious host, and I think that may have rubbed off on me. Who knows. For whatever reason, I love to entertain as much as I love to delight guests with tastes, flavors and presentations, and I think that might be the key to hosting other foodies. Also, a willingness to accept that dinner may not turn out perfectly also helps. Think of it as Foodie Zen.

Dining In/Dining Out Goes "Green"

In other recommended reading, today's edition of Dining In/Dining Out is spectacular. With a focus on "eating green," check out the four featured stories about locavores , foie gras, biodynamic wine making, and a fantastic story about Prince Charles, who has become a "hero" within the organic/slow food movement in the U.S.

Clams

I've always loved clams. As a kid growing up in Virginia, one of my favorite meals was fried clams at Howard Johnson's. I liked the chewiness of the clams, and I loved the tartar sauce. It's hard to go wrong with serving a kid anything fried, but I think I developed an early and lasting love for these little shellfish as a result of those occasional meals at HoJo's.

Now, I like clams much less disguised, though their chewiness still appeals to me. I'll eat clams raw, but I usually enjoy them with pasta or as a topping on pizza.

In the food section of today's Chronicle, Olivia Wu has a nice piece on local Bay Area Manilla clams. She tells the story of the rise in clam growing in Tamales Bay, and she features Martin Strain, one of the early clam growers who helped bring clams to cooks and diners in San Francisco (check out the photos too). I was happy to read that he only sells his clams at the Alemany Farmer's Market (another reason to check out the market).

Anyway, I recommend the story. I plan on picking up some clams this weekend at Alemany and cooking them up. More on my culinary adventures with clams soon.

Celebrating Baby Kai (and his parents)

A couple of weeks ago we gave a celebratory dinner for our friends Amy and Frank in honor of the recent birth of their son, Kai. We also celebrated Amy's return to drinking wine!



We assembled a special menu and pulled out all the stops to fete them right.

For hors d'oeurves, we served a selection of cheeses, with honey and marcona almonds.

For the first course, we served a sunflower sprout salad with sieved egg, orange and red pepper sections and a citrus-champagne viniagrette. I had been imagining a salad with sieved egg for a few weeks, and Lou thought of using the sunflower sprouts as greens. It turned out to be a light and refreshing spring salad.



For the second course, Lou made a potato and black truffle tourine, a recipe he found in a Masters of European Cooking cookbook he bought a year or so ago. I had dismissed most of the recipes in the cookbook as being a little too fussy for my tastes, but Lou picked out a winner. And, he executed it flawlessly. He prepared the tourine by layering shaved, cooked potatoes and shaved truffles and then soaking them in a rich beef and mushroom broth. The tourine chilled in the refrigerator for several hours before serving, allowing the broth to seep into the layers of potato and truffle and flavor them completely. He garnished the dish with homemade mock creme fraiche. It was a masterpiece.



For the main course, I grilled flank steak, using a dry herb rub that Lou's sister had given us for Christmas. I also roasted cauliflower, using our Delfina Pizza inspired recipe of olive oil, capers, anchovies, green peppercorns, red pepper flakes, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lou concocted a homemade Kimchi-horseradish sauce, which he made by mixing mock creme fraiche with grated horseradish root and store-bought kimchi. Delicious! We forgot to take a picture until after we had mostly devoured the dish.



For dessert, I baked a strawberry-rhubarb pie, which we served with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.



For wines, we started with a Roederer Estates sparkling wine, followed by a 1985 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, which was devine. It tasted of tobacco and blackberries and was perfectly balanced and smooth. This was the special bottle Lou had reserved for Amy. With dessert, we served a Sauternes which I bought at Bi-Rite. I don't remember the winemaker.

I bet even baby Kai will remember this dinner. Congratulations, Frank and Amy!

We are Indeed What We Eat

Michael Pollan has a good piece in today's New York Times Magazine that I'd recommend. I still haven't read "The Omnivore's Dilema," but I've found his other writing about what we eat, where it comes from and who we are because of what we eat illuminating. Check it out.

Food Foraging: The Alemany Farmer's Market

There are several farmer's markets in San Francisco each weekend, and for the last year or so I've usually found my way to the Alemany Farmer's Market, located on the south side of Bernal Heights. I'm a big fan.

Even though it lacks the stunning views of the Ferry Building Farmer's Market and even though I am not sure all the produce is organic or sustainably farmed, the produce is fresh and very cheap. I also like the diversity of the patrons of the market; in many ways the customers reflect the diversity of San Francisco much more than the Ferry Building market, which is usually overrun by tourists.

I woke up early, so by 9 am I had finished two cups of coffee, read the paper and eaten the pineapple breakfast cake they gave us as we leftGary Danko on Thursday night. With time to kill until my swim practice at 11:30, I convinced Lou to join me for a trip to the market.

Today, we bought three bunches of asparagus for $7, one basket of strawberries for $3, some romanesco broccoli for $4 a head and some broccoli rabe-like cauliflower for $5. We also bought some honey--Blackberry Blossom, Orange Blossom and Eucalyptus--for $14.

We've also bought flowers there the last couple of weekends, and we've never spent more than $30 on bunches of fresh flowers. Here's Lou with the flowers.



Here are some almonds on the branch. We haven't decided what to do with them yet.



And, here's me with the honey man.



And here's a picture of the jars of honey.

Snapshot Restaurant Review: Gary Danko

Lou took me to Gary Danko last night to celebrate my 35th birthday. It was a fantastic meal, from start to finish. Impeccable service. Flawless food. What a great birthday treat! Lou had eaten there several times before, but I was a virgin. Sorry, no other pictures; we forgot our camera.

We started the meal with a bottle of 1998 Dom Perignon and decided to share the evening's chef's tasting menu, which featured Villa Mille Rose Olive Oil as a theme in many of the dishes, and another tasting that we assembled ourselves from the select-your-own-courses part of the menu. I won't describe every course, but I want to mention a few of the stand out dishes.

First up, Nettle Soup with Burgundy Escargots and Maitake Mushrooms. The nettles were pureed with spinach and mixed with cream. The server poured the soup into a bowl in which the escargots and mushrooms were arranged in a small, tight cylinder. All together, the soup tasted like a pesto, with the nettles and spinach evoking the basil and the escargots and mushrooms providing hints of nuttiness. Small strips of meyer lemon zest added an unexpected zing to each bite, and the tendermess of the snails contrasted nicely with the silkiness of the soup. It may have been the best dish of the night; it was certainly a delicious starter.

Next, Roast Maine Lobster with Morel Mushrooms, Asparagus and Tarragon. The lobster tail was arranged in its shell and covered with a buttery sauce made up of morels, asparagus and whole sprigs of tarragon. I love lobster, asparagus, morels and tarragon, so this was a perfect combination of ingredients for me.

Other stand outs: Striped Bass with Cannellini Beans, Broccoli Rabe and Bagna Cauda, Seared Squab Breast and Stuffed Leg with Olive Oil Risotto, Rhubard Confit and Spring Onion, and Lemon Herb Duck Breast with Duck Hash and Rhubarb Compote.

We also sampled some wonderful cheeses. I know Brillat Savarin, a gruyere and several others were among them, but I can't remember the names due my tipsy state when the cheese course began. Not only did we finish off the bottle of champagne, but we also drank a half bottle of Armand Rousseau, Gevrey-Chambertin 2001 (an amazingly smooth and well-balanced red Burgundy).

For dessert, we shared a Honey Mousse with Olive Oil Sponge Cake, Pistachio Cream and Lemon Gelee and a Baked Chocolate Souffle with Two Sauces (chocolate and Creme Anglaise). Lou loved the souffle and I loved the honey mousse and olive oil sponge cake, so dessert worked out well for us. We ordered glasses of a Tokaji Aszú, Kiralyudvar, Cuvée Ilona, 5 Puttonyos, Hungary 2001 to pair with the mousse and cake and a Banyuls, Jacques Laverriere, Clos Chatart, Vin Doux Naturel, Languedoc-Roussillon, France 1998 for the souffle. They also brought me a lemon mousse cake with a single tall candle on it for my birthday. Yes, three desserts! A great finish.

Gary Danko at last! Thank you, Lou, for a stunning birthday meal.

Vincent Dancer

Thanks to Josh, the wine buyer at Bi-Rite, I just picked up three bottles of Vincent Dancer (click here if you don't read French very well) Chassagne-Montracht ler Cru "Tete du Clos." I tried the 2004 vintage at Alinea in March, and I asked Josh to find some bottles of that vintage for me. He was only able to find three bottles of the 2002 left in the U.S. All the other 2002s, 2003s and 2004s were sold out. Lucky me. I'm going to store these for a while and try them on some future special occasion. I'll write more about them then.

Snapshot Restaurant Review: Birthday Dinner at Jack Falstaff

My friends, Amy and Jen, treated Lou and me to dinner on Tuesday night at Jack Falstaff. The occasion was my 35th birthday. I've noticed the restaurant before when driving around South Beach--the rusted metal exterior has caught my eye. So I was happy to finally try it out. The space inside is small, fairly sleek and decorated in various tones of green. Much more warm than the exterior suggests.

I ordered a Sweet Onion Velouté to start, followed by the Bouillabaise with Sweet Gulf Prawns, Fresh Sea Scallops, Manila Clams, Green Garlic, Andouille Sausage, Pebble Potatoes and Lemon Confit. I paired the soup with a dry Alsatian Riesling and the bouillabaise with a viognier. The food was very good. Lou had foie gras for a starter and black truffle risotto for his main course. Amy and Jen had Crisp Asparagus & Duck Prosciutto and Kobe Beef-Style Steak Tartare for starters and Thick Cut Duroc Pork Chop and Seared Lamb Tenderloin for their main courses. We were all pleased with the food. For dessert we shared a Warm Chocolate Ganache Cake with Hazelnut Brittle Ice Cream, Candied Kumquats, Kettle Corn (amazingly delicious, especially with the kettle corn!), a Blueberry Crumble with Granola Crusted Pie, Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream and an Angel Cake with Bay Leaf Infused Berries, Whipped Goat Cheese. The ganache cake was outstanding, in large part due to the surprising texture added by the kettle corn. It was the best dessert by far.

My only complaint about the restaurant was that our server knew nothing about wine, and rather than calling over the sommelier to answer our questions he tried to fake it. It was slightly annoying, especially his description of one wine as "austere." Of course, catching up with Amy and Jen was wonderful, and overall the meal was very special. We took turns telling stories about our memories of our all-time best restaurant dining experiences, and it made for a wonderful evening of celebration.

Thanks Jen and Amy!

Les Petits Princes

Mark Bittman has a short piece on the pleasures of anchovies in Dining In/Dining Out today. I mention it only because living with an italian, anchovies are king in our kitchen. We cook with them all the time, using them to flavor vinaigrettes and to spice up roasted vegetables and sauces. I've threatened our friend Amy with making anchovy panna cotta some time soon, and she actually thinks it sounds kind of good as a savory dish. We'll see. Anyway, if you're shy about anchovies, consider Bittman's advice. Here's his simple recipe for pasta with garlic, anchovies and tomatoes.