My Beef With Misinformation About Beef

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I enjoy browsing on Pinterest.  I've found cocktail recipes, side dishes, graphics for my screensaver, etc...  Many of the graphics on the site are infographics, pictorial fact sheets which can display anything from the evolution the Ford Mustang, to best selling vodka brands, to a timeline of Teddy Roosevelt's life.  Such graphics are usually well researched.

Then there are the screwballs.  I opened my email Pinterest newsletter to find a graphic outlining five grades of beef; Choice, Prime, Wagyu, Wagyu from Japan, and Prime 30 day dry aged.

The USDA recognizes eight, and only eight, grades of beef. 

1.  U.S. Prime – Highest in quality and intramuscular fat, limited supply. Currently, about 2.9% of carcasses grade as Prime.  Prime cuts make superb steaks and roasts.

2.  U.S. Choice – High quality, widely available in foodservice industry and retail markets. Choice carcasses are 53.7% of the fed cattle total.  These are also good for roasts and steaks, but are less marbled and flavorful than Prime cuts. 

3.  U.S. Select (formerly known as U.S. Good) – lowest grade commonly sold for retail.  These cuts are of an acceptable quality, but are less flavorful, juicy, and tender due their lack of marbling.  Fat equals flavor.  The ribs, loin, and tender loin, are somewhat tender and are good for outdoor grilling and bar-bar-cuing.

4.  U.S. Standard – Lower quality, yet economical, lacking marbling.  Standard and Commercial cuts are cheap because they’re tough.  Yet, they’re usable in dishes which are cooked low and slow such as chili and stews. 

5.  U.S. Commercial – Low quality, lacking tenderness, produced from older animals.

6.  U.S. Utility - This and the two following grades are essentially void of tenderness, and are mostly used for canned & processed foods, occasionally really cheap hamburger. 

7.  U.S. Cutter

8.  U.S. Canner 

Wagyu isn't a grade of beef, it's a breed, like angus.   Meat from that breed can be graded as prime.  The  breed is renowned for its marbling because there's no room in Japan to allow the cattle to graze.  As a result, the animal develops less muscle and more fat.  Again, fat equals flavor.  

Dry aged beef isn't a grade of beef.  It's beef which has been dried on a rack in a dedicated refrigerator, or cold room, for many days or even weeks.  As the meat sacrifices its moisture, the enzymatic reactions are tenderizing the meat again creating a nutty depth of flavor.  RingSide Steakhouse in Portland, Oregon offers a filet mignon, which has been dry aged for 30 days for $71.75.

The creators of the infographic in question made sure to list a copyright along its bottom edge, so I don't feel comfortable posting it here.  You can click the link to it in the second paragraph of this blog if you're interested though. 

Most infographics are well researched informative tools.  However, every now then and one comes along which makes readers stop... scratch their heads... and think, "WTF."  That's OK though.  You should question EVERYTHING you read online or offline, especially when it involves your food. 

Below are some meat related infographics which are actually helpful.  You can click each graphic to see its full  sized version.  Happy Eating!  🥩

Last But Not Least:

The Food Blahs

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Lets address the elephant in the virtual room; I've only published two food blogs since the beginning of 2021.  As cliché as it sounds, I partly blame the pandemic for my food blahs.  When I don't know which  dining rooms will be open, and food delivery services sometimes deliver cold food, it's hard to get excited about anything. 

I'm flirting with the idea of reviewing more food trucks, but that doesn’t do anything for my non-local readers.  I WILL get my food mojo back, and I WILL reenergize this blog.  For the immediate future though, I plan to focus on my my spiritual blog, and my political opinion blog.

In the meantime if you want to get your food funk on, I recommend this lady's blog, Ahead of Thyme. Sam began her blog as a hobby in 2015. Today she's publishing a recipe a day and reaching a millon people a month.

I save, at least, one recipe of hers per week and have never been disappointed. Just today, she published a recipe for creamy garlic mushrooms, which looks absolutely amazing.

Stella got her groove back, and I will too. Until then, Happy Eating My friends!

Food & Politics Collide With Andrew Zimmern At The Helm

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By now it should be obvious that I’m a pretty big food nerd. No, it’s true. I’ll own it. I love well developed; flavors, aromas, textures; the whole epicurean nine yards. However, if you only read my food blog, you may not be aware I’m a political liberal as well. Being a liberal, I’m an MSNBC junkie. Thus, when I heard chef Andrew Zimmern, of Bizarre Foods fame, would be hosting a show on my favorite news channel, I had to check it out.

Chef Andrew Zimmern
Photo Courtesy of Amazon's Affiliate Program.

What's Eating America bills itself as a show which explores social and political issues through the lens of food. The first episode was dedicated to the immigration debate. With an unapologetically progressive/anti-Trump slant, Zimmern explained the degree to which migrant workers harvest, process, and prepare the food we eat.

Telling the stories of seasonal field workers, a foreign-born chef who depends on migrant labor, and others the February 16th premier episode made the case that migrant workers are being abused by a system which would collapse without them. Chef Jose Andres, who fed federal employees during the 2013 government shutdown, made an impassioned speech about the plight of migrant workers.

Again, I’m liberal, so I agreed with their message, but I doubt it would sway anyone who isn’t already in their ideological camp. That being said, conservative foodies may still enjoy vivid descriptions of barbacoa tacos, pork consommé, and other delectable dishes.

Airing Sunday nights on the aforementioned MSNBC, this five-episode series takes a more in-depth look at food than anything currently running on Food Network.

Good Eats Is Still Good Viewing

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If you've read my Culinary FAQ, and shame on you if you haven't, you know that I list Good Eats as the best instructional cooking show, bar none. Not only do I enjoy the way Alton Brown talks about the history & science behind the foods he’s cooking, but we have the same off-beat sense of humor, which my assistant, Dani, will attest to. If I can't make her roll her eyes at least once a day I’m falling down on So, as you read this, you should keep that bias in mind. -

| Subject: Alton Brown & Me At Powerful Books In Beaverton, Oregon |
| Date: 10/11/2016 | Photographer: Alton Brown's assistant with my camera |

| Note: I debated whether to use this picture or not, but I figured so many of my

 readers already know I'm in a wheelchair that I'm not going to hide it anymore. |

Last November, I wrote about a show called Good Eats: Reloaded.  In that show, Alton Brown reexamined past episodes of Good Eats and tweaked recipes which, in retrospect, could’ve been better.  This isn’t that.

On August, 25th, 2019, Food Network began airing two all new episodes, at 10:00 pm & 10:30 pm, under the banner, “Good Eats: The Return.”  Well…, sort of. While the title features the words, “The Return,” the current season is numbered as season 15 of Good Eats. It’s a bit confusing, but OK.

Alton hit the ground running by showing viewers his take on, the Italian/American classic, Chicken Parmesan.  From the kitchen diehard fans remember, and utilizing guest players such as Vickie Eng as “W” (an allusion to 007’s gadgeteer Q), he demonstrates how to prepare the dish using two kinds of cheese.  He also explains how to disperse the sauce without making the chicken soggy.  I could’ve watched him prepare food like that all night.

Then the second episode aired, in which he prepared dishes using quinoa and chia seeds.

I need to interrupt this blog to confess my prejudice against quinoa.  Not only have I never had a quinoa I liked, but for a three-year stretch, every food blogger I know, including my favorite cheese blogger, rode the quinoa recipe bandwagon.  Thus, I’m pretty quinoaed out.

While I wasn’t a fan of the subject matter, Brown was true to form delivering tidbits of 17th century history and humorous quips.  I did find more interest in the second half of the episode, when he turned chia seeds into a breakfast pudding.  The idea of a healthy chocolate pudding makes me happy.

All in all, I’m very happy to see Alton Brown back in the culinary instructional saddle, instead of wasting his talents on mindless clap-trap like Cutthroat Kitchen.  Personally, I’d prefer to see one episode per week, instead of two, so the seasons will last longer, but that's a little thing.

Episodes 3 & 4 air tonight at 10:00 pm on Food Network.  Can't wait!

Gordon Ramsay's Filling The Gap Left By Bourdain's Passing

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From 2005 until his death in 2018, Anthony Bourdain took viewers around the world providing his audience with an honest look at food.  While there were plenty of other hosts doing food travel shows (Samantha Brown, Guy Fieri, Andrew Zimmern, etc.…), Chef Bourdain’s blatantly raw honesty set his work apart from other TV offerings.  

Everything wasn’t, “the best thing he ever ate.”  If something was good he said it was good.  If a dish was terrible he said that too.  He called it like he saw it, and he didn't give a flying f@#k who agreed with him.  Not just anyone could have filled the gap left by his passing. 

|Subject: Gordon Ramsey | Date: 06/15/2007 | Photographer: jo-marshall |

| This work has been released into the public domain by its author |

On July 21, 2019 the National Geographic Channel aired the premiere of Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.  Like all culinary travel shows, Uncharted features its host, in this case Gordon Ramsay, trotting the globe to show the audience little known forms of cuisine from other cultures.

What makes the show comparable to Bourdain’s body of work is Ramsay’s unfiltered honesty.  The first episode took the chef to the mountains of Peru where he ate high grown mangos, a pale colored jerky, and insects harvested from a cliff grown tree among other Peruvian delicacies.  Again, if he liked something he said so, if not, he said that too.  Plus, like Bourdain, he had no qualms about dropping F bombs which had to be bleeped out in post-production.

While parallels between the works are undeniably evident, it would be a mistake to give the impression one is a clone of the other.  At least in the first episode, Ramsay challenged a local chef to a cook-off, which would take place at the end of the show.   Then, Ramsay spent the episode "searching for ingredients" to use in the contest.  The structure gave the episode a loose kind of plot.  If this hook carries on throughout the series, it will help distinguish it from its predecessors.

Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted airs Sunday nights at 10pm on the National Geographic Channel.  Unfortunately Season 1 is only six episodes long, so if you plan to catch an episode you need to hurry.

Good Eats: Reloaded Proves The Classics Never Go Out Of Style

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From 1999 until 2012, fans of The Food Network knew Alton Brown as the host of Good Eats.  Those who have read my Culinary FAQ know that I have identified Good Eats as the most informative how-to cooking show of all time.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon's Affiliate Program.

The 90s saw a vast array of how-to cooking shows flooded cable TV.  At any time of day, a person could turn on the television and see Emeril cook a gumbo or Sara Moulton spatchcock a chicken.  My favorite show, you've no doubt already guessed, was Alton Brown's quirky 30 minute show, Good Eats.

Brown's show was different in that he explained the science behind the cooking.  He would use visual props,  such as ping pong balls, to show the audience what the molecules were doing as the food cooked.  It was sort of Julia Child meets Mr. Wizard.

For the last six years, Alton Brown has hosted a number of other shows, such as Cutthroat Kitchen and Camp Cutthroat, which were really beneath him.  His time spent hosting Iron Chef: America wasn't bad, but his talents were definitely not being utilized to their full potential.  He moved from show to show, but never really captured the same magic as he had with Good Eats.

I was thrilled when I heard he was reviving Good Eats on The Cooking Channel.  Good Eats: Reloaded features Brown showing an original episode of Good Eats, and stopping the show to correct his younger self.  While most of the old recipes still hold up, parts of the shows are outdated.

For example, when he made the episode Fry Hard, cod was not sustainable, so he used other fish for his fish and chips.  Eighteen years later, cod is sustainable so he updated the recipe to use cod.  Likewise, technology has progressed a lot over the last two decades.  Thus, he interrupted the Steak Your Claim episode to recommend new styles of cooking thermometers which did not exist 20 years ago.

Throughout the shows, Alton Brown drops little hints that an all new Good Eats series is on the way.  While the updates are valuable, I suspect that the real purpose of Reloaded is to whet our appetites for the upcoming series.  No matter the reason for Good Eats: Reloaded, it does offer good information delivered with the same brand of humor the old show was known for.

Good Eats: Reloaded can be seen Monday nights at 9pm on The Cooking Channel.  I strongly recommend giving it a look.

Don't have The Cooking Channel?  You can buy the first seeds from Amazon Streaming by clicking on the picture above.

Pulling A "Kanye West"

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Photo courtesy of Vintage Sugarcube.

During Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video "You Belong with Me," at 2009's MTV Music Awards, Kanye West burst onto the stage and claimed that Beyoncé had been robbed of the prize.  As tacky as that move was, six years later I'm about to make a similar move.

Jenny Johnson is a San Diego food writer/photographer who revamps traditional desserts with a playful pop culture or retro twist.  On her blog, Vintage Sugarcube, Jenny invites readers to, "take a ride with her in reconstructing classic desserts while not taking life too seriously."  In addition to writing her blog, Johnson;

• Was featured in Uppercase Magazine, issue #22
• Is a Museum of Photographic Art San Diego (MOPA) 2012 Foodie Photography Winner
• Is a contributor for Culinary Creative
• Has been published in Bridges Magazine
• Has been a guest artist in the book 9 Creative Lives, and
• Has published a guest feature in Ohio Today Magazine

Unlike food writers, including me, who merely share our thoughts on what we find within the food world, Jenny's sharing recipes for uniquely tweaked creations.

Photo courtesy of Vintage Sugarcube.

Not long ago, we made the tomato soup laced cake from her entry, Chocolate Tomato Soup Cake: [Andy Warhol Chocolate Cake], for my birthday. I realize the addition of canned soup to cake sounds counterintuitive.  However, skeptics, at my birthday dinner, were converted into true believers after only a few bites. The condensed soup makes the cake very moist & rich.

Each year Saveur Magazine  gives "Food Blog Of The Year Awards" to food writers in 13 categories, including "Dessert Blog Of The Year." The magazine opens nominations to the public, then the editorial staff chooses six blogs, from each category, for the public to vote on.

A number of readers, including me, nominated Vintage Sugarcube for "Dessert Blog Of The Year."  Now, I'm not saying she's the first foodie to add soup to cake, or that her blog should have won, hands down.  However, I can't think of another food blogger who writes about dessert with her sense of style. This unique resource should have, AT LEAST, been listed among the six finalists to be voted for.

While I can't give Jenny's blog an award of any recognized consequence, I can recommend that my readers subscribe to Vintage Sugarcube today.
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Booze Traveler - Travel With A Twist... Of Lime

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When I first heard of Travel Channel's 15 episode series, Booze Traveler, I was afraid the show would either be a hootch-centric clone of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations (not that Bourdain's shows

Subject: Array of liquors | Date: 02/24/2009 | Photographer: Angie Garrett | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

aren't already booze heavy), or it would be 15 1-hour episodes of Booze Traveler's host sampling Tequila in Mexico.

The show features self proclaimed cocktail connoisseur, Jack Maxwell, traveling to exotic locations to sample off beat potables.  As Maxwell drinks his way around the world, viewers are given insight into how each liquor plays its role within its culture of origin.  For example, viewers recently learned about holy men of Napal who drink "marijuana milkshakes" to clear their minds of negative thoughts.

In addition to the show's anthropological value, the show gives viewers ideas about drinks to add to their "to try" list. After 7 episodes, drinks of interest have included, but not been limited to:

1. Boza - a popular milky beverage in Turkey, made from fermented wheat|
2. Kumis - a fermented dairy drink, traditionally made from mare's milk, popular to the peoples of the Central Asian steppes|
3. Golia Vodka, AKA Genghis Khan Vodka - filtering of the vodka through diamonds, rather than charcoal, removes the chemicals which cause headaches when one drinks it|

Personally, I'll never drink Boza or fermented horse milk, no, no, no.  However, I have added Golia Vodka to my list of liquors to keep my eye open for.

Booze Traveler, while not a clone of past productions, is reminiscent of its predecessors.  Given the uncommon nature of some of the featured libations, the show is more comparable to Andrew Zimmer's "Bizarre" franchise than Bourdain's work.  Still, Maxwell relays enough unique subject material to make the show worth watching in its own right.

Airing Mondays at 10pm on Travel Channel, I give Booze Traveler 8.6 out of 10 stars.
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Food Reviews For Everyday Eaters

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What began as a forum to share home videos of kittens falling off furniture, graduations, and kids' birthday parties in 2005, has evolved into a treasure trove of regularly produced shows, or "vlogs" (video blogs).  I'm, of course, referring to YouTube.  With, literally, millions of YouTube channels in existence, one can find vlogs on any topic imaginable.  The White House even maintains a vlog chronicling the weekly activities of the President.

Being a food enthusiast, I've waded through a, seemingly, endless array of cooking demos, wine critiques, and food reviews on the site.  However, I've only found two food vlogs, so far, which I find useful enough to subscribe to and watch on a regular basis.

Both vlogs feature weekly food reviews.  Yet, neither vlog tells viewers which Michelin Starred restaurant has the best Foie Gras Torchon; these are reviews geared toward the common eater.

Subject: "Piggly Wiggly" grocery store, Port Gibson, Mississippi, with view of frozen foods cases | Date: 09/04/2008 | Photographer: Infrogmation | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

I've been watching Gregory Ng, the self-proclaimed "Frozen Food Master," and host of Freezerburns™ since 2011.  Gregory began his frozen food review vlog in 2008 with a series of, five to ten minute, frozen food reviews.  Such reviews feature him preparing the meal according to the manufacture's directions, taking a few bites, and commenting on taste, texture, aroma, price, clarity of the directions, and ease of preparation.

A few years later, Ng added quick single word reviews (yum, yuck, cheesy, etc...) and "Fro-Downs,"  featuring a comparisons between two similar items.  He's also streams the occasional live event.

If his integrity as a critic was ever in question, such doubts were erased during one live stream, when Ng gave Healthy Choice Slow Roasted Turkey Medallions a mixed review, as a Healthy Choice sales executive sat with him, on screen.

Subject: A Big Mac combo meal with French fries and Coca-Cola | Date: 04/07/2009 | Photographer: Toddst2| This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Recently, I hit upon Daym Drops, who delivers reviews of food from national food chains (usually fast food) and the occasional "Mom & Pop" run eatery in his area.

While Daym's downtown brand of humor and slang may turn some people off, if viewers listen to what he's saying, from the front seat of his car, they'll find he's knowledgeable about food and his reviews are usually right.

I can't testify to the accuracy of his reviews of local non-chain restaurants, but I find his chain reviews, such as his analysis of Burger King's Big King vs McDonalds' Big Mac  or chicken, biscuits, & fries from KFC vs Popeye's, to be right on the money.  Ya know what I'm sayin'?  Word up, yo!

Again, these two pundits aren't highbrow critics reviewing gourmet fare.  They're commentators providing down to earth information to consumers looking to down some fast food or buy some poppers for their next televised sporting event.
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Food Fans Still Have Intelligent Choices

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While it's true the first nationally televised cooking show was I Love to Eat, on NBC, hosted by

Title: Julia Child gives the KUHT audience a cooking demonstration | Date: Unknown | Source: KUHT | This picture was made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

James Beard in 1946, it's pretty safe to say that Julia Child's The French Chef, which had its debut on February 11, 1963, on WGBH, brought the food show genre into the realm of main stream pop culture. Those early televised lessons in French cooking sparked a line of publicly broadcasted cooking shows including The Frugal Gourmet, Graham Kerr: The Galloping Gourmet, Louisiana Cookin' with Justin Wilson, and Yan Can Cook among many other 30 minute epicurean tutorials.

Public Broadcasting remained the dominant force in food entertainment until November 23, 1993, when shows such as Emeril Live – hosted by Emeril Lagasse, The Naked Chef – hosted by Jamie Oliver, and Sara's Secrets – hosted by Sara Moulton debuted on the new Food Network.  For the next 20 years viewers were treated to an array of informative how-to cooking shows such as 30 Minute Meals – hosted by Rachael Ray, Barefoot Contessa – hosted by Ina Garten, Everyday Italian – hosted by Giada De Laurentiis, Grill It - hosted by Bobby Flay, and, my personal favorite, Good Eats – hosted by Alton Brown.

While some of these shows still exist, food TV is currently devolving from being an instructional resource, into a gluttony of increasingly silly food competitions.  For the record, I enjoy Chopped and Iron Chef, which show chefs working with unique ingredients in creative ways.  However, on any given day we can see cooks "sabotaging" one another in Cutthroat Kitchen - hosted by Alton Brown, cooks struggling to out cook Bobby on, the OBVIOUSLY rigged, Beat Bobby Flay – hosted by Bobby Flay, and chefs losing oxtails and chicken livers based on a draw of the cards on Kitchen Casino - hosted by Bill Rancic.

Even with the abundance of dumbed down offerings being served up to food fans, there is still hope for intelligent audiences.   One gold nugget, America's Test Kitchen, offers recipes and product reviews back on PBS.  However, I turn to online podcasts for the bulk of my food news these days.

Unless something comes up, Sunday is the day I listen to food related podcasts, including The Splendid Table, America’s Test Kitchen Radio, Wine Life Radio, Beer Sessions Radio, Cutting The Curd, A Taste of the Past, and the NPR: Food Podcast, which have stockpiled themselves on my ITunes through out the week.  I enjoy listening to them back to back, as if they were segments of my own Food Network lineup.

The nice thing about food podcasts, or podcasts in general, is that a listener can work and learn something at the same time.  This week I was made aware of labor issues related to cheese mongering, learned about vintages from Moshin Vineyards, was briefed on the history of culinary knives, and learned that experts are no longer advising people to eat low fat in order to lose weight & stay healthy.

The Splendid Table did a story about capers.  During the segment, their guest, David Rosengarten, explained, "They do make something quite special on the the west coast of the main island of Sicily.  There is a place called Trapani where they make a local form of pesto. They call it pesto, but it doesn't look like our pesto. Our pesto is very basily and green, but theirs is quite red because they make it with tomatoes. They also pound almonds into it and they add, of course, capers to it."  Intrigued by the idea of red pesto, I looked up the recipe.

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Pesto alla Trapanese - (Pesto Trapani style)

Recipe found at Nigellissimaandrobert.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

500g/1lb 2oz fusilli lunghi or other pasta of your choice
salt, to taste
250g/9oz cherry tomatoes
6 anchovy fillets
25g/1oz sultanas
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
50g/2oz blanched almonds
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
small bunch basil, leaves picked


Procedure:

Put abundant water on to boil for the pasta, waiting for it to come to the boil before salting it. Add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions, though start checking it a good two minutes before it’s meant to be ready.

While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce by putting all the remaining ingredients, bar the basil, into a processor and blitzing until you have a nubbly-textured sauce.

Just before draining the pasta, remove a cupful of pasta-cooking water and add two tablespoons of it down the full of the processor, pulsing as you go.

Tip the drained pasta into your warmed serving bowl, Pour and scrape the sauce on top, tossing to coat (add a little more pasta-cooking water if you need it) and strew with basil leaves.

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I haven't had time to try it yet, but my point is that the show exposed me to  variation of pesto, which I wouldn't have considered. In a day when food TV is largely becoming a lineup of food related game shows, it's nice to still have access to productions which provide listeners with actual food related news and ideas.
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Recipe prints as a single page for your recipe file or refrigerator.
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Food Network's The Kitchen - A Review

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With an array of cooking shows, travel shows, save your restaurant shows, and food competition shows to their credit, I've always thought it would be interesting for Food Network to air a food oriented news/talk show, where current food issues could be discussed.  Thus, I was excited when I learned Food Network would be kicking off 2014 with the new talk show, The Kitchen.

Title: Celebrity chef and restauranteur Geoffrey Zakarian | Date: 10/12/2012 | Photographer: Nightscream | This picture is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Airing Saturday mornings at 8am PST, the show, starring Geoffrey Zakarian, Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro, and Marcela Valladolid, was to demonstrate signature recipes and examine current topics related to food.

After watching the first episode, it's undeniable that the show missed its mark, or at least hasn't found its groove yet.  Rather than being informed on topics such as seafood fraud, the raw food debate, the mislabeling of packaged foods, the proposed Safe Meat and Poultry Act, proposed standards for humane treatment of food chickens, and other truly interesting food issues, viewers learned that Sunny is tired of the Cronut and the hosts really get along.  Gee whiz, that's swell.

During an opening chat segment, Chef Zakarian, cooked, what looked like, eggs on a bed of kale.  However, the cooking took place as background to overly shallow small talk, and nothing about the dish was never explained.

One segment compared specialty gadgets to common knives.  Even though the demos made it clear that a quality knife could accomplish the same task as the gadget in question, usually with a finer degree of control, the hosts struggled to find something positive to say about the avocado dicer, or strawberry corer, seemingly to prevent offending potential sponsors.  This fence sitting made the hosts come across as wishy washy and not particularly credible.

The best segment of the premiere belonged to Jeff Mauro who made "Chicago Gumbo" from leftover Chinese rice.  While he coherently walked viewers through, what looked like, a very tasty recipe of;  sweet Italian sausage, rice, red wine, Provolone, and veggies; was entertaining and informative, it wasn't enough to let me award The Kitchen more than 2 out of 10 stars.

If The Kitchen is going to survive, it needs to evolve beyond fluff and tackle some real issues.
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Food Scraps

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Food topics, which I wish to address, usually arise one at a time.  This time, four such topics seem to have cropped up all at once, some of which aren't quite meaty enough to support an entire blog post on their own.  Thus, I've decided to address all four topics, including; Oregon's new wine law, Anthony Bourdain's new series, and restaurant reviews of Newport Bay at Tanasbourne & Aloha Teriyaki; in this collection of "food scraps."

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Fill 'er Up Oregon

As of March 28th, wine drinkers can fill up their growlers at Oregon restaurants and grocery stores. Gov. John Kitzhaber signed the bill which allows businesses to sell consumers up to two gallons of wine in the reusable containers.

Vintners lobbied for passage of the bill, arguing that reusable growlers are environmentally friendly, because they use less glass and cork than standard bottles containing the same amount of wine.  Essentially, 2 gallons equals 7570.8 milliliters, therefore it would take more than ten standard 750ml wine bottles to hold the contents of a two gallon growler.   As a result, the consumer should save roughly $2.00 per every 750ml of wine purchased.

True, some of your "good" wines are aged in bottle.  Those aren't the wines Oregonians will be buying by the growler.   Rather, Oregonians will be saving money on young tasty everyday table wines.  I'm looking forward to buying wine this way, as soon as a grocery store near me hops on the bandwagon.

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Parts Unknown Feels Familiar

November 5, 2012 was a sad day for me, as The Travel Channel aired its last new episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, from Brooklyn. I was about to lose my weekly portal which allowed to eat vicariously through a knowledgeable uncensored, sometimes crass, tour guide.  Sure, I still had The Layover to fall back on, but that show deals more with travel tips than an examination of cultures.

Thus, I was happy when Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown debuted on CNN on the 14th.  Advertisements for the show would have viewers believe the focus of the show is on explaining news worthy events which have taken place in little known places around the world.  While we have been so far treated to brief histories of Myanmar and L.A.'s Little Korea, it should be noted that such history lessons were frequent features on No Reservations as well.

In a nutshell, Parts Unknown is essentially No Reservations with a new network.  Thus, the focus is happily still on the food.
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An Old Favorite Takes A Nose Dive In Quality

Newport Bay Restaurant at 2865 NW Town Center Dr, Beaverton, OR 97006, has sat behind Tanesbourne's Target store for years. In fact, I took my prom date there, for steak & lobster, over 20 years ago.

My mother and I were shopping last weekend, and decided to stop in for a bite of lunch. We started with the Hot Crab & Spinach Dip with warm tortilla chips for $9.99.  The dip did deliver the promised crab, spinach, artichoke hearts, and Parmesan cheese, but it wasn't seasoned and was completely bland.  Eating it was like having a mouth full of flavorless putty.

I ordered the Grilled Fish Tacos (jalapeno tartar, corn salsa, house made slaw, soft corn tortillas) for $11.99.  Unfortunately, all the tartar sauce a slaw dressing was glopped in the center of the taco's unheated tortilla.  Thus, biting into the end gave me a mouth full of dry cabbage, carrot, and unarguably overcooked fish.  To the hostess's credit, when I called her attention to it she took one look at the fish and took the meal off our bill.

On the flip side, my mother actually liked her Dungeness Crab Blend & Oregon Bay Shrimp Mac & Cheese (creamy Tillamook cheddar cream sauce, red onions, bell peppers, herbs & breadcrumbs) for $14.99, calling it creamy & delicious with plenty of shrimp & crab meat.

What was once THE place to go for seafood has sadly devolved into a below par hashery.  Even given the Mac & Cheese and hostess's positive attitude, I'm forced to give Newport Bay at Tanasbourne 4 out of 10 stars, or a F- grade.  One might argue that I'm unfairly slamming the food for not being gourmet cuisine.   To such tongue cluckers I would point out, I wasn't expecting gourmet fare, but I WAS hoping for a pleasantly edible seafood lunch, which I just didn't get. 
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A Tasty Affordable Lunch


I routinely pass the Japanese Restaurant Aloha Kokiyo Teriyaki, at 20437 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy in Beaverton, OR, as I make my way to Safeway for groceries. Resting amidst a quasi biker-bar, Florist's shop, take & bake pizza place, and tax prep office, it's an easy place to overlook. However, after I bought my herbs and anchovies, to make Bagna Cauda I found my stomach running on empty, so I stopped in for lunch, with my friend Dani, THE PICKIEST eater I know.

I had the Bento Box (strips of chicken, strips of beef, and 3 pot stickers [I ate one before taking the picture], a bowl of steamed white rice and garnished with a half slice of orange). I'm not a fan of rice, so the host graciously replaced it with a bowl of steamed cabbage, broccoli, and carrots. Initially, I was surprised to find the pot stickers were crispy from having been deep fried.  Yet once I bit into one, I found the same soft chewy savoriness, I've come to expect from the traditional dumpling, just beneath the crunch of the light batter.  The dip added a pleasant extra layer of salty flavor as well.  The chicken & beef were both cooked 'til tender, seasoned nicely, and served under a sweet teriyaki sauce.  While delicious as served, I added a hit of Sriracha, supplied at every table, for an extra kick of heat.

Dani had the Chicken Yakisobi.  While the picture may make it look like a hap hazard miss mash of food, it smelled wonderful.  Typically, Dani will pick at her food during a meal, only eating some after conceding to the fact that she needs to consume nourishment to survive.  While I wasn't fortunate enough to taste the Chicken Yakisobi, its combination of chicken, vegetables, Yakisobi noodles,  and sauce was apparently delectable enough to entice her to wolf down every bite.

Aloha Kokiyo Teriyaki is definitely a purveyor of of Japanese fast food, but really good richly flavorful non-greasy Japanese fast food.  No this isn't gourmet cuisine either, but at $14.45 for both lunches plus soft drinks, it's a good place for an affordable tasty lunch.  I give Aloha Kokiyo Teriyaki 8 out of 10 stars, or an A grade.

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Anthony Bourdain's The Layover: Review

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This week saw the debut of Anthony Bourdain's new show, The Layover. Promos advertise the program will show viewers the best ways to kill time between flights in major cities around the world. Being a huge fan of No Reservations, as well as his books on the culinary industry, I was curious about this new offering.

The series kicks off with a thirty hour layover in Singapore, beginning with a rundown of hotel options and a breakdown of transportation times from the airport, whether a traveler takes a cab, bus, or train. Once checked in to the Presidential Suite he was surprisingly upgraded to, Bourdain takes viewers on a whirl wind tour of the city. The tour includes a variety of sites, including the Mustafa Center, a massive indoor market with everything; the Singapore Flyer, a 165 meter high Ferris Wheel; and the Sands SkyPark, an adult playground, resting across the roofs of three skyscrapers, complete with a swimming pool and night club.

The hotel options, transportation tips, and list of tourist traps are interesting and useful bits of information. However, fans of Anthony Bourdain watch him for his descriptions of exotic cuisine, superbly prepared street food, and culinary staples from different regions and cultures. As the camera vividly captures what he eats, and he describes the flavors of these foods, we fans enjoy living vicariously through him. In this regard, The Layover doesn't disappoint.

He begins with a breakfast of steamed rice cakes with fried pickles at one of the city's Hawker Centers, which are quality controlled centers for street food vendors. As he enjoys that breakfast, cameras whisk viewers across the city to show us the Peanut Pancake option for breakfast. As the clock ticks down, he visits the Colonial District for a meal of Chicken Rice and Curry Fish Heads; Samy's Curry for Chicken Masala, Papa Dahl, Naan Bread, Prawns, and a host of other Indian delicacies; the Gaylang District for Claypot Rice (which comes with a variety of meats), Fried Crab, Lobster, and Green Beans with Dried Fish Powder; and Arab Street for Pulled Tea. Scenes featuring these, and other local eats, were more than adequate to satisfy any food loving viewer.

In a nutshell, The Layover is essentially No Reservations with a slight twist. While No Reservations can explore cultures anywhere, The Layover focuses on a tighter radius around a transportation hub. Food dominates both productions though, making the culinary segments virtually interchangeable between titles.

Airing Mondays at 9pm on The Travel Channel, The Layover is entertaining TV for any No Reservations fan.
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Wine Guys TV

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I didn’t drink alcohol for the first 37 years of my life, for first spiritual, and then personal, reasons. Once I decided alcohol was no longer the enemy, wine became my libation of choice. I dabbled with it in 2008, cooked with it, joined a wine discussion group, and just kind of dangled my toes in fermented waters. By early 2009, wine was a quasi hobby, but I didn’t really know much about it. Wanting to know more about wine, and the wine culture, I did what and good American would do. I consulted that there internet.

I searched for a few weeks and, except for sales sites, I wasn’t finding very much objective information about wine. One day, I was dinking around YouTube when I came across a video of two guys, at a kitchen table, reviewing and rating a bottle of wine. I watched it, clicked around a bit more, and discovered they hosted a regular online show called “The Denver Wine Guys,” which began on YouTube on February 25th, 2009.

In those days, Keith Miller, co-owner of Mile High Wine and Spirits, and Bryan Criswell, owner, at the time, of Park Avenue Wine & Spirits, would sit at Keith’s kitchen table, taste & discuss a bottle of wine, and rank it according to Robert Parker’s hundred point scale. The hosts’ goal was to promote good wines, and stimulate an interest in drinking quality vintages. Thus, not wanting to discourage viewers from buying specific labels, when they scored a wine below an 80 point value, their policy was to leave the episode on the proverbial cutting room floor.

Now, if the show had just been a series of single vintage reviews, I’d have lost interest within a few days. Fortunately, they peppered their reviews with educational tidbits about the world of wine. In one show they explained proper etiquette for people at wine shows, on both sides of the booth. Another show exhibited a flavor wheel, which drinkers can use to clearly define what they’re tasting; apparently, they had a peeve about people comparing wines to green Jolly Ranchers. Among my favorite tidbits were the spiral funnel drinkers can use to oxygenate & mellow harsh wines, and the “green rinse,” which involves multiple drinkers rinsing their glasses with the same ounce of wine before tasting.

A few months into the show’s run, they changed the name to “Wine Guys TV,” perhaps to appeal to a broader online audience. Around this time, they began their initial experiments with doing episodes on location at restaurants and vineyards. Their first few attempts at roving reporting hit some bumps as far as background noise and audio quality. However, it wasn’t long before such hurdles were ironed out, and the quality of the segments improved.

The next step in the show’s evolution occurred in September of 2009, when they moved the show from YouTube to http://www.viddler.com/explore/Wineguystv. Unfortunately, if they had announced the move to viewers, I missed it and thought the show had ceased production. It was only when I stumbled across Keith on Facebook, that I learned WGTV had moved to Viddler because Keith favored the site’s features over those of YouTube’s. I was happy to have access to the show again, and things were pretty much status quo until about March of 2010, when Bryan Criswell made a sudden, and unexplained, departure from Wine Guys TV.

In retrospect, there may have been hints of a schism between Bryan and Keith. During his final few months on the show, Bryan repeatedly stated the idea that people shouldn’t drink the same wine twice. He compared previously tasted wines to movies you know the end of. The frequent proposal of this idea, left Keith to defend the concept that favorite wines, and movies, could be enjoyed more than once. There was another brief on-air tiff, when Bryan scolded Keith for making a negative remark about ,“his girl,” Sarah Palin. Whether these on-air disagreements lead to Bryan’s eventual exit from the show, or not, is pure speculation on my part though.

Regardless of the reason, Bryan’s departure ignited a two to three month rocky patch for WGTV. Keith tried to keep the table side reviews alive with different co-hosts. His first attempt was with Jake, who spoke well but didn’t really understand the hundred point scoring system, and gave good wines 7 & 8 points rather than 85 & 90 points. Next, Keith tried teleconferencing with a co-host from Alaska, via a laptop on the table. However, due to the vast distance between them, they were rarely able to drink the same wine, making the segments severely problematic.

While the table side reviews were suffering, Keith was doing a weekly on location segment, at Mondo Vino Wine & Spirits, called “What’s In William’s Bag?” Fine Wine Specialist, William Davis proved to be marvelously articulate and knowledgeable as he talked about the history and characteristics of a different wine each week. In my opinion, these segments saved the show.

Eventually, the kitchen table segments were abandoned, and WGTV reinvented itself as a solely on location show. Once this change took effect, things really began to click for the web series. Suddenly, Keith Miller was interviewing wholesale distributors, restaurateurs, and representatives (sometimes the owners) of wineries, both foreign and domestic. He even had an Italian professor do a multi-part series, explaining which regions of Italy produced which wines, and why. In addition to these guests, William Davis began to take a bigger role in the series, and has practically become a co-host, rather than a guest.

Today, Wine Guys TV is polished informative show about the world of wine. Producing three to five shows a week, I don’t see many people producing the same volume of wine information that Keith does, except for commercial magazines. Napa Valley Wine Radio produces a half hour podcast every three weeks, and The Thirsty Traveler touches on wine from time to time, but I can’t think of another show that is produced as often, or is as broad in scope as WGTV.

Finally, I feel a need to point out that the show could easily have been a series of web commercials for Keith’s business, Mile High Wine and Spirits. It’s never been that. Out of the many on location shoots the show has done at vineyards, restaurants, and wine shops, I can’t recall a single episode being shot from Mile High.
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