The Sneetches
I read a lot of Dr. Seuss. Maybe you don’t. So let me read you a few lines from his lesser-known masterwork, “The Sneetches.”
Now the Star-bellied Sneetches had bellies with stars.
The Plain-bellied Sneetches had none upon thars.
The stars weren’t so big; they were really quite small.
You would think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.
But because they had stars, all the Star-bellied Sneetches would brag,
“We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort,
“We’ll have nothing to do with the plain-bellied sort.”
And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,
They’d hike right on past them without even talking.
This was how I felt about the Albany Times Union restaurant review policy, when I wrote this post a few months ago. In short, the paper had created two classes of restaurants by giving some starred reviews, while others received just as much ink but without the corresponding stars. Most alarming to me was that this system was on its face based solely upon entree price.
My argument must have struck a nerve, because the post is one of the top five most read on the FLB and even elicited a lengthy response from Steve Barnes at the Times Union.
Imagine my surprise, when I was reading Steve’s blog Sunday night when I happened to stumble onto his starred review for what is ultimately a gussied up diner.
Honestly I was thrilled. And this diner, despite its lack of creature comforts and polished service still walked away with a three-star review.
Food For Thought: Fair Trade Coffee
Well, it looks like you missed another one of the WAMC and Honest Weight Food Co-op sponsored monthly film screenings. Well, not all of you. Albaniana was there, but we did not get a chance to introduce ourselves.
The rest of you can blame me. I did nothing to promote it. The event wasn’t on my Facebook fan page. I did not even send a last minute tweet on my way out the door.
But let me tell you, you missed a good one. This month was all about fair trade and not only were there fair trade coffees to sip, there were fair trade chocolate bars to nibble. The cheeses were mostly local, and protected by American trade law, so we can presume they were fairly traded as well.
This turns out to be a very important distinction as called out by the panel speaker Dean Cycon of Dean’s Beans. “Fairly Traded” is not the same thing as “Fair Trade Certified®.”
While the distinction between the two may be important, I have more pressing concerns.
The Great Wine Lies: Peaking
“I have this great bottle of wine, and I don’t know if it’s ready. I think I’ll just hold onto it for a couple of years, because I read that good Cabernet Sauvignons really peak after about 10 years. So that’s what I plan to do, and then we’ll open it for some very special occasion.”
Sigh.
This is how a lot of people feel about wine, and I can’t blame them. A lot of wine geeks have bullied them into feeling this way. And there are not a lot of voices on the other side of the fence.
Maybe we should start with what is true.
Great Grenadine
Most grenadine is crap. Grenadine from good manufacturers of other cocktail ingredients is crap. I think about Rose’s Lime and Fee’s Orange Bitters, and I do a little dance of joy (as long as I can ignore the HFCS in the Rose’s). But then I think of the same brand’s take on grenadine and I shudder.
Grenadine is supposed to be a pomegranate syrup. Seriously. If you are scratching your head and thinking, “But it doesn’t taste like pomegranate,” please reread the first paragraph.
Last week I told you about the Jack Rose cocktail. And not only is it a perfect drink for fall, but it is a serious classic cocktail in which grenadine plays a key role. So unless you know how to make grenadine at home, you are, as they say, up the creek without a paddle.
Luckily for you, I am here to help.
Luckily for me, there is the Cocktail Chronicles.
Recipe For Success
I have been thinking a lot about restaurants lately.
Yesterday as I was trying to suggest another way to find value in restaurants beyond just portion size, I identified three big areas where eating establishments can create true value.
#1 Restaurant Quality Ingredients
#2 Time Intensive Preparations
#3 Specialized Restaurant Equipment
Immediately it dawned on me, that these three things are all present at my favorite espresso makers, Blue Bottle Coffee. And as I thought about more and more restaurants, these three elements do not just create true value, but they are also a big part of the recipe for success of many top-flight food establishments.
Here are some examples.
Value in Moderation
Last week I had another little rant about one of the things I hate about restaurants, portion sizes and their resulting leftovers.
Really I was surprised that I did not get more people commenting in defense of the doggy bag. Especially since so many Yelp reviews (locally and beyond) look favorably on going home with an additional meal from their evening’s entrée.
Mrs. Fussy reminds me that when people walk out with leftovers, they feel like they received good value for their money. But I beg you, and I am not often inclined to beg, please do not conflate quantity with value.
The Health Food That Isn’t
I’ve got to get this off my chest. I thank you in advance for your kind indulgence.
This all started out innocently enough. Young Miss Daniel B. is eating her first foods. It is an especially exciting time in the Fussy household. You may not have noticed, but food is given an unhealthy level of importance here. Turns out she loves yogurt. And while she would prefer the good Greek stuff, I buy her the full fat organic one.
While it may be scientifically unproven, I want to avoid anything that may cause her to hit puberty before she is nine.
Well, Mrs. Fussy turns out to want some yogurt too. But she neither cares for full fat, nor does she particularly care about it being organic. Her job provides great medical coverage, and we carry a significant life policy, so she can eat what she wants.
I went to the market to look for little cups of normal yogurt for her to bring to work for a snack. Since this was a new thing for me to shop for, I felt compelled to read the ingredient label for all the brands in the category.
Have you done this lately?
Albany Asian Arrival
I am so late to the party. It seems that everyone and their brother has written about Albany’s newest Asian market. Of the bloggers, Mari seems to have gotten the jump on Steve Barnes. But Albany Jane did both a live lunch blog and a follow up post on their hot bar.
I say she wins.
Yes, there are other things of interest at the market. There are the extensive meat and seafood counters. There is the open and spacious produce section. But the thing that got me the most excited on my first visit was seeing the hanging ducks.
One Hot Rooster
After the New York Times article, it seems the rooster is out of the bag when it comes to Sriracha hot sauce.
So if you want to find out any of the basics about what it is or how it’s made, you’ll just have to read the piece from the Times. But as a hot sauce librarian, I will help you understand how Sriracha fills a niche within your hot sauce library, and why it is my second most used (by volume) pepper sauce in the house.
First, I’d like to take you on a brief trip down memory lane.
Drink In The Fall
Pomegranates used to remind me of fall. Then POM came on the scene with its now ubiquitous pomegranate juice, that seemed to be at the leading edge of the almost over pomegranate fad.
Now they remind me of the flavor du jour.
But despite what the pomegranate growers and juicers and processors associations would have you believe, it’s a fall fruit, dammit. It goes back to the ancient Greeks. You must remember some of the mythology you learned in middle school.
So pomegranates are a fall fruit.
And the fall in upstate New York is all about apples.
That, and raking.
Luckily for all of us, there is a delicious classic cocktail that combines these two fruits into a delightful drink.
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