Gastro Obscura has an interesting article about the best food competitions. They don’t actually claim they are listing the best food competitions, just the most unusual. Take, for example, the St. George, South Carolina, World Grits Festival, where the contest is to see who can collect the most grits in their clothing by rolling around in a grits pit. (The record seems to be 66 pounds.) … Continue reading Best Food Competitions from Gastro Obscura
What a pleasant place! It certainly belies expectations. Davide (pronounced a la Italian, with three syllables) is set in a small strip mall near a major intersection, Collier and Bald Eagle. The location is unprepossessing by Marco Island standards. There are eight tables outside, overlooking a parking lot, and eight more lining one side of the narrow interior. The other side of the interior includes a … Continue reading Davide, Marco Island, Florida
Chokoloskee Island is a few miles south of Everglades City, and just outside the Everglades National Park. The island is an early land fill. The local Indians dumped shells in shallow water and after a couple of thousand years, give or take, they had formed the island, and had some more solid land on which to live. More important, they created a location for the excellent Havana … Continue reading Havana Cafe of the Everglades, Chokoloskee, Florida
Another barbecue legend has died. Rick Schmidt, owner of Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas, has died. The Austin Chronicle report of his passing here. Rick was the fourth generation of Schmidts to run Kreuz Market. The meat there is cooked with indirect heat from burning post oak. The cooking is done in a separate room from the rest of the Kreuz Market. Once you have … Continue reading Rick Schmidt of Kreuz Market, Rest in Peace
This is a special Valentine’s Day post. You may think garlic soup is an odd choice for Valentine’s Day, but it has special memories for me. When I was courting Nancy, we often went to the now-closed Cafe de Paris in Georgetown and had garlic soup, which was about all I could afford while I was looking for a job after my Army service. I … Continue reading A Recipe for Sopa de Ajo, Garlic Soup
Valentine’s Day is a time of flowers, cards, chocolates, and romantic candlelit dinners. Of course, all restaurants that are even remotely romantic are booked up well ahead of Valentine’s Day, and if, like me, you have honed the art of procrastination to a razor’s edge, your options are likely to be limited. I usually cook dinner at home — last year I got a big … Continue reading A Very Special Valentine’s Day Dinner
I don’t trust “Best” lists. Often, and virtually always in the case of best barbecue lists, they compare apples and oranges — say, pork and brisket. The two foods are completely different. And, again with barbecue lists, they often include places that don’t actually sell barbecue. The not infrequent inclusion of places that have closed further saps credibility. Think about how a “best list” develops. … Continue reading The 11 Best Cheesesteak Places in Philly
My brother Jim sent me the video link from The Oxford American, which is more or less Garden and Gun for smart people. It is a supplement to an earlier John T. Edge piece, Folk Witness, about the question of community and “exchanges unadulterated by artifice” that “confirm that humans are at the helm… complicated souls capable of responding to circumstance and necessity with brilliance.” … Continue reading D & D Barbecue, Atlanta, Georgia
The Nation’s Capital often has been described as a barbecue desert, not least by me. Washington has great food from all parts of the world, except the South. Revolutions around the world help. Whenever a government is overthrown, leaders of the old, corrupt government come to Washington where they can feel right at home, and they open restaurants. I keep hoping for revolution in India, … Continue reading A Barbecue Oasis in Washington, DC
Despite her initial attribution of paper mill odors to me, Yvette Rivera remains one of my favorite people. Besides being an excellent attorney, thoughtful, and an all-around good person, Yvette is an expert in Caribbean pork — Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican — you name it. Yvette recently sent me a text about Los Hermanos, a Dominican restaurant, and my immediate, brain stem response was, “Let’s … Continue reading The Best Pork in Washington, DC: Los Hermanos
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