Posted by Ed Levine, July 10, 2006 at 3:28 PM
Lots of new pizza places opening all across America by chefs and pizzaiolos serious about ingredients and crust and fire and all the things that go into great pizza.
My friend Tom Douglas is opening Serious Pie in Seattle sometime late this summer. In many ways Tom is the founding father of the Seattle food scene. His restaurants include the Dahlia Lounge, the Palace Kitchen, Lola, and Etta's.
Tom is one of the country's great chefs. He's also a longtime eating buddy of mine. The man can flat out eat. Full disclosure: I co-wrote one of Tom's cookbooks, Tom's Big Dinners. Tom has loved pizza for a long time, and he has often talked about opening a pizzeria. I guess now is the time.
Posted by Ed Levine, June 19, 2006 at 5:56 AM
Pableaux Johnson wrote rapturously about cherries and other fruit in the Hood River Valley in Oregon, and though I've never been there, his story had me thinking about a roadtrip.
The folks at Chefshop have been sending me many reminders about the fantastic cherries they will start shipping from Batch Family Farm in eastern Washington. I know you can get cherries at your local market starting right about now, but the Batch cherries are something special. I've had the Lapins, which are juicy and huge, with a deep cherry flavor. This year Chefshop is also selling BFF Sweetheart cherries, which are a new strain of sweet cherries first grown in British Columbia. These are picked right after the Lapins, in mid to late July.
These cherries are expensive (about 17 bucks a pound with shipping), but worth every penny.
Meg Hourihan wrote a lovely, lyrical post about successfully creating a dish without using a cookbook that any self-taught cook (like me) can relate to.
