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Bravo! It's so important for our modern day bartender to remember one of the most classic ingredients of bartending back in the day: service. If our bartenders forget that it's the people that buy the drinks and pay their bills, then the whole thing will go belly up.

I love this: "If we leave behind the drinker, we leave behind the only people who can tell us what works. None of us make cocktails in a vacuum."

Great tasting cocktails are important. Caring about our customers is even more important.

Even for market regulars like me, I sometimes get blinded by all the great produce and friendly faces--and forget to ask the growers the name of their farm. Thanks for doing all that beat reporting for us LA farmers' market junkies!

Damn girl, you sure do know our Hollywood Farmers' Market! Beautiful report and great insights. I didn't know that those sour plums were called ume! Great reporting and amazing research on this story.

Banh mi has to be one of my favorite sandwiches around. Unfortunately for most, finding a great Banh Mi shop requires some serious travel. This cookbook looks to be a god-send for the adventurous home cooks out there.

And if anyone's looking for another recipe: here's mine for five-spice chicken banh mi and pickled daikon and carrot.

http://foodwoolf.com/2008/03/rolling-with-punches.html

Based on the response here, you definitely asked the right question!

Italian cured meats and cured green beans
Anchovy, Parsley, and black olive tapanade

Cauliflower and almond soup
Onion tartlets

Dry brined, roasted turkey
Chestnut, apple and leek stuffing
gravy
Sweet yam and maple puree
potato gratin
Brussels sprout leaves with pistachio nuts and lemon

cheese course (Stilton, Sottocenere, Pecorino)

Torta della Nonna, Apple Pie, and Double chip (potato and chocolate chip) cookies

What a great market report, Leah. You're absolutely right, the Farmers' Market was an absolute MAD HOUSE. I got there early, and the place was JAMMED with people loading up their shopping bags. I left most of my shopping for tomorrow....maybe not such a great idea, considering your Burning Man comment.

ah well.

Gorgeous! You couldn't have described Fall in Southern California any better! I'm excited to try a Buddha's Hand. Never had the courage to give it a shot until now. Thanks for the great ideas and round up. Delish!

Crazy! Just last night I "made up" this recipe and was planning on posting about it...only to find I'm not the only one thinking the very same way. Oh well.

My sandwich was a touch more simple:

2 pieces toasted Brioche Bread
2 pieces turkey bacon, browned
Two small zebra green tomatoes (unripe), sliced 1 inch thick
two leaves of red leaf lettuce, rinsed
1 teaspoon home made aioli
salt and pepper

I browned the turkey bacon and put it on a towel to de-grease it and then salted the green tomato slices and sauteed them in the same pan with just a touch of olive oil. I cooked the tomatoes until they were caramelized on both sides. I quickly slathered the bread with the mayo, layered the "bacon", the lettuce and then the tomatoes and closed the whole thing up for the most amazing BLT I've ever tasted!

Here's to thinking brilliant thoughts together!

Foodwoolf.com

When I first started cooking (and way before I knew what a mise-en-place was) the SILVER PALATE books were my culinary bibles--consequently, these are my messiest cookbooks. However, with years of cooking behind me, I must admit that my My Mario Batali MOLTO ITALIANO cookbook is looking rather splattered.

Oh, to be free for the weekend and be living on the East coast!
Your west coast Serious Eats friend,
Foodwoolf

I live in LA and still dream of Christina's...

Christina's all the way!

I loved Tastespotting and found it to be an invaluable site for my food blogging and recipe searching. I hope something else comes along to take its place because clearly there is a REAL NEED for a site like this.

I'm sorry people, but I am THOROUGHLY excited to watch this show. Gwenny might not be my favorite actress in the world, but if she can hold her own against Mario Batali on a culinary road trip (i.e. eating and drinking along side him for 18 hours straight is no easy task), then I'm all for watching her.
Foodwoolf