Recently in REVIEWS Category

On March 25th CajunGrocer.com contacted me and asked if I'd like 10 pounds of mudbugs for 'review'. Oh, let me think, YES. Remember them? They were the ones that sent Meathenge Labs a Turducken, yeah that's them.

The little guys come delivered to your door alive, moving, and making this clicking sound like rice crispies in milk. The party wasn't until Saturday, said crawdads arrived on Friday, not a problem. Hose them down, toss into cooler with a bag of ice (drain open), easy enough. But it didn't say whether to leave them all tied up in their sack or not, I decided to let them out in to the cooler. Free range crawdads ... dumb Californian. Wanna come see how it turned out?

Yeah, you heard it right folks. Richmond has its very own coffee roaster and place to drink said coffee beverages. I'm impressed and very thankful that Timber decided to pick our fine city for his place of business. Come inside for some pretty pictures, sorry I don't have any aromas for you!

Especially when you spend nearly every waking moment working your ass off.

It's no secret, Fatted Calf had secured themselves a space at the brandspanking new Oxbow Market up in Napa mumfs ago. So, while keeping their amazing charcuterie running, they were also building a fancy upscale kitchen & butcher shop with retail space from an old tire putter-onner-store. Architects, contractors, inspectors, oh my! Then? Take your entire operation, load it up and move to new an hour north. Do you have any idea what it takes to make a dream like this a reality? Brett does, but that's another story entirely.

Come along with Jlee and myself and see what Fatted Calf is up to at their Grand Opening.

You wanna start a fight? Get the conversation pointed towards bottled vs. filtered vs. tap. Go ahead, I triple-dog dare you.

I buy bottled water from time to time for the convenience only. Good for hiking, driving or whatever. The tap water we receive from EBMUD flat out rules. I've never even remotely considered blowing my hard earned cash on any filtration system. Okay, well I did buy one years ago. You know the ones? Those bulbous things that hangs off your faucet? Yeah, it made me shake and scream. TOSS.

Aquasana wasn't going to have it easy.

Whoa, hang on there Tex, slow down. Listen up, for as long as I can remember I've been a staunch supporter of grass roots organizations. And this woman is someone you want to know more about, at least read the following. This just now rolled in via email and my jaw was open through the entire thing.

YOU GO HANNAH !!! Kick some vegan ASS !!! And of course, this ass that would be receiving the kicking, is a vegan one.

Please read this, now.

This is the cold that never ends,

Yes, it goes on and on my friends

Some people started catching it, not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue being plagued by it forever just because—

You understand correctly, I'm going over week #2 with this fricken cold. It moved in to my sinus bone last Thursday and creates these wonderful headaches. The pain from the bright sunlight actually makes the pain almost bearable. Then it's off to the land of aspirin, yay.

Tee hee, Chilebrown goes on a meat spree in Oregon. Asks me if I want to come over Saturday morning (3 weeks ago) and have a tasting!

What do you think my answer was?

Generic pretty photograph I took the other evening at sundown. Click on the image, can you see the spider web on the left?

This is about as live as you're going to find for a food blog restaurant review. Joe Bob & Jlee are on the road at this very minute, no really. And apparently are in Carrizozo New Mexico.

I have a sneaking suspicion the images won't arrive until after their road trip, but was instructed to get this up immediately. Here's Joe Bob:

We finally found real food and real coffee
on our trip to Big Bend Texas. In Carrizozo
NM of all places. Open for only two weeks,
Planet ZoZo is doing a great business.
Open M-Th 6am-6pm, and F/S 6am-9pm for dinner too.
Chefs Dinner, three or so choices on Friday
and Saturday nights. Vegan friendly but meat
is served. Coffee beans by Ruidoso Roastery
in Ruidoso NM, just down the road 45 minutes.
Fresh beans within hours. Chef, pastry chef,
other employees too. An oasis in the vast desert of NM

113 Central Carrizozo, NM 88301
505-648-5637
Full story and pics to follow upon return to Denver.
Post this now on 'henge please.
thanks
Joe Bob

8:30am this bright Sunday morning found the Biggles with eyes open, yet still on the foggy side of awake. A moment later the throaty snarl of Black Bart making tracks away from Meathenge Labs at breakneck speed reminded me of my porky gift to be.

Yup, Chilebrown has struck again. Along with the Sunday paper, a pound and a half of slab bacon was resting gently. Moments later found our plucky hero with camera in hand and a 12" cast iron pan on the warm.

Slice the bacon Biggles !!!

First things first. This book is published by Ten Speed Press, a local to the San Francisco Bay area. They've had a long history of top notch books ranging from this book here all the way to do-it-yourself bicycle repair. Their Anybody's Bike book was a gift to me from my father back in about 1971. It was cause for celebration cause it was for my first 10 speed. Just so you know, that was a lot of gears back then. In fact, that was the most gears you could get.

So why am I here today with a food guide to Florence, Italy? After oh so many years, I'm on their food book review list! Why in hell is Meathenge having anything to do with traveling and food at such far away places? I'm on their food book review list.

Heh, heh. I'm totally going to open a book written by Emily Wise Miller.

Over a month ago, maybe two now, Alvarado Gardens reopened. The new owners remodeled the aged place that once housed an old-mans bar and barbecue joint. My neighborhood doesn't have a heck of a lot of excitement going on, so having the chance to eat at completely new restaurant is just too juicy to pass up.

While I'd like nothing better than to find out why and how "100% Organic" Bay leaves are different or better than what I get from any other most excellent purveyors in my area. I think I'll take turn with this post. See, Creepy E bought these fine leaves from our local Raley's market for about $7.29. The recipe he had called for Bay Leaves, and he needed some. Being as picky as most of us food types are, he opted for the organic ones. Wanna know what caused him to call the company?

Today we welcome Meathead to the table. Surely you remember the first time we kinda reviewed Smokey's Seafood Gumbo a year and a half ago? Well, the box has new art, let's see what Meathead thought about this lovely workaday lunch.

Take it away Meathead!

I spotted this flyer on the side table the other day, didn't pay much attention. Until I spotted the word Organic on it. What the HELL !?!

Does this matter? For something that has so little cheese in it that it can't have the word Cheese in it for the Canadians? Do we care? I don't and we have 2 boys that love the stuff.

Go save the world somewheres else, please. As JLee is fond of saying, "quiddit".

Biggles

Been feeling itchy lately, wanting to get out of town. This paired with the need for taking a day off spelled nothing less than a Meat Adventure. And to be honest, I've been on a bacon jag for the last month or so and the chance to try a new bacon really give my spine a tingle.

While I don't feel the urge to drive to Sacramento very often, Morants seemed like a good idea for a sunny October morning. Interested to see what bacon Morants gots?

Busy doesn't even remotely come to describe what I've been up to lately. And when I do have time? I'm so exhausted I sit down for my pre-bed nap. So, Monday I took the day off. I owed some friend a load of meat and I wanted to hit the road, do some travlin'.

It was finally time for me to visit Bud's Custom Meats in Penngrove California. But that was Monday Biggles, how come it's Thursday morning and you still haven't tried the bacon? No time, that's why. I thought I just got done telling you that. You did, but then how come this entry? Well, because I had a great idea. What's that Biggles? Since I spend all day at work, why not just fry up the bacon here in my office.

How do you say thank you to someone who you've only known a short while when they hand you their 1200 dollar camera and say, "Here, borrow mine. We're going on vacation for 2 weeks, you use it." I declined at least 3 times, but she wouldn't have it. Nope, I was to use it in her absence. With a lump in my throat I accepted and we agreed to meet for lunch during the week so I could pick up the gift.

Well, it looks as though our buddy and meat pal has gone on a little vacation. This time he hit up 2 places and brought back a cooler or two of fresh sausages and cheese. What does this mean to you and me? Well, for me it means I'll have to get busy and hop in the pickup for a little drivin'. It's a perfect time of year too, I can hardly wait! Come along and have a little sit and see what he and his wife brought back.

Please continue to read Chilebrown's story not written by me.

How many of you have these stupid crazy nutcase passions for things? Raise your hands, excellent. How many of you kinda loose rational thought when even remotely near them? Raise your hands, excellent. Apart from the obivious, I have a few of those quirks myself. One of which being real wood charcoal.

Wanna come see what I did this time?

Every epoch or so I'm compelled to come down from the hills and move about the city streets in an effort to enrich my life. Sometimes it's for fancy restaurant food, sometimes for movies or books. This time I was wrastled out for a musical. I believe a musical is like a play, but it's got a lot of music thrown in there.
Chilebrown said he had a ticket for me if I'd like to go this musical. It sounded like fun and besides, we wanted to visit Big Nates Barbecue.

Sheeyit that's good bacon. And I don't mean just good bacon. No sir, that's good bacon. Wanna know how I know? Cause I probably had 1/3 of that pound I bought, that's how. Interested to know why I ate so much?

Do you ever get that feeling you're the last one on planet earth to find out? Find out that Pappy makes a fricken great out of the jar experience rub? I feel like a dope.
As with many of us food nutcases, I shop at many food related stores. And I find myself at our local Raley's from time to time. I'd go to Safeway, but our demographics won't allow it to be worth visiting. Unless all you need is vinegar or diapers. Anyway, I've been shopping at our local Raley's since maybe 1991. And I remember seeing this rack of seafood spices and jars of glop since way back. Since I don't pay much mind to 'grocery store' mass produced rubs and sauces, I passed it up, and over and up again.
I did until this last week. I decided to finally walk over and see what was in it. Kosher salt flakes, paprika, pepper, coriander, mustard, celery seed, garlic, onion and fine herbs. There's nothing in there that sucks. Well, except the garlic, but that's another rant of mine for another day. This stuff is good, very good. I've used it as a dry rub on meat and last night did stir fried onions over the grill (mesquite and hickory). Mama and I snarfed the onions before the burger! Well, at least I did anyway. Go Pappy go!
Turns out Pappy's Choice Seasoning is only one of many fancy things they make. There's a salt free one that I want too. This version with the salt flakes can get out of hand pretty quick if you don't watch it. But if you do? You'll most certainly be rewarded. I found it excellent on beef roasts, chickens, pork and veggeis. I would think the salt free version would be better for things like soups & stews where you more than likely have enough salt already and don't need to be adding no more saline action.
I think next week I'll place an order for some large containers of this stuff, yessir. Thanks Pappy for making such a nice off-the-shelf product and I apologize for blowing you off for so long. I'll do better!

Biggles

More than a few months ago Chilebrown stopped by to drop off some bacon he'd made and gave me this Air-Grill thingy. It's a hand-held hand driven portable blower that allows you to get a jolt of constant air in to your grill or smoker fire. At first glance it seemed jicky and didn't seem to me that'd blow much air. CB said he felt it worked quite well and I left it at that.
Over the coming months I used it more and more frequently. While I don't need help with getting the initial fire going, when you add cold hunks of wood to an existing fire, it's nice to give it a jump start. Plus it means less of a temp drop in your smoker. My next job for the little beast was to assist the hickory chips to ignite cleaner. See, if you add too much smoking chips to your fire, you'll get a lofty white smoke with clear tinges of brown. That's bad, that's creosote and it's bitter. The Air Grill now allows me to get the chips going, worry free. I consider this tool as essential as my leather gloves, lighter and wood. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it would be good for dust/coal maintenance for outdoor dutch oven cooking. Thank you CB for the best grill gift EVER.

Biggles

The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least around Meathenge Labs. It's only today I've come to a place where my chakras would allow me to semi-coherently write this without just spending 10 minutes swearing, gesticulating and planning public demonsrations. You see, the compressor on our 3.5 year old, 1200 dollar refrigerator went out, 13 days ago. Where's the repair person? We may see them by June 9th.
While this post isn't necessarily about food, it is about something that nearly everyone has and it holds food. It keeps all your favorite condiments, beverages, icey creams & meat safe. If I were you, I'd sit up and pay attention. Come along for a few minutes, this involves everyone.

ACK !! HANG ON !!! It's not what you think. Hang with me for a moment.

I'm not a huge fan of frozen meat. I'm not a huge fan of freezing many foods. Ice cream freezes really well and so does stock. Ice cubes are a perfect candidate for your freezer, either a top mounted rig or the fancy bottom freezer models. And I'm still not a fan of frozen meat. Mostly because living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can get some world-class fresh meat on a daily basis with little or no effort. So, why should I bother with Omaha Steaks?

I was sitting there, in my recliner, minding my own business, when a little package arrived with my name on it. I didn't remember ordering anything, but it had my name on it. So, I opened it. Made sense, since it did have my name on it. I turned it over a few times, looking for the word Nikon or All-clad on it, somewhere, anywhere.
Nope, it was a book. "Oh great." I thought, "a book." Hmmm, says Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook. Well, our kitchen is pretty darned small, let's see what Mr. Justin Spring has to say.

A month ago Rworange and I were swapping emails, talking about hot dogs and other meat related news. I said while I really enjoyed a good dog, I really don't keep track of who made what dog for what restaurant and where these people might be. Using a fair amount of zeal, RW mentioned Dittmer's down in Mt. View. I put it on my list of todo's and thought it sounded like a good Meat Adventure.
I mentioned it to Chilebrown, we mulled it. Turns out Uncle Franks BBQ is right around the corner, so we set a date to visit both places.

Are you ready for a Meat Adventure that left a warm homey feeling that I feel even 3 days after? Can you handle it?

Chilebrown sent me an email in late February about a new meat market opening in Moraga. C.B. wanted to know if I'd like to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony and have a Meat Adventure. Gee, I dunno. I considered it for about .0001 of a second and said, "YES".

A month ago or so I picked up the boys from my uncle's place, it'd been Ralph's Day.
See, one day a week the boys get to spend the majority of the day with my uncle doing everything they're not supposed to. Candy, ice cream, sodas, pop corn, top ramen, canned soup and toys in huge quantities, all afternoon long, with no restriction.
While I was attempting to round up the boys (akin to bathing a wild salmon), Ralph mentioned that a close long-time friend of his Cheryl Koehler, is the editor of a new local publication, Edible East Bay.
I know, I know. I mentioned my complete and total lack for food magazines a few weeks ago, so why am I interested in this one? Edible East Bay isn't about New York, it isn't about Sidney, it isn't about Portugal, it's about my neighborhood. And as everyone knows, I'm all about me.

When I pulled Sherlock off the shelf for this shoot, I had no idea there was a little mystery going on. You see, a little over a month ago I got an email from Chilebrown about a deal where if you pay the shipping, you get a free bottle of some new hot sauce. It's name was and is, Tabanero. Back then, right above the name, was the word Tobasco's. I figured it made sense, Tobasco has been branching out over the years. Even if the label didn't have the branding, it said Tobasco's on it. Having a habanero hot sauce made sense to me, so I ordered my bottle. It finally arrived the other night and I was quite pleased. It doesn't have any vinegar in it, but still gives you a nice beginning tang with a nice warm finish. This would be your "go to" sauce for anything you'd want to add spring to. Such as, pretty much anything in your pantry or refrigerator.
Uh, wait a minute there Sherlock. The label seems to be lacking the name Tobasco's on it and those aren't habaneros, they're Selected Red Peppers. Seems as though maybe the Tobasco company had something to say about Tabanero's use of their tradename. Nick at HotSauceBlog also took a whack at the sauce and felt it was quite close to Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot. Maybe initially, but Tabanero falls off VERY quickly in the heat department. Tabanero is what the little words on the label say it is, Authentic Salsa Picante Mexicana. It is good, but for me has been quite misleading. Even if my mind did translate Tabanero to something containing Habanero.
In any case, I hope the creators can do well after the label fiasco. I'll enjoy the bottle until it's empty.

Biggles

Notice: Adult Language & Content Included (from me and the movie)

This movie has been on my list to review for far too long, it's time to lay this bitch down before it's too late. The title of this film is what grabs you first, whether you read it or hear it. I ordered my copy immediately from LastGasp and Chilebrown ordered the first film by Tina Tankdog, Hot Chick Stoner BBQ. It was hard waiting by the door each day for the maillady to come, peering through the curtains as the sun set each day. Within the week, there she was with my package. Given the content I had to wait until the kids were asleep. Shower, jammies, bed & it was time. In it went ...

The gift giving time of the year is here and some of you are looking for a gift for someone, special or not. Maybe someone who enjoys grilling and/or smoking? A cookbook maybe? But not those cute little books with white wine reduction sauces, not the ones that extoll the use of one grill over another. You're looking for that special cookbook that differs from the others, one that you keep for years due to it's solid content. The receiver of your gift is someone who enjoys cooking outdoors and wants to learn more. Or someone who would like to find out what it's like to compete in the national BBQ circuit. Yeah well, Dr. BBQ (Ray Lampe) a long time professional pitmaster, has stepped up and written a book.
Finally, this overbearing, highly opinionated Master of BBQ has put his knowledge down so those of you who are interested can enlarge your skill set. Read on good friend ...

I don't know. However, I can tell you where not to go, retinning.com.
I'm so mad, evil bucktoothed mad. Crazy, evil, bucktoothed, out of my mind, shaking mad. Got it?
Listen up, for the first time I'm going to swear on Meathenge. So, cover your tender eyes and ears.
I'm really p.o.'d. These lameass fucktards received my most coveted favorite fry pan of all time on 4/28/2005, says so on my invoice. They wrote up the invoice on 5/27/2005 (that's 1 month later in case you're wondering), how do I know? Says so on my invoice. I called, usually just rang and rang. I wrote a few letters asking where my pan was and could they please return my pan. I received a 3" toy pan in late August, nice for melting a teaspoon of butter or an ash tray. Where the heck is my 8" 3mm solid copper FRY PAN ?!?! I called and wrote letters and returned the ash tray (2 mm thickness).
Keep in mind, they never called, wrote, faxed, nothing. Sure, but they cashed my 60 dollar check on the spot! How convenient for them.
Guess what rolled in the other day? It's early November, by the way. An 8" fry pan that resembles mine, but I don't remember putting a sharp divot IN THE BOTTOM OF MY SOLID COPPER FRY PAN !!! Plus the tin is slopped over the edges, all messy. Sure I should be happy to have my pan back and I am. But waiting nearly 7 months and receiving zilch for communication blows whale snot. Screw you Atlantic Retinning, you've left a bad taste in my mouth, PAHTOOEY !!!

Last week I received my little shipment of hot sauces I ordered. Included as a freebie was this teeny little container of Bottled Up Anger. The bottle says it has lime juice, serrano peppers and finishes with the warm heat of the habanero. First off, I LOVE lime or vinegar in my hot sauces, LOVE. It works so well with the fiery hotness and excites the tongue so you're ready for more. I tried some on a cracker and found the cracker muted the flavors too much, so I started taking sips directly from the bottle. And within a few moments? Gone. The lime and serrano hit you first, going back and forth as you refresh the intake. Then, the warmth of the habanero takes you out the door. While it does make you suck fresh air a bit, it isn't nearly overwhelming as some sauces can be. This would be an excellent hot sauce on nearly anything and in soups as a garnish. With the lime it'd excite the rich chickenny or ham flavors greatly.

As you can see it's a pretty liquidy situation and has a few bits of serrano floating around in there. So, this'd go right through a saltine or anything similar. I will be getting a larger container of this soon. I hope it doesn't come in too small of a bottle, because of it's consistency, it'll go QUICK. Maybe I'll just get 2 or 3.

I place this sauce pretty high on the usability scale. It's got enough heat and the lime would take you in to nearly any menu with ease. A definite winner in my book.

Biggles

I've recently rediscovered my taste for hot sauces and hot foods. 10 to 15 years ago we had hot sauces. We had chilies of all shapes and sizes, good ones too. But we didn't have the huge volume of really cool hot sauces being created by the masses. That's right, there's more to life than Tobasco, Crystal & El Yucateco.

Both Meathenge and myself have come a long way over the past few years. Initially, when I put down my thoughts about my local lunch haunts I wasn't necessarily thinking about anyone but myself. What journalistic ethics, if any, am I bound to? Which side of the fence do I lean to? Yeah well, I am NOT getting paid for Meathenge. Everything you see here is paid for by me. I've never received any cash money for my efforts and so, I figure, I'll do what I want to and damned everyone else.
That being said, I think it only fair that if I put up a review that gives a restaurant a hard time for one reason or another, that I should return in the distant future to see if anything has changed. I could have showed up on a bad day, it happens.
Back in 2004, June 17th to be exact, I had lunch at Jones' BBQ. I really tried to like it, but it fell short on some major points. Today's review? You'll just have to read on if you're interested.

Man, am I slow or what? It's been a few months or so since David Lynch of Torchbearer Sauces sent us a load of their new sauces to try and talk about on Meathenge. I set up Ms. Crepinette for a shoot on this last Sunday and knew it was time to grab another jar and see what the deal was. Uh, I grabbed #23 Fever Sauce and it was nearly empty. Aroo?

Where the hell did Andreas go? Over the last few years anyone who is anyone has fallen in love with this man and his love for his country's cuisine. Even the sponsor's commercials in the beginning sent shivers down my spine, who can forget the chug chug of the King Oscar sardine boat?
Recently I heard a rumor that Tina Nordstrom had taken the wheel. I was in shock and wanted to know, "Yeah, okay, but where the HELL DID ANDREAS GO ?!?" and "Why are networks so closed mouthed about what goes on and why?" Dammit.
Last night Tivo left New Scandinavian Cooking with Chef Tina Nordstrom for me and I set aside the time to give the show a shot. It was then clear that Andreas was gone and New Scandinavian Cooking was about Scandinavia and not specifically Norway and Andreas. They gave him a few seasons, now it's Tina's turn. Tina is to share with us her culture and cuisine, which happens to be Sweden. Hot, tall blonde women, Volvos and some episode of Sponge Bob comes to mind. Remember, I'm keeping an open mind. Tina starts out kinda awkwardly talking about a Midsummer nights meal. They have a big celebration and apparently have a maypole, cool. She does her first meal on a little folding table and I figure, "HA, Andreas got away with his kickass Ikea-like portable kitchen!" Score one for Andreas. Nope, the portable kitchen showed up for her second course. Score one for Tina.
It's painfully clear why the she was chosen. The woman can cook and she does it better than well. Once she gets in to cooking mode, she loosens up a bit. The name of this episode was and is, Midsummer Nights Cream. Given the abundance of fish in Scandinavia, I'm sure some salted fish will be going in to that cream. And probably some dill and a few other things such as berries. And I was right, two of her main dishes had just that. I'm sure they're wonderful, but I'm not interested. Heavy cream and herring? Shudder. However, she did finish off with this huge creamy strawberry cake. I can dig that baby, strawberries are good with creamy love.

I miss Andreas a lot and hope he surfaces soon on a well produced PBS series in the coming season. At least I have the first two seaons, but I've seen them all and was hoping for new ones. Tina Nordstrom is a new one and they've plopped her directly in to the New Scandinavian Cooking model. I don't think that was fair for Tina, she has some big shoes to fill. I believe it would have been a better move to rewrite the show for her, who she is and her ways. Kinda like sharing your neighbors underwear, it's wrong on an odd level.
That being said, Tina is a very capable chef and I wish her all the best. I'm sure in the following episodes she finds her crease and does really well, Good Luck Tina!

Biggles

Looky what I found in my inbox the other day. A restaurant review from Joe Bob in Denver, a barbecue joint no less. This is a good thing, it's nice to see what others are up to in other cities and get Smokey's on the map. Please read forward what Joe Bob brings us today.

I picked up a 1.21 pound package of Creston Valley's Fin