Dining on the City of New Orleans

There's something to be said about an overnighter on a train.  Finding your designated room-ette, watching the train pull out of Chicago at dusk, listening to the sounds of other passengers settling in for the night.  And the thing I was waiting for: the opening of the dining car.  Train chugging, I wobbled upstairs, pulled my fair share of heavy compartment doors, and emerged in a little diner.  I was asked to fill the last seat at a four-person table, and the pleasantries began.  Except for the 200-year old man who was hard of hearing and kept barking my last name as a form of address, dinner went as smoothly as the track bumps would allow.  The famed Angus steak failed to appear on our menu, and the iceberg salad was inedible, but the burgers looked good (and tasted good, when I had it for lunch). Feeling over-meated lately, I opted for a vegetarian-tomato-primavera linguine, presented on a blue-rimmed Amtrak melamine.  In spite of one of my companions refusing to leave his safe place of the Korean War and issuing racial stereotypes about me, dining on the train really made the 20-hour journey special.  I could talk about the next day - the stops in Memphis, Jackson, the blur of cotton fields, the backswamps of the Mississippi, but this is a food blog.  Next stop: New Orleans.

Heirloom tomatoes, chevre and arugula salad

After a splendid morning at the farmers' market, oh sometime in summer: Heirloom tomatoes and herbed chevre on arugula, simple balsamic-olive oil dressing, fresh ciabatta.

Duxelles on polenta

Button mushrooms braised in red wine and butter on polenta, and dusted with parsley and Parmigiano Reggiano. Is this too fancy for a second date? The conclusion is yes! But it worked out in the end.

Farfalle cooked risotto-style with zucchini and cacao nibs

Absorption pasta with zucchini and cacao nibs, Columbus 2006.
Recipe from Clotilde's book.

New York eat log

Roast duck, Chinatown, Manhattan
Ten Zen bubble tea
Veggie burger and homemade chips in Brookyln Public, near Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Japanese curry dog and barley ice tea at asiadog, Brooklyn Flea
Prosciutto, red pepper and mozzarella sandwich in Italian deli in Brooklyn
Rendang, Hainanese chicken and chendol at Nyonya
Bahn-mii pork and pate sandwich at Hana, Brooklyn
Meat ravioli in a shiitake cream sauce and a Pinot Grigio (Veneto) at Porto Bella, SoHo
Spinach and feta quiche at Cafe Lucca, Brooklyn
Brown sugar and pistachio financier, sweet melissa, Brooklyn

Eating-in challenge: A week in Las Vegas

On Saturday I leave for a one-week conference trip to Las Vegas. Yes, I know it's Vegas, but as a graduate student in a state university, the trip will likely blow a hole in my pocket. Apart from the cost of the flight and hotel room for a week, I hear the food's pretty expensive for this country. I've also heard about the amazing number of great restaurants. After laying awake for hours wondering how many months of credit card debt this blitz will add up to, I started to think to what extent I could rely on some food supplies I could bring over. I mean, I know $5.99 buffets are a steal, but how much of this can you eat and then, $6 is still a lot to pay for a meal.

Besides, it's a conference, which means I need to save some moolah for good coffee!

So here I'm thinking aloud, giving myself the challenge of dreaming up ways I could bank on food from home. The challenge is to eat my own lunches this way, for six days. The other challenge, of course, is how to make food that lasts till Thursday?

Here's my evolving menu:

1. couscous salad with peas and carrots (c,w)
2. savory herb and cheese scones
3. date and walnut cake
4. dried salami
5. egg mayo salad
6. tuna salad
7. bagels, artisan bread, crackers
8. tea bags: peppermint, english breakfast
9. honey
10. cereal
11. chocolate
12. almonds
13. cereal bars
14. rice with green beans and pork

Banana Bean Cafe, German Village, Columbus OH

I don't eat at this lovely little cafe enough. It's Southern US meets Cuban meets French. The calamari is lightly breaded and fresh-tasting -- it's been a while but I remember the chutney as spicy -- the spinach topping was also fried, an unusual touch. Then the omelette that my friend had -- that had everything in there. The shrimp and grits were so savoury -- large, succulent shrimp.

Della Santina, Sonoma, California

I almost didn't order this -- pappardelle cinghiale -- for fear that it would spoil my one experience of a the same dish -- made with wild boar indigenous to the Toscana region -- in a trip to Florence more than 2 years ago. Luckily I went ahead -- and of course I didn't remember the flavor so well after all, although I thought this one to be lighter -- just my imagination?

This was the one restaurant experience I remembered (and was remembered, as my friends will not fail to remind me) for almost going into a fit at the sight of the menu -- real northern Italian, brings back the good 'ol days of living where in a place where such food was so common. I don't care if I never made it to The French Laundry and if this was some run-of-the-mill place that Californians turn their noses up at, or if the town of Sonoma reminded me of a theme park -- for god's sake you people don't know how lucky you are.

Basi Italia

As they say -- the best part is the prettiest little garden you sit in to enjoy fresh, homely, no-fuss Mediterranean food. This was the weekday lunch menu, pecked at by office folks from downtown. The lovely part is the approach too -- for me, a short jaunt in the backroads of the Victorian Village residential estate to a little red-brick road in which the restaurant is (I think) a indicated by a vine-strewn discreet entryway and a little wooden swinging door leading to the garden.

Due Amici

Black Pepper Fettuccine with Shiitake and Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

67 East Gay Street, Columbus, OH 43215-3103
Phone: 614-224-9373

It's one of those places reeking of bourgeois hipness, but so irresistable: high ceilings, industrial-modern red-brick-meets-steel, simple but exemplary contemporary Italian food without the clashing of tastes so often found in American cuisine. And here's the weird part: it doesn't cost as expensive as it looks, with pastas at $9.99 and wines starting at $5 a glass. The list of Italian wines is well thought-out and extensive but not overwhelming. The service is iffy: I've had relatively good service but it's pretty inconsistent: the staff isn't too well-versed in the wines, at one point recommending a fizzy Frascati over more well-bodied types suitable for the entree, and another time committing the travesty of dispensing a different wine into half-full glasses of a previous wine for our table of six. Otherwise, the decent prices and experience of a wonderful Friday night out have kept me recommending it to friends. For some reason conversations always tend to flow as fast as the wine. And I've never ventured beyond my favourite of the black pepper fettuccine with shiitake and sundried tomato cream sauce. The bread, always hot, comes with a dish of fresh-grated parmesan and black pepper in olive oil.