Sandee’s not such a fan of the new theme here at MaisonBisson. Without really telling me that I should have discussed the new decor with her before making any big decisions, she does say she feels it doesn’t suit her style. There are lots of ways to resolve the, um, difference of opinion, but we decided that just as Sandee gets most of the authority regarding the kitchen and I get the office, we can find a way to share the website.

The result is Nest. Sandee’s picked out the drapes and carpet, I’m tweaking the installation and moving the relevant stories from our back catalog in. It’s a little amusing to see our tag cloud prominently reflecting our interest in drinks and homemade sweets, but i guess those are the things that we enjoy sharing most. Pictured above are scenes from the top stories: a toast, our submission to AT’s Fall Color contest, and the Sumo Sac review.

I hope to eventually create a combined feed of the blogs, but if you’re interested you can follow the Nest feed here.

I ate here. It’s every bit as good as the review suggests. Seb’s description and photos tell more, I’ll post my own photos soon. Update: posted.

Short story: there’s a restaurant in Australia with a three month waiting list, but a Sydney Morning Herald reporter says the restaurant I ate at is its equal or better, but without the waiting list and at US$33 per meal.

“Spork” is a great name for a restaurant, but is it any good? Yelp says it is, but most of the reviews mention the burger, putting me in the position of having to review the reviewers and wonder if a hamburger person can recommend a restaurant to a vegetarian. Not that I am a vegetarian or not a hamburger person, but please tell me there’s more to the retrofabulous-looking place than a cool name and a hamburger. Something that actually requires sporks?

First Impressions

How much is too much for an entree at a place that plays the kind of anonymous Muzak that Kenny G calls jazz and is decorated like Applebee’s? Trust me, I like renovated mill buildings, but why confuse it with faux grecian columns and too many pictures of dead celebrities? I mean, the interior was clean and pleasant, but lacked attention to detail. If you’re so afraid your customers are going to walk off with the poorly framed prints of old Hollywood darlings that you nail them to the wall through the frame, how much can you expect them to pay for dinner?

Drinks and Appetizers

Still, Cotton’s martinis have been voted the best in New Hampshire. I tried the sampler, a trio of fruity cocktails served in adorable 2.5 oz martini glasses. The flight included a lemon drop martini, a raspberry cosmopolitan, and an orange crush (the crush had me humming REM all evening, but I’m a dork like that). Casey ordered the Vesper (he’s a dork for Bond-themed drinks), a cocktail of gin, vodka and Lillet as they prepare it.

Whatever points the place lost in atmosphere they seemed to regain with the Martinis. The drinks were fresh and light with lovely flavors. My favorite was the lemon drop. So many restaurants serve a syrupy martini which I hate, these were clearly a step above.

To accompany the cocktails, we had the Lobster Artichoke Dip. The flavor of the dip was good, but the homemade corn chips they were paired with were far too salty and overpowered the more subtle flavors of the dip.

Entrees

On special was a pork tenderloin in a mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes and sauteed greens. It was plenty tender, but the sauce that covered everything was bland and cried out for some fresh herbs. Casey’s “Meat and Potatoes” suffered from a similar saucing issue. I am not sure why the chef felt it necessary to drown our food with blandness.

Conclusion

We should have moved on after our cocktails and appetizers. The music killed Casey, but I will happily return to Cotton for a pre-dinner martini at the bar, then I will continue my search for a Manchester restaurant I love.

Details

Cotton
75 Arms Street Manchester, NH 03101 — phone: 603 622 5488
Dinners priced $13-30
Lunch:Monday-Friday, 11:30AM-2:30PM
Dinner:Nightly at 5:00PM

Cotton, restaurant, food, dinner, review, restaurant review

Like all well bred women, my mother always told me not to play with my food. However, as we get older we realize that sometimes ignoring the rules is just as important as, generally, following them. Food is fun. It has wonderful tastes, smells, colors, and textures. Something with so many wonderful attributes is just begging to be played with.

For me, breakfast is not just the most important meal of the day, its also the most wonderfully yummy for one specific reason — maple syrup. I live in New Hampshire and we take our maple syrup very seriously. While those of you in the rest of the world (except our dear neighbors in Vermont) like the nearly clear, grade A maple syrup (or, god forbid, Mrs. Butterworth) we know that the best syrup is the rich, dark, delicious, grade B syrup. Since every weekend breakfast at MaisonBisson must contain food that is syrup friendly, we eat more than our share of pancakes, french toast, and waffles. Last weekend I decided to have a little fun with breakfast. Mr Smiley here is the result. My husband liked him a lot, and I think others who are young at heart, or just plain young, would enjoy him too. Its easy and it reminds you not to take things too seriously.

bacon, breakfast, butter, butterworth, egg, egg yolk, food, french toast, fun, maple syrup, mrs butterworth, pancake, pancakes, smiley, syrop, waffles, weekend, weekend breakfast, young, young at heart, yummy, Homemade, Meals, Breakfast

Now matter how depressed I got in New Orleans, I still had to eat. A tip from the ladies at Molly’s on Toulouse led me to Yo Moma’s with instructions to try their peanut butter burger.

Yes. Peanut butter. On a burger. I was also told that if I don’t like mayo, I should tell them to hold it because they’ll put it on thick if I don’t.

Yes. Peanut butter, on a burger with mayo. Indeed, it even had bacon bits.

And, as it turned out, everything was in the right proportion. Each flavor revealed itself in every bite, and they were all yummy.

This might be one I’ll try at home.

Edit: changed some sloppy wording to correct the bad grammar Matt pointed out.

food, peanut butter, hamburger, yo mama’s, restaurant

After being down for fifteen years straight, milk consumption is up. Up big, and prices are rising to meet it.

milk, food, consumption, market economies

Despite the mystery, porklets are quite yummy, at least according to Sandee’s recipe.

What I want to try next is bacon cheesecake or chili powder on french toast or maraschino cherries mixed with jalapeños. All of those sound delightful to me.

Extra: sausage man, don’t eat that, don’t try this at home.

bacon, cheesecake, chili powder, food, jalapeños, maraschino cherries, porklets, french toast

Some time ago in St Louis, I stumbled upon Eat-Rite Diner. Aparently I wasn’t the first to be taken in by its charms. Yelp notes:

This is a MUST in St. Louis. However don’t go here for the friendly staff, good food, or fun atmosphere. This place is a joke! They will need to buzz you in the door to come in and try the delightful SLINGER. Eat right or don’t eat at all!

From Eaten Alive Books:

Another historic diner with a waitress/cook duo straight from the fifties. Open late night (post bar close), food for an iron stomach, not a wobbly one.

diner, st. louis mo, eat-rite, food, late night, slider, slinger, hamburgers

Wendy sent out this invite last week:

Last month the Monningers quite suddenly became restauranteurs. Six weeks later, Wendy, Joe and Pie are excited to announce the Grand Opening of “the Twig”– an ever-so-cute restaurant in their hometown of Warren, NH.

On Saturday, June 24th from 11-2 come to the Twig for free pizza and cake. Win gift certificates and enjoy the newly-opened “Brook-Side at the Twig,” a beautiful outdoor beer garden along the bank of Black Brook.

Thank you to all our family, friends, neighbors, vendors and eaters who have supported the Twig. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you soon.

It’s all in Warren, at the only full-service restaurant/bar in town:

Open Mic Night at the Twig
Every Thursday night 8-11pm.
Hosted by Sky King ( formerly of the Sopha Kings, presently with Woodchuck Hollow).
Come to play or listen.
Pizza and bev. specials.

Scrabble Night
Every Tuesday night from 7-9pm, starting on June 27th.
BYOSB (bring your own scrabble board).

Sunday Brunch
Every Sunday from 8am-12pm.
All you can eat brunch for $8.00/pp. Kids $5.00.
Great spread including fresh baked breakfast pastries and dessert.

Breakfast Tue-Sat 7-11am
Lunch Tue-Sun
Dinner Tue-Sun. Open until 10ish (except Sunday until 8pm)
Best pizza in town
Great dinner specials
Sunday brunch
Full liquor license
WiFi/ TV/ AC
Tuesday Scrabble
Thursday Open Mic
Brook-Side at the Twig

bar, dining, food, grand opening, new hampshire, restaurant, the twig, warren, warren nh, wendy monninger

Central Library in Portland wasn’t open when I returned the next morning to get some snapshots, but you’ll have to take my word that they did a great job renovating it ten years ago. The outside preserves the original appearance of this historic building, and the early hour of the shot hides the hive of activity that I found the previous afternoon.

I have to thank Caleb and Caroline for showing around town, and offer my apologies to Heidi and Alice, who had offered me tips and suggestions that I (again) didn’t have time to follow up on. Someday I’ll enjoy a Stanich burger; someday I’ll find Rimsky-Korsakoffee; heck, someday I’ll even get to Powells.

But as wonderful as those suggestions may be, I couldn’t imagine a better evening than I had with food and conversation at Farm Cafe followed by a sweet treat at Staccato Gelato.

farm cafe, food, multnomah county library, oregon, portland, portland or, travel

God bless William Faulkner for pointing it out:

My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky.

food, paper, quote, supplies, tobacco, tools of the trade, whisky, William Faulkner, writer, writing

The plan was to meet Jessamyn and Greg at the India Queen last night, so discovering this note yesterday on Slashfood about “frankies” had the added excitement of both discovering a new food I wanted to eat, and being in a position to get it that day — the sort of instant satisfaction one doesn’t expect in these parts. Here’s the description:

The frankie is an Indian street-type food made of a thin bread similar to a tortilla that is coated with egg and fried. The tortilla is filled with meat and/or vegetables, then rolled like a burrito.

[This frankie was filled with] enormous chunks of lamb meat straight out of Hades. Granted, I wasn’t reaching for the fire extinguisher, but it was still spicy enough that on a breezy winter day in LA, I had to lightly dab my forehead. I felt awesome.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be, as the Queen was closed when we arrived, and for all I know they don’t serve them anyway. Maybe next time.

Vegas knows liquor. Vegas knows drinks. They go well with cards and dice and slot machines and such. And even though the cards and dice and slot machines and such aren’t my reasons for going to town, I do enjoy a drink. Above, center you see the West Wing Bar’s Sidecar with cognac, triple sec and lemon juice. At the left is a pinapple mojito from the Wynn’s Terrace Pointe Cafe.

We lunched at Emeril’s where Sandee enjoyed a grilled sweet barbeque atlantic salmon on a homemade andouille sausage and brabant potato hash with spicy onion crust and worcestershire sauce and I tucked into a grilled filet of beef on maytag blue cheese grits with caramelized onion reduction and fried leeks.

We dined at the Melting Pot fondue restaraunt where we enjoyed the four-course “big night out” combo. Our server prepared the spinach and artichoke swiss appetizer fondue at our table by combining chopped steamed spinach, chopped artichoke hearts, a blend of aged emmenthaler and gruyere cheeses with a touch of parmesan and tabasco. A California salad with raspberry black walnut vinaigrette dressing followed that. For an entree we cooked center-cut filet mignon medallions, breast of chicken, oriental potstickers, black tiger shrimp, teriyaki marinated choice sirloin and vegetables in a red wine with garlic herbs.

Dinner was a novelty, but desert, their version of a bananas foster, was delectable. White chocolate with caramel, Bacardi 151, Grand Marnier, and cinnamon. The Bacardi and flame makes a flambé, and it turns out cinnamon sparks when ignited, which our server took good advantage of. We dipped bananas, of course, along with strawberries, apples, marshmallows, pineapples, and cheesecake.

Sandee took advantage of the after Christmas sale at BCBG and picked up a green velvet dress and these fabulous gold shoes, all the better for dancing in. And about dancing, of course there was dancing.

vegas, las vegas, drinking, dancing, food, dining, drinks, shoes, shopping

There is, supposedly, some historical meaning to our Thanksgiving holiday, but all I can figure out is that I wasn’t there and it probably didn’t go as I’ve been told. Thing is, Thanksgiving isn’t so much about what we were, but who we are. Thanksgiving celebrates the two most important things in life: food and family.

Almost unique among US holidays, retailers haven’t yet found a way to commercialize it. International readers may wonder how a US holiday can exist without commercial involvement, but they should know that we make up for it in the way we eat. We will stuff ourselves, then get seconds and perhaps more. We will tell stories or play a game. Then we will have desert; apple and pumpkin pies are the tradition. After that, it’s back to the turkey again.

tags: apple, desert, eat, family, food, holiday, holidays, meal, pumpkin pies, stuffing, thanksgiving, thanksgiving holiday, turkey

I learned of Harmon’s Lunch from a mention on The Splendid Table a few weeks ago. I wrote down the following quote from the show from memory, so it may not be entirely accurate:

They have two things on the menu, and nobody ever orders the other one. They serve hamburgers, and the only option is with or without onions.

As it turns out, the menu is a little richer than suggested. Red relish, mustard, and yellow cheese round out the toppings you can order, and celery salt sits with the condiments (including the traditional ketchup) at every table.

Founder Marvin Harmon died in 2003 at the age of 83. He opened the restaurant in 1960 and quickly became known for making the best hamburgers in Maine. The place has been in good hands since his 1985 retirement, though, as it’s still a popular place serving fresh-cooked burgers and fries to those who can find it.

And finding it can be a little difficult. Our first directions led is in a circle, our second directions got us lost, the third set of directs told us to look for landmarks we didn’t find. We were getting closer with every try, though. So the fourth bunch of directions just had to turn us around and get us headed the right direction. It was a pretty drive, even if a little uncertain. Use this map if you’d like to avoid some confusion.

tags: cheeseburger, diner, dinner, falmouth, falmouth me, food, hamburger, hamburger stand, hamburgers, hard to find, harmon’s hamburgers, harmon’s lunch, lunch, maine

The marketers and designers for this product found their audience, and know how to speak to them. Just look at the pictures.

“I know what I like, and I like a lot of it” reads the text next to the over-weight, blue-collared white boy on the back. In bold yellow type at the bottom, it reads “it’s good to be full.”

With 1.5 pounds of food, this preprocessed meal delivers 1140 Calories, 70% of your recommended fat intake (84% of saturated fats), and 123% of your recommended sodium. It proudly provides more of everything that Americans want in their food.

[update:] Amanda Brenner comments on the The Hungry Man XXL double standard and a recent TV commercial for the product:

Oh! Did I mention that both of the men are FAT?

I don’t mean pleasingly plump. I mean lard bucket big jeans break the sofa springs fat.

These are fat guy dairy cows. The slogan is, believe it or not, “It’s good to be full”.

Is it good to be lonely? Is it good to die at 30?

Lay off the Hungry Man XXL. Your car is leaning to the left.

There’s also a story about Hungry-Man XXL Breakfast at X-Entertainment.com:

…64 grams of fat, 2,090 milligrams of sodium, and enough cholesterol to kill anything that’s ever lived. The ‘justification’ is that you’re supposed to eat shitty food in the morning, as it supplies you with a suitable amount of energy to get through the day. Unfortunately, Swanson’s supplying you with enough ‘energy’ to get through a week, and even if the only other thing you ate after this breakfast was oxygen, there’s still a relatively high chance that your ass will grow hands and tie your intestines in knots to prevent this shit from ever passing through. Really, really awful stuff.

And mystery of mysteries, it looks like a few of the Hungry-Man XXL dinners are available from Amazon’s Gourmet section.

hungry man, xl, xxl, xxxl, hungry-man xxl, it’s good to be full, food, tv dinners, fat, gross, don’t eat that