Go into a supermarket today (okay, maybe an upscale one), and you’re likely to find a variety of different types of frozen treats. Note, I’m not talking flavors, but just styles.

• Ice Milk
• Ice Cream
• Gelato
• Sorbet
• Frozen Yogurt
• Sherbet

And who knows - there are also now variations with goat milk, soy, organic this and that, whipped varieties, etc. Which just goes to show - at least in the U.S. - ice cream is a big deal.

So someone asked me: “Why is it now, on your second trip to Paris, did you have to go back for the ice cream?”

Yes, on a cold, November morning, I got a triple-scoop of ice cream from Berthillion, and ate it happily with the wind in my hair. I had a hat on, so the wind didn’t bother me in the least. But I did return home with a nasty cold.

First, you should understand, many books on Paris tell you about this place, so my first trip, I had to try it. I mean, Ina Garten raved about it, and I generally trust her taste.

Second, the place is kind of cute. It’s located on the Île-Saint-Louis, the smaller of the two islands in the center of Paris on the River Seine. In fact, it’s positioned about dab-center in the island! It’s closed in August, when it’s hot, and yes, it’s open in the morning on cloudy, cold November mornings. And no lines!

I read that Italian ice cream may beat this out, but having not yet traveled to Italy, I can only speak for this stuff versus all those choices I mentioned above. First, texture is first rate. It’s a firm ice cream, but not necessarily as firm as the stuff in some of those small pints we have. It’s also extremely creamy and rich. Delicious stuff. But the real win is the complexity and weight of flavor. This is serious ice cream, and my favorite non-fruit flavor is the salted caramel. “Yum-O!,” I think I dreamt Rachel Ray yelling. (No, I didn’t really have a dream about Ms. Ray eating this ice cream, but you can sort of hear that voice of hers saying “Yum-O!” whenever you choose to write it out on the computer.)

Their ice cream can be purchased at a few satellite locations, and in select cafés. But it’s not available here, and I love that it’s still a family business. And yes, that ice cream was so good, should I get the opportunity to return, I’ll go for more. Just remember - there’s nothing called Berthillion in your grocer’s freezer here in the U. S.

Please note - two trips - one each per trip to Paris - really isn’t that bad. I’ve yet to buy my own ice cream machine (I’m looking for a self-freezing model the day I get a bigger kitchen that can accommodate it), so I really don’t get to try my hand at creative ice cream making. But I know this recipe might be the first I try.

I’m real happy Kevin won - I felt he was an underdog… and how I’d loved to have tasted everything! That’s the worst part - you can only eat with your eyes.

Learn more here, and how California emerged on the world wine scene.

This was a powerful place. First, I got to the museum early on Sunday morning, shortly after it opened, and it seemed “empty” until I found the Julia exhibit on the first floor. Whoa. A crowd of people.

For some reason, I had the emotional baggage of Julie Powell with me, I was a bit overwhelmed with it all. I’ve been watching Julia’s shows on DVD lately with Jacques Pepin, and to see the kitchen up close, in person, was an intense experience.

By the time I made it around to all of the accompanying stuff around the outside of the kitchen (mementos, kitchen tools, and videos with interviews and her shows), I heard some folks talking… people were sharing their stories about coming to love cooking from this woman. It was a bit too much to take…

I stepped back out, into the main hallway, where you can see the exhibit through glass. Here was a bunch of Americans who had a connection to this woman, paying their respects, if you will, on a cold Sunday morning in the nation’s capital city. There’s the constitution to see, there’s artifacts from our founding fathers, but here they are, to see a glimpse into the domestic world of a famous American cook and TV personality. Julia Child.

I wish I could have met the woman. Better yet, as someone tweeted me today after I posted a picture of her Le Cordon Bleu diploma, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a meal with her?”

I think this woman’s success is directly related to her passion. She wasn’t a particuarly gifted speaker on television (her mistakes and such are great, however, because they reveal the authenticity of the shows). She was a messy cook, at least in front of a camera. Yet, her passion carried out to all these people. I wonder how many visit per year, to see her kitchen?

I, or any of us for that matter, should be so lucky that we make a mark on the world with our passions that folks come to see something we leave behind.

I had a great day.

Julia Child’s kitchen is located at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, on the mall, in Washington, D.C. Yes, even her E. Dehillerin pans.

Their cider went superbly with several dishes I made recently, one a roasted chicken, and another, an apple and sauerkraut pork loin. Beyond wine made from grapes, their cider has an alluring, almost beguiling aroma that keeps your nose in the glass, which is a great thing. The complexity on the nose translates to refreshment on the palate, and just like a good wine, the cider can accent various flavors in your food.

Food blogger the Amateur Gourmet took issue with a recent column by Christopher Kimball, and it generated a number of comments.

To break-down the issues here, this is what I see:

• Kimball writes about the fall of Gourmet, and talks about his own job as publisher of his own food magazine.
• He seems to think that the passing of Gourmet is a bad thing, and points to the Internet as one of the causes of its demise.
• Roberts takes issue because he seems to be blaming the food blogs for this demise;
• Many commenters join in with horrahs!, saying Kimball’s magazine is boring and bad. Food blogs rule!

I have been a subscriber to Gourmet and to Cook’s Illustrated. In fact, I have all of the latest issues here at home now. I like reading about food. I like food blogs, but I also enjoy good cookbooks, books about food, and even shows about food (like TopChef).

I don’t think Kimball’s article was all that harsh. I think Adam’s post was more harsh, and then for an even more obscene read of everything, the comments took things to the next level.

The truth is, food blogs, food television, and food podcasts are popular sources of information and are tailored to the passions of people who love food. So are the magazines.

We only have so much time in the day to read, watch, and listen to content. That’s what’s the Internet is providing. There’s a great collection growing here in Richmond with food blogs. I don’t have time to read them all religiously. I check them when I have a need to: “I wonder what the trendy new restaurants are this month?”

Kimball’s right to a degree. Folks are replacing their limited time with materials of different quality. But I don’t think a lifetime’s experience necessarily always makes the best read or entertainment. Some food bloggers inspire me, and I’d follow their recipes. Some are just fun to read. Adam Roberts sometimes shares recipes, but I’d never eat them, his cooking looks messy and I don’t trust his palate. But that’s not to say he’s incapable of creating good food.

We thin-slice (to borrow a term from Malcolm Gladwell) people and sources of information. I’m, for one, glad that we have such a variety of sources for information about food today. I’m sorry to see Gourmet pass, but in its void there is still an abundance of content. Over time, the food blogs that don’t inspire and don’t deliver the quality Kimball talks about will pass. Understandably, he may be upset that the economy for publishing has changed quickly. When everyone’s a media producer there’s an over-abundance of content.

These food blogs represent a welcome break from institutional food writing; they are fresher, brighter and more truthful than the kind of writing Kimball mourns—writing that must pass through board rooms, across copy desks, and into editorial meetings before it’s ok-ed and printed.

I’m not sure this comment from Adam Roberts fits (for me) either the writing in Gourmet or the writing in Cook’s Illustrated. I don’t see only one medium being the winner. Roberts says that Kimball’s ship is sinking. I hope not. There’s a lot of to be said for the time it takes to produce work of quality. We live in a world today of quickness, of things that are almost all-okay, almost-accurate, and almost-perfect.

When the entry-cost is free (i.e., food blogs that people start and maintain to share their passion), where’s the incentive for the quality only the dedication of time can bring?

As conventional wisdom goes, there are three golden rules that are fundamental to being a Regular.

1. Go to the restaurant a lot.
2. Don’t be a pain in the ass: Show up on time, say please and thank-you, respect the house and its rules (such as dress code).
3. Always tip 20 percent on the total bill, and tip in cash.

Plus, 5 more tips if it really matters to you.

The basic idea was this: a fire station’s crew went vegetarian to stay fit and healthy. I like vegetables and salads. Would going vegetarian be a challenge? Would it improve the way I feel?

After enjoying a Sunday celebratory dinner with pork baby-back ribs, we began Monday with no meat in sight, at least for a week. Come Friday, we were being challenged by not feeling very full all the time (a late afternoon snack fit the bill), but then it ended early. I was invited to a luncheon I felt I had to attend and eat, where roasted chicken was being served.

I ate the chicken.

Then we went back on the veggie wagon, ending tonight, with our second helping of homemade minestrone soup.

We didn’t go vegan: we still ate milk, dairy, and eggs. We never once really craved meat. My gastrointestinal issues still (to this moment) torment me, so I can’t say it was any easier on the bowels or the pipes. I am not sure I lost any weight, because to make up for the hunger issues, I made up for it with vegetable-based carbs.

Yet going vegetarian was a challenge. Restaurants cater to meat eaters. My whole thinking of meals centers around a protein (such as beef, fish, chicken) and without the said protein, your culinary point of view is handicapped. We ate salads and soups, and even a homemade tofu dish with mushroom-flavored soy sauce and edamame beans. Noodles with vegetables (instead of meatballs) were delicious, as was my beforementioned minestrone.

So, after a week of no meat, where do I stand? “Are you going vegetarian full time?” a friend asked. Probably not, I wager, simply because I don’t have ethical concerns with eating meat. Perhaps going a month is a better test for any health benefits, but for now, I do have a plan inspired by this experience.

First, I plan to eat less meat. I plan to treat the eating of meat more as a privilege than as an American right. Second, I want to try and succeed at eating fish once a week. Meat may take on a role in only two meals each week. For my own health, I also plan on reducing portions. And as a struggling diabetic over the past three years, I plan to adopt new technology in my life to help better manage my disease.

Still on my list: I have a lot more to learn about eating without meat. I plan to learn more recipes I deem “gourmet.” Vegetables can be delicious on their own and there’s no shame in that. Living as a week-long vegetarian has shown me the struggles other vegetarians encounter, at least when starting out.

Living more healthy might start with cutting more out than just meat. That’s my next challenge.

Restaurant cooks prize thick pasta water. In “Heat,” his best-selling account of working in Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo, Bill Buford describes how in the course of an evening, water in the pasta cooker goes from clear to cloudy to muddy, a stage that is “yucky-sounding but wonderful,” because the water “behaves like a sauce thickener, binding the elements and flavoring the pasta with the flavor of itself.”

I’ve been reading Heat, but stopped for awhile… this quote reminded me I have to finish it (before reading Ruhlman’s new book on the Kindle).

— How Much Water Does Pasta Really Need?

The year? 1978. The place? Venice, Italy.

The owner returned in about half an hour with a huge fish overlapping both sides of the basket, which also contained a mass of greens and several bags of clams and shrimp and other things. This he took to the kitchen, and soon the most wonderful smell wafted out to the diners. The owner’s sons (one of them the chess player) and wife all hovered at the kitchen door, cooing sounds of delight.

I had almost forgotten my now-packaged cake. I began to walk out the door, but my waiter stopped me. “Thomas wanted you to have this,” and he gave me Thomas Keller’s new cookbook. That’s a $75 cookbook! I was in shock; I didn’t know what to say. I thanked my waiters relentlessly, then stumbled, awestruck, out of the restaurant. I had entered the restaurant at 11:30, I walked out at 4:15.

Neat blog entry of a teenager who ate alone at Per Se in NYC for his birthday.

It sounds like an Asian version of molecular gastronomy. I’d really like to try some of this!

First the bad.

• Customer service. While the checkout folks have been friendly, etc., the folks serving food are less so. They can act like they could care less to serve you.
• Cleanliness. I ate in their “cafe” area and every free table was filthy from the last diner. The garbage areas were overflowing with refuse. One man started to empty the bin, but never came back after seeing it was full.
• Supplies. Gotta have enough trays, salad bins, and salad tops available for customers.
• Parking. Will there be more parking spots? Because right now, it’s pathetic, and I think we may have another “Downtown Short Pump Parking Debacle” on our hands.
• Prices. Yes, some things are expensive. I realize they are using organic ingredients, but… this isn’t your “I’ll do all my shopping here every week” type of store.

Next, pictures.

I had a chocolate chip cookie which was… wonderful. Never have I had a cookie that had such depth of flavor. It was not a crispy and chewing style cookie (my favorite), but the quality of chocolate and brown sugar used made up for that.

The pizza was tasty. Too bad it went cold again (after being put back into the oven) with such a long wait at the checkout. But, where else can you get pear, blue cheese, and bacon on a pizza in Richmond? It cost $3.30 a slice. Ouch.

Delicious looking fruit, and so much of it.

Pre-packaged for a healthy snack, or breakfast.

More of the same.

This place is overflowing with great-looking produce. From stone fruits, to tomatoes, to figs, it was all there.

There’s something to be said for abundance; it sells, and you tend to want more of what you see.

I have to hunt for a good fig recipe.

Thank you! An excellent selection of wines at all price points. So many inspiring options.

The meat case looks good; not as “spread out” or carrying as much variety as the Fresh Market, but some areas are self-serve which Fresh Market does not have. Whole Foods also beats FM on the seafood section.

Lots to find, lots of unique beverages.

Yummy selections of pre-packged, to-go foods.

Their minestrone was delicious, and the solids were not mushy! Yeah!

Enough parmesan to make me cry.

Their croissants were delicious.

A few more views:

Checkout:

I did say, checkout:

I love the checkout for two reasons: they’ve got a lot of lines, they take PayPass MasterCard (no swipe, just present the card and it beeps!), and the readouts are cool. They even print double-sided receipts to save money.

My advice: visit hungry (it’s wrong, but it feels so good), don’t carry a budget (you’ll go beyond it), and go at non-peak times. You’ll certainly find something delicious at Whole Foods.

Next time, hopefully Trader Joe’s down a few hundred feet on West Broad Street will be open, too!

First, I wanted to share with you another salad I made.

It was going to be a Cobb, but I decided at the last minute not to include the bacon. And besides, the lettuce mixture (I know, sad, from a bag) already had another vegetables in it that kinda ruined the whole Cobb theme. But we did have avocado, Hanover tomatoes, and chicken.

We also had a delicious soup, a corn soup that I tried to “copy” from an experience I had at Can Can here in Richmond. There’s was better, but mine wasn’t bad. I tried out my new kitchen device - a so-called “China cap” for straining and making super-smooth soups.

Speaking of CanCan, I really enjoyed dinner there on Friday night. I think that’s become my favorite Richmond eatery.

And before that… our trip to Canada had many gourmet delights.

At the Post Inn (couldn’t find a website) near Lake Louise in Alberta, we had a fabulous lunch. Above, you can see my short ribs in risotto. The interior reminded me of a little bit of the Inn at Little Washington. See if you see the resemblance:

And then, earlier, we’d eaten a delicious meal at the Banffshire Club at the Fairmont Banff Springs. The tuna was a big hit.

My favorite was the kobe beef course. Below, the duck. That big, juicy cherry helped me stain my shirt.

The same hotel sports an Italian eatery, and they had a great scallops wrapped in pancetta appetizer.

Anyhow, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little review of August. More MessyCuisine in September!

Today I had the opportunity to indulge in gustatory delights in a trip to Charlottesville, VA. It included a visit to my favorite dumpling shop, a purchase at Barboursville Vinyards, and dinner at the most excellent Oxo restaurant.

Among the highlights was an onion and arrugala bisque with truffle foam.

I think this is something I could reproduce at home: it was mildly sweet, nourishing, and the lemon “dust” was a nice accent.

The worst part of the 3-course dinner was the between-course of raspberry sorbet.

It was placed in a shallow, small plate and served with a mini-spoon. Actually trying to eat it was difficult; it slid around and you feared you’d push it out onto the table cloth.

I had a delicious entrée of herb-crusted salmon. I paired it with a delicious pinot noir, which was a nice balance to the sweet, exotic-spiced salsify in the dish.

The most delicious item? The dessert of rice pudding, pear, and chocolate-vanilla ice cream.

This had caramel, creaminess, texture, and vanilla. Yum-o. Very well done. I’ve never had such a satisfying rice pudding.

So, some 2 years since my first visit to Oxo, the dessert was still the best part. I’d recommend it to friends; it’s on Water Street near some other eateries, near the downtown mall.

Before dinner, I returned to Barboursville Vinyards in Orange County to pick up some of their excellent Octagon wine. It’s a carefully-mixed “best vintage” mixture. I picked up both O VII and O VIII (seventh and eighth versions, ever).

Lastly, I got to visit a nice little grocery off Ivy Street, Food of All Nations, and picked up some things I don’t typically have access to: some private-label olive oils, excellent-quality tea, etc.

So, if you have the opportunity to visit Charlottesville, there’s good food on the shelf and on the table! Makes for some excellent messy cuisine. Take a look at all the pictures.

Update (21 September 2008): We have found out that Oxo closed in late June. Too bad! We had a couple of great meals at Oxo.

To wit, this article compares portion sizes between now and 20 years ago. We really are a super-sized America.

The food tasted fine. But it was served cold. And service was an issue. See them buzzing around the queen bee? That’s where they hang out the entire time! Getting someone to come to your table is a royal chore, and when I asked for a refill, I was was given an eye.

Sorry; wasn’t too impressed. Voted best, sure…

Today I visited a Stuffy’s for lunch. Not the best idea. The sandwiches are hard to fold, and half the ingredients keep falling out. It was okay, but far too much bread, and not enough “dressing.”

Tonight I had a grand menu planned, sadly, two of the three dishes were lacking. My duck was a bit too dry (I don’t think it was my fault, entirely). The mashed potatoes turned out as soup. Yuck! Don’t ask.

But the dessert was a raving success. I attempted my own version of Zed’s Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding dessert. Yummo!

• brioche or other eggy-bread; torn
• half-half
• vanilla paste (or freshly scraped vanilla beans)
• dark chocolate shavings, nibs, or chunks
• 2 bananas
• 2 eggs
• rum
• sugar, powdered sugar

I wisked a few Tablespoons of sugar with the eggs; added vanilla; added half-half. Tore-up brioche, covered in custardy mixture. Splashed rum all over the lot; added and folded in sliced bananas and dark chocolate.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes; grease a baking pan with water.

Fill the pan with the mixture; it should be not dripping wet, but very moist.

Place the container in a water bath (bigger container with water) to insulate the baking dish. Bake from 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm. I garnished mine with powdered sugar.

To guild the lilly, as they say, a white chocolate custard sauce would have been awesome. Rave reviews from my 3 tasters.

I love this show. The four losing dishes tonight were sad; but I agreed with who had to go home. Be sure to tune-in next Wednesday!

Perhaps you’ve eaten at the Quiznos chain before; I actually like their Italian sandwich. It’s well-proportioned, tasty, and even their dressing/sauce is good. I remember going to one that had opened in Avon Lake years ago, next to a new Tops supermarket.

At that franchise, it was always smokey. They did something wrong with their “toasty” oven that it was always burning something, and spewing out smoke. Weeks later it had been tamed, but the smell and smoke still stayed, despite both being reduced considerably.

Move ahead several years. I’ve eaten at Quiznos here and abroad, from an Alaska mall food court, to another franchise here in Virginia, just off Parham Rd. From San Diego to Roanoke. No matter, I always seem to find fault with which ever franchise I visit.

So, might there be something wrong with the corporation that trains these franchise owners? I compare my experience to another well-known sub shop, Subway. I have had mostly great experiences in those stores, by comparison.

Quiznos? It takes forever for the guy to take the order. He wasn’t making any sandwiches when we walked in. Then, I wanted to pay. There’s a girl sitting at the computer surfing the net. She doesn’t budge. The guy is working on more sandwiches. I figure out this girl is the owner’s daugther, maybe she doesn’t work there; well, get her out from behind the counter like she does. Mom is filling dressing bottles. She can’t be bothered to check us out, either. The poor sandwich maker has to do the whole shtick.

And this was a good experience. Go to another one in town, and you have to repeat your order no less than three times (on a good day). That’s right, you’ll be asked what you want, and I’m not kidding, I’ve had to repeat myself three times. Four on one visit; five on another. But mostly it’s three. Is there any reason for this (save for the fact that the kids working there have the short-term memory of a flea)??

The concept of Good or Quality customer service is not part of their training, I can certify that. Another one in town is atrocious. The guy who owned it hired his own kids. They spent the entire time talking on the phone; you couldn’t be bothered to get a word-in for anything. And in the one I visited tonight, they actually posted that “talking on your cell phone while ordering was prohibited.” Prohibited? Yeah, customers, that is rude, but not necessarily more so than the sign.

And what’s with so many of them being dirty? I mean, the places look nasty. All of them I’m recalling here have been nasty dirty. Tonight, the one we visited (at 6:30 PM) had both trash bins chock full. So chock full, in fact, that there was no place to put your garbage or the plastic tray they want you to not put into the trash. We sat ours on top there, crowning the heap of trash. Four employees (or three, if the girl didn’t count), all too busy to really help you a whole lot, and certainly, they couldn’t be bothered to clean the refuse area.

MMMmmmm toasty, sure. But there’s got to be a limit to what we can tolerate with mediocre to poor service, dirty dining rooms, and super-long wait times. And how many times do you need to be asked it you want lettuce on the sandwich when you already told them three times “I want everything on it?”

Evidently in Quiznosland, lettuce isn’t a part of everything.