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| | TACOS!!! [Danger: long rant]I love Tacos. I love them almost as much as I love sandwiches. You
gotta admit, there's nothing better than a really really good sandwich.
It's filling, wholesome, comforting, & delicious. And tacos,
although individually smaller, are equally satisfying on all levels
when eaten en masse. I'm really partial to fish tacos. Yum. Especially
seared tuna tacos. Fried fish tacos are okay, but they're basically
Mexican po-boys. Actually, I guess a taco is by nature a po-boy. I'm
sure Mexicans don't typically stick gourmet ingredients in their tacos.
It's something that's supposed to be filling and tasty. That's pretty
much what defines a po-boy, stuff that tastes good stuffed into a
sandwich roll. Oh man, I remember the ones Mike used to make. They were
craaaaazy. I miss those days. Oh right, back to tacos. I've been eating
a lot of fish tacos. By a lot, I mean more than I used to. I think I've
had 5 fish-taco meals in the past 30 days, compared to the 2 or 3 I've
had in all the years that preceded that. I started liking fish tacos in
Maui, but they didn't really sink in until more recently when I had an
Ahi tuna taco at Houlihan's. It was so good, I went back a week later
to have it again, only to find out they'd taken it off the menu. So I
ate an Ahi tuna salad instead which was basically all the same
ingredients in a big bowl instead of on flour tortillas. Yeah, I said
flour. They taste better than masa tortillas and they stay together
better too. Then I went back a week later and they custom made Ahi
tacos by taking the seared tuna from the salad and replacing the fried
fish in the regular fish tacos. Woohoo! That made me feel special. In
the most recent Trader Joe's flyer, they advertised marinated fish
tacos on the cover and I just had to have them and I looked all over
the store but they were hiding on the top shelf on the wrong side of
the frozen section. I had to get a cute tattooed girl to help me. 
And then she recommended an alternative recipe which she says tastes
better and I believe her because she's also the girl who prepares the
food in the samples corner. Now that I've tried those, which contained
fried tilapia, I'm sure hers will be better. Those tacos sucked big
time. So much so, that I only ate 1 of the 4 that it came with. I will
try to salvage the other 3 by dumping some good salsa & cheese on
them and turning them into fish enchiladas. Then I'll try that recipe
she gave me. I've got Ahi tuna in the freezer waiting to go. I bought
some ginger dressing at Costco yesterday. I tasted it and it rocks.
They're going to make the tacos rock. I guess that makes the tacos sort
of fusion. I'd be using flour tortillas so that's already a departure
from tradition so that'd be Tex-Mex (that counts as fusion!) and then
I'd be using seared fish which is still mostly raw so it's sort of
French-Japanese, and the ginger dressing claims to be
Japanese-inspired. Broccoli slaw is sort of new-age/modern American. So
let's see, that's a franco-nihon-tex-mex-american. Making up words is
fun piddly-diddle. They're gonna be so good. SOooo good. Speaking of so
good, my coffee totally rocks. I make my own coffee in the morning,
which is painful since I make it at work and the entire 45-minute
commute is completely caffeine-free through some twisty medium-traffic
back-roads, but completely worth it. I just got this new coffee grinder
which makes my coffee 10X better. I couldn't believe how big a
difference a coffee grinder could make. I've used several brewing
methods but lately, I've been using the Good Eats True Brew method: hot
water poured slowly over a cone filter (the same plastic Melitta I got
for free back at Cooper) with freshly ground beans. This has always
yielded the most consistently mild & flavorful coffee. I've been
using the same beans (Caffe Altura rocks!). The ONLY thing that changed
last week was the grinder (Mr. Coffee Grinder with Chamber Maid). I
noticed that the grind comes out much more even, and I knew that would
make a difference, but I honestly did not expect such a big difference.
My coffee is better than ever and it's actually so satisfying, I only
drink 1 mug a day. I used to drink 2-3 carafes from the French Press,
and 2 mugs from the old grinder. This is great. I'm saving money, time,
my health, and I still get to enjoy the best-darn coffee I've EVER
drank. It's so great, I'm thinking of starting a DIY cafe where each
table gets a Mr Coffee grinder, 2 Melitta cones, and a hot water tap.
You buy the beans & filters at the counter, but make the coffee at
your table. The noise will be ridiculous, but the coffee will be worth
it. And it'll teach people to appreciate the merits of brewing your own
coffee. Espresso will be brewed at the counter. No way would I put
$300+ machines at each table. This all goes along with a restaurant
idea I had. I've even got a great name: Make It Your Own Damn Self! The
menu would consist of food you have to cook at your own table. That's
not such an odd concept. After all, Korean BBQ is cooked at your table,
and in a lot of cases, you cook it yourself. Okonomiyaki is served this
way in Japan too. They bring you batter & cabbage. You throw it on
the grill yourself. And teppan-yaki?? Take all the flair out of it, and
the cooking itself couldn't be simpler. Throw the ingredients on the
hot griddle, toss with oil, serve when done. Best part is, you'd have
no one to blame for bad food but yourself. You could order cooked food
there, but there'd be some kind of penalty. Either a surcharge, or an
embarrassing alarm goes off as the runner brings the food over to you
so everyone stops and stares at you for being the only idiot in the
restaurant who can't cook his/her own damn food. First-timers would get
a break and a cook will come out to show you how to cook your dish, but
there'll be a fee or mandatory tip for additional "expert
consultations." Sure, people might lie about it being their first time,
but the cooks will eventually remember your face and start charging
you. I can see how this sort of rudeness might not be appealing to
some, but it's part of the theme. It's called Cook It Your Own Damn
Self, not Kindly Cook You Own Food, Please. Some people are going to
get a kick out of it. They're allowed to be equally rude in return.
And, hopefully, the food will be good enough that some people will come
for the food and tolerate the attitude. And it's not like they're going
to be in-your-face rude, just not the kind of service you expect at a
great restaurant. Think NYC Chinatown restaurants where the servers
rarely smile, but they alway get your food right and everything tastes
great. I think it has potential, at least in NYC where it would blend
right in. Maybe that's not good. Maybe I should start someplace in Cali
or down south where I can turn the NY attitude into a selling point.
That name would be good for a cook-book too. I can publish that once
the restaurant takes off. Then there'd be no reason to come to the
restaurant, and you know what, that's okay. People go out too often
nowadays. I remember when eating out was a luxury. I was friggin'
elated when we'd go to Burger King, Roy Rogers, Boston Market, Pizza,
etc. But now it's become common-place. Once a week is the minimum for
eating for me & my parents. I kind of miss the old days when my
folks cooked everything. Maybe that's just nostalgia talking, but one
of my fondest memories is of my father making ramyun for me with sliced
hot-dogs. I thought it was so cool to have little lens-shaped
meat-disks with my noodles. Hopefully, this restaurant will inspire
people to stay home and cook using the techniques you learn at my
restaurant. Eventually, they'll understand and appreciate that cooking
at home lets you control all the variables to create healthier &
tastier meals. Everyone's palette is a bit different, so you can tweak
your food to perfectly match your own tastes. It's not like the idea is
new. There are a few restaurants that do this, and lots of weekend
classes are offered by real chefs, but those are pretty up-scale &
pricey. This will be quicker, cheaper, and available all week for
breakfast, lunch & dinner. Even if people stayed home more, I'm
hoping the quality of my food will still bring people to the
restaurant. It would also be good for dates and client meetings. At the
restaurant, you can always poke at your food or do something productive
with your hands to fill into those inevitable long silences. Also, the
dishes would be engineered to be more or less fool-proof; little things
slightly high oil or water content to reduce burning, under-seasoned so
you can salt & pepper it yourself. I'll give this idea a shot when I'm retired and have free time. Should be fun.
On a side note: I'm still soda-free and it's easier than I thought it would be because I have Crystal Light, unsweetened iced tea & coffee to curb my cravings.
| | | Posted 5/7/2008 1:18 PM
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