Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai
While denied by a Starbucks spokesperson, the rumor in the industry points to their extreme interest in the fresh juice business, maybe even as high as 50/50 coffee & juice? Aside from what they are saying, the fact is, a manager from New York’s juice bar Liquiteria has been flown to Seattle, evidently hired to train their staff in the fine art of pressing juices.
A Link You Might Enjoy: Starbucks To Juice It Up
Culinary Tidbits . . . The U.S. government has detained all papayas coming from Mexico after testing showed high rates of salmonella contamination, which were linked to more than 100 cases of salmonella poisoning in 23 states earlier this summer. They found a 16% contamination rate in papayas from all over Mexico.
Tavern Tipples . . . Saveur’s Helen Rosner knows how to handle a hurricane. She sent this tweet: “Bars are sending hurricane-related drinks specials pitches. As if we haven’t all already made runs on the liquor store” 
Former President Bill Clinton has turned into a vegan. Due to health scares he has lost twenty pounds and considers himself a vegan. “I like the vegetables, the fruits, the beans, the stuff I eat now.” However, the ex-McDonald’s addict isn’t always such a saint, admitting, “At Thanksgiving, I had one bite of turkey.”
Headquartered in California In-N-Out is the long-standing winner of “Best Burger” in the U.S. and located on the West Coast. It now has competition in 5 Guys first opening in the Washington D.C. area and located on the East Coast. Which one is better? It is a point of contention among many burger lovers, and strictly a matter of personal taste however, 5 Guys is almost double the price of In-N-Out. Take a look at the links below for more information:
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/best-burgers-in-the-us
http://tdhurst.com/burgers?utm_source=Arkayne.com&utm_medium=Plugin&utm_campaign=tdhurst
No. 308
407 Gallatin Ave.
East Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
(615) 650-7344
Website: www.bar308.com/
The bar opened at the end of the year in 2010 by a newly engaged couple, Ben Clemons and Alexis Soler. The longtime bartenders are trying to add a new twist to Nashville’s bar scene with No. 308 in East Nashville.
They offer handcrafted cocktails using house-made sodas and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic concoctions in a dim bar with ample booths and couches but no TV screens or live music stages. They have stayed away from the typical sports bar or music club and opted for a “just a fun bar” that will provide a different slant for Nashville, as the two of them are team of super-mixologists behind the bar. The menu includes meatloaf, steak salad, pork lettuce wraps and chicken parmesan for $8, and cocktails begin at $7. After a few weeks of living in Nashvillle, Soler was sent to work at a cocktail seminar in New Orleans and met Clemons. They became engaged a month later in Room 308 at the Ace Hotel in New York. Soler and Clemons have been bartenders for so long, and this is the final outcome of a dream that both have always shared.
Pinkberry, was at the top of its game a couple of years ago although, it leaves me wondering why? It offers a few ordinary flavors, and not even the old standby vanilla, and the usual toppings that you would find in any frozen yogurt shop, and any topping that is a bit special has an extra charge. What the product claims to offer in terms of health benefits is lower fat. Who cares, it has very high sugar content instead! If you want to have a smooth frozen product result you either need to have fat or sugar.
By Sandy Driscoll
Exterior of New Sammy’s Cowboy Bistro (all images ©2011 restaurantdiningcritiques.com & Sandy Driscoll)
New Sammy’s Cowboy Bistro
2210 S. Pacific Highway
Talent, OR 97540
541-353-2779
Wednesday – Sunday
Lunch – 12-1:30 pm
Dinner – 5pm-9pm
Reservations – Necessary
Major Credit Cards Accepted
I’ve had the pleasure of dining at New Sammy’s many times in the past 20 years, when I first discovered them via a short
notation in Gourmet magazine. At that time, they had only a tiny 6-table restaurant.
Six years ago, they expanded the building into a larger, charming spot in tiny Talent, Oregon. Replete with cow wallpaper in the
small, sectioned (for pleasant privacy) dining room, this is always a memorable dining experience.
New Sammy’s is the love of owners Charlene (chef) and Vernon (wine expert extraordinaire) Rollins. The food, described in
straightforward terms on the menu, is organic, fresh and prepared in a way to let each ingredient shine. When the waitress
takes your order, she says, “Would you like Vernon to stop by and help select a wine?” You’d better say yes! This gentleman
knows his wines, and has one of the best cellars in the country. As is everything else about New Sammy’s, he is
congenial and unpretentious, despite his world class knowledge of wine.
When I arrived for dinner last week, Vern greeted me at the door, saying, “Are you Sandy/”, and led me to my table. After
ordering, he came by to chat about wines. I told him I was having the prix fixe menu, and would like wine with each course.
As I have in the past, I requested 1/2 glasses, which would enable me to taste more. He cheerfully complied, suggested a
Vouvray for the salad and a Red Bordeaux for the Lamb. When he poured the red, he mistakenly poured a full glass,
saying he was sorry……that he was used to pouring full glasses, but he would only charge me 1/2. Despite my protests,
he did just that. Reasonable? Yes, indeed. My three glasses of wine and a single espresso added less than $25 to the
dinner cost.
Dinner always starts with a small bowl of warm olives, accompanied by delicious crisp homemade flatbread. Then comes
the homemade bread with a lovely tangy olive oil.
I have never seen Charlene come out of the kitchen. One of the employees (who obviously loves working there) told me they
had worked there for six months before ever seeing Charlene, and then she was sitting down, chopping vegetables!
Absolutely everything is made on the premises, much of it from the vegetable and herb garden out back. When I made my
dessert selection, I asked Vernon what a “Tayberry” was. He explained that it was a Scottish berry, a cross between a
raspberry and blackberry. I asked if they made the Tayberry Sherbet. Of course! he said. We make everything here.
We juice the tayberry in the fall and freeze the juice for later use.
For the first time, I had lunch there the following day. Starting with a glass of Champagne, my friend and I chose
the Hamburger (which the kitchen kindly split for us) and the Green Salad. Charlene’s salads are works of art, composed,
fresh beautiful ingredients, usually with a beautifully undercooked ‘hard-boiled’ egg. Makes me want to run home and
try to duplicate it!
If you are anywhere near Talent (which is between Ashland & Medford) don’t miss this special spot. Known only
from word of mouth (and now Internet posts), they neither advertise, nor do they have a website It’s worthy
of a special trip, the best dining for miles around, and as a ‘Yelper’ reviewed, and I agree, one of the five top restaurants
in the country!
Leading to the patio and entrance door
Complimentary Amuse – Chilled Sorrel Soup with Creme Fraiche and Fresh Sorrel
Mixed Green Salad with Roasted Beets, Broccoli, Walnuts, Blue Cheese & “La Quercia” Prosciutto
Grilled Umpqua Valley Lamb Loin Chops with Spicy, Garlicky Kale, Cannelloni Beans, Purple Potatoes
and Sheep Milk Gnocchi
Tayberry Sherbet and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Almond Meringue Torte with Blackberry Sauce
Restroom Interior with Champagne Bottles!
Letter from Jane MacQuitty (wine writer, author & judge….since the 1980′s has been wine & drink correspondent for The Times of London)
Bar and Lunch room
Lunch Menu
Complimentary homemade hummus with crispy flatbread
Green Salad with Broccoli, Roasted Beets, Potato, a Soft Farm Egg, & Grilled “Rushing Waters” Trout
Grilled Emerald Hills Hamburger with Sauteed Spinach, Fresh Goat Cheese, Applewood-Smoked Bacon, Aioli, Grilled Onions, Ketchup and Pickles
Cooked perfectly medium-rare, as requested!
Dessert Menu
Bittersweet Chocolate Layer Cake with Cherry Chocolate Mousse & Kirsch Ice Cream
Behind New Sammy’s – the herb/vegetable/flower garden
New Sammy’s well-fed cat!
by John Mariani
A brief encapsulation of this article:
Esquires Magazine restaurant features writer, John Mariani states that he finds the new six-volume, 2,438-page, forty-eight-pound, $625 book Modernist Cuisine written by billionaire scientist Nathan Myhrvold, “fascinating, but only in the way I would a manual for building one’s own atomic bomb or sports car from scratch.” There are many anecdotal mentions along the way of what Mariani calls “the insufferable Achatz”, referring to Grant Achatz of Alinea restaurant in Chicago. He does have praise for chef Thomas Keller of the French Laundry, where Achatz once worked and, by his own admission, first acquired his pissy arrogance. Mr. Mariani also has a gripe with Achatz’s partner Nick Kokonas, who he calls, a “burnt-out stock trader”, where co-author Kokonas accuses him within the pages of Archatz’s memoir life, on the line of deliberately writing on, and then stealing their expensive stainless steel bound wine list, which has been refuted by a few eye-witnesses privy to the encounter.
Take a look at the link to this article in its entirety below:
Culinary Tidbits . . . Alex Beam from The Boston Globe has penned this highly amusing piece, basically a dissenters hope that the Foodie-two-shoes fad is fizzling out. Is it back to KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and other criminal conspiracies against the gastrointestinal tract?
