UPDATE: Disaronno Gourmand Photo Upload

As promised, a picture of the sauteed chicken in a cumin-curry sauce, with a side of pickles.

Disaronno Gourmand: Breakfast Edition

The menu: sauteed chicken in a cumin-curry sauce, with a side of pickles. Nothing says breakfast like sauteed chicken in a cumin-curry sauce, with a side of pickles.

Pictures are forthcoming in a separate post to get us up to 100 this month.

The Dinner of Champions

1/2 order of pad thai
1 tsp pesto sauce
2 slices of habanero cheddar cheese
2 pinches of Parmesan cheese
1 slice of ham
1/2 cup blueberry yogurt smoothie
1/2 cup orange juice

Mix well and serve.

Take it to the limit one more time!

DiSaronno Gourmet: Bamburger background

I learned the concept of burying cheese treasure in a burger patty a few years ago from a random cookbook. Turns out this is the defining element of a south Minneapolis delicacy known as the Juicy Lucy. It's a favorite of the geniuses behind Grocery Eats, which is the site that inspired me to start fucking with food and taking pictures.

Behold the motherfuckin sandwich


The Bamburger in its complete form will be made from the ground meat of several animals with this level of cheese inside and a full skin of thick-cut slab bacon. it'll happen this weekend, rain or shine

DiSaronno Gourmet: the (half) Bamburger

The little burger that could, (half of) a tough bacon shell with a heart of gold:



This was just a dry run in that the Bamburger did not have its full shell of bacon, but its heart of cheddar was there. An interesting (and inspiring) fact is that the bacon literally fused to the ground beef. That's right, the tough skin fused to the muscle; who would have thought?




End result: delicious.

DiSaronno Gourmet: Onion Confit

This recipe is from Thomas Keller's book Bouchon, which includes a lot of standard (gourmet) french bistro recipes. "Confit" means cooked in fat, usually over low heat for a long time. Onion confit is onions cooked in a shitload of butter and herbal for 2 hours, until it is soft, sweet, perfection.

Onion Confit
-2 or 3 large spanish onions
-8 Tblsp butter
-1/4 c. water
-1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
-8 sprigs thyme
-2 sprigs italian parsley
-2 bay leaves
-1/2 tsp black peppercorns
-the leaves from 1 leek (optional)



To prep the onions, cut the ends off of each. Rest an onion on the cut end and slice it in half.  Peel off the skin. Make two cuts to form a triangle around the center core bit and remove it.

One at a time lay the onion halves flat. Cut into strips by following the lines that run down the onion, trying to slice towards the center and rotating the onion as necessary so as not to cut yeself.


damn. look at that knife work.

After you've got your onions chopped you need to assemble the bouquet garni, which is french for "flavor country." Take a few leaves from the leek and lay them out, fill with the thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and peppercorns.



Wrap with another leaf and tie with kitchen twine. You can forego the wrapping business and just throw all the herbs in the pot loose. It just means a little more work later because you're going to have to pick them out of the onions when they're done.

Heat up the water in a good-sized pot over medium-low heat. Add the butter, cut into chunks, whisk lightly til melted. Add the onions, bouquet (or loose herbs), and salt. mix it well.



turn the heat very low and cover so that just a little bit of space remains for steam to escape. cook for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so. it'll simmer but shouldn't brown... if it's drying out too fast, add some water.... if it's got too much liquid when you're getting close to 2 hours, turn up the heat to medium and remove the lid completely.

the onions will be golden and softer than butter when the liquid is completely reduced. it looks like this:


remove the herbs and peppercorns (they'll have fallen out, this is a pain in the ass but it is doubly miserable to bite into one). You can store it up to a week in the fridge, use it with potatoes and on sandwiches. I'm going to use it as the base for a serious french onion soup that takes like 2 days to make, if DBlog is still around i'll post some results.

Hilary Clinton: pissing in the well from which she drinks

Who is a vote-grubbing hypocrite? This lady.

In other news, buy Burger King stock. It will make you feel better than eating a Quad Stacker and four Spicy Chicken Crisps. Plus, it's probably cheaper.

Restaurant Review - Pianos

If you ask Mark Gastieneau about his first eating experience at Pianos, his eyes will likely go misty as he stares off into the distance and relives the first bite of that $5 happy hour burger he ever had. If you pry even further and inquire about the nachos, the calamari and the drink specials, he may break down into tears of joy trying to explain to you the joy he feels for this establishment only partially known for eating.




And so would I.





Timed perfectly to open for a casually late brunch (read: you cannot last any longer, are waiting outside at 2:55PM and considering getting a taco at San Loco to hold you over), the 4 hour happy hour remains one of my favorite choices for daylight dining. What's good here? Let's see... the shots (and bottles) of gin, the disaronno, the big juicy burgers, the nachos (with or without chicken), the calamari, the coffee, the gooey blender drinx, the friendship, the magic, the love, the everything.


Pianos: You're going to like the way it treats you. I guaranfuckingtee that.

DiSaronno Gourmet: Baby Octopus with Mixed Hot Peppers

I cooked this and it was delicious.