I consider Saigon to be one of the most underrated restaurants in Portland. We are lucky to have two excellent Vietnamese restaurants in Portland (Saigon & Thanh Thanh II). I am especially appreciative of their willingness to prepare things spicy when I order 4 or 5 stars. While I am asked if I am sure that I want that many stars, they deliver what I ask. This is in sharp contrast to the Chinese restaurants in town where the server does not bother to ask if I am sure and the food comes with little or no heat! Yes, I have been to every Chinese restaurant in Portland. The only exception is the long closed Hu Shang.
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/259/1515286/restaurant/Saigon-Restaurant-Portland"><img alt="Saigon Restaurant on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1515286/biglink.gif" style="border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
How Do You Say?
The Top 10 Most Frequently Mispronounced Foods
by Kemp Minifie
on 02/06/13 at 05:00 PM
What are the most frequently mispronounced foods in restaurants? Not surprisingly, this is a popular topic online. Chefs and waiters must howl with laughter back in the kitchen over diners' garbled attempts at sounding out the unfamiliar words on menus. To be fair though, chefs and waiters aren't always poster kids for proper pronunciation either, especially if they're cooking a cuisine that's not native to their heritage.
eat24, an online restaurant food delivery website that covers many cities across the country, prides itself on preventing the possible embarrassment of foreign language-challenged individuals with the mere click of a mouse, but it compiled its own list of mispronunciations anyway, as a service for those who do venture into a brick and mortar restaurant. The list confirms America's continuing love affair with Italian, and the increasing popularity of Mexican, Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian, and South American food. Counting down:
10. bruschetta: (broo-sket-tah, not broo-shedda)
It has nothing to do with a brush. Given the enormous quantities of Italian food Americans consume, why haven't we learned to speak a little Italian? The "ch" in Italian words gets the "k" sound. Meanwhile, "ci" or "ce" gets the soft "ch" sound. So ceci, the Italian word for chickpea, is pronounced che-chee. Got it?
9. gnocchi: (nyawk-kee, not ga-nachee)
Calling it potato pasta doesn't sound nearly as sexy.
8. espresso: (e-spres-oh, not ex-presso)
Express your love over a cup of espresso.
7. chipotle: (chi-poht-ley, not chi-pottel)
It's a mystery to me why this insanely popular smoked dried jalapeno, which is the namesake of a huge chain of fast-food restaurants, still befuddles its fans.
6. beignet: (ben-yay, not beg-net)
Anyone who's been to New Orleans shouldn't make this mistake.
5. sriracha: Eat 24 maintains it's shree-ra-cha, according to the official Sriracha website (I didn't find the pronunciation there), but The New York Times says it's SIR-rotch-ah, and they interviewed the operations manager, as well as the founder of its manufacturer, Huy Fong Foods. I'm siding with The New York Times on this one.
4. quinoa: (keen-wah, not kwin-no-a)
It may be the hip hot pseudo-grain from the Andes, but too many people still butcher its name.
3. gyro: (yee-row or zheer-oh, but not ji-ro)
If you remember it rhymes with hero, you'll never make that mistake again.
2. quesadilla (key-suh-dee-uh, not kwes-ah-dilla)
You've eaten enough of these to get it right from now on.
1. pho: (fuh, not fo)
Sadly, this one-syllable word sounds more like a grunt, and doesn't begin to convey how complexly wonderful a bowl of pho can be!
So what would you add to this list?
Friday, February 22, 2013
Chinese restaurant menus. Same old, Same old.
Menus in Chinese restaurants in USA never change. Twelve new dishes that restaurants could be urged to serve.
For example: Taiwanese Salt & Pepper Fried Chicken
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/dishes-you-should-beg-your-local-chinese-restaurant-to-se
Monday, February 18, 2013
French vs Regular Lentils
How Do French Lentils Differ from Regular Ones?
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Those small French green lentils, the ones known as lentilles du Puy—how do they differ from the standard brown or green lentils? Recent talk on Chowhound broke it down.
French lentils take less time to cook and retain their shape better than ordinary lentils, blinknoodlesays. There's also a subtle flavor difference: French lentils have a slightly flinty taste, earthy with a slight mineral edge.
Thanks to their firmer texture, French lentils are perfect for salads, like this one from CHOW (pictured). Sherri makes a lentil salad with green onions, parsley, diced or grated carrots, and toasted walnuts, dressed with walnut oil and sherry vinegar.
French green lentils are good in soups, like the one with vegetables and bacon that mwk makes. And they're a natural in hearty dishes like petit salé, a farmhouse stew of lentils simmered with ham hocks, sausages, and aromatic vegetables.
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