THE CEREAL PROCESS / Why you may not want to feel your oats
By Larry Sheingold – Modern life is full of why-didn’t-I-know-that moments, part of what Donna Leon calls “living in a world in constant discovery of its own ignorance.” Even at my age, I concede that unexpected revelations may still await. Will I someday learn why an... Read More
ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT / a look at “clean label” techniques to disguise your “natural” turkey
By Larry Sheingold – Any way you slice it, they’re all the same. That’s how I regarded processed deli meats. To me, they all share similar unsavory traits – like salt, preservatives, nitrites and other questionable additives. But Oscar Mayer set out a while ago... Read More
THE IMMORTAL CAKE / do those “sell by” and “use by” dates have any real meaning?
By Larry Sheingold – Most everyone loves a young child’s birthday party. Cake. Candles. Celebration. But how would you feel if the cake’s ingredients were the same age as the toddler? Can’t envision using a cake mix that’s turning two years old? Then perhaps you... Read More
CAN RESTAURANTS SURVIVE IN THE PROCESSED FOODS ERA? / part two of three
By Larry Sheingold – “Devour food that’s good for you, the same way you devour food that is not good for you.” That’s the ad copy for a recent Panera Bread TV campaign – and the core of the restaurant chain’s marketing strategy for surviving the Corporately... Read More
CMT / what it is and why it’s a more immediate concern than GMO – part one of three
By Larry Sheingold – Are you OK with frog DNA in your corn chowder? Provocative topic no doubt, especially for vegans, but no less compelling than: are we regularly eating the food equivalent of lead paint? Extreme? Perhaps. But those were the kinds of... Read More
TURNING DOWN THE VOLUME ON INTERNET REVIEWS / when restaurant patrons get it wrong online
By Larry Sheingold – I’m at Alfred’s Steakhouse in San Francisco. Having precisely the dining experience I came for. And wondering about the on-line “real people” reviewers who saw Alfred’s differently. The cult of Internet tastemakers keeps growing. As does... Read More
BAD CHEFS FIGHT BACK / when chefs respond to negative comments
By Larry Sheingold – Chefsfeed.com is an interesting website that deserves a look. It features chefs from around the country making video comments on a host of subjects. What attracted me was “Chefs Read Bad Reviews” – spontaneous reactions to on-line food... Read More
A DISNEYLAND OF INTERNATIONAL FOOD / an I-bet-you-never-tried-one-of-these-before experience
By Larry Sheingold – This is not your grandfather’s childhood neighborhood market. Unless, of course, he was born in Moscow, Jeonju, Athens, Guadalajara, Sidney and Sacramento – all at the same time. Which is improbable. It would take one strong and expeditious... Read More
OLD MEETS NEW IN HISTORIC FOLSOM
By Larry Sheingold – “Old School” sounds dignified. “Hopelessly stuck in the ’60s?” Not so much. Well, dignified or not, I clearly conjured up the wrong picture of Karen’s Bakery and Café in Old Town Folsom from the description: biker hangout. Bikers? You mean Hell’s... Read More
SIDE-BY-SIDE THEY DISTINGUISH THE SACRAMENTO DINING SCENE / Farm-to-table and barbecue
By Larry Sheingold – Sacramento is justifiably proud of its blossoming farm to fork movement. Farmers’ markets are thriving, even in the winter, and more and more local chefs are celebrating their use of locally grown produce. Mother, a vegetarian restaurant... Read More
50 YEARS IN THE MAKING / Taking friends to an untried restaurant
By Larry Sheingold – Scene-setting: We’re in Walnut Creek, 30 minutes east of San Francisco. Meeting old friends. The “haven’t-seen-in-50-years” kind. The unforgettable 8th grade teacher who got you off to the right start in life. The one who still remembers... Read More
REMEMBER: ORIGINAL SIN INVOLVED FOOD / a humorous look at our love affair with the sinful
By Larry Sheingold – It’s a good bet there were apples in the Garden of Eden. (If you can’t trust Genesis, who can you trust)? Without the option of fire for cooking, our earliest ancestors reportedly subsisted solely on raw, plant-based, pesticide-free cuisine.... Read MoreA GRINGO MEETS THE MAN FROM PUEBLO MAGICO / sweet treats in historic Sacramanto
By Larry Sheingold – From the outside, this looks like a typical mom and pop Mexican market. At least I think it does. To be honest, I don’t really know what a typical Mexican market looks like. Or if Panaderia La Jerezana, the bright little store and bakery at... Read More
A TACO TRIBUTE / at Chando’s the good old days are now
By Larry Sheingold – You don’t know how good you have it – a phrase customarily reserved for the walking-to-school-in-the-snow saga. Or for grumbling about the primitive old days of one coffee flavor, three channels and no ringtone options. You know. Those dark... Read MoreEATING IN THE OTHER VEGAS / a pair of out-of-the-way gems
By Larry Sheingold – Some words trigger the same emotional reaction whenever you hear them. Words like death penalty. Dodgers. Rush Limbaugh. Tattoos and piercings. Broccoli. You’re never going to feel differently about them. No explanations needed. No... Read More
KENTUCKY BREAKFASTS / They make a day that’s all wrong look all right
By Larry Sheingold – Mornings in a strange town. The limbo between last night’s excess and today’s agenda. Things may perk up. But right now, it’s a newspaper full of other people’s news and a cup of bland coffee. Unless you are in Louisville, Kentucky. These... Read More
ON THE GO / NAPA VALLEY – Some wonderful restaurant tips amidst the wineries
By Larry Sheingold – It’s easy to find wine tasting opportunities in the Napa Valley. Just ask your chauffer. Or if you’re not on one of those all-you-can-sip, designated-driver, wine limo tours, you can just try glancing out your car window as you drive up... Read MoreBAD EXECUTION RUINS A MEAL
By Larry Sheingold – It changes the dining out experience when you write for a restaurant recommendation website. You go from asking yourself: am I enjoying this restaurant, to: would I encourage others to try it. The answer may not be the same for both... Read More
FEELING MY OATS / funny and serious facts about oatmeal
By Larry Sheingold – This is about oat groats. Not haute groats, which sounds the same but connotes groats more chic than just oats. This is groats vs. grotesque. The difference between one of nature’s perfect foods and the junk food McDonalds and others make... Read More
THE AGE OF COMMENTARYUS / strange happenings from the world of food blogs
By Larry Sheingold – (This is one of an occasional series by Larry Sheingold exploring the world of volunteer internet dining reviews.) With apologies to the musical, Hair. This is the dawning of the Age of Commentaryus. We’ve always had opinions. Always shared... Read More
FUSION WITHOUT CONFUSION / from youthful necessity to Hawaiian sophistication
By Larry Sheingold – I was a fusion food pioneer. Didn’t intend to be. But surviving the 1960’s on dollars a day meant recipes-of-necessity. And that often called for blending culinary cultures. So blend I did. Spaghetti topped with canned chili. Tortillas and... Read More
FED UP – is extreme eating really eating, or fun to watch
By Larry Sheingold – Unless your tastes run to watching rows of drooling contestants go totally Donner Party on heaps of hotdogs, matzo balls, tamales or sticks of butter, you’re probably as fed up with competitive eating exhibitions as I am. A couple... Read More
FALL OFF THE BONE BBQ RIBS – The Detachable Meat Mystery
By Larry Sheingold – This is about falling off. Falling off a log is easy. Falling off the roof is bad. So is falling off the face of the earth, though it’s a longer fall. You can fall off the wagon and the turnip truck, perhaps both in the same day. But falling... Read More
THE FOOD TOURIST
By Larry Sheingold – Food tourism probably dates back centuries to the invention of pocket-sized currency, a giant step that first allowed early travelers to pay for meals with coins instead of chickens or spare relatives. The evolution of dining excursionism... Read MoreONLINE EDIBLES – Spices by Mail
By Larry Sheingold – Can you tell fresh-ground coffee from instant? A supermarket tomato from one perfectly ripened in your garden? Then you will notice instantly that spices from Whole Spice in Petaluma are unlike anything you are likely to get in a store. Who... Read MoreBOMBAY BAR AND GRILL – Restaurant of the Week
By Larry Sheingold – For anyone doubting a review’s influence on local dining choices – and sometimes the success or failure of a restaurant – I offer you Sacramento’s Bombay Bar and Grill, purveyor of Indian cuisine. My wife and I go there often. We like the food,... Read More
MAD MENU DISEASE – What’s afflicting today’s menu writers?
By Larry Sheingold – Hidden behind the kitchen doors of some upscale restaurant near you, a culinary maestro is composing a masterpiece. What sweet harmonies he coaxes from his ingredients. What exquisite presentations. Too bad our chef’s elegant eatery isn’t equally... Read MoreMY MOST MEMORABLE MEAL – SuperDawg in Chicago
(MY MOST MEMORABLE MEAL is an occasional feature at Table Talk atLarrys.com, written by co-hosts of the restaurant web site atLarrys.com) By Larry Sheingold – Most people can remember special meals, those inedible little life moments, as vividly now as the... Read More
TIME TRAVELING IN LOS ANGELES – He took us 150 years in four blocks in San Francisco; Now it’s 90 years in just seconds in L.A.
By Larry Sheingold – There’s a time machine in downtown Los Angeles. It’s called Angels Flight – the world’s shortest railway. This restored relic now travels 90 years in less than a minute. L.A.’s rapid transit between Nouveau and Oldvo. You board in Bunker... Read More
THE ACME OF BAY AREA BREAD MAKING
By Larry Sheingold Imagine his horror if Dr. Robert Atkins, the low carb crusader, saw the loaves on display at Acme Bread Company in the Ferry Building Marketplace on the San Francisco waterfront. Lining the Acme counter is the royal family of high carb society – a... Read MoreUNSEASONED AFFECTIVE DISORDER – Just for Fun
By Larry Sheingold – One thing you’ll notice about atlarrys.com, our sister website that offers restaurant recommendations: if we can’t recommend a place, we don’t write about it. We’re the anti-Fox News of online restaurant analysis. The idea is to let you see... Read More
FOUR BLOCKS AND 150 YEARS OF HISTORY
By Larry Sheingold – All it takes is a short walk in San Francisco’s financial district to find undeniable proof that different generations can possess the same soul. No. It’s not Shirley McClain’s version of reincarnation. She could still be wrong about past... Read More
BEST USE YET FOR PEPPERMINT CANDIES
By Larry Sheingold – We’d need fewer New Year’s resolutions in January if there were fewer Christmas cookies in December. My solution: work this one into the year-round menu as a stand-alone treat and not just part of the pile on the holiday cookie plate. Then... Read MoreHOT BROWN & OTHER INVENTIONS
By Larry Sheingold – You know where to look for a burger. But how about the joint that invented them? Or the places that originated the Cobb salad? Waldorf salad? French dip? Banana’s Foster? Tell you in a minute. For now, let’s talk about the hot brown. Never heard... Read MoreWHY CAN’T I HAVE A MARKET LIKE THIS?
By Larry Sheingold – How can something unique, like Cossetta Italian Market in St. Paul Minnesota be so … unique? Why haven’t restaurateurs across the country, including my town, adopted this winning dining formula? At Cossetta Italian Market everything you... Read More
ONLINE EDIBLES
By Larry Sheingold – Two disclaimers about buying edibles online: 1) it costs more than at a store or restaurant, and 2) individual tastes may vary. That said, sometimes there is no substitute for Internet harvesting, if you know where to look. My main sources... Read MoreHASH HOUSE A GO GO – Restaurant of the Week – 6/28/10
“Ooh-ahh” is the expected reaction to 4th of July fireworks. But you are likely to say the same thing at first sight of Hash House A Go Go’s brown sugar banana pancake – a golden flapjack the size of a monster truck tire, and a lot better tasting. There are two Hash... Read MoreROAMING PIT ROAD – A regional American Barbecue Tour
By Larry Sheingold – We discovered fire a zillion years ago. Then we invented barbecue. And before the first bones were gnawed and discarded, we had BBQ experts. No doubt, those prehistoric trendsetters had their traditional cave food favorites. A zillion years... Read More
Climbing the Stairway to Chocolate Chip Heaven
By Larry Sheingold – Atop the food group pyramid, towering over all those nutritionally redeeming proteins, grains and vegetables, is western civilization’s concession to guilty pleasure. The chocolate chip cookie. And at the most advanced end of the... Read More
Hoppin’ Down the Wienie Trail
By Larry Sheingold This isn’t about finding America’s best hot dog. There isn’t one. Any more than we have a best artist or athlete. But like art, hot dog houses can be guideposts to our culture. Our national identity has a lot of parts – from literature and... Read More
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