tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18403163590172357112011-06-06T18:45:27.766-05:00.noreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-26659840988440592912009-04-16T15:17:00.005-05:002009-04-16T15:24:24.831-05:00

New lunch menu hit the tables today. We had a full tasting on Monday afternoon for staff. Some great new salads, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas, etc. Looking forward to hearing what you think about it. Check out the menu right here.photo by Jeremy Stephenson

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-3008204273660379702009-04-15T20:56:00.002-05:002009-04-15T21:00:21.751-05:00

I cook at home. For my wife, my kids, my angry dog. I DO NOT cook for a living. This past Monday, due to a scheduling snafu, I ended up on a cooking show. Now I am confident making sandwiches and mac and cheese…maybe even a roast chicken, but never in front of people except my family. The thought of cooking “fancier” food in front of cameras, a crew, a cookbook author and an audience? Well

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-4947826692773731562009-01-10T11:41:00.003-06:002009-01-10T11:55:28.923-06:00

Apparently my dog is onto something. Squirrel meat, mmm...Here's a New York Times storyOn page 515 of my 1976 copy of Joy of Cooking there are recipes for squirrel, opossum, porcupine, raccoon. On page 516 you'll find muskrat, woodchuck, beaver, beaver tail and armadillo. Don't forget the creamed celery with the muskrat!

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-18813517517107246812008-11-28T10:12:00.001-06:002008-11-28T10:19:17.315-06:00

Action packed and if you’re sensitive, perhaps a bit aurally offensive. Our five new seats at the kitchen counter give you a close-up look at the “line.” The printer spits out the orders, the expediter yells the calls and the cooks hammer away trying to get the food out. It’s loud, it’s warm, it’s full of the hustle that many of us in the industry find completely addictive. Interact with the

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-6212320483554405682008-11-01T14:08:00.004-05:002008-11-01T14:12:04.346-05:00

Our Sunday brunch buffet is back by popular demand.

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-91963227474487169942008-07-30T13:48:00.006-05:002008-08-26T19:54:49.280-05:00

I’ve been reading a lot about hog farming. A strange hobby, perhaps, for someone coming from suburbia. Clear days playing baseball in my childhood driveway revealed the Sear’s Tower; standing tall above the blurry, gray tops of less noteworthy buildings that composed the Chicago skyline half an hour east. The first of my many college attempts took place in 1988 in Iowa City. During the school

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-25447964355360864872008-07-23T18:05:00.005-05:002008-11-13T13:04:05.960-06:00

We just started selling our pizza dough on the menu a few months ago-it's been moving only occasionally. Because I'd read about pizzerias in the cities selling balls of dough I thought we'd give it a shot. So tonight I brought home a few, rolled them out pretty thin, baked the crust by itself for 4 minutes at 400 on a tray, then pulled it off the tray, lightly dressed it with sauce and mozz, a

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-83588274465344958922008-07-22T10:45:00.003-05:002008-11-13T13:04:06.177-06:00

Basil, a little sage and mainly a nice few minutes away from the kitchen each day.

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-48915635704161029012008-07-10T14:09:00.006-05:002008-11-13T13:04:06.189-06:00

Finally, a look at the important issues. I found a site that covers the candidates' favorite foods.

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-5596970664485452252008-07-10T14:00:00.006-05:002008-11-13T13:04:06.329-06:00

Where's Mary and will there be jello?I grew up attending Lutheran potlucks in an upper middle class suburb of Chicago. I have only dreaded memories of church, sitting still in the hard wooden pews in uncomfortable clothes, listening to the pipe organ, smelling the nasty rosy perfumes and pungent colognes of the old couples around me, quietly dreaming of the day I'd never have to attend church

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-29850864366112095492008-07-07T01:26:00.006-05:002008-11-13T13:04:06.564-06:00

Headmasters salon sits in a beautifully restored home up several well worn steps off the sidewalk just south of 8th on the west side of Vermont. Jim Grimes has owned the salon for years and tended the stunning gardens immediately surrounding the property. An array of flowers and herbs are simply a part of walking this stretch of downtown, and honestly, I never gave it much though until this

.noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-46900483466173630072008-07-05T10:25:00.004-05:002008-11-13T13:04:06.858-06:00

Sunny blue, blue skies, 80 degrees, everyone was on the Tommy Ferrari show day after high...The pig turned out great, the side dishes were fantastic. Salsas, salads, Dave's beans...Pabst Blue Ribbon. Michael and Shawn worked the LaCajaChina like they knew what they were doing the whole time. I was amazed by the thoughtful conversations I overheard some of the cooks having about politics,

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-30141235013588543922008-07-02T13:19:00.002-05:002008-11-13T13:04:07.031-06:00

The owners of the restaurant approved my recent request to close on July 4th. We’ve always been open, catering to the throngs of weirdos who don’t cook out that day, along with a few families with kids who couldn’t hack the riverfront fireworks. This year, however, the fireworks have been moved out to the lake. Authorities cited fears of people falling in the river as well as parking issues

.noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-13221646530458187942008-06-29T14:00:00.005-05:002008-11-13T13:04:07.327-06:00

9:15, we’re off to the beach (definitely not the one pictured above) and the temperature is rising quickly. Ten minutes in and we’re just now past the big stores tucked way behind their massive parking lots, the car dealerships with the loud radio ads and the fast food spots emanating their predictably greasy smells, and the road grows more hilly and curvy as we head southwest. The unseasonably

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-22308146351304916882008-06-29T13:53:00.004-05:002008-11-13T13:04:07.647-06:00

Moustache week was a big success at the restaurant. Michael submitted the photo to the newspaper Friends and Neighbors section, typically reserved for kids and their pets or grandmas and republican politician snapshots, and somehow it was chosen.

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-41858986616316271162008-06-18T13:32:00.004-05:002008-11-13T13:04:07.856-06:00

Lean economic times mean I need to try and make my money go a bit farther each day. So I did a little research and am left feeling a bit ripped off about my daily bread. Sure, I respect Thom Leonard and the staff at Wheatfields, I do. I've sang their praises for a long time now-anyone who knows me knows that. BUT, when I am spending my hard earned money I should be getting as much as I can.

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-21677516631885335812008-05-14T15:35:00.012-05:002008-11-13T13:04:07.981-06:00

I've been thinking about pork alot the last few days. I went to the state championship barbeque cookoff this last weekend here in town with the same feeling I used to have going to a Cubs game as a kid. Once I got there, though, the poorly organized, but worthwhile benefit, that consisted of excruciatingly long lines for minuscule tastes left me feeling like the game had been rained out while

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-30019915139770797292008-05-13T10:24:00.003-05:002008-11-13T13:04:08.192-06:00

The twenty minute taxi race from Vespucci Airport to Hotel Ariston on Via Fiesolana should have taken ten minutes more. No one died. Ample street width not apparently a priority here-the same can be said for side view mirrors. I should have taken another Xanax while we were waiting for our luggage. sidenote…The place we’d stayed on the 2007 trip to NYC featured a bathroom down the hall we

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-50824070038789662072008-04-29T21:50:00.002-05:002008-11-13T13:04:08.376-06:00

Everything is getting more expensive. From wholesale grain costs to anything transported-which is most everything. I came across a great series of articles in the that covers this crisis from a global perspective. Of particular interest to me was the article that discussed wheat. I talked to Thom Leonard of Wheatfield’s Bakery last week about their soaring wholesale flour cost. We’ve seen it

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-79753918118407511332008-04-27T11:14:00.002-05:002008-11-13T13:04:08.590-06:00

Coffee, pipe tobacco, sauerkraut, cigarettes, sausages, Gallo Chablis Blanc, roasted chicken, grilled burgers, steamed hot dogs, pineapple upside down cake, Old Style beer, coffee cake with streusel topping, Manhattan clam chowder, yeasty pizza dough, spaghetti sauce, garlic bread, scotch, Bisquick pancakes and waffles, meatloaf, tuna sandwiches, sardines, the flavor combination of Italian salad

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-2228008721602516932008-04-27T11:06:00.004-05:002008-11-13T13:04:08.675-06:00

I've been longing for a grand trip lately. As the Spring arrives, students finish their school year and my friends make plans for excursions abroad, I'm thinking alot about my journey to Italy last year.By the time we landed in Paris, we knew we were running late for our connection to Florence. Everywhere we looked were signs for gates A, B, C and E, but the gate we needed, D55A, was a mystery.

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-32453960363646533492008-04-08T13:05:00.006-05:002008-04-08T22:19:06.166-05:00

Somewhat upscale Italian dining that lacks plasma screens suffers a bit during March Madness. No theme drinks, no theme pastas, just our regular fare and tiny tube televisons at a neck bending height at the bar. That's OK. I thoroughly enjoyed much of the revelry the last week or so from the window of a well secured downtown building. As much as I consider myself a regular American guy,

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-4969666553257135902008-01-01T14:33:00.000-06:002008-01-01T14:42:20.946-06:00

The new year is here and we're working on some exciting projects at the restaurant. In the next month or so we'll be reinventing our Sunday brunch. We're currently developing and testing recipes, playing with some new ideas to make Sundays an even more extraordinary day to visit. We'll be continuing our support of the Fresh Produce Arts Collective-expect a blowout 3rd floor show in the early

.noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-67801210075749307932007-12-24T11:25:00.000-06:002007-12-24T11:35:44.713-06:00

Another must visit place when in Lawrence...The Bourgeois Pig on E. 9th Street. We had a big snow this past few days and the two places I love to be when the snow hits are Teller's and the Pig. The Pig is a coffee shop and a bar, but more than that it is a community hub. I can't honestly say how many hundreds of hours I have spent at the Pig in my life, but it always feels like you're supposed

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-21472609365428282972007-12-21T00:08:00.000-06:002007-12-21T00:14:25.908-06:00

I visit dozens of food related websites every week. One of my favorites is the New York Times Wednesday Dining and Wine Section. This week they have this obsessive list of 101 appetizers you can make for parties. I wish I got invited to that many parties.Holiday food related shopping stops to make in Lawrence...The Bay LeafWeaver's Department Store (Basement)Wheatfields Bakery and CafeGreat

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-23770955466484658392007-12-16T14:54:00.000-06:002007-12-18T10:41:35.599-06:00

Had an amazing dinner last night at Krause Dining. Salmon caviar on smoked salmon and bilini.Sturgeon caviar with traditional accompaniments.Wasabi caviar on ahi tuna.Hawaiian sugarcane prawnsButter-poached beef tenderloin with sunchoke-potato puree and black truffles.Warm chocolate cake with praline ganache and Frangelico drinking chocolate. Gracious service, beautiful & warm atmosphere, a

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-20623852263701088272007-12-14T01:42:00.001-06:002008-11-13T13:04:14.569-06:00

A few months before we went to Italy we went to NYC and ate at 20 restaurants in 3 days. The true highlights were...PO, Babbo, Casa Mono. Surprising letdowns were the highly rated Esca (we were frowned upon for not ordering a $100 bottle of wine with our lunch!), Fiamma (They tried way too hard to be fancy and missed on some of the basics like food temps, and L'Impero-grandiose style but

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-9756925703240923902007-12-13T09:37:00.000-06:002008-11-13T13:04:14.923-06:00

Michael (the chef) and I were fortunate enough to be sent to Italy this past summer to basically eat, drink and take in the culture. Our mission was to bring back whatever ideas we could to make Teller's a better restaurant. Michael went to culinary school in Florence so that's where we went. We spent a few days there and a few days in Donini hosted by Sandro Benini an opera singing baker and

.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840316359017235711.post-56579942386631852382007-12-13T09:10:00.000-06:002007-12-16T15:06:37.946-06:00

.noreply@blogger.com0