SIASOM

A Moveable Feast

Outstanding in the Field is a moveable feast.  The crew put on dinners in parks, on farms, and on beaches around the coutnry.  Their mission is "to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it".  The dinners are always made with locally grown, raised, or produced foods.  You pay in advance and there are no set menus; the chefs decide what to prepare from what is fresh and available.  The point of these events is to put the farmers that grow the ingredients front and center with the chefs that prepare them.  Instead of food being trucked to diners, diners are brought to the places where the food originates. 

This is an event that I hope to attend when and if I find a time and place that I can make.  These dinners have several things going for them.  First, we all know that food tastes better outside.  I've never quite figured out why.  Personally I of course enjoy being outside so it would naturally follow that any activity that can be done inside or outside would usually be better outside.  Eating, reading, and having sex, for example.  Second, environment and atmosphere significantly add to the enjoyment of meal.  Think about your favorite high-end restaurant.  Third, there's no substitute for freshness in food.  It's one of my favorite "nesses".  When you're used to eating food that's been pre-processed, preserved, trucked in,  or frozen, a meal prepared with fresh ingredients is like pedaling your bike down the street in 1885 thinking how much faster it is than walking, only to be blown away by some guy who had an engine on his two wheels. 

When you put that together with eating the food so close to where it was produced and you've got all the makings of a great experience.  They've been at it now for six seasons and appear to be going strong. 
Jim Deneven, the person that started this, is also very interesting - a former model and a part-time sand sculptor, he worked as a chef for several years at a restaurant in California.  While at that restaurant, Gabriella Cafe, he started inviting local farmers to preside over dinners and talk about the food they had a hand in.  It grew from there into a traveling bus tour of the country. 

You can see Jim's sand art at his website here.  There are great examples of finding art on the beach.  The idea that it washes away at high tide is very Buddhist.   

Check out Jim's appearances, and if you get to one of his dinners, let me know how it went!

Here are few other shots of dinners and Jim's art:

Sea Cave dinner, California

Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Jim's Art:

Mexican Liquors

Here at SIASOM headquarter, tequila is the preferred liquor.  I appreciate the land it's made in and the plant it's made from.  And it's the only liquor I will shoot.  But it's at its best when it's served in a margarita or straight.  A good anejo sipped like brandy is a great drink.  The LA Times has a list of some of the lesser-known Mexican liquors. 

I Like Mine With Lettuce and Tomato

Americans like lists.  Top 10 this, Top 5 that.  Most admired, most beautiful, most unusual, biggest, worst.  I can't say I'm any different.  When you lead a busy life, which many people do, it's helpful to have some things capsulized.  It's convenient and efficient.  On the other hand it's not always reliable.  Lists are often subjective.  You find many more like "Most Unusual Smell" than you do measurable things, like "Tallest Miniature Horse". 

At the top of my list of favorite lists is any "Best Hamburger" list.  If any food lends itself to a Best Of, it's the burger.  It's a food most of us understand, it's served in a lot of places, and it can be everything from an overcooked lump in a stale bun to a sublime, complex experience.  At its heart it's just ground beef on a bun, which as legend has it goes all the way back to the days of Genghis Khan more that 800 years ago.  Seems he and his posse riding the countryside on horseback - no doubt with "Hummer" branded across the rear - it was not easy to stop and build a fire for their meal.  The army needed food that could be carried with them on their horses and eaten easily, so they would put scraps of meat under their saddles to tenderize while they rode.  When they got hungry the would eat the meat raw.   They wouldn't even add some capers, onions, and chopped parsley and make a good tartare.  These guys were tough.

Here is one of many lists out there.  Your town probably has its own.  I took notice to this one because it purports to be a national list, and it put a restaurant not too far from my neighborhood as Number 1.  I haven't been to Le Tub, and I've heard good and not-so-good, so I plan to experience it myself and see what it's all about.  This list comes from GQ magazine:

The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die

20. Hamburger Sandwich
Louis' Lunch
New Haven, CT 

19. Our Famous Burger
Sidetrack Bar and Grill
Ypsilanti, MI

18. Hamburger
Poag Mahone's Carvery and Ale House
Chicago

17. Double Bacon Deluxe with Cheese
Red Mill Burgers
Seattle

16. Hamburger & Fries
Burger Joint
San Francisco

15. Build Your Own Burger
The Counter
Santa Monica 

14. Hamburger
J. G. Melon
New York City

13. Cheeseburger
White Manna
Hackensack, NJ

12. Hamburger
Bobcat Bite
Sante Fe

11. Grilled Bistro Burger
Bistro Don Giovanni
Napa, CA

10. Number Five
Keller's Drive-in
Dallas

9. Cheeseburger
Burger Joint, Le Parker Meridien Hotel
New York City 

8. Hamburger
Miller's Bar
Dearborn, MI

7. Buckhorn Burger
Buckhorn
San Antonio, NM

6. California Burger
Houston's
Santa Monica

5. Kobe Sliders
Barclay Prime
Philadelphia

4. Rouge Burger
Rouge
Philadelphia 

3. Not Just a Burger
Spiced Pear Restaurant at the Chanler Hotel
Newport, RI

2. Luger Burger
Peter Luger Steak House
Brooklyn

1. Sirloin Burger
Le Tub
Hollywood, FL

And I have to appreciate a blog dedicated to the burger.  I first starting reading these guys' blog a few months ago, and like to check in on it every couple weeks to keep expanding my burger-related knowledge in tune.  Checking out A Hamburger Today is a great jumping off point into the world of all things ground up, cooked, and put on a bun.  They also have more links to "Tops" list for burgers.

I have to leave now.  There's a hot grill getting very lonely.

Grill Marks

Memorial Day Weekend is coming up which means grillin' time kicks into high hear.  It's the best cooking method - and probably the oldest - that simply does magic to food.  Any of us who've happily sweated in front of the grills knows that for meat or vegetables, grilling adds a flavor and texture to the food unlike anything else.  When I used to live in an unnamed state that suffered through cold winters, I would still fire up my Broil Mate and throw on some chicken, corn, or whatever else wasn't past it's expiration date.  If I went to a tennis match, watched Davydenko defeat Fish, caught the winners sweatband after he tossed it into the crowd, took it home, used it to wax my car, then put it on the grill with some thyme and rosemary, and put it on a grilled bun, I would probably still eat it.

Personally, I'll settle for the Fire Magic Monarch with Side Burner and Rotisserie (go here to purchase it - call me and I'll give you the address you can send it to).  It's 95,000 BTU's of gourmet glory.  It'll grill up just about anything you can throw at it, it'll keep you warm in the winter time, it will pick your kids up from school, it will read your palms, it will make you popular.  Hell, it might become one of your best friends.

It's also very helpful to have sites like grillsdirect.com.  I mean, a site dedicated to nothing but grills?  They've got grills, smokers, even a section just for turkey fryers. 

Do me a favor.  Once you've made your purchase there, go here and make another purchase.   You're ready for summer.  You can thank me later.  By the way, I like A1 on my sweatbands.

Beats a Meat Helmet

What do you do when you find yourself with 21 pounds of ground beef sitting in your refrigeratory?  You could make a meatloaf for the neighborhood.  You could bait the cougar traps in your backyard.  You could create your chapeau.  You could boil up 6 boxes of spaghetti, add tomato sauce of your choice, and top it all with one 21 pound meatball, and Parmesan.  These guys went the easy way.  They grilled up one big cheeseburger and set the home video to a soundtrack. 

I got a chuckle on the pullback shot  on the side-by-side with a regular size burger.  I also got hungry.