Omnivore's Dilemma: Part I

     Corn sells for less than it costs to grow. Upon reading this, I was stumped as to why so many farmers are growing corn and continue to grow corn? Pollan made it very clear that corn serves many purposes and can be used in a variety of ways and I understand that many people are making money, as well as benefitting in other ways, from all the corn that is produced. But, consumers don’t seem to be benefitting and farmers simply are not. So, why then? Is there not a more efficient way to handle the market for corn and farming in general? Big businesses like Coca-Cola and McDonalds benefit from the cheap prices of corn. General Mills can turn four cents worth of corn into four dollars worth of cereal. They clearly benefit greatly from it. Farmers only get by on government subsidies and even with them, still struggle to support their own families. If I’m understanding correctly, tax payers shoulder the financial burden of these subsidies. Then, as consumers, tax payers pay marked up prices allowing for great profits by companies such as General Mills. Naylor said, “You can fire me, but you can’t fire my land.” That may be true, but the government could create an incentive for a different crop, much the same way they create an incentive to grow corn. Economics 101: People respond to incentives. If the current system is so economically inefficient, then I can’t understand why the government is not seeking some type of reform. Up to $5 billion a year is spent subsidizing corn by the federal treasury. I don’t know much about politics, but if the government could cut that number by somehow making the market more efficient, then it seems that they would. Polan’s larger point seems to be that our country needs to start to move away from larger farms. And read the way he presents the facts, it seems like an obvious choice. But, there has to be some thinking within the government as to why this system is working. This causes me to wonder about some of the other facts of the situation. Pollan spekas a lot about the market for corn and briefly touches on the profits that major companies can make off of it, but he leaves me wondering more. He often mentions Cargill and their hand in the chain of corn. Prior to this book, I wasn’t familiar with the company. In 2011 they reported revenues of $119.5 billion. They are the largest privately held corporation in the United States, employ 144,000 people and are responsible for 25% of all U.S. grain exports and 22% of the U.S. domestic meat market (All of this is from Wikipedia so read it as you must). Companies like Cargill and General Mills are benefitting tremendously from the current situation. They carry weight in the market and are important to the government. My point is, a huge, long, boring analysis of the numbers could prove that, in the eye of the government, the benefits of the current system outweigh the costs. 

Comensoli's

     Just a short walk from campus, Comensoli’s sits on W. Main waiting to serve up what they call “homestyle Italian cooking” to students and families.

     The dimly lit restaurant allows for seating in the main dining room or on a patio that can be opened up for the summer months. The front wall of the dining room is covered with huge windows that allow a view of the street through open blinds allowing outside light to enter the room. Black tablecloths and black carpet go right along with the lowered lighting. A large red brick wall on one side of the room is home to the few framed pieces of art in the dining room. On the opposite wall, a stained glass flower highlights a brick panel above the host’s stand. No music plays inside Comensoli’s, but the small dining room allows for the dull noise of conversation to cloud the room. The tables in the restaurant are no more than five feet away from their closest neighbor, which makes maneuvering the dining room a tad awkward, but overall not an issue. The small dining room begins to fill up quickly with a dinner crowd around 6:30 and guests may wish to call ahead and reserve a table. As the restaurant becomes more full, the noise level increases, but never reaches a level to disrupt conversation. Depending on where a guest is seated in the restaurant, they can enjoy an obstructed view of the kitchen behind the bar where waiters and waitresses file in and out. This closeness of the kitchen heightens the dining experience by allowing guests easier access to smells that tease them as they wait for their food and the occasional sizzle of the grill to get their appetite going. 

     The wait staff possess a strong knowledge of the menu and provide good overall attention to their guests. They are personable and more than willing to engage patrons in conversation. The number of staff present seemed adequate to tend to a full house and there always seems to be a member of the staff moving from table to table ensuring water glasses never reach empty. 

     Served with six pieces of toasted crostini, the feta bruschetta, an appetizer, comes out in a delicious warm ball of Roma tomatoes, red onion, basil, garlic and feta cheese. The six pieces of toasted crostini seem to be a few too little as there is much more of the feta bruschetta than the crostini can accommodate. The appetizer is probably only good to share between two people, as even with more crostini, the feta bruschetta was not a large serving. The small serving is a trivial issue though because the tomato dominant dish is absolutely wonderful. The combination of red onion and garlic gives the dish a slight spice that is fantastic and the ball the feta bruschetta was served in crumbled perfectly without losing ingredients to be placed atop the toasted crostini.

     Shrimp, ocean clams, tomatoes, scallions and garlic served in fettuccine with a white wine cream sauce make up the frutta di mare. The shrimp is a little tough and guests looking for a dish loaded with shrimp and clam should choose a different option. Although there is not a ton of ocean clam in the dish, the pieces there are combine beautifully with the fettuccine and white wine sauce for a combination of delicious flavors. The white wine sauce is the best part of the dish. It provides a great, thick flavor to everything it comes in contact with. The bread served with entrees is a tad bland, but dipped in the white wine sauce, it is delicious. In fact, the bread smothered in wine sauce is a better combination than the pasta with the sauce. By the end of the meal, guests may find themselves pushing the fettuccine aside to easier access the sauce with their bread. The serving size was not unbearable, but large enough. Guests should leave the table full and satisfied. 

     Comensoli’s allows for an affordable dining experience even with a college budget. The appetizers on the menu are all right around $6 with none of them reaching over $10. All of their entrees range from about $11 to $16. Along with various pasta dishes, the menu has “dinner specialities” consisting of a few chicken dishes, veal, salmon and steak. On any given night, Comensoli’s provides a special not found on the menu. They also offer guests the opportunity to make their own pasta dish by choosing the type of pasta, sauce and meat. Contained in the dining room, Comensoli’s has a small bar that could seat five or six people. Their drink menu has 38 different martinis as well as a small selection of beer. They have a variety of bottles of both red and white wine that average around $30 per bottle. For guests looking for a little more quality though, the restaurant offers a few bottles that cost upward of $100 per bottle. Comensoli’s does not offer a dessert menu.

     Despite the toughness of the shrimp and too few pieces of toasted crostini, Comensoli’s gives guests nothing to truly complain about. They provide a hearty, delicious meal at affordable prices and employ a friendly wait staff with complete knowledge of the menu. The atmosphere is comfortable and friendly to families and intimate enough for a date. Comensoli’s is not top of the line dining. But, for someone not seeking the best of the best, Comensoli’s is a great place to dine. 

pre-Comensoli's

I spent a lot of time thinking about where to go for my restaurant critique and have changed my mind multiple times. I finally settled on Comensoli’s, an Italian restuarant on West Main. I decided to take advantage of the critique to try a food I had never had before. So I looked at menus online for a handful of restaurants trying to find a new exciting dish. I’ve decided to go with a pasta dish with shrimp and ocean clams. I’ve never tasted shrimp or clams before. Part of me is excited to try it and another part of me is worried. I hope I don’t taste it and hate it. I’m worried if I don’t like it then I’ll have a tough time writing a review about it. I am very excited to try Comensoli’s though. It’s such a short walk from campus and I’ve always wondered what the inside of the little building was like when I drive by it on my way to campus. Plus my girlfriend is a big fan of Italian food and we’ve been talking about going there for awhile. I don’t really know what to expect when I arrive at the restaurant. I’ve never put this much thought into going out to eat. It’s usually just pick a place and go, but now I’m thinking about what the chairs will be like, what the wait staff will be like and what decorations will be hanging on the wall. This is going to be a dining experience unlike any I’ve had in my life. I just hope that in a rush to take as many notes as I can that I do not neglect the food and give it my full attention when it is on the table in front of me. I’m planning to take as many notes as I can about the environment while I’m waiting for my food and then put my notebook down and not write until after I finish my meal. I feel like I’m going to write an unnecessary amount of notes in fear of forgetting or missing something. It’s kind of weird to have fears about going out to eat, but there are a lot of things on my mind about this meal. Most importantly though, I’m just excited to try a new food. This class has made me want to stretch my food boundaries and this assignment is the perfect opportunity to do it. If people can eat cobra’s heart and rats, I figure it’s about time I tasted shrimp.

CYOA: Tweeting Chefs

We live in a world dominated by technology. Social media has effected the way a lot of people live their lives. People everyday spend hours on Facebook and Twitter. The internet serves as a medium for people to connect and share opinions with others all over the world. Smartphones have made that even easier. Twitter has become very popular in recent years and professions of all types utilize its ability to reach many people. Chefs are among the people who have taken to Twitter. Twitter allows chefs to post dinners at their restaurants, share their own meals, interact with customers and offer specials only available via twitter. In Matt’s presentation we saw how food trucks use twitter to alert their followers of their location. But what is the draw to chefs of immobile restaurants? I looked for a chef that tweets while cooking and couldn’t seem to find an example, but how long until we see tweets from chefs about food going into the oven? At this years Pro Bowl, the NFL allowed players to tweet from the sidelines, would you like it if a chef tweeted live from the kitchen? I guess my overall question is how has social networking effected the restaurant business and do you think twitter has a place in the kitchen?

@foodies: peek into my kitchen

15 most followed Chefs

Food Critics

I need to make sure to do the readings on a full stomach from now on. Hearing about all these restaurants got me pretty damn hungry. I really enjoyed Sifton’s writing and his attention to detail in every aspect of the writing. Sifton allowed a snapshot to form in my head of each restaurant: the tables, the decorations, music, other guests, wait staff, chef and most importantly the food. When he loved a dish, I loved it. He was able to talk about something I knew nothing about and make me desire it. I feel like critiquing the atmosphere of a restaurant is almost as important as critiquing the food. It’s something we keep coming back in discussion, the idea of the whole dining experience. What other factors, outside of taste, contribute to a great meal? Sifton allowed his readers to see and understand every aspect of a restaurant. Both Gold and Simon seemed to get at this point as well, however, I think Sifton did it best. As restaurant-goers, people want to know about the food, but they’re also interested in the building, noise, service and who is cooking the food. Another thing I really enjoyed in Sifton’s pieces was the simplicity of his language. He came straight out and painted a clear picture. I found Gold’s pieces to be a little more complex and found myself losing interest at points. He did make me want Chinese food though. I enjoyed the bit of humor in Gold’s pieces as well. The little comments about Panda Express and Taco Tuesdays made his writing humorous and relatable. I thought Gael Greene’s letter provided a good idea of what it takes to be a food critic. To some, being a food critic sounds easy. Go to a restaurant, eat and write down if you liked it or not. No problem. But Gael Greene presents some of the tougher points in a food critic’s job. For one, you don’t make much money and it takes awhile to acquire the professional tastes of a good critic. You must be willing to experiment all different types of foods and experiment with some of your own cooking in the kitchen. The snippet about language was something that never really occurred to me. Critics must be able to at least understand a menu in a few different languages. Simon seems intense. The way in which he analyzes everything, sniffing his bread and judging the mood of the waitress, is very interesting though. Did anyone else wonder if he spilled that cup of water on purpose just to see the reaction of the waitress? Being on the wait staff and knowing a big critic is there must be nerve racking. I’m sure if one of these people walks in a restaurant (and can be recognized) that everyone in the back and on the staff is told of their arrival. I would imagine that other guest’s experiences may even be diminished because staffs must pay so close attention to food critics, in fear of a bad review.

Day at Comerica (final)

     “Ice cold pop! ice cold water!”

     “Do you want something to drink?” I turned to my girlfriend, Karianne.

     Two outs later we climbed the stairs to the main concourse. I always do my best to wait until a stop in action to make my way up toward the food even though I know I will still miss something. The concourse has a way of trapping you in its never-ending circle of intriguing smells and menus. 

For Karianne, it’s always an easy choice. We headed straight for Little Caesars’ to put more money in Mike Ilitch’s pocket (Although, after the Prince Fielder signing I’m a little more willing to throw Mr. Illitch some of my dollars). I still can’t figure out how a Little Caesars’ pizza costs $5.30 on the street and a single slice costs $5.50 inside the ballpark. To be fair, I guess they do sell deep-dish slices inside Comerica so I should be comparing the $5.50 slice to something more like a $6.50 pizza. Either way you spin it, it’s thievery. Karianne loves her pizza though. The thick square piece of melted cheese and marinara sauce did attract my attention for a brief moment, but I knew I could steal some bites of hers and that would suffice.

     Personal pizza box in hand, we continued on to find something to satisfy my hunger. As we walked along the concrete path, cutting into any empty space we could in an attempt to find the fastest lane, the sweet smell of roasted almonds drifted into my nostrils. My speed slowed as we passed the white-topped booth distributing the nuts. Every time I’m here I go through an internal battle on whether or not to get a bag of the delectable nuts. Their smell is infatuating (someone should make a candle that smells like roasted almonds), but I know they won’t fully satisfy my growling stomach, so I carried on just thankful for the free smells.

     Stopped in a line a few hundred feet down, I could see the game had started up again. No runners on base, my attention turned to the menu next to the monitor. We got in line for pop, but I always have to look just in case something catches my eye. Classic ballpark food: hot dogs, nachos, pretzels, ice cream, fries and pop. “Ooo those look good,” Karianne pointed at a guy walking away from the register carrying a cup of fries. She may have been pretending like we were only in line for pop, but I know the two of us and I figured we would be walking away from the register with fries. The line shrunk in front of us until we finally reached the front. I was happy I passed on the almonds when the woman at the cash register told me my total, “$8.00.” Robbery.

     We snacked on the fries as we maneuvered our way through the mob along the concourse. I had my head on a swivel scanning for possible food options. A small cart selling a special nacho supreme fascinated me. A person sitting close to us had been enjoying an order in the first inning and they did look delicious. Tortilla chips holding the weight of melted cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, ground beef, black olives, onions and salsa. Seems more like a sit down meal to me though, too messy for my plastic green seat, we continued on. 

     Through its glass doors I could that Leo’s Coney Island was too packed to go in and I can’t figure out why. Who would sit down at a Coney Island at a baseball game? Like most of the other fans in Comerica, I grew up in a Detroit suburb, too. I spent many Friday nights in high school eating a chicken finger pita at my local Leo’s, but during a ball game? It’s absurd. I’m down with stepping up to the concourse to snag some food if it means missing an inning, but sitting down at a restaurant inside a ballpark you paid $50 to get into just seems stupid to me. Sell your ticket, stay home and go to Leo’s with the money you just made.

     We stopped to look at thick grilled bratwurst and another cart selling chicken tenders, but I could not settle. Karianne began to get annoyed with me, “Just pick something!” If only it were that easy. Having seen almost everything, I knew I would have to decide soon. I had one more spot in mind to look at though. 

     I peeked down an aisle way where I could get a glimpse of the massive scoreboard towering in left-field. The Tigers were just coming up to bat and had not given up any runs in their defensive half. Happy about that, we slipped into the Big Cat food court. To enter we had to pass by yet another white topped booth exuding the intoxicating smell of roasted almonds. Karianne saw me looking, “Just get some. I’ll pay for it.”

     “No no,” I shook my head and continued moving. The circular area off the main concourse had restaurants around the entire perimeter and was highlighted by the large merry-go-round in the center with children riding on Tigers in various poses. We strolled around the perimeter, gazing upon the menu options. Elephant ears, cotton candy, frozen lemonade, chicken tenders. I stopped at one counter, staring at the white board menu. Chicago style hot dogs. The pickle spear, sweet relish, peppers and mustard looked divine smothering the hot dog snuggled inside the poppy seed bun. My mind was clouded with uncertainty. Surrounded by so much food, a decision seemed almost impossible. 

     Finally, I realized what I really wanted. I walked away and got at the end of the Tigers’ Grill line. Karianne rolled her eyes, “Weren’t we already here?” It was true, I had passed around thirty Tigers’ Grills and already had my pockets robbed by one for fries and pop. “Two hot dogs please,” I said when I made it to the front a short time later.

     I grabbed my dogs and made my way toward another much shorter line for condiments. Just relish on one, mustard and relish on the other. It took me 20 minutes to finally settle on something I knew I had wanted the entire time. It’s tough to turn down something you love in favor of something new. Tough for some of us at least, “Can we please go sit down now? I’m dying to eat this pizza.”

Secret Ingredients

Probably like most of you, I was excited to read more of Anthony Bourdain’s writing. I purposefully saved his for last, hoping to make my last ten pages as interesting as possible. He did not disappoint. One of the things I love about Bourdain is that he tells it like it is. He doesn’t sugar-coat. I loved how he came right out and admitted faults in health codes. Bourdain is not afraid to say that kitchens don’t run quite how the public thinks they do. The “save for well done” meat interested me as well. After reading his piece, it made sense to me that things like that go on in restaurants, but I’d never really thought about what goes on behind the kitchen doors. A restaurant is a business so obviously they’re going to try and maximize profits. Sometimes that means sending returned-bread right back out. Bourdain paints cooks as aggressive natured people with, of course, strong opinions about food. So if they think you’re disrespecting a dish, say by ordering it well-done, then it’s not too surprising that they choose their worst cut of meat for you. It’s almost kind of funny. 

I found Julia, in the “Good Cooking” piece, to be a very likable person. I especially liked how she was not afraid of things going wrong and just rolled with punches, seeming to almost like when something out of the ordinary happened so she could use it as a teaching point. I thought the part about her only getting upset once because a cameraman turned his camera off when a fire broke out to be quite humorous. She seemed to have a genuine interest in teaching the public everything she knew about cooking and really making her audience better cooks. I think that is a very respectable trait for someone in her position.

Although only a minor piece in the writing, I thought the issue of convenience food taking over was noteworthy. It seems to be a recurring theme throughout a lot of our reading and it really seems to be true. More people seem to rely on fast food or microwaves more often than cooking their own meals. I never put much thought into it prior to this class, but now I especially want to learn to be at least an adequate cook so that I can always eat fresher, overall better food.