On Matzo Brei

http://luckypeach.com/a-lesson-in-the-passover-pancake/

Snapshot Capsule: American Fried

School yourself in ecstatically funny food writing. Calvin Trillin, longtime humorist, food writer, and New Yorker columnist collects essays here on barbecue, phoney French restaurants, the best hamburgers of the Midwest, the crawfish festival of Breaux Bridge, and how to diet down while owning a venerable pizza chain. Recommended. From 1974.

Bento

via Lucky Peach

Bellegarde Bakery, New Orleans

After hearing much from my old friend Alex Ruch about Bellegarde Bakery of New Orleans, I was finally able to visit to watch him bake and even help out one morning.  A polymath and Duke Lit alumnus, Alex works part-time for Bellegarde when not professing at Tulane. Bellegarde's breads were inspiring, much in part due to the vision and zeal of owner Graison Gill.  Graison has to be one of the most principled, intense bakers I have ever met.  Read his statement of philosophy on their website, and you will get a small impression of his focus and drive.  He is currently milling two varieties of wheat on site.  It was a thrill to hold just-milled soft fine wheat, still warm from the grinding stones.

Alex loading the hearth oven

Alex cutting epis

Those baguettes doe

beignet frying at cafe du monde

I got to speak briefly with this beignet baker - he had true skills

HB2 Mechanations

Nice summation of the issues surrounding the recent HB2 cluster from Fresh Air's Dave Davies and PR Watch's Lisa Graves:

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/06/473244707/from-fracking-bans-to-paid-sick-leave-how-states-are-overruling-local-laws

Barred Lists

Sample Barred List - Beware Crazy Jerry!

Every bar, restuarant, or other service establishment has a "barred list", and we are no different.  There are various Downtown panhandlers that have hassled or stolen from us and our customers and are no longer served (also know as 86'ed).  At the top of our barred list right now is this man, Lindsey Williams, owner of Ninth Street Coffeehouse in Durham (no relation to the Bakery):

Lindsey was an erratic payer of his invoices for breakfast pastry, and then stopped paying entirely.  I would not recommend patronizing his store, and if you are a vendor, caveat emptor!