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Skillet Doux
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Yup! Site's not going anywhere. Just me :-)
Movin' On Up...
Whoa, buddy. Hard to believe it's just shy of a decade since my first post on Skillet Doux. I was really looking forward to the 10th anniversary. I figured I'd put up a fun post, have a little celebration, and then announce that I was relaunching the blog and returning to that casual little ...
IG... do not discount the possibility :-)
Spelunking in Tucson
Cheese Tortilla with Guacamole Dominic Armato Oh, the plans I had for a stunning 600x200 pixel vista of the natural wonder of Kartchner Caverns. Sadly, cameras are not allowed therein. And I fear Mi Nidito's cheese crisp is a lame substitute. When the school year starts, our littlest starts a ...
Oh dear, Karen!
I have no such childhood ties to this cuisine, and it makes ME weak in the knees... I can only imagine how you feel :-)
Zaidi's Grill
Beef Haleem Dominic Armato UPDATE : Zaidi's Grill has closed No matter how obsessed with food knowledge you may be, you can't know everything. Heck, if somebody like Jiro can spend an entire lifetime studying the tiniest little niche of one nation's cuisine and still feel like he hasn't learn...
I would LOVE to tour the Bourbon Trail! Sadly, I think the odds of that happening anytime soon are slim to none... but you bet I'll drop you a line if I get out that way :-)
A Good Day
Okay, that's pretty sweet... Dominic Armato I've always said that I write this blog for myself; that I was happy doing it before anybody read it, and I'd keep on doing it if everybody stopped. And that's all true. But over the nearly three years I've been in Phoenix, I've found myself thinking...
'Fraid not, peterme... I never read any others :-) But thanks for the kind words!
Season 10 Announced... And Changes Afoot...
Greetings, all! Well, that was a longer layoff than I expected. But a post is clearly in order because the big news of the day (well... aside from all of the actually important news) is that Top Chef Season 10 has been officially announced, it will be taking place in Seattle, and it premi...
Season 10 Announced... And Changes Afoot...
Greetings, all! Well, that was a longer layoff than I expected. But a post is clearly in order because the big news of the day (well... aside from all of the actually important news) is that Top Chef Season 10 has been officially announced, it will be taking place in... Continue reading
Posted Sep 19, 2012 at Top Chef Power Rankings
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10
Ah, excellent! Thanks, Yao! It looks like you're San Diego-ish based... is this a place you get to with some frequency? I'm really curious to know if this is typical of their omakase, and how different the experience is with Joe and Morita-san.
Kaito Sushi
Sunomono Dominic Armato When it's date night -- and traveling with another couple and their kids affords such a rare opportunity -- one of the easiest meals to sell in our household is sushi. Particularly when on the West Coast. Particularly when there are places with the reputation of Kaito S...
Anon Man... It's true, I'm completely ignorant of the context. I know it's been around a long time, but I really don't know anything of the history, so that angle is completely lost on me.
It's interesting you bring up Superdawg. Foodwise, that's actually a great analogy. There are better hot dogs to be had in Chicago. But it's distinctive and it's been around forever. And part of the Superdawg charm is how *little* it's changed even with the renovations over the years. Is that the case with Hodad's, too?
Hodad's
Hodad's Dominic Armato It is an observable phenomenon that during the summertime, Phoenix restaurants get quiet. Conventional wisdom is that we don't like to eat out during the summer months, but I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. We like to eat out. We just like to do it in other cities. ...
Aaalex... To me, it feels like a lifetime ago.
I miss home.
Can We Talk?
PHXfoodnerds.com Dominic Armato Here's hoping this is the start of something special. I've been in Phoenix for nearly two and a half years, now. And while there's so much exciting food stuff going on, I can't pretend that I haven't had my frustrations as well. Some of them I can't do anything ...
Susie... thanks!
Duly noted for Skillet Doux redesign that was sidelined by this little endeavor :-)
(The photos look so nice on this background! :-)
Can We Talk?
PHXfoodnerds.com Dominic Armato Here's hoping this is the start of something special. I've been in Phoenix for nearly two and a half years, now. And while there's so much exciting food stuff going on, I can't pretend that I haven't had my frustrations as well. Some of them I can't do anything ...
xwave21... Yeah, I know. Phoenix isn't anything like NYC. In NYC, instead of it being like a completely different city with a completely different culture every five miles, it's a completely different city with a completely different culture every five *blocks* :-)
I hear what you're saying. You're not the first person who's told me this. But not only do I not buy it, it's not my experience. You're suggesting that that gulf between me here in Arcadia and somebody down in Gilbert is a chasm so impossibly deep and wide that we can't sit down at a table and get excited about food together? You're telling me in this city of 4.2 million people, we can find a crowd that wants to discuss food in depth? I'm not saying everybody has to agree. That would be flipping boring. All they have to do is care enough to *talk* about it, intelligently and at length. I'm not trying to suggest that the whole city is going to take on a singular food identity. That doesn't happen ANYplace. What I'm saying is that I think there are a lot of people out there who feel the way I do with no outlet to express that passion. I meet more and more of them every month.
You could be right. Time will tell. It's only day one. We seem to be off to a pretty good start. But in the end, the bottom line is that if I'm wrong, I'd rather go down swinging.
Can We Talk?
PHXfoodnerds.com Dominic Armato Here's hoping this is the start of something special. I've been in Phoenix for nearly two and a half years, now. And while there's so much exciting food stuff going on, I can't pretend that I haven't had my frustrations as well. Some of them I can't do anything ...
On the nose, Mike. Z-Grill was the only one for which I could locate a website. Given how that area is, I can't say I'm shocked, exactly, but yeah, it does seem like a stretch with a weirdly low web presence.
The McDowell Project - 44th to 36th
McDowell Dominic Armato It took a while, but we're finally cruising, here. Perhaps more accurately, I'm trying to cram in as much as possible before the kids are out of school for the summer. I'd love to get to Central before the end of the year and I figure I'd better make it to the 20s b...
Aaaaaaaand I may have overreacted as well.
Let there be peace!
Thanks, Ally :-)
The Quarterly Report - Q1 2012
Lobster Roll @ Nocawich Dominic Armato DISCLOSURE: Eliot Wexler, who runs Nocawich, is a friend. He throws food at me. I make up for it in the tip jar, as usual. It's The Quarterly Report, Non-Cranky Edition! In all seriousness, I'd started to worry that TQR was ...
Seriously, Ally?
I did a presentation for Ignite Phoenix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0CEVb-EIP4&feature=plcp&context=C411180fVDvjVQa1PpcFMl1nRQ9Cdb6XThc-m9kphtBbGP13ey-JE=). I thought it would be a cute and fun theme for a five minute presentation. I was hoping to get a good community board going (launched, in private beta at phxfoodnerds.com) so we can get some serious food discussion going in this town rather than all of the fragmented blogs and twitter feeds, etc. where nobody's actually sharing information or learning from each other. The whole point of this thing was to try to get the food discussion OFF of Twitter.
Really? A temporary 56 pixel tall banner at the top with an admittedly silly name trying to get something going for serious community food discussion is the difference between whether or not you feel any of this is worth reading?
I don't know if my traffic is down or up. I don't watch it. I've never given a damn about traffic. You know the kind of talk and discussion I care about. I don't think that's changed here... do you?
The Quarterly Report - Q1 2012
Lobster Roll @ Nocawich Dominic Armato DISCLOSURE: Eliot Wexler, who runs Nocawich, is a friend. He throws food at me. I make up for it in the tip jar, as usual. It's The Quarterly Report, Non-Cranky Edition! In all seriousness, I'd started to worry that TQR was ...
And yet, it works...
Beaver Choice
Gravlax Dominic Armato When it comes to restaurants I feel a great urgency to visit, I have a "short" list, scare quotes highly intentional, since "short" loosely translates to "containing more new restaurants that I can really expect to get to before the end of the year." It's more of a crowd...
LemonGinger, your comment is hilariously well-timed!
I just did a presentation last night and spent about half of it talking about Grace Garden. Go figure :-)
Of COURSE it was a Mandarin/Cantonese problem. Ugh. Oh, well. Thanks for solving the mystery, anyway. Someday I'll have those chiles... someday..... someday.............
The Quest - Wan Chai Market
Wan Chai Market Dominic Armato I found myself with a free morning in Hong Kong, and decided to embark upon a quest. Of course, when I left the hotel, I thought it would be more of an errand. But sometimes what we expect will be a simple task ends up being a little more involved than we anticip...
Anon Man... D) All of the above :-)
If I could bring myself to just try one dish and move on, I could plow through three of these in one long lunch hour. I should probably be a little more cursory... this is kind of a scouting survey, after all. But I keep hoping to find something awesome, and I'm trying to at least poke around a little bit.
Bisharo is the only one where I was in and out by myself. One stop, app and entree... yeah, moving on.
The McDowell Project - 52nd to 44th
McDowell Dominic Armato I didn't give up on this! Quite the contrary, I've been trying to tackle it whenever possible. The holidays, trip to Asia and subsequent 30,000 word epic got me a little sidetracked. But while I've gotten past 44th, I figured it's time to start posting some findings...
Top Chef - S9 Postmortem
No, I didn't lose my will to finish the season recap. Though I don't know why I watch the reunion shows. It's like they take all of the stuff I hate most about the show and make an hour long special out of it. But no, this is not the... Continue reading
Posted Mar 7, 2012 at Top Chef Power Rankings
Comment
39
Nikki... Though I think I used the disclaimer about seven or eight times when I wrote about G&tG, I would like to stress again that I was there just a few days after they opened :-)
Top Chef - S9E17 Postmortem
I'm sure there are people who were hoping for a different outcome... buuuuuut I don't know any of them. That's a great finale. Two great chefs, both bringing it, even if the finale judges are starting to sound like Pee-wee ("I have to say, these are the best [pancakes] I've ever tasted.")...
I think it's hard to argue that Stephanie isn't the most successful winner in terms of going the auteur chef/owner route. The Girl and the Goat is a wild success with national attention.
Blais has his hands in an awful lot of pots. They seem more like consulting gigs than a traditional on-site EC role, but between Flip Burger and HD-1, he's opening joints. He's working on some project called The Spence that I don't know anything about.
Hosea is also supposedly on the verge of opening his own place, but as Stephanie's journey demonstrated, these things can take longer than expected to come to fruition.
Ironically, the other winner who's seen a lot of success is Ilan. The Gorbals is, from what I understand, pretty well-regarded and well-reviewed.
Top Chef - S9E17 Postmortem
I'm sure there are people who were hoping for a different outcome... buuuuuut I don't know any of them. That's a great finale. Two great chefs, both bringing it, even if the finale judges are starting to sound like Pee-wee ("I have to say, these are the best [pancakes] I've ever tasted.")...
"Am I the only one who hates the double service of judges? I get that it's meant to prevent judging bias based upon whose food the judges ate first, but how do you judge sometimes when certain judges got DIFFERENT food?"
I actually like this. One of the toughest things about running a restaurant is consistency. It's one thing to make a great dish. It's another thing entirely to make it just as great fifty times in a night. It's a good test of a real aspect of a night's service.
Top Chef - S9E17 Postmortem
I'm sure there are people who were hoping for a different outcome... buuuuuut I don't know any of them. That's a great finale. Two great chefs, both bringing it, even if the finale judges are starting to sound like Pee-wee ("I have to say, these are the best [pancakes] I've ever tasted.")...
Top Chef - S9E17 Postmortem
I'm sure there are people who were hoping for a different outcome... buuuuuut I don't know any of them. That's a great finale. Two great chefs, both bringing it, even if the finale judges are starting to sound like Pee-wee ("I have to say, these are the best [pancakes] I've... Continue reading
Posted Feb 29, 2012 at Top Chef Power Rankings
Comment
79
Gilmore... when somebody who doesn't normally trade in risotto makes one that the judges criticize, I'm inclined to believe their risotto is off (didn't take more than a glance to know that this was the case with Tre's). When it's Tony Mantuano's right hand and it happens twice, I'm inclined to believe we're probably looking at a matter of preference/style.
Top Chef - S9E16 Power Rankings
Gail Simmons: "It’s the final showdown between Paul and Sarah. Who would ever have known it would come to these two?" *ahem* (Allow me this moment of arrogant pride....................... okay, thanks.) If the elves ensure that every episode of season ten is at least as good as this one -...
See, this is the problem... you argue about something long enough, and you forget why you started in the first place :-) FYI, I wasn't calling you out, Ally... yours is a view shared by a lot of people.
Also, antigriddle. REALLY cold. Not surprised that somebody who's never used one was thrown off by just how cold it made her sformato.
Top Chef - S9E16 Power Rankings
Gail Simmons: "It’s the final showdown between Paul and Sarah. Who would ever have known it would come to these two?" *ahem* (Allow me this moment of arrogant pride....................... okay, thanks.) If the elves ensure that every episode of season ten is at least as good as this one -...
Top Chef - S9E16 Power Rankings
Gail Simmons: "It’s the final showdown between Paul and Sarah. Who would ever have known it would come to these two?" *ahem* (Allow me this moment of arrogant pride....................... okay, thanks.) If the elves ensure that every episode of season ten is at least as good as this one --... Continue reading
Posted Feb 27, 2012 at Top Chef Power Rankings
Comment
14
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