By Kevin Finch on January 6, 2011
I think of myself as open to change.
Yet the latest Starbucks logo leaves me cold. Maybe I’ll get used to it. Maybe not.
The Wall Street Journal story quotes Shultz as saying the design will give them more freedom as they broaden their product line. I beg to differ. I think they diluting their identity. Ironically, the new logo feels more “faceless” even as the actual face in the logo is larger. For me, the text and stamp-like quality of the the old label was the real face of the company rather the the smiling merperson that relates to their core business how?
My hope is that in our current society of hyper-feedback and public polling the reaction will be negative enough that the new ‘fish face’ logo for a coffee company will go the way of new Coke.
Posted in culture, drinks | Tagged coffee, Coke, Howard Schultz, logos, new Coke, Starbucks |
By Kevin Finch on November 1, 2010
Chef Ethan Stowell just published his first cookbook, Ethan Stowell’s New Italian Kitchen.
Yet if you look closely at the photo on the cover of the book you would be forced to conclude that Stowell is missing most of his right pinkie. Some horrific kitchen cleaver accident?
Not so. During an interview today with Jamie Peha and Anne Nisbet today on their Seattle radio show Table Talk, Stowell assured them he has only suffered a digital accident. In real life he still has all ten fingers, but lost part of his right pinkie to Photoshop for the book.
Posted in culture, dining, play | Tagged Anne Nisbet, digital accidents, Ethan Stowell, Ethan Stowell's New Italian Kitchen, Jamie Peha, Photoshop, Table Talk |
By Kevin Finch on July 11, 2010
From down the street, it looked like the line waiting for a hot dog or sausage at Hot Doug’s spilled out the front door.
Talk about an understatement.
The full line not only spilled out the front door but twisted out of sight to snake back alongside of Hot Doug’s for half a city block. If it had been a little shorter I would have given up, but a line this long in the middle of a residential neighborhood usually means something epic. There was even a guy in line who had brought his own folding lawn chair… apparently the line was a normal part of the experience.
Then there is the fact that Hot Doug’s actually has a theme song with three separate mixes: rock, techno, and a hybrid. And the full name: Hot Doug’s: The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium. I’ll stand in line to meet a guy who opens an encased meat emporium and hires a band to sing about jonesing for a hot dog.
One hour and 15 minutes later we get a glimpse of the line INSIDE and after a little over an hour and a half we are seated on stools along one wall with our hot dogs and hand-cut duck fat fries (a specialty Doug only offers on Fridays and Saturdays).
Was it worth the wait? Yes.
I ordered the basic hot dog ($1.75) and the duck fat fries. The dog was a classic Chicago dog with essentially a salad on top. I skipped the pickle (which I think overpowers the dog) and I tried Doug’s grilled onions rather than opting for the more common raw.
The verdict? A decent dog.
Yet it wasn’t life-changing. There are plenty of other spots around Chicago for a good basic dog. Next time I’ll spring for something you can only get at Doug’s… something like the “Game of the Week” sausage made that this week was made out of alligator.
I’d certainly get the duck fat fries again. I was braced for more ‘duck’ that there actually was. Yet after a moment of disappointment, I tucked into what turned out to be a great basket of hand-cut shoestring fries with just a hint of the exotic every few bites. I wasn’t expecting subtlety after Doug’s garish decor, but here it was in the last place I expected it: in the fries.
Doug is obviously doing something very right. I’ve never been in line this long where everyone seemed expectant and hopeful rather than angry or resentful. Doug also managed to get my daughter Megan and her friend Alyx to eat something clearly not vegetarian: encased meat and duck fat fries.
The Sausage Superstore and
Encased Meat Emporium
Posted in culture, dining, kitsch, travel | Tagged best Chicago dog, best hot dog, Chicago dog, Chicago IL, Chicago restaurants, duck fat fries, encased meat, fries, hot dog, Hot Doug's, Hot Doug's Encased Meat Emporium, Illinois restaurants, Red Hot, waiting |
By Kevin Finch on July 6, 2010
Of the hundreds of billboards along Interstate 90 for Wall Drug, I think my favorite driving east from Rapid City SD is one about 40 miles from the exit. It says simply “Pretty Near.”
On the food front, I was quite unimpressed with the grill food, but 5 cent coffee and a caramel pecan role will set you back less that $3 and might be one of the best deals on the premises beyond the FREE ice water.
Posted in culture, dining, kitsch, travel | Tagged buffalo burger, caramel pecan roll, coffee, Rapid City SD, tourist trap, Wall Drug, Wall SD |
By Kevin Finch on May 25, 2010
I feel a bit like a Pavlovian dog salivating for another burger that I can’t simply order when I feel like it.
Chef David Blaine from Latah Bistro has begun a culinary experiment called Pop-Up Restaurant. It is a culinary gypsy affair that “pops up” at random mealtimes around the region along trails, in parks, in parking lots. For a donation, you get food. Great food.
No problem with the food. No problem with the random locations. My only problem is my craving for another burger and uncertainty of when I might get to eat one. And if others are reacting the way I am, a desperate mob of people converging on the next location is not out of the question. I may need to prepare by bringing along a sharpened fork.
Posted in culture, dining | Tagged David Blaine, hamburger, mobile restaurants, Northwest restaurants, restaurants, Spokane, underground restaurants |
By Kevin Finch on April 26, 2010
I enjoy menus with a sense of humor. Note the Deluxe Chicken Dinner on this menu noticed by Aly and Jim Williams at the Suds Hut in Helena MT. The question is whether they have the Dom Perignon on hand if you order it.
Posted in culture, dining, kitsch | Tagged chicken, Helena MT, humor, menu, Montana restaurants |
By Kevin Finch on March 24, 2010
Scotty Anderson came across the maple bar post about Chuck’s in Renton and sent along a picture of the original building. For what it is worth, the original looks much more hopeful as a place that might have transcendent donuts. I’m not a big fan of strip malls.
Anderson notes that this version of Chuck’s was torn down the month after this picture was taken. He adds:
“The place you went to is pretty much the same spot where the old shop was located. They tore it down and the grocery store (Hop-in Grocery) to make room for the strip mall. The old shop was there from the first time I remember going there sometime in the early 80′s or late 70′s until it was torn down.
The old one had three small tables that sat two people each. There was enough room for a line two people deep and about 7 people wide. There were many times the line went out the door.
I love the maple bars for sure! The Maple Pursian has the same frosting and is bigger. I usually only do half of one of those at a time. The Old Fashioned donuts are also very good. I really haven’t had one that I have not liked.”
Thanks Scotty.
The place you went to is pretty much the same spot where the old shop was located. They tore it down and the grocery store (Hop-in Grocery) to make room for the strip mall. The old shop was there from the first time I remember going there sometime in the early 80′s or late 70′s until it was torn down.
The old one had three small tables that sat two people each. There was enough room for a line two people deep and about 7 people wide. There were many times the line went out the door.
I love the maple bars for sure! The Maple Pursian has the same frosting and is bigger. I usually only do half of one of those at a time. The Old Fashioned donuts are also very good. I really haven’t had one that I have not liked.
Posted in culture, dining | Tagged Chuck's Donuts, donuts, maple bars, Northwest restaurants, Renton WA, restaurants |
By Kevin Finch on March 15, 2010
Over coffee this morning, a friend slipped me a gift.
It is a form-fitting, plastic case designed to protect two Pop Tarts in pristine conditions. It didn’t say so on the packaging, but I suspect that every marine now serving overseas is issued one for packing emergency junk food rations. If I was one of the joint chiefs of staff, I’d see that every soldier had one. Two for those with desk jobs.
This friend knows of my fondness for frosted Pop Tarts and decided to poke a little fun at me. I think I can take it especially since it now means I can take two Pop Tarts with me just about anywhere. My only regret is that the case doesn’t appear to have seals to keep liquid out, so if you drop it in milk your Pop Tarts will still get soggy.
Posted in culture, kitsch, play | Tagged junk food, Pop Tarts |
By Kevin Finch on March 13, 2010
Steve, a friend of the Feast, just sent in this picture of a memorable meal in Jakarta.
Here is what he said:
Had my most interesting lunch in years in Jakarta with our business partner. Four kinds of chicken, plus fish. Certainly not Anthony’s or Milford’s!
The picture reminds me that fish served outside the United States often looks much more like fish than the fillets and steaks we tend to find on our menus.
Ring any bells from your adventures overseas?
Posted in culture, dining, travel | Tagged fish, friend of the Feast, Jakarta, travel food, whole fish |
By Kevin Finch on February 15, 2010
It was the match book. I saw the name of the restaurant and the picture and thought “Ah, Asian food with an attitude.”
A moment more of reflection and I wondered if it might even be a vegetarian place with a sense of humor. In my experience most vegetarian spots do earnest and self-righteous much better than playful.
But no… read a bit more carefully below the title and the true nature of the Tummy Temple becomes evident. This is not the place to to go for lunch.
Posted in culture | Tagged humor, Tummy Temple, vegetarian food |
By Kevin Finch on January 31, 2010
I’ve been home for two days in bed with a vicious cold and cough, and during my infrequent trips to the kitchen for something to eat (and one trip to the store) I realized that I was looking mainly for comfort. Not health. Comfort. I’ve tried the Special-Ops-combat-that-cold-with-fibervegefruitoxidans and it seems to have no discernible effect on the length of the cold. So now it’s comfort, baby, all the way.
Stress kicks up a craving for Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts. Comfort, though, requires more salt than sweet in my case. Grape Nuts will do in a pinch or milk and toast with a big pat of butter, but today it was Nacho Cheese Doritos with more cheese melted on top. I loved Nacho Cheese Doritos as a kid, and once ate an entire bag by myself when I was supposed to be practicing my saxophone.
Yet it wasn’t until high school that I witnessed Todd Kotila do the unthinkable. He buried a plate of Nacho Cheese Doritos in a mound of grated cheddar and popped the resulting orange and yellow mass into the microwave. I was stunned. Real cheese on top of fake cheese? It seemed wrong somehow: a Frankenfood perversion.
Todd just laughed and shoved the molten pile in front of me. “Try it, Finch.”
It still feels wrong, but on those guilty occasions when Doritos find their way into our typically self-righteous shopping cart, a portion of the chips disappear under Cheddar, Colby, or Colby Jack. Today was one of those days. There was a pre-Superbowl sale on chips, Tillamook at a discount, and my resistance to the unnatural lowered by a raging virus.
Then there needs to be a glass of milk to wash it down. Milk that must… comfort dictates… be drunk from a small glass.
Posted in cooking, culture, dining, play | Tagged cold, comfort food, Doritos, Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts, Grape Nuts, milk, Nacho Cheese Doritos, Tillamook cheese, Todd Kotila |
By Kevin Finch on January 13, 2010
I claim that Spokane’s Donut Parade has the best maple bars in the Western Hemisphere (possibly the planet since large swaths of the world have no access to this pinnacle of raised donut perfect). Yet food gurus Jane and Michael Stern have a different opinion in their fun volume entitled 500 Things To Eat Before It’s Too Late.
They claim the best maple bar they’ve had is at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland where the iconic bar comes topped with strips of bacon. I’m looking forward to trying a Voodoo bar, but believe a truly classic maple bar needs to stand on its own without a pork assist.
This leads me to their second recommendation: Countryside Donut House in Mountlake Terrace in the Seattle metro area.
Chance would have it that I’m in Seattle today for a family emergency, but I have a break this morning in my duties long enough to head to Countryside. Who knows? Maybe a fine maple bar delivered at the right moment could help in the family emergency. I’m willing to try. And I’ll get a chance to see how the bars at Countryside compare to Donut Parade.
Posted in culture, dining, play, travel | Tagged 500 things to eat before it is too late, Countryside Donut House, donut, Donut Parade, donuts, Jane and Michael Stern, Jane Stern, maple bar, marple bars, Michael Stern, Northwest restaurants, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Voodoo Donuts |
