NEWS: Food Coma: Hopscotching the Globe

CULTURE: Food Coma: Hopscotching the Globe

Previously on Food Coma... In-N-Out good, Olive Garden bad. Tiny little birds tortured for the gastronomic pleasure of the rich elite and some old Popes. Truffles are angel poop. Drunk on Amaro with Mario and Tom. The Oceanic Six have been revealed.

I have been traveling the world since we last met, out in the territories, your ever faithful servant, your gentleman at arms, hopscotching the globe, looking for the best the world has to offer! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another pulse-pounding edition of Food Coma.

Dateline London 24/3/2008: The Crown Pub
British beer is better than American beer. Is there anyone that this is news to? Bottom line, a properly pulled/poured pint of Fuller’s or any number of British lagers or ales is better than anything we drink here in the states. Of course a Guinness in Dublin is king shit of fuck mountain, and those crazy Belgian monks are universally known as the best conjurers of the hop, but I wasn’t just in Dublin or Belgium; I was in England, damn it, and the quality of the brew was fantastic. Here in the states you have to seek out specialty beer bars like Father’s Office here in Los Angeles, or DBA in New York City, to drink anything even close to what they’re serving in the local pub. Yes, there are fine micro/local breweries making amazing stuff here in the U.S. No argument. What I’m saying is, the average pint in the UK is just so much better than the crap Americans accept. I’m not going to go into a whole tirade against Anheuser-Busch and tell you why their product tastes like watery ass. I’m just going to tell you that 99% of beer is done wrong here and you should find out for yourself. Spend the extra $3 on a six-pack of something good. You deserve it. I’ll even recommend a great U.S. made ale for all you patriots: Arrogant Bastard Ale from Stone Brewing in San Diego. Big, bold, delicious and it’ll get you drunk a lot quicker than the pee you’re used to.

Dateline London 26/3/2008: Andy and Eric’s room at the K West
Post-show (on tour with Pearl opening for Velvet Revolver, for more on that go to www.myspace.com/pearl) meal at Tayyab’s in White Chapel. Possibly the best Indian food I’ve ever had. How can lentils taste this good? The fried paneer was addictive. The seekh kabab was the best I ever had. I’ve never had dry beef before and I don’t know where to find it in LA!!!! Even the basic chicken curry had a flavorful heat that gave my taste buds boners. God-damn-it the food was so good I’m pissed off. And for £10 that’s CHEAP for London.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the catering on the Velvet Revolver tour. Usually, in Europe bands will travel with catering and in general, UK caterers are good. It’s easy to get really fat on a UK/Euro tour when you’ve got someone cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for you and then even making you sandwiches for the bus after the show. The VR caterers were a company called Eat Your Hearts Out and every meal was terrific. The Mulligatawny soup was amazing. Never had it? Go get Indian food right now. And Banoffee pie. Holy shit. Graham cracker crust, bananas, toffee and whipped cream. Go fuck yourself.

Dateline London 27/3/2008 in the wee hours
The K West hotel has vending machines with beer, airplane size liquor bottles and snacks. What will these Brits think of next????????

Dateline Los Angeles 4/1/2008
Jet-lagged but happy to be home. The tour was amazing, sold-out and Slash, Duff, Matt and Dave were so kind to us. I didn’t get to see Scott but I hope he’s good and that Velvet Revolver and STP both move onwards and upwards.

Ate at Craft, Tom Colicchio’s LA branch of the NYC steakhouse classic. I wanted to eat here when it first opened but I quickly lost interest thinking it was going to be a cold, biz-oriented power lunch kind of place (it’s practically in CAA’s lobby). I couldn’t have been more wrong. The dining room was warm, nicely lit and felt great. Everyone was really friendly (Maybe they know I write a food column? Yeah, I wish) and the food was excellent. The smoked trout appetizer was perfect and the steak was great. I always judge a steakhouse by the NY Strip and this was perfectly cooked and full of flavor. I’ll be back.

Dateline Los Angeles 4/2/2008
Went to Lucques which was recently named top LA restaurant in Los Angeles Magazine. I like Lucques but I didn’t think it was the best place in town. I hadn’t been in a few years (last time I was there, Pearl and I had dinner with Roger Daltrey and The Edge sat at the next table and it was quite a night, but that’s a story for another time) so I figured I’d revisit. It was definitely not the best restaurant in town. Citrus Avocado salad to start was eh. Not enough avocado so it was more like a fruit salad that someone dropped some avocado into. The salmon was cooked well but was swimming in butter and was bland. Not sure how they cooked the flavor out of it. Maybe they were having an off night. Not sure if I’ll be back.

Dateline Chicago 4/3/2008
In Chicago writing with Anthrax. Nine songs done. We’re really getting close to making the record. I’m very happy with where we’re at creatively. Fucking Metal.

Ate at Blackbird. Fucking amazing. If Los Angeles Magazine named this restaurant as best restaurant in LA, I’d agree. It was a perfect meal. I even asked for a menu so I could get it right here. The only thing I can’t remember is the first amuse. It was whitefish in some delicious sauce.

Appetizer: Salad of endives with crispy potatoes, basil, dijon, pancetta, and poached egg.

Amuse: Crispy confit of suckling pig with braised endive, crab apples, sweet potato mustard and pork rind.

Entrée: Grilled California sturgeon with sauerkraut gnocchi, Anjou pear and celery root puree.

Amuse: Grapefruit sorbet.

Dessert: Roasted pineapple with brioche ice cream, hibiscus and cinnamon toast.

All this and booze for $80. If it was NY or LA it would’ve been $150. It sounds pretty fancy-pants but all the flavors were very down home, American style cooking. Awesome.

I’m off to Costa Rica tomorrow for a week. My belly is excited.

Cheers,
Scott

P.S. If you’re not watching "Battlestar Galactica," you’re an idiot.

www.myspace.com/scottian
www.nonelouder.com/scottian
http://blogs.scifi.com/battlestar/scottian/

Scott Ian plays guitar for revolutionary metal band Anthrax and also for Pearl.

Artwork credit: Shepard Fairey

The waiters at Blackbird kinda weird me out.

Oaked Arrogant Bastard is even better.

A hooray for those crazy Belgian monks, they sure do some of the best beer you can get.
Can't wait to see what you'll write about Costa Rica.

so, the booze I'll have this evening'll be better than the booze I'll have in NY next week?

curses. anywhere in manhattan you can reccomend, mr. Ian?
(hey! I'm over there for the comic con & tourist-y type stuff. dunno if I'll have time to venture out past there)

Banoffee pie sounds ridiculously good. Do want.

We Brits are indeed blessed with so many good beers/ales you guys in the US need to at least take that from us, all hail the ale!!

Next time you find yourself around Mexico City you should check out The Beer Factory (bar & restaurant), they make some crazy stuff there. Especially around November, their Heavy Metal beer is something you don't want to miss.

Samuel Smith is the best English ale hands down.

You know, every time I go pick up beer, I always look at Arrogant Bastard but for some reason I pick up Karl Strous. Next time I will definitely have to pick it up.

You're not worthy!

$80...I can't even do that in the sticks of Massachusetts!

Good Indian food is so good, but seemingly impossible to find where I am. I think a good Indian restaurant will be a major criteria for the next place I move to.

InnocentSid, you should zip over to Provincetown, lots of good affordable restaurants there. Just a 1/2 hour boat ride away.

Actually, History Channel had a good show once about beer, and they went into the reasons why American beer is horse-piss.

Short & sweet, it was Prohibition killing off the legit brewers with pride and a history, and now we just have people that don't know WTF they're doing and a public that doesn't know any better and doesn't give a shit. It sounds obvious laid out bare like that, but they had a lot of really interesting detail.

It's a shame, because according to the show, American beer was "da shit" and able to hold its own with the rest of the world. Sigh. As usual, the religionists fuck everything up for the rest of us.

Man, you're so right about English beer, I reckon it's more about the temperature that it's stored and poured at than anything else. English are well known for liking their beer on the warmer side and rightly so, it has more flavor that way. That said, my last 3 tours to your fine country have given me a taste for Coors Light of all things. It's weak and slightly bland, but when you want to consume a lot of alcohol over a long period of time it's perfect. Any heavier English style ale would knock you out in a couple of hours if consumed the same way.

Now, as a passionate Indian food lover and staunch vegetarian I eat me a lot of Paneer a lot of the time. I cook a lot and used to buy a pre-made Paneer from the supermarket that I used in my curries. One day the dicks decided that they wouldn't stock it anymore and so I looked into how to make it myself. Lo and behold it's really fuckin easy:

Take 1 litre of full fat milk (preferably organic) and one lemon. Juice the lemon, strain the juice and put aside.Slowly bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan. When it's boiling take off the heat and add the strained lemon juice 1 tsp at a time stirring the milk after each tsp. You 'll know when you've added enough because the milk will curdle (usually between 6 to 9 tsp per litre of milk). Pour into a strainer lined with a clean dishcloth. Fold the dishcloth over the top of the curds and push as much of the remaining liquid out. Remove the dishcloth with the curds from the strainer and place on a flat surface and weigh it down with something heavy (I use my big iron fry pan). Leave to set for an hour and a half. Unwrap, cook, eat and enjoy.

Keep it heavy...

It also has a lot to do with American big brewers deciding using things like rice & corn were good things because they kept the price of production down . I'm blessed beer wise in that I have several micro brewers just a short drive from me & several well stocked bars when I'm not in the mood for any of them . Now , if Pennsylvania would just let me buy either a case , 6 pack , or single bottle from the same store . Then I would truly be a happy camper .

Hurrah for Belgian hop-conjurers. Hard to go wrong when they've been brewing for 550 years.

maybe its just me but i think there are a lot of great beers made here in the states. Anchor Steam, Alaskan Ale, Lagunitas, and Sierra Nevada are some of my favorites and all craft amazing beers.

I was just watching Three Sheets and Zane Lamprey toured the Belgium Monestary Orval (full episode here (12min 30sec mark)). Ive had Chimay, and cant wait to try Orval, hopefully BevMo can hook it up.

damn, now i want a beer. and a steak. scott, if you ever find yourself north of LA on the 101, you should stop in at the Hitching Post in Buellton. They have a NY Strip cooked over an oak pit that is well worth the visit.

Might I suggest Brewery Ommegang . Not sure how available their beers are across the country , but most of their beers are Belgian in style & are some of the best I've ever tasted . Three Philosophers is quite the mouth orgasm . They're based up in Cooperstown NY . We actually drove all the way to Cooperstown & spent the weekend purely to visit the brewery . Never did get into the hall of fame

My favorite beer is Fat Tire out of CO- I'm not sure if it is that good a beer- or if I associate it with CO- have been almost afraid to buy a six here and try it...would love to try Real beers of the world...one local fun brewery here is Millstream, in Amana IA, good beer again, but too PC?
I did see some good ideas from above that I will check out and see if they are available here....

I have an Indian food place right up the road- just haven't had the nerve to try it yet...My worry is that they seem to use peanuts a lot is different dishes- and i am allergic...and the people I have talked to when I check it out either don't have a clue what is in the food, or don't speak english, or german, or spanish well enough for me to be sure (I know, Indian food...but who speaks Indian?)
The best food I have found around DesMoines is Japanese...and the best of them seem to combine some of the better food around with some of the best service...

Peanuts are not a primary component of Indian food and are not used at all in the majority of dishes I'm familiar with, but I'm not sure about Indian food in Iowa.

Indians speak "Indian" (actually, there are a number of different languages in India, none of which are named Indian.)

Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Bengali, Assamese, Malayalam, etc. etc. etc., perhaps?

the description of the cuisine in Chicago sounds awsome! the amuse consisted of suckling pig? glad to see risky and bold ingredients being used for a small bite. most places will only offer something thats vegetarian friendlly when it comes to an amuse. Hey Scott! how about dedicating a column that revolves around the best of the best, Amuse de' bouche? Us chef guys that dig you're column will truly appreciate it!