San Francisco Bound

Tomorrow morning I leave for San Francisco, where I hope to eat myself silly. San Fran is an epicenter of much of today's high quality food, from good things like the Slow Food movement to the ugly, like ridiculously self righteous vegan restaurants (food can be free of animal product and still taste good guys). I am almost worried we'll show up and not know where to begin, going into the wrong restaurants and ordering the wrong thing. The expedition will be fully recorded and reported here, success or failure.

Resturant Review

I intended to do a restaurant review for this second post, and after giving it some thought, realized I have no idea where to begin. In all honesty I do not read many restaurant reviews. I'll poke at websites like citysearch to get some ideas, but tend to leave that site suspicious of the authors and with the taint of adspeak in my mouth. Zagat's Guide, a reviewing standard has become so stuck in its methods that the entires are not helpful at all.
I can't really speak to any format, but I know the star ratting, as made famous by Michelin is one of the most popular systems. One to five stars may be a simple, neat metric for rating a restuarant, but what do you really learn from this information? If it is so efficiant how come it isn't used in everyday interaction? 'How was your day at work? Two Stars. How you doin? 3 Stars. What's the weather like? 1 star.' If someone talked to you that way you'd at the very least stop asking for their opinion. At the worse you would poisin their drink, bury the body in someone else's yard, and go to be feeling you made the world a better place. Beyond the announce factor the star system doesn't seem to pay much attention to the type of restuarant. Should a gourmet restaurant requiring a reservation one month in advance be judged on the same scale as the take out Chinese joint around the corner. Both are important for entirely different reasons and represent completely different meals, making the same star system useless.
So instead of writing a review I am going to first establish how I review, set a standard which I hopefully can stick to in the future. All day long I break game concepts into their basic elements, summarize what they offer, identify the strong and weak elements, and note how it compares to whats been done before. What's good for games is good for grubs, so my reviews should at least cover the same steps. Here's the scaffolding for my opinions.
The What: Where is the resturuant, what type of food it offers, and any little amusing anecdotes about its history. I believe the context and company make a meal as much as the cooking, so including what kind of crowd accompanies me is crucial to defining the experience. What we ordered, and how much it all cost should be included as well.
Ambiance: More pertinacious than 'vibe'? You do decide. While I could get bogged down and design, lighting, blah, blah, blah what this really comes down to is how the place looks and feels.
Service: This subject could fill several posts on its own, so we'll just leave it as good or bad.
Menu: What the menu has to offer, and how well it is presented. Does it make sense? Other stuff I need to think about.
Food: What it all comes down to. What I ate and how was it.
Overall: This is the fast answer

Eat 'Till I'm Dead

I spend my days writing about video games, and a good deal of my free time thinking about them. In an effort to get some variety out of my life, I am trying to write about the one thing I spend just as much time with; food. I love food, and have the build to prove it('Jolly' is the preferred way of describing myself). So I've staked out this little corner of the Internet to spew forth thoughts on all things gastronomic, from eating out and preparing meals at home, to all media concerned with food to deep, overstuffed philosophies on what filling one's pie hole has to do with the human condition.

The title is inspired by fois gras, a delicacy I have yet to enjoy, though wish to pursue. Fois gras is the liver of force fed ducks and geese, a big, rich, fatty treat often used in French cuisine. The birds are force fed for the last two weeks of their life via a metal tube shoved down their throats at meal time. While the method does sound cruel and deserves a serious ethical debate, the concept of eating one's self to death has a certain romantic appeal for a fat bastard like myself. Should I ever catch a terminal ailment, I will most likely pursue an epic quest to consume great food until my body gives out, preempting whatever nasty condition I may suffer from. I understand that a life of excess could lead to such a fatal condition, but it still sounds like a way to check out to me. Until next week, cheers.