Wednesday Food Day: Feb. 4, 2004

In case you are as amateur as I and are not aware of Wednesday’s status as “Food Day” allow me to enlighten you: on Wednesday, almost all of the nation’s papers publish their Food & Dining sections yielding thousands of scrumptious articles to wade through in your down time. I will therefore attempt, each Wednesday, to post links to the ones I find most meritorious. I hope you find them meritorious too.- I really enjoyed Marian Burros’s review of David Burke & Donatella in today’s New York Times. The food there sounds crazy: “Crisp and angry lobster. ‘Bronx style’ filet mignon of veal. A cheesecake lollipop tree with bubble-gum whipped cream.” My favorite part was her description of the “smoking room”: “a stretched stretch limo — white, of course — with the motor running and the heater on, parked right outside the front door.”- John Kessler on BBQ. Maybe I’ll make a BBQ driving trip one of these days.- A really excellent piece by Bruce Cole of Saute Wednesday on salt. “Salt?” you say. “Yes,” I answer. Apparently, salt is the core component of cooking: “Nothing disappoints me like an under-seasoned dish, or more to the point, the lack of salt. Especially, if it’s a dish I’m paying for it. Potatoes, without salt? Come on, that’s ridiculous. Steak minus the salt, is nothing but a waste of good meat. Broccoli sans the salt? Sorry, that’s for salad bars.”COMING TONIGHT: Janet Jackson Breast Cupcakes (ETA: 11ish).