I read an interesting article this morning about tourist trap restaurants. I think we have all had some experience with such a place. Anytime the chef is more famous than his food, I begin to worry and will not eat there. Places like Wolfgang Puck, Moritmoto, Bobby Flay, Paul Prudhomme, Alain Ducasse. I prefer the Mom-and-Pop places, the authentic recipes. old fashioned style cooking.
So, what should the wary diner look for to avoid the rip offs, and disappointment?
If the menu is written in more than two languages, I would run to the nearest exit.
The hours of operation are important. In many countries, locals do not eat at the same hour as Americans.
The menu looks like it is from a different region or agricultural area. For example, sushi in Omaha!
A hawker or baker outside the front door is a sure sign, though my Greek friends in Athens do this with great food!
If you see an OLD TripAdviser sign in the window.
The restaurant is next to a famous landmark, like Pisa, Eiffel, Ipanema, Heineken, 30 Rock.
Are locals inside?
How can you avoid these places?
Do some internet research, ask friends, use the hotel concierge.
Talk to people!
One of my secrets: Sit at the bar with a drink before deciding!
In busy areas, always make a reservation to avoid being forced to a big tourist trap.
Tip appropriately.
If you see a tour bus outside, run the opposite way!!!
Once in a while, the trap is a pleasant surprise. Scoma’s at Fisherman’s What in the City, Merry Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta, Joe’s Stone Crabs in Miami, Sardi’s in NYC to name a few.
Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish speaking country in Africa.
Sao Tome and Principe (two island country) is Africa’s second smallest country.
Nauru is the world’s smallest island nation. The Vatican and Monaca are smaller.
Moldova is one of Europe’s least visited countries. It has only existed since 1991.
Tuvalu and Montserrat are still part of the Commonwealth.
The newest country in the world is South Sudan.
Canada has the longest coastline in the world.
Greece has the longest coastline in Europe.
Russia has 11 time zones. Russia is the country to have most consecutive number of time zones. Russian time zones are UTC-2, UTC-3, UTC-4, UTC-5, UTC-6, UTC-7, UTC-8, UTC-9, UTC-10, UTC-11 and UTC-12. (And I went through each one in 2014)
The highest point in Japan is Mount Fuji, at 3776 meters.
Most of Ukraine is flat, except for the west (the Carpathians) and south of the Crimean Peninsula.
Alaska has nineteen peaks higher than 14,000 feet tall.
Latex condoms were invented by a Pole (now that is hilarious!!!!).
Istanbul, Turkey spans two continents, Asia and Europe.
The Pacific Ocean was named by Ferdinand Magellan.
Nearly 30% of Tanzania is national parks.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest eco-system in the world.
Crossing the Berlin Wall twice, back in 1971, remains one of my most memorable and dangerous experiences in my travels around the world. Here are some thoughts from “Love Exploring” that I thought would provoke some travel planning.
“The Berlin Wall was built in the 1960s to prevent those in communist East Germany from traveling – or escaping – to West Germany. Known as the “Antifaschistischer Schutzwall” in East Germany, which translates as the “anti-fascist barrier”, it divided families and caused an exodus before it went up. During the Cold War it’s thought 327 people died trying to cross the border – some were shot, some drowned, while others set off mines or accidentally suffocated in the boots of cars. In 1989 the wall finally came down. Pictured is an elderly woman talking to her East Berlin friends and relatives in the early 1960s.
Today art lovers are drawn to the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, and now a monument to freedom. Visitors can take in the colorful murals, including the famous Kiss, on this 0.8-mile (1.3km) tribute to liberty. The Mauerpark, once the wall’s off-limits border strip, is now home to a weekly flea market too.
Most visitors to Berlin will also swing by Checkpoint Charlie – the most famous controlled border crossing at the Berlin Wall. The barrier and booth remain and it’s also home to the Mauermuseum, which includes artifacts that tell the stories of those who successfully made it over the border.”
Berlin is a magnificent city and being able to roam from the old west to the old east after the days of the Wall is a testament to freedom and democracy. Sadly, Checkpoint Charlie is now a tourist attraction, with little attention paid to its dangerous, yet colorful history. I will recount a story from my visit in 1971. FYI, there was a very creative and daring escape just the week prior to my visit!!
The blue “hippie” van in the second photo was my transportation to my second visit through Checkpoint Charlie to East Berlin. The first was on a rather sterile tour bus a day or two earlier. After a quick meal in West Berlin with my new friends, a hippie couple from San Francisco, we headed to Checkpoint Charlie, and parked the van as you see above. We walked to Checkpoint Charlie and presented our passports.
While I don’t remember first names, one of my new travel mates had the last name of Kelly. The border guards quickly asked him if he was related to the infamous Lt. William Calley, amid many laughs and sneers. Meanwhile, they took the cute hippie girl into a room and strip searched her! We could hear them commenting about her.
Once they released us, we walked across the neutral zone, though the East Germans pointed machine guns at us while we crossed. It was rather unnerving. They also made us buy almost useless East German marks. We spent most of the day wandering around the city, a most depressing atmosphere of sterile gray buildings, and unsmiling old German ladies.
As we returned to Checkpoint Charlie later that day, we realized we had to spend the East German marks. We found a sleazy bar and proceeded to buy beer for anyone and everyone in shouting distance. For about 90 minutes, it was quite a party, until the marks ran out.
I think you can see why this event remains permanently etched in my memories. Nobody can replicate this now unless you want to head into Russia or Ukraine. Anyway, even a Cold War changes lives, and creates lasting memories. While I regard this as a good memory, it certainly did not feel good at the time!
After flying well over a million miles in my business and leisure travel, I have seen my share of unusual behavior on the plane. Here are some, and I hope it does not gross you out.
Probably the worst behavior I have ever experienced first hand was an air marshal sitting in First Class with us. He proceeded to tell the flight attendant and pilot he was an air marshal, showed his ID, and told them he was armed. He started drinking hard liquor as soon as we got airborne. The lovely flight attendant finally had to cut him off after three drinks, since he was drunk, making passes toward her, and barely able to speak. Can you imagine if we really needed him to perform his job on that flight? I am certain he was reported to the FAA or whomever oversees his job.
On the other side of the equation, we were on an interisland, and thankfully short trip in Hawaii. A rather middle-aged lady started breast feeding her 7 year old daughter! Yes, it was strange, she plopped the goods out, the daughter grabbed on, and they proceeded to make a big show of it for the short flight. Airline rules allow this, despite the obvious nature of the event. It made everyone uncomfortable, but nothing could be done!
On a flight to Denver, I was so happy to get a free upgrade to First Class on United. But as I sat there with my morning coffee and paper, the entire cabin began to smell. Six or seven guys boarded, took over the First Class section. I discreetly asked the flight attendant if I could move back to Coach. The smell of stale beer, urine, dope, and cigarette smoke was more than I could handle at 7am. As I deplaned in Denver, I asked the flight attendant who the guys were. None other than Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead!!!
Then a few years ago, I came across a quick change artist in First Class. She boarded while dressed in street clothes. She proceeded to put on her flannel pajamas in her little pod. This included shedding undergarments, and makeup! It was quite a bizarre scene, but the flight attendants did not talk to her. All the men were staring, and the women were quite perplexed. She promptly went to sleep before food and beverage service, and woke up in London as if nothing happened. My buddy, Webb would love this!
On par with the Grateful Dead story was a return trip from Costa Rica many years ago. We upgraded to First, and as we took off, the cabin filled with a noxious gas, often and commonly called a fart. It was an older lady sitting in the front seat by herself. I started fanning the air vigorously. Everyone started to laugh at me, until the gas hit their seats. The couple across from us covered themselves with blankets!!! The flight attendants were also trying to keep a straight face. Just when the air cleared, she let loose again, and it was even worse. Everyone is the First Class cabin was either laughing hysterically, or gasping for a clean breath! Finally, to everyone’s great pleasure, the lady headed off to the toilet, several pounds lighter, I assume!
If you can top these stories, be my guest and share!!!
Last Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the paperwork that created his first contribution to the National Park Service: the former Camp Amache in southeastern Colorado, about a three-hour drive from Colorado Springs.
An etched wooden sign, complete with outlines of buildings, that is one the only remnants — save for a few cement foundations a little nearby graveyard — of the Amache Camp, where Japanese and Japanese-Americans were interned during World War Two near the town of Granada in Prowers County, Colorado. The sign was created by a student in the camp, some time after the war.
It was another American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who signed the deeply regrettable Executive Order 9066 in February 1942. That edict, a low for American values, legalized the seizure of American citizens, their homes, and businesses, simply on the basis of whether they had Japanese heritage.
The wartime measure swept some 110,000 law-abiding people—including many children—into incarceration across 10 hastily established facilities in some of the country’s most desolate and forbidding locales. Amache (pictured above in 1942), the smallest of the 10 camps, imprisoned 7,318 detainees at its peak, making it the 10th-largest city in Colorado at the time.
This included my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. My Uncles were drafted, served in the MIS, and had to interrogate Japanese POWs in Japan!!!
As with most of the former Japanese internment camps from World War II, the infrastructure at Amache, known officially as the Granada War Relocation Center, is largely gone. Almost all of the long wooden sheds that were originally used as living and dining quarters were destroyed, abandoned, or sold to returning soldiers for personal use.
The newly established Amache National Historic Site includes a historic cemetery (for people who died while living there), a monument, some concrete building foundations, and several reconstructed or rehabilitated structures.
The remnants are not unlike what you’ll find 1,100 miles west at Manzanar, a sister facility in east Central California that incarcerated about 10,000 people during its busiest period. Manzanar was made a National Historic Landmark by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and a full-fledged National Historic Site by George H.W. Bush in 1992. At Manzanar, multiple elements have been reconstructed or preserved to provide a full visitor experience, and similar efforts are planned for Amache.
“The National Park Service will continue working closely with key stakeholders dedicated to the preservation of Amache, and those directly impacted by the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, to preserve and interpret this significant historic site to the public,” said National Park Service director Chuck Sams in a statement.
A local social studies teacher in Amache’s neighboring town of Granada, Colorado, led the preservation society that successfully maintained the artifacts and stories from the historic camp site and steered the grounds to the permanent stewardship of the National Park Service.
Colorado Public Radio reported that just one Colorado state representative, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper, who coauthored the bill with Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D), attended the Amache signing ceremony.
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee originally cast the sole Senate vote to block the designation by unanimous consent, but he was ultimately outvoted.This article is from Frommer’s. My family was incarcerated in both Gila, AZ, and Jerome, AK.
Sadly, we cannot even have a Senate confirmation hearing for Judge Jackson without the vitriol of race brought on by the likes of shameful senators, Graham and Cruz.
Senator Booker, though, pushed back against the Republicans as Jackson could not. In an impassioned speech, quoting Langston Hughes’s vow that “America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath—America will be!” Booker said “There is a love in this country that is extraordinary.”
He spoke of Jackson’s parents and how they “didn’t stop loving this country even though this country didn’t love them back.” Jackson has talked of how the life of civil rights attorney Constance Baker Motley inspired her; Booker said: “Did she become bitter” when no one would hire her after law school? “Did she try to create a revolution? No, she used the very Constitution of this nation. She loved it so much she wanted America to be America….”
What have we learned in the intervening 80 years between Relocation of the Japanese and confirmation for Judge Jackson? Do you think Japanese Americans decided to love this country when this country did not love them back?
As of today, here are the State Department warnings regarding travel to my destinations in May.
Serbia: Reconsider your need to travel. It has not been updated since Oct, 2021. Belgrade is only 320 miles from the Ukraine border!
Croatia: Exercise a high degree of caution. (Mar 2022)
Greece: Same as Croatia
France: Same as Greece
Germany: Same as France
So, what am I going to do? The cycling portion of my trip in May in Croatia, from May 14-21. Is the Adriatic Sea safe for tourists? Yet, Poland is rated the same as Croatia, France, and Germany, though they have received upwards of 3 million refugees from war torn Ukraine. At least Ukraine is listed as “Do not travel” as of March 20, 2022.
Here are the warnings for the Ukraine:
Military action is underway.
Shelter in place.
When it is safe, leave Ukraine.
Contact your family and loved ones by phone (if you have phone service)
Follow the instructions of Ukrainian authorities.
Personal security measures include:
Always be alert and aware of your surroundings, especially in large crowds.
Keep a low profile. Avoid standing out or looking like a tourist.
Have a list of emergency contacts on you.
Avoid areas where demonstrations or large crowds are gathering.
Avoid areas with large numbers of armed forces.
If you’re out and notice something suspicious, leave the area immediately.
Don’t take photos of security forces or local authorities. You may appear suspicious and put yourself at risk.
If you have significant concerns about your welfare, contact the US Embassy.
What would you do if you get caught in a country where evacuation is necessary, and resources are limited? I doubt travel insurance, though I might be reimbursed, will help secure safe passage out of the country.
Here are my options:
Train (the most obvious and cheapest choice)
Plane (quickest and most expensive)
Car rental (both expensive and dangerous)
I would also worry about my baggage, and valuables: Remember I told you the story about the woman who invited me to Kiev, Ukraine in 2014. She was trapped in a hotel, under the bed in Iraq or Lebanon. She was able to get out when the UN forces created a safe path to the airport, and out of the country!!
You usually won’t be covered if you were breaking the local law when the incident occurred. This can include not wearing a motorbike helmet on a moped.
Many insurers won’t cover you if something happens to your property when you’re under the influence of alcohol. Even a low blood alcohol level can get your claim denied.
Your items won’t be covered if the incident occurred while you were doing an excluded activity. For example, if your policy excludes riding motorbikes and you lose your phone while riding, you can’t claim it.
Unattended baggage is rarely covered. Even if you turned away for just a moment when it was stolen.
Valuables locked in a car may not be covered. You may need a separate car insurance policy via the hire company – and excess reduction cover from your travel insurer as an extra.
Baggage checked in on an airline may not be covered. Ask your airline what their policy is for items lost, broken or delayed when in their care.
Most insurers won’t cover cancellation costs if:
you’re cancelling because of a situation that was known about before you bought your policy
our advice level was already at ‘Reconsider your need to travel’ or ‘Do not travel’
you’re cancelling due to a mental health issue or episode
there’s a demonstration, war or terrorist incident in your destination unless we raise our advice level to ‘Do Not Travel’
there’s a pandemic, epidemic or natural disaster in your destination unless we raise our advice level to ‘Do Not Travel’
your tour company or airline makes a mistake with your booking, or goes out of business
As you can read, my options are fairly limited. Is it worth the risk? I think it is
Champs Elysses-I would say very overrated, but nice.
Bourbon Street-not what it was in the last century, but still fun.
Abbey Road-the ghost of John and George may appear.
Beale Street (Memphis)-lots of fun, good music too!
Times Square-at least once in your life!
Lombard Street (The City)-once is enough!
Nathan Road (Hong Kong)-capitalism at its best, interesting, but just once!
Steiner Street (The City)-love the painted ladies!
Khao San Road (Bangkok)-backpacker heaven, hawker stalls, old hippies.
Las Vegas Boulevard-the thrill is gone
Boulevard Saint Laurent (Montreal)-I saw Johnny Bench here
Shibuya (Tokyo)- busiest intersection in the world, and best of all, plus Hachiko
Fifth Avenue-shop until you drop, at least prior to pandemic.
Oxford Street (London)-what a big disappointment, so was Carnaby Street.
Avenue Istiklal (Istanbul)-perhaps the most fun I have had in the last ten years!
Hollywood Walk of Fame-waste of time, repeat, waste of time!
Grand Canal (Vienna)-stinks, too much sewage and litter.
Ocean Drive (Miami)-expensive, overrated
Arbat Street (Moscow)-waste of time, touristy, but clean.
Spanish Steps-everyone has been there!
Kurfurstendamm (Berlin)-I visited before and after the wall, still enjoyable.
Magnificent Mile-not what it once was
Wilshire Boulevard-lots of variety, perhaps too much!
Avenue Atlantica (Rio)-love the beach and bikinis
These are some of the famous streets I have walked. I can think of many others, Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, Red Square in Moscow, Jalan Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, Long Street in Cape Town, Oxford Street in Sydney, The Riverwalk in San Antonio, Central Market Street in Siem Reap, Ta Hien Street in Hanoi, Florida Street in Buenos Aires, Avenida Jose Larco, in Lima, Lipscani Street in Bucharest, Ermou Street in Athens, and my favorite, Ginza, in Tokyo.
MSN and the Points Guy often collaborate on travel on the MSN website. I find the Points Guy to be quite informative, though I have some strong opinions about using my travel miles and points. But he provides a great perspective, particularly if you have never played the points and miles game. After all, I am a graduate of the Samurai School of Discount Travel, with a Ph.D. that I earned back in the 80s, when I traveled extensively on business.
The place is Brasov, Romania, home to Dracula’s Castle:
He listed several places that are “Off the Beaten Path” with one in particular that caught my eye. It is a place where I visited with Dirty Pat, the Fulbright Scholar in Bucharest, Romania back in 2019.
Nestled in the surrounding Carpathian Mountains, Brasov is a city you don’t want to miss when visiting the Transylvania region of Romania. You may want to skip Bran Castle (please do not skip!), which is 45 minutes by bus or 30 minutes by car south of Brasov. It’s marketed as “Dracula’s Castle” but is more of a tourist trap than anything. Instead, hike up (we took the sky tram) to the Brasov sign. It’s kind of like hiking up to the Hollywood sign in L.A. but a more spectacular view, especially when the colors change in the fall.
Brasov is easiest to reach by a 3.5-hour (well worth spending the day) train from Bucharest. If you’re able to route on LOT Polish Airlines to Bucharest, Romania (OTP), you could book round-trip business class flights for just 88,000 ANA Mileage Club miles without hefty fuel surcharges that some other airlines pass along. Otherwise, business class flights on Air France or KLM start from just 53,000 Flying Blue miles each way, though pricing is variable and will depend on travel dates.
The people are nice, the food is great, and beer is cold and plentiful. It was a great day trip from Bucharest. As we ascended up the tram, we saw the state-of-the-art clay court tennis center owned by Ion Tiriac. In fact, Tiriac, former doubles partner of Ilie Nastase, is the richest man in Romania, thanks to his buddy Ceausescu, everything has his name on it, Tiriac Motors, Tiriac Insurance, Tiriac Taqueria, Tiriac Hospital, you name it!!
As far as Bucharest, and Dirty Pat, and Mrs. Pat, I could not have been treated any better. It was a great trip, to immerse in a different culture, meet some great people (including my new travel hero, Katy), and have some great meals.
Definitely, go to Romania, and visit both Bucharest, and Brasov. Dracula will welcome you.
PS: They are accepting large numbers of refugees from the Ukraine. It might be wise to wait until the war ends to visit.
I continue to revise and update this email about corned beef.This was written a many years ago, but still applies today. These days, we have our St. Patricks’ Day meal at home. I actually enjoy preparing it. It is one of the few meals I know how to prepare. In years past, we had parties! I think they have become extinct.
St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect time to have one of my favorite dishes, corned beef and cabbage. So, aside from buying and preparing this dish, I wondered about the origin and history of corned beef. The term “corned” comes from the large rock-salt kernels, or “corns of salt” covering beef in a crock. This process preserves the meat. The term has been in the dictionary since 888 AD.
Leave it to the Irish to be the largest exporters of corned beef, at least until 1825. It turns out that corned beef and cabbage is not very Irish. But corned beef certainly is. The area of Cork, Ireland was a big producer of corned beef in the 1600s, until 1825. It was sent in cans and was their chief export, sent around the world. According to historians, the British army survived on canned corned beef during the Napoleonic Wars.
Corned beef and cabbage is essentially an American tradition on St. Patrick’s Day, started by Irish-Americans in the 1800s. But traditional Irish feel that beef was reserved for royalty, since cows were prized more for their milk. It was more common to celebrate a holiday meal with ham or bacon with their cabbage and potatoes. When the Irish immigrants came over to America, they had to replace the hard to find bacon with beef. They found that Jewish corned beef was similar in texture, so they began using it in their celebrations.
Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural dinner was corned beef and cabbage. It was served with mock turtle soup and blueberry pie. Somehow, I doubt President Obama would replicate this dinner, despite his fondness for the Lincolns. But cabbage soup recipes abound for weight loss. And who can argue with the fiber? Only the folks at Benefiber or Metamucil.
Corned beef, called salt beef in the U.K. are types of salt cured beef products. The three main types are 1) wet cured in spiced brine (brisket or round steak), 2) dry cured with granular salt (various cuts of beef), and 3) canned, minced salted meat, oily and crumbly (made from various cuts of beef).
In the United States, corned beef is usually purchased ready to eat from delicatessens. It is the key ingredient in a Reuben sandwich. And the best is served at the Carnegie Deli in Vegas and New York City. Corned beef hash is commonly served with eggs for breakfast. Smoked corned beef becomes pastrami with the addition of spice mix. Most of us just buy the corned beef in a ready to cook preparation in the meat section or butcher counter.
St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. centers around corned beef and cabbage. It is not an Irish national dish as we are led to believe. The closest Irish dish is Bacon and Cabbage. But we do thank the Irish immigrants for substituting corned beef for the pork products. New Englanders commonly add the root vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, and turnips.
When cooking the corned beef, I prefer to cook the potatoes, carrots, and cabbage in a separate pot. Otherwise, the oily liquid from the corned beef changes the flavor and texture of the other ingredients. Then to top it off, skip the fancy mustard, and just go with old fashioned French’s yellow mustard. Many people also prefer rye bread for sandwiches the next day. The brisket must be cut cross grain or will be impossible to chew.
Personally, this is a meal I enjoy on St. Patrick’s Day, or for any other day when the weather is cool. It is high in salt, but oh so tasty. And all the food groups are represented. A taste trio worthy of anyone, Irish or not. Remember the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza finds the cured, salted meats to be an aphrodisiac? Give me Carnegie Deli or give me something healthy to eat instead!
Enjoy yourself!!! Have a Guinness, and forget about the war.
Update: Pastrami is the quintessential Jewish deli meat found at New York institutions like Katz’s, which famously piles a whole pound of rosy, hand-sliced pastrami onto its sandwiches. But in the Bay Area, the options have been slim for high-quality pastrami outside of long-running Berkeley staple Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen and, more recently, Wise Sons. The scene started truly changing about two years ago, coinciding with the start of the pandemic.
First, prolific restaurateurs Mark and Terri Stark opened Grossman’s Noshery & Bar, bringing a New York-inspired Jewish deli with local ingredients and global influences to Santa Rosa. Then came Mark ‘n Mike’s, a deli pop-up within San Francisco’s high-end restaurant One Market. Around the same time, Oakland pop-up Pyro’s Pastrami debuted to instant acclaim. Owners Cash Caris and Anahita Cann are now getting ready to open a restaurant, Delirama, in Berkeley with pastrami on pizza and sandwiches.
The momentum has only picked up: San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood got a restaurant entirely devoted to pastrami last summer with Hot Johnnie’s, which puts a West Coast spin on it. North Beach’s Little Red Window dropped its empanada menu for a Jewish deli format last month. And now, Napa is getting ready to welcome Loveski Deli from Christopher and Martina Kostow of the three Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood.
Other chefs see more obvious reasons for pastrami’s recent rise. Caris called it simply “the best deli meat,” while Matt Weinberger, general manager at Grossman’s, said it fits into larger pandemic-fueled trends toward comfort food. Pastrami also falls in line with California’s love of food preservation, said Loveski’s Christopher Kostow, and reflects how chefs are generally looking to the past for inspiration.
“It’s Jewish barbecue at the end of the day,” said Kostow, who is buying pastrami from a secret source for Loveski. “It’s delicious. It’s smoked. It’s spiced. It’s fatty. It’s the best of all possible worlds.”
Making pastrami is a labor-intensive, time-consuming process, and no chef in the Bay Area makes it the same way. Chefs trim the brisket, drop it in a salty brine, rub it with spices, smoke it, steam it until tender and then slice it to order. But there’s variation at every step that makes each restaurant’s pastrami special.
Caris describes his pastrami as traditional in the sense that he doesn’t inject the meat with brine to speed up the process — a shortcut common in industrial versions. But he takes liberties, namely keeping more fat on the grass-fed brisket than usual.
“We want it to be kind of like a prosciutto. The fat in our pastrami is super buttery,” he said, noting that he’s heard from some upscale restaurants that want to carry Pyro’s product. “It’s something you can throw on a charcuterie board.”
Pyro’s also takes an exceptionally long time to make pastrami — on average about 30 days, depending on the size of the brisket. Caris spends time every week agitating the brisket to examine the osmosis in action for an average brine time of 26 days. That’s because each brisket comes from a different animal with different densities, he said. There is such a thing as too long in the brine, though, resulting in pastrami that tastes aggressively cured and salty.
Corned beef and cabbage is one of the few dishes I know how to make!
(Thanks to the SF Chron for this pastrami insight)
I continue to revise and update this email about corned beef.This was written a many years ago, but still applies today. These days, we have our St. Patricks’ Day meal at home. I actually enjoy preparing it. It is one of the few meals I know how to prepare. In years past, we had parties! I think they have become extinct.
St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect time to have one of my favorite dishes, corned beef and cabbage. So, aside from buying and preparing this dish, I wondered about the origin and history of corned beef. The term “corned” comes from the large rock-salt kernels, or “corns of salt” covering beef in a crock. This process preserves the meat. The term has been in the dictionary since 888 AD.
Leave it to the Irish to be the largest exporters of corned beef, at least until 1825. It turns out that corned beef and cabbage is not very Irish. But corned beef certainly is. The area of Cork, Ireland was a big producer of corned beef in the 1600s, until 1825. It was sent in cans and was their chief export, sent around the world. According to historians, the British army survived on canned corned beef during the Napoleonic Wars.
Corned beef and cabbage is essentially an American tradition on St. Patrick’s Day, started by Irish-Americans in the 1800s. But traditional Irish feel that beef was reserved for royalty, since cows were prized more for their milk. It was more common to celebrate a holiday meal with ham or bacon with their cabbage and potatoes. When the Irish immigrants came over to America, they had to replace the hard to find bacon with beef. They found that Jewish corned beef was similar in texture, so they began using it in their celebrations.
Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural dinner was corned beef and cabbage. It was served with mock turtle soup and blueberry pie. Somehow, I doubt President Obama would replicate this dinner, despite his fondness for the Lincolns. But cabbage soup recipes abound for weight loss. And who can argue with the fiber? Only the folks at Benefiber or Metamucil.
Corned beef, called salt beef in the U.K. are types of salt cured beef products. The three main types are 1) wet cured in spiced brine (brisket or round steak), 2) dry cured with granular salt (various cuts of beef), and 3) canned, minced salted meat, oily and crumbly (made from various cuts of beef).
In the United States, corned beef is usually purchased ready to eat from delicatessens. It is the key ingredient in a Reuben sandwich. And the best is served at the Carnegie Deli in Vegas and New York City. Corned beef hash is commonly served with eggs for breakfast. Smoked corned beef becomes pastrami with the addition of spice mix. Most of us just buy the corned beef in a ready to cook preparation in the meat section or butcher counter.
St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. centers around corned beef and cabbage. It is not an Irish national dish as we are led to believe. The closest Irish dish is Bacon and Cabbage. But we do thank the Irish immigrants for substituting corned beef for the pork products. New Englanders commonly add the root vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, and turnips.
When cooking the corned beef, I prefer to cook the potatoes, carrots, and cabbage in a separate pot. Otherwise, the oily liquid from the corned beef changes the flavor and texture of the other ingredients. Then to top it off, skip the fancy mustard, and just go with old fashioned French’s yellow mustard. Many people also prefer rye bread for sandwiches the next day. The brisket must be cut cross grain or will be impossible to chew.
Personally, this is a meal I enjoy on St. Patrick’s Day, or for any other day when the weather is cool. It is high in salt, but oh so tasty. And all the food groups are represented. A taste trio worthy of anyone, Irish or not. Remember the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza finds the cured, salted meats to be an aphrodisiac? Give me Carnegie Deli or give me something healthy to eat instead!
Enjoy yourself!!! Have a Guinness, and forget about the war.
Update: Pastrami is the quintessential Jewish deli meat found at New York institutions like Katz’s, which famously piles a whole pound of rosy, hand-sliced pastrami onto its sandwiches. But in the Bay Area, the options have been slim for high-quality pastrami outside of long-running Berkeley staple Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen and, more recently, Wise Sons. The scene started truly changing about two years ago, coinciding with the start of the pandemic.
First, prolific restaurateurs Mark and Terri Stark opened Grossman’s Noshery & Bar, bringing a New York-inspired Jewish deli with local ingredients and global influences to Santa Rosa. Then came Mark ‘n Mike’s, a deli pop-up within San Francisco’s high-end restaurant One Market. Around the same time, Oakland pop-up Pyro’s Pastrami debuted to instant acclaim. Owners Cash Caris and Anahita Cann are now getting ready to open a restaurant, Delirama, in Berkeley with pastrami on pizza and sandwiches.
The momentum has only picked up: San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood got a restaurant entirely devoted to pastrami last summer with Hot Johnnie’s, which puts a West Coast spin on it. North Beach’s Little Red Window dropped its empanada menu for a Jewish deli format last month. And now, Napa is getting ready to welcome Loveski Deli from Christopher and Martina Kostow of the three Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood.
Other chefs see more obvious reasons for pastrami’s recent rise. Caris called it simply “the best deli meat,” while Matt Weinberger, general manager at Grossman’s, said it fits into larger pandemic-fueled trends toward comfort food. Pastrami also falls in line with California’s love of food preservation, said Loveski’s Christopher Kostow, and reflects how chefs are generally looking to the past for inspiration.
“It’s Jewish barbecue at the end of the day,” said Kostow, who is buying pastrami from a secret source for Loveski. “It’s delicious. It’s smoked. It’s spiced. It’s fatty. It’s the best of all possible worlds.”
Making pastrami is a labor-intensive, time-consuming process, and no chef in the Bay Area makes it the same way. Chefs trim the brisket, drop it in a salty brine, rub it with spices, smoke it, steam it until tender and then slice it to order. But there’s variation at every step that makes each restaurant’s pastrami special.
Caris describes his pastrami as traditional in the sense that he doesn’t inject the meat with brine to speed up the process — a shortcut common in industrial versions. But he takes liberties, namely keeping more fat on the grass-fed brisket than usual.
“We want it to be kind of like a prosciutto. The fat in our pastrami is super buttery,” he said, noting that he’s heard from some upscale restaurants that want to carry Pyro’s product. “It’s something you can throw on a charcuterie board.”
Pyro’s also takes an exceptionally long time to make pastrami — on average about 30 days, depending on the size of the brisket. Caris spends time every week agitating the brisket to examine the osmosis in action for an average brine time of 26 days. That’s because each brisket comes from a different animal with different densities, he said. There is such a thing as too long in the brine, though, resulting in pastrami that tastes aggressively cured and salty.
Corned beef and cabbage is one of the few dishes I know how to make!
(Thanks to the SF Chron for this pastrami insight)
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