Femme de Joie and Amico del Signore have been enthusiastic fans of KPIG radio for several years after reading about it from a column by Jim Dyar in The Newspaper Of Which We Dare Not Speak Its Name. It was through the PIG that we first got wind of a BBQ joint in San Francisco called Memphis Minnie’s Barbecue Joint and Smo

Femme de Joie loves her a good sandwich, the drippier and messier the better. French dip with red onions and pepper Jack cheese, meatball with sauce, gooey chicken salad, Po’ Boy with olive salad, even that 70’s standby of avocado-tomato-sprouts-cheese… bring it on. But it seems to be well-nigh next to impossible t

Pio Loco first opened in 1986 in a former pizzeria on Lake Boulevard as a non-traditional Mexican restaurant; when the old gymnasium at the Pine Street School became available in the mid-1990’s, Chef Jeff Cerasaro upped sticks and moved to the considerably more roomy downtown location. Within the past few months Pio Loco

It’s Saturday night in Redding and you are sweating bullets: tonight you have a date with the object of your desires. You’ve done the meet-for-coffee and the safe lunch, caught a matinee showing of Pirates of the Caribbean, Part 16: Jack Sparrow Goes to Washington (did you notice how much Johnny Depp

Last July this email popped up in Femme de Joie's mailbox:Hi! As a well known and followed blogger, your opinion is clearly valued by many. We would like to send you some of our product, to do with as you please. Write about it, don’t write about it. Share it with friends or horde it for your

When you travel to other countries, you find that foods that seem completely bizarre to you are just ordinary, everyday dishes to the people of that culture. In Malaysia, for example, curried hard-boiled eggs are a very common Muslim street food. Whenever I saw people selling them, I would make a face, until finally the

Some places have been around forever, so long that you don't even notice them any more. They're just part of the landscape of daily life, like the stop sign, the broken sidewalk, your Uncle Fred. That's probably why it took M. de Joie so long to remember the very existence of Snack Shack. Back in the 1970s, Pere de Joie wor

April: Well, the cranberries were easy. I just had to open the can. Eugene: [needing support from his wife] Evette? April Burns: [sensing Eugene's outrage] What? Oh, come on. Everyone likes it from the can. Eugene: No one likes it from the can. - Katie Holmes and Isiah Whitlock Jr, "Pieces of Apr

Calvin Trillin says there is really only one fruitcake in the world and it is circulated every Christmas from person to person in the ultimate recycling program. ..Google "does anyone EAT fruitcake" and read the comments in the forums. There seem to be two main objections: "too much stuff and not eno

Even a dedicated consumer of double cheeseburgers needs a break now and then. On a recent drab and drizzly day, M. De Joie was in the mood for a bowl of pho, that Vietnamese soup/meal-in-a-bowl with the healing powers normally ascribed to chicken soup, AKA Jewish penicillin. However, M. de Joie was in Barnes & Noble at

Amico del Signore bought a jar of Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter. It's a delicious alternative to peanut butter on a cracker with a little honey, on a stick of celery, or as a filling in a PB&J for those allergic to peanuts or who would just like something a little different. M. de Joie thought it might also work in

Femme de Joie has found people tend to either love Gene's with a passion or despise it with the hatred usually reserved for memories of high-school-cafeteria tuna-on-a-shingle. She recalls one person who described the onion rings as "made from turnips." Personally, M. de Joie enjoys a burger from Gene's now and again and ha

Femme de Joie has not done any scientific polling, but she suspects the most-hated pie in America is mincemeat. Perhaps it's partly the name - there's something sinister going on with that - perhaps its unyielding dense stickiness, perhaps the intensity of dried fruit & spice. Maman de Joie was a big mincemeat pie fan

Despite what some people may think, it does not give Femme de Joie pleasure to write negative things about restaurants. Well, perhaps that should come with a qualification: it does not bother her to write negative things about restaurants she feels are overrated and overpriced, and which have a dedicated fan base who will i

On those mornings when making pancake batter from scratch seems about as probable as counting the bricks in the Great Wall of China, most of us either (a) go out to Ye Old Local Greasy Spoon for a short stack (not that we have anything against greasy spoons) or (b) reach for the pancake mix. Femme de Joie and Amico del Sign

Recently Femme de Joie paid a visit to Bonney's Burgers, and to spare innocent eyes we will put some of the details behind a cut: It's likely most locals have never even heard of Bonney's Burgers, much less driven by it. It's off the beaten track, out in Happy Valley, down the road from the fire hall and

Amico del Signore recently went to Safeway (the one at Pine and Cypress) looking for T-bone steaks to grill. The young man behind the counter apologized but they'd had a run on them - folks stocking up for Labor Day - and they were fresh out. He recommended 7-bone roast as a substitute. A. del Signore was skeptical.

No, not literally. Figuratively.Trader Joe's Vinas Chilenas 2008 Reserva Sauvignon Blanc - crisp, light, tart-sweet.For the full experience, slice an Asian pear (or a Bosc) into a glass of this palest-straw colored wine - chilled for an hour or so - and let them enjoy each other's company while the s

CR Gibbs opened, way, way back in the 1970's as a sort of sophisticated pub-for-Americans. Back then the never-ending shrimp bowl was the attraction - a large bowl with a mound of cracked ice, topped with shrimp in the shell. It was presented as the amuse-bouche at every dinner. Presumably the shell was to slow down

Tejava is not strictly a Trader Joe's product. It's made by Crystal Geyser Water Company in Napa and they distribute to a lot of retail outlets. However, Trader Joe's sells it for $1.19 a liter or $15.00 for a case of 12 (the BevMo chain sells a liter for $2.99 + CRV, Amazon for $4.99/liter or - get this - $54.00 PLUS SHIPP

.What is patriotism but love of the food one ate as a child? - Lin YutangThe best pastrami sandwich Mademoiselle de Joie ever ate was at a long-closed burger joint called Jan's Frost Shop. It was on Placer Street near Court, in the tiny building most recently vacated by Willie's Famous Chili D

Despite her reputation as a bon vivant and gourmand, Mlle. de Joie truly loves her a good drive-in. Nowadays what we have on the American scene are not so much drive-ins, but re-creations of drive-ins. You've seen them: big marquees with "DADDY-O'S HOPPIN' '50'S SPOT" next to the ripped-off ghastly rendition o

In her time M. de Joie has enjoyed many a fine meal in the Napa Valley. In particular she reminisces pleasantly about the 1000-Almond Duck at Mustard's in Yountville, the rabbit at the sadly late Catahoula in the Mount View Hotel in Calistoga, and the frisee with lardons and a poached egg at Thomas Keller's Bouchon (since t

Most folks eat ice cream frequently, and most of it is okay, but it's seldom that ice cream (and similar frozen desserts) are really stupendous enough to stand out in memory. Mlle. de Joie can pretty much tick them off on one hand, the ice creams that she would order again and again if she could: The date-cogn