Month: April 2011

The Original French Dip

The French dip sandwich is said to have originated at Philippe, the Original, a 100+ year old deli in downtown Los Angeles.  So when Jan and I found ourselves even in the remote vicinity of the place on a recent trip to Southern California, we had a pretty big item on our to-do list: eat a French dip sandwich at Philippe’s.  We had seen the restaurant featured on both the Food Network and the Travel Channel, and since both Jan and I are fans of the classic roast beef sandwich dipped in au jus, we were excited. Our friend David, who we were visiting while we were in L.A., had only sampled (and loved) the spicy mustard from Philippe’s, but had never been to the restaurant, so with three people hungry for roast beef, we hopped in the car and made our way. Continue reading →

Flaming Bananas

The idea of cooking Bananas Foster had been floating around the house for a while.  For some reason, I felt like I’d eaten it before, but I didn’t have a memory of it, it was just some vague dessert in my mind.

Having some friends over for a tri-tip dinner, we decided Bananas Foster would be the dessert, and planned accordingly, which meant buying a few more bananas than we usually do, making sure we had vanilla ice cream, and heading to the liquor store for banana liqueur (not something we regularly stock in the bar). Continue reading →