• 44% of Missourians say they buy artisanal cheese at least once a week.
• Las Margaritas (across from Rock Bridge H.S., on Corporate Lake) is for real, guys. Like, serious pressure on La Terraza in south Columbia real. Highly recommend the cochinita pibil tacos…and the molcajete’s better that La T’s.
• Jose Jalapeno’s Mexican Restaurant is open at the Ice Chalet Galactic Fun Zone Lazer Lanes building.
• In movies, I highly recommend the beautifully animated and scored “A Monster in Paris” for the whole family.
• Even better – though not for the whole family – is “Django Unchained.” Love him or hate him, Tarantino always makes interesting films. Dialogue, music and dark comedy…plus, the bad guys always get theirs in the end. 100% recommend.
• Rodents of Unusual Size are eating Louisiana.
• Karl Welzein has written an ad he wants to run by Anheuser-Busch’s marketing team.

• New York City’s Department of Records has released hundreds of thousands of never-before-seen photos from the city’s past, and many of them are awesome.
• The Times ties “Before Midnight” to Truffaut and “Up.”
• Lionel Messi managed to, er, excite a tv announcer.
• Fox News would like you to know that the Age of Enlightenment caused the Holocaust.
• Remember to go to the omelet fundraiser tomorrow at the farmers market – it’s rain or shine. While you’re there, buy a lemongrass plant from Kea International.
• Finally, I think Bamboo Terrace is the best Chinese restaurant in town. And now they have a “secret” menu geared toward the Chinese students they’ve started to draw. Feel free to ask for it. Some is approachable, some of it is a little, um, intimidating. But the front of the house manager, sensing  trepidation but knowing me to be an adventurous sort, brought out – gratis – a tasting portion of the “beef and beef stomach” entree, which is served cold. ”Bluff called,” I said to Mrs. SMEs before cautiously taking one bite. Then another. Tender, contrasting textures and flavors, chilies, chili oil, cilantro. Before long I realized that I’ve never been quite so surprised by a dish. I ate the whole thing – and will actually order it next time. If you can keep an open mind you should do the same.

Have a great weekend.

The kitchen at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, as seen from a diner’s perspective.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in St. Germain, Paris is one of the world’s most highly-rated restaurants. They rated #13 last year and come in at #24 in the 2013 rankings, which came out today. No less than Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert have stopped by recently, in their case to film a segment for AB’s “No Reservations.”

In addition to being highly-regarded, it’s also riotously fun, with seating organized around the open kitchen, a fun, smart staff and whimsical takes on French classics (with, say, gyoza thrown in just for kicks). And yes, it’s dizzyingly expensive as well but hey, you only live once. We went all-in during our time in Paris last June: tasting menu, paired wines, the whole nine yards. And because it was such an unstuffy atmosphere – seriously, there was a stroller in there, and 5 year-olds bellied up to the bar – I felt relatively undouchey about taking pictures of the food. Yeah, the food…

(Please click on a picture to view slideshow)

Everything was excellent – really, really great. But a few transcended “holy crap that’s awesome” territory and will be forever-remembered. The gyoza dish and the foie gras-stuffed quail fit that bill for me. But there was still one course that did even better. Mrs. SMEs and I agreed that the seared duck foie gras (“Le Foie Gras de canard chaud,” or the fourth course) was the single greatest thing we’ve ever tasted. Rich yet balanced, classic but playful, it was a jaw-dropper. Nearly a year later I can recall the tart cherry reduction cutting the fatty foie; the crunchy greens and julienned apple playing off the creamy duck liver. From concept to execution, it was just perfect in every possible way.

Pan Seared Sustainable Halibut, Roasted Spring Onions, Olive Oil Whipped Potatoes, Grapefruit & Mint Vinaigrette   $29

• Oh man. 44 Stone has some killer-looking specials too. Decision time!

We don’t even have a butcher shop in town (yet), so it’s not like I can safely expect a Jewish deli. But man, I do love a Jewish deli. Katz’ in New York City is justifiably famous for its pastrami, and I can attest to it being worth a visit if you’re ever in the Big Apple. Unfortunately, my most recent true exposure to the genre is a visit nearly two years ago (sniff, sigh) to Protzel’s Deli in St. Louis (pictured above). It’s a wonderful place tucked away in a neighborhood in Clayton. Nothing even remotely close to it exists in Columbia. But corned beef, pastrami…that’s just well-prepared brisket. Anyone can do that, right? Jury’s out, but here’s how my first attempt went.

I started with a whole, 10-lb. brisket from Show Me Farms. You can find them at the Columbia Farmers Market on Saturdays. To make it more manageable I cut it in half and from there it was a three day brine soak – recipe from the mandatory book, “Charcuterie,” by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. At this point it’s basically corned beef. You get pastrami by rubbing the corned beef/brisket with a mixture of coriander and black pepper, then smoking it for a few hours and then steaming until tender.

After about three hours on the smoker at 250-degrees or so it looked like this:

Looks good, right? It’s not done. Not, as it turns out, by a long shot. Into a 275-degree oven it went. For three more hours it steamed away between a water bath and aluminum foil. Dinner time rolled around and the house smelled amazing. Unfortunately, while fully cooked, the brisket was nowhere near the tender stage. What we had was sandwich-shredding rawhide. Not bad with a fork and knife, though. Back into the oven it went. And after another two or three hours at 275, we hit the magic 185-degree mark where brisket gets really, really happy. Voila!

Did I have a Meg Ryan moment? No. Next time I’ll trim the fat to get better seasoning into the meat and cook it right the first time. But it still, it beat anything else I’ve had in town.

In addition to fresh local produce, Lucky’s will have a full-service butcher where “we make our own sausages, cure our own bacon, smoke our own fish,” he said.

• New item: The CCAC Culinary Arts students will be putting on a pasta fundraiser for lunch this Friday (and most of the pasta will be of the fresh, handmade variety). Proceeds will go to the Martha A. Rayl Scholarship program, which benefits CCAC students who move on to culinary school.
• I’ve always wondered why grocery stores don’t have bars in them. You know, get a couple of beers or glasses of wine in them and send them out into the store – they’ll buy more, right? Well, Schnucks is calling my bluff. You can now buy glasses of wine and bottles of beer (including Boulevard products, Schlafly APA, etc.) from the Kaldi’s area and take it with you while you shop. They even have “dollar off” happy hours Friday night and Saturday. So money.
• Our long, sordid nightmare involving the former Osco Drug space seems to be coming to a close. Stan Kroenke will try to bankrupt Lucky’s Farmers Market, a small, Colorado-based chain that maybe-sorta-could give many long-suffering Columbians their Trader Joe’s fix. From the Missourian:

Lucky’s President Bo Sharon said the store will employ more than 100 people and sell local produce and meats from farmers and vendors. He said the more time the company spends in Columbia, the better a connection it will create with people living here.

Sharon said the company was looking for a city with a strong sense of community, and Columbia’s “good people and strong values” fit well with his business. He said Lucky’s employees used the grassroots style of getting to know Columbia. They spent a lot of time in town beforehand, shopping at the grocery stores and talking to residents.

• During that one- or two-day spring we had I really enjoyed Chainbreaker White IPA. It may be destined to become my favorite session/lawnmower beer, and the folks behind it, Deschutes Brewery of Portland, Oregon, will be at the Conley Hy-Vee tomorrow:

“Woody” the beer barrel-shaped sample wagon from Deschutes Brewery will be paying us a visit tomorrow, April 24^th!  They will be in our parking lot giving out free samples from 4:00-5:30pm before their big tasting at 44 Stone that evening.

Panchero’s :  Chipotle :: Mad Cow : Five Guys

Basically, it’s a blatant knock-off, and based on one (admittedly very early visit), it may not be a very good one. I’ll be interested to hear what others think.

Update: I have been corrected by one sharp-eyed reader. Not that they aren’t  very consciously aping their setup and decor at this point, but apparently Panchero’s predates Chipotle by a year.

The Grand Cafe – Jefferson City has seen several promising places open up since I ceased my daily, southern commute. If The Grand Cafe’s Cubano sandwich is any indication, I’m not missing out. Doughy, undercooked bun sporting a few stray chunks of timid, tough pork. Terrible.

Thip Thai – You gotta be careful with your ordering here, cuz at least a third of what I’ve ordered has been weak. But the items that are on point are really on-freaking-point. A special soup last week – kang pa – was wonderfully flavorful, even if it was spicier than anything I encountered in Thailand. Yowzers. Beef salad, tom yum soup, green curry and “Double Noodles” are all really good. Just remember, a pepper beside a menu item means phet phet, farang*!

* – “Thai spicy for realz, whitey”

Pizza Tree – These guys are making legit pizza, folks. Stop by Mojo’s for lunch and they’ll sell you a slice and a soda for $5. It’s a pretty good-sized slice, btw.