Blizzard Lunch

Stopped in to Mia Za's on State Street for some comfort food while the blizzard raged outside. It's good quick Italian food at a decent price.

Soga - The Isthmus Review Is In

The Isthmus review for Soga Shabu Shabu came out today and thankfully it was glowing.

After all the food they gave me during the photo shoot this past Saturday, I was hoping it would be good. Read the full review here and below are some images of the other dishes I photographed. Besides the Shabu Shabu, I think my favorite was the Spicy Salad.

Spicy Salad

Pig Ears

Poached Fish in Spicy Sauce

(#18 on menu says Chicken, but it's a typo.)

Soga Food Review Photo Shoot & Feast

I did a food shoot for an upcoming review of Soga Shabu Shabu restaurant on State Street for Isthmus today. The photo editor gave me five dishes were reviewed in the article. I showed the list to Xiaoling (aka Rene) and Seya since it seemed that English wasn't their strong suit. I asked for one or two dishes to work with. They being eager to please types, I got all six! Fried duck, sliced pig ears, poached fish, spicy salad and their specialty shabu-shabu not to mention bubble tea and an alcohol-laden tropical fruit drink.


After I completed the assignment, they insisted I sit down and eat. I had never heard of shabu-shabu before. It's an interactive dish popular in Japan and Korea that let's you do the cooking. You get a boiling pot of broth (one side spicy the other not) in which you cook the thinly slice pieces of fatty beef and a heaping plate of vegetables. Xiaoling being the good host, sat down across from me and did the cooking. Like a doting mother, she kept heaping samples of all the dishes on my plate. I tried several times to quit, but my pleas for mercy went unheeded. I must admit I didn't try too hard since the food was all quite tasty...though I wasn't the biggest fan of the pig ears. Kind of rubbery.

It was all a wonderful experience and for a moment I imagined I was actually traveling in China being treated to Xiaoling's hospitality in her own kitchen.

I sure hope the Isthmus gives them a good review after all the trouble and expense they went for me to make a photo. We'll find out on Thursday and I'll post the link to the article and a few images from today's session.  Fingers crossed! 

*UPDATE:  See next post on results of the review and more images.

St. Louis is Beer and Baseball

St. Louis is one of those cities that people either love or hate.  To me it's a great city with plenty to offer even with its rough edges.   What city doesn't? Every year around the 4th of July, we try to make it down for a Cardinal's game on the way to visiting the parents in the Ozarks.

Having grown up in Missouri, I'm still a Cardinal's fan at heart. The new Busch Stadium is a beautiful baseball park. The open design allows for good sight lines, good air flow and a beautiful view of the St. Louis Arch if you sit on 3rd base side. It goes without saying a beer is almost required to beat the summer heat in St. Louis. It seems only appropriate to have a Bud. 

Unfortunately Anheiser Busch is no longer a locally owned brewery in St. Louis, but the beer is still brewed just a few miles away down I-55.  It's how things go in this age of globalization and corporate consolidation. Either way, Budweiser Beer is still a big part of St. Louis so I'll drink to that! Cheers!

Bloody Mary With Rhinelander Beer Chaser at the Shamrock

After all these years I suddenly learned about a Wisconsin tradition of having a beer chaser with your Bloody Mary. It's not like the Bloody Mary isn't strong enough on it's own. I had mine with a Rhinelander Beer in the little shorty size. I like that these old brews are coming back and even more excited about what seems to be the comeback of the shorties. Sometimes this is exactly the amount of beer I want. Just a taste without having to invest in a full 12 or even 16 ounce. Something to wet the whistle after fighting the crowds at the Saturday farmer's market. The Sat & Sun Shamrock brunch was delicious. Glen the owner is quite the cook and all the ingredients were fresh from the farmer's market. More olives please!

Food Photography - Happy Grill Isthmus Restaurant Review

I like doing the food photography for restaurant reviews. Not only is it a challenge as I'm usually doing it on location and on a tight schedule, but it often comes with the reward of getting to eat what I photograph. I did this last minute shoot of theese Enchiladas Verde dish for an Isthmus review of the new Mexican restaurant in Madison by the name of Happy Grill. The atmosphere needs a little help, but the enchiladas where quite tasty.

When I got the assignment and read the name, I automatically assumed it was Chinese and not Mexican food, but it all made sense when I arrived to find the co-owner Li He, is Asian. She greeted me at the door with suspicion when I attempted to explain my purpose there. After finally convincing her that the review and my photography was "free", she brought me out the enchiladas. This kind of food with sauces can be difficult to photograph. I set up in a corner where there was plenty of natural light coming in from the large pane windows, set up a speedlite with a Lumiquest Softbox II camera left behind the dish. It was an relatively easy set-up which allowed me to quickly get the shot before the cheese melted down and losing the nice texture on top of the Enchiladas.

This type of work isn't extremely exciting, but I like it. It gives me the opportunity to visit different restaurants, occasionally meet interesting folks in the community and most of all...a complimentary meal to boot. The full review of the Happy Grill can be found here.