someone took the wheeal off the land-yacht. not a way to start the day. i just left that shit to deal with on monday.

it’s always the season for a michigan beer display. i can only drink one of these. i encourage people to drink them all though.

this is a different matter all together.

after too much time in the car zipping all over the metro area, we were the first to the cabins.

the weather couldn’t be better.

neither could the libations.

or the company. the darkness necessitates a different camera.

noah packed some good supplies. how can every damn bottle of this stuff be a revelation? there is no better wine for the money.

captain dennis stayed up all night tending the fire. it’s good for a man to have purpose.

thrusts were made.

love.

iris is building a faerie garden. she’s much like her father, the captain. this is reminiscent of his installations.

can’t stop, won’t stop. it’s hard to tell when one meal ends and another begins.

turkey neck…

…strategically placed.

tools and experience make burying the tunkey under the fire a reliable and tasty method of preparation.

this photo was staged.

there’s still work to be done. i’m going to get back to it.

bonus pictures: i shot these about three weeks before the rainbow blight event. didn’t know where else to put them. my apartment is around the block from here.

old streets! lots of people here for it being a sunday, and all the shops being closed.

currywurst. i was surprised by the “pomme frites” everywhere.

john is a fun dude. reminds me of danny mcbride a bit, but with the humor a 70 year old. a very funny 70 year old.

the bus barely made this this turn. some dude had to back his peugeot way the hell up.

this was as close as i got to finding a sauna or bathhouse on the whole trip. it’s only been closed a few centuries.

visiting the karl marx museum was neat, but wikipedia is a more thorough and convenient source than a history museum. the chinese were digging though.

helga and dean. we spent at least a third of all our waking hours eating, which in turned involved drinking. the waiter tried to explain what my dinner was; the best he could come up with was “tiny deer”. it was delicious.

good times were had by all, except when a spiky chestnut hit helga in the eye on the double decker bus tour. that sucked. but, good times.

this breakfast was off the hook. it came with the hotel room, luckily the one we stayed at for three days. meaties, cheesies, fishies, yum yum yum.

i spent more time in churches on this trip than the last five years combined.

chagall!

this guy looks like he’d be fun to hang out with, but he was probably rather preachy in real life.

woo! touristy old world artifacts!

the market in mainz was the best i’ve been to. huge, busy, and they serve wine.

remember rudy? this is his wife. when she saw his picture she wanted one of her own. i was happy to oblige, and she was happy to share her federweisse with me.

why doesn’t great lakes have one of these yet?

the bulgarians have dirty looks to spare.

wiener time! i think i’m doing it wrong.

the graffiti in germany was lackluster. this was my favorite piece.

rhein river cruise. look at them slopes.

these were likely planted at some point. madness.

were we were.

the cellars at weingut geil are old. the barrels are even older. they couldn’t have been fun to move. the oldest is from 1888, with a few from the 1890s as well. after going down there i can smell the mustiness in the wines.

this used to be a stable, or whatever you call a cow-house. the last generation had it renovated into a banquet hall sometime in the ’70s. awfully nice building to keep cows in. i certainly wouldn’t mind having my own giant party room, but i suspect this room has another purpose- a convenient way to unload extra wine production. german wineries are limited to a certain number of liters per hectare to prevent a flooding of the market and a drop in price. selling it out of your own establishment doesn’t count though, and better yet, one gets to keep all the profits.

thomas geil makes some good wine.

i don’t know what michael caine was doing there. he was deep in character though, wouldn’t speak a word of english.

this truck drives around to the small villages and sells the old folks groceries. i got myself a bag of haribo gold bears for half a euro, substantially less than any other store. they were the good german ones too. not sure if i’ll be able to go back to the UK-made ones available in the states.

this bag certainly didn’t last long.

windmills everywhere. anybody that thinks these are an eyesore is a fucking idiot. i especially like this shot knowing it was shot out the window while going some ridiculous number of kilometers per hour on the autobahn.

i think these are dornfelder.

the machine harvester. we got to go for a ride on top! how city slicker to be excited about riding a farm implement around.

it’s like a giant bug that just gobbles up the fruit.

nadine, helga’s daughter, had never been on the harvester. i think she thought we were all dorks. that’s okay, we are.

the plastic arms inside beat the hell out of the vines.

helmut is helga’s brother, and the winemaker at the family estate. he’s kinda shy.

this is rudy. he hangs out in the vineyard and shoots small exploding rockets at birds that go to eat the grapes.

this little tower stands in the vineyard. it’s owned and maintained by a sort of wine-growers association in the village. rudy hangs out in it and listens to the radio when not scaring birds, and for the rest of the trip they were referred to as rudy-huts. this particular one is on the front of the weingut janz labels. i had wanted to camp out there for a day or two, but it’s been raining ever since the official tour ended.

nadine goes to fashion college in amsterdam. i told her she didn’t need that, rudy here has style to spare. he was great at posing for photos despite not speaking a lick of english.

helga and hemut’s father directs his grandson where to move this palate. the kid is seven. not once did i see him crack a smile.

more steep slopes.

a verdant valley

riesling.

the welcome party at weingut burgermeister.

they were having a party. bass player in the band was a white dude with giant dreadlocks. they played a song that i hear at western all the time. if this were fifteen years ago it would’ve been by the counting crows, now i try not to learn names of shitty bands or their songs.

this might have been my favorite wine of the trip. i have two cases being brought in, likely the only two in america. i’ll sell you some, you’ll like it.

i know this is rob smith playing. i think it’s his darkred project. i’d like to see them again soon.

the new little bar in new center park is quite nice. next year it will be even better and i’ll end up the intentionally rather than just by luck.

good times were had by all.

these bikes are fantastic.

taco cart at third street bar was a very good idea. going home early is sounding better by the minute.

i hear these are delicious. creepy is more like it. we stuck our heads into the biggest barrel in germany, containing not wine but a restaurant. it not worth sharing a picture of… it looks like a big barrel.

we were glad to se this food stand opened early. they were glad to see us, not yet wore down by a day of service industry work. the guy kept telling me this dish was grizzly bear and rattlesnake. it’s pork and onions, and it gets served over hash browns with a garlic yogurt sauce. i’d have eaten it no matter what animal it was. one day i’ll have a frying pan like this, and hopefully friends enough to actually use it.

this is the “best” german pinot noir i’ve had, except maybe their higher end cuvee. this bottling might be available in america. it taasted more like burgundy than your typical spatburgunder, which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on one’s philosophy.

all the little villages look like this. it’s bizzare- they’re so tightly packed, and then just nothing but  vineyards between. all the main roads go right through the villages too, on windy little streets with parking alternating sides so you have to swerve even more. this photo was shot from a castle. i don’t remember it’s name. it’s near alsace.

other direction from the top of the castle/fort situation.

the germans like to eat constantly. this is like a thin crast pizza, but with a thick sour cream (creme fraiche maybe?)  instead of cheese with chives and ham on top. eaten atop an old-ass castle with a glass of federweisse. i wasn’t hungry, but made short work of it.

i ate a bunch of grapes… actually many bunches. dornfelder are tasty. riesling and muller-thuagau are tangy.  good thing this was an organic vineyard. some of these rows belong to weingut theodorus.

vines everywhere. at some point we crossed over into alsace. i had hoped to go see marc tempe, but he was still another hour away. we bought gas and i used mcdonald’s wifi. we didn’t really get the whole french experience, but i did get to laugh at the royale with cheese.

this is thomas. he is the owner/winemaker/grape grower at weingut theodorus. his father and grandfather were both winemakers before him. he just built this new tasting room. it’s in the same building as his family’s living quarters and the wine making facilities. those were his organic grapes i was eating earlier.

i’ll be taking the last four cases of this single vineyard delight currently in michigan. his “three star” cuvees are his highest end production, and he makes his best wines in the way best wines should be made; which is to say, however the winemaker wants. in this case it means no comprise of his ambitions- like all of his wines it’s organically grown, but it’s also made only with hand harvested fruit, very lightly filtered and fermented with indigenous yeast. if a vintage won’t ferment to a dryness that he’s looking for, thomas will declassify it to a lower level. he aspires to one day be able to make all of his wines in this more natural method, but knows the market won’t always pay for the that level. i may have found a new favorite german producer. this calls for more study.

he doesn’t cold stabilize his wines either. his three star chardonnay got too chilled at some point, and now customers in michigan are returning it. i’d rather cultivate a set of customers that understand a little tartaric acid is no big deal than have the winemaker be forced to screw with his wine. my companions on the trip did not agree, and argued the wine was flawed. at $16 retail, his “three star” wines should be a hit, and i’ll carry some of his more exotic varietals from the two-star tier as well.

i hope to return to his winery before i leave the country so i can learn more about his methods, and bask in his passion for the craft.

and that was the pfalz.

ticketing and security was surprisingly quick.

duty free has liters of bombay sapphire for $21. i took advantage of this. the flight was quick and painless, the morning somewhat less so.

open middle seat ftw. dinner wasn’t half bad, but the breakfast sandwich i ate in a haze made me angry at the world until we got to hotel and a took a nap.

obligatory old church visit was the first stop.

they have a room full of bones.

the two gentlemen are dean and john, my traveling companions. helga, with her back turned, is our host. weingut janz is her family’s winery. they send extra juice to the co-op in these large plastic vessels.

the harvester is so coooool.

this fountain bears a striking resemblance to bastardo. the pool should be laden with full breasted women, it’d bring good luck to us all.

this cellar is huge. it was started by the romans. the top part is a museum, the bottom half is now a car park. times change.

the winery that previously used the cellar made sekt, the german equivalent of champagne. it could fit millions of bottles, and has seemingly endless rooms still filled with bottles. their oldest barrel, no longer in use, in from the 14th century.

it’s a good season to be in germany. the weather is good, the grapes are ripe, and the federwiess is plentiful. partially fermented, the alcohol level and sweetness is usually moderate but hard to discern. it’s cheap though, and alive, and quite life-affirming.

go, now.

tecate, zwiegelt, and animated conversation.

the fridge holds the chair that holds drying sausage.

gary’s a great guy to talk with, too bad he lives in cleaveland. visiting is a good reason to go down there and get in trouble once and while though.

proper fixin’s.

the camera took it upon itself to up the eroticism of this scene with the soft focus. well played, camera.

miss o’meara, what a dear… a.

noelle is feeling it. as for what it was, that could only be known in the moment, if even then.

dave and stephani inspect the goods, and good they were.

what could spook this buck?

….the realization that he may become a nain rouge poking stick? maybe. a worth cause though.

maybe we’ve become creatures of habit, but quite predictably the wines were french and the beers were of local origin, not that i’m complaining. we opened many more great bottles then expected that night, as there were many more great people then expected. these are two of my favorite things about detroit; the people i know, and that the people i don’t know don’t buy up all the good wine before the people i know can. marc tempe’s ’05 zellenberg pinot blanc is one such wine, which i won’t even talk about because you can’t have any and that’d just be rude. equis st-joseph tasted like olives and herbs and dirt… i have two bottle of that, so i’ll sell you one, but only if you drink it with me. the normand macon la roche vineuse has become a staple of mine, but at $18 i never should have gotten started on it. you should though, it’s good shit.

i now live with mr brian “sausage portrait” merkel himself at this very house. there will be mirth.

“To me a 100-point wine is as good as it gets” – A Masked Bear who Works for Wine Spectator I’m standing there, in the kitchen as is more than often the case in my house, stirring risotto. My cat Henry is chasing things we aren’t able to see, ghosts or the such (either that or he is crazy, but the ghost explanation is much better for us pagan biodynamic winos) and my wife is sitting at the table, watching me stir. We talk about what transpired du … Read More

via saignée

none were posed.

almost all were taken over food and drink.

these are all kind, beautiful people that i’m happy to know, and in one case, used to know.

often this leads to interesting situations.

this is not one of them.

unless one is in the exact right mood, golfing is not a very interesting activity.

not to say i didn’t appreciate the luxury of having a day to waste away in a field, but i left more tired and ill-disposed than when i started, and bad moods are the last thing i need more of these days.

that might not be true, maybe the right bad mood will inspire me to do something with my life.

i took pictures. here they are, in the order which they were shot.

it’s hard not to look like a tool waggling a stick around.

a veritable fleet of leisure craft.

drinking and driving is the best part of this game.

what a vast, wasted space. there could be food or wildlife here.

we almost bailed the cart going around this corner.

i’ll bet the mud in these ponds is largely goose shit.

i wanted to eat these. i didn’t. i did however eat a marshmallow that was thrown at me, before i realized it was found lying 0n the green.

none of us were very good at this.

by this point i was more interested in a nap. more places need to have hammock facilities.

we “scrambled” from the tournament tees, in this case the second from the right. i’m not sure i mde it to the green once.

me.

bobby was shooting photos as well. he just got this vintage canon.

i bought these clubs for $15 because they’re made of wood. the irons are rusting.

are these cranes? they didn’t like me getting up in their business.

i dig this car. it looks like a chris craft boat. i’d like to have a woody version.

the floaty chair, what a leisure device. there’s no drinking allowed at this particular beach, which is why we’re drinking yellow & blue rose, the sneakiest wine i know. the new vintage is outstanding, and i find myself taking the sauvignon blanc and rose on nearly every adventure. i have much more to say about my love for those wines, but that’s another post.

i have a very small swimsuit.

this was an interesting scene: two moms, rocking that i’m-a-mom-so-i-can-dress-like-a-lesbian look, joined by two other moms in the full muslim getup, all enjoying a hookah together at the beach while their children go about their child-business. america is a pretty cool place sometimes.

my recent trips to stoney creek and kensington almost make me want to have a car again.

lab, ann arbor

lab is a cafe. they make very good coffee, and a variety of excellent not-very-sweet frozen yogurts. a more proper write-up can be found over at gourmet underground, which is how i got wise.

matt is the head barista. he seems to know his stuff. joy, in the background, is a pleasure to talk to as well.

this is almost certainly the best latte i’ve ever had. matt was happy to prepare it to 140 degrees, a most enjoyable temperature, and it still had a dense, luscious foam.

i was supposed to be writing my piece for 32 days of natural wine, but found plenty of ways to distract myself and further procrastinate, despite it being set to run the next day. i re-read evan’s aforementioned post on lab, wandered back to that alley with all the graffiti, and had wine where i wasn’t supposed to be having wine, again. having exhausted my supply of yellow and blue, i moved on to chateau tertre de launay, a lean, dry, almost watery white from entre deux mers area of bordeaux. come closing time, i had gone through the latte, an espresso, a bowl of frogurt featuring all four flavors and a doughnut broken up on top, an fruity herbal iced tea, and half a bottle of wine, which was even better when mixed with the ice-carcass of the herbal tea. i ended up going to the bar with matt and joy, whom i look forward to seeing again, though i will have to avoid lab when on a deadline.

“and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make”… wise words, for a cinder block.

i’m not making excuses, it’s just how i felt like going about this.

there are errors. there are unsustainable opinions.

so be it.

the night continued in a pool frequented by neighborhood inebriates, their actions hidden from the residents by closed windows and hum of the air conditioner. ask around, you’ll figure out which one it is.

we talked about many things, but most notably natural wine, lady at western that looked like she had a vagina in her armpit, and what the fuck i’m going to do about my 32days piece that’s running on wednesday that i haven’t written yet. the first and third subjects there were related, the middle a digression. the woman was older, and wearing a tank top to emphasize her large breasts, but it seriously looked like she was growing a vagina out of her armpit. maybe she wasn’t showing off the breasts, maybe she was proud that she was evolving, had grown a fourth hole. that i didn’t get a picture makes it even more mythical.

molly wants you to be safe. enjoy your holiday.

wines consumed:

hofer gruner – buy it. buy lots of it. we had one bottle the first night and two the second.

hofer zwiegelt – drink it cold. i don’t know why i like it, but i want to drink it every night.

marion pral beajolais – natural gamay for $16? yes please. a bourgeois family selection.

merieau touraine gamay – what, what? natural gamay for $14? thank you sir may i have another? a jon-david headrick wine.

a kermet lynch beajolais – wtf with kermit lynch not having their portfolio online? makes it a bitch to figure out what this was. the best gamay of the night, and the priciest.

something fantastic from Catherine and Pierre Breton – smelled like fourth hole. the best wine of the night. now that kermit lynch has them, maybe i can get something in stock.

finca los nevados chardonnay – it was nice enough.

some other things that i can’t remember.

william’s smoked country jowl cooked on the grill. the texture of guanciale and the smoke of bacon, and actually available at detroit-area markets. i’ll be eating this often.

i try to keep charcuterie on hand for just such situations. boar’s head makes a pretty good coppa, sopressata, and bianco d’oro salami, which is nice since it’s the only charcuterie available within walking distance.

the aforementioned garlic, a confit made by kim. i dream about it. she also made the sweet brown mustard.

kim and dawn.

james is fierce.

george, dawn, and herbs from the garden.

it was a fantastic progression of wines:

tabor hill cab franc rose – slightly off dry, fresh, a $10 rose that holds it’s own with the imports at that price.

le fils des gras moutons muscadet sevre et maine is a mouthful to say. tastes like muscadet. that’s a good thing. imported by vintage 59.

hofer zwiegelt is an odd wine, at first not as lovable as the gruner veltliner from the same producer. somewhat limp and medicinal at room tempature, but like sangria for grown-ups when chilled

a moulin-a-vent brought in by fredrick wildman, producer unknown. james (@roastmstr) brought it. i would like to get some myself. i think it might be this one. [update: james has confirmed that the wine linked to is indeed the wine in question]

cuvee stephi ebullience was a delightful cremant de limoux. imported by bourgeois family selections. for $20 you should keep some on hand.

as we moved indoors we got into punt-e-mes red vermouth. spicy and engaging and an unbeatable value for $20. kim fell in love.

after the punt-e-mes there was a splash of famega vinho verde rose going around. how the wine can be pink and green at the same time boggled the mind, but cleansed the palate.

good times.

[another update: damn, we smoked alot of bali shag on club that night. go buy yourself some, you'll either love or hate me for introducing you to such a devil, and i suppose putnam too, as he introduced me to club papers.)

it’s this little piggy’s nap time. the one on the right is named “bacon”. i had to pace myself on the oh-so-refreshing yellow and blue rose in my sigg bottle or i’d be right there next to them.

i found le quercia’s pancetta americana to be disappointing, just dull and fatty tasting. i’d like to try their other products though, as sky full of bacon digs them, and michael over there know a thing or two about pork. i did like nueske’s and benton’s bacons though, and i’m going to start selling nueske’s at western market, per a certain customer’s request. i picked up a pound of benton’s, come over soon and we can eat it.

james know the coffee roaster’s secret handshake, though i’m sure zingerman’s roastmaster allen would be just as cool to those not in the roast-inati, we did get the hook-up: a chance to play with the slayer.

allen designed the espresso area for efficiency and comfort; the sink with the six armed guy for rinsing quicker than a regular sink, and the fridge (out of frame, to the right) opens on the top rather than the front so the barista doesn’t have to bend over. attention to details like that allows the staff to thrive, making their empire mighty.

ohhh cheese, ohhh cheese. what else is there to say?

nothing really. morgan and york is a magical food and drink wonderland.

kim’s got more on morgan and york, and james wrote about all the things i’m too distracted to put on the digital-papyrus.

good times.

seeing the tigers with dad, tristen, and the grandpas is summer requirement i’m happy to oblige. i forgot how lax security is at the stadium. next time i’ll be filling my pockets with beer. a friend suggested hiding the cans of beer in a paper bag of peanuts, but then where would i put my peanuts? budweiser was surprisingly satisfying, but i think i’ll go with brooklyn lager next time.

this guy caught the eye on the walk from the ballpark to pizzapapalis. i wouldn’t suggest eating there, and would recommend supino for those with a pizza craving.

over a hundred folks showed up for the urban agriculture panel at MOCAD. GUDetroit was soundly represented. Molly and Noelle, above, both went to the other urban ag panel on tuesday; it appears to have explained alot about the intentions, methods and goals of hantz farms. Molly shared these notes from that event on the gourmet underground:

“It was a little strange to me that the Slow Food group was basically wetting themselves over the whole thing, I swear I thought someone was going to tear up. Overall it was better than I expected and I think the project would be a disaster if it wasn’t for Mike Score. The project has taken some interesting turns as they have revised the plans.

Mike really pushed their three point agenda: 1. farming/food production, 2. education & 3. food technology incubator/global showplace. He mentioned they are expecting something like an 8% return on investment, eventually.

Lots of talk of trees (hardwood, christmas and fruit). Overall there was less of a focus on outdoor food crops, but he did mention you-pick berries and apples, etc. It was really more their indoor hydroponic plans that I found intriguing and how they plan to test different methods/technologies. Lots of talk about educational alliances with k-12 schools and more formal internships with MSU.

They are starting small, maybe 100-150 acres this year if they get city approval. They will grow based on need. In my opinion, Detroit would foolish to turn down the project and investment. They gave the city until the end of the month to give them a yes or no answer.

we will see.”

this pretty much sums up large parts of detroit: buses, trash, street art, liquor stores, abandoned buildings, and a legacy of bad ideas, here represented by the motor city casino.

armando’s in mexicantown was delicious. todd would scoff at my gringo dinner, but damn did a beef chimichanga hit the spot. definitely mystery meat, but definitely delicious.

mexican beer at it’s best, which isn’t great, but it did the trick.

this city’s got it going on, long as you’re willing to look for it. there’s alot more i could say, but i’d rather you have the first-person experience. now go buy that jane jacobs book, it’ll change your life.

i went over wanting to chop wood but it got dark, impeding the visceral satisfaction longed for

there was good perch, as fresh as can be, right out of the lake

gascony white cut the texture added to the air by the grandpappy

a dutch oven had been purchased for fifteen dollars, coated in rust

which helped to reason a larger, hotter fire than was regularly called for

righting the cookware lent an accomplishment to the evening

and the nervy needs were sated by the enthusiastic slaughter of the undead

pictures and decisions were made under the influence of smoke and san de guilhem (often fortified with red bull)

let’s drink them, and see which are worth keeping in stock

this friday, 6pm; comment here or email me if you need the address

western is providing some natural beef from c.roy in yale, mi and various meat, cheese, and hors d’œuvre

bring a dish to pass or more wine if you like, but there’ll be plenty for all

these are the wines we’ll have, likely with few surprises as well

$8, $10, $10-$12, $15

$15, $14, $14, $14, $12

$20, $20, $19, $16

$16, $10, $9

not Bordeaux, but in the style of: $8, $8, $16, $16 (down from $24)

pizza from strawberry moon sounds good too, we’ll probably get a couple pies, a meaty and a meatless

UPDATE: the event is leaning quite heavy towards heavy reds, which wasn’t unexpected, but i like to keep the palate fresh…

so i hooked up some cider as well. dupont from normandy, and a couple magnums of uncle john’s michigan cider.

this is gonna be a hella good time.

tomorrow’s beast of the day at roast: suckling pig

most joints have little to nothing that interest me in their beverage program; i’d enjoy every one of these. roast’s beer list is the as good as they come

the roast burger is perfect: five ounces rare beef, cheese, bacon, and egg on an english muffin, and only three dollars during happy hour. the other three dollar specials are not to be passed up either: beast of the day tacos, sausage of the day stuffed anahiem peppers, rosemary fries, and mac and cheese. the real star is fried chicken livers on creamy polenta, a dish i would eat every day for the rest of my sure-to-be-short life. the total for four people eating as much as possible and plenty to quality beverage wash it down with: $85, with well-earned $30 tip

the dequindre cut and iced coffee to settle the stomach and mind

as much as love detroit, i’m not sure that gratiot and dubois is the place to emphasize location location location, though it is between to restaurant supply stores (at least one of which is very good) so that’s something to work with

it certainly does

The meat was exceptional. It was light and delicate like buffalo, and was especially good paired with Puzelat’s “In Côt We Trust”, a naturally made Malbec from the Loire Valley. It’s imported by Louis/Dressner (LDM), an importer I’ll be mentioning often. Unfortunately, it was the last bottle at Western, and I don’t know if any other stores in Michigan have it, but hopefully it’ll be on the next shipment of LDM wines from Europe.

While cooking we enjoyed a bottle of Villemade “Les Petits Acacias” Cour-Cheverny, a wine that tastes like it could be made from squeezing a giant bug, like the soda Slurm from Futurama. I doubt that Hervé Villemade has a team of Grunka Lunka, and surmise that the uniqueness of this wine comes from the rare Romorantin grape and some healthy wild yeast. I say it’s like bug juice because it’s so alien in texture, thick and viscous, only steps away from being a sticky slime. The acidity was vibrant and nervy, with a cut different from other full-bodied wines like Auslese Riesling, maybe akin to a really weird white Burgundy. There’s eight bottles at the market as of this posting, and if you’re not in the area it’s worth seeking out online.

UPDATE: Looks like Veritas, the local LDM distributor, has a few bottles of “In Côt We Trust” stashed away in the back of the warehouse. Western will have in back in stock Thursday afternoon, for around $28.

UPDATE 2: Dawn corrected me that it was “faux mignon” rather than “faux fillet”, which is a catchier name.