Saint Lawrence Gridiron

Friends and readers, I feel I need to come clean about something here, something that I've never really kept hidden, but which may not have been stated clearly enough: I am a meat lover.  Voracious, unrepentant and insatiable.  This is not to say that I don't love fruit and veggies, but if the world was ending in a few hours I wouldn't be throwing together a salad for my last meal.

All sarcasm aside, I've gone on at great lengths about my favorite places for a protein fix, whether it's pulled pork from Big Daddy's Barbecue (opening an actual restaurant soon!) or Greg Lamm's (formerly of Brick 29 Bistro / B29 Streatery, now at Red Feather Lounge / Bittercreek Alehouse) unique and challenging interpretations of classic comfort foods.  Today I want to talk about someone else, a man who makes classic meat dishes sing, and who works in protein the way Picasso worked in paints.  Which is to say that the guy is creative and his food is really good, ya dig?

MoMo Food of the Himalayas (CLOSED)

MoMo Dumplings may be celebrating their grand opening on Saturday, July 14th, but they've been doing pretty steady business since their soft opening on the 6th.  I'll just admit now that I'm not unbiased when it comes to this place.  I first met the MoMo crew at last October's Boise Urban Market, and over the months between then and now I have slowly become addicted to their food.  The second I heard that they were opening a storefront, I started checking their Facebook page daily for news.  If all you want to know is whether or not you should go check them out, the answer is YES.  They're open seven days a week from 11 AM until 9 PM (7 PM on Sundays), so odds are they're dishing up dumplings as you're reading this and you should stop reading and go there.  If, on the other hand, you can't get away right now or you're on the fence about it, allow me to rave a bit about my current favorite restaurant...

BUM Holiday Market

Due to my commitments to the local food scene, my readers, and my love of homemade Asian eats, I dragged my decimated carcass out of the bed I'd been convalescing in for several days in order to attend the Holiday edition of the Boise Urban Market on Sunday.  Here's what I loved this time out...

Cranberry Bliss Bar from Mixed Plate

A short BUM Harvest Market write-up...

There's not much to say about the Boise Urban Market that I haven't already said, so let's just talk about the food I dug this time, yeah?

Momos from Momo Dumplings

Boise Urban Market - August 2011 highlights

Okay, you should all really know the deal with the Boise Urban Market by now.  I've certainly mentioned it enough times.  So without further ado, here's what I dug this time around...

Pesto Roll by Pam

Boise Urban Market - July 2011

The more write-ups I do about the Boise Urban Market, the worse they seem to get.  Once you've explained how it works, there's really nothing left to do but talk about the food.  This write-up in particular is going to be especially lame, because I went in solo and short on both funds and time.  My favorite salsa and candy vendors were nowhere to be seen.  And most importantly, without the roommate there like a devil on my shoulder to get me to try the things I was on the fence about and to try and buy things herself that I wasn't interested in, I pretty much stuck to my favorite Asian tables.  Let's start with Gina, a one-woman Thai restaurant (and a damn good one at that) who works under the name Nor-Mai....


Tod Mun Pla

June Urban Market

Here's the deal:  I'm not explaining the Boise Urban Market again.  If you're interested in details, check out their website, Facebook page, or my previous write-ups.  This time around, for me at least, was about revisiting favorite vendors more than it was about trying new things.  So without further ado, let's cover a few highlights.

A little Boise Urban Market follow-up

In my Spring Fling entry, I said that I would do a follow-up post when I finally got around to cooking the frozen lumpia from JJ's, but before I get into that I need to quickly address something else.  In that same entry, I mentioned that my roommate started off her evening by chowing down on a pesto roll that I didn't get a picture of.  Well it just so happens that Pam, the maker of said pesto roll, ended up reading my blog and sent me a picture of the rolls.


Pesto rolls...really wishing I had tried them now...


Pam also confirmed my roommate's suspicions that the Thai pepper jelly and bacon roll wasn't as hot as it sounded, and advised that she'll be bringing maple bacon cinnamon rolls to the next Boise Urban Market in June.  Consider me intrigued!  Now, back to the lumpia...

Boise Urban Market - Spring Fling

Another night of successful eating at this month's Boise Urban Market.  Unfortunately, not quite as successful on the picture-taking side of things...

I don't really feel like explaining how the BUM works again, after having just gone through it in my February write-up, but I'll give you the short version here just in case you're too lazy to click either of the preceding links.  Members-only foodie gathering, monthly or every other month, date and time announced early enough to make plans but location given out only a few days beforehand, various hand-made foodstuffs available from non-professionals (though some of them seem to be becoming more professional by the day).  Sound interesting?  Go to their website or Facebook page for more information, and then go here to sign up.

Now that we've dispensed with that, let's talk about some food, shall we?

Boise Urban Market

This isn't really a review because it's not really about an eatery.  It's more of a public service announcement.  I first became aware of the Boise Urban Market (née Boise Underground Market) some time ago, so long in fact that I don't remember the specifics.  I'm pretty sure I learned about them through Facebook around the time I was really getting into the blogging, and I was mightily intrigued.  A clandestine, monthly, members-only gathering of foodies, where even the location is kept secret until mere days before the event?  My mind reeled with possibilities.  Why all the secrecy?  Were they eating endangered species, or perhaps even practicing cannibalism?  Yes, I know I watch too many horror movies.  Anyway, the basic premise is that the vendors are not necessarily full-time food service professionals, and the stuff being offered is more or less homemade, so there is much diversity.  I signed up for membership immediately, but for one reason or another have just never made it to any of the events, at least until tonight.  I think what finally motivated me was the fact that a number of friendly acquaintances were peddling their wares, but I assure you I'm not pimping anybody's stuff simply because I like them, I just wouldn't mention them at all if I didn't like what they were selling.  There was some unusual stuff available that just didn't grab me the right way, but I'm going to be focusing on the positive here.  Now, on to the details...