Rick Bayless

October 5, 2008 · Can we learn anything about the presidential candidates from what they like to eat? As a public service, NPR asked some of their favorite chefs to teach you how to cook the kind of food that graces the candidates’ plates when they eat out.When Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, want a special night out in Chicago, they often head for the award-winning Mexican restaurant Topolobampo. But don’t equate the word “Mexican” with burritos and refried beans.

Chef Rick Bayless founded “Topolo,” as locals call it, almost 20 years ago to prove to Americans that genuine Mexican cooking can be as sophisticated as French and Italian.

In fact, the dishes you might find on the menu on a typical night — perhaps lobster napped with a sauce of arbol and chipotle chilies, or seared, line-caught marlin in a toasted ancho chili crust — might be too elaborate to make easily at home. Instead, Bayless urges you to try his simple recipe for an authentic Mexican street food: skirt steak tacos with smoky guacamole.

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

NPR tracked down Barack Obama’s favorite Chicago restaurant today and interviewed the owner/chef.

The restaurant is Topolobampo, which chef Rick Bayless opened in 1989 after opening Frontera Grill two years earlier. Before getting into the restaurant business, Bayless was a PhD student in anthropological linguistics. His research took him to Mexico. He realized he was more interested in the food than anything else about Mexican culture, so he dropped out of his program to become a full-time chef.

Bayless’ restaurants, according to NPR, are the first in America to feature gourmet Mexican cooking. Maybe. I was eating gourmet Mexican fare at restaurants in which Diana Kennedy was involved in Austin and Houston just over 20 years ago. But Bayless, who has written a handful of cookbooks, is definitely among the pioneers.

NPR poses the question whether we can conclude anything about Obama because of what he likes to eat. They don’t really answer the question, but Bayless does note that Obama and wife Michelle experiment with the menu, take their time eating and have recently moved to a less conspicuous table in the rear of the restaurant. Undoubtedly, those who revile Obama as an elitist for his arugula consumption will likewise wonder why he’s not content with enchiladas and chimichangas.

The Bottom Line:

If you don’t live near a Frontera restaurant, move.

STIMULATOR

In 1996, Natural Innovations, Inc., its president William S. Gandee, D.C., of Akron, Ohio, agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges stemming from the advertising and sale of “The Stimulator,” an alleged pain-relief device widely advertised in an infomercial titled “Saying No To Pain.” According to the FTC, the infomercial made unsubstantiated claims that the device would relieve virtually all types of pain and provided immediate, long-term pain relief superior to that of medications and other treatments. The consent agreement requires Gandee and his company to have scientific proof to back up any health or medical-benefit claim they make in the future. It also requires them to be able to substantiate any claim that an endorsement or testimonial they use represents the typical experience of users, or to accompany such a claim with a prominent disclaimer. World Media T.V., Inc., which made the infomercial, signed a separate but similar agreement.

The Stimulator, which sold for about $80, is essentially a barbecue igniter outfitted with finger grips. Its marketers claimed it could relieve migraine headaches, other headaches, back pain, arthritis, stress, menstrual cramps, earaches, sinus, nosebleeds, flu and other ailments. Users were instructed to “touch the tip . . . to the general area in which you feel pain” and depress a plunger to generate electric sparks

The infomercial, hosted by television personality Lee Meriwether, featured endorsements by daredevil Evel Knievel, former basketball great Bill Walton, Gandee himself, and several consumers who said that the device had helped them. In an instructional video, Gandee stated:

As I work with the Stimulator, it is very obvious to me that soon this product will be worldwide. I believe that every household in America very soon will own a Stimulator. It might even go to the point where each individual person in the household will own a Stimulator because they’ll want to keep it with them all the time. I also sincerely believe that the Stimulator will help you lead a more active, productive, and pain-free life. And as you share the Stimulator with your family and friends, which I hope you do and soon, I know that your family and friends are going to be calling you “Doc” or they’re going to be asking for you to use the Stimulator on them.

The FTC agreement bars Gandee and his company from making unsubstantiated claims that:

Use of the device will significantly reduce, relieve, or eliminate musculoskeletal pain, including but not limited to pain in the back, feet, knees, wrists, knuckles, elbows, shoulders, ankles, joints, or calves; carpal tunnel syndrome; muscle spasms or strains; or sciatica.

Use of the device will significantly reduce, relieve, or eliminate abdominal pain or pain or discomfort caused by allergies, sinus conditions, diverticulosis, cramps, or menstrual cramps.

Use of the device will eliminate the pain caused by severe headaches, including but not limited to occipital, frontal, migraine, cluster, or stress headaches, or headaches caused by benign tumors.

Pain relief or pain elimination provided by the device is immediate.

Use of the device provides long-term pain relief.

For pain relief, the device is as effective as, or more effective than, prescription or over-the-counter medications, including but not limited to aspirin, acetaminophen, Darvon, Darvocet, or codeine.

For pain relief, the device is as effective as, or more effective than, physical therapy, massage therapy, chiropractic treatment, acupuncture, acupressure, or reflexology.

In May 1995, the FDA seized thousands of Stimulators marketed by Universal Management Services, Inc., of Akron, Ohio. In December, 1995, at the FDA’s request, the U.S. Justice Department sought an injunction against this company. In December 1997, the District Court for the Northern Division of Ohio issued a permanent injunction halting the manufacture and sale of the device and ordering Universal Management Services to offer full refunds to each person who purchased one after May 1995. In September 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the district court’s ruling.

The Tom

 

My nephew’s decades ago…

Shake Away