LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[November 23rd, 2005] WUSS CUISINE

Is Kelly Clarke a vegan with an agenda, or just an unlearned, uncultured rube? "Blood, Bones and Road Kill" [WW, Oct. 19, 2005] was a ridiculous "exposé" on what cooks do with meat.

Every culture in the world uses bones to make stock! People of every creed and nationality make use of fat's intrinsic properties to sweeten and fortify their food! There would be no English (blood pudding), Southern (chitterlins), Mexican (lengua), French (foie gras), or Greek (kokoretsi) delicacies for you to devote entire issues to if it were not for all of these ingredients. There would be nothing at all to speak of except tofurkey and grass burgers, which are surely pinnacles of man's culinary brilliance.

How "chilling" that squab should be month-old pigeon? Certainly no one of WW's readers has ever had veal, nor might they be Vietnamese (pigeon being a common dish in Vietnam). Perhaps we should also believe grocery stores have existed for millennia, selling us tasteless, boneless chicken breasts because we are too scared to prepare our own.

I've never read a more absurd article in my life, nor been so reminded of Portland's dueling reputations as both a backwater and a namby-pamby, tree-hugging wuss-ville. If WW believes these foods are scary, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd love to sell you. I can also be hired at $50 an hour to skin your chicken breasts for you.

Alexis Turner
Southeast Sherman Street

ALL JAMBALAYA'D UP

As a Louisiana native, I was pleased to see both Acadia and Lagniappe featured in your "100 favorite restaurants" listing in the 2005 Restaurant Guide [WW, Oct. 19, 2005]. But listen up, y'all—"Cajun" and "Creole" cuisines (and their respective cultures) are not interchangeable, and each was misused in your capsule reviews.

In Louisiana, what we call Creoles are the offspring of intermarried French, Spanish, English, African, German and Italian immigrants, originally settling in and around New Orleans. Their cuisine is based on that of European aristocracy, mainly classic French, with local ingredients enhanced by exotic imports from Africa, the West Indies and elsewhere. Acadia's drum (redfish) with hollandaise? The sauce alone points directly to Creole.

Cajun, of course, is a bastardization of "Acadian," referring to the exiled French refugees driven from Nova Scotia in the mid-1700s. Many of them settled in Louisiana, primarily north of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River, westward through the Lafayette area, even further west to Lake Charles and all points south toward the Gulf of Mexico. They were, and are, rugged survivalists who built a very simple, flavorful "one-pot" cuisine out of wild game, seafood, local vegetation and available spices. Red beans and rice with a charred link of andouille sausage? Lagniappe has this Cajun staple down.

Certainly there's overlap in what's called Cajun and Creole today, and the fusion of the two has fared far better than many other culinary culture clashes. But for your many readers who don't have a clue, let's give them one: Lagniappe is mainly Cajun; Acadia, more Creole-inspired.

Todd Davidson
Northeast 47th Avenue

SALT SHAKEUP

The salty Dixon/Castagna tantrum [see Mailbox, WW, Nov. 2, 2005] is like a brewed-up crisis at the White House when things are more amok than normal; it leads attention away from the review's most grievous element. The slicked-up "Perfectly Bland" headline of Dixon's Castagna piece [Sept. 28, 2005] was a harbinger; the nastiest, largest mislead in the piece. Dixon's review was more about Dixon than Castagna. Had it not been, it might have noted Castagna as one of the finest restaurants in the Northwest. Salt is available at each table, and few diners give pause to consider how it got there.

Ed Paladino
E&R Wine Shop
Southwest Macadam Avenue

DR. KELLOGG A LIFESAVER

Despite Nigel Jaquiss' article "Doctors Inc." [WW, Oct. 19, 2005], I would not hesitate to be treated by Dr. [Jordi] Kellogg, operated on by Dr. Kellogg or stay at Physicians' Hospital under the care of Dr. Kellogg. Having seen the inside of five hospitals, I can honestly say the nurses and care at Physicians' were second to none. I would also question why you did not interview the many patients who are alive due in part or whole to Dr. Kellogg. Nigel, it can't be too hard to find patients, I know of many myself and have only known Dr. Kellogg a short time.

My wife is alive and walking due to Dr. Kellogg. She had an MRI after some aches and pains and headaches while we were planning to take a family camping vacation to Eastern Oregon. She had an MRI and many X-rays. The physicians who looked at the MRI/X-rays found nothing abnormal, so we decided to go on the trip. I was told by a co-worker to take the MRI/X-rays to Dr. Kellogg. Late Friday night, just before the trip, Jordi called to tell me what he had found on the MRI that other physicians had not: an aneurism behind my wife's left eye socket! Yes, maybe the aneurism may not have burst on the trip while hiking near Hells Canyon, but what if it had? What would I and my two children do? Where and how close was the nearest hospital?

C'mon, Nigel, the best you could dig up on Dr. Kellogg is failure to follow up after surgery? Being late for his job? Failing to churn out paperwork?

To all those who read Nigel's article "Doctors Inc.," you might need a second opinion.

Jason Doherty
Tigard

Correction

Last week's article "Bad Blood" mistakenly said Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry did not press charges against Griff Healy. Berry wrote a letter summarizing the decision, but it was Polk County District Attorney John Fisher who did not press charges. WW regrets the error.