May 23, 2009: A Slurper's Quartet

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This week it's a look at the noodle foursome that's the heart of Japan's beloved noodle cuisine: udon, somen, soba and ramen. Our guide is Chef Takashi Yagihashi, author of Takashi's Noodles. He talks noodle cooking, noodle etiquette, and the Japanese way with noodles that may even outflank Italy.

Jane and Michael Stern are forking into some of the most sublime banana cream pie anywhere at Betty's Pies on Minnesota's North Shore.

Indian food expert Raghavan Iyer has the fastest, lustiest breads you'll ever make. Forget the oven; for this quick bread you need to fire up your grill. Raghavan's latest book is 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking.

American Public Media commentator and dad John Moe tells of a little experiment in dinner table politics. Parents of picky little eaters will want to tune in!

Brendan Newnam takes an off-center approach to the dinner party and it all starts with a joke. Then poet Nikki Giovanni reads her poem "So Enchanted with You" from her book Bicycles: Love Poems.

Episode Rundown

Jane and Michael Stern visit Betty's Pies in Two Harbors, MN.
Raghavan Iyer on grilled flatbreads.
Lynne talks with Takashi Yagihashi about noodles.
John Moe drops by to talk about being a short order cook for his kids.
Brendan Newnam talks up the Dinner Party Download.

This Week's Recipes

Spicy Oil with Chilled Ramen

This simple recipe combines wonderful, distinct flavors and aroma. Get the full recipe.

Grilled Flatbread Studded with Chile-Spiked Onions (Pyaaz Kulcha)

Wedges of these spicy kulchas hot off the grill make a great appetizer. Get the full recipe.

Images from This Episode

Dinner Party Download

Dinner Party Download is a podcast and blog dreamed up by co-founders Brendan Newnam and Rico Gagliano. It's a funny, off-center mix of news, cuisine and culture. Additionally, a couple of times a month Dinner Party Download is part of the Off-Ramp® radio show that airs Saturdays at noon on KPCC 89.3 in Los Angeles.

For more information, go to their Web site.

Nikki Giovanni

Bicycles: Love Poems

Where We Eat

Jane and Michael Stern: Betty's Pies
Two Harbors, MN

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Anyone visiting the area around Two Harbors on Minnesota's North Shore will know or hear about Betty's — it's a legend there.

The Stern's weren't too enchanted with the food on the menu except for three items, and those were stellar: the pasties, the splendid fruit and cream pies, and the truly inspired Pie Shake. These three, Jane says, are worth a schlepp way up north.

You must try the pie, of course, but you must not pass up the Pie Shake. It's like a traditional milkshake made with ice cream and milk, but this one has a whole slice of cream pie blended into the concoction! (Don't try it with fruit pie; it doesn't work). The Sterns had one made with banana cream pie. They say it was "extremely delicious."