Bourdain did a show on this phenom not long ago. I think it was in San Fran, but not completely sure. It was a "club" made up of fellow chefs who made a sort of pot luck dinner. I remember that I was rather unimpressed with the one course that had Pop Rocks in it.

However, I was dazzled by the hidden in a baby's diaper and smuggled into the country unpasturized cheese from France.
Vive le fromage!

When I heard black market restaurant, I figured it would be a place serving up various endangered species. Eagle egg omelets, bog turtle soup or whale kabobs on ivory skewers would all be on the menu.

Baltimore Foodies ran an underground dinner this past summer. An article appeared in the November issue of Style magazine detailing it. We do plan on doing another one in the Spring.

There are also a number of "black market" coffee vendors.

When I heard underground restaurants I was thinking a feast in the Hall of the Mountain King or a banquet in Ali Baba's cave. Or a Dinner at the Center of the Earth. Maybe a cuppa coffee in the Jean Valjean Cafe. Or a burger at the Little Cavern. A descent Beneath the Planet of the Crepes. Bananas Flambe Under the Volcano. An enchanted wine cellar.

Or at least, pizza and beer in somebody's club basement.

Point to Laura Lee!

Laura Lee, if any of those places come to Baltimore, I'm so there!

I don't think I'd enjoy Grendal's mother's home cooking, though.

Alas, the last Little Cavern closed awhile back.

Oh yeah, that's what I want to do when I eat. Go to some unlicensed stranger and eat food from his uninspected kitchen. Does the cook have any idea of safe handling of food? Is that deadly nightshade or a more innocuous mushroom. Who knows? And I trust this guy, why? Because he's a "foodie"? Even if that were enough, how do I know?

It's bad enough that the standard for meat inspection has fallen off so much in this country, without adding another layer of taking my health and flinging it to the wind.

I take it Cheap Jim has never been to a dinner party.

Thanks Hal. The Club LT was subterranean even above ground.

However, I was dazzled by the hidden in a baby's diaper and smuggled into the country unpasturized cheese from France.

One of my favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes!

Kids these days, right Cheap Jim?

In the mid 1990's there was a place like that run by anarchists in Mount Vernon. They had a string of lights outside, if the lights were green the place was open, if red, closed. The food was vegan and delicious. They closed when too many people in the neighborhood found out about them and serving food became more of a chore than a pleasure. So that trend is at least a decade old.

Is there any connection between the old Anarchist Cafe and Red Emma's? Are any of the players the same?

Of course, the best anarchist dining film of all time is "Eat the Rich."

Beneath the Planet of the Crepes

It was all well and good until the last one, when Caesar leads the revolt founding the French nation. Sure, the series had long jumped the shark by then, but one could at least still hold out hope.

A dinner party, that's someone I know. I know who they are, a good idea of their general cleanliness, and I've probably been in their kitchen. We're talking a restaurant here. Do I know everyone in the kitchen? Not in most restaurants I've been in.

Oh, and don't get me started about the kids with the weird hair and the molecular gastronomy and the *faugh*!

"Does the cook have any idea of safe handling of food?"
Hey Cheap Jim have you ever seen how food is handled in many restaurants? I was a manager, many years ago, for Marriott's "Hot Shoppes" in DC. The first Shoppe I worked at was located on 14th and G. The HS was on 14th, Marriott's Sirloin & Saddle steak house was on G. They had a common kitchen. When I was in training I dropped a steak on the floor, a very dirty, greasy floor. I retrieved it and tossed it in the trash can. The S&S manager saw me do it and went nuts, made me dig the slimy steak out of the trash, and put it on the grill. Food Cost is what it's all about. If a piece of meat had been in the walk-in box too long, and developed a strong odor, you rinsed it off with vinegar and cooked it. Now true, this was 40 years ago but I don't think much has changed.

Things are that bad, eh? And how much worse would they be without health inspection? You're making my argument for me, Jack.

They had health inspectors, but many were on the take. They would overlook many incidents.

My point is a Black Market Restaurant is probably not much different then many regular restaurants

2:12 and 2:13 are spam. Of course. Appropriate next to a discussion of men on the take, I guess.

I mean, after a certain point, size is painful!