Thursday, December 17, 2009

Specialized Restaurant

The NY Times blog Diner's Journal had a great photo
today, illustrating an article about a very specialized trend. They featured Ganja Gourmet, a restaurant in Colorado shown in the illustration to the right. (Of course I own a copy of the poster hanging behind the counter.)

The Diner's Journal piece links to a more detailed story that explains what's going on:
In Denver, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna. Across town in the Mile-High City, a Caribbean restaurant plans to offer classes on how to make multi-course meals with pot in every dish. And in Southern California, a low-budget TV show called "Cannabis Planet" has won fans with a cooking segment showing viewers how to use weed in teriyaki chicken, shrimp capellini and steak sandwiches. ...

Ganja Gourmet's menu includes lasagna ("LaGanja"), "Panama Red Pizza" and an olive tapenade called "ganjanade," along with a sweets such as cheesecake, muffins and brownies. Employees wear tie-dyed T-shirts that proclaim, "Our food is so great, you need a license to eat it!!!"

All patrons at the Ganja Gourmet must show a medical marijuana card that proves they have a doctor's permission to use pot for some kind of malady. The place opened last week, and so far, 90 percent of its business has been takeout.

Very interesting and different, isn't it? Just last night at my culinary book club we were talking about the distant predecessor to this: Alice B. Toklas and her recipe for "Haschich Fudge."

Addendum: my friend Bob emailed me this reaction: "A chicken in every pot and some pot in every chicken."

1 comment:

~~louise~~ said...

Now, I don't have to move to California!!!