Giacomo's Briciole

This is really more of a test to see how the new insert picture function works than anything else. There was a recent discussion about briciole where I pontificated on the virtrues of Giacomo's in Des Plaines. I was out of town at the time and have had a hankering for some ever since. Tonight, coupled with the desire to see the swolen Des Plaines River, the Chow Poodle and I made the trek to Giacomo's.



Very great, as usual. The braciole was cooked to falling apart perfection and the red sauce was its usual great blend of tomatoey goodness and garlic. This version is stuffed with proscuitto and a small amount of chese. It doesn't contain raisins or eggs, but it is done the way I like it.

They are getting ready to expand the restaurant to double it's present size. This is not a good sign. Hopefully they can keep up the food's quality. Giacomo said that the expansion is mostly to accomodate large private parties, which they have had to turn away lately because they had already been booked.

Giacomo's
740 N. Wolf Road
Des Plaines, IL
847-390-7330

P.S. I have added a poll to this post to see how/if that function works.

stevez wrote:have had a hankering for some ever since. Tonight, coupled with the desire to see the swollen

Mr. Z,

Briciole looks delicious, but what struck me was your choice of words after being absent from home a couple of weeks.

Enjoy,
Gary

Steve, I thought the photo was slightly out-of-focus, but I just figured that's how it "would look" after having had a bottle of white wine with appetizers. ':twisted:'

One of the many things I like about the LTH Forum software is that you can insert pix...that, plus the hyper-cute emoticons. ':wink:'

David

G Wiv wrote:

stevez wrote:have had a hankering for some ever since. Tonight, coupled with the desire to see the swollen

Mr. Z,

Briciole looks delicious, but what struck me was your choice of words after being absent from home a couple of weeks.

Enjoy,
Gary

It's the thought of my impending new WSM that has me talking like Jed Calmpet...that and getting reaady to go to Arkansas for two weeks and wanting to sound like the natives.

David Hammond wrote:Steve, I thought the photo was slightly out-of-focus, but I just figured that's how it "would look" after having had a bottle of white wine with appetizers. ':twisted:'

One of the many things I like about the LTH Forum software is that you can insert pix...that, plus the hyper-cute emoticons. ':wink:'

David

It's something my digital camera seems to be doing. The plate and the knife seem to be in focus, but the top of the pile of meat is soft...even though that's where I pointed the center focus spot. I guess it's testimony to the vastness of the pile of braciole you get on your plate.

Great Picture,

My only issue would be the size and or resolution. Unfortunately my office PC is still in the dark ages of dial-up. That picture took a full minute to download, but it still made me hungry.

Flip

had the pleasure of meeting bob of honey 1. really nice fellow. oh yeah, and the food. in the words of homer simpson..."gaaaaaa" (as drool slips from my lips :wink: )

honey 1 pulled pork is coming soon...

ciao
sharon

is the green stuff all green pepper and if it is doesn't the whole thing taste like green peppers with a bit of meat...or maybe i'm just not a fan of green peppers..?

boca refugee wrote:is the green stuff all green pepper and if it is doesn't the whole thing taste like green peppers with a bit of meat...or maybe i'm just not a fan of green peppers..?

Yes, the green stuff is green peppers. The red stuff is red peppers. There is also an ample supply of tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes and olive oil. The sauce is cooked for hours and all of the tastes meld together quite nicely so, no it doesn't have a distinctive taste of green pepper.

Steve,

The bulk of the food is in focus which is what's important.

If you still want to do something about the focus, try standing back a little and later cropping the picture. Be sure you use a high enough pixel setting to ensure adequate resolution.

Here is more detail about improving focus of closeups. Warning: If you're bored by technical crap, stop reading now.

"Depth of field" is the zone of sharpest focus. It's controlled by adjusting the lens aperture or size of lens opening. A narrow aperture such as f8 or f16 means a greater depth of field. A wide aperture such as f1.4 or f2 gives a narrower depth of field.

To adjust this you'll need to use what some cameras call "aperture priority mode." This means you set the aperture and the camera automatically sets shutter speed.

The downside is that as the aperture narrows, lens speed decreases to allow enough light in. If your hand's a little shaky the picture could get blurry. You may need to rest the camera on a steady object. Note: If the flash is set to fire automatically, the lens speed won't go below a certain level (probably 1/30 of a second).

You'll have to check the camera's manual to see if it has an aperture priority mode.

An easier method is to stand back a few feet when taking the picture. Depth of field increases with shooting distance. You'll have to crop the picture, so use a higher pixel setting to avoid losing resolution.

About now you're saying, how about if I stand back and use the telephoto zoom? The problem is that zooming increases focal length, which reduces depth of field! Sounds like a dirty trick, but that's how optics work.

It would take some experimenting to see if standing back and using the telephoto improves focus. I don't know of any absolute formula; it depends on your particular camera / lens and the settings.

By the way, don't bother with the digital zoom --that's just an electronic trick which will reduce resolution. Only use the lens zoom.

Good luck!

Thanks George, but you're speaking to someone who deals with cameras and images for a living. I know all that stuff. Keep in mind that I have the same camera as Gwiv, yet his pictures have a better depth of field than mine. The deal is that my camera used to be able to take beautiful macro (extreme close up) pictures in the past, but lately......

Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to get a new camera.

I'm flabbergasted.

I can't think of why two identical cameras should have different results. Also, why would the quality of a camera's pictures decline?

I suppose it could be some arcane mechanical or electronic thing, but it's very strange.

Why not treat yourself to a new camera? The price of digitals certainly has declined.

George R wrote:I'm flabbergasted.

I suppose it could be some arcane mechanical or electronic thing, but it's very strange.

I think that's it,and a new camera is in my near future plans.

stevez wrote:Keep in mind that I have the same camera as Gwiv, yet his pictures have a better depth of field than mine. .

Z Man,

My camera technique is what is referred to as the 'blind squirrel' method of photography. I take 75 pictures and hope one or two turns out well enough to post or send in email.

My camera is a Cannon PowerShot S 400 Digital Elph, the 4mp model. I had an 2mp S200, but after a couple of years it died as it lived, taking a picture of a Peking duck.

I always enjoy your pictures, but then again, it's some of my favorite subject matter.

This thread has given me an idea, maybe there are one or two pro photographers on LTH Forum who would be willing to write a short, easily understandable, tutorial on food photography.

Speaking of food photography, there's a newsgroup devoted to pictures of food, alt.binaries.food A.b.f., unlike the majority of newsgroups these days, is a friendly focused place with a core group posting interesting pictures on a regular basis.

50-60% are BBQ pictures, though recently there have two incredibly interesting non-BBQ series, one from Malaysia, the other Jalisco.

Enjoy,
Gary

What I've noticed happening with my camera lately is that no matter where you point the focus "spot" (and lock it in pressing the button half way), the camera seems to focus on whatever is in the background. For example, the picture in this thread should have been focused on the top of the briciole on the plate according to the way I composed the shot. Instead, the camera focused on the utensils on the tabletop. Like I said, something's broken in my camera. Like yours, it's a Digital Elf, but the older S110 2.1 Megapixel model. Time for an upgrade, methinks.

Steve,

The symptoms you describe certainly sound like either an electronic or mechanical problem in the camera.

In these days of throwaway goods, the cost of repairs (if they even can be done) often exceed the price of a replacement.

I think Gary's idea for a short tutorial on food photography is excellent. Everyone would appreciate foto tips from a pro.

Hmmm, I have the same camera as Gary. I'll have to try the blind squirrel digital food photography method (quick, Gary, copyright that term!) but I'll need to get some bigger memory cards first. Other than the "take a lot of snaps" technique, anything else you do with your Canon to get those great food pic's? Any specific mode settings, etc.? I'm still getting use to these newfangled digital thingamabobs.