The restaurant had also just added an ambitious new dessert from Mr. Berlioz: one-quarter of a pineapple caramelized in a brown sugar-Szechwan pepper rub and served with sherbet, streusel and pineapple chips.
In addition to its medicinal value, millipede rubbing also serves as a social lubricant.
The fact that Chi is published by Mondadori, controlled by the Berlusconi family holding company Fininvest, and regularly attacks the centre-right leader's enemies, only served to rub salt in the wounds.
It's coated in a pepper-heavy rub and smoked, then served at the luncheonette in sandwiches topped with buttermilk-fermented cucumber kraut and cracked rye berries, or as a "deluxe" protein that can be added to a lunch plate for an extra four dollars.
Another reason I shall be on first-over parade with Sky's commentators is that it seems to me that in the two Tests so far Pakistan have been generally ill served by the rub of the green, particularly when that rub has been intemperately picked at by the umpire Darrell Hair, that spot-on impersonator of Sergeant Ernie Bilko's vengefully exasperated commanding officer at Fort Baxter, Colonel Hall.
Of course, we were already at a disadvantage: we hadn't been able to keep our hands off the giveaway basket of hand-cut potato chips rubbed with spices and served with two delectable dipping sauces, barbecue and green goddess (sour cream, green onions and a rocket blast of jalapeño).
There's a calamari appetizer, for example, that is rubbed with spices, fried and served with a smoked tomato sauce.
In fact, my favorite entree was purely French: a simple roasted game hen rubbed with fines herbes and served with buttery haricots verts and rosemary-scented baby potatoes.
All the meat at the Smoke Joint is dry rubbed and barbecued "naked," with sauces served on the side.
