Fat Guy

What do you think are the best breads in NYC today? Where are you all buying your bread these days, and where is that bread coming from? Me, I'd say 90% of the bread I've been buying for the past year or so has been one of these five. I get the occasional other item, but these are my tried-and-true mainstays: - Bread Alone organic whole wheat sourdough miche, purchased at Fairway on Broadway and 74th. You can also get Bread Alone breads at a number of the greenmarkets. This is, to me, one of the best artisanal breads you can get in New York. It's made with no commercial yeast -- it's a true sourdough -- and has incredible flavor from its long fermentation and fundamentally excellent ingredients (organic flour ground to the bakery's specifications) and facilities (brick ovens built by French craftsmen). It's long lived, and also freezes exceptionally well for toasting later on. - Pain Quotidien baguette a l'ancienne, purchased at the 84th & Madison branch of Le Pain Quotidien. I guess you're getting the idea that I like chewy breads made according to a slow-rise sourdough process. I just love the Pain Quotidien baguette -- every time I taste it I marvel at how consistently excellent it is. I only wish they made a smaller one, because it has to be eaten same-day -- it's just not a great bread to reheat, and it's a lot of bread to eat alone in a day (not that it stops me). I know they do or did make individual rolls in this style for Jean Georges that they don't seem to sell at the bakery -- I wish they did sell them. - Eli's stupidly named "health loaf," purchased at Fairway on Broadway and 74th. This is my freeze-and-toast workhorse for sandwiches. The slices are small because it's a long square loaf, so I usually make two sandwiches at a time. The marketing literature calls it "a toasty mosaic of seeds and grains," and it really is -- I can't think of a better way to describe it. I think Eli's breads are not on the whole quite as good as those from the handful of top artisanal bakeries, but I think Eli's sets a very high standard for large-production commercial bakeries. I could certainly have a fulfilling bread life only eating breads from Eli's. - Eli's bagels, purchased at Vinegar Factory. Every once in awhile I read some roundup of best bagels in New York, and I have never seen Eli's mentioned. In my opinion, however, these are the best bagels in New York. They're dense, chewy and have great flavor. They're so faithful to the old-style texture and flavor of a bagel that many of today's bagel eaters reject them -- they'd rather have something caky like an H&H bagel or something bagel-like but not seriously dense like Ess-a-Bagel or Tal. And they're sold at room temperature, the way bagels should be eaten -- they're baked in the bakery and delivered to the two stores. None of this hot bagel business (though if you have leftovers and you freeze them they toast up nicely). You can get them at Vinegar Factory or at the Eli's store on Third Avenue -- I don't think I've seen them around at other places that sell Eli's bread. They don't make a whole lot of them -- by 11am on a weekend they're out of most varieties. - Balthazar Bakery levain in the boule shape, purchased at the Nature's Gifts market on Lexington Avenue between 87th and 88th. I wish I had better access to Balthazar breads other than the baguettes (which I think are not great), but at least the levain -- my favorite -- is readily available in my neighborhood. It's the best straight-up white sourdough bread I've been able to find.

I have a natural suspicion of bureaucracy, however I'd like to see service animals licensed. Also, I'd like to see a licensing system for human restaurant customers. Because really, I've never had a problem with an animal in a restaurant, or a hotel, or anyplace like that. It's a relatively self-selecting group of owners who even bother to take their animals to places like that. But humans? They cause lots of problems. Under a licensing system, if you can't behave, you don't get to any restaurant above the level of an Olive Garden.

I think the lack of an official certification system is unsustainable, especially in light of all the psychological disabilities out there. For example, in New York City there have been several successful ADA claims by owners of "emotional support assistance animals," (none that I know of in restaurants, but in other public accommodation situations so it's just a matter of time) in other words animals where the function is to help ease the effects of the disability of depression. I mean, the regulations as written are so easy to abuse: restaurants have to admit anybody who makes a claim that an animal is a service animal, or they risk fines and bad publicity. A standardized certification and identification system, where you're committing a crime if you fake an ID, seems like the only rational solution.

The DOJ has a note on this:

That's a common misconception about service animals, and it can get a restaurant, apartment building or other corporation fined pretty heavily. The DOJ has published a simple document on this subject. Service animals perform a variety of functions in addition to guiding blind people. Some examples from the DOJ: - Alerting persons with hearing impairments to sounds. - Pulling wheelchairs or carrying and picking up things for persons with mobility impairments. - Assisting persons with mobility impairments with balance.

I don't blame the consumer, oakapple. I blame you and your confederate, Mimi Sheraton.

The last time I was there for lunch, admittedly awhile ago, they had several kinds of Ssam in addition to the classic: lettuce, nori, flour pancake, rice bowl, maybe one other kind, and you could choose among Berkshire pork, tofu, chicken and maybe beef. I think there are a few overlapping issues here: 1- Is the lunch good? I think it is. I've had a few of the lunch items and have enjoyed them quite a bit. I thought the ingredients were exceptional across the board, and the flavor combinations worked for me. I think it's a terrific lunch spot at its price point, though I gravitate towards Noodle Bar for lunch because it offers more of the flair of the Ssam Bar dinner menu. 2- Does the lunch compare favorably to dinner? Not really. 3- Is that horrible? I don't really think so, but that value judgment doesn't seem important anyway. As long as we know dinner is what it is and lunch is what it is, we have the basic information we need to accomplish the goal of getting a good meal.

How did this become my fault? I didn't create the burden. The universe did. I'm reporting on a present, like-it-or-not reality and offering a solution: learn the ins and outs of each restaurant and take advantage of them in order to get the best possible meals. I suppose being disgruntled is the other option, but until such time as restaurants become binary, all-or-nothing, reductionist, Manichean propositions my approach yields better meals. If telling consumers how to accomplish something that benefits them is being an apologist for the industry, so be it, I apologize!

Dear Fellow Society Members, Two years ago, the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters implemented the eG Calendar and Events policy for member-organized events planned in eG Forums. This past year, we invited five members with differing opinions to meet with Janet Zimmerman (JAZ) and me in a special forum, and they voiced these concerns: The policy is negative, complicated, and thus a disincentive to planning events. Less formal, more social events are important for a sense of community and fun. Members don't want to ask staff for permission to plan events. There's a "high bar" to start planning events: without a simple mechanism for vetting an idea, there's a perceived high risk of failure. The pinned ISO (in search of) topics are ineffective, hard to find, and rarely used. Because the Calendar is not used by most members, there isn't a good way to find out about upcoming (non-eGullet Society) events. As a result of these concerns, we have replaced the old events policy with a more straightforward, easier set of guidelines for planning and reporting on member events. Going forward, members can plan events in eG Forums without host approval or complex mechanics. Of course, members must follow the Member Agreement while doing so, staying on-topic in both planning and reporting discussions. To support the success of these topics, we've developed the following guidelines, with which hosts will be glad to help you: Planning Topics 1. Start a new planning topic in the appropriate regional forum. The title should be in the format "Plan: [What] [Where] [When]," which will aid in identifying the topics and in searches. Once the event occurs or is canceled, the planning topic will be deleted. (There are no more ISO topics.) 2. Planning topics must extend invitations to all Society members and be transparent. They must state the number of seats available, the system for distributing seats (first come first served, deposit-based, tickets purchased up front, and so on), how much things cost, what, if any, Society donation is expected, and who's going to coordinate all of this planning and communication. Financial arrangements must be explicit. Finally, planning topics must state that the event is a member-organized event for which the Society disclaims responsibility, not an official Society event. (See below for the standard language that must be included in the first post.) 3. Since eG Forums is facilitating the event planning as a service to members, please consider making it a fundraiser to support the eGullet Society. Doing so can be quite simple: passing the hat to collect $5 donations at the end of the meal and then sending the total to the Society, for example, is one informal way to support the Society. We are ready to assist you in organizing such events, and have trifold color brochures that you can distribute if desired. 4. Once the event is confirmed, submit a post including all the relevant details to the moderated calendar queue. ("Moderated" means that your post will show up after a host has checked it over for you, which may take a bit of time.) Of course, you can always just submit the details via PM to a host for the relevant forum, who will add them to the eG Calendar for you. Reporting Topics After the event, create a new "Report: " topic following the titling guidelines above. As with all eG Forums discussions, events-related discussions must focus on food and drink. Notes of thanks, personal comments about social interactions, and other off-topic sentiments should be conveyed privately. Planning and Reporting on Non-Society Events Culinary events that are not directly related to the Society should be announced in the calendar as always. You can submit that information to the calendar as a moderated entry or to a host. Remember that discussing a non-Society event in eG Forums requires more thought and content on your part: announcements followed by queries about who's going do not belong on eG Forums, whereas food-related discussions concerning what to do and where and how to do it certainly may. A host can help you frame such a discussion topic productively. A final note. When we convened the discussion group, we stated that we were "committed to taking what we discuss in this group and translating it into a better, more user-friendly, less restrictive events policy." Thanks to the work of Janet and the volunteer members, we have exceeded that promise. We encourage all members to plan interesting culinary events, to engage in the related culinary discussions in eG Forums, and to consider supporting the Society while doing so. With relish, Steven A. Shaw (aka "Fat Guy"), executive director eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters Here is the standard language for inclusion in the first post of any new member-organized event-planning topic. (Yes, it's hideous, we know: due to legal standards concerning such notices, this language must be presented in upper case.) If you have questions, please ask them here. With relish,

No reason you can't do all of the above, really. ← Well sure, if you're into stress, acid reflux and perpetual inner turmoil!

You can criticize, resent or try to rewrite the restaurant's business plan all you want. You can rail against chef-worship, real or imagined, until you're blue in the face. Or, if you'd rather have a great meal, just go for dinner.

FG celebrates the cult of the chef. David Chang is a genius, so whatever he does must be accepted on its own terms. ← My point is simply that if you can adapt to restaurants you'll eat better. I'm not sure how that got twisted and personalized into chef worship.

I think it's unprofessional to carry around a cheeseburger, and entirely professional to carry around a granola bar. In between those extremes, I suppose one has to use one's judgment.

It's not the job of every restaurant in the world to conform to average expectations and knowledge. There are places that do conform to general averages or certain demographic averages (Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe for moderately well-off residents of and visitors to New York City, aka the people who vote in the Zagat survey) but beyond that it's a mixed bag. Those who insist on having their expectations met should limit themselves to certain kinds of restaurants. It doesn't matter how much you know, if you're not flexible and adaptable you're going to be unhappy outside of your comfort zone. People with that sort of disposition should stick with, for example, Michelin three-star places, or standard-issue brasseries, or run-of-the-mill steakhouses, or McDonald's, or whatever restaurants cater to their needs. Those restaurants have well-established vernaculars -- well-established dos and don'ts: don't order the salmon at a steakhouse, or, if you do order salmon at a steakhouse don't be so presumptuous as to condemn the steakhouse if the salmon sucks. For those who are willing to step outside of their comfort zones, however, there are a lot of rewards. That means accepting restaurants on their terms in order to get the best out of them. It means realizing that the "don't order salmon in a steakhouse" rule is not the only rule -- that there may be rules you don't know and have to learn, like the "don't go to Momofuku Ssam Bar for lunch if you want to experience the best of the restaurant" rule. Think of Momo-Ssam as an unfamiliar "ethnic" restaurant with its own set of rules. If you went to a place in Koreatown and they had bizarre rules and rituals like "no pork at lunch, even though all our best dishes are pork dishes," you'd say okay, this is how they do it, I'll come for dinner -- at least that's what you'd say if you had good restaurant sense. You wouldn't start complaining that "this place is soooooo overrated!" Maybe if there was no way for you to find out the rule -- nobody speaks English, there are no easily obtainable sources, they try to hide the ball from you -- then you'd be forgiven for your hasty generalization. But there's no great mystery to finding out the Momo-Ssam rule. The menu is in English, the media saturation is over the top, the knowledge is so easy to find you have to try to avoid it.

Got it. Didn't mean to write off truffle farming. I think it's the future. Glad to see there have been some good accomplishments. I haven't knowingly tried those truffles, but then again I have no idea of the provenance of most of the restaurant truffles I've eaten.

Speaking for myself, as someone who has the utmost respect for Mimi Sheraton, the reason I find her comments disappointing is that I always hope someone in her position, with her stature, will join the team that's championing interesting, forward-thinking restaurants -- just as I'd be saddened to see her slam Alinea, doubly so if based on a weird sample.

I guess I don't quite know what you're asking, but if you rephrase I'll try to answer. I've been known to be dense.

I must not have read closely enough because I didn't see that reference?

The cultivated truffle industry is currently producing a product markedly inferior to the best of the gathered product. Chances are, however, that if that industry progresses like much of agriculture has throughout history, the tables will eventually turn.

I must concur with Mr. Kinsey. There are plenty of restaurants where you need to have intel in order to get the best meal. Indeed, it's hard to think of a restaurant where that isn't the case, which may be why I bothered to write a whole book on the subject of how to get the most out of restaurants by going beyond the "walk in off the street and take a wild uneducated guess" approach. How does that impact on the greatness or lack thereof of a restaurant? I'm of two minds about that, and I'm not sure I've consistently applied a rational scheme to the problem. For now, I think I'll just take it as a fact of life.

If we couldn't beat nature, we'd all be dead! Agriculture is by definition not a natural process. Truffles are one of the few foods we eat that are truly gathered, though eventually we'll figure out how to cultivate good ones just as we figured out how to cultivate good oranges, beans and wheat -- all of which have not only been cultivated but also improved by human intervention. Once we beat nature and are able to cultivate and hybridize truffles we'll be able to take the tastiest specimens and breed them and look back with bewilderment at the days when they had to be sniffed out by dogs and pigs and cost so much money. Remember, there was a time when salt was as precious as truffles are today. No, but the French have been preserving truffles in goose and duck fat for as long as it matters. So we know that truffles can be preserved, it's just a question of how best to do that. I too have had the best luck with truffle butter, though the best off-season truffle flavors I've experienced in restaurants have come from truffles preserved whole in duck fat.

The other exception is that the ones who are already fat often lose weight. I've seen this with several of my New York doctor acquaintances.

While the dinner menu is certainly the star, I think the original Momofuku Ssam wrap with Berkshire pork, onions, edamame, pickled shiitake and red kimchi puree is excellent, and even better are the pork steamed buns.

Basic vanilla tasting It occurred to me this morning that I've never actually tasted vanilla straight from the pod. I've tasted vanilla extract, but I imagine that flavor is heavily influenced by the alcohol and the process. So, I split one of my Tahitian vanilla pods and scraped the little seeds into a small bowl. I then took a dab of the seeds on my finger and tasted them. I was surprised to taste almost nothing. The vanilla had a decidedly recognizable vanilla aroma, but on the palate there wasn't much. A few seconds later, I got a tingling sensation on the tongue and a little almost black-pepper-like heat. Trying to increase my chances of tasting something, I stuck a half of the pod in my mouth and sucked on it. Pretty much the same experience as before, but more tongue tingling and more of the vanilla floral aromas came up the mouth-nose conduit. I then picked a few items from around the kitchen, split them in half, garnished one half with vanilla seeds and did a side-by-side tasting: That would be a slice of buttered toast, a red globe grape, a piece of Cheddar cheese (double Gloucester, actually), some leftover Vietnamese noodles from Saigon Grill, and a meatball. The only place where the vanilla made an unequivocally positive contribution -- one I'd expect everybody to notice and approve of -- was on the red globe grape. It very much enhanced and deepened the flavor and sweetness of the grape, and added its own floral aromas. The toast was also a little better with the vanilla, in that the vanilla had almost an MSG-like umami-enhancing influence on the butter. I think I might at some point try making a vanilla compound butter. I couldn't even detect the vanilla on the cheese or the meatball. It might have done something with the noodles, but I wouldn't offer to prove that observation in a controlled blind tasting.

Mussina, where are you located? In many larger cities, "pre-theater" works. Also, I think "twilight" is a nice word. And in baseball, they use "twinight," for double headers that fall along the day-evening divide -- that's kind of a cool word too.