Fat Guy

According to SC Johnson:

I don't recall any wristbands being distributed to Bubba FastPass holders. There may have been AmEx VIP wristbands for the AmEx VIP area in the park, but getting on the FastPass line just required presenting a FastPass. One more time, to summarize: the FastPass is the equivalent of a cash card. You can pay for anything at the event with it, throughout the event. You can buy as much as you want and share it with your friends. However, only two people are allowed on the FastPass line per FastPass. That's just for the line to get food. Once you get food you can feed it to whomever you like.

The big complaint about microwaving in plastic wrap was that it releases dioxin into food, however this turned out to be a hoax -- the claims came from an unsubstantiated email that got passed around and managed to sink into the public consciousness. It's one of those things that many people are going to believe forever, even though there's not a shred of truth to it -- almost any time I'm in a group cooking situation and someone puts something in the microwave covered in plastic wrap (probably 5-10 times over the past few years) someone has said "Don't do that, it has dioxin in it" or equivalent nonsense. Here's a typical article debunking the claim: http://www.aces.edu/dept/extcomm/newspaper/sept10c02.html The only reason I've hesitated to jump in and say boiling in plastic is just fine is that I'm not sure what temperature Saran's products -- which come in a couple of grades -- melt at. I can't imagine the temperature of boiling water is a problem, but contact with the actual pot could represent much higher temperatures. I'm sure the Saran people have looked into it, so I'll be interested to hear what they have to say.

I've written to the Saran people to find out their official position, if any.

As we announced this morning, the first eG TV video foodcast -- a short documentary about the 2005 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party -- is now online. The announcement is here. We have a separate topic for discussion of the eG TV video foodcast here.

We're pleased to announce our first eG TV video foodcast. Click here to view the eG TV video foodcast. (Clicking the above link should initiate a download of an mpeg video file, which is a recording of the eG TV video foodcast; it should play in any standard media player such as Windows Media Player or QuickTime.) The first eG TV video foodcast is an 11-minute documentary about the 2005 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in New York City. The discussion topic for the first eG TV video foodcast can be found here. Join us.

I was at the Wick in 2002 when Long Beach Lodge had just opened. Though I was there to write about the Wick, I made a point of taking a close look at LBL. There was a palpable energy about the place that really appealed to me. Were I to go there on vacation, I'd book at LBL rather than the Wick.

Yes, to be clear: - There is no charge for admission to the event. You can go all weekend and listen to the music, attend many of the seminars, hang out, etc., for no money. - Barbecue is $7 per plate, which includes meat and some sides (it's different at each pit). If you want to prepay for $125 worth of barbecue, beer, snacks and memorabilia, you can get the Bubba Pass and avoid the lines. - It's a fundraiser. Proceeds go to support the Madison Square Park Conservancy.

Not strictly Chinese -- more general Asian -- but you might enjoy Zen Palate. http://www.zenpalate.com/

The ones I remember at TJ Maxx and Marshall's a year or two ago were the Paul Bocuse versions of Staub, which were actually manufactured by Staub/Nomar. I should have bought them all. I don't think there's much risk in buying the knockoffs and secondary brands. To the best of my knowledge, the enameled cast-iron production process is not terribly complex. It's not like bonding copper to stainless steel, which is highly specialized. And in this case, you have the Boulud name to rely on -- I think he was actually developing the pieces, rather than just licensing his name. I think his DBK products were generally well regarded, but just didn't do all that well at retail because the markets are so impenetrable. So I see a lot of them in clearance sections, which is probably a good opportunity.

How about restaurants that eschew the dollar sign but include the decimal but without any zeroes? Like the Slanted Door: http://slanteddoor.com/dinner.html They list prices like: pan-seared day boat scallops with organic spinach and spicy pineapple-coconut sauce 23.5

The Daily Gullet has just published an original essay, "Artful Dining," by Darra Goldstein. Be sure to click on the individual photos for larger renditions, with explanations.

I had the impression that that's what this place is. Is it not? Granted, I haven't been there myself, but the impression I get from pictures and comments is that it's "updated red sauce Italian-American." ← It's less "red sauce" and more "updated" than the other Arthur Avenue restaurants. The veal dish GAF shows, which looks positively awful and incompetent in its pool of water with soggy veal breading and what seems to be incompletely melted commercial sliced cheese, is one of the very few red sauce-ish dishes on the menu, and it's not exactly in a traditional Italian-American gravy. I also don't think the generalizations, stated throughout this topic, about the entrees are correct. My take on it is that there are two weaknesses in the Roberto's menu, and I say this based only on a few visits several years ago at the old location but I think I decoded it back then and I haven't heard anything new: the veal cutlet and chicken cutlet dishes are poor. I do think there's something of an analogy between these dishes and the token Chinese-American dishes on the Grand Sichuan menu: they're offered to meet customer expectations, and also I think the kitchen may have a slightly lax attitude towards those who order the generic selections. I'm not defending the practice, just reporting it. The other secondi, at least the ones I've had, are strong: the veal chop, half-rabbit (too much rosemary, but that's just my taste), pork chop, baccala and osso bucco. I also agree that the pastas are the core of the menu. The pasta is made in-house and the fusilli in cartoccio (fusilli with clams, mussels, shrimp and fresh tomato cooked in foil on the grill) is terrific, though the presentation in foil is kind of lame. I'd say Roberto's is inconsistent but not nearly as bad as GAF's report indicates. I'm also sure, unless the restaurant has taken a really bad dive, that GAF stumbled on a bad day at the restaurant -- I think he properly intuits that the lunch crew is not supervised by Roberto and is not well-trained enough to be left unsupervised. I imagine this explains the soft-shell crab debacle as well. The chef at Roberto's, by the way, is Roberto Paciullo. He's from Salerno, though it's not clear to me that he's serving cuisine particular to Salerno.

The volume seems important, because I think many people want to support their servers but don't feel it's appropriate for servers to receive a windfall "just because." After all, most customers aren't wealthy either. I'm happy to kick in a dollar, or two, or three per drink if it results in a fair wage to the bartender. But if the bartender serves 300 cocktails in a shift and expects $3 on each, I'm not playing that game. I mean, theoretically, if a bartender is putting out 300 drinks on Friday and Saturday nights and works three other nights at 100 drinks each that's a total of 900 drinks for the week. At $1 per drink that's $900 per week ($45,000 per year in tips, plus whatever minimum wage amount the restaurant is paying), at $2 per drink that's $1,800 per week ($90,000 per year in tips) and at $3 per drink that's $2,700 per week ($135,000 per year in tips).

How many cocktails does a high-end bartender put out in a shift? A hundred, three hundred, five hundred? Knowing that might shed some light on the reasonableness of a $1, $2 or $3 tip per drink. Of course they could just charge enough for the drinks to pay the bartender a living wage, and put an end to all the guesswork.

Why not bring a portable burner out to the buffet table and do the risotto right there, in front of your friends while talking to them -- and then have them line up and you serve it right into their bowls. That would be memorable. For a seafood item, why not do a deconstructed cioppino, bouillabaisse or chowder? In other words, when you're done with the risotto, put out a pot of broth on the burner and, separately, several types of seafood and garnishes on platters. Each person takes a bowl, loads it up with shrimp, mussels, whatever, and then you ladle the hot broth over everything.

Have you had a chance to listen to the eG Radio interview with Darra Goldstein? She discusses the sucket fork as well as all the other photos -- or, rather, the photos illustrate the interview.

The following are several photos the Cooper-Hewitt kindly provided to us, which serve to illustrate the eG Radio foodcast. If you listen to the foodcast these images should coordinate with the progression of the conversation. Enjoy! The Carnegie mansion, now the Cooper-Hewitt (photo by Andrew Garn) Darra Goldstein (photo courtesy of Darra Goldstein) Entering the “Feeding Desire” exhibition (photo by Andrew Garn) Andrew Carnegie’s place settings (photo by Andrew Garn) Sucket forks (photo courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt) American Airlines prototypes (photo courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt) Another exhibition room (photo by Andrew Garn) Implements designed for correctional facilities (photo courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt) Ice cream server Nicoud dessert set (photo courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt) Nicoud dessert set, detail (photo courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt)

I was born in Mt. Sinai hospital, as was my mother, as was my son. I've lived in Manhattan my entire life. As a New Yorker, I'm overqualified. Don't worry, fellow New Yorkers. There will always be plenty of small, filthy, poorly stocked, overpriced stores with rude service for those who don't care about money and prefer to live a certain fantasy. There will always be plenty of great small stores too -- many of the best ones have and will survive the competition just fine. And the chains will continue to do their part to bring New York up to the basic standard the rest of the nation takes for granted, so we can get toilet paper at non-Soviet prices and flour at less than a dollar a pound. And don't worry, New York is in no danger of losing its uniqueness. New York isn't special because of what stores it has; it's special because of its people and what they do. It's the nation's capital of the arts, publishing, law, finance, fashion and of course cuisine. Spend ten minutes outside New York and you'll stop worrying that New York is becoming like anyplace else, no less everyplace else. Welcome to New York, Trader Joe's, and good luck.

P.S. A Dremel engraver should be less than $20 at Home Depot.

You've got to be careful with paint and tape, because if a health inspector sees that you could be in trouble. Etching/engraving is a better bet because it doesn't present any inspection risks. You don't have to do anything fancy -- you can just put a Z or some other distinguishing mark on all your tools.

The point isn't that all farmed salmon in the universe is identical. The point is that Acme is telling the New York Times that the farmed salmon Acme uses is a uniform product and that the fish Acme sells to the various retailers is "the same fish."

I enjoyed the pizza at Kinchley's very much. For those looking for a reference point, the crust is similar to that at Lento's in Brooklyn -- really bordering on cracker texture, in a good way. Some of the toppings were very good, especially that sausage and the spicy tomato sauce. The cheese is unremarkable.

The Times pieces, taken together, are saying there is little variation and that they don't get different fish.

The world's largest McDonald's, in Orlando, FL, is 25,000 square feet.