alanamoana

i think there is another thread on this topic somewhere...might not be in the ny forum though. anyway, if the restaurant offers delivery for free and the food is cheap, you can imagine that the illegals that are running the deliveries don't get paid much...otherwise how would the restaurant make money? if it is chinese, you can bet the delivery guys are all family members too. so that is probably their sole income, fair or not. i figure, the convenience of having the food show up hot and fast makes it worth a decent tip. so i usually tip about 20%. still cheaper than eating out and often much cheaper than sourcing the ingredients and cooking at home. i sometimes have a bit of an inner struggle with all the paper and plastic products used in delivery though. especially chinese and/or japanese takeout that has all kinds of extras in those ziploc bags...fried noodles, sauces, fortune cookies, forks, napkins, etc.

only a little more than a week to go tupac! have you finalized any of your decisions? don't feel defensive, i totally understand the "eyes bigger than stomach" syndrome...also in your case the eyes are bigger than your schedule . i'm sure you'll be happy with most any of the choices on your list. just have a good time and don't sweat it. have fun checking out schools...again, we hope the small taste of the bay area or california in general will cause you to want a bigger chunk and you decide to attend grad school out here.

regarding fatimah, i think that the place in milpitas (the big 99 ranch shopping mall along the 880) is much better for islamic chinese. edited to add name: darda seafood restaurant joy luck place in the cupertino village, which was just reviewed on sfgate is decent for dim sum. maybe not for dinner dishes. it still isn't as good (or as cheap) as new york city dim sum. house of falafel on stevens creek blvd @ wolf is good. i ate there when we first moved here and their falafel (the balls themselves) were delicious and freshly fried. i also recently read that there's a "nexus of the universe" of mexican food at the intersection of king road and story road in san jose. a few blogger entries and here on this forum as well attest to decent if not delicious mexican taquerias. but i haven't eaten at any, so can't substantiate the claims. if we're talking about the general silicon valley area, i really think there are a lot of decent places. but then again, i'm not too picky. if the place is generally clean and the service isn't awful and the food tastes like they care just a little bit...then i'm satisfied. i don't really eat out at high end places anymore as i'm just too jaded (i work in the industry). as a matter of fact, my husband made a reservation at manresa for my birthday last weekend and i had him cancel as i just wasn't in the mood to doll up. there were some communication issues with the staff as well, so we felt it best to wait until the stars were aligned as i really do want to try it (have to get out of the fine dining funk). as another resource, here's a thread i started when i first moved here.

trish, i think a banana cream napoleon would be great. i just had a nice little banana cream pie at tartine in sf. the thing i liked about it, was a bit of caramel sauce underneath the bananas. it would have been even better if the caramel was a tiny bit salty to bring out the sweetness of the banana and custard a bit more. if you temper some chocolate to spread onto the puff you can avoid some of the mushiness (really thin layer). sounds like a great birthday dessert.

Thank you Ann_T!! Your bagels, especially the shot with the juicy tomato sliced on the plate and the obscene amount of bacon on the side, always make me envious of your baking abilities. just beautiful. the cheesy bagels look even better than your standard poppy seed

does he like chocolate and caramel? i think those flavors would go great in a napoleon. maybe one layer of chocolate pastry cream and one layer of a light chocolate caramel ganache (a la pierre herme) between perfectly caramelized puff sheets... or if he likes nuts, a gianduja ganache layer...

i don't think so...just spinning a solidly frozen base at least an hour or two before service so it has time to set up again in the service freezer.

but then you have to deal with sloppy service (not that the service at shake shack is any better, you just don't have to suffer through it for as long as table service requires) besides, i don't live in nyc anymore, and i'm happy to eat at in-n-out when the craving strikes!

ideally, freezer temps should be about -10 to -20 degrees fahrenheit. even if you think your freezer is cold enough, it might not be. also, traffic in and out of the freezer can affect the temperature negatively. just spoke to my old boss who exclusively uses paco jet...it's a bit slower in the restaurant (summertime in the city) and the freezer is much more effective. so he can scoop right after pacotizing with no problems. he's currently running thirteen flavors and usually has two beakers of each flavor spun for service. to do that with a batch freezer would be ridiculous. but, he does say that you shouldn't think that you can pacotize and then serve the ice cream as some places were doing as a gimmick. the base needs to be super cold. so, you should still work directly from the freezer.

nah, just use a piece of cardboard or something and hold it in the entire time. remember to take the cardboard out before you clean though! my last job only had two paco jets, so we did everything in that thing. we spun ice cream every morning and afternoon.

that's the problem with the system. they try to "protect" the people, but even the supposed iron-clad rules leave room for interpretation. i don't deny the need to have a health department which inspects restaurants, but the some of the rules can be ridiculous. specifically the one that includes drinking (that's any beverage) along with smoking while working. can you imagine how hot the shack gets in the summer time? what if you're the cook working the grill station...with a line that never slows down? you can't have a cup of water on hand? maybe the cooks should wear a camel back with hands free access, would that satisfy the health department? there's just no way a cook is going to be able to leave the line during business in order to sit down for five minutes to drink some water.

that's kind of how i feel about the paco jet in general. only advantage being it takes a lot less time than spinning in a batch freezer.

do you hold in the blue air valve when spinning? if you don't, a lot of air gets pumped into the ice cream and that can cause it to be softer than you'd like.

actually tino27, i think that looks beautiful. unless you're specifically looking for a tighter crumb, i would be perfectly happy with that open and holey goodness. i think most people making artisan breads are looking for that exact appearance.

i'll second the idea that seasoning doesn't have to be subtle to be considered sophisticated. gray kunz formerly of lespinasse in new york and currently of cafe gray uses a heavy hand when it comes to seasoning and strong flavors. i think that is what distinguishes his style from other chefs. although there are times when poorly executed (by an inexperienced line cook or someone who doesn't "get" it) and you end up with a salt or sugar bomb on the plate, for the most part, you end up with a dish that just hits every note spot on. i think he takes his cues from s.e. asian cuisines that c. sapidus talks about upthread. i used to be of the school that "if a little bit of this is good then a lot has got to be better"! i've come to realize that is only the case if everything is balanced. but again, it is very subjective!

first thing that comes to mind for me is "cite" or "cite grill". they're owned by the smith and wollensky group i think. they have a wine dinner which is prix fixe and all you can drink wine if you dine at a certain time...check out their website it might not be the cheapest, but all you can drink wine isn't bad! edited to add more information: through labor day, the wine dinner option is offered all evening. otherwise it is after 8pm. you get a choice of appetizer, entree and dessert PLUS all you can drink wine...$69/person. i don't think that's bad for a steakhouse and the portions are NOT small.

Not the tobacco use or eating part. But drinking? It has been a while since I've done time behind a grill or a range - but no drinking, not even water? Seems a bit unreasonable. Beyond that, based on what I know of Danny Meyers, from the day after that inspection, if not sooner, I would have no problem ordering a burger medium rare, or anything else. ← yeah, i self-deleted (and then it was really deleted... ) a post earlier which sort of ranted about the health department and their new rules and regulations. i understand that they're here to help us, but they've gotten a little overzealous. there's another regulation that's relatively new that gives points if your cutting board has too many nicks on the surface...it's a cutting board people!!! so, yes, i'd still eat there...not because i'm one of thousands of sheep nor because i'm a blind follower, but because i've eaten there and enjoyed the burgers and concretes. i've watched them prepare the food and it looks no worse than a kebab kart on 6th ave. no biggie. the whole thing about not having a bathroom nearby is an interesting one as well...i wonder how many points that's worth. you're not required to have a bathroom unless your establishment seats more than 19 people. how do they distinguish that when it is an outdoor only venue?! aren't there restrooms in the park itself?

i don't think you'll have a problem with corn starch. maybe a mix of 2:1 powdered sugar to corn starch. i think it is a personal preference thing more than anything else. potato starch is sold at whole foods and probably any well stocked grocery that carries "Bob's Red Mill" products.

$35/person isn't bad. does that include dessert? in new york, the churrascarias (plataforma, etc.) charge about $50/person just for the salad bar and meat.

could salt have anything to do with it? since you're mixing salt into the burger instead of salting the outside only? i've had the experience of using heavily seasoned potsticker filling and after cooking for a sufficient amount of time, the pork was still pink.

definitely phaelon56! let's say you pushed your way onto a crowded cross-town bus to get to fairway, you have to push your way through the store (to avoid getting run over by overzealous older people or snooty younger people) and then there are no real lines, so you have to figure out where to stand in order to actually pay for your hard won produce, then you get yelled at for not running quickly enough to the next available cashier...then you have to schlep all the groceries home to your crap apartment in a walk-up building (oh, that's just me ). once, i wanted to get some stuff delivered from fairway because it just seemed easier that day (i bought three cases of seltzer to really make it worth my while). when the delivery guy shows up, i have a five dollar bill in hand, ready to tip him. instead, he gives me a stinky attitude and tells me that i have to go downstairs and get the last case of seltzer (because he just doesn't want to do it). so i pocketed the five...hopefully obviously. i'll tell you, makes a big case for fresh direct.

He moved to New York City as soon as he left the Fifth Floor...that was almost two years ago?! I think he might be at Bistro du Vent. edited to add: welcome to eGullet, Le Mac...I think this post might have been better suited to the California forum.

infernooo, sounds like you've done a fair amount of research in a short period of time! are you considering moving here for work? yes, the weather has been great, but of course you're here during your winter, so anything should be good. just remember that it is like this year round (hehehe...except for the seven weeks of rain we had in march and april ). a good friend of mine that used to work for mcquarrie (sp) bank lived here in san francisco for a bit. visited him in sydney and i loved it there. what a great city! the best of san francisco and hawaii rolled into one. enjoy the rest of your trip! oh, and to talk about food, i think new york city greenmarkets have cornered the market on apples and cider. in the fall and winter, that's about all you can get! the cider isn't the fermented drink that you'd think it is. mostly (at least on the east coast) it is an unfiltered apple juice. it is brown and cloudy and has a bit more depth than just clear apple juice. i don't know what they're selling here as cider. and there are tons of varieties of apples available on the east coast that might not be available here unless they're in season. what you get at the grocery store is just crap (red/golden delicious, etc.).

i did a quick search and couldn't find a neutral base. most of the sugars made for cotton candy machines are already flavored. that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just harder to find. do a google search for "sugar floss" or something like that. edited to add: from this site. if that's the case, then you might be able to use isomalt which is neutral flavored (or at least not as inherently sweet as sugar) and flavor it accordingly.

k8, if you buy the wagner brand new and don't use it for anything but chocolate, you'll be fine. there are very few moving parts, all of which can be washed before first use. that's the main sprayer you'll find in many restaurants if they do any spraying.