adegiulio
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Posts posted by adegiulio
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Is there a pork shortage I am not aware of? Chicken not plentiful enough? Why must we eat endangered species?
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I hear everyone's pain in not being able to get local lamb, and the generally high cost of lamb.
I live only a couple of hours drive from one of the prime lamb ranching areas in the Northwest, Ellensburg, Washington, home to Ellensburg Lamb. Unfortunately, we rarely if ever see Ellensburg lamb in our markets or even at the many farmer's markets here in Eastern Washington.
Part of the reason our local lamb in Montana and Washington is rarely found in local markets is because the lambs raised for meat, (not wool), are raised for the restaurant and food service trade. Lots of our restaurants serve local lamb, yet we can't find it in our markets.
I agree with those who have said it is a matter of supply and demand and the economics of farming lamb. I've read studies where the American taste for lamb is far below the average per person consumption of lamb in other countries. As such, I imagine that it is cheaper for the ranchers and processors to sell large numbers of lambs for the food industry rather than sell a few lambs to local markets.
I regularly buy fresh Aussie lamb at Costco. They always have racks, chops and boneless leg roasts. I find the quality very good. My biggest issue with Australian or New Zealand lamb is that the racks seem to be very small compared to a big fatty American rack of lamb.
Lamb is my favorite meat hands down. I love the sweet flavor and juicy tenderness that comes from the chops of a rack of lamb.
I did not come to appreciate lamb for many, many years.
My Grandfather was part of the lamb industry in Twin Falls, Idaho. Idaho was once the land of lamb with vast expanses of the plains in Southern Idaho crowded with herds of lamb. Grandpa sold lamb pelts, not just wool, the whole damn hide (pelt) with the wool still attached. I'll never forget that musty, hot smell of fresh lamb pelts stacked in the warehouse in Summer-it was really off-putting.
One of my Grandfather's lady friends once cooked a leg of mutton for our lunch. Good God, imagine an old ram stewed in tomato sauce for hours. It smelled worse than the pelts in the warehouse and tasted very, very bad. That's why it wasn't until I got into my late 30's that I appreciated the flavor of Spring lamb.
I think my favorite meal is rack of lamb with any type of potatoes and a nice huckleberry compote that I make in the late Summer.
It's funny you mention this. I live in an area of upstate New York that has many local family farms and orchards. With the exception of those farms' stands, we can't find their produce. It is all shipped to the city, while the local supermarkets get their produce from California. I've even seen Washington apples on display. The number of apple trees in my town alone is beyond counting. Why in the world is Stop and Shop buying apples from 3000 miles away?
For us, it's not a big deal, since we supplement our own vegetables with those from the farm stands. But, the point still remains...
Lamb with huckleberry compote. I like the sound of that..
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I am really interested in this because I have just started keeping sheep. (I am not new to farming and livestock, though, just sheep.)
My sheep do not need to pay for themselves, but I can see that in not too long a time, I am going to be oversupplied with (neutered) ram lambs.
How do I get the average foodie interested in taking some of these things off my hands?
Give them your address...
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Maybe it's because lambs are so darn cute.
We have a local guy selling lamb. Unfortunately, he FREEZES everything prior to sale. Stupid stupid stupid...
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I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so moderators please feel free to move it.
A news story reports that, instead of using minced pork as a filling for their buns, some chinese bun makers are using "cardboard and fatty meat". Yikes. Check out the story here...
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From what I know, sushi is finger food. I prefer to eat my sushi with my hands, if for no other reason than I have better control over my digits than chopsticks. However, I tend to get strange looks from others in the restaurant (including my dining mates). I can count the number of people eating their sushi with their hands on one paw.
I'm not saying I am right or wrong, but how do you eat your sushi? How many people use that hot hand towel as a facial scrub?
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Crusty food residue between the tines of a fork freaks me out, and I am not one of those germophobes. I can handle most lapses in sanitation, but the idea of eating off the fork that someone else ate off of, which was then allowed to crust over, just gets me for some reason...
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650 pounds for dinner at Sketch in London. Worth it? It depends on the mood I am in when you ask. It was memorable, but the sheer gluttony makes me think the money could have been put to better use.
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We're listening, but the likelihood of something like that finding investors is slim. The amount of space you'd need, the swanky address, big staff/big payroll, the cost of ingredients, etc. makes a liquor license revenue stream de rigeur.
Remember when the tiny little space that now houses Snackbar tried to function without a liquor license? Opened and closed in a virtual nanosecond.
Oh, I was just thinking of a place like about the size of RX, or (the slightly larger and excellent) Ray's the Steaks here in DC. Not the Whole Grand Steakhouse Experience, but a limited menu of the kind of beef it's virtually impossible for the home chef to find, properly grilled, and served alongside (as I believe adegiulio implied) a bottle of Screaming Eagle from your home cellar.
Ahhhh. That's quite different. And yeah, that would be awesome. I haven't been to Ray's the Steaks but it's high on my list of places to try next time I'm in the DC area.
I read "prime steakhouse" and I'm thinking of a dark wood bar, lots of seats, a big staff, etc. The standard Whole Grand Steakhouse Experience.
Yeah, I agree that this is just a fantasy. The high food cost of prime beef alone would require wine profits to offset. But, I still prefer my own wine list to that of most steakhouses, and would gladly pay $20 to have them open my juice and provide me with glasses.
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I would love to see a prime steakhouse with no wine list. BYOB only...
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Mick Jagger was allowed to wear jeans at Per Se...but my understanding is that was the only such occasion.
I'd say jackets are still de rigueur on men in NY four stars....and Chicago for that matter. Miami and L.A. are more casual.
The night we were at per se (only a few months after they opened), there was a guy wearing jeans. He looked pretty important.
The post above the one I am responding to mentioned that the more casually dressed diners were in fact locals as opposed to Americans. At l'Arpege, I can attest to that. We were by far the best dressed, with maybe a 1/4 of the men not wearing jackets. Heck, the whole atmosphere seemed casual, almost too casual. Fantastic food though...
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Some of you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Yeah, we are bad people. We have this strange idea in our head that a restaurant is a business, not a soup kitchen. Oh wait, it's a hospitality business. I guess we should just give all the food and drink away. Nothing is more inhospitable than presenting a bill to our valued guests....
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Customer:
"Waiter how much is bread?"
Waiter:
"sir we don't charge for bread."
Customer:
"how much is water?"
Waiter:
"water is free sir."
Customer:
"how much is gravy?"
Waiter:
"sir gravy, as are all our sauces is not charged for."
Customer:
"ok I'm ready to order. I'll have some bread with a dish of gravy and a glass of water."
A restaurant should refuse service in that situation, unless it chooses to engage in charity.
Thank goodness we cleared that up...
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I think it's funny that if you ask 100 people about portion sizes, 50 will complain that they are getting too big, and 50 will complain that they are getting too small...
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there's nothing illegal about discriminating against diners on the basis of cheapness.
Amen.
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So while I sort of get your point, your analogy is very inapt.
That's all I want. Besides, it wasn't an analogy.
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I think it's tacky for a restaurant to dictate minimums per person. Unless the resaturant is at the scummiest college joint level it smacks of inhospitality.
I think it's tacky for 4 adults to go to a restaurant and only order 2 entrees.. No apps or dessert.
No offense to another poster, but if they have to save up for months just to eat there, only to order less than half of what is considered normal, they shouldnt be dining at this restaurant. I would love to eat at per se, Le Bernardin, and Jean Georges every week, but I can't afford it. Just like driving, eating out is a privilege, not a right...
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Let me say this as goodheartedly as I can: I think you are over-reacting. There are many worse infractions of the sanitary code than using windex and a rag that touched the ground to clean a table. Unless they serve your steak or fettucine directly on the table, what's the real harm? If they don't sanitize that rag after each table, I can't imagine it would be terribly clean, even without the visit to the floor.
Let me say that I am on the other side of the germophobe scale. Unless something has visible refuse on it, I'll eat it. Germs are good for us.
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I dont know if you all get Our Daily Bread down there in NYC. They are a bread baker in Chatham NY which, in my opinion, beats out Bread Alone. I know they sell at many farmers markets, but NYC is about 2 hours south of Chatham. If you get the chance, try it...
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Just make sure you don't ask for less dressing on your salad OR get sick on the mussels. They won't let you back...
I don't understand these comments - have reviewed earlier posts in this thread and don't see any context that explains it - can you clarify?
Dijon is the Upstate NY incarnation of a New Jersey restaurant named Epernay. After requesting less dressing on my salad (repeatedly) and calling to inform them that we got sick on their mussells (so they would know to save the tag), they told us that they didn't want our business anymore. This was after we sang their praises on eG for months.
I guess that's why people answer the question "how was everything tonight" with "fine"
There is a nice long thread somewhere. "Chef" is a hack anyway. We enjoyed the idea of a nice french bistro more than we actually enjoyed the experience of going there. I always hoped they would achieve that simple nirvana that is bistro food. Unfortunately, it never happened...
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So, there is a new S&W commercial with the tagline "If steak were a religion, this would be it's cathedral". The ad shows lots of business types having a great time eating steak and seafood towers.
One shot in the commercial shows a butcher grabbing a strip loin off of a rack filled with meat. The meat is all rosy red and looks delicious. The issue is that S&W dry ages their meat, and anyone who has seen dry aged meat knows that it is hardly red and succulent in appearance.
Yeah, I know that commercials are supposed to make the product look it's best, but this just seems a bit disingenuous...
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To those of you for whom compassion trumps self-absorption, my thanks for your benificent presence in the world.
To those of you who imagine that unpleasant and potentially offensive health problems will never affect you and those you love, well, you're in for a rude awakening. You may be a perfectly charming restaurant-goer today and drooling tomorrow. Life's like that.
How sweet of you to wish that on us! You're a darling.
Tell me, how is my desire to eat a nice meal without constant snorting, coughing, and body-noise making a lack of compassion? I'm not denying these people anything. Look at things from the other angle. If somebody were to do something offensive while YOU were eating, would you enjoy it? I find loud body noises offensive. Just because the person is sick doesn't make it any less annoying. And, forcing me to listen to it (not to mention the very real potential for spreading germs, thanks) is just plain rude. It has nothing to do with compassion.
And how dare you call me self-absorbed. We all look out for our self interests, some of us are honest enough to admit it. I would never tell a sick person to leave, but I don't have to enjoy their ill snorting. If you find that sort of thing enjoyable, more power to you, but I am sure there is something that would annoy you during a meal. Simply because that thing isn't "a sick person" doesn't imply that you have more compassion than me. It just means you are bothered by different things than me.
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From long enough focus, three problems are distinct. A, Customer family fatigued, changes mind about dinner.
This over-simplifies the issue. They changed their mind, but waited until the moment of the reservation to call. Assuming they are anything like most people, they would have had to get ready for dinner. This in itself takes time, so at best they knew they would be cancelling an hour ahead (or however long it takes them to get ready and get to the restaurant). Why they waited until the minute of the rezz doesn't make sense...
Irritating Server Habits
in Restaurant Life
Posted
I sure hope they wash their hands AFTER leaving the restroom. Touching the doorknob is like touching the gentalia (
) of every person who used that bathroom and didnt wash. Even if he did wash his hands, a person who truly cares about sanitation would rewash...