adegiulio

Yikes, it's been 16 1/2 years since I was last in Little Italy, at Umberto's. It was the night before I left to start college. Are they even still around?

Eberly is a fantastic chicken. Even better is North Wind Farm in Tivoli NY...

I'm going to get killed for this, but I think people with chronic medical conditions that cause disruptions, disturbances and disgust should eat in more private venues. That means, yes, if your cystic fibrosis is severe enough or your trach cleanable only with disgusting noises, you should not dine out unless absolutely necessary, and then in the most private area of the restaurant possible, i.e., call ahead and ask for accomodation. I have had confining illnesses and I didn't see any reason to make others suffer from it when it was avoidable. ← I don't think anyone has ever suffered listening to anyone clear their throat no matter how loud it might be. I don't want this thread to get off track ~ I've been enjoying reading it ~ and you are entitled to your opinion but I would never suggest that someone with an illness, medical condition or otherwise stay home so that they might not "bother" someone. If you are high on drugs, drunk or just an asshole then that's another story. Yes, you mentioned you figure you might "get killed for this" and normally I don't respond to posts that I disagree with but suggesting people who are ill stay at home so they don't bother anyone is one of the most outrageous things I have read in a while. ← It's wonderfully politically correct for you to say this, but I think Sarah has a point. There is no real necessity to eat out in a restaurant. What if, instead of loud coughing, the sick person were to suffer from copious flatulence? Or constant sneezing? When do the interests of the rest of the dining room out-weigh that of the sick person? Dining out is a luxury, why should the so called healthy people be forced to deal with the loud and/or off-putting bodily functions of the infirm? Sure, the sick deserve our compassion, but not wanting to experience the ills of the sick is not a lack of compassion. Forcing others to listen to loud, mucusy coughing is rude.

I haven't been up that way in years, but is Brunswick Plaza the one with the Price Chopper?

I can't stand watching/overhearing another table treating a server poorly. Makes everyone in the vicinity of the table uncomfortable. I hate it even more when it's someone at my table (my stepfather is well known for this)

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...

Was it per se?

Posts like these are why I emphasise a familiarity with humanities and perhaps liberal arts before going to cooking school so people can understand basic grammar analogies. When someone says "the elephant on the coffee table", it refer's to an obvious high profile situation relevant to the conversation at hand. In this case as DOCSCONZ finally answered above, all these people whining about how restaurants cannot survive without pastry chefs dont realise that Achatz at Alinea seems to be doing exactly that and still manages to be among the top 3 well regarded restaurants in the country. The "elephant" refers to a large figure you cannot ignore based on it's proximity (this conversation) The elephant is larger than life in the context of the analogy (in this case Achatz's visisbilty in the world of American Chefs) Grant Achatz is "the elephant on the coffee table" For further clarification, it would be like having a presidential debate next week without Hillary Clinton or John McCain present" A political observer would say "how could you ignore "the elephants on the coffee table". Kabish ? The analogy does not refer to the person who makes the analogy (me). All you respond with is calling me a name dropper simply because it illustrates that the points you are making are invalid. I am not even angry or take it personally, it just shows the iceblock of logic you are standing on top of in the middle of the sahara is crumbling. Maybe that's an easier analogy... ← Simply because you missed my point doesn't mean I missed the analogy. Nobody is whining that restaurants cant survive without pastry chefs. People are only reacting to your broad statement that since a few highly acclaimed restaurants work without pastry chefs, that restaurants all over the country will dump their pastry chefs. It is your logic that needs some firming. And, I happily stand by my assertion that you are a name dropper. Just look back at your posts in case you forgot.

By showing that one highly acclaimed restaurant no longer has a pastry chef doesn't affirm his point that all or even most restaurants are heading in that direction.

← An elephant? You think too much of yourself. Nobody will answer since the question has no general relevance to the topic. Please, in your next post, drop some names for us. We are very impressed with you.

← Up until the post where you first said that, it was your position that there would be no pastry chefs outside of big restaurants and hotels. That is what made no sense....

And one more thing, nobody here is disagreeing with your main point, which I understand to mean that kitchens are evolving and some will be made up of employees (call them whatever you want) that are well versed in all aspects of food prep, from savory to sweet and everything in between. Those that disagree with you are disagreeing with your claim that there will be no pastry chefs employed at restaurants in five years.

Again I am not saying *ALL* pastry chefs wil be extinct, I am stating that the proliferation of broad knowledge based kitchens will increase. Interesting I have gotten PM's from some nationally recognized chefs who agree with my general point. Maybe we are all crazy. Answer me this... Is a clear verbena infused watermelon consomme garnished with redcurrants and encapsulated balls of other red fruits made the same size as the redcurrants a dessert, a pastry item or both ? By the way this is an actual menu item special I just had which was fantastic ? ← You are clearly having a very difficult time with the idea that you might be wrong. Your question is completely meaningless to the vast majority of restaurants. There may very well be teams of chefs creating items that would be consumed as dessert in addition to also creating menus of savory foods. Call it whatever you want, there will still be a need for pastry chefs in 5, 10, or 20 years. They will be serving tasty items made from flour, chocolate, sugar, fruits, etc., all at the same time other kitchen workers will be creating the dish which was the subject of your inane question. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Thats the only thing I have agreed with you on during this thread. You keep mentioning these very modern restaurants and using their kitchen team approach as a proxy for how every restaurant will be running their operation in 5 years. While there may be more of the type of chefs you cite, there will still be plenty of bistros, brasseries, and fine dining establishments that will be serving traditionally innovative food. They will still be using a disparate system where savory and pastry will be (for the most part) separate operations.

That sounds like crazy talk to me. Care to elaborate?

Is it a bit too salty (as in "if this were just 10-15% less salty it would be palatable") or is it an order of magnitude too salty? If it is just a bit too salty, you may want to try steaming it, which is fully normal and traditional for pastrami after smoking. It should help it plump up a bit (absorb some water) which will help drop the saltiness, and it may bring some of the salt to the surface. Also, you might try soaking just a portion of it to see what happens; It will prob wash away some of the smokiness, but you would be surprised by how tenacious smoke flavor can be. BTW, what recipe did you use for your brine? -B ← I used the recipe from Ruhlmans book. For the pickling spices I used bay leaf, juniper, coriander, cloves, and peppercorns. If you dont have his book, let me know and I'll send you the recipe...

I thought about that, but since I already smoked it for 6 hours, I thought cooking it even more would not be so great, even if it was a moist cooking...

So I put a brisket into a nice flavorful brine two weeks ago and promptly forgot about it until yesterday. I made pastrami with it, and once I took it out of the smoker I tasted it. It's clearly too salty to make sandwiches out of. I would hate to waste it. Has anyone tried slicing it and drying like jerky?

There are lots of things people don't need. That doesn't mean we go banning them.

That's completely not true. Many bottled waters are, for me and many others, a value added proposition. The water I get from my San Pellegrino bottle can't be replicated in my home without expensive equipment. I have a whole house filter (at the tune of over $1000, plus yearly filter costs of about $500), and my water still smells bad and contains e. coli (I have a well). For me to clean it up, add just the right amount of minerals and carbonation, then package for convenience is a non-trivial cost in both time and money. The people who buy bottled water are not all just suckers being led to the slaughter by big corporations selling what they get for free. People find value and quality in what they buy. Just because you get results with your New York city water and Brita filter doesn't mean that others will see the same quality results. Water isn't "just water".

I guess you could say the same for soda and other soft drinks. If they are important enough to you, set up a fountain system in your home. There's no point in trucking in a product that is mostly water from distant bottlers. For that matter, produce is a big environmental suck. Even up here in the farm-riddled Hudson Valley, our supermarkets are full of Florida and California vegetables, even while we export our own wonderful produce to New York City. Makes no sense to me...

There are lots of places in the US where the water coming out of the tap is not very unpalatable. Clean, maybe, but not pleasant smelling. If I could get clean, fresh smelling water out of my tap for free, I would forego purchasing bottled water. Unfortunately I can't, so I shell out a few bucks for the bottled stuff.

I think wine service has a way of annoying 50% of everybody. Half the people think the waiter pours too much and is trying to push more wine. The other half think that waiters don't pour enough. Personally, I like pouring my own wine. Heck, if it were up to me, in all but the highest end restaurants, I would open the bottle too... A

I clicked on the Drudge Report this morning to find out what is going on in the world. Turns out Nino Selimaj thinks people will pay 1000 dollars for a pizza topped with caviar, lobster, and creme fraiche. I'm not at all opposed to cheap things being transformed into luxury items, but this just doesn't seem very palatable. Keep in mind that the pizza isnt cooked and served hot, which would make it really gross.... Anyway, read about it here...

Sea Shore on City Island gets my vote...