Alex

Courtesy of MatthewB, how about De Luze VS, from Rémy?

How about this one?

White Truffle, à la Sweets & Savories.

Read the linked article, folks. It says that Chiquita is going after placing this product in convenience stores -- venues that, I assume, don't normally stock bananas because of their very limited window of ripeness, so to speak, and not the kind of place where people normally do their produce shopping. Yeah, 75 to 99 cents is one expensive banana, but this isn't a supermarket. And if it can lure consumers, especially kids, away from the aisles of junk snacks, it's ok in my book.

Ronnie, the link to Dish in your first post doesn't appear to be working. Where exactly will ESD be?

How about you?

No need to nudge unless you have something to ask or add. Do you? ← sorry to be so vague.. "nudge" meaning - any recent visits to report? u.e. ← Not personally. I just received a emailed rave report from a friend about her first visit there. She said the menu was "risotto with strawberry slices; salmon with beets; cherry sake sorbet; beef tenderloin with homemade potato chips and foie gras creamed potatoes; raspberry 'something or other' with fresh raspberries in a chocolate cup; chocolate truffles."

Perhaps this sentence from Jim Lark's bio on The Lark's web site explains a few things: "Jim, being part Prussian, is a perfectionist and prowls the restaurant searching for something to correct, have done, or to field questions about food, wine or travel." You're also not alone in your complaints. Here's an excerpt from a post on Fodor's web site about two years ago (with writing errors left intact): "We were sitting at the table right by thermostat, and witnessed Jim Lark repeatedly turning the temp down after his wife repeatedly turning the temp up when we, and other diners kept complaining about the fridgedness. Finally eliciting the tongue-in-cheek comment from his wife alluding to the hard-headedness of her husband!" That's really too bad about The Lark. Perhaps he's just getting old and cranky. (Just a speculation, u.e. ) I participated in a chili cook-off he sponsored in about 1980, before he opened The Lark, held on the tennis courts of an apartment complex he developed. I remember him as a bit formal and stand-offish (admittedly I looked rather hippie-like back then), but certainly not rude.

chef valvo. i respect what you guys do at tribute. however, unless you can substantiate your remark, i think this is rather a low-blow, and not in the "spirit of egullet..." it may simply have been a coincidence. u.e. ← Actually, u.e., I don't think this was a low blow at all, although further discussion of this issue probably belongs in another thread. It's clear, at least to me, that Chef Valvo's remark was just a speculation. However, given that he's probably more in touch with current Detroit-area restaurant politics than you and I combined, it's probably not just an idle one (although he's the one who'll need to comment further on that). As a writer of restaurant reviews in Detroit in the 1980s (admittedly for an alternative weekly), I can assure you that awards are not always apolitical.

No need to nudge unless you have something to ask or add. Do you?

I strongly concur with Sam and others who recommended a half sheet pan. I use a couple of heavy-duty but relatively inexpensive ones from Chicago Metallic. A traditional roasting pan is good for poultry, etc., but is too deep for vegetables. Switching to sheet pans made a world of difference for my roasted cauliflower. For a small amount of roasted potatoes or asparagus I'll sometimes use a Pyrex baking dish, but overall I still prefer sheet pans.

...been keeping a close eye on custom house - so it's hitting all the right marks? my visit to spring a couple of years back was revelatory... unfortunately, my dinner at green zebra last summer didn't impress... how would you characterize custom house? i know it's more all-american - and seems like a heartier menu than it's sisters. u.e. ← See the link in my post above.

3:30, according to Metromix. And welcome to eGullet, towncompany!

What CTA stop (I'm assuming the El, not bus) is near Avec? U.E. ← It's 2-3 blocks from the Clinton stop on the Green Line. Here's a map.

Yes, for Saturday night dinner, Gioco and Opera (same owners) are walking distance from your hotel. Custom House would be another good option. For Sunday night, I'd recommend Spring or Avec (Blackbird is closed on Sundays, I believe); they're close to CTA stops, if that's how you plan to get around. Gioco also serves a reasonably priced brunch. I haven't tried it yet, though.

The weirdest thing is whatever it is I've forgotten about and can't recognize.

Ah, Hamtramck (pronounced Ham-tram'-ick, BTW) -- an independent city completely surrounded by Detroit (and a sliver of Highland Park). I lived there 30+ years ago, when I was going to graduate school. Homemade kielbasa at the corner grocery store. Air hockey and 25-cent shells of Stroh's at a favorite local bar. Neighbors sweeping not just the sidewalk, but the alley behind their houses. Ah, those were the days.... Anyhow, from what I gather there are two reputable Polish restaurants that remain from back then: Under the Eagle, on Joseph Campau, and Polonia (formerly the Workingmen's Cooperative), on Yemens. (I seem to remember that we'd just call the place "Yemens.") I suspect (and hope) that either or both still serve duck's blood soup (czarnina). I also remember a long-departed restaurant, The Double Eagle (I think), in the former dining room of a 1940's Indian Village hotel, now an apartment building. It was wonderfully elegant and romantic , with beautiful antique furniture, linen and real silverware, and a pianist playing Chopin on a grand piano Friday and Saturday nights. The food was haute Polish (not an oxymoron). I've forgotten virtually all of the menu, but still remember a sizeable piece of boneless veal, wrapped around mushroom duxelles and a dill pickle, in a dill cream sauce.

The almond hazelnut swirl sounds wonderful. Unfortunately, the web site indicated it's not being sold (at least not yet) in my area.

Let us not forget the infamous Wine Clip.

no, i've not been to any of zingerman's outposts except their deli and the roadhouse. i know where there bakehouse is, but i just find the deli such a novel place - and i can usually get everything i want/need there - plus it's where the cheese is! re: gelato - i think that's at the creamery, no? although i have no idea where that is - is it with the bakehouse? ulterior epicure. ← Ah, u.e., if only you had joined eG a few months earlier -- you could have been at our Heartland Gathering, with its tour of the the Bakehouse AND the Creamery. You still can tour the Bakehouse, though, any Saturday at 10 a.m.

I'll probably catch some flak for this, but my vote is for Michigan's (and other states') law that restaurant menus must state something like "Consuming undercooked meats (eggs, seafood, etc.) may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions." Which medical conditions? Osteoporosis? Bursitis? Hypoglycemia? People have been eating "undercooked" food since forever; this warning is just another example of the U.S.'s pervasive culture of fear.

I agree completely. Also, I think it drives drinking on college campuses into frat houses and private parties, which means there is less adult supervision, and a higher incidence of fatal alcohol poisoning and date rape. ← You expect consistent and reasoned decision-making from all 50 state legislatures AND the federal government? Have you been hitting the absinthe again? This particular subject probably could use its own thread. Maybe there's one already -- I can't keep up. Drinking, driving, serving in the military, signing a contract, etc., if perhaps not quite apples and oranges, is at least apples and pears, in that they require different optimal levels of cognitive skills. However, the frontal lobes of the brain, which include sections regulating attention, judgement, planning, etc., are not fully mature until the early-to-mid-20s, on the average. Add that to a puritanical U.S. culture that for a significant part (especially so for those under 21) paradoxically sees drinking as something one does to get altered, getting drunk as a rite of passage, and the "greater good" as just a nice idea, well.... Me, I'd like to see the drinking age lowered and the driving age raised, but that would entail a major change in our culture's attitude toward alcohol, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

Some statistical and scientific common sense from George Mason University

I don't know which gullible package store owner you won this bet from, but allow me to quote a definition of "fifth" from the single-volume gold-standard New Oxford Dictionary of English: "(a fifth of) US informal a fifth of a gallon, as a measure of alcoholic liquor, or a bottle of this capacity...." There is no mention of 1/5 of a liter.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I just requested Off the Map and 301/302 from my local library system. Unfortunately, they don't have A Feast at Midnight, which sounds like a lot of fun. (Christopher Lee as V. E. Longfellow, aka Raptor!)