Alex

And now, Five Lakes Grill, at least as we know it.

"(Fill in the blank) Almondine" bothers me way out of proportion to the offense. (Ditto "with au jus," etc., as posted earlier.) That's probably because I perceive the bastardization of the French "Amandine" as stemming from a combination of general ignorance plus our populace's tendency to look down on other countries (except maybe Canada).

Full article here Are there any other common menu phrases you find particularly irksome?

As predicted, I am now the proud owner of: Culinaria Spain The Spiaggia Cookbook Every Night Italian Chicken à la King & The Buffalo Wing Two for the Road Candyfreak

Here's a NY Times article about Chicago's microbrews and some of the places that serve them. There are many good restaurant choices in River North. To pick just one, I'm a fan of A Mano, on Dearborn just a bit north of the river. A great place for outdoor dining is Piccolo Sogno, not too far from you, where Grand, Halstead, and Milwaukee meet. I (along with many eG'ers) am a fan of Sweets & Savories, on Fullerton about a mile west of the Red Line station. On Tuesday nights this summer the entire dinner menu is half price, which is just an outrageous deal. Also, to the best of my knowledge, they're still BYO (some liquor license hassle). I'd call first to check on that, though. There's a good wine store--Binny's--in River North, on Grand between Wells and Franklin.

Could you give us a few more parameters? For example... 1) Would you like the restaurant to be within -- a) walking distance; b) public transportation; c) reasonable cab ride; d) other -- of River North? 2) How much -- including meal, beverage(s), tax, and tip -- do you consider "not crazy expensive?" 3) Chicago, as I'm sure you know, has an enormous variety of restaurants. Do you have any strong cuisine preferences (or no-nos)? 4) Any preference for outdoor vs. indoor dining?

I recently bought a Panasonic Lumix SLR, which has a close-up Food mode: "You can take pictures of food with a natural hue without being affected by the ambient light in restaurants etc." I haven't tried that setting yet. I don't know if the D90 has a similar setting.

OK, one more: Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews. I suspect it will be joined by several more on July 4, courtesy of our local Bargain Books' half-price sale.

I agree, but Thorne seems to be saying that there is a fundamental dichotomy here: that there are only two types of people, knife people and pot people. Regardless of the setup, that fundamental distinction is simply not true, in my opinion. It may well be true for "some people," but it's certainly not true for everyone, and I'm not even convinced it's true for the majority of cooks, or even the majority of eGullet cooks. I'm sure there are people who are indeed personally connected to a knife or to a pan, but there must be other people out there who, like me, like nice tools and would prefer to use them, but feel no deep commitment or attachment to them. I'm not a "knife person" or a "pot person," I'm a "food person." ← Thorne's is an artificial, but not arbitrary, dichotomy. There's a good reason he set it up that way: Knives and pots/pans are the two most prominent non-food, non-appliance components of a "serious" cook's kitchen. He then used this dichotomy as the means to illustrate a brief history of his relationship with cooking. In fact, his wonderful last sentence suggests that living on one side of the dichotomy is a false paradise, so to speak: "And so it was that this knife cook finally found his pot and discovered that, with it, his kitchen was complete." My interpretation of the knife-pot dichotomy--and his last sentence appears to reflect this--is that it's a manifestation of the yang and yin of cooking. There is the yang knife, active and dominating, and the yin pot, passive and receptive--in complementary, dynamic balance.

Sockeye is $9.99 a pound, on sale this week, here in Grand Rapids.

Ha! On the menu of The Winchester, where I'll be eating a little later today, what should I see but a fried egg sandwich?

I think that perhaps what we're seeing is the down side of the Obamas' up side, so to speak. His public persona -- and therefore by extension Michelle's -- centers around the concepts of change, hope, and reason. The Obamas, therefore, are the recipients of the projected hopes and dreams of those who identify with those concepts in a particular way. Ergo, because they're noted food enthusiasts, we see well meaning articles like Hesser's or ridiculous blog posts like Frank Bruni's.

How about Rösti, maybe with a bit of smoked salmon from Zingerman's across the top, and a sprig of watercress as a garnish?

I'd go to Carlucci on River Road. Not far. Good food, fine wine list. ← Here's the website for Carlucci in Downers Grove; the site for the Rosemont branch (www.carluccirosemont.com/) isn't showing up.

Here's a Rosemont thread, although most posts are 1½+ years old and the content pretty much strayed over to Thai food. There's a Gibsons Steakhouse and a Giordano's (Chicago-style pizza) in Rosemont.

Welcome to eGullet, Smitty, and thanks for all the information. It's great to have a resource in the Lansing area. Go Spartans! (Ms. Alex is a grad.)

Depending on your schedule, you might want to consider Gumbo & Jazz, on East Grand River, right next to Bell's Greek Pizza. They're open only until 8 p.m., and it's a pretty small place, but the food is excellent. Here's an MSU student's blog post about the place. I'd definitely call first, though -- I just got a recording saying they'd be on vacation until May 12, and today is the 18th. I like the cafés at the two Schuler Books & Music stores in the Lansing area. They don't serve dinner per se, but you can get soups, salads, sandwiches, quesadillas, or quiche.

I used Cook's Illustrated's recipe for ratatouille, in which the eggplant is peeled, cubed, salted, rested, and rinsed, then pressed between several thicknesses of paper towels. As Tim said, it cuts the oil absorption dramatically and eliminates extraneous liquid.

Of the 20 kitchens I've lived with over the past 40 years (I've moved a lot), the current one is the most user friendly. (I've been in this house 8+ years -- longer than any other residence, including during childhood. Scary.) However, about two years ago, a couple of friends and I (mostly my friends) installed a new KitchenAid ProLine range hood. I'm happy with both its performance and appearance, but in my more paranoid moments I think it's out to get me. We installed the hood at its maximum possible height, creating the optimal distance between the fan and the stovetop. Unfortunately, though, this also put the lower front corners exactly at my mid-forehead level. You'd think that after two years I'd have completely adjusted, but you would be wrong. The Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize ought to go to the first appliance company that eliminates sharp corners. ("The annual $1.5 million dollar award honors a charitable or non-governmental organization that has made extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering anywhere in the world.") Here's the accident waiting to happen (btw, the countertop is almost never that unoccupied):

Here's a special Tea Dinner being done by The Cooks' House in Traverse City, Michigan, on May 17. The teas are from Light of Day Organics, also in TC. The menu (I've corrected a few typos): Hummingbird Nectar tea is described on Light of Day's web site as a blend of "Montmorency Cherry, Hibiscus, Blueberry, Grape, Currant, Elderberry, Maple Syrup bits." Lemony Ginger tea is a blend of organic"Cinnamon, Coriander seed, Chicory root, Ginger root, Lemongrass, Lemon Balm, Orange peel, Hibiscus."

West Michigan has an active local-foods circle. If you PM me I can give you an introduction to these folks, from whom I buy regularly: Lubbers Family Farm (I'm part of their cow share program) Crane Dance Farm Grassfields Cheese (and meats) And here's our local food guide.

I imagine "aldermen" and "good taste" don't appear in the same sentence very often. Following the recent un-banning, I was half hoping that someone would open a foie gras stand and call it "Go Foie Yourself." Or maybe "Chicago: Liver or Leave It." Anyhow, continuing the Felony Franks story, we have a legislative contrast to Alderman Fioretti: Full story here Here's another story, with pictures.

The full AP story, via Foxnews.com

I have nothing much to add to the above posts except that for excellent coffee (Intelligentsia) and pastries, Sarah's Pastries & Candies is just a few blocks from your hotel, at 70 East Oak. If you get any chocolate cravings, I recommend their Dark Chocolate Delights.

My D.C.-based cousins are enthusiastic foodies and wine collectors. They enjoy eating out, of course, and like to bring their own wine whenever possible. They're going to be in Manhattan for a few days and, knowing my eG connection, asked me to assist them with some restaurant choices. They already have a reservation for the tasting menu at WD-50. 1) They're meeting their wine broker for dinner on a Monday night. They'll have two spectacular bottles of Burgundy with them, one white and one red. The broker suggested Tribeca Grill, but they're wondering about the quality of the food. The alternatives they mentioned were Perilla, Perry Street and La Sirène. What's the quality at those places? 2) For another evening, they're debating between Aureole (which they said looks great but pricey -- they can afford it, but maybe WD-50 is their splurge for this trip); Telepan (reasonably priced); and Alto (currently waiving the corkage fee). Any thoughts about these? 3) They wrote, "We are considering La Grolla for...dinner with one of our price-conscious relatives on the Upper West Side." A good choice?