wannabechef

I have a Chinatown (NYC). Maybe I'll take a look down there. The website just seems easy - comes with the straws too which I think is a critical component! I do agree though that I'm skeptical about the powders. I would just brew black tea and chill it, add milk and sugar syrup and be done. You could really do whatever you want I guess - the main key is getting the pearls done right. Thanks for the tips!

I had a chance to try Hill Country with a buddy of mine last night. Overall it was spectacular. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, but here's a rundown: Got there around 7:30 on a Thurs. They said there was a 35 minute wait but we were seated after about 15 min. The hostess gave us a quick orientation of how/where to order and then brought us to our seats. We wasted no time and went right up to the meat counter. The two of us ordered: 1 beef rib each, 2 pork ribs each, a half lb. of moist brisket to share (this was only about 3 1/2 slices!) and 1 link of regular sausage to share. We went right back to our table to devour the meat and didn't even bother getting sides. I was worried that this wasn't going to be enough food but I was soon proved wrong. - Beef ribs: These were absolutely incredible. Far exceeded my expecations and was surprisingly my favorite meat. Amazing flavor, perfect seasoning and good meat/fat ratio. - Pork ribs: Slightly disappointing. They were definately the juciest and most succently pork ribs I've had but they over spiced them. It was a salt and pepper based rub - similar to the salt and pepper beef ribs I've had at Blue Smoke. They were a bit too salty and a bit too peppery. I also thought they required a touch of BBQ sauce. They have a sauce on the table but it was WAY too sweet for me and made them even worse. Overall I really enjoyed them still, but I prefer Blue Smokes pork ribs. - Moist Brisket: You have the choice of moist or lean. Of course I always go for the more fatty one but in this case I think it may have been too much. They leave on the entire fat layer which I thought was unnecessary. The meat itself was extremely fatty anyway. Needless to say it was absolutely delicoius. I'll try the lean next time. - Sausage: This also far exceeded my expectations. The sausage was nice and spicey and had good smokey flavor. We devoured all this meat in under 10 minutes with grease dripping off our hands onto the butcher paper they serve you in. After taking a little bit of a breather, we were considering if we should get another round of meat - but instead decided to try one of the sides. We just split a small mac n cheese and it also was incredible - maybe one of the best I've had. Very sharp, cheddary flavor. After finishing this off we went up to take a look at the deserts and didn't see anything that looked to appealing, so we passed. In the end the bill for this food ended up being ~$40 including one drink. Not too bad. All in all I love this place. They didn't pressure us to give up our seats at all as we sat and talked, there was a live blues band, and the food was absolutely incredible. I plan on going back again as soon as possible and trying other items on the menu. My only other comment on the food was that some of the meat could've had a bit more smokey flavor. I'm not a BBQ expert and I'm curious to know what someone with a more seasoned pallette thinks of this. ~WBC

What about the places in Chinatown where they have tanks of live fish which you pick, then they scale and clean for you? I tried one of those a few years ago and don't really remember the result. You certainly couldn't get any fresher, but I don't know if this means the fish are good or not. If they're floating around half dead I guess that's not good either - and who knows what's in that water. Does anyone have experience with these places? I've also had good experience with fish from Fresh Direct. Anyone else? Also - does anyone know when you can go about getting small varieties of fish here? I just returned from a 2 week trip to Turkey and ate seafood almost every day. The fish there is just absolutely incredible and fresh as can be. They're into small fish like anchovies, sardines, and other small fish whose English names I don't know. They usually fry them and you eat the whole thing- bones and all. Sometimes they're grilled. Can you get fish like that in NYC? For anyone interested, these are some of the smaller fish I ate there - I found a website that has the Turkish names with descriptions and English names where applicable: http://www.turkishculture.org/pages.php?Ch...76&ChildID1=188 European Anchovy “Hamsi” (Engraulis Encrasicholus): This fish is 10 to 12 centimeters at most. It is seen in the Marmara, Aegean and the Mediterranean but it tastes best in the Black Sea, which is its homeland. This fish tastes best between the months of December and March. It is inexpensive and rich in proteins. In the Black Sea region, this fish is prepared in an endless variety of ways ranging from jam to pickles. Mediterranean Horse Mackerel “Istavrit” (Scomber Trachurus): This fish is found in abundance in the Black Sea. This is a migrant fish 20 centimeters in size and 500 grams in weight. They can be caught year round in large quantity. It is suitable for frying and salting. Blue Whiting “Mezgit” (Gadus Minitus): It is also known as the “Chicken Fish” because of its taste. It is 20 to 25 centimeters long and weighs between 1 and 1.5 kilograms. This fish lives in deep waters, especially in the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas. It is battered and fried and can be found in almost any season. Pichard “Sardalye” (Clupea Sardina): This fish is 12 to 15 centimeters long and it migrates to all of the seas from the Aegean. This fish is seen in all of the seas. One favorite dish involves wrapping this fish in grape leaves and frying it.

Has anyone here ever tried making bubble tea at home? I saw from another thread that there's a bit of debate here about the legitimacy of the drink but I happen to like it every so often. I saw there's a website which sells a kit to make it - comes with a few types of teas (all made from powders) the pearls, straws, etc. Has anyone tried this or have any light to shed on it? http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/store/store...category_type=4

Some BBQ-ramblings: I'm hoping to try Hill Country tonight. I am a big RUB fan. A few weeks ago though I did takeout and (aside from the burnt ends) was pretty disappointed. But then again, thats to be expected many times with takeout anyway, so I haven't written them off yet. The smoked turkey was absolutely horrible though. I mean terrible. It was as if someone just took a hunk of white meat and baked it until it was so dry it was inedible. There was no hint of smokieness whatsoever. Does anyone know what's going on with the midtown Daisy Mae carts? I haven't seen any around this summer and their website still says the list will be updated in Spring 2007. I have to reluctantly say that I think Virgils is pretty damn good. Yeah it's touristy as hell but the last two times I went there I had a brisket sandwich which blew my mind. I don't remember if they smoke in a pit there or if it's one of those electric things. I think FG once wrote something about this, right? However they do it, I think their brisket is great. I haven't had the ribs in a while though. Looking forward to Hill Country tonight. ~WBC

I think Azuri is one of the best, if not the best falafel I've had and it's kosher. I don't see why being kosher would make a falafel bad. He also happens to have one of the best chicken shwarma I've had.

I had to resurrect this thread after seeing Sammy's profiled on a food show on WLIW (the one hosted by Todd English). You guys pretty much trashed this place here back in 2002. Has anyone been back since then? Is it still crap? I ask because my 87 year old Jewish grandmother still talks about schmaltz and I would love to take her to a place like this. Go, or no go?

First let me say I love Di Faras and Dom - but for anyone who has been in there, it should not be a surprise that it's been shut down. The place was (I haven't been in a year or two) a disaster- garbage everywhere, cheese sitting out unrefridgerated, etc - and thats just the FRONT of the store. That said, I still devoured the pizza

Had my company breakfast here the other day. All in all it was just so-so. Nothing really too special and very spotty service. I knew something was wrong immediately when they served OJ with ice in it. Big no no. I ordered one without ice and it was definately Tropicana. Not that big a deal, but most high end breakfast places serve the fresh squeezed stuff. I ended up going with my traditional diner breakfast - two eggs overeasy, home fries, wheat toast and bacon. Homefries were excellent. Shredded potato style, with onions mixed in, nice and carmelized. This was maybe the highlight. Eggs were fine, although slightly overcooked. The wheat bread was excellent good quality bread. But the annoying part was that for some reason they didn't put the bacon on the plate with my eggs. A bunch of other people didn't have some of their sides either. When we asked the waiter about them, he said "they're commmming" in an annoyed voice. He disappeared and didn't come back for 5-10 minutes. During that time, there were at least 3 or 4 waiters and busboys milling around our table chatting with each other. How long does it take to bring a plate of bacon out? Other people were missing toast, and other side dishes. By that time he came back my eggs were cold. It's very frustrating to sit with your food in front of you getting cold, while waiting for an integral part of your meal which is missing. The bacon was also disspointing. It was thick which I like, but no hint of smokiness, very tough and fatty, and way too salty. Just didn't seem like high quality bacon to me. Someone else ordered a side of chorizo, and it came out in a huge bowl that looked like chili. Oh one other positive - the coffee was great. So all in all, it wasn't HORRIBLE, but my local diner does a better breakfast for half the price.

Has anyone actually had the breakfast here yet? I'm going tomorrow for a business breakfast. Will report back.

admin: merged threads I checked around and was surprised that I coudln't find a thread about this. Can anyone confirm? I have to confess that the report from DOH is pretty damning. I don't know if I'd be ablet to go back again after reading this. http://gawker.com/news/brooklyn/di-fara-pi...ings-245575.php

I bought and tried two of the new Hershey bars just now. The Cacao Reserve 60% and the Extra Dark - this time with dried cranberries and macadamia nuts. The Caco Reserve was good - light years better than a regular Hershey bar and even the extra dark. Its up there but still not GREAT. I think the 60% Lindt is still better. I'm not a chocolate expert but the texture of the Hershey wasn't as good. It was a bit "waxy" - I'm not sure what from. The bar with the Cranberries wasn't as dark as the other but the fruit and nut bits inside make it great. As a less expensive choolate alternative I think these new additions are great to have.

I hate to be a bubble-burster, but Hershey is not listening to the dark chocolate lovers. They are marketing to the average consumer's desire to eat something sweet and, allegedly, healthy. Flavinol, antioxidents, etc. Dark chocolate has more flavinol than milk chocolate. So they (and other mass producers) are playing to the ersatz health benefits of chocolate. Never mind the fact that the high fat level of high-end chocolate counterweighs any purported health benefits. Me? Who needs a reason to be healthy when chocolate is involved? ← Ah, yes, the marketing schemes... and I was trying to be so optimistic... ← Who cares if its a marketing scheme? As long as we get good chocolate thats all that matters!

Aferin sana!

Yeah - I think the special dark one I had is different from the regular special dark. It tasted darker and richer. I really like the Lindt 70% bars but I have to say this one came close. I was very surprised.

The photo I posted was actually Iskender Kebap. You just can't see the sauce and bread under the meat in the photo. That was a place in Izmit where the chef is supposedly from the famous restaurant in Bursa. It was one of the best I've tasted. It also drives me nuts when places hack off the raw meat and then fry it on a griddle or something. I find that is usually done in places where they don't have true doner/shwarma to begin with. Those are usually premade. I feel lucky that I live in NYC where it's not that hard to find real ones - but we still have our share of the premade frozen variety.

I found the other line I was talking about. It's called Caco Reserve. Haven't tried this one yet. http://www.hersheys.com/cacaoreserve/

This is the bar I'm talking about: http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/e...ries%2C+Almonds It appears to be actual Hershey's still. Though I noticed, there was a whole other line of chocolates there with different style packaging that had a mroe discreet Hershey logo. Maybe those are the chocolates they purchased.

I noticed when in a store the other day that it seems the new hot thing for candy bar makers is to remake all of their existing candies with dark chocolate. There's dark versions of almost everything now. I for one think this is great although I have not tried most of them. I saw Hershey's has a whole new line of chocolates out now with fancy looking packaging and cocoa percentages on it. At first I wrote them off but then one of them caught my eye. It's a dark chocolate Hershey bar, with dried blueberries, cranberries, and almonds. Its 60% cocoa. I have to say, it's damn good! I was shocked that Hershey actually made this. I think that it could easily be passed off as coming from a fancy, expensive chocolatier. Has anyone else tried any of these new candies?

Thanks for the reply. I actually own the Carol Fields book and that recipe unfortunately isn't in there. The search continues... The annoying thing is that when you search for "raisin walnut rolls" on google for instance, it turns up almost all desert type items. I guess this is more of a raisin bread, but in roll form.

I should clarify - the meat wasn't raw. It was cooked. There are 3 possibilities of what was going on there: 1. Somone came to the place earlier than 8am to start cooking the gyros for the day and then left and turned the lights out. I imagine this kind of early, but its possible I suppose. 2. Those are the leftover gyros from the day before which they then plan on selling for lunch. 3. They're leftover from the day before and they were planning on throwing them out before starting the new ones. After reading this thread I have the urge to go to another Turkish place nearby and see if their doner is any good. Yesterday was such a dissapointment.

I'm on the hunt for the name and/or recipe for these rolls which I imagine must be somewhat traditional - maybe Italian. They are raisin-walnut rolls, but not a sweet, desert-type roll. They're more bread-like. A woman I used to work with years ago used to make them. Then I've seen them in a few bakeries around here several times. They are smallish rolls, with a few walnuts and raisins inside. The dough is somewhat purpleish - maybe from the raisins. They usually have a hefty coating of flour on them. Does anyone know if this is some kind of classic bread? Is there a name or recipe for this somewhere? With a little bit of butter they make a great breakfast!

Everyone - I apologize for the "everyone knows" line. I didn't realize it would be taken so seriously. It was actually meant to be sort of sarcastic but I guess that was lost. Maybe I should've accompanied it with a If it makes anyone feel any better, I had a doner from a Turkish place here in Manhattan yesterday for lunch and I think it was the worst one I've ever tasted. On the topic of bacteria, etc, I saw something interesting a few months ago here. This new gyro place opened near my office, touting $1.99 gyros. I went there a few times - they had 4 different types - lamb, pork, beef and chicken. I tried them all and they were pretty damn good. Now I know, most good gyro/doner places sell out at some point in the day. The really high traffic ones might even go through 2 a day - one for lunch, one for dinner. One morning, on my walk from the subway, I passed by this place around 8am. I looked in the window expecting to see 4 empty gyro machines, but instead saw 4 spits of meat, and all the lights were off in the place. Does this mean they were all sitting there overnight? If so, something just doesn't seem right about that! I never went back again. Also - Nicolai, Iskender kebap actually originates from Bursa, the former capital of the Ottoman empire - not Iskenderun.

Of course I was just stating my opinion. Some interesting information and history about both dishes on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma

Guys - everyone knows that the best shawarma is the original, doner kebab from Turkey. The dish originated in Anatolia, and in my experience, that is still where the best and tastiest version of it can be found. I've had the dish in Israel, Egypt, and many other variations at Syrian, Greek places in NYC. The best for me is still the Turkish version. I don't know the reasons. Every time I find a good one I try to get the chefs to explain to me how they make it, but they're never very clear. I sometimes wonder if they themselves even know? From all the types I've tasted, the Turkish version is always the juciest, fattiest and most flavorful. Maybe its the meat? I don't know. But the one thing that truly disturbs me is this talk of loading up the sandwich with all sorts of condiments. If the meat is truly delicoius, it needs nothing! There are 3 common ways of serving the dish in Turkey. Listed in order of unhealthiness: 1. döner kebap sandviç: Served on either a sub type roll, or in pide (like a tortillia), with nothing - except for maybe some salt or delicious fresh Turkish tomatoes. 2. döner porsiyon: Simply a plate of rice, with the meat sliced on top. Usually served with a roasted tomato and/or hot pepper on the side 3. (The infamous) Iskender kebap: Pieces of pide cut up on a plate, topped with yogurt, topped with the meat, topped with a light tomato sauce. Baked, and then served with MELTED BUTTER to taste. The place to eat Iskender and perhaps any döner is in Bursa, where the dish comes from. There's another variation of cooking the döner which I've never seen anywhere except Turkey, and even there its rare. There are döner machines which are heated by actual wood or charcoal shoved into the sides, rather than the standard electric. I can confidently say that this makes a difference in the taste. Once in Turkey I came across a sebzeli döner which was like a normal döner but different vegetables were interspersed. This was wonderful and I once saw it at a Turkish market here in Brooklyn as well. I encourage everyone to go to Turkey just to taste the superiority of the Turkish döner. If you won't buy a ticket just for this reason, at least find a local Turkish restaurant and try it there. It won't disappoint! See my thread here for more info: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...49entry812149 Sebzeli döner Iskender kebap in Izmit Turkey