wannabechef

Just had a Cubano at Sucelt Coffee Shop on 14th and 7th. MMMM! Officially the best I've had. The sandwich looks small but man was it filling. The roast pork was just perfect. There was even a nice piece of crackling in there that had a delicous, crunchy garlicky taste. That plus a water came to $4.75. My mouth is watering right now even though I'm stuffed. Partly from the sandwich - and partly from the donut I had afterwards from the Donut Pub across the street. ~WBC

Does anyone have any comments and/or recomendations about Blue Ribbon Sushi? I have a $100 gift certificate there and need advice on how to spend it. Has anyone tried their omakase? I've never done omakase before and was thinking of trying here as my first experience. Thanks.. ~WBC

Here's some images from the shake shack a few weeks ago. Line was long but moved fast. I actually didn't like the hot dogs at all. Much prefer the papaya king style. The burger was good - but I was also underwelmed. Good for a fast food burger but I don't think it can compete with the other greats of the city. Next time I will try to get it more rare. ~WBC

Just stumbled on this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=29979

Thanks - yeah thats pretty much what it is. An arepa grilled cheese. So damn good though! The way I interpreted the recipe, that extra water was to help thin the dough out if its too dry. I was nowhere near needing it though - in fact quite the oppisite. I wonder if theres a mistake in the recipe. However, being more wet, the end product will be fluffier and lighter - almost like thick pancake I think. Thats what I'm hoping at least.

When you guys made them, what was the consistency of the dough like? Was it very wet? Or more like a bread type dough? This one was originally a cross between a wet dough and a batter. I'll post back after I try again. ~WBC

I did a few searches and couldn't believe there wasn't already a thread about this tasty food. I'm trying to replicate a commonly found food found at street fairs here in NYC. The fabled Mozzerapa truck. They don't seem like much until you bite into one - two sweet, corn arepas, with a layer of melted mozzerella in between. They brown them on a griddle and serve. They are truly delicious. I don't know if these are "traditional" arepas - I've never had one. All I know is that they are delicious and I want to try to make them at home. (I once tried making a tradtional arepa recipe and they came out terrible). So I found this recipe online and tried making it last night. After following it exactly, the resulting dough was almost like a batter - and could not be rolled out. So I added a bunch more arepa flour until it was rollable and proceeded. The result was extremely tasty - almost exactly the same flavor as what you get at the street fair. The problem was that they were extremely dry, dense, and heavy. I'm thinknig this has to do with the extra flour I added. Has anyone tried making these before? Tonight I'm going to try the recipe again as is, but freeze the dough for a bit before rolling it out. anyone have any other tips? http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2005/158685433X_2.html

Do hash brownies count, or am I taking this too literally?

Thanks for the great and informative replies everybody. So - it looks like I could've been wrong in the fact that there was nothing really wrong with wine. Now a further question about etiquette. Looking back, was it still acceptable to send back the wine even though it may be just because I was ignorant? Let's say this was a whole bottle even. A patron tastes the wine and thinks its bad - but really just doesn't know how it's supposed to taste. What is the etiquette from both the establishment's and the customer's perspective? I'm sure this is the kind of thing restaurants face often. Oh also, going back to the "spritzig" of the wine - I assume that there are some wines where if you detected that quality - it would in fact mean the wine was bad. So how can you know if the wine is bad or not? Is it just a matter of experience? Are there any red wines that have a bubbly texture? Thanks again everyone... ~WBC

Hey everyone - quick question about riesling. I just came back from dinner at a relatively fancy NYC restaurant - one not really well known (as far as I know) for their wine list. In any case, I did something tonight which I've never done before - sent a wine back (just a glass - not a whole bottle). I ordered a glass of riesling - it MAY have been Ürziger Würzgarten, 2002, Germany. The waiter came over and didn't show me the label, just poured a glass and left. I tasted it and noticed that it tasted bubbly - almost sparkling or fermented. I'm a wine newbie, but I've had riesling before and never experienced this. I called the waiter over and expressed my concern. He scoffed at me, said it smelled fine and thats how its supposed to taste. He did offer me a different wine instead which is what I would expect from any half decent place. I'm happy with the service, but I'm really curious if its possible it really was supposed to taste like that. Do rieslings ever have a bubbly or sparkling texture? He even told me he tasted it after he took the bottle away and that it was supposed to be like that. He also said that usually riesling is a desert or after diner wine. I was having it with fish which usually goes great. Anyway, what words do you fellow e-Gulleters have for me? Thanks! ~WBC

I guess this is a good place to post this link. Nina Lalli of the Village Voice discusses Applebees and the latest chain trend. Very funny! Would You Like Shrimp With That? Casual dining goes overboard with Surf 'n' Turf http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0525,l...1,65058,15.html As soon as you are seated at Applebee's, the hostess tells you about the specials. But at Applebee's, they don't even bother with such euphemisms as "specials." She levels with you, announcing, "Here's our promotion," while holding open a spiral-bound booklet, like a teacher reading a story to her class. This story is mostly pictures of thick sirloin steaks topped with different kinds of melted cheese. The main push is the one with shrimp and "parmesan," which looks gooey and creamy—a significant feat for a grating cheese. <snip> ~WBC

I don't believe everything I read. But when I read 20 reviews of a place by 20 different people that are all negative I think that points in a general direction. Now I've read 10 new accounts all positive which is what spurned my question. I will go there soon and find out for myself and post back my own review. ~WBC i think you shouldn't believe anything you read, or at least take it with a pound of salt. ←

Up until recently, it seemed that most of the RUB reviews out have been overwelmingly negative. Just in the last week or 2 I've read multiple good to glowing reviews. Does this mean that RUB has passed it's opening growing pain period already? I was waiting to try it until they got their act together - I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly - especially after reading all the negative reviews. Is it time for me to try it out? What have they done exactly to get their house in order? Thanks - ~WBC

Almass, maybe you can answer my question from above. what is the difference between sour milk and spoiled milk? Thanks ~WBC

So I made my dish tonight with only the good quality aged cheese. I used it both in the sauce itself and on top [see below]. My conclusion is that having it in the sauce didn't really make too much of a difference. I think if you put a crappy cheese in the sauce, it would make it crappy. But a medium quality/priced cheese can make a great sauce. Having it on top though did add a lot.

My thinking in not using it goes along with what I think Albiston is saying. There are certain ingredients where the payoff in using the highest quality just isn't worth it. For instance - would you open a $300 bottle of wine to use for deglazing a pan? My question is - is the payoff worth it in my pesto case? I think it's possible that using an average quality parmesan in the sauce or using my expensive reggiano - may not even have that much of an impact on the taste. However - if I top off my dish with healthy servings of the reggiano (sort of "showcasing" it) maybe it will have more of an impact on the dish. Or I can do both! What the hell. Interesting discussion here. EDIT: I've decided to use the good stuff all around. You only live once! I will report back if I can notice any difference. I usually only use the lower quality supermarket stuff. ~WBC

I have a block of high quality (and expensive) reggiano. Would it be a waste to use this as the cheese in a homemade pesto sauce? I'm just wondering if the flavors will be lost in the sauce. Maybe it's better to use a cheaper supermarket cheese in the sauce itself - and use the good stuff for topping later? Any thoughts or opinions? ~WBC

Thanks for the tips everyone. Yes - it was a Beaujolais Nouveau. I'm going to reevaluate my storage methods too and try to find a better spot. I've learned a lot in this short thread! ~WBC

Yeah - that's what I did last year. But I had to rush around to all the booths in under 15 minutes to taste everything! (that was after getting screwed and coming later in the day on the first day) If it's possible to spread the event out more and make it more comfortable for all throughout the course of the days, I think they should.

Hi, I'm a complete wine newbie and have a question about storage. I usually only have about 4-5 bottles of wine at a time in my apartment. They sit for anywhere from a week to a year. Right now, I just keep them upright in a high up cabinet in my kitchen. Just last night I opened a bottle of Beaujolais (bought 5 months ago) and it was clearly bad. It tasted carbonated and sour. My question is - could this be because of my inferior storage, or was the wine likely bad before I purchased it? I know that my storage area is probably too warm - but could a bottle go bad that quickly? Thanks, ~WBC

Or they could make use of the entire park. Spread the booths all around the perimeter.

I finally got around to trying this place today. Sampled a bunch including The Elvis Special (bannana cream piped inside, with a peanut butter glaze), black rasberry glaze and valrohna chocolate. I have to say I was dissapointed. Its not that they weren't tasty. I think I just really don't like this style of donut. They are extremely big and thick. All of the donuts are basically the same - except with different glazes. But there is so much "dough" in each one, that I feel the glaze (which is the best part) gets lost in the taste. They ended up all tasting pretty much the same to me. Out of the 3, the bannana was the best I thought - maybe because it had a filling. On another note - I tried these right as they were closing, so I may not have gotten the freshest batch. I wonder if there is a big differenece here. My take on the "artisinal" ingredients: ehhh. I don't see any advantage to using organic butter for instance. The only thing it does is jack up the price. Or even organic peanut butter. There was barely any peanut flavor in the glaze. What am I gaining by having organic peanut butter? Even the Valrohna chocolate flavor seemed to get lost. I think this is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else - but hey more power to him. They seem to be doing great business there. I will only try it again if I happen to be nearby when its early in the morning and I can try a fresh batch. ~WBC

So where's all the reports?? I thought there'd be a ton by now. Guess everyone's waiting for them to settle in a bit?

Have you ever tried leaving it out of the fridge for a day or two to make it more sour? (rather than in the fridge for a few weeks) I agree with you that American store bought yogurt is just way too mild. Also, does anyone know the difference between getting more sour and turning bad? at what point does it stop getting sour and become spoiled? what causes this transformation? Maybe this discussion really belongs in yogurt thread. ~WBC

Yep thats the one. I've tried that brand. It's not bad - but not as good as what they have in Turkey. Elie - you have inspired me to give yogurt making another shot. I'm going to look at some of the yogurt threads in cooking. Thanks. ~WBC