jglazer75

Mine has a removable pan that I cover with Aluminum foil (to answer the question of the other poster who asked - though I don't punch holes in it to drain, but it tilts slightly to the front so that the fat drains into a collecting well type thing). Usually I just put a clean piece of foil on the pan, start up the broiler and wait for a few minutes for it to heat up (a VERY important step I've learned) then put down whatever it is I'm cooking. Cook times are very similar to a grill (at least in my broiler). While the overhead on it is fairly low, I've never had a problem cooking anything that I'd put on a grill (steaks, potatoes, corn, chicken, fish, veggies, etc.).

I've gotten fairly accustomed to my bottom drawer broiler and actually prefer it to grilling. I know, heresy, but being a city dweller my grill is down a few flights and it's a pain to use. But I've made steaks, chicken, fish, etc. in my broiler with no problems. The biggest pain is cleaning the darn thing. But I've had no problems with timing and while I you have to open the thing to check it, that's no different from lifting the lid of the grill or opening the oven door or lifting the lid off of a simmering pot. Anyway, I've used mine to great success. So there.

No, I am not the same jglazer. Maybe some day; but not today.

Well, I finally made my way to this fine establishment on Friday night, after first seeing "Big Fish" at the Century Landmark. (as a short diversion, first let me say that "Big Fish" was unbelievably good; the story was heart-warming and a fantastic example of storytelling at its finest.) First, we went to the restaurant at 9:00pm; it wasn't particularly busy, but apparently the hostess had to do a 10 minute lap around the restaurant to find a table then spend another few minutes entering data into her little computer before finally taking time out of her very busy day to seat us. While waiting to be seated I had some time to look around at the decor and 'ambiance.' The decor was nuevo-India; they were playing various forms of Punjabi MC on the loudspeaker at a pleasantly low level. The lights were a little dark, but I wasn't stumbling into things, so I suppose it wasn't too bad. Lots of red-velvet and black and abstract-looking paintings on the wall that had catchy little yuppie sayings. They obviously know their market which tolerates pretension probably a little more than me. Anyway, we were finally seated. On the table was the wine menu and the water person brought water and bread (naan and 3 types of sauces - a green spicy sauce, a red savory sauce and a white creamy sauce of some sort with red and green peppers - which were all decent, though not spectular). I looked through the wine menu and ran into my first snag of the evening. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm a student, I don't often have money for expensive meals and from all I had read and my impressions of the restaurant based on restaurants near that area, I was in for a slightly higher than average priced meal. Those thoughts were shattered upon one glance at the wine list. There were very few choices (maybe 3 total) of bottles less than $40 and most were between $60 and $90. I like reds and I don't really believe the 'order wine based on the meal' (usually because I don't know what I'm eating before I choose a wine) so I picked a red wine from Argentina that was $45. One more quick comment about the wine list before moving on - while it was expensive, it was pleasantly original - not a Rosemont or Yellow Tail to be seen. The wine service by the waiter was sub-par. When he first came to the table he said something unintelligible, which I took to be "Would you like something to drink?" because that's usually the first question someone asks. I found out later that he actually said "Have you been here before?" Then, when he brought the wine, he struggled with removing the foil (cutting below the lip rather than above it) and removing the cork. Anyway, moving on, we wanted an appetizer but I couldn't decide between the duck on slices of potato or the vegetable wraps, so I asked the server which was better. He acted like this was the first time someone had ever asked him such a question and that he had never given it serious thought. So he hemmed and hawed and chose the more expensive of the two - the duck. It was fine, not spectacular and probably not worth the $9 I paid for it. Between the appetizer and the main course, we were brought a lemon sorbet-ish thing to cleanse the pallet. Very nice and tasty and did the job. Though - as my girlfriend pointed out - it didn't necessarily mix well with the wine. For dinner, I ordered pheasant in a spicy curry sauce with potato slices and vegetables ($23). My girlfriend ordered the stuffed green pepper; a vegetarian meal ($13). The vegetarian portion of the menu is quite extensive and is quite frankly more interesting than the meat portion of the menu; however, I - like Denis Leary - belive that vegetables are side dishes and not a main course, so I ordered from the meat menu. When the food came, surprisingly quickly (surprising, not in the "they couldn't have made this in 10 minutes" surprise, but in the "I was expecting them to take forever to make a 10 minute meal and it only took 15 minutes" surprise), it looked fantastic. My entree was excellent though the meat seemed a little over-cooked. It was spicier than I had expected, but the textures were great. I think at point, I had compared it to techno music, where the bass is really low and the melodies are really high, and there's not much in the middle; but the separation is very pronounced and works to emphasize each of the components. A stretch I know, but it made sense in my head. Anyway, the green pepper also looked fantastic and tasted quite good with a good mix of traditional indian flavors. When we finished we were offered coffee or tea and dessert, but we declined. By this time it was already 10:30pm or so and we were about the only ones left there and were getting tired. The final bill came to $92 without tip. To summarize, the entree was good and not terribly over-priced (though about 4 or 5 dollars more than I would like to have paid), the appetizer was disappointing and the wine, while good, was also terribly overpriced. The restaurant is in an odd location for its type because the neighboring bars and restaurants (such as Cousin's just a few doors down or The Casbah a few blocks away) offer similar food for a fraction of the price and are just as good. I can commend the desire to offer more 'respectable' and 'fancy' fair, but the neighborhood isn't fancy enough to support it. It appears, in fact, that the neighborhood has spoken and I would be surprised if Monsoon lasts another year in that location. My apologies for the length of this review, but I think I was thorough.

Hmmm...well...I apologize for my ignorance. I should have known these facts since my life-time subscription to SCIENCE magazine gained me access to BOTH of the links that you provided to the written study. In the future, I will disregard factual reporting by the Chicago Tribune and the NY Times (both highly suspect, trash-tabloid pulp). And, yes, I do question studies, regardless of the funding, that show that farm salmon from Europe is worse than farm salmon in the US, when presented in an environment that has finger-pointing and agricultural tensions at an all time high. Of course, the Pew Charitable Trusts is a reputable source, but this is the first I've heard of their sponsoring of this study.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/hea...ll=chi-news-hed (registration req'd) However, I guess the reports are little more 'dire' than necessary and the FDA seems to indicate that Salmon (even farm raised) does more good than harm - especially if cooked and with the skin off. Also, the salmon with the highest concentrations are European Farm Salmon, not US Farm Salmon. (hmmm...who doesn't think this might be a bit of propaganda thrown out by the US to counter-act the flak by the EU about our agricultural subsidies).

I have to disagree. I have not had a single decent meal at any Weber Grille in or around the city. I have been to the one on State and it was terrible. The food was mediocre, the service was crappy, the drinks were terrible and it was over-priced. I also went to one out in the suburbs (in Lombard) and was thoroughly unimpressed. Again, the food was mediocre but the service was still bad and it was still over-priced. Sorry, but I will never visit another one of these again and I'll tell everyone I know to stay away from them.

It's odd, I don't live too far from this place and I haven't been there once, though I've contemplated it numerous times. The key problem for me, is that I'm a little afraid it won't be worth it. I haven't heard many reviews of the place and it kind of falls in a weird middle ground as far as price and ambiance goes. I'm a student, so when I go to a 'pricier' restaurant (read: anywhere I have to spend more than $20 or $25 for two people), I have to be fairly picky and so far Monsoon has not won the coin toss. Hopefully someone will know about this place. It's been there for a few months now and it looks nice enough; but is it worth it? Anyway, this post is probably pretty useless since you wanted a review, but I though I'd my throw my wood on the fire.

The bulletproof glass, the yellow lighting and the fact that there is never anyone in there except for the occassional transient. I promise I will give it shot though.

Well, to report back on my Fried Chicken Hunt: After suggesting Dell Rhea's to my g/f she didn't want to drive all the way out there, which is unfortunate because I was definately up for it. Also, some day I'll work up the nerve to try Harold's. Honestly, the place scares the bejeezus out of me. There's one across the street from my school (near the loop) and I still haven't worked up the nerve to step foot in there. Having read the reviews, maybe I'll take them up on the offer of a reduced student rate on dinners :) We actually ended up going to Wishbone in Lakeview. Not too bad, actually. I hadn't been there before and the food was pretty decent. The fried chicken was good, the potatoes were excellent and the collard greens and roasted squash were AWESOME. They had live local music (a folk-singer girl who reminded me a lot of Jewel) which I liked, too. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. Let me know if there are others, when the fried chicken beckons, I GOTS to answer the call...

cool. I'll check it out.

Anyone know of a good restaurant where I can get some good Fried Chicken? It's just one of those things that I've GOTS to have on occassion and where I live (Lakeview East) doesn't have a whole lot in the way of Southern Fried Chicken (more Thai, Chinese, and Japanese than you can shake a chopstick at though).

I too am originally from Cleveland and I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY that they can be a little 'meat and potatoes' in their outlook. I have lived on the East Side (I went to HS there) and I've lived on the West Side (in Lakewood after college). I will tell you that unless you are planning on opening in Lakewood, stay on the East Side. Most West-siders will see "Indian food" and wonder why they'd have a whole restaurant devoted to suquetash. On the other hand, the East Siders tend to be a little more 'worldly' although the best-sellers are still Steakhouses and Italian. Particularly the Beachwood/PepperPike/Orange area has a rather large Indian population that could probably support a good Indian Restaurant (perhaps on SOM Center going into Mayfield or in that area, in Chagrin Falls, or for the more daring in Coventry). My advice: there's a reason the restaurants tend to congregate together in the Cleveland area, don't think you'll be 'novel' by setting up shop in an out-of-the-way area where no other restaurants are around.

Last night: Chicken w/ Honey Mustard Sauce (honey, dill mustard, lots o' butter, leeks and garlic) Rice. In retrospect, the rice wasn't a very good idea. Probably should have gone w/ Sauteed potatoes or a pasta (fettucine, maybe??) Tonight: Steak w/ Bernaisse (sp?) Angel Hair pasta Misc veggies

While I learned to cook when I was little, I realized I enjoyed it during a stint at Chili's during college. While the food there isn't anything earth shattering, I had been complemented on my abilities a number of times by managers in from out of town and by customers. The one thing such restaurants do allow though is consistency in application which gives a good feel for when something is done or the right consistency (OK, no jokes about the inability of chain restaurant cooks to judge done-ness). Plus, at the bigger chain restaurants the menus can be very diverse; at Chili's we had not just Tex-Mex, but pastas, steaks, and seafood. From that I took a rather random view of cooking; I've never really 'concentrated' on any one type/style or technique for anything more than about a week. I've messed around with breads, but I've come to realize that I suck at baking anything. One night I might try Bi-Bim-Bop for the first time ever, the next night I might make Blue-Cheese-Artichoke Bisque. I was never very good with fish so recently I've been trying to perfect that. As far as influences or what-not; it's mostly been creating something other than the boring Ohio food I grew up with. Although, to this day in sticking with my Chili's heritage my best foods are steak, burgers and salad. Go figure.

As long as they have hotdogs and a beer it's OK with me. Originally I'm from Cleveland and when the Indians were bad for many, many years often the only reason to go to the park was to eat a hotdog with Bertman's BallPark Mustard. Why anyone would put crappy yellow mustard on ANYTHING is beyond me.