tonguesandwich

just had to chime in and recount my favorite inept restaurant review from the Stranger. The author reviewed a new Vietnamese restaurant (Tamarind Tree i think) and went way out of their way to make a useless and flip comment about the Vietnam war. It was obviously the reviewer's only point of reference for anything Vietnamese, which spoke volumes about their ignorance.

I for one am going to be eating "CurryWurst" at a local Imbiss (street vendor) here in Berlin as I head off to see the Berlin - Argentina game this friday.

I'm in Berlin right now and have found eating out a bit dicey. But what I have found is Butter Lindner where you can get fresh packed butter, whole cream milks, and a selectiton of good looking cheeses and meats. Locations all around berlin, don't know about other cities. http://www.lindner-esskultur.de/ If your in Berlin, the one in the basement of the building on the W side of Hermannplatz shares space with a "bio" market with some good fresh produce offerings. For meat I'm headed to Fleischerei Obitz today, supposedly the best butcher in the city, organic, hormone free: Ludwigkirchstraße 3, Wilmersdorf. And for dinner tonight I'm headed to Henne http://www.henne-berlin.de/ , where half an organically raised chicken is the only thing on the menu, so I hope it's great.

Hello, My wife and I will be in Berlin this summer for a week, and were wondering if anyone had suggestions for great places to go for a change from the meat heavy German basics. What are the places you go to when your not feeling up for another schnitzel? (of course I'm going to try to expand my understanding of German foods while I'm there).

Delaurenti's in the market... cause they're in the market they're open every day? maybe closed sundays? They actually carry a selection of meats from Salumi, and a famed NYC producer... Btw, they have great sandwiches at reasonable prices in their cafe section.

my wife and i went there today just to grab a quick after lunch treat... saw the man himself, the space is big, looked good.... but after waiting 15 minutes in line (and i'm generously calling a confused and unordered group of people a line) we left without having purchased anything... of the people who walked in after us, most of them had to ask where/what the line was... and btw, the poor counter help looked even more flustered than the customers, they were working about twice as hard as they should have needed to. When the main topic of conversation between customers is how screwed up the ordering process is, and not how good the product is, you've got a serious problem. Great chocolate, terrible planning. I'm headed back to the Brooklyn shop.

there was a philadelphia sunday brunch buffet in a Hotel restaurant that was discussed a couple months ago in these forums... i can't find it for the life of me. Does anyone know what the name of the hotel was? The hotel and the brunch seemed pretty famous locally.

This brings up a wine glassware newbie question i have... been looking at the Riedel "O" series stemless glasses (maybe that's what your describing at Tabla?)... i understand how the shape of the bowl can enhance the experience, but I thought the whole idea behind stems was to maintain the wine's serving temperature while drinking, no?

Just thought i'd let you know we decided to hit Melograno for our one night in Philly, and we were very pleased. It was election night and there was no wait, a pleasant staff and some great dishes. The scallops and artichoke heart appetizer and braised quail main course were highlights. Really nice area of town too. Thanks again everyone who gave an opinion.

thanks, you're all correct, i was a too broad.. and why not focus on Italian since Seattle's not known for that... I'll check out Vetri and Il Portico. I may have to schedule a second night also since Pif and Django sound excellent as well. thanks for all your input!

i'll be back visiting family outside of philly next week and was thinking of taking my wife into the city for dinner one night. Just curious, from a local's perspective, what's the one place I need to go to? I'm looking for upscale casual (i'm from seattle, we don't wear ties during our 4 star meals) with a slow food bent (fresh, seasonal)... could be sushi to french to american regional... any recommendations?

what about DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine in Pike Place Market? Italian rather than jewish, but they've got a great selection of meats and cheeses. And a good selection of traditional italian sub fixins like Sclafani Hot Pepper Relish. and about that Tat's review.. i personally don't put too much faith in a critic who doesn't try a sub (hoagie) at an italian sub shop. I'm definitely going to try it out this week.

I recently have come into quite a bit of king salmon and want to cure and smoke a portion of it. I've done it before following these basic steps: - cure fish for 24 hours in slurry of 1/1 sugar/salt w/ a shot of gin, lemon peel & black pepper. - rinse cure off of fish - hot smoke fish for a few hours using alder, apple or hickory. the fish has a great smoke taste and keeps really well, but it's quite salty. Great in dishes or on a bagel w/ cream cheese, but solo, it could use some fine tuning to bring the salt levels down. I'm thinking that the hot smoking process is driving out moister, therefore concentrating the salt... not too sure if that science is right.. but it definitely tastes saltier after being smoked. anyone have tips on how to cut the saltiness?

after my positive dinner experience (see above, only complaint was w/ the below average service), i started hearing really bad news about breakfast and brunches... from the breakfast cook being incredibly unskilled, to inept service, to a very possible case of food poisoning (2 people ate the same thing and both were violently ill a few hours later). All of the complaints i've heard have had one thing in common... the chef/owner wasn't working. Let's hope she gets the staff under control soon, because i think this could be a really good place.

I second the Cafe Lago lasagna... the paper thin pasta sheets along w/ that amazing bright red sauce and a rich bechamel leads me to never order anything else.

Like others here, when i checked out Crave's website/menu, i was really pleased... they used phrases like "honest food", something that I feel is lacking in many seattle restaurants. My wife and I went for a late meal (10:00) on friday night. The small dining area had only two two tops open, and I was really impressed by the compactness of the kitchen layout and the dining areas. It felt a little cramped, but it also felt homey. The first pleasant surprise was the wine list.. I'm no where near a connoisseur, so I can't comment on the quality of the offerings, but I did notice a few names and was really pleased with the prices... 4.50 / a glass for many selections. We chose a drinkable tuscan red that at 5 or 6 dollars a glass would leave me a bit disappointed. First to arrive was the Artisanal cheese board and living watercress salad. The cheeses, Manchego, pecorino toscano or similar italian sheep's milk cheese, and a nice soft blue (french?) went great with the quince butter, pear and pine nuts and was served w/ slightly warmed bread rather than crostini as listed. Also missing was the spiced almonds and port reduction. The watercress salad was pleasing, missing were the candied almonds (did they run out of nuts?) and the tangerine oil wasn't as present as my wife had hoped. The orange pieces and caramelized shallots made the salad for me (not much on the greens). Next we shared the Duck confit (it was too late for a heavy meal). The perfectly cooked thigh meat matched perfectly w/ the Mission fig compote... a really delicious combo. The winter greens were really tasty (baby bok choy sauteed in garlic and oil) but the big surprise (for me) was the formidable serving of savory bread pudding. I kept going back to it during the meal, questioning whether it's herby flavor was a bit too subtle, but I ended it thinking it was perfect for the meal. The flavors were really well thought out. The service on the other hand needs a bit of tuning. The servers were all very pleasant, but a bit forgetful and had seemed to have a difficult time navigating the small dining room... normal I think for a new restaurant. Overall, I really think Crave could become a regular spot for me. The prices are totally reasonable, the menu is interesting, the space is comfortable and the chef/owner makes an effort to thank you on your way out. ps. my wife just called, she picked up a coffee and a large home baked muffin there this morning, all for $2.13. That makes me happy.

I like shrimp, but as a rule i never order them at any traditional vietnamese restuarant. I just find that they are consistently "fishy"... even in my mother-in-law's cooking. I just chalk it up to my american palate.

Does anyone know what happened to Danny (?), the owner/chef at Ragin Cajun? I was hoping he would open another restuarant in seattle.

Lemongrass on 12th is good... I think it is run by the old owners of Saigon Pearl on Rainer, which was always a favorite. Lemongrass is now the defacto birthday/event dinner place for my vietnamese inlaws. Spring rolls and egg rolls are great, thit bun is good and the bun bo hue was a little to gamey for someone averse to straight nouc mam like myself. btw... i'm sure everyone knows the best pho in seattle can be had at any than bros. location and a another place for delicious pork & noodle soup is Mi La Cay on Rainer.

I haven't seen anyone make mention of one of the main reasons behind Pabsts current popularity... the taste! It's got that bite... a bigger flavour than most other crap beers. Might be called "well-hopped" if you knew for sure that they actually used hops. I picked some up three years ago becaused i was suprised to find the beer my dad drank years ago on the east coast being offered at the local west coast grocery. Now, it's my prefered summertime picnic/bbq beer.... not ironic at all! Helps if it is ice cold. I don't believe marketing in any form can completely be attributed it's resurgence... it has to be palatable. but.. i'd have to agree with another poster... if i could get Yuengling here in seattle for the price i remember it, I'd probably be drinking that.