Rachel Perlow

Ditto.

I second Tim Schaefer's. If you can't find street parking, there's a garage that's not too expensive to park in under Headquarter's Plaza (right across the street). (Same goes if you prefer Pazzo Pazzo, which is just a few doors down.)

Do all at the table have to order the tasting menu or may one order it independantly of your dining companions?

A peep is a marshmallow shaped like a baby chick and coated in colored sugar. I'm sure there's a link above with pictures. It is a seasonal candy put out to sell for Easter. I think it's probably that people expect journalists to post themselves if they are looking for article fodder. Also, they would probably prefer to post their replies rather than do so off line where their posts would only be read by a few to one. Ask them to sign up.

I edited my post above to be more specific about my actual procedure. PS - I used the Chefmate Saucepan and it is excellent for popping corn. The lid fits nice and tight, yet allows the steam to escape. The bottom is heavy and flat, so it is easy to shake back & forth on the burner, and no corn burned, as occasionally happened with my copper clad Revereware. I must try Snowangel's recommendation some time. Mmm bacon.

This is exactly how I pop corn (when I'm not feeling virtuous and therefore use the air popper), except I just use a 2 qt saucepan. A little oil, 3 kernals of corn. When the first one pops, add enough corn to make a single layer on the bottom of the pot. Add a little salt and a pat of butter. Cover, shake over high heat continuously, stopping every 15-30 seconds to listen. When the popping sounds are very fast, you can reduce the heat to medium. Whe the popping sounds have pretty much stopped, take it off the heat. Sure, there might be a few unpopped kernals at the bottom of the pot -- but so what? Yummy, yummy popcorn. No special equipment needed. I've experimented with flavors in the past, but nothing beats plain, real butter flavored popcorn. Edit: After reading this thread earlier, I just had to make popcorn. I've edited my procedure above after paying closer attention to what I'm actually doing.

I noticed a few years ago that the instructions for microwaving a pop tart call for 3 seconds on high. I thought this was a typo so I called customer service. It is indeed 3 seconds. Apparently there'd been some burns reported from scalding filling caused by over heating in the microwave (the filling gets hotter than the pastry).

Yes bacon, no tomato-onion salad. I was more in the mood for a green salad last night, and it was good. The bacon is amazing, especially diced up and added to the salad. Interesting note, the bacon is available as an "appetizer" and (diced) as a salad addition (same price $1.95 each). We ordered the appetizer portion, but I am curious if the salad portion is the same size, and just they dice it up instead of me?

Well, I finally made it to the PL in Brooklyn for the very first time (been to the one in Great Neck at least twice). Actually, I think it may have been the first time I had the steak too. (We usually go with enough people that I don't cramp anyone's steak-jones by ordering the lamb chops). The steak was very good. It came out pretty much as ordered -- the filet part of the porterhouse was a little more medium than medium-rare, but the other portion was nice & mostly red. What I particularly appreciated was the crust they managed to get on it while keeping the inside cooked just so. I know it's part of their tradition, but I think the ultra-heated plate, while keeping the steak warm, works against the doneness level -- I think the steak keeps cooking on that hot plate. The creamed spinach was as good as ever, but I doubt I'll be ordering the German potatoes again. I remember last time (2-3 years ago?) they were burnt, and they were even more so last night. I mean they should be well browned and crusty, but the tops of these were carbonized. Yuck. We were the first people seated for dinner yesterday, so there just didn't seem to be any reason for over-cooked potatoes. I would have sent them back, but Jason said they are supposed to be that way. I picked all the burnt stuff off and they were OK, but next time (next year or so) it'll be the fries or baked potato. Anyway, the decor is more rustic than at the Great Neck location (I think they use table clothes on Long Island?). If you are worried about having enough cash on hand there is a ATM across the street, and restaurant parking too. Oh, and the waiters were very friendly and younger than we remembered. According to our waiter, there are a few of the old-timers left, but a lot of them have retired or died in the past few years.

Jason and I were in Brooklyn on other business and decided to check out DiFara's for a mid-afternoon snack. We were planning on going to Peter Luger's for dinner, so we just wanted to get one slice to taste. We quickly settled on artichoke as being the most highly recommended of our memories of this thread. I'm sure glad we did. Amazing artichokes -- the slice was completely covered with wedges of roasted fresh (I'm sure) baby (I think) artichokes with nicely frizzled edges and crisp tender bases. The base of plain pizza seemed good (especially the sauce and crust, the cheese seemed like regular pizza cheese), but not extraordinary, 'it must be the toppings and other food that makes this place special' is my initial impression. I didn't get to go inside because we couldn't find a legal parking space, so Jason will have to post his impressions of the interior and owner. Question: Does the whole artichoke pie have as much artichoke on it as the slice? What is the cost of a whole artichoke pie? (The slice plus a small bottle of fancy imported soda was $5.50.) I ask because at some places when you order slices the topping is added to a plain slice in an overwhelming manner, as if an entire pizza's worth of topping is added to one slice. This seemed to be the case with our slice of artichoke pizza yesterday -- not that it wasn't appreciated. Seriously, there must have been 3-4 baby artichokes on that slice. But, it made me curious if the whole pie gets the same treatment or if the topping is more scattered.

Robert, this all looks great, even though I haven't read though your entire original post. I am a little confused as to whether this trip has already taken place, or the above is your guide for a trip you are about to take. If the former, could you perhaps edit your post so that your comments after the trip appear different from the "guide", perhaps in italics or in a different color?

Much discussion of this already on the media board. Here's a link.

I presume Raisin Bran Muffins don't count, but I suppose the recipe for the muffins could be adjusted to make a cake similar to carrot cake.

Previous thread about Chef!

Sorry. I've edited the caption.

I specifically asked the counter person if the price had changed since the change in meat and she said no. I expressed surprise that they didn't offer it on the dollar menu (I think Wendy's has 5 nuggets as an option on their dollar menu). So anyway, the 6 piece nuggets was $2.85 (including tax). The extra value meal is $4.79 plus tax. Sometimes we must make sacrifices in the name of science and cutting edge food reporting, nerissa! We just bought 1 order of 6 nuggets to inspect & taste after having a nice healthy soup & salad type lunch at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

As Pickle-licious has a website for mail ordering pickles, I thought I'd help them out by posting about this mail order food on eGullet's Special Occasions forum: Picklelicious.com -- Mail Order Pickles. I got some half sours. Yum!

. . . . . I learned about Picklelicious on the NJ forum, and would have posted the following there, but for the fact that they have a website and do mail order. Of course, if you live locally it is worth the trip, because the aroma of the store is worth a thousand pictures. But, for those far away from home (if home means NY) who miss the taste and texture of a real pickle barrel pickle, this post is for you. On their website, they only indicate that you can mail order pickles, but as you will see below, they have a lot more to offer, just call and ask. I don't recommend calling on a Friday afternoon however. Not that they aren't perfectly friendly and helpful, but the store is noticibly busy with the pre-Sabbath crowd. ~~~ I first spied the Pickle-Licious sign from across the intersection of Cedar Lane while traveling southbound on River Road: Here's the converted house turned pickle store: The intense aroma of pickles assaults you, in a good way, as soon as you open the door. You soon get used to that and begin wandering away from the foyer come checkout area. I turned right first and came upon a dry goods room. Here, there are displays of bulk candies, snack foods, gifts and gift baskets. The Dry Goods Room Here's Paul waiving from the back room leading to where they make the pickles. They have a wide variety of snack foods, many of which are usually only available via mail order or at specialty markets. Lots of candy available by the pound, too. Even some Sugar Free varieties. Moving to the other side of the foyer, you come to the pickle room... Here's the proprietor, Robyn, helping a customer with his order of Hot & Spicy Pickles. In the far corner of the room is the Sample Table. Not only do they put out samples of all the pickles currently available (they were out of sauerkraut), but also some snack chips and jars of jams, relish, mustards, etc. I didn't notice these signs when I was in the store, but found this helpful information on one of my pics: An example of a pickle tray you can have delivered within the local area. In the center of the room is a beautiful display everything else pickled. Notice the sweet red peppers to the lower right. I don't know how I missed seeing them when I was at the store. I read on the thread in the NJ forum that these are amazing, but I just forgot to look for them while I was there. Hmm, that calls for another trip to Pickle-licious! Pickle-licious 763 River Rd, Teaneck, NJ 07666 (201) 836-7800 Phone (201) 836-7899 Fax pickleliciousSH@aol.com

A nice tart white, or a tannic red. Something to strip the grease from your tongue. Dunno about the sauces. I just got the BBQ.

Interesting report. Obviously our differing descriptions of the decor of the restaurant were affected by the fact that it was our first visit to the restaurant whereas you are comparing it to how it was a few years ago. With regard to service, I'm sure it was also a factor that we arrived when the restaurant was empty and the staff fresh, whereas you arrived at the height of the dinner rush on a Friday night. I'm sure your feelings about some of the food was accurate as I didn't care for the lamb in my (different from your) main course either, although I think I enjoyed the fish soup more than you did. It didn't come to the table with the garnish you describe and wasn't at all "fishy," perhaps yours sat too long in back (another dining time factor)? Not that the dinner time should make the negatives excusable, just the opposite in fact, but it could be a reason.

OK, photo album up on imagestation: Rutt's Hut Pics

Actually, Paul, there was only one cremator ordered the whole evening (unless you ordered some and I didn't notice). 201 ordered one and a few of us shared it. The first order out was just rippers. The cremator was pretty much as described by others above, a hot dog flavored crouton. I totally agree with you there, I left about half my bread on the plate. I thought that's what happened to you. There was an overturned truck at exit 16W, coming northbound on the Tpke. Traveling south was smooth sailing. Funny, tommy managed to keep his bottle of water. Yeah, but ours seemed to bring them pretty gosh darn quick, and they were hot, so I don't think that's it. I think she deserved her ridiculous tip for putting up with our bunch. I'm sure she rarely gets more than 15%.

A bunch of us showed up. We ate lots of hot dogs, fries & onion rings; drank lots of beer & soda. One person had a grilled cheese sandwich, as they were not eating meat. In addition a couple BBQ Pork & Beef sandwiches were ordered and laughed at -- but were eaten anyway. Someone knocked over a table and helped the waitress clean up the mess! Pictures were taken, I'll deal with posting them tomorrow. I thought the dogs were OK, but kind of bland. I now know for sure that I prefer the kosher-style all beef garlicky kind of hot dog rather than the mostly pork, bland kind. The relish is very good. I should have bought a jar of that for home. Urp.

Bobby Flay "went so far as to suggest buying a second coffee grinder to grind your own." Went so far? Plax, is this a surprise to you? It is a very common practice nowadays, I thought.

(If you want, we can change the title of the thread - how about "Best bad review ever?" err, is that just as confusing?) For what it's worth, the only thing I've ever heard about the Oyster Bar is to only sit at the counter and eat raw oysters, never sit at a table and eat other food. Since I don't like raw oysters, I've never been.