Rachel Perlow

Beautiful.

How's it going, Ian? Be sure to post some pics after your party.

Was Leff on as a guest or guest host? I think Steven & Jason would be great. Or a whole panel, include Rosie, Bux & Kinsey. Jason and I were guests on a morning radio show when we visited St. Martin, it was a blast.

This place is driving me nuts. I wanted to look up the address and found that on yp.yahoo it is listed as Pizza Cave. I thought it was Crave, so I called them and asked, and yes, they said it is Pizza Cave. I edited several posts to reflect the correct name. Then we go there and the sign clearly says Pizza Crave, with the R. Whatever, they have good falafel.

The pita always rips on me. Always. Also, it's hard to get bites with both falafel and salad in them, usually one or the other. A platter is just easier. Yes, you should open a falafel bar. Every city should have one. Pictures of the falafel bar are on this thread.

Hmm, Jason mostly used to take me out when we first began dating. I have no clue what the first thing I ever cooked for him was. Probably breakfast. Jason, do you remember what the first dinner I ever cooked for you was? [cue Jeopardy theme]

I like the pita soft, but it is hard to eat it neatly even if the pita is soft and not over-stuffed. A local Lebanese place gives you a choice of having it as a wrap with shepard's bread or in a pita. They don't grill/press the wrap (never even seen that), and it holds together as a sandwich much better than pita. However, the most common way we have falafel is from a local Jewish pizza/salad bar place. The falafel is in its own section of the salad bar. When you order a falafel sandwich they give you a plate with a pita on it and you get to load it up how you like. However, they toast the pita in the pizza oven, so I usually end up breaking it apart and wrapping bites of falafel and salad in the toasted bread. This isn't my favorite way ever, but my favorite cheap way to eat falafel near home. My favorite way to eat falafel is off a cart in Israel. Even cheaper for the sandwich, but the airfare makes it cost prohibitive.

I love the fight at the end.

Another idea: Ever see when restaurants offer books related to their food/restaurant/community/their chef authored/etc. for sale? I think you should have a small section of these types of books. You could offer Grilled Cheese, Cheese Primer, Soda Fountain Classics, and other books like that, maybe one on the history of Jersey City (even a Jersey City Laminated Street Map). Are you going to have seating, or is it going to be strictly take away? If you have seating, you could have sample copies of the books out for people to look at (boldly write Melt's Sample Copy on the over and along the edge of the pages) while they're in the shop.

Oooh, ooh, I got it! How's about: SHAKE SHACK!!! OK, seriously, I was going to suggest "Melting" if you didn't like the simplicity of "Melt" however, it has some other things going for it that the JC references don't. First off, do you think you will ever have another location? Is this a franchisable idea (not just over the horizen, but someday)? Then I don't think you should have a JC reference in the name. However, the number 1 reason why Melt is a great name: The sign will be cheaper. ~~~ Also, here's a link for Marlena's new book: Grilled Cheese: Fifty Recipes to Make you Melt

Drove by today. It's Migdalia Cafe! Hopefully, they'll be able to produce more food in this larger space. Not being a huge fan of the cuban sandwich, they're always out of whatever I want to order when we go to the little place on the corner.

Rosemary with white beans is a great combination. Be sure to add some chopped up to the finished product.

I'd dress the slaw and beans on Saturday. Don't you want it to marinate for a day in the dressing? I'm worried it won't wilt enough if you dress it on Sunday. Also, that's a heck of a lot of cabbage. Anyone know how many people each head feeds when turned into slaw? Oh well, they're cheap. (The beans too, you're going to have like 4 gallons of bean salad I think.) Have plastic containers (the disposable Glad or Ziploc kind, or ziploc baggies) arounds, so if you have tons leftover, you can make people take some home. After you dress the slaw (and bean salad), store it in white kitchen garbage bags tied with twisty ties (or gallon ziplocs, then put the ziplocs in a large garbage bag, in case the seal breaks). Even though the foil pan won't fail, I wouldn't store anything with an acidic sauce in them, because it might create an off, metalic, flavor. For service they should be fine. Also, the refrigerator storage possibilities are more flexible with bags vs pans. You want to use a white (or clear) garbage bag for storage because you can then label them with a sharpie pen (label before putting in the food). Don't want anyone thinking that black Hefty bag is full of actual garbage.

Is that the pizzaria looking place to the right of River Kwai, or is there another restaurant in that strip that I didn't notice?

I disagree with you in regard to the ambiance. I love the funky decor. I've merged this thread with the previous one about Bennies, but left your subtitle, with the 3* review comment. Sounds to me like we're going to start having to make reservations to get a table at Bennies. (I wish that for them, they're just never busy enough, IMO.) Here's a link to the online "review capsule" for Bennies, as well as El Gran Mexicano, Rats and a few others. Do they not put full reviews online?

Inspired by the cover sandwich in Marlena's book, I made fig jam yesterday. It wasn't till we had already bought figs did I realize there wasn't acually a recipe for fig jam in the book, just a recommendation on where to buy fig jam. So, Jason looked up a recipe on the internet and it came out really well. My adapted version is on RecipeGullet. The funniest part was when Jason tasted it and said, "It tastes like the inside of a fig newton!" I think it tastes even better than that.

Honey Fig Jam 1 pt figs 1 c honey 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp all spice 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp ginger, freshly grated 1 lemon or small orange, finely grated zest and juice Wash, remove the stem and blossom end of figs, cut in quarters. Put in heavy bottomed pot with the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a slow simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour. Remove lid, remove figs with a spoon to a food mill fitted with large holed disk. Pass fruit through back into pot, discard skin left in the food mill. Stir pulp into liquid. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so then place into clean jar and store in the fridge. Yields about 1 cup. Keywords: Fruit, Dessert, Vegetarian, Intermediate, Breakfast, Topping/Frosting ( RG1156 )

Honey Fig Jam 1 pt figs 1 c honey 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp all spice 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp ginger, freshly grated 1 lemon or small orange, finely grated zest and juice Wash, remove the stem and blossom end of figs, cut in quarters. Put in heavy bottomed pot with the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a slow simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour. Remove lid, remove figs with a spoon to a food mill fitted with large holed disk. Pass fruit through back into pot, discard skin left in the food mill. Stir pulp into liquid. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so then place into clean jar and store in the fridge. Yields about 1 cup. Keywords: Fruit, Dessert, Vegetarian, Intermediate, Breakfast, Topping/Frosting ( RG1156 )

That sounds like Gordon Elliot's "Door Knock Diners" -- I liked that show, too bad they based a Campbell's soup commercial on it. Some network should bring back his Good Day New York barging in antics. That was fun.

Just want to make sure this is unsweetened coconut milk, right? Not Coco Lopez (used in Pina Coladas). In addition to Malawry's list, I like to use it as part of the liquid when making rice for asian meals.

Wait, whole, as in legs still attached to the body of the crab? I didn't know you could even get them that way.

Sandra Lee uses pickle juice in all kinds of "recipes." :ducks: I would think, to actually pickle something, you should boil it again.

Also, they've finally updated their website to remove Arthur from the list of personalities. However, by directly entering the url, I was able to find an anouncement about the resignation, click here. And here's his Maven's Diary entry about his resignation, click.

I listened to all of Madher Jaffrey's show, yesterday. She and a co-star of her Broadway show talked about vegetables. "What to do with all of summer's bounty" or something like that. One interesting suggestion was what to do with cucumbers that went to seed. She said to juice them (puree & strain) and use to make lemonade. She discussed some Indian uses and the co-host talked about Trinidadian uses. They talked about goat curry, er curry goat, as it made in the two different cultures. It was a good show, but I can't imagine her as a permanent replacement. Aparently they have David Rosengarten and Bobby Flay scheduled as subs, but I didn't listen today. I could see DR being a replacement or maybe Alan Richman. Anyone know if there's a short list yet? BTW - No mention of Arthur in any way, even the opening announcement must have been changed to remove his name.

Since this thread has gone on to page two, I thought I'd repost the link for Marlena's new book: Grilled Cheese: Fifty Recipes to Make you Melt BTW - Marlene, you've gotten twice as many hits on your book in the past two days than the next highest hitting item linked through eGullet. I'm sure that will translate to sales as well, I'll be able to check that in a few days.