Rachel Perlow

If you are thinking of a dish like Cold Noodles in Sesame Sauce, most places seem to use peanut butter, maybe with some sesame oil for flavor. I've never had one prepared that actually tastes like sesame butter.

tell her she *deserves* to have her name in it. my Fort Lee friends have talked about her old place for years now. she's a legend. Tommy: From KT -- "Thanks for the kind words. You work for a long time and don't know how it is being received, and that was very nice to hear." So, she filed for the business as Mo'Pho Noodle Company, but is still considering many of the names suggested here, as she can always have the sign say anything and have it be "doing business as." She's moving to a space that had a liquor license, but doesn't want it. Fortunately, there were two buyers, one that wanted the license but not the space (already has a restaurant in Fort Lee, w/out a liquor license); and herself, who wants the space, but not the liquor license.

Reactions from KT: "What the Pho?" is already in use by a restaurant in Wisconson. She wants something short that can be put on a T-shirt for the servers. PhoKT - she doesn't want her name in it, although it is short and I told her to discuss with the others (son, waiter/manager) She's leaning towards Mo'Pho. It's simple, and she can make the o in the Mo into a bowl of soup with the apostrophe being steam rising from the bowl. She can do that with PhoKT too.

re the link, click "best of NY" for the pizza video (upper left hand corner). It's hilarious watching this ditz get in Dom's way while he does his best to ignore her. "Dominick, tell me how you feel about being voted best pizza in NY?" "Fine, fine." Understatement at its finest!

(FYI - KT is the name (ok, the initials) of the chef/owner)

for a restaurant, i think it's kind of stupid and played out at this point. and that's coming from someone who thinks farts are funny. As long as you mentioned it... Joe suggested Pho Art. I vetoed that one! OK guys, thanks for all your suggestions. I'm printing this out and faxing it over to them now. But, if you get an inspiration, pheel pfree to continue posting. Oh, I like that one. Will let everyone know what they've decided upon when they, um, decide.

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So I take it you guys wouldn't be offended by the double entendre including fuck then? From the proprietress... Pho Kingu (Kingu being the little village where she was born).

how would that be pronounced?

Additional suggestions are welcome. I like that one, but isn't that whole Snoop Dog pig latin over with? I thought that once Fran Dresher used it in an Old Navy commercial it became passé?

A very successful Vietnamese restaurant (rated Very Good by the NYT) near us is planning on opening an offshoot in a neighboring town. It will be an even more casual joint, just serving Pho (the famous Vietnamese soup), summer rolls, some other apps and salads, coffee & dessert. Anyway, they are trying to think of a catchy name for the place and have thought of several with a play on words based on "Pho." As you may or may not know Pho is pronounced fuh with a short u sound, not foe with a long o. So here are some suggestions: Pho-natic(s) (fanatic/fanatics) Pho King (fucking, but it will look like a more typical Chinese take-out joint kind of name), the chef's brother suggested "Pho King Good" but I think that's too long. Mo'Pho (More Pho or something about someone's mother) Pho-Q or Pho-Que (Fuck You) then if she opens a second one, it could be Pho-Q 2 So, what is your opinion about the play on words? Is using the homonym for fuck too coarse? We were all thinking of it similarly to the "Cluck U" chain of chicken wing stores, but didn't know if it was just too blatant. If so, Phonatics would be the back up, unless someone can think of another pun that would work -- in other words, feel free to give us more suggestions!

Where's John (aka John, the Hot Dog Guy) when you need him?

Well, since you're going anyway, be sure to let us know all about it!

Tahini is both a sesame seed paste, similar to peanut butter, but with sesame seeds (I usually just buy that, instead of grinding my own), and a condiment made with the paste and other flavorings, usually garlic and lemon juice. I have posted in RecipeGullet the recipe exactly as given to me by one of our favorite Lebanese restaurants in NJ. Tahini Sauce on RecipeGullet Bennies Restaurant, Englewood NJ

Jacques-Imo's NYC opens tonight.

Doh! How could I forget about that tuna appetizer? It was an extra sent out on the house, and was one of the few dishes who's plate was cleaned. That was very very good. Sweet tuna, tart vinaigrette, not too sharp onion.

Jack-ee-moe's Me too. I don't think we'll be able to make it into the city tonight, but I certainly hope someone from eGullet does. Hint hint (NY news people). And take pictures. And order anything with fried oysters. And the chicken livers if they have them. And fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade. And corn maquechoux. I want to go there soon, sniff. Good luck Jacques!

As Steven pointed out in another thread, Michael Romano is now at the helm of Union Square Cafe, and it seems to me based on these previous posts, that it must be an improvement. We visited last night for the first time, at the request of an out of town guest (not your typical tourist, a restaurateur from New Orleans, who had pleasant memories of USC from previous visits, and a fan of Danny Meyer. Anyway, since we'd never been there before, we were very pleased to join her). From the mixed reviews here, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we ordered many of the recommended dishes and had a very, very, pleasant meal. We totally over-ordered, and shared everything, and I even took a couple things home. So, to begin... We had the garlic potato chips and calamari brought to the table first to nibble on while perusing the menu. Regarding the chips, I completely agree with mikec, "I’d love to put these in a Ruffles bag and eat them on my couch while watching (TV)." They are quite addictive. The calamari, while fried up as light as a feather and definitely not-ordinary, was not necessary either, unless you were really in the mood for calamari. It was a very good rendition, but there were better offerings to come and I shouldn't have wasted the stomach room. I think it's on the menu for the same reason as the steak -- for the person who doesn't know what else to order. We continued with individual appetizers, which we continued to share. Jason had the (special) smoked cauliflower soup, I had the chicken liver risotto, our friend had the beet/beet greens/carrot salad (without the Coach Farm goat cheese terrine as it was offered on the menu), and we shared an order of the porcini gnocchi. The salad was light and very crunchy, I would have preferred to sample the cheese terrine with it, and I also prefer my beets to be more cooked, but it was a nice presentation of micro beet greens and white carrots. I thought the cauliflower soup was very good, but Jason wanted a little more texture. The gnocchi were rich and full of mushroom flavor, but it is definitely something you want to share, as just a few of them were plenty. A similar recommendation goes for the risotto. As Fat Guy said: "Oh. My. God. It was really good. If you like chicken livers, this is one of the highest expressions of that ingredient you're ever going to find. Lots of mushrooms in there too. Chopped liver it ain't. Nicely al dente too." There actually weren't any discernable pieces of the liver in there; it was all incorporated into the creamy goodness of the risotto. Another very rich dish, I ate about a quarter of it, shared some with the table and had about 2/3 of the dish to bring home for lunch. Mmm. The Monday evening special was Lobster Sheppard's Pie, so Jason was drawn to that like a magnet. My taste was good, although there was an unusual seasoning in there that we couldn't positively identify, Jason thought saffron, I think nutmeg (I know completely different), I suppose we should have asked. The only negative about this dish was that Jason thought it had too much potato on top. Our friend had the Catalan style monkfish with shrimp & clams. I think I just don't like monkfish -- it is so damn bland that no sauce I've had it recently can make up for it. So that we didn't end up with three fish dishes (I was considering the bass or the tuna), I ordered the Lemon Pepper duck. This was my favorite of the three entrees. The duck was cooked through, skin crispy, fat mostly rendered off. The breast and leg pieces sat atop a lovely dark and tart sauce and were accompanied by a quince chutney (nice change from cherry or orange flavors that usually get paired with duck) and a farro pilaf. This is a chewy barley-like grain, and there was lots of butter in that side, and some chard underneath -- wonderful (how can anything with that much butter not be?). We shared two desserts between the three of us despite not having much room left. (I know, I know, but we were definitely not members of the clean your plate club last night, our friend wanted to try a lot of dishes and we certainly did!) The banana tart, which so many people recommended on eGullet did not disappoint, but my favorite part of if was the macadamia brittle. I think my palate was getting quite dull by that point, and the bananas just couldn't wake it up. The passion fruit panna cotta, on the other hand, played Revillie in my mouth! I like ordering panna cotta, it is usually a soothing, easy dessert following a big meal. This was tart and fruity and exciting even. A caramelized shard of something (a tuille?) separated the panna cotta from a scoop of coconut sorbet and a few spoonfuls of diced fruit salad of mango and pineapple garnished the plate. Each element was delicious individually, and the taken together they harmonized beautifully. What a glorious end to a very good evening.

I don't think Austin is coming to NYC. But the chef at the helm is Steve Manning, formerly of Bayou, and he's been working with Jacques in New Orleans for months. As Jason pointed out in another thread, NewYorkMetro.com reports on Jacques-Imo's NYC opening. I called the phone number and the voicemail says it opens tonight for Mardi Gras and is accepting reservations starting on the 25th. Jacques-Imo's NYC 366 Columbus Avenue, at 77th Street 212-799-0150

Wow, great looking pizza. I would love someone to comment on the sauce itself. Like Jason mentioned above, we find the version at the relative's place in Hackensack to lacking in salt/flavor. We had to go to a bris on Long Island, so no chance of coming, but... Sunday was the 22nd, not the 21st. Sam, bergerka -- in case you are looking for a place to tell us all about your dinner at China 46...

We used to get take out from there when my mom worked at the Livingston Weichert office. lol

Anyone know the status of this opening?

Ah, you're being paid for it. Then definitely do something that isn't just soup mix and sour cream. I disagree with Suzanne about the California dip. I hate that with veggies, onion dip is for chips. Spinach or veggie dip is for veggies. Or hummus, babaganous, the cheese dips mentioned upthread sound good too. Crab dip I usually serve with crackers, especially home made pita chips.

OK, I know it's boring, but we're talking baby shower here, which means a lot of women, and they're not going to want flavored mayo based dips! I think three would be plenty to offer, babaganous and hummus being excellent ideas. This tahini sauce would be good as well. However, the most popular one will be a simple vegetable or spinach dip. Here's an earlier thread about crudite which includes my recipe (yes, there's mayo in it, but it's not just flavored mayo, and you can use low-fat mayo in this one, and low-fat sour cream... but NOT non-fat versions).

I nominate Robin Leech as The Chairman. He's naturally cocky, where Shatner was over the top acting, and he knows exotic and gourmet food.