markk

And when they made them microwaveable............the crust went right down the tubes ← Microwaved pot pie = pure evil ← I once had a stroke of genius If I cut the top crust off the frozen pie and cooked the pie in Micro and the crust in the toaster oven all would be good I still have the scar from wedging the serrated knife through my palm trying to pry the crust off Tracey ← I thought I didn't like pot pie at all for years because all I had ever had was frozen. I don't know why because my mom actually makes great pot pie from scratch, but I don't remember her ever making it until I was 15 or so. I haven't had a frozen pot pie since before that, but I still get grossed out remembering the taste. ← This may apply to one of those "what do you do when the craving hits?" threads, but I too have very fond memories of Chicken Pot Pie, and when the craving hits I can do a pretty good job of satisfying it with a Boston Market pie, though I wouldn't eat one of their roast chickens on a bet. But the crust is good, the sauce works for me, the vegetables are distinct, and the large chunks of chicken meat work better in it than they do alone. The pies are "assembled" by the local restaurants, so they may vary, but mine are not sad at all like the frozen ones. They even reheat well. I'm very happy to have found them. And to answer the original question, I'd have to say that a food that looks good but that is ultimately unsatisfying is the actual Boston Market roast chicken itself. Oof!

Well, I think I'd have to second that motion.

I haven't seen this recipe. But I would tell you as a rule that if you're using fresh tomatoes, which of course can be eaten raw, then they're done whenever it looks like something that you'd like to eat. A famous roman dish is ripe, raw tomatoes diced finely and tossed with olive oil and basil in a bowl, which then gets hot pasta tossed in with it ("Spaghetti alla Checca"). So I would think that any degree that you like your tomatoes cooked to is what's right for you.

I don't keep much sweet stuff in the house (on purpose), but there is always grape jelly (and there is always peanut butter), and when I get the craving, I dig them out. It's been known to happen at 3 in the morning when I should be asleep. Though I remember once years ago being hit by the craving and not having those and just eating a little bit of... believe it or not... sugar!

I would absolutely recommend Oriental Garden over Fuleen - I have had way too many disappointing meals there.

Ah ha Mark, it was you I was referring to when I said Can you refer us to the topic? Thanks.John ← Nooooo(oooooo). I don't have that kind of memory . I can't even find eGullet topics from a month ago . I'm very lucky at my age that I can remember "alapage.fr", and in truth I sometimes have to hunt through my inbox to find it. Sorry, John.

Well, you didn't say Manhattan's Chinatown (though I jest), but if it's convenient for you all to go to the one in Flushing, I can tell you of a place with great food, great service, great variety, and very reasonable prices, where you always find lots of large parties celebrating and a very happy vibe: New Lok Kee

The decor is beautiful actually, very upscale. And I have always found the captains to be very nice and helpful, although if you're looking for Danny Meyeresque service, Chinatown is not the place to go. And though I've never had it, I have seen the roast squab, and it looks delicious.

Sunday night we journeyed from NJ to Flushing to eat at New Lok Kee, where we haven't been in about a year, though we've eaten many a meal there, and were regulars for years and years when they were Sun Lok Kee on Mott St. The food was even better than we remembered it. First came the softshell crabs. These were monstrously large (they had to cut them into quarters) and certainly the meatiest and best prepared softshell crabs we've ever had. Not to disparage Oriental Garden, a great place in Chinatown where we've been going for the last year, these were even better: Incidentally, at $16.95 per order, I think those are a steal. Next came the lobster, for which they are justly famous. If anybody is not familiar with the place, on any given night you'll see that 90% of the diners are Chinese, and every one of them has ordered the lobster. We have been invited downstairs to tour the massive arrays of lobster tanks at both locations, and they are so pristinely clean and beautifully kept that it is heartwarming to see. Not surprisingly, the lobsters are juicy and succulent and flavored to absolute perfection. We had ordered them Ginger/Scallion style, but in their wisdom, they sent them out Cantonese style, and we were grateful. The crabs and lobster required some Ong Choy (Water Spinach): We also had an order of House Special Mei Fun (which we forgot to photograph) because we saw some people eating it and it looked great, and it was! For an encore, we had another order of lobsters, and another order of softshell crabs, and they may have been even slightly better than the first ones. They have redecorated a few times. The place is not quite the hole-in-the-wall dump it had been on Mott St. (when Ed Koch came in to eat one night while we were there), though the food is better than ever. And the tablecloths are apparently new, because I remember well when they would dump some hot tea on the vacated tables to wipe them down. Here's a short video that shows the steaming, succulent lobster that arrived at our table, and a view of the very lively Dungeness Crabs in the tanks that are right at the entrance to the restaurant.

I may have mis-understood the question, but I live in the US, and order books in French on a regular basis from Alapage.fr, with great results. The books arrive within a week, and within 3 days if I use the upgraded service. I learned about this from another discussion board when I was trying to order one of the Pudlo guides. I had tried to get it through Amazon.fr and met with disaster, and I had tried to order it by calling and faxing and e-mailing FNAC with even worse results, and then when I went on Alapage and signed up, I had the book delivered to my door 3 days later by Chronopost. I've been addicted to that site ever since.

To stray a little bit from your terminology, I don't know any genuinely serious wine lover who would scoff at a delicious low priced wine or be afraid to love it. I buy many wines in the under $10 range, and leverage my buying dollars so that I can afford the wines that just cost a lot of money, like Burgundies. But I drink a lot of perfectly delicious wines from Alsace, France, and Portugal, that are less than ten dollars, and I'm not afraid to say so.

For a friend, I'm looking for an "over the top" buffet in Las Vegas? Does The Venetian have one? Is the Wynn now considered to be the end-all of Las Vegas buffets? Who has one that would really knock a person's socks off, even if the food might not be as great as the (probably horrifying) experience? Thanks.

Personally, I think that the entire point of cooking is to make the most delicious thing to eat that you possibly can. I guess I can understand people wanting to make something "new" and "different", but if what they come up with is less delicious than the dish they're trying to improve, it seems pointless to me. I'd prefer to see a chef devote countless energy and hours to acquire the most delicious melons and the best prosciutto possible, than spend time trying to freeze dry the prosciutto and turn the melon into foam. I've had the pleasure of eating in many small, traditional trattorie in some of the very off-the-beaten-path little towns in Italy, but I also remember driving quite a distance in the late 1980's the to have a meal at San Domenico in Imola, which was one of the very first "inventive" restaurants, and crying with disappointment at every course, wishing that for my one dinner in the Emilia-Romagna region I had gone to a great, traditional restaurant. Yes, I understand that chefs who grew up cooking the dishes that their mothers and grandmothers cooked every day want to cook something different. But I don't think I've yet had the meal that was an improvement on what Grandma could cook. For me, it's a great crime that the traditional cooking of so many regions and heritages is dying out. I'm afraid that when we're done with foam and molecules, there will be nobody left who knows how to make tortellini in brodo, or lasagne Bolognese. And that will be a culinary disaster.

I'm not a local Miamian so I can't answer your question as one. I do spend 4 weeks a year there, and so I take an interest in the dining scene. I don't have any experience with the Gourmet Mag restaurants you mention, except the humorous story that I had seen Captain Jim's featured on a segment of Rachel Ray's "$40" show, where she goes there to eat Stone Crab Claws and actually winds up eating a bowl of Blue Crabs, referring to them as Stone Crabs, and sucks at the 3/4 inch claws and says they're wonderful - but I'm sure that this was screwed up in the editing of the show, and am most positive that Captain Jim would not and could not confuse Stone Crab Claws with Blue Crabs. And then a few years ago there was a Food Network Special with Ruth Reichl taking us on a one-hour dining tour of Miami, and losing her mind over Garcia's Seafood. So I went there a few weeks later and had a horrible meal, in which they took a gorgeous looking, and large, snapper that I had picked out of the case, and burned it to an inedibly dry crisp. You might want to consider using the Miami New Times as a source for restaurants. Every restaurant that they have ever steered me to has been fantastic, and the ones I can remember include Chispa and Timo, and a right-on review of Michy's (though that wasn't my discovery of it, having read about it first on eGullet). Granted some of their picks have not stood the test of time (but restaurants do change owners and chefs and their food changes too) but at the time of the various reviews, all the places they recommended were top-notch.

The first time-period that I was there, the croquettas had "jamon" instead of the duck. The duck replaced the "jamon" when I came back several months later. I think that both are exquisite for the reasons you speculate above, but it is true that the taste of duck doesn't sail through the cheese; however, I wouldn't consider that a reason not to order them. I know that they are in constant worry about their food never becoming complacent, and constantly try to shake things up a bit to keep the excitement going. I have seen many dishes undergo subtle changes over time. But I can't think of any dishes I've regretted ordering, or that I wouldn't happily order again. The servers there will aid you tremendously. They are incredibly knowledgeable in the preparation and taste of the dishes, and will discuss these to your heart's content. The reason that I personally eat there so many times in a row is that from my very first visit, I felt like the proverbial kid in the candy store. Though I had had a restaurant-plan for the ten days I was there, once I hit Michy's I left each night feeling that I had to go back the next night and eat through more of the menu. In fact, that's how I eat when I travel. When I get a great meal and remember that at the beginning of the meal I had trouble deciding what to order because of how good everything seemed, I just cancel my plans and go back the next night; and if I get a great meal the next night and still see things I want to try, I go back again. The longest I ever did this was in Rome, in 1973, where I hit upon a place my second night and went back for the next 21 nights (not counting their closed night) until I had to leave the country. Yes, I may miss out on other restaurants, but I feel that I get a very full enjoyment out of the ones I concentrate on. I didn't follow your posts closely enough to see how much time in Miami, but if I were you, I'd obviously eat as many dinners here as I had nights in Miami. Then again, this isn't the only thing that people cite when they try to have me taken away by the men with the butterfly nets.

If I can refer you to my own Michy's photos page, here's the rundown from the top: foie gras- whole bouillabaisse - half chicken feet (not applicable - not a menu item) sweetbreads - whole beets- whole; carbonara - whole; croquetas - whole orechiette - half clam linguine - half soft shell crab special - only one size offered duck confit - only one size offered polenta - small (I think) skate special - only one size offered duck breast - (not applicable - not a menu item) Be sure to tell them you heard about them on eGullet! Enjoy!! I look forward to your report.

I sent a copy of the AP news story, and a link to the video, to a fairly conservative friend who is the mother of two (wonderful) college-aged kids herself to get her take, and it was: "It was probably their p.r. consultant, feeling threatened by some real creativity, that got them to take action. It is cute and clever. A&P brass should have paid the kids to make a better-quality, G-rated, ad-length version, and then gone after a young adult audience. It makes me wonder what these people possibly could be thinking when they're talking about suing kids over something like this." It seems that nobody is taking A&P's side, which I find extremely encouraging, especially in light of my friend's suggestion of how easily they could have turned it around into something extremely positive and attracted younger shoppers as well.

The video is indeed pretty clever, and shows great cinematographic skill. I think the brothers are to be commended for the quality of their work and their imagination. And indeed, A&P cannot be identified in the video. As far as A&P's claim of harm from the use of their "advertising materials" - the flier that the kids used is a Shop Rite flier altogether, although that name or logo is never shown either! I too think that the lawsuit is ludicrous, and last night I too wrote to A&P via their website to tell them this. I told them that I think whatever business they lose will be from their silly lawsuit, and I informed them that I will no longer be shopping at A&P. Their response indicates that they feel they are completely in the right for persecuting these kids and don't seem to care about losing my business. Apparently the brothers were given permission by a store manager to film in the store after hours. A&P corporate's gripe should be with that person altogether.

I don't work in the food industry either, but have suffered from terrible low back pain. The answer was exercises given to me at Physical Therapy to strengthen the muscles. I was skeptical, but it works, and it starts to show results in just a few weeks. The same is true of exercises to strengthen the muscles that support the knee, but in my case my arthritis got the better of my knee and the strengthening came too late, and I had to have a total knee replacement. But I'm doing those exercises for my good knee to keep it that way.

Maybe I'm just missing something here, but if the check was $55, why did you give them $80 in cash? (I could see giving them $60 because that's 3 twenties...)

A friend needs to know where she can buy "an immense 16 quart glass or ceramic mixing bowl, for bread dough", and I'm hoping my fellow gulleteers will know where she can by such an item. Thanks!

We never had bread growing up, but it was because my mother wanted to emphasize that we were well to do (a new sensation for her), and she actually taught us kids that "only poor people eat starch", so except for when my grandmother would make potato latkes, we didn't have starch, period. (Yes, I've made many shrinks rich over the years.) When I started cooking for my partner (of 36 years) I never served bread with dinner, because that's how I grew up. After a couple of years, he asked one night "can we have bread with dinner, please" so the next night I bought some bread. After a few more breadless nights, he broke it to me that he hadn't meant just that one night, he meant that he had to have bread with his dinner. Well, it took me a while to remember that, but after 36 years, I finally remember to buy bread. And for any of you that may be thinking bad things about my mother, I may as well tell you the rest of the story. After we were together for a short time, my partner took me to dinner at a well to do friend's house (or so I thought). That fellow was a well know theatrical director and producer, and was of Italian descent and was famous for his dinners, and he made pasta. Suffice it to say that was the first time I had ever had pasta as my dinner, and on the way home I asked my partner "is so-and-so poor?" and the answer was, "of course not - why would you ask such a thing?" and I explained that my mother had brought me up to believe that "only poor people eat starch". Well, I got an explanation that people ate pasta for dinner because it was delicious and they like it. But it was a good twenty-five years before I was ever able to have pasta as my main course. And as I said earlier, I've paid for the new wing of many a psychotherapist's country home with this and related issues.

I've been in restaurant kitchens where everything radiates heat and makes it a thousand degrees in there. I feel for the people who have to work in those conditions. I could not do it myself.

I'm sure they do. And I'll bet that FG can explain what I'm about to say better than I can. But those restaurants that aren't capitalized properly to provide for a cool dining experience in summer and turn up the a/c to economize may hurt themselves in the long run by losing customers who'd like to escape the summer heat (like me) and dine in crisp a/c comfort. When it's hot outside and I go to a restaurant that's just not cool enough for me, and if they can't make it comfortable after I ask, I wind up leaving. If there are others like me who do the same, then they just continue in a downward spiral - the fewer customers that come, the warmer they feel they have to keep the place, to conserve the few dollars that are actually coming in. And when I enter a sparsely populated restaurant that's simply way too warm, I figure that they're partway in their spiral, and I just turn around and leave. It's a pity, I admit, but I like to stay cool when I eat.

I keep my house a 67 degrees as well, and have yet to find a restaurant that was too cold for me. I envy you. I'm always too warm in restaurants - it just varies by degree. There are some small places where as FG reasons they can't afford to keep it really cook, and I can't go to those places.